This Man Ran His Way to a 100-Lb. Weight Loss Transformation. Now He's an Ultramarathoner.

By | January 31, 2019

Jonathan Clinthorne went from midnight chimichangas to “big-ass salads” and found a passion for running ultramarathons. He lost 100 pounds in the process and has kept it off for a decade. This is his story.


The Basics

  • Age: 32
  • Height: 5’10
  • Heaviest weight: 251
  • Current weight: 145-150
  • Total weight loss: 100 pounds
  • Lives in: Denver, CO

    In college, Jonathan ate like a football player but wasn’t on the team.

    “I went to Michigan State, a Big 10 School, and lived your typical freshman college lifestyle, eating a lot of cafeteria food. In high school, I played varsity sports and was very active, but in college I lived with football players and ate like they did but didn’t work out like them. We ate chimichangas before bed and a lot of fried foods. About the only physical activity I got was a 15-minute walk to class and after that I would say, ‘I worked out today.’”

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    Visiting a favorite campsite led Jonathan to his breaking point.

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    “There’s a place I like to go camping in Sleeping Bear Dunes and I remember going up one of the dunes and was completely out of breath, [when] the times before I was running up and down like a little kid. I thought, something needs to change’. A few days later playing Frisbee with my friends, I told myself this is the day I start being more active. I needed a couple days to figure out how I was going to go about it and never had a big goal in mind except to get back in shape. I remembered being in really good physical shape when I could play sports whenever I wanted. That was the springboard.”

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    So he put one foot in front of the other (and certain foods in front of others).

    “I started jogging three-fourths of a mile every day. I would get it done even if it wasn’t pretty. I also had my mom’s family’s body type and my mom was successful losing weight on the Atkins diet so I started there. It was an easy transition because I could say ‘let’s put burgers on the grill or bake some chicken wings,’ only except for eating fries I had a side salad or instead of potato salad I had coleslaw. I was able to make choices that weren’t socially isolating, which is one thing that made me so successful.”

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    Socially, choosing salad over pizza was difficult.

    “I was in a college environment and turning down opportunities to go partying was always a challenge. Eating in front of people can be challenging if you’re not eating what they are. The trick is being proud and not shy about what you’re doing. I would say, ‘I’m eating this because it’s healthier for me.’ My friends would then say, ‘oh, he’s just doing his thing.’”

    These days, “big-ass salads” are his favorite food.

    “To me, salad is lots of fresh spring baby greens, arugula, different cheeses, nuts, and avocado, so it’s really decadent, or what I call, “Big ass salads.” And sometimes ‘salad’ to me was just coleslaw. It wasn’t always plain lettuce but an amalgam of different vegetables. One of the beauties of low-carb diets is you don’t have to remove the dressings. The fat helps the vitamins and minerals to be absorbed from the vegetables. I never had to give up my ranch dressing, which was something I always loved.”

    And the weight melted off.

    “My journey started at 20-years-old and it took about 18 months to lose 100 pounds. After the first couple months I started seeing results. I wasn’t tracking my weight religiously but noticed that I needed new clothes. My shirts looked like I was in dresses. That is really exciting because it’s one thing to see your weight change and it’s another to need new clothes because your body is changing. One Halloween I dressed in my old clothes and needed to put a pillow under my old shirt to make it fit properly.”

    He’s now 100 pounds lighter and has managed to keep the weight off.

    “I settled into my ‘maintenance weight (150)’ at 22. It feels great. Being successful in maintaining weight loss makes you want to stay physically active. I was studying to be a dentist before losing weight and then decided to be a nutritionist. I went on to get a Ph.D. in nutrition, and today I’m the happiest I can be.”

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    He now runs ultramarathons.

    “Physically, my three-fourths of a mile turned to 1 mile, then 3, then 31. I never realized how much I liked running until I gave it a try. I started by signing up for a half-marathon while I was losing weight and working toward that goal really helped me stay focused. I spent money on the event and thought I might as well get in shape for it! My first ultra I was about 23. It was a 50k or about 31 miles. Today I’ve done a little over 50 ultramarathons. I have a bit of an addictive personality. At one point it was eating and now I found a different outlet.”

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