NEW ORLEANS — If you think getting older automatically means putting on pounds and getting out of shape, this familiar person may convince you to change your mind. He’s a former police chief who has lost nearly 70 pounds, and he can keep up with some of the athletes he’s trained.
Eddie Compass was the NOPD Chief when Hurricane Katrina hit. It was also his birthday, but it was the job he said he wanted that very first day at the academy.
“I said, ‘Chief Parsons, if I leave this job and I'm not the chief of police, my career's been a failure.’ And he looked at me he said, ‘Really.’ And I said, ‘Really.’”
So, why did he become a police officer?
“My whole life I was always someone that wanted to help, and when I looked at how could I help, and have the greatest impact on my community, I said there's no better way than to be a police officer,” Compass remembers.
But time took his strong, athletic frame of 160 pounds in his St. Aug days to 236 pounds in his police chief days. The weight of his body, and the weight of his power-lifting training, took a toll.
“And so when I had to get a double hip replacement, the doctor said, ‘You can't carry all this weight.’ He said, ‘Because you're gonna have to get another double hip replacement.’ So I changed my whole workout routine,” Compass explained.
But first, because abs are created in the kitchen more than in the gym, it started with diet. He thought because he could bench press 405 pounds, he could eat anything. He was on a New Orleans diet. It included lots of red meat, fried chicken, and red beans and rice. That changed to salads, raw veggies, fruits, grilled turkey, salmon, and chicken. Some meals were juicing.
And he did intermittent fasting, only eating between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. each day, with a total of 1500 to 2000 calories.
“I just started transforming. It was a transformation. And by me changing my diet, the inflammation started to decrease. Everything hurt all the time, and when I changed my diet, I was able to workout longer. I would feel better. I was able to get off just about all the medication.”
He is now able to challenge his athletic daughter with his workouts. With his new hip joints, he is more flexible than in his 30s. At 168 pounds, his body fat is now down to 7.5 percent. A doctor recently told him his metabolic age is that of a 49-year-old.
They couldn't believe it. The metamorphosis. My resting heart rate was 51. And, you know, Dr. Rob told me, he said, ‘You're like a walking miracle.’ He said, ‘You're the reason I do what I do.’”
Eddie has helped train some pro athletes and is now helping others with their weight loss goals. Two women he is helping have lost around 80 pounds.
“I say, ‘No matter how hard you train, how hard you work, if you're eating wrong, it makes no sense. You're wasting your time. You're wasting your effort,’” Compass tells his clients.
“I'm 65 years old and I feel like I'm in the prime of my life right now,”
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