My name is Jerome Cloninger, and I am from the beautiful Eastern tip of Tennessee and have lived in Kingsport most of my life. I am happily married to my wife Jessica and have two wonderful children- a son and a daughter.
Immediately after high school, I went to culinary school and pursued a career as a chef. Back then, it was all about flavor with little regard to nutrition. I’m glad to have that background because it has helped me prepare delicious and healthy meals with my new healthy lifestyle.
After about ten years, I got out of the kitchen and sold foodservice supplies for Sysco. During this time, I had an ambitious hobby of filming weddings that turned into a nice side business. I picked up a corporate client and ended up leaving the food industry and doing video & media production (commercials, television shows, online ads, etc.) ever since.
Even though I smoked, didn’t exercise, and ate whatever I wanted, I was fortunate to never have any significant health concerns up until my heart attack on December 29, 2018, at 43 years old. In fact, during my time working for Sysco, I drove a LOT and weighed my all-time high of 240 pounds! I ended up losing some of it by not eating much but only one enormous (and bad) meal a day. That isn’t healthy at all, but that’s what I did for several years! I was 220 when I had my heart attack, and as you can see, I’m rather tall, standing at 6’6″. I was about 195 in the picture above. Weight wasn’t my issue, but it’s worth noting as many people ask me about it.
By adopting a healthy lifestyle, I have made health my #1 focus in regards to myself. You could say that I went from one extreme to the other. The side effects of this “extreme” are MUCH better! Hopefully, this lifestyle will enable my children will have their Dad, and my wife will have her husband for many more years to come.
Here are some timelines of major milestones through my health and fitness journey that will continually be updated as I am thriving after a heart attack!
Thank you for visiting and I wish you a happy and healthy day!