CAMP ZAMA, Japan – The gym had always been a place of sanctuary for Capt. Donisha Turner — a place where she could focus on keeping fit and remaining ready as a Soldier and a warfighter.
Her commitment to working out grew even stronger after she became a mother last year.
“I wanted to get back in shape after having my baby so I’d be prepared to go and lead Soldiers,” Turner, assigned to the 38th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, said.
Despite sweating through regular early morning workouts, Turner felt the results she was seeing were stagnant. For her, the turning point didn’t come from increasing the frequency or intensity her training. Instead, it was her decision to participate in the Wellness Reset Program.
The program, which Camp Zama’s Armed Forces Wellness Center hosts annually, offers participants seven weeks to improve their physical and mental well-being by emphasizing a focus on healthy lifestyle habits such as nutrition, exercise, sleep and stress management.
This year’s participants recognized and celebrated each other’s achievements during a March 18 ceremony in which the top two finishers were announced — Turner won in the women’s category, and Spc. Robert Carillo, assigned to the 78th Signal Battalion, won in the men’s category.
The Wellness Reset program was built to capitalize on the “New Year, New Me” wellness resolution, but with a broader mission to “provide a holistic view of health and wellness,” Diane Thompson, the lead health educator at AFWC, said.
“The goal is that we want people walk away from this program with a different perspective on what their health and wellness can look like,” she said.
Thompson said all the participants remained motivated through the seven-week program, and the results spoke for themselves. The group collectively lost 118 pounds of fat mass and gained 15 pounds of fat-free mass, and they logged nearly 2 million steps, or 950 miles.
In the end, the participants walked away with more than just an improved Body Mass Index, Thompson said. They gained foundational habits designed to guide them to be healthier in every aspect of their lives for several years down the road.
As Turner worked through the program, her focus expanded beyond mere exercise to include nutrition management, resulting in a weight loss of 8.8 pounds and a 2-pound increase in lean body mass.
These results were not merely a matter of numbers; they were the product of a consistent habit of Turner tracking what she ate and mapping out an ideal fitness regimen.
Turner said that through the program, she came to understand “what it takes to be her best self,” as well as when to rest and when to push herself.
“But more than that, I believe one of the greatest takeaways for me was knowing what I can share with my Soldiers to help them perform at their best,” she said.