When Joe Bacon, general manager of the Austin office of Inline Traffic Maintenance, joined One Ton o’ Fun, he weighed just over 411 pounds. Thanks to the fitness program, created by RunTex CEO Paul Carrozza and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Texas Executive Director Kenny Taylor, Bacon has now lost more than 33 pounds and is able to fully participate in life, all while giving back to his community. One Ton o’ Fun benefits Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Texas and the Neighborhood Longhorns Program.
Bacon says he has always struggled with his weight. Over the last seven years, he has tried every possible weight loss program but always gained back any weight he lost.
“The missing element was always exercise. I hated and avoided it at all costs,” Bacon says. His One Ton o’ Fun coach, Peg Treadwell, told him that those who take extreme measures to lose weight rarely keep it off.
Bacon, whose goal is to lose 10 percent of his initial body weight over the course of the program, joined One Ton o’ Fun on the recommendation of RunTex CEO, Paul Carrozza. Bacon says he and Carrozza have had a personal and business relationship for 11 years, and Carrozza has often encouraged him to get moving.
“One of his ongoing crusades in life is to make people healthier,” he says. “The combination of helping me to become healthier and to help children in the community seemed to make sense.”
Bacon now walks a mile and a half to two miles five or six mornings each week, sometimes with other members of his One Ton o’ Fun team, Walk N-Line. Occasionally he pushes himself to walk three miles. After his walks, he feels a sense of accomplishment, and as a “gadget freak,” he enjoys walking with a Garmin GPS device, which measures his time and distance.
Before joining the program, Bacon could not walk a quarter of a mile. He says it is difficult to explain all the benefits he has experienced from losing weight. Before joining One Ton o’ Fun, it was difficult for him to attend music concerts and athletic events.
“The weight has been a barrier, but last night I went to the Rolling Stones concert,” he says, noting that walking to and from a shuttle bus and standing for four hours would have been impossible before he joined One Ton o’ Fun. He also recently began playing golf again, which he used to enjoy but has not been able to for years.Bacon’s daughter, Jennifer Weiss, is on his team and has lost 34 pounds by walking at least a mile each day and cutting cola out of her diet since the program began. She points out that for the people in this program, losing weight is not about looking better in a pair of jeans; it is about life or death.
Bacon says, “I am able to walk, stand and move about. It’s opening up more things I enjoy doing.”
Bacon says exercise is what has made a difference for him in One Ton o’ Fun, and while involved in the program he has not made major adjustments to his diet. He is not counting calories, but is trying to make some better choices, such as avoiding fried foods and purchasing fresher, healthier foods, and eating less when he wants something unhealthy.
“I am not starving myself. Nothing is on a list of what I cannot eat or have to eat. If want dessert, I just have a few bites,” he says.
Although he does not like exercising more than he did before starting the program, he says he will continue to do it after the program concludes at the Thundercloud Subs Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving.
“The carrot in all this is the removal of barriers. If my weight keeps me from being comfortable in a concert venue, an airline seat, or playing golf, and I’m physically not capable of walking a distance, walking or standing, what’s going to keep me going forward is a sense of mortality. I’m 60 years old, and I want to be active enough to enjoy the next 25 years,” he says. “Weight is something I can get rid of, and the desire to enjoy more of my life is the driving force.”
One Ton o' Fun is sponsored by the RunTex Foundation, KTBC Fox7 Austin, Austin Fit Magazine, FitCity, the Livestrong Challenge, Ironsmith, O2 Austin, New Balance and Tonyia Cone Communications. For more information on the program, which benefits Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Texas and the Neighborhood Longhorns Program, visit www.1tonofun.com.
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