It was a Sunday afternoon I’ll never forget. My Dad returned home from a walk with my Mom. He collapsed in the kitchen from a heart attack. I held his hand as he passed away. He was only 41 years old. That was in 1991, and I was 14.

In 2004, I was getting a standard physical check up. It had been awhile, and I figured it was a good idea to get a reality check. It ended up being a bit more than that. I weighed 308 pounds, which on the BMI scale put me at the “Morbid Obesity” category (41). More disturbing were my LDL and HDL cholesterol levels. They did not look good, both putting me at high risk for heart disease. On top of all that, I was on the verge of deciding to become father myself. I was 28 years old.

Instead of a reality check, I got a slap-in-the-face wake up call. I was slowly following my Dad’s footsteps and realized I needed to change. I wanted to be a father who sees his kids grow up; to be there when they graduate from school. Attend their weddings and enjoy my retirement. I wanted to be a grandfather. But most of all, I wanted to be the kind of father who teaches by example. How in the world would I be able to teach my kids to live healthy if I couldn’t do it myself?

So that’s exactly what I did. I taught myself to live healthy. I started small: learning about the simple aspects of “calories in vs. calories out.” I became an expert on calorie content. I learned how many calories a person of my body type / size needs on an average day.

I learned about how horrible some of the things were that I was putting in my body. I went cold turkey on a few things. First, I cut out all fast food. I also cut out alcohol (at least for the first year). I’ve always been a diet soda drinker, but I cut out all other liquid calories except an occasional small glass of milk or orange juice. I kept track of all food I ate. This helped me track good days/bad days and made it clear how easy it is to go over daily calorie intake.

I looked at what I could do physically. After years of inactivity, I did not want to overdo it, or injure myself. I purchased a new bike and started riding. At most, I could do a few miles at a time. I kept at it, trying to ride as many days each week as I could. I signed up for the St. Paul Bike classic, a 30-mile bike ride.

In 2005, I became a father. Holding Megan for the first time was all the more encouragement I needed to keep up my healthy changes. By the time she was born, I had lost 50 pounds and decided to start running. I started on the treadmill during the dreaded Minnesota winter. I started slow, with run/walk intervals. I set goals for myself, the first of which was “run three miles in 30 minutes”. I took to running like a duck to water. Within a few months, I signed up for my first race.

About two years later, I achieved what I consider my “goal” weight of 180 pounds. A full 128 pounds of me is gone. This put me in the “normal” range of the BMI chart. I had my LDL/HDL levels checked, and they all looked great. The doctor told me he had only ever met one other person that was able to just “do it all on their own.” I felt damn lucky to be the other one.

Today I’m still at the same weight, and I run an average of 30 to 40 miles a week. Every day can be a challenge to eat right, but the foundation I built keeps me steady. I have two daughters now, Megan is 4 this month and sister Casey is four months old. They keep me going, too. My wife has been a HUGE support during this entire process, and thankfully, has always had healthy habits I was able to learn from. Without her support, I would never have made it as far as I did.

I’ve decided that next year I’m going to run my first marathon.

Written by: Shawn A.