FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — For Explosive Ordnance Disposal Soldier Sgt. Jonothan Holtby, with Fort Leonard Wood’s 763rd Ordnance Company (EOD), the decision to make his initial appointment with the Army Wellness Center in July was part of a larger decision he made to change to a healthier lifestyle after the birth of his first child.
“I wasn’t helping myself to be happy or less stressed,” he said. “I was pretty high on the body fat scale, and I was struggling to get to where I needed to be to stay in the Army. I like to lead by example, and all of the things I want for my child — to be happy and healthy — I needed to do them myself.”
Holtby had heard good things about the AWC here from a co-worker, and being a self-described “numbers guy,” he liked the idea of following a simple, prescribed path to success that involved a specific intake of calories and schedule of exercise.
“Numbers make sense to me,” he said. “When someone sits a piece of paper in front of me and it says, ‘This is the amount of calories you need to consume a day,’ and it was down to the single digit — I think mine was something like 2,236 calories — I told myself, ‘OK, that’s extremely precise. If you follow that guideline, follow that caloric intake, you’re going to lose weight, as long as you keep exercising.’ I thought that was a really simple plan.”
That plan was put together by Myka Kerr, who has worked as a health educator at the AWC since July 2021.
Kerr works one-on-one with a lot of individuals — the AWC sees an average of more than 200 people each month — but Holtby stands out in her mind as one of the most determined people she has assisted.
“I will never forget his response to my question, ‘What brings you in today?’ He said that he was about to start paternity leave and wanted to be purposeful during this time by taking advantage of all the services we offer,” Kerr said. “He was so proactive that he called the office a couple days later asking about the exercise prescription I promised. He immediately got to work and asked questions each time he came in for a follow-up to ensure he was on track.”
The personalized plan for Holtby involved what Kerr called building a SMART goal — short for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound — around one key aspect of the healthy lifestyle Holtby wanted to improve — his running.
“His goal was specific — to ‘run better, farther and faster.’” Kerr said. “It was measurable — he came in monthly to assess his body composition; it was achievable — he assessed his availability, time and resources to make this goal happen; it was realistic — he has exercised consistently before, but just needed accountability and a push in the right direction; and it was time-bound — he wanted to reach this goal during his leave time.”
Since working with Kerr and the AWC, Holtby has a list of accomplishments: He lost 8.1 percent of his body fat that equaled 19.04 pounds of fat mass. Additionally, he gained 10.89 pounds of fat-free mass — in muscle and lean components — and lost 2 inches around his waist. Over six weeks’ participation in his personalized exercise plan, his 2-mile run time for the Army Combat Fitness Test has dropped by 3.5 minutes.
To anyone debating the choice to make the first step toward their health and wellness goals, Holtby advised them to “just go ahead and do it.”
“You’re either going to do it, and you’re going to be happy with it, or you’re going to do it, and you’re not going to be happy with it — at least you can say you tried it,” he said. “The people who try it and continue to go forward, I think they’re going to be happy with what they did.”
Kerr said she enjoys meeting people “where they are currently on their health and wellness journey and cheering them on to be the healthiest version of themselves.”
“Success is different for each individual,” she said. “It can look like pounds or inches lost, strength gains, improved run time, feeling better in your clothes, quality sleep, lowered stress response, increased water and/or fruit and veggie consumption or just enjoying life more.”
Whatever success is for an individual, Kerr said determination and consistency are key.
“Determination is an unstoppable force when applied,” she said.
The AWC’s services are available to service members, including National Guard and Reserve, military dependents, Department of Defense civilians, and retirees and their dependents, said Anna Schwartz, the supervisory health educator at the AWC.
“We start with a 30-minute initial health-coaching appointment, so the health educator can learn more about each client’s behaviors, disease risk factors, goals and interests, and readiness and confidence to change,” Schwartz said. “This allows the health educator time to make individualized recommendations of services that would benefit the client on their wellness journey.”
Clients may also attend any AWC educational classes at any time, Schwartz added.
The AWC is located in Bldg. 350, next to General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital, at 14122 3rd St. For more information on available services, visit their website or call 573.596.9677.
The AWC can also be found on Facebook and Instagram @FortLeonardWoodAWC.
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