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BY ERIKA ROSE
Times Correspondent | Thursday, May 26, 2005 | (No comments posted.)
When Jim Jaracz, 38, sat at his desk writing a grant proposal to bring a health and wellness program to his Hobart firehouse, he weighed close to 300 pounds. He knew he needed to drop some weight and the health screenings the new program brought served as a powerful wake up call.
He says he literally just came to work one day and thought to himself, 'I'm going to join a health club after work.' The rest is history. He joined Southlake Nautilus in Hobart on that November day in 2003 and 11 months later he ran the Chicago Marathon -- 110 pounds lighter.
After casually working out on his own for awhile, Jaracz embraced the new chapter in his life full force, taking on a personal trainer as part of Southlake Nautilus' weight loss program. The trainer entered his favorite foods into a computer program and generated a menu that Jaracz followed religiously for at least the next eight months, keeping a food log until he got the routine down.
His exercise routine began with a mere 10 to 15 minutes on the treadmill and working one or two muscle groups per day. Once a week, the trainer accompanied him on his workouts, continually adapting his routine to challenge his body's growing stamina.
Today, he is certainly no workout lightweight. He works on a different muscle group with weights for each of five days, runs 30 to 40 miles a week and bicycles about 100 miles per week.
Jaracz has enjoyed his journey to fitness so much he decided to take a personal trainer course himself, with hopes of one day helping other firefighters get healthy. He also continues to train for marathons and hopes to compete in an iron man triathlon.
Perhaps equally as exhilarating as crossing a marathon finish line is the feeling of not being immediately recognized -- like when Jaracz knocked on the door of a friend and was mistaken for someone wanting to rent an apartment.
"I feel like I'm 20," Jaracz says. "I'm doing things now that I never thought I could do physically. ... It's like a whole new life." To those who have yet to discover how fit feels, Jaracz says, "Try it. Try this lifestyle for a while. ... If you don't expect immediate results, you'll find your quality of life improves."
Jim Jaracz
Age: 38
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 195
Pounds lost: 105
The Workout: With the guidance of a personal trainer at Southlake Nautilus in Hobart, Jaracz lifts weights and does cardiovascular activity five days a week. Even though he lifts weights every day, Jaracz advises not working the same muscle group every day. For example, he works his upper body one day and while those muscles are recovering the next day, he works on his legs. Before concluding his workout in the beginning, Jaracz did an hour of cardiovascular exercise on the treadmill, stair machine or elliptical machines. Now that he's reached his goal, his workout is concluded in about 45 minutes but he is usually training for a marathon, too, which typically adds another 30 to 40 miles of running and 100 miles of bicycling per week.
Some rules on food: Scanning his kitchen, Jaracz is hard pressed to find anything canned or boxed. He sticks to natural foods and enjoys preparing meals with the new foods he's discovered such as whole-wheat spaghetti and obscure vegetables. "I learned so much about different foods that taste phenomenal," he says. In general, he avoids foods with ingredients he can't pronounce, limits those with refined sugars and white flour, and steers clear of red meat and fried foods. Jaracz has an opinion about portion sizes, too. "In our society, everything is a celebration with food," Jaracz says. To deal with this, he suggests approaching gatherings as you would a wine tasting. Sample the food and focus on taste rather than mass quantities.
Tips/Tricks/Advice: Jaracz says stick it out and don't give up because it may take a while to get some obvious results. It took eight or 10 weeks for him to notice a difference. And keep in mind that when you are working out, you are getting results even if the number on the scale isn't moving. Your fat may be turning to muscle and muscle weighs more than fat. Jaracz says managing your weight is a lifelong pursuit, and a fad diet is never a permanent solution. He also says lighten up. "Don't take life so seriously that you get bent out of shape if you don't drop five pounds."
Jim Jaracz
Age: 38
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 195
Pounds lost: 105
The Workout: With the guidance of a personal trainer at Southlake Nautilus in Hobart, Jaracz lifts weights and does cardiovascular activity five days a week. Even though he lifts weights every day, Jaracz advises not working the same muscle group every day. For example, he works his upper body one day and while those muscles are recovering the next day, he works on his legs. Before concluding his workout in the beginning, Jaracz did an hour of cardiovascular exercise on the treadmill, stair machine or elliptical machines. Now that he's reached his goal, his workout is concluded in about 45 minutes but he is usually training for a marathon, too, which typically adds another 30 to 40 miles of running and 100 miles of bicycling per week.
Some rules on food: Scanning his kitchen, Jaracz is hard pressed to find anything canned or boxed. He sticks to natural foods and enjoys preparing meals with the new foods he's discovered such as whole-wheat spaghetti and obscure vegetables. "I learned so much about different foods that taste phenomenal," he says. In general, he avoids foods with ingredients he can't pronounce, limits those with refined sugars and white flour, and steers clear of red meat and fried foods. Jaracz has an opinion about portion sizes, too. "In our society, everything is a celebration with food," Jaracz says. To deal with this, he suggests approaching gatherings as you would a wine tasting. Sample the food and focus on taste rather than mass quantities.
Tips/Tricks/Advice: Jaracz says stick it out and don't give up because it may take a while to get some obvious results. It took eight or 10 weeks for him to notice a difference. And keep in mind that when you are working out, you are getting results even if the number on the scale isn't moving. Your fat may be turning to muscle and muscle weighs more than fat. Jaracz says managing your weight is a lifelong pursuit, and a fad diet is never a permanent solution. He also says lighten up. "Don't take life so seriously that you get bent out of shape if you don't drop five pounds."
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