Making fitness a family priority

‘The best inheritance we can give our children is good health.’

The Du family rose to public consciousness when entrepreneurs Ralph and Christian joined The Biggest Loser Doubles a few years back. They have since maintained their weight loss and continue to exercise regularly together with their parents and siblings.

Both credit their father for taking the lead in their fitness transformations. David Sr. used to be 195 pounds with a bulging 44-inch waistline. He suffered from hypertension, high cholesterol, high uric acid levels, borderline diabetes, osteoarthritis, chronic muscle pains and back pains. 

Today, he is a proud 150-pounder with a trim 32-inch waistline. His blood pressure, uric acid and blood sugar are normal. His osteoarthritis is gone and his cartilage regenerated.

David Du Sr. is the operations manager of Caliraya Springs Golf Club and general manager of Grande Island Resort Subic. The family also has a startup company providing programming apps and platforms for convenience and payment systems. They are also a reseller of a medical imaging solution called Terarecon. 

Many dads might get insights from Du on how to lead their families to wellness.

The Philippine STAR: What is a typical day in your life?

David Du Sr.: A typical day is waking up almost every member of my family at 5 a.m. to go to the gym. We will have coffee first while discussing our family businesses and share experiences and wisdom along the way. At 8 a.m., all of us will go separate ways to face our respective responsibilities. At night, we all meet again at the dinner table to exchange stories.

Why is working out a priority for you?

First, I have to show my family what I preach, which is, “To love our body more than anything else.” The healthier we are, the more we can fly through our one and only exciting life.  Secondly, when I became obese six years ago, I was in so much pain due to neglect of my health. Now, I’m enjoying life like when I was still young by climbing mountains, free diving, running and, of course, the mental benefit of having a carved body.

Are all your children into fitness, sports?

I have five kids: Dave, 31; Christian, 29; Ralph 27; Celina, 24; and Diana, 15.  Christian and Ralph have maintained their weight after joining the The Biggest Loser. They are now triathletes under Ford Forza of Mateo Guidicelli and his dad. My wife, Jo, is a Zumba fanatic and all of us visit the gym together at least three times a week.

How do you balance time for fitness and your work schedule?

I prioritize my tasks every day. Fitness is my priority and teaching my staff how to lead and execute comes second. By empowering my team with the right way of thinking and meeting objectives, this allows me to have more time to strategize for the companies I lead, thereby reducing stress on the way, which contributes to health and mental degradation.

Are there times that you bond with your family through fitness?

Fitness is the core of our bond.  Training and eating right together is our life, it is our happiness.

Do you follow any special diet? 

Since all members of the family used to be obese and are endomorphic (it means we gain fat easily), our diet is primarily protein and some fat with only vegetables and banana as our source of carbo. We need to take the carbo during lunch to ensure that our hormones are at normal levels.

We also practice the strategy of diet, which I formulated. For example, if we have a big Christmas dinner, then we won’t have breakfast the next day and will have a low-calorie consumption for the next two days for our body to take up all the excesses.  As for the meals at home, we make sure the contents of our refrigerator and our pantry are only those in our diet plan.  

What advice would you give other dads who want a healthier lifestyle for themselves and family?

Since the discipline to maintain fitness is a very tall order (as eating and comfort zones are the natural happiness paths in our millennial lifestyle), as dads, we should be the first to show our family that being fit is a better way to enjoy life.  We can do this by showing our family that we enjoy training, we savor the healthy foods we take, and most importantly, sticking to our fitness program — to make us look better, feel better and healthier than ever. 

If they see that you are having a hard time with both training and dieting, then you can’t convince them. The same thing goes when you put in all your effort and you still look the same and your health hasn’t improved a bit. At the end of the day, the best inheritance we can give our children is good health. With all the money in the world, nothing can match the best wealth ever, which is health.

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Post me a note at mylene@goldsgym.com.ph or mylenedayrit@gmail.com.