From Struggling to Thriving: Orthopedic Surgeon Journey to a Healthier and Happier Life

0:00 Okay, guys, it's Dr. Ryan. And today we're talking with Tony, Tony has been a member of my clinic for several months now. And he's going to tell us a little bit about his experience with Summa up. So Tony, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself where you live some what you do some of your hobbies, your family life? 0:16 Yeah, well, I'm a orthopedic surgeon living in Southern Indiana. With a busy practice. I've got a wife and four kids that keep me busy the rest of the time. So mostly coaching my kids playing more with my kids now trying to keep everything in the in the marriage. Good and keep my practice successful. 0:39 Very good. Okay, so why don't we start out with asking you to kind of remember what it was like prior to joining the clinic? So what were some of the problems that you're trying to solve in terms of your physique and your overall health prior to working with me? 0:53 Yeah, I think overall, I kind of was looking and reading some books on longevity and trying, I'd gotten up to the highest rate that I've been in my life and kind of decided with, with four young kids and, and a long career ahead of me that I needed to make some changes and the career wise, there's a lot of fluctuation in the future of medicine and wanted to be on top of that also. So felt like, you know, now's the right time to make a change and do it in a way that could benefit all aspects of my life. 1:30 Okay, and you kind of touched upon this, you mentioned some of the changes in medicine, how did some of the problems that you were experiencing, perhaps like an energy or your overall health or just mobility were? How are these affecting you, in terms of your career and your family? 1:47 Yeah, the being a surgeon, you know, by the end of the day, I was very fatigued and coming home, I really didn't want to do a whole lot, I would rather just risk watch TV. And that no, spending less time than I wanted to with my kids playing and doing things like that. Also, at the same time, with my practice, being to fatigue to really add more volume, which I wanted to do to help our area, which has a lot of patients who need need physicians. So those combination of things were the big issue and what I was trying to improve upon, 2:29 I noticed a lot with a lot of the the exceptionally talented members of my practice, you're not just a physician, you have a pretty prominent leadership role in the practice, too. Right. And so I can see some of those administrative duties, in addition to being a physician coming can be very, very difficult. Right? 2:48 Yeah. So it's a balancing act between running a private practice and making decisions in regards to that as well as the clinical practice, 2:59 okay, was there like an event of some sort that made you cross over and be like, Alright, I need to do something because, you know, we all we all are okay with, with dealing with certain symptoms for a while, until, like, you hit a wall, right? 3:13 Or maybe really, it was, when I, we got back from our 20th anniversary trip. And I stepped on the scale, which I didn't do very often, but knew I was gaining late, but got on the scale, and just was shocked and unhappy with, with what I saw and said, You know, I'm 45, you know, the longer I wait to make changes, the harder is going to be, and I thought it was the right time to make a move. 3:45 Very good. And while you were looking around and evaluating clinics, because there are many of them out there, how exactly did you find out about my clinic and myself, 3:55 through the internet, of course, the I've read two different longevity, but we'll listen to one on on tape and our audible and one red one and kind of deciding to make some of these changes. So I started looking into there's I mean, there's local in my town clinics that do present similar things, but I thought with the your background, and kind of the holistic approach, instead of just hey, we're going to put you on testosterone or we're going to just do this and that's going to take care of all your issues. When I kind of was researching through and then even after I contacted and kind of found out more information, I felt it was the best holistic option, you know, not just doing one thing, but the combination of the exercise diet supplements to make that change. 4:52 Yeah, I'm glad you recognize that because it's not just medications. There is supplement program, diet and exercise program that's really key to follow if you want to get the best results. And I'm glad you recognize that we talked about your process prior to SEMA up. So after join the clinic, what changes did you notice in your physique and overall health? And before you answer, I'm just gonna go ahead and kind of brag on you for a second, I'm really impressed by the changes you've made already, just in the span of a few months, you've lost over 20 pounds, the vast majority of it being in body fat, which is really amazing. And whereas your hemoglobin valency, it wasn't wasn't terrible, you were pre diabetic, and you've been able to essentially cure yourself just through diet and exercise and supplementation. And then, where's your lipid panel, it wasn't bad by any means it got an exceptionally good total cholesterol dropped by 30 points, triglycerides dropped by 16. And your APR I proprotein be that protein, it's highly correlated with heart disease and stroke dropped by almost 30 points, just under 30 points. So that's, that's really phenomenal. In addition to that, in your words, what did you notice? 6:03 I've noticed more the physical changes that I think the photographs have done, you know, I take those in the morning, just in my bathroom. And, you know, I think there's been more changes and just things my wife has noticed the colleagues have made comments and some patients make comments, you know. So I think that that has been and I still have some work to do to get to my goal. But I'm actually further along and what I thought I would be, and the same thing I think with my energy level, I'm, I've noticed that I'm to the point now where if I don't do some kind of working out a day, I feel worse, which it's been a long time since since that's been the case. So even if it's not an official program, workout day, where I go to the gym, I'll do something at our my little home gym to, to just keep things moving. And my kids joke that since I can do you know, clapping push ups now and stuff, they think that's amazing, and things like that. So they have fun with that. Those are the biggest things, I think energy at work and mood at work towards the end of the day I during and especially in office and surgery, you know, it's more of the energy thing, but but after a long day of office, I think at the end of the day when I come home, and I'm in a better mood with more energy and allowing me to do more things with the kids and not wish Hey, I wish this soccer game wasn't happening tonight. You know, I look forward to it and spending time with them. 7:35 That's wonderful. So you've kind of alluded to this, but I'm assuming that you've been able to increase your caseload or at least handle a larger caseload and perhaps expand the clinic, have you been able to hire additional providers as well? Oh, were 7:47 in the process of expanding some of our surgical facility and increasing my own surgical caseload? Yeah, definitely is helped in both of those areas. 8:00 And he kind of talked about how comments have been made by both your colleagues and in your, in your friends and family and your wife? Are you okay with sharing some of those comments? What were they saying? 8:10 At first, it was the weight loss. But then, you know, more just comments about that I'm looking good are noticing muscle tone, or things like that, which obviously, makes you encouraged and makes you want to continue? So because I've had in medicine, you know, patients, sometimes I might not I, I have older patients who before would be like, Man, you've gained some weight. Since I saw you last time, you know that. People, people will say what they think so they hear it the other way is nice. 8:43 That's really good. And then I guess more importantly, how's your mindset change towards working family? And again, you kind of mentioned that you are much more positive about being involved with your children and about tackling on greater challenges. But why don't we just expand on that a little bit? What have you noticed, in your own words, 9:01 I think maybe some, you know, confidence in making decision is about some big issues with work and feeling more standing up for my position more than I would before. I think that's made some positive changes for me. And I think for the for the overall practice. But at home again, yes, I think the energy at home in the evening, I think, you know, my seven year old son likes to play a game called tickle monster where I chase him around the house and try to catch him and things like that. And he, you know, we were definitely doing that more and, you know, I, I don't sit there and just humor him for a minute. I'm, you know, definitely more active with him on that. 9:45 That's really, really cool. Well, we talked about several benefits and several changes. You notice. Were there any other ones that we didn't really mention that came from working with the clinic? 9:55 I mean, I think somewhat just an understanding. I mean, I'm a physician but I'm looking at some of the health markers and things that are doing what I do I wasn't as familiar with and a lot of even medical doctors don't check certain labs that I've had checked that have high correlation. Because I know when I got my first set of labs, you know, there were things that I was like, I don't know what this is, and, and reading into it, it should be something that's checked. And it seems like sometimes it's, Hey, there's not a pill for that. So it's not checked. And as you showed in some of my labs, you know, they substantially improved with with just the exercise, diet, and everything. So, 10:44 yeah, there are a lot of values out there. And I'm hopeful and I'm sharing as the primary care providers and cardiologists incorporate them, but things like homocysteine aprilat, protein B, fasting insulin, these are markers that correlate with, with important long term outcomes. And I've incorporated them along with a lot of individuals in longevity and functional space. But it's just important that you recognize that and hopefully in the future will become more widespread robots, you know, it when you're in the now you're in the know, and and it's recognize those things and reduce your risk of developing those, those bad stroke, heart disease, cancer and dementia, because we don't want that to occur at all. Okay, and then just to sum up things, what would you tell someone who's watching this video and is uncertain about joining the clinic? What would you tell that person, 11:32 I would tell him that it's definitely been worth it. I think, at the beginning, it's not easy, especially the diet and consistency with the workout. But the diet, you know, there's, there's times where it's still difficult, and nobody's perfect with it. But I think that's made a huge difference, because it doesn't matter my opinion, it doesn't matter how much you even if your workout a lot, if you're not eating appropriately, you're taking in so much junk and extra calories, you're not going to see the difference, you may gain some muscle that's hidden under two inches of fat, I think the energy level helping both personally and professionally, has been been good. And I've never done anything like this. But you know, I've tried diets and different things when other times and you know, there's a little bit of skepticism, you know about everything, but having the easy communication with you. And the reminders through the app, which I'm still not the greatest act, but in responding all the time. But I think that especially at the beginning, focuses you to say, Okay, I got to do this or Okay, is there is there any problems going on and, and can get those addressed. And, you know, we've made multiple adjustments to the diet and workout routine to make it workable for me versus, you know, a cookie cutter approach. You know, I do also like that you can focus on some of the other areas, you know, just through medications or things such as, you know, people with hair loss, or any of the, you know, other things that that people worry about, and there's options for a multitude of other things to discuss with you if it's right for for the person. So kind of, again, the holistic, not just one thing, but if you want to try to feel better about yourself, and a lot of ways, there's a lot of different options. Again, I was interested in the longevity part. And you know, there's definitely a section of that in the program, too, if that's what you're interested in. For me, it took some time, you know, to get into the groove. But now like I said, if I'm off of it, I you know, if I do something that's off the diet program more than, you know, my cheat meal, or even sometimes my cheat meal, I'm like, Man, I don't feel as good. After my cheating, I still do it because I like the taste. But I noticed right away the negative energy level or side effects of those things. And again, like I said, the workout, you know, I try to do something every day even though you don't have to run the program. And I think it's all beneficial on a lifelong change instead of just doing it for Hey, we're doing it for this six months, and I'm gonna get where I am and then, you know, fall off the wagon. And I think, you know, this is a long term thing. 14:31 And I think that's what we really try to emphasize in the clinic. You know, it's not just medications or supplements. It's accountability. It's not just a diet and exercise plan. It's accessibility and flexibility. We work around your schedule, we work around what you're able to accomplish. And, you know, support, right, because I personally think you're doing a great job with the app. You're an extremely busy, very successful individual and you know, your time is very precious. Unlimited and it is what is but, you know, finding the right group of individuals to work with who understand this and work around your schedule is key, right. And so we try to adapt our programs to, to people and their and their schedules. And so it is what it is right. And so I'm glad that you, you recognize that. And yeah, and as I mentioned, it's not just physique enhancement or longevity, there's many different things we can focus on mental clarity, improving hair loss, although obviously I don't take advantage of that. But there's, there's definitely ways we can we can limit if need be, we can look at things particularly for some of my patients who have, who have high blood pressure, you're not one of them. But so my patients have high blood pressure, there's alternative ways in which you can treat it that don't involve conventional therapies and more supplement regimens. And it's good to, you know, when you're looking at a clinic, or you're looking at a solution, you want something that as I like the word holistic offers a wide range of therapies, not just one or two solutions. So it's really, really, really cool. Anything else you'd like to add? 16:01 I, you know, I think through the first five, six, going in six months, you know, it's definitely changed a lot of things and you know, in a quicker fashion that I've been able to do before and you know, in a wider range. So, now I've been very, very happy and I'm happy to be continuing with it. 16:24 Wonderful. Well, thanks so much for sharing experience, Tony, and I really appreciate having you as a patient. Thank you.