SPEAKER_00 0:00

There seems to be this belief about transformation in our world today that it needs to be happening really fast or you're not going to succeed.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Not to mention there's nothing more fun than me showing a picture of myself when I was 18 years old and then showing a picture of me at 34 and being like, BAM, it happened overnight.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Right. Which it did not. So people don't really notice these sometimes these slow changes that are occurring over time. And then so people all of a sudden, on in from my perspective as a physician, people come in and they're like, oh my gosh, I weigh 40 or 60 pounds more than I did. Like it's like they feel like it was just yesterday, and nothing changed and poof, they gained this weight, right? But really, there's this slow progression over time, and it goes in a lot of different directions. And people either have a hard time understanding that it's going to take time to go backwards to where you were thinner.

SPEAKER_03 1:06

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Um, or they don't expect things to happen uh over the time that they do, such as building something such as cardiovascular disease in your system. Um, so I think it's just an interesting concept that I think social media has played a big role in.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

Yes, because nothing, nothing says reality than showing somebody a picture of David at 18 years old and then a picture of David at 34 and being like, boom, you can do this in a matter of six months. And I'm not saying I do that, but there are a lot of people to sell and to manipulate and to inspire. Sometimes, again, people do it in mean good meaning, but like I don't I do it too, because you get hooked on the social media aspect of it all. You show a before and after picture and everyone's like, oh my gosh, that's amazing. And then you tell them it took 14 years and you're like No, like, never mind. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

It's like I don't want to talk to that guy anymore.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Yeah, I want to do what you did in like six months. Can I do that, please?

SPEAKER_00 2:03

And I'm it's like it just doesn't, it's not reality, right? And I think this, I mean, there's so many different areas of life that this um can occur. And what um what the internet has told us is that you can have what you want now.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Yep. You're one pill away, you're one potion away, or you're one diet away.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

And it's something that I feel like even in our practice for cancerous medicine is something we're fighting against in the sense of social media, because there's all these other not like traditional medical practices that are that are saying that they're gonna give you these results quickly when I'm not I'm not promoting that for our practice because I think what we do is a long-term play. And that's I think where you get the benefit, but that doesn't sell on Instagram.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

And the the current notion of root cause medicine and people kind of making these gimmick statements on social media. Uh, I believe you had a uh potential patient come in recently on that notion, like having GI problems and like in two weeks, I'm gonna fix all your gut problems. You got sold on some marketing play.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

And within two weeks, no change.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Yep. And it's like, and I mean, you in medicine in traditional medicine too, we we do things that patients are expecting a fast change, and we just have to give them the right expectations about it, right? But um, so I see that's this all so much on the medicine side, and you have experienced it personally from the weight loss side.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

So, um, in your years of being in this weight loss transformation kind of area, where have you seen people go uh the wrong direction, I guess?

SPEAKER_01 3:53

And too many ways to count. Um I guess I guess one of the places I like to start off off the rip. I've had other friends of mine on social media with weight loss transformations speak on this subject. It is wild to me the amount of people that lose, say they're say there are hundreds of pounds overweight. They lose 60, 70, 80, 100 pounds in whatever timeline, usually relatively quickly, and they start grass, like start building this cult following. And once you have eyeballs, you have opportunity to make money. And I get it, plenty of people use it as their way of like they truly believe they're contributing back. I've been in that phase where uh I have to now coach and educate everyone else like what I did, because look what I did. And it is fascinating to me how many people on the internet lose 50, 70, 80 pounds, especially doing some fad diet over a relatively short amount of time. And they're like, time to be a coach. They're not sustained, they're not even at their goal yet, and they're already coaching people. And you want to talk about jumping steps. Uh, I didn't take on a client for the first time until after I had been down 180 to 200 pounds for like two years, three years.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

Was that a deliberate move, or is that just kind of how it happened? Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

I honestly was like, who am I? Like, I I at the beginning I did an inspirational stuff. Like I was like an inspirational type deal, but from like a, I'm gonna take on a client to teach them what I did. I had already lost the weight. And I think I don't I had my extra skim roller surgeries until I first started to actually take on that front. And it is wild to me how many people go from literally still in the process, still figuring it out, still feeling figuring out sustainability. It's like, yeah, I'm gonna be a coach. And it's like that that's the world we live in today. You want to talk about like this whole process of slow transformation versus quick validation. That is the that is the crux of it all, which is uh once you've seen some validation through the process, it's like, now I need to coach because that's the next thing you need to do. It's like pump the brakes.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

And I think the whole rise of the GLP1 type medications has contributed to this. And obviously, we like these medications. We use them in the appropriate people. Um, and I think they're incredibly they're an incredibly beneficial tool. But I think just having them in the world has made people almost like greedier for this faster response. And even I will start people on these meds and I bring them back and they've lost, say, 10 pounds in six or eight weeks or something. And I I walk into the room all pumped and excited for them. And they're kind of like, yeah, but I want them good. But and yeah, it's like they they're happy with the weight loss, but it's like there's a but there, like, but why isn't it faster? And I just think that's um, it's kind of a sad way to kind of work through some of these goal changes because this is not about speed. This is about uh sustainability and success and making the progress, regardless of how fast it goes.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

Well, because it's it's interesting enough on sustainable, like because there's certain areas of the world where dead sprints have merit. Like building a practice, there's a level of, or in business, for example, there's a level of like massive risk sprint for two to three, four years, and then you can pull off the br pull off the gas and really run through it for the like then kind of coast the rest of your life.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

But you still said it still takes three or four or five, whatever, years. So I guess it also depends on what you consider fast.

SPEAKER_01 7:56

That's right. Because yeah, because this instant gratification world in we live in fits every merit because the amount of people that think they're gonna be uh day trading experts and in a matter of six months they're gonna be pulling in millions of dollars and blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, we just the the general world we live in today, um, because of the pace, we get caught up in these sustainability problems. And we just like, it's either all or none, all or none, all or none. The same thing with on a whole different front from outside health was is uh with like these data centers. Like everyone's losing their mind from both sides because no, we can't do any. And it's like, oh, we have too many, and everyone's just sensationalizing everything today because that's the culture we live in. And it's not sexy to go, hey, let's just meal prep and do the basics, kind of.

SPEAKER_00 8:48

When I was asking Jana on this topic if she had anything that came to mind, and the first thing she said like right away was muscle building. Yep. Because uh she's been working, both of us, but she's been working on strength training for five years now. And let me tell you, people, the change didn't happen in the first six weeks. There was very little change in six weeks. It's been only probably in within like three the past two to three years that the change has been really dramatic.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

Well, and and funny story with that, like that's always the classic in so many capacities. Um uh my buddy's wedding we went to in the in the Detroit. Yeah, like uh, who would have thought, I'm sure, like thinking about you and your sister, Cerica, long distance running, no real strength training, the general leanness you guys were at to last fall when we went to that wedding, um uh all the guys there were like, damn, she's got better arms than me. And they all got all the all these dudes were saying that. And it's like, but that took 40 years at that point. And contrary to popular belief, like, you think you're gonna do these massive transformations in six months, you're not.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

Well, on a similar front, if you look at say long distance runners, this is not about muscle building anymore, because that's obviously not their thing, but who are the best marathon runners? It's typically people that have been running for uh you know a decade plus. It's these people like in their, you know, in their 30s sometime. Whereas you see a lot of times you see a sprinter or these um uh shorter distance races racers and they're in their early 20s. It takes time to build that engine that gets you that long distance running, that cardiorespiratory fitness as you build it. And like I've noticed that because I used I ran for a decade. And the the where my cardiorespiratory fitness is now is only there because I ran solely for 10 years. I would not have this if I just ran for a year or if I trained for one marathon or something like that. It it takes so much time to get these these outcomes that people want.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

Yeah, and you and you get the perspective of like now uh it is a fascinating experience to hear more and more and more. Where um on Monday I had a meeting at a um coffee shop with a couple of golf people, and they were uh they were like from a national, big national organization. And we were just talking, chopping it up as a quick meeting because they just happened to be in town from New York and they were like, Hey, can we get connected? I was like, Yeah, sure. So we sit down and we're having a conversation, connecting, all this kind of stuff. Towards the end of the conversation, um the wait, my weight loss transformation came up. Because we were talking about communities and all this kind of stuff and social media, and this guy looks at me and goes, I would have never known you used to be 400 pounds because he goes, You're friggin' jacked. And it's funny because Serca David losing 200 pounds, you look at pictures of me back then, I mean, I look fine, but crazy, but that was 10 years ago now. Um, and then if you look at me 14 years ago, I was 400 pounds. And so, like when you you put in perspective of regiment, routine, and systems for decades, that's where you can actually look back at and go, Yes, I made a massive shift. But at any point in time in the last 10 years, if you cut that pie and say, look at from the ages of me 21 to 24, what would you have said? You did a pretty cool thing from 24 to 28. That's pretty cool. Then that that 29 when I did my first bodybuilding show, like now you're building a stride. And then it's like if I competed again, and now where I'm at today, that's when you sit down, people are like, you're jacked. And like that would like it didn't happen overnight. It did not happen overnight.

SPEAKER_00 13:05

Well, it's the same idea. Like, if you um I listened to this this podcast called How I Built This, this was pretty well known. And they're always talking to these founders who have built these companies, right? And a lot of these founders will say things about how people have commented about how they're an overnight success. And none of them ever are, right? This always takes these people years to build a company to the place that it is, that it's super uh you know, successful. And so um, in so many areas of life, this time, people just want it or see it in a way that it's not necessarily realistic.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

And because when you when we start unpacking this idea of like, guys, sustainability over uh quick fixes in this process is like I always ask this question often to uh people in a weight loss transformation what sounds what sounds better for you? Do you want to lose 200 pounds in the next 12 months and be on this absolute high high when you hit this arbitrary weight loss goal, but then lose perspective after it and then slowly gain the weight back or gain the weight back relatively quickly because you have no idea really what it takes to maintain this process, or it takes you five years to drop 200 pounds, but you never go back because you get the idea of sustainability, indulgence, relationship with food. You're at a position where you no longer have this fear on the back of your mind of these massive volatile swings. And it's like getting someone to be prospective of however long this takes is almost irrelevant if you can't sustain it. It doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

And the research supports that, correct?

SPEAKER_01 14:59

That so we you looked into it a bit. I don't I don't, from my understanding, crazy enough, the f the the pace in which, and like I think you re you research into it, the pace in which you lose weight actually doesn't matter as much. Um it has to do with the systems around, at least when it comes to weight loss. Less to do with intensity, more to do with systems. And like crazy enough, I like because I'm actually part of the national weight loss control registry.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

I think that's cool.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

And um when you look at the top five.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

So David's really good. That's how he's in this registry, right? You have to have been down how much weight?

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Uh you have to have maintained either to 10 or 20 percent of your body weight for I think it's three years. Okay. So I'm actually 40% of body weight plus for 14 years.

SPEAKER_00 15:53

So you're any small minority of people.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

I would also put into perspective too. The one thing about these these numbers is like I wish it'd be even more specific, like it's body fat, stuff like that, because obviously I've gained a lot of weight. I've gained a decent amount of weight over the last four or five years, but I've gained an excessive amount of muscle. My body fat's been relatively consistent.

SPEAKER_00 16:14

And so like Yeah, they should track that.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

It's that's why oftentimes now I don't say uh I've lost uh 200 pounds. I usually say I've lost 200 pounds of body fat.

SPEAKER_03 16:24

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

Because the pro technically now at me being at 250-ish, that means I've lost around 165 pounds, 170 pounds instead of 200, but I've put on 30 to 40 pounds, 30 pounds of muscle over the last decade. Right. So like And that matters.

SPEAKER_00 16:44

Like it's not just about the weight, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:47

Um, and so like that that always puts into perspective of the whole process.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

So yeah, and I think um looking at it from like the opposite direction, too. This is what I do very frequently in my practice is trying to get people to understand what cardiovascular risk really means and how it develops. Because it's these people that don't care that much or they're not that worried about, say, their blood pressure being high or their cholesterol being high. And they think, oh, I'll just quick make a change later if my cholesterol goes up or if my blood pressure goes up. And that's not how it works. You have to make the changes now so that you don't get to that point. Because once you hit that point, good luck trying to bring it back.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

I'll bring this right to the camera. Let's have a conversation. You do not reverse cardiovascular disease.

unknown 17:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

Athosclerosis, you do not reverse it. There has been no consistent study ever that has shown once you have athosclerotic plaque buildup, you can reverse it. There are strategies out there that have been known to stop it from growing or at least at at the same pace. But people, once you have plaque buildup, there's no going back. And so it's super important that you stay ahead of it because there's no going back. Like that's very well stated. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

Very well stated. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

I'm not the son of a cardiologist where like that would be you would make him proud.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

Because I think it's like people that aren't worried about it now, it's like, no, this is when you do need to be worried about it. You cannot wait to make the positive changes that are going to prevent this.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

But but my see my my core my uh calcium score says coronary calcium scores is zero.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

If your coronary calcium score says it's zero when you're 85, great.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

Doesn't mean there's no plaque buildup, actually.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

I know, but I know, but we're not going into the details of that. But uh but when you're 35 and it's zero, that doesn't mean you can't that that you're not supposed to worry about the lifestyle changes you're or lifestyle factors you're doing right now. Like this is the time to keep it at zero.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 18:57

And so I think um it's funny how people they want that quick it's almost like they want that quick fix for the positive things, but then they kind of ignore the the long-term negative consequences. I don't know if I'm explaining this right, but do you get what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 19:15

Well, yeah, because it's because we we live in a time where uh we have I have plenty of friends that their mantra is this. And if you are one of my friends and you say this, I'm I'm not judging you, I'm just stating a fact. They drink too much. Their liver enzymes go up. They go, ooh, I need to have a alcohol cleanse because my liver enzymes are now going up. So they limit their alcohol for their liver enzymes to come back down and then back to drinking. Yeah. And they think that that that's actually a like a like you think you did something. Yeah. And it's like, no, you really didn't do anything. Like, you still have all these precursors to all these problems, but just because you lowered your alcohol consumption for a three to six month time period, so your liver enzymes came down, does not mean you're building a healthy lifestyle.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

Well, and I mean, it's the same idea. I mean, you brought up like a detox. And it's like, well, why are we needing to detox if we are making the lifestyle choices that will keep us healthy long term? We shouldn't need these quick detoxes. Like what you do, a detox for what? I don't even know. I've never done one for a month. I don't know. Like, in that supposed to give you long-term health. It just doesn't make any sense. That's diet culture.

SPEAKER_01 20:37

That's di culture marketing. Um, on previous episodes, we talked about the idea of they believe people believe you can pay to good health. And like, yes, pharmaceuticals have their place that can help that process. And if anything, way above supplementation, but we won't I won't even get into the details. Another conversation. Um, but in general, uh the majority of the quality of your health you can't really pay for. Food quality, eating more whole foods and fiber, sometimes in very specific situations, may cost more. I would argue they don't. Like I my post on link uh on TikTok on my page, listen. So uh let me pull it up real quick.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

Was this a post from the podcast?

SPEAKER_01 21:22

Uh from last episode.

SPEAKER_00 21:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:23

So I brought up the whole conversation of um that until we have a conversation about the general health of the average American and taking accountability for their lifestyle, we're not gonna make huge change. And again, doesn't take away the importance of the adjustments of how insurance is ran today and how there's a there's plenty of other blames. We went to that manifest uh event on Tuesday. The the point was don't point fingers in one direction. We need to all take accountability for the different angles that everyone plays in the healthcare space that is called. The dumpster fire, which is the healthcare problem. And it's not one direction. It's not just insurance. It's not just doctors. It's just not just health hospital systems. It's not just patients.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

Lots of different reasons.

SPEAKER_01 22:11

It's like obesity with anti-diet diet club. Unless you want to talk about all the nuances that come into play with this situation, people want simple one-word answers. It's not life. But so I put this post up talking about that. I literally said it like this, guys. I was like, guys, insurance has a problem, this has a problem, but we also need to talk about the accountability of the average American in the decision making.

SPEAKER_00 22:34

Do people not like this? No. Oh.

SPEAKER_01 22:36

Let me let me read some of the comments. Um I got um this this this woman, like this, some of this comment up, like this little mouthface.

SPEAKER_03 22:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

Super funny. So like, and I I my response was hard pill to swallow. Um and then uh what were some of the ones? And uh it was like uh this guy goes, Siding with insurance companies is wild. It's like it's not siding with insurance companies.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

Wait, what why would they think you're siding with insurance companies?

SPEAKER_01 23:05

Because I said I'm not trying to hear I'm not trying to blame people in a whole, but they have to take accountability. And so someone put up, sure, let's uh let's side with the insurance companies uh and the poisonous food industry and blame people. And I commented, I'm like, food companies are not controlling people from eating fruits and vegetables. No. And um the guy goes, dude, 90% of the food is poisonous and making uh to make us sick, duh. And I go, food companies are controlling our food companies are not controlling people to stuff uh are are not stopping them from eating fruits and vegetables. And um uh where were some other ones? Like, uh but it again, it's it's this conspiratorial. The problem is that a handful of companies are controlling the food supply. Uh, they need to be broken up when treat uh when you treat animals like crap uh and then you get them, what what could go wrong? I'm guessing he's assuming that if an animal is not treated well, it somehow makes you more sick. I don't know. Most people are not eating fruits and vegetables. The average American gets like two servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

It's not that they're getting bad quality always.

SPEAKER_01 24:13

No, it's just they need to need them. But then you go, but then again, when you start unpacking this and people start saying it's well, it's cost, it's this. You know how much cheap beans and legumes are?

SPEAKER_00 24:22

Uh-huh. A bag of beans, so cheap.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

Rice and beans to stop starvation across the world.

SPEAKER_00 24:31

Like, like This is a conversation I have with my patients frequently, and everyone looks at me. Most people look at me like, you want me to eat beans? And then they're like, I've never even heard of a lentil. Yeah. I'm like, well, cheap and easy.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

Like it's not, it's not hard. And then all of a sudden you're leaving the comment. Well, most people are uh working 40 plus hours a week. They're doing this, they're they're doing this. They can't, they don't have the time or money to. And I'm like, you live in a dil like, yes, there are food desserts do exist. Yes. It's it's like the major like 70% of America is clinically obese, and and their lifestyle from that point in itself is causing so many problems. And you sit here and go, all I'm saying is eat more whole foods, eat more beans, legumes, lentils, and not so much pizza and ice cream, walk 10,000 steps per day, do these basics, don't smoke, don't drink, and so many of these clinical, like so many of these chronic diseases, high blood pressure, uh cardiovascular, like uh LDL cholesterol, and all this kind of they're predominantly done because you're too heavy and you sit too much. Most that's a lot of that, and so it's not sexy stuff. And like it's just, and then all of a sudden people were saying in the comment section, talking about, well, it's access to healthcare. I'm like, no, like, no, because most people in their 30s and 40s should not be on freaking uh Lipitor. Like, there's no, like, yeah, there's outliers, but the majority of them on it because they drink too much alcohol, they sit too much, they have too much fat on their body.

SPEAKER_00 26:05

Well, this is the problem with I am very passionate about prevention. Yeah. I want people to stay healthy. Yeah. I talk to all my patients about my goal for you is to not need meds. Yes, as a physician, my goal is my patients don't need meds, and that they live feeling great for decades, right? But the hard part is that this type of prevention is completely invisible, right? You nobody gets excited. They're not like every year, this was a great year. I didn't have a heart attack. Like, that's not how people talk about it. And so it's like nobody really celebrates these, these actual really great outcomes that they're getting from these decisions that they've made for years. Um, and I think that's where I think good primary care is not getting the validation validation. Yeah. Because you can't see the positive outcomes always.

SPEAKER_01 26:57

And the this a very similar notion. I think it was like a Tony Robbins type uh explanation, but it is fascinating the importance of um from a from a perspective of of your health, of what is your health worth and the value of it right now. And so like to know what your quality of health is worth to you right now, you need to know what it's like to not have it. And so here so like here's the question. All right, so a uh wom a woman is working at a uh a mill in a chemical mill, and there was a chemical spill, and the chemicals got in her eyes and it made her go blind. Okay, and she filed a lawsuit against her company that because of bad protocols, and she won a two million dollar lawsuit for going blind. Would you give up your eyesight for two million?

SPEAKER_00 27:53

No, absolutely not.

SPEAKER_01 27:54

No. Okay. Another situation guy working at a construction site loses his left leg to a bad situation. Uh-huh. It's a three million dollar uh policy for losing his left leg. Would you give your left leg for three million dollars? No. No. So when you start looking through the perspective of your life and what your value of your health is from a numbers standpoint, you find you're like, wow.

SPEAKER_00 28:17

I actually do value this.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

I do value this because I would not give up that amount of money for that situation. And it gives you a perspective of we've put numbers on this stuff. We have like if you look at the legal system, they've put a value on what it's what it means to lose a foot and to lose your sight. Because this stuff happens. Right. And so it's like, okay, would you be willing to sell that for that thing? And nine times out of ten, people are like, now that you put that in perspective, no, absolutely not.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

Yeah, they don't want to. I mean, a lot of people don't want to spend a lot of money on food, right? It's a in America, people don't, they always try to find the cheapest thing for food. But if you look at food as like this is your health you're investing in, I think it turns into a little bit different of a perspective.

SPEAKER_01 29:05

Well, I I love the quote. Do you primarily eat for taste and convenience? Or do you primarily eat to fuel your body? Um, because that kind of comes to together with taste and convenience. There is no question, 400-pound David would rather have pizza and ice cream than grilled chicken, lentils, and an apple. I I'm sorry. Like I as much as you you make delicious lentils.

SPEAKER_00 29:35

Well, don't worry, I'd rather have pizza than all than lentils.

SPEAKER_01 29:39

But it's just not reality. No. And and yeah, there is a process in which we like a long day ahead. And if we didn't meal prep like we did, uh I couldn't even fathom the idea of the current pace of of life right now between the med between the practice growth, bunker social, um wedding in four weeks, wedding in four weeks, um moving into your house and like like fixing it up and doing a couple of things. Um fitness, health, all this kind of stuff. Thinking about meal, like making a meal every single night. My brain is fried right now, and we're ripping at this thing, and I've I'm feeling pretty good. We're flowing.

SPEAKER_00 30:22

Yeah, I didn't know if David had the energy to get through this bike.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

Jenna, I stole one of your energy drinks. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 30:29

Is there some left?

SPEAKER_01 30:30

I drank it. It's all wrong.

SPEAKER_00 30:31

These are like Did you get a sip? I think I wanted, but I wanted another one. Uh Loom, we like you.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

We did not get paid to say this. But we like you. You can send us some more. It's delicious. Um, but just this whole mantra like, yeah, after a big day of meetings today, and you saw me, like, I I my uh my brain was jello at 420. The idea of going home and then making an entire meal right now, you're crazy. Like, I mean, it would suck. But we can go home. We have meal, we have some chicken there, we have some different stuff available that we can efficiently make a healthy meal in less than 15 minutes. You're right. If the mantra of quality of health means you have to spend 40 minutes every single day creating a healthy behavior on cooking meals, yeah, that would be crazy. That you don't have to do that. No. There's different strategies we can work through on meal prep, on all this kind of stuff that um is a harsh reality when it comes to building a quality of health that taste and convenience, you may f have to work, we may have to work through finding different strategies to make convenience more easily available to make healthier decisions. Um and it's just it's a it's a it's very interesting. Me being down 200 pounds in body fat for over a decade and harsh reality checks of this process, it's a lifelong affair.

SPEAKER_00 31:58

Yeah, it it's not a six-week program that then you finish and you go back. What?

SPEAKER_01 32:05

I know this is something that's personal.

SPEAKER_00 32:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

You actually experienced it yourself to me. Um, how long have I been saying I've been on a cut?

SPEAKER_00 32:18

Um so body. It was well, no, it's been more than that. It was literally our third date we went out for Indian food. Yep. And you were like, we're gonna enjoy this because I am starting a cut after this. That was our third date. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 32:35

And the seasonality, and there is this genetic obesity side of things where hunger, satiety, phases of life, it's been a grind to hold my weight lately. It's been a it's been a grind more than more than it hasn't. Okay. It's just there's a seasonal thing. Why do you think it is?

SPEAKER_00 32:54

No idea. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 32:55

Um, like, like I think some of it has to be the honeymoon. Like my when I say honeymoon, like, in all reality, I eat extremely boring.

SPEAKER_00 33:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 33:09

Before you, I ate extremely boring. Now you're you're But you're it's my fault? No, no, no, no. I'm just saying, like, it was safe for me to literally ask Tom, yeah, ask my parents. It was two meals in in tandem with two indulgent meals, and that's it. And it was like boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop. That was a system that worked for me for a very long time. It was safe. And now I'm pushing my comfort zone to Do we need to go back to this is important.

SPEAKER_00 33:38

Fried chicken breast in a crack pot?

SPEAKER_01 33:41

Or or as Tom would say, uh cat food.

SPEAKER_00 33:44

I mean, kind of.

SPEAKER_01 33:45

He'd call me he'd call it cat food. But like this, there's a pushing a comfort zone, knowing that like quality of life is eating different foods and doing things at a different capacity and and all that kind of stuff. And there's a learning curve to it.

SPEAKER_00 33:57

There is.

SPEAKER_01 33:58

Um, and like this, the the trying to find the balance of um how you indulge versus how I indulge. They're just different. And like there's a nuance that's a reality of this process. It's a lifelong affair, and some people have a proclivity to obesity and proclivity to this. So their strategies and the processes are just a little different. It's a learning curve.

SPEAKER_00 34:22

Are you saying that I'm giving you too many high calorie foods?

SPEAKER_01 34:26

No. Um what I what I am saying is it's been a learning. I we ate a lot of um tasty bites and chicken. I know I went through a phase of that. Um, but I do have phases in life. But like, but that but that again, like that's reality. The reality is there is on there is season seasonality in this process.

SPEAKER_00 34:46

Well, because you went from being a single guy, yep, doing ever you wanted, yep, to now having to think about somebody else.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

Yep. And their perspective. And like, for example, it's very easy from my point of view when I when I lived alone, I didn't have anything relatively naughty in the house. If I wanted something naughty, I got one serving, it came to the house and it was gone.

SPEAKER_00 35:08

We don't have much naughty in my house right now.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

I go through I find ways. I go through a freezer.

SPEAKER_00 35:14

We have ice cream, but let's just be real. Who bought that ice cream?

SPEAKER_01 35:17

Guilty.

SPEAKER_00 35:19

And who's been eating that ice cream?

SPEAKER_01 35:21

I haven't eaten my protein ice cream with it. But like, but again, that that general, it's it's just a different, it's a pattern change.

SPEAKER_00 35:29

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_01 35:30

We get caught up in these patterns.

SPEAKER_00 35:31

Patterns make it easier.

SPEAKER_01 35:33

Um, but like it's important. Like 10 plus years into this, do I have all the answers? No, but do am I way in a more of a pace of of momentum than I've ever been? Absolutely. Um just the whole idea of like going back to the the basic of it, the the process of knowing that there's a flexibility of instant graphication versus long-term reality check. And they're not the same thing. Yeah. And like being okay with knowing that the process of being healthier has a it has to be the decision of a lifelong pursuit has to be day one because there's no three-month play.

SPEAKER_00 36:20

No, there's no programs, there's no uh challenges for 30 days. This is for life.

SPEAKER_01 36:29

Okay. Now, um, we're actually we've been ripping for 35 minutes. And just kind of just shooting the shit. Uh takeaways. Yes, where do you want to? How to actually build sustainable transformation. What from your lens on yours is more from like a leanness to a strength. Um, mine's obviously from a obesity transformation to strength and being jacked. Um what what are some of the biggest takeaways?

SPEAKER_00 36:54

Uh for making sustainable sustainability possible. I think a huge one for me has been uh routine. I think people underestimate, or they find it boring to have a routine and they want to do something different, or they don't want to do the same thing every day. And it's like, well, you you can do that, but I think it is incredibly helpful to be like, I get up at this time, I do this workout, I eat this breakfast, I go to work. And then, like you said, we meal prep similar things, you meal prep a protein, you meal prep a vegetable. Like having these routines, I think is key.

SPEAKER_01 37:29

Especially when you have a very intense job where decision fatigue is real. And if you've spent the whole day at work or at career or whatever you're doing, it's like intense, intense, intense. And then you think you're gonna go home and make good decisions. No, it's very it's so easy driving home from work at five, six o'clock, your brain's fried and just stop at T Bell. Because you're like, oh shoot, I gotta make a full meal. I don't have something.

SPEAKER_00 37:54

But if you make it a routine that you never stop at T Bell, correct.

SPEAKER_01 37:58

Then you don't even have plans.

SPEAKER_00 37:59

But you never even think to stop at T Bell. I've never heard this called.

SPEAKER_01 38:04

Larry has never had Taco Bell. I have not.

SPEAKER_00 38:07

Never walked in at Taco Bell in my life. My mom did not like Taco Bells, so we didn't go there ever.

SPEAKER_01 38:14

You're missing out.

SPEAKER_00 38:15

No, I don't think I am. I mean, they always sound good. But see, the thing is, you as you said earlier, it's not about if it's not about always what tastes the best, that's not the main goal for your eating. If the main goal is I want to feel good and know that I'm making the right choice for my long-term health, that has to become the goal. Then you make the right choices.

SPEAKER_01 38:40

One of the biggest ones for me takeaways is the identity shift.

SPEAKER_03 38:45

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 38:46

I'll never like this is one that ha people have a really hard time with. Um this is why I say it often this light. 400 pound David and the person I am today are two very different people. And that's okay. There are pieces of 400-pound David I will love, cherish, and respect for the rest of my life. And there are pieces of 400 pound David that will never come back, that I'm disappointed at, and I I learned a lot from, but I'm never gonna go back to.m, there's no emotional depth to that. Like, who are you as a person? What do you want to be known for? What is the value that you put on yourself and your identity? Like smoking is a great example. Someone makes the shift that I am no longer a smoker. Like they're done. There's a decision in that where there's no going back. And the processes in which you make that a long-term affair adjust. Like that's what I find. So same thing with obesity. It's like low carb, low fat, intermittent fasting, GLP ones, this, that. These are all strategies to go, this is me. I'm building a healthier and happier me. This is the vision for the quality of life that I'm trying to be. Whatever methodology that gets me there is pretty much irrelevant because I'm building a healthier and happier me. And if that happens to be I use the tool of intermittent fasting, great. That happens to be I use this strategy, Mediterranean, great. If it happens to be this, that, these are all tools and tactics, but they're not who you are. The person you're developing yourself into and how you see yourself as a person is how you never go back. That's why so many people get caught up in the roller coaster all over and over again, because they hook themselves, they identify with a diet, keto, carnivore, whatever. They think that's who they are as a person. They lose a shit ton of weight. They identify with this, and then oftentimes, these fat diets, they start having health problems or or whatever. They're still hooked to this old self as well, and then they fall off the roller coaster, they identify themselves as still that old bigger person themselves, and they go back to old behaviors. And it's this rhythmic cycle over and over and over again. And until you're like, I this is I'm a whole different human being. I'm becoming a whole different person. When those shifts happen, it it does it's not as difficult to go back because it's like, hey, I'm not liking this current process. Cool, switch it up. It's fine. It's not a big deal.

SPEAKER_00 41:44

Spoken as someone who has been successful at an identity change.

SPEAKER_01 41:48

Just a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 41:49

Awesome. I think the m some of the main points are just don't fall for this immediacy that modern culture wants you to believe is possible in all areas. Uh it will take time most likely, and that is okay. Be okay with the time.

SPEAKER_01 42:05

You'll look back 10 years from now and be like, wow, I really made a shift.

SPEAKER_00 42:10

And it wasn't, it didn't take that long.

SPEAKER_01 42:12

That's the fun part to me is like fall in love with the process of knowing. You make some of these subtle adjustments, you don't that don't feel so crazy. And then you look back five to ten years from now like, holy balls, this is crazy. I feel like I didn't do anything, and I'm a whole new person. This is awesome.

SPEAKER_00 42:28

It does look faster on the other side, doesn't it? Well, awesome. Well, everybody, thanks for listening. Send us comments, send us an email, uh, get a hold of us on the socials. Love to hear your feedback and your comments, even if they can be ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01 42:45

Oh, I get we get some we get some fun uh social media clip comments.

SPEAKER_00 42:50

It's been great.

SPEAKER_01 42:51

I'm looking forward to this the episode this coming week on the farm. Farmor reps. Yeah, I know that. That's gonna get real fun. I'm sure those can be exciting.

SPEAKER_00 42:59

All right, everybody. Have a good one.

SPEAKER_01 43:01

We'll talk to you later.

SPEAKER_00 43:02

Bye.