Why do people in “before-and-after” pictures look so sad “before” and so “happy” after?
“I don’t know about that one,” Chicagoan Mark Stach said with a laugh. “I was like, `Wow, I don’t think I look that glum!'”
But Stach has plenty to smile about after completing the “Fit Eye for the Fat Guy” program he won in an essay contest with Chicago health/exercise company Motiv8 Fitness Inc.
Finishing up on March 1, Stach went from 209 pounds to 191, shed bulk from his 5-foot-11 body–6 inches from around his waist, 3 inches from his hips, a half-inch from his chest and three-fourths of an inch from each arm–and dropped about 10 percent of his body fat.
“I’m probably in even better shape than when I first met my wife” in 1997, said Stach, 35.
“I don’t know if we could have chosen a better winner for the program,” said Jill Davis, president of Motiv8 Fitness, who acted as Stach’s personal trainer. She added that there may be another edition of the contest because of the positive experience.
Stach finished the program in 11 weeks instead of 12, because his wife Victoria gave birth on March 2 to daughter Julia.
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The stress associated with that caused Stach to eat less (though what he did eat was healthy), so he currently is standing at 186 pounds–1 pound above his original goal of 185 pounds, Stach’s weight when he and Victoria married five years ago.
“He’s done a great job,” Victoria Stach said. “He’s very slim and he seems really healthy and has a lot of energy.”
Things are looking up all around for Stach. In addition to a new daughter, he started a job with Orbitz, the online travel company. Both Davis and Stach cite the lost weight in giving him some added confidence to help nail the gig.
“There’s something about going out and buying yourself that new shirt that’s a little bit smaller in the neck,” Stach said.
When we first met, Stach talked about his doctor teasing him for having “man-breasts.” Dr. Sensitive will need something new to rag him now.
Stach said of the man-breasts: “They’re gone.”