Bio: An ordained Presbyterian minister who settled in Colorado five years ago, Kent Clayton, 36, lives in Palmer Lake with his wife, Kristianne, a social worker, and their two preschool children. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, he is a graduate of the University of California at Davis and Fuller Theological Seminary, and served churches in Albuquerque and Monument before taking his current position as a youth counselor at the Griffith Center for Children, west of Larkspur.
The Challenge: Always chubby even though he was a fairly active person, Clayton yo-yoed between 195 and 215 pounds through most of his 20s, but his weight got the upper hand in his 30s. “On my birthday last year, I weighed my heaviest ever – a whopping 227,” he says. “I couldn’t believe it. Here I was on the verge of middle age, with two little kids, and it was a chore just to push them around the block in a stroller. I decided it was time to lose some weight.” His goal: to lose at least 50 pounds – enough to drop his body mass index from “obese” down through “overweight” and into the “normal” category.
How He Did It: “After over six months of casually trying, I had lost only about 7 pounds,” Clayton says. “But in March, my wife and I planned an anniversary trip to Cozumel for this fall, and I started going to the gym and gave up junk food. I highly recommend planning a beach vacation six months ahead of time as a motivation to get into shape. It sure was nice not having to worry about my fat gut hanging out.”
In total, Clayton shed 60 pounds of fat and gained 8 pounds of muscle, for a net loss of 52 pounds. His waist size dropped from 39 to 33 inches, and his body fat content went from 34 to 11 percent.
The details: “It really wasn’t rocket science. I went on what I call the SESDM diet – Stop Eating So Damned Much,” he jokes. He swore off second helpings, cut out sweets – common in the school setting where he works – and ate lots more vegetables. With carrots instead of cookies for snacks, and five or six small meals instead of three big ones each day, he cut his total daily consumption to about 1,800 calories.
As for exercise, Clayton says, “The big difference was weight training. I stepped it up, and I really believe it changed my metabolism.” At Fitness Architects, a gym in Monument, he did bench presses, push-ups and pull-ups to strengthen his chest and back on Mondays; on Tuesdays, curls, presses, crunches and lunges to beef up his arms and stomach. On Wednesdays, he had a hard cardio workout: at least a 45-minute jog or 90-minute hike or bike ride. On Thursdays, he took a one-hour spinning class; Fridays meant more time in the weight room; and on Saturdays and Sundays, he did a run, hike or long bike ride, plus stomach crunches at home.
Motivation: “I remember thinking, Gosh, I want to be able to play with my kids and not get tired. I want to be able to go on a backpacking trip with my son when he’s a teenager,” he says. “I also was starting to get worried about diabetes. That’s in my family, and I knew it could be an issue.”
Still Working On: Remaining at a healthy weight, especially with the holidays coming. To keep from slacking off, Clayton is planning to enter the state’s amateur bodybuilding competition in May – or at least to train as if he will. “I think that’ll help a lot – being on a program,” he says.
Best Advice: “Have a purpose. As they say in the 12-step programs, the only requirement for change is a desire for change. Ask yourself, “Do I really want that cake, or do I want to be on the beach?”-Jack Cox
