Seventy-Eight year old Ernestine Shepherd is truly one of a kind. But her story is even more remarkable.
Shepherd says she did not start working out until she was 56 after not being comfortable wearing a bathing suit. Her diet changed from eating a regular breakfast, lunch and dinner to now eating 6 meals a day. She routinely starts her day at 2:30am and runs 10 miles (wow!), works out at the gym for a little over an hour, then teaches classes and conducts personal training sessions throughout the day. Some of us get tired just reading that.
“I’ll eat 10 egg whites scrambled. Drink 16 ounces of water and a handful of walnuts,” says Shepherd. “I have a certain song that I have to sing every morning.” Some of the lyrics are “Today, I’m happy and free / Nothing in this world is troubling me.”
“I had a sister. If you saw one, you saw the other,” Shepherd says. “She said to me, “We’re going to be in the Guinness Book of World Records and that’s another thing we can do together as sisters.”
Love Black America Web? Get more! Join the Black America Web Newsletter
We care about your data. See our privacy policy.
Little did Ernestine know, but her sister was suffering from a brain aneurysm. “When she died, I didn’t want to do anything,” confessed Ernestine. “I ended up with high blood pressure, panic attacks, depression, acid reflux…it was awful way to live.”
But finally one day, Shepherd said her sister came to her in a dream. “She said, ‘get up and do what I told you to do,’” proclaims Ernestine.
She did that show and I came in first place in her age category. And nearly a month later, Guinness Book Of World Records came calling, literally. And ever since she’s been in the history books.
“I have no medicine for panic attacks,” admits Shepherd. No medicine for high blood pressure. No medicine for anything. Thank God for my health and thank God for my sister.”
Inspired by Sylvester Stallone she is a die-hard “Rocky” fan, and fan of Michelle Obama . Sylvester Stallone “ is my man, and I would love to meet him one day” she said. She is also looking for an excuse to meet First Lady Michelle Obama and help her with her work on controlling obesity, who she calls “so beautiful, inside and out”. She feels they are on the same mission and should combine their work.
