How does a retired U.S. Marine Corps gunnery sergeant go from serving his country to weighing 424 pounds?
Jason Bush likely posed that question to himself countless times as the scale told no lies. It began when injuries slowed him down during the tail end of his military career. After he transitioned to the civilian world, Bush admittedly ate poorly and didn’t exercise much. That combination of factors, among others, caused him to put on excess weight—lots of it.
He realized something had to change in late 2020 and early 2021.
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“I was having mobility issues,” Bush said in an interview with We Are The Mighty. “I could barely make it up a flight of stairs. I had to stop. My back was killing me all the time. I had edema. There was swelling in my legs really bad.”
Bush, who is 6 feet tall, weighed about 200 pounds when he wore a Marine uniform. He knew losing more than half his body weight wasn’t going to occur overnight, but he had to start somewhere. He just didn’t know where.
Far Exceeding His Initial Goal
How does a retired Marine go from weighing 424 pounds to slimming down enough to qualify for the 2026 USA Triathlon Nationals in Milwaukee last month?
Bush still can hardly believe his transformation. In the beginning, his doctor recommended gastric bypass surgery, but Bush nixed the idea of an operation. He rejected the suggestion of a lap-band procedure as well. Instead, Bush landed on a commercial weight-loss plan that worked for him.
He initially thought losing 40 pounds was realistic, but almost immediately as the pounds melted away, Bush noticed something about his body. It felt better. His joints didn’t ache as much, and he moved better. His sleep also improved. That was even before exercising, which Bush said he did not implement into his regimen until about six weeks after starting the plan.
This was during the COVID-19 pandemic, when working remotely became more prevalent. When Bush—who works for the Coast Guard in Norfolk, Virginia—finally returned to the office, the change in his appearance was noticeable.
“By the time I got back to work in June [2021], a little over a month later [after I started the program], friends were, like, ‘Oh my gosh, look at how much weight you’ve lost,’” Bush related to WATM. “‘What are you talking about?’ My clothes were fitting better, and I was moving around.”
Bush dropped a resounding 202 pounds that first year. Now it was time to take his new body for a test drive.
“Jason, You Don’t Like Running”
When his supervisor suggested running a 5-kilometer, or 3.1-mile, race in Elizabeth City, N.C., Bush initially balked. Except for when he was in the military, Bush never ran any significant distance in his life. Why start now?
Bush then reconsidered.
“I figured that the worst-case scenario was that I was going to have a bad shirt and be out some money,” Bush reasoned.
Bush did the 3.1-mile race and was surprised how he felt afterward. He ran in another event a month later and kept going. He entered more 5K runs, as well as 8K (5-mile) and 10K (6.2-mile) events. Bush savored the sense of achievement that crossing the finish line gave him.
“My friends will say, ‘Jason, you don’t like running,’” Bush said. “I’ll say, ‘No, it’s different when you’re a civilian. I can choose my black socks that I wasn’t authorized to wear. I can run in crazy-looking shoes if I want, I can have a hat on my head, I can have my headphones on, and I don’t have to wear cotton shirts.’ It’s a comfort thing.”
It was time for Bush again to leave his comfort zone. He did that after someone suggested trying a triathlon, which—besides running—also involves swimming and biking. Bush hadn’t done either of those activities in years, but that wasn’t about to stop him.
The first triathlon that Bush attempted was in Virginia in March 2025. He bought a new bike and commenced training. The triathlon consisted of a 300-meter swim, with a 12.5-mile bike ride next and finally a 3.1-mile run.
“I was nervous,” Bush admitted to WATM. “I didn’t have any expectations or anything. My whole statement is, ‘Just don’t die.’”
Exceeding All of His Expectations
Bush thankfully did not require any medical attention after his first triathlon. Not only that, but he became hooked on another endurance sport. He has completed 14 triathlons, with No. 15 planned for later in September.
Bush did so well that he earned the right to compete at the triathlon nationals in Wisconsin. As his calendar reflects, he has no intentions of stopping there. Now that his much fitter body will allow him, he wants to keep going—whether he likes running or not.
For other military veterans with significant obesity issues, Bush knows all too well that the enormity of the challenge facing them can be overwhelming. To them, Bush has a simple message: Nothing is impossible. Just look at him.
“I am in kind of a shock about how well I’ve done and how far I’ve come,” Bush, who now weighs about 185 pounds, confessed to WATM. “You can’t even put it into words when you look in the mirror. You see a completely different person. I used to say that I got my life back, and that’s not true at all. I got a different life. I’m just a different person.”
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