Runner

Meet Our Moon Jogger of the Day: Joshua Russum

My name is Joshua and I only started becoming a runner in the past few months. A little over a year ago I weighed 422 lbs and I knew something had to change. Many times I tried to diet but always failed. I was overly stressed at work, I manage a Supercuts here in Delaware. I had a girl quit and I pretty much worked all of April and May last year.

Memorial Day weekend I took 3 days off, had some crabs and beers and had a nice relaxing day. On Memorial Day i stepped on the scale and I was 394 lbs. I said wow I lost some weight! Maybe if I cut back on things and start exercising I can lose more. I immediately cut out sugar, only having an item or so a day, one diet soda a day and just cutting way back on everything. The lbs just started coming off and I was happy. I decided to make 3 goals, I wanted to do a 5k, start running and get down to 240 lbs.

A client of mine who is also a Moon Jogger got me into virtual races, so I bought several and went to town. I began walking them very slowly, building my way up to faster paces. I used my races as motivation because I mean who doesn’t love getting a medal! I keep them in a shoe box in order and I don’t open my medals until I’ve completed my races. Goal number was was checked off. I hit 240 lbs around Christmas time and was super excited. I thought to myself, yesss another goal done! I went into the gym one day and I told my trainer that I wanted to start running, she came come on let’s go. To the treadmill we went, starting running intervals, 3 minutes of walking, 1 minute of running, not too bad. However, these legs were sore! I did this a few days in a row and then could barely walk because my muscles were so sore.

Now that it’s warm out, I’ve been going to the park and running a little bit at a time. I still struggle because after losing a total of 219 lbs, I have a lot of excess skin and it moves around a lot and is very heavy. I have plans of skin removal surgery, it just is very costly. I love being a part of this group and sharing my story. I feel good when I’m inspiring and motivating people to lose weight and to do some races.

I don’t really have a favorite race that I’ve done, I love them all, this year alone I have done over 20 races already. One live race, another coming up in June! Right now I’m weighing in around 204 lbs and I’m ecstatic that I’ve done this for myself. Walking and running have becoming a huge part of my life. A year ago I could barely do a mile without feeling like I was gonna fall over and now I do at least 3 miles a day. At least! Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something, because you absolutely can, you can do ANYTHING that you put your mind to!

I live by 4 words: Discipline, Motivation, Consistency and Willpower, without these I would not be where I am today. I’m not saying losing this weight was easy, it was actually very hard both mentally and physically, but guess what, I did it and so can everyone else. A recent quote I’ve found is “Monday is the perfect day to correct last weeks mistakes.” That is so true. For the first time in a year, I enjoyed a meal, a real meal, and multiple times. I had two Easter dinners with all the sides and desserts and I don’t regret it one bit. Not everyone is perfect and it was my decision to hop off my normal plan for a day and enjoy myself with family and friends and guess what, Monday morning I was right back to eating healthy and hitting the gym, doing my earth day 5k!

You can change anything you want to in your life, it is 100% your choice and your decision to do so. I know this has been long winded but this is my story and my life and it is not over, being over 400 lbs was never easy, I was made fun of a lot, It held me back from doing so much in life and this is my second chance!!!! I’m never going back to that person again. I promised myself that I would not look like that person In the picture that I will show you guys, I can’t and I won’t! I’m actually looking into taking online courses now to become a wellness coach.

Health has become so so so important to me and I want to be able to help people achieve their goals and succeed! We are all put on this earth for a reason and god has a plan for everyone. If you need guidance, all you need to do is ask and he will help point you in the right direction. I asked and look where I am now. I have the opportunity to share my story with all of you. I am grateful to Angie for this and to all of your for accepting me into your moon jogging family! I hope I am able to motivate and inspire each and every one of you, today, tomorrow and everyday in the future!!!