Stephane Doiron wanted to help his son train for hockey, but he quickly realized he couldn't keep up. To get in shape, he grabbed his sneakers and hit the local track. It was challenging at first, but eventually, Doiron became an avid runner — and lost 55 pounds in the process.
The Basics:
- Hometown: Paquetville, New Brunswick, Canada
- Age: 45
- Height: 5'11"
- Heaviest weight: 240 lbs.
- Weight now: 185 lbs.
- Total weight loss: 55 lbs.
Growing up in a single-parent home "affected the relationship I had with food and exercise," Doiron says.
"With limited funds, my mom did the best she could to put the best possible diet on the table to feed her three children. And organized sports weren’t even a subject of discussion in our household — I guess we knew that if we couldn’t afford it, there was no need to talk about it. Looking back now, I realize that once I was old enough to leave home, I often tried to replace those feelings of emptiness with unhealthy binging on fast foods."
Combining all that "with a couple of decades of smoking about a pack a day surely didn't help my overall health," he adds.
"Fortunately I got rid of the smoking about 10 years ago, but on the flip side, I replaced that bad habit with unhealthier eating. I was a perfect candidate for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and even a heart attack. I remember not so long ago gasping for air halfway through trying to tie my shoe laces."
In the spring of 2017, a switch finally flipped.
"I remember it so well because I was pushing my oldest son to excel in his strength conditioning training for his local hockey team. He simply asked me to help him by doing the training with him, because he thought it would be a father and son bonding experience — and he was also concerned with my health. First of all, I realized that I wouldn’t be able to do one third of what he was doing, and secondly, what right did I have to motivate him on how to become a better athlete? I couldn’t even look at myself in the mirror ... In that moment, I promised that being sorry for myself wouldn’t dictate the rest of my life. Enough with the excuses ... I needed to get my life on track and become the person I always dreamed of being."
"I simply grabbed my sneakers and went to my local running track and started running," Doiron says of how he got started.
"Well, I guess 'started running' is an understatement, because I remember at first, I could barely run a minute without stopping to regain my breath. That next day I felt like I got hit by a train, but I got up and went back and improved my last run."
He kept at for months, until finally, he could run 5k without stopping.
"I think it took me over 50 minutes to do, but I did it, and I was so proud of myself. I also was starting to see the pounds seriously shedding off my body.
"I remembered reading or watching people telling their transformation stories, and them [describing] that feeling of pride and confidence that would take over them, and how it would reflect positively on everybody in their surroundings. Well, I can officially say that when I finished that 5k, I tasted and got hooked on that feeling. Let me tell you, there is no greater feeling. I can now run a 5k in under 25 minutes and a 10k in under an hour. I am also working on dropping my 5k under 23 minutes by next summer."
He still faced some hurdles. About six months in, Doiron found that his weight was plateauing at around 210 lbs.
"I couldn’t seem to find a way to lose any more weight until I started strength conditioning at my local gym. A friend had also told me about tracking my macronutrients, so I started looking in to macro tracking. I installed a macronutrients app, Macrotrak, on my phone, and never looked back. After finding the proper amount of fat, protein, and carbs that my body composition needed, I quickly started to see even more weight loss."
The feeling of reaching his initial goal of 199 lbs. was "incredible," Doiron says.
"I haven’t weighed that much since I was a teenager. And then reaching 185 lbs. was even more satisfying. Mentally, I am so much more confident and happy with myself; I even notice that people don’t look at me the same way anymore. I know that I still have more challenges ahead of me, but I can honestly say that after these last two years, I am in the best shape of my life. I don’t look at food the same way, and I am much more educated when it comes to portions and types of foods my body and mind need to sustain a healthy lifestyle."
Doiron shared advice for other guys pursuing transformation journeys of their own.
"If you are not shy with social media, I would also suggest that you use it to your advantage. I use Instagram, Facebook and YouTube to keep myself accountable and update my progress with my followers. For extra motivation, surround yourself with positive people. I have recently joined other runners and athletes and created my first 5km race for my local community scheduled for august 2019.
"Keep yourself accountable, forget about the excuses, and push through it," he adds.
"Believe me, there’s no better feeling, at 45, to out-run guys 20 years younger — and especially the pride that I see in the eyes of my family is priceless."
