SOUTHWEST ASIA -- Latasha Westfall is a very different person than she was five years ago. At just over five feet, the nursing student and future Air Force captain weighed 260 pounds.
“I was always overweight growing up, and it really wasn’t a struggle,” she said. “I always just accepted it. It was just the way I was.”
But then something happened that helped her realize that wasn’t the way she wanted to be-- the birth of her daughter Hailey.
“It began after I had my daughter,” said the 386th Expeditionary Medical Group registered nurse. “Having her was really my life epiphany. I realized I had to be accountable for my health and weight, because she was going to need me.”
Deciding she needed to change for her daughter, Westfall started going to the gym. But all she knew was she wanted to change, and she didn’t really have any idea where to start.
“It was extremely intimidating,” she said. “I saw people doing lots of things, and I had no idea why they were doing them. The only thing that was familiar to me was the elliptical. So I got on the elliptical and did 20 minutes. It was a huge achievement for me.”
From there, she set small goals and continued to work on her weight loss. She would go to the gym and use the elliptical and run. Then one day, while she was in the gym, she heard noise that she described as ‘what sounded like a lot of fun.’ She looked around the corner and found a group of people jumping around and sweating. She asked about the class and discovered Zumba.
“I was in the next class, and I have been there ever since,” she said.
She credits Zumba with a lot of her success, so much so that she doesn’t just attend Zumba, she is also a certified instructor.
Being a certified instructor allows Westfall to share what she has learned. The reason she gives back is because as a heavy person, she was intimidated to ask others for advice or guidance. She said a lot of people go to the gym, but aren’t really sure where to start. That’s the benefit of Zumba. All someone has to do is walk in the door; she will take care of the rest.
Staff Sgt. Renee Wiederspahn, 386th EMDG, has been attending Westfall’s Zumba class for the last six months.
“When I first got here, I was really overweight and out of shape,” said Wiederspahn. “My goal during this deployment was to get in shape. I tried (Westfall’s) class first and it really helped me get my cardio up. She is always loud and excited and gets you to do it even when you don’t want to do it anymore.”
Working out was just one aspect of the change Westfall made. Although she initially focused more on working out, she did become aware of what she ate. She completely modified her diet.
”At first, I tried and felt like I failed at doing them both (exercise and eating right),” she said. “I didn’t really have the reinforcement of why I wanted to eat right. Going to the gym made me value what I ate more, because I knew what I just did in the gym.”
Because she didn’t want food to negatively impact the work she was putting in at the gym, she developed better eating habits. Now they are just second nature, she said.
Her proudest moment, she said, was being able to shop in a store that she could not shop in before.
“I went in and I was able to buy a dress for me and a matching dress for my daughter,” Westfall said. “It was really a big moment for me.”
Since that first 20 minutes on the elliptical, Westfall has run three half-marathons and continues to put in the hours at the gym and at Zumba. She never really had a target weight, she said. Her overall goal was just to be healthier.
“I see a big difference between me now and me then,” she said. “The ‘me’ then just let life happen. The ‘me’ now makes the decision of how I want my life to go.”