Name: Erika Winning
Age: 27
Occupation: Safety Consultant
Hometown: Milwaukee
Start Weight: 250 pounds
End Weight: 154 pounds
Time Running: One year
In October 2018, I transitioned to a new job and had to buy short-term health insurance. To my horror, I almost didn’t qualify because of my weight—250 pounds at the time. I was overwhelmed with shame, embarrassment, and resignation, and I figured it meant I would be overweight forever.
I don’t want to knock body-positivity movements, because I think it’s important to love the skin you’re in. I tried accepting myself at 250 pounds, but ultimately, I just felt defeated and stuck.
When I was home in Minnesota with family for the holidays, I remember how big I felt, and I decided I wanted 2019 to be a different. It was the year to make a change.
After leaving, I unfortunately contracted a bad case of the flu. In those 10 days, I ended up losing maybe 20 pounds. It wasn’t the way I planned to start my weight loss, but I used it as a springboard for my journey.
I started by doing bodyweight exercises with a “90 Days to Change” program on Darebee, a non-profit fitness resource. The program pushed a 20- to 30-minute workout daily for 90 days, and it allowed me to log my workouts. I figured I spent at least that time every day looking at my phone, so that time could be used to work out.
Calorie counting also came into play around that time. I knew that you can’t outwork a poor diet. I’m not a terribly picky eater, but I learned there’s a huge difference between eating to fuel your body and eating your feelings. I learned it’s important to feel my feelings fully, instead of denying and eating them. So when I do make less healthy choices, I ask myself if I’m eating because I’m hungry, or if I’m eating a feeling.
Focusing on short-term goals, like losing five pounds at a time, was helpful at the start as well. I also looked for non-scale victories too—not being winded, doing a pushup, things like that. Doing this, I was able to drop another 30 pounds.
When I started these workouts, I knew I was too heavy to start doing a lot of cardio without injury. But when I hit 50 pounds lost, I wanted to pick it up again. It was something that I enjoyed before college in 2009 when the freshman 15 hit me and kept going up until late ’18.
With the Couch to 5K app, I safely built up my mileage starting in February 2019. I remember getting up at 4 a.m. for hour-long walks/jogs. It was amazing being out when the world was quiet, but it wasn’t always easy. On days I didn’t want to go out, I would say “on your feet” to get myself out there.
It was somewhat frustrating that I couldn’t do more at first. Again, I set those small goals for myself—I would tell myself to not worry about doing running for 20 minutes straight, but instead get through the next 90 seconds. I could do anything for a minute and a half.
As many runners discover, I was able to go farther and farther as time went on. When I ran my first 5K, I felt unimaginably proud. It must’ve taken me 40 minutes, but it made me want to keep going.
[Discover how to run 10, 50, or even 100 pounds off with Run to Lose.]
My running and weight loss have been getting better ever since. Less than six months after starting, I did my first half marathon. It wasn’t an organized race, and I wasn’t even planning to do it on the day that I did it in July 2019. I just went out and did it for fun. I had been building up for it and hoping to do it one day. I love my short-term goals, but achieving this long-term one was just amazing.
I’ve been running strong ever since. My weight has gone down to 154 pounds, and I’m hoping to continue to go down in 2020. Honestly, this is the best investment I’ve ever made.
I do still struggle with it though. There are times I worry that clothes one day won’t fit me, and that I’ll fall off the wagon and gain the weight back. It was 100 percent worth doing though, and I wish I had done it sooner.
For anyone who wants to go on a similar journey, set small, achievable goals on and off the scale, and celebrate them. Identify the obstacles in your life, accept them, and come up with plans to confront and address them. Also, appreciate the people in your life who boost you up, and are your biggest cheerleaders. My partner’s love and support through this process was invaluable, I couldn’t have done it without his support and the little nudges along the way to keep me on track.
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