I had an opportunity to sit down with Ben while he was waiting to be called in to be seen for his pre-transformation blood work. It gave me a chance to ask him some questions about where he’s currently at, what his goals are and what’s on his mind:
Diet For A Dollar – Hi Ben, thanks for sitting with me today to discuss your Total Body Transformation. How are you feeling?
Ben – I feel better today than I have in some time. I’m excited to get started but also a little nervous to see what my blood work is going to look like! Last time I had this checked my cholesterol was way too high.
D4AD – How high is ‘too high’? Have you been doing anything since your last visit to get your cholesterol levels down?
D4AD – Sure, oatmeal can certainly help, but it sounds like we’ve got a few other dietary changes we need to make for you…Tell me, what would you consider your main goal to be for this total body transformation? Is there a specific body type you want to see yourself with when it’s all done?
Ben - I definitely want to lose at least 20 - 30 pounds. I think my ideal weight is probably around 155 or so but I guess I’d settle for 160 – 165. That’s a weight I've been at before and have still been active and energetic. I guess I would like to change my body type to being "fit." I don't have any plans as yet to be "jacked" or "ripped" but I would like to decrease fat overall and increase muscle in certain areas, especially shoulders and arms. I know it’s cliché, but having 6 pack abs would be nice too!
D4AD - How important is it for you to reach this goal? Is it something you feel you must do or do you just want to 'give it a shot'?
Ben - It is very important for me to lose the excess weight. I really need to get down to at least 165 pounds to be healthy again. Not just feel healthy, but to be healthy. If my cholesterol is still as high as it was I’ll certainly need to manage that appropriately. Lately I’ve been short of breath, really lethargic and constantly sick. I get headaches 4-5 days out of the week. When physically exerting myself I quickly fatigue and feel shaky. Many of my older clothes are tight and I’ve had to buy larger waist pants. Basically, those two goals are things I feel like I must do and I'm committed to doing them. Changing my body type to be more muscular would just be an added bonus.
D4AD – Once you start seeing results, I’m sure that more muscular body will become more important to you! We’ll just have to wait and see. Is there a time in your life that you can think back and say 'I was in the best shape of my life'? If so, do you recall how much you weighed?
Ben - Around 8 or 9 years ago I was in great shape. I had tons of energy, was active and weighed, at my lowest, about 145 pounds. I realize now that the quality of food I ate was poor, my portions were inconsistent and sporadic and the only reason I was so slim was because I was taking those caffeine and ephedrine diet pills at the time and doing lots of exercise.
D4AD – So, what does your typical daily diet look like these days?
Ben - Breakfast usually consists of coffee with about 3-4 servings of CoffeeMate French Vanilla creamer. Sometimes I’ll have an apple when I get to work. On rare occasions I’ll have a Nutragrain-style bar.
Lunch, if I bring one to work, will be a sandwich on oatmeal bread. Usually just maple and brown sugar ham, relish, mayonnaise. Sometimes I’ll add two strips of bacon on top. I often have Cheez-Its, Pretzels or chips. Sometimes, I guess more accurately, rarely, I'll also have a yogurt.
If I don’t bring lunch it’s either McDonald’s large Quarter Pounder meal, with a McChicken sandwich and a diet Coke. Or, Burger King large #8 (grilled chicken) with a diet Coke. Or, half an Italian sub sandwich with a bag of chips and diet Coke.
Dinner is whatever my wife makes, which ranges from homemade macaroni and cheese to tacos. Sometimes we do frozen pizzas or a pizza from the local pizza place. And once and a while we’ll get Chinese food or another one of our favorites, Olive Garden.
Also, lately I’ve been eating a lot of candy, especially Butterfingers and Baby Ruth’s. You can blame that on not getting enough traffic by the house on Halloween! Other snacks I’ll partake in from time to time are pretzels, those orange cheesy-poof balls, and yogurt. I was eating those Fiber One bars for a while but they just don’t settle well with me.
D4AD - Do you have any dietary restrictions we need to consider?
Ben - None. No allergies or dislikes, but that's part of the problem, I eat anything! I will most likely need to focus on low- or no-cholesterol foods depending on how things go today.
D4AD - Do you have any pre-existing injuries or physical limitations we need to be aware of?
Ben - My knees have started to give out on me. I think it’s because I'm carrying around a lot of extra weight. I do have joint pain in my knees and elbows that comes and goes pretty frequently.
D4AD - Will you be able to get at least 6 hours sleep each night?
Ben - Yes. I don’t see why not.
D4AD - Are there any special foods or meals you'd like to try and keep in your diet?
Ben - I would still like to be able to eat beef and other meats. I don’t want to convert to a vegetarian diet or anything like that.
D4AD – How about exercise, is there a specific time of day that would work best for you to allot for exercise?
Ben – I’ll tell you what, this is the hard part. I'm gone all day long. On any given day I’m leaving my house anywhere from 6:30 AM to 10:30 AM and not returning home until 5:30 PM to 9:30 PM. It varies each day depending on my schedule. I rarely have weekends free and when I do, I like to spend time with my family.
D4AD - Do you have the necessary essential items listed in the blog to get started?
Ben – I’m working on it. Fortunately I have a handful of the items you had listed there. Do they really make a difference or can I just use what I already have?
D4AD – You can certainly use what you have and I absolutely I understand the need to do so however, I can promise you that having the quality items listed there will make the whole process a lot easier. Think of it this way, if you’re a mechanic who works with tools all day long, you’re going to want to use high quality tools that won’t give out on you in the middle of your job. The way I see it, there’s nothing more important than our bodies and you need the best tools for the job when it comes time to fix it!
Ben – That makes sense. There’s nothing more frustrating than not having the right tools when you’re trying to work on something. I’ll check out those pages again and order what I need.
D4AD – Sounds good, you’ll thank yourself later! What kind of exercise equipment will you have access to?
Ben - I have no exercise equipment at all and essentially no access to any.
D4AD – Fortunately, it’s not a necessity in the beginning so you don’t have to worry too much. I’ve got a bunch of high quality items listed on the site you can take a look at if you’re looking to make a purchase. Also, if you have a quality gym near you, that’s always an option. If not, or if you want to just get something to get you by, I’ll give you some tips on how to track down some quality equipment cheaply. The bottom line is, while you don’t really need anything at the outset, you will need access to some down the road if you want the best possible results.
Ben – Yeah, I think I’d actually like to buy something nice for the house. I’ll take a look at the items you have listed and see what looks good. If I can’t fit it into the budget I’ll reconnect with you on your offer to find things cheap.
D4AD - Do you have any limitations with regard to when and what you can eat while at work?
Ben - Yes, but I think I can work around them, as long as I can eat quickly. Typically within a few minutes or so.
D4AD - When was the last time you did any kind of exercise consistently? What kind of exercise did you do?
Ben - Probably a few years ago when I used to hike a lot. I rarely ever do exercise of any kind any more. I think I pretty much just fell into the same pattern I think a lot of people do. I got married, settled down, started a family. All of a sudden a lot of other things seem to become a priority. I guess looking back, even if I did want to do some kind of exercise consistently I would have really had to schedule for it.
D4AD – You certainly hit that one on the head! Scheduling is absolutely key. We’ll touch upon that a lot as we put your program together. Have you taken powdered protein and/or carbohydrate supplements in the past? Any particular flavors you like?
Ben – Sure, I’ve tried them in the past. Some tasted a lot better than others! The straightforward flavors are fine by me:
Protein powders - Vanilla, Strawberry, Cookies & Cream
Carb/energy powders – Fruit Punch, Orange, Grape
Meal Replacement Bars - Vanilla, Strawberry, Cookies & Cream, Peanut Butter
And with that, Ben got called in to get his blood work done.
Next time we catch up with him we’ll be taking some body fat measurements to see where he currently stands with respect to lean and fat mass as well as get some ‘Before’ photos. From there, we’ll begin crafting a customized, precision diet and exercise plan to ease Ben into the changes he’ll need to make to create a Better Than Average self in the shortest time possible!
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