Oct 24, 2007 11:15 pm US/Central
Twin Cities Doc Finds Weight Loss Key: Drops 120lb
APPLE VALLEY, Minn. (WCCO) ―
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The weight came off slowly but steadily. After nine months, the Dr. Chris Balgobin dropped 122 pounds.
CBS
When Dr. Chris Balgobin was telling his patients to lose weight, he acknowledges, he didn't have a lot of credibility.
Balgobin had a size 50 waist and he weighed 303 pounds.
"That's a big guy," he said. "I've had a few patients actually say to me, 'When are you going to do something about your weight?'"
Balgobin started, like so many people do, on New Year's Day 2007. He had tried other diet plans in the past, and failed.
"I didn't use any diet pills. I didn't have any surgery. I didn't take any supplements. I didn't have any personal training," said Balgobin. "It was just my wife and I and our willingness to change our lives."
The weight came off slowly but steadily. After nine months, the doctor dropped 122 pounds. His wife lost 70 pounds.
"Our marriage has improved. I no longer snore. I can shop off the rack now. Before I had to go to big and tall stores or find the husky," he said. "My waist was a size 50 at my highest. I'm now a size 34."
As a family practitioner, Balgobin said he started seeing more and more patients in their 30s coming to the office with diabetes and heart disease.
"It kept hitting me over the head with every visit, like here it is," he said. Finally, it spurred him to take action.
Balgobin counts every calorie he eats. He said he writes it down. A typical lunch is a sandwich with low-fat cheese and low-fat potato chips along with fruit and vegetables for about 500 calories. When he was losing weight he tried to eat 1500 calories a day; now he's eating 2000 calories a day.
He also exercises seven times a week. It means waking up at 5 a.m. at times, to run on his treadmill or elliptical machine in his home.
"There's no excuse now. If I don't feel like going to the club, I just walk in the basement," said Balgobin.
Now, his patients barely recognize him.
"It's just unbelievable they look at me and are like, 'Is this the same guy?'" Balgobin said.
He hopes to establish a weight-loss health clinic someday, or even share his story in a book. He said he hopes to inspire others to lose weight.
"I look at pictures of myself now and think, 'Wow, I'm small.' I still have a hard time identifying myself as this new guy. It's gonna take time I think. I don't want to go back to what I was," he said.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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