I tried the contact form and it doesn’t seem to be working so now I’m trying the comment form.
My name is Micah Stubblefield. I have been overweight since I was about 11 years old. I managed to keep my weight slightly in control through sports but I never enjoyed running. In fact, I hated running! With a passion. It was part of the reason I did not play football my sophomore and junior years.
For the past 7 years I have been on one big fitness roller coaster. 7 years ago I found I enjoyed running 5Ks. I was actually good at it. My best time was around 23 minutes. I was in pretty good shape and I was under 200 lbs. Then I got married and stopped running and started eating. Before I knew it I was 240 lbs and rising.
In 2006, after my first child was born (I found out that dad’s tend to gain weight during pregnancies too) my family held a Biggest Loser Competition and I decided to get back into running so I set the goal of training for a 1/2 marathon while I tried to lose weight for the competition. I won the competition and ran the 1/2 marathon in the fall of 2006. It was great and I felt good. I was down to 215 lbs and feeling good about life. Unfortunately, I wasn’t prepared for after the race and I was tired of running and life got the best of me.
In the past 4 years we had two more children, changed jobs 4 times and moved to a new state. During that time I have turned to weight loss competitions to help me manage my weight. I built a website (http://www.thintopia.com) at the end of 2006 to help my family manage competitions. I have used the site for a dozen or so competitions but always seem to gain weight whenever I am not competing.
Last May, after the birth of our third child, I had reached my all time high of 250 lbs. I decided I was done riding the roller coaster and it was time to get off. I participated in another competition but made extra effort to make small changes to my diet and fitness that I could maintain long term. After the competition I was pretty much able to maintain so several months later I was ready to compete. Again I focused more on making real changes rather than winning the contest. Here I am now with excitement for my new found passion for fitness. I began blogging at thintopia.com to focus more on my personal journey as well as what I learn along the way. I am now below 220 lbs and on my way to achieving long term fitness. I very recently began hosting interviews with other bloggers on fitness related topics and hope to learn from as many people as possible. We are all so unique and what works for one may not work for another so my goal is to learn from everyone and take what is best for me.
I enjoy the inspiration of your fitness journey here on GFS. I aspire to reach the level of fitness you have obtained and appreciate the friendly community you have built.
I would love to have a skype interview with you some time to discuss your story. I will be in touch with you in the future if you are interested.
Great post on Positive Marathon Thoughts from apr 26th.. I enjoyed the videos.. would love for you to review our site and post your thoughts.. we will send a logo’d tech t-shirt for your efforts!
Gotta Run,
Mike
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I tried the contact form and it doesn’t seem to be working so now I’m trying the comment form.
My name is Micah Stubblefield. I have been overweight since I was about 11 years old. I managed to keep my weight slightly in control through sports but I never enjoyed running. In fact, I hated running! With a passion. It was part of the reason I did not play football my sophomore and junior years.
For the past 7 years I have been on one big fitness roller coaster. 7 years ago I found I enjoyed running 5Ks. I was actually good at it. My best time was around 23 minutes. I was in pretty good shape and I was under 200 lbs. Then I got married and stopped running and started eating. Before I knew it I was 240 lbs and rising.
In 2006, after my first child was born (I found out that dad’s tend to gain weight during pregnancies too) my family held a Biggest Loser Competition and I decided to get back into running so I set the goal of training for a 1/2 marathon while I tried to lose weight for the competition. I won the competition and ran the 1/2 marathon in the fall of 2006. It was great and I felt good. I was down to 215 lbs and feeling good about life. Unfortunately, I wasn’t prepared for after the race and I was tired of running and life got the best of me.
In the past 4 years we had two more children, changed jobs 4 times and moved to a new state. During that time I have turned to weight loss competitions to help me manage my weight. I built a website (http://www.thintopia.com) at the end of 2006 to help my family manage competitions. I have used the site for a dozen or so competitions but always seem to gain weight whenever I am not competing.
Last May, after the birth of our third child, I had reached my all time high of 250 lbs. I decided I was done riding the roller coaster and it was time to get off. I participated in another competition but made extra effort to make small changes to my diet and fitness that I could maintain long term. After the competition I was pretty much able to maintain so several months later I was ready to compete. Again I focused more on making real changes rather than winning the contest. Here I am now with excitement for my new found passion for fitness. I began blogging at thintopia.com to focus more on my personal journey as well as what I learn along the way. I am now below 220 lbs and on my way to achieving long term fitness. I very recently began hosting interviews with other bloggers on fitness related topics and hope to learn from as many people as possible. We are all so unique and what works for one may not work for another so my goal is to learn from everyone and take what is best for me.
I enjoy the inspiration of your fitness journey here on GFS. I aspire to reach the level of fitness you have obtained and appreciate the friendly community you have built.
I would love to have a skype interview with you some time to discuss your story. I will be in touch with you in the future if you are interested.
contact form works fine. I got your entry 3 times
Not sure why everyone is having that problem. I’ll check it out ASAP.
Great post on Positive Marathon Thoughts from apr 26th.. I enjoyed the videos.. would love for you to review our site and post your thoughts.. we will send a logo’d tech t-shirt for your efforts!
Gotta Run,
Mike