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CoSIDA Goodwill & Wellness Committee
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Communicators Outside the Lines Feature Series
This is the next profile in a series entitled
Communicators Outside the Lines: Better Yourself, Better Your Community produced by the CoSIDA Goodwill & Wellness Committee. Read past profiles at
CoSIDA.com/CommunicatorsOTL.
WE NEED YOUR IDEAS!
If you have any ideas for this series, which will revolve around CoSIDA member volunteerism and health and wellness, please contact Goodwill and Wellness Committee chair
Chris Mitchell, Washington University in St. Louis Assistant AD for Communications, at (618) 560-9280 or
mitchell@wustl.edu.
Q&A with Kelli Elmore
Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference, Assistant Commissioner
by Michael Smoose – Johnson & Wales University - Providence, Associate Athletics Director
CoSIDA Goodwill and Wellness Committee member
At one point or another all of us have been on the couch, seen a TV ad for a new workout plan and thought “does that really work?”.
Kelli Elmore, Assistant Commissioner of the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference, had those same thoughts but went a step farther to put one of them into action.
Even though she has been an active person for most of her life, Elmore was in a rut after the birth of her son. A family member introduced her to the 80 Day Obsession and that was the springboard she needed.
As assistant commissioner Elmore has to juggle a number of responsibilities, including the event management and communications for the conference’s 22 championships. She uses those time management skills to make room in her busy schedule for a workout nearly every day.
Q: When did you start becoming active? How did you get started? Were you an athlete in high school or college?
Elmore: I started getting more active in March of 2018. I was feeling very stuck and unhappy with how I looked after having my son, Kaiden. I knew I needed to do something, but wasn't really sure where to start. I wasn't a huge fan of going to the gym (even though we had a membership), because I never really knew what to do once I got there. Plus, I didn't want to take my son to the gym daycare and felt guilty just leaving the house for a couple of hours to get in a decent workout. My husband's aunt had actually been posting about some at-home workouts so I reached out to her and she got me started!
I played golf, basketball, and softball in high school, but did not play in college. I loved being part of a team and definitely felt like if I couldn't play in college then the next best thing was to work around the sports I grew up loving!
Q: How do you make the time to work out around your work/family schedule?
Elmore: I do my best to get up early and workout. My husband and I both do the at-home workouts so we take turns getting up first, get our workout in, and then the next one goes. On a good day, we can both get our workouts in before our son wakes up. If that doesn't get accomplished, then I either workout during my lunch hour or get it in at night once he goes to bed. It gets a little more difficult during the busy championship weeks, but I know I would regret it more if I just skipped it.
Q: What are some of your favorite activities/workouts to do?
Elmore: I love lifting weights (it doesn't make you bulky, ladies!), and I have grown to love cardio. The programs I do make it so much more fun and you feel like you're doing a workout with friends, so it goes by really quickly!
Q: How do you stay motivated?
Elmore: My main motivation when I started was to get back to being healthy and happy with myself. I wanted to lose my pregnancy weight, but I mainly wanted to be healthy. About two months into 80 Day Obsession, I signed up as a Beachbody Coach, which added an extra level of motivation and accountability. I knew that my story could possibly impact others, and I needed to show up each and every day in order to do that. I also have a full team of ladies that motivate each other every single day! We have a group chat and challenge groups on Facebook that we check-in on daily, and keep each other accountable on days we don't want to get our workouts in. My husband has obviously been a big factor in my motivation as well! I wouldn't have been able to do what I've done without his support.
Q: What was it like going through the 80 Day Obsession? What made you want to try this versus something else?
Elmore: It was a long 80 days, not going to lie! But I loved the different workouts every single day, and the challenge each workout brought. This program even came with behind the scenes footage each week of the cast, showing their struggles and successes, so you really felt like you made best friends with the cast along the way. 80 Day Obsession was the workout my husband's aunt was doing and she believed I could rise to the challenge, so I decided to give it a try. I'm not one to quit on anything, and I hate letting people down, so that was my motivation to get through it.
Q: What is the Portion Fix and how does it keep you on track?
Elmore: So the Ultimate Portion Fix is a new nutrition program that launched a couple of months ago and really focuses on the size of portions you should be eating, and the amount of each food group you should eat in a day. There are different "brackets" depending on your weight, what kind of workout program you're doing, etc. and you can also decide on doing a timed nutrition program, or just base it on the containers. It really helps you realize how much food you can eat and shows you that you don't need to deprive yourself in order to lose weight. You can still eat foods you love! The color-coded containers were introduced when I started 80 Day Obsession, but the Ultimate Portion Fix is an expansion of that and includes videos and tools to help explain everything on another level.
Q: You took part in brewery relay. What was that experience like? Did you train with your relay partners? How does it help to have other people there during the event?
Elmore: I had been wanting to do the relay but couldn't find anyone to run it with me. There were six total legs to the relay, but I was having a hard time finding five people who wanted to run. My son's daycare teacher had mentioned she was running in it with some friends so I told her if they needed an extra to let me know. About a week before the relay she told me they had an extra spot so I signed up! I honestly didn't train, and I didn't know anyone but the one person on the relay team. They were all super nice though, and I loved the experience! I'm not a seasoned runner - I actually used to hate running - but I had run the Susan G Komen 5K the previous September and shocked myself when I ran the entire 5K in September without stopping, while pushing stroller, so why not try it again?! I was given the second longest leg in the brewery relay, which was 4.75 miles, and I surprised myself again when I finished! I think before the 5K, I hadn't run more than a mile at a time, so I was nervous during both races.
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