Photo by Robert A. DeFrank

Jeremiah Morgan prepares to race Saturday morning. He has shed 200 kilos.

WHEELING – Jeremiah Morgan of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, is marking an achievement along with his participation in Ogden Newspapers Wellness Weekend offered by WVU Medicine, having shed 200 kilos.

He tackled the Ultra Urban Challenge offered by Bordas & Bordas. That included the Ogden Newspapers Half Marathon Classic Saturday, and Sunday’s Heritage Trail Bicycle Tour and Tough As Nails Urban Challenge offered by The Health Plan.

“Four years ago, I went through a pretty rough divorce and my life fell apart. I started drinking heavily,” he stated.

He would ultimately get sober by 2019, however by then had gained weight, reaching about 400 kilos.

“December 27 of 2021, I decided that enough was enough. It was time to change. I went to war with myself, started engaging with my mind and my physical activity and my diet,” he stated.

One main change he credit for his success is becoming a member of a supportive neighborhood.

“I was able to gain traction with a group of guys and we developed a support group, a team,” he stated.

The group is called Morris Mindset, after founder Jay Morris, who shall be cheering Morgan on together with different members of the group. Morgan shall be joined by his half-brother, Gary Kuehn, who will run and experience bicycles with him.

Morgan tried totally different dietary modifications from keto – which his system didn’t tolerate – and ultimately settled on a predominantly vegan food plan. Morgan stated he additionally elevated his actions each time potential.

“When I first started, I couldn’t walk 1,000 steps per day,” he stated, including he made regular positive factors.

“Walmart’s only three miles from my apartment. I would walk to Walmart, fill my backpack with groceries and walk my groceries back to my apartment,” he stated. He would take the steps to his eighth-floor condominium quite than the elevator.

Morgan stated there have been different milestones similar to mountaineering a mountain close to his dwelling in September of 2022.

“I walked 26 miles that day,” he stated.

Morgan, 44, stated enterprise marathons was a mark of feat.

“I love running. When I first started running it was so intensely hard. I couldn’t even run two minutes at a time,” he stated.

“Now here I am. I’m below 200 pounds. I ran the Pittsburgh Marathon at the beginning of the month, and I ran a 5K with my daughter (Mackenzie Morgan) last weekend,” he stated. “I hit my weight loss goal of October of 2022, and that’s when I said I’m going to run a marathon, and then I ran a marathon May 7 in Pittsburgh.”

He stated has undertaken challenges he wouldn’t have believed himself able to.

“I did it, and it was crazy. Such an experience,” he stated.

His private aim is to finish the half-marathon in about 2 hours and quarter-hour. At the conclusion of the race, his time was one hour and 59 minutes.

Morgan additionally recounted the various well being advantages.

“I had all these medical conditions when I was 400 pounds,” he stated.

Morgan can be lively on TikTok, hoping to encourage change in others who want it.

“I’m trying to do this for the guy who’s sitting on his couch right now, and he’s 400 pounds and he’s stuck in his position in life and he doesn’t hear a pathway forward,” he stated.

Videos of Morgan together with his weight reduction progress and participation in marathons might be discovered on j_mos_life in addition to the morris_mindset TikTok web page. He stated the reactions have been encouraging.

“It’s the thing that has been propelling me and motivating me to go forward,” he stated.

“It’s been a long journey, and I’m very appreciative of everybody who’s supporting.”