Q & A: Dr. Ilya Rachman

There’s no shortage of theories on how to lose weight in this world. What there does seem to be a shortage of is hearing from people who actually know what they are talking about.

Here at the Concession Stand, we love our food. But we also love sports and fitness. So today, we’re combining all three. In a good way, of course (we’d never swim right after eating! Never!).
Dr.  Ilya Rachman (pictured) is an internist that specializes in treating weight-related issues. He’s a Clinical Instructor at the UCLA School of Medicine and he’s also an Attending Physician at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles (so, if you want to read between the lines here, he knows his stuff). In 2006, he founded the Trim360 weight loss program. The idea for Trim360 came after seeing how people were facing significant health problems due to poor eating habits.

Dr. Rachman was kind enough to speak with the Concession Stand about Trim360 and about the proper approach for anyone who wants to lose weight, particularly athletes who want to achieve specific fitness goals.

CS: How did you get interested in helping people improve their overall health and fitness? 
IR: It was actually kind of an organic process. Most of my day was spent in a doctor’s office fixing what people caused to themselves by eating. Little by little, people are eating themselves into sickness.

(I thought) it would be more common sensical to fix the way they eat and live and it was just a natural progression. We offer practical options in terms of a healthy lifestyle.

CS: How long has Trim360 been going and why did you want to start the program?  
IR: We’ve been doing medical weight loss for about 5-6 years. Physicians don’t get taught weight loss or weight management in medical school or residency, which is quite stunning when you think about it. All we are taught to do is manage cholesterol and give you medicine.

The idea behind Trim360 is practical. It’s common sense and “B.S. free,” so to speak.

CS: Have you worked with athletes in the Trim360 program (or otherwise) before? If yes, what are some common issues they consult you about?
IR: We’ve been fortunate that we’ve been able to implement this to all demographics, age, categories and types of people. Initially when we started out, we offered it to patients and our patients brought it to their parents their friends, and their children. We’re fortunate to have several generations of family members. Athletes, dancers, business professionals, all kinds of medical backgrounds and social backgrounds (have used Trim360). 

CS: What are some health tips for athletes or people who are physically active who might be changing their diets to achieve a certain fitness goal? 
IR: First thing I would say to any athletes:  if people don’t devote to some thought to the nutritional component, it’s almost pointless to exercise. 

If you don’t consume enough of high-quality protein on a daily basis, there’s no point in exercising; you can’t build muscle, you can’t build muscle memory or any other type of memory that supports your athletic performance.

Minerals and vitamins are little facilitators, so without those new things it’s almost pointless to exercise. You also need unsaturated fats — the right amount of healthy fats — in your diet as well.

CS: What are some common misnomers from people who want to lose weight? 
IR: Not to be derogatory towards exercise, but we don’t want people to get unnecessarily frustrated (when they don’t see results).

Exercise is great for working through weight-loss plateaus, but it’s not great for weight loss itself. Calorie reduction is the best thing for weight loss.

CS: You are working on a book right now. What is it about?  
IR: It’s about dispelling myths and giving people the reality of how to lose weight. It basically gives you a realistic breakdown of what it takes for real people (to lose weight) that have jobs, that have family and that have commitments.

They don’t need to reinvent the wheel. They can implement it so they can have a healthy lifestyle. More specifically, we found it really takes a combination of knowing what your personality type is. Weight-loss approach should be tailored to your personality type. The reason so many people struggle with weight loss issues is they try to implement the wrong plans for their lives.



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The Concession Stand is very appreciative that Dr. Rachman was willing to take the time to answer some questions. If you would like more information about Trim360, visit their website at http://www.trim360.com./

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Tales of a running hater part III: Slacker Edition

 

Nope, I haven't put these on in a week. 

Well, that didn’t last long.

Two weeks ago, I was all gung ho. At least, about as gung ho as you can be when you don’t like what you are about to take on.

In this post here, I discussed that despite my hatred of running, I was going to get more serious about doing it on a regular schedule. I picked the program, Couch to 5k. I downloaded a super helpful podcast of the program that would play music, as well as tell me when to start and stop. I joined the facebook fanpage even! Don’t I sound seriously into it?

It took me a week and a half to ruin my streak of keeping with the program.

Impressive, I know.

See, I didn’t just stop because of laziness. I came down with a cold and suddenly my weekend got super busy. I only ran two out of the three scheduled days.

But in a turn of events that is quite different from the normal me, I am sticking with it. If this nine-week program takes me 20 weeks to complete, so be it. My New Years resolution, after all, is “finish what you start.”

My first thought after missing a day was, “well, I’ll just start on the third week Monday. I ran two out of the three days this week. That’s enough.”

It made me feel like a slacker; like I was completely incapable of sticking to anything. All the people that actually enjoy running would be ashamed. And I know and love some of those running enjoyers, as a one-year member of my high school’s cross country team. It only took me one season (it took a lot less than that, but I stuck it out to the end) to realize that running 10 miles a day is not my idea of a good time.

Also, I had read a story last week of a girl who continued to run while having cancer and going through chemotherapy.

So, um, yeah. What was my lame excuse again?

So, we’re going to give it another go, starting on Monday. Couch to 5k Week 2, the REMIX!

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Tales of a running hater: Part II

                                 Running isn't fun. Downloading podcasts on your new iPod is.

 Week 2 of the Couch-to-5k program has come.

Or more specifically, as I’ve seen on the Couch-to-5k facebook fan page I just joined, W2D2. People refer to where they are in the program by week and day. So in the interest of solidarity with my 40,000 new facebook friends, I’ll do it too.

As mentioned in my first post about the program (you can read it here), running and I are not BFFs.

Not even close.

But so far, the Couch-to-5k program has been exactly what I was looking for.

First, it’s free. You don’t have to sign up for anything. I’m a writer; needless to say, free is good.

Mostly though, it works for me because the program is 30 minutes long, three times a week. Much of my dislike of running is more dread than anything else. The idea of spending everyday doing long runs holds about as much interest for me as making a visit to the DMV. This program makes you feel like you can get in decent running shape (which is all I want) with 90 minutes a week. That, I can get on board with.

At this point, the workouts are pretty easy. This week, you run six intervals at 90 seconds apiece, and in between each of those you walk for two minutes. Doing intervals at this point helps too; running can be monotonous for me, but this helps break it up.

So obviously, “running” is pretty relative. I didn’t push it too hard on Monday, but went a little harder on the running sections today. As each running interval comes, I try to run it a little faster. By the sixth and final one today, I was probably running at about 90 percent of my full speed.

The podcast I use to help me through it is great too. It’s nice to not worry about looking at a watch to see when your interval is up. The podcast by Robert Ullrey I found on iTunes keeps track of all for me, playing upbeat music and telling me when to start and stop. 

It feels good now, but I’m wondering how long that will last. I’m sure by Week 6 I’ll be missing these 90 second intervals.

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Tales of a running hater: Part I

I don't have a picture of me running (thankfully), so my shoes are all you get. 

If running were on facebook, we would not be friends.

Running in a soccer game? Sure. Hustling from first to second base? I’m fine with that. Otherwise, running is not high on my list; unless that list is, “Things I don’t like doing.”

Use the words “running” and “Amanda” in the same sentence to any of the girls I played club or high school soccer with, and immediate laughter would ensue.

Running and I just don’t see eye to eye, despite my efforts to see the good in it. One agonizing sophomore year of high school, I even ran on the cross country team. The people on the team were wonderful; you really won’t find better people in sports than those who run cross country. But when the coaches would casually say on race day, “run a mile warm up before the race and a mile cool down after,” I could not imagine they were actually serious about that. That probably explains why I never did it (if you ever read this Coach DeLong, I’m sorry).

I made up this motto during my time on the team: “it’s good to suck and it sucks to be good” (it’s weird, I don’t get any calls to be a motivational speaker).The better you were, the more you ran, so why would I want to be good?

In spite of all of this, I started a running program this week. My resolution for 2010 is simply, “finish what you start,” because I tend to get started on projects or books or working out and not stick with it. Writing about it once a week, I hope, will help me stay on track.

I needed a program that was simple and something that wouldn’t be too much torture. So, I did what any self-respecting person would do in my situation: turned to iTunes.

The “Couch to 5k” running program started by Cool Running seemed to be the best choice (even though I don’t happen to agree that running is cool). There is no specific 5k race I’m training for or anything, but I just want to be in shape enough to where I could run about three miles and not look and feel like I just completed some ultra marathon. It’s only three days a week, and about 30 minutes a run. I think I can handle that. My days to run will be Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Robert Ullrey created a podcast for the program with music mixes to use while completing the runs, which are a really helpful.

Tomorrow is my last run of this week, and it’s been OK so far. I haven’t hated it, which is a step in the right direction.

Maybe, just maybe, running and I can be friends.

I make no guarantees. 

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