Photo By Staff Sgt. Kenneth Hatten | Maj. Scotty L. Carpenter works out on the bench press at the NATO gym at Kandahar...... read more read more
KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - The rigors of a deployed environment can increase the difficulty of maintaining physical fitness, but the soldiers of the Mississippi National Guard’s 184th Expeditionary Sustainment Command/Joint Sustainment Command- Afghanistan are finding ways to stay fit while serving in support of Operation Enduring Freedom at Kandahar Airfield.
“Basically, I have cut my calories way, back,” said Maj. Scotty Carpenter, deputy officer-in-charge of the JSC-A Support Operations DIB section. “I eat a 4-egg omelet and a small bowl of cereal every morning for breakfast, and that’s about it. I usually go to the gym and lift weights for 45 minutes a day and do 30-40 minutes of cardio during lunch.”
Carpenter said that he also limits his snacking to healthier choices such as almonds and apples, and generally avoids dessert foods and limits his portion sizes at evening meals.
“I’m moving more and eating less,” said Carpenter, “and I’m also trying to build more lean muscle so that my body will be able to burn more calories a day.”
Other soldiers in the unit follow similar fitness regimens, and running seems to be one of the most popular fitness activities, followed closely by cardio workouts and weight lifting.
“When I mobilized in August, I was 209 pounds,” said Lt. Col. Lourie N. Formby, board president of the Combined Joint Inter-Agency Task Force 435 at Bagram Air Field. “When we arrived at Fort Hood, Texas, I decided to get serious about losing weight. I began to walk/run daily and lay off the desserts and sweets, and I’ve lost more than 17 pounds and am well on my way to my personal goal of getting down to 180 pounds.”
Some soldiers began their workout routines during mobilization at Fort Hood, Texas, but then ramped up their activities significantly once the unit arrived at KAF.
“When we got to Fort Hood, I was pushing somewhere around 250 pounds because I was coming from a civilian job where I was not very physically active,” Said Staff Sgt. Joshua D. Fernandez, JSC-A medical logistics NCO. “I worked out some at Fort Hood, but I didn’t really get started until we arrived here at KAF, where I started making time for regular trips to the gym.”
Fernandez said that his workout consisted of a mix of weights and cardio, combined with cutting out excess sweets and carbohydrates.
“It’s always good to eat well, and even if you don’t have too many choices here sometimes, you can try to do the best you can with the choices you do have,” said Fernandez. “You don’t have to totally cut out all so-called “bad” foods every day, because if you try to eat super healthy all the time, it gets boring. Just try to maintain a healthy balance.”
The large number of 5 and 10 kilometer running events held at KAF also provided an opportunity for unit members to get out and stay active.
“When we first arrived in October, I saw that they had these 5K runs you could sign up for, so I decided to try one and found that I liked it,” said Fernandez. “After my first one, I signed up for another one, and I’ve been found that the more I ran, the more I enjoyed it. I always used to hate running, but I’ve really gotten into it since I’ve been here.”
Fernandez said that his goal is now to make more frequent trips to the gym, in addition to maintaining his running schedule.
“I’m down to 216 pounds now, and I don’t really want to lose any more weight,” he said. “I want to concentrate on building more lean muscle and losing the last bit of excess fat before I go back home.”
| Date Taken: | 05.06.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 05.07.2011 06:23 |
| Story ID: | 70017 |
| Location: | KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, AF |
| Web Views: | 492 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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