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Duke Employee loses 125 pounds with help from Duke Farmers Market

John Ervin visits the campus market on Fridays to shop for fresh produce

John Ervin shops at the Lyon Farms stand at Duke Farmers Market. Photo by Les Todd.
John Ervin shops at the Lyon Farms stand at Duke Farmers Market. Photo by Les Todd.

Sitting in the Duke University Hospital emergency room with a bacterial skin infection, John Ervin realized he needed to turn his life around.

At the time in late 2016, doctors diagnosed Ervin, who weighed 350 pounds, with cellulitis, a bacterial skin infection worsened by poor circulation.

“That health issue scared me into getting my act together,” said Ervin, 48, laboratory manager for Duke’s Kathleen Price Bryan Brain Bank and Biorepository. “I knew if I didn’t take the steps to be healthier that I was a good candidate for worse health problems down the road.”

Soon after the emergency room scare, Ervin set a New Year’s resolution to get active and make healthier food choices. He started walking on a treadmill for 30 minutes after work and changed his diet by cutting out burgers, fries, burritos, hot dogs and biscuits. 

Instead, he visited the Duke Farmers Market, now in season through Sept. 28, on Fridays to buy broccoli, cauliflower and strawberries, a favorite snack. He eliminated alcohol and ate a salad nearly every day for at least one meal. 

He has lost 125 pounds.

Ervin, who now weighs about 225 pounds, credits his weight loss to setting small goals such as losing five pounds per month and slowly adding jogs to his treadmill workouts.

His friends took notice. And his wife, Hoa Nguyen, a nurse at Duke, helped by making sure no cookies slipped into the pantry.

Brian Mace, who’s known Ervin for about 20 years, said Ervin’s scientific nature helped him treat his weight loss like an experiment: Focus on the process. 

At his heaviest, John Ervin weighed 350 pounds.“He didn’t try to find any shortcuts,” said Mace, a research associate in Duke’s Department of Neurology. “I’m really proud of him for keeping this up. It’s really noticeable how much more energy he has.” 

Ervin also participated in the Get Moving Challenge, an annual fitness competition for employees. He logged nearly 5,200 minutes of exercise, finishing 87th of 2,744 participants this year. 

“This weight loss journey came down to ‘how bad do I want it?’” Ervin said. “It takes hard work. It takes dedication.”

This year, Ervin fulfilled a promise to his 17-year-son, Ben, to complete the United States Navy Physical Readiness Test, which involves curl-ups and push-ups, as well as a 1.5-mile run. 

His next goal is to weigh 200 pounds by February 2019.

“My kids notice what I’m doing, and they’re proud of me,” Ervin said. “It’s hard to pat yourself on the back sometimes, so it’s a really special feeling when my family and friends say I’m doing a great job.” 

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