Fit to fight; balancing lifestyle choices

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Cody Dowell
  • Altus Air Force Base Public Affairs
ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  The 97th Medical Operations Squadron held the first session of the Group Lifestyle Balance program, Jan. 31, 2017, at Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma.

The class welcomes anyone on base to participate in the program. The goal of the program is to maintain a healthy long-term lifestyle to keep a targeted weight rather than temporary weight loss through dieting.

“The focus is to break out of the diet mentality,” said Gayle Kenyon, 97th MDOS health promotion coordinator. “It is about taking a long-term approach not just for weight loss but for overall healthy lifestyle choices and skills. We are working to establish new behaviors and lifestyle choices and that doesn’t happen overnight.”


The class is a healthy weight program that is planned for every Tuesday for 12 weeks. Programs like this are held roughly every six months and are available for everyone to join. If someone is not available to attend the class at the regular schedule, Kenyon said she is willing to work with anyone’s schedule for one-on-one meetings, or with help over email.

The program aims to give the base another method to stay physically ready to accomplish the mission.

“With healthy weight being an issue on base, this is a great opportunity for those who are struggling to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight,” said Kenyon. “Being overweight impacts overall health, so this is a great way to encourage our Airmen to make sure they are fit to fight.”

The course teaches a variety of skills and lessons to inform the participants about healthy decision making, easing them into new life habits.

“Each class we will talk about something new and the topic will build from the previous week,” said Kenyon. “We are teaching things that are more than what to eat, regular exercise, sleep patterns, portion size, fat grams and the calorie range we want among other subjects. A lot of it is trouble shooting, if one section isn’t working for a single person we can figure out what we can do to help that person in this course. Sometimes the smallest changes make the biggest difference to a person’s progress.”

Past students found that this class contains useful information and is a beneficial program that the Air Force offers.

“There were a lot of interesting things I learned from that class,” said Loretta Hill, 97th Civil Engineer Squadron office manager. “It has been a year, but I always go back to the balancing skills that I learned. You have to exercise, you have to eat healthy but also treat yourself to be successful in maintaining your weight. When you have healthier people on base, they are going to do their jobs more effectively and it makes everything flow smoother.”

The class aims to give this knowledge to anyone on base to manage a healthy lifestyle, allowing the Airmen and base residents to be fit-to-fight. For more information about the class or to sign up for the next class, contact Gayle Kenyon at (580)481-5647.