Published: April 22, 2008 12:58 am            

Jared Fogle: A good person to get inspiration from

"Jared got big on burger and fries, now he’s down to a smaller size. Subway: Eat fresh!” could be heard on most televisions in 2000 when America said “hello” to Jared Fogle, the Subway representative.

Fogle participated in the Festival of Ideas at West Virginia University recently. He entertained the crowd with a few WVU vs. Michigan jokes and brought along the famous pants.

“I have a famous pair of pants; I think they are more famous than me,” he said.

West Virginia has the third-highest level of adult obesity in the nation and the sixth highest overweight high school student level. West Virginia is estimated to have spent $325 per person in 2003 on medical costs related to obesity, which is the fourth highest amount in the nation. Fogle later addressed the issue of being obese and what he believed had a major impact on his life that could relate to West Virginia.

“I attacked my problem head on. I know the bad parts of life about not fitting in and how to try to fit in. I know the feeling of embarrassment, when they laugh behind you back. I know what it feels like to look forward to a very bleak future. But I changed the ‘I knows,’ and made them positive.”

As Fogle reminisced on his past, his life began to change before his eyes in the fourth grade.

“Every day in the fourth grade we had to write in a journal for 15 minutes about something we did that day. Mine was always about school lunch. I loved the smell, taste and the look. I used to take the monthly calendar of the food choices and study it over the weekend, so I would know what days to bring in my extra $1 to buy another burger or pizza.

“I would not only write about what we had, I would write if it was up to my expectations: Was it crispy enough? And did the spaghetti have enough sauce?”

In the sixth grade, Fogle realized he had a really huge moment where he ordered one medium meat-lovers pizza, and devoured it before his parents returned home. After being grounded for two weeks, he made two major decisions: (1) to face reality and solve the problem, or (2) the next time to be way sneakier.

Later on in life he became sneakier, including on going on bike rides where he would order more pizza.

While attending Indiana University, he reached 425 pounds.

“Early in college I needed willpower but three major problems: (1) obesity/addiction. It had me hostage. (2) I was trapped and had no way out. (3) No one knew the feeling I felt. I used to buy shirts a couple sizes bigger so I could hide how big I really was.”

The problems skyrocketed when fluid in his ankles and wrists caused them to swell, preventing them from working properly — even causing him to not fit in his shoes or socks. But he never really thought he was that big.

Junior year came and he moved into a small apartment, which was next door to Subway.

“I would eat a 6-inch turkey, tons of vegetables, including hot peppers and a bit of spicy mustard, with a bag of baked Lay’s potato chips and all the diet Coke I wanted. For dinner, I would have a foot-long veggie sub without mayonnaise or cheese. It was a tough few days, but I found it was tasty.”

Fogle would also walk every chance he had, even if he had to walk up six floors to class. Also, he would not step on the scale or tell anyone what he was doing, and it worked.

He eventually went home to his father’s office, and he stepped on the scales for the first time.

“I lost 94 pounds, and then my father started to cry, which was a sign of accomplishment since I have never seen him cry before.”

After the fairy-tale ending of losing 245 pounds, Fogle’s self-esteem and grades went up. But it wasn’t until he saw an old college buddy that he decided to write a story about his success.

Jared said hello, but his friend just kept walking. When Fogle told his friend who he was, his friend was in shock. That story was printed on April 29, 10 years ago.

“That day I went to my local Subway, and there was just a huge line of people waiting to get in, all reading the article about me!”

The story eventually went national and Subway called and he immediately started doing commercials.

“Now that it is my 10-year anniversary, I wanted to fight obesity and give something back to the elementary schools. My goal was to make kids not go what I went through.”

“I look up to him a lot,” said East Fairmont High School junior Nicole Everson.

“Even though I don’t eat at Subway regularly, he is still a good person to get inspiration from. Unlike an anorexic model, Jared is a real person who shows all the other average Joes that it is possible to lose weight and keep it off.”

        

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