2008 Top Bods - Sara Pascale - Faith & Fitness Magazine

Read time: 13 minutes

Updated: April 15th, 2018

Sara Pascale
Age: 25
University: Wheaton College
Year: graduated 2004
Degree you are pursuing: graduated in kinesiology
Height: 5’7” Weight: 140 lbs.
Faith & Fitness Magazine: What is your attitude on eating?
Sara: I try to eat all things in moderation. I find that when I’m working hard to get in all the healthy food groups (fruits, veggies, lean proteins, dairy, and healthy fats) that I have less room left for junk food. But sure, I love a slice of Papa Johns Pizza on occasion, I love red wine, and I have to have some form of dark chocolate every day. I love ice cream cones from Chick-Fil-A as well.
Our college food service has an incredible dessert table with fresh cookies, pies, and other desserts. I think when you set unrealistic limits for yourself, like “I should never eat a cookie,” or “If I have a slice of pie I shouldn’t eat anything else,” then you are setting yourself up for binging or and being disappointed in yourself. However by allowing yourself to truly have what you want when you want while still working hard to eat healthy foods, junk food and fast food is much easier to pass up. I think to myself, “I can have a cookie any time I want, do I really want one?” A lot of the times the answer is no! But if I make a rule for myself saying “cookies will make me fat, I shouldn’t eat that,” then it is much easier to trick myself into thinking I want one whether I really do or not.
F&F: What are some surprising diet facts about you? Any ideas on how to make meal times more nutritious?
Sara: I like to eat what I like, so I pick healthy foods that I enjoy. I love strawberries, grapes, orange juice, cranberry juice, baby carrots, green beans, and I especially love 1% milk! My husband and I go through about 3 gallons of milk a week, just between the 2 of us! I try to pick healthy versions of the foods that I like. I love bagels, so I eat Natural Oven’s Bagels. I’ll also grab a lean cuisine pizza on occasion if I’m in a hurry. I love breakfast food so I’ve been known to eat breakfast 6 times a day! That’s another thing, I do eat at least 6 times a day, I never know whether to call them meals or snacks. I use Cliff Bars and Lara Bars for easy on-the-go snacks.
F&F: How much has fitness been a part of your life? How do you make it part of your life today?
Sara: I played basketball throughout high school and during my first year of college (at another school), and then when I transferred to Wheaton I started teaching aerobics classes. My family was always really healthy and active, and I just love working out! I began training for my first figure competition during my senior year of college, because I really wanted to have a goal to train for. My husband since has also begun competing in bodybuilding, and we really love training together! I have been lifting weights and training for sports ever since high school.
My attitude and motivation towards fitness is really very health focused at this point. I want to be in great shape all through out my life. I want to set a good example for my family, my friends, my children one day. I want others to be inspired to start exercising and weight training. It has been so rewarding to see my parents really step up their workouts because of my encouragement. My dad is 56 and my mom is
53 and they have added sprinting and heavier weight training to their workouts. I think that is so impressive! It means too much to me that they are doing everything they can to make sure they are alive and healthy to be in my children’s lives and their children’s lives.
F&F: How do you feel physical fitness impacts your appearance? Did that play a role in dating and getting married?
Sara: I dated my high school boyfriend all through college (and married him between our junior and senior year), sure, it’s great to be in shape! I feel more confident and focused when I’m not worried about my clothes fitting too tight. One of my journeys in college was really learning to love and accept myself no matter what my size. I hear a lot of people talking about whether or not it is “healthy” to care about appearance. I think that when you are working to change your appearance because you hate yourself and somehow think that if you looked different THEN you could love and accept yourself, this is definitely unhealthy and will not result in success or happiness. On the other hand, if you are working to change your physique and appearance because you love yourself and you make sure everything that you are doing is geared towards increasing your health and enhancing your life, then you can accomplish great things and achieve success.
F&F: OK, so it’s Friday night and you have plans to go with a friend to a concert. How do you dress up to add that extra edge?
Sara: I’ve never been much in to concerts so lets say we are going shopping. Sure, I love to get all dressed up on occasion. I’m usually either in gym clothes with my hair in a pony tail and no make up, or I’m dressed up with my hair blow dried and make up…there is no in-between! To be honest though I’m probably in gym clothes 90% of the time and I maybe dress up one or 2 nights a week.
F&F: Some women are afraid of how weight training may make them look. Others wonder if it may conflict with their faith commitment. What would you tell women wondering if weight training is right for them?
Sara: I love to encourage other young women to weight train because it is so healthy to do! Many women still have the misconception that if they train with heavy weights, they will look like a man. I love it when people ask about my physique and wonder how I got it. When I tell them I weight train with heavy weights, they are usually surprised. “But you don’t look like overly muscular,” they say. I then get to share with them that weight training is so healthy for women and wont make you look like a man, it just makes you look awesome!
I do have a lot of people that seem to have the opinion that the body is “sinful” and it is wrong to care about appearance. This is so silly to me as God obviously created us to have appearance, and His creation is beautiful. It is amazing that we can train our muscles and they can grow in size. We can get lean through diet and exercise and see the beauty of the musculature that he created. For me, when I see the amazing things my body can do and the beautiful creation that it is, my faith is strengthened and it points me to our amazing Creator.
Some other people go so far as to think exercise and nutrition are distractions that keep you from God. Can they? Sure. Do they have to? No. I believe that we are a whole being that is spiritual, physical, intelligent, and emotional. If you aren’t caring for you’re your whole body – spiritual, physical, emotional, intellectual health, the whole body suffers. I love 1 Tim 4:8 that says
that “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” This verse validates that physical training is important for our time on earth. It not only teaches us life lessons in self-discipline but also keeps us healthy and strong to be available to do whatever work God calls us to do here on earth.
F&F: Well beyond the resulting good looks of your fit body, what are the benefits for you of living an active lifestyle, eating healthy and practicing regular strength training? Also, what does it take to live healthy on campus?
Sara: Keeping active and eating well really keeps my energy levels up. I care a lot about my health, so it feels good to know that I am making positive choices now that will keep me healthy 20, 50, maybe 100 years from now! Living healthy on campus for me was easy. I made healthy choices at the cafeteria and made sure I had snacks in between meals. I moved into an apartment by my junior year so I could buy and cook my own food. I taught and attended aerobics classes and took P.E. classes that allowed me to try fun new workouts like power lifting, body-building, and rock climbing. I had a few different friends that were also my work out partners, so lifting weights and doing cardio was always social time too.
F&F: OK, tell us about your workout. What do you do to make it work?
Sara: I believe in periodization…changing it up on a regular basis! I always include some form of strength training, cardiovascular training, and flexibility training in my workouts. Here is one of my college workouts:
4 x week 40 minutes cardio (might be in the form of an aerobics class)
4 x week strength training, 4 sets 15/12/10/8 reps for most exercises
* day 1 – Shoulders and Biceps: overhead press, lateral raises, front raises, bicep curls
* day 2 – back and abs: lat pull downs (or pull ups), T-bar rows, rear delt raises, ab machine
* day 3 – chest and triceps: incline press, flat bench, push ups, dips
* day 4 – legs: leg press, leg extensions, ham curls, squats jumps
Stretching…before after and during lifts
F&F: What role can Christian faith play in a healthy college lifestyle? Do you think it is important to make faith a priority like education and exercise?
Sara: Yes it is so important! Being at a Christian college, our teachers did a great job integrating faith into all of our subjects. In addition, I took Bible classes and loved discussing my faith among friends. Being at a Christian College there were people from a lot of different denominational backgrounds. It was so fun to be able to broaden each other’s perspectives as well as encourage each other in our common faith and goals. I attended a local church and college group during college, but it
was a little hard to get involved there. At home for summers and breaks, my family still got together for devotion, Bible study, and worship.
Going back to the concept we are whole beings…spiritual, physical, intellectual, and emotional: just as many people focus on the spiritual and forget to care for the physical, it is easy to over focus on the physical and forget to focus our spiritual needs. Keeping a balanced life is extremely important. I don’t nearly have it figured out, but it is something that I work hard to learn to do better.
F&F: What do people see when they look at you?
Sara: I think people see what they are looking for. I would love to think that people see the fruit of the spirit in me and that points them to Christ, but many people aren’t looking to see those things in people. They are quick to look at physical appearance first. Nonetheless, my physique is something that people do approach me about not just at the gym, but other times as well. In my mind, any opportunity to connect with another human being is an opportunity to hopefully show and share Christ.
F&F: Share a bit about how you live out your faith among your friends, those with whom you work and others with whom you come in contact.
Sara: I think I have the spiritual gift of hospitality. I love having people over, making people food, helping others to feel comfortable and have fun. I have lots of friends that jokingly call me their 2nd mommy. I like to listen to people, especially when they need someone to talk to. For me, being a Christian is not as much about talking about my faith with people, but more about acting out my faith with people. I don’t nearly do that perfectly, but by Gods grace he alone sanctifies me and molds me
into the person he wants me to be.
F&F: What is your view for the future? What is the role God plays in it? Does the whole physical training thing factor into that somehow?
Sara: This is a hard one to answer since I graduated 3 years ago and have done so many different things already! I was a personal trainer while in college and after graduating I had my own business as a fitness consultant for about 3 years. Now I am a full time volunteer for dog rescue. My view of the future has always been that God is completely in control. I believe that he will guide me where and when he wants and in the mean time all I can do is live my life in accordance with the direction he gives me in the Bible. I have been training in fitness and figure competitions for a good amount of time now since my senior year of high school, but now that I’m pregnant I’ll be taking at least a year off for that of course!
In the long-term future, physical training will always be a part of my life. For me exercise and diet is not a fad, it is a life style. It is part of respecting and honoring the body God has given me. Through science we have learned so much about how to properly care for our bodies. To not use this information to keep ourselves healthy and strong would be such a waste! I like the Bible verse, “Do you not know
that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”