Published: December 06, 2007 11:36 pm            

Celebration and sensibility

Watching the pounds over the holidays

DERRY, N.H. — For Grace Jacobs, the transition from being a fit, six-day-a-week aerobics class enthusiast to a 300-pound mom who loved to bake rich food and watch cooking shows happened so gradually, she hardly noticed.

She simply got wrapped up in the lives of her two children, the local school board and her career as a real estate agent; she stopped making time for exercise.

“You kind of get complacent and you don’t realize that the weight comes on, 20 pounds a year, 15 pounds a year,” said Jacobs of Derry, N.H.

Two years ago, when she realized she had reached 300 pounds, she decided something had to change. Diet programs hadn’t worked and she was contemplating weight-loss surgery when a friend recommended a personal trainer at Training Effects gym in Londonderry.

Jacobs called the gym and asked if she could come in for an appointment the following week. Trainer Bill Eacrett talked her into coming that day.

“I was a big girl,” Jacobs said. “To walk into a gym, this is a training facility. There aren’t a lot of 300-pound people. They’re pretty fit.”

Despite her reservations, her sense of urgency about her weight got her in the door.

“I was at the end of my rope,” she said. “I had to make some decisions. It was sort of my last resort.”

Eacrett started by taking Jacobs’ measurements and helping her set realistic goals. Jacobs said she wanted to lose 100 pounds, but Eacrett guided her toward a more realistic, short-term goal of just a few pounds in the first month. He also designed an eating plan for her that consisted of five or six small, balanced meals each day, and started her walking on the treadmill and doing some gentle strength training.

“He had me walk for five minutes, I think,” Jacobs said. “I was out of breath.”

That was March 2006. Today, at age 49, Jacobs weighs less than 150 pounds. She runs an interval program on the treadmill 30 minutes every morning and evening, averaging 8 to 9 miles per hour. She continues to strength train with Eacrett three days a week at the gym. She’s so dedicated to healthy eating that she doesn’t even like to take “cheat” days when he tells her to.

“It was really good to have somebody to be accountable to,” said Jacobs, noting that Eacrett put her on the scale at every session.

“How do you cheat when you know the next day you had to get on the scale?” Jacobs said. “He never said anything to me. He would just give me that look.”

One of the best things about losing all that weight, she said, is feeling like she’s healthier for her family.

It bothered her that for years she couldn’t take her daughter on a roller coaster because she didn’t fit in the seats.

“I loved anything fast and dangerous, the higher the better,” Jacobs said. “I’ve always been like that. I just like that thrill.”

In June, she took a family trip to Disney World and finally was able to join her 15-year-old daughter on roller coasters.

“I was running ahead of my daughter,” she said. “I was like a kid. I was running through the park.”



Julie Kirkwood writes for The Eagle-Tribune of North Andover, Mass.





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Tips for managing indulgences and staying trim this season

Before you use the holidays as an excuse to skip your workout and grab another frosted cookie, consider this statistic: The average American gains only 1 pound in the fall and winter, according to a 2000 study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

With a little effort, most people can avoid gaining even that much weight.

Having experienced one holiday season while working to lose weight, and with another underway as she tries to lose a few more pounds, Grace Jacobs, the Derry, N.H., woman who has lost 150 pounds, has developed strategies for handling all the temptation.

Here are tips from her and experts to keep yourself in check during the holidays:

r Eat before you go to a party.

Jacobs has a big Italian family. She said she went to about 10 holiday parties last year and was surrounded by friends and relatives who tried to get her to cheat on her diet.

Her solution was to eat before the parties — protein-rich snacks such as cottage cheese, deli turkey or a protein shake. This way she was already full when she arrived at the event.

“Or if I got there and I started picking, I would pick at just the healthy stuff,” Jacobs said.

r Exercise before the party, too.

Jacobs’ trainer, Bill Eacrett of Training Effects in Londonderry, N.H., recommends high-intensity cardiovascular interval training in the morning before a party.

It’s better than using a cardio machine at a constant setting for a half-hour, he said, and “that’s something that affects your metabolism for the rest of the day.”

A simple interval workout would be to run 10 100-meter dashes on your old high school track when you’re home visiting family. Time each sprint (typically about 20 seconds) and use the remainder of each minute to rest. In just 10 minutes you’ll get a great workout.

“A lot of us are pressed for time,” Eacrett said. “It’s the quality of time, not the quantity.”

r Be a picky eater.

Barbara Walburn of Beverly, coordinator for Take Off Pounds Sensibly support groups in Essex County, said it pays to be choosy when you’re going to indulge. Eat only foods you really love, and in small quantities. Skip the treats that you don’t truly love.

Lois Chapman, a personal trainer and director of group exercise at the Fitness Factory in Newburyport, said it’s unrealistic to expect yourself to avoid all treats. Just do it in moderation, she said.

“I’m going to eat some cheese,” she said. “I’m not going to eat the cheese and the nuts and the pie.”

r Bring nutritious foods.

If the host of the party doesn’t mind, offer to bring a dish to the party and then make it as nutritious as possible.

“Bring a real pretty assortment of vegetables,” Walburn said.

For a main dish or baked goods, try to substitute ingredients that have less fat and fewer calories.

r Go easy on the alcohol.

Jacobs said she alternates each alcoholic beverage with a glass of water at parties to cut down on the calories.

Walburn suggests being the designated driver to avoid high-calorie alcoholic drinks.

Personally, she has just one glass of wine, then switches to wine spritzers (wine diluted with club soda) for fewer calories.

r Pack a snack bag.

Chapman said most of her clients at the gym have gotten into the habit of carrying nutritious snacks with them every day, no matter where they go.

It’s especially helpful if you work in an office where somebody’s always bringing in holiday cookies, fudge or candy, she said.

If you’ve already been snacking on a few almonds, low-fat granola, yogurt, carrots or whole grain crackers, you’re less likely to fill up on junk food.

“Keep yourself from getting so hungry that you are not in control of what you are going to eat next,” Chapman said.

Eacrett is in favor of packing nutritious foods, too. He encourages his clients to eat small meals every three hours. Each mini meal should include a protein-rich food, a whole grain and a vegetable, he said.

r Don’t keep leftovers.

Walburn rarely bakes sweets, but she makes an exception for Thanksgiving. Her rule is that the indulgence lasts only one day.

“What I did, to my husband’s disappointment, is I threw everything away that was a leftover,” she said.

This year that included half a pumpkin pie, Toll House cookie pie and an apple crisp.

Likewise, she won’t deny herself the pleasure of going to a cookie swap this year, but she’s not going to keep the cookies; she’ll take them to work.

r Forgive yourself and bounce back.

“If you are on a weight-loss program, it’s very depressing to lose everything you’ve accomplished because of Thanksgiving or Christmas,” Walburn said.

Don’t let that feeling sabotage you, she said. Just get back on track as quickly as possible.

You can even start now looking forward to January, when you can make a clean start.

“When the holidays were over (last year) it was a relief because then I could say, ‘OK, I’m not going to have all those challenges now,’ “ Jacobs said.

        

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