Hey there, /r/loseit!
My name is Frank Beard. (proof) Some of you may know me from my "30 Days of Gas Station Food" experiment since it began right here on /rloseit.
These days, I actually work in the fuel and convenience retailing industry. It's a crazy story, and I'm happy to take questions about it if anyone is curious. I do a lot of public speaking, write for trade publications, and serve as an analyst/evangelist for convenience retailing trends at GasBuddy. I was even on NPR's All Things Considered talking about gas station restrooms a few weeks ago.
You never know where life will take you when you decide to take that first step. And successful, sustainable weight-loss is often about so much more than looking good for the beach or shedding a few pounds for a wedding. In my case, I became so fundamentally dissatisfied with my life six years ago that I knew I had to do something. And while I was unable to immediately change some of my circumstances, I was able to change myself. I weighed more than 240lbs, felt miserable, and took so many acid reflux pills you would've mistaken them for candy. My pizza habit was so bad that the Domino's deliveryman knew me on a first name basis.
Since then, I've gone from being unable to run more than 30 seconds to getting a 45-minute PR on a 10K. I've also become an active cyclist and indoor climber. I just rode across Iowa for 7 days on RAGBRAI and had a blast.
A few years ago, I also did experiment that completely changed my life.
30 DAYS OF GAS STATION FOOD
Back in 2016, I decided to spend 30 days eating at gas stations to dispel the myth that eating on-the-go is "part of the problem". We hear it all the time, and it just isn't true. (how many times have you heard someone blame "eating out" for their weight issues?) At the time, I was traveling four to five days each week for work and had to eat on-the-go. I began the experiment by posting daily updates on /r/loseit. I also took the advice of a fellow redditor and created an Instagram account to share photos. For transparency, I tracked every calorie on MyFitnessPal. By the end of the experiment, I traveled across 9 states and visited more than 200 stores. I even lost 6 pounds.
Since then, this experiment has received coverage from USA Today, People.com, Men's Health, Thrillist, and numerous other news organizations. I also had the opportunity to speak at the Partnership for a Healthier America's 2017 Building a Healthier Future Summit--on the same stage that was used by Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton. (Here's a PDF of my speech, if you're interested)
I still maintain my Instagram account, and I still do a lot of work on this issue. I've spoken to countless corporate groups and work with organizations like PHA and the Iowa Healthiest State Initiative. It's a fun passion project.
READ MORE
- Background on the experiment (brief)
- Background on the experiment (more in-depth, and I won an award for this magazine article)
- Final daily updates from /r/loseit (includes links to previous updates)
- How to eat healthy at gas stations
- Why convenience retailers can help make America healthier (blog post for Iowa Healthiest State initiative, has some interesting data)
QUESTIONS
Feel free to Ask Me Anything, but here's a few things that I would love to talk about:
- How to make healthy choices on-the-go
- What I eat at gas stations
- My favorite convenience stores
- Why it's unreasonable to expect everyone to cook their own food all the time
- Why it's necessary to address the "why" of weight-loss before the "how"
- Why some people regain weight and others keep it off
- Why you should probably avoid health gurus
- How to take action rather than sitting around searching for answers
- How to discover the joy in fitness
- How to fix your life if you're "stuck in a rut"
- How to talk about healthy living around people who don't live healthy lives (in a way that is still authentic)
WHAT'S NEXT
Be sure to follow me on LinkedIn and Twitter. In October, I'm taking a 6 day, 2,500 mile gas station food road trip with a friend of mine who is pretty much the polar opposite. He's the Gas Station Gourmet and writes for trade publications about the best indulgent food. I look for...well, not that. We took a similar 1,300 mile road trip last year, and our podcast just won an award. (you can listen here if you're interested) We will produce a LOT of content this time, and LinkedIn and Twitter are the primary places where we'll post updates. Besides being fun, I feel like our collaboration has taught me a lot. Sometimes we talk about healthy living in a very confrontational way, and our friendship has helped me learn more about how to do it in a way that respects everyone--without watering down the message in the process.
FOLLOW ME ONLINE
THANK YOU
Finally, a big "thank you" to the /r/loseit moderators for inviting me to do this AMA! It's truly an honor, and I would have never imagined doing something like this when I began my weight-loss journey.
UPDATE
Depending on the number of questions, I'll be here for 4-5 hours. I'll edit this if anything changes.
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