Well, hello ladies and gents Robert Sykes keto Savage.com. And today I've got a special guest in good friend, Michael, didn't he on the line? He is a client and he's an amazing individual. He and I are going to be going on a elk hunt later this year. So we dove into that, but that's not all we talked about. He is a recovering alcoholic the day that we recorded. This podcast was three years sober. So that was Monumental in and of
itself. In this podcast, we tried to tease out what led him to that point in his life. And what He brought into his life to correct course and improve his trajectory and truly truly turned his life and his health completely around 180 degrees. A large part of that was his dietary choices, his nutrition, his training and his transformation from a ketogenic perspective. And that's what we always talked
about that quite a bit. Everything in this podcast was pure gold, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I've got much respect for Michael, he's a good friend, a great clients and I said an amazing human being. I've No doubt that you will enjoy it as well. So without further Ado, sit back, relax. Enjoy the podcast with Michael And we are live. Michael, how are you brother? I'm doing great Rob. How are you? I'm doing wonderfully. Well man, this is this is a long time.
Come on this podcast. We've been working together for shoot when we start working together, we started working together. 14 15 months ago. Yeah. It's been over a year. I consider you more of a friend than a clan at this point. Yeah, yeah I would definitely say so, I mean we just booked a we just booked a They trip out to the Colorado Rockies together and help we'd be friends by now. Yes, I was telling Crystal like I wrote the check for that, you know, Expedition and I'm like, alright.
So I'm going on this, you know horseback, we're horseback riding and I'm going with these two guys have never met before and then my client who have never personally met, you know, face-to-face before. And she's like, okay, we'll just make sure you're good. I'm like, all right I think I'm good. So it'll be a great trip for sure. I'm looking forward to it. So it's To be great, definitely. Well, you got an anniversary today, man. I do. I do today, is the third day, being sober today.
Is that third gear third? Excuse me? Yeah, yeah, I was, I was chuckling about it so much. Today is the third year being sober. I had my last drink on the 20th of June in 2018. And I woke up on the 21st of June, 2018, And I had an epiphany moment, I don't mean to engage in too much hyperbole but kind of had that look in the mirror moment and realized, I'm either going to die or I'm going to make one of those legendary
storybook. Recoveries Miriam three years later was there like these kind of stories always appeal to me because I like stories, where the the the broad range of the spectrum is very Vast like people that are born into success and never deviate from it aren't near. As impressive to me is people that came from the freaking bottom or struggled through a whole bunch of trial and tribulation and then overcame that. So when you were at the bottom what was the aha moment?
Like what made you wake up that following day and realize that something had to change? Well, let me back up even a little bit from there and I will get to that. So, I had retired from the Army in June of 2017 and I retired as a lieutenant colonel, I was an Army Green Beret, and I was a member of a tier 1 Special Mission Unit, and then I became the chief of operations for the US Army Special Operations. I had a portfolio of 35,000 people, and that was just a year
prior. and then there, I was on the 21st of June 2018, a year and 20 days later and I looked in the mirror and I just couldn't believe what I had become what I had devolved into over the course of that one year and I became an alcoholic. I became near suicidal and it's very difficult, Without Really sitting down for a very long time to explain it.
I went from a life of purpose to a meaningless life, I was in charge of 35,000 people on every continent on the globe and every mission in the sun really never set on my portfolio and I went to work every day and I worked exceptionally hard, very long hours, and seven combat tours and seven commands. And I really felt good about who I was and how I was contributing. And then I just didn't have that sense of purpose anymore and I kind of jokingly say but it's
very true. I went from Jason Bourne to Jason Bourne and I lost that sense of purpose in my life and I kind of replaced it with alcohol and you know, there's nothing more. There's nothing more pathetic than a man without purpose and I that's how I felt. I felt pathetic and I lose drinking more and more. I was gaining weight and I was becoming older by the minute and seeing and on the 21st of June, I woke up. It was maybe noon. I remember it was 11:30,
noonish. I woke up on the couch and I didn't know how I got home. And didn't know exactly what happened the night before. I just knew I'm gonna die. Like, I'm going to, I'm going to drink myself to death if I don't pull my head out of my, you know what? And really figure this out. And it was scared and that's a really short Cliff note. Version of how I got to 21 June, 21, June, 2018. And it was the worst year of my
life. When people like people here of alcoholism and like, I've never had somebody in my life. That was an alcoholic that I've been able to like being closely impacted by him. I've struggled with food addictions, in a lot of people that have had to disordered eating and I'm assuming there's probably some similarities between two. But like, when you're addicted to alcohol at what point do, you know, you're addicted to
alcohol. Well, there's there was my brother and this matters to, and I'm not trying to make the story too long. My brother was physically addicted to alcohol, and I was watching that that has a very large part to play. In this story, I was watching my brother died of alcoholism. While at the same time, I was going through this period of my life.
And he did die of alcoholism, he died at 48 years old, he died on his birthday of congestive, heart failure, simply because his, his body stops, his liver kidneys, Etc. His body stopped processing toxins and food, and water, and he died. He just died in his sleep and I was watching that process go on, so he was physically addictive. And very physically and psychologically addicted for me. I didn't ever feel that I was physically addicted.
Like, I could not go without a drink He on the other hand could not make it through the day, without going through delirium tremors, Etc. So he'd been arrested on numerous occasions, and rest, his soul. Don't get me wrong. And, you know, I knew a lot of the, the jailers and prison guards and whatnot and when he would go in, they would have to take him into medical detox. So he was at that level of physical addiction for me. It was more of a I knew there was a problem when I started
questioning. Whether or not I could or could not quit. And when I started asking myself, do you think you have a problem with alcohol? Well, let me give you the answer to the quiz. Not one boys and girls. If you ask yourself that question, you have a problem with alcohol and that was when I
knew I had to make a change. That was not on the 21st of June, by the way, I knew that several months leading up to that I just Their 21st of June was when I reached the point where I was more afraid of what was going to happen, had I not quit drinking then. Anything else I was scared of, what the ramifications would be had. I not stopped drinking and I'm not going to leave your listeners in suspense. I think I would have killed myself. Yeah.
It's it's scary man. Like when when you feel out of control I think that's I think that's what it all boils down to with any type of addiction. When you feel like you cannot control the outcome and you feel compelled to continue in that addictive behavior to a point where it runs your life and your mind like that. That's that's where the fear sets in. I mean, I get I've never With
you know, alcoholism personally. So I'm just reaching for, you know, things that I can relate that I put the food addiction and I'm assuming it's probably pretty similar for like drugs and things but people they feel like they can't live without that but they internally know that it's not conducive to their betterment. Oh no, there was no question.
Every time I picked up a drink every single time I picked up a drink, it was a So I'm just going to have a couple, and I'll just have a couple more and I consistently would wake up saying, why, why why did I even have the first one? It was the old saying and I had been to a couple AA meetings that that old saying an ace one is too many 15 s, not enough. And that was my Form of addiction, I couldn't control the number of drinks that I had once I started drinking.
So would you like another? I would like all of them so and it never became violent. You know, I never never got arrested and never got into a fight or anything like that. It was just there was no such thing as having a social drink for me. And I think a lot of it had a lot of it had to do with it was the numbing of the sensations, the numbing of the bad feelings. And again I go back to I was a lieutenant colonel in the most elite of the army Special
Operations units. And I had this portfolio to be proud of. And then all of a sudden, one day, it was gone like all of that was gone and you can you can sit back and say, well, that was weakness that you displayed by not being able to handle. Okay, fine. Sure was But it happened and it happens to a lot of people seeking. A lot of people who go from, you know, the the peak of their, the peak of their field. Like I was at the top of the pyramid in my field lieutenant.
Colonel's not the highest rank in the Army but it's not the lowest they'll tell you that and member of the elite organizations that I was in and there was a lot to be proud of every single day when I was waking up. At 4:30 and going in at the crack of dawn. And, you know, the missions that we were on and, you know, I was the missions that I were on. We were, we were reading about him in the newspaper watching them on the news weeks. If not months, after they happen, you know what I mean?
Like, we were The Cutting Edge and then then I was fat old and retired overnight and I just that sense of purpose was gone and I was replacing it with alcohol. And what I didn't realize was that That slow drip and degradation of me, the person slowly day by day by day, as a result of, that alcohol abuse. It was just the inefficiencies of my life. Stop reading. I stop working out. I ate one convenient. I didn't have an eating plan and it affects everything.
Infects every organ in your body, affects your emotions, and it affects your just efficiency as a human being must. Joel was off and you know, you got to ask me another question, or I can keep going on about like these detrimental effects, but I kind of touched a little bit as well. You know, I talked about my brother having died of that physical level of alcohol, abuse. I have one, two, three, four. Think five of my direct relatives and by that I mean out to Uncle cousin level who have
quit drinking six. If you include me, that that's quite a bit, there is an awful lot of substance abuse in my family and my extended family. And and as I mentioned, you know, that the death that we saw, you know, in my direct family, 48 years old, very very young. Passed away from alcoholism. So, You know, I irony of ironies, you know, I own a brewery and I don't drain.
And that's, you know, that is something that I personally struggle with, I would say almost daily as well and, you know, I come into the brewery now, I actually make the beer and I sell the bureau. And one of the things that, you know, I kind of apply the ethics that I live by use. I don't over-served. I'm very Draconian. Almost with how much alcohol will give somebody. And if you're on a motorcycle, you know, two wheels. Two drinks. That's all I'm giving you.
If if you're not the, if you don't have a DD you only get four drinks. I'm really tight with that. Yeah, kind of going down a rabbit hole on that one but you know that that is a huge ironing of my personal. Existence is a retired from the military. I opened a brewery, I became a raging alcoholic, and Quit. But I still own the brew and I kind of use it as a platform because I'm kind of teach coach and Mentor a lot of the young soldiers to come right outside of the military base here.
And I serve a lot of young soldiers, kind of share this with them. Some lessons like, hey, son, let me give you the answer to the quiz. You don't need more alcohol. And so that's, that's a really interesting and very ironic part about my current relationship
with alcohol. It's how I make a living but But it's also something that I personally abstain from well, it's Unique because it's if you if you know who you are and your self aware enough to know that, that's not where you need to take things, then there may be some degree of temptation, but the end of the day like, you know, you would never act on those Temptations. So it's not like it gnaws at you or maybe it does. It doesn't for me. Yeah, it's good. It's good.
I can that, that I feel is a testament to You would agree of self-awareness, like a lot of people. Again, I keep going back to food here, but so many people remove carbs from their life, for instance, because they know they had addictive personality towards carbohydrates.
And I was the same way I for a while there, I would not allow myself in the bakery section of a grocery store, which would be akin to me, walking into a pub, and have an alcohol problem and not why, you know, that wouldn't make any sense, but I'm to a point now, just As you are to a point now with with your Brewery, that you know, that you'll never act on those, you know, any of those Sensations to drink, even if it's right there
easily accessible to you. And I feel like that's a testament to your degree of strength and knowing who you are, and what you stand for, and your identity now, and not letting your past to find you. Yeah, there are a couple things on there that that I'd like to touch upon is the carbohydrates, and you kind of already know Your listeners. Don't So keto and carnivore was kind of like my smokescreen for
for not drinking. And it took me months, took me several months before I finally said and it was a friend of mine from back home who said hey I can't help but notice that. You don't do carbs anymore. I was like yeah, health and fitness and she said, right? It's alcohol, isn't it? I was like, yeah, you kind of nailed it. Yeah, I think it was about three months. I went three months of, quote-unquote carnivore.
I didn't know you at the time. I knew our mutual friend and he was helping me kind of figure out the carnivore lifestyle. And all I cared about was I can tell people that I've switched over to being carnivore for health reasons. But really, what what I'm doing this for is, it's a smokescreen for removing alcohol because beer has a lot of carbs in it. And I was just telling people that I was carved Freight and it
was temporary. And I just, it's for health and look at all the weight I've lost. I think when I went carnivore. Now, when I started working with you, I got up, I was up to 220. 25 and I got down to 180 to single digit body, very lean. Thank you for everything was great mentorship along the way when I had met you, I had already lost close to 50 pounds and because of all of that water retention and all that just beer, gotten beer belly.
And you know, I'm six foot four and kind of long and lanky and nobody believes me even to this day, like now you Didn't weigh that much. No, I really did. I weighed? I actually took some notes Here. I lost from from peak week there in February when I got down to 180 to as compared to when I was my heaviest at my heaviest drinking, I lost 86 pounds and it's crazy. But that nuts and So I used your lifestyle of hyper restrictive in terms of the macros restrictive, carbohydrate keto
lifestyle. That was a perfect smokescreen for eliminating alcohol from my life and I didn't have to tell people, I didn't have to walk around Society with The Scarlet Letter on my chest saying I'm an alcoholic. It was just I had to come up with something. I worked in a brewery. and, I was, how were you going to tell people that you're an alcoholic and you can't be around alcohol anymore. How can you do that? And it was a creative way for me to say this, I'm keto.
Now, I've taken up a keto lifestyle in order to lift weights in order to, you know, Aspire for and physique composite competition one day. And in order to do that, I can't partake in any of this alcohol that I produce and it Since the people and nobody questioned me anymore and I can, you know, I've avoided a bullet on that one and then it was about six, mom no longer in that was about a year and a half sin is when I was like, yeah, guys, I'm I'm an alcoholic.
I'm never going to drink again, but it took that emotional recovery. Took the physical recovery or the first year. It took the emotional cover of the second year for me too. To kind of rebuild my confidence in myself in order to admit to people. Yeah, it was an alcoholic. That was that was all just a smokescreen but it works, man. Like You guys help me out a lot. You gave me a perfect cover story that I could use that kept people from digging too deep into why I wasn't drinking beer
with. Well the cool thing about hat like leveraging something like a dietary protocol that you can get excited about and just you know put your head down and double down on is if you do that and it is a healthy conducive you know manipulation to your life that moves you in the right direction. It can inherently become a just as much a part of your lifestyle as the thing that you're trying
to remove in the first place. So like you can you can easily identify yourself as You know, Michael the one that used to be an alcoholic and now no longer drinks. But you can also now say that you totally turn your health around and you're not going to go back to a standard American diet because you've done this long enough to recognize the positive health benefits that come with it. So this has become just as much a part of who you are.
So you probably wouldn't have had the discipline and the desire to stick with this to the extent that you have and see the benefits you had with it head-on. Not been for the things that you were trying to avoid previously. So you know, hate to say it's blessing in the sky is always a silver lining but maybe that's exactly the case it is. And, you know, I think, let's take it just one level deeper of
analysis. When I left the military, I didn't have goals in have purpose and then when I quit drinking you know, when Everybody thought I was nuts. You know, I was 268 pounds and body fat was through the roof and they like, you're going to take up physique training really well. I mean, brag a little bit, you know, I like I said, I wasn't, I was a pretty high level College athlete and I was an Army, special operator. Yeah, I was in my 40s at that point.
But, you know, there was a time. You know what I mean? We're, that would have been a real. People would have looked at me and said, yeah, I could see that guy being competitor. And now here I am, you know, just a few weeks away from my 49th birthday and brag up on myself a little bit. Here, I'm, I'm getting back to that with your help, by the way, and thank you very much for that. But I'm legitimately getting to the point where, hey, April of 2023, right, that's on our
calendar. That's part of our, like, little contract client and Coach. That's my goal on the wall, That's My Water. The Columbus physique competition, April of 2023. And now when I say that people are saying, well no kidding, this guy really could be competitive Goals, it gave me a goal. I didn't have one and I got out of the military. Like I said, I went from a life of meaning to a meaningless life. I didn't have goals and that's catastrophic and like that was just catastrophic.
I had goals when I was in the military I had that portfolio of 35,000 people on you know classified missions out there all over the globe that I was tracking. And Saying in providing guidance and approvals for and boy that that's purpose, man. That's that's big-time purpose. That gives you reason to get out of bed in the morning and I didn't have those goals, self-inflicted. Sure. Anybody can point at me and say
you did that to idea. I absolutely did do that to myself and I've taken responsibility for it. And, and I've made the corrections that I've had to make. But that first year year, and three months of life in retire, in retired, life, I did not have goals and I replaced that with alcohol. And for anybody listening to this podcast, You got to have a
goal in life, man. You have to have something to work for and when I raise my hand and say, hey I'm going to do physique training and I'm going to be on stage one day. Did I believe it was going to happen in six months? Hell no, hell no, but it gave me something to work for and looking at the scale and watching the pounds of off, it gave me a sense of progress. The gave me a sense that I owned
my life in my way forward, instead of the alcohol. and it was that first year of, I don't think I can express the people like the level of Despair that you have when you don't feel in control of your own destiny when you you don't feel like, not only you not achieving goals but you don't even have a damn goal to begin with and it sounds so, Platitude, but how many hundreds of your clients? How many hundreds of yours and
casein and other trainers? These clients who they take up Fitness training after an addiction, they take the thickness training after a major life life. So then why? Because it's a goal and the psychology of just goal setting and being able to see progress towards something. And I didn't have that first year out, I wasn't on my feet and I quit drinking and I could give you the list of all the things that I've been able to accomplish since then, it's amazing.
It's amazing what setting goals and and more importantly, just getting that alcoholism under control. What it's been able to do to me and how much of a better person it's allowed me to become it's just phenomenal, weight training and proper nutrition is Thing in the nth. It's so incredibly tangible and actionable. You know, like if my life is in total disarray, but I, at least have my training. You know, in check.
And I'm on top of my nutrition. I can pick myself up from the shambles and have a foothold in order to dig deep and move forward. If I, If I sacrifice my diet and my training, then I am exponentially more likely to just stay in a state of disarray. For much much longer. Like, I've always tried to make that a constant in my life. Now I messed up once and I can, I can see this being akin to to you during that, you know, one year and 20 days when it's like, you've got your identity.
Slated, as this person that you've become up to that point and you have purpose, you have people that rely on you, have people that depend on you and you feel like you are a, you
know, asset. In this world and then all of a sudden then is stripped from you and you open your eyes to the fact that the world isn't necessarily better for you in some tangible way because you know what you reality as you see it is not reality anymore that that is a frightening thing like I've heard accounts of people who you know their spouses cheated on them and then when that happens there they're forced to question every other reality that they've imagine up
to that point. And it's like they get lost because nothing is solid anymore. So I feel like no matter who you are and what you're doing, having some sense of solid foundation in your life that is not necessarily your identity, but it's something that you have a level footing on is so incredibly important to function at a high rate or just a functional Baseline in order to withstand the highs and lows that life will inevitably throw at you. Absolutely.
And you hit on a couple things that I want to explain a little bit more. You literally were talking about the definition of post-traumatic stress.
It can often be brought on by having experience with challenges your assumptions about how the world works and you would mentions, you know, you come home one day after 27 years of marriage and found out that your spouse has had a fair on. And, or You know, children who watch their parents separate and or soldiers, who go away to combat were raised on a solid white, right?
You have to kill in order to make it through out and those are all experiences that challenge your assumptions and beliefs of how the world operates and that can be often where post-traumatic stress comes from. and, I don't. I don't think it was a singular event for me that brought on post-traumatic stress. The my situation was more of a self-inflicted and that made it even worse for me was to go from this. This purpose and meaning choice that I may need to get out and go do it.
And that, that's what made it doubly difficult for me, was I have no one to blame but myself, I I knew exactly. I knew that my situation in the exactly where I was in life and the Suffering, The Daily suffering, I was going through my fault, I was the one who was drinking. I was the one who voluntarily resigned from the north, right.
I did those things and Well, I was really interesting when I finally got off my ass and admitted and looked in the mirror and said, it's your fault, but if you take responsibility for it, that means you can also make changes that are going to change your future.
And that's what happened on the 21st of June. 2018, I wept I woke up like I said, sometimes if you love and 12 wet Pride nothing I called some friends of mine and I said, I really don't know if I'm going to make it called a good friend of mine. He's not going to bother. He's not gonna be bothered by this atolls name is Jamie and he'd been sober for like 10 years. But I called him and said you tell me there's hope. I know what, I know. I have to change. I just spoke to him yesterday.
Alcoholics, it's funny. We kind of have this view. Celebrate the Day. You celebrate the Day of your last drink. Would you celebrate the first day of sobriety? I kind of celebrate both to the 20th of June call them up. It's like a am three years ago today. I have my last drink and then the 21st of June is this is kind of my celebrating my anniversary
of sobriety. So so anyway, there's that post-traumatic stress that I wanted to touch on it, but that was really interesting, what you brought up. You also brought up the the working out part. I don't think this can be overstated the physiological benefits of working out. How many hundreds of times, rob, you personally have. You been in a bad mood? Pissed off about something you're tired because you didn't get enough sleep. You're dehydrated.
Whatever the case might be, and then that little voice just says, hey man. Five minutes into your first set, you know, this feeling's all going to go away. Why wouldn't lay downs, right? So that was me this morning that was me this morning. I was like dude you know you own your own business and sometimes duty calls and there was seven o'clock or 11 o'clock on a Sunday night I'm working I get up in the morning and just dragging myself out of bed.
But that little that little voice in my head said five minutes into your first set. You know this, all of this is going to go away and it did. And that to me, I'm hooked. Like I do have new addictions. Yeah. Yeah. And that addiction is the gym and also going to add the steam room. I 20 minutes. Every what I wrap up every single workout, I spent 20 minutes in the steam room. It's like the meaning of life than, you know, you got to join them. It's the best thing going.
Yeah, I'm jealous of that. I've always wanted to have a steam room. It's like therapeutic, man. You work out insanely hard. Leave it on the table and you go in that steam room. It's like, that's like, that's like The icing on top, it's like that. That's what give that's what you work for to be able to enjoy that and know that you earned it. Yeah, a couple things. You know, I'm good now.
Like I feel like the reason why I want to have this conversation was mostly for other people who might need some hope. So I'd like to just go ahead. This is how anybody is listening and they need help. You can contact you. All right, my my number at the business, 70 six, six four, one two, seven three, three seven zero, six, six four, one, two, seven, three, three. Just ask for Michael. I'll return your call, man. I don't care if we ever meet, I
don't care. What kind of help me trust me when I say this, every recovering recovered alcoholic or addict would say the same thing you can always I'll find somebody in your area. I just want to let people know, like the future gets a lot better. Once you put down chemicals. Once you stop the substance abuse, It took me about three days to recover from the acute, the acute addiction like that, that the physical hangovers, and they just getting rehydrated etcetera.
It's a poison. It took me about 72 hours to get over. It took me about three weeks for me to realize that, like, no kidding. I probably We can actually put drinking, and it took me about three months for me to realize, like, wow, I think I actually have equipment something about 3, right? 3 days, to physically recover three weeks, for me to realize that, I'm building up some steam. I might really be able to beat this about three months later.
I realized like, wow, three months sober and I'm telling you, I'll have uncles cousins, aunts and we all say the same thing life. Just keeps getting better on the other side, just have to put your foot down and you have to reach out for help call somebody and It's just I'm just I am a supercharged. Human since I quit drinking is just it's not even comparison to the same person. Yeah. Well, people need to know that
they're not alone. Like when you're when you're struggling with anything, it's easy to fall into this pit of despair and assume that the you're the only one that's ever experienced. These emotions that you've got these special circumstances that you're a unique Snowflake and no one's ever gone through this before. But that's that's not the case. I mean so many people Have gone through this and simply having somebody that call and just you know, vent to get the weight off your chest.
I mean that is liberating yeah, all me 706. That's for one two, seven, three, three men, call me Ivy league-educated Colonel, Elite Army, Special Operations and food. I was in freefall and and I bring that up as like hey nobody cares. You Alcohol doesn't care about your resume again. Yeah, doesn't care at all. So, what life has gotten a lot better? I hope. At some point, I'll be able to brag up on some of the things that we've been able to accomplish sense.
Sobriety, I'm telling you, he's just been a phenomenal, three years. Let's dive into some stuff man. I want to talk a little bit about what is your thoughts on alcohol for people that don't seem to have any issues with it like because that is there a negative connotation that Associates with that? Or is it in different?
What's the take their? No, not at all, you know, alcoholism takes out pending on what statute you look at, five to ten percent, but that means the other ninety the night. Five percent. Don't have a problem Hall and I don't I see it every day. The vast majority of my customers come in and vast, majority of them have 2 or 3 Min pay their tab, go home and play with the kids and I don't have
there's no judgment at all. I've accepted that, that was my problem and that is something that I can't project onto other people. And I think that I speak for the vast majority of addicts and alcoholics when I say yeah. So I don't think that faith that all I'm can be around it. Professionally, I do see myself moving on from the alcohol
industry. Very obvious, non sequitur, An alcoholic, who produces and sells beer, I do think at some point, I needed to find some synchronicity between my personal life and my professional life. With that's another story. In the meantime, I don't have any negative connotation whatsoever and I think the general Trend in the addict alcoholic spaces are You need to own your problem, let other people worry about themselves. Yeah, I like that. I like that a lot.
I feel like people people need hope, you know, and if they can look at somebody, that's successfully moved past that hurdle and is living the life and doing so, with profound degree of success, that in itself is incredibly inspiring and hopeful to others. So, that's what I've tried to do with nutrition. That's what you're doing by, you know, being there on the front lines, working in a brewery but not, And then incorporating other healthy habits into your life. That's that's empowering.
It is. Yeah, it's really empowering. Go ahead. I was gonna transition to your physical Journey here, lately beyond the alcohol, but what were you about to say? I was going to say that, you know, the thing that strikes me the most, and this is kind of cutting you off at the pass and I guess talking about the physical Journey, it took me about a year to physically recover not not to achieve what I've achieved since, but just physically recover from the detrimental effects of alcohol.
But I saw a friend of mine that I hadn't seen in a long time and soon as Payments of the room looked at me and she said, your skin, he's skins not grinding. What you look so much younger and that was that was the first, I think I hadn't seen her in a year and a half and so that was just one of those signs of that, that physical recovery. So yeah, let's talk about physical aspects of being drug and alcohol free and the new
lifestyle. Well, let me brag on you, just a little A bit because when you contacted me and said that you wanted to, you know, lean out with a ketogenic approach, you know, it was weird. Like I said, at the very beginning, we've been working together for several months and your transformation itself was incredibly impressive.
But one thing that stood out at the onset is you never once deviated from the plan and the there's no secret This stuff, like any of the nutritional manipulations, I make with my clients or, you know, practice like methodologies that I've put publicly out on YouTube, but there's no secret to it. Like, the, the quote unquote secret is just simply having discipline and consistency, and then having a strategy. But that strategy is what we worked on and worked out from
the beginning. But by you simply being as discipline and consistent as you were, I mean, you continue to make progress week after week after week. And I feel like there's so much to be said for that. So, Thank you for being as detail-oriented and disciplined as you were as a client because you make my last super easy for sure. Well, I appreciate it.
You know, you provided the knowledge as well, and he also provided, you know, that external accountability, which is great for an attic and great for our body gum. I appreciate that. I think accountability is huge. I feel like that's at the end of this, what anybody would ever hire me. I mean, having someone to be accountable to, that's why anyone would hire any coach for that matter. Yeah, yeah, it's just that external accountability, but it wasn't just the body fat in
there. A lot of other changes that happens and, you know, my ability to be on hunting trips and my ability to engage in not here. So many times people say, we repeated that guide to during space with parents, that's not true. That is not true. I'm telling you hunting elk 10,000 feet. Is an endurance event mother and, and can I share with you kind of the story and last year's open as far as, like, the ketogenic lifestyle? And how that applies myo means, can you get a little close to
the mic? Your kind of fading out a little bit. Yep. Sorry. Is that better? Much better. Okay, so last year's hunt I was already ketogenic at that point and so I was already fat adapted, my ketones are going through the roof. And while I was hunting, I was I was Eating intuitively. I was eating one meal a day and I was leaving intuitively but but at night after the hunt was over, I wasn't going overboard.
But you know it was just an incredible exertion of calories throughout the day and I remember it was day two or day three, that the guy looked at me and he said, aren't you going to eat anything that's about? I'll eat when I get back. And it just blew his of loving mind and he said, what do you mean you? You didn't eat breakfast.
I said no, I one meal a day. I'll eat after we get back, you know, shower change and make some bacon and eggs and I'll be good for the day and he still to this day, I still talk to him, he can believe that. I would go out into the woods. Now we're waking up at 2:30 in the morning, right?
Where We're starting our hike Into the Woods at 4:30 in the morning and, you know, you're there at 10,000, she glassing for bull elk, a mile away, so low, oxygen, massive, physical exertion, all of the other folks who are on the Strip are breaking into Power bars are drinking Gatorades. Are you know what I mean? Having already eaten breakfast. Etc, etc. I had a cup of coffee. And I wasn't reading my ketones out in the woods. Don't get me wrong, but I was sprinting up these Hills.
You know, I would go from 8,500, foot up to 10,000 foot because we heard a bull elk on the other side of the mountain. And, you know, here's his flat foot from out and, you know, the Eastern Time Zone I was never hungry, never hungry the whole time. I'd come home, I would have my bacon and eggs and my rib eye. And you know, smoke a cigar and wind down for the day sleep and I repeated that for a week straight and it just absolutely blew everybody in Camp.
It just absolutely blew their mind that this this mountain goat of a guy was just spreading up and down on quote unquote to them. I was on an empty stomach, but me and your your listeners know that my Ketone bodies were just racing through my bloodstream. I was full of energy. I never felt drained. I never felt depleted, and this was long sustained. You know, 10, 12 hour day out there hunting, you know, at in the peaks, of the Rockies chasing, these big stinky animals and it was great.
And I think I've really changed a lot of people's minds about the ketogenic lifestyle. Yeah, from a hunting perspective alone. I feel like it's like a like, I don't want to use secret weapon, but I mean, I don't know another appropriate word for because like when you are, you know, trying to be incredibly strategic in the weight of your pack and be minimal in the way that you're bringing with you. And if so much of that is going to be water food.
Snack bars, gels, Goos, and all the stuff that comes with it, all the carbohydrates. All Bulk. That's not a very good use of that that packs. Wait, so to bypass all of that and either fast or eat, something that is incredibly calorically dense and is not going to take up much space or weight in your pack and be able to function at a high rate from a performance standpoint on a
moment's notice. I mean that's I mean there's no other diet that that bodes, well for that Beyond ketogenic carnivore Diamond. That is the superior diet for that style of training and Fitness. Needs. Oh there's no question and I would also add, you know, take out the the Rockies, you know, shooting on a bull elk from 600 yards away. Take take that out of the equation.
Now, talk about being, an eastern white, tail tree, stand Hunter, and having to break into a Nature's Valley or or, you know, take the brand out, whatever opening up all these cellophane wrappers. So now you just added smell and now you've also just added sound into An environment where sent and sounds are going to kill your odds of being able to get close enough to put an arrow through a deer.
And so, I mean I don't I would encourage all Hunters to adapt, you know, within Reason Adapted ketogenic lifestyle because it's going to actually increase your odds of being able to get shot. Close to a whitetail, particularly out here on the East Coast. If you're hunting from a tree stand. And, you know, it's if you're sitting there eating Big Macs and McDonald's all day long in the tree stand which, you know, God love him.
He's a great friend of mine but my buddy who is going out with me it was like, he was Tethered to he had to snack every three to four hours in order to keep his energy stores up. Yeah, you know imagine if we were trying to hunt from you know hunting whitetail deer from a tree stand that that deer would smell you and hear you a mile away.
And so I think it's Optimal for hunting plus it just makes you like when you're eating like that it just it dulls your senses like when I'm in a fasted State, I don't do a whole lot of extended fasting. I don't, it's not really conducive from a bodybuilding standpoint. But whenever I do do an extended fasting, my attentiveness is literally through the roof, like my ability to form a sentence is
improved, noticeably improved. I mean, I'm just much more detail oriented and that's what you would want in a heightened state of Of awareness when you're out in the woods, trying to be more attuned to any sound sight flicker or anything out of place. So, I think from a, from a predatory standpoint, if you're, if you're a fat adapted, Predator, you're going to be a much more lethal, Predator. I agree, 100%. I'm stoked for this hunting trip that we've got coming up in November.
So, it, I read you sent me the checklist and everything and I didn't notice we didn't talk about this, but it said, And on there that you've got to be able to go in by horseback and know how to ride everything. I'm assuming that we are in fact going in by horseback, so we're going deep in there. What will probably end up doing is, we'll probably end up hiking in until we get an elk and then it'll be horseback packed out.
So we're not going to drop camp immediately, but you and I given our physical abilities, we are going to be hiking in several miles. So we'll hit the trail. Head will park the truck. Output are ball caps on backwards. When we do put an elk on the ground that is when the, that is, when the horses and pack mules, come out, and because they're just too big, we're not
going. You and I are not going to do what they call the drop camp, which is we pack in for 68 hours and we go set up like a cloth walled tent.
Yeah, we're going to, you know, you and I haven't actually met Made the arrangements yet but we can either Camp there in the San Juan National Forest or we can go ahead and get like a VRBO little cabin for 50 bucks a day, right there on the edge of the forest, but will actually hike it in and every day with our guide, and I am looking forward to that. Yeah. Again, success rates are very high. So, the likelihood that we are going to be hopping on horses is very high.
So, yeah, we're going to participate in that begin, man. It's It's cool for me, like because I, I am, I'm in Arkansas. Do most of the hunting in Arkansas, so there's not much elevation. So anytime I do, go hunting out west. It's interesting because people assume that since I am not from out west. I can't handle the elevation of can't handle the climbs and I like proving them wrong. Like I like it when they can't keep up with me.
So it'll be cool because I think it's such a challenge men. Like when you're when you're carrying a 60-pound pack and a half Heavy rifle or a bow and then water, and you got your gear on. You got boots on, I mean, you're going up, rocks in the steep grade like people that have never hunted and never done that. That is a frickin work out right there.
Like I can I can be doing a bodybuilding prep competition for six months and have rigorous training intensity, all that time, but I go on a weekend log, you know, heavy intense, camping / hunting event and my asses whooped by the end of it. Oh yeah. Absolutely and see elevation as well. You know, you worked been depleted oxygen State and it's just that that constant massive
caloric burn all day long. I mean you're hiking in say three, four, five miles, and that's that's just the beat the Sun up and Lord knows what's going to happen. After that you might hear an elk, bugle, two miles away. And as I've told you before, I mean, there is no. There is no hey, powder your feet and it's grab your pack and let's go. We are, we are, it's it's own athletic event and if you're not in shape, you know, you're going
to be suffering out there. You know, that's, that's kind of why I'm excited to go with you is I'm going with somebody who can physically? Hang with me? Not not, not to be too, not to boast too much but like, Like I want to go out there, you're a professional. I look at you as a professional athlete and I tell people like I'm going out there with a professional athlete. My goal is to just beat him into the side of the mountain by.
I just I'm doing so many Hill Sprints and I I want him to look up at me at 49 years old and be like, hey, old man slow down. I need to catch my breath and, and, but see that's what competitive, you know, competitive athletic friends do. And it's, I'm sure I'm sure you're going to look at me and say the same, same thing man you know that you want to beat me into the side of the mountain. I came back from the last trip and they you know they nicknamed me the mountain goat.
It couldn't believe like this skinny old man was just sprinting up these Hills like he was you know this East Coast flatlander so I love heading out west and I love showing those Western guides that you know these East Coast guys can be in shape enough to just day one just Starts burning up the
mountain with the guide. Well, hunting itself as a hunting, as a sport is such a misrepresented sport by mainstream Society like people just assume you know you drive around your truck until you see something and then you roll the window down and take your rifle out the window and shoot and that's I mean, there definitely are people that do that and they sicken me. And there's people that, you know, just hunting deer stand, which is what I've done most of
the hunting and is in a deer stand. But I've Enough now like hiking in and backpacking and really freaking boots-on-the-ground spot and stalk cunning. And I've got so much respect for that style of hunting that. Like, if you don't train for that, like if you don't train and have some baseline Functional Health and Fitness, you will not be successful. Like that is just it. You will not be able to end that hunt with a success. So that to me is what makes hunting a legitimate sport.
Art. And that's the kind of fun thing that I that I, you know, I enjoy that. That's a challenge to me. I like being pushed in that. Pushes me. Yeah, and I also love, I agree with everything you just said. I also love knowing exactly where all of the meat in my freezer for the year came from.
And I also love and I mean, this very sincerely, I love being able to give that animal a dignified meaningful and purposeful way out, you know, you have You have a lot of folks who might have very strong emotions about killing an animal. I would just encourage them to. Also keep in mind, you know, what happens to an animal when it dies of old age out in the wild, it's not pretty and, you know, one shot, one well-placed ethical shot and a few seconds later and it's a painless Quick Pass.
I know that that animal is treated ethically throughout its life. I know what led a good natural life. Like some of the store-bought meat that I do occasionally go for. So I like and I enjoy and I appreciate that. I know exactly where that meat came from and it's all grass fed organic Wild game that was not abused or mistreated throughout its life. And and that's that's a big part of it for me as well. I'm guessing mule deer.
Backstrap sitting on the counter right now, throwing up for my dinner tonight. So I'm right there with you man. And like us, you got a mule there? R. I was just talking to somebody today about. That's my net, I need to get a mule deer next. Yeah. Yeah, I killed him. You lie. I guess it was your for last. So he denied some back strap from him tonight, but a writer's do.
But, yeah, I think like people people don't realize that if I mean, first of all, if you eating meat, you have to recognize and be honest to the fact that something died to put that meat on your plate. So you have to appreciate that. Simple fact and secondly, you I have found that in becoming a hunter and in in in in taking the life of another animal my appreciation for life itself is exponentially heightened and I
appreciate that. I feel like that's been able to play an integral part in that entire circle of life, makes you appreciate the beauty of life. Oh, that's pretty deep Rob. I don't disagree. Yeah. Yeah, that's it. Man. That's it on the nose. Yeah, I mean we're speaking the same language, man. It's gonna be good. I'm excited to do this Expedition with you. I'm excited to make some more memories. I'm excited to keep working with and get you down then fat 2023
competition. Man, like you continue to impress me with each week two passes and I'm just I'm just I'm very blessed and grateful to have been able to play a small part in that Journey, you played a bigger part than you think. And I just want to one more. Shout out to any listener. Hey, if you need help in any way, You can call me 706 6412
733 ask for Michael and I will. I will move mountains for stranger to that that's how Goods sober life is now, man, I would do anything for a stranger to give you the hope that in the future. You could have the same recovery that I have had. And I couldn't be more blessed to have friends like you and my life Rob. And I couldn't be more blessed to have achieved sobriety after that that year in 20 days of living hell, and whatever.
I can possibly do to help any of your listeners, to help them achieve the same thing. I'll just I'll end by saying there's Hope on the other side man and life just gets better every single day. Amen. And then brother, could not agree more. Where's that? Well, you've got your own podcast Network where people go to listen to you. I do I do have my own podcast 706 wherever you download your
podcasts, Apple Spotify cetera. It's just podcast 706 were in Columbus, Georgia. And that is the 706 area code. And that has just been an absolute Blast for me. I've met so many people that I never thought I would. We're pretty big city here Columbus Georgia. You know the the mayor like walks up to me on the street like hey Mike, what's going on? When are we going to interview
next? I'm like wow you know this I mean it's a big city, you know, I've got NFL pros who come in our focus is on. We're a Civic engagement and Free Speech platform. So we go out of our way to get Civic leaders. Got some generals from the local military base president from Local University Senators, congressmen, Etc. And it's all about those local topics that are affecting life here in the area code 706.
So, Apple Spotify wherever you get your downloads podcast 706, we're also on Facebook and Instagram at podcast, 706, awesome. And will, almost certainly linked answer that. Let's do a round two after the hunt. Hopefully, we can, we can recount the events of the The of a successful elk hunt on the next podcast. We're going to make a wager. We need to make a wager right now. I'll wager. Wow. Wager the you're gonna stay all before I do go on. Let's see how I'm interesting man.
I'm a glutton for punishment. Like I like doing things with with zero training beyond what I currently do, just to see if my Baseline Fitness is acceptable at that. It's like when I ran that Marathon, I ran it with zero prep work. See myself doing the same thing for this in which case, I don't know what's going to happen, Okay? You think that's why I'm think that's a good idea. You think it's terrible. I think that's a horrible idea. And I was, I would say here's
your competition. Bro, I Airborne Ranger graduated, Special Forces, Green Beret. And I went to prisoner of war camp twice for training. So, if you want to talk about glutton for punishment and I'll break my, I'll break my damn leg, and I won't quit. Whit. So, just to see you say uncle. I just want to say all right, ma'am, I guess I've been thrown man. It's all you got to make this BET right now so it's all in good fun.
It's all good fun because I know that you're a phenomenal human being and and you're going to show up in great shape and and I make that bet just what we were saying half an hour ago that external accountability. So now I just made myself externally Noble to all of your listening Nation. Rather. Well, it is going to be here before, you know, it man and in light of what you've just said, I will start training specifically for this.
I'll start trail running up a damn Mountain every single day if I need to, but I won't be saying Uncle. All right, I'm going to send you a link to a one of those oxygen deprivation masks as well. Nice, nice. I'll give that a shot for sure. I'll check it out. Amen. Always a pleasure talking to you. I've thoroughly enjoyed every conversation. We've had, you know, This point and Beyond. So, keep doing what you're doing, man. You're an inspiration to many.
Even if you don't realize it sometimes, hey, I appreciate that brother and so, are you take came in. Alright, talk to you later.