by Kristen Troy
Randy and his wife, Danielle Oxman, are relatively new members of the Hockessin Athletic Club, but both have made incredible progress towards making healthy habits since joining this past fall through the 2021 Lifestyle Challenge.
Danielle learned about HAC Lifestyle Challenge and told Randy they should sign up. The initial draw of joining the challenge was the prizes! Although their primary goal was to win the challenge, they also wanted to build better habits and improve their overall fitness. Randy and his wife wanted to form these habits to set a better example for their two kids, 2-year-old Sawyer and 6-year-old Quinn. So, the Lifestyle Challenge served as their chance to not only demonstrate healthy habits for their kids but also spend time working on their own personal goals.
Before doing the Lifestyle Challenge, they had made attempts to improve their health, but nothing seemed to stick. The challenge provided an opportunity to break away from their standard routine and have a scheduled time for workouts while motivating them to eat healthier each day.
Since Randy works in sales, he spends most of his time at a desk in front of a computer. Before his current job, Randy used to work as a kitchen manager for a restaurant around the Christiana Mall. There he picked up the skills to cook restaurant-quality meals at home. “I love making pizza at home!” exclaimed Randy. “It’s just not that good for you.”
Randy explained that the most significant hurdle in the Lifestyle Challenge was eating healthier, balanced meals. Despite cooking most of their meals at home, the couple had struggled cooking healthy meals with his restaurant-style cooking. The goal of winning the Lifestyle Challenge provided the push to incorporate more healthy homemade meals.
However, rather than following a meal prep guide, Randy and his wife planned out each week’s meals in advance on their own. “No meal prep guide is kid-friendly,” explained Randy. So they incorporated lean proteins – especially turkey. “Turkey meatloaf, turkey burgers, turkey tacos, …” Randy listed. They also tried to plan meals with a good balance of macronutrients – protein, fat, and carbs. To assist with healthy eating habits, Randy and Danielle tracked their caloric intake using the FitBit app. He set up the app to aim for losing approximately two pounds per week.
For the training portion of the challenge, Randy and Danielle attended two one-hour-long sessions together with HAC Master Trainer Dewey Lightcap each week, though they also met with Personal Trainer Rachel Evans towards the end of the challenge for a few snow day make-up sessions. “If it’s scheduled, I’m coming in,” explained Randy. Having a set time provided him and his wife the motivation to do workouts even when they were not feeling up to it. In addition to having it on the calendar, putting money towards the goal helped solidify the mentality of going to the gym twice a week.
Completing the Lifestyle Challenge helped to strengthen his relationship with his wife. “We are friends first and foremost,” he said. They recently celebrated their 8th wedding anniversary and 14 total years together! “We feed off of each other’s energy,” Randy explained that this helped him stay motivated during their sessions in addition to providing some healthy competition between them.
Randy lost 9.5 % body fat throughout the lifestyle challenge, placing him third amongst the lifestyle challenge finishers for percent of body fat lost. However, the most noticeable change to Randy was how well his clothes were starting to fit him towards the end of the challenge. Though Danielle didn’t finish in the top 3, she lost an impressive 8.2% body fat by the end of the Lifestyle Challenge.
Since having completed the lifestyle challenge, Randy plans to continue personal training with Dewey once a week. “It’s a good motivator to have something on the schedule,” Randy explained. “I don’t have to think about it, Dewey sets everything up, and I don’t have to think about a workout routine.” In addition, Randy is continuing to teach his children to build healthy habits and make good food choices while “not depriving yourself of the things you enjoy to eat.” Coming off the challenge with a solid foundation for healthier habits, both Randy and Dani plan to continue making progress with healthier lifestyles. They plan to continue trying more balanced homemade meals, incorporating exercise into their schedules for themselves, and being positive role models for their children.
