I have never been skinny and I am not likely to ever be thin. I am 5’10 or 5’11 (depending on who is asking) and I have an “athletic” build. I look my best when my weight is in the 190-205 pound range. Despite technically being overweight by the BMI scale, my blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and other basic labs support my height and weight.
During the first several months following the completion of my medical residency, I was full of new life changes and experiences. I had just opened a new solo medical practice from scratch, completed my internal medicine boards, was taking MBA classes two nights per week, and my wife Megan was pregnant with our first child. I had little time for regular, quality exercise.
By fall of that year, I was definitely starting to see physical changes associated with weight gain. My face grew plump and fleshy. My pants were snug, and I had to get a couple of my suits loosened. The last straw was when I bumped into a former high school classmate who told me that I looked heavy. I knew it was time for me to make some serious lifestyle changes.
I knew my diet was unhealthy. I was consuming a lot of fast food and non-nutritious, high-calorie snacks and drinks between meals. I knew that simply cutting all of the bad stuff out of my diet would neither work nor last.
So, I eliminated the frequency of eating the bad stuff, but to prevent cravings, I allowed myself to eat what I wanted two days per week. I stopped buying food before and/or after my business classes and started packing a basic dinner of a sandwich (made at home), chips and a drink for class breaks.
I knew exercise would be the toughest part of my weight loss program because of my busy schedule. I solved the problem of time by carving out intervals of 60 to 90 minutes that I could repeat each week for an effective exercise regimen. My office opens at 10 a.m. and has evening hours on Wednesdays. I found that 7 a.m. was a perfect time to exercise. On Thursday I work half days, so immediately after work I go to the gym. Saturday is my most flexible day, so Saturday mornings are perfect for my third workout of the week.
The bulk of my workout is aerobic exercise. I have a relatively full build at baseline, so weight lifting would make me look chunky and I preferred the calorie-burning, long-term cardiovascular benefits of aerobic exercises.
The first thing I do in the gym is run four miles on the treadmill at a speed of 6.7-7.0, finishing in about 35 minutes. It took nearly a year to work up to that speed and distance. Core strengthening and sit-ups on an exercise ball for about 10 minutes are extremely effective. Lastly, I do approximately a half hour of strength training: pull-ups, dips, pull-ups, dumbbell shoulder press, bench press and standing squats spread over three days of the week.
I gradually shed 30-plus pounds. Sizes dropped, my energy level increased, my sleep improved, my snoring decreased and my face got thinner. I also lost the fear that I would regain the weight I lost because my diet and exercise programs have permanently transformed my lifestyle.
As we get older, eating better and exercising regularly are less about quick fixes and more about creating healthy habits that you can sustain over decades. I only dropped 1-3 pounds each month, but collectively, this resulted in 30 pounds over the year. Talk with your healthcare provider about the ideal weight range for you and the best way for you to get there and stay there.
Good luck and healthy eating!
Kenneth Poole, MD, practices internal medicine at Mercy Clinic, Clayton-Brentwood.
