FORT SILL, Okla. -- Tabitha Collins knows what it's like to be breathless from a short walk -- she once carried 192 pounds on her 5-foot, 3-inch frame. Now, having lost 47 pounds she's recaptured her quality of life, in part, due to daily fitness classes at Rinehart Fitness Center.
To listen to her talk of her life is to hear of motivation and energy, a good life transformed.
April 1, 2013, she, her husband, Henry, a retired Soldier; and their youngest daughter, Kytiana, came to Rinehart. While Tabitha worked out, he took care of Kytiana. When the class ended, they swapped roles and he lifted weights.
Most days as he prepares to go to work, she gets the older children fed and off to school. Finished with those responsibilities, she attends to her other daily tasks.
"I get myself and Kytiana ready, and we come to Rinehart, every day Monday through Friday," she said.
Before she began to change her lifestyle, exercise didn't define her, food did.
"I didn't care. I ate anything I wanted, whenever I wanted. I ate when I wasn't even hungry all I did was eat," she said. "I wasn't happy with my body and I wasn't healthy; I couldn't walk up a flight of stairs without breathing fast."
For this mother of five children, gradually the soft drinks and junk food calories she consumed accumulated. Henry said a phone call from her mother, who was returning from a doctor's appointment, triggered the change. Tabitha's mother is obese and deals with heart problems and diabetes, two health issues often linked to obesity.
"Tabitha wanted to be healthier, to live longer and not develop serious medical issues," Henry said.
In June, 2011, she began to work out at first walking in her neighborhood alone or pushing a stroller with Kytiana in it. She also changed her diet.
"For breakfast I'd eat a banana and drink a glass of orange juice; lunch I'd have a sandwich or salad, and I'd eat a regular dinner," she said.
That August, having dropped 17 pounds, Rinehart's fitness classes became part of her workout routine. Her husband helped her look at what the gym had to offer to help her reach her goal weight. He brought her to the gym where, at first, she walked on a treadmill. Over time, he showed her one of the fitness classes that she might be interested in. From there, she became a regular at cross-fit training, a Latin dance music class and the Buns, Legs and Thighs (BLT) class, among others.
"Fitness classes are great because there's a lot of other people there, and that's motivating," she said. "When I'm at home in my own space I don't get as inspired to work out."
Ultimately she eclipsed her goal weight -- 150 pounds -- when her scale registered 140 pounds.
"I was just too skinny so I gained five back," she said.
Her burden lost, Tabitha recaptured an appreciation for the smallest of everyday tasks.
"I can tie my shoes now without having all this in the way," she said, her hands holding an imaginary mass referring to the extra weight she carried around her torso. "Now, I can pick up Kytiana and walk with her, back then I couldn't."
Henry said the Collins eat well and had a hard time coming up with a favorite meal his wife cooks, because, "there's so many" good ones.
"She cooks different now, no more fried food or fattening food," he said. "She's more conscious about what she cooks for us and that dinner has the right portions of meat and vegetables."
As her husband ticked off grilled chicken and shrimp croutons and carrots of one of her "great salads," Tabitha said one idea helps her with her diet, "You can eat good, you just have to watch how much you eat."
With all five children living at home, she said her change also is a good lesson for them. The oldest is age 16, and she said she encourages him to eat right and exercise.
Some newcomers who show up for classes are overweight, and Tabitha can relate to them. In getting to know each other she will often tell them she has five children and how much she used to weigh. She said a lot of times they act like or say they don't believe her.
For the Collins' good nutrition and fitness complements their life, rather than dominates it. Having just celebrated Easter, a holiday often associated with chocolate bunnies and candy, she said her children had candy.
Tabitha also indulges in a sweet treat, once a week she might have five chocolate kisses.
"I'm not perfect," she said with a little laugh as she purposely walked to the far end of the gymnasium and her fitness class.
Time to change
Courtesy photo
FORT SILL, Okla. -- Tabitha Collins celebrates Christmas 2010, a time when she weighed 192 pounds. In June, 2011, Collins, a mother of five children, began exercising and today weighs 145 pounds, which is 5 pounds less than her goal weight.
Fitness class enthusiast
Photo by James Brabenec
FORT SILL, Okla. -- Tabitha Collins, a svelte 145 pounds, works out April 1, 2013, in the Buns, Legs and Thighs fitness class at Rinehart Fitness Center here. Collins, who weighed 192 pounds in 2010, said the classes helped motivate her to keep working toward her goal weight.
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