Matthew: Hi, this is Matthew from the DVCC and I’m here with Marcus Moore. I’m just going to ask you a few questions, hopefully to get an insight into how you’ve made such great results.
So, if you’d like to introduce yourself and just tell us how long you have been at the DVCC?
Marcus: Hi, I’m Marcus Moore and I began with the DVCC about 7 weeks ago.
Matthew: So can you tell us very quickly what results have you achieved in that 6-7 weeks?
Marcus: Ok; I have *lost, in 7 weeks, almost 21 lbs of fat; I’ve gained a pound of lean muscle; in total I have *lost about 20 lbs of body weight overall.
Matthew: Good work! What have been any difficulties that you have had, as I am sure there are literally thousands of people in the same position that you obviously were before you started at the DVCC?
Marcus: Before I joined – just lifestyle; I travel a lot, I am working away a lot; when I am at home I was picking food and not generally eating the right foods at the right times.
Not eating a lot of food but just the wrong foods at the wrong time. So I was looking for something that wasn’t a gym; I was looking for something that would help me change my lifestyle, that would give me some pointers on diet and would help me with exercising.
I didn’t just want to go to the gym and do one hour on an exercise bike or on a treadmill, when that exercise wasn’t the best thing for me. So the DVCC filled that gap quite well.
Matthew: Ok, fantastic. So what were your struggles with weight loss before the DVCC?
Marcus: I’ve been slowly gaining weight for a long time after a crash diet about 3 years ago; I *lost a lot of weight and put it straight back on again.
I just wasn’t exercising, the biggest thing was that I didn’t eat a lot but I just didn’t exercise a lot, and then I was eating the wrong foods at the wrong times.
So I found out about the DVCC and thought that with the advice and the nutrition side of things and the help you give there, and also with the exercise side of things, it would work very well.
Matthew: So, like you said, you did a crash diet about 3 years ago; so that was a way you tried to lose weight before and obviously you put it back on straight away; were there any other attempts at weight loss?
Marcus: No, that one was the first time for probably over a decade that I’ve actually tried to lose weight and do something about it.
That was one go at it and it worked, I *lost the weight but then, because of the type of diet it was I put it back on again within about 9 months or so. So I knew that this time - before I joined the DVCC I was back up to about 19 stone, and I had started doing some exercising just at the local gym but it wasn’t coming off quite as quickly as I wanted it to;
I was also still doing the bad eating, I still had bad eating habits - so I was trying to look at something that would help me with a better diet and give me some pointers on nutrition, but then also make sure that the exercise I was doing was the right exercise, and not just mooching along on a treadmill for an hour and not actually achieving anything.
Matthew: So the crash diet you were on previously, was it –you mentioned before it was the milkshakes – was it just a nutrition based diet or was there exercise as well?
Marcus: No, it was very much - because it was one of these very low calorie diets, which there are lots of on the market - it was basically just a very low calorie diet, milkshake only, 3 times a day.
But because it was very low calorie, I couldn’t do a lot of exercise; I think it was about 600 calories a day; so I couldn’t do a lot of exercise because I would have ruined myself with not taking enough calories to counteract the exercise. So it was quite ‘chicken and egg’ really.
Matthew: So, what does your lifestyle look like now, compared to before the DVCC? You mentioned you do a lot of travelling.
Marcus: Yes, I’m still doing a lot of travelling; now, I am nowhere near as tired, I have got a lot more energy these days and I am a lot more motivated to change things;
I have made a lot of changes at home in terms of diet, in terms of moving away from trying to eat less. A lot of people skip breakfast because they think you can do without in the morning, and then you have problems later on in the day.
So I have learned to eat regularly and eat the right foods during the day, so having more protein at breakfast: eggs, salmon and bacon, things like that for breakfast, and then trying to eat 3 regular meals during the day and then snacking on nuts; and the right things at the right time. And yes, it’s really worked.
Matthew: Fantastic. How has the DVCC specifically helped you?
Marcus: I think that starting on the Metabolic Damage Solution was very good, so essentially you are repairing the damage that’s been done to your metabolism by putting it on this set regime of food that you need to eat at certain times.
I like that, I like the idea of something saying right, eat this at these times of the day. Doing that for a couple of weeks; and then you kind of feel the changes, certainly after the first couple of weeks, you start to feel a lot more energetic and you have that will to get in the gym and the will to change.
Now it has been 7 weeks and it has just become a matter of routine to me now, for the advice you have given on eating the right things for breakfast and making sure you prepare the night before; so my habits have completely changed now, and I try and plan my day ahead the previous day.
I’ll have everything cooked and prepared so I am not trying to search around, trying to snack on things because you haven’t got anything prepared.
So the diet side of things, the metabolic damage solution and then coming down here and doing the set training. And I know the training I’m doing, because you guys are there telling us what to do, I know it’s the right thing for us to be doing.
Matthew: Do you have any specific tips, with nutrition or exercise, that you can share with anyone listening, that have worked. Is there anything that you have found that has worked specifically for you?
Marcus: Make sure you’re doing it for – before you start, know what you want to achieve, why you want to achieve it. So don’t set out thinking “Well, I’ll just give it a go and see how it works”.
Have a goal in your mind; it can be a hard goal of reaching a certain weight, or it can be a soft goal. Like me, I would like to fit back into a pair of size 36 jeans because that’s what Next goes up to! So it’s a small thing, but know why you’re doing it and have a goal in your head, and then make sure you motivate yourself to reach that goal.
Apart from that, any tips at home, just follow the advice of the guys, follow the advice from the website and the material that’s out there, and then you’ll be fine. But just make sure you know in yourself why you want to do it.
Matthew: Awesome, good work Marcus. So any final words, anything you want to say?
Marcus: To wrap it up, it’s been an amazing 7 weeks; I feel a hell of a lot healthier and happier than I did before I started; overall great value for money.
It’s achieving exactly what I wanted to achieve and more and it’s been a really fun experience as well; I’ve met some really good people down here, both instructors and other people that have joined up. Yes, it’s been a really good experience.
Matthew: Awesome. Well, thank you very much Marcus, and I hope you found this interview helpful;
I want to thank you for your time. Please comment below with any questions and we will get back to you. This is Matthew from the DVCC in Northampton, thanks for listening.
