Name: Gerald Schattle
Age: 38
Occupation: Principal
Hometown: Houston

Start Weight: 397 pounds
End Weight: 240 pounds
Time Running: 1 1/2 years

I was always a big kid growing up. In high school, I played offensive line at 295 pounds. That rolled into one year of college football at Case Western Reserve University (a DIII program). When football was over, I got into teaching and coaching, and as the years passed, I packed on weight.

For years, I yo-yoed around 300 pounds until I hit my heaviest at 397 pounds around December 2017. The breaking point came when I went to the restroom during Christmas break at my school and couldn’t fit in the stall. It was sad and humbling.

On New Year’s eve, I prayed and asked God for help because I had tried to lose weight, but never succeeded. I started writing down why I was so big and what brought me here. Based on what I listed, what I ate was the biggest contributor.

My diet was a mess. I consumed probably 5,000 to 7,000 calories daily when I was at my largest. Breakfast was two sausage biscuits, hash browns, and a large Diet Coke. Lunch was a large cheese pizza or hamburger with fries. Dinner was always out somewhere. This seemed like the best place to start.

From that point on, I started tracking everything I ate on the Lose It app. The biggest fuel was a conversation with a friend from church who thought I was playing when I told him I was going to lose 200 pounds. He chuckled and then realized I was serious. This seed of his doubt fueled me even more to prove him wrong.

I got down to eating around 2,500 calories a day, which is where I like to be these days. Doing just that, I was able to knock off 77 pounds by July. This got me confident, and also hungry for achieving another goal.

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A marathon was on my mind, and it wouldn’t come easy. At my weight, it would already be tough. Training would be the same. That July, I signed up for the USA Fit Marathon in Sugar Land, Texas, in February 2019. The race limit was 8 hours, so I didn’t feel too much pressure as I prepared.

Training was actually something I knew I’d enjoy. I had done a half marathon in June 2015 out of the blue at 350 pounds. The runs made me feel great. What made it even better was doing runs in the Aldine community that I grew up in and was now principal at the Aldine Education Center.

By the time I got to the marathon, I was down to 295 pounds. Using the run-walk method, I was able to finish in 6:17. This was something I never thought I’d ever be able to do, and here I was, standing proudly at the finish.

That wasn’t the end of my journey. In March 2019, I decided to go plant-based for Lent, and I found that I loved it. I felt so good, I ran the Woodlands Marathon the same month and ran a 5:55—nearly 22 minutes faster than a month before that.

I also set the goal to run all 82 campuses in the Aldine district (my district), which is the ninth largest in Texas, serving 67,000 students. It was a way for me hold myself accountable for marathon training for a race in December. This included running around the staff parking lot seven times while praying for the staff, students, parents, and community for each campus.

By the time that December marathon arrived, I was in the best shape of my life. I weighed 240 pounds, went from a 4XL shirt and 52-inch waist to an XL shirt and 36-inch waist, and I set another PR, finishing in 5:29:04.

In 2020, I plan to continue going farther with my journey. My next race is the —a 50K—on March 1 followed by an attempt to run the perimeter of the Aldine School District—over 50 miles—on March 22.

For anyone who wants to go down a similar path, I’d say start with your diet first and focus on consistency, not perfection. You’ll have good days, weeks, and months. You’ll also have bad days, weeks, and months. Take the bad days and learn from them. That way, you’ll get where you want to be.

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