Published: Thursday, August 16, 2012 1:08 AM CDT

Growing up in Des Moines, Rebecca Meyer seemingly had a normal childhood. She was happy and healthy up until about second grade. It was at that time when her mother decided to transition from being a full-time, stay-at-home mom, to working a full-time job outside of the home.

It was right at that point when her life began to change.

She is not sure why the change hit her so hard, because people around her all seemed to take to it well. The change was the beginning of her weight gain.

Running in a race like Saturday’s Mount Marty College Riverboat Days 5K race was the furthest thing from her mind at one point.

“I used to be over 300 pounds and relatively inactive,” Meyer said in a phone interview with the Press & Dakotan. “I enjoy being able to show and tell people to stay active, stay moving and stay competing in life.”

She began to gain weight, although not a lot of weight at first, and she was still an active child who played softball and basketball through middle school. But as time went on, her friends and family began to notice the changes in appearance — and she did, too.

As Meyer entered high school — typically, years that are already difficult for teenagers — she continued to try to stay active, as she was a member of her schools JROTC. However, the pounds continued to add on and she felt helpless to try and change it.

After she graduated high school, she was in Iowa City one evening and broke her ankle. She returned home to Des Moines and became a nanny for a few families in the area. The pounds continued to pile on.

However, the broken ankle was the beginning of her making drastic changes in her life.

Meyer applied to be on season eight of NBC’s show “The Biggest Loser” and was called four times by the production crew before finally getting a spot on the show. She would go on to lose 73 pounds in 10 weeks on “The Biggest Loser’s” ranch, and would continue her transformation back home in Des Moines, where she lost an additional 68 pounds.

Ultimately, she was the at-home winner on the show, winning $100,000 and losing nearly half of her body weight.

She said the show changed her life permanently.

“After I got done with the show, people began to ask me what’s next,” Meyer said. “I began to embrace my inner athlete and made exercise a part of my daily life.”

She was asked by Jay Leno right after the show what she would do next. Jokingly, she said she would run in a race in all 50 states. However, she realized this would be a good motivation for her to keep the weight off and is now known as her personal initiative called “50 in 50 by 30 — 50 races in all 50 states by the time she turns 30 years old on March 15, 2014.

Meyer started the 50 in 50 initiative in 2009. But between December 2009 and September 2011, she had only run in six races — one of which, however, was the Boston Marathon.

“Starting last September, I really kicked off ‘50 in 50 by 30’ by running in 10 races between that September and November,” Meyer said.

She will continue her initiative by running in the Mount Marty College Riverboat Days 5K run on Saturday. It will be her 23rd race; and she is trying to run about two to three races a month.

She is doing the Yankton race because Meyer trains a client in the area who asked her to run the race with her.

In addition to her running in every state, Meyer is now a certified personal trainer, along with her fiancé Daniel Wright, whom she met on the show. Just this year, the couple established FitnessWright, LLC in Des Moines, where they train clients of all ages and skill levels using the experience they gained on “The Biggest Loser”.

“It’s been quite a challenge financially, with starting the weight loss coaching and personal training business to juggle everything with traveling to races,” Meyer said.

However, she added that every time she remembers why she’s running in the races, it motivates her to keep pressing on.

So far this year, she has already run in various events in Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Utah, Maryland, Nevada, Oklahoma, Michigan, Oregon and Washington.

“It’s not about being a size two. It’s more about being able to complete the races,” Meyer said. “I enjoy inspiring other people to know they can do it too.”

Meyer noted that being on “The Biggest Loser” changed her life in ways she never imagined possible.

“I went from having no purpose in life and no promising job prospects, to traveling and owning my own business,” she said.

She added that she embraced the “be the change” attitude and has applied it to all parts of her life, including working as a personal trainer and educating others on how to create well-balanced, nutritious and delicious meals.

Meyer tells people that when the show ended, her life really had just begun.

“It has truly been a whirlwind of a journey since ‘The Biggest Loser’,” Meyer said. “I’m still training and having fun.”

She added that she has truly enjoyed being able to motivate others to keep going, even when the times are tough. One of the things she tells other people at races is to not stop walking when they get tired and to keep pressing on.

Meyer advises other people that they need to hold themselves accountable and be responsible for their own lives. She added that people need to make time for themselves and for their health and wellness needs.

This year, her 50 in 50 schedule gets even more difficult as she has added triathlons to her schedule of races. However, she was able to get Giant Bicycles and Bike World to sponsor her. They even donated a 2011 Giant Availl for her training and racing needs.

Some of her upcoming races include a half-marathon in Tennessee and a mini-marathon in North Dakota.

“Being on ‘The Biggest Loser’ truly helped me get my life back,” Meyer said. “It gave me a jump start to the rest of my life.”

You can follow Andrew Atwal on Twitter at twitter.com/andrewatwal