TRANSFORMATION

Once again, after working out 6-8 hours a day, eating a healthy diet, and having no beer calories has allowed me to transform physically.  I went from 176 lbs and 15% body fat down to 155 lbs and 6% body fat.  The "real" pictures I have will not be posted here but are equally amazing to my transformation 6 years ago in Afghanistan.  50 really IS the new 30! 

 

 

My roommate and I, in our before picture in Athens, Greece on our way to Iraq and our after picture in front of Neptune, who adorned our hospital T walls.  We combined to lose over 55 lbs, while our hospital group lost over 400 lbs!

 

 

 

I have to thank my "gym family" and a couple others for helping to make the transformation both possible as well as enjoyable at the same time.  I was able to fly flags over our hospital on by 50th birthday to give to them to thank them for helping to make my transformation possible and to make the classes I taught so many others possible as well.

 

The first I met was Randi. She was working at the desk in the weight gym and I asked her why the spin classes and yoga classes had no leaders showing up as per the schedule published on the wall.  She explained that the instructor did not show up here in QWest, and went to another base instead.  She suggested that I should teach the classes if I wanted to be able to do spin and yoga here on base.  I reluctantly agreed.  I am thankful I did though, as it turned out to be a great decision, allowing me to have fun teaching, vary my workout, and help others get in shape as well.  In addition to convincing me to teach the classes, Randi worked hard to make sure that I had a speaker for my spin and yoga classes and everything was set up to go.  She also helped to decorate the gym for the holidays, making my home away from home that much more "homelike". Thanks Randi!

 

 

 

The next one I met was Nelson.  Easy name for me to remember! Nelson was awesome, helping me to set up all my classes as well.  I especially want to thank Nelson for all our interesting conversations we had, usually while I was on the elliptical while we discussed everything from family to politics to hunting to books. Thanks Nelson!

 

 

 

Finally, I want to thank Kenneth.  He was amazing!  Kenneth worked tirelessly to ensure my bikes were always ready to go, my mats were always clean for yoga, and that we had flyers all over the base advertising my classes.  I can't thank Kenneth enough for making my 50th birthday one to remember.  He decorated the bikes with balloons and had 2 birthday cakes waiting for me when I arrived to teach on my birthday.  Kenneth decorated my spin class for my Halloween spin class as well.  Kenneth also would "reserve" my elliptical bike for me every morning.  Finally, Kenneth put together a video of the Navy folks highlighting  how much the MWR Gym would miss the Navy when we were gone. It was quite the production and he played the video regularly on the TV in the gym, including looping it continuously our last day at QWest to say goodbye!  Thank you Kenneth!

 

 

 

 

In addition, I would like to thank my two spin instructors from my gym back home, Cheryl and Jordan, for providing me with my spin music list/videos for my classes.  Without them, my classes would have gotten very boring hearing the same 4 spin lists I had made, over and over.  The videos were awesome as well, making my classes that much more enjoyable for everyone.  It was fun to be able to present them their flags when I took their spin classes back home.