Mike Pompeo Reveals His Weight-Loss Journey Hasn't Been All Positive

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been making headlines, but not for political reasons. Along with Republican Ron DeSantis, the former Trump insider is a possible presidential candidate. But Pompeo has been the topic of television and social media chatter because of his appearance after a 90-pound weight loss!

The former member of the Trump White House team talked to New York Post about his dramatic weight loss, which he started after he found he weighed almost 300 pounds in June 2021. Pompeo said, "I started exercising, not every day, but nearly every day, and eating right and the weight just started to come off." The 58-year-old former U.S. Secretary of State bought some weights and an elliptical machine for his basement. "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."

Pompeo revealed that losing weight has been a lifetime struggle for him. He told the Post that keeping weight off became more challenging after being elected as a Kansas congressman about 10 years ago, along with an injury. Pompeo told the outlet, "I put on almost a hundred pounds over the course of 10, 11 years — years that coincided with my foot injury — so I told myself that was the reason I gained so much weight." But despite his healthy change, some have not been kind about Pompeo's major weight loss.

Mike Pompeo's almost 100-pound weight loss is a huge transformation. Pompeo faced nasty comments about his dramatic physical change, despite his healthy lifestyle change. The former Secretary of State told New York Post he received negative comments from the public. Pompeo said, "The posts were pretty nasty or just inaccurate, speculating that I had health issues with my neck, or that I had cancer ... Nobody ever called me and really asked, 'Hey, what happened?'"

He's not wrong about the conversation circulating online. One Twitter user tweeted, "He [Pompeo] did that weight loss thing that looks like he's dying of cancer." Another speculated, "He [Pompeo] had a gastric bypass." A Washington, D.C. Twitter user observed: "Has Mike Pompeo discovered the 'I am running for President diet'? Whatever he did seems to have worked unless this is a body double or something." But journalist Aaron Rupar tweeted, "Mike Pompeo has lost an incredible amount of weight."

Despite the public chatter, the Post reported that Pompeo's friend and fellow West Point grad David Urban wasn't surprised about the weight loss. Urban said, "You don't graduate from West Point, let alone become number one in your class at West Point, without being able to be incredibly focused."