Most people are deceived by my weight loss pictures, and by weight loss pictures in general. They assume they can do what I have done just as easily and as quickly. Some can--and can do it with much better results, some can't, or at least in the same amount of time. Without work and family responsibilities, fast food joints on every corner and because of the weather, losing weight and getting fit is much easier in Thailand. However, there are other variables that will affect your success. Off the top of my head, I would say--and I'm not a Personal Trainer but your average sloppy Joe---a full body transformation depends on four factors: genetic makeup, athletic/diet background, your program and your motivation.
Your Parents (Genes): We all know him: he's the twenty-something who eats left over Chinese food, a beer and skittles for dinner and doesn't pack on the pounds and always walks around with a six-pack. I can't relate to him. So, forget him. He'll be dead by the time he's forty. And on the other side of the spectrum--probably a Samoan rugby player or a Polish farmhand---there is the one who can eat a pound of food and then pack on two pounds of fat or muscle, depending on his program. The rest of us are somewhere in between. Like a fat man on a bench, I lean towards the latter. I can easily put on muscle; however, I can just as easily put on fat. My weight fluctuates by several kilograms in a day. You must know your body type and train accordingly. Baukaw will never be as be as massive and powerful as Mighty Moe and Mighty Moe will never be as lean and quick as Baukaw. However, don't assume you can't transform your body into something different; perhaps you don't even know your body type or its potential. Last year, my personal trainer told me I could never have a noticeable 6 pack and my Thai trainer, Yib, told me I could never look like him: a little more than a year later, he now asks me for weight loss advice!
Your Past: I was never much of a natural athlete, nor was my older brother. The running joke in my family is that my best friend, Perez, who moved in with me in High School, who later played Penn State basketball, and my younger sister, who won national champion rugby games and toured throughout Europe before hitting 22, are the sons my father always wanted. For people like them, who have a strong athletic background, getting back into shape again is far easier than getting into shape for the first time. Most of the 3 month transformation pictures you see on TV or on the Internet are perfect examples of such people. I'm somewhere in the middle.
Middle School through High School I played sports, but mostly in the neighborhood and not seriously like my sister Kelly or Karley. I wasn't much of an athlete. I spent a lot of time in the forest with friends, climbing trees, building forts and getting into some trouble. I was one of the least athletic among all my friends, many who swam or played organized sports seriously. My family of 9 and I ate military style: big portions made with big heart, but not the most nutritious. Drank lots of Hi-C, Soda and ate lots of pizza and burgers--like your average pudgy third generation American kid.
I've always done most things backwards. Inspired by Perez who was now living with my family, I started to study harder and work-out more. We played lots of basketball with friends after school and on the weekends; we all played in a local B-Ball league, many of us coached by my father and aunt. Did some weight lifting with some football players, lots of push ups and sit ups, and worked at UPS several hours a night lifting boxes. Graduated at a 179 pounds, but not too strong.
During my freshman year of University, I kept the motivation going. Staying focused mentally and physically, I dabbled in some martial arts, ran and kept a 4.0 average for the first two semesters. After our first year of university, Perez and I worked at a Tent Company, setting up big tents, tables and chairs for graduation parties and weddings. Packed on a lot of muscle, but drank too much. Surpassed 200 pounds for the first time: Freshman twenty. Later, I joined the university lacrosse team and got distracted with college life. I started to drink more, and got bigger and bigger. Lost my spleen playing lacrosse, and like the spleen, I gave up lacrosse. Yada..yada...yada... met a girl my junior year and we lounged around a lot eating and reading and talking about the future. My last year at UNI was my best: lived with my friend from Nepal, two women from Kenya, one from Ghana and a bunch of guys from India. Proper UN house, with lots of delicious food. Finished university at around 230 pounds.
After graduating from college I moved to Florida to live with my Grandparents for a few months, and that is where I learned one of my most valuable lessons: Train in the Tropics. In addition to spending many nights talking with my grandparents about anything and everything, I swam everyday, went running and ate lots of fresh produce. I lost weight and left Florida feeling much healthier. A couple of months later, acting on a whim, I moved to the Caribbean, where I then taught for nearly two years. And my experiences outside the classroom in the Caribbean reinforced my position on training in the tropics. The only whales people want to see at the ocean are in the ocean.
At 22, it was an exciting and exotic time in my life. My sister loves the Colorado mountains, my brother prefers small-town New England, my youngest sister loved her time in the Aussie outback and my second youngest sister is moving to Ireland. Me, all I need is warm weather and somewhere to run and exercise to keep me from bouncing off the walls.
I ran everyday through the hills or along the waterfront and did lots of push-ups. Towards my second year, I began everyday with 500 push-ups: a set of 100, then two sets of 50, then twelve sets of 25. I taught, played some sports with the kids after school, then ran home with my books in my bag and then went to the gym. I was a young white boy in a gym with lots of big locals and Dominicans and they taught me heaps about weight lifting and dieting. Them being mostly construction worker, we focused mostly on upper body, lifting for size and strengh. By the time the guys in the gym were done with me, I was benching 300 pounds and doing push ups with a 100 pound weight on my back. Like most Americans and the boys at my gym, I associated chest, back and arm size with overall strengh and even fighting ability, which I learned later that is a rule that Thais defy, as well as the Brazilians.
Planning to enroll in graduate school, I returned to the states. Like most plans, they changed. I stopped lifting as much, actually became quite sick for several months, got depressed, and fell back into drinking and began taking sleeping pills. My father, who is proned to misquoting movies but capturing the general idea, said to me "Nothing will happen to you here. You have to go where things happen." I don't know if he meant South Korea but because an English academy offered a job, housing and a ticket out of the US, I boarded a plane at for the city of Busan. I was 103 kilograms at the time, still muscular from push ups and lifting, but fat by Asian standards---even for Koreans, who are far taller and larger than any other Asian. And this background brings you up to date on my first posting. And sorry for all the details, but the point I'm trying to make is that your past exercise and dieting habits will greatly affect your plans.
Your Plan
"He's a man, with a plan....he's Mr. Know It All." --as some of my closest friends here in Phuket would teasingly sing to me. But you need a plan. Because as my Grandfather would say, "The Future awaits for those who plan for it". Don't just arrive here in Thailand and expect to lose weight. You will. But not as much as you would like to without a plan. I've seen many success stories here and an equal amount of disappointments. It won't happen just through a few hours of Muay Thai everyday; so don't blame the camp if it doesn't. It takes a lot more. Basically, you'll need to do your muay thai training, cardio twice a day (A MUST) and diet correctly (A MUST, MUST). Do your research. I'm going to provide as many tips as possible to help you out. And read through the Weight Loss thread on Rawai Muay Thai's Forum especially Mike's biography from England. Lots of advice there. I'll also be conducting interviews once a week here in Phuket to provide more insight into how others are doing. And stay off the weight loss pills here in Thailand. Its analogous to dropping ecstasy on a Buddhist retreat and experiencing enlightenment: Its ephemeral and its cheating.
Your Motivation
I call it functional fitness. You'll lose the weight and get fit here in Thailand, but what comes next? What will keep you motivated after you are back home? I used to
love lifting weights for size and strength because I'm an endorphin junkie and it gave me a false sense of security. Now I train because I want the Thai physique: thick legs, lean stomach, chiseled arms and a strong but compact chest and back. Vanity is an acceptable form of motivation, but I think most people need more that. For me, Muay Thai is also a fun and a very practical martial arts systsem. I also keep up the training when I leave Thailand because I'm interested in self-defense, I want to compete in amateur kick boxing and I feel better about myself when I'm in shape. For me, I need more than a treadmill and a weight room to sustain my motivation. And you'll need purpose, too. Or, truthfully speaking, you will put on even more weight after you return home.
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