Battling the Insanity of Fad Diets
Photo: Tom Schierlitz/ Trunk Archive
For years, I was a yo-yo dieter. I would habitually jump 10 pounds in a year and then lose 20, gain 8 and start the cycle over again.
It all started 15 years ago when I was made Editor in Chief of Hamptons magazine. I moved to Long Island from Manhattan, which means I started driving everywhere. Walking, the New Yorker’s effortless, go-to exercise, stopped being my number one mode of transportation and it didn’t take long for booze- and steak-fueled dinners with advertisers to add inches to my waist and back. A few months into the job, I found myself on assignment in the Cotswolds in England. A friend snapped a photo of me standing beside a cow grazing in a field and when I saw the image, I had a hard time distinguishing between Jason Oliver and Bessie. It was time to do something!
Jason Nixon (left) and John Loecke 15 years ago. Image: Jason Nixon
Fad diets should not have been the something, but hindsight is 20/20.
Stop one was a well-known nutritionist in a glitzy townhouse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Her clients included a well-known late-night talk show host, a famous movie publicist, and the editor of a fancy fashion magazine. My weekly visit/berating consisted of a weigh-in, a shot of B12, a look at my food diary, and a lecture on my lack of willpower. Three minutes and $75 later, I’d be sent home with a packet of co-enzyme Q10. Miraculously, I started to lose weight within weeks. I went from 185 to 175, 165 to 160, having several suits made at 158 because I was oh-so-sure my new svelte self would last.
Of course, I wasn’t planning on making that sort of Upper East Side silliness a permanent part of my life. After about a year, I called it quits. My weight scaled back up little by little, and those suits that I had made at my thinnest? They broke up. The jackets turned into sport coats, while the pants marched straight into the Salvation Army.
Next was an of-the-moment hormone program: human chorionic gonadotropin. It was recommended by a friend, and I ordered it online. I placed a few drops under my tongue and lost 20 pounds in about three months. Eventually, I realized I wasn’t really comfortable imbibing a hormone produced in women during pregnancy…so I eventually called that quits, too. (Sandwiched between the insanity was the relatively tame Atkins Diet, but a man cannot live without bread.)
Which brings me to today. I recently turned 44 and hadn’t seen the inside of a gym in almost 10 years. With another move behind me, this time from Brooklyn to North Carolina, I figured it was time to try the old-fashioned way of getting fit: working out. I was tired of covering up at the pool in baggy shorts and T-shirts, and with a line of interior décor on the horizon (my partner John and I just launched our Madcap Cottage line on HSN), the threat of TV loomed large. As a former TV producer, I knew just how many pounds the camera would add.
John and I found a trainer in High Point, our new home, and decided to work out together for twice the motivation. After just three months of strength training twice weekly, and running two miles three times a week, I lost 15 pounds, including inches from my thighs. I discovered muscles that I had no idea previously existed (lats, quads, and maybe even pecs) and was bursting with energy. And guess what? I love it. I still drink my white wine like a Real Housewife and indulge in pizza and pasta on occasion, but running is a true staple. Three months in, I spent my fair share of time on TV and no one could have mistook me for Bessie. Even better? There were no shots, hormones, or unreal expectations involved.
Jason Nixon Getting Fit Today
