In 2019, Jennifer Brown was told she had high blood sugar and was on the verge of being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Her husband also had serious health issues — a history of cancer and a recent heart attack. While their daughter was about to finish high school, their son was only four.
“If something happens to both of us with our health, then who’s going to take care of my son?” Brown, 42, remembers thinking. She had tried dieting throughout her life, but nothing stuck.
“I’ve been overweight and considered obese since the time I was six years old,” she said.
After hiking one mile in the park with her son one day, she realized she felt peaceful afterward. Wanting to have more energy to play outside with her son, she started walking more in her Iowa town, eventually challenging herself to run one mile daily on the treadmill in 2022.
Brown has since lost 190 lbs — 100 pounds from walking, running and dietary changes, and the rest with help from GLP-1 medications, which can assist in dealing with “food noise” and cravings.
She started by walking and changing her diet
Before she started running, Brown lost around 70 pounds from walking a few miles every day and making some dietary changes.
On her doctor’s recommendation, she switched to a low-carb diet but found it challenging at first.
“I always was thinking about food nonstop, constantly had it in my head,” she said. She kept a food journal, tracking what she ate and her portion sizes. She also started drinking about a gallon of water a day.
“If you just buckle down and do a few little things every single day, you’re going to find results,” she said.
She ran one mile a day for a month
A few years later, Brown got bored with walking and wanted to try running. She challenged herself to run one mile daily for a month, only running on the treadmill in her house.
“I honestly didn’t want people to see me running,” she said. When the month was over, she increased her mileage, eventually training for two 5K races back-to-back in 2023.
“I really never thought I could do that,” she said. She felt so motivated that she skipped over all the other race lengths and ran her first half-marathon in 2024. She decided to go one step further and sign up to run a full marathon on her 43rd birthday in October.
“The coolest thing is that every time I do one of these long runs and I add a little bit on, it’s my longest run ever,” she said. “You just keep pushing yourself through it, keep progressing every single day a little bit more.”
She also lost weight from GLP-1s
Brown said she lost about 100 lbs total from running and lifestyle changes, and another 90 lbs once she started Mounjaro in late 2022. Now, she uses compounded tirzepatide for maintenance.
“I just want to be clear because I don’t ever want people to think ‘she’s not telling that part of her story,'” she said.
She said running changed her life in a few ways. One is her tenacity. She also enjoys meeting other runners and people who share a passion for working out.
Most of all, she loves how physically strong she is now. “It has nothing to do with what I look like,” she said. “I can get up off the floor without using my hands.”
She said the experience taught her so much that she also wants to instill in her son. “I want my son to see that you can do anything if you really stick to it, work hard at it,” she said.
