At 28 years old, Daniel H from Buffalo, New York weighed nearly 400 pounds, was always out of breath, tired, fatigued, pre-diabetic, and struggling to participate in simple every-day activities with his family.
Before he began his weight-loss journey, Daniel weighed in at 378 lbs. Due to his extreme obesity, he wasn’t able to do much physical exercise to lose weight. To help kick-start his weight loss journey he elected to have Gastric Sleeve Surgery in 2019. Within the first year after surgery, Daniel lost 100 lbs, but knew he had a long road ahead of him. His 2-year old had begun to walk, and Daniel was finding himself having trouble keeping up with him. His wife was also expecting another child. Daniel knew he needed to begin making some healthy changes so he could be an active parent in his children’s lives.
In February 2020, he was diagnosed with epilepsy and subsequently was not allowed to drive for 6 months. Around this time, most gyms began to close due to COVID-19, so he thought walking and running would be the easiest way for him to begin exercising. “I had always seen people posting pictures of their race medals and thought, I want to do that.” April 1, 2020 was the date of his first run. After about 30 seconds, he had to stop. That day he ran-walked a 13-minute mile. After that day, Daniel continued running three times a week using a running app to help document and extend his endurance, distance, and run times. Slowly over the months Daniel’s run times improved and he was able to run for 20 minutes at a time without stopping for a breather.
Daniel continues to run 3-4 days a week with one long run. In the winter time in New York, he does shorter runs mostly on the treadmill inside his home. He prefers running outside when the weather is decent. All of his hard work has helped him progress as a runner and lose weight along the way. However, Daniel also attributes much of his weight loss success to changing his eating habits.
After having Gastric Sleeve Surgery, Daniel completely changed his diet. Previously he ate basically whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. “I drank soda everyday, and I didn’t think or care about the calories I was consuming. These days, I’m very conscious of serving sizes. I count calories and macros. I eat plenty of protein, I eliminated most added sugar from my diet, and I log everything I eat. Doing this meant I didn’t need to cut any foods out to lose weight. Honestly, to me, you can eat whatever you want. It just needs to be in moderation.” Making a habit of tracking his food intake helped keep himself accountable and motivated to stay on track. The more he did it, the more he noticed he was subconsciously picking healthier foods while adjusting his portion size.
The combination of Gastric Sleeve Surgery, running, and eating healthy – has helped Daniel lose a total of 190 lbs. “Running has been not only beneficial to my life physically, it has also helped me relieve stress and improve my mental health.”
Due to the pandemic, Daniel hasn’t been able to participate in any races. He has a training plan in place which has helped him to continue running regularly, have goals, and cross them off as he achieves them. He hopes to be able to participate in a public marathon once the pandemic is over.
“Running has not only helped accelerate my weight loss, it has helped me to reduce stress and has improved my overall mental well being. It has allowed me to really do something for myself and allows me time to think. I can run a mile in under eight minutes. I used to wear a size 50 pant, and now I wear a size 32. I never thought I’d be able to do this, but here I am.”
