Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo set rumour-mills alight with his significant weight loss, one that was visible when he appeared on Fox News where he is now a regular contributor.
Pompeo, 58, lost 40kg in six months, a move he attributes to regular exercise, healthy diet and discipline.
“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,” he told the New York Post.
However, after the weight loss prompted rumours that he was planning a 2024 presidential run, the former secretary of state was quick to dismiss these.
“The truth is, I’m really getting ready for 2044 and hoping I’ll be around in 2054,” he said.
He told the Post that he set up a home grum in his basement with dumbbells and an elliptical machine.
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. It was just me.”
Pompeo was one of the longest-running members of Donald Trump’s cabinet, serving first as director of the Central Intelligence Agency and then as the secretary of state.