Men's Health
NAME: Joseph Huber
HOME: Milwaukee, WI
AGE: 33
HEIGHT: 6'2"
WEIGHT: 197 lb
OCCUPATION: Machine operator
BEFORE: 547 LB
AFTER: 197 LB
THE GAIN: Following a nasty divorce 10 years ago, Huber hit the comfort
food—hard—and ballooned from his high-school weight of 260 pounds.
A typical Monday Night Football feast consisted of a large pizza, two
2-liter bottles of soda, garlic bread, jalapeno poppers, two beef
sandwiches, chips and beer. "I never felt full," he says. Huber's weight
steadily increased to 547 pounds.
THE CHANGE: Climbing a creaky set of porch stairs took Huber a harrowing 15
minutes. "I was afraid the stairs were going to fall off the building," he
says. "I realized then that if I didn't lose some weight, I would die."
Huber opted for gastric bypass surgery in December 2003, which limited his
stomach to 6 ounces of food at a time.
THE LIFESTYLE: The surgery was just the start. Huber still weighed 450
pounds when he started to ride his bike seven miles to work. "The first
time, it took me an hour and a half," he says. Huber was soon biking or
running to work every day, and he started lifting weights. His stomach has
since stretched to fit a normal-size meal, but Huber's eating habits
haven't regressed: He avoids anything high in fat or sugar, and fuels
workouts with protein shakes and tuna sandwiches.
THE REWARD: Last year, Huber placed 26th out of 472 participants in his
first triathlon. His 2006 race schedule is already packed. "I'm at a place
I really like," Huber says. "Eating healthy and exercising are second
nature."
JOE'S TIPS
The shortcut only takes you so far. "The surgery got me in the right
mind-set, but I still had to exercise and eat right to get fit. That's what
really made the difference."
Live the diet. "A diet is something you do to lose weight, and then you go
back to how you used to eat. Healthy eating has to become your norm."
Take baby steps. "I was afraid to push myself in exercise. But if you do it
once, it's not as hard the next time. The more you work at it, the easier
things become for you."