June 24, 2025 • 35 mins
In this episode, Tom Caravela and Alex Palumbo discuss the challenges faced by Medical Science Liaisons (MSLs) to stay healthy with a crazy travel schedule and stay free from "MSL belly." They discuss strategies for overcoming unhealthy habits and maintaining healthy eating on the road. The episode offers practical tips for meal prepping, managing cravings, and staying hydrated during travels. Alex shares workout routines and gym options for traveling MSLs, plus advice on managing sleep and jet lag. Emphasizing consistency, they highlight the importance of simple activities like walking and taking stairs to maintain an active lifestyle.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Hey, guys.
Welcome to the podcast, and welcome my guest,Alex Palumbo.
Alex, welcome.
How are doing, my friend?
Yeah.
Hi, Tom.
I'm fine.
Thanks.
How about you?
I'm awesome.
I'm awesome.
So, guys, Alex and I met through jeez, I thinkjust through LinkedIn, really.
We kinda met and we're going back and forth,and he had this really good idea.
(00:23):
But before we get into that, Alex, why don'tyou do an introduction?
Tell everybody who you are, where you're from,all that good stuff.
Yeah.
No problem.
My name is Alex Palumbo.
I'm a medical science liaison manager atAssassinika here in Germany.
And, yeah, I had this idea to talk with youabout a specific topic that concerns probably
many MSLs, and, that's actually it.
(00:46):
So I want to disclose that all the views,statements, and opinions I'm sharing on this
episode are my own, not of my former currentemployers.
Although I don't think that actually that mightplay a huge role with this topic.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
So, yeah, we're gonna talk about how to behealthy on the road and how to avoid MSL belly,
(01:07):
which is a term I never really heard of before,but Alex kinda introduced me to that.
So we're gonna get into that.
Before we do, this episode is sponsored byFierce Pharma Week.
Our friends at Fierce Pharma are doing itagain.
They're coming up with an other awesome event.
This is a conference that it used to be MassEast, and now it's a much bigger event.
(01:28):
It's in Philly, September.
So go to Fierce Pharma Week online.
Go to Google and just type in Fierce PharmaWeek.
It'll take you to the registration page.
You'll find out all the information.
It's not just a medical affairs conference.
Medical affairs is a part of it.
But there's also there's PR and communications,business development and licensing, and pharma
(01:53):
marketing.
So there's four different tracks.
San Diego, Fierce Pharma Engage was awesome.
This is gonna be the Eastern version of that.
So check that out, and, hopefully, I'll see youthere because I'll definitely be there.
So, Alex, let's let's just jump right into it.
You came up with this term.
You you told me about MSL belly.
(02:16):
Can we start there?
Like, what is that a real thing?
What even is that?
Well, it kinda is and it kinda isn't.
So the MSL belly is actually something that Icall which applies more a sedentary lifestyle
for work.
So you can actually put every job in front ofthe word belly, whether it's a sales belly or
(02:40):
or maybe an interest belly.
It's about that people have a sedentarylifestyle during work, don't move a lot.
And the term MSL belly is something that I alsoactually picked up on with my colleague from
the field because many of us have been PhDs inthe past.
So we were running around the nets, and we wereall skinny and fit.
(03:03):
But then starting as an MSL, you sit in the carthe whole day almost, and then, yeah, you don't
exercise.
You eat a lot of stuff, and then you get theMSL belly, and that's the point.
Well, so how common is this?
Is this, like, a common thing?
Is it, like, one of those things where, youknow, someone becomes an MSL and then all of a
(03:23):
sudden, because of the lifestyle, they maydevelop unhealthy habits, or maybe there's the
challenges of travel?
So talk about that a little bit.
Yeah.
So I have no statistics about it.
But generally speaking, when I talk withfriends or colleagues of mine who have been
MSLs for a couple of years, I almost alwayshear this phenomenon that by being an MSL, they
(03:49):
just gain weight, unfortunately, because withtraveling and appointment that you have with
with the physicians, it's kinda hard to reallystick to a rigorous diet or even keep up with
your exercise.
In my case, actually, it turned out the otherway around.
I will talk about that, I think, a little bitlater, how you can fight the MSL belly.
(04:12):
But, it's a phenomenon that you hear quiteoften about people when they're talking about
this.
Yeah.
We've talked about this before.
We've we've talked about the challenges of, youknow, the of how how to survive on the road
because it's it's not easy.
There's a lot of elements to it.
(04:33):
So let me ask you this.
What's the first thing or first piece of adviceyou might give someone in helping them prepare
for, whether it's a new MSL or somebody that'sbeen doing this for a while, on on what's kinda
worked for you and what's helped you?
So, actually, what one type of advice is reallybeing mindful.
(04:57):
So really look at yourself, look at yourenvironment, and always also consider how
things may change with the job that you takefor granted at some point.
Right?
Because you think you have to wake up prettyearly to catch a flight or to go to a customer,
so you don't do breakfast that well or orwhatever it is.
(05:19):
And I think, self awareness is really the firststep at all.
Yeah.
So self awareness and understanding, right,like, kinda what your own maybe health goals
are.
Right?
Whether it's fitness, health, I kinda almostfeel like this should start with diet because I
(05:42):
always think that that's probably the toughestthing in food choices, their your your your
healthy eating habits, and how you can maintainthat in the life of an MSL.
So what's worked for you as it relates to dietand consistency and being because you guys are
in and out of airports, like food choices.
(06:03):
Like, talk about that and what's worked foryou.
Actually, that's that's that's that's the theharsh reality that you face as an MSL.
Once you're out there, to be honest, you don'thave a lot of healthy food options.
It starts really with that.
At some point, you wanna make the changebecause you're self aware and you decide to do
(06:24):
so, but then you're like, well, if I'm at theairport or I'm at the hotel, you know, you have
all these sugary things or or also some fastfood, ultra processed foods.
And eating really healthy is something that youreally find on the road, to be honest.
And if you do, it costs a lot of money.
So something that worked out for me, to behonest, is meal prepping.
(06:48):
Really prepare your meal and prepare when youwanna when you wanna schedule your appointment
with physicians so that you don't rush intoappointment without having eaten before.
And then after that, you're so craving you'recraving so much food that you just bulge in
everything that you that gets in your way.
So really be mindful about because that'sactually the great part about beating MSL.
(07:12):
Right?
You are flexible.
You can schedule the appointments as you wishin the first place, then sure your clients and
physicians have to agree to that.
But that gives you the flexibility to do yourmeal prep and also do your exercise.
And, yeah.
So I think it's more about a systemic issuethat we're talking here in the environment that
(07:36):
you can't get rid of, to be honest, with thehealth with the unhealthy food options out
there.
But you can do it by starting cooking at home,which is cheap, healthier, and, also, it's much
more fun.
It gives you a better understanding of fooditself again.
Yeah.
I'm with you on that.
I'm a big meal prepper and planner.
(07:58):
I think the key to this whole entire equationwhen it comes to at least the food aspect of
this is preparation and planning.
I'm I bring food with me every day.
So every day when I come to work, all my mealsare prepped in advance.
So rarely do I go out and unless I'm withsomeone, do I go out and grab lunch or or
(08:22):
dinner or whatever.
And then when I travel, I prepare what I'mgoing to eat depending on the airport.
So I fly out of Newark, and I know what optionsthey have.
So if I wanna grab a healthy wrap or somethingon the way out, I know where all that stuff is,
and I bring bars, like protein bars.
(08:43):
Because I try to eat a lot of protein everyday.
I get, like, 200 grams of protein in a day,which isn't easy to do, especially when you
travel.
So I I'm a big advocate of protein bars,sometimes even protein shakes, like, when
you're in the airport and you just need to get,like, twenty, twenty five grams of protein.
Yeah.
That's that, I think, is probably the best hackfor staying on track.
(09:10):
Because if you're not planning it out, you'regonna grab the most convenient thing that's in
front of you, and it's usually not healthy.
Do you agree?
Yeah.
I I I totally agree.
That's what I meant, like, with plan also yourappointments with physicians because if you're
just in a rush and after that, you get thatglucose drop, you know, and then you just get
(09:34):
this food craving, it really disruptseverything that you that you work for,
basically.
And, also, what I want to really specify isthat meal prepping doesn't have to be something
that takes a long time one day or two, threedays before.
Right?
So you can even do or bring with you freshfood.
(09:55):
So depending on what diet you you you're goingto do or or also, you know, your, yeah, your
your health balance in in your body, how youconsume energy.
Sometimes, for example, in my case, it's alsoenough to just bring two eggs and a banana for
lunch.
Mhmm.
You know?
And and I'm fine.
I'm fine.
(10:16):
I'm concentrated.
I have energy.
It's right perfect that then after having theappointments around noon, you know, is often, I
think, several times for for positions.
Then you go out in the afternoon, and you're atyour and you eat your regular lunch at this
point.
And then you don't have any cravings.
(10:37):
You are still mindful about your body, and youhave the energy to focus and concentrate during
the compensations that you had.
Yeah.
No.
That's great.
I mean, that's perfect.
That's actually a really good hack.
Couple of hard boiled eggs, a banana.
You know, that's small, portable, healthy, andit fills you up.
Eggs fill you up.
(10:57):
Eggs fill you up.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Great way to get in, you know, some quicknutrition.
And it gives you still flexibility if you havespontaneous lunch or also dinner plans with
with with HCPs or in general.
It gives you the spontaneity to do so withouthaving some guilt, you know, on your shoulders.
(11:18):
Yeah.
For sure.
Let me tell you where I screw up when I travelis staying hydrated.
And a couple reasons.
Number one, if you're on a flight, you shouldyou should drink enough water to stay hydrated.
But at the same time, you don't wanna get upevery every twenty minutes to use the bathroom
(11:40):
because it's a pain.
Right?
Yeah.
So but that's an important piece of it becausewhen you fly, it just seems like you just get
dehydrated just naturally.
So talk about the importance of hydration.
What do you do?
I think there are there are two ways of lookingat it.
So there is this theory.
I don't know actually the basic science behindthis, but as far as I know, the body tells you
(12:07):
when to drink, so you don't have to force itdown.
But what I usually do, it's because also thatI'm someone who wakes up really early in the
morning and works out.
So the first thing that I do is, like, reallydrinking a whole bottle of water within the
first two hours after waking up so that yourblood gets a little bit, yeah, diluted, you
(12:29):
know, your system wakes up.
So for the flight, actually, what I do is alsosomething because often you have this TSA
passing, so you can't bring any water behindthat.
You have to buy it afterwards.
So what I would recommend to do is just justbefore that, drink a lot, and then you don't
have to buy highly expensive water in the dutyfree for, I don't know, how much money they
(12:54):
charge you for that, which is also somethingthat you want to consider.
And depending on the on the length of yourflight, well, at some point, you have to drink
again.
Right?
Because Mhmm.
Your mind needs some water, and you need tofocus also because I you also use the the
travel time to to prepare my talks, to preparethe meetings, or also to reflect on something
(13:19):
that happened before.
So and for that, you need energy and beinghydrated.
Yep.
Yeah.
My wife brings a water bottle with her becausethey have those refilling stations in in all
the airports where you could just you know,it's like a water fountain or water refilling
thing.
And, it's just I think because more so not justbecause water's, like, $70,000 a bottle
(13:44):
nowadays.
It's, like, so expensive, and it just, like,kills your budget.
But it's also being able to keep track of ofhow much you're drinking.
So I think that's pretty good hack, pretty goodhabit.
Let's talk about working out.
I'm pretty meticulous with my workouts andbeing consistent with my workouts.
(14:04):
I don't like to miss, and I rarely do.
I usually incorporate something into myschedule, but it's hard when you travel.
So give me give me some hacks, man.
What are you seeing?
I have three basic rules, actually, that Okay.
That I stick to.
The first one is the easiest one.
(14:26):
So whatever your training regimen is, whateveryou're working on, whether you are someone who
likes running or going to the gym and and hitthe weights, I have the rule, if I miss one
session, I'm allowed to miss maybe also anotherone, but latest latest, no excuses on the third
(14:47):
day I'm in the gym.
I'm working out.
K.
Because it can happen with congresses, youknow, in the morning, you meet a good colleague
or you talk with someone at breakfast, and andyou had or just don't have time, but there's no
way I'm skipping that third day.
So this is the easiest one to to remember.
And in general, when you're working out,there's a way how to look at work exercise in
(15:11):
general.
So either you're working out because you wantto become better at something, stronger,
faster, whatever, so you just have to bedisciplined at some point.
Or and I think this is the second trick that Ihave.
Also for you for someone else or for yourselfto just not put that much pressure on you, just
(15:33):
see working out as something that your bodyjust needs as breathing and eating.
So our bodies are done to move.
There's no way that this that's that the humanbody is created for us staying at one place the
whole time.
So even in the morning, just go for a lightrun, you know, stretch a little bit, feel the
(15:56):
the environment, also go out in nature.
I think that makes a huge difference withnatural sunlight in the morning or even in the
winter if it's dark, but it's better than maybethe light that you have in the gym because,
it's maybe also too bright for your system.
And the third thing actually is, something thatI see that I also consider after the workout.
(16:19):
So consider your schedule after your workout ina sense of don't go to the gym or go running
with the feeling of, oh, I have to do it now intwenty minutes because after that, I have a
meeting.
Because even though you do it, you feel evenmore stressed because you worked out in a
(16:40):
stressed way.
So just always see exercise as something that'ssupposed to be relaxing.
Yeah.
The exercise itself, it's stressing, and it'shard, and and, you're tired after that, but
it's not something that should be a mentalburden on you.
And I think this helps you really to stay morebalanced over the day.
(17:02):
Yeah.
Well, I'll add to that too.
One of the things that helps me when I travelis understanding the the availability of a good
gym Oh, definitely.
When I travel.
So for example, I always stay at the samehotels.
And I find hotels that have a gym and make sureI know what equipment's in there, get an
(17:27):
understanding of when the gym I like to get upsuper early, get my workout in before the day.
That way it's finished.
So for me, it's where am I staying, what doesthe gym look like, and when does it open.
And that
that's a I mean, that that's a huge hack rightthere because you're factoring it into the
(17:50):
trip.
Yeah.
I mean, I I actually had one one hotel chainchanging their their working hours for the gym.
So some depending where the gym is located inthe hotel, for example, if it's on the First
Floor and you have some rooms underneath, theydon't open the gym before seven in the morning,
which is for me way too late.
(18:11):
Too late.
Then I ask them, is there no way to go to openit early?
Otherwise, I have to go someplace else.
Yep.
And they luckily changed it.
I don't know whether it's for me or because, ingeneral, people were calling back.
Yeah.
But they also told him, like, otherwise, I haveto stay at a different place.
And, also, the problem with gyms at hotel oftenis they call it on so looking it up online is
(18:34):
not enough.
That's what I want to try to tell everyonebecause they say, oh, we have a gym, and then
it's just a treadmill and maybe a gymnasticbowl, and that's it.
So really take up the phone, call them.
Yeah.
Or if you look online, yeah, try to find somepictures of the gym so you get a get an, get an
idea.
Because what you also can do, and that's what Ihave figured out, at least in Germany, but I
(18:58):
think something like this should also exist inthe state.
There are apps where you can subscribe to, andthese apps allow you to go to different gym
chains in different cities.
Yeah.
And this this was really a game changer for mebecause now it doesn't matter where I am in
Germany, in Rich City.
I know there will be a couple of gym chainsthat I'm allowed to use by being a member of
(19:25):
this app, and I always have a great gym.
You know?
And so I don't even rely that much anymore onhotel gyms because also hotel gyms, depending,
on the location, whether it's a big city ormore in a small town, they are not that great.
Right?
But a gym is always a gym.
(19:45):
So this is something I can recommend people tolook up to to these kind of
Yeah.
That's awesome.
I mean, I don't know if we have that in The US,but it's I'm sure if you have it, you know,
where you are in in, you know, in Germany, I'msure if there's, like, a European app for for
that sort of thing, there's gotta be one in TheUS, I imagine.
(20:06):
That's great.
I think it's a great hack.
Here's the here's one of the challenges theother challenges I face is sleep.
When when you travel and you have meetings andthen there's a social aspect to the travel,
whether it's a conference or whether you'regoing to client meetings or whatever.
(20:26):
And now you're staying up later, and you stillhave to get up super early and work out.
So how do you manage sleep while you travel?
Well, you know, I'm just returning fromcongresses.
And so I I I wake up really early, but I alsogo to sleep really early.
(20:47):
And I know that sometimes these kind of wordsdon't say a lot to people, so I'm really giving
you enough time so people have an imagination.
So I go to sleep at nine in the evening.
You
know?
Okay.
So for some people, this is like, woah.
Okay.
I think I did this last time I was maybe ten orsomething.
You know?
Yeah.
But, yeah, I actually do.
I go to sleep at nine because I think I don'tmiss out anything in the evening.
(21:10):
There's nothing much to be done, so I rathersleep, and I wake up between five and six.
Yeah.
You know?
And so doing this now during congresses or whenyou're on the road and you have especially
dinners with with with your colleagues and andphysicians in general or you have events,
that's rough.
(21:30):
To be honest, that's rough.
But what I really do is I'm extremelytransparent and open about it.
So if I'm tired, I excuse myself.
I explain the situation because I felt like,well, next day, I have to attend some talks,
you know, or I have meetings with othercolleagues, and I want to be focused.
(21:52):
So I can't stay here until one.
And yeah, I I mean, that that's the problemwith with socializing.
Right?
Depending who you encounter, they may see itdifferently.
But I think as long as you are open and honestabout it, it is who you are.
And at the end of the day, the role of sleepfor the body is really something that you
(22:16):
shouldn't take for granted.
It makes a lot with the recovery of your systemand not only for exercise, but also for your
nervous system.
You know?
It clears up everything that you have feltduring the day.
And, I think everyone having a bad sleep atsome point in his or her life realized, yeah,
(22:36):
how they felt in the next day.
So I really stick to it personally.
I recommend everyone to do that.
Well, I think that's the challenge when youwhen you travel depending on what type of, you
know, travel you're doing, what kind ofmeeting, what kind of conference, if it's
internal meetings, if it's if it's KOLmeetings.
(22:58):
Because the social aspect creates there's thisobligation that you feel Yeah.
Socially, which interferes with could interferewith sleep, could interfere with your diet,
could interfere with your exercise.
Like, the social aspect becomes another factorin the challenge of staying healthy.
(23:22):
You said you have to be transparent and youhave to, you know, just explain to people.
It's not always easy to do because in socialsituations, you don't wanna insult, but you
don't want to upset the wrong people.
So talk about how you're able to stay healthyand continue a healthy lifestyle, but also be
(23:48):
social and not offend anyone.
Well, I have actually a trick, and I think it'ssomething that we people don't do that often is
I already start conversations about this.
Okay.
So often when I socialize with people, one ofthe main topics is weather.
(24:09):
Right?
But it can also be food.
It can be what you eat, what's your background,your cultural background, and so on.
And you immediately go into topics like health,you know, and healthy lifestyle.
And then all of a sudden, you're alreadyhalfway there to to make the jump of, oh, you
(24:29):
know what?
It's getting kinda late.
And as we discussed earlier, you know, and thenand then you get a better understanding about
it.
And I think also it depends I agree with you.
You don't want to upset people by just saying,oh, you know what?
Goodbye, and you just disrupt any conversation.
So it's not also how they perceive you, youknow, on the other side.
(24:52):
So be sociable in the beginning.
Show that they also care about them.
So you are you are part of the conversations sothat when you have to excuse yourself to to go
to sleep or or whatever you're you're doing thenext following that event or whatever you're
doing there, is that you don't have left theimpression of, oh, this guy actually never
(25:16):
talked all evening, and now he's leaving early.
That's kind of rude.
Right?
But at least when you're in interacted withpeople the whole time, they're like, okay.
Well, you know, he was fun.
She was fun.
Talked a lot.
We had a great time.
And, yeah, sure, it's late.
And now I can understand that.
Yeah.
So
we get have a different perception.
You know?
(25:37):
Yeah.
I think people will understand.
I do.
Especially in this day and age.
And what about like, what mistakes do you seeMSLs make?
We, you know, we talked about obviously,there's there's choices.
Right?
You you have to make these are these are notjust habits.
They're also choices.
(25:58):
But there's there's gotta be some consistentmistakes that you see MSLs making, whether it's
on the road or just with their lifestyle in inhow they're trying to be healthy but are
failing.
I think the mistakes that come into your wayare have two origins.
I think the one is self afflicted.
(26:20):
In the sense, you wanna be great.
Right?
You wanna make a great impression.
You wanna be that great MSLs that physiciansreally wanna talk to the whole evening, and you
want to share whatever you know and besociable.
And then I think being that or wanting to bethat that hard, yeah, you you just forget maybe
(26:44):
what is really important.
Because if you're doing this for, I mean, areally long time, at some point, you get used
to it, and, you have a really unhealthylifestyle, and that's when the MSL belly comes.
And that's when the point is, oh, wait.
Look.
Now I have this belly.
I gained 20 pounds, 30 pounds, and that'sactually already too late.
(27:06):
You know?
And then when you have another experience whereyou don't have that environment, then you
realize, oh, okay.
That was really unhealthy now all the way, butthat's already too late.
And I think the other mistake is alsoexternally in the sense of how your boss treats
you, your colleagues, what is the philosophy ofthe company.
You know?
(27:27):
Do you do you feel the pressure from outside,to to push it that hard that you can't even
take care of your own health or not.
And and, again, there, being mindful is notabout only about yourself.
You know?
It's also about the environment.
So if there is this nowadays, it's alwayscalled toxic work environment.
(27:51):
But if you have that kind of feeling, maybe youshould always think about it.
And I also say to people, colleague of mine whoare who are field personnel, I tell them, like,
dude, maybe that's not the right job for you.
Let's be honest.
Yeah.
You enjoy it maybe.
You to socialize with people, to talk aboutscience, and, you have all aspects of life.
(28:12):
Right?
But maybe it's just not the right thing for foryour health, and and maybe you should
reconsider that.
And I think this is really a hard part, right,because you worked so hard to become an MSL at
some point, and then seeing that it subsumesinto this kind of complex system, it's hard to
take this view, to be honest.
(28:34):
But, I hope that no one no one really isfeeling that way and on his job.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I hope not.
So last question.
What let's let's leave with what's what's,like, one healthy tip or a piece of advice or
healthy hack that you can offer to MSLs outthere that that's helped you that maybe can
(28:58):
help them?
It's a stupid one, to be honest.
A stupid one.
It's something that I did already for manyyears on purpose.
K.
But it is really buying clothes that are alittle bit too tight.
Okay.
Like, really?
So maybe not the ones that that you're wearingwhen you have your KOL or or in general
(29:21):
meetings with with your colleagues, right,because you don't wanna look funny, but maybe
in private a little bit because that shows youevery day that you are have a little bit too
much weight on you, and so that's kind of maybethe kind of motivation to get rid of it.
It really helped me.
I'm honest.
So maybe, the suits that I had or maybe reallytight jeans, you know, it's like, oh, man.
(29:46):
I really have to get into these.
And, it it helped me really physically no.
Because I think it's one thing to feel yourbody, but I think it's something else also to
see your body.
And if we are always running around privatelyand sweat, which is comfortable, but you always
have depression.
Oh, well, I feel comfortable.
(30:06):
It's fine.
You know?
But if you're wearing something that's a littlebit too tight, it disturbs you all day.
Trust me.
You're like, oh, man.
This is really too tight, too uncomfortable,this T shirt or these pants.
And then at some point, you really have themotivation, I think, to to get rid of the MSL
body.
At at least that helped me.
Did you have any tip on that?
(30:27):
What what helped you?
Yeah.
Well, I could tell you that's it's not that.
I, you know, I I definitely you caught me bysurprise on that one because I now look.
In all fairness, I think we all have certainclothes that are go to clothes for certain
(30:47):
occasions, certain events, or we feel a certainway.
But having clothes that are a little bittighter to keep us from maybe eating too much
because we don't want to, like, you know, feeluncomfortable in those clothes, I think it's
kinda genius.
I think that's actually pretty brilliant.
(31:09):
I've never really thought of that before.
For I think for me, again and I and this is Ialready kind of said this, but it's it's the
it's the planning and the preparation more thananything else.
The only way that I'm truly able to stayhealthy is to prepare in advance.
(31:36):
If you don't pack workout clothes with you,you're not gonna work out.
Right?
So that's part of the planning.
And I mentioned before about bringing proteinbars and meal prep and and knowing what
airports you're gonna get certain foods.
But the other thing is if you're not if youwanna if you're a runner and you wanna run
(31:57):
while you're on a on a trip, but you don'tbring your running shoes, you're not going for
a run.
No.
Definitely not.
I agree with you.
Yeah.
You know?
So I think that's that's an important piece ofit.
The other thing that I will say that has helpedme is there are some days where I may not get
(32:20):
the caliber of workout that I normally wouldget or that I would want to get just because of
time, meetings, schedule, more so than anythingelse.
So what I try to do is I try to factor in timeto walk.
So if there's a way if I have you know, if Ican.
(32:41):
If you're at a conference, it's actually easy.
You just because, you know, there there arethere's space, you get to just say, I'm gonna
take a walk or I'm gonna go to this booth orI'm gonna go here or whatever.
That helps because you're adding steps.
I act I actually I have there another hack.
(33:02):
I had this rule now for many years.
So whenever you have to go up, you take thestairs.
And whenever you have to you have to go down,then you can use an escalator on elevator.
Yep.
But at least when you go up, which is moreexhausting, you use the stairs.
There's no questions.
And at least there, you have a little bit moremuscle strength that you're training.
(33:23):
Right?
A little bit more movement, hindrance training.
So that that was also one of my points.
I always try also to get the longer ways.
So I was on a congress, and I wanted to get toa specific hall for a talk.
And sure.
I could follow the mass that that is goingthrough that hall, but I was, like, I was
(33:44):
making a challenge.
Like, oh, you know what?
I get the other way, which is longer.
And you know what?
I wanna be faster than anyone else.
And then also what I'm not doing is on theairport.
Don't use you can make actually a game of it.
That's what I'm doing.
It's it's a little bit weird, but you havethese, I don't know how they're actually
called, these these walking these thesemetallic things where you can walk on which
(34:07):
speeds you up.
Yep.
Work, to be honest.
But instead of using those and also peoplemostly use them to take a ride.
They don't even go fast.
So they just stand there and wait to gettransported.
Right?
Go next to them and try to be faster thananyone else by walking.
So, and I think these are little things thatexhaust you a little bit here and there.
(34:29):
You know, you make the extra steps, and you getout of breath a little bit depending on your
fitness, especially if you have your luggagewith you.
But these are the small things because thenagain, once you're at the on a flight, you're
there maybe for three, four hours.
You're just sitting there.
You're not doing anything.
Right.
At least Get something uncomfortable a littlebit before.
(34:52):
Yeah.
No.
I think that's great.
That's a that's an interesting challengeyourself a little bit.
That's an interesting tip.
Alex, thank you, brother.
This was fun.
I always I I love talking about health andfitness and diet and, you know, all that stuff.
I'm I'm a big advocate.
So I hope this helped a lot of people, andthanks again for coming on and joining me.
(35:14):
Yeah.
Thank you very much for the invitation, Tom.
I hope everyone is staying focused and healthy,as an MSL.
And, don't be afraid to share your views withwith colleagues, because I think this is the
way to increase the awareness and ensure thatwe don't get the MSL bendy old.
Don't get the MSL belly, man.
Fight the belly.
(35:35):
Thank you, guys, as always, for joining.
And, yeah, man, share this show if you got somevalue from it, and we'll see you next time.
Thank you.
Bye.
Hey, guys.
Welcome to the podcast, and welcome my guest,Alex Palumbo.
Alex, welcome.
How are doing, my friend?
Yeah.
Hi, Tom.
I'm fine.
Thanks.
How about you?
I'm awesome.
I'm awesome.
So, guys, Alex and I met through jeez, I thinkjust through LinkedIn, really.
We kinda met and we're going back and forth,and he had this really good idea.
(00:23):
But before we get into that, Alex, why don'tyou do an introduction?
Tell everybody who you are, where you're from,all that good stuff.
Yeah.
No problem.
My name is Alex Palumbo.
I'm a medical science liaison manager atAssassinika here in Germany.
And, yeah, I had this idea to talk with youabout a specific topic that concerns probably
many MSLs, and, that's actually it.
(00:46):
So I want to disclose that all the views,statements, and opinions I'm sharing on this
episode are my own, not of my former currentemployers.
Although I don't think that actually that mightplay a huge role with this topic.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
So, yeah, we're gonna talk about how to behealthy on the road and how to avoid MSL belly,
(01:07):
which is a term I never really heard of before,but Alex kinda introduced me to that.
So we're gonna get into that.
Before we do, this episode is sponsored byFierce Pharma Week.
Our friends at Fierce Pharma are doing itagain.
They're coming up with an other awesome event.
This is a conference that it used to be MassEast, and now it's a much bigger event.
(01:28):
It's in Philly, September.
So go to Fierce Pharma Week online.
Go to Google and just type in Fierce PharmaWeek.
It'll take you to the registration page.
You'll find out all the information.
It's not just a medical affairs conference.
Medical affairs is a part of it.
But there's also there's PR and communications,business development and licensing, and pharma
(01:53):
marketing.
So there's four different tracks.
San Diego, Fierce Pharma Engage was awesome.
This is gonna be the Eastern version of that.
So check that out, and, hopefully, I'll see youthere because I'll definitely be there.
So, Alex, let's let's just jump right into it.
You came up with this term.
You you told me about MSL belly.
(02:16):
Can we start there?
Like, what is that a real thing?
What even is that?
Well, it kinda is and it kinda isn't.
So the MSL belly is actually something that Icall which applies more a sedentary lifestyle
for work.
So you can actually put every job in front ofthe word belly, whether it's a sales belly or
(02:40):
or maybe an interest belly.
It's about that people have a sedentarylifestyle during work, don't move a lot.
And the term MSL belly is something that I alsoactually picked up on with my colleague from
the field because many of us have been PhDs inthe past.
So we were running around the nets, and we wereall skinny and fit.
(03:03):
But then starting as an MSL, you sit in the carthe whole day almost, and then, yeah, you don't
exercise.
You eat a lot of stuff, and then you get theMSL belly, and that's the point.
Well, so how common is this?
Is this, like, a common thing?
Is it, like, one of those things where, youknow, someone becomes an MSL and then all of a
(03:23):
sudden, because of the lifestyle, they maydevelop unhealthy habits, or maybe there's the
challenges of travel?
So talk about that a little bit.
Yeah.
So I have no statistics about it.
But generally speaking, when I talk withfriends or colleagues of mine who have been
MSLs for a couple of years, I almost alwayshear this phenomenon that by being an MSL, they
(03:49):
just gain weight, unfortunately, because withtraveling and appointment that you have with
with the physicians, it's kinda hard to reallystick to a rigorous diet or even keep up with
your exercise.
In my case, actually, it turned out the otherway around.
I will talk about that, I think, a little bitlater, how you can fight the MSL belly.
(04:12):
But, it's a phenomenon that you hear quiteoften about people when they're talking about
this.
Yeah.
We've talked about this before.
We've we've talked about the challenges of, youknow, the of how how to survive on the road
because it's it's not easy.
There's a lot of elements to it.
(04:33):
So let me ask you this.
What's the first thing or first piece of adviceyou might give someone in helping them prepare
for, whether it's a new MSL or somebody that'sbeen doing this for a while, on on what's kinda
worked for you and what's helped you?
So, actually, what one type of advice is reallybeing mindful.
(04:57):
So really look at yourself, look at yourenvironment, and always also consider how
things may change with the job that you takefor granted at some point.
Right?
Because you think you have to wake up prettyearly to catch a flight or to go to a customer,
so you don't do breakfast that well or orwhatever it is.
(05:19):
And I think, self awareness is really the firststep at all.
Yeah.
So self awareness and understanding, right,like, kinda what your own maybe health goals
are.
Right?
Whether it's fitness, health, I kinda almostfeel like this should start with diet because I
(05:42):
always think that that's probably the toughestthing in food choices, their your your your
healthy eating habits, and how you can maintainthat in the life of an MSL.
So what's worked for you as it relates to dietand consistency and being because you guys are
in and out of airports, like food choices.
(06:03):
Like, talk about that and what's worked foryou.
Actually, that's that's that's that's the theharsh reality that you face as an MSL.
Once you're out there, to be honest, you don'thave a lot of healthy food options.
It starts really with that.
At some point, you wanna make the changebecause you're self aware and you decide to do
(06:24):
so, but then you're like, well, if I'm at theairport or I'm at the hotel, you know, you have
all these sugary things or or also some fastfood, ultra processed foods.
And eating really healthy is something that youreally find on the road, to be honest.
And if you do, it costs a lot of money.
So something that worked out for me, to behonest, is meal prepping.
(06:48):
Really prepare your meal and prepare when youwanna when you wanna schedule your appointment
with physicians so that you don't rush intoappointment without having eaten before.
And then after that, you're so craving you'recraving so much food that you just bulge in
everything that you that gets in your way.
So really be mindful about because that'sactually the great part about beating MSL.
(07:12):
Right?
You are flexible.
You can schedule the appointments as you wishin the first place, then sure your clients and
physicians have to agree to that.
But that gives you the flexibility to do yourmeal prep and also do your exercise.
And, yeah.
So I think it's more about a systemic issuethat we're talking here in the environment that
(07:36):
you can't get rid of, to be honest, with thehealth with the unhealthy food options out
there.
But you can do it by starting cooking at home,which is cheap, healthier, and, also, it's much
more fun.
It gives you a better understanding of fooditself again.
Yeah.
I'm with you on that.
I'm a big meal prepper and planner.
(07:58):
I think the key to this whole entire equationwhen it comes to at least the food aspect of
this is preparation and planning.
I'm I bring food with me every day.
So every day when I come to work, all my mealsare prepped in advance.
So rarely do I go out and unless I'm withsomeone, do I go out and grab lunch or or
(08:22):
dinner or whatever.
And then when I travel, I prepare what I'mgoing to eat depending on the airport.
So I fly out of Newark, and I know what optionsthey have.
So if I wanna grab a healthy wrap or somethingon the way out, I know where all that stuff is,
and I bring bars, like protein bars.
(08:43):
Because I try to eat a lot of protein everyday.
I get, like, 200 grams of protein in a day,which isn't easy to do, especially when you
travel.
So I I'm a big advocate of protein bars,sometimes even protein shakes, like, when
you're in the airport and you just need to get,like, twenty, twenty five grams of protein.
Yeah.
That's that, I think, is probably the best hackfor staying on track.
(09:10):
Because if you're not planning it out, you'regonna grab the most convenient thing that's in
front of you, and it's usually not healthy.
Do you agree?
Yeah.
I I I totally agree.
That's what I meant, like, with plan also yourappointments with physicians because if you're
just in a rush and after that, you get thatglucose drop, you know, and then you just get
(09:34):
this food craving, it really disruptseverything that you that you work for,
basically.
And, also, what I want to really specify isthat meal prepping doesn't have to be something
that takes a long time one day or two, threedays before.
Right?
So you can even do or bring with you freshfood.
(09:55):
So depending on what diet you you you're goingto do or or also, you know, your, yeah, your
your health balance in in your body, how youconsume energy.
Sometimes, for example, in my case, it's alsoenough to just bring two eggs and a banana for
lunch.
Mhmm.
You know?
And and I'm fine.
I'm fine.
(10:16):
I'm concentrated.
I have energy.
It's right perfect that then after having theappointments around noon, you know, is often, I
think, several times for for positions.
Then you go out in the afternoon, and you're atyour and you eat your regular lunch at this
point.
And then you don't have any cravings.
(10:37):
You are still mindful about your body, and youhave the energy to focus and concentrate during
the compensations that you had.
Yeah.
No.
That's great.
I mean, that's perfect.
That's actually a really good hack.
Couple of hard boiled eggs, a banana.
You know, that's small, portable, healthy, andit fills you up.
Eggs fill you up.
(10:57):
Eggs fill you up.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Great way to get in, you know, some quicknutrition.
And it gives you still flexibility if you havespontaneous lunch or also dinner plans with
with with HCPs or in general.
It gives you the spontaneity to do so withouthaving some guilt, you know, on your shoulders.
(11:18):
Yeah.
For sure.
Let me tell you where I screw up when I travelis staying hydrated.
And a couple reasons.
Number one, if you're on a flight, you shouldyou should drink enough water to stay hydrated.
But at the same time, you don't wanna get upevery every twenty minutes to use the bathroom
(11:40):
because it's a pain.
Right?
Yeah.
So but that's an important piece of it becausewhen you fly, it just seems like you just get
dehydrated just naturally.
So talk about the importance of hydration.
What do you do?
I think there are there are two ways of lookingat it.
So there is this theory.
I don't know actually the basic science behindthis, but as far as I know, the body tells you
(12:07):
when to drink, so you don't have to force itdown.
But what I usually do, it's because also thatI'm someone who wakes up really early in the
morning and works out.
So the first thing that I do is, like, reallydrinking a whole bottle of water within the
first two hours after waking up so that yourblood gets a little bit, yeah, diluted, you
(12:29):
know, your system wakes up.
So for the flight, actually, what I do is alsosomething because often you have this TSA
passing, so you can't bring any water behindthat.
You have to buy it afterwards.
So what I would recommend to do is just justbefore that, drink a lot, and then you don't
have to buy highly expensive water in the dutyfree for, I don't know, how much money they
(12:54):
charge you for that, which is also somethingthat you want to consider.
And depending on the on the length of yourflight, well, at some point, you have to drink
again.
Right?
Because Mhmm.
Your mind needs some water, and you need tofocus also because I you also use the the
travel time to to prepare my talks, to preparethe meetings, or also to reflect on something
(13:19):
that happened before.
So and for that, you need energy and beinghydrated.
Yep.
Yeah.
My wife brings a water bottle with her becausethey have those refilling stations in in all
the airports where you could just you know,it's like a water fountain or water refilling
thing.
And, it's just I think because more so not justbecause water's, like, $70,000 a bottle
(13:44):
nowadays.
It's, like, so expensive, and it just, like,kills your budget.
But it's also being able to keep track of ofhow much you're drinking.
So I think that's pretty good hack, pretty goodhabit.
Let's talk about working out.
I'm pretty meticulous with my workouts andbeing consistent with my workouts.
(14:04):
I don't like to miss, and I rarely do.
I usually incorporate something into myschedule, but it's hard when you travel.
So give me give me some hacks, man.
What are you seeing?
I have three basic rules, actually, that Okay.
That I stick to.
The first one is the easiest one.
(14:26):
So whatever your training regimen is, whateveryou're working on, whether you are someone who
likes running or going to the gym and and hitthe weights, I have the rule, if I miss one
session, I'm allowed to miss maybe also anotherone, but latest latest, no excuses on the third
(14:47):
day I'm in the gym.
I'm working out.
K.
Because it can happen with congresses, youknow, in the morning, you meet a good colleague
or you talk with someone at breakfast, and andyou had or just don't have time, but there's no
way I'm skipping that third day.
So this is the easiest one to to remember.
And in general, when you're working out,there's a way how to look at work exercise in
(15:11):
general.
So either you're working out because you wantto become better at something, stronger,
faster, whatever, so you just have to bedisciplined at some point.
Or and I think this is the second trick that Ihave.
Also for you for someone else or for yourselfto just not put that much pressure on you, just
(15:33):
see working out as something that your bodyjust needs as breathing and eating.
So our bodies are done to move.
There's no way that this that's that the humanbody is created for us staying at one place the
whole time.
So even in the morning, just go for a lightrun, you know, stretch a little bit, feel the
(15:56):
the environment, also go out in nature.
I think that makes a huge difference withnatural sunlight in the morning or even in the
winter if it's dark, but it's better than maybethe light that you have in the gym because,
it's maybe also too bright for your system.
And the third thing actually is, something thatI see that I also consider after the workout.
(16:19):
So consider your schedule after your workout ina sense of don't go to the gym or go running
with the feeling of, oh, I have to do it now intwenty minutes because after that, I have a
meeting.
Because even though you do it, you feel evenmore stressed because you worked out in a
(16:40):
stressed way.
So just always see exercise as something that'ssupposed to be relaxing.
Yeah.
The exercise itself, it's stressing, and it'shard, and and, you're tired after that, but
it's not something that should be a mentalburden on you.
And I think this helps you really to stay morebalanced over the day.
(17:02):
Yeah.
Well, I'll add to that too.
One of the things that helps me when I travelis understanding the the availability of a good
gym Oh, definitely.
When I travel.
So for example, I always stay at the samehotels.
And I find hotels that have a gym and make sureI know what equipment's in there, get an
(17:27):
understanding of when the gym I like to get upsuper early, get my workout in before the day.
That way it's finished.
So for me, it's where am I staying, what doesthe gym look like, and when does it open.
And that
that's a I mean, that that's a huge hack rightthere because you're factoring it into the
(17:50):
trip.
Yeah.
I mean, I I actually had one one hotel chainchanging their their working hours for the gym.
So some depending where the gym is located inthe hotel, for example, if it's on the First
Floor and you have some rooms underneath, theydon't open the gym before seven in the morning,
which is for me way too late.
(18:11):
Too late.
Then I ask them, is there no way to go to openit early?
Otherwise, I have to go someplace else.
Yep.
And they luckily changed it.
I don't know whether it's for me or because, ingeneral, people were calling back.
Yeah.
But they also told him, like, otherwise, I haveto stay at a different place.
And, also, the problem with gyms at hotel oftenis they call it on so looking it up online is
(18:34):
not enough.
That's what I want to try to tell everyonebecause they say, oh, we have a gym, and then
it's just a treadmill and maybe a gymnasticbowl, and that's it.
So really take up the phone, call them.
Yeah.
Or if you look online, yeah, try to find somepictures of the gym so you get a get an, get an
idea.
Because what you also can do, and that's what Ihave figured out, at least in Germany, but I
(18:58):
think something like this should also exist inthe state.
There are apps where you can subscribe to, andthese apps allow you to go to different gym
chains in different cities.
Yeah.
And this this was really a game changer for mebecause now it doesn't matter where I am in
Germany, in Rich City.
I know there will be a couple of gym chainsthat I'm allowed to use by being a member of
(19:25):
this app, and I always have a great gym.
You know?
And so I don't even rely that much anymore onhotel gyms because also hotel gyms, depending,
on the location, whether it's a big city ormore in a small town, they are not that great.
Right?
But a gym is always a gym.
(19:45):
So this is something I can recommend people tolook up to to these kind of
Yeah.
That's awesome.
I mean, I don't know if we have that in The US,but it's I'm sure if you have it, you know,
where you are in in, you know, in Germany, I'msure if there's, like, a European app for for
that sort of thing, there's gotta be one in TheUS, I imagine.
(20:06):
That's great.
I think it's a great hack.
Here's the here's one of the challenges theother challenges I face is sleep.
When when you travel and you have meetings andthen there's a social aspect to the travel,
whether it's a conference or whether you'regoing to client meetings or whatever.
(20:26):
And now you're staying up later, and you stillhave to get up super early and work out.
So how do you manage sleep while you travel?
Well, you know, I'm just returning fromcongresses.
And so I I I wake up really early, but I alsogo to sleep really early.
(20:47):
And I know that sometimes these kind of wordsdon't say a lot to people, so I'm really giving
you enough time so people have an imagination.
So I go to sleep at nine in the evening.
You
know?
Okay.
So for some people, this is like, woah.
Okay.
I think I did this last time I was maybe ten orsomething.
You know?
Yeah.
But, yeah, I actually do.
I go to sleep at nine because I think I don'tmiss out anything in the evening.
(21:10):
There's nothing much to be done, so I rathersleep, and I wake up between five and six.
Yeah.
You know?
And so doing this now during congresses or whenyou're on the road and you have especially
dinners with with with your colleagues and andphysicians in general or you have events,
that's rough.
(21:30):
To be honest, that's rough.
But what I really do is I'm extremelytransparent and open about it.
So if I'm tired, I excuse myself.
I explain the situation because I felt like,well, next day, I have to attend some talks,
you know, or I have meetings with othercolleagues, and I want to be focused.
(21:52):
So I can't stay here until one.
And yeah, I I mean, that that's the problemwith with socializing.
Right?
Depending who you encounter, they may see itdifferently.
But I think as long as you are open and honestabout it, it is who you are.
And at the end of the day, the role of sleepfor the body is really something that you
(22:16):
shouldn't take for granted.
It makes a lot with the recovery of your systemand not only for exercise, but also for your
nervous system.
You know?
It clears up everything that you have feltduring the day.
And, I think everyone having a bad sleep atsome point in his or her life realized, yeah,
(22:36):
how they felt in the next day.
So I really stick to it personally.
I recommend everyone to do that.
Well, I think that's the challenge when youwhen you travel depending on what type of, you
know, travel you're doing, what kind ofmeeting, what kind of conference, if it's
internal meetings, if it's if it's KOLmeetings.
(22:58):
Because the social aspect creates there's thisobligation that you feel Yeah.
Socially, which interferes with could interferewith sleep, could interfere with your diet,
could interfere with your exercise.
Like, the social aspect becomes another factorin the challenge of staying healthy.
(23:22):
You said you have to be transparent and youhave to, you know, just explain to people.
It's not always easy to do because in socialsituations, you don't wanna insult, but you
don't want to upset the wrong people.
So talk about how you're able to stay healthyand continue a healthy lifestyle, but also be
(23:48):
social and not offend anyone.
Well, I have actually a trick, and I think it'ssomething that we people don't do that often is
I already start conversations about this.
Okay.
So often when I socialize with people, one ofthe main topics is weather.
(24:09):
Right?
But it can also be food.
It can be what you eat, what's your background,your cultural background, and so on.
And you immediately go into topics like health,you know, and healthy lifestyle.
And then all of a sudden, you're alreadyhalfway there to to make the jump of, oh, you
(24:29):
know what?
It's getting kinda late.
And as we discussed earlier, you know, and thenand then you get a better understanding about
it.
And I think also it depends I agree with you.
You don't want to upset people by just saying,oh, you know what?
Goodbye, and you just disrupt any conversation.
So it's not also how they perceive you, youknow, on the other side.
(24:52):
So be sociable in the beginning.
Show that they also care about them.
So you are you are part of the conversations sothat when you have to excuse yourself to to go
to sleep or or whatever you're you're doing thenext following that event or whatever you're
doing there, is that you don't have left theimpression of, oh, this guy actually never
(25:16):
talked all evening, and now he's leaving early.
That's kind of rude.
Right?
But at least when you're in interacted withpeople the whole time, they're like, okay.
Well, you know, he was fun.
She was fun.
Talked a lot.
We had a great time.
And, yeah, sure, it's late.
And now I can understand that.
Yeah.
So
we get have a different perception.
You know?
(25:37):
Yeah.
I think people will understand.
I do.
Especially in this day and age.
And what about like, what mistakes do you seeMSLs make?
We, you know, we talked about obviously,there's there's choices.
Right?
You you have to make these are these are notjust habits.
They're also choices.
(25:58):
But there's there's gotta be some consistentmistakes that you see MSLs making, whether it's
on the road or just with their lifestyle in inhow they're trying to be healthy but are
failing.
I think the mistakes that come into your wayare have two origins.
I think the one is self afflicted.
(26:20):
In the sense, you wanna be great.
Right?
You wanna make a great impression.
You wanna be that great MSLs that physiciansreally wanna talk to the whole evening, and you
want to share whatever you know and besociable.
And then I think being that or wanting to bethat that hard, yeah, you you just forget maybe
(26:44):
what is really important.
Because if you're doing this for, I mean, areally long time, at some point, you get used
to it, and, you have a really unhealthylifestyle, and that's when the MSL belly comes.
And that's when the point is, oh, wait.
Look.
Now I have this belly.
I gained 20 pounds, 30 pounds, and that'sactually already too late.
(27:06):
You know?
And then when you have another experience whereyou don't have that environment, then you
realize, oh, okay.
That was really unhealthy now all the way, butthat's already too late.
And I think the other mistake is alsoexternally in the sense of how your boss treats
you, your colleagues, what is the philosophy ofthe company.
You know?
(27:27):
Do you do you feel the pressure from outside,to to push it that hard that you can't even
take care of your own health or not.
And and, again, there, being mindful is notabout only about yourself.
You know?
It's also about the environment.
So if there is this nowadays, it's alwayscalled toxic work environment.
(27:51):
But if you have that kind of feeling, maybe youshould always think about it.
And I also say to people, colleague of mine whoare who are field personnel, I tell them, like,
dude, maybe that's not the right job for you.
Let's be honest.
Yeah.
You enjoy it maybe.
You to socialize with people, to talk aboutscience, and, you have all aspects of life.
(28:12):
Right?
But maybe it's just not the right thing for foryour health, and and maybe you should
reconsider that.
And I think this is really a hard part, right,because you worked so hard to become an MSL at
some point, and then seeing that it subsumesinto this kind of complex system, it's hard to
take this view, to be honest.
(28:34):
But, I hope that no one no one really isfeeling that way and on his job.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I hope not.
So last question.
What let's let's leave with what's what's,like, one healthy tip or a piece of advice or
healthy hack that you can offer to MSLs outthere that that's helped you that maybe can
(28:58):
help them?
It's a stupid one, to be honest.
A stupid one.
It's something that I did already for manyyears on purpose.
K.
But it is really buying clothes that are alittle bit too tight.
Okay.
Like, really?
So maybe not the ones that that you're wearingwhen you have your KOL or or in general
(29:21):
meetings with with your colleagues, right,because you don't wanna look funny, but maybe
in private a little bit because that shows youevery day that you are have a little bit too
much weight on you, and so that's kind of maybethe kind of motivation to get rid of it.
It really helped me.
I'm honest.
So maybe, the suits that I had or maybe reallytight jeans, you know, it's like, oh, man.
(29:46):
I really have to get into these.
And, it it helped me really physically no.
Because I think it's one thing to feel yourbody, but I think it's something else also to
see your body.
And if we are always running around privatelyand sweat, which is comfortable, but you always
have depression.
Oh, well, I feel comfortable.
(30:06):
It's fine.
You know?
But if you're wearing something that's a littlebit too tight, it disturbs you all day.
Trust me.
You're like, oh, man.
This is really too tight, too uncomfortable,this T shirt or these pants.
And then at some point, you really have themotivation, I think, to to get rid of the MSL
body.
At at least that helped me.
Did you have any tip on that?
(30:27):
What what helped you?
Yeah.
Well, I could tell you that's it's not that.
I, you know, I I definitely you caught me bysurprise on that one because I now look.
In all fairness, I think we all have certainclothes that are go to clothes for certain
(30:47):
occasions, certain events, or we feel a certainway.
But having clothes that are a little bittighter to keep us from maybe eating too much
because we don't want to, like, you know, feeluncomfortable in those clothes, I think it's
kinda genius.
I think that's actually pretty brilliant.
(31:09):
I've never really thought of that before.
For I think for me, again and I and this is Ialready kind of said this, but it's it's the
it's the planning and the preparation more thananything else.
The only way that I'm truly able to stayhealthy is to prepare in advance.
(31:36):
If you don't pack workout clothes with you,you're not gonna work out.
Right?
So that's part of the planning.
And I mentioned before about bringing proteinbars and meal prep and and knowing what
airports you're gonna get certain foods.
But the other thing is if you're not if youwanna if you're a runner and you wanna run
(31:57):
while you're on a on a trip, but you don'tbring your running shoes, you're not going for
a run.
No.
Definitely not.
I agree with you.
Yeah.
You know?
So I think that's that's an important piece ofit.
The other thing that I will say that has helpedme is there are some days where I may not get
(32:20):
the caliber of workout that I normally wouldget or that I would want to get just because of
time, meetings, schedule, more so than anythingelse.
So what I try to do is I try to factor in timeto walk.
So if there's a way if I have you know, if Ican.
(32:41):
If you're at a conference, it's actually easy.
You just because, you know, there there arethere's space, you get to just say, I'm gonna
take a walk or I'm gonna go to this booth orI'm gonna go here or whatever.
That helps because you're adding steps.
I act I actually I have there another hack.
(33:02):
I had this rule now for many years.
So whenever you have to go up, you take thestairs.
And whenever you have to you have to go down,then you can use an escalator on elevator.
Yep.
But at least when you go up, which is moreexhausting, you use the stairs.
There's no questions.
And at least there, you have a little bit moremuscle strength that you're training.
(33:23):
Right?
A little bit more movement, hindrance training.
So that that was also one of my points.
I always try also to get the longer ways.
So I was on a congress, and I wanted to get toa specific hall for a talk.
And sure.
I could follow the mass that that is goingthrough that hall, but I was, like, I was
(33:44):
making a challenge.
Like, oh, you know what?
I get the other way, which is longer.
And you know what?
I wanna be faster than anyone else.
And then also what I'm not doing is on theairport.
Don't use you can make actually a game of it.
That's what I'm doing.
It's it's a little bit weird, but you havethese, I don't know how they're actually
called, these these walking these thesemetallic things where you can walk on which
(34:07):
speeds you up.
Yep.
Work, to be honest.
But instead of using those and also peoplemostly use them to take a ride.
They don't even go fast.
So they just stand there and wait to gettransported.
Right?
Go next to them and try to be faster thananyone else by walking.
So, and I think these are little things thatexhaust you a little bit here and there.
(34:29):
You know, you make the extra steps, and you getout of breath a little bit depending on your
fitness, especially if you have your luggagewith you.
But these are the small things because thenagain, once you're at the on a flight, you're
there maybe for three, four hours.
You're just sitting there.
You're not doing anything.
Right.
At least Get something uncomfortable a littlebit before.
(34:52):
Yeah.
No.
I think that's great.
That's a that's an interesting challengeyourself a little bit.
That's an interesting tip.
Alex, thank you, brother.
This was fun.
I always I I love talking about health andfitness and diet and, you know, all that stuff.
I'm I'm a big advocate.
So I hope this helped a lot of people, andthanks again for coming on and joining me.
(35:14):
Yeah.
Thank you very much for the invitation, Tom.
I hope everyone is staying focused and healthy,as an MSL.
And, don't be afraid to share your views withwith colleagues, because I think this is the
way to increase the awareness and ensure thatwe don't get the MSL bendy old.
Don't get the MSL belly, man.
Fight the belly.
(35:35):
Thank you, guys, as always, for joining.
And, yeah, man, share this show if you got somevalue from it, and we'll see you next time.
Thank you.
Bye.
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