Huffing and Puffing In the Hospital

by Jason

All is not as it seems.

Back in the day when I was premed and took my Grandpa to the doctor the doctor asked me about my life and when I told him I was premed he responded "You must be very good at sitting for long periods of time."

Never truer words spoken.

As I think about the journey as a premed and medical student there certainly has been a lot of sitting.

Now I like to stay in shape and be fit but I'm not an idiot which meant having to prioritize the books over exercising.

I've always been one who goes all in before an exam and this means the last 48 hours before a test I'm laser focused. I sacrifice sleep (yes I know not ideal) but hey in the words of Michael Jordan, "I can't accept not trying".

You best can believe my first stop after my medical school exams has always been the gym.

Had to make up for lost time.

Throughout all of this exercising I slacked in a major way. I'd hit the weights and cardio, well that never was a priority because heck I'm in great shape LOL.

Sometimes I'd be highly motivated and decide I better do some cardio. For me this meant hopping on the treadmill and after 2 minutes I'd get off telling myself, "I don't need this."

The weights have always been my priority.

All that sitting caught up with me.

With no time and not exercising like I should things began to change where I was eating more food and you know where this headed...I packed on an additional 20 lbs, but as a skinny guy you wouldn't really notice it.

My wakeup moment was being in the hospital rounding on patients and being winded.

Yes out of breath especially when having to take the stairs.

Ridiculous.

A young man huffing and puffing in the white coat because I wasn't doing enough exercise, totally avoiding cardio and food was my reward for the tough days and nights at the hospital.

Sometimes you gotta make a decision and decide that's not for me and it won't be me.

I decided I'd never be an overweight person and change was needed.

Today I went from the guy who couldn't do 2 minutes on the treadmill if he tried to now jogging 10+ miles outside nonstop.

Never in a million years would I have thought I'd be a runner especially long distance but here I am running and being healthy and it feels good.

A great stress reliever even after a hectic schedule I still make time to get my runs in as best as I can because that's important to me.

As they say "Doctor heal thyself"!