Profiles in Fitness: Interview with Angela and Nicholas Bucchino

This installment of Profiles in Fitness features Angela and Nicholas Bucchino, a husband and wife who reached their fitness goals by making changes to their diet, adding exercise to their everyday lives and through developing a greater awareness of the foods that work best for their bodies.

1. What motivated you to change?

Angela: My motivation for change was to lose weight and become a healthier, more fit person. I joined a gym minutes from my home and changed my diet. In the first two months I lost 16 pounds because I joined a competition at my gym. I came in second place for the largest percentage of body weight lost. Nothing like a little competition! The remaining weight was not coming off until I learned of the benefits of eating an alkaline vs acidic diet. Over the next 2 months I lost 12 more pounds, reaching (and passing), my goal of 110 lbs for my 5' height. I've been maintaining my weight since April 2013.

Nick: My motivation was based on two things - summertime and overall general health. I tend to go through cycles where I will have my weight under control and then I’ll relax my regimen, gain a few pounds and then restart the cycle. My starting weight was 168.8 and I am currently at 146 (I'm 5'7" tall).

2. What kinds of changes did you make to your diet?

Angela: In a nutshell, the most alkaline foods you can eat are raw green vegetables. When I started this lifestyle change, I eased into the alkaline foods. I bought a juicer and eventually switched to a mostly vegetarian diet, minus dairy, gluten, processed foods, soy, corn and sugar. It wasn't long before the pounds started slipping off again. I love the book "The pH MiracleBalance Your Diet, Reclaim Your Health" by Robert OYoung PhD and Shelley Redford Young. This book changed the way I think about food and what I want to put into my body. I love green juice and it’s now a big part of my everyday nutrition.

Typical green juice recipe: 1 cucumber, 1 zucchini and/or squash, 1-inch of ginger, 1 apple, some celery stalks, 1 carrot and lots of greens (spinach, kale, sprouts, dandelion leaves, Swiss chard, Collard greens, bok choy, wheat grass)

Nick: I joined Angela’s diet a few weeks after she started - each meal with green juice all day and a small salad in the evening. The diet change was actually quite significant, at least Monday through Friday. On the weekends we would maybe have sushi one night and perhaps split a steak the next night. At the start of a new week it was back to green juice. I just started adding whey protein shakes to my diet with the goal of increased muscle mass.

3. How have you incorporated exercise into your lifestyle?

Angela: I joined a gym in January 2012 and I've been working out consistently 5 days a week since then. My workouts are mostly classes -5:30am indoor boot-camp, aerobic kick-boxing and I also run.

Nick: I exercise every day now- usually getting three weight training sessions and four runs completed every week. In early July I started training for the upcoming Angel Island Half Marathon.

4. How do you stay motivated?

Angela: Results keep me motivated. Now I crave food that's good for me and I hate how other foods like gluten make me feel. I love having a healthy, strong body. I also love my gym (Urban Escape Fitness) and really miss it when I don't go.

Nick: Mostly it comes down to self-discipline and positive feedback via seeing results each week. When I am fully committed to the dieting cycle the weekly weigh-in keeps me focused. Also on the weekends I allow myself a treat for all my hard work, for instance splitting a cheeseburger for lunch. I don't suddenly gain weight and it's a nice reward for a job well done.

5. What challenges do you face in keeping up a healthy lifestyle?

Angela: The only real change I had to make was going to bed and getting up earlier (5am) to exercise. Working part-time and having two kids under 6 makes it sometimes hard to fit everything in. 

Nick: Life in general. I am hoping that even if I do fall out of the diet cycle I’ll retain the green juicing as it does provide numerous benefits.

Angela: I do love a good burger! I take off the top bun so there are less gluten side-effects to deal with. Cheese is also a big weakness and I try to limit it to special events. Now that I'm maintaining, I stick to a mostly vegetarian diet during the week and eat what I want on the weekends or at a special social event. Nick and I love wine and we haven’t given that up. 

Nick: Normally chocolate and ice cream but lately they hold surprisingly little interest for me. Although I do indulge on the weekends, even then I think twice about having a chocolate bar versus a glass of Naked Green Machine juice smoothie. There have been a couple of weekends where I went way overboard with food and drink. Afterward I felt that much more committed to a hard-core regimen during the following week.

7. What would you say to your old self to get him/her motivated to live a healthier lifestyle? 

Angela: I feel like I'm 10 years younger, I have a glowing complexion, and I believe it's helped with aging lines. I sleep better, don't get sick as often and I’m sure I’ve drastically lowered my chances of getting any major life threatening diseases.

Nick: At the start of each dieting cycle I always remind myself it’s easier to keep going than to stop and start again. That said, the green juicing has been a most interesting addition and is something I hope to continue to incorporate into my normal diet.

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Thank you Angela and Nick for the interview!

Michelle Funez, LCSW is a licensed psychotherapist with a small local private practice specializing in Cognitive Behavior Therapy for weight loss and maintenance.  http://www.michellefunez.com  She can be reached at 415-336-7476.