The Weight is Off

Howard County man runs and blogs to a 175-pound weight loss.

By Kimberly Trompeter

With staggering breaths and an overwhelming feeling of exhaustion, Jeff Sweren used every ounce of motivation to finish his workout. Weighing over 400 pounds, his grueling first time on the treadmill was the beginning of his commitment to change. It took Mr. Sweren 22 minutes to finish what would eventually become the biggest mile of his life.

A sufferer of obesity from a young age, it was just after his 29th birthday that Mr. Sweren weighed in at 414 pounds. Although he avoided suffering most symptoms of those who are morbidly obese—diabetes, arthritis, heart problems—he did, however, have high blood pressure and an uncomfortable time getting around.

“I traveled often for business and flying was a problem,” Mr. Sweren said. “I hated the look on other passengers’ faces when they were in the middle seat next to ‘the fat guy.’ It was truly embarrassing.”

Years passed and Mr. Sweren’s weight went up, down, then back up again, aided by the plethora of yo-yo diets he tried. Yet, there was one thing Mr. Sweren never did to drop his size 58 pants—exercise. He hated the gym experience. “I was way too self-conscious to display my body in front of all of the beautiful people at the gym,” he said.

Miles Of Change

It was with the purchase of his first treadmill, a device he could use in the comfort of his own home and away from the gym’s “beautiful people,” that Mr. Sweren began his weight-loss journey. He started with just one mile. As Mr. Sweren recalled, “The first mile took me more than 22 minutes and that’s as far as I went. I was tired and winded. I couldn’t imagine doing any more than that… I was happy to transform the treadmill into a clothes hanger or something else equally useful.” However, his wife, Deb, and friend, Dave Krause, were determined not to let that happen.

It wasn’t long before Mr. Sweren’s mileage increased, while his pant-size decreased. In less than six months, Mr. Sweren lost more than 100 pounds. He was “jalking” (a term Jeff humorously uses that means intermittently jogging and walking) a mile or more, five days per week. He began participating in walk/run events with his wife, his two sons and Mr. Krause.

Entering races kept Mr. Sweren goal-oriented and focused. However, it wasn’t until he ran in the 2007 Delaware Marathon’s ten-mile run that he officially became “hooked on running.” To describe the impact of the ten miles he ran that day, Mr. Sweren said, “I crossed the finish line completing the longest non-stop walk/run/jog of my life and I felt like I had just reached the summit of Mt. Everest. [After the race] as I went through the feeding tent and sat down, finally resting my poor old dogs, I got a bit emotional. It was then that I knew I’d never go back to the guy that I was and that my life had changed forever, and I couldn’t wait for the next event… Life was great!”

Sharing The Accomplishment

Since the beginning of h is journey on July 12, 2006, Mr. Sweren has lost a total of 175 pounds, run or walked over 514 miles and biked over 300 miles. With his weight-loss, he gained certain “non-scale victories,” as Jeff likes to call them, such as taking 10- and 20-mile bike rides with his kids, hugging his wife and having both his and her arms wrap completely around each other, and fitting in a wet suit during a rafting trip down the Squamish River in British Columbia.

Though personal, Mr. Sweren’s accomplishments are something he’s not afraid to share with others. In May 2007, Sweren began writing about his experiences on his blog, entitled “Formerly Fat Running Guy,” at formerlyfatrunningguy.blogspot.com. On his blog, Mr. Sweren captured each intimate step of his journey, from food addiction confessions to the physical and psychological aspects of losing an immense amount of weight.

Blogging about his experience has actually helped Mr. Sweren stay focused in more ways than one. “I wanted to share my experiences with the world,” Mr. Sweren said. “I really had no idea who would read the blog, but as I posted the link on a few Web site bulletin boards, like Runners World and South Beach Diet, I’ve been amazed at the friends I’ve made out in the blogosphere. It’s great to find others with very similar stories and struggles.”

Said one blogger who also struggles with obesity: “I found your blog a few weeks before I got married and it has truly helped me through some hard nights when I didn’t want to go for a jog or really wanted to order a couple of pizzas. I just want to say thank you for sharing your story.”

Mind Over Matter:
“There is no doubt in my mind that losing weight is 90 percent mental. The only one that you have to answer to is yourself. I could certainly have gone into any McDonald’s and ordered my old four hamburger ‘snack’ at any time. But I stayed focused.”

Setting Goals:

“Setting small goals is critical. My first goal was to lose 30 pounds in about six weeks. I lost 29. Each month I set a new goal and tracked each daily weigh-in. At one point I realized that I could actually break triple-digits in pounds lost. As I got closer, I became more singularly focused on reaching that goal than ever before. It made achieving it all the more special.”

January 11, 2008