A Fitness Makeover

Saddlebrook Resort armed the author with the information and motivation he needed to make meaningful and permanent life changes.

- Andrew Friedman

The notion of a makeover usually connotes cosmetic or stylistic adjustments: fashion, make up, hair styling. They enhance one’s attractiveness, but have little or no substantive impact on the quality of our lives.

Recently, Saddlebrook Resort in Tampa, FL, invited me to undergo a different kind of makeover—a “fitness makeover”—by creating a customized nutrition and exercise program. The results wouldn’t be as immediate as a new haircut, but the longterm upside was greater. If I kept up with the program, I might realize improved conditioning, enhanced health and, in time, the best kind of cosmetic upgrade: a narrower waistline, increased muscle tone and an elevated sense of well-being and confidence.

The timing was ideal, because I was at a moment of personal reckoning. After my annual checkup, I received a piece of surprising and concerning news. For the first time in my life, my cholesterol had skyrocketed into the realm of “high,” with a total level of 258. Most doctors agree that under 200 is “normal.” My overly sedentary lifestyle combined with a passion for food and drink had finally caught up to me. Being in my mid-40s, an age when thoughts of chronic injury and health calamities begin to creep into one’s mind, the information was a wake-up call. There was also another motivation: I had gradually and insidiously gained weight over the past few years, and this was as good an occasion as any to reverse the trend.

And so, I arrived at Saddlebrook as a work in progress. I had already made a few minor changes: religiously eating oatmeal and berries for breakfast; vastly reducing my intake of saturated fat by nearly eliminating full-fat dairy,poultry and meats from my diet in favor of tuna and salmon; saving sweets for special occasions; and getting reacquainted with my gym.