Living the Life You've Always Imagined

What if I told you there were pharmacy students who lead by example- not just in WANTING to do so, but actually PRACTICE that integrity through the actions they take in their personal and professional lives? 

Healthcare professionals already putting what they learn and preach into practice by putting in the WORK to make their #health a priority.

To invest in their OWN health, so that they can bring their very best selves to the patients they serve, and inspire those with whom they work to do the same for themselves?

THAT is what #TheFitPharmacist movement is: a community for inspiration, collaboration, and sharing our journey in staying fit in Pharmacy!

By sharing our struggles and successes, we can help empower each other to live our best lives and lead by example!

Every Friday for over a year, I’ve been featuring an individual who embodies this lifestyle to help YOU on your own journey!

This week's #FitPharmacistFriday feature story is future Fit Pharmacist Colton Young, PharmD(c)!

Being a #FitPharmacist means treating your body the way you’d hope and want your patients to treat theirs on a daily basis. Giving patients advice on how to control some of the bodily issues they may be encountering simply with diet and exercise. 

In high school, I was at my heaviest weight of 238 pounds. It was a huge insecurity of mine. Constantly trying to find clothes that didn’t “stick” to my skin as I called it, AKA more slim fitting clothes. I had gone through a lot during my days in elementary school (K-8thgrade). I had been placed on several medications to help with the issues I was having at the current time and the side effects had hit me HARD.

I was constantly eating in the middle of the night, didn’t want anything to do with physical activity, and was constantly on the fence of pre-diabetes. This continued until I was told something had to change or I was going to fall into diabetes and my life would forever change, and for someone that hated needles this was not an option. This pivotal moment in my life was when I finally decided something had to change. I decided to begin weening myself off said medications at this point in my life as I had grown out of the issues I was having and was capable of functioning without them.  

Going into my senior year of High school I was beginning to grow taller so things were starting to even out body wise. I still continued to feel these self-conscious feelings I had been experiencing since a young age. This was about the time I began working at a local gym in my town as a front desk associate.

My sister happened to attend the gym I was working at and dragged me to the gym with her one day, so I went and when I say I was dying I was DYING. I never realized the damage I had caused to my cardiovascular system and how out of shape I actually was. Something about the way I felt after we finished was addicting. I caught the “fitness bug” as I called it. I began working out every single day after my shifts at work and began seeing results and it became ADDICTING.

My diet still wasn’t on par with what I was doing in the gym, but I still continued going to the gym on and off for about a year after I graduated and lost weight here and there but then everything began to freeze. The results had stopped, my weight wasn’t moving anymore, and I was getting frustrated. 

The summer after my first year of college I reached out to a personal trainer. I began going every day after I got off of work at 9 AM after going in at 4:45 AM M-F. This is when my life began to change.

I began changing my diet for the first time and I wouldn’t touch anything remotely close to a starch, I had begun watching many different influencers on YouTube; learning to count “Macros”, completely cut out sugar, wouldn’t touch anything that I thought to even be remotely unhealthy - which in turn became a big mistake. I kept myself so disciplined that after I got the results I wanted, I got a taste of sugar again and lost it. I began eating normally again and my weight began to fluctuate because I would continue to kill it in the gym but wasn’t doing the same in my diet. I continued this for about a year; this was also around the time I began my pharmacy journey. I had decided to go to pharmacy school the following fall of this same year, 2016, and began working as a tech in a local independent pharmacy. 

As I began working as a tech and continuously filling large prescription orders for patients that didn’t seem to care for their bodies, it was kind of a wakeup call for me. I told myself I wasn’t going to be one of those people. The people that walk into the pharmacy that have 13+ prescriptions and need them all for either a reason or because of side effect of another medication they are taking. Now, with me pharmacy student and pharmacy technician you might be thinking, “Colton why would you not advocate for people to be on medications? Hello! Job security!?”

Well I myself would much rather control my body with diet and exercise than be on a schedule of taking medications every single day. Something I’ve always thought to myself is most of these individuals take the time each day to either get their medications in order for the day (or the week if they do it weekly) and the amount of time they spend doing that they could be spending taking a walk outside or meal prepping a meal for the week. It is all about what you want in life.

So, as my journey continued through school and moving through the pharmacy to all different areas I then landed in the area I work in now as a Compounding Pharmacy Technician. I couldn’t advocate for this more! As I begin pharmacy school in the coming months I hope to carry this value along with me as I get into the schooling aspect and also clinical rotations.

If I can touch one person’s life and change it for the better and let them have control of their life again without having to be on a medication schedule, my purpose in the pharmacy world from my perspective will be complete. 

As a student that is just a few months away from beginning pharmacy school I am still trying to exercise every day and be an advocate for health to the patients I see on a daily basis at work. Though the past few months have been rough and hard to make it to the gym because organic chemistry was taking over my life (we’ve all been there), I am making my way back slowly but surely.

I believe I am going to have to go reread Dr. Adam Martin’s book “RX: YOU!” that I read back in the summer and absorb some more advice on the subject of taking time for yourself. Editor's note: you can get YOUR copy on Amazon here!

Also, as I continue through my journey in the pharmacy world I will always carry the “TREAT YO SELF” mindset (and no I don’t mean spending money), but taking care of myself and allowing myself time to get away from the stresses of school. Even if it’s just a ten-minute walk it will be something because I want my patients in the future to take the advice I give them seriously and be a role model to them, and not be a “Pot calling the kettle black” situation. 

About the Author:

Hello everyone! My name is Colton Young. I work as a Compounding Pharmacy Technician in my small town in south eastern Tennessee where I was born and raised. I began my pre-pharmacy curriculum at Cleveland State Community College in Cleveland, TN and I am completing my pre-pharmacy curriculum at South College in Knoxville, TN and will be beginning my pharmacy school journey as a part of South College School of Pharmacy’s Class of 2022, which I was just recently accepted to, in June of 2019 in Knoxville, TN. I am very excited about the advancements in the pharmacy career and cannot wait to see what the future holds! As I move through this journey I hope to continue to be a light and advocate for the fitness world itself. I hope you enjoyed my article as much as I enjoyed writing it! 

The Best ways to contact me: 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/col89/

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LinkedIn: https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/colton-young-b3b73510a/

Email: [email protected]