1 year and 100 pounds.

[johnfredmay]

I have never been a fit person before. I have never been on a sports team, have rarely done anything overtly physical and have been overweight for most of my adult life. At age 28, I was well over 300lbs and living a very sedentary lifestyle.

In October of 2010, I went camping with my father near Crater Lake, Oregon. We decided to hike the trail to the highest point in the park, Mt. Scott. The trail is 5.2 miles long, with an elevation reaching 8,926 feet. My sixty five year old father beat me to the summit that day, and something inside me began to simmer.

Over the next several months, I began to audit my physical self. I had never really made a connection between what I ate and how I felt. I had never believed that I had the power to control my physical health.

Here is a picture from Autumn of 2010. I have virtually no pictures from that period of my life without my shirt on. I was fairly ashamed of how I looked. I am roughly 305lbs.




Around the beginning of 2011, I began to manage what I ate. I was still living a sedentary life, but over the course of a few months moved my diet from standard American fat to a nearly vegan plan. This is a shot of my brother and I in late February 2011. I weighed in at about 260lbs. I am the good looking fellow on left.




By mid summer I had shed about 90lbs. I had started hitting up the elliptical machine at a gym, and then transitioned to road running. I was still fairly undeveloped muscularly. I had never trained with weights, and lost a large amount of my muscle mass during my rapid weight loss. This picture is near the end of June, 2011.




During the summer I became an avid runner. I started running at least four times a week. At the beginning, I would go for a mile, but quickly began training for 5K runs. In September I completed my first official 5K race with a time of 25:11. I am number 89. I weighed in at 200lbs, a 100lb drop from the beginning of the year.




I started lifting weights around the beginning of November. I am nearly two months into my program. I do virtually no work on my legs in the gym, as I'm running over 30 miles a week (my long run this month was 20 miles) and my legs are much more developed than my upper body. Wearing a 100lb weight vest made of fat for 10 years gives you nice legs. I currently weigh around 205lbs. I am 6' 2" tall.





I plan on concentrating on my musculature throughout the winter. I am signed up for my first marathon in late April, so will begin to taper of lifting and will spend more time running beginning in February.

Thanks for taking a look at my journey. I appreciate any encouraging thoughts you might have, and would love to answer any questions you can think of.

John.

[mattrag]

Great job man!! That's motivational!

What kind of diet are you using now? Still vegan?

[JudgementDay]

I love seeing stuff like this, way to go man!

What a huge change, your lookin in amazing shape now, keep up the good work and let us know how that marathon goes!

[johnfredmay]

Great job man!! That's motivational!

What kind of diet are you using now? Still vegan?

I'm eating a huge amount of protein these days, mostly in the form of dead birds. Between the lifting and running 30 miles a week, my caloric intake is off the charts. I take no supplements, but am likely going to start taking some next month (a friend of mine is gifting me some that he recommends).

[Movin_weight]

incredible transformation

[CopyCat]

Props brother! Kill that marathon. I've ran 2 in the last 2 years. Brutal, but awesome. Tomorrow was going to be a rest day, but I think I'm gonna hit the road instead lol

[johnfredmay]

Props brother! Kill that marathon. I've ran 2 in the last 2 years. Brutal, but awesome. Tomorrow was going to be a rest day, but I think I'm gonna hit the road instead lol

I'm excited for it. I have met a lot of people in a local road running club that are doing it as well, and we're going to train together. Should be a fun adventure and a good way to meet new friends.

[CopyCat]

Lately though I've been switching over to adventure racing and mud/obstacle runs. Been finding them to be more entertaining for me. Last one I ran was a 5k where u had flag football flags and were chased by zombies. But Tough Mudder was prolly my favorite so far.

[johnfredmay]

Zombie run! I plan on doing that one next year! My schedule for next year (so far) is

4/29 Eugene, OR Eugene Marathon (26.2 mile run)
5/6 Spokane, WA Bloomsday Run (12K run)
6/16 Washougal, WA Spartan Sprint (5K obstacle course run)
8/4 Portland, OR Run For Your Lives (5K zombie run!)
9/8 Portland, OR Warrior Dash (5K obstacle course run)
10/7 Portland, OR Portland Marathon (26.2 miles run)

[thegodfather]

WOW. Inspirational.

[Torobestia]

What an incredible transformation! Well done, sir.

I hope your buddy is hooking you up with beta alanine. It's very worth it.

[bigintensions]

Wow man. That is an incredible transformation. Great job

[johnfredmay]

Thanks for the encouraging words, gentlemen.

[CopyCat]

That's a pretty nice schedule you've got there. You'll like run 4 your lives. It was pretty damn fun. I mean it has zombies after all lol

[R1balla]

you get that stomach shredded and you will be looking AMAZING! great job so far! keep it up

[johnfredmay]

you get that stomach shredded and you will be looking AMAZING! great job so far! keep it up

Thanks! I lost about 12" on my waistline, so extra skin is in that area is definitively one of my issues. I'm hoping that continued efforts to increase muscle size in that area, lower body fat percentage and a serious regimen of exfoliation and moisturization will have me looking fairly tight by summer. If not? Oh well. I feel incredibly better in my new body, and I'm content with that.

[dannyn2007]

Good job. Congrats and keep going.

[counterspy]

The trail is 5.2 miles long, with an elevation reaching 8,926 feet. My sixty five year old father beat me to the summit that day, and something inside me began to simmer.

Yeah, that's a good double-whammy. You'd have had the lack of exercise and lack of oxygen holding you back. Then someone more than twice your age beating you to rub salt on that wound. That'd trouble me, too.

But, you did something about it. So, every time I see these stories, I have to offer congrats. I only weigh around 146, so when people are losing in excess of 100, it's like getting one of me off your back.

[johnfredmay]

Here is an update shot. I'm currently running 35 miles a week, strength training three sessions a week and hitting up Yoga twice weekly. I will be Spartan for summertime.

[Torobestia]

Yes you will! Excellent progress, man.