BEVERLY — Ward 3 City Councilor Jim Latter walked in last year's Beverly Yankee 5K Road Race and finished in 53 minutes — coming in last place.
But that was the old Jim. The 60-pound heavier Jim.
One year later and a whole lot lighter, Latter hopes not only to run in Thursday's 5K, but to cut his previous time in half.
"To put things into perspective, I'm 5-foot-8, and a year ago I was just about 240 pounds," Latter said. "I stopped smoking 11 years ago and I put on 5 pounds a year since I quit — that's 55 pounds."
When he went for his annual physical last year, his doctor gave him an ultimatum: Lose weight, or start taking daily medications for the rest of your life.
It wasn't the first time the doctor had warned Latter about his weight, but it took an experience outside the doctor's office to motivate him to make some changes.
"I'm 45 years old. I was walking on a college visit last year with my son, and I noticed I was starting to get short of breath," he said. "I said to myself, 'I stopped smoking to get active, so how'd I end up here?'"
He remembered reading a story in The Salem News that winter about his longtime acquaintance Paul Lanzikos, the director of North Shore Elder Services, who lost 48 pounds in 11 weeks.
"I had seen (Lanzikos) at the gym, and I knew he had lost some weight, so I searched online and saw that he did Weight Watchers for men. ... That kind of inspired me."
Latter signed up for the online program, and one year later he has lost more than 60 pounds.
"Slowly but surely, I lost a couple of pounds a week," he said.
"He's looking good," Lanzikos said of his friend. "I'm very pleased to have that level of impact. ... I want to be a positive influence on others and, especially when it's someone close to me, it's rewarding."
Latter participated in the Weight Watchers' "Couch to 5K" program, and, sure enough, in September — only one month after walking the Yankee Road Race — he ran an entire 5K. In December, he ran the Jolly Jaunt in Boston alongside his teenage son, and he broke 30 minutes for the first time.
"We ran the whole thing together, and I couldn't have done that if I didn't lose weight," Latter said.
In the past year, Latter has run in several 5Ks and even participated in a triathlon, but he said when it comes to losing weight, a regulated diet is most important.
"Weight is about what you eat, not about what you do," he said. "I'd say 80 percent of weight loss is diet and the other 20 percent is exercise.
"One of the big things I learned is that you really need to change what you eat when food is fuel. Instead of bacon and eggs or eggs and hash browns, yogurt and oatmeal is fine. A salad for lunch is fine. A little brown rice and chicken is fine."
Weight Watchers, he said, helped him train himself to make healthier choices, something that was not always easy to do when he went out to eat.
"If you do go out, you don't need to get fries. You can get a side of steamed vegetables," he said. "Pizza's definitely a weak spot for me. If you put one slice in front of me, I'll eat just that slice, but if you put the whole pizza in front of me, I do have to be careful."
In his new diet, he avoids the "Three B's" — bread, beef and beer — but he allows himself to indulge every once in a while. He also doesn't let the diet hold him back from things he enjoys doing, like tailgating at every Patriots home game last season.
"I haven't not done anything that I enjoyed doing before I started losing weight," Latter said. "You just have to do it in moderation."
The diet has been well worth it for Latter, who is now enjoying being active .
"I didn't become active to lose weight," he said. "Losing weight has allowed me to enjoy being active again."
Lanzikos, who has maintained his goal weight for more than a year, said it's harder to maintain weight than to lose it. His advice to Latter is to just keep doing what he's doing, and to surround himself with a strong support system.
Despite a sore Achilles' tendon, there's no stopping Latter now. He hopes to run the Yankee Road Race in under 27 minutes this Thursday, then he will enter a triathlon Sunday and hike Mount Washington the following weekend.
His ultimate goal?
A 100-mile bike race next year.
• • •
You can cheer on Jim Latter and other participants in the 43rd annual Beverly Yankee 5K Road Race on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Lynch Park. The Kids' Fun Run will begin at 5:45 p.m.
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