James Miller works with advanced yoga student Brian Chelminski of Iowa City. (Photo by Libby Shannon / Goosetown Graphics)
For the past hour, I've been grazing on fresh fruits and vegetables. While one might expect that from a writer for Radish, to me, it feels like a miracle. I thank James Miller. Miller is the owner of J.R. Miller Fitness, formerly Sadhana Yoga Studio, in Coralville, Iowa. I discovered James in 1999 when my 5-foot-2 frame was pushing 165 pounds — this after successfully losing (and gaining back) 10 pounds with another trainer. Here I was, once again, handing my body to someone and saying, 'Fix it.' Miller suggested I keep a food journal, use a treadmill while wearing a heart rate monitor (so as to hit my target heart rate), and do some upper-body weightlifting and yoga and Pilates. The combination worked, and I lost nearly 15 pounds. More importantly, I became a person who exercised regularly. Flash forward to early March 2007. After a car wreck, I went three months without regular exercise. Beyond that, my eating was out of control, and my body was ballooning. Once again, I turned to Miller. After a frustrating yoga class, thanks to my uncooperative body, I sat across from Miller, feeling fat, stiff and dejected. I prayed he had a magic wand. 'Ann, you know what to do,' Miller said. 'You eat less, you eat more of the right foods, and you exercise more. 'But part of me wants you to just tell me what to eat,' I implored (OK, whined). 'You need to be your own best coach,' was his response. Rather than suggesting he holds the key to his clients' ability to transform their bodies, Miller helps clients become self-sufficient 'so they act by themselves, and for themselves work toward achieving perfect health.' He searches for the tools to motivate people 'to do what they need to do to take the next step on the path to perfect health.' His toolbox often includes cardio, weight lifting and yoga. Miller, a former Marine and competitive bodybuilder, added yoga after years of training people the traditional way. 'I became very good at motivating people to change the shape of their bodies through weight loss and muscle gain, and I had great success in giving people the appearance they wanted,' he says. 'But somewhere along the way, I began to notice that when their bodies changed shape, my clients began to act differently as well. It was as if different physical attributes related to specific mental and emotional traits. That led me to yoga. It connected the mind and body. Yoga provided a clear path to improving the health of the whole individual.' He helps clients shift their views of exercise to see it as a 'joyous expression of the remarkable ability of our bodies to move. Our physical self reflects all of the other layers of our existence — energetic, emotional, mental and spiritual. If we take care of the physical, we affect all of these other levels. 5 steps toward a healthier you Want to start being healthier? Personal trainer James Miller suggests the following:
Eating simply for a few days, just fruits and vegetables, or even just juices. Then start to slowly add back in your normal foods and observe how you feel. As you become more aware of how the foods you eat affect your body and your state of mind, you can choose not to eat the things that don't agree with you. Weight loss is a snap without refined sugars, wheat and dairy products.
Exercising daily. Sounds simple, but exercising daily is the best way to make your short-term gains into life-long habits of healthy living. Maybe it's only five minutes of easy stretching when time is limited and a long bike ride on a Sunday.
Drinking plenty of water. Even a 2 percent reduction of your daily water requirements can impair your ability to think clearly and act effectively. Not drinking enough water also reduces your ability to lose weight.
Setting short-term goals and rewarding yourself for accomplishing them. In the beginning, an exciting non-food reward can help. Get a necklace you've always wanted or plan a golf trip. Then work hard to earn your prize!
Learning to be your own coach. Be compassionate but disciplined — and then don't stress over it. Studies have shown that the stress we cause ourselves fretting over weight loss can actually outweigh the benefits of exercising in the first place.
