December 18, 2009
A LEG UP ON WEIGHT LOSS
Bagpiper proves you can win for losing in HFFA contest
by John Deem/Lake Norman Citizen
There are as many reasons for losing weight as there are people who’ve tried to shed a few pounds. For Huntersville’s Paul Hinkson, the motivation might be surprising — at least for a guy.
He wanted to look good in a skirt.
OK, so technically it’s a kilt, but the tartan truth is Hinkson wanted to wear it well.
“I’m learning the bagpipes and am about to join the Loch Norman Pipe Band,” Hinkson wrote in an essay that earned him a spot as a finalist in Huntersville Family Fitness & Aquatics’ (HFFA) Biggest Winner contest. “It would be the greatest thrill of my life if my wife thought I looked dead-sexy in a kilt.”
Thirty-seven pounds later, what’s the verdict?
“He looks amazing,” Joanne Hickson gushes. “He looks like I remember him in college, when we met.”
Joanne has yet to see the fit Paul in his kilt, though. He trashed the big one, and wanted to wait until hitting his weight-loss target before measuring for a new one. He’s dutifully attended bagpipe lessons and practiced. And next spring, he’ll debut as a Loch Norman Pipe Band member.
HFFA selected Hinkson as a Biggest Winner finalist from a group of north Mecklenburg residents who submitted essays explaining why they wanted to lose weight. While the contest plays off the name of NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” television show, HFFA doesn’t necessarily look for tremendously overweight contestants, as the TV program does. The Biggest Winner is not about drama, not a matter of triple-digit plummets in weight for people HFFA will never see again (and who would as likely to gain the weight back as they would to keep it off).
The Biggest Winner is about gradual, grind-it-out, one-beat-per-minute-at-a-time off your resting rate progress. It’s about life changes more than body changes, about health more than appearance.
For Hinkson, who came into the contest weighing 225 pounds, a kilt-ready physique wasn’t the only goal.
“Getting back in shape would mean a healthier, more-active life with my wife and two boys,” Hinkson wrote in his essay. His sons “are getting more and more athletic, and I’m getting less and less” athletic.
Just making sure he’s actually around to watch his boys grow up also was a factor.
“Heart disease runs in my family, so as I get older I need to do more to keep my heart healthy,” Hinkson wrote. “Also, I used to be an athlete and right now, playing a pickup game of football is not only unrealistic, it’d likely be painful.”
At a slimmed down 187 pounds, football might still be painful for Hinkson, but it would be from contact, and not the result of poor fitness. His HFFA trainer through the contest, Jen Magnuson, wouldn’t have allowed it, he says now.
“The most important thing I learned about myself is that no matter how motivated I am at accomplishing a goal or finishing a task, I am exponentially more successful when I have accountability,” says Hinkson, who credits Magnuson, his family and friends for keeping him motivated. “That got me to the gym at 6 a.m.”
Of course, if losing pounds were easy, few people would be overweight and the diet business wouldn’t be a multibillion-dollar industry.
“We all want to believe that losing weight is as simple as cutting back from two bowls of ice cream a day to one, or that doing some sit-ups once a week will get us in shape,” Hinkson admits. “The reality is that it’s hard work — incomprehensibly hard work.”
Self-denial drives true fitness, Hinksom explains, and it was at the center of his success.
“I love fast food, soft drinks, ice cream, Little Debbie snack cakes, candy ... you get the picture,” he says. “I was in a weight-loss competition, so obviously all that had to stop. (But) my enjoyment of food did not.”
What Hinkson ate had to change. But just as importantly, he needed to control when he ate.
“I actually had to eat more throughout the day,” Hinkson adds. That’s because Magnuson put him on a five-meal-a-day regime to keep his metabolism revving all day. Eating more so he he can weigh less: It’s one of those counterintuitive practices a lot of people wouldn’t stick with — or even try — without a trainer’s insistence and reassurance.
The food we take in is one thing, but Hinkson knows the effort he puts out is just as important to his health and fitness. Having Magnuson’s advice on what exercises to do, and when to do them, gave Hinkson confidence that his effort would make a difference. Magnuson, a petite, perpetually perky dynamo with the enviable ability to inflict pain with an absolute absence of malice, also served as Hinkson’s polite kick in the rear.
“The other side of self-denial is pushing yourself when the pain’s almost too intense to bear,” Hinkson explains. It’s “denying the relief of stepping off the treadmill, or doing one more pushup when your arms wanted to quit five pushups ago.”
A trainer who knows a person’s limits can push him or her to the edge — a place that’s much harder to reach on one’s own. Then there’s the peer pressure, the people Hinkson would see every day at HFFA, the people who could see his progress (or lack thereof if he failed).
If it sounds like Hinkson is unwilling to soft-sell health and fitness, if you think he’d never say, “Hey, it’s no big deal,” you’re right.
“It’s going to hurt,” he warns. “You’re going to be hungry sometimes. You’re going to dream about the taste of pepperoni pizza with extra whatever. Put the slice of pizza down and back away from the table.”
So what’s the point? Why do it if getting fit is so hard?
“There’s more at risk here than your waistline,” Hinkson advises. “And besides, you’re worth it!”
About Huntersville Family Fitness & Aquatics (HFFA):
Huntersville Family Fitness & Aquatics is about family, fitness and fun. Dedicated HFFA staffers produce an exciting variety of programs and partnerships that connect the community and enable members to experience and achieve the most in health, wellness, and total fitness. Built in 2001, the 88,000-square-foot HFFA facility features state-of-the-art aquatic and fitness components, including a 50-meter pool, a 25-yard warm water pool, an outdoor family fun pool, full-court gymnasium, complete fitness center, and group exercise studio. As the only public facility in the Southeast with an Olympic-sized, 50-meter competition pool and 10-meter dive tower, HFFA regularly hosts aquatics events with up to 2,000 spectators for regional, national, and international swim and dive competitions. For more information, please call (704) 766-2222 or visit www.hffa.com.
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