TheSadeianLinguist
Coin-Operated
From The Times Online:
The trainers in LA all come with their own trademark nutritional advice. There was a slight atmosphere when talking to Barry and the co-owner of Barry’s Boot Camp, Rachel Mumford, about the evils of complex carbohydrates. Mumford is in her late thirties, with three kids and the body of a slender 20-year-old. She works out a minimum of five times a week. If you are exercising twice a day, as plenty of LA women do, surely you need the sustained energy-release of starchy carbs?
Mumford: “You can get everything you need from fruit and vegetables, if you need to keep your weight down. Every trainer says no to complex carbs.”
Barry: “You should have a gram of carbs per pound of body weight, and they should come from fruit and vegetables.”
What about brown rice? “Only before 11am,” Barry says.
For dinner, Mumford has “chicken, fish or egg whites with broccoli and tomato”. I’m really struggling to countenance a diet such as this. Barry says: “If you are happy being a size 4 (UK size 8) then that’s okay. But it’s also okay if you want to be skinny, as long as you are eating right. Thin can be in shape, because you’re carrying less body weight. A true Barry’s girl is a shining example of healthy LA women on the go.”
Mumford says: “This is extreme fitness for people who want to get as fit as possible. It’s for A-type personalities. Perfectionists.”
I mention that I have seen two of their morning clients at other gym classes in the evening. “Coming twice a day, it’s not a bad thing; it’s a healthy addiction to have,” Mumford says. Those same two girls I mentioned had laughed, “Hey! Are you an LA girl now?” when they saw me at my second class of the day.
Just down the road is Train, a private gym where a hundred personal trainers hone their furiously goal-oriented clients. At reception, I say I want a trainer who can help me get thin. I say I really like the way Nicole Richie looks. “It’s a little bony for me,” he says, “but I know what you mean. Visible clavicles and hip bones, that sort of a look?” He writes down a list of trainers who deal in that sort of body.
The boot-camp approach is popular. It can have great results, according to Mimi Golnaraghi, who lost 21lb in three months and wound up, at 5ft, just over six stone. “I wasn’t as skinny as Nicole Richie, probably more the size of Hilary Duff. I had to get a boob job because I could no longer fit into the smallest bra size.”
But Golnaraghi’s experience also left her with no periods, a thyroid problem and IBS. “I went to my trainer two hours a day, five days a week for a year. I paid $550 a month. His schtick is, ‘I take your body, strip it of fat and then add muscle.’ His diet plan takes you into a state of ketosis [the state in which the body burns fat as fuel in the absence of carbohydrates]. My daily diet was, breakfast: egg whites and rocket; lunch: chicken breast and vegetables; dinner: egg white and rocket.
“Every day, he checks your pee for glucose levels, to make sure you are in ketosis. If you aren’t, he calls you a fat-ass. You don’t show up if you’ve eaten bread."
Well, at least he says it's okay to be as fat as a size four, right?
The trainers in LA all come with their own trademark nutritional advice. There was a slight atmosphere when talking to Barry and the co-owner of Barry’s Boot Camp, Rachel Mumford, about the evils of complex carbohydrates. Mumford is in her late thirties, with three kids and the body of a slender 20-year-old. She works out a minimum of five times a week. If you are exercising twice a day, as plenty of LA women do, surely you need the sustained energy-release of starchy carbs?
Mumford: “You can get everything you need from fruit and vegetables, if you need to keep your weight down. Every trainer says no to complex carbs.”
Barry: “You should have a gram of carbs per pound of body weight, and they should come from fruit and vegetables.”
What about brown rice? “Only before 11am,” Barry says.
For dinner, Mumford has “chicken, fish or egg whites with broccoli and tomato”. I’m really struggling to countenance a diet such as this. Barry says: “If you are happy being a size 4 (UK size 8) then that’s okay. But it’s also okay if you want to be skinny, as long as you are eating right. Thin can be in shape, because you’re carrying less body weight. A true Barry’s girl is a shining example of healthy LA women on the go.”
Mumford says: “This is extreme fitness for people who want to get as fit as possible. It’s for A-type personalities. Perfectionists.”
I mention that I have seen two of their morning clients at other gym classes in the evening. “Coming twice a day, it’s not a bad thing; it’s a healthy addiction to have,” Mumford says. Those same two girls I mentioned had laughed, “Hey! Are you an LA girl now?” when they saw me at my second class of the day.
Just down the road is Train, a private gym where a hundred personal trainers hone their furiously goal-oriented clients. At reception, I say I want a trainer who can help me get thin. I say I really like the way Nicole Richie looks. “It’s a little bony for me,” he says, “but I know what you mean. Visible clavicles and hip bones, that sort of a look?” He writes down a list of trainers who deal in that sort of body.
The boot-camp approach is popular. It can have great results, according to Mimi Golnaraghi, who lost 21lb in three months and wound up, at 5ft, just over six stone. “I wasn’t as skinny as Nicole Richie, probably more the size of Hilary Duff. I had to get a boob job because I could no longer fit into the smallest bra size.”
But Golnaraghi’s experience also left her with no periods, a thyroid problem and IBS. “I went to my trainer two hours a day, five days a week for a year. I paid $550 a month. His schtick is, ‘I take your body, strip it of fat and then add muscle.’ His diet plan takes you into a state of ketosis [the state in which the body burns fat as fuel in the absence of carbohydrates]. My daily diet was, breakfast: egg whites and rocket; lunch: chicken breast and vegetables; dinner: egg white and rocket.
“Every day, he checks your pee for glucose levels, to make sure you are in ketosis. If you aren’t, he calls you a fat-ass. You don’t show up if you’ve eaten bread."
Well, at least he says it's okay to be as fat as a size four, right?
