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Success Stories
See how these men and women changed their bodies and minds, plus discover their nutrition and exercise tips.
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Amy Arbuckle: Taking the Plunge
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When Amy Arbuckle entered the Cherry Creek Reservoir for the swimming portion of the 2001 Danskin Triathlon in Denver, it was the first time she’d ever set foot—much less immersed her entire body—in a body of water other than a pool. Conquering a lifelong fear of dark waters and swimming a half-mile in the man-made lake with the "creepies" is one of many challenges Amy has met head-on in the past two and a half years. Since completing the Body-for-LIFE Challenge in July of 1999 and becoming a co-champion with her husband, Dr. Gary Arbuckle, she has gone on to compete in three marathons and a triathlon and enjoy greater success in all areas of her life.
Breaking new ground
Coming from a background of athletics—earning 10 varsity letters in high school and going to college on a cheerleading scholarship—Amy was acutely aware of the extra weight from her first and difficult pregnancy that continued to linger in the spring of 1999. "Even though I was happy with my family setting, I knew my personal happiness wasn’t at a level it should be. Tyler was nine months old—the time period for using pregnancy as my excuse for being out of shape had passed."
When Gary asked Amy to do the 12-week nutrition, training and supplementation Challenge with him, she was skeptical, in part, because the program included strength training. "I thought, `I’m not going to lift weights, that’s never going to work.’" But, at 25, Amy had found the diet and exercise methods of her teens and early 20s were no longer effective, so she was willing to try something new. "After I had Tyler, I had gone back to the philosophy of: You run six miles a day, you cut your caloric intake and the weight will come off. But it just wasn’t working. My body wasn’t responding at all."
Amy committed to the Challenge and she and Gary sat down and planned precisely what they were going to eat, when they were going to exercise and the kind of exercise they would do. They also wrote three goals each. Amy’s were: 1) to lose fat, gain muscle 2) fit into a size eight and 3) be in good enough shape to start training for a marathon.
She promised herself and Gary that she would stick with the Program, but she was adamant that her workouts remain within the time she’d scheduled. "I brought Tyler to the gym with me when I went to do my strength training, and you can only have him in the nursery for an hour, so I figured, `Well, the Body-for-LIFE book said it was going to be a 45-minute workout, if I’m not done in 45 minutes, then too bad, because I have to leave.’ I was really strict on my plan, but I wasn’t going to be this workout freak."
Soon Amy began to see the payoffs of sticking with the Program, despite her initial cynicism. "At about four weeks, I started to really notice a change. I didn’t see dramatic physical changes, but I felt a lot better. And by six weeks, I thought, `Wow, my clothes are really fitting well.’" By the end of 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. Amy is 5 feet 4 inches tall.
Regaining confidence over her physical self translated into enhanced conviction in other areas of her life as well. Although Amy had an impressive resume in broadcasting—having produced and anchored weather forecasts and a daily entertainment segment for a Portland, Ore., morning news program and having more than 300 Hollywood celebrity and 15 Olympic athlete interviews under her belt—she suffered through several unsuccessful attempts to get a broadcasting job when she and Gary first moved to Denver in 1998. Amy believes it was her renewed belief in herself that ultimately landed her the coveted morning weather anchor position at WB2 in the summer of 1999. "I was near the end of my Challenge when I was going in for my interviews, and I just had such a better sense of who I was and what I wanted to do."
Unstoppable
When she looked at her "before" and "after" photos with Gary at their kitchen table, Amy was thrilled with her results—and she was ready to push herself even further, deciding to begin training for her first marathon. Four months later, she ran the Colorado marathon in Denver. A year after that, she beat her husband by an hour (which she reminds him of every chance she gets) in the 2000 Chicago marathon. And in 2001 (in addition to the Rock ’n Roll San Diego marathon), she completed her first triathlon when she made that fateful dive into the Cherry Creek Reservoir.
Amy continues to devise a new set of goals and varied workout regimen every 12 to 15 weeks and suggests this to other women as well. "It doesn’t have to be an athletic event, maybe it’s a big job interview, or a class reunion or an upcoming family vacation where that bikini has to come out of the closet again—anything that you want to be in shape for. If you can set up mini time periods, where there’s a foreseeable goal in sight, it all becomes manageable."
Time and money
In addition to her demanding job as a weather anchor woman and being a mom, Amy serves on Colorado’s Governor’s Council for Physical Fitness, she’s a spokesperson for Body-for-LIFE, she’s involved in a "shape-up" program for school kids, she’s an avid scrap-booker and she’s learning to golf—just to name a few things. How does she do it all and still find time to exercise? Amy says it comes down to planning and priorities. "Time can be a really big excuse, and some days I want to use it as my excuse, but those are the days that it’s the most important. It’s our time that we exist in right now. We have to make our own priorities." Whether it means getting up half an hour earlier or staying up an extra 45 minutes or skipping TV or a movie, she gets her workouts in.
The other excuse Amy thinks often gets in the way of fitness is money. "I hear people say they don’t have the money to invest in running shoes, or a gym membership, or supplements, or classes and really, if you think about the money that people waste on coffee, fast foods—excess things that we really don’t need—that money could be invested in yourself. And if you invest it in fitness, you’re going to be so amazed at the return for your family, your profession and your long-term well-being."
What’s Amy’s next goal? She finished up another 12-week Challenge in December, and in 2002 she will try her first Fourteener (a mountain climb of 14,000 feet). "The real gift from putting effort into a physical fitness program," Amy shares, "is a feeling of limitlessness—realizing that you can be even better than you thought you could be."
And a baby makes four!
Amy and her husband received a magical Christmas gift in 2001. After waiting more than a year to adopt a baby, they found out just days before Christmas that they would begin the adoption process of a new baby boy and be able to bring him home for the holidays. "We went through an adoption agency where the birth mother chooses the family. It was such a gift and an honor to be chosen," Amy says. Amy and Gary decided to adopt as another way to build their family and provide a home for a child who needed it.
Amy says their new child has further inspired her and Gary to be as healthy as they can be. "As our family continues to grow—both by numbers and years—we want to be able to take advantage of all the blessings in our lives by staying fit. We’ll always find ways to adapt and make room for health and fitness."
Amy’s workouts
Amy weight trains three times per week for 45 minutes, alternating upper and lower body workout days. She also performs a 20-minute high intensity cardio workout three times per week.
Lower Body
Squats: Three sets of 12 reps holding a 10-pound dumbbell on each shoulder
One-leg lunges: Three sets of 12 reps holding a 7 1/2-pound dumbbell in each hand at her side
Calf raises: Three sets of 15 reps holding a 12 1/2-pound dumbbell in each hand at her side
Sit-ups: Three sets of 25 reps of slow crunches
Upper body
Bench presses: Four sets of reps varying from 12 down to six and weights varying from 20 pounds to 30 pounds
Incline bench presses: Two sets of 12 reps with 20 pounds
Seated overhead presses: Four sets of reps varying from 12 to six and weights varying from 12 pounds to 15 pounds
Upright rows: Two sets of 12 reps—first set with 10 pounds, second set with 15 pounds
Pushbacks: Four sets of reps varying from 12 to 10 with 9 pounds
Bench dips: Two sets of 12
Standing curls: Four sets of reps from 12 down to six with weights varying from 15 pounds to 20 pounds
Lunge curls: Two sets of 12 reps with 15 pounds
Because she had never lifted weights before, Amy set up a handful of sessions with Denver fitness coach Brian Miller at the beginning of her first Challenge to learn proper technique. (She began with lighter weights than those listed above.)
When training for a marathon or triathlon, Amy follows a cardio regimen designed specifically to prepare her for the event and continues weight-training at least twice per week.
Amy’s nutrition
A sample day of Amy’s nutrition and supplementation during her Challenge in 1999.
Wake up:
12 ounces of water
(On cardio days, this is the time Amy would work out.)
8:00 a.m.
Nutrition shake with low-fat milk
12:00 p.m.
4 ounces chicken breast
Half-cup fruit
12 ounces of water
3:00 p.m.
Yogurt (fat-free)
12 ounces of water
5:00 p.m.
6 ounces chicken
Half cup of vegetables
12 ounces of water
8:00 p.m.
4 egg whites
1 ounce fat-free cheese
10:00 p.m.
Nutrition shake with low-fat milk
Amy continues to follow a similar nutrition program, putting together plans by looking up how many calories, carbohydrates, protein and fat are in various foods. During marathon and triathlon training, she adds more nutrition shakes and bars.
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