Name: Rob Nestle
Age: 39
Occupation: Sales
Hometown: Fort Gratiot, Michigan
Start Weight: 256 pounds
End Weight: 197 pounds
Time Running: 1 year
I lacked exercise in my life. At my heaviest, my weight got up to 256 pounds. I was into the too-busy-to-work-out routine, and didn’t exactly make the best decisions with my eating habits, either.
But I never realized it until my wife talked me into making a doctor’s appointment in late 2017 because I was having frequent heartburn. As you can guess, my doctor suggested that I start dieting and exercising. That was the first time I realized I needed to lose weight. So, I decided to do just that.
Since it was close to New Year’s, I set the date to begin my workouts that first day of 2018. I didn’t think that it was too much of a stretch to set my goal for my weight loss for the year at 60 pounds. That was five pounds a month. It sounded doable, so I gave it a go.
That’s when I found running. I chose it because it was something I could wake up and do from the house. I wanted to get up and go while still having time to send my kids off to school and get ready for work. Luckily, for rainy or snowy weather, I have an elliptical machine at home.
When I started running, I would shoot for two miles each run. Those were in the 9-9:30 minute per mile range. Early on, I kind of wondered if running the was correct choice for me. Those early runs brought on many aches and pains. Finding the correct shoes helped a lot, as did finally adjusting going from zero workouts to three to four times a week. Trust me when I say that you should take it slow at first, because you will be sore.
The more I trained, the faster I got. Quicker than expected, my mile times began to fall. By March, I earned a huge confidence booster when I placed third in my age group at a local 5K. Plus, my goal of 60 pounds for the year was on track.
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To get there, I also made changes to what I ate. I don’t know if is was “dieting” so much as watching what I consumed. I love the saying, “Everything in moderation.” I’ve switched to drinking only Michelob Ultra and maybe the occasional craft beer. When going out to eat, I now choose a salad instead of a cheeseburger and fries, but that’s been about the extent of dieting.
My progression throughout the year has been pretty amazing. I’ve slowly built up my pace to around seven minutes per mile, which is way faster than my original goal of a 7:30 pace. As far as weight loss goes, when I weighed myself one week before the end of the year, I weighed in at 197 pounds, which is one measly pound off my goal.
At age 40, I am in the best physical shape of my life. That means a lot coming from an athlete who had played football, basketball, and baseball or softball most of his life. I haven’t had that heartburn in 11 months. Also, sleeping has never been better. I used to snore, but no longer do, and I just feel overall better and better about myself.
My first year in running has been eventful, and hopefully 2019 and beyond will be just as good. My current goal is to qualify for Boston. I love that city after working in the beer business for 20 years, and I’ve won a few trips there through Samuel Adams. Wouldn’t it be cool to do a marathon in your favorite city? No matter what though, with running, I know the future is looking bright. After all the hard work I’ve put in, I’ve come too far to go back to how I was.