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Home » How to lose weight safely » Leslie Goldman: Fat and Back

Life is good when you're a Dolce & Gabbana underwear model. Blindingly hot women, invites to the most exclusive clubs, your name shouted at red carpet events. Luxury Italian sportswear fills your wardrobe and Moet flows with hip-hop video vigor. Your abs are shredded; pecs, rock-hard. It's only natural that, at a career pinnacle like this, you would stop, pinch yourself through your new Prada suit and think, "Now's a good time to get really, really fat."

That's exactly what Aussie personal trainer Paul "PJ" James did on Dec. 31, 2008, as he set out to add nearly 100 pounds of flab to his ripped 176-lb. physique -- imagine The Biggest Loser, but in reverse. Bingeing would become his full-time job, and he wouldn't put down the Ben & Jerry's until his formerly eight-pack abs threatened to bust the buckle of a size-48 belt. Then, like a trim phoenix rising from the ashes of a wood-grilled pizza oven, PJ would launch a full-scale workout assault on his plus-sized physique, torching his freshly acquired fat reserves and rebuilding the same lean, cut musculature that landed him, bare-chested, on the runways of industry giants like Versace, Jean Paul Gaultier and Calvin Klein.

Driving him: A yearning to empathize with his overweight and obese clients -- people who would offer "excuses" such as "lunges hurt my knees too much" or "I can't climb another stair -- I can barely breathe!" -- as well as demonstrate that, with dedication and the right tools, weight loss success is possible. In a sort of anti-New Year's resolution, the 33-year-old Australia native pledged to pack on 50 percent of his body weight, maintain it and then shed it, all within 2009. In the process, he traded lat pull-downs for ham-and-cheese roll-ups and watched his deltoids vanish beneath a duvet of fat.

I had the pleasure of working with PJ over the past few years; the culmination of our work is Take It Off, Keep It Off: How I Went from Fat to Fit... and You Can Too -- Safely, Effectively, and Permanently. In it, you'll learn how the road from 6 percent to 32 percent body fat was paved with confidence-sapping potholes and clinically depressed roadblocks. PJ thought losing the weight would be easy; he never imagined he'd become legitimately addicted to junk food and start withdrawing from his girlfriend because he was ashamed of the way he looked naked.

Why would you do this to yourself -- pack on nearly 100 pounds of flab?

As a personal trainer, I was getting more and more clients who were overweight and obese. These were people who had serious weight to lose, and all of the baggage that comes with that territory. But whereas I could train my fit or semi-fit clients with my eyes shut, I had no idea how to respond when a heavy client claimed he simply couldn't muster the energy to walk for five minutes on the treadmill, or tried to explain how anxious and embarrassed she felt in a gym environment. As someone who subsisted on egg whites, grilled fish and steamed sweet potatoes, I hadn't the slightest clue about life as an emotional eater or junk food addict. I found myself doling out general advice -- "do more cardio" or "eat more vegetables" -- and they responded with "You're a freaking underwear model! You have no clue what it's like for us." What could I say? They were right. Their questions tossed me far outside my comfort zone and I felt almost reluctant to train them, like I was doing them a disservice. On a very basic and essential level, I couldn't understand how difficult it was for an overweight person to get into shape, and had no clue as to the best approach to help them mend their eating habits.

What was your diet like before you gained the weight?

I'm a trained chef, so I'd cook myself healthy meals like grilled filet and steamed shiitake mushrooms, or sea bass with ponzu sauce. Lots of sashimi and certain sushi rolls -- they offer the perfect protein-carb combination to fuel my workouts. I basically ate clean, enjoying whole, unprocessed foods like fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins instead of pre-packaged items, fast food or anything with a label.

And while packing it on?

Starting on New Year's Eve, Dec. 31, 2008, my first fat-bomb meal included four lamb gyros, a heaping plate of BBQ, salad, bread and dips, plus a platter of fried fish for dessert... all washed down by eight cans of Coca Cola. My body, used to asparagus and egg whites, was so confused by the sudden influx of grease and salt that I gained 12 pounds overnight, primarily water weight.

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Leslie Goldman: Fat and Back

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Home » How to lose weight safely » Leslie Goldman: Fat and Back