The third and final installment of progress reports from a weight-loss program designed for golfers.
The results may seem contradictory: Having participated, with fluctuating fidelity, in weight-loss coach Larry Jacobs’ program designed with golfers in mind, I’m persuaded that I’ll probably never be a strict adherent to the dietary regimen he espouses. Even so, I recommend “Weight Loss for Golfers” unequivocally.
Actually, maybe I could eventually be a poster boy for the program – just not a golf writer at the same time. The past couple of months have embraced both the surprisingly facile adherence to Jacobs’ precepts and attendance at the fun-filled, suds-drenched Festival of Beer, sponsored by The American Club, in Kohler, Wisconsin; the foreswearing of dairy products and indulgence in a colossal, seven-course dinner at Villagio Italian Grille at the Renaissance World Golf Village Resort, in St. Augustine, Florida.
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Jacobs posits that you can maintain a fat-burning metabolism as long as consumption of “unapproved” foods doesn’t exceed about 15 percent of total intake. Accordingly, I’d be summarily DQed by either of the aforementioned splurges. Still, the “Weight Loss for Golfers” program has been the transformative experience I had hoped for in my last progress report, since:
• While my weight – and more important, body mass index – may to some degree seesaw, the program has established a new, lower set point, a new “normal” in terms of pounds and girth. Obviously, it’s easier to raise one’s set point than to lower it; so although the lower set point isn’t necessarily permanent, it is a significant improvement, different than, say, the result of a three-day fast.
• Exactly how much I’ve reduced blood-sugar levels won’t be determined until the next round of hematology. But there’s reason for optimism, as my blood pressure has indeed been lowered by an average of 15-20 mmHG in both systolic and diastolic indices.
• Beyond any metrics for the program’s benefits, “Weight Loss for Golfers” has instilled a new perspective on nutrition and a new clarity relative to the frequently confusing debate on how best to address weight control. (My A Position colleague, Bob Fagan, recently wrote about the immense ramifications, pun intended, of the problem.) Among the insights generated is the salutary effect of taking a “vacation” from various foods, a concept explored in a blog earlier this week by Mark Bittman, food columnist for The New York Times.
Thus, Jacobs has succeeded in adding a measure of manageability to what can otherwise seem an intractable dilemma.
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