We here at the Running Wolf Fitness Center would like to share one of our success stories with the community. Salvador Pacheco (White Earth Ojibwe/ Hispanic) lives and works in the Phillips neighborhood and heard we were re-opening the Running Wolf Fitness Center in the neighborhood. So in September he went to the Native American Community Clinic (NACC) and got his fitness exam, which entitled him to recieve a free 6 month membership at Running Wolf Fitness Center.
During the exam Salvador learned that he had a high total cholesterol of 236. He determined to set goals to improve that through dietary change. Several of the changes he made included cutting butter from his diet and eating high fiber oatmeal. Pacheco said the toughest part of the diet change was giving up Pepsi.
After changing his diet and working with a NACC Dietician his cholesterol went down 100 points in about 6-8 weeks.
Salvador started his membership at Running Wolf Fitness Center November 1st. He came every morning at 10 am when Running Wolf opened and set goals with the trainer named Q. When he started Salvador said that he could only do about 5 minutes on the Nustep (Recumbent bike).
He started working out on the other machines as well, including the treadmill and the bike. He also tried the Elliptical and said the Elliptical was less stressfull on his knees (he had both knees replaced, one in 2004 and the other in 2007) and yet let him get a good cardio workout.
Salvador balanced the workouts with the food he was eating. He said he was frustrated with his "conspiracy theory" idea to keep people unhealthy by making the healthy food more expensive and bad food cheap and easy to get. But he is eating healthier and truly seeing the benefit.
He continues to work on cardio and weight training to maintain his baseline fitness numbers. Here are his overall change in health numbers:
o Weight was 235 and is now 175 – a total weight loss of 60 pounds
o Body fat was 35.1 and now is 8. 5
o BMI (Body Mass Index) was 31.5 and now is 28.8
o Waist circumference was 43 and is now at 32
o Blood pressure was in the hypertensive range at 152/77 and now runs about 130/68. He also reports his resting heart rate is now 51.
o His cholesterol went from 236 to 185.
Salvador says that it was important for him to set measurable and realistic goals. His first goal was to weight loss, from 235 lbs. to 208 lbs., and then by New Years to be at 200 lbs. And his final goal is to be 175 – his Marine Corp boot camp weight. Currently he weights 183, and is only 8 pounds away from his ultimate goal. And now all of his fitness numbers are all in a healthy range. He said that at age 52 he feels so much better then he has in a long time.
The Fitness Center’s membership fees are 10 dollars per month, or 30 dollars per month for a household of 3 or more. For more information, call 612-872-2388, or email Connie Norman at:
cnorman@nacc-healthcare.org. Running Wolf Fitness Center, 2323 11th Ave S, Minneapolis.
