Middle-aged slob turns healthy hunk

Press, 24 March 1988, Page 13

Middle-aged slob turns healthy hunk

Remar Sutton < .began his Body Worry project jos a 45-year-old, ' overweight, man with a beer bejly.- muscles of mush, a lifetime of bad habits, ayd an overwhelm- I ing. desire to improve his 1 looks. [ He decided, to d( vote one year of] his life to getting himself in top shape, i He also decided .to'. ■ chronicle his [[ experience so j others could read about] and be. I inspired by, his mission. “I re- i present ■every overweight person who feels there’s d thin person inside waiting ! to get but,”] he'\. ‘ says. His new' regular. column begins foday. i-.. i : ■ ’ I ' i • I ; : ’.I-

Vital statistics at the start

! i 1 can look ' out' of the ;[. [window and see the.; 'ocean, a calm one, and a shimmering red Baham-: ian sun breaking through the scarlet ; clouds scat- | tered low along.the hori-, i zon. just like in the [ I movies. A very nice day ; [ ho start. I think. ■ ’ ! lam a 45-year-old man < I [without muscles, bald, I :'l2kg overweight and no \ [ [longer involved in much ■; /physical activity. Some-[ I [ [what self-cdhscious about j ■ ' my looks. I am even more :’ self-conscious about the i thought! of frying to im- i prove them within smirk-) I trig range of those god- i i Npes who were born - fit. ’ ' don’t sweat and seem toj : be everywhere . when i [ vanity prods me to the; ; thought of exercise. . j I decided it would be ’ nice to chuck it all and ’ i spend a year devoted i p solely to making myself [ i handsome. So| I set about [ [ convincing .my publisher [ I’ to underwrite my idea:i [ V. hat could! you do to a[

middle-aged' body in [d year? .[ j; ■! 1] It-takes a lot of money and discipline to chuck it all,, hire j a full-time trainer, move to an island; recruit a fancy committee of medical, strength and fitness experts,, build lots of muscles, turn a water-! melon belly into a sexy! flat stomach, perhaps add . some hair; maybe even ; have a face lift,, and in the process report on the good and bad things out there in [the world lot fitness and hunkdom. I was;game,! though. j . I I planned a partial nod to health during the years) but the' plans that really i interested ! me centred around' looks. I wanted! to ■ see some muscles on rny body and some lust in the eyes of. a tropical beauty or two much more than I wanted to feel healthier. I felt fine, ! anyway. Nfost i people .’are a little overweight; and get a little tired,! and a lot of people ! used to smoke and still I drink regularly. -! | i

About ithe tine I .was packing [my full-length mirror fpr [the rip to) the islands, some of my doctors started celling with results from my physical ' exams. All! the news [was unpleasant.! Mj thalljum stress tefet ’ and first-pass radionuclide angiogram showed that I pave mild coronary; hear: disease, probably! the result of too little exercise,- too many cigarettes and the extra weight. [ Anotier test showed j that I have a small pulmonaty dysfunction. The cigarettes Tenjoyed for so .long, of course, !A ( lihal test showed [that one of my liver functions is abnormal. Well, if all of this wrsn’t enough 'to t miporarily still my i yearn ngs for a high lust facte r, all the I members of my medical I team rated me in the high-risk! category for heart attack, e' en though I don’t have high bipod pressure, exer :ise more than the majority ! of people and haven't been a smoker for over a yeqr. None of these unpleasant bits! of irformation, incidentally, would show up during the normal early physical you rhay

undergo, even if you have a stress electrocardiogram — and mine was norrpal. I hope that’s an unnerving [ thought for you! | but 11 am not complaining here. At i least I know! what I is wrong with me. Recording to my good adviser, Dr Kenneth Cooper, the man who started America jogging. 50 per cent of people with coronary heart disease have | only l one sympton of that disease: death from a heart attack.

My year is going! to be a more balanced one now. I still want beauties to swoon when they glimpse the new me, but I have to make' my insides as healthy as my outside will be hunky.; 1 want to understand how I got in the high-risk category and what'l can do about it. In 1983, imy doctor rated me as having an [“ideal” health profile, except for my smoking. What happened? Can you lose your health in three wars? If you can, | that's a damn scary thought for a lot of people. I ; I ' I Am hot at ajll sure what lis going to happen to me this year. My greatest fear has me looking and feeling the same or worse. I am not at all sure about some of the things that attract me, either! I fantasise about the Ijoys ’of hair, | for instance, but may 'not be: brave [enough for tpe total scalp transplant a friend says would allow] me to comb! in my vanity’s content. ]

I want my newly muscled [flesh to appear virginal in its youthfulness, but don’t;particularly want to be injected with extract of goat [embryo, a fashionable treatment, I hear, in some| very exotic circles. .1 vyant to develop the

Waist: 109 cm [ | Right bicep: 32cm Flexed: 33cm Weight: 91kg | ■ best eating habits, too, but can’t even get liny own very ’ distinguished advisers to agree on |he bad foods, much less I the good ones, and no onle I agrees on what exercise programme will make me the person I tliinK I so richly deserve! to pe. But

Blood pressure:’l2B/68 Pulse: 64 Bench press: 55 [ Hunk factor: .00 I .11! that’? O.K. The temple of hunkiness arid health is crowded with! high priests and [ priestesses, sbme right,[ some rabid,l some rascally. I’m sure none of them] will mind a question or | two ..from a hopeful sceptic. j I Not everyope can take

off a year to change themselves, 'but with a little steady effort you can do amazing[ things for your : health; and your looks. You; can even help those : aroUntf you (like your spouse for instance) who may nojt exactly be health and fitness fans..

I'll use this column to tell you mprq about some specifics! that may help you in th'e [ real world. You'll also ' meet .my “Body Worriers” here: all types of [i doctors and scientists who are working to remake me, and I want their advice to be as good for you. j j [ For; instance, do you think you .might want a thallium stress test or a radionuclide [ angiogram after reading what mine showed? According to DY Robert Bell, my specialist in nuclear medicine, you probably donlt need these tests unless, you have high-risk habits or a history including inactive lifestyle, [[ too [ many pounds, smoker, family heart disease and high blood pressure.

What do the tests to? The tomographic thallium stress test “often provides the earliest information about reduced blood flow to the heart, [the cause of most heart!’disease,” says Dr Bell. The stress radionuclide angiogram determines ' iibw the heart

works as a| [plump. You may, riot need these tests even if you are in a high-risk [category. But simply [discussing them with your [ ; doctor might remind him [or her they are a good option in many physicians’ minds. — ! United Feature Syndicate . | j' [