At 6-foot-4 and 295 pounds, John Miller is a big guy, but not nearly as big as he was this time last year, when he stepped on the bathroom scale and the number registered at 425.
“I was, like, ‘Oh, God!’ ” said Miller, 27, a Greeley husband and father who works at , the Brighton wind power plant.
He had just made a bet with longtime friend Tyler Farella. If Miller could get back to his high school weight by October 2011, then Farella would pay him $500. That gave Miller nine months.
How’d he do it? We’ll let him tell you.
Q: What was the first change you made?
A: I joined the and started working out, five and six days a week, two to three hours a day.
Q: Two to three hours a day? What did you do?
A: I started by walking. It took me at least a month before I really started to push myself. My first mile time was 17 minutes. That’s incredibly slow! I don’t remember when, exactly, I started to push myself, but I told myself, ‘You’re not going to get anywhere just doing this,’ and started jogging. Not for two hours at a time. I’d jog a little and then walk. Then jog and walk. I kept pushing myself until I was jogging longer and longer.
Q: How much faster did you get?
A: By the end of it, I was running an 8:55 mile on the treadmill. That’s pretty good for someone as big as me.
Q: How are your knees holding up?
A: I had knee surgery a while back, before I started this. When I told my doctor what I was doing, he told me that losing weight was only going to help my body, especially my knees.
Q: Did you tell him you intended to lose 140 pounds in nine months?
A: He told me to keep it safe: No more than 3 or 4 pounds a week. So that’s what I did.
Q: What else did your doctor tell you?
A: That losing weight would help my high blood pressure, cholesterol levels and all that. I know I was in bad shape. I did all these little things to make my life easier.
Q: Like what?
A: It was hard to bend over to tie my shoes, so I’d put one foot on the counter to take off my shoe, and leave it there so it was easier to get ready for work the next day. There were little things like that I did all the time.
Q: How did you change the way you ate?
A: Before, soda pop was a big thing for me. I’d sit on the couch, eating and drinking Mountain Dew. I’d drink four, five, six, seven a night. And that’s not counting the four or five I drank at work during the day. It was pretty unhealthy.
Q: What do you drink now?
A: I drink a lot of water, a lot of unsweetened tea and unsweetened coffee. Here’s what I do instead of soda pop: I have a nalgene bottle, and these to-go powder packets that make different flavors when you add them to water. I use those a lot.
Q: What was a typical snack before?
A: If I was out and about, driving around, and I hadn’t eaten, it was no problem to grab two or three cheeseburgers at McDonald’s. I ate a lot of take-out. A lot of pizza. A lot of fried food.
Q: How has that changed?
A: Now, if I go out to eat, I’ll get a 6-inch sub at a Subway, or go to one of those soup-and-salad restaurants. Honestly, it’s rare that I ever eat fast food now. I eat salad with 90 percent of my meals anymore. That’s something I never did before. We eat a lot of salad, and a lot of fruit.
Q: Has it changed the way your family shops at the grocery store?
A: Yes! We used to go down the frozen-food dinner aisle and grab four or five frozen meals at a time. Now we get lean meat, and a lot of fruit and vegetables. I do more roasting and steaming. I have a . I love that thing. It drains away the fat.
Q: What else changed in your life?
A: Now, everywhere I go, I take the stairs 90 percent of the time. My wife and I walk from our house to get the mail. We take walks to the park and go around a couple of times. It’s, like, 3 miles from our house. So now instead of sitting down and watching TV and eating, we go to the park with our daughter and walk.
Q: What time of day do you go to the gym?
A: Going to the gym can be an inconvenience. It works for me to get up really early and go before I go to Vestas. I found a gym that opens at 4 a.m., and I get there around 4:30 or 5, and I work out for an hour and a half, shower and go to work.
Q: What did you do when you hit a plateau? When you were working out and counting calories, but the number on the scale didn’t change?
A: There were a couple times when I hit a plateau. I have a friend who’s a personal trainer, and he set up a workout program for on everything I used — the bike, the treadmill, the elliptical. So I’d get on the machine and push as hard as I could. The next day, I’d try to go faster, and the day after that, I’d try to go even faster, to beat my own time.
Q: How did your friends react to the changes you made?
A: It surprised everyone to see the changes in me. They’re great friends; they loved me for being me. I couldn’t ask for better friends. They loved me at 425 pounds, and they’re so happy now that I’m healthy and we can go out and do stuff.
Q: Like what?
A: I’m in a flag football league in Westminster. It’s awesome! It gets me outside, and it’s made me outgoing.
Q: What other changes have you noticed?
A: My attitude toward things changed a lot. When I interviewed for my new job at Vestas, I went to the interview not cocky, but confident about what I’m able to do, and what I can accomplish. That was part of the reason my boss gave me the job. I just have confidence in everything I do now. I proved that I can lose 140 pounds. So it’s not if, but when I can get something done once I put my mind to it.
Q: What’s your next goal?
A: I bet another buddy that I can lose another 50 pounds. We have another friend getting married in October, and I want to be down another 50 pounds by his wedding. And I wanted to do the this year, but I just got this new job, so maybe next year.
Q: Did your other friend pay up that $500?
A: Yes! I went back to and spent it all!
Claire Martin: 303-954-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com
