I Failed…A Follow-Up and Update

When I wrote the May/June 2022 guest editorial called “Fix Yourself,” I had issued a challenge to myself. I wanted to reach my goal weight of 199lbs by the Long Beach AJA Conference. I missed the mark. When I arrived in Long Beach, California in May of 2022, I was down to 215lbs from the 226lbs I announced in the editorial. I was down from my all-time high 302lbs, so I was still way ahead of the game. I was focused and very committed. I was recently accepted to attend FBI National Academy (NA), Session 283 (July 2022), so I had to be committed. The physical demand of that training is pretty rigorous. I needed to continue to lose weight and continue to improve my physical health.

Then life happened. We were two days into the conference when I received a call from my estranged sister. “You need to get here; Mom is not going to make it much longer.” My mother had been suffering from COPD from a lifetime of smoking. I was unaware that my sister had placed my mother in hospice care. I was unaware of how close she was to her final labored breath. I did my best to fly from Los Angeles to Washington DC to get to Maryland in time, but I missed my mother’s passing by about 20 minutes.

Excuses, Excuses

This is where my excuses began. I flew home to Florida to tend to my mother’s funeral. I was completely off the dietary and fitness wagons. I used the stress of the funeral as an excuse to eat. I attended a Florida Corrections Accreditation Commission Meeting, and I used the travel week as an excuse to eat. We went on a family vacation in the form of a cruise in anticipation of my leaving for the FBI National Academy. You can’t go on a cruise and adhere to a diet, can you? The answer is you can, but I used it as an excuse to eat and drink. I was in denial, thinking all the progress I had made could not have been erased in just a few short weeks.

FBI National Academy

I arrived at FBI Quantico on July 11, 2023, for 10 weeks of training. One of the first things we did was weigh in and do the physical assessment. By then, my weight had bounced all the way back up to 229 lbs (from 215 lbs) and my required one-mile run time was two minutes and 35 seconds over the required cut-off time. I asked my Fitness in Law Enforcement instructor what the most time he has seen shaved off a run is. He told me just over 2 minutes. I was in real trouble.

During the ten weeks at the National Academy, it was “easy” to get back into a routine of eating and exercising properly. The food options were healthy, and the equipment and physical training was world-class. Having PT on Monday and Thursday mornings and class-wide physical challenges on Wednesday mornings really made the “focus” easy to maintain. During week seven, we had the opportunity to “re-do” our physical assessment. I was in need of cutting that two minutes and 35 seconds off of my run time to participate in the Yellow Brick Road. I do not think I was ever more stressed in my professional life. Thankfully for some great training partners and a few motivational peers, I made the run in nine minutes and 57 seconds. I was able to shave two minutes and 38 seconds off my run. I was elated but frustrated at the same time for putting myself in that position. I got my weight down to 206 lbs while at the NA, just short of my 199 lbs goal.

After graduation on September 13, 2022, I headed home to my family. My amazing wife had set up our garage with very similar equipment to what I was using at the FBI to help me maintain my level of fitness. At first, I was doing everything I said I would. I was eating right. Exercising three to four days per week. I was excited to be back at work with the amazing staff that allowed me the opportunity to attend the training. Everything was going great until I ran into my own worst enemy, me.

Holidays and a Trip to the Doctor

The holidays came, and I was nowhere near as disciplined as I had been during the holidays of 2021. I did not dress up for Halloween, but I sure did enjoy the candy. Thanksgiving and Christmas were real celebrations this year. I welcomed 2023 back up to 227 lbs. I rolled right into a New Year’s resolution of, “How am I here yet again?” I began learning about intermittent and long-term fasting to jump-start weight loss and long-term health. I enjoyed many podcasts on the topic and read a few books. I truly enjoyed two podcasts with a specific doctor (a well-respected cardiologist) that were so good when I completed them, I told myself, “If this doctor is anywhere close to where I live, I am going to go see him.” Sure enough, the doctor is based in Orlando, so I made an appointment.

During my first appointment at the cardiologist, after the EKG that is basically done at intake, the physician’s assistant asked me if I have ever had any issues with my heart. I advised her that when I was 300lbs, my heart would skip beats. I told her that went away with weight loss. The PA told me the EKG showed an issue with my heart, a thickening of one of the walls of a ventricle. Since she saw that anomaly, she ordered a litany of tests to truly see how my heart is functioning. The PA ordered a cardiac CT for calcium scoring, an echocardiogram, cardiac lipid panel, and an insulin tolerance test. Once I completed all the tests over eight weeks and multiple trips to Orlando, I finally met with the cardiologist. The cardiologist spent nearly 45 minutes with me reviewing everything, my history, the recent tests, and provided me his opinion. The cardiologist told me that if he had not known that I had lost nearly 80lbs since my all-time high weight, he would have told me based on the results of the testing that I would be diabetic within the next three years and would suffer a heart attack within the next five years. Let me write that again, diabetic in three years and a heart attack in five years. Imagine hearing that at 45 years old? The doctor explained that since I have made such drastic improvements to my physical health, he believes that the “thickening” of the heart wall was most likely due to sleep apnea I suffered when I was at my highest weight. That thickening should actually improve over time if I stay on the healthy path. All other signs, to include an interesting result from my calcium scoring test, were most likely stable if not improving. The doctor said, “I bet you’re glad you changed your lifestyle when you did. Otherwise, the road ahead would be very scary for such a young man.”

How many of you have a significant other or a child that depends on you? How many of you have family and friends that love you? How many of you are ignoring “minor” health changes? How many of you are avoiding going to the doctor for routine screenings? How many of you are waiting for “Monday” to get started on a healthier path? What if Monday never comes?

Diabetic in three years and a heart attack in five years. I’m back on the path.

__________________________________

Shawn Klucznik, MA, CJM is the Jail Administrator at the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office in Hernando County, Florida. He currently holds the rank of Major and has 26 years of experience in the field and is the Third Vice President of the American Jail Association.