Tina Whitlock: A Weight-Loss Wonder

Tina Whitlock has been where many of her fitness clients are: tired of being overweight and out of shape. After her son was born, she decided embarked on a healthy makeover and lost 100 lbs. As she dropped the pounds friends and family started asking her for advice about health and fitness. “That’s when I made the decision to become a health and fitness professional,” she says.

On Sharecare Whitlock, who has fibromyalgia, blogs about exercising and dieting with the condition and answers questions about working out with your family and starting a fitness plan if you’re overweight. She is fulfilling her goal of “changing the world, one person at a time.”

We caught up with right before Thanksgiving (and she has some smart advice about managing leftovers, too).

Day job: Personal Fitness Trainer

Weekend job: “Full time Kung-Fu Mom. No soccer in this family. Wing Chung all the way!”

Favorite quote: “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” - Dune

Proud to be: “Someone who can say that I’ve lost 100 pounds, and you can too!”

Favorite activity: “Cardio Kickboxing— 350 calories burnt in 30 minutes Oh yeah!”

Health mission: “To live well into my 90s like my Grandma.”

Thanksgiving recovery plan: “Now that the big feast is over, it’s time to eat clean for the next few days. Add lots of fruit, veggies and whole grains back into your diet. Also make sure to get all those tempting leftovers out of the house, divvy them out to friends, family and neighbors or even throw them out so that they are not there, calling to you from the kitchen.”

What’s always in her fridge: Almond Milk

Healthy thing she does every day: 50/50/20. 50 sit-ups, 50 push-ups and 20 minutes of stretching.

Passions: “My family and teaching them how to stay healthy.”

Weight-management secret: “I eat a whole foods, plant-based diet and allow myself to indulge at least once a week and on special occasions.”

Advice to live by: “You may have heard that your journey back to health is a marathon, not a sprint. I think of it more like a dance. Sometimes you’re stuck doing the box waltz, and a lot of the time you may be doing the two step (one step forward, two steps back), but as long as you keep moving you’ll get where you need to be.”

Advice for managing weight during the holidays: “Be a good influence; bring healthy dishes to those holiday parties and dinners. That way you will have something there that you know won’t wreck your goals.”

Research by Cathy Poley

File under: Fit Friday