What’s up everybody. Welcome to the fit to fat to fit experience podcast. I’m your host, drew Manning and I’m your cohost Lynn. Manny, thanks for joining us for another amazing episode. You guys today we have another special treat for you. Last night was Alex and Jeff’s episode on fit to fat to fit the TV show on A&E. If you haven’t watched it yet, definitely do so before listening to this episode because we dive into a lot of specifics behind the show. We talk a lot about what they went through, Alex and Jeff and and Alex is able to open up about the specifics of the nutrition plan that him and Jeff used throughout the episode to lose the weight, which I know a lot of you are asking about like how did the trainer and the client, you know, what did they do specifically because you know there’s eight months of filming and it’s condensed into a 45 minute episode. So unfortunately, you know, you don’t get to see everything that they did, but they, they, they dive into that in this episode.
It’s so good you guys w we get into a lot of in depth stuff. I really, again, if you haven’t watched the show, make sure you do before listening to this cause we dive into the blood work. Um, the change that that made, um, for Jeff and really helping him, uh, move past the physical, you know, not focus as much on how he looked. I’m also talking about, you know, how he did get discouraged because of the, uh, of the scale and not feeling like you saw the physical improvements, but wow, did he look amazing in the end? And we talk a little bit about where he is now. Is he able to sustain that healthy lifestyle and what exactly does he do today in order to do that? So a lot of good stuff in this episode, but first let’s talk about our sponsor of the show. Dollar workout club.com. You guys, dollar workout club.com is an online fitness platform. You could stream it to your phone, your laptop, your smart TV. And what we do, it’s me, drew and Natalie Hodson, and we do five new workouts every week at a beginner, intermediate, and advanced level. So anyone could participate. Five healthy recipe videos and five motivation videos every week just for bucks.
Yep. And there’s no contracts, no hidden fees, you guys, and it’s high quality content and the workouts are only 10 to 20 minutes long. You don’t need to spend hours in the gym. You can do all this from your home, the convenience of using your laptop or your car or your iPad or your smartphone. You can do this in a hotel room. You can do this with your kids. Uh, so we’re trying to deliver this high quality content to you. Make it convenient, make it accessible, hopefully help change your lifestyle. So join us@dollarworkoutclub.com and we’ll see you around there. All right, let’s jump into today’s episode with Alex and Jeff. All right, Alison. Jeff, welcome to the fit to fat to fit experience podcast. Good morning. First off, let me just say we loved you guys’ episode last night. It was so good. I cried. We cried, we laughed, we got hungry.
I yelled at the screen at one point when I really didn’t like Alex. But aside from that, it was a, it was an array of emotion.
Yeah, no, but here’s the thing, like, and it’s kind of similar to a lot of the trainers, you know, we come across, we can come across as judgmental and, and I was the same way when I did my fit, tried to fit journey. And a lot of people perceive trainers in this, this, uh, kind of judgmental mindset of, Oh, these trainers, you know, they, they don’t know what it’s like and they don’t understand and they’re kind of self obsessed. And I’ll be honest, I mean, Alex, you came across like that, but I mean, that’s who I was as well before this journey. And it took me going through my fit to fat to fit experience to F to take a step back and realize that, um, you are not your body. Like, you know, once I lost my, my, my six pack and, and the muscles and all that, I had to re kinda rediscover myself and I realized that, you know, I’m not my body and my body’s just a small piece of, of who I am on the inside. And so I learned and grew a lot. Do you feel like that was the same for you Alex, when you went through this Fitbit fit journey that you changed your perception of how you viewed physique and, and being, you know, 6% body?
You know, I definitely agree with you on that topic. I um, at once, you know, w I when I was heavy, you can get just comfortable in your own skin and you tend to not pay attention to the other side of the fence. So when I was lean for so long and going through so many clients that I’ve had, you kind of tend to not even remember what it’s like to be heavy and going through this experiment really made me relive those, those old memories and touch base with my inner self on being more empathetic to my clients.
Yeah. Cause that’s the thing people don’t realize and they don’t talk a lot about it on the episode is you used to be obese a long time ago. Similar to Adonis. I think you two are the only trainers that used to be overweight. But it sounds like you had been lean for so long, you kind of forgot what that world was like.
Yeah. Being a, you know, working in a gym environment, you know, most of your reputation is built office statics and being lean for so long as a requirement for your position, you tend to forget what it’s like to be obese of where you’ve originally started in seeing the clients that come through the doors who are obese. You forget, you forget a little bit about where you originated from. And like I said, this experiment really brought that in perspective a lot clearer and helped me become even a better trainer and dietician of who I am.
Yeah. And I don’t, I mean I don’t want to jump ahead cause I wanted to ask you this kind of in progression of the episode, but I really didn’t like you watching the episode until I saw you go through that. And then it was the, the followup blood work of Jeff and the comments that you made about it’s not about your physical appearance and it is about your health and really trying to connect with them. When he seemed down that I was finally like, Oh there he is. And you know, that’s when I finally was like awesome. Like really connected with you and saw that you saw progress. But that’s jumping ahead. I actually want to talk about the first scene that I was like Whoa. Which was the beach scene. So the
beach scene, obviously for those of you who haven’t seen it yet is where you guys do your first workout. And it is, there’s so many emotions that come along with the scene. But I’ll let you ask your question.
Yeah. So, I mean there are so many emotions that come along with seeing, cause the first things that pop up is I initially still think, wow, Alex is still too rough on him. Like he’s really drilling it in. I see Jeff literally busting his butt. I mean I’m actually really impressed with the beach scene. I see that he’s like really giving it his all. And then I basically see Alex pushed him to the point where Jeff is throwing up all over the sand. Poor guy looks miserable. And I almost think, man, I wonder if if Jeff is going to want to give up because it just seems like this is so brutal. And then you see Alex do it and when you see Alex do it and you see Jeff on the sideline, I think that was kind of like a moment. What about for you, Jeff? Did you, when you were at the beach and he was pushing you to the brink and you’re throwing up in your mind, were you thinking, this is not going to work, this trainer’s not going to work?
Um, no. I mean, obviously that was, that was a really, uh, emotional day for me, uh, and, and a hole. Um, and it was, it was real. It was very legit what you saw. Um,
and you can test them. Yeah. You can’t fake throwing up like that man. That was, that was real thrill,
really important for me. And especially looking back on it because that really was rock bottom. And I don’t know if they get into it a lot, but I, I’ve had a lot of trouble through the years of, of making health a priority. You know, I’ve had other aspects of my life in order. I have a stable relationship. I have a job that I love. So it was really hard for me to prioritize and to really understand that it was a problem. And when I felt like I felt that day where my body was just completely giving up on me and I felt like I had no strength and I had, you know, it just felt horrendous. And, um, you know, I, I thank Alex a lot for it all the time now because it really was that, that, that rock bottom that made me think, Oh my God, like I gotta get my life together. I gotta I gotta I gotta work harder. And um, it actually served as like a really strong motivation for me cause I didn’t realize what horrendous shape I was in until I felt like that.
Wow. I love that. Alex, did you realize for you, I mean you start off the beach scene and you’re like, I’m going to do nine of these and then you do one. And was that a big shocker for you to realize how far your physical health plummeted during that time?
Well, when I, when we got to the beach scene, um, I’m not sure what was actually, which you guys actually viewed, but we actually had lunch prior to the beach scene.
Yeah.
And in that lunch scene I, I chose to have more of like a healthier version of high fruits and high GIS and green salad. And I, you know, I wanted to see how Jeff really perceives nutrition and what Jeff ordered was a Tunis. I believe it was a tuna with Mayo, lots of saturated fat, lots of processed elements. And I just, I just stood back and watched him eat it because I wanted him to realize how important nutrition and training and how they bond on together. So when we got to the sand and I saw him regurgitate it, I think it, you know, it helped Jeff realize that, you know, like maybe you shouldn’t have ate that and maybe there was other areas of his body that needed demand. But when I went on the sand, even eating the green salad that I did in the high GI approved that I, I had a reality check as well of wow, like, you know, my heart is really, really hitting hard and my body and my internal organ fat is at its high and I can really feel the lack of blood circulation on my body.
And it just literally felt almost equal to his pain. So it really, it really gave me an eyeopening experience on how important, you know, that we must like perceive nutrition and training to get the, you know, get the oxygen in our bodies that it needs and the required energy to just move. And I literally felt paralyzed and it was a horrendous feeling that I don’t ever, ever want to experience.
Yeah. Yeah. No, the other thing I thought was cool was, uh, you, Jeff, you were cheering him on and you were like, kinda, you know, relax on the beach after you had come through your hell and you’re just kinda like laid back on a towel and you’re like, all right man, you can do it. Keep going. I like to see that, like you pushing him. And I thought that was really cool. So really quick before I get into the next question for you, Jeff, did you, uh, was there value in Alex gaining the weight? Um, w was there value for you in seeing him doing what he did to his body and his mind to help you along this journey versus let’s say he didn’t do that and it was just like a typical trainer. He didn’t get fat. Was there value in it for you?
There is absolutely value, uh, in, in having Alex, you know,
see the world and from my perspective for a little bit now granted, you know, being obese for a few weeks is not the same as being obese for, for 10 years. Um, but still, uh, just the fact that he’s struggling on that day, on that day at the beach that he is feeling, you know, somewhat what I’m feeling that his is, he’s trying to make his legs move and you can see it in the sand that his, his feet are not picking up. They’re just dragging on the sand and um, to see that he’s this physically Jewish just like I am. And you know, that’s why I’m tearing them up cause I’m like, shoot man, this guy has a long ways to go to. We gotta, we gotta do this for months together. Um, and it’s going to be a journey. And I know he’s capable of it, but it did make me feel a lot better that afternoon. Sorry Alex. But it did make me feel a lot better.
You know, I want to just love that. I can
just tell Jeff, you know, like it’s, it really is motivational.
Like, you know, it’s a good concept for the show to, you know, be something what your client is so that you can experience that pain together. Because, you know, just having Jeff witnessed that I’m going through his same pain, gave him that, that additional, like that backbone of, of a push to say, you know, you’re not alone and knowing that you’re not alone. I mean just, it’s so much rewarding to get fit together opposed to just like doing it on your own and quitting. So I think it really, me dragging my legs and just suffering really inspired him to finally break the limits.
Yeah. Yeah. I agree. I love watching and I feel the same way and almost anything in life. That’s why, you know, we tend to gravitate towards people in similar circumstances or similar backgrounds. I think there’s a lot to be learned as we go through similar things because we can empathize with each other. Um, one of the things I wanted to talk about, there’s two different bloodwork scenes. Um, and both of them I felt were so impactful. Um, the first one of course was the blood work when, when Jeff is going over, uh, showing basically he sees that he’s almost basically pre-diabetic. His cholesterol is through the roof, um, and not doing well. And then the followup blood seen after he’s worked hard and in a way is not that happy with your results. And then as far as your, your body goes, but then you see how drastically your blood work changed. Do you think that being able to see that, being able to see your bloodwork change so much helped you to keep pushing along even though you maybe didn’t see the physical changes right away that you wanted to see?
Yeah, 100% absolutely. And that’s, that is the most important takeaway from this entire program. And that’s, and that’s what I’ve tried to share with my parents and my family and my friends and folks that ask about it. Um, because that, that’s the stuff that’s, that’s tough to see on the outside. Like you said. I mean, that doesn’t necessarily translate into a six pack or, you know, having a big arms or this and that. Um, and like I said, I, I did a really good job of, of, of avoiding the issue for a very long time. I avoided the doctor. I avoided the scale. I didn’t talk about it with people. Um, it w, you know, it was just, it just didn’t want to worry about it. I was a kid in my twenties who was having fun and I didn’t want to deal with this.
Um, and so that was the first real blood test test that I had seen. And I’d always, even though I knew I was a big guy, I always thought of myself as a healthy, you know, normal person. Um, but then, you know, when I got high glucose levels, when my cholesterol is high, um, when my testosterone is low, um, when my liver and kidneys weren’t functioning optimally, uh, that, that was a huge alarm clock for me and frankly was pretty scary. And, you know, it’s, it’s sad that, you know, that I had to share this information with my fiance who’s a molecular biologist who completely understands this stuff and it scared the shit out of her, you know, and she’s like, Oh my gosh, you know, like, what’s going on with you? And, um, and so that was a really emotional scene for me on when I got the positive blood work because it wasn’t just losing weight.
It was, it was literally adding years to my life and, and, and getting myself together. And, um, you know, I feel so grateful that my body is responsive, that, that I was able to clean it up so fast. And I know that’s not the situation for everyone out there. And you know, there’s a lot that diet and exercise can do, but there’s also other factors out there that felt people. Um, so I, I feel very grateful that my body was able to respond. But um, yeah, we’re Alex and I have the numbers in front of us right here and it’s just incredible how,
yeah, we actually have both blood work examples right here because again, like since we’re reuniting to today, I wanted just to talk again about nutrition and maintaining optimal health so that he can maintain this way of living for more years to come to add to his life. And just looking, just looking back at the old blood work, like I explained to so many individuals though your blood work is like a roadmap to your nutritional demand in like I was telling him today, you know, I like for him to get me his white blood cell count and red blood cell counts, which really roots really depict your immunity system and without, with a low immune system shows that you can’t fight off infections such as foods that are like high in bacteria, like Greek yogurt. So not only is Greek yogurt going to be good for you, it’s not really good for everyone.
So looking at where it’s at today. I mean, his testosterone level, just his testosterone level starting was 400 today. It’s a whopping 1028 I’m telling you, man, and just his doctor is just like telling him he’s like Superman. I mean, it’s like, it’s unbelievable. It’s like that has just went from, you know, like just the bottom pre-diabetic high book, high cholesterol facing a heart attack to like being reborn and in optimal health. I mean it’s, it’s unbelievable and I’m glad that he sees Ozon inside opposed to outside and now that outside’s coming together even more, it’s like, it’s, it’s just unbelievable and I’m happy.
Yeah. Well, you know what’s interesting Alex and uh, you know, and it’s cool that Jeff, you kind of came to that realization of it’s not so much about your physical appearance, but the problem is most of America focuses on weight loss and how skinny we are and how lean we are. We focused on the outward appearance so much that we take these things for granted. And I keep telling people all the time, you know, just because you’re skinny or just because losing weight doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re becoming healthier. Cause there’s a lot of unhealthy ways to get skinny. Right? And there’s a lot of unhealthy ways even to get a six pack that some people do to their body. So I think this is great advice, Alex, to show people that this is what it’s about. Weight loss will become a byproduct of living that healthy lifestyle over time.
If you take care of your insights first and it’s tough to get people to switch over to that. It’s tough to get people to switch over to that. Cause people are like, most of the questions you know, you probably get are, how do I get a six pack? Or you know, I want to look lean and I want to look good. I don’t care about all that inside stuff because Oh I have low glucose levels. Cool. But I don’t feel like I’m dying when I’m, my glucose levels are that high or my cholesterol is that high. Like you said, Jeff, you felt like, you know, I, I’m young, I’m, I’m, I’m somewhat healthy, but, um, uh, there’s two things I don’t want them to think are great takeaways in this. Comparing those two scenes. You guys, is Jeff in the first scene, uh, Alex is showing you, you, you’re pre-diabetic and all these, these bad markers and the first thing you say is it was actually kind of relieving.
I’m not as bad as, you know, I’m not like in the red completely. And Alex was like, no, dude, you’re, you’re already bad, you’re bad, you’re going from bad, very bad. But I think a lot of people kind of have that same mentality. At first they’re was like, Oh well at least I’m not going to die tomorrow. You know, I still got, you know, a few years left. And then the second blood work, you know, uh, is great to see, you know, Jeff, that that light bulb kinda click cause you’re down on yourself. You’re like, you know what, I’ve lost a lot of weight, but where’s my six pack? Where’s my rewards from all this hard work? And then Alex pulls out the bloodwork and shows you the changes and that’s kind of a little bit of a spark for you I think. And it’s great to see that. And hopefully people after watching this episode will, can I change the perception and realize it’s not so much about the physical.
Yeah. Oh man, those were like some of my favorite scenes. Now kind of switching gears a little bit, Alex, I want to talk a little bit about you because one of the big things that that was focused on of course when we were watching last night was, you know, the breakup, the breakup between you and your girlfriend, the big fight and the breakup and then you guys getting back together and working things out on your way back to fit. And part of me is curious, you know, it was a lot of that, the physical attraction. Do you think that was part of the problem or do you think it was really just emotionally what you went through during the journey that pushed you guys apart or other, is it something else?
Well. Um, to answer that quite, I mean this is the story of my life is as a trainer and a dietician, I have to give the world a great example of a living example of getting fat and thin. So I mean, this experiment I’ve done not to this extreme, but I do it yearly. I get, I gain weight and lose weight to show people the positive benefits of being lean and healthy. I’m with my girlfriend. Um, we separated not because it wasn’t really because of her like antagonizing or doing anything to upset me. It was truthfully the depression that came with, um, without training and without pot or, um, without proper nutrition came up a ton, an immense amount of depression. I literally hibernated in my house and at a certain point when I gained, I believe it was a about 30 pounds of body fat.
I at that point felt so, so ashamed just to leave my house. That depression sink in even deeper. And when that depression thinking even deeper, it really had an impact on my relationships. So thank God. You know today, today I’m still with my girlfriend, but she went through a lot and I can’t think or enough for what she went through, but it was, it was, it was, it was mainly just a pressure from weight and I think all the trainers that have gained the weight, including new drew can can back me. That depression comes with weight.
Oh yeah, I remember well enough. No, I’m going to keep that short. I just wrote like amen to that. I just remember when drew gained the weight and he never wanted to leave. He, he literally never wanted to leave the house. I’d be like, Hey, let’s go to the movies or let’s go out to eat or let’s go do something. And he’d be like, I’m tired, or I don’t feel up to it. Or people look at me weird when I go out, which I was like, that is all in your head. But it takes a toll. It takes a toll on the relationship and it’s not about the physical. For me, I never cared that he was overweight. It really was emotionally him sinking into a depression. He wasn’t the same person. And after a while it really does weigh on a relationship. So it’s, it’s, you know, in a way it’s cool to see that you experienced that same thing. Um, and that you, you know, obviously were able to come out of that and realize that that was the real issue and that you guys were able to mend and move forward in your relationships. That’s really cool.
Yeah. Kind of switching gears here a little bit, cause I could, I could talk about that for an hour of, of how it affected me and similar to you Alex. Um, but kind of shifting gears, you know, Jeff, we, we loved how relatable you were in the episode and one of the scenes that was so was so funny, we were cracking up. Cause it, there’s a scene of Alex eating these cookies and cream waffles, right? And he’s like, these are so good. Like, Oh man. Like you know, there are these protein waffles are delicious. They’re healthy, they’re low carb, they’re cookie dough. They’re cookie though. These are so amazing. And then, then it cuts the Jeff eating the same thing. He’s like, I guess if you’ve never had a real cake or real, he’s like, I guess it’s pretty good and it’s just so funny to see the comparison of how our taste buds are different cause Jeff hasn’t eaten that way his whole life. And Alex, you’ve been used to that and it’s, it was so funny to see Jeff be like, it’s pretty good. You know it’s all right.
No, the reason why we were laughing is because we’re watching it with our business partner, Natalie Hodson and her and drew start busting up laughing because I give them this look because just yesterday they were eating something and they’re like, Lynn, try this. It’s, it tastes like cookie
dough. And I was like, and they were totally serious and I walk over, I take a bite. I literally almost spit it out. I was like, yeah, if you’ve never tried cookie dough, then maybe this would taste like cookie dough. This tastes like crap. I was like, you guys have the most warped tastebuds on the planet. And then they were like dying laughing. So they watched that. They’re like, you’re Jeff. That’s what I want to ask you, Jeff, is now that you’ve been through this journey and, and the, you know, your episodes over and you’ve been kind of maintaining this lifestyle. Where are you at? Do you notice that your taste buds have heavy evolved over the months after doing this?
Yeah, uh, well let me start with the, the protein pancakes because that was a running theme throughout the program.
Okay.
The protein pancakes were in my diet pretty much the whole time. I made these for my family back in Kansas. I made these for cats, family up in Sacramento. Um, I made them from some of the people that worked on this show. Um, they, they were not popular. I don’t know if I was a terrible cook. I don’t know.
I was not, it was a terrible kept telling me. It’s like they’re bomb, dude. They’re so good. There’s, these are the best. Everyone loves. Okay.
I’ve never had one complaint and Jeff just doesn’t want to come.
Maybe Jeff’s just the only honest person,
but I have found that, um, I’ve, I’ve always [inaudible],
you know, I hate the word foodie, but, but I do enjoy food and I am open to a lot of different kinds of foods. Um, and I, and you know, I, um, I, I have made some lifestyle changes that, that, that were, were more noticeable in the beginning, but now I’m totally used to it. You know, I don’t really buy regular eggs anymore. I, I stick to the egg beaters and the egg whites now, you know, I don’t really buy the, the fatty milk anymore. I stick to almond milk and stuff like that. And, um, you know, I eat a lot more fish and chicken than I do, you know, red meat and, you know, fattier meats. Um, so it’s not that I hated that stuff in the past as much. It’s just, I’m, I’m much more open to it and I, it’s, I, um, yeah, there, there are some, you know, lifestyle changes that, that, that I still do today.
And, you know, I’m really appreciative for Alex of kind of showing me the way and making it realistic. That was, that was my big thing for the whole show is I think I’m a very regular average Joe who works in an office job, who, you know, who has time to go to the gym, but I can’t live at the gym. Who, who likes food, who likes to go out. I think I’m a very normal case for an American gut person. And, uh, I wanted to see if this stuff is realistic. I wanted to know if, can I just go to a normal grocery store and buy and buy stuff on a, on a normal budget and make this work? You know, I can’t, I can’t be spending $400 at whole foods every three days. Um, and I think that’s an issue that many people face. They want it to be realistic. They can, they can go all, all out for, uh, you know, for a week or so on a, on a crazy diet. But how do you make it realistic? Weekend, week out for your entire life. And I think Alex really showed me how to do that. Yeah.
That’s awesome. Are you comfortable with talking about where you’re at now Jeff? Cause you looked amazing at the end of the episode, man. You look so good. I mean, Oh dude, I know. That’s so cool. Jesse. [inaudible] so we’ll have to find, Jeff, you’ll have to send us a picture and we’ll post this on the episode of the show notes so people can see where you’re at now. Are you comfortable talking about where you’re at now?
Yes. And um, I was when, when Alex walked in this morning, I had just jumped off the scale and I was like, Oh, Alex, I’m still one 94, which I think at the last episode I was like one 95 or something. So basically the, uh, basically the exact same weight for the past five months, which for me I’m almost more proud of than, than the weight loss because I was on my own, you know, I wasn’t meeting up with Alex, you know, and uh, you know, it just shows that, that I, I learned from the process. I actually listened to this guy, you know,
he kind of branched off, you know, on his own and he looks amazing. You guys just what you want. He just looks like I just, just recently, like, you know, people don’t realize how you look in other people’s eyes, but like he was getting, he was making coffee this morning with his, his shirt on and you can really see his lap coming out on the sides, which is something that you won’t see on someone who’s really obesity. You can see his muscle definition through his tee-shirt and it’s like, you know, congratulations man. You look fancy. I think I told them that just this morning at least five times. Like, you look great dude. You look great. Okay.
Yeah. And that’s great, man. That’s so cool because, uh, you know, I think, um, it’s hard to, people worry that, okay, I can do this all out like you said, but how do I maintain this? You know, and that’s great man. I’ll have
to remember that the scale doesn’t tell the full story. You know, I like what Alex is saying is they could tell the definition coming in because if you continue to lift weights and work out and you’re building that lean muscle mass, which is more dense, your measurements and your body composition could be changing even though the scale has stayed about the same. You know, so a lot of times we have way too much emphasis on the, on the scale. But I did want to touch on this bef, you know, before we get anywhere towards the end. Um, one of my favorite parts of the episode is actually Jeff, when you are talking about how you’re not seeing the results you want and you talk about how when you look in the mirror you know that you actually talk about how you hate the mirror, that you don’t want to look in the mirror, that you avoid the mirror.
And I’ve worked with so many clients and they literally say, even though I can see the progress and I can see the difference, they’re like when I look in the mirror I still say C and quote unquote, they say I still see the same fat person and it’s like a form of dysmorphia where no matter the progress they’re getting as they’re on this journey, especially initially they can’t see their progress and it’s deflating. Um, it seems like you obviously experienced that during the episode. Do you have any tips on how you kind of pushed past that to keep going? Cause I think a lot of people quit because of that.
I think it’s really hard to push past that because honestly I still struggle with that. I mean, I, I still don’t like looking in the mirror. I still see a lot of flaws, uh, when I, you know, if I have my shirt off and I’m shaving or something like that, that’s, that’s really tough to get over. And I, you know, it’s, I, I don’t have a good solution for that. I think data, having the blood work really helps put it in perspective that, you know, that’s a reminder for me that, um, that I am healthy, that, that, that my blood work is okay. You know, my cholesterol has gotten better and my glucose has gotten better. And, um, but I, I wish I had a really good solution for you, but that stuff’s really hard. And, and, and there’s, you know, you’re never going to have a perfect body. And, and those who do, there’s going to be someone out there who’s got bigger arms, who’s gotten more pronounced abs, who’s got, you know, a bigger butt or something. You know, there’s, you’re never going to be pinnacle human, you know, there’s no such thing. And so I think that’s something that every human can relate to. Even trainers and bodybuilders, they can deal with that just as well because they’re just comparing themselves to different people. And so that’s, it’s just a really hard thing that I think everyone deals with.
And exactly. That’s what it comes down to is comparing yourself to other people. And that’s, that’s the problem we have is when you compare yourself, you’ll never be good enough. And uh, that, that’s the hard thing to overcome as human beings. We compare ourselves and I can, I can totally relate to that. You see from an outside perspective, you see people in the physique row that have these perfect bodies, but they’re always complaining about, Oh, this is my flaw. That’s my flaw. And so that’s great. That’s a great Testament to just how, um, how comparing yourself to others can just beat you down emotionally. But you were going to say something else.
Yeah. When Jeff went out and when me and Jeff first met, I remember telling him, listen, I’m just going to die at you. Ignore the cameras and all that. And you tell me when enough is enough. However, I’m going to tell you right now that you’ll never be enough. And I remember telling him that very clearly and he was like, yeah, right. Yeah, right. I’ll be happy if I just lose 20 pounds. And then he lost 20 pounds if he was like, yeah, I happy enough. And it just kept going and going and going. But I think that when he was, I remember him at this, this level where he was felt like he was plateauing where he wasn’t moving. And I remember showing him his data that I collect every two weeks from him and looking at the data I think really helped him go to the finish line because the data doesn’t lie of body fat, internal organ fat, your BMI and watching those numbers go down, even though that the is not changing, can really be a second wind of a push to say that you are still going in the right direction.
You still have you, you don’t see what the world is seeing yet. Give it more time, you know? So, um, I don’t, I think we’re like, you know, even what drew just said, like, including myself, when I take my body fat down, I’ve taken my body fat down to three and a half percent and I, I still don’t think I’m good enough. So the, you know, it is, it is the psychology that plays a role in it. And, um, sometimes we just need to, um, have a support circle that says, no, you are good enough.
Oh yeah, yeah, that’s for sure. I mean, a lot of times, you know, I’ll talk to my clients about, it’s just as important if not more to have a healthy mind than a healthy body. And there’s that mind body connection. Both really should be healthy. I mean, I’m at like, I think, I don’t know, like 22% body fat. I’m perfectly happy with my body, but a lot of that is more, you know, working on myself emotionally. Um, and self love and like you said, having good support and friends and, and people that you know tell you that you’re amazing and you’re worth it and are putting you down. So it’s like great tips you guys.
Yeah. So, um, so many people ask this question. You guys, and I know Alex are probably chomping at the bit, but I want you to dive into the nutrition that you and Jeff did cause people are cause on the show, you know, it’s eight months of filming and a 45 minute episode, right? Yeah. There’s so much that’s cut out and people want to know, okay, what did you guys do to lose the weight? What was your diet routine? What was your workout routine? Let’s focus mostly on the nutrition part. Cause obviously, you know, we know that’s the most important piece. Let’s talk about this specifics, Alex, of what plan, you know, uh, you and, and Jeff did to lose the weight.
So the first thing I, the first thing that to get involved in any sort of nutrition plan is to get psychologically ready for the change. So when, when I first, when Jeff, I think it was an eight week period where I was supposed to write to you and give you like exercises or some sort of diet advice to start in advance. I told him to get mentally prepared. That was all I requested to get mentally prepared to accept a new way of eating. And so when, as far as the nutrition goes, um, there is no such thing as I, and this is just by science of any kind of diet to lose weight for life. If you want to lose weight and keep the weight off permanently, you need to have nutrition that meets your blood work along with your lifestyle of how you live currently, along with the eating patterns that you currently have and food obsessions that you currently have in your life and, and bring those as a whole and formulate it to your blood panel. Once that calculation is done, then you can have a diet for life and lose the weight according to your body’s demand through blood. So Jeff’s diet was, Jeff’s diet was more of a higher, a higher GI and a balanced protein and a balanced carbohydrate in the morning, fall trickling down to a lower GI in the evening when he’s watching TV and doing less activities. So it’s glycemia.
Yeah, I was going to say glycaemic index. Most people don’t know what that is. So why don’t you, why don’t you actually give them an example of the food of the food?
The way would be like Jeff had more of a higher, taken his body in the morning, um, and in the later June when he needed to do any sort of physical activity or when he was most active in his life as far as his food choices, a lot of his food choices stayed the same. They just needed to be changed and altered a little bit to his current conditions. Um, but not really that, no real restrictions. He had, uh, I think Jeff had an issue with me telling him I would like him to start incorporating like burgers and he would have, uh, a mental blockage of, are you sure? And you would send me like a picture of you eating burgers and fries and I’d be like, all right, good. You’re following the plan. You’re following my plan. Like it diets just got to meet your lifestyle. So he didn’t have any, any copy paste diet out there or anything. It was just all accustomed to his personal life. And that’s why he’s been able to maintain the weight currently and where he’s at for the longevity of his life.
Could you guys, maybe whether it’s Alex or Jeff, could you walk through maybe like a typical day of what you ate?
I mean you don’t have the plans. I think breakfast, I think breakfast was like protein pancakes with bacon. I think bacon on non training days, right? Turkey bacon, Turkey bacon on non training days. And then like snack. What was snack? Snack? Snack was the quest bars, which I fell in love with. Yeah it was a quest bar cause he was sitting home doing nothing at his office. I think lunch was rotation of a, a high green salad with um, carbohydrates and on off days it was more of go out and eat somewhere, wherever you want. Like I think it was a sushi restaurant you’d go to. You’d show me pictures of sandwiches he would get. And then what was the afternoon snack you had? What was that? I don’t have your diet in front of me, but I believe it’s usually peanut butter, I think. Yeah, he had like peanut butter apples and peanut butter or peanut butter sandwich with um, almonds or something quick and quick to go.
That was available in his office setting because Jeff didn’t have a lot of, like there was muffins and all this, all this garbage around him that was high in saturated fats and they were all processed foods. So I told him to and he didn’t have a lot of time to eat at work so he would have like something really quick, but it was more of like a healthy fat. And then, um, in the evening it would be like red meats or it would like salmon. I think it was salmon fish, um, that he didn’t mind you actually, he told me he preferred to have the fish at one point. So I mean the diet’s going to be designed to what he likes. So
in, in layman’s terms it was, it was a lot more food than I expected. I was when he had me do my food journal in the beginning, he was noticing that I was eating two very large meals a day. I’d kind of starve myself until lunch. I’d eat a huge lunch and then I’d kind of sit around for another six or seven hours and then eat a huge dinner and then just like lay down and go to bed after dinner. And so what, what was eye opening for me was how often and how much I was actually consuming. It was actually, I was always texting him to be like, well you like, do you want me to eat all this? Like can I just eat half of this or can I just, he’s like, you know, make sure you do this. You know, you start eating at 6:00 AM. And I think in the beginning I was doing these like late nights at like 10:00 PM, you know, I was like, you really want me to eat an omelette at 10:00 PM? Like, what’s going on?
It’s protein. Brel it’s protein. That’s cool.
No, I love that. And I think that’s a common thing that a lot of clients are surprised about. I know mine are too, um, is that it’s not about starving yourself. It’s really not. In fact, a lot of people I know when I was working with my sister and she lost about 60 pounds of six zero pounds and same thing, she would starve herself. She sometimes she’d only eat one meal a day. And when I started working with her, helping her lose weight, she um, because she was also a type two diabetic, she was eating so much food, she was like, I am so full and this is so much food. How am I going to lose weight if I’m eating more food than I was before? And you know, I had to explain like the science behind, you know, the difference between when you starve yourself and what that does to your mood, chapel ism and then obviously eating that much food in one sitting and spiking your blood sugar levels and everything like that. But um, it’s amazing how, you know, yes, you can sustain a healthy lifestyle and you can lose weight eating food you’re supposed to eat. So it’s like great that you kinda like showcased and taught that.
Yeah. And the cool thing you talked about, Alex, which I think a lot of people are going to be interested in is, I mean, I don’t want to call it a flexible dieting or if it fits your macros cause it doesn’t sound like you did any of that. I know it’s related to blood work and we could probably do a whole episode on just that. But a lot of people, you know, notice that these flexible dieting options out there where they can’t eat their donuts, they can’t eat, you know, breads and pastas and carbs and drink alcohol, but they do it in a smart way. Um, which it sounds like you have a method for implementing those things instead of saying, Kay, no sweets for 90 or for four months, you know, you’re not eating any sugar, any bread, any carbs, and people kind of crash and burn with that type of approach. Is that kind of what you had Jeff doing is to show him, look, you can have a burger and, but here’s
how we’re going to implement it into your lifestyle.
Yeah, it’s, it’s very true because let’s, let’s be real. All right, the world is 99% processed and the only small percent of people that want to live that healthy lifestyle have to cook at home. And not everyone has the luxury to do that. Some people don’t even know how to cook. Some of my clients don’t even know how to cook because of their ethnicity of how they’re brought up. And it’s not where you have to teach them to cook. You just need to understand how to eat correctly in a modern environment. And I’m not saying to abuse it because in truth, you definitely want to eat as natural as you can, but you’re not always going to be able to. So if you’re in your, when you’re in those positions where you’re not able to, it’s, it’s best to know how to get around those foods and to incorporate or incorporate them in your life so that you don’t gain weight or have any adverse action of your inner body systems. And showing that pathway is eye opening for a lot of people where dieting becomes a way of living and it fits their overall lifestyle.
Gotcha. Awesome. Yeah, that’s cool. No, I agree with it. Downplays the exercise part. He’s very into nutrition, which I agree is, is, is more important. But we did work out. Yeah, we did work out. Um, and so I have, I have an office job and so I made it tough on Alex right away with scheduling. And so we agreed that the only way we’re going to really get it in is to go at 5:00 AM every day. And so we got up early and I’m so sorry for doing that too. But he was there every day and I was there every day. And so I think we showed each other early that we’re both accountable and we both can rely on each other. Um, and I think that was very important to me. I’m a, I’m a punctual person and I don’t want, you know, someone who’s late or someone who’s, you know, not dedicated. And Alex was not that at all. Um, and so it usually involved, uh, circuit training. And so we do morning circuit term. Does that make sense to trainers? Everyone knows what a circuit training is. Do you guys know?
[inaudible]
well we know, but we’re trainers. Um, and so the things that I hated that he always made me do was the damn stair master and the master, the treadmill on 15% incline, which you were obsessed with. And I’m always like, I do anything else? Can I die? I’ll run, I’ll run sprints, I’ll do anything. Um, but he really liked those things. So it was usually, I would say 20 or 30 minutes of weight training and 20 or 30 minutes of cardio. It’s about 20 minutes. It’s
a circuit training full body. And then going into cardiovascular workouts on treadmill or StairMaster, bringing heart rate, um, BPI
too or beats per minute to um, one 55 to one 65. Nothing maxing more than one 70 on the heart. And so circuit training with the heart and then the cardio on the machine, um, in the morning, followed by evening training, strength training. So,
so we did, we did two a days on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. And so to me, to an average Joe, that’s a lot of working out. I know you guys might work out a lot and like two days is not a big [inaudible].
I don’t work. I know I don’t do that. I don’t do that.
Going before and after work. Uh, in my mind is, is somewhat of a commitment, you know, and I was, I thought, I thought it was, you know Alex, he’s like, Oh deaf doesn’t train. That wasn’t training.
I thought it was a lot of Jeff was, this is, this is something I just want to throw out with training because anyone out there who wants to like get involved with training, you know, I really want to strongly encourage, like even with what you guys said is it’s not about calories in, calories out because Jeff was taken into at least 32 to 3,600 calories daily and his regimen would be about a five to 600 calorie burn. So it was more of the impact on the workout and the circulation of the blood through the heart, which really was the, which really got him the results he wanted to get. So, um, I really encourage anyone out there not to cut calories and think that’s the answer to losing weight.
[inaudible] yeah. Thanks Alex. I was just going to say real quick before, cause we got to get into our lightning round just really quick. Jeff, are you, how much are you working out now that you’re maintaining?
I don’t know. I’d never asked you.
So I go pretty much every morning, uh, five days a week. And then I also joined, uh, two basketball league, so I play basketball twice a week. Uh, which, which I’m finding is like
the more intense cardio workout than the [inaudible]. Um, and
Oh yeah,
well that’s my fun. And then, and then I kinda just do what Alex showed me in the morning for about an hour every day. Oh, we forgot to mention we did train every day, but like, you know, he, he really started training with me every day and then about the second month and he would do the evening workouts on his own. And I tailor that in my planning so that he can learn to start training on his own without my guidance. But we would also meet that was at once a week to do some beach training and we do some sand. I’m running, you know, so I hate the beach. You know this, I got it. Got to take it that that day, like forever ruin the beach for me. You know, every day I go to
every time vomiting. Oh my gosh, I love that you guys. I mean we could, we could talk to you guys for like another hour, but I know we’re at the end of our time and we want to get through the lightning round. But I love hearing about the training program, love hearing Alex,
talk about the nutrition component and especially emphasizing that it’s not about cutting all your calories out. Um, and I also like to hear that you know that you found a sustainable way to keep this lifestyle. Jeff, it’s really inspiring. Like you said, you are an average guy with a, with a career and a fiance and work and you know, you’ve found a way which is inspiring to other people to make this a lifestyle. So we’re going to get into our lightning round question. Unless did you have,
I just had one last thing I want to say just to kind of sum this whole episode up, you guys and Jeff, you’re a great example to so many people and Alex, you’re, you’re an awesome trainer because I feel like a great trainer is, is, is getting your client to the point where they don’t need you anymore. And uh, I mean, honestly, like it, even if you’re best friends, you want your client to not really need you anymore. You taught them how to do it and to see, uh, Jeff doing this for the past five months on his own. I mean, that’s, that’s really what you want at the end of the day as a trainer. So kudos to Jeff, kudos to Alex. Thank you guys for coming on. And we’re going to do the lightning round and then afterwards we’ll, uh, have people, uh, we’ll have you guys tell everyone where to find you and then, uh, and then we’ll go from there.
Okay. So the lightning round for, if you guys don’t know what this is, so we’re going to ask you a series of questions. They really have no rhyme or reason. They’re just dumb questions that I like to know that are my favorite part of the show. So you have to answer the question as quickly as possible and the first thing that comes to your mind. So don’t try to tailor the perfect response. Just whatever comes to your mind and sometimes there’ll be a question, then I’ll tell you it’s for both of you. Sometimes it might just be for one of you. So first Alex, funniest moment during the past eight months of filming. Funniest moment, whether it was on or off camera.
Very first time meeting Jeff when I was fat.
Okay. I bet Jeff Love your funniest moment. Is it the same or is it something different?
Uh, definitely watching Alex. Uh, do the, the, the beach workout that first day just from a distance cause I, you are this pinnacle physique and then why did that happen? To have this intro to rounder shape? So embarrassing.
I love it. You really do. You really do see Alex like, you know, of course like wobbles and struggle and it is fun to watch, especially because I didn’t lie. I didn’t like him as much at that point in the show, so I was like, good. Okay. Okay.
This, this one’s for Jeff, the most disgusting healthy food that you had to eat during this journey that like the healthiest but grossest
without a doubt. The freakin protein pancake. Uh,
Dick
involved a scoop of whey protein mixed with egg beaters and it was a pumpkin mix in there. We didn’t do pumpkin. I can’t, it was the most horrific pancake, but I ate it and I ate it consistently. But that was the worst.
I think. It’s funny that not only is it the grossest thing, but you’re like, but I still ate it consistently. Okay. Flipping that for Alex, what is the tastiest unhealthy food that you ate during the journey?
Yeah,
in and out in greasy fringe.
And I know I love myself submitting notes.
Was there something, Alex, that you used to love? Oh, go ahead. Go ahead.
Yeah, I think my, the burgers I was eating was eight by eight and eight by eight, eight patties, eight slices of cheese. And then obviously, uh, animal style, fried pickles.
Oh, animal style, all the way.
There was one scene where you had five of those. Okay. That’s what I was going to ask you. I’ll ask the next question is, uh, was there a food that you used to love that you got so sick of during your weight gaining journey that’s kind of ruined it for you?
Um, Oh, during my weight gaining period, um, you know, I got really, really tired of pizza. Like I’m not really a pizza fan anymore just because I was eating pizza a lot and it just, whenever I look at pizza now, I kind of remember that time of gaining weight and it’s just like that, that feeling of being full and bloated and just where you can’t swallow anymore and you just want to just stick your finger down your mouth. It’s just every time I see pizza now, I, it reminds me of it and it’s just, it used to be good and now it’s gone.
That’s sad, man. He’s just been ruined. I love.
Okay. Jeff, uh, what was your most embarrassing moment during the, the eight months of filming?
Oh, so there’s two, there’s obviously puking on the beach, uh, which I don’t think I’ll ever live down. I’m just waiting for my friends to make like little gifts out of it and like send me, you know, little highlights of that. Um, and then, uh, the fact that I couldn’t do a pull up that was really humiliating and, and the producers really wanted a big emphasis on this pull-up and for fat people, it’s tough to move your own weight and um, you know, that was humiliating for me. Like I didn’t, I didn’t want anything to do with the pull-up. I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want that to be like the defining a level of success for me. Um, and so I really struggled and they made me do it often and I couldn’t do it. And so I don’t know if it shows it at the end, but I did do it on the last day. Yeah. And you know it’s funny, it’s like I can’t wait do promise you, I can’t believe that’s your most embarrassing moment cause I seem, I play sports and stuff like I should be able to do a pull up. It seems like step one of any, you know it was yeah
you had a hard time with it.
Yeah. Showed you doing three at end Jeff. So
seriously, you’ve come a long ways. You don’t, you don’t need to be embarrassed about that anymore man. Cause that’s the thing that’s really interesting about that. But I get it because things that you know that I’ve had or experienced that I’ve been, that I found embarrassing people are like, that really inspired me because those scenes actually really inspired me because most people can’t do a pull up. Even Natalie Hodson amazing fitness athlete, she trains with us as these dollar workout club workouts with us. She was saying especially because for women it’s harder. She can’t, she still can’t do a pull up even at her, her fittest. And so I’m watching you struggle and then literally at the end when you’re, when you’re doing those three and it looks like a piece of cake, I’m like teary-eyed watching you do that. Uh, it was like one of the most inspiring concepts in the show is watching you improving your strength and confidence through those pull-ups. Actually I love,
no, I was just going to say like in hindsight I’m glad they forced it because I did it, but I, it doesn’t show it probably, but I was trying to run away. Like we had just done the weigh in. I weighed in at one 95 I was loving life, I was feeling great and then they’re like, they started walking towards the pullet bar and I was like, I literally started running towards the parking lot. I was like, get me outta here. Why are you trying to ruin my day? You know? Yeah. I think
just the pull ups every time you know off, you know what people are not going to see is like, you know, we’d have to, it was like a pep talk every time they would want to do a pull up with Jeff, he would like go into this, ah, this anger state of I don’t want to do this. You know, like I can’t do one. And like it’s just, it’s embarrassing and I don’t want to do it. And then finally at the end where we’re walking to the pull up bar, he then again is like, Oh my gosh, I, here it goes again. And we just like pep each other up and we’re like, come on, you know, you got it in your mind now. Use leverage against you. It’s all, it’s no problem. And when he prevails on it, it literally is like him being reborn. It’s like so, so inspirational. And it just shows like, it just shows the whole concept of the show of how impacting it can make someone’s life.
Yeah, man, that seriously, that part was so inspirational. Okay. Alex, what was your most embarrassing moment?
Most embarrassing moment was on the court, man. I didn’t even get one point
dude. Jeff school, you man, just totally school too.
So, so I finally got Alex to play basketball after four months of kicking my ass in the gym. And so I take it, I take it all out on him, on the basketball court and I think it was 21 zero zero
Oh my gosh. I freaking love it. I freaking, I, I love it. Okay, so tell everybody where they can find you guys. And we’re going to put this in the show notes too, but like Instagram or website, where can people find you?
Um, you can get ahold of me@mywebsiteonprodietsolutions.com or you can get ahold of me on Instagram at dietician King. That’s D, I. E T, I T, I a N King, um, through Instagram or Facebook natural dietitian. Or you can check out my product@extremethermogenics.com
and Jeff, Oh my gosh, I’m so prepared for that. I’ll say my Instagram and it’s at Danka Saurus Jeff. So D. a. N. K. a. S. a. U. R. U. S. G. E. O. F. F.
okay. [inaudible] Jeff [inaudible]. Saurus what is that?
Well, my last name is Danker. Uh, okay. There we go. All right.
Make sure to put that. Wait, how do you spell that again? D. a. N. K. a. S. Oh, here you are. Okay. I’m finally following you now Jeff. Cool man.
All right. I think it was on Instagram. All right, I’m big time now.
What is that all Instagram or anywhere else?
Uh, yeah, let’s do that one.
Okay. Um, okay, cool. We’ll put all that in the show notes, you guys. And I’m so people can contact you cause, um, here’s the thing man. People are gonna, you know, search out for you and ask you questions and I want to know what you’re doing now. And uh, just, just a little, uh, word of advice here. Jeff is, I know a lot of people from biggest loser and extreme weight loss and, and I’ll be honest with you, most of them gain the weight back. But the ones that I’ve noticed have been able to maintain are the ones that stay active, posting things about, you know, their journey in their life, whether it’s struggles or successes, you know, to their followers. And so just, I definitely would recommend that, you know, still posting things you’re doing, you know, you playing basketball, you know, the, your protein pancakes if you still eat them or not, you know, those kinds of things. Um, I think that would definitely help you out. Okay. Guys, before we go, Jeff, we have to know this. Where are you at with you and your fiance? Are you guys married? What’s the plans? Can you talk about that before we wrap up?
Yeah, so, uh, my fiance and I are looking forward to our wedding, which, which will probably be this, this late fall. Um, when she’s finished up, she’s finishing up her PhD. It should be done in June. Um, and then we’ll have like a small ceremony just for our families. Um, but, uh, really looking forward to it. It should be, it should be awesome. I’m so glad that I’m able to, uh, you know, go through this program and get healthy and look better for her because, you know, she still looks amazing. She looks exactly like she did when she was 18, when I met her. And so, um, I’m, I’m so happy that, you know, I was able to do this, you know, for her and I hope she’s really excited. I love that. Well, we’re excited and wants to keep following you on social media so we can see all the cute wedding pictures. That’s what all the women care about.
Well guys, thank you so much for, for coming on. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Uh, we enjoyed your episode. Uh, keep living the lifestyle you guys and um, yeah, keep us posted social media, what you guys are up to so we can keep following your guys’ journeys and thanks for coming on guys. Appreciate your time. Thank you guys so much for listening to today’s episode or we really hope you enjoyed talking to Alex and Jeff and, and watching the TV show and then listening to the podcast. Let us know what you guys think of this format. My website fit to fat to fit.com will point you in the right direction.
Yeah, but my social media handles are the number two fit@homeandmywebsiteisthenumbertwofitathome.com you can sign up for my newsletter there. You guys. Please tell people about our podcast and about the television show. Make sure to invite your friends and family to watch or listen. You know, we really want to get the word out.
Thank you guys for listening and don’t forget to tune back in next week for another great episode and we’ll see you guys around. Yes.
