Inspired by His Daughter, Dad Loses 125 Pounds

Andy Aubin has been known as “Big Andy” for as long as he can remember. 

“I had always been a bigger guy,” the 6-foot-3 Aubin said. “I was just the taller and broader of all of my friends.”

Being big was just part of his identity; even his email address has “bigandy” in it.

Fast forward to November 2011: Andy is 35, married and a new dad. The Eastern Pennsylvania man also weighed 330 pounds. With a new family, he said, being big just became unacceptable.

So, on Nov. 18, 2011, Big Andy, a Hatboro resident, not only vowed to lose weight, but to do it publicly. He launched a blog where he also declared he was going to lose weight by becoming a runner.

Running!? For a 6-foot-3, 330-pound man, there’s only one way to do that—one step at a time.

“My plan [was] to not stop, just keep pushing all year, so as soon as I hit the 5K, transition right into training for a 10K,” Andy wrote in his first blog.

As unlikely as it may seem, Andy had three things on his side: He had a plan, was highly motivated and had set a goal. And on Nov. 18, 2012, Andy finished the Philadelphia Half Marathon in two hours and 17 minutes, weighing 205 pounds.

He lost 125 pounds! The man who once wore a size 52 pants had shrunk to a size 34 and had downsized from a 4XL shirt to a size large. And he’s been running and blogging every since.

“The reception has been overwhelmingly positive and supportive,” he said. “I have had people from all areas of my life—friends, family, co-workers—reach out to me and let me know that my story has inspired them to begin their own weight loss efforts.”

One of the many things he learned in his journey, was to keep things in perspective.

“What I mean is, if you have a ton of weight to lose, know that there is not a quick fix,” he said.  “2-3 pounds a week is what is considered reasonable and healthy weight loss. So if you are like me and starting out to lose 100+ pounds, recognize it's going to take a while … and that’s OK."

His next goal is to complete the Broad Street Run on May 5, 10 miles straight through the center of Philadelphia. After that, he and his wife are expecting thier second child, “so my focus is going to shift from training for a specific race to being able to balance everything between family, work and getting ready for our newest addition, all while making sure I keep up with my running and keep my diet all in check.”

Andy’s 6 Steps to Reaching a Goal

1. Get your head right

I have learned the hard way that there is no quick fix or easy way to lose (and maintain) a substantial amount of weight loss while refusing to change other aspects of your life.

It is a very big deal. And it can be a very hard and humbling experience. But if you keep sight of the end goal throughout the day to day progress, it is easily one of the most rewarding things you will ever do. Where you are right now does not have to be the end; it can be the beginning.

2. Have a plan

Admittedly, I am a big planner. But this planning did lead me to look ahead and be realistic about where I wanted to end up, as well as what it will take to get there. Instead of setting one huge goal, I decided to set a series of smaller, increasingly more challenging goals to carry me throughout the entire process. This allowed me to have a structured plan and not to obsess or get overwhelmed by the task at hand. It also allowed me to be able to measure my progress (and gain confidence) as I progressed.

3. Use more than one way to measure success

I used running as my way to get active and burn extra calories. One benefit to running was that it allowed me another way to measure my progress. Instead of being super fixated only on the weight, I was able to also measure progress in my running goals as well. I set larger milestones for running distances and races, 5K, 10K, a mud run, and my ultimate goal of a half marathon. So I started with the Couch to 5K program, then slowly worked my way up to 10K, and then again slowly worked my way up to the Half Marathon. It took a year, but I always knew what the next step was going be.   

Running works for me, but not everybody is a runner. For you, it could be biking, or swimming, or walking or whatever. In my mind it's all about getting out there and being active.

4. Be Honest

None of this works if you are going to lie about it. If you are not going to be honest about logging your food, or how long you exercised, you're hurting yourself. You are really not lying to anybody but yourself in the end, and what good comes of that? So don't lie to yourself; you're better than that.

5. Be Motivated

Last but not least, with all this pride swallowing, planning, and honest day to day effort going into everything, make sure you have a vision or remember the end game to keep you going. I can only share my own experiences here, but it was when my daughter came along that I knew that I had to do this, and I had to do it for real this time. I had her as my motivation and that will always be there pushing me to stay dedicated and never go back to my old habits. I'm not saying everybody needs to have this huge lofty driving force of losing weight to be around longer to be a father to their kids and set the right example, I am saying that everybody's reasons are different, and whatever your are, always keep them in mind. 

6. Be Accountable

A big key to my success this time, I believe, was my blog. The fact that I was publicly accountable for what I was doing made it that much harder to quit. I'm not suggesting that anybody who wants to lose weight needs to put their thoughts and lives out on the internet for all to see; but I am suggesting that if you do this all in secret, it's way too easy to quit. If I have learned anything through all of this, it’s that people (especially your friends and family) want nothing more than to see you succeed. Yes, there may be some jerks out there who have some negative comment to say or try and cut down your efforts, but dismiss them. For every negative person there are 3 (or more) people rooting for you to kick some serious butt at this.