BLOOMING: Meet Kevin

Do you have advice for anyone considering losing weight?

If I could share some advice for anyone considering this journey, I would tell him/her to first get his/her mind “right”. What I mean by that is to mentally approach this journey with an open mind, and trust the process before you completely understand it. 

If you actually do the mental and physical work on yourself, then you will have a successful journey beyond anything you could have imagined. This is not a quick fix or a magic bullet to instantly become skinny; this is a road map with support and guidance to help you transform your lifestyle to allow a healthy, happier, fitter you to emerge and embrace the world around you.

Kevin, one year after he started his weight loss,
wearing his old belt when he started DBC.

How have things changed for you since you finished your year-long journey at Destination Boot Camp?

Things have changed quite a bit for me since my one year DBC anniversary. I ran my first and second half marathons, I ran a local 8k race with several of my friends, I am signed up for two more half marathons this summer and fall. I am living a much healthier, active life than I ever before. 

I am now the one encouraging my friends to sign up for races with me, instead of the one hearing about races that my friends did. My world and its possibilities for me have grown and continue to grow as a result of my DBC transformation journey, and while actively engaged in the present I look to the future with more optimism now than ever before. 

Kevin, after his second half marathon with some friends who he helped
join State of Slim and run in their first race.

What has maintenance been like for you?

Maintenance has brought its own set of challenges and rewards in the same way that weight loss did. Maintenance is hard, easy, and fun all at the same time. In maintenance your diet becomes less restrictive, which is fun and challenging to make sure that you recognize the warning signs of the behavior that caused you to gain weight in the first place. 

Part of what makes maintenance easy is that the diet is less restrictive, so you can add in some more foods that are off plan. You can indulge a little bit more with friends. You just have to make sure to keep your activity level high, and your food on plan enough to keep your weight in check. Everyone’s body and metabolism is different, and what works for me in maintenance may or may not work exactly the same for you. I may need to keep my activity level higher to maintain my weight, or I may need to indulge a little less. 

Now that you've lost the weight, what's the most difficult and easiest part about keeping it off?

The hardest part for me about keeping the weight off is to keep my physical activity and diet balanced. The amount of physical activity that I do on any given day just in the course of living my life and working on my family’s farm swings dramatically. 

One day I could be stuck in the office all day at my computer and realize that I only moved about a mile that day. The next day could be completely different and I realize at the end of the day that I walked 5 miles, or in really extreme cases I’ve had days where I walked over nine miles just doing what needed to be done. 

The easiest part about keeping the weight off for me is that through my transformation journey, I have developed the tools and skills that I need to keep my weight in check. If my weight starts to creep up, I know exactly what I need to do to stop the climb and make it go back down. I had a lot of practice doing that when I lost 85 pounds throughout the course of my transformation journey.

What are some keys that you use to stay on track?

Some keys for me to stay on track have been signing up for races to keep me motivated to get on the treadmill and get the mileage in. I am someone who needs to have a good reason to do something, and a good short-term motivator for me is that I want to be physically ready for the next race that I am signed up for.

Another key to staying on track is continuing to food prep. Even in maintenance, I still need lots of good, on-plan food ready to grab and go.

Kevin's Meal Prep Essentials: 24 servings of Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake SOS muffins all vacuum packed and ready to go in my freezer. The other picture is about 15 or 16 pounds of pork tenderloin on my BBQ that I slice and vacuum pack into 5 or 6 ounce portions. 

What does the future look like?

Now that I have lost the weight, my mindset for the future has definitely changed. Now I look for physical activities that I can do with my friends. I am looking for more activities in general to go and do with my friends. 

I am always looking for ways to bring my active and healthier lifestyle into everything that I do. I am constantly looking for things that I can do to make the healthier food option or the more physically active option my default option, so that the right choice for me is the easiest option.

Kevin, after a St. Patrick's Day 8K

Have any of your goals changed after hitting your goal weight?

My biggest underlying life goals have remained constant since I started DBC, and I would expect that because they are tied very closely to my deep why. I have certainly added a lot more new goals since I started DBC. I never thought I would ever run a half marathon, and now I have completed two and I am already signed up for two more and thinking about at least one or two others for this year. 

I have talked to a friend about running a marathon in the fall of 2017; that is a total change for me! I did not run at all before DBC, and now I am actually talking about a marathon! If that is not change, then I don’t know what is!