June 9, 2025 • 23 mins
What if the secret to sustainable weight loss isn't found in rigid meal plans or punishing restrictions, but in a flexible framework designed to adapt to life's inevitable curveballs?
After experimenting with over 30 different diets throughout my life, I've discovered something revolutionary in its simplicity: diets fail when they demand perfection. In this eye-opening episode, I share my journey from 275 pounds to the 230s and reveal the mindset shift that finally made sustainable weight loss possible.
The breakthrough came when I made a powerful decision: everything in my life, including the food I eat, must bring joy. This meant no more choking down bland "diet foods" or denying myself simple pleasures. Instead, I created a flexible weekly framework that combines the most effective elements from various nutritional approaches—incorporating fasting, micro-fasting, keto principles, and modified zone eating depending on what my body needs each day.
My approach isn't about willpower or discipline—it's about forgiveness and adaptability. I explain how I rotate through different nutritional strategies throughout the week, starting with more restrictive days early in the week and building in flexibility for weekends and social events. This rotation has allowed me to lose weight steadily while still participating fully in life's pleasures.
Whether you're struggling with plateaus (like my current one), trying to overcome rigid thinking about food, or simply tired of diets that collapse the moment life gets complicated, this framework offers a refreshing alternative. Join me as I break down exactly how I structure my week, handle cravings, and maintain consistency without demanding perfection.
Ready to transform your relationship with food while still enjoying the journey? Subscribe now and discover a sustainable path to weight loss that bends with life's demands rather than breaking under pressure.
Discover daily tips and updates on the Hacking Fat Man journey. Follow on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube for transformation deep dives and more insights.
Link to download the Hacking The Fat Man Diet, Schedule and Supplements
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hi, I'm Drew Maness.
Welcome to Hacking the Fat man.
Episode 2, the Diet.
So for a weekly update.
As far as my weight's going,I'm still hovering around the
mid-230s.
I've been in a plateau for thelast couple of weeks.
Which Plateaus are common?
(00:26):
It's just your bodyreconfiguring.
I was in a major plateau fromSeptember 24 to early the
beginning of March in 25.
In April and May I went from275 to the 230.
So I'm not surprised that I'msitting in a plateau.
I've also added some lightexercises.
(00:47):
Up until the last couple ofweeks I hadn't even started to
do any exercise at all.
I didn't want to try to outworkout my diet.
I wanted to know the diet isworking.
But I've started to add in somelight, just old man chair yoga,
countertop pushups and squats,that kind of thing.
What else did I do last week?
(01:08):
Oh yeah, I started a podcast, Icreated an Instagram account, I
created a Facebook page, Icreated a YouTube channel.
Thank you for everyone thatwatched or followed me on any of
those, and also thank you tothose that have actually
commented.
Which gets me to the point is Ido want to hear from you so you
can follow on Instagram orFacebook.
(01:29):
It's Instagram, it's justHacking the Fat man and Facebook
.
Well, you're going to have tolook me up.
Look up Hacking the Fat man.
Both Instagram and Facebook areverified.
So if you find something thatlooks like it's pretending to be
me, if it doesn't have theverification seal, it's not me.
I also have a WhatsApp or youcan SMS me at area code
(01:49):
424-644-6342.
I'm not necessarily going toanswer that, but I will answer.
I mean as far as a phone call,if you try to call it, but I
will answer a text to it.
And then there's just the oldschool email If you want to send
your question that way.
It's thefatman athackingthefatmancom.
(02:10):
As I mentioned, you can find meon YouTube Hacking the Fat man,
buzzsprout, which is justpodcast, at Hacking the Fat man,
and Spotify.
And Apple Again.
I think by now you know whatI'm calling this.
Fine apple Again.
I think by now you know whatI'm calling this.
So I wanted to take a step back.
As I was going through the dietlast week I can see it in my
(02:35):
face I realized I wasn't beingclear about something and I
didn't know what it was.
So I want to take a step backto one of the first things I
thought about when I decided tocontinue and to move forward was
I made an agreement with myselfto make my life just slightly,
a little bit every single day,and initially that was reduced
pain.
But I also realized that I hadnot had any real joy in my life,
(03:01):
that I was not adding joy intomy life.
Now, trust me, my kids weresuccessful at times, I was proud
of them, I had love andhappiness, but joy was not
something I was bringing to mylife at all.
So I made the decision thateverything I do is part of
making my life a little bitbetter every day.
(03:22):
Everything I do, everything Iparticipate in, needs to bring
me joy.
And I'm not talking just likeI'm talking real joy, like I
really need to enjoy it.
And this includes the food Ieat, the food I choose.
I am not going to eat kale.
I am not going to eat if I havea sandwich.
(03:42):
I'm not going to eat a hardcorewheat fortified with sawdust.
I don't want the diet chips, Iwant real potato chips, and so I
have approached that joy intomy food selection and I'll get
into this a little bit more.
And I also wanted to stop asecond and talk about
(04:03):
consistency and this was a faultof my own.
You own some miswiring in mybrain.
It actually came from being anathlete, came from being
hyper-focused and hyper-critical.
I've been on this path now forover two and a half years, and
consistency is often associatedwith that critical thinking,
(04:25):
that strict adherence tospecific schedule and routine
and getting the perfect workoutor getting the perfect thing,
and however, it's more effectiveand sustainable because,
especially when it comes to ourlife, eating diet is our life.
It's not just a workout.
It's something we have to doevery single day and life throws
(04:47):
you curveballs all the time.
And so, instead of justapproaching this consistency,
it's not about perfection.
It's about showing up andmaking progress in whatever way
possible, even when faced withobstacles or changing
circumstances.
It's about having a mindset ofresilience and finding a way to
stay on track, even if themethod needs to change.
(05:10):
So I'm constantly tweaking whatI'm doing.
This also realized I I kind ofhad um 14 different things and I
realized that I needed to breakit off into two parts.
One is, is, and I'm stealingfrom asimov.
Here are the laws of uhrobotics, but this is the laws
of my diet, the hacking, the fatman diet, and the first thing I
(05:33):
I put in there because I didn'tlist it was everything needs to
bring you joy, including thefood you eat.
If it doesn't bring you joy,stop it and remove it.
If you don't like what you'reeating, don't eat it.
Find something better.
There are great choices thatyou can make out there that are
fantastic.
That will do just the samething as eating that sawdust
(05:54):
potato chip.
So again, I covered some ofthese before.
This isn't a diet, it's a lifecycle change.
It should be simple asbreathing.
I don't want to plan it, Idon't want to meal prep and I
don't want to track calories andthe program should be adaptable
and sustainable, regardless ofone's location.
This gets down into theflexibility.
So what you'll see here is I'vecreated more of a framework
(06:18):
than necessarily a true diet.
Right, I'm not going to talkabout necessarily the diet
recipes or eat this meal or lookat this type of thing, because
you can take from each one ofevery diet out there in the
world and put them together andto make this framework work.
And, most importantly, it'sacceptable to make mistakes and
(06:42):
you need to forgive yourself.
You can't change what you didyesterday, but I can change this
second and what I'm about to do, and that's where the power
really comes from.
So, talked about this last time.
Diets I've tried.
I've tried the low-fat, non-fat.
You can hear my disdain stillin that one.
(07:02):
It's completely worthless.
Um, well, actually I shouldn'tsay it's completely worthless
for me.
Um, ketos or keto or atkinsI've done fasting, I've done the
zone diet and I've done themodified zone diet, which is,
instead of being carb heavy, youmake it protein heavy.
Mediterranean the doctor'shealth cure my jokingly of the
(07:24):
sumo diet and the juice cleanse.
I'm not going to get into allthese, really, because those are
just things you can choose from.
I do want to take a note on keto.
So I did get some fetal fetalAwesome, you got to love it that
Drew can speak well.
So a note on keto.
So I did get some feto fetoAwesome, you got to love it.
That Drew can speak well.
So a note on keto.
(07:44):
For those of you that don't know, keto is a metabolic process
where the body uses fat insteadof carbohydrates to burn energy
or create energy.
This occurs when the body haslimited amounts of carbohydrates
, right?
So basically, you fast, yourbody burns through all the
carbohydrates that's in yourmuscles and in your bloodstream
(08:05):
and will slowly start to use fatas an energy source, and it's a
great way to burn fat.
However and I found this myselfI've mentioned my gout.
My struggles with gout isespecially at the very beginning
.
When you get into ketosis,which is the burning of the fat,
it can raise the uric acidlevels and cause gout.
(08:27):
It also can lead to kidneystones and while keto doesn't
necessarily affect gallstones,the rapid weight loss can lead
to gallstones.
So when I say the word keto orI write the word keto here, I'm
talking about the food thatmakes up the ketogenic diet, not
ketosis itself.
(08:50):
In my diet I very rarely, if atall, get into ketosis.
I maybe if I've gone.
Monday pretty good, I've donethe full fast, and Tuesday I've
done a decent micro fast andWednesday I'm now moving into a
little bit more caloric butstill a keto diet.
Maybe by Wednesday night I getinto ketosis.
(09:11):
But, however, I am not tryingto get there at all and, like I
said, I seriously doubt I everreally get into ketosis.
However, ketosis still worksfor some.
If you're interested in it, youcan research the cyclical keto
diet, ckd.
It's actually one of the.
I had used it in the past andwas one of the basis for the
(09:35):
beginning of this, where, hey, Idon't have to eat the same diet
every day.
So, ckd, you basically do fivedays of ketosis and fasting,
fasting first, then keto, andthen Saturday and Sunday you
give yourself more carbs and itallows you to reset and get
ready for the next week.
So this is very similar to thecyclical keto diet, but I'm
(10:00):
still not relying solely on keto.
The other thing I wanted to talkabout that I hadn't before and
again, this is the mindsetchange.
The hack in my mind that I hadto do is every failed diet I had
one thing in common it wasrigid.
It was because I was trying tostick to it and life threw me a
(10:21):
curve ball.
Whether I traveled or whateverit was.
I demanded perfection.
I tracked every calorie and eatthe same things every day and
never go off the plans.
And then, if I slip, well, I'mdone, I'm weak, I'm pathetic,
right.
And that mindset was toxic.
It turned every mistake into amoral failure and every craving
(10:44):
into proof.
I was broken and I'd eventuallyjust get tired of it and rebel.
Because here's the secret thatno diet book wants to admit or
anyone's sticking telling youthis diet is the way to go.
Nobody sticks to a perfect planforever.
It's impossible.
We're human, we make mistakes.
Life happens, work gets crazy,your kids get sick, you travel,
(11:07):
you forget to prep, you don'thave the food.
You get tired of eating thesame damn thing over and over
again, and if your whole planfalls apart when one variable
change, it's not a good plan.
So I learned to give myselfgrace.
I don't regret a single faileddiet.
(11:28):
Each one taught me somethingand I learned something from it
every single day.
Each one showed me anotherpiece of how my body worked and
how my brain responded.
And now I don't think of myselfas someone who's failed
30-some-odd diets.
I think of myself as someonewho ran 30 experiments and
finally built something thatworked.
Covered this in the lastepisode, the Hacking the Fat man
(11:52):
Diet Framework.
I've shortened this down alittle bit to focus more on the
exact schedule, and diet is.
I'm only going to do onefasting day per week.
I can't fast a whole week orthree weeks like I used to do.
I'm definitely not binging andpurging.
I put three days there, but I'mgoing to be honest.
(12:14):
If I do one or two days max ofmicro fasting, which is keeping
my calorie intake below 1,000calories per day.
So Monday is zero and thenTuesday is a thousand calories,
maybe Wednesday as well, anddepending on how I'm feeling
throughout the day, regardlessof whether I'm micro fasting or
(12:35):
fasting or eating keto or zoneor whatever I've told myself is,
I will adapt depending on whatmy body start or feels like or
is telling me.
Depending on what my body feelslike or is telling me.
Listening to my body is one ofthe keys.
Also, vegetables don't count.
It's physically impossible toeat 2,000 calories of raw
(12:57):
vegetables.
I have frozen spinach andbroccoli in the fridge.
Carrots and fresh broccoli I'llconsume whenever I need it, but
when in doubt, stick with yourgreen leafy vegetables.
They're better for you, or atleast that's what I'm trying to
do.
On breakfast, while I'm tryingto minimize my calories, I am
(13:19):
trying to make sure that I'm notstarving myself to the point
that the body is starting toretain calories.
So I will use the juice diet,which is literally.
I have something like this withme.
I'm going to go ahead and takea sip.
This is a can of sparklingwater with 14 calories of juice
(13:43):
in it and yes, oh, my God, I'vegot two grams of sugar in here,
doesn't matter.
I drink probably like three orfour of these a day, along with
the lemon juice and just regularwater.
That is my breakfast, and italso gives me calories
throughout the day.
It's a way of fooling the bodyinto believing that it's getting
(14:04):
more calories than it is and sothat it doesn't try to hold on
to the calories and turn theminto fat.
And that is the the trying tospread the calories out over the
entire day.
So, using those failures asframework, I came up with my
(14:24):
diet and I've talked a littlebit about this.
This rotation gave me theability to pivot if I need to.
So if Monday I felt that I wasinflamed, well, it's a fast day,
so I'd go light.
So let's take Thursday.
Let's say Thursday, myinflammation, my legs are
hurting or my knees are hurtingor God forbid I start to feel
(14:48):
gout coming on.
And Wednesday is a keto day.
If I'm feeling gout coming on,I'll just go ahead and switch to
the zone and give myself somecarbs to make sure that it
doesn't get, the gout doesn'tget triggered.
And if I felt good on a Friday,like I'm not really that hungry
(15:10):
, I don't.
You know I list 1800 caloriesthere for Friday and Saturday
and I need to read this out alittle bit for those that can't
see the slides.
But if like Thursday and Friday, saturday and Sunday, I have
1800 calories as my max.
If Friday I'm feeling nothungry and I don't feel like
(15:32):
eating, I made it drop that downto 1000 calories.
So the schedule is I shouldstart there.
A Monday is a fasting day, zerocalories.
Tuesday I microfast atsomewhere between 500 and a
thousand calories Sometimes I'llgo up to 1200, but 500 to a
thousand.
And Wednesday is a microfasting, keto day.
(15:56):
Again, I try to stay at the 500to a thousand, depending on how
I'm feeling.
By Wednesday I tend to startgetting a little bit hungry and
so I do go above the thousandcalories.
That's why I'm kind of sayingWednesday I tend to start
getting a little bit hungry andso I do go above the thousand
calories.
That's why I'm kind of sayingthat the micro fasting I'm not
really doing.
Two days of micro fasting.
Thursday is again just dependson what I'm feeling.
(16:17):
But I'll try to continue to doketo.
But I will more than likely goto the modified zone, which is
again the protein heavy, 40%protein.
Actually, I do probably more50% protein and then more fat
balance between fat and carbs.
Friday and Saturday is also themodified zone diet, getting up
(16:38):
to 1800 calories, and Sunday isjust whatever I feel like Like.
Today I had a nephew's birthdayHappy birthday, grayson and went
and visited the family, had acouple pieces of pizza.
I am well under 1,800 caloriestoday, but I tend to you know
whatever's going on.
I just let myself go and enjoythe day, especially if I've been
(17:01):
really good through the week.
So that's really the thehacking, the fat man diet it's.
It's a framework and aflexibility for you to plug in
whatever your favorite foods arethat bring you joy.
Right, we've all done diets,we've all had.
(17:23):
You know, during those diets youusually find like the two or
three things that you like toeat.
Really, this came from the factthat I took all those and put
them together and realized Icould make a schedule out of it.
I try to be good in the earlyparts of the week.
Give me flexibility in thelater part of the weeks Doesn't
matter whether I'm going to afast food place or going out to
dinner with the family or overfor Thanksgiving.
(17:45):
I know what my caloric intakeis for the day, what my goals
are, and I try to stay within it.
In a pinch I will go for and Ilearned this from the Biggest
Loser I watched every singleepisode of the Biggest Loser is
a fist size of protein and twofist sides of vegetables, and if
you get some rice in therealong with it, it's fine.
(18:07):
The salmon at every restaurantis usually the perfect meal if
you're ever in doubt or ever inneed.
So is the tuna tartare, and Ilove tuna tartare, but hopefully
I'll get it, not hopefully I'llget into that a little bit more
.
Again, this isn't about thefoods or the recipes or anything
(18:28):
else like that.
It's about having a frameworkand flexibility to give yourself
the tools that you need tofight life as you're trying to
lose weight and trying to betteryourself.
So next time, on Hacking the Fatman.
My good friend Tom Kennedy sentme this question.
Tom and I go back to highschool.
(18:49):
He was our goalie in highschool and I played with him in
college.
And Tom asked about.
The other things he'd love tohear about is how to handle the
BS foods and drinks like sweetsand crackers, chips, cookies and
even alcohol.
You know the good stuff andit's an excellent question,
(19:10):
thomas and I already started togive the answer.
Actually, I just kind of gave alittle bit of it, but you'll
have to wait till next week forme to get the full answer.
That's an excellent.
Topic for the third episode ofHacking the Fat man is how to
handle the things life throws atus, and what type of things
life throws at us.
(19:30):
I will cover how I deal withthe constant issues that life
has thrown at us.
So thank you for joining thisweek's episode of hacking the
fat man.
Please, I'd love to hear fromyou.
Reach out on Facebook orInstagram or WhatsApp, or even
old school email.
And, yeah, I'll see you nextweek.
(19:50):
Thank you, bye.
Hi, I'm Drew Maness.
Welcome to Hacking the Fat man.
Episode 2, the Diet.
So for a weekly update.
As far as my weight's going,I'm still hovering around the
mid-230s.
I've been in a plateau for thelast couple of weeks.
Which Plateaus are common?
(00:26):
It's just your bodyreconfiguring.
I was in a major plateau fromSeptember 24 to early the
beginning of March in 25.
In April and May I went from275 to the 230.
So I'm not surprised that I'msitting in a plateau.
I've also added some lightexercises.
(00:47):
Up until the last couple ofweeks I hadn't even started to
do any exercise at all.
I didn't want to try to outworkout my diet.
I wanted to know the diet isworking.
But I've started to add in somelight, just old man chair yoga,
countertop pushups and squats,that kind of thing.
What else did I do last week?
(01:08):
Oh yeah, I started a podcast, Icreated an Instagram account, I
created a Facebook page, Icreated a YouTube channel.
Thank you for everyone thatwatched or followed me on any of
those, and also thank you tothose that have actually
commented.
Which gets me to the point is Ido want to hear from you so you
can follow on Instagram orFacebook.
(01:29):
It's Instagram, it's justHacking the Fat man and Facebook
.
Well, you're going to have tolook me up.
Look up Hacking the Fat man.
Both Instagram and Facebook areverified.
So if you find something thatlooks like it's pretending to be
me, if it doesn't have theverification seal, it's not me.
I also have a WhatsApp or youcan SMS me at area code
(01:49):
424-644-6342.
I'm not necessarily going toanswer that, but I will answer.
I mean as far as a phone call,if you try to call it, but I
will answer a text to it.
And then there's just the oldschool email If you want to send
your question that way.
It's thefatman athackingthefatmancom.
(02:10):
As I mentioned, you can find meon YouTube Hacking the Fat man,
buzzsprout, which is justpodcast, at Hacking the Fat man,
and Spotify.
And Apple Again.
I think by now you know whatI'm calling this.
Fine apple Again.
I think by now you know whatI'm calling this.
So I wanted to take a step back.
As I was going through the dietlast week I can see it in my
(02:35):
face I realized I wasn't beingclear about something and I
didn't know what it was.
So I want to take a step backto one of the first things I
thought about when I decided tocontinue and to move forward was
I made an agreement with myselfto make my life just slightly,
a little bit every single day,and initially that was reduced
pain.
But I also realized that I hadnot had any real joy in my life,
(03:01):
that I was not adding joy intomy life.
Now, trust me, my kids weresuccessful at times, I was proud
of them, I had love andhappiness, but joy was not
something I was bringing to mylife at all.
So I made the decision thateverything I do is part of
making my life a little bitbetter every day.
(03:22):
Everything I do, everything Iparticipate in, needs to bring
me joy.
And I'm not talking just likeI'm talking real joy, like I
really need to enjoy it.
And this includes the food Ieat, the food I choose.
I am not going to eat kale.
I am not going to eat if I havea sandwich.
(03:42):
I'm not going to eat a hardcorewheat fortified with sawdust.
I don't want the diet chips, Iwant real potato chips, and so I
have approached that joy intomy food selection and I'll get
into this a little bit more.
And I also wanted to stop asecond and talk about
(04:03):
consistency and this was a faultof my own.
You own some miswiring in mybrain.
It actually came from being anathlete, came from being
hyper-focused and hyper-critical.
I've been on this path now forover two and a half years, and
consistency is often associatedwith that critical thinking,
(04:25):
that strict adherence tospecific schedule and routine
and getting the perfect workoutor getting the perfect thing,
and however, it's more effectiveand sustainable because,
especially when it comes to ourlife, eating diet is our life.
It's not just a workout.
It's something we have to doevery single day and life throws
(04:47):
you curveballs all the time.
And so, instead of justapproaching this consistency,
it's not about perfection.
It's about showing up andmaking progress in whatever way
possible, even when faced withobstacles or changing
circumstances.
It's about having a mindset ofresilience and finding a way to
stay on track, even if themethod needs to change.
(05:10):
So I'm constantly tweaking whatI'm doing.
This also realized I I kind ofhad um 14 different things and I
realized that I needed to breakit off into two parts.
One is, is, and I'm stealingfrom asimov.
Here are the laws of uhrobotics, but this is the laws
of my diet, the hacking, the fatman diet, and the first thing I
(05:33):
I put in there because I didn'tlist it was everything needs to
bring you joy, including thefood you eat.
If it doesn't bring you joy,stop it and remove it.
If you don't like what you'reeating, don't eat it.
Find something better.
There are great choices thatyou can make out there that are
fantastic.
That will do just the samething as eating that sawdust
(05:54):
potato chip.
So again, I covered some ofthese before.
This isn't a diet, it's a lifecycle change.
It should be simple asbreathing.
I don't want to plan it, Idon't want to meal prep and I
don't want to track calories andthe program should be adaptable
and sustainable, regardless ofone's location.
This gets down into theflexibility.
So what you'll see here is I'vecreated more of a framework
(06:18):
than necessarily a true diet.
Right, I'm not going to talkabout necessarily the diet
recipes or eat this meal or lookat this type of thing, because
you can take from each one ofevery diet out there in the
world and put them together andto make this framework work.
And, most importantly, it'sacceptable to make mistakes and
(06:42):
you need to forgive yourself.
You can't change what you didyesterday, but I can change this
second and what I'm about to do, and that's where the power
really comes from.
So, talked about this last time.
Diets I've tried.
I've tried the low-fat, non-fat.
You can hear my disdain stillin that one.
(07:02):
It's completely worthless.
Um, well, actually I shouldn'tsay it's completely worthless
for me.
Um, ketos or keto or atkinsI've done fasting, I've done the
zone diet and I've done themodified zone diet, which is,
instead of being carb heavy, youmake it protein heavy.
Mediterranean the doctor'shealth cure my jokingly of the
(07:24):
sumo diet and the juice cleanse.
I'm not going to get into allthese, really, because those are
just things you can choose from.
I do want to take a note on keto.
So I did get some fetal fetalAwesome, you got to love it that
Drew can speak well.
So a note on keto.
So I did get some feto fetoAwesome, you got to love it.
That Drew can speak well.
So a note on keto.
(07:44):
For those of you that don't know, keto is a metabolic process
where the body uses fat insteadof carbohydrates to burn energy
or create energy.
This occurs when the body haslimited amounts of carbohydrates
, right?
So basically, you fast, yourbody burns through all the
carbohydrates that's in yourmuscles and in your bloodstream
(08:05):
and will slowly start to use fatas an energy source, and it's a
great way to burn fat.
However and I found this myselfI've mentioned my gout.
My struggles with gout isespecially at the very beginning
.
When you get into ketosis,which is the burning of the fat,
it can raise the uric acidlevels and cause gout.
(08:27):
It also can lead to kidneystones and while keto doesn't
necessarily affect gallstones,the rapid weight loss can lead
to gallstones.
So when I say the word keto orI write the word keto here, I'm
talking about the food thatmakes up the ketogenic diet, not
ketosis itself.
(08:50):
In my diet I very rarely, if atall, get into ketosis.
I maybe if I've gone.
Monday pretty good, I've donethe full fast, and Tuesday I've
done a decent micro fast andWednesday I'm now moving into a
little bit more caloric butstill a keto diet.
Maybe by Wednesday night I getinto ketosis.
(09:11):
But, however, I am not tryingto get there at all and, like I
said, I seriously doubt I everreally get into ketosis.
However, ketosis still worksfor some.
If you're interested in it, youcan research the cyclical keto
diet, ckd.
It's actually one of the.
I had used it in the past andwas one of the basis for the
(09:35):
beginning of this, where, hey, Idon't have to eat the same diet
every day.
So, ckd, you basically do fivedays of ketosis and fasting,
fasting first, then keto, andthen Saturday and Sunday you
give yourself more carbs and itallows you to reset and get
ready for the next week.
So this is very similar to thecyclical keto diet, but I'm
(10:00):
still not relying solely on keto.
The other thing I wanted to talkabout that I hadn't before and
again, this is the mindsetchange.
The hack in my mind that I hadto do is every failed diet I had
one thing in common it wasrigid.
It was because I was trying tostick to it and life threw me a
(10:21):
curve ball.
Whether I traveled or whateverit was.
I demanded perfection.
I tracked every calorie and eatthe same things every day and
never go off the plans.
And then, if I slip, well, I'mdone, I'm weak, I'm pathetic,
right.
And that mindset was toxic.
It turned every mistake into amoral failure and every craving
(10:44):
into proof.
I was broken and I'd eventuallyjust get tired of it and rebel.
Because here's the secret thatno diet book wants to admit or
anyone's sticking telling youthis diet is the way to go.
Nobody sticks to a perfect planforever.
It's impossible.
We're human, we make mistakes.
Life happens, work gets crazy,your kids get sick, you travel,
(11:07):
you forget to prep, you don'thave the food.
You get tired of eating thesame damn thing over and over
again, and if your whole planfalls apart when one variable
change, it's not a good plan.
So I learned to give myselfgrace.
I don't regret a single faileddiet.
(11:28):
Each one taught me somethingand I learned something from it
every single day.
Each one showed me anotherpiece of how my body worked and
how my brain responded.
And now I don't think of myselfas someone who's failed
30-some-odd diets.
I think of myself as someonewho ran 30 experiments and
finally built something thatworked.
Covered this in the lastepisode, the Hacking the Fat man
(11:52):
Diet Framework.
I've shortened this down alittle bit to focus more on the
exact schedule, and diet is.
I'm only going to do onefasting day per week.
I can't fast a whole week orthree weeks like I used to do.
I'm definitely not binging andpurging.
I put three days there, but I'mgoing to be honest.
(12:14):
If I do one or two days max ofmicro fasting, which is keeping
my calorie intake below 1,000calories per day.
So Monday is zero and thenTuesday is a thousand calories,
maybe Wednesday as well, anddepending on how I'm feeling
throughout the day, regardlessof whether I'm micro fasting or
(12:35):
fasting or eating keto or zoneor whatever I've told myself is,
I will adapt depending on whatmy body start or feels like or
is telling me.
Depending on what my body feelslike or is telling me.
Listening to my body is one ofthe keys.
Also, vegetables don't count.
It's physically impossible toeat 2,000 calories of raw
(12:57):
vegetables.
I have frozen spinach andbroccoli in the fridge.
Carrots and fresh broccoli I'llconsume whenever I need it, but
when in doubt, stick with yourgreen leafy vegetables.
They're better for you, or atleast that's what I'm trying to
do.
On breakfast, while I'm tryingto minimize my calories, I am
(13:19):
trying to make sure that I'm notstarving myself to the point
that the body is starting toretain calories.
So I will use the juice diet,which is literally.
I have something like this withme.
I'm going to go ahead and takea sip.
This is a can of sparklingwater with 14 calories of juice
(13:43):
in it and yes, oh, my God, I'vegot two grams of sugar in here,
doesn't matter.
I drink probably like three orfour of these a day, along with
the lemon juice and just regularwater.
That is my breakfast, and italso gives me calories
throughout the day.
It's a way of fooling the bodyinto believing that it's getting
(14:04):
more calories than it is and sothat it doesn't try to hold on
to the calories and turn theminto fat.
And that is the the trying tospread the calories out over the
entire day.
So, using those failures asframework, I came up with my
(14:24):
diet and I've talked a littlebit about this.
This rotation gave me theability to pivot if I need to.
So if Monday I felt that I wasinflamed, well, it's a fast day,
so I'd go light.
So let's take Thursday.
Let's say Thursday, myinflammation, my legs are
hurting or my knees are hurtingor God forbid I start to feel
(14:48):
gout coming on.
And Wednesday is a keto day.
If I'm feeling gout coming on,I'll just go ahead and switch to
the zone and give myself somecarbs to make sure that it
doesn't get, the gout doesn'tget triggered.
And if I felt good on a Friday,like I'm not really that hungry
(15:10):
, I don't.
You know I list 1800 caloriesthere for Friday and Saturday
and I need to read this out alittle bit for those that can't
see the slides.
But if like Thursday and Friday, saturday and Sunday, I have
1800 calories as my max.
If Friday I'm feeling nothungry and I don't feel like
(15:32):
eating, I made it drop that downto 1000 calories.
So the schedule is I shouldstart there.
A Monday is a fasting day, zerocalories.
Tuesday I microfast atsomewhere between 500 and a
thousand calories Sometimes I'llgo up to 1200, but 500 to a
thousand.
And Wednesday is a microfasting, keto day.
(15:56):
Again, I try to stay at the 500to a thousand, depending on how
I'm feeling.
By Wednesday I tend to startgetting a little bit hungry and
so I do go above the thousandcalories.
That's why I'm kind of sayingWednesday I tend to start
getting a little bit hungry andso I do go above the thousand
calories.
That's why I'm kind of sayingthat the micro fasting I'm not
really doing.
Two days of micro fasting.
Thursday is again just dependson what I'm feeling.
(16:17):
But I'll try to continue to doketo.
But I will more than likely goto the modified zone, which is
again the protein heavy, 40%protein.
Actually, I do probably more50% protein and then more fat
balance between fat and carbs.
Friday and Saturday is also themodified zone diet, getting up
(16:38):
to 1800 calories, and Sunday isjust whatever I feel like Like.
Today I had a nephew's birthdayHappy birthday, grayson and went
and visited the family, had acouple pieces of pizza.
I am well under 1,800 caloriestoday, but I tend to you know
whatever's going on.
I just let myself go and enjoythe day, especially if I've been
(17:01):
really good through the week.
So that's really the thehacking, the fat man diet it's.
It's a framework and aflexibility for you to plug in
whatever your favorite foods arethat bring you joy.
Right, we've all done diets,we've all had.
(17:23):
You know, during those diets youusually find like the two or
three things that you like toeat.
Really, this came from the factthat I took all those and put
them together and realized Icould make a schedule out of it.
I try to be good in the earlyparts of the week.
Give me flexibility in thelater part of the weeks Doesn't
matter whether I'm going to afast food place or going out to
dinner with the family or overfor Thanksgiving.
(17:45):
I know what my caloric intakeis for the day, what my goals
are, and I try to stay within it.
In a pinch I will go for and Ilearned this from the Biggest
Loser I watched every singleepisode of the Biggest Loser is
a fist size of protein and twofist sides of vegetables, and if
you get some rice in therealong with it, it's fine.
(18:07):
The salmon at every restaurantis usually the perfect meal if
you're ever in doubt or ever inneed.
So is the tuna tartare, and Ilove tuna tartare, but hopefully
I'll get it, not hopefully I'llget into that a little bit more
.
Again, this isn't about thefoods or the recipes or anything
(18:28):
else like that.
It's about having a frameworkand flexibility to give yourself
the tools that you need tofight life as you're trying to
lose weight and trying to betteryourself.
So next time, on Hacking the Fatman.
My good friend Tom Kennedy sentme this question.
Tom and I go back to highschool.
(18:49):
He was our goalie in highschool and I played with him in
college.
And Tom asked about.
The other things he'd love tohear about is how to handle the
BS foods and drinks like sweetsand crackers, chips, cookies and
even alcohol.
You know the good stuff andit's an excellent question,
(19:10):
thomas and I already started togive the answer.
Actually, I just kind of gave alittle bit of it, but you'll
have to wait till next week forme to get the full answer.
That's an excellent.
Topic for the third episode ofHacking the Fat man is how to
handle the things life throws atus, and what type of things
life throws at us.
(19:30):
I will cover how I deal withthe constant issues that life
has thrown at us.
So thank you for joining thisweek's episode of hacking the
fat man.
Please, I'd love to hear fromyou.
Reach out on Facebook orInstagram or WhatsApp, or even
old school email.
And, yeah, I'll see you nextweek.
(19:50):
Thank you, bye.
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