He weighed 130 kg and now runs marathons: the amazing story of a Perm teacher’s weight loss

history and social studies teacher

“I have been obese since childhood. This was due to my sedentary lifestyle and the large amount of food I consumed.

I was a homebody, I didn’t go out much: only to work, to the store and occasionally to see my friends. Our meetings took place in restaurants, and, of course, I was not very interested in what was on the scale. You could say that I didn’t think about it at all. My weight was already about 130 kg, and I felt good in it.

Everything changed on New Year’s Eve. As usual, we celebrated it in a family circle with a lot of food, and, as it often happens, until you try everything, you don’t go to sleep. When I woke up the next day, I realized that I needed to make some immediate lifestyle changes.

I used to watch how people changed when they lost weight and dreamed that I could do the same. But as long as I’ve been talking to everyone about it, it hasn’t worked out. And that morning I realized clearly for myself: enough talking – it’s time to work.

Then I came across the profile of a coach on social networks. His name is Nikolai Shestakov. On the page I saw that he works out with full guys and girls. It cost me a lot of psychological effort to write to him. But it was done. The message was sent. There’s nowhere to retreat to. I’ll tell you right away that the right coach, with the right motivation, is already 50% of success. I was lucky – I got the best in the business.

Getting to the gym was also a psychological challenge for me. Ads for gyms showed tight and pumped up bodies of guys, and I immediately built a barrier: “Dude, look at yourself. How are you going to look out there?”

The only thing that saved me was the thought that it was the holidays, which meant there wouldn’t be many people in the gym, so I went to my first meeting with my trainer early in the morning. So began my changes and the search for a new me. Very exciting, sometimes difficult, but so necessary.

The hardest part is to get started. To throw away all doubts that it will not work and to trust a specialist

Nicholas, who took on my transformation, actually worked not only with weight loss and nutrition, but also with my psychological state, mental balance. I trusted completely and did not go into what we were doing and how much it was necessary. The result was important to me. And it began to appear after the first week of training. We practiced three or four times a week.

I was happy as a child.

If I say that everything was smooth, I’d be lying, of course. Nutrition was the hardest thing for me. It used to be buns, sausage and cola, but now it was white fish and fruit. My body was in shock.

The meals were frequent: four tablespoons every four hours.

Sometimes I could get up at night without even realizing it, come to the fridge and only then wake up. I was hungry. But I kept food only for one day on purpose, so that I wouldn’t break down. I still don’t have anything in the fridge. It’s still just for one meal at a time.

Have you had any breakdowns? Naturally. I still have them. It’s like an alcoholic’s binge, the main thing is to stop in time.

I do. But in general, during weight loss, there were no frequent breakdowns. On the contrary, the coach said that I was too correct in my work, so he expected me to screw up. I thought to myself: “Yeah, wait and wait.” Kolya and I still have a great relationship.

Because I had too much extra weight, it started to go away after a week and quite intensively. The more weight, the faster it goes away. I worked hard in the gym for this, so I felt a sense of satisfaction with the result.

I kept quiet, I didn’t tell anyone anything. No one even knew that I was up to “scary”, well, that is, to lose weight.

The first people to notice my changes were my coworkers. They started asking me if I was sick, if I needed help. I was fine, so that’s what I told them.

No chemo. I didn’t take a single gram of supplements the entire time I was losing weight

I didn’t have a nutritionist. My trainer designed my diet. I’m still on it. But the best endocrinologist I know, Oksana Kasyanova, worked on my body – I was in the safe hands of the two best specialists – the doctor and Kolya.

I had tests, which showed that everything was fine. I took vitamins to strengthen my immunity. My colleagues, coach and students supported me. I think many people I knew were shocked. After a while, some even stopped recognizing me.

It took my trainer and me 11 months to lose 60 pounds. We were both surprised, to say the least. Then, in preparation for my first marathon in Dubai, I lost another 5 kg. In total, I managed to lose 65 kg at the moment.

I have a very important dream – a goal that I want to realize as soon as possible, but for now financially difficult story. After such extreme weight loss, I have a lot of skin that gets in the way when running. I want to try to save up money and remove it.

One thing I’ve learned for myself is that if you want to do it, shut up and do it, then tell me about it. It’s definitely working

The weight was standing when I did nothing. How can the pounds go away like that? Even though sometimes I said that I lost 500 grams and asked to evaluate the result, it was clear that when you weigh 130 kilograms, you can’t see it. But decent people were talking about how good I was. And in this euphoria I went to a café and bought a bowl of olivier, for example. Celebrating, so to speak.

At some point, I got tired of going to the gym. I needed new inspiration and purpose. I lived not far from the park, passing by, I saw guys running. I was interested in it, so I immediately went over and asked if I could join them.

And here I am already at the training. I was and still am very fascinated by running. Movement in general. The guys were preparing for the first Perm Marathon at that time, and I took up running for the company. I didn’t even have normal sneakers at the time, but I got euphoria and pleasure. A definite hit in the new movement.

By the way, I ran that marathon 10 kilometers. I did it in one hour. Now I’d say to myself, “That sucks, Cap. What are you doing?”

Then I was walking after the race with a 32-tooth smile on my face, keeping my medal on my chest, as if to show the people around me – look, I did it.

Then I joined the Twin Peaks Run Club of the legendary ultramathon runners Elena and Olesya Nurgaliev, where I am still practicing. I am very glad to meet them and work together. Glad to our whole club gang. You guys are the best!

Also now I am impressed by marathoner Alexey Troshkin (by the way, he seems to be a teacher too). I would like to meet him, since I also started running marathons. And when I was running 10 kilometers, I was closely following the legendary Vladimir Nikitin, and sometimes got in his way. Vladimir, excuse me! We run on the same forest paths.

I meet a lot of top-class athletes at competitions. I want to get an autograph or take a photo, but I am shy. I realize that I don’t have the talent to be an outstanding athlete. I tried on the role of a running tourist – I combine my two favorite things: traveling and running, which I am endlessly happy about. I think I’ve found my niche.

At the moment my goal is to run as many races as possible in different parts of the world. So far I am not bored with it. So far I have participated in competitions in UAE, Sweden, Kazakhstan and other countries.

I dream of taking part in the World Marathon Majors, as well as in my favorite Czech Republic and Sweden. Maybe among the readers there are similarly ardent fans of running? Let’s create our own community and travel together. Let’s go to the majors! I’d love to join you. Alone, not so much.

I have magical students, coworkers, and a boss. Everyone! Even the knuckleheads are magical in their own way.

A few of them have been in the same gym as me. One of them, for example, is called Pavel. He went to the gym with me (well, or I with him). He has transformed himself as well as me. Pasha, kudos to you! When it all started, some people did not believe that it was me. They were very supportive.

These guys are adults now, and many of them have their own families. I’m very grateful to them. Today they are different guys. They haven’t seen anything like this, so they have doubts. They ask if this is really me and this is my story. Guys, this is my story! Proud, I guess.

I still don’t eat flour. I drink coffee, which I hated before I lost weight. I get eight hours of sleep and eat on a schedule. And the very fact of living on a schedule has remained from that time too. I really like to plan my time.

Motivational pendel from Michael

Shut up and get it done! You don’t owe anyone anything, so you only have yourself to answer to. Just take all your willpower in your fist and one day get up and walk.

Go for a walk in the woods, go and sign up for the gym. Go not to the grocery store but to a sports store and buy a uniform. No excuses! Unless you want to do it yourself, no one will do it for you. Yes, it won’t be easy, but the effect will be overwhelming. I promise!

Doctor’s opinion

nutritionist, gastroenterologist, candidate of medical sciences, clinical pharmacologist.

“Losing weight from a large weight should always be carried out under the supervision of a specialist. The fact is that only a specialist: a trainer, doctor or nutritionist – can develop a program based on the individual indicators of a person, to monitor them during the entire transformation process.”

This story is an example of proper weight loss, measured, with a complex of work: nutrition, sports, regimen, psychology. It is very important for the patient in this case not to go into an eating disorder: not to limit, but to give the right order.

If we talk about nutrition – every four hours a tablespoon, as in the case of the hero – at the start with a large weight and difficulties in motivation can be the right first step. However, on a permanent basis, it may not be sufficient (in terms of the amount eaten).

After weight loss, the diet can be anything, include the whole range of products, but it is important to observe the norm. If it is sweet – then no more than a certain authorized amount, once or twice a month. If it is coffee – the norm is different for everyone, I do not recommend more than two servings a day.