On turning 40…

I have been thinking about turning 40 ever since last November when I turned 39. Looking at the picture of myself on the left when I was 20 and the picture of me on the right of me at 39 I couldn’t believe how hard the last 20 years had been on my body.

Eight days after my birthday I decided to get serious about my health. To that end on November 11th hired a concierge doctor to manage my healthcare delivery. Immediately she was concerned about my blood pressure – 161 over 98 and my weight – 260lbs. Both were very high, way to high for a 39 year old male. She gave me some medication to reduce my blood volume and ordered me to start testing my blood pressure regularly. She also did a full scan of my body as well as a genetic screen for a wide variety of possible aliments. The results were interesting. She learned that it was very unlikely that I would suffer from Alzheimer’s but that I was at very high risk for early onset heart attacks. She probed further into my risk of heart disease and ordered nuclear studies of the make up of my cholesterol as well as any possible thickening of my arteries. After all of the tests and conversations with my doctor decided I needed to make some changes if I didn’t want to end up dead in my early 50′s.

Step One: Stop Drinking Diet Cokes. Turns out I have been drinking 8-10 Diet Cokes each day for the last five years. That is way to many sodas to drink in a week, much less in a day. I replaced the sodas with water and haven’t had a single Diet Coke since November of 2010. At ShopSavvy/Architel we were spending around $800/month on Diet Coke (and related sodas) and I told my assistant to stop ordering them (replacing them with bottled water). Sadly our monthly bill went up (water is more expensive than Diet Coke!?!?!), but my blood pressure went down. By December my average blood pressure was down to 130 over 92 and today the average is 125 over 78 – without medication! I now drink a lot of water and a lot of iced tea.

Step Two: Start Working Out. We have a trainer who comes to our office twice a day for three 30 minute workout sessions. I began working out with him once a day, on average four days a week. I began getting in great shape. I feel better than I have felt in a decade, but I haven’t been losing weight. Last month I began working out for 30 minutes twice a day for an average of four days a week with a renewed focus on my core.

Step Three: Lose 90 lbs. I have been working with a doctor and have seriously limited my intake of calories (the only real way to lose weight). Based on the testing he did my resting metabolism is 3000 calories per day so I have to consume less than 3000 calories to lose weight. My peak weight was 260 and now I weigh 244. My goals are to weigh the following by each month: Sept. 234, Oct. 224, Nov. 214, Dec. 204, Jan. 194, Feb. 184, Mar. 174 and my goal weight of 170 (by April).