Former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo says he lost about 40kg in 6 months after ‘a lifetime struggle’
- He told the New York Post he lost the weight by exercising consistently and eating better
- Trump’s former secretary of state says he made lifestyle change after weight neared 136kg
Former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo says he has been hitting the gym and laying off the junk food since leaving the Trump administration. The healthy change helped him lose about 40kg (about 90 pounds) in six months, he told the New York Post.
Fox News viewers and others began noticing Pompeo looking considerably slimmer throughout 2021. The former secretary of state and Kansas congressman, also a potential 2024 presidential contender, detailed the story behind his weight loss in an interview with the aforementioned publication.
Pompeo said losing weight has been “a lifetime struggle” but became especially difficult after he was elected to Congress in 2010. He said that his weight loss journey truly began when he stepped on the scale in June 2021 and saw he was approaching 136kg (300 pounds).
“Today is the day,” Pompeo recalls telling his wife Susan.
Then, Pompeo said: “I started exercising, not every day, but nearly every day, and eating right and the weight just started to come off”.
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Pompeo said there were no fad diets, expensive personal training, or intense workout regimens involved in his weight loss.
“I tried to get down there five, six times a week and stay at it for a half-hour or so. And that was nothing scientific. There was no trainer, there was no dietitian. It was just me,” Pompeo said.
Pompeo said that working in government and especially in a top position like secretary of state involved long workdays and travel days fuelled by lots of food – especially cheeseburgers.
“You can ask anybody on my team, they knew exactly what I was going to do: cheeseburger from room service. I went back to the room and kept working, and ate my cheeseburger. That was my pattern of life,” Pompeo said of his routine during days when he was travelling abroad. “When you work and eat, you just keep working and you just keep eating.”
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Pompeo said that his family still enjoys plenty of meals and trips to iHop (a US pancake house restaurant chain) – but he skips the pumpkin pancakes doused in syrup. “Now we get egg whites and turkey bacon,” he said.
“For our family, food is where we gather. We are Italian and we like to get together around a good meal of pasta and bread and cheeses and dessert. We are still going to enjoy these big meals with family and friends except I am going to be the guy that says, ‘Yeah, I’ll have a salad,’” he added.
