Weight Loss Success Stories: Lower Cholesterol  

Finding a good workout buddy can be harder than lifting the weights themselves. So we at MensHealth.com wanted to help by bringing together our virtual workout buddies in our online forums to focus on one goal -- getting leaner by Labor Day.

This was never about who fared the best. There were to be no winners nor losers. The goal was for readers to share their experiences and know they could rely on others to deliver a swift kick in the rear if they slacked off.

So on July 14 we kicked off the Leaner by Labor Day Club, using the Men's Health e-mail newsletter to encourage guys to come on board. Readers who needed workout and nutrition motivation signed up and tracked their progress in a thread in our Belly-Off forum.

Throughout the seven weeks, four men -- coined "Team Lean" -- stood out from the rest in their consistent willingness to help each other and check in on a daily basis. Again, these aren't the winners. They're examples of success, stories we can all learn from.

Team Lean features Pick E. Guy (Vincent Caster), Pedalin' Dad (David C.), MiddleAgeDad (Tod Adkins), and Kevnik (Kevin Brandon). These men built a fitness community by cheering each other on and recognizing accomplishments. They've even decided to keep their informal group together through Thanksgiving. You still have time to join what's now called Thinner Through Thanksgiving, where these men will continue to be a presence, encouraging you to reach your goals. Look below for Vincent Caster's story, and return to our site tommorrow to read Pedalin' Dad's story.

 

Pick E. Guy's Success Story

Vincent Caster

Forum Name: Pick E. Guy

Profession: Executive office coordinator for a hotel

Hometown: Peekskill, N.Y.

Starting Weight: 178

Ending Weight: 173

Age: 42.

Goal: Lower cholesterol and do 50 pushups

 

You might say that Vincent Caster put his heart into the Leaner by Labor Day Club. He needed to lower his cholesterol, which was at 230. He also has a family history of heart disease, which claimed the lives of several uncles while they were just in their 50s.

He knew he had to exercise to improve his cardiovascular health, and the Leaner by Labor Day effort presented him with an opportunity to get started. Plus, he wants to instill healthy eating habits in his children while they're still young (one is 13 months old and the other is two and a half).

He boiled all this down to two simple goals: to increase his pushup total to 50 from 20, and to be able to sprint for a minute straight to prove his heart was gaining strength.

Caster started waking up at 5 a.m. -- an hour earlier than usual before his one-hour commute into Manhattan -- to complete high-intensity interval training (HIIT). The training is a cardio workout in which you alternate your normal jogging pace with bursts of speed. For example, on a 25-minute run, Caster jogs four minutes, then sprints for a minute, jogs four minutes, then sprints the next minute until 25 minutes are complete.

Caster followed his cardio workouts with strength training. He scoffed at his wife's light dumbbells and used his own body weight for resistance, doing pushups, pull-ups, squats and ab exercises. "I'm on the home gym plan with no increase in budget for the rest of 2005," he explains.

Caster also shifted from eating anything he wanted -- "too much red meat and cheese" – to things like oats, egg whites, and buckwheat kasha.

Perhaps most impressive about Caster is that he motivated others in the forum with daily themes like "The Guns are Barking" (about the pain you feel after working your arms to failure) and "Drag and Slag" (Caster's little one kept him up all night, but he still managed to get up early for his morning workout: "You can't get mad because she is too gosh darn adorable, gotta convince my boss that nap time would be a good thing," he wrote).

Can Caster do 50 pushups now? "Not yet. I can do 35. But my cholesterol's better," he says.

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