FREE NEWSLETTER
The Body-for-LIFE e-newsletter keeps you up to date with exciting news going on with Body-for-LIFE Success Stories, new products, cardio and weight training articles and delicious recipes that are healthy!
Speak to our experts
1-800-297-9776
|
|
 |
Fit to be a Mom
See how these women feel being fit helps them to be better moms.
By Susan Bierma
In honor of Mother’s Day, we decided to check in with some of the moms we’ve profiled in these pages in the past. These women are no one-hit wonders. They are sticking with their healthy lifestyles for the long haul. How has being fit helped each of them to be a better mom? What continues to be each woman’s biggest challenge? How do they do it all? Here, they share their hard-earned wisdom. 
Jenny Crawford-Moluf
Mother of: Three adult daughters (one of whom is Cindy Crawford) and grandmother of six
Occupation: Owns a clothing store
Age: 56
Transformation: In January of 2001, Jenny began working out five times a week and overhauled her eating habits. After 12 weeks she lost 25 pounds, increased her strength, mobility and lean muscle, and decreased her body fat by 12 percentage points. She also lowered her cholesterol by 50 points and freed herself from monthly migraines and hot flashes.
Where she’s at now: She’s up about 5 pounds from her lowest weight in 2001, but still wears a size 8. She now focuses on more lasting motivation than the scale. "At first I was so obsessed with getting my body size down. Now I do it more because it makes me feel good."
What she does to maintain: Cardio and weight training three times a week.
How she sticks with it: Doesn’t let temporary setbacks get her down. "It’s such an important thing that when you fall off the wagon you make yourself get back and start doing it again."
Biggest challenge: Pushing past the burn.
How she overcomes it: Good music, TV and variety.
How being fit has helped her to be a better grandmother:
"It makes doing things with the kids more fun. I’m not just sitting on the bench in the park watching them—I’m out there playing tag with them. Before they wouldn’t even ask; they knew grandma didn’t do that. Now they seem to have forgotten that I’m the age I am."
Advice to other moms:
"For me, [working out and eating healthily] is not something that comes easy. But it’s just one of the things I do. I wouldn’t go for many days without doing my dishes, or without making my bed, or doing some laundry or any of the other tedious things that we have to do. It’s just something you do—get some type of exercise into your routine."
Amy Freeze-Arbuckle
Mother of: Two sons ages five and one.
Occupation: Television newscaster/meteorologist for NBC affiliate, WCAU, in Philadelphia
Age: 29
Transformation: Amy and her husband became Body-for-LIFE champions in 1999. After completing the 12-week program, Amy’s body fat had dropped from 25 percent to 12 percent, her dress size from 14/16 to 4/6 and her weight from 161 pounds to 130 pounds. She’s five foot four.
Where she’s at now: 135 pounds, body fat approximately 15 to 16 percent and a size 6.
What she does to maintain: Cardio three days a week, weight training three days a week.
How she sticks with it: Constantly has a goal to look forward to, whether that’s a marathon, triathlon or another Challenge, "exercise is part of the routine that gets me to that goal." Recently she competed in the Colorado relay, where each team member ran 13 to 18 miles in three separate legs. "We ran 170 miles in 24 hours, crossing four mountain passes ranging from Idaho Springs to Glenwood Springs. It was the mountain adventure I’d been seeking."
Biggest challenge: Food.
How she overcomes it: Having a plan. "My husband says it best, `If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.’ I prepare things early and have them ready when the week begins. I decide the day before what I’m going to eat—no questions or room to mess up."
How being fit has helped her to be a better mom:
"Fitness allows you to live better. That includes being a better mom."
Advice to other moms:
"Don’t use being a mother as your excuse not to get fit. If you want to be in shape no one can stop you but yourself. Using childbearing as an excuse is comfortable and does not require you to break the mold. But if you’re brave enough to try and work hard, your body can do amazing things. After all, it produced darling children! It can certainly fit back into those darling dresses!"
Tamra Frye
Mother of: Two girls ages 11 and eight.
Occupation: Texas Roadhouse waitress/manager and substitute teacher
Age: 37
Transformation: Tamra and her husband Richard are Body-for-LIFE Challenge co-champions. After their Challenge in the spring of 2001, Tamra lost 30 pounds, dropped from a size 10/12 to a size four and reduced her body fat from 38 percent to 19 percent.
Where she’s at now: She doesn’t keep track of all her "stats" anymore, but has remained the same size. "I don’t like to get on the scale if I don’t have to. My weight is still really close because I can wear all the same stuff."
What she does to maintain: Cardio and weight training three times a week.
How she sticks with it: "I smartened up and got myself a bike at home so I can do cardio whenever." Some days Tamra will substitute teach all day and then go right to her waittressing job. "When I come home at 12:00 or 1:00 in the morning, instead of winding down by sitting in front of the TV to eat, I sit in front of the TV and ride the bike. I can work off some frustrations, too."
Biggest challenge: Junk food.
How she overcomes it: Moderation. "I figured out along the way, if you exercise, you can still eat that little bit of junk food. You have to eat it sensibly, but I don’t deprive myself. Because if I do, then when I go to eat something I really shouldn’t, it will be 10 times worse."
How being fit has helped her to be a better mom:
"It helps you have a better outlook on life. It helps you be a better person."
Advice to other moms:
"Remember you’re out there to please yourself. It’s all about you. It can be your selfish `Me’ time. You’re trying to make a healthier, better you; and it’s for you, nobody else."
Julie Minsky Barroukh
Mother of: Three—two boys, eight and four and one girl, six.
Occupation: Fitness trainer and freelance TV producer
Age: 38
Transformation: In the spring of 1999, Julie began working out five days a week and re-trained her eating habits. After about 12 weeks, she went from a size 12 to a size 4, 166 pounds to 128 pounds.
Where she’s at now: 125 pounds, still a size 4.
What she does to maintain: Weight training four days a week, cardio four to five days a week.
How she sticks with it: Fiercely protects her workout time and changes things up to keep her body guessing. She recently added rowing machine and serious running to her cardio, and new machines to her weight training.
Biggest challenge: Taking it to the streets—"spreading the word about how important it is for women/moms/dads/kids everyone to get fit and be healthy."
How she overcomes it: Getting involved. In addition to being a trainer, Julie is on the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Physical Education Task Force, and is helping the L.A. County Health Department drum up private sponsorship for a program that educates physicians on how to recommend exercise/diet for their patients.
How being fit helps her to be a better mom:
"I have better lung capacity to yell at my kids! No, seriously, I have so much more energy to play with them and teach them about eating right, the power of their bodies and how this helps to keep a strong mind and will. I also just plain feel good about myself. I’m happy with myself, so I’m happy with those around me. I can give more because I’m secure."
Adice to other moms:
"Before even stepping inside a gym or starting a physical routine, first mentally commit to it. Understand there will be peaks and valleys and days that hurt and days you are struggling. But, if you do the work, you will get the results. Honestly. Want the payoff? Do the work. Do the work. Do the work."
Like mother, like daughter
Shaun-Dee Williams, 26, is the daughter of Lorinde, "Rindy" Williams. Rindy is a 61-year-old bodybuilder who began lifting weights for the first time in her life at age 59. "Mom has always been a tremendous role model," Shaun-Dee says.
Inspired by her mom, Shaun-Dee began working out in February of 2002—weight training three days a week and doing cardio five days a week—and hasn’t stopped since. "I’ll admit, it was a little humbling to have my then 60-year-old mom on the bench next to me pressing twice as much as me, but we did it!"
At the time she started, Shaun-Dee says she was what her trainer terms "skinny-fat", "meaning I was a size 7, but I had this, well, flab! My mother, being 61, was in better shape than me. She was tight, better cardio shape, more energy. I had to do something."
In just under a year, Shaun-Dee went from 35.4 percent body fat to 28.7 percent and she’s lost 7.6 pounds of fat and gained 11.5 pounds of muscle. At 5’8", she’s 133 pounds and wears a size 5.
Her mom’s "go-getter" attitude continues to motivate Shaun-Dee. "She’s able to balance work, family, friends, everything. She doesn’t let age, osteoporosis or life slow her down. So me—being 26, single, no kids, Monday through Friday 8 to 5 job, completely healthy—I have no excuse not to be in the gym!"
|
|
Print
Article