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Guest post today! From a dear friend, Matt, who transformed his health completely. He decided to change his life and did a complete 180 degree transformation with diet and a new passion for running. I asked him to write about his journey because I find it fascinating and inspiring, hopefully you will too!
Wellness, Diet and Nutrition: An Ultramarathoner’s Perspective
By: CPT Matthew Doellman, RN, BSN
When I was a senior in college, I was your typical beer-guzzling frat boy living off any food that was cheap and came in a box or a can. At the time, I weighed 184 pounds, slept most of the day and was quite proud of my ability to reproduce the “truffle shuffle” from the movie “Goonies”. All of this changed when my girlfriend of four years broke up with me and I found myself single once again. Like any hormone-driven college student, I knew I had to get in shape before I had any chance of picking up girls.
I called my friend Mike Moore from back home to get a diet plan to lose weight. Mike was a former bodybuilder/lifter and at the age of 18 set two world records in weightlifting for a combined bench, dead lift and squat total weight. Mike gave me a radical diet, eliminating almost all carbohydrates and replacing them with lean protein, salad and water. His last words to me were “If you want to lose weight Matt, you have to run your ass off”. So I took his words to heart and that is what I did, literally. I began following his diet down to the finite detail, counting total calories in and out based on my body mass index. I ran each day for an hour, trying to get faster and faster with each passing run. I used to fill a gallon milk jug with water each day and made sure it was done before I went to sleep. Mike told me the importance of hydration and the influence water had on metabolism so I knew this was critical. After eight vigorous weeks on the diet/exercise program I weighted in at a lean 156 pounds, down 28 pounds from just two months before. And indeed my newly shaped physique got me the attention I wanted from the ladies, but we will save those details for a blog of a different nature.
The previous events in my life set me up for my later obsession with diet, nutrition and running. I became very intrigued with how eating properly and exercising on a regular basis made a person look and feel. I began searching for the perfect diet, experimenting with low-carb diets, high protein diets, vegetarian, vegan, Neanderthal, and all genres of the extremes. My search ultimately led me to how I practice today, which is simply following the food guide pyramid and eating a well-balanced diet free from trans fats and hydrogenated oils. I eat very little meat, all lean and usually chicken. Typically I drink nothing but water, a little milk, and eat whole grain breads and pastas. Mostly, I love fresh fruits and vegetables! I enjoyed experimenting with the extremes of diet and this was what I found to be most beneficial with my lifestyle and wellness beliefs. For me, balance is key and I have maintained my weight for the last four years.
I later graduated from Truman State University in Kirksville, MO and became an Emergency Room Nurse for the Army. I continued running every day, usually the same 4.2 mile loop around where I lived in Manhattan, KS. I met a friend who was a big marathoner and he talked me into running my first marathon, which I did in 3h33min with very little training. While in KS, I met CPT Jules Meyers, a former Special Forces Medical Sergeant. He also shared a passion for running and told me all about ultramarathons, or any run greater than 26.2 miles. I was both shocked and intrigued at the concept, but ultimately I knew I was up for the challenge. I began running farther and farther each day until I was running marathons as training runs. My first ultra was a hilly 40 mile race through mud and rock around Clinton Lake in KS and I did very well. I continued training hard, running farther and farther, logging more miles with each passing week.
Finally I put myself to the ultimate ultramarathon challenge and took a plane out to Ohio and ran the Mohican Trail 100 mile ultramarathon in the heat of summer with over 11,000 feet of ascent in just over 26 hours. I realized then that the limits of human performance were much farther than I could have ever dreamed. Our bodies are like an automobile in that if you put the proper fuel in them and provide the necessary maintenance, their is no telling how far you can take them. I continue to run each day and follow my normal diet, although I have to consume between 4500-8000 calories/day in the heat of my training for a big ultra. I weighed in at 149.8 pounds yesterday and at 6‘0’‘ am at what I would consider “fighting weight” for my upcoming race. On July 31st I will be flying to the Burning River 100 mile ultramarathon to compete in the United States Track and Field national championship. If everything goes well, this will be my fourth 100 mile ultramarathon I will have completed and sixth ultramarathon total. My secret to success with running is twofold- proper diet and following the words Mike told me years ago and simply running my ass off!
I am always excited to see a new message from Jenna’s Wellness Blog and get many ideas for recipes from here frequently. My favorite part about Jenna’s Wellness blog is how she uses it as a tool to both share her experiences and learn from other people’s perspectives on diet, exercise and wellness. It takes a special discipline to follow a healthy dietary and exercise regimen and the typical practices in American society today make it difficult. Banning together through blogging and networking is a great way to keep the discipline and share with others enjoyable ways to stay the course. I have greatly enjoyed her adventures with diet and am always eager to try out new recipes and foods. I appreciate Jenna for asking me to share my experiences with diets and running and hope you all find the wellness you are searching for.
"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go."
-T.S. Eliot
