This is a guest post by my brother, Samer.
Below is a photo of him, “Fat Sam” as he called himself then, in 2008 [left]. To the right is a photo of him 3 weeks ago at the finish line of the Toronto Marathon.
I could say it all started in 2008 after visiting Beijing for the Olympics. I was transiting in Dubai visiting my family and I randomly picked up a book on juicing. The cover promised me it would ‘Turbo Charge’ my life in just 14 days. It would be one of many books I’d purchased over the years in my feeble efforts to lose weight and finally ‘look good’.
None of them stuck.
Somehow, this one did.
I don’t remember when I actually read the book; it must’ve been soon after I got back to Cairo. I decided to take on the 14-day juice fast, wondering why on earth anyone would combine so many fruits and vegetables into a seemingly nasty drink. I did it anyway, and over the span of 14 days lost 7kg. Of course, nobody noticed. When you’re that size, 7kg might as well be nothing.
But it was a start, and I was determined.
Once the 14 days were up, the idea of consuming ANY food that was solid, hot and chewable was heavenly. So I enjoyed grilled chicken, vegetables and fruits in their whole state, and learned to appreciate them. I visited a nutritionist who introduced me to the world of ‘glycemic index.’ Looking back, I realize she had a head start on what the whole world is just now grasping – that sugar is the enemy. I stuck with her for two years, steadily losing weight month after month. People began to notice and I felt better every day.
Over time, it started to feel less like a diet and more like a routine.
I introduced exercise a good year into my ‘diet.’
As part of the holistic approach to physical wellbeing, it was clear that exercise was needed. Pre-work gym workouts became a part of my new routine. It meant sleeping and waking up earlier, but I was determined to make it work. The discipline behind my eating and exercising were becoming as important as the cause itself, and I liked it.
Sometime in 2011, I was introduced to Cross Fit at work. A colleague had recently become certified and wanted to coach anyone who would listen. So I joined the team and dropped the gym (it was getting boring, anyway). Cross Fit promised newfound health and strength, which was possibly the same thing that attracted me to the juicing years before. I needed something that would turbo-charge my physical appearance, which still wasn’t quite where I wanted it to be.
Mind you, I had lost over 55kg, and my waist size had dropped to a size 33, down from 44. But my body wasn’t as fit as I wanted it to look. I felt like a skinny man trapped inside a fat man’s body.
Cross Fit introduced me to running.
There would be days where the workout of the day would be to run for an entire hour. I didn’t get it, I didn’t like it, and I made that quite clear to the coach, who would shrug his shoulders in a way that said “you have no other choice”.
With time, I found myself actually enjoying it, and I’d find myself running on my own. Something about propelling my body kilometers on end really motivated me. Before I knew it, I was signed up with the Cross Fit team for my first half marathon. We were all very new to running, amazed at the thought of moving our bodies for 21.1 kilometers. It didn’t matter how long it took to finish – if you did it, you were a hero.
By the second half of 2013, I had taken running to another level.
I was already training for my second half marathon and loving every minute of it. I realized that running was a very personal experience. It challenged my mind and body every time. The personal bests were always against myself, and every run was a win — no matter what.
Needless to say, my eating habits were improving drastically. What had started as a diet was now a full-blown way of life – “clean eating” was the new term for it. Greens, nuts, fish and fruits made up a large part of my diet. The occasional fried-chicken takeout and cookie attack made their way in there, too. But hey, I am human after all.
Somehow, training for my second half marathon didn’t seem challenging enough.
A mix-up in a previously planned family trip had me online, researching things to do. I found myself typing ‘Toronto Marathon 2014’. It lined up perfectly with the vacation time I had planned to visit my sisters in Toronto. Before I knew it, I was registered. I couldn’t contain my excitement as I spread the news to my family, close friends and Cross Fit buddies.
I knew that I wasn’t going to follow conventional marathon training eating plans. Carb-loading didn’t seem like a viable option, considering how far I had come with my eating habits.
Luckily for me my sister Dana is a health coach, and together we researched the different ways I could train for the marathon — WITHOUT relying on pasta, bread or rice for the energy my body would so desperately need.
Over the course of 16 weeks, my eating would be the strictest it’s ever been. I consumed sweet potatoes, avocados and bananas in crazy amounts. Beet juice and ginger shots were fuel for my long, early morning runs. My appetite was insatiable as a result of the calorie burning from the runs. But my body was a machine and I was determined to maintain it to the best of my ability.
I was putting on weight from all the muscle I was gaining, yet physically I looked leaner than ever before. I was extremely pleased with the physical results of running, however mentally and emotionally I wasn’t doing too well.
Some days were overwhelming – my days revolved around my runs and my food intake; everything and everyone else took the back burner. The novelty of training for a marathon had worn off. It was becoming more of a physical and mental challenge with every kilometer completed. And it wasn’t as simple as I’d expected. Yet somehow I’d get up and do it. The will and determination kept me going.
Toronto was looming. My last run in Cairo had me feeling confused. This misery would soon be over. And yet I found myself taking mental pictures of my surroundings and selfies of myself. I wanted to capture every moment. It started creeping up on me that all of this would end soon – and I’m not sure how I felt about it, so I ignored it. I had to stay focused – food was my fuel, sleep was my recovery and the goal was approaching.
Fast forward to the finish line, surrounded by thousands of other people, literally in my same shoes, and suddenly it hit me: I am one of a kind, a statistic. In the blink of an eye all the pain was gone, replaced by the sadness that it was all over and an incredible sense of happiness, too: I did it. I ran and ate my way to this moment, and I couldn’t be more proud of myself.
I was exhausted, proud and victorious and I didn’t fight the simultaneous crying and laughing that took over me. As I lay on the ground recovering, all around me I saw the same – tears of joy and laughs of disbelief. I had flashbacks of the prior five months of training and of all those who stood by me through it all. The tears kept flowing and my smile kept getting bigger. I was on a high.
I finally got up, and as I wandered through the crowds looking for my family, I knew that I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat.
A few words of wisdom, if I may, from what I’ve learned over the last six years.
Don’t set your expectations too high. At first you may not even know what your goal is. But the fact that you’re willing to change means you’re on the right track. When I first started, I had no idea I would one day be fit enough to run (and enjoy) a marathon. That being said, go at your own pace; wean yourself into the program you are following slowly.
Last but not least, there is no such thing as a diet. As cliché as it might sound, it truly is a way of life that you adapt over time.
We love inspirational stories! If you have a success story of your own — whether it’s related to nutrition, exercise, your career, or any obstacle that you’ve overcome, please share it with us!
Be well,