Those who woke up early Monday morning at EBN parent company SourceMedia’s Benefits Forum & Expo got a special dancing treat: an aerobics class led by world-famous fitness expert, TV personality and New Orleans native Richard Simmons.
An hour later, the entire BFE conference got to hear Simmons’ thoughts on health and life and how the two have to combine – and he hadn’t even changed out of his trademark short-shorts and sparkly tank top.
In her introduction, Employee Benefit Adviser Editor-in-Chief Elizabeth Galentine pointed out that Simmons, the native son of a region that loves its lard and fried food, has spent decades helping people sweat to the oldies and get fit.
“Simmons has helped overweight men and women lose close to 3 million pounds by adopting sensible, balanced diets with eating programs and exercise regimes that are energetic, fun and motivational,” Galentine said.
His workouts could easily be integrated into wellness programs – and no doubt have – but Simmons’ own message was an individual one of self-empowerment and life-affirmation. In a speech that ran from fart jokes to tearful pleas for orphans, Simmons made it clear that his own journey has been a long one, and it’s never too late to get fit.
“My real name is Milton Teagle Simmons; I’m from New Orleans, La.,” he said. “I was named after a rich uncle. I hated my name and I asked my parents if I could change it, and they said yes, so I changed it to Diana Ross.”
Like most people from Louisiana, Simmons adores food, and he’s more than happy to prove that relishing a good meal and staying in shape are not mutually exclusive.
“I love food. I love it hot, I love it cold, I love it when it falls on the ground. I’ve actually stolen food from children in malls,” Simmons joked, stressing that just losing weight isn’t good enough – you have to lose it healthily.
“I’m a compulsive eater, and I didn’t like myself – I thought if I lost weight, people would like me. I tried all different ways to lose weight – 30 laxatives a day, throwing up and finally starving and going from 268 lbs. to 119 in 10 weeks,” he said, acknowledging that weight loss in an office setting is its own unique challenge.
“It’s hard. Some of you have very stressful jobs – eat late at night, fried foods, skipping meals, drinking too many sugary colas. But today that’s going to change, because I want you to live a long time. … You’re only here once, and that’s why you have to take care of who you are.”
Every week, Simmons said, he loses people to heart attacks and strokes, “but most people die of low self-worth.”
Speaking with EBN after his presentation, in which he sang the phrase “some of you are not exercising and you got a mushy tushy,” Simmons said that both physical and mental well-being are important for corporate America, and those without time for as much exercise as they’d like should remember the simple things.
“They have to get up and take breaks, take a walk,” Simmons said. “They have to count to 10 before they get upset. And then, you work with people who are jerks, and you just have to smile and say a prayer for them.”
The Los Angeles-based fitness guru jokingly suggested tying employees down to keep them from eating, or a weigh-in every morning to keep everyone honest. More seriously, he advised making proper time to eat right.
“Stop thinking you can eat at your desk,” Simmons said. “You need to take 15 minutes and go just eat something. It’s bad for digestion. You can get diverticulitis, you can get stomach aches and you can get depressed.”
He added: “We’re not winning the war [on obesity]; we’re losing it. There are more overweight children, more overweight teenagers … there should be more rules about food.”
