Mike Pompeo has told how he lost over six stone without a trainer or dietician by giving up pancakes and exercising in his basement.
Mr Pompeo, 58, is now virtually unrecognisable from when he was Donald Trump’s secretary of state and CIA chief.
The New York Post dubbed him “Secretary of Svelte” after his weight loss, which sparked rumours of a 2024 presidential bid.
Mr Pompeo told the newspaper he decided to lose weight after stepping on the scales on June 14, 2021, and finding he was nearly 300lbs for the first time.
He said he followed no particular diet, and didn’t hire a personal trainer, but still managed to shed 90lbs in six months on his own.
He installed a gym including dumbbells and an elliptical machine in his basement.
Mr Pompeo said: “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 dietician. It was just me.”
He said his favourite restaurant remained IHOP, the ubiquitous US pancake house chain, but he now ordered egg whites and turkey bacon. At family meals he is “the guy that says ‘Yeah, I’ll have a salad,'” he said.
