"For breakfast, I swapped cheesy egg scramble for hard-boiled eggs and vegetables."
"Mementos from my trip to Asia are daily reminders that staying fit gives me freedom."
But things snowballed when I ruptured two disks in my neck and was forced to hang up my scrubs. Though I stayed busy lecturing, standing in front of a podium wasn't the same as being in the OR. I didn't realize it then, but I was angry. So I ate, felt worse, and then ate some more. It got so bad that I took taxis despite living a block from the subway: I didn't even have the energy to drag myself up and down a few flights of stairs at the station.
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On a trip to the Bahamas, the simple act of sitting in the plane was unbearable, and I had to ask for a seat belt extender. Then the airline lost my luggage, so, while my friends waited, I wandered the streets in search of 3XL clothing. That was it, the moment too humiliating to ignore. I needed help—quick—and signed myself in to a residential weight loss center.
"I don't work out for looks; I train so I can be ready to tackle my next adventure."
"Planning ahead has been key. My go-to dinner is salmon, spinach, and brown rice."
You'd think that I'd have known the right way to eat, but that wasn't part of my med school curriculum. A lot of the healthy basics I learned at the center were eye-opening. The therapists there also helped me get to the bottom of my out-of-control appetite. It's a familiar story: I was at the point where I didn't like myself and was using food to numb the pain. I decided then to throw all my old enthusiasm into my health.
It took me 1½ years to lose the extra 125 pounds, but once I did, many of my health issues disappeared. To celebrate, I booked a trip to Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. I climbed the steep, narrow steps of the ancient ruins in Angkor Wat and kayaked along Ha Long Bay. The trip confirmed something that still amazes me: For all the lives I helped save in the operating room, it wasn't until I saved myself from an early death that I discovered my own grit. Now I go out of my way to take the subway stairs I used to avoid. With the money I've saved in cab rides, I funded this year's adventure—to Burma.
—John E. Ellis, 56, has kept the weight off for 3 years.
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