Life Swap

Sun Herald

Sunday March 16, 2008

By Helen Hawkes.

What happens when two men - a fitness fanatic and a workaholic - switch exercise and diet routines for a week?

What would happen if, for one week, you completely changed your lifestyle?

Say you're deskbound and for one week you commit to eat greens and acquaint yourself with a treadmill. If, on the other hand, your body is your temple, you spend a week with a couch and a pizza. Would the new habits stick? Or would you fall into a heap on day seven and swear never to bench press or order deep-dish supreme pizza again?

We asked fitness nut Karl Treacher, 36, to switch routines with workaholic Michael Spork, 35.

Treacher is buff. The non-meat eater has played Aussie Rules, basketball, tennis, rowed, done athletics and triathlon and competed in long-distance surf ski paddling in three Hawaii World Championships. "I plan on racing until I am dead because I love being fit and charging through water or air as fast as I can," says the CEO of Brand Behaviour. Most days, Treacher is up between 5.15am and 7am to run, swim or surf and he paddles four evenings a week. Twice a week, he walks or plays tennis with his fiancee, Dani Lombard, who works in public relations.

Spork is director of Blue Sky Publishing. "I have a personal trainer I never see," he says. "I might go for a run once every two weeks. I don't have any hobbies because

I don't have time. I work." Spork also tries to spend time with his girlfriend, Philippa Pelton, an integration strategist for Channel Nine, and her children, Darcy, 4, and Maddie, 7.

Sunday Life asked Treacher, a teetotaller, to road-test Spork's diet - high on restaurant meals such as steak and chips and plenty of beer - while we asked Spork to ditch the alcohol, eat more fish and sample some tofu.

THE FITNESS NUT

Karl Treacher

Height: 186 centimetres Weight: 82 kilograms

Day 1

"I feel like Elvis the night before he died. I skipped my morning exercise, then had a chocolate waffle and coffee and went for a dip in the ocean, although I didn't swim.

I went to a restaurant for lunch with Dani and ate a creamy pasta and drank a Coke. Later, I had a bowl of fries and a chocolate bar. I had takeaway fish and chips for dinner with a beer and a glass of wine. I was drunk on half a glass. I feel like I am abusing myself but at this stage I think it is more psychological that physical. I feel fat. I don't know how it can get worse. By contrast, Dani says it is nice to have me around more."

Footnote: Treacher went to bed at 2am after a nasty bout of stomach cramps. He then tried to sleep for three hours, waking with a headache and racing mind. When, after the experiment, we point out that, while Spork does drink three or four coffees a day, he does not eat sugar, let alone waffles, Treacher says he wanted to go all out to be "unhealthy".

Day 2

"I've been in a bad mood for most of the day because of my new life: fat, food and waiting around to die. Today, I had quiche with a Coke and a coffee for lunch and fish and chips for dinner. I also ate chocolate and had zero exercise. I hope to have a better sleep tonight if I don't die under the weight of my own body. My view on food is that it is fuel. I don't enjoy eating it or being bored out of my skull by people who want to talk about how delicious something is. I only eat because I have to."

Says Dani Lombard: "He's sneakily trying to fit in exercise. He told me that we should start going to the beach every morning for a walk, swim, run or something."

Says personal trainer Debbie Rossi, of Desire Fitness: "Karl is being a sook because he is feeling withdrawal from exercise." Exercise increases the feelgood endorphins pumping around your body, says Rossi. Endorphins also boost energy and help alleviate anxiety.

Day 3

"I have less panic today because I distracted myself by working 14 hours. I kept up the coffee and Coke and for dinner I had pizza and two beers. [Treacher usually drinks Milo or cordial.] I thought about eating a steak like Mike does but I'd be disgusted with myself. I am doing enough damage to myself already. Still, spending more time with Dani is a positive."

Says dietitian Jane Barnes, of Food Sense: "The reason Karl likes Milo or cordial is that he is looking for a quick sugar fix but a piece of fruit between meals would be better."

Day 4

"I have gone from 20 hours of energy release a week to about 20 minutes. I am certain I have lost muscle. For dinner, I ate Thai, with coconut milk and white rice, and slept terribly. I think it was MSG. I hate drinking this much."

Says Lombard: "Whether Karl is losing muscle mass remains debatable as he is a reverse anorexic. He weighs himself all the time and cries if he has lost a pound."

Says Barnes: "The coconut milk won't hurt Karl, even though it is high in fat, if he only has it once a fortnight. And the white rice is a carbohydrate, which he needs."

Day 5

"The weather conditions are perfect for paddling. I'm off!"

Day 6

"I went paddling for two hours yesterday. It felt like I had never exercised before and now I am sore. I slept until 11am and saw a different element to life - in a good way. We had a lazy breakfast of eggs, mushrooms and coffee. No lunch. We're off to a birthday dinner tonight."

Says Rossi: "Feeling sore 24 to 48 hours after strenuous exercise is normal, even for someone like Karl. It's called delayed onset muscle soreness and it shouldn't put you off exercising. If he'd stretched and had a hot shower, he might not have been quite so uncomfortable."

Day 7

"I slept in until 11am. Last night, I had dinner with friends - Thai food and a couple of glasses of wine. I've averaged two drinks a night. I swear I'm not touching a drop of alcohol for the next 40 years. I had avocado and tomato on bagels for breakfast. No lunch as we went to a wedding at 5pm and I ate everything in sight - it was sushi and salmon salad and everything I like. I did have some beer, wine and whisky though."

Post-challenge: "Thank God!" says Treacher. "I got up and trained today at 5am and am training again tonight. No more coffee, no more beer. I am back to myself. My weight did go down about two kilograms and although I didn't have hangovers, I did feel peaky in the morning and had trouble getting to sleep. I reckon it was a good lesson in how not to live. It was nice to have more time to see Dani but not at what I believe was the expense of my health and fitness."

THE WORKAHOLIC

Michael Spork

Height: 175 centimetres Weight: 90 kilograms

Day 1

"I got up at 6am and had a long jog along with Philippa. We probably went for about seven or eight kilometres. Then I had muesli. I felt virtuous. For lunch, I had one ham salad sandwich instead of two and I told them to hold the cheese. For dinner, Philippa and I had Thai food and I chose all stir-fries, no coconut milk, and I didn't have rice. I had no coffee all day and no alcohol."

Says Philippa Pelton: "The beach walk was lovely."

Says Debbie Rossi: "It's important that Michael does regular exercise to keep his stress levels and blood pressure down. I'd like to see him start with half an hour in the morning and afternoon three days a week. He could run on the beach or treadmill and do simple push-ups, lunges and step-ups. Once he recognises how much energy he has and how focused he is at work, he might stick to it."

Day 2

"Today, I had to fly to Sydney from Brisbane, so I got up at 4.30am and didn't have time to exercise. But since I was staying with my sister, I took her labrador out for over an hour. Dinner was chicken with no skin, no beer and salad. I didn't have coffee all day and I was tired so I went to bed without watching television. I am not eating tofu."

Says Rossi: "When he's travelling, Michael should pack an exercise band and a skipping rope and exercise for four songs. Most hotels have a swimming pool, too, so he could jump in and do a variety of strokes."

Day 3

"I got up at 6am, grabbed the dog and walked for an hour. I had fruit salad for breakfast and treated myself to a skim flat white. For lunch, I had a tuna salad sandwich and for dinner, I had a tomato-based pasta, then it was back out for a run for 30 minutes. I thought the regular exercise was going to kill me but I'm enjoying it and I have more of a spring in my step. I'm not missing the alcohol. I wonder how Karl is going with all that beer!"

Says Jane Barnes: "A tomato-based pasta with vegetables has no protein unless he adds beans."

Day 4

"I did an hour with the personal trainer. I was pretty tired after the running and work with a medicine ball. Lunch was a tuna and salad sandwich on multigrain. I still haven't managed the tofu. I had hamburger meat for dinner but no bread, just a salad."

Says Barnes: "A hamburger is not too bad as long as the meat's lean - it's all the chips and the high fat dressing we put with it."

Says Pelton: "I know Michael really pushed himself this morning. The challenge will be tonight when he gets home - we sit out on the back deck and I have wine and he has beers and we stay up till midnight chatting."

Day 5

"We did have a late one. We had mostly water, although there may have been one beer in there. I feel sore today but at least I know the exercise is working. For dinner, I decided to try a tofu stir-fry. Tofu is disgusting. I'm never eating it again. We're having a barbecue at our house tomorrow and I might even have a beer."

Says Barnes: "Tofu is a very good source of non-meat protein, which Karl needs but Michael doesn't need as much because he does eat meat."

Day 6

"I had a bit of a blow-out. A hamburger and beers. I tried to meditate before the barbecue but I lasted 10 minutes."

Says Barnes: "Busyness and stress dehydrate so he is probably drinking because he is thirsty. Drink alcohol for the taste, not the thirst, and stick within healthy drinking guidelines." The National Health and Medical Research Council recommends men consume no more than four standard drinks a day, and women no more than two, with one to two alcohol-free days a week.

Day 7

"We played tennis today, even though I was hungover. We ate with the kids - fruit salad, ham and cheese sandwiches and a tomato-based pasta for dinner. I was tired and went to bed early ready for another week."

Post challenge: "I lost three kilograms and feel great.

I do enjoy the feeling of being fit and having more energy. I have kept up the running and I am doing 30 to 40 minutes a day as well as taking walks with Philippa. My work regimen isn't conducive to regular exercise but I am doing what I can. I wouldn't exercise as much as Karl, his schedule is extreme. You need a balanced lifestyle."

© 2008 Sun Herald

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