A Journey Through Weight Management: A Taste of Acceptance with Mike Pridgen

Have you ever wondered why banana Laffy Taffy tastes so peculiar? Mike Pridgen joins us decked out in our latest merch to muse over this candy conundrum before steering the conversation towards his own transformative weight loss adventure. With humor and honesty, we traverse the peaks and valleys of dieting, digging into the importance of a sustainable approach and the power of positive self-talk. Mike's candid sharing offers a relatable take on the highs of shedding pounds and the lows when the scale tips back, reminding us that health isn't a sprint; it’s a lifelong marathon.

We've all heard the quick-fix diet promises and witnessed the yearly rush to shed post-holiday weight, but this episode shatters those illusions. Engage with us as we dissect the pitfalls of extreme dieting and its mental toll, and share tales of our own dieting escapades gone awry. As we unpack the dark allure of diet culture and touch on the art of caloric tracking, the conversation illuminates how a true understanding of your body's needs can be liberating. We even demystify 'eyeballing' calories—giving you the practical strategies to maintain your weight loss journey in the real world.

Finally, brace yourself as we debunk some of the greatest nutrition myths out there, like the infamous 1200 calorie diet and the demonization of 'junk food.' With a dash of compassion and a sprinkle of science, we advocate for a balanced eating philosophy that allows for life's little indulgences. And because no discussion on food is complete without delving into our emotional ties to eating, we approach this sensitive topic with the kindness it deserves—offering up insights on managing these challenges and the profound impact of self-acceptance. Join us for an episode that's as much about feeding your mind as it is about nourishing your body.

You can find Mike
https://www.instagram.com/mikeneedsaplan/?hl=en
https://www.tiktok.com/@mikeneedsaplan

Support the Show.

You can find us on social media here:
Rob Tiktok
Rob Instagram
Liam Tiktok
Liam Instagram

Episode Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:02):
welcome to in moderation the show where we
give you a moderate dose of infosarcasm and we already know
we're not approved welcome toepisode 31 of in moderation.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
And we're here with somebody who's wearing our merch
because he's cool like that.
Look at that.
Look at that to everyonelistening.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Can you see what he's wearing?

Speaker 1 (00:28):
to all of you who can read backwards, all of the uh,
all of the audio, of giving youthat visual imprint on your
brain, right?

Speaker 2 (00:38):
yeah, on this episode we have mike pigeon.
How you doing?
Oh, there it is never heardthat one before it's so close to
pigeon I want it to be pigeon.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
Pigeon's not that bad that was the only thing that
the high school kids had againstme, like ah, pigeon, I'm like
really that's what you got.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
It's really not that bad.
I like it.
I would just go by that if itwas me of like a'd have a
nickname like hey pigeon, like.
That's not okay, are they rats?

Speaker 1 (01:04):
with wings?
What if we roll the?

Speaker 3 (01:06):
R.
Like pigeon Ooh, that's fancy,I'm an exotic bird.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
I'll take that one.
Yes, how you doing, mike,what's up it's been fantastic.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
I am a little bit hungry, though.
If you guys don't mind, if I, Iknew it had to be something
weird.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
I'm telling you.
I don't know how people likebanana Laffy Taffy.
Like I love bananas, I eat lotsof bananas.
It doesn't taste like bananasand people say, oh, people say
it's supposed to be like the oldbanana, the gross Michelle, or
whatever it was, but like Ilooked into it, there's no
evidence for that.
There's no supporting evidencefor that, really.

(01:45):
So I just feel like it tastesterrible, like they just made a
terrible tasting candy.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
Well, you already know, we don't need supporting
evidence to make claims on theInternet anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
This is true.
You can pretty much just saywhatever you want.
That's not a prerequisite.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
Oh yeah, these are not something that I want to
have in moderation or at all.
I just wanted to eat this onthe stream.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
You just wanted to troll us.
Yeah, it's not good, good job,good job, the only one that is
soft enough to really eat.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
The other ones are kind of hard, so like that's the
only thing that's going for.
Whatever softness probablycauses it to be soft is probably
what makes it taste absolutelyhorrible and I, just I, I don't,
I don't get it.
I don't get how people like it.
It will never make sense to me.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
Well, I don't get how people like bananas.
So.

Speaker 3 (02:27):
I've got some bananas .
I can grab too, If you want to.
I can eat these on stream too.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Well, Liam, Liam, you're doing this episode on
your own Later guys Later.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
Banana.
There you go.
I will say, though, every timeI take a bite of one of these
banana Laffy Taffys, my bloodglucose meter that I've not
gotten prescribed by a doctor,but that I bought online is
spiking because I'm eating food.
So I'm going to start, oh man.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
How should I be my diet on that?
That's another person I gettagged in all the time is the
guy who just eats random thingsand text tests his blood meter.
I'm just like, what do you wantme to do?
Like, what do I do with?
Like?
Sure, if he just wants to eatrandom food and then just test
his blood glucose, sure go rightahead, have fun with that.
I guess I don't know, pro tipit's almost like

Speaker 3 (03:10):
it's gonna go up, yeah, no matter what you eat
anything, your blood glucose isgonna go up.
That's your body's reaction toit.
Now, some things will spike ita little more, a little less,
but if you're trying to go forlike a flat line, you gotta die.
It's just nothing, yeah nothing.
But there's people that'll saythat's good too so weird.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Well, anyway, now that we have you on the podcast,
I guess we should give us alittle uh background to your
story, like because you dosocial media as well.
That's how we met.
What do you talk about mostly?

Speaker 3 (03:38):
I don't know you're gonna ask me questions.
People are gonna dox me on apodcast.
I know it rarely happens well, Ilost 110 pounds a lot of times.
So I say 110 top.
It's not top to bottom, it's upand down and up and down and up
and down.
I probably lost like 600, 700pounds all in.
And when you ask just aboutanybody, that's what they're

(03:59):
going to say is I lost thisamount of weight.
But really they've gone up anddown and up and down, and up and
down.
I'm most proud of keeping thatweight off.
I'm not interested in thefastest way to get down.
I'm not interested in thequickest way or the most optimal
way.
I'm interested in the way thatkeeps me down because I'm tired
of going back up.
Now I help other people do thesame thing and I do so through

(04:19):
kindness and through reframingnegative self-talk, because a
lot of us have that negativeinternal monologue that bogs us
down.
It's one of the things thatmanifests as weight on our
bodies is negative self-talk.
Now it sounds a little bitwooey and all that kind of stuff
, but if you watch my stuff, I'mnot looking for like
affirmations or anything.
It's just it's more so like howcan we apply these practical

(04:42):
changes, like the stuff you guystalk about, without it leading
to eating disorder, behavior andhatred and all that kind of
stuff.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
So you're not on the internet to scare people.

Speaker 3 (04:53):
No, no, I will never peddle fear.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
Then you're never going to make any money.
No, not at all.

Speaker 3 (05:01):
No, no.
I am certainly not approved theway that I go about things,
especially with this banana.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
Wait you guys, you're not getting the big pharma
money I've been getting anyway.
It doesn't matter, that's notimportant.

Speaker 3 (05:10):
Mike, so like take us through.
Well, I'm not on opendoctorcom,I don't have to reveal any of
that Socialized medicine, liam,I'm sorry.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Sorry no-transcript.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
It's you know 300 pounds, something like that.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
Like oh my God, I have to make a change.
What did you eat last night?

Speaker 3 (05:59):
I never want to feel this way again.
It honestly was sort of anoffhanded decision.
I was handed a bottle of kefirprobiotic which to those not
familiar it's like yogurt's eviltwin by a friend who was
similarly rotund to me and hehad said you know, this helps
with cravings.
And up till that point I hadn'tconsidered that the way I was

(06:23):
eating was me satisfying craving.
That was just the way that Iate.
So I'm like, oh okay, so Itried it and it made me sick
because it's disgusting.

Speaker 2 (06:30):
So in that sense it helped.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
It's fizzy yogurt that's like watered down.
It's awful.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
So it's like apple cider vinegar.
You know you don't?
Yeah, you'll lose weight if youdrink apple cider vinegar.
It tastes like ass and you makeyou nauseous.

Speaker 1 (06:43):
Nothing better for weight loss than being nauseous.

Speaker 3 (06:50):
No, it'll make you sick to death.
Yeah, so obviously not the wayto go about it, because I gained
weight back 20 more times afterthat.
But right, it sort of triggeredthe idea in my mind that I had
control over the shape of mybody.
I'm like you know, I am alittle bit chubby.
I could lose some weight and Istarted by cutting out all of my
food and biking for 30 miles aday.
It was not eating disorderbehavior at that point.

(07:13):
I just thought that's what youwere supposed to do?

Speaker 2 (07:14):
Were you cutting anything out specifically?
Was it just like I'm justeating less?
Or were you like, okay, I'mgetting rid of, quote unquote,
all the bad stuff like that sortof thing?

Speaker 3 (07:25):
It was kind of just like food in general.
I was not eating very much atall and at that point, with all
that weight on my body, I waslike kind of fine in the
beginning and some people canget tricked in the very
beginning because you cansurvive without food for a
little while your body canhandle it.
It's just not optimal and it'snot going to last long and I
found that out the hard way.
I lost maybe 35 pounds thatsummer and then September rolled

(07:45):
around.
It got a little too cold.
You know.
Remember when it used to getcold and I had to go back inside
and I put the weight back on.
And that was the first timethat I was struggling mentally
negatively with my weight waswhen the weight came back on.

Speaker 2 (08:01):
I didn't quite realize up till that point that
you can I mean, you don't haveto go super deep into it but did
you get kind of feelings likeoh, this like as like a failure,
like wow, you know I lost allthis weight and now I'm putting
it back on?
Did you kind of have this likescrew it moment and then you
started eating more, like justkind of you know what was it?

Speaker 3 (08:16):
like, First off anyone who's coming here
following me.
You already have seen me cryprobably two times this week, so
it's I get real deep into it.
You can ask me anything, Um,but yeah, I, it was really rough
.
I'm, I was like fuck it, yeah,I'm just going to eat whatever I

(08:37):
was.
Uh, I was drinking soda like analcoholic.
At that point it was rough,Like I had given myself kidney
stones a couple of times andkidneys don't suck oh, yeah,
yeah, they're terrible, super,super bad.
So it was, yeah, I turned backbecause I'm like, well, I may as
well just go back to the way Iwas living before, because at
least I was happy then and I hadconflated that happiness with

(08:58):
just the absence of the joy thatI was having in my current
situation.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
Right then, yeah, that sums up nicely why so many
diets fail right there, and youkind of look back on those times
You're like, oh, I had all thatfood.
I was happier then we alwayshave you know, I don't know.
We kind of look through therose colored glasses right.
You look through the past like,oh, I feel I was happier back
then.
Yeah, so, that's, yeah, thatstuff.

(09:25):
So what then?
So then your kind of next step,was it like after the winter
that you were like, okay, let metry this again, like let's do.
Did you do the same thing afterthat?

Speaker 3 (09:35):
Pretty much.
Yeah, that started what I callspring cleaning, which is the
cycle that I try to break peopleout of now, which is, you know,
it's starting to come backaround, the year ends, the
holidays are behind us and we'relike, okay, now there's not a
lot of eating holidays in frontof me.
I'm going to start trying to getin shape again and that bug
tended to hit me around likeFebruary, march every year.
So I'm like spring cleaning and, yeah, I was kind of doing the

(09:59):
same thing.
I didn't change anything aboutthe approach because in my mind,
I had lost 35 pounds.
Right, it worked the first time.

Speaker 2 (10:06):
Yeah, it worked just like keto works.

Speaker 3 (10:08):
You know, intermittent fasting works.
It's just how long are yougoing to do it and how is it
going to stick around?
So I just went back to doingthe same thing I had done before
.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
And was your mindset at that point kind of like, okay
, I'm going to do it again, butthis time I'm just not going to
fuck up, this time I'm just not.
I'm just going to always do itand I'm just never going to.
I'm not going to do what I didlast time at the end?

Speaker 3 (10:28):
Yeah, last time I just wasn't dedicated enough.
Last time I just didn't do itright.
I got to do it more.
This time I got to do it, andit always starts out with the
best of intentions.
Sometimes, as we go on, you'llsee, it does not always start
with the best of intentions,because that cycle can only
happen so many times beforeyou're just doing it to spite

(10:49):
yourself.
And that's where I was, youknow.
You fast forward a couple ofyears and I'm once again after
I've tried like some real diets,so to speak.
Air quotes, big air quotes forthose listening on Spotify.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
Oh, they heard it, don't worry, yeah, they heard it
.

Speaker 3 (11:07):
Yeah, it was.
It was bad.
I would tried the keto.
If carnivore was around at thatpoint I would have done it it's
.
I tried some of theoff-the-shelf walmart
supplements which are justbasically diuretics.

Speaker 2 (11:19):
It's not doing anything uh, did you watch any
videos?
Were you into like, oh yeah,you can lose weight this fast by
taking these pills and then yougo pick them up, or like was it
just kind of like I'll justgrab random shit and hope it
will see what happens?

Speaker 3 (11:31):
at that point it's, I feel, like the the scammer
culture has either.
Maybe I'm just more in tune toit now, but I don't think it was
as permeable as it is like.
I don't think it was asinvolved in the culture as it is
currently, where we didn't haveBobby's.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
We had them like online, but maybe it was more
like I feel like more before itwas on, like more maybe YouTube
and that sort of stuff, and nowwith these short form platforms,
you know you just you don'tchoose kind of what you watch,
it's kind of just given to youyou know, right.
So it's just you're flippingthrough and then just something
pops up and it catches your eyelike, oh, I've been trying to
lose weight and this person lost20 pounds of poop in like two

(12:10):
days.
So like, let me try that youknow what I'm saying like let me
think I keep getting tagged inthese videos, these like rectal
cleanses or whatever the fuckthey are, I don't know and
people like ask what talk aboutthis?
I'm like they lost a fucked ona poop.
Like what do you want?
Like it's a laxative, what doyou?

Speaker 3 (12:23):
want.
So you will lose weight it'sit's just not fat weight and
you're gonna feel skinnierbecause, yeah, there's just a
whole bunch of crap sitting inyour colon right now I'm I'm
kind of curious for you, likewhen did you?

Speaker 2 (12:36):
was there kind of a moment you're like, okay, wait a
second.
Some of this is weight and someof it this is fat, and I'm sort
of figuring out the differencebetween the two of them.

Speaker 3 (12:44):
I didn't figure that out until I had overshot my goal
weight by 10 pounds withoutnoticing that I had done it.

Speaker 2 (12:51):
Really yeah.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
There are pictures and you know I don't know if
you've got a video component ofthis I listen on Spotify.
You could flash the picture up,I'll send it to you.
I am skeletal at this point I'msix, three.
Just for reference, I was 155pounds.
Yeah, that's not good.
Uh, yeah, no.
In short, not good.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
Yeah, rob's eyes just like yeah no, the lowest I ever
got was one 70 ish Like thatwas, and that got pretty lean at
like one 70.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
So yeah, so yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:21):
I'm the same height, so like, yeah, it's, that's,
that's pretty damn lean.

Speaker 3 (13:25):
Yeah, imagine 155 on you.
It's not going to be good.
Yeah, so and I've got this biground head and that doesn't
shrink when you lose weight.
No-transcript.

(13:52):
Like six hours a day, I wasbarely eating anything and I
thought I was fat the whole time.
And you'll see I'll send youthe picture afterward I am not.
There's not an ounce of fat onmy body at that point.
And I weighed myself the daythat I took that picture and I
was devastated because I hadovershot my goal weight by 10

(14:13):
pounds.
I was always aiming for 165,which I had hit four times prior
, and if the goal weight's evergoing to fix you, then you would
have stayed there, but itdoesn't.
You then it what.
You would have stayed there,but it doesn't.
So I remember taking thatpicture and trying to smile
through it because I wanted myafter picture to match it,
because afterwards I just brokedown crying.
Yeah, it was me, realizing thatthe number going down was never

(14:39):
going to make me happier yeah,that's something I see a lot.

Speaker 2 (14:44):
We equate happiness with the scale and we just think
if we lose for a lot of peopleit is you think if you lose
weight you're just gonna feelbetter, but like every once, I
think that's a prime exampleright there you get to a point
you're like oh shit yeah, thisis that.

Speaker 3 (15:00):
I went too far and I checked BMI chart like just to
see what.
Where am I supposed to be?
What's my roundabout range?
And it's, it was like hey stop.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
I think my BMI range was stopped.
The BMI just was in big redletters like you've gone too far
.

Speaker 3 (15:14):
It was like don't do this anymore.
You're you're going to floataway.
But like it's, even it took onthe shitty relative comments.
You're going to float away ifyou get too light.
Um yeah, so that's where I wasand that's kind of that was the
Genesis of realizing like I needto do something different.
I can't have a goal dateanymore.
I can't have a goal range, Ijust need to be healthy,

(15:38):
whatever that costs and howeverlong it takes.

Speaker 2 (15:41):
Interesting.
So, what was your plan afterthat?
What did you?
Did you just like okay, I'mgoing to eat a little bit more
and move a little bit less, wasthat?
Was that your goal?
Kind?

Speaker 3 (15:48):
of yeah Well, at that point it was getting to be like
September-ish again.
And my thought process at thatpoint cause we know what happens
as the fall comes around I'mgoing to gain weight if I'm not
careful.
So how am I going to do this ina way that is sustainable, in a
way that's going to benefit me?

(16:08):
Um, in a way that's controlled,because I see people putting on
muscle, obviously that's got tobe weight, right.
So I that was the first timeever that I had tracked calories
.
I'd never tracked caloriesbefore.

Speaker 2 (16:16):
So that whole time when you were like going up and
down and losing weight, you werejust like I'm eating less, I'm
moving more.

Speaker 3 (16:21):
That's my plan I lost a hundred% of my weight without
tracking calories.
Now, mind you, that's like youknow I'll often conflate this to
.
If I were to offer either ofyou a $50 bill right now, no
catch, would you take it?

Speaker 2 (16:38):
Oh, 50 of just like.
Hey, here's 50 bucks.

Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah, here you go.
It's your birthday, I don'tcare how much money I make.
There's bucks, yeah, here yougo.
It's your birthday, I don'tcare how much money I make,
there's always 50 bucks, I'msure I can find something to
base.

Speaker 3 (16:51):
Happy birthday both of you.
Yeah, that's like my entireyear salary on tiktok, thanks
creator fund.
Um, yeah, we're, uh, we're allstruggling right now.
Um, so let me rephrase that alittle bit now, rob, you don't
have kids, right?
No, just a cat.
Yeah, which is is kind of a kid.
You know Now, liam, you do,though she's not quite old

(17:11):
enough to be in this example yet, but a kid walks up to you with
a $50 bill and you can'texplain where it came from.

Speaker 2 (17:20):
Or would I take $50 from a child?

Speaker 3 (17:22):
Not take it from them .
But now you're like Would Itake $50 from a child, not take
it from them?
But now you're like this isn'ta good thing anymore why?

Speaker 1 (17:29):
do you have $50?
Yes, that is important, that isvery important.

Speaker 2 (17:33):
But especially know if they have a Cockney accent,
because I assume they're poorand that they've got it
somewhere.

Speaker 3 (17:40):
I don't know Sorry to all the Cockney accent people.
When a kid suddenly has $50 andyou can't figure out where it
came from, you start panickingand you have to figure out like
did this come from somewhere?
Did you steal this?
Did you earn it?
There's a lot of not goodpossibilities for a child having
$50 for something that wouldordinarily be a good thing.

Speaker 1 (18:01):
Did a white man in a white van give it to you?

Speaker 3 (18:03):
Yeah, there's not a good possibility there.
That was the way that I look atmy weight loss.
I kept finding $50, but Icouldn't explain where it came
from.
It wasn't a solid income source.
Also, it was a little bitsuspicious when is this coming
from?
Is this good that I have it?
The answer, ultimately, at theend, was no, because the way

(18:27):
that I lost it was.
This is like probably the mostuplifting episode you guys have
ever had, isn't it?

Speaker 2 (18:33):
most of the time, it's definitely the quietest
liam's been yeah, it's usuallyme just yelling about some video
I've seen or some bullshit,like it's always something, yeah
weight loss is depressing asshit.

Speaker 3 (18:48):
Everybody like it.
That's why I want to try toinject kindness and and
compassion into the thing it'slike.
Weight loss should just be aside effect of making your life
better.
I like that so after so.

Speaker 2 (19:02):
Then you got to that point where you overshot your
weight.
Were you able then to climbback up into the way you are now
, and then you were able tostabilize from there.
Is that kind of how it finishedoff?

Speaker 3 (19:11):
So at that point I was like I need to figure out
how to keep my weight where itis, which at that point I didn't
know quite how dangerous thatmight have been at that weight.
But I just wanted to figure outif I could stay one size and
not go up or down.
So thus began the experimentsof like I'm going to weigh

(19:31):
myself every day and just use itas a data point and figure out
how many calories it takes forme to stay here and then I'll
start going up, cause I didn'twant to start putting on weight
and not know how fast it wascoming, how many installments of
50 I was getting, how quickly,and eventually it just got to a
point where I'm like I know whatmy body requires to stay where

(19:56):
I am.
I had never considered weightas being like a one thing.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
It was always up or down, because you always had had
a goal before that he alwayshad.
Like, I'm just trying to loseweight, so I just move more, I
eat less.
That's my goal, right?

Speaker 3 (20:09):
So that's all it was.
It was the weights either goingup or it's going down.

Speaker 2 (20:13):
So you don't.
You don't count calories.
Do you count calories now?

Speaker 3 (20:17):
I track.
Sometimes um depends on what mygoals are.
Uh, there are times where Ijust sort of fall out of it and
I'm so in tune with my hungersignals now that it doesn't
bother me or affect me.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
Yeah, cause um kind of just use it as a tool to, if
you start drifting, make sureyou bring yourself back.

Speaker 2 (20:33):
Right, cause that was my question is like, when you
started to count calories, wereyou able to just kind of uh, you
know, roughly eyeball things inthe future after that Cause I
find that's true for a lot ofpeople you start counting
calories for a little bit andyou realize, oh, this is roughly
how many calories in this andthat, and I can kind of put
things together and well, that'swhy you try to coast from there
, if you will.

Speaker 3 (20:51):
That's the reason we track the.
The scale, the kitchen scale,is not an accountability system,
it's an educational tool.
It teaches you how much foodyou're supposed to be consuming.
It teaches you what does it?
Because they say limit yourportions, make your portion
sizes smaller.
What the fuck does that mean?
What?
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
No one tells us, because whatthat meant to me in the very
beginning was don't eat anything.

(21:12):
That's limiting my portionyou're eating too much.

Speaker 2 (21:14):
You need to eat less.

Speaker 3 (21:15):
That's basically so yeah, eat less, move more
obviously is like the aerialview of the whole thing, but
like we have to look closer,because eating less and moving
more is what I did for five anda half years and it damn near
killed me right.

Speaker 1 (21:28):
Had I not stopped, it would have been awful yeah,
that leads to the people thatthink they have to do the severe
restrictions and people goingdown to 1200 calories can we
talk about the 1200 calorie mythfor a second, yeah, the 1200
calories is something to see alot yeah, it's.

Speaker 3 (21:46):
Do you know where that came from?

Speaker 2 (21:48):
Where it originated from.
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (21:51):
The first recorded evidence we have is 19th century
medicine, when they were stilltreating the ick with cocaine
and leeches.
If you went to the doctor'soffice, that's what wellness is
all about.
That's all it is.

Speaker 1 (22:03):
Are those?

Speaker 3 (22:03):
approved.

Speaker 2 (22:04):
Cocaine makes you feel better.
I'll give you that.
I mean holy shit.

Speaker 3 (22:08):
If you went to the doctor's office and they said,
hold on, we're cryogenicallyunfreezing your doctor from the
19th century right now, wouldyou want to have that doctor or
would you demand someone fromtoday?
That's what happens when we goon 12 and a half.

Speaker 2 (22:20):
That's my question, because if they're really
imbalanced, then I want theold-timey doctor.

Speaker 3 (22:24):
Otherwise I'll take the doctor With the big twirly
mustaches.

Speaker 1 (22:28):
I'm just thinking about all the wellness people
that would be like yeah, let'sgo with the 19th century guy.

Speaker 3 (22:34):
They really would.
That's the thing.
There is a couple of peoplelistening to us right now.
They're like oh, they're goingto give me a tube full of bees
to cure my hysteria.

Speaker 2 (22:43):
Awesome, let's go for it.
I'll put you upside down andshake you.
So, like what was the?
So the 1,200 calories came fromthe 19th century.

Speaker 3 (22:49):
like, yeah that was the first time we have it
recorded.
When they didn't we didn't havecalorimeters.
At that point we didn't.
We were just basically kind offiguring stuff out, and it was
also based on nothing, becausewe they were developing hand
washing.
At the same time, the 1200calorie diet came around, and
then fast forward to the 1920s.
Who does that get set out to?

(23:10):
Who are we pushing the 1200calorie diet on women?
Because it works right, bringsyou down, makes you have a
slimmer figure, keeps youpregnant in the kitchen.
It's not good, though, andwe're still doing it now, and
I'm sick of it.

Speaker 2 (23:26):
I'll spend the rest of my life.
1200 calories is like for likea child, like a small child
could definitely that seems likea decent number.

Speaker 3 (23:34):
Yeah.
So if you're a small child or alittle dog, first off, like go
enjoy life.
Stop listening to podcastsright now.
This is for adults, depressedadults.
We're all dying here right now.
Go out there while you stillhave serotonin in your brain.
But yeah, it's not.
It's unless you're like threefeet tall.

(23:54):
It's.

Speaker 2 (23:55):
Don't do it, yeah but I think just a lot of people
get to the point where theythink they need 1200 calories
because they've tried a lot ofthings and it hasn't worked.

Speaker 1 (24:02):
You know, eventually you're just like, well, okay,
screw it, I just need to go forthe nuclear option and just eat
that and they tend to be bad atcounting calories, like these
people who think they're doing1200 and they're saying they're
gaining weight.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
You're not doing 1200 yeah, I see, I do see a lot of
people say like I gain weight at1200 calories and I'm like I
really I'm not trying to be mean, I'm not trying to be, you know
, a dick here, but like if youare actually in 1200 calories, I
find it near impossible thatyou're gaining unless you have
some sort of really rarecondition, your body just by

(24:35):
default, just to exist, is goingto use at least 1400 for a
small woman and I think maybe,because I mean here's the thing
like for a lot of people maybethey are eating 1200 calories
for a few days and then maybethe other few days they eat,
yeah, 3000 or whatever it is, gonuts on the weekend, right,
exactly.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
It's like people think a calorie deficit is just
like it resets, like it, theother few days they eat 3000 or
whatever it is.
Go nuts on the weekend, right,exactly.
It's like trying to hold yourbreath.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
People think a calorie deficit is just like it
resets.
Like it resets every day orsomething like you know it's
over the weeks, months, a year,like it's just constant.
It's just a constant thing it's.

Speaker 3 (25:05):
It's like you know how the grand Canyon is formed
at a time it's not going to allpop up at once.
You have to keep sending waterthrough there and slowly it will
erode and go away.
That's the way that it is.

Speaker 2 (25:17):
So I mean now I'm kind of curious, like then when
you started counting calories,like what were some things that
you found that were like helpfulfor you and just kind of
maintaining your weight, likeeither thought process or like
in terms of food, just like youknow what was what helped?

Speaker 3 (25:31):
Well, my thought process, then and this is
something that I still helppeople with to this very day is
understanding that I am a workin progress and that's not only
okay, but that's the best thingI've ever done for myself is
just allow myself to continue tobe a work in progress, because,
one, it takes the pressure offhow great is it to not have a
deadline?
And two, how great is it to notknow how great I will

(25:54):
eventually be?
So that was something that Ideveloped pretty quickly, was
like I, it started off in spite.
It started off as like I'mnever going to finish this, so I
may as well just keep going,and that eventually spiraled
into it being positive.
It's like oh, I'm getting goodthings out of this, so why not

(26:15):
just keep going?

Speaker 1 (26:16):
You're slowly becoming better at living.
I like that.
I think, taking the pressureoff.

Speaker 2 (26:21):
I think that's one of the most important things for
people, because they just feelso much pressure in order to
achieve whatever goal they setfor themselves and a lot of
times, that goal that they setfor themselves is pretty extreme
.
So just be like hey, I'm human,like it, whatever goal they set
for themselves, and a lot oftimes that goal that they set
for themselves is pretty extreme.
So just be like hey, I'm human,like it's fucking fine, Like oh
shit, I failed.

Speaker 1 (26:40):
Oh well, whatever, I had a bad day, I have 5,000 more
days.

Speaker 3 (26:45):
Yeah, we're all good.
We have a lot of days.
Chances are, most of the peoplelistening to us right now are
going to live longer than 14days, or 21 days, or you know
whatever these programs are like.
You got to lose all the weightin a month.
No, you don't, for what tookyou years they get shorter.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
We used to be in like the 21 days.
I feel like now it's like youhave to lose a certain amount of
time in like a week.
Like a week is kind of the max,so then you just need to shit
your brains out everything'slike I lost seven pounds in
seven days.
I tell you if I cut out allcarbs in my diet, lost all my
glycogen, which holds on towater, and then just get a full
on colon cleanse I'd lose afistful of laxatives I could

(27:24):
lose a ton of weight.
I could lose a lot.

Speaker 3 (27:26):
I used to start my diets with laxatives.
Anytime I would go back intothat spring cleaning phase, I'd
start with laxatives.
I had this colon cleansesmoothie.
It was despicable.
Guys like it.
Yeah, I don't remember therecipe anymore.

Speaker 1 (27:38):
I'm glad it's lost I hope the colon cleanse came
after the smoothie, not beforethe smoothie like it wasn't the
ingredient, right?

Speaker 3 (27:45):
no, well, it was.
Yeah, it's no, no, geez, hey, Imean, if we're going back to
nausea being the cure forovereating, that's a good start.
Drinking my own duty Notrecommended, probably also not
approved.
I think we could all agree onthat.

Speaker 2 (28:02):
the four of us, yeah, but I feel like I mean, I've
seen the drinking the urinething.
We're not that far off.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
Yeah, I was going to say we got.
Was it Brecca or Asprey?
That was like injecting theirown urine.

Speaker 2 (28:12):
It was Asprey.
Brecca is probably not farbehind, but Asprey for now.

Speaker 3 (28:16):
Well, he's too busy eating his own ass.
I don't even know if he'd havetime to drink his pee.

Speaker 2 (28:20):
No, Brecca, sorry.
No, Asprey was injecting yoururine.
You don't drink it, but that'sstupid.
You inject your urine.
That makes a lot more sense.

Speaker 3 (28:33):
We're not joking, by the way.
No, I'm 100% serious, that wasa real thing.
God, that's just like I laugh,because if I don't, then it's
going to kill me by secondhandsepsis.
You laugh.

Speaker 1 (28:41):
Liam yells.
I just put my head down on mycat and cry.

Speaker 2 (28:47):
So yeah.
So then, how was your coastingafter you decided to not inject
your own urine or, you know,completely blow out your rectum?
Well, I still do that.

Speaker 3 (28:57):
I still inject my own urine.
That's part of my every day.
Yeah, After that it justeverything got easier because
there was no deadline.
I could try things out.
If something didn't work it'scool, it didn't work.
I'll try something else and Ihave slowly between then and now
it's been about almost twoyears now built the plan that I

(29:19):
have currently.
That's one of the reasons thatmy username is the thing Mike
needs a plan.
It's kind of a call out to theuniverse of like I lost 110
pounds, but I'm still figuringthis thing out.
I still need a plan and ifyou're living your life right,
you should be too, and justfinding the plan is it's just
difficult.

Speaker 2 (29:37):
So I get so many people like send me messages and
stuff, like I want a rubric.
They ask like I want an exact,an exact plan, and I'm like I
can't give that to you, like Iwould love to, I'd love to know
you know exactly what to tellyou, but I, I don't and you
don't like no, we it's findingthat out.
It just takes time and a lot oftrial and error no, I always

(29:59):
say.

Speaker 1 (29:59):
I always say, like I'm somebody that loves broccoli
, there's a lot of people thatdon't like broccoli.
A plan, there you go.
Mike does not like broccoli.
Mike likes bananas and bananalaffy taff and banana Laffy
Taffy and banana Laffy Taffy.
There you go.
So yeah, a plan for me is goingto include a fair amount of
broccoli, carrots, peas, allthese vegetables.

(30:21):
I love vegetables.
It's not going to include a lotof fruit.
I'm not a big fruit person.
If I try to give that plan toyou, are you going to be able to
follow that?

Speaker 3 (30:29):
No, it would follow that.
No, it would be great.
I mean, yeah, if you were tofollow my plan exactly and you
stuck to it, it would.
You'd probably get decentresults.

Speaker 2 (30:39):
It's just a matter of other people then mike with
like do you, do you coach otherpeople right now, or is it?
Yeah, so like I mean just kindof curious, like I love to just
ask people who coach others likewhat are general things?
You see that you know it'ssomething that works for people,
that people that helps them insome way.
Is there just any generaltrends?

Speaker 3 (30:58):
Most people that come to me know they're not getting
a meal plan, they're not gettingan exercise plan.
They're familiar with mycontent.
They know that we're looking totry to get to the root of the
human being that's sitting infront of me.
That's what we're doing.
I'm not giving them stuff to doimmediately.
We're just talking about, like,where do you come from?
What are your eating habitslike, why are they like that?

(31:20):
And we start it's.
It's half you know, weight lossstuff and half therapy, in a
way.

Speaker 1 (31:24):
There's I was about to say it more a food therapist
than a nutritionist.
It's yeah.

Speaker 3 (31:34):
It's than a nutritionist.
It's yeah, it's um.
And also I should not beprescribing meal plans.
There's a lot of peopleprescribing yes plans.

Speaker 2 (31:37):
That shouldn't be, because I'm not allowed to be
prescribing meal if you didn'tknow like especially, I know, in
the united states, it's illegalto give people the exact foods
to eat, unless you're aregistered dietitian.
Then you can.
But you can do like macrowhat's the color?
Yeah, you can basically givethem a certain number of like
protein and this to eat and thenyou can kind of go from there.

Speaker 1 (31:54):
But telling people exactly what to eat is actually
like-.
A diet plan is actuallyconsidered a medical
prescription.

Speaker 3 (32:02):
I help people with calories.
I help them figure out, likehere's round, about how many
calories you need and we'llassess as we go.
And it's very generous.
The calculator that I use ismuch higher than pretty much any
other calculator out there.
I mention this one all the timebecause I think it's great the
Total Daily Energy ExpenditureCalculator on calculatornet.
It is the one calculator I'vefound that has no financial

(32:25):
incentive to see you drop scaleweight because they're not
selling anything.
I've seen some calculators thatare like.
There's this one calculatorthat was for breastfeeding
mothers and I typed it inbecause I'm like let's see what
it is, and it was like 1,100calories.
So there is not onebreastfeeding mother on this
planet right now, unless you'rea.
I mean birds don't breastfeed.
Something's a small animal thatI'm and a lack of a squirrel.

(32:49):
A squirrel, maybe they're smallenough that that would be okay.

Speaker 2 (32:52):
Whatever, a human person, something that has
nipples.
A small thing with nipples Fora human person.

Speaker 1 (32:57):
Please, parents, do not do that.
That's a great way to give yourchild malnutrition.
Yeah, you shouldn't be in acalorie deficit.

Speaker 3 (33:03):
breastfeeding really yeah no you should not.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
So then you kind of talk with them.
Is it more of just kind of liketalking with them, like what
are the foods that they like andhow can they incorporate those,
and what are some morenutrient-dense, lower-calorie
options, how to get those in thediet, that sort of thing?

Speaker 3 (33:22):
Yeah, we talk about that.
I'm good one-on-one withnutritional.
I could have a conversationwith you guys off-camera on
nutrition and be totally fluent.
I don't get into that super toomuch with clients because again
, it's not my place, Um, butI'll talk to them about the
importance of fiber, theimportance of protein.
We'll talk about why the macrosmatter and how many of them you

(33:43):
need, why we need dietary fatsthe basics.
Yeah, right, the basics, um, andI will direct them to resources
that are approved by us, notapproved by the other guy, which
, by the way, can you can reallyquick liam for my mom, who's
concerned every time that I callsomeone out of the internet.
Can you tell my mom it's notillegal to call bobby out for

(34:03):
being wrong they, so I will tellyou anyone.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
This is america and you can sue anyone for anything.
However, unless you are sayingsomething that is just that you
know for certain is false, thatyou are calling them a murderer
or whatever.

Speaker 1 (34:21):
It's slander yeah.

Speaker 2 (34:23):
Slander Like, yeah, there's nothing they can do.

Speaker 1 (34:27):
No, you're just showing you somebody, but that
doesn't mean the suit will winExactly.

Speaker 3 (34:33):
No, you're showing his videos and you're saying
here's what the science is, yeah, exactly, which is not liable
in any capacity.
But anyway, yeah, we will talka lot about hunger signals,
because that was something thatwas really important to me was
recognizing when it was that Iwas hungry and what the
difference between just likebeing bored and being hungry is.

(34:54):
And you would think that's notan impactful change, but that
was one of the most impactfulchanges for me because I was a
huge binge eater.
I was anyone listening rightnow.
I promise you.
I promise you, whatever youthink that you've done that you
feel guilty about, I've doneworse.
I used to go to Papa John'sfairly regularly and I would get

(35:15):
a large meat lovers pizza and Iwould tell them not to slice it
and then I would bring it intomy car and I would roll it up
like a burrito and eat it in mycar and I had McDonald's twice
more that day.
That was my pizza burrito.
In between, yeah, it was 4,500calories all in.

(35:36):
You cannot possibly tell me itwas carbs making me fat.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
Part of the 4,500 calories.

Speaker 3 (35:41):
Yeah, there are carbs in that 4,500 calories, but if
I had cut out the carbs and justeaten like 3,000 calories of
cheese and sausage, I'm stillgoing to gain weight.

Speaker 2 (35:50):
Carnivores- yeah, that's what comes yeah, yeah
yeah, so a lot of these thesecome down to is, you know,
pizza's bad burgers are bad,yada yada.
It's like they just have morecalories and figuring out how to
work them into your diet iswhat's important, and not eating
them like a burrito in your car, like that's, you know.

Speaker 3 (36:08):
These are the things we need to focus on see, I tell
that story to people sometimesand they think that's, that's
the time that you must'verealized something was wrong,
right?

Speaker 1 (36:16):
No, that was, those are some.

Speaker 3 (36:17):
I was eating that under the sun Like that was a
happy memory.
Yeah, I can't wait for my pizzaburrito in here, like I'm.
I'm excited for it.
But yeah, it's, it's, it's not.
That it's not and it's.
Capitalism dictates that wecreate a boogeyman and make you
afraid of it to sell you asolution.

(36:38):
That's the way that it goes, soit's.
It's a lot easier to say here'sthis evil thing, come and buy
my thing and your thing willchange.
It's a lot harder to tellpeople they can do this alone.
They don't need to buy anythingfrom me, they don't need to be
coached by me.
There are plenty of people thatI will never work with that
message me and say you know, Ilost 50 pounds because I've been
watching your videos.
Thank you so much.

(36:58):
And like that's what it's about, for I think all of us is just
when people reach out andthey're like you helped me.
Yeah, it's, my life isdifferent now.

Speaker 1 (37:12):
That's, honestly, the only reason I'm still doing it.

Speaker 3 (37:15):
Oh, there's barely any other reason to do it.
Well, yeah, I don't even getpaid.
It's rough, it really is.

Speaker 2 (37:22):
And it's so because it's it's just I'm just thinking
about it because it's it's sotough for people, because it
thinks it's not like thishappened overnight for them,
because it's it's so tough forpeople because it thinks it's
not like this happened overnightfor them.
They've had years, decades ofpeople cementing these ideas in
their head and it's not going tobe overdone and read it's not
going to be fixed.
It's not gonna be fixed in onenight, right?

(37:44):
So that's why, yeah, you tryand make I have to say the same
things over and over, and I do.
I say the same things over andover because people need to hear
them over and over, and andit's just like we do it a lot on
this podcast, because we haveto.
I mean, it's it's the simplethings.
It's trying to get more fiberinto your diet, it's trying to
get more protein, trying to getmore activity in any way you can
it doesn't matter and and anddoing that in a way that that

(38:07):
actually is sustainable, youknow did any of you think that
we were gonna have careersdefending this bullshit right
here, this laffy taffy likewe're not saying you only eat
this and obviously you, liam,will not defend this, but I it's
.

Speaker 3 (38:24):
We're not saying just have a diet entirely of laffy
taffy when we say it's fine ifyou want to have one, and that's
and now we're actually fightinglike.

Speaker 2 (38:33):
It seems like we're fighting multiple battles,
because I don't know if you sawwashington post, I think it was
I don't remember exactly.

Speaker 1 (38:38):
It's always washington post.

Speaker 2 (38:39):
It's usually that fucking rag um, they released
another article saying um,dietitians are defending junk
food essentially.
Uh, yeah, you know talkingabout and it's very frustrating
because what we're not, what weare, is really just kind of the
anti-diet culture that sayingyou can't have those foods.
And I under, if someone like,if the only thing someone does

(39:02):
is defend cheetos and oreos andthose sorts of things, I
understand how someone couldthink that person is promoting
them.
But like, we're really justtrying to tell people like you
don't have to fear foods becausethat sucks, like it's just,
it's so.
It's debilitating to always beworried about the foods you're
eating and a lot of people are.
I know some others brush thoseoff like, oh, they're just being

(39:25):
soft, blah, blah, blah, blah,blah, blah.

Speaker 1 (39:27):
Like a lot of people really are scared, like, and you
know just, trying to alleviatethat and just incorporate more
balance in a more reasonable way.
That's the thing is that we'realso combining that message with
the eat things in moderation,with the eat up plenty of whole
foods in your diet.

Speaker 3 (39:47):
I consider my place in the food chain here for lack
of a better term getting peopleprepared to hear the real
information, because I'm notgiving complex dietary
information, I'm not giving thestuff that dieticians will
eventually give people.
But I want to try to rewritethe negative self-talk.
I want to rewrite all of themyths that have been instilled

(40:10):
in us for so long to try tostoke the weight loss industry
so that these people, once theydo, go to dietitians and they
tell them you need more complexcarbs in your diet, you're
allowed to have uh fats andyou're allowed to have all this
stuff that you cut out, likeyou're allowed to have potatoes.
They will take that informationand improve their lives through

(40:30):
it what do you guys find thatworks for you?

Speaker 2 (40:37):
How do we get people to kind of unwind a lot of that
diet culture, the advice thatthey've heard over decades?
What have you seen that worksFor me, honestly and it's a
little strange, but kind ofpointing out this fact that a
lot of the people giving theadvice have ulterior motives
they are selling some other sortof thing.
I think that helps out a lot injust telling people like hey,

(41:00):
you see how they're advisingthis thing right, Did you notice
they also sell something thathelps with that?
And people like, oh shit, theytotally do, Like this is all
just to to make money, and Ithink that helps people a little
bit.
I don't know, like, how do wedo that?
Like how do we get people to?

Speaker 3 (41:17):
you know, to a lot of the people that have these
kinds of notions are often thesame kinds of people that are,
like, you know, big pharma andand all that kind of stuff, and
there's big corporations out toget us.
They want to take advantage ofus.
You point out that the samepeople who are really instilling
that message are also trying totake advantage of you and look

(41:37):
towards like hey, I'm notcurrently selling anything right
now.
I do have coaching, but all ofthe stuff that I'm going to give
in my coaching is widelyavailable here on my page.
It's just not going to betargeted towards you
specifically.
I offer the execution of theinformation to people, the
individualization, but there'sno paywall, there's no secret,

(41:58):
it's all out there.
I think one of the best ways wecan do this is just make the
information as freely availableas possible.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
Yeah, and I think that's the main foundation for
my content would be trying tosimplify the science so that
it's more accessible for people,right?

Speaker 3 (42:21):
and sliding into the frame really cool that too.

Speaker 2 (42:25):
You don't want to know how I do that and so that's
basically where I've kind oflanded on my content is trying
to do equal parts.
Hey, that person is a shit bagtrying to scare you in order to
sell something.
Equal parts hey, uh, carrotsare cool like um, you don't have
to eat them, just like out ofthe bag, it's you know, or

(42:49):
whatever you can actually dostuff you can do you can?
add things or whatever, like youcan just do simple shit, it's,
you know, or whatever, you canactually do stuff you can do.
You can add things or whatever,like you can just do simple
shit, it's it's.

Speaker 1 (42:57):
It's not rocket surgery here liam and I will be
streaming and I'll have a he'll.
He'll be eating like some funsnacks and I'll have a bag of
carrots that I'm just munchingon I.

Speaker 2 (43:08):
I, for me, it's so tough, like I don't know.
I'm just thinking now because,like I, I do kind of try and
point out these other likelittle interesting snacks and
whatnot that have a little bitmore fiber, because, again, it's
so tough.
It's just all about thisbalance of like, okay, so these,
these snacks have more proteinand more fiber, but, like, also,
you still should be focusing onwhole foods.
Okay, how do you do that?

(43:29):
Okay, so first thing you'regoing to do is try and make this
recipe and meal prep it, andthen you have that and then you
can add things to that when it'sready.
That's our super simple andit's just balancing all these
things, like you.
Like you, I love what you said,that you know it's all work in
progress.
I don't know the fuck I'm doing.
I know I have a general idea ofwhat I want to accomplish.

(43:56):
How do I do that?
I don't really know, but I'mdoing the best I can in order to
balance this information.
For people to say, hey, calmthe fuck down about this, just
focus more on the basic shit.
It's fine.
That is my short right there.

Speaker 3 (44:05):
That might be some of the best information right
there.
Just calm the fuck down.
There's a lot of hype and a lotof fear and all sorts of stuff
stoking us into buying thesethings out of an emergency
complex in our heads and it'sjust not that way.
This whole thing takes time,and I know that it's difficult
to take that A lot of mistakesare made through impulse.

(44:28):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (44:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (44:31):
Too many impulses Through impulse, oh yeah, yeah,
too many impulses.

Speaker 2 (44:45):
You know, those impulses could be large, in the
sense of putting yourself on aterribly unsustainable diet, or
just an impulse in the momentwhere you're feeling terrible
and you turn to food to try tosolve that.
And I think that's where a lotof people can find success is in
some form of planning, becausewe all know, like I have, I've
got a daughter, I've got, youknow, a bunch of shit going on.
It's tough.
You want to have some sort of.
You don't have to have an exactplan, you don't need to fucking
meal prep every single mealthroughout the day, all these

(45:05):
things, but just to havesomething in place that you know
you can go to Like.
For me, I'm just fucking basic.
So like I grab like a sweetpotato, I microwave it, I add
beans that are like pre-seasonedin the can oh, my God, the
sodium, I'm probably gonna die.
Whatever I add that I add likecorn or whatever some cheese,

(45:25):
like simple shit, like justknowing something I can just
throw that and have it readyhelps me from being like, okay,
I'm just going to eat, you know,whatever else high, whatever
other high calorie option thereis.

Speaker 3 (45:37):
I'm starting to teach modular plans, so I want people
to.
This is something that I talkabout in my coaching, where I've
got sort of like a list of mealmodules in my head that I can
build a day out of.
So I've got like apredetermined amount of meals
that I know that I can make withthe ingredients that I
currently have in my home, and Iusually tend to have the same

(46:01):
things every day because I'mprofoundly autistic.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
Most of us do most right.
Most of us like the same thing.
We like what we like, right.
We just I like what I like andI really just I enjoy it that
way.

Speaker 3 (46:11):
I enjoy the things that I eat so much that I
continue to eat them, and that'ssomething that you need to do
is enjoy your process, and oneof the ways you can do that is
just have a bunch of meals that,like you know, you can make
right now.
Make them easy.
My dinner that I've been havingevery night for a year and a
half I am neurotic is one pottakes 15 minutes.

(46:31):
If it was any harder than that,I might not do it.
So find easy meals and justsort of plug them into your day.
It's.
Have a couple of lunches, havea couple of breakfasts that you
know that you can switch on to,and just pop them in.
Build a day from it.
Don't be wondering what you'regoing to eat, because why?

Speaker 2 (46:48):
you're wondering Exactly, because when you're
just like, oh, I'll figure itout later what you're going to,
because when you're just like,oh, I'll figure it out later,
what you're gonna figure out isto order something from
somewhere.
Right, like that's what you'regonna figure out which is not a
problem, but decide that and ifit, happens all the time
yeah oh, that's going to leadgenerally to excess calories,
right?
So like, just have just justsomething, and that's why I try
and show so many different, likelittle recipes and try and keep

(47:09):
it simple, you know those havebeen really my um, one of my
little tricks.

Speaker 1 (47:15):
That isn't actually specifically food related, but
in regards to, like, people askme, how do I stay so calm with
everything?
How do I, how do I know so muchAll these things?
It's because whenever I'mpresented with something,
whenever somebody is arguingagainst me, whenever you know
these things pop up, I suppressthat initial impulse to react.

(47:39):
Yeah, and I take the time and Ijust, you know, I just have
that zen moment.
Calm down or sorry, sorry, godput it like liam says calm the
fuck down calm the fuck downcalm the fuck down, you can't,
you take that minute.
Just calm the fuck down, waituntil you can think rationally
and then process.

Speaker 3 (48:00):
A lot of us process while we're eating.
In the beginning, like I knowthat I would sort of accompany
every emotion happy, sad, scared, confused, whatever it was,
horny with food.
Horny with food, eh yeah, Imean, that's a whole other
podcast episode.

Speaker 1 (48:20):
That's a whole other website.

Speaker 3 (48:22):
Yeah, you guys will see that content here very soon.
We're all looking for money.
Thanks creator program.
Yeah, it's.
I'll often describe emotionaleating as an epipen.
This is sort of unpopular, soyou're going to get the inside
scoop here.
I believe there is a functionfor emotional eating Every once

(48:46):
in a while.
It does occasionally happenafter a funeral.
I'm not going to blame anybodyfor emotionally eating then, but
if you're stabbing yourselfwith an epi pen before you go
outside to deal with seasonalallergies, we got to look into
it and figure out what's goingon.
So, yeah, there's a part of itwhere we're going to be like
yeah, I need that like in thosevery special moments, but a lot

(49:07):
of us are not.
It's either it's not happeningthat much those hard moments or
we're finding hard moments andmaking them harder to justify it
finding hard moments and makingthem harder to justify it.

Speaker 1 (49:22):
Yeah, so so basically , emotional eating in response
to a stressor, like somebodydying, something major happening
in your life, like you said,that's it's.
It's just one of the ways thatwe can calm ourselves down,
obviously, but if you'reemotional eating because you're
constantly stressed, well thenyou're not.

(49:44):
There's not a specific thingyou're responding to.
You're just kind of in a statein your life where you need to.
Something's wrong, you need tofix something there.
We have to solve the stress.

Speaker 3 (49:56):
It could be that you're in a job that sucks and
it might not be easy to leaveright now, but you can go
eventually it's.
You can put the plans in placeto make that happen and it can
happen.
Some of you and this is goingto be hard you might be in a
relationship that's not good foryou right now and can I just, I

(50:17):
need to say what I find so thatit's so difficult.

Speaker 2 (50:21):
We see a lot of these people, so we've, all you know,
talk about the, the, thegrocery store walkers, as we'll
generally call them, um.
It's always um one thing withthem and that makes it so simple
it whether it's, I don't know,sugar, seed oils, doesn't matter
.
Really, you know, you could,you could narrow it down to
whatever and find research tosupport it.

(50:41):
That makes it very simple andeasy for them.
They just say it over and overand over in every video and we,
like you know, repetition worksfor us, right.
Like you get told somethingover and over and over again.
It sits with you, so that thatworks really well for them,
right.
But when you but it's just nottrue.
Like it's just, it's not truethat one thing is the problem,

(51:03):
it's rarely is in anything.
It's especially not true innutrition.
So when you see that and you'relike, okay, how do we actually
solve the problem?
All right, well, that's complexas fuck, because everyone is
different and I can't just tellyou it's this one thing.
It's probably multiple things,just for you, that are causing
the issue and you have toaddress each of them and that's

(51:25):
a tough thing to tell people,because then they're like oh,
what are those things?
I'm like I, I can't tell youwhat I don't know that's why
we're all a fucking work inprogress is we're figuring,
we're figuring it out, butpeople don't respond as well to
to that.
I want one reason that you canyell at me with your shirt off
as to why that's the problem.
I'm sorry, you have to gothrough a lot of trial and error

(51:49):
to figure each of those thingsout.
Once you do, you will be muchhappier for that, but it's going
to take some time.
It does.

Speaker 3 (51:57):
That's what I do with my clients.
We work one-on-one to try tofigure out what it is that is
has gotten us to where we're at,and I give them my own
experience, they give me theirs.
We share that and we build aplan together.
We build whatever their plan isgoing to be, and it's not easy
and, like I said before, there'sa lot of tears, it gets somber,
it gets, we get deep.

(52:18):
We share some stuff that we'venever shared with other people
before, cause some people cometo me and they've never gotten
to talk about anything, andthat's one of the reasons that
we ended up putting weight on.
It's like we're just eating ourfeelings cause we can't get
them out anywhere.
So that alone helps.
But my big thing, that, thething that I latch on to because

(52:39):
I I've also got one thing thatI keep saying over and over
again, though it's a morepositive one it's the be kind to
yourself message that I'malways putting out there.
I think that everything that Italk about is a way to be kind
to yourself.
It's it all sort of fits underthat umbrella and if you can
find a way to do that, because alot of us are engaging in

(53:00):
self-destructive behaviors andand harming ourselves.
If we can find ways to bekinder to ourselves, everything
else comes much easier.

Speaker 1 (53:10):
A nice, somber, quiet moment from that.

Speaker 2 (53:13):
I'm not as yelly this one, just because I really want
to figure all of this out.
And it's fucking hard.
It's just.
It's complex, like how do youlike?
Okay, you're talking tothousands of people, how could
you give the most usefulinformation?
Nothing's ever going to beperfect and figuring that out is
just difficult.

Speaker 1 (53:35):
Yeah, there's that.
There's that calories incalories out chart and it's got
calories in calories out in themiddle, but then there's like
hundreds of things around itthat flow into it I what the
best way?

Speaker 3 (53:49):
I've surmised that I can help the most people because
I don't know everybody right,obviously we can't.
We both have all of us.
Three of us have largefollowings.
You guys are much larger than I.
We can't reach everybody.
So instead of giving reallypointed advice, I ask questions

(54:19):
going pretty viral.
I start the video by saying youdon't deserve to talk to
yourself the way that you do.
You know that.
And it's just a bunch of peoplein the comments telling me like
I go on to ask whose voice isit?
It's not yours.
You didn't decide to talk toyourself the way that you do.
That was put into your brain bysomeone in your life.
Who was it?
So it's just thousands ofcomments of people telling me
who it was that programmed theirinternal monologue.

(54:39):
That's a place to start.
And there are people that thatvideo has been out for a month
or two now and people aresending me DMs and being like
that was what I needed to start,like I didn't know I needed to
ask myself that question.
I thought I was just unjustlycruel to myself.
I thought I deserved it.
Unjustly cruel to myself, Ithought I deserved it, but now

(55:02):
that I'm looking back.
It was some kid at school, orit was my parents, or it was
grandparents, or whoever itmight be.

Speaker 1 (55:06):
One thing I've told people is that sometimes it does
come down to talking tosomebody seeing therapy stuff
like that, and this is a primeexample.

Speaker 3 (55:19):
I think I just reverse engineered therapy.
I didn't come up with anythinginteresting here.
I'm a fraud and I tell peopletoo.

Speaker 1 (55:29):
All you did was treat people with kindness.

Speaker 3 (55:32):
Huh, what a fucking novel idea.
How cool would that be if wecould just, in the weight loss
industry, stop fucking hatingpeople.
There are people that come tome Can we talk about this for a
second how wildly homophobic theweight loss space is, for no
reason, oh yeah, uh, but likeespecially here, and every once

(55:55):
in a while I'll post a videoreal quick.
I'm like hey, by the way, Iaccept you for who you are, no
matter who you are, and I loselike three 4,000 followers in a
day.
Yeah, you guys, you both knowhow it is, Especially you, Rob.
You know what it is it's like.
Yeah, you just say somethingthat should be common sense and
people dip.
They're like, oh, I can'tbelieve you're getting political

(56:16):
.

Speaker 1 (56:16):
This is not political .
We're human beings, humanrights is not political.

Speaker 3 (56:20):
It's not political.
It's not a political issue todecide whether or not someone
gets to live.
Yeah, and for that reason alonepeople come to my page, just
because I don't hate them away.
There's no reason, just becauseI don't hate them away.

Speaker 1 (56:34):
There's no reason and it's ridiculous that these
people.
It's ridiculous but alsohilarious that these people
think that calling you gay orwhatever is an insult.
You know, you got these peoplethat are homophobic and they
come into the comment sectionand, dude, you're so gay or
whatever it's like.
I mean, I'm not, but that'salso not an insult.

(56:56):
I don't know what you're goingfor here, like if I was gay,
what would it matter?
It's not 2004 anymore.

Speaker 3 (57:02):
Things have changed a little bit.
We don't use that word the waythat they used to use it.

Speaker 2 (57:07):
I don't know, I don't get it, but it's just a lot of
people just have anger and theydon't even realize it was placed
on them.

Speaker 3 (57:19):
And now they place it on other people.
So, like I, it's oh yeah, thethree of us are targets for that
.
All the time we get comments inour feeds, all the time of
people just gearing their hatredtowards us, and I realized a
while, like those people, likewhen I see hatred like that.

Speaker 2 (57:30):
I'm like, oh, your life is is tough right now, like
that's.
Honestly, what I see is like,oh, you are angry, you're just
an angry individual and you'retrying to get rid of some of
that and so you're ascending inmy way.
I don't care, it doesn't botherme, no, but like it sucks that
you're dealing with that.
Hopefully you find a way todeal with it in a better way in
the future.

Speaker 1 (57:49):
Maybe stop listening to Tom McDonald.

Speaker 2 (57:59):
Tom McDonald tom mcdonald oh god, tom mcdonald,
jeez.
So you should get him toeverybody listening.
I say just god, because we,because what did I say earlier?
People need to hear this.
You know the same thing overand over.
Okay, be kind to yourself,understand.
You're a fucking work inprogress, it's fine.
You're gonna fuck up, it's okay.
I think people need to hearover and over that it's okay
that you fucked up.
I fuck up on a daily basis,it's whatever I figure it out.

(58:22):
Be kind to yourself.
You know have try and get Mike.
He calls this whole thing.
Mike needs a plan.
We all need a plan, right?
So try and figure out that.
Try and figure out a plan thatworks for you in a way that is
sustainable and, just again, bekind to yourself.
When it's not perfect, it'sokay, it's okay.

Speaker 3 (58:43):
I think it's only really a fuck up if you double
down on it, especially when itcomes to just diet, stuff that
you're doing for yourself.
Like, yeah, there are going tobe days that aren't perfect, but
what is perfect other than thepursuit of being better?
I think that's really whatperfect is.
Some of you are doingperfection perfectly right now
by doing nothing, becauseperfection only exists in theory

(59:03):
.

Speaker 1 (59:04):
so do something, and if you don't do it a hundred
percent, it doesn't matter,you're doing it, yeah yeah, like
if, if you fuck up and you takethe opportunity to learn from
it and grow, then it's not afuck up, it's a learning
experience.

Speaker 2 (59:19):
And that brings us to our final message that we say
over and over Don't be yourworst.
That is where just don't beyour worst.
You don't have to be yourabsolute best.
What is the best?
Who knows?
Whatever, don't be your worst,just try.

Speaker 3 (59:38):
The bar is in hell everyone.

Speaker 1 (59:39):
Embrace it.
If you want to see a lot offuck ups, come watch me and Liam
stream Baldur's Gate and watch.
Liam yell at me for the amountof times I go to pickpocket or
steal stings and get caught andaggro an entire room.

Speaker 2 (59:54):
Listen, I come, I go to the bathroom, I come back,
we're almost dead.

Speaker 1 (59:58):
I don't know even what's going on?

Speaker 3 (01:00:00):
Okay, maybe because someone vital to the operation
went to the bathroom.

Speaker 2 (01:00:04):
Yes, yes, Rob is constantly being his worst and I
tell him over and over to notbe that thing.
And we're working on it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:11):
We're getting there, you gotta do it like that.

Speaker 3 (01:00:13):
Well, either that or I bribe them with half the
spoils you gotta do it like thatSouth Park episode where
they're playing Warcraft andthey've got that battle station
set up.
You haven't seen that go watch.

Speaker 2 (01:00:22):
It hilarious.
But, mike, make sure you tellpeople because we always forget
where to find you.

Speaker 3 (01:00:29):
All your handles those sorts of things oh, I
don't want them to find me.
I'm quitting.
You can find me at Mike needsasAPlan on Instagram and TikTok.
You can get my free how to bekind to yourself guide, because
some people ask me how do you bekind to yourself?
Because you say it in everyvideo.
So I made a guide about it.
So stop asking.
Go to Mike'sPlancom.

(01:00:50):
Mikeneedsaplan was bought underme by a scalper and they tried
to sell it back to me.
So instead of Mike needs a playand now I could have allowed
that to destroy me I could haveallowed that to be like well
it's.
I guess you're done.
You can't have a websiteanymore because you can't have
Mike needs a plan.
I think Mike's plan is a betterwebsite name, so it is Mike's
plancom.
You can get my free kindnessguide overcome anything, be kind

(01:01:18):
to yourself.

Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
Thank you guys so much, uh, for having me.
Don't forget, if you want tofind mike on only fans, it's.
Mike needs an apple pie I need.

Speaker 3 (01:01:24):
A paycheck is what I need right now.

Speaker 2 (01:01:26):
That's why we're we're all struggling hey, wasn't
that a great time listen to, tothe podcast you were just I'm
assuming you knew or you werejust listening to in moderation.
So if you go ahead and hit thefive star button, is that a
thing the like?

Speaker 1 (01:01:44):
button.
That's a thing.
Yeah, the like button on.

Speaker 2 (01:01:45):
YouTube.
If you're on YouTube, hit thelike button, not the dislike
button.
That's a bad button.

Speaker 1 (01:01:49):
The like button.

Speaker 2 (01:01:50):
Don't touch, hit all the other buttons, the share,
the subscribe all those thingsall the other buttons, the share
, the.
You can go check out all thosethings, subscribe.
Go check out our patreon wehave.
We do have a patreon.
It's free to join if you want.
Or you could give us some moneythat'd be really cool, like a
dollar or two, it doesn't matterwhatever you have, that's where
you'll find all the news forthis we're super appreciative.
You can find all sorts of otherstuff there.
We do giveaways.
I think sometimes you knowsometimes all that, yeah,

(01:02:12):
absolutely so, uh, peace.