Wellness center educates Soldier to get fit

FORT SILL, Okla. -- Spc. Thomas Richards, 1st Battalion, 17th Field Artillery is like a lot of Soldiers. He wants to be in the best shape possible and keep his weight at a good level. But he came to realize that he didn't have a clue what his body fat index was, or whether the workout routines he was doing were benefiting him. And he didn't even know if what he ate was good nutrition. So he decided to do something about it.

"I was working out at the Resiliency Training Center gym in one of the cross-fit boxes they have there. One of the NCOs who runs the cross-fit program said 'You gotta go across the street to the wellness center and take advantage of the programs they have.' At first I didn't go but he kept talking about it and so I finally told him I would check it out," said Richards.

"Then, they did the BodPod assessment (to determine his body fat to lean mass ratio) and after that they did cardiorespiratory testing to see how fit I was. Once they got the assessment results they did nutritional counseling and classes. They give you a whole plan so I just took it and ran with it," he said.

Stephanie Ryan, Fort Sill Army Wellness Center director, took notice of Richards when he first came to the wellness center and saw something different about him.

"I saw Richards when I observed Mark Buley, one of our health educators, conducting a fitness assessment on him. He had a more positive outlook about him and you could tell that he was very goal-oriented and knew what he wanted," Ryan said. "That made me want to track him. He is very willing and open right now to all of our services."

"Soldiers are often referred to us by their commanders for failure to meet height/weight guidelines set by the Army, but that's not the only reason Soldiers come to us," Ryan said. "There are three types of referral: self-referral, command referral or medical referral.

Soldiers can come here for any of those three reasons, but most often they are recommended to come here if they are a fitness failure or something along that line." Richards, however, had different reasons.

"One of the things that I learned in coming to the Wellness Center was the value of different types of exercise programs. Before coming here I would just go to the gym with a buddy and do what they were doing, or what I saw someone else at the gym doing, because it looked right. But finally I said I needed to educate myself as to what a good exercise program was, and then do it. If you aren't 100 percent dedicated to doing this then you aren't going to achieve your goals," Richards said.

"And I really like the nutritional part of their programs because they lay out the guidelines and give you a path to accomplish your goals. They tell you to eat regular meals, how much to eat and the caloric intake you should have. I had no clue how many calories I should eat and what the right foods to eat were," he said.

Ryan said that the nutritional education the center provides actual measures the number of calories recommended, rather than a calculation.

"You can go to book or look online and find recommended calorie intake based on your age, weight and activity level, but we actually measure the resting metabolic rate through indirect calorimetry, which tells you how many calories you burn at rest in a 24 hour period," she said. "If you laid in bed all day but were awake, you would burn 70 percent of your calories at rest, by doing nothing. So that's what we measure. And you determine 20 percent of calories burned from how active you are during the day your lifestyle. The other 10 percent of calories burned comes from exercise."

Richards said that since he got the data from the Wellness Center, he has definitely changed his workout routines. The good part of the coaching he received explained what kind of workouts he needed to do to change his numbers.

"If you do high intensity workouts, it will get your heart rate up, while other types of exercise can lower your heart rate. You decide whether you want to lose weight or gain muscle, then you choose the exercises that fit your goal," Richards said. "For me, I'm doing a lot more cardio exercises and I've changed my diet, too. I'm now eating six times a day, but I'm eating smaller meals. It was a little frustrating at first because I felt hungry all the time. It was a matter of changing my lifestyle."

Richards' progress has pleased Ryan. She feels he has a strong self-motivations to succeed.

"He doesn't say that he never slips up and eats the wrong things, but what he does do is use those slipups to motivate him to do better the next time. A lot of people will say 'I messed up. I can't continue to do this, so I'll just quit trying.' He doesn't give up because he has such a positive attitude that he's able to see beyond that and say 'I'm going to do better this time.' He sees it as a lesson learned and wants to do better," Ryan said.

The Fort Sill Army Wellness Center programs are free and available to all Soldiers, their family members, retirees, Army civilians and contractors. The center is open Mondays through Fridays from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at 2868 Craig Road, across from the Graham Resiliency Training Center. To make an appointment, call 580-442-0680/0681.