by Richard Tardif
I was three weeks into a massive calorie-cut for a photo-shoot of my new body; 21 days, 16 hours, 23 minutes to be exact, with each day spent at the gym; one hour cardio, one hour weight training. The final photo, which my publisher a day later pasted on the back cover of Stop the Denial, was in the beginning about decorating my Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts, and for my Amazon profile, where I could take it down when I wanted. I agreed to have it forever linked to the back cover, though it took some convincing.
The reason I didn’t want the photo in print was not about vanity. I knew, the way I looked, after 21 days of near fasting, calorie counting, cardio and controlled water consumption, it would be five, maybe six days, before I would not look as “fitness” like after the shoot, which would be a contrast compared to the stealth and lean looking trainer in the photo. It took two days of normal eating to see how quickly my body would gain back the weight.
The photo itself was inspiring. I did it. I cut from 245 to 220. Everything looked fantastic. Only, it wasn’t. The day of the shoot I arrived at the studio at two in the afternoon. My skin felt like I had been two hours out in the sun without protection. I wasn’t feeling hot, but cold. My vision was blurry. I had the headache of a lifetime. Five minutes into the shoot, the photographer, a friend of mine I trusted with my photographs, suggested I eat something?
“You don’t understand?” I said softly, and then I raised my voice to a level reserved only for yelling above a barreling locomotive. “I have to be at my peak fitness for this shoot.” There I stood, panting like a tired sprinter. That was the last of my energy.
Friends known when you are not you. She smiled, asking, “Do you want a Snickers? You’re not you when you are hungry.”
“I know,” I said, shrugging, lowering my head in shame. “I’m not the same, when I’m hungry.” See the Snickers commercial
We laughed, I may have cried, but she gave me an apple, I ate it, and we went on with the shoot. Best. Apple. Of. My. Life.
After the shoot, I vowed to stop at the first food place I saw. And that was a McDonalds. No thanks. Then I saw a Time Hortons. No thanks. The next one, for sure. Burger King. No thanks. How many fast food joints are there? I made it home, and my significant other was already one step ahead of me. Peruvian Homemade soup (uncertain of its contents but I was jolted back to reality), salad, and half an orange. And she gave me a stern warning – you ever fast like that again, you do it without me.
If I ever fast like that again, I will retire from the personal fitness training. Deal?
Just. Eat. Right.
Richard Tardif is a personal fitness trainer, health & fitness author, speaker and an award-winning journalist. Richard’s first book Stop the Denial: A Case for Embracing the Truth About Fitness, challenges, surprises, and inspires you to embrace a fitness lifestyle that will work in achieving your individual goals.
