WASHINGTON - No way does John Brown's body lie a' molding in his grave. It's too busy working to stay fit after Brown dropped nearly 140 pounds in a little more than two years.

Brown, 39, Washington, weighed almost 300 pounds in August 2006, when his company, Caterpillar Inc., launched a weight-loss competition. He dropped 50 pounds from his 5-foot 7-inch frame in three months and won.

He was motivated. He needed the cash prize to hire a good divorce lawyer.

"Cash was tight," said Brown, laughing.

Consider Brown's experience if you doubt you can stick with a New Year's resolution to get in shape. Brown couldn't run a block when he started to diet, but he weighed a trim 165 pounds in November when he completed the Florida Ironman competition.

The triathlon required him to swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and run a marathon distance of 26.2 miles. He finished in about 15½ hours, well below the maximum time limit of 17 hours.

And that was just two years, two months and two weeks after he tipped the scale at 292 pounds.

Brown was thinking about losing weight even before his company launched the biggest-loser promotion. He knew the "secrets" too familiar to people who are super-sized:

"Clothes never fit, the chafed legs, the broken chairs," he said.

Today, his body fat is a very athletic 17 percent. His resting heartbeat is less than 50 beats a minute.

Brown, who tests new technology at Caterpillar, wasn't always overweight. He'd been in shape as a boy, then ballooned up in high school, then lost about 70 pounds and entered the U.S. Navy.

He kept the weight off about seven years during his time in the military before he suffered a hernia lifting weights. He had surgery, and the pounds came back while his activity was limited.

He decided to try to lose the 46-inch girth again when the company announced the competition.

Brown started by carrying a notebook to jot down everything he put in his mouth. He discovered he was eating about 4,000 calories a day, far more than he needed to stay alive.

He actually saw that in a positive way.

"I thought I could cut that amount in half and still have plenty of food," he said.

The diary also helped him to discover something else. He started to ask himself why he was eating things like candy bars when he knew he didn't need them. He realized he must address underlying factors that caused him to overeat.

"We all have unhealthy behaviors, whether it's smoking too much, eating too much, drinking too much … Why do we do it, to keep people away? Or, is there some other reason we are doing this? The drugs, the alcohol, the food, they are symptoms. Find out what the disease is," Brown said.

"I am eating for emotional reasons. Why do you have that blind spot? Figure it out, and you won't pick it up or at least maybe not as much."

Brown decided to stick with the diet even after the divorce lawyer was paid.

He cut his calories to 1,200 a day at first. Later, he added calories when he became more active. Exercise boosted his metabolism and burned calories.

He'd been a swimmer as a boy, so he returned to the low-impact sport to exercise without stressing his joints.

His workplace also planted the triathlon seed when a corporate vice president took time during a meeting to congratulate a woman co-worker of his for completing the Florida Ironman. Brown recognized her from his pool workouts, and he recalled how fascinated he was about 25 years earlier when he watched coverage of the Hawaii Ironman Championships on television.

"It was beyond my wildest dreams of ever doing," Brown said.

But the co-worker encouraged him to try a short triathlon. He started by designing his own "secret" triathlon in a gym. He swam a mile, rode a stationary bicycle six miles and ran and walked a mile.

When he got home after the workout, he turned on the television to relax. The Ironman from Hawaii was on the screen just like it was when he was a boy.

"I thought that was my destiny. I felt compelled to do it," he said.

Those were big words for a man still far from his ideal weight. But he signed up for the indoor triathlon, where he met Colleen Klein, event director for the Bloomington-based Tri-Sharks triathlon club.

She urged him to sign up for the short sprint triathlon held annually at Moraine View State Park/Dawson Lake near LeRoy, before Gov. Rod Blagojevich closed it recently. Athletes swim 600 yards, ride a bike 12 miles and run 3.1 miles, or 5 kilometers.

In July, he completed the Evergreen Lake Triathlon, where distances were doubled. Along the way, he ran more races.

He also placed 10th in his age group in Big Shoulders, a 5-kilometer swimming race in Lake Michigan at Chicago.

How did he make the transition from shorter triathlons to an Ironman in just 15 months?

"I never stopped," Brown said.

Winters mean running outside or on an indoor track plus swimming and riding a stationary bike indoors. He gets back outside as soon as weather allows.

Brown's advice for weight loss and fitness are simple:

wTell a doctor your plans and get input.

wJoin clubs. Whether running, cycling, swimming or participating in another sport, workouts are more enjoyable in groups. Draw on the experience of club members and others in the sport. Their wealth of experience will lower your learning curve. Club members also share challenges and offer encouragement along the way.

wRead books and view videos from experts. Beginning triathletes often refer to the "Triathlete's Training Bible" or "My First Triathlon" by Joe Friel. Terri Schneider recently released "Triathlon Revolution," which also has great advice for newcomers to the endurance sport. (See today's Outdoor column.)

wDon't be afraid to set long-term goals. But, be sure to set many, many short-term goals as well.

"I had 50 weight-loss goals. Every time I reached one, it was, 'Whoopee!' "

Brown also had many fitness goals.

"First, I'm going to run a mile, then 5K (3.1 miles), then 10K …," he said. "I've pretty much run out of goals. … I have to get a whole new set out there to go forward. There is never a point where I will be where I want to be. I will always want to be fitter, stronger, faster.

"I'm actually considering for a long, long range goal: to swim the English Channel."

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John Brown's Seven Steps to Fitness

1. Accept the truth. You are fat because you're eating more than your body is using. Slow metabolism, genetics and other "reasons" you've been using to explain away your weight are inconsequential compared to that simple fact.

2. Keep a diary to keep track of what you do. Make fitness a priority in your life or die younger; the choice is yours.

3. Embrace the enemy and make it your ally. Food is the tool we use to make us fat, but it is also the key to how we get thin and stay that way. Enjoy food, but do it the right way.

4. Learn to listen to your body and give it what it needs, not what it thinks it wants.

5. Set goals, lots of them - hard ones, easy ones, weight goals, fitness goals, exercise goals. Make whatever you can quantify into a goal. It feels great to live a life filled with constant and repeated achievement.

6. Surround yourself with people who represent the person you want to be. A support group of people who have achieved what you wish to achieve is more powerful and more permanent than any drug, program, plan or gimmick. They will not let you fail. Join clubs for support and information. Members thrive on each other's successes.

7. Reaching your goal weight is not the end of your journey. See it as the beginning of the next phase. Plan for the future by setting goals beyond losing weight.

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Tri Shark Pups

Ever thought about doing a triathlon yourself? Here may be your chance. New for 2009, the Tri Sharks Triathlon Club is launching a program called Tri Shark Pups to introduce people to the sport. The schedule includes seminars by experienced triathletes and group training sessions on land and water. Tri Shark Pups will culminate June 6 with the Tri Sharks Classic Triathlon at Evergreen Lake/Comlara Park in northern McLean County. Make new friends who share your interests while learning the basics of this growing sport. An informational meeting will be at 6 p.m. Jan. 5 at Normal Community West High School. Deadline to register is Feb. 1. Cost is $75, which includes entry fee to the triathlon and a T-shirt. Register online at www.signmeup.com/63121 or learn more at www.tri-shark.org. Call (309) 287-0348 or e-mail rfranks9@hotmail.com.