At the time of writing I (Euan) weigh 163lb or just a shade over 74 kg.
Other than one apocalyptic bout of gastroenteritis in Kathmandu when I was 18, this is the lightest I have ever been in my adult life. My body fat percentage is around 10-11% and my BMI is 22.5. I look fairly lean and I am significantly fitter than the average bod.
But it wasn’t always like that.
Before we go any further, I should say that this isn’t a tale that will follow me from serious obesity to my completion of some desperate ultra-marathon across the Sahara or through Death Valley. I’m not an obsessive exercise junkie and neither have I ever been sofa-bound with morbid obesity.
I’m just normal.
Athletically, I’m unexceptional. Average at best. I’m never going to win any events. If I turn up to a fell race in my home county of Cumbria, then I’m having a good day if I finish in the top half of the field. In September 2017 I ran a long hill race, the Ring of Steall, in Scotland. I finished in 6hrs 49mins in 261st place out of 440 finishers, so I’m certainly not competing with the elite.
I am occasionally discouraged by this but I remember one of the golden rules when it comes to exercise: don’t compare.
I get too much pleasure from running. I’m simply thrilled to be healthy and fit enough to be able to do these events at all.
And what I am is Mr. Consistent. I have managed to make exercise a part of my routine and I have used it to improve and enhance my life.
I suspect that’s what most people want.
You may wish to train fiercely and run ultras around Mont Blanc or through Costa Rican jungles. You might want to cycle across continents and swim across the Channel. I wish you good luck with it. Follow your heart. Most people don’t want that. I don’t. I wouldn’t have time to write. You don’t have to do any of these things for exercise to make your life richer.
So, what do I do now?
I exercise for about five hours per week. I have done that for the past four or five years. Most importantly, my physical activity dovetails with my life. It makes me feel good and it makes me more productive without leaving me fatigued and injury-prone.
It leaves me invigorated without eating into my family time or work life as a doctor and academic. I can play football and run around with my kids. I can run up a flight of stairs or three without any discomfort.
I think I am getting the best possible bang for my buck in terms of health.
Learning to run
I’m lucky in that I have been physically active all my adult life. I don’t have any significant injuries or disabilities that prevent me from exercising but I didn’t enjoy running at school. I was a weak cross-country runner and endured humiliation in school running events.
I decided to give it another try aged 20. I got a book from the library on marathon training and I followed the program for complete newbies. (This was in the days when the internet was in the process of being invented and going to the library was the way to get any kind of new knowledge.) I started running for seven minutes in the evening. Seven minutes! The program built up to five times per week and within three or four weeks I was able to run a full 20 minutes. I kept going and my tolerance gradually increased but, more importantly, I discovered that running was actually quite enjoyable.
It’s mostly a question of learning how to do it.
I didn’t go on to run a marathon at that time, but I could run continuously for an hour on a regular basis and, most importantly, found my path to an activity that is superb for maintaining fitness.
In the last 25 years I’ve had many periods where my running and other exercise have dropped off. I have stopped, started, stopped, restarted. I’ve been through the process umpteen times as I re-established my fitness then lost it again in a guilty haze.
I think many of you know the feeling.
During all that time my weight was nearly 30lb more than it is now. I just assumed that was my ‘natural’ weight.
And, indeed, my BMI then was normal at 25. That is still well below the current national average for the UK and the USA. I figured that I was carrying a little bit of muscle and therefore BMI was not fully representative of my state of fitness. And, ultimately, even with a BMI of 25 it meant that I was below average compared with the population.
A long hard look in the mirror
Then, around four years ago I realized I was kidding myself.
I had a blind spot.
If I stood in front of a mirror and jumped around, bits wobbled. I had taken up road biking and was coveting some shiny new bikes. I was going to be one of those guys who dropped a small fortune on a carbon fiber bike that weighed a few pounds less, but I was sat on top of it carrying a load of excess weight.
I resolved to lose the same weight and see how much faster that made me.
I looked at my lifestyle and tried to identify the areas where I was taking in too many calories. I know from experience as a doctor that very few people will tell you that their diet is anything other than quite good. Mine was quite good.
Honest.
I didn’t have a big problem with my meals. They almost all tended to be home-cooked with minimal, if any, meat and plenty of vegetables. I also didn’t have a problem with alcohol. I will go weeks, if not months between alcoholic drinks. The last crate of beer I brought back from a holiday to France I threw out because it was out of date.
I realized my problem was lunch and snacking in between meals. I had a problem with eating while I was in the car. I had a 30-minute commute each way and it was usual for me to eat a snack during those trips. I couldn’t pass a newsagent or eat lunch without having a packet of crisps. So, I bought sugar-free chewing gum for the car and I started making a packed lunch daily.
Those two small changes were transformational.
In addition, I slightly increased my exercise and made sure that I was getting some exercise during the week with a specific goal for the overall number of hours I wanted to achieve during that week.
In August 2012, I found the weight started to come off. It wasn’t until early 2014 that it leveled off. It took me 18 months to lose 20-25lb.
It took me months to lose weight through lifestyle changes I could sustain.
My weight has been consistently lower now for the past four years. The health benefits are significant. I stopped getting any kind of indigestion and I was able to stop taking medication. I get less back pain, though that is definitely something that still bothers me. I felt fitter, I was fitter and I got significantly fewer twinges in my knees after any prolonged running. In short, all the little niggles that I could have put down to middle age, to hitting 40, and simply accepted as an inevitable part of aging, stopped.
As for the road bike, well, I never bought it. I realized I didn’t need it to enjoy exercise. My old bike was just as good for that.
A work in progress …
My own weight loss and exercise patterns illustrate the time scale needed to make lasting changes. You need to build habits and make small changes that you can stick with for months on end. I never felt like I was dieting but it was still hard at times.
Like with anything, I’m still learning, still trying to improve. I’m very aware that my flexibility is deteriorating and my strength, too. It’s something I aim to bring in slowly over the next year or two, but I’m happy with where I am. I wouldn’t have time for writing otherwise. It’s all a balance.