The Tribune

By ALESHA CADET

Tribune Features Reporter

acadet@tribunemedia.net

STRUGGLING with being overweight for many years, Ethan Quant was uncomfortable in his skin and unhappy with his body.

After reaching a max weight of 306 pounds, the Bahamian business owner and 102.9 Island FM Live Well Radio Show Co-Host told Tribune Health, he was determined to change. However it was not until he saw photos of himself at a friend’s wedding in April 2011 that he decided it was time do something.

“I must have tried every diet in the book: the cabbage diet, the just fruits diet, the eat nothing until you are going to pass out diet, the juice diet. Pretty much if it said that you could lose weight fast I tried it,” said Ethan.

He managed to lose 25 pounds, then he joined a group training programme to assist in reaching his target weight.

However, Ethan said he still struggled, as every weekend it seemed as though some event - a wedding, a birthday party, a funeral, an anniversary, a graduation - provided a reason to break his diet. When he made the final choice to change, Ethan said he was determined to never see 300 pounds on the scale again.

“The first thing is that your perception of what exercise is has to change. It has to be integrated into your life. Like work, or brushing your teeth, or studying. It has to be perceived as something that is essential to your life. I know lots of people who wake up every morning to go to work even though they don’t want to but they go because they got bills to pay, exercising has to be that important, and the truth is that if you are not healthy you cant work and all is lost. Your health really should be the single most important thing in your life,” said Ethan.

He remembers January 2012, when he made the decision to run the half marathon at Marathon Bahamas. At 278 pounds, Ethan said he came up with the goal to complete the marathon in three hours, but to his surprise, he finished in 2 hours 45 minutes.

“That was the single most mentally and physically challenging thing I had ever done. Just weeks before I couldn’t run for five minutes, and I was able to run for almost three hours to complete the half,” said Ethan.

Last year July, Ethan visited Freeport, Grand Bahama, to watch the Bahamas Body Building and Fitness Federation’s National Championships. This is where he developed a love for the sport of body building.

“It amazed me to see all of the perfectly sculpted bodies on stage and I was inspired, intrigued and impressed. I didn’t know we had here in the Bahamas, women and men with these physiques. I was there sitting in the crowd at 292 pounds and I made the decision that I was going to compete,” said Ethan.

Excited and determined to compete, Ethan said he started researching different exercises online. With a photocopied article from Muscular Development on “How to get ripped in 8 weeks,” he took out the weights.

He later began working with Team Elite, a competitive bodybuilding and fitness team that he co-founded. He called this time of his life a transition from just “working out” to “training”.

From 306 pounds down to 228 pounds, Ethan found the confidence to step on stage in April and compete in his first body building competition.

“Some people laughed when I told them I was competing, and some people thought I shouldn’t have competed in that show because I wasn’t ready, but my main goal was just to not be the fat guy on the stage. I really just wanted to look like I belonged there,” said Ethan. He placed sixth in that show in Florida, and was on to the next one.

Ethan said in order to make the steps to help in reducing the risk of becoming overweight, you must first make the decision that you want to do better, and then get the knowledge and tools needed to do so.

“Education is key just like everything else in life. We live in a world where information is free flowing and so not knowing is no longer acceptable. We say that we want to do better and live well but really what are we doing to make that a reality. Start small, but just try to make every day better than the last. There is no magic pill; there is no magic potion; just a constant recommitting to living well,” said Ethan.

He is now working on another goal, as he is wants become the first Bahamian Men’s Physique Pro and the first Bahamian to win the Olympia in 2014.

“I know that a lot of people are wondering what I am doing and think that my goals are unrealistic, but I had a dream over a year ago that I wanted to compete and I have now competed on an international level representing my country at the 2013 Central American Championships held in Santo Domingo Dominican Republic in September. So now I want to win the Olympia next year,” said Ethan.

With the assistance of his support team, family and friends, Ethan said he could not have made it this far without them.

“They believe in me and I believe in myself, so I am going straight to the top. I am going to be focusing on my training over the next few months first for the Arnold Classic in February in Columbus, Ohio where I have to win my Pro card to be eligible to then go and represent my country again on the Olympia stage,” said Ethan.