Quick To Fit

Fitness for a fast paced world

Interview With A Weight Loss Champion and Ultra Marathon Runner

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A few days ago I discovered a blog that I found to be  inspirational in my own adventure in weight loss. The site was Run4Change and it details the weight loss journey of the site’s owner Jason.

Since 2006 Jason has lost over 130 pounds, and went from being overweight and un-athletic, to fit and trim and running ultra-marathons. That’s quite a switch!

jason

Here’s a quick bio from his site:

My name is Jason. I have lost 130lbs and have transformed myself from a roly poly to an athlete. I am married to an absolutely wonderful woman named Audrey.  She inspired me to be more creative and start this blog. Since I am a former fat guy who has lost 130 lbs I hope to inspire you to become healthier and happier. I am a new person, I might say I am an old person since I weigh the same as I did 16 years ago.

Although I have lost all of my excess weight, I still have fat guy fears..I am moving and running on to enjoy my life even more. I have found a new love called running. I once feared this activity as painful, hard, and boring. Now I see it as an outlet, an emotional and physical recharge. I will never be the same since I started running. I guess you could say that I am running away from my old self.

My blog is my unique angle on health, running, weight loss, and life. My blog, is here to inspire you. To let you inside a regular guy who yearns to do amazing things and live an amazing life. Hopefully you can learn about health, running, weight loss, and me.   Life is an adventure.

I contacted Jason and asked if he might be interested in a quick interview about all his success on this blog, and he was kind enough to oblige. I know his story will inspire and motivate all of  you!

Interview With Jason, 130 pounds later!

Quick to fit: Tell us a little about yourself, and your fitness & weight loss journey?

Jason:  Well, I started weight watchers in Dec. 2006 and I have lost 130 lbs using that program.  It took me about a year and I have kept the weight off for a little over a year also, but I don’t plan to go back to deep fried burritos any time soon.  My exercise started with 12 minutes on a stationary bike 3 times a week.  Every time I lost 10 lbs I would increase the time and variety of exercises that I did. I started running after I lost 60 lbs.  My life has been completely changed by losing this weight and starting to run.  I have learned so much on this journey and I hope to inspire others that it is possible for them too.

Quick to fit: On one post on your blog you said, “Getting to the starting line is the biggest victory.  After that, if you can just endure the ups and downs of the journey you will end up at the finish line.”  To me this really is a profound comment, and speaks to how so many people just never get to that starting line, and then don’t stick it out.  What was it that finally got you to the starting line, and what helped you to endure?
Jason: My sister was the one who got me walking towards the starting line.  She invited me to weight watchers.  I had to overcome some serious fears to get to that first weigh-in.  Common fears too like:
  • I might fail
  • If I do lose the weight I probably won’t keep it off.
  • What will people think to see someone so fat like me.
  • Will I be the only guy at weight watchers.
  • It is going to be so boring and hard.

Anyways, I overcame these fears by accepting the fact that change is uncomfortable. There was no way I would ever attain weight loss if I was not willing to be uncomfortable.  So I dove right in.  I endured the journey until now by setting written goals for weight loss as well as running, not letting guilt pull me down if I messed up, and understanding that it is not cheating if you count what you eat.

Quick to fit: Did you ever find yourself discouraged or frustrated while losing weight, and how were you able to overcome those feelings?

Jason: Oh yeah.  I couldn’t even count how many times I got discouraged and wanted to give up.  To beat this I talked about it.  I talked to my sister, my wife, my WW leader, and God.  I also learned so much from running.  Being a person who never exercised to finishing marathons, I learned that feelings (although very real) really have nothing to do with our ability to keep going.

Quick to fit: Now that you’ve lost the weight that you wanted to, what kind of a maintenance regimen do you follow to make sure you don’t gain it back?

Jason:I still follow weight watchers the same way I did when I started except I eat my extra points and activity points now.  I still go to the meetings faithfully because if I could have done it by myself I would have done it a long time ago.  This is a big factor in making it through those hard ups and downs we face during our journey.

Quick to fit: What prompted you to start running long distance races, and what is the longest distance you’ve run?  Could you have imagined yourself doing those things a few years ago?

Jason:  Since about 1996 I wanted to run a marathon and ultra-marathon.  I read a magazine article about a guy who ran 50 miles and I thought to myself, “Wow, I did not think that a human could do such a thing.”  I started running at that time but quit very quickly.  So after losing 60 lbs this time I started to train for my first marathon and I accomplished my first finish 7 months later.  I feel in love with the long runs.  They made me feel good mentally, physically, and spiritually.  My confidence went up a lot and I started to believe that I could do things that I never dreamed or imagined were possible.  My long runs grew.  In February of 2008 I ran my first ultra-marathon (31 miles) and in July 2008 I finished the White River 50 miles trail running championship race.  I did it in around 11 and 1/2 hours.  It was a great experience.  All in all, I finished 7 marathons and 4 ultra-marathons from Oct. 2007 to Oct. 2008.

Quick to fit: What helpful advice would you give to others out there who are trying to lose weight, whether its 30 pounds, or 130?

Jason:  I think that there are two things that are totally essential for us to understand as we walk in this weight loss journey.  First, we need to change how we think about “cheating”.  Cheating is the use of deception.  If you eat something that is not “on plan”, just count it however you count in your program and it is not cheating.  Finish the day off accordingly.  You have your whole life ahead of you and 1 day of bad eating is just a blip on the radar.  This thinking will free you up and finally allow you to have that “life change” perspective so that you can live the plan.  The second thing is to never give up.  So what if you mess up.  I know it is depressing, angering, maddening, etc. (it is for me at least), but it is not the end of the world and it certainly should not be the end of your program.  I learned in the ultra marathons this:  There is a guarantee that when things are going great, watch out because they are going to get bad.  When things are going bad, all the better because they are going to get good again. This happens over and over and over during an 11 hour race. You cannot escape these surges of good and bad.  If you just take one foot and put it in front of the other, regardless of the pain or guilt or mistakes, you will make it to the finish line.  Good luck.

Now That We’re Properly Motivated..

Thanks again to Jason for agreeing to do the interview, and for sharing his amazing story.   If his story won’t get you motivated, I don’t know what will! I think I’m going to go and run a few miles now!

Don’t forget to check out Jason’s site at  http://run4change.wordpress.com.  Subscribe directly to his RSS feed here.

Here’s My Home Gym. What Does Yours Look Like?

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I’m always interested to know what kind of a setup other fitness bloggers are working with in their home gyms. Do they have fancy weight machines, $3000 treadmills and other workout equipment? Are they working with just a set of elastic resistance bands and a workout video? Or do they just go to a gym?

In the interests of sharing what I’m doing I thought I would share a few pictures of the setup I have in my house. If you’re a blogger, put up a post of your setup as well – and leave a comment here. I’d love to see what you have, and how you use it!  I’ll update with links if anyone is bold enough to answer the challenge!

My Setup

So what kind of setup am I using in my home gym? I have a pretty basic setup, but for me it has proven to be pretty effective. I don’t think you have to have a lot of fancy equipment to get started on the road to fitness.

Weights For Weight Training

First, I have a set of weights (pictured below).  The weight set was actually pretty expensive because I bought it piece by piece and each weight is actually pretty pricy on its own.  I’m sure I spent several hundred dollars piecing the weight set together.  If I had it to do all over again I would probably end up buying an all in one weight set where you dial in the weight, and then use only what weight you need to for the exercise you’re doing.  Something like this one.

Treadmill

Second, I have a treadmill for doing my cardio days. Personally I think a treadmill is almost a necessity in a cold climate like we have here in Minnesota. I am NOT going outside to go running on a -23 degree day, like we’ve had recently.  We bought our treadmill, made by Fuel, for about $650 last year (pictured below).  We bought it to replace my wife’s walking only model that I wasn’t able to use (because I’m too heavy).

We’ve been extremely happy with the treadmill, and we were told that it is basically the same as a more expensive model made by Sole.   Same factory, etc – just a different label and less features/programs on the console.   Highly recommended!  Check out the comparable Sole F63 on Amazon.

Other Workout Tools

Other things that I use in my workouts include a workout dvd from the TV show – “The Biggest Loser”. I used to hate doing workout videos, it just seemed so silly. But this one that I use is actually a lot of fun. Check it out here.

One last tool I have in my arsenal is a set of workout dvds that I just bought used online.  It is the P90X workout series. It promises to be tough to complete, but I need a challenge right now!  Check it out here.

How About You?

How about you? What do your workout facilities at home look like? Do a blog post and show us! If you don’t have a home gym, why not?

The First Few Weeks Of Working Out Are The Hardest

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Time To Jumpstart My Weight Loss

After the new year hit, I made a goal that I was going to start working out again 6 days a week, and that I was going to lose the final 30-35 pounds that I’ve been wanting to lose. I’ve lost 20 already, but I still have that nagging 30 left to drop.

Over the years I’ve begun to realize that when you’re beginning a workout program, one of the hardest things to do is just to start, and then to maintain your activity over the long haul.

I’ve never had a hard time starting a workout program, I’ve done lots of those. I’ve always had a problem completing or maintaining a regular workout schedule. The first few weeks of working out are always the hardest.  Once you’ve been doing it for 3-4 weeks it starts becoming more of a habit.

Yesterday I restarted my 6 days a week workout schedule. I have to tell you I was dreading it. I was happily content being a couch potato that last few months. The problem is, my waistline was starting to show it, and I had to get moving again.

First Two Days Of Working Out

Last night I went running for the first time in months on our nearly new treadmill that we bought last spring. I set it to do a high intensity cardio workout running about a mile and a half varying speeds and inclines anywhere from 3 mph and 1 incline all the way up to 5 incline and 6.5 mph.

It was pretty hard jumping back in after all these months, but once I got going, it felt really good. I started to remember how good it feels to workout. How you can feel your muscles pumping, and sweat starting to pour down your brow, and getting into rhythm with the music.

It wasn’t my best workout ever, but it was a good re-start.

Tonight I did my upper body weight workout. I did sets of 12, 10, 8, 6 and two sets of 12 for my pecs, shoulders, triceps, back and biceps. One thing I’ve noticed is that when you haven’t lifted for a while, you usually will get pretty sore the next day. Your body takes a while to adjust. So I’m expecting some soreness tomorrow.

So, I’m back on the wagon – I’m working out, eating healthier, and I’m sure I’ll knock these 30 pounds out in no time!

What’s your experience in losing weight? Have you found the first few weeks to be the hardest?

Running. Love it or leave it?

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One thing I used to just hate doing was running.  I would rather die than go running.  Running is hard, it makes you sweat and it always leaves you as a heaving sweaty lump on the floor.

Well that’s how I used to think about it at least.

Since I’ve been working out and trying to lose weight and get fit I’ve found running to be an addictive form of exercise that is crucial in helping me along the road to dropping the pounds.  Once you’ve been running for a while you get to the point where your body craves the running high, and you can’t wait to go running the next day.

What has been especially effective for me is engaging in high intensity interval training (HIIT). Basically what HIIT involves is a warmup period, several short, maximum-intensity efforts separated by moderate recovery intervals, and a cooldown period. The period of alternating effort and recovery intervals typically lasts a total of 15-20 minutes for me.

That staircase
Creative Commons License photo credit: tanakawho

While I’ve come to enjoy running (to a certain extent), I’ve found at least one other blogger who enjoys it a whole lot more than I do.  Shéamus over at Irun365.com is on a journey to run every day for a year, and so far he’s done just that! What are the rules of his challenge? He needs to run every single day for a calendar year, for at least 20 minutes a day. So far he is 50 days into the challenge, and going strong!

Right now there is a competition going on over at Irun365.com for a $30 Amazon gift card. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment, subscribe to his site by email and/or write a post on your own blog about his contest. Not a bad deal, eh?

Check out his site today for some inspiration, running tips and some great writing.

As for me, I’m going to go for a run!

Monday morning fitness blog roundup!

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The weekend is over, and I have to admit I didn’t get as much exercise as I had hoped. Yesterday I didn’t do anything except go for a walk with my wife, which is better than nothing, but still not what I had hoped. My diet was also a bit lackluster as we attended a BBQ yesterday afternoon where I consumed enough Doritos and Oreos to feed a small army. So, with that said, I did do a couple of good things this weekend. I finished week three of the 100 pushups challenge, and I continued my lower body weights workout.   So, there have been ups and downs!

My goal this week is to eat better, and workout every day except Sunday. Will I accomplish this goal? I think so.

push ups
Creative Commons License photo credit: sun dazed

To get some motivation, here is some good reading from a bunch of other great fitness blogs. Check them out!

That ought to keep you busy for a while. Enjoy!

Exercise today & getting ready for the long weekend

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Today was the last day of work for me this week, I took the day off on Friday because my wife and I are going to be celebrating our 6th anniversary this weekend. Our anniversary is actually in June, but we had to move our trip to this weekend because of a death in the family on our anniversary.

We’re going up to the Brainerd Lakes area of Minnesota, and Hope to have a nice weekend of fun in the sun.

Clear Lake
Creative Commons License photo credit: cursedthing

I don’t anticipate getting a lot of exercise this weekend, except maybe for some pushups tomorrow or Saturday. I haven’t decided which day I’ll do that yet because I’m still a bit sore from doing pushups on Wednesday.

Today when I got home from work I went out to play some tennis with my next door neighbor. We’ve been trying to play tennis at least once a week, and every time we go out, I’m amazed at how much of a workout you can get playing tennis. Quick bursts of speed, hard swings and back and forth across the court can give you quite the workout.

We played for about an hour or hour and a half, and then headed home. From there I went out and ran about 2-3 miles. It was a beautiful night out tonight despite the heavy rains and hail we had earlier in the day. Beautiful ending to a nasty stormy day.

I’m feeling pretty good tonight, although a bit sore. I’m thinking I may skip the pushups tomorrow and do them Saturday while we’re away on our anniversary trip. We’ll see.

I may not be posting for the next few days as I don’t have a laptop to bring with me, but I’ll be back to report on my pushups early next week. See you then!