After Josh LaJaunie dropped 230 pounds through running and a plant-based diet, completed his first ultramarathon, Meet the members of the Missing Chins Run Club Advertisement - Continue Reading Below of Runner’s World, he met hordes of self-avowed country boys, like himself, who also wanted to escape morbid obesity. To unite the community, the 39-year-old from Thibodaux, Louisiana, cofounded a secret Facebook group dubbed the “Missing Chins Run Club.” Its 52 members keep posts private to encourage candid, sometimes uncomfortable conversations. “This is the place to talk about why your stretch marks itch like hell,” LaJaunie says. “It’s a beautiful thing to be able to give these beer-drinking, back-slapping men an avenue to health and happiness.” The blunt advice and support have spurred the group to lose, in total, more than 4,000 pounds. Meet four members—each down a few chins—who contributed to that astronomical number.
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Jason Cohen
33, Lafayette, Louisiana, has lost 125 pounds
“My entire life I always thought I would be big,” Cohen says. That changed six years ago after a friend died young. At nearly 300 pounds, Cohen made a promise not to cross that threshold. He started cycling, forged a weight-loss competition with a friend, and adopted a plant-based diet. Lured into a local running shop for a coffee event—he’s a java geek—he decided, on a whim, to buy shoes and start running. He’s since finished a marathon. A photographer and videographer by day, Cohen is filming a documentary about LaJaunie and others who have lost major weight, called From Runners World for New Balance, due out in 2018. “When I see other members post a seven-mile run in the Facebook group, I don’t have any excuses,” he says. “Time to lace up and get out there.”
Tim Kaufman
44, Alden, New York, has lost 200 pounds
Kaufman puts his turning point in stark terms: “I was dying.” Born with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which affects the body’s connective tissues, he’d long dealt with joint-related injuries. He started taking painkillers in his 20s, and left a factory job for a more sedentary role as a teacher.
His weight exceeded 400 pounds, and he developed debilitating addictions. Then his father and mother-in-law died of cancer, and he resolved that his wife and two kids wouldn’t bury him, too. So he went vegan, eased off of the painkillers, and started running. The Missing Chins, he says, “is a tight-knit group, but it’s so cool to see new guys come in—it takes you back and makes you appreciate the struggle.”
Justin Lacy
32, Dexter, Missouri, has lost 290 pounds
Lacy loves a challenge: He taught himself guitar, how to build a sustainable house, and even a little Spanish. Not until his mother had a stroke three years ago, however, did he consider his weight—then over 500 pounds—a worthwhile project. “I thought, wow, I’m extremely selfish,” he says. “Soon my family’s going to be crying around my hospital bed.” He went on a “research frenzy,” switching to a plant-based diet, riding a stationary bike, then running. He’s finished two races to date, a 5K From Runners World for New Balance half marathon in Colorado, but is already eyeing an ultra. “I’m going to do a 50-miler and a 100-miler,” he says. “When I say something is going to happen, it usually does.”
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Dustin LaJaunie
37, Thibodaux, Louisiana, has lost 150 pounds
The LaJaunie family used to have a joke: “Don’t be such a vegan,” meaning, “don’t be such a nitpicker.” It took his brother (Josh) becoming one—and a runner—for the family to realize that getting healthy didn’t mean changing who they were. Five years ago at 425 pounds, Dustin had an epiphany: “You have to outrun your mind and that natural tendency to seek out comfort—when you push past that, your body adapts.” Now plant-based and a runner, he completed a half marathon in February and wants to run an ultra next. LaJaunie compares the Missing Chins group to the hunting trips he and his brother used to take, where they gorged on food and alcohol: “But instead of gathering to go take life,” he says, “we’re coming together to gain life.”
The 52 members of the Missing Chins Run Club have lost more than 4,000 pounds between them. To put it in perspective, that’s at least:
- 2 Smart cars
- 32 Meb Keflezighis
- 16 NordicTrack treadmills
- 9,709 Chick-fil-A sandwiches
