I recognised the next name on my consultation list and excitedly checked the previous entry. I had not seen Matthew for close to 10 months and prior to that we were having monthly accountability meetings where we discussed his weight and heart disease risk factors. Matthew was in his mid-forties. A chance assessment of his blood pressure after rolling his ankle had started everything.
He had always felt he could eat better and maybe even consider some formal exercise, but he was not a couch potato. He often did the mowing and garden maintenance at his home and considered himself a grill master, regularly hosting friends and family for bbqs, drinking one or two beers with company.
He was developing a moderate sized abdominal girth, affectionately calling it his ‘dad bod’. So given his average lifestyle he was surprised when his blood pressure was found to be significantly elevated.
Convinced it was a faulty reading, he was disappointed to find that the blood pressure remained elevated even when he was at home and relaxed. The elevated readings had prompted me to organise a full heart check up including bloods and an ECG. I had braced myself as I delivered the bad news. He had elevated cholesterol, his blood pressure was moderately elevated, and he was developing diabetes, all of which were risk factors for heart disease.
He was initially reluctant to accept the results, blaming everyone but himself. How could he have so many risk factors when he was so young? How come he still felt well?
With multiple consultations, we worked our way through to the acceptance stage and with that came small changes to his life. He started doing formal regular exercise at home – initially he could only commit to ten minutes three days a week but as he became fitter, he was happy to increase his time intervals and his weights.
He started eating lower carbohydrate meals – reducing his pasta and rice bowls and opting for more leafy greens. This was admittedly more challenging through the winter as his favourite comfort food was pasta, but we found ways to satisfy this without too many carbohydrates.
I also became his accountability partner – checking in on him every month to ensure we were remaining on track. The last consultation we had had, he was going for an overseas holiday, and I had not seen him for almost 10 months.
As I stood at the waiting room scanning for his face, I could not find him. I called out his name and up stood a very fit looking young man with Matthews eyes and a big smile plastered on his face. “Surprise Doctor Teah” he exclaimed. “I have been working on some things,” he said as we walked to my consultation room. I was very excited to learn how he had lost so much weight since our last consultation, as the Matthew in front of me was a much fitter version.
