Bio: Chuck Williams, 59, played eight professional basketball seasons in the 1970s, several as a guard for the Denver Nuggets. In recent years, he has run a limousine service and worked as an environmental contractor. The higher the stress level of the jobs he has had, the easier it was for him to let his health go, Williams says. Lack of exercise and high-fat food packed pounds onto his 6-foot-2-inch frame. He weighed 235 pounds when he first met life coach and personal trainer Michael Ditchfield a little over a year ago.
The Challenge: To get back down to his professional playing weight of 190 through diet and exercise, and lower his blood pressure. With Ditchfield’s guidance, Williams began working out five or six days a week at the Cherry Creek Athletic Club and radically changed his eating habits. Williams was at about 200 pounds in early May, and his goal is to drop to 195 by June 6, when he celebrates his 60th birthday.
How he’s doing it: Williams does cardio exercises each session and alternates workouts on his upper and lower body.
He warms up 15-20 minutes on the bicycle and then spends 50-60 minutes on the elliptical trainer.
For strength training, he’ll follow Ditchfield’s “shredding technique,” lifting light weights during hundreds of repetitions (up to 900).
Williams no longer skips breakfast. He eats small meals six to seven times a day. Diet staples include cereal with berries for breakfast, hard-boiled eggs, high-quality protein, almonds and raisins, peanut butter, salads, green vegetables and fresh fruit. Williams confines carbohydrates to the morning, takes fish oil supplements and tries not to eat or drink after 8 p.m.
Motivation: The desire to feel better, look better and be healthy keeps him going. Also, events such as the annual catfish fry he hosts for friends will spur him to get down to a specific weight set by his trainer.
“He’s one of the most disciplined people I know,” Ditchfield says.
To make the time fly during his workout, Williams listens to Sergio Mendes, The Black Eyed Peas, John Legend and India.Arie.
Still working on: The last few pounds, and getting his friends to join him. “I know a lot of guys from high school and college, and we still do a lot of things together,” he says. “I want to keep spending time with them – I’ve gone to too many funerals.”
Best advice: “Practice makes permanent” is one of Ditchfield’s favorite phrases. Stick with the program, and you’ll see the results, he says.
“It’s a part of my life,” Williams says of his gym routine and diet. “If I miss a couple of days, I feel it.”
Do you know someone who has lost a lot of weight, regained health after an illness or made a healthful lifestyle change? Send a name, daytime phone number, a description and photo to Fit, The Denver Post, 1560 Broadway, Denver, CO 80202, or email to living@denverpost.com.
