Zach Martin has always been larger than life. A syndicated disc jockey, Martin’s big personality and animated voice can be heard weekly over the FM airwaves on New York’s Q104.3 and New Jersey’s WNNJ 103.7. At 6 feet 4 inches and 295 pounds, Martin’s football-player physique matches his radio persona. But traumatic events led to weight gain.
Martin learned last year from police that his mother, 60-year-old Eleanor Stoecker, had been murdered by Charles Cullen – the nurse who confessed to killing at least 18 people while they were hospitalized. Martin’s body grew so large that he worried about dying himself. “My emotional state was pretty messed up, and I didn’t concentrate on what I ate,” Martin said. “I started to feel I was slowing down. I went to the hospital, and my blood work was just horrible – high cholesterol, pre-diabetic. That was the wake-up call.” The 38-year-old former Oradell resident had grown to about 336 pounds. It was time to lose weight. Martin consulted Dr. Joel Fuhrman, a nutritionist and author of “Eat to Live,” which focuses on eating a vegetable-based diet to lose weight, fight disease and be healthy. Fuhrman put Martin on his diet plan. He also connected him with executives from the Discovery Health Channel’s “National Body Challenge,” a reality TV show that follows overweight participants as they struggle to lose extra pounds with nationally known trainers and fitness experts. Martin’s show is scheduled to air next Wednesday. Fuhrman said Martin had the poor eating habits typical of many Americans; more than 25 percent are obese, according to obesity studies. The additional stress from his mother’s death, busy schedule, and recent move from Oradell to the Mountain Creek area also contributed. That combined with starchy, high-fat foods made it easy to gain weight. “I think we have a nation of food addicts committing suicide with their knives and forks,” said Fuhrman. “Americans get addicted to food because they eat food that causes them to have withdrawal-type symptoms when they stop eating. They feel shaky and weak. So they eat again.” Martin is one of several people who will be profiled on the “National Body Challenge” series. The cameras followed each participant for more than four months as they struggled to balance dieting, fitness training, weigh-ins, and gym visits with their often hectic daily schedules. Each person was filmed separately. Unlike some diet shows, there were no competitions between participants, public weigh-ins, or voting elimination rounds. Three rotating camera crews invaded Martin’s life from September until last month. They went everywhere – home, the radio stations, grocery shopping. They filmed his wife, Emily, and 4-year-old daughter, Sophie. They captured his intense biweekly sessions at the gym with a physical trainer, and at martial-arts workouts. At first Martin didn’t think he would mind the cameras. But the constant shadow eventually added to his stress. “Initially I just thought it would be a great inspirational idea,” Martin said, adding that he hoped viewers would be motivated to lose weight by his struggle and eventual weight loss. “But the cameras can be very exhausting.” During filming, Martin often had to take time out of his packed work, family and exercise schedule to film segments explaining his thoughts and activities. A few times he was so stressed that he cheated on his diet. The new diet meant exchanging his breakfast cereal for fruit. Lunch sandwiches became steamed vegetables. At dinner, instead of a pasta dish or meat, Martin often had more vegetables. “It’s OK, but it gets boring,” Martin said. “Sometimes, especially when it gets cold out, you just want a hot soup.” And, sometimes, the cameras captured moments that he didn’t want broadcast to strangers. During a sparring match in his martial-arts class, his opponent hit him hard. “It hurt,” said Martin. “So I really hit back.” The pair got into a real skirmish for a few moments. “As I got into it I felt this pressure, and I realized some of what the cameras filmed may have been too personal,” he said. “But I hope [the story] becomes inspirational and people realize that if you try and make an effort it’s a success.” Martin has lost about 50 pounds since seeing Fuhrman, and he hopes to lose an additional 30. He’s no longer dieting, though he has eliminated the flour-based foods that were once his nutritional staples. “Bleached flours and processed food – you might as well eat a box of sugar,” Martin said. “The first three letters in diet is die,” he said. “It’s more about a lifestyle change.” Source:
http://www.northjersey.com/ writer: CATHERINE HOLAHAN
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