If Aketa Thomas is not careful, Orville Redenbacher’s Crunch ‘n Munch snack mix may be her undoing.

The 4-foot-11-inch fitness dynamo can resist most treats in her pursuit of healthful living. But the unique flavor and texture of the caramelized popcorn mix, which she spots regularly in the Walmart checkout lines, often overpower even her strong resistance.

That’s a fact that she tries to be especially attuned to, now that she, a United Regional fitness consultant, is not only watching her weight for integrity’s sake at her job — she wants to practice what she preaches to her clients — but because she is also in hot pursuit of another goal.

She wants to “go pro” in the sport of figure.

Similar to the sport of body building, this sport champions a softer, less striated muscle tone — still cut and ripped, but with enough body fat to create a softer, feminine appearance.

The sport is not drug-tested, and Thomas harbors no illusions that some of her competitors take a “short route” to pumped-up glory.

It’s not unusual to compliment a competitor on a flattering swimsuit, only to hear a throaty, masculine-like voice say, “Thank you.”

But that’s part of the challenge, she said.

“My goal is to do it naturally,” she said. “I think it can be done.”

By day, Thomas is the Medically Supervised Weight Loss program coordinator at United Regional. she counsels and assists weight loss patients who opt for bariatric treatment or who try the hospital’s quick-loss, low-calorie Optifast Clinic. she teaches behavior modification, proper nutrition and “exercise, exercise, exercise,” she said.

Her job has been a natural lead-in to her relatively new passion for the sport of figure.

She waded tentatively into the sport in 2001.

Thomas, 32, wasn’t always an athlete — or as lean as she is today.

For most of her 20s, she cycled through eating binges, hating her body, guilt and dieting. “I was not happy with how my body looked,” she said of her then- 138-pound frame.

But after being inspired by personal trainer, Heidi Ringer, she realized that she didn’t have to be stuck in a cycle of failure and guilt. “I could control that,” she learned.

She had enlisted in the Air Force several years before to earn college money and was eventually stationed with her husband, James, for six years at Sheppard Air Force Base. she served as a diet therapist and as a chaplain’s assistant.

But as she neared the end of her six-year enlistment, she was beginning to draw inspiration from Ringer, who competed in the sport of figure, and felt God leading her to be a personal trainer.

She took her first civilian job at a spa. “I was certified, but there’s a lot more to it than being certified,” she said. she used her GI bill to earn a four-year degree in Exercise Science, then acted on Heidi’s inspiration to begin competing in the figure sport.

“I was caught by the bug,” she said. it required weight lifting and weight-watching, with carefully prescribed mini-meals eaten every 2.5 hours. It’s not for everybody, she said.

“It takes a lot of sacrifice. it takes over your life. I changed everything.”

All for just 15 minutes on the stage during competitions.

In her first show, she placed “eighth or ninth” in a group of 10 competitors. “I was just so happy to be there,” she said.

She entered one show each year after that, getting serious about the sport in 2006. She’s done 11 shows since.

Her most recent win — two weeks ago — was a first-place national qualifier competition that is just another steppingstone toward her goal of becoming a professional athlete over the age of 30.

“I want to prove that it can be done and that I can look the best I’ve ever looked over 30. I don’t have to let myself go. I want to do something I’ve never done before, and do it drug-free,” she said.

Where she once was unmotivated to weight-train and do cardio work, she now works out daily alongside her husband, who is a bodybuilder.

It is good couple time.

“The hardest part has been the clean dieting,” she said. A clean diet is food stripped bare of any salt, condiments and most seasonings. Flavor enhancers promote weight gain, she said. “The chicken is bare. the potatoes are plain. the rice is plain.”

Only mrs. Dash seasoning is acceptable.

Like any woman, she occasionally just wants a piece of chocolate. now, her only splurge might be a rice cake with a touch of almond butter and low-sugar jelly or honey.

That means eating out “is pretty much out of the question,” she said.

Her coach, who monitors her progress from his home in Columbus, Ohio, can tell at a glance from photos she sends if she is cheating. “He can tell if you have water under your skin. you don’t lose weight as fast with additives.”

Thomas, who is currently training for her next big meet, has been working since January to lose 20 to 25 pounds to be in showtime shape. for her, that’s 110 pounds.

Now, breakfast is one slice of Ezekial bread, four egg whites and water — lots of water. Meal 2, scheduled midmorning, is 4 ounces of turkey breast and one-half cup green beans, measured into reclosable baggies.

Meal 3: A lettuce salad with red peppers, cherry tomatoes and cucumber, with a raspberry vinaigrette.

Meal 4: 4 ounces of tuna or orange roughie with two cups fresh spinach.

Is that food tasty?

“No,” she admits.

But so it goes.

Despite her impressive musculature, Thomas dresses for work in drapey fabrics and modest styles. she doesn’t want to be a distraction to her clients, who are fighting their own weight battles.

She understands.

“Changing a person’s lifestyle takes time. you don’t flip a switch,” she tells clients. “It took a long time to get here. You’re going to have lapses, and that’s OK, as long as you come back into the fold.”

Healthy dieting is a hard sell these days with so many other lose-10-pounds-in-10-days programs out there, she said.

She stresses the skills of long-term maintenance, where the true diet wars are won. “We want to keep you healthy the rest of your life,” she said. “For some people it clicks the first time. for others, they need to come back again and again.”

She encourages those who are used to taking prescribed doses of medication to “dose their food” in the same methodical way.

The most common obstacle to successful weight maintenance is eating out at restaurants too often, she said, so she urges her clients to prepare their food themselves and write down everything they eat.

Too many people don’t want to face how many calories they eat because it spoils the fun, she said. “That lack of attention is killing us,” she said.

Her own lifestyle has changed so completely that now her daily workouts with her husband of 14 years — at 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. — are the highlights of her day.

Together, they try to find ways that God can use them in the lives of others who compete in their sports.

Thomas prays about every show and asks God to use her.

“It’s a dark, dark, dark industry where a lot of girls lose their way,” she said. “I believe God sent me to be a light. I want to tell them you don’t have to do drugs. you don’t have to sleep with someone to get an edge. you can (do the sport) without any of that.”

She refuses to pose nude or do anything that might hurt her Christian testimony.

She expects plenty of challenges along the way — and one in particular that frightens her even more than running into Crunch ‘N Munch in the Walmart checkout aisle.

“Lord help me when they open a Chick Fil-A,” she said, shaking her head. “My saving grace is that the nearest one is in Lawton.”

© 2010 Times Record News. all rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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