Three years ago, I wrote about the annual Twelve Days of Fitness program put on by the Alaska Club with an admission for $25 and my husband John. John had a massive incisional hernia (disclaimer here: I’m writing this with his permission,) and was instructed by his doctor to lose 10 pounds prior to undergoing surgery. John is a veritable couch-potato-book-worm with more than a slight bend towards being OCD. This Chicago boy hates the winter and will venture outside only to scrape the windows of his car, so clearly, going outside for any length of time to get physical was not going to be an option.
I suggested that John just try the Alaska Club with this Twelve Days of Fitness offer. I mean honestly, what’s the risk with just 12 days and $25, that you might actually LIKE it? It’s twelve days and $25. That’s a no-risk venture. Turns out, to my amazement, he did like it! And no, he did not lose 10 pounds. He lost thirty! His surgeon told me after the surgery was over that John had only “advanced his own cause,” and that it is highly unusual that a patient follows a doctor’s orders to lose weight because most people regard this process as a highly unpleasant affair. Not true! John enjoyed going so much that I had to step up my own game and go more often lest I be the weak fitness link in the family. Twelve days won’t establish a habit, particularly a health habit. In all actuality, most people need about three months for this. But it will give you a taste for a good thing!
Even more amazing is that it has now been four years since this occurred and John has maintained his weight loss. That puts him in the top 5% of people who do so as fully 90 to 95% of people who lose weight not only regain it but gain back even more. Let’s think about this a minute. If there is only ONE health habit (in the absence of drugs or alcohol) that a person could take on that would have the most meaningful multi-faceted effect on a person’s well-being, exercise would be it. John did not change his diet (which I call the PPPP diet: pretzels, pop, pizza and pop tarts.) He didn’t play tennis or racquetball or take on yoga or do weights or swim. He simply hit the treadmill for five days a week setting the machine at an increasingly higher elevation. My couch potato husband beat the odds. I wouldn’t say this is a complete anomaly because getting a taste of something good in 12 days can be very transformative. It doesn’t take long to realize how quickly one feels so much better, energized, lighter, more positive in just a few days. You know, I think this would be the best Christmas gift to give someone: a chance to feel and look better in our frenetically busy holidays. Why not? It’s only $25 and twelve days. Even Scrooge would buy that!
To purchase a 12 Days of Fitness pass: www.thealaskaclub.com/offer