EDMONTON – John McCarron has been alive for 45 years, but he’s only recently started living again.
When you weigh 295 pounds, are five-foot eight-inches tall, and you don’t move around much, there’s a limit to the things you can do. He started to get that way after a car accident in 2006 drastically reduced his mobility and left him in chronic pain.
McCarron took painkillers, but still wasn’t able to move much. It also didn’t help that he worked on straight commission as a headhunter or job recruiter, requiring him to take clients out to lunch or dinner on an almost daily basis.
“There’s lots of opportunity to eat bad food; it’s always around you,” he says.
By 2008, the married father of two was starting to develop serious health problems: the most critical were high blood pressure and severe sleep apnea.
McCarron knew he didn’t feel well, but he didn’t know how bad he looked until a client snapped a picture of him at a Tragically Hip concert — another work-related social event — and sent him a copy. It made him realize he had to start making some changes.
A friend recommended he watch a documentary called Hungry For Change that set out to expose the shocking truth behind diets and weight loss and supplements, and how the food industry holds people back from achieving a healthy weight.
It inspired him to start studying and exploring nutrition and trying things like juicing, and vegetarian and vegan foods.
He hasn’t given up meat, McCarron says, but he’s also not eating steak and potatoes, an appetizer and glass of wine regularly. “Now I consider that my treat for the month.”
By changing how and what he ate, he started to lose weight and that motivated him to start exercising. “But I couldn’t do it on my own because of the injuries I sustained.”
He decided to find a trainer experienced in working with clients with injuries, who also had a proven track record helping people lose a lot of weight, and had trained professional athletes. McCarron wanted that person to help get him off the couch and eventually train like a real athlete.
He approached Custom Fit Personal Training Studio, 11807 105th Ave., where he was referred to co-owner and trainer Paul Plakas. Plakas starred in Slice TV’s X-Weighted and Taking It Off reality weight-loss shows. McCarron watched some of the shows and found Plakas to be “a pretty unsympathetic fellow and I wasn’t sure we were going to get along.”
When they met, McCarron mentioned that he thought Plakas was “a bit of a meanie” and they wound up joking about it. “After that I had a sense we would get along well.”
They started working out together two to three days a week.
Plakas recalls McCarron’s level of function was very low and he had problems breathing with even a little exertion. The amount of body fat he was carrying was crushing his lungs. There was also the issue of injuries from the accident to his shoulder, neck, right leg and hip.
“I didn’t want him to get discouraged about it. I told him it would get better the lighter he got,” Plakas says.
“John’s big issues were eating out because he had to entertain clients, and his consumption of alcohol — three to six drinks a day. I told him just cutting that back alone was going to make a big change in his life,” Plakas adds.
The trainer gave McCarron routines to do on his own the days they didn’t work out together, which he would sometimes do and other times not do.
There was always a reason not to work out on his own, McCarron says: he was too tired at the end of the work day; there was something he had to do with his daughters, ages nine and four years old; he had to call a client or had a business social to attend.
“I found if I had a trainer and paid the money and booked an appointment, it was like booking an appointment with a client, it becomes a priority that you don’t miss,” he explains.
Soon he was working out four days a week with Plakas, two days with another trainer, and working out by himself on the seventh day.
A few months later, McCarron was 20-25 pounds lighter, but then he plateaued and became discouraged. He started arriving late for his training sessions or cancelling them because of work.
They started talking about the lack of balance in McCarron’s life and Plakas helped him realize that you can make all kinds of money and have all this stress, “but if you have to sacrifice your family and your health, there’s really no point.”
Once McCarron worked through the mental block of the plateau, and began changing other things in his life, like delegating more responsibility at work, he began to lose weight again.
“He started getting compliments from people, from some of the other trainers and clients, and that motivated him to change more because other people were noticing and he craved and wanted more and more,” Plakas says.
“Now you can’t stop the guy. I think he trains more in a week now than I do,” he adds laughing.
In nine and a half months, McCarron has lost 100 pounds and regained his life, he says.
He no longer has to take blood pressure pills and his sleep apnea is gone.
“My life has changed a lot. I have a better appreciation of spending time with friends and family, of travelling and seeing the world, of living again and doing things I couldn’t do before.
“I always wanted to surf but because of my weight I never felt that I could. I just came back from Mexico and I was surfing and I got up on the board the first time. Before I was too heavy to go zip-lining, and I went zip-lining. I buy nice clothes, and I actually look good in them.”
He’s booked a hike to Mount Kilimanjaro in September and plans to use it to raise funds for charity.
Instead of watching cartoons at home with the girls, he’s joining his wife and kids on walks around the block and playing with them in the park.
He works out every day, even when he’s on vacation or away on business because when he doesn’t work out, he doesn’t feel good.
It wasn’t easy getting his life back, McCarron admits, but it was well worth the effort. “I have a lot more (work-life) balance in my life and a better appreciation for being healthy and active,” he says, and he’s never going to carry around that life-limiting, extra weight again.