For years, when Minnesota physician Dr. Chris Balgobin saw patients with diabetes and high blood pressure, he found it difficult to counsel them about losing weight and exercise.
Before slimming down, Dr. Balgobin found it difficult to talk to patients about weight loss.That’s because Dr. Balgobin was overweight himself — at his heaviest, he carried 304 pounds on his 5-foot-6-inch frame.
“It was hard for me to tell them about losing weight and exercise because I’ve been big all of my life,” said Dr. Balgobin. “I would say, ‘Yes, it’s a struggle.’ But then I would say ‘they’ say to reduce calories and exercise. I could never put it on me as the authority figure.”
But in January, Dr. Balgobin, a family practice doctor for Fairview Health Services in Apple Valley, Minn., says he was inspired by one of his own patients who had lost 60 pounds through diet and exercise. He talked to his wife and together they decided to change their eating habits, exercise more and try to lose weight together.
Since losing 120 pounds, Dr. Balgobin’s relationship with patients has markedly changed.Dr. Balgobin said he used tools on DiscoveryHealth.com to calculate his metabolic rate and calorie needs. He cut out fast food and began counting calories, and he and his wife began working out at a health club together. He also began eating breakfast regularly.
Dr. Balgobin has since lost 120 pounds. He says weight loss has not only changed his life, but it has changed his relationship with his patients. A bulletin board filled with pictures of him with babies and patients allows patients to see “all the different sizes of me,’’ he said. “Now I can say, ‘This is what I’ve done.’ ”
Studies show that the health of your doctor does matter. Doctors who eat well and exercise regularly are more likely to counsel their patients to do the same thing, and patients are more likely to listen, research shows. Earlier this year, the medical journal Preventive Medicine published a survey of more than 2,300 graduating medical school students that showed student-doctors with healthy habits were more likely to talk to their patients about prevention strategies like diet and exercise. Another report, called the Women’s Physician Health Study, also found that doctors tend to advise patients about health issues that they themselves practice — like eating a low-fat diet or using sunscreen.
It may seem obvious, but lots of doctors don’t practice what they are supposed to be preaching. A 2004 study of 85,000 male physicians found that 44 percent were overweight and 6 percent were obese. Harvard physician Dr. JoAnn Manson, a co-author of that study, told Stanford Medicine magazine that physicians need to be role models. “We will have much more credibility promoting lifestyle modifications to our patients if we also ‘walk the walk,’” Dr. Manson told the magazine, which recently wrote about the link between doctor and patient health.
Dr. Balgobin said that since losing weight, he talks more to patients about healthful living and how it has not only improved his life, but improved his marriage. Some of his patients have even joined his health club, he said.
“Being a physician, people see you every day,’’ said Dr. Balgobin. “Everything is how you present yourself. I want to be an inspiration to them.’’
Healthy living doesn't happen at the doctor's office. The road to better health is paved with the small decisions we make every day. It's about the choices we make when we buy groceries, drive our cars and hang out with our kids. Join columnist Tara Parker-Pope as she sifts through medical research and expert opinions for practical advice to help readers take control of their health and live well every day. You can reach Ms. Parker-Pope at 
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From 1 to 25 of 40 Comments
Then please explain why do residencies and hospitals still promote a horrible lifestyle of no sleep and constant work? I couldn’t exercise during residency due to extreme muscle fatigue that would develop, due to missing every third night’s sleep. You need sleep to be healthy. The McDonald’s in the hospital didn’t help, either.
— riniYou have set a fine example Dr.Balgobin.
Applause to you!
— RJH de la HayeThat is a fantastic story. I actually just wrote an article regarding the health and lifestyles of doctors and whether this should have any influence on their treatment of patients. Check it out here: http://medscape.typepad.com/thedifferential/2007/10/a-dose-of-our-o.html
Ben
— BenI watched the transition of Dr. Balgobin over the course of this year as he happens to be my primary physician. He is an outstanding example of what can be done with determination. I still wonder where the other half of him went every time I see him.
I applaud you Dr. Balgobin. You are a great example for all.
— ScottI think it is definitely great that Dr. Balgobin is setting an example for everyone. Doctors should practice what they preach. But in reference to post 1, I agree. I am in medical school and barely have time to exercise and because I am so much in debt buying healthy food is a burden too. So we can set examples, but just because we may be doctors, doesn’t make us perfect and I can see why Dr. Balgobin must have had a difficult time and why it is an inspiration for us all to try to be better.
It would help if we cut hours and McDonalds, but that goes for America, not just for doctors. We all work too much.
— JPDr. Balgobin has definitely ignited a fire in the lives around him. Showing that living a healthy lifestyle can be done without pills or surgery seems to be more and more rare these days. His example is one for many to follow.
— Michelle#1 is SO right about the McDonald’s in the hospital, and it goes further than that. The food available to my father when he was in hospital was appalling — as lacking in nutritional value as it was visually unappealing and tasteless. Not a single fresh vegetable and everything soaked in inferior margarine. If Morgan Spurlock (”Supersize Me”) had required hospitalization from his month of eating at McD’s, his condition would’ve gotten worse!
— Outraged44% overweight and only 6% obese still seems MUCH better than the American population in general. And considering the demanding hours physicians work, this should put to rest the complaints of ANYONE else who claims they “don’t have time to eat right and exercise.”
…on the other hand, most physicians are surrounded by a culture that celebrates health and looks down on obesity. While cruel at times, the comments made by other physicians in regard to obese patients provide powerful motivation to stay trim. While these pressures still exist in the rest of society, the presence of many obese friends, family members, and work colleagues makes overweight and obesity seem more like the norm and less of a serious flaw to improve on. If the rest of society faced the same incentives and physicians to stay thin, I bet our obesity rates would be much lower.
— lauraI completely agree that this is an issue where in medical school, they teach us how to take care of everyone else but ourselves. It does seem really hypocritical of doctors who smoke to tell their patients not to smoke, but that is what we are trained to do, to advise people on healthy living. There is no requirement that we ourselves as caregivers are supposed to be healthy as well.
— joleneLaura you are completely right. over 60% of the population is overweight and a lot more than 6% of them are obese. So the physicians are trying to listen to their own advice and doing better than the average person. We could always do better of course, but we are on the right track.
— JPThis is just my opinion, so I know some will disagree: it’s hard to talk w/ a patient, WITH conviction, about the benefits of exercise and maintaining a healthy weight unless one is living the lifestyle (or making the effort to get there). People do have a hard time prioritizing activities to make time for exercise, so it helps to see another busy person (the doc or nurse)who is successfully prioritizing. By the way, physicians don’t need to have a monopoly on setting examples; if other people who develop relationships w/ clients (examples: hairdressers, insurance agents,ministers, day care workers, etc.) demonstrated a healthy way of life to their clients, we’d all benefit from the joint effort.
— asCongrats to Dr. Balgobin. It’s great that he was motivated not only by his own well-being, but by the well-beings of his patients. If only all doctors, nurses, teachers, parents, etc. were so responsible.
— LGAs a nurse who worked long hours, I know it is tempting to claim being busy and under pressure as the reasons for not taking care of yourself. But — it is most often lack of knowledge and a supportive environment for medical professionals just like it is for everyone else. The difference is that lifestyle is a huge component in many health problems. If a health professional is counseling a patient about weight loss, nutrition, exercise, quitting smoking, or any other lifestyle change — they should know what it REALLY takes to achieve it by doing it themselves. There is no substitute for being a positive role model who understands the dilemmas and knows from experience how to solve them - congrats to Dr. Balgobin! Ellie Taylor
— Ellie TaylorWe have all become nothing but worker bees producing the honey for the benefactors of our conspicious consumption society. It does not matter whether you’re very educated or not, we have all bought into a material mind set. As a result we don’t matter for much only work. Health, happines, and humanity no longer matters in our County. That is why so many of us do not care for ourselves and others including our health. I have decided to care. I do matter and so do others. I can proudly say I too have lost weight, 80 lbs over 14 years. I changed my mind set. I do matter and other people matter too. World peace matters. This is why I have been able to lose and keep weight off. I work hard but I refuse to run myself into the ground for material things. Salvation Army items are just fine.
— Barbara B. SchellI agree with the med student and resident posts above. If they, as in the people who design med school and residency programs, if they want us to be healthy examples for our patients, we need sleep. A lack of sleep contributes to my decreased motivation to work out, my increasing waistline (centripital obesity), and the bags under my eyes, not to mention what it does to my mental capacity. And when do we have time to eat?? The medical profession is so full of hypocrites. What is vital for patients is an overindulgent luxury for doctors in training.
— ElizabethOy. So he can take it off. Can he keep it off? Check back in five years. He better keep up that bulletin board. Statistically he’ll be able to keep off just 30 pounds.
— SUSAN mADDENDr Chris Balgobin definitely has set a good example of what other physicians should do. To be more persuasive of the advices given to their clients, at least they should show how healthy and fit they are. Fast food gives consumers great convenience, but sometimes at the sacrifice of their health, which in long term without adequate physical exercise will lead to obesity, diabesity, poor immune system, etc. We, as consumers and their clients, should pay more attention to our health at all time, no matter what our ages are.
— Kevin ShumA couple years ago, I was in the Kaiser Hospital in Santa Rosa CA for 2 weeks, and the patients’ food was prepared in San Francisco, trucked 60 miles to Santa Rosa, and microwaved in individual plastic containers. Need I say more? By contrast, the Valley Care Hospital in Pleasanton had room service, where you could order from a good menu and get what you wanted within 15 minutes. The hospital’s mission statement said that good food was essential to recovery.
— Marlenei had to loss weight also for health reasons, i know how hard it is.great job!!!!!
— joanne.sJust finished seeing pts all day in my internal medicine practice, and this article and the posts were most interesting. My 20th reunion will be next year, and I think back on med school and residency a fair amount, especially with a first year med student observing me each week. Was fortunate to be an athlete all my life, so exercise was easy and always a priority, playing soccer or just running throughout training and since. Actually found it helped me study/work and definitely sleep better. My 20 lb weight gain was after residency, when work and children took up more time, and that is what I tend to observe in my patients as they go through their individual life cycles, and focus on their children, sometimes at their own expense. Very few of us learn how to eat healthy in this country; we often have to learn the hard way. I actually think eating more fruits, veggies and salads is cheaper than what I ate in med school; I definitely spend less on alcohol now.
— drpDear current + future residents -
Suck it up.
Training is temporary - knowledge is forever.
Assuming your residency adheres to the maximum of 80-hour/wk and 1 day off per wk rule, then w extreme discipline you will be able to take care of your own health.
Your patients are depending upon your knowledge + skill, which can only be earned thru discipline + sacrifice.
If you’re not up for this, go to law or business school.
— Recent residency + fellowship graduatei did my residency in the late 80’s and realize that the choices we made in what we ordered out for meals were our own as twenty-somethings. i liked cheeseburgers and subs more than a grilled chicken sandwich or salad.
i shared an apartment with another resident who was a insulin dependent diabetic who was disciplined and ate well, monitored his sugar, and exercised whenever he had free time.
my mother always told me when i whined about not having enough time that i could always make a few minutes for a simple healthy meal. also exercise only means to move our bodies–no one really needs a gym membership when they could just make time for a walk, stretch and do a couple of sit-ups and push-ups.
we see a change in the quality of physicians and their attitude with work in whom we interview for our practice. most of this i attribute to the attitude that the training should be easier. a football player who trains harder, plays better.
— nspmdAnother instance of diet industry brainwashing.
When did “becoming healthy” become a synonym for “losing weight”? When was “fit” redefined to mean “thin”? And why, oh why, do we assume that people who are thin must be healthy and that people who are fat must be unhealthy?
Eat a healthier diet, get regualar exercise and enough sleep, and I can almost guarantee that you will become healthier, even if you don’t achieve the weight loss you desire.
If you want to become thin for vanity, that’s your business. But it is possible to be thin and unhealthy and fat and healthy. It’s just a matter of having the right habits, and not dropping them because you aren’t seeing the “results” (i.e., weight loss) that you want.
And, not to be negative, but let’s all wait and see how much the good doctor profiled in this story weighs in five years. Maybe he’ll keep the weight off, and maybe he won’t. But if he continues to stick to his better eating and exercising habits, I bet he’ll still be healthy.
— JMTo echo #21, I trained before the 80 hr workweek regulation. There were some weeks I worked 110 hours. Residency is extremely intense and very very difficult, but being a doctor is very very difficult, and so the training and lifestyle limitations serve a purpose. That being said, of course one can find time to get in some sort of exercise, if it is a priority. When I was in my 3rd year of residency, I saw how out of shape I had become. I joined the wellness program at the hospital and began exercising for 20-30 minutes after work (usually between 7:30 and 8 pm) three days a week and whenever I wasn’t working on the weekends. I continued this pattern throughout my 2 year fellowship, and the pattern continued for the next 12 years. Unfortunately, since my pregnancy with my 2nd child, who was born 4 months ago, I’ve fallen out of the habit of exercising. Must get back.
Point is— no matter how busy one is, if exercise is a priority, one can find the time to do it. Even 20 minutes counts. I had no idea when I started my exercise progarm in January of 1993 that it would become an integral part of my life; despite the current lapse, I anticipate that exercise will always be a featured part of my daily routine (it’s like brushing teeth or putting on glasses–can’t imagine not doing it).
Back to #21 and the comments of some of the residents here— I wish I had an 80 hr limit and a day off per week when I was in training. If that had been the case, I would have started my exercise in my 1st yr of residency!
— strWhat a great role-model you are for your patients. You have done an excellent job! I have seen the results week by week and you look super! You should be so proud of yourself!!! AH
— Amy