When James Houston saw his mother-in-law during a visit to her hospital room, her jaw hit the floor. James was nearly 100 pounds lighter than when she saw him last.
“For me that kind of reaction is the real motivation when I’m losing weight,” the Bulldog Hiway Express, a Daseke company, driver says of the visit he paid to his mother-in-law, now deceased, when he was well along the way to eventually losing 225 pounds. “When I see that reaction from people and hear them say, ‘man, you’re doin’ awesome,’ that just means so much to me.”
Unfortunately, all that weight James lost several years earlier didn’t stay off. Subsequent medical issues robbed him of energy and caused him to regain nearly 100 pounds. Still, James was determined to shed that weight again. With the help and encouragement of friends and family, plus co-workers and management at Bulldog Hiway Express, and under the care of his physician, James eventually lost 88 pounds.
For that second weight loss, James received the grand prize award in one of two divisions of the St. Christopher Truckers Development and Relief Fund (SCF) “Driven to Be Healthy Challenge.” During the six-month challenge, which kicked off at the 2016 Great American Trucking Show in Dallas in late August, James achieved the highest percentage of weight loss, losing more than 7 percent of his body weight.
During the 2017 Mid-America Trucking Show in March, James was honored with one of the challenge’s two top awards. And like the look he received from his mother-in-law years earlier, the award meant the world to the 17-year truck driver, who has been with Bulldog since 2010.
“It’s all about that people-to-people connection,” James says. “Getting praise from your family, friends and co-workers that makes it all worth it, and then some.”
James says the personal call he received from Don Daseke, founder, president and CEO of Daseke, congratulating him also meant a great deal.
“Getting that call was a big surprise,” he adds. “That was really nice for him to take the time to do that. It made me feel really special.”
Daseke says James offers his fellow drivers a great deal of inspiration. “His proactive, no-excuses approach of prioritizing his health, consulting with his physician and taking control of his dietary choices offers all of us a great example to follow,” Don adds.
James says he knows just how important inspiration is when losing weight, which is why he works hard at inspiring others. Over the past decade, James has been a regular call-in guest to several satellite and broadcast radio programs to encourage healthier eating habits. He also appeared on the shows while they were broadcasting live from the floor of the MATS show.
His emphasis on inspiration is also why he recently created a website, DogmanDiet.com, to help others considering weight loss. “Over the years, I’ve had a lot of people come to me asking, ‘how’d you do it?’ So, I created this website where I can share with them all of the things I’ve learned.”