Mars Venus TV - Episode 4

Intro:

This week on Mars Venus we're looking at the weighty issue of that familiar favourite - the diet merry-go-round. Most of us have probably tried a diet at some time. Whether you cut out fat, take a pill or wrap yourself in plastic, we're all searching for the magic answer to the perfect body.

But who says we all have to be size 12 - is it women? Is it men? And why is it that men always drop weight so much more easily than women do - it's annoying! Do fat people get treated differently and does being thin bring happiness?

Today we're asking Does Fat Matter? We're going to meet some people who have lost masses of weight and love their new bodies. And we'll also talk to people who vow that bigger is better.

Our Panellists:

Rebecca Gibney, Alex Perry, Derryn Hinch, Prue MacSween & Kerry Armstrong

See panellist profiles

Our Guests:

Renee Geyer

The sultry songstress says that after a hugely successful singing career she found herself at 112kgs, over 50 and very uncomfortable. She dreaded summer, would constantly sweat, and simply found it hard to get around. So, having tried every diet on the market, all to no avail, she put herself on a low calorie diet. She lost 30kgs and says people are actually noticing her again. She says fat people are invisible because people are uncomfortable around them and look straight through them. Renee says she used to shop in big men's clothes shops, but today she can buy size 14 female clothes off the rack - and it feels fantastic! She now eats a quarter or half the amount of portions at each meal that she used to, and has no starch after 4pm. With her 20th CD out this year, as well as her first ARIA nomination for Best Female Artist, Renee vows she will never go back to being overweight again.


Susie Elelman:

Always bubbly and outgoing, multi-media personality Susie has worked as a TV and radio reporter and presenter, as well as newspaper columnist, corporate speaker and MC. But she is probably always going to be remembered for the infamous black and white dress she wore to the 1995 TV Logie Awards. With a neckline that plunged nearly to her navel, one critic described it as 'a herd of zebras rampaging down the red carpet'. Susie says she had actually lost 2 stone to fit into the dress and was feeling quite good about herself, but the public ridicule that followed was the final motivation for her to lose weight.

Over the next five years Susie went from a size 20 to a size 10 and is currently between size 10 and 12. At her heaviest in 1992 she weighed over 100kgs. Susie says she hasn't weighed herself for 8 years, as part of her dieting philosophy, but knows she's lost over 50kgs. She says the strange thing is that she may be 50kgs lighter, but she is the same person inside. Plus Susie says she actually got more offers of sex when she was bigger -not that she's about to put the weight back on to improve her sex life!

Susie Elelman and "that" Logies dress

Susie says she has been yo-yo dieting all her life, suffering schoolyard taunts as a child, then losing weight before Year 12 and becoming a model, but then putting it back on again. As a vegetarian of 14 years, the first step was giving up cheese and chocolate in 1994. The most dramatic results then came after visiting a health retreat in 1999 and fine-tuning her exercise. She now eats mainly fruit and vegetables and has five meals a day, keeping a strict eye on fat intake. Her exercise regime includes power walks with a heart-rate monitor to keep her in the correct range for fat burning. In the last year she has also done boxing training with friend Jeff Fenech. Susie says she aims to exercise every day, inevitably doing it 4-5 times a week.

Susie describes over-eating as an addiction - she says food is something you need so you are constantly tempted to eat more once you taste your addiction. She is therefore totally strict with her eating rules - she has not eaten cheese or chocolate for nine years!

Susie says there's always a fat person waiting to get back inside her, and she has to constantly be on the ball with exercise and diet to keep the kilos off. In January 2000 Who Weekly featured Susie on the cover with her dramatic transformation, and it was one of the biggest selling issues of the magazine. She says her lighter frame has given her enormous confidence in herself. While she's always been a positive, happy person, she says she is now happier with the way she looks.

Psychologist Amanda Ferguson has few excuses for people being overweight. She says big people are emotionally off balance, and that being big is a sure sign that something's out of whack in your life: "you're emotionally off course", she says. And of course eating six chocolate biscuits not only pushes up the scales but pushes you further off course. Amanda says she sees patients who are both under and overweight. For those that are overweight, she says it's their choice, and there is always a pyschological reason behind it.

To find out more about Amanda's work, go to: www.lifethatworks.com

 

Sam Karam

Sam Karam and Ivan Bresic:

Here is the ultimate, five-star answer for losing weight if you're cashed up and time poor! Sam Karam is a lifestyle trainer who'll boost your metabolism with punishing exercise and also deliver your meals to the door. He'll call you up when you miss a session and don't even bother coming up with an excuse - he's onto you! Sam's services will set you back thousands of dollars but he's got no shortage of clients.

Sam says the biggest obstacle to getting fit is psychological, battling against the self-doubt. Once you get over that anything is possible. He says everybody can fit in time for training no matter how busy they think they are. It's a matter of making fitness a priority in life, just as people make work, social and family life a priority.

Through his company SKULPT, Sam delivers personalised meals to his clients as well as training with them. His philosophy is that if he can't be with his clients all the time at least he can control what they eat. The diet is simple - delicious balanced meals with controlled amounts of fat and carbohydrates. Sam says his clients can still eat a substantial amount and often have 5 meals a day, but the quality of food is strictly maintained. He says if you feel starved you have already failed your body, so it's important to eat well rather than cut down on the quantity of food

Sam is based at CityGym on Crown St in Sydney. At $80-90 an hour, his services are not cheap, so he doesn't waste people's time. Once his clients trust him to run their life, he can push them harder than they would have thought possible. Depending on the person he will use weight training, resistance work, even squash to get results because variety is the key to maintaining motivation.

Sam says the most popular request from clients is for an athletic physique, while some people might also wish to bulk up muscle or lose weight in a particular area. These targets can be achieved but Sam generally aims for overall fitness and improving energy levels first. Sam says he doesn't necessarily enjoy the physical training, but he does enjoy the results of his efforts - he feels great after a session and has enormous energy for the rest of the day. Sure, he says, people can lose weight on all sorts of diets these days but do they feel good?

You can contact Sam Karam on:
Ph: 0411 541 111

Ivan Bresic

One of Sam's most enthusiastic clients, Ivan Bresic, 25, has been with Sam for the past 3 years. Ivan works 6 days and up to 75 hours a week, yet still manages to fit in five training sessions a week. He never cancels and manages his appointments around it. Typically a session is 3-4pm which means he can leave work and be back refreshed to meet clients in the evening.

Ivan says that in his business of real estate, image is everything and he has to keep up with the hours and stay productive. He doesn't train for weight-loss, rather as a release from the high pressure of his work. He says he doesn't want to be wealthy at 45 but out of shape.

Ivan receives four personalised meals a day delivered by Sam's company to his home and office. Breakfast at 7.30am consists of scrambled egg whites with a bowl of fruit. He has two lunches - one at 11am, the other at 2pm - with 200g protein and 200g carbohydrates for each meal. Dinner is then 200g protein with a small amount of vegetables or salad. Normally the two lunches and dinner will be divided into one fish, one beef and one chicken meal.

Of course this is all very expensive, but Ivan says he is happy to pay good money for good fitness and nutrition advice. It generally costs him $1300-$1600 a month or $15,000-$20,000 a year. Ivan says this big financial commitment is necessary to maintain energy levels right throughout the day with such a busy work and social life.

For Ivan, exercise is now a habit. Sam may be tough, he says, but thanks to Sam he is in the best shape he's ever been.

Dawne Albano (SureSlim):

A vivacious 62-year-old, Dawne joined the SureSlim clinic six months ago and in that time has lost 20kg. Following her husband's death 3½ years ago she became depressed and overweight. Through comfort eating she stacked on the kilos, and it took a while for her to realise that it was becoming a health issue. Dawne says her children were concerned that she was letting herself go but it took Ita Buttrose in the SureSlim commercial and a friend who had successfully tried the program to convince her to do it.

SureSlim was established in South Africa in 1996 as a quick weight loss company. The company now incorporates a more holistic lifestyle approach to weight loss. It is popular among celebrities; for example James Packer recently lost 25kgs within 3 months on the program. Under the program, client support is recognised as part of the weight loss process, with weekly one-on-one consultations. Clients' blood is tested to evaluate the 'hormones in the body that control satiety', and subsequently used to produce individualised eating plans.

When Dawne joined up, SureSlim took blood tests to ascertain what was wrong with her metabolism and to work out the food she should eliminate from her diet. At 90kg Dawne says she felt like a human blimp. In the first week of using the program she lost 4kg which was great motivation for her to keep going. By six months she had reached her goal weight of 70kg and is currently 65kg.

Dawne says the most enjoyable aspect of the program was that she was not forced to exercise, which was an issue at her age. Now, feeling better having lost the weight, Dawne enjoys regular walks without feeling she is about to have a heart attack. SureSlim advocates a way of preparing food for yourself, emphasising that clients eat appropriate portions of food. This has worked for Dawne because she enjoys experimenting with food.

Additional information on SureSlim:
SureSlim's approach is based on extensive medical research, and with its scientific and personalised emphasis, the program specifically targets a client's ability to control their food cravings.

It's not a high protein diet, but a balanced eating plan. The SureSlim Quick Loss Eating Plan is relatively low in carbohydrates, but unlike some very low carbohydrate diets, it also advises a low fat intake. Once the goal weight is reached, clients are taught to make healthy choices of unrefined carbohydrates such as fruit and vegetables, along with the healthier unsaturated forms of fats like olive or sunflower oil. Clients are also taught how to combine these choices with an exercise programme, in order to maintain their weight loss for life.

To find out more about SureSlim, go to:
www.sureslim.com.au


Joanne Projceski (Xenical):

Joanne, 31, has dieted since the age of 11 and describes herself as a typical 'yo-yo' dieter. Married with a 4-year-old son, Joanne estimates she has spent up to $9000 on weight-loss programs over the years. She has tried Herbalife, Jenny Craig, Gloria Marshall, Weight Watchers, and even a Swiss-based plastic wrap treatment. While she lost the weight initially, she would put it all back on once the program was over.

After the birth of her son, Joanne says she let herself go. With the resulting weight gain her self-confidence plummeted. It was when she reached a size 20, weighed 82kg and wanted to try for a second child that Joanne decided to seek professional help to solve her lifelong battle with weight. Her local GP suggested she try the prescription product Xenical. After three months on it, Joanne lost 16 kg, getting back into a healthy weight range. She then stopped taking the prescription but continued to lose the weight because of the lessons it taught her about the hidden fat in food and how to have a healthy diet.

Xenical worked for Joanne in that it literally forced her to go to the toilet when a meal exceeded about 40 grams of fat. Within 30 minutes of eating something that tipped her over she would have to excrete the excess. Joanne says it was that fear of going to the toilet that made her lose the weight. She says that by becoming aware of the fat content of all foods, she taught herself what she could eat. Joanne lost a total of 25kg after 6 months, and has maintained her weight of 57kg for the past two and a half years. She says Xenical changed the way she ate, cooked and shopped when other programs had not. Xenical appealed to her because whilst she would walk 2-3 times a week she felt she didn't have the time or energy to exercise to keep the weight off. She has since bought a treadmill to continue the walking, but says it is mainly changes in her diet that has worked.

Additional information on Xenical:
Xenical is a proven weight loss treatment that works locally in the digestive system to prevent the absorption of one-third of dietary fat from foods. It works best when taken in combination with a healthy, balanced diet limited to 40 grams of fat per day. As it is not absorbed into the blood stream, Xenical is suitable for long-term use. Xenical is taken at meal times with food containing no more than one-third of calories from fat. Some patients may experience mild, short-term treatment effects as a direct result of food containing high dietary fat. These may include fatty or oily excretion and a feeling of urgency to go to the bathroom. Adhering to a reduced-fat diet as advised, will help to minimise these effects.

To find out more about Xenical, go to:
www.xenical.com.au


Owen Hurley (Weight Watchers for Men):

A 34 year-old maintenance planner, Owen joined the Weight Watchers for Men program a year ago when he weighed 104kg. He lost 24kg in 16 weeks, and is currently maintaining his weight at 80kg. Owen says he was fit at school, but after that, the weight crept on. He was overweight when he got married at 23 and kept the weight on for a decade. He says it was family health problems - his father had a heart attack and his mother a by-pass operation - which spurred him to change. Plus, he has two young boys, 8 and 6, to keep up with.

The key to Owen's dieting plan was exercise, which he says he doesn't mind doing. Most mornings he gets up at 4am to go for a run, starts work at 6am and he is home by 5pm. The biggest change in his diet, he says, was simply limiting the quantities of food that he ate. Weight Watchers for Men lets you eat what you want, but makes you watch what you eat so that you naturally start to substitute foods with lower fat equivalents. The program uses a points system - it's a matter of counting down points for the day, similar to counting calories. For Owen, points started at about 27 and were gradually reduced as he lost more weight. Exercise can give you points but are limited to 12 extra points a week.

As a maintenance planner at a petro-chemical plant, Owen spends half his workday in the office and half using tools on the factory floor. Even in this blokey environment he says he hasn't copped much ribbing from co-workers. In fact they ask him questions about how many points certain foods are worth. Owen says he broke his weight loss into smaller goals - at 90kg he bought some new clothes, at 85kg he cut his hair down to a 'number two' all over and on reaching his goal weight, bought himself a new surfboard.

Owen says his wife motivated him to join the program, but dropped out because she didn't really need it! He says the best thing about the program was its simplicity - it didn't force him to change his diet completely and encouraged him to exercise which he enjoyed doing.

Additional information on Weight Watchers:
The Weight Watchers for Men program is a simplified version of the female-skewed Weight Watchers program. It comes in a kit form for $99. The program emphasises physical activity, and has a range of options to ensure it is easily adaptable to varying lifestyles. It contains fundamental health and nutrition information, easy to follow trackers and point-scored activities and meals. It ensures there's no need to go hungry or miss out on favourite foods - even beer is okay! Men now make up 4 per cent of Weight Watchers clientele.

To find out more about Weight Watchers, go to:
www.weightwatchers.com


Kelly Macey (Lap-Band):

Kelly is 28 and had lap band surgery 2½ years ago. She was 107kgs when she was 'banded' and is now down to 70kgs, with another 10 to go. She says she had it done after her husband was diagnosed with leukaemia. Kelly says she had always been overweight and had just assumed she would die early of a heart attack and that her husband would be there to look after their daughter. His diagnosis, however, gave her a wake-up call. She saw her GP and a few weeks later walked out of hospital to start a new life.

Kelly says the change has been drastic. She can keep up with her daughter now, has more confidence, a lot less back pain and, she says, most importantly can shop in nearly all clothes stores! A stay-at-home mum, Kelly does exercise, but still eats junk food. The band makes it hard to eat starchy foods like bread and pasta so that automatically cuts down carbohydrates in her diet. With private health insurance, which Kelly had, the procedure costs $3,000 or without it $10,000. She says this figure is cheaper than the meals you would continue to eat or dieting programs you would pay to lose the weight.

Kelly says she had tried many other diets, including weight loss tablets, in the past with little or unsustainable results. She says her only regret is that her husband never got to see the new Kelly, as he died 10 months after her operation. She has since remarried, to one of her husband's good friends. Her first wedding dress was a size 20 but this time around, a size 14. Kelly says she loves to share her story because she wished someone had told her about the lap band sooner.


John Wilson (Lap-Band):

John was 33 when he underwent the Lap-Band procedure. He went from 140kg a year and a half ago to being 80kg today. He says the band forced him to change the way he ate, and was almost like having someone looking over his shoulder all the time.

John used to be a standup comedian and says 80 per cent of his material was about being fat. With most of his material unusable he now hosts karaoke! He has had a girlfriend for about 6 months and says people he hasn't seen in a while really don't recognize him - understandable since he has lost half his body weight. John says he still gets freaked out looking at himself in the mirror and is a classic example of the 'fat brain, thin body' phenomenon.

Additional information on the Lap Band procedure:
The Lap Band system comprises an adjustable silicone band that is placed by laparoscopic 'keyhole' surgery around the upper part of the stomach to create a smaller stomach pouch, effectively dividing the stomach into two parts. This limits food consumption and creates an earlier feeling of fullness. The band is inflatable and connected to an access port placed close to the skin. This allows surgeons to adjust the system by adding or removing saline around the band through the port, to meet individual patient needs.

The procedure is reversible and does not require cutting or stapling of the stomach, or gastrointestinal re-routing to bypass normal digestion. Patient benefits include reduced surgical trauma, complications, pain and scarring and shorter hospitalization and recovery time compared to more invasive obesity surgeries.

Surgery is considered appropriate for people with a Body Mass Index of 35 or more that have problems associated with their obesity and for people with a BMI of 40 or more. A BMI of 35 in a woman would equate to a 5 foot 4 woman weighing 94kgs and a 5 foot 10 man weighing 110kgs. It is used specifically for the treatment of morbid obesity, defined as someone who weighs at least 45kgs more than their ideal weight. The band is the size of a 50 cent coin with a thin long tube connecting to the port which is about the size of a 20 cent coin.

To find out more about Lap-Band surgery, go to:
www.ozband.com
or call Inamed Health 1800 887 990


Sandra Scorer (Atkins diet):

Sandra, 46, says she read Dr Atkin's book once and has been on the diet since January this year. In 9 months she has lost 22kgs, dropping from over 90kg to the high 70s. She says the best thing about the Atkins diet is that it is easy - people seem scared of it, but it works!

Sandra says her motivation to try the diet came from seeing people close to her lose significant amounts of weight - both her mum and her boss have done it. Sandra has tried many diets before, including Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, the apple diet, the cheese diet, and diet pills when she was young.

The Atkins diet is simple - you can eat virtually what you want except for foods with sugar and carbohydrates. It cuts out pasta, bread, rice, potatoes and alcohol as well. Some people gorge themselves on fatty foods but Sandra keeps it simple. She says she isn't a big drinker so doesn't mind the no alcohol rule, nor is she a sweets person so doesn't crave sugar normally. There have been no bad side effects for her, in fact she knows people who had suffered illnesses like diabetes and the diet has steadied them. Sandra says her diet usually consists of eggs for breakfast, tuna and salad for lunch, roast and vegies for dinner.

Sandra regularly visits a health food shop in North Sydney, which carries a lot of Atkins products. Although they are expensive, she says it gets her through those mornings when she doesn't feel like eggs and can have a muffin instead. With a goal of losing ten more kilos, Sandra says she is happy to stay on the diet.

More information on the Atkins diet: The Atkins diet has been popular with Hollywood celebrities recently but the diet is not new. The late US cardiologist Dr Robert Atkins created his high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet 31 years ago, based on his theory that weight loss can be achieved by eating fat. His followers hailed him as a pioneer and his critics accused him of selling a dangerous idea. But until he died last April after an accidental fall, Atkins dismissed their claims and became a multimillionaire from his diet.

The Atkins Diet is based around the fact that the body burns both carbohydrates and fat as fuel for its energy needs. According to Atkins, carbohydrate is the first fuel to be metabolised but when the carbohydrate intake is cut the body burns fat instead as the primary energy source. This results in weight loss. To maintain weight, there is a tightly regulated carbohydrate threshold below which fat burning and weight loss occurs. When carbohydrate intake exceeds that threshold, carbohydrate burning predominates, allowing fat to accumulate, resulting in weight gain. The principle is that if you eat lots of protein, the body reduces its production of insulin, stored in the body as fat. When the body is loaded with protein, the kidneys are forced to work harder and, without carbohydrates, burn fat as fuel. Supplements and physical exercise are encouraged, but the diet has been ridiculed by medical and dietary experts for its high saturated fat content and potential for cardiovascular disease and kidney damage.

To find out more about the Atkins diet, go to: www.atkins.com

Anthony Sumbati

Anthony Sumbati and Lara Mulcahy:

These two larger than life performers were happy to share their weight loss experiences with us.

Recently a contestant on TV's Australian Idol, Anthony says he has always been big, apart from a period when he lost a lot of weight, the wrong way, and didn't enjoy it all. For three months he exercised and ate minimally - in the end just living on soft drinks for the sugar rush. Anthony says it felt good waking up every morning being light and being able to buy clothes in shops, but the side effects weren't worth it. He was dizzy, moody, tired and his whole personality and even sense of identity changed. Then, after six months of dieting he collapsed at work.

Anthony says he doesn't smoke or drink - his only vice is food. He was 176 kgs, had dieted down to 108kg, and was aiming for 100kg when he collapsed. He is now back at 155kgs and much happier.

Anthony says he simply didn't like being thin. Everyone told him he looked great but Anthony says he just wasn't happy. He felt uncomfortable because people were asking so many questions about how he lost weight so quickly. He admits, however, that the expense associated with his weight gets him down - he has to have his clothes made and would love to be able to just buy something off the rack.

Anthony says he's never had a problem making friends or with relationships because of his weight. If anything the fact that he's not your average Joe has made him very recognisable. As a performer he says he's got a personality larger than life, and he believes he can offer something to the Australian public to make them laugh. He says when he first auditioned on TV he was nervous and wary, worried about what the judges thought of him. But he was pleasantly surprised when they said we love you, you're larger than life. He says that's when he thought "I've got it, I'm going to go with this". He says he had finally found something he was good at.

Anthony says people are too hung up on aesthetics, and says that while he would like to change his body shape and composition, he just can't enjoy life being pedantic about counting calories.

Lara Mulcahy admits she's a big girl - size 24 top and size 20 pants - but that hasn't stopped her from snaring a lead role in the smash hit musical Mamma Mia. Lara says her size has never stopped her from performing, and that she's very happy in her own skin. She says people get a huge shock when they see how well she moves! In the show Lara wears a red lycra jumpsuit and she said it's been a great experience to embrace her figure.

But she admits that sometimes size does matter, as it inevitably typecasts you. She says she had to really push to get an audition as a can-can dancer for the film Moulin Rouge, but once she was in they all said she was the sort of look they wanted. Lara says the only time she has felt discriminated against was at an interview for a job in a doughnut shop - when the owner said Lara would be too fat to fit behind the counter.

Like Anthony, Lara says trying to dress fashionably is difficult, although in the last five years specialty shops for larger sizes have appeared. The other problem is men. She says there's a perception that if you're a larger woman you don't have any sex appeal. She says even though there are guys out there who like bigger women, it's definitely harder because initial attraction to people is a physical thing. She says they're not exactly banging down her door!


Having heard everyone's side of the fat debate, Rebecca says the message is to aim to be healthy. Being slim doesn't always equal good health, but if you're happy, no matter what your size, you're well on your way.

Tune in to Mars Venus every Wednesday at 7.30pm on W for women, and again on Thursdays at 1.30am.

Episode One: Is Plastic So Fantastic?
Episode Two: Where Are All the Blokes?
Episode Three: Who Strays and Who Stays?
Episode Four: Does Fat Matter?
Episode Five: Bosses v Babies: The Juggling Act
Episode Six: When Too Much Is Not Enough

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