Another Monday morning. I always remember the quote “It’s not Mondays that are rubbish, it’s your life that sucks” and that makes me smile as another week begins.
In my article today, I want us (us being the operative word) to talk about Pilates (of course) and also those emotive words diet and weight-loss. Today I would like to know your interest in and experiences about your client’s eating habits and how in your opinion this affects their Pilates practice and the progress that they make.
Diet is of course only one aspect of wellness, but of course it is a very important one. I talked about the outrageous and often false claims that some people make in my previous articles “Vanessa Hudgens: Does Pilates create a flat stomach?” and “Bikini-body using Pilates: Jennifer Hawkins knows better”. I also talked about diet in my article “Demi Moore: Pilates and you are what you eat” so please if you have time read those articles in conjunction with this one.
One of the things that prompted my article today is that I was reading over the weekend about Maria Menounos, so I want us to use her example as a reason to debate exercise and diet. If you have never heard of Maria, she is something of a star now in the diet and weight loss arena. She credits the Mediterranean diet and a combination of Pilates and fitness workouts for her quite stunning 40-pound weight loss. She wrote the inevitable book about her achievements.
The Everygirl Diet: The Cheaper, Smarter, Simpler Way to Better Health
I am very sceptical about “quick-fixes” and miracle diets, and Maria did lose a lot of weight in a relatively short period of time, but it seems that she did it in the right way and in a sustainable way. She is Greek and followed the Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes healthy fats such as olive oil, salmon and avocados, high-quality animal proteins, vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts, and seeds. She says that she was raised in a strict low-sugar diet as a child because her dad had type 1 diabetes, so when she went to college, she went overboard indulging all her junk-food cravings.
Tired of being overweight, Maria completely overhauled her diet and began exercising during her early 20s. Within a year, she lost 40 pounds and slimmed down to a size 4. The 5-foot-8 Maria now weighs about 125 pounds. She has maintained an active, health-conscious lifestyle ever since. For exercise, Maria tries to walk 10,000 steps (about five miles) every day and she also runs on the treadmill, takes spinning classes, jumps role, plays basketball, and does Pilates and Krav Maga workouts.
It is my opinion that simple logic dictates that our clients will not make as much progress if they take Pilates in isolation, but how much responsibility do you feel about other aspects of your client’s health and wellness? I talked about what I call “total fitness” is my article “Exercise is only one part of Total Fitness” so today I welcome your thoughts and comments about how you approach other aspects of health and wellness, or if you see you role as purely a Pilates teacher. I appreciate that most of us are not qualified in nutrition so for those who are not, how do you try to approach this topic, if at all? For those of you who are qualified, how open do you find your clients to advice about what they eat?
Monday’s aren’t rubbish. And I am sure that this debate today will make this particular Monday an interesting one.
Chris is an international Pilates and functional training presenter and educator based in London and Barcelona, Spain. He is the creator of Pilates EVO©, bodyFUNC©, and CEO of Pilates Rehab Limited and Sport Core Strength. He also created Pilates Carnival and Fitness Carnival, conventions where all profits go to local children’s charities. He organises fitness holidays and sports holidays in Barcelona, as well as retreats. For more information about training with Chris in Barcelona, please click on Barcelona Bienestar. To learn more about Chris, please read Just who is Chris Hunt anyway? You can also subscribe by completing the form on the this BLOG to receive articles and special offers straight to your inbox.
Chris pays all profits made from this BLOG to his charity partners. More details can be found by clicking on www.chrishuntwellness.com and selecting the “charity partners” tab.
