Fitness Begins at Titans

Then, late last winter, Revonda decided to take matters into her own hands. After thirty-plus years of sedentary adulthood, she took the giant step into Titans Gym, and, after Titans trainer James Boykin introduced her to the equipment, she got started getting fit.

A little while into this process, Revonda joined Niki DelGrosso's nutrition program and sought Niki's help in setting up a fitness regimen. Working out six, sometimes seven days a week on a three-day rotation, she would focus one day on leg/shoulder work, the next day on chest/biceps and abs, and the third day on back and triceps, spending forty minutes in the cardio theater each day.

Setback: An Achilles Tendon Injury

She was making progress until she suffered an avulsed achilles tendon — the tendon had pulled off the bone in her left foot. It happened when was using the treadmill: she'd felt pain, but, assuming it was from not being used to doing a lot of walking, she decided to work through it. Trying to up her game, she put the treadmill on an incline and raised the speed. Within moments, the pain stopped her cold.

On March 11, her doctor put her into a boot cast, administered the first in a ten-week series of bi-weekly cortisone shots, told her to stay off the foot, and warned her that further injury would mean surgery. Facing that prospect but unwilling to sacrifice her hard-won progress, Revonda turned her focus to upper body workouts. Once the boot came off in late May, she was able to add bicycle and elliptical work: thirty-minute sessions on the bicycle and two minutes at a time (her physician's limit) on the elliptical.

Nutrition Helps Deal With Challenges

Revonda faced additional challenges caused by the cortisone shots, so she turned to a professional for help. Although Niki's classes had been helping her put together a personal nutrition program addressing her health issues, the cortisone caused her blood sugars to rise and her weight to increase. With Niki's help, she was able to adjust protein, carb, and fat intake to compensate.

Hard, Steady Work Leads to Positive Outcomes

As her knowledge of nutrition grows, Revonda is becoming more and more adept at dealing with one of the major issues facing anyone trying to adopt a fit lifestyle: learning the ins and outs of healthy eating. Meal planning now focuses on making good choices: fried foods have become a thing of the past, trans fats are gone altogether, and she's learning the ins and outs of balancing macronutrients.

Now in her second 10-week session of nutrition classes and continuing her fitness training, Revonda has lost fifty pounds, tests in non-diabetic range for blood sugar, no longer needs insulin, and has reduced her blood pressure and cholesterol meds by half. She's now looking forward to losing another fifty pounds and getting off diabetes and cholesterol medication altogether.

Revonda's not the only one rejoicing at her progress. When co-workers ask how she does it, she encourages them to come to the gym and try for themselves. Best of all, her husband and seventeen-year-old daughter now join her at the gym #&0151; and, with Revonda's emphasis on good nutrition, everyone is healthier and more fit. (When her daughter graduates from high school next year, that good fitness will go with her as she joins the Air Force ROTC.)

This summer, after thirty-one years of secretarial work, Revonda plans to retire and continue enjoying her progress. She's proven to herself that, motivated and seeing results, she will make her goals happen.