our cotterell family: 02.2012

July 2009

As Faith has mentioned before, we have made some pretty significant changes in our home. (Here, here, and here.) We spend a lot more time and money at Whole Foods, wear toe shoes, and are keeping the chickpea industry afloat.

All this may or may not be some sort of early mid-life crisis, possibly brought on by the fact that we will both be 29 soon and still in school. But mid-life crisis or not, we both feel like we are in a very good place physically, emotionally and spiritually.

I have considered writing this post for a while, not to brag, but in the hopes of helping to motivate someone else to make changes. Just looking at that picture of us in 2009 makes me realize how far we both have come. It is embarrassing for me personally to think what I let happen to my health.

For me, the change started in July 2010, when rotations began. The first 2 years of medical school are just books and lectures with very little clinical experience. Rotations, for years 3 and 4, are mostly clinical with some lectures here and there. My first rotation in July '10 was Internal Medicine. I spent 10-12 hours a day in the hospital. The majority of the patients were sick in the hospital because they did not take care of themselves. Most of them were overweight, if not obese. Years of neglect and food abuse brought them to that point. For me, it was a wake-up call. My family history is not riddled with Octogenarians. My Dad will be the first Cotterell man to see the age of 63 in 3 generations. I felt like a hypocrite talking to these patients about their health when I was not exactly taking care of mine. These feelings started small but grew until I decided to do something about it. So on August 18, 2010, I began paying attention.

I started with what I knew. (When considering it was after 2 years of medical education, it is sad to see what little is taught in medical school regarding nutrition and health.) Conventional Wisdom says that in order to lose weight, you need to decrease your intake and increase your output. I decided I needed to limit my food portions. I made a conscious effort to eat less and just by paying attention, I started to lose weight. Soon after my decision to do something, I read this and it helped solidify my commitment. I lost 10 pounds in 2 weeks. It was amazing to see how much weight I was maintaining just by overeating.

At this time, I didn't so much change what I was eating, I just changed how much I was eating. I was eating what I thought was a "healthy" diet. Lean meats, whole wheat bread/cereal/pasta, low-fat everything. I of course was also eating desserts and treats and whatnot. I just ate less of everything. Instead of eating 4 cookies, I would eat 2.

This tactic worked for 30 pounds. I tapered off by April and thought I was in a pretty good place. I had more energy and started exercising more. I started running and was running about 9 miles a week. People I hadn't seen in a while were complimenting me and, though it was embarrassing, it was nice to know I had changed enough for others to notice.

In the back of my mind I thought I could do even better, but I had hit a wall. I didn't lose much if any more weight from April to July.

Then in July Faith read the book Eat to Live and made changes outlined in this post. I was a little skeptical (because, hey, I am going to be a doctor. I know everything.) at first. But I read the book at the urging of Faith and started eating humble pie. Humble pie and lots of fruits and vegetables. I recommend the book to everyone because:

It is not a "diet" book. It is a book about how to live a more healthy life. The "problem" is that even though it is not a diet book, if you follow the principles in it, you will lose a ton of weight as you improve your overall health.
The book teaches well and the knowledge gained from it is incredibly empowering. You gain tools that allow you to filter out all the mis-information that is out there in regards to health and nutrition.
There are a whole lot of studies cited in the book. Dr Fuhrman manages to sort through a lot of data and presents it in a way that is clear and easy to understand.

*Side note. If you don't have time for the book, watch the documentary Forks Over Knives on Netflix. It is pretty much a 1.5 hour summary of the book.*

So after making these changes, I lost another 20 pounds from August to the end of the year. None of my clothes fit anymore. It is a nice problem to have. More than the weight loss though, I feel healthier than I ever have. Even looking back at the time I was playing Lacrosse at BYU, I feel I am healthier now. I have more energy. I am running a lot more than 9 miles a week (I ran 9 this morning). I have more energy to play with the kids and be the kind of dad I want to be. I have visions of a future where I will be keeping up with them and roughhousing the crud out of them.

Like I said at the beginning of the post. I do not want this to come across as bragging. I do this in the hope that at least one person will read and decide to make changes.

The picture at the beginning of the post is one we have hanging in our room. Before August 2010, I would see it next to our engagement picture and long to be "me" again.

Now I see it as a reminder that people can change.

As cheesy as it sounds, Faith and I decided to try to recreate the picture for an "after" picture. We wore the same shirts for effect. (Of course the above picture was taken by a professional. The picture below was our point and shoot with the timer set.) I still can't believe the difference.