The Center's Blog

Member Gains Strength and Independence After Joining Loyola Center for Fitness

By: LCF Staff

June 23, 2023, 10:00 am - Categories: News

Before Joining the Loyola Center for Fitness, Amy was just beginning a new recovery journey. After 10 major surgeries and 29 minor surgeries and procedures, she found herself back in the hospital, this time needing open heart surgery. Her team of doctors needed her weight to come down before the procedure and put Amy under bariatric care. Amy learned of the Loyola Center for Fitness through the program and requested that the center be a part of her care.

“My main goal was to lose weight, but because of my leg muscles, it took me a year to learn to walk. I was not great at climbing stairs or walking without getting winded. Ms. Alisha gave me some exercises to start to combat the stairs, and I still love those exercises. Chris helped me to strengthen my legs through personal training. One day, I just started those stairs that scared me, and I began to climb them one step at a time. I got to the top and had every intention to take the elevator down so no one would see me cry. But there was Alisha and Chris watching me so proudly, and I had to take the stairs back down. I couldn’t disappoint them. For the first time, in three years, I climbed stairs. When I got to the bottom, we hugged, and I cried like a baby. It was a great day!” says Amy

For Amy, the atmosphere at Loyola Center for Fitness is so encouraging.

“Everyone on staff, and I do mean everyone, is committed to seeing the members succeed. Constantly reminding us that this is not a race nor a contest. it is Our bodies, Our journey, in Our time. It makes you want to do more, that one more time, that one more push. It’s encouraging, it’s confidence building, and it’s an amazing environment to be in. By the Grace of God, my efforts prompted weight loss and allowed me to negate having open heart surgery.”

The Journey to Losing 70 Pounds. 

Amy was going to quit her fitness journey. She was coming to the center 3 days a week, walking from the front of the Cancer Center through the building, down the long hallway, and into the fitness center.

“I lovingly call MyFitRx®! I would sit down at least 4 different times before I reached the entrance to MyFitRx®. Then one day, I started walking and didn’t need to sit. I kept going and going, and then I was at the front desk without stopping. I just cried. Ms. Jackie and Mr. D ran to me, and I just kept repeating, ‘I made it, I made it!’ Quitting is now so out of the question. I’ve lost 70 pounds. Ms. V noticed it before I did, she told me ‘You need new clothes,’ she says. I didn’t at first, but now I see it.”

Being a member at Loyola Center for Fitness is exciting for Amy. She has met some of the most beautiful people. Now her new joy is that she has enough stamina to participate in the group exercise classes. She cried in both Ms. Charmaine and Ms. Morgan’s classes when she got through without stopping. She travels an hour to get to the center, and for her, it’s always worth it!

“The most impact that the center has had on me is that somewhere in those walls, I found myself. My confidence, my self-worth and esteem, my resilience, and my strength. The very things I felt I lost and would never find again, were hidden in every pushup, every squat, every bench exercise, every tear, every bead of sweat, every pound I lost. I would say to someone considering joining, Yes! do it! It’s the thing you want to do, that you didn’t know you wanted to. Your SELF will surely thank you!”

When asked what’s special about Loyola Center for Fitness, Amy says this:

“I believe it is the personalization that sets the center apart from others, in addition to the fact that it is a medical fitness facility where people such as I can continue recovery with a sense of safety and care. I keep coming because I feel welcomed, seen, encouraged, and safe to be in my “why” as Ms. Morgan says. No one else’s, just mine. It’s personal now”