Robak uses silent sports to turn life around

In the past seven months, Robak has made a drastic improvement to his current weight of 183 pounds – a weight loss of 130 pounds.

One-hundred-thirty pounds is the equivalent of the weight of about 15 gallons of water.

“I attribute my weight loss to quitting soda, drinking more water, not

making excuses, eating better, logging my calories and working out faithfully,”

Robak said. “I don’t blame anybody but myself. I’d sneak food into my room and

eat late at night – it was a bad habit and a tough time in my life.”

The last day the future-firefighter hopeful drank a soda was March 4.

“I’m sure I’ll have a soda again in my life, but I want to reach one

year without it,” said Robak. “I used to drink four sodas a day. It worries me

a little bit introducing small things back into my diet, but I know I’ll never

go back to the way I was. It was out of hand.”

Robak’s eating habits were an issue before, too.

“At Bay Port, if you want to eat healthy, there are a lot of good options,”

he said. “But I didn’t choose the healthy foods – I’d go for the cookies and

brownies and pile things on my plate. I used to come home from football

practice and eat a whole pizza for a snack and then eat dinner two hours later

– I was probably eating 4,000 calories a day. When I started this journey last

February, I wouldn’t eat lunch at school – I’d pack my own from home.”

He said one of the biggest keys to his weight loss has been logging his

food.

“Most people don’t realize how much they are eating until they start

measuring their serving sizes and logging what they eat,” he said. “I set a

limit of 1,800 calories. It didn’t matter what time of the day it was, when I

reached 1,800 calories, I quit eating for the day – it was hard. I’d be lying

in bed hungry and wanted to eat something. I was a terrible late-night snacker

– fruit snacks, a piece of leftover pizza or an ice-cream treat. If I ate a

lifesaver, I logged it.”

Robak didn’t go to a doctor before he started his lifestyle change, but

he took it slow at the beginning.

“To be moving at 313 pounds, I was terribly out of shape,” he said. “I

began with the elliptical, but I had to take a lot of breaks – I was huffing

and puffing a lot. Then I started walking the track and using the exercise

bike. As I got in better shape, I started running a little and walking with an

incline. When the weather got nicer, I started biking outside. I used to hate

going to the gym, but now I love it. I used to run a mile in 13 minutes, but

the other day I ran it in 6:45.”

Robak said if he wasn’t at his daily calorie limit, once the sun went

down, he quit eating for the day.

He also drank water by the case every week.

“The most I lost in one week was 8 pounds,” Robak said. “The first 50

pounds went quick because I was adjusting my whole diet. The weight since has

come off slower, but now I can do more and I’m not as tired. When I hit 250, I

really started to feel better. I don’t weigh myself every day – I feel weighing

yourself every day sets you up for failure. From day to day, you can weigh a

few pounds more or less. I weigh myself every other week.”

Robak has begun to lift more weights to replace some of the muscle he

lost and doesn’t beat himself up if he puts bad food into his mouth on

occasion.

“I’ll have a cheat day here and there, but I’m not stringing

consecutive bad days of eating together,” he said. “I’ll have a burger once in

a while and some ice cream with my family. It’s not realistic to eat perfectly

all the time. I don’t freak out when I have a cheat day.”

A big motivator for Robak has been seeing his friends he graduated with

or family members he hasn’t seen for months.

“When I saw one of my buddies I graduated with at the first Bay Port

football game this year, he didn’t recognize me,” said Robak. “My high school

football coach and doctor are proud of me, too.”

Robak’s ultimate goal is to get into the 180-pound range.

He was a bigger kid growing up, but fortunately, he had good friends

around him who didn’t tease/bully him.

“Looking back at pictures from the fourth and fifth grade, I could see

I was carrying too much weight,” he said. “It didn’t bother me I was bigger. I

like to look back at past pictures because it’s shown me how much work I’ve put

in.”

Robak began playing tackle football when he entered middle school but

had a mishap early on in his career.

“Due to the weight restrictions, I couldn’t play Pop Warner football,”

he said. “I joined my seventh-grade year, but on the first day of practice, I

broke my wrist.”

What is Robak’s advice to others who might be struggling with their

weight?

“Get to the gym, put your headphones in and get moving,” he said.

“Don’t care what others think. Everyone has excuses, so don’t make them.

Everything will come with the right mindset and time.”