Meet James Boyce, a professional truck driver of 22 years.
James recently received the Million-Mile Safe Driver Award with Estes Express Lines, where he has worked for the past 10 years out of the St. Louis, Missouri, service center.
For James, the wake-up call came when he discovered that his home scale didn’t go high enough to record his weight. While at a shipper’s dock, he stepped onto a pallet scale. His heart dropped when he saw the number: 568 pounds.
Living the life of an over-the-road professional — getting miles, eating fast food, smoking cigarettes and pounding power drinks — had taken a toll on his health.
A bigger wake-up call
An even bigger wake-up call came when James’ DOT doctor brought up the possibility of disability. James says that scared the hell out of him.
Refusing to become one of the thousands of drivers the industry loses each year because of poor health, James made the decision to invest in his own health.
Desperate for a solution, he spent $17,000 on bariatric surgery and lost 240 pounds. The surgery changed how much James could eat, but it couldn’t change his behavior.
In the end, he gained most of the weight back.
That’s when James took a more holistic approach to his health. He sought out trainers, dietitians and doctors who knew more than he did — and he learned from them.
The results happened over time, not overnight.
Small changes that work on the road
James learned how to make small changes that fit around his life as a driver.
On the road, he generally eats three core meals built around protein, a carbohydrate and vegetables. His favorite menu includes salsa chicken, frozen vegetables and sweet potatoes. To save money, he puts a family pack of chicken breasts and a jar of salsa in a crockpot overnight and shreds the chicken in the morning, creating enough for several meals that he can prepack and store in the fridge.
He’s also a fan of the Hot Logic radiant food heater. In the truck, he plugs it into a DC outlet about an hour before he’s ready to eat, and he has a hot meal waiting when it’s time to stop.
From PM to PPM
As a professional driver, James understands PM — preventive maintenance. Now, he practices what he calls PPM: personal preventive maintenance.
For James, that means learning to control what he can and working to create the best outcome for his health, his family and his profession.
James hopes more drivers will read his story and take that first step: Make one change, see how it works and then work on the next one.
Bob Perry is a regular contributor to The Trucker. He has spent nearly the past four decades on a mission to educate professional drivers and share life-changing products and services to help them live healthier lives while on the road. Recognized throughout the transportation industry, from bus drivers to over-the-road professional drivers, Perry has played an important role in creating a paradigm shift helping regulatory agencies, private and public sector entities, and consumers understand the current health challenges of the professional driver. He has participated as a wellness advocate in several roundtable discussions, large audience groups and small forums as well as going “curbside” through a national truck stop tour.
Bob’s articles have been featured in The Trucker and a number of other national transportation industry publications and is the host of a weekly wellness call produced by Rolling Strong. Bob has been a regular guest on RedEye Radio and Land-Line Radio, and is often an invited guest on Sirius radio shows. He has been featured in the New York Times, Men’s Health Magazine, Drug Store News, American Road Magazine, WSJ, NPR, ABC National Radio, as well as hundreds of daily newspapers. He has appeared on television news shows across the nation, including a featured TV segment on ABC NightLine News.
