I was never an athlete growing up. In college, I didn’t do much other than just run on the elliptical and eat salads and diet foods if I wanted to tone up.  I took a year off between college and medical school, and in that time I had a few months when I was interviewing for med schools and living at home with my family.   Since I had some extra time on my hands, I started reading about fitness. I became fascinated with the scientific aspects of it.   I also thought it was so empowering—this idea of becoming strong, not just skinny.

 

I started weightlifting at a gym near my parents’ house, and when I started medical school I started doing CrossFit at a local box.   During a very stressful and formative time in my life, the fitness community I found with CrossFit was just the outlet that I needed outside of medicine.   I religiously went to CrossFit at 6 AM during my preclinical years to fit it in on top of classes.

 

 

It definitely required discipline to stay fit during the first two years of medical school, but I was completely unprepared for how much extra discipline it would take during my third year.   During pre-clin, you’re studying a lot, but your time is really your own. It was easy to schedule a workout in every day.  This was not the case during third year. My schedule varied  widely from day to day, not to mention from rotation to rotation.  On my inpatient rotations, I got to the hospital earlier than even the earliest CrossFit class at my box, and I returned home so late that I was often too exhausted to go to the gym.   On top of that, most of the food at the hospital is ironically very unhealthy, and I did not have time to cook like I had had in my first two years. My third year confirmed that I wanted to to go into a surgical specialty, but I realized that I needed to be creative in order to figure out a way to continue the wellness-centered lifestyle that had become so important to me.

 

 

I love reading fitness blogs, but most of those blogs are by people who are full-time fitness professionals.   Many of them have the luxury of spending their entire day thinking about fitness, having full control over their diet, and exercising at least an hour every day.  At the same time, I saw so many doctors in the hospital who succumbed to the pizza-and-french-fries diet, and never found time to exercise.   Most of the blogs were largely irrelevant for  the people who needed it the most.  I wanted to document my efforts at staying fit as a way of sharing ideas with others in the same position, as well as making myself more accountable to my goals.  I also share stories about life in medical school. It’s a way for me to keep writing about something other than medicine. While I don’t have as much time to post as I’d like, it’s been a great way of connecting with people. I never thought anyone would read the blog, but I’ve been so surprised by the number of people who come up to me and tell me that it inspires them.

 

 

I think the key is to be flexible and do your best in a particular situation. I love working out, but on very busy rotations, I don’t have time to work out every day.   I always prioritize getting more sleep over exercise.   I make the most of my precious days off by doing groceries so I have healthy options and getting in the longer workouts.

 

In terms of diet, my best advice is to keep it simple most of the time. I drink a ton of water. I try to eat Paleo during the week as much as I can– scrambled egg whites with veggies almost every day for breakfast, and meat with some sort of veggies or salad for lunch and dinner.   I don’t mind eating the same thing every day, which helps with food preparation.  In a pinch, I really like this high-protein packaged food company called Perfect Fit meals that you can get at a lot of grocery stores.   They are generally healthier than other frozen meals, and they’re a good option when I don’t have time to cook.  I also keep Greek yogurt and Quest protein chips in my bag for when I absolutely don’t have time to eat. It’s not completely Paleo, but I am a big believer in being practical, not perfect.  I definitely love to eat though, but I try to save the treats for weekends when I go out to eat. I do have to eat ice cream or chocolate everyday, but moderation is key.

 

Since I don’t have time to do CrossFit anymore,  I have to get creative with my workouts.   Over time, I have accumulated a lot of workout equipment that I can use at home –  a barbell with a squat rack, adjustable dumbbells, pull-up bar, etc.   It’s actually been cheaper than a gym membership in the long run, especially because you can buy a lot of stuff off Craigslist.   You can find a ton of workout routines online and on YouTube for free, but two very inexpensive subscriptions of home workout videos that you can stream online are LiveExercise and DailyBurn Inferno if you like the group exercise feel.   I have a ton of different routines in my arsenal – depending on whether I have 90 minutes or only 10 minutes.

 

 

Just start!  Some people need a goal, like a half marathon or a Spartan Race (which I totally recommend– I did one last year and loved it).  If you have the time and money for a class, consider CrossFit, or things like Orange Theory, Soul Cycle, or ClassPass, which I personally haven’t tried but know people who swear by them.  There will be days (and sometimes weeks) that you don’t have time to work out, but do whatever you can, whenever you can. A lot of people, in medicine especially, are type A and feel the need to be hardcore in every aspect of their lives.  I think this is why people fall off the bandwagon.  I don’t think of myself as an athlete only when I exercise– I think of myself as an athlete who sometimes doesn’t exercise 🙂 It’s been five years since I started this journey, and I am still learning.

 

 

Try visiting my blog Fit Future Doc, and contact me achattop@stanford.edu if you want more ideas. I love helping people at every stage of their fitness journey.