After leaving the service I got up into the high 190s (6’1”) for awhile. Played some sand-lot football and pickup basketball. Then my girlfriend (the future Mrs. JimRed, 44 years now) introduced me to skiing, helping her chaperone a high school ski trip. I got hooked, and started running a little to get in decent condition. That led to signing up for one of the first five mile runs in our area, in our town. Hooked again; finished 125th out of about 500 on little training base and was told it was amazing. Six years later I toed the starting line at the Boston Marathon at 157. Broke three hours. People who hadn’t seen me for a while asked if I had cancer!
Fast forward: now 178-182; rec b’ball 2-4 times a week, jogging through a few 5Ks and five milers, but one arthritic knee prevents serious training. Still, God’s been better to me than I deserve.
I’ve always been big. I was 325 in high school, ballooned to 390 in college, dropped a bunch of weight in my late 20s (down to 220), got married and jumped back up to 340, quit drinking 17 months ago, changed my diet, went back to the gym, and I’m hovering around 280 right now.
It feels amazing to eat well, feel good about myself, and just be in a generally better mood.