Yesterday I was asked by a patient why I ran daily, and I honestly asnwered that when I run daily I can eat more and not put on weight. I further explained that for credibility purposes I feel it is important for me to not be dispensing weight loss advice to my patients if I was overweight. I then thought back to the first year we had the program (2002) and Linda and I went to our first meeting of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians. This is the organization of physicians whose specialty is medical weight loss. Linda and I were aghast to see that over 75% of the physicians there were overweight. We both thought how weird that is to have a specialty in weight loss, yet the physician could not control his/her weight.
When I was an internal medicine resident at Portsmouth Naval Hospital from 1981-1984, 4 of the 5 staff cardiologists and 3 of the 4 oncologists were cigarette smokers. These were physicians whose patients lives were ruined by cigarette smoking, yet the physicians themselves did the same lethal behavior pattern.
By no means am I a "model" for my patients...I eat too much pizza, I sometimes skip meals, I eat lots of carbs sometimes...any of you out there that have bumped into me at a restaurant and have seen my plate can certainly tell stories! But, I do get up early every day and run 5 miles...I do avoid alcohol...I rarely will order a dessert after dinner...and most definitely part of my motivation to keep my weight stable is that when I am in front of you, I do not want you to think to yourself: "yeah, you tell me this doc, you tell me that, you dont practice what you preach!!"
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2 comments:
I think you are awesome for your honesty and for your "need to represent" attitude. Thanks!
There is a reality about weight loss that people need to be aware of. Losing weight requires you to feel hungry from time to time. There is no way to lose weight without feeling some degree of hunger
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