A Rowing Machine Weight Loss Before and After Story
Updated August 19, 2024
NOTE FROM SARAH: I originally wrote this in 2011. Time has passed and a lot has happened, both good and bad. My weight has gone up and down. Menopause hit hard, as did my business partner’s cancer diagnosis and subsequent passing, and becoming an empty nester. You know, life. I’m still rowing, SkiErging, and BikeErging, but a little less. Now I also walk and lift heavy things.
Since I first wrote this I’ve gained real clarity about the physical and emotional cost of fat loss. Food and exercise shouldn’t run your life. The world needs your gifts, and it doesn’t care what size you are or how many squats you can do. That said, the world does also need you to be your best, most powerful, amazing, confident self. The best version of you that you can be, at this moment. YOU get to decide what that looks like.
If you would like help to find the nutrition formula that works for you NOW, at this stage of life, I invite you to join me in Power Plates, my 4-week nutrition program for active women over 50. If that doesn't feel like the right fit, Contact Me about private nutrition coaching!
“Wow you look amazing!
How did you do it?”
Rowing For Weight Loss
My Journey To 15 Million Meters And Beyond
By Sarah Fuhrmann
On October 28, 2010, I watched the monitor on my Concept2 indoor rowing machine as it ticked just past 10,000 meters.
Surrounded by the women who have been my constant cheerleaders and companions throughout this journey I celebrated rowing 2 million lifetime meters.
For those of you who are wondering, that’s 1,243 miles and more hours than I’d care to count over the course of a year and a half.
Rowing for weight loss: How I did it
It was a momentous occasion, not because it was the end of something, nor because it was my biggest accomplishment on the machine (that came when I rowed a million meters in just a month and won the Concept2 World Erg Challenge in my community).
Instead, it was a great symbol of what I learned along the way – that by releasing my inner athlete I could recapture the strong, healthy and happy woman who is my true self.
I’ve lost nearly 50 pounds in the last few years and transformed my body so much it looks like I’ve lost more. I often don’t recognize my reflection in store windows because I can’t believe that small person could be me.
My friends and family tell me that in addition to my physical transformation, my attitude and outlook on life have become equally lighter, brighter and more energetic. And while this is still a work in progress, I have proven to myself that I am stronger and capable of a whole lot more than I thought I was.
Indoor Rowing Was My “Magic Bullet”
Once I was able to learn to row well, rowing became my weight loss “magic bullet” in terms of exercise.
It was the activity I found that I could enjoy and maintain, and that would give me the results I was looking for.
The combination of a workout whose intensity I could vary just with the effort I put into the flywheel and the stroke’s meditative, rhythmic synchronicity was irresistible.
Once I built up to being able to work with good effort on the rowing machine I started seeing big changes, both in terms of losing weight and getting stronger.
I had already dropped about 20 pounds by the time the World Erg Challenge began, but throwing myself into that competition was the beginning of my real transformation.
Since rowing is a total body exercise that works every major muscle with every stroke, I felt and saw myself getting stronger each day.
It wasn’t for the faint of heart: During the challenge, I often rowed three hours a day or more to reach my meter target, sometimes by myself but often with other members of my team.
The whole thing is a little crazy (and thank goodness it only lasts a month), but we supported each other and made it fun with silly themed activities like hat day, bring-a-favorite-treat day and movie night.
Sarah’s note: I still do the challenge but my goals are more moderate. As I’ve gotten older I’ve found I do better working harder for shorter intervals, incorporating weight training, and then making sure I get lots and lots of no-sweat movement in throughout the day. That said, there are still some long rows on the agenda. Gotta mix it up!
Solving The Weight Loss Puzzle
As it turned out, weight loss, which would have been my main goal had I known what was possible, ended up being the side benefit and the easiest part of the whole experience.
Rowing is a great calorie burner, up to 800 calories an hour, so I was able to lose weight almost without thinking about it by rowing consistently while favoring healthy, balanced food choices and not depriving myself of the occasional treat.
As an inveterate emotional eater and a five-decade veteran of virtually every diet known to man, it was amazing to me that the weight loss formula could be so simple:
- Break a good sweat every time you work out and do it often.
- Make mostly good food and drink choices, don’t obsess about food or use it to fill voids that aren’t real hunger, and let the rest take care of itself.
- Adequate sleep and stress management are also critical.
Six months after the challenge ended, rather than pouring myself once again into my fat clothes because I had regained the weight like every other time I had been down this weight loss road, I was instead re-buying my favorite little black dress, this time in a size 8 instead of the 16 I bought the first time.
I’m still working on losing my last 10 pounds, and with letting go of the fear that the weight will come back, but I have the gift of a stronger, healthier, happier me, and that is the greatest gift of all.
Sarah’s note: What with menopause, etc., I’ve now g̶o̶t̶ ̶a̶ ̶g̶o̶a̶l̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶l̶o̶s̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶2̶0̶ ̶p̶o̶u̶n̶d̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶I̶’̶m̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶w̶a̶y̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶c̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶i̶t̶ lost nearly 30 lbs., using the same principles I teach my rowing + nutrition coaching clients.
With this menopause weight loss experience in mind, I've learned that weight loss is absolutely achievable, even past 40, 50, 60, and beyond. It just takes a different mindset.
The great news about that is the same mindset that works for weight loss extends beautifully into creating a more joyous, vibrant life overall.
If a sane, progressive approach to weight loss is something you're looking for, drop me an email or DM me on social @ucanrow2 and let's chat.
LESSONS LEARNED ON THE ROAD TO 15 MILLION METERS
My good friend and business partner said that often of what it took for her to be successful as an elite rower. For most of the rest of us, getting healthy and staying that way takes the same consistent dedication. Put yourself first by making challenging workouts and nourishing meals your top priority.
...enough to do them until you sweat, and do them often. Nobody ever lost a lot of weight without sweating hard, or by working out 4+ times per week (Side note: Most people will eventually need some strength training in there, too.). The human body is the only machine that breaks down if you don’t use it. Never forget that.
The competitive, yet team-based environment of the rowing challenge was just what I needed to jump-start my weight loss and fitness. Maybe for you, it's a group class or row-along on-demand workouts you can do on your own. Experiment until you find the formula that makes you feel challenged, energized, supported, and most of all like you want to stick with it.
The competitive, yet team-based environment of the rowing challenge was just what I needed to jump-start my weight loss and fitness. Maybe for you, it's a group class or row-along on-demand workouts you can do on your own. Experiment until you find the formula that makes you feel challenged, energized, supported, and most of all like you want to stick with it.
The competitive, yet team-based environment of the rowing challenge was just what I needed to jump-start my weight loss and fitness. Maybe for you, it's a group class or row-along on-demand workouts you can do on your own. Experiment until you find the formula that makes you feel challenged, energized, supported, and most of all like you want to stick with it.
I am not one of those people who sees food as just fuel for the body. I love to cook, I love to eat. But I have realized that I can be satisfied with a whole lot less on my plate than I thought I could. Eat good food, when you’re truly hungry for it, and let your stomach, not an overloaded plate, tell you when to stop. If you want to eat but you’re not really hungry figure out what’s missing and address it, don’t mask it by eating more.
Losing weight and getting fit are hard work and both take time. Getting off course every now and then isn’t the end of the world, nor is it a reason – nor an excuse – to give up on yourself. One foot in front of the other, day by day, row on!
Would You Like Help Losing Weight?
I HAVE A FEW SPOTS OPEN FOR PRIVATE NUTRITION (OR ROWING + NUTRITION) COACHING.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE HELP TO PUT THESE TWO POWERHOUSES TOGETHER TO REACH YOUR FITNESS GOALS, LET'S TALK!
