Local cardiologist focuses on fitness with new nonprofit

In her practice as a cardiologist, Dr. Monica Aggarwal wanted to reach patients who struggled with obesity before they arrived in her office with related medical problems such as high blood pressure, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

"I found I was missing the boat a little bit," said Aggarwal, of Woodstock. "I was getting to patients late, after they had heart disease or they were overweight and already had knocks against them. I was thinking of ways to focus on prevention and ways to reach younger people."

To encourage people to get off the couch, move more and adopt a healthy lifestyle, Aggarwal launched Resist Inertia. The nonprofit organization was created to inspire people "to reject a static, inactive lifestyle and become empowered to change course and enthusiastically embrace health."

The group held its first event, the Centennial Dash, Sept. 12 at Centennial Park in Ellicott City. The untimed 5K run and walk was followed by a health expo which included blood pressure screenings, education on weight loss by exercise physiologists and diet education by nutritionists. Participants in the walk and run had one goal: Finish the course.

"It's easy to tell people they need to move, but hard to get people moving. I still find it to be very difficult to get people motivated, to get people moving to resist inertia."

She envisioned Resist Inertia as a way to give people tools to encourage them to exercise, she said.

"It's not about the weight per say," she said. "It's about being healthy. If you are a little overweight and exercise, it is better than being skinnier and not exercising at all."

About 130 people showed up for the group's first event, along with 31 vendors to promote health and wellness.

Aggarwal said she hopes to expand events into Baltimore County and also to get area employers on board with promoting health and wellness among their employees and establishing work-place exercise programs.

"Even at my work, the amount of junk food that comes into my office, it kills me," she said.

Another future goal is to give out complimentary gym memberships to encourage people to get moving and stay active, she said, but with a tiny catch.

"This is a membership that you have to pay when you don't go," she said.

Bob Marianeli, 67, of Columbia, is helping Aggarwal spread the word about Resist Inertia. As one of her patients, he was happy to attend the Centennial Dash when asked by Aggarwal, he said.

"I want to let people know that if you really want to do something, stay with it," said Marianelli, who knows about the power of exercise after losing more than 100 pounds last year.

"I think it's great that a physician, a cardiologist has started something like this, which can essentially have people making less use of her services. All physicians out to do it."

Marianelli used to live an active lifestyle, but long hours and a long commute caused him to "get out of the exercise habit and gain a lot of weight."

Health issues provided a wake up call.

"I just decided I need to get back to what I had before," he said. He began taking daily walks and riding his bicycle. "Once you get on the right track, it gets easier."

Marilyn Smedberg-Gobbett, 63, is volunteering her time to help Aggarwal with behind the scenes administrative duties. As a heart surgery survivor, the cause is something Smedberg-Gobbert holds dear, she said.

In her late 20s, she was diagnosed with a rapid heart rate and lived with that condition for 30 years before having to have emergency bypass surgery in 2005.

"For me, I have a family history and a lifestyle I had to change," she said.

Smedberg-Gobbert, of Laurel, is also the coordinator for the Central Maryland chapter of WomenHeart, a support and advocacy group for women living with heart disease.

"As women, we are so busy all the time taking care of other people, and we are tired and we don't listen to that as a really important issue in our lives," she said, adding "Just because you are thin and watching your diet does not meant that you are not prone to hypertension or diabetes or heart disease."

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