Live better and longer with the fitness show hosted by fitness expert author and tv personality Fitz Kohler she'll tell you why diets are dumb supplements are snake oil and the truth about how you can earn a lean hard pain-free and athletic body now for our favorite bossy blonde Fitz Kohler. Hi team, I'm Fitz Kohler, your very bossy fitness pro from Fitzness.com and welcome to the Fitzness Show. This episode is kind of a surprise to me. I think it's a surprise to my guest.
I'm going to let you know how it unfolded before I bring him on, but I also think this episode could be life-changing. I think this episode will have a dramatic impact on my guest. I hope it will. And possibly a dramatic impact on you. My guest is Patrick Bass. And I was actually a guest on his podcast last week. And we were just talking about everything. We were talking about cancer, my books.
We were talking about fitness and so forth. and during our conversation during my my spiel talk about fitness or so forth Patrick confessed that he struggled himself and to an extent where he wanted to lose a large amount of weight and I asked how much are you trying to lose and he said close to 300 pounds. Which is significant. And so you guys have heard it a bazillion times.
My goal is to help people live better and longer by tacking on 10 years, at least 10 years of quality life onto everyone whom I come across. And, you know, sometimes it's just destined to be. Patrick and I had this great conversation and then I offered, I said, hey, listen, I'd love to be a part of your success. I told him about the exact formula, which may seem to make a lot of sense to him.
And I offered to keep track of him and have him use me as a source of support and encouragement and guidance and said, I'll come back on your show once a month for check-ins. And very humble, very, very humble man willing to discuss the hardships he's had. And he seems embarrassed that he's hit 508 pounds. That's what he was last week. And what's done is done. What's done is done. He's he's motivated to move forward, to change his life, to turn it around.
And I think there's nothing embarrassing about that. I think we've all, we all have the capacity to evolve. You know, sometimes we do things that aren't so good and they lead us to the best things in our life. So I'm excited to bring Patrick on the show and we're going to talk about his history, how he got where he is and what he's going to do moving forward. And if you are someone who would like to lose between one and 1000 pounds, this show is for you.
If you haven't done so already, make sure you click subscribe wherever you listen to The Fitzness Show. Maybe hit like, maybe leave a review. I don't know. That would make me happy. But I'm going to bring in the man of the hour, Mr. Patrick Bass. Welcome, bud. Hey, Fitz. How's it going? I am so good. Are you excited to talk about this? Nervous? How are you feeling? I'm very excited. I have put shame and nervousness to the side, and I'm interested in moving forward. So that's my mindset. said.
Did I give a fair synopsis how you got here? Absolutely. To the show? Absolutely. I thought you were spot on and very, very accurate. And, you know, my goal is to be honest and to have a level of authenticity that, you know, is probably not common in social media. And I think that's where you are coming from also. And that's probably why, you know, your story resonated with me and inspired me so much.
So what were you thinking last week when it all, our conversation turned to you and your weight loss efforts? Well, I, I wasn't, I was, again, I'm going to go back to the word inspired. I was excited. I was inspired. I was motivated. And, you know, the first thing I did is I, I called my wife into my office and I said, listen, I'm going to do this thing.
And I I don't know if it's going to be embarrassing to you or not, but I'm putting everything on the Internet, absolutely everything, because I want to be 100 percent real. And I got to have that, frankly, from an accountability perspective, because I know Patrick Paz. Patrick, can you restate that what you told your wife because you broke up? Yeah, I told her, I said, hey, her name's Tracy. I said, Tracy, I want to tell you, I want to do this thing.
I want to start it, but I'm going to put everything on the Internet. And I want to make sure you're okay with that because I don't want to embarrass you. I said, it's already embarrassing for me. I said, but frankly, every time I go out the door, people know anyway. So it's not like we're really hiding anything.
I said, but I need that from an accountability perspective. And also, I just happened upon this amazing person who has no vested interest in me and has really inspired me and wants to help me and check in with me once a month. And I got to take advantage of this. Wow. I'm glad you've made that decision. So do you mind sharing what your weight is today? I got a new number. Today is 495. Oh my gosh. It's been a productive week. Congratulations.
Yeah. So I'm down. I, you know, I'm not a math major, but that's 13 pounds. Yes, sir. 13 pounds in one week. Spectacular. Now folks might be listening, thinking, holy mackerel, that's dangerous. It's not when, when you're over 500 pounds. In fact, this is really productive. Every large chunk of weight you take off really puts you in a much better place. And, and I said this on your show and it's not fun to hear, but at this weight, wait, you're staring down the barrel of a gun.
You really have no choice but to take action or to make plans, right? That's right. Yeah, and that's where I'm at. And that happened in light of the fact that I just had two root canals and now I have an abscess. So I'm not able to do everything I want to do right now in terms of exercise and things like that, but those changes were just a result of making plans,
I guess you could say they were small changes. For me, they were big changes, but just making a couple of changes to how I eat has already made that significant impact. So when I'm able to start doing these other things, I expect it to remain consistent or maybe even accelerate. Oh, yeah. So have you adopted the exact formula for weight loss? Well, now we talked about it and we said we got to modify it a little bit because I need a higher level of calories than just adding a zero at the end.
So for the most part, yes. What I'm still working on is eating less calorically dense foods and, you know, more, you know, kind of spreading it out a little bit more. So, frankly, Fitz, for the first two or three days, I was having to eat, like, really soft foods because I had a really bad issue going on with my jaw. But I'm on the tail end of that now. So I'm, again, of course, correcting.
You know, these changes are very fundamental for me and they're huge because obviously this eating stuff, I mean, it was a big part of my life just to throw that out there. I mean, this was a major part of, sadly, it was a major source of joy and it was how we congregated and how we socialized and how we passed time. And so, you know, that's a lot of change.
Yeah. And I think it's important for you to know that you still can enjoy food and you still can congregate and have some food with your friends and family and enjoy the process of eating. It just can't be to the same reckless excess it's been historically. Yeah. And, and that's where I'm dialed in.
And, you know, the other important thing was I had to have, I had to come to this place mentally in my mind because people have been telling me for a long time and I knew for a long time, I got to make a change. And it, and knowing that, and despite that, it, I could not get to it. I could not approach it until I had decided in my own silly brain that it was really time.
And, you know, for anybody contemplating something like this, I've often joked, Fitz, that fat people are experts at losing weight. I mean, we really are because I have lost the same 10 pounds probably 30 times. You know what I mean? I know how to lose 10 pounds. The question is, can I lose 50? Can I lose 100? That's where the rubber meets the road. And so I've done what I know how to do many times, and I've just done it And this past week I lost 13 pounds.
That's awesome. But now, now it gets real. Yeah. So I always tell folks the formula works if you use it and it's not a diet and it's not temporary. It's something that you will use for life. Now, when Patrick said he's doing a modified version, when normally I tell folks, choose your goal weight, put a zero on the end, that becomes your new caloric budget for the day. And if you consume only that amount, your body will eventually shrink down to that size.
Since Patrick's trying to lose close to 300 pounds, he shouldn't make that immediate. He shouldn't say, I'm only going to have 2000 calories per day. I told him to altered, maybe go down to 4,000 calories or so. And the other important factor is nobody loses weight until they put their foot down. Nobody loses the weight and keeps it off for good until they get sick of living in their body the way it is. I mean, once you put your foot down, once you say, I'm not going to take this
anymore, I have to make change. I will make change. That's when it happens because all the nagging by our families and our friends, it just doesn't work. I don't even try with people. It's not that I've given up on people. I just say, okay, here's the information. You have to be in charge of you. And then when you do get to that point, let me know and I can help. That's right. You're exactly right. And if you kind of lead a horse to water, if they drink, great. I'm drinking.
I love it. At this point, I'm an open book. I am being about as vulnerable I think as anybody could be and I'm just throwing it all out there because when we chatted on the podcast you were on I think I used the term I was sick of this and I am I'm sick of it I'm sick of the limitations that I have imposed on myself I allow myself to get like this and I am so ready for change and it's like it just can't get here quick enough and this has really become the new
focus of everything that is that I'm trying to do now I'm so thrilled for you. I'm so thrilled for you. And you seem to be such a sweet man and you're such a talented podcaster with a brilliant voice and a great personality of all the other things going on. But your health truly matters. So let's talk about what it's like to be 500 pounds, because I really try to steer fitness in a way where if people are concerned about the way they look, so be it.
But really, fitness and fitness is about feeling good and having your body perform the way it's supposed to. So what's going on with you as far as your feeling, the way your body performs? Okay. Well, first off, to put it in some perspective, I'm 6'3", and I was 508 pounds. I'm 495 now. Okay. And so I am what's called, I think it's morbidly obese is the medical term, okay?
Correct. At that size, I have significant problems standing for any length of time, like just going to the store, going, you know, taking a walk. After five minutes, my lower back is hurting so bad, it's debilitating. Being able to, you know, here's an example. I was rewiring my entire studio the other day, and I had to lay down, get up under the desk, cables and stuff like that. Probably a 30-minute job took me four hours because of the limitations and getting
down on the floor and standing back up. I mean, this should be something that is second nature for me. I have to strategically plan it out. Not being able to travel. I mean, commercial air travel for me, frankly, it's not going to happen. Because I let myself get to this point, I've earned myself a pulmonary embolism, which I'm still feeling the effects from. So there are real health consequences also aside from the daily limiting factors.
And, you know, I cannot wait for the day where I can go to like Walmart or JCPenney's or something and buy clothes off the shelf. I mean, I have to order them from specialty shops online because, you know, my T-shirt size is a 6XL. That is something that you don't find commonly, certainly not in my little town. So, yeah, you know, you got to pay, you know, $35 for a $10 t-shirt because, you know, they're so big. Absolutely. What have you been spending per week in groceries?
Or what do you spend per day in groceries? Do you know? You know, I never really calculated it, but, you know, if I had to put a number on it, we're just a household of two. So, it's just us and a couple of cats, but probably around... A couple hundred dollars a week, probably. I'm trying to take normal household stuff out of it and just figure out what the food is. But it's probably right around there, if not more. And the big thing was just, again, authenticity. Eating out all the time,
like maybe once or twice a day. Very frequent. And I'm sick of that. Two things. One, it doesn't taste good. Let's be honest. It's not great. And it's really expensive. And it's horrible for your body. and that's the key thing. So, you know, on top of all of these other things, I'm kind of expecting maybe a financial windfall just in this money we're going to save by not living like this.
Absolutely. Well, that's why I bring it up is it's got to be, it's got to cost a fortune to keep up with that type of eating. Oh, and then what types of food do you normally lean to? What does your daily intake look like? Okay, so going back in time a couple of weeks, Yeah. You know, what would be typical is a lot of starches, a lot of potatoes. My big thing was cakes, cookies, donuts, pies, stuff like that.
Sadly, one of the things that I got really good at was cooking and I can make amazing desserts. And, you know, I'll do that on the holidays now for guests in the family and stuff like that. And so, but it wasn't just that they were bad for me. It was the quantity too, you know. I mean, if I was going to eat a donut, I might eat three or four in a day, you know. And again, you know, maybe one every once in a while wouldn't be the end of the world.
But when you're eating almost a half a dozen, well, hi, this is what happens. Yeah, for sure. And then what about your beverages? What do you drink? So I always reconciled this by feeling good about this fact that I only drank Coke Zero. Okay. And so, you know, I'm not drinking sugary sodas, but I did it. To the point where I was probably drinking six or seven of them a day and very little else. I would have maybe a coffee or two and then these carbonated sodas and nearly no water.
Okay. And so, you know, that's another thing that has recently changed. I've begun to cut back substantially on carbonated sodas.
And even though they're quote calorie free the one thing that i found out is when i'm drinking them they make me want to eat chips or something like that and it's just kind of a trigger for me so i'm trying to cut back on that really i'm having to wean myself off of it because what i found out is i'm also really addicted to caffeine and so dealing with those withdrawals is something thing I'm trying to temper by weaning myself off of it and just drinking more water or something like that.
Well, I tell you what, water is the absolute gold standard. I don't have a problem with folks making the accommodation going from full sugar sodas to diet sodas. I mean, there's just a reduction. And sugar alone has these tremendous benefits. However, if you can wean yourself all the way off and go straight to water, right?
There's nothing better than that. And especially because you know, it inspires you to want to eat more sugary things, then it's definitely a choice you should make to either cut it out completely or reduce it dramatically. Exactly. Yeah. That's where I'm at. And, and then, and then fighting the, the. My brain is the other big challenge because I was a big nighttime snacker. And, you know, and so, you know, 10 or 11 o'clock, that's what I want to do.
You know, I'm working in my studio or I'm in the office or we're watching TV. And that is a huge challenge for me. And what I'm doing fits is, you know, every time I get there to that point, it's like, okay, make a choice. do you want to keep living like this? If so, go for it. If you want to make the change that you've professed, then stop. And I have not been 100% successful, but I've probably been 90% successful. And right now I'm counting that as a win.
That's a huge win. That's a huge win. And really what we're doing with fitness is we're making more good choices than bad. And if 80 to 90% of your choices are fantastic, the 10 to 20% won't wreck you, right? You'll certainly get to 200 and something pounds if 80 to 90% of your choices are great. And you know what? Some people say, well, I can't eat after eight. Okay. Well, if that's you, fine. However, you could also have an apple at 11 o'clock.
You know, it doesn't mean all food consumption is bad. It's just Just knowing how to make modifications to your habits or, like you said, just do something else completely. Now, so these are your tactics. Have you brought your caloric intake down to about 4,000 calories a day or what have you set for yourself? Probably, in all honesty, a little less. Okay. Somewhere around 3,000 to 4,000.
On Sunday, we allowed ourselves – I'm not calling it a cheat day or whatever, but we allowed ourselves a meal where we basically had kind of whatever we wanted for one meal on Sunday. In some ways, it kind of scratched an itch that we'd had. And then the other thing that I realized afterwards, I was like, I'm not sure it was worth it. So I don't know how I feel about that tactic going forward. It's something that we tried. I don't know if it's something we're going to keep doing.
But yeah, as far as calories, somewhere around 3,000 or 4,000. And I still think this week was an outlier because of the stuff I had going on with my jaw. Really, probably in the last day or two, it's gotten to the point where I could really eat normal kinds of food. So I'm really looking at maybe this next seven days as a good indicator of what I'm going to be eating going forward. Okay. Okay. So know that your food choices, as long as they fit into your caloric budget, are okay.
However, if you move away from ultra processed foods, fried foods, high fatty foods, other than nuts and seeds and guacamole, for example, those are high fat, but the good fat, then, you know, it's all about squishing the foods and the flavors you like into your caloric budget. The more nutritious the food, traditionally, the lower the caloric budget or the lower the lower calories it has. So start finding whatever fruits and vegetables you like and give that a go.
Raw food, food, fruits, fruits in a salad, snacks that are produced. And it doesn't mean that has to be the only thing you have. But the more you lean towards that, the sweetness of fruit versus the sweetness of the donuts and the cakes and so forth. You know, it's not only about taking the weight off, it's about nourishing your body and everything will start to operate.
You'll be mesmerized by how your digestive system changes when you start eating more nutritiously and how more clearly you think. Yeah, I can agree with that. And the one thing I've had kind of happen this week is it's almost been – I think it's maybe some – it felt like it was kind of a detox because for several days, especially as I'm transitioning off of a lot of caffeine to probably what's considered a moderate amount, I have felt just run down.
But this morning when I woke up, I woke up fairly early at 6 a.m. I didn't feel quite like that. I felt a little bit different today. I just felt like I was wide awake. For the first time in a long time, I slept actually a decent amount of hours in the night. And so I'm hoping that this is the beginning of something great that I'm seeing changing in my body here. Yeah, it sounds like it is. And quite frankly, sometimes, especially when people
start exercise, they say, I'm so tired. I just started exercising. I say, okay, hang in there. Keep going along with your workouts because at some point, if you don't work out, that'll make you feel tired. You know, the workouts you're doing will give you energy. And I know you haven't gotten there yet because you've been nursing those teeth. But once you start exercising, you may also have this, oh, I'm a bit tired.
Eventually, that'll switch and the energy you reap from exercise will be equivalent to the caffeine you've been consuming. It will fuel you. I did orders a couple little dumbbells. They're not heavy brain five pounds each, but you know, I got it great. To me, you know, in a lot of ways, it's almost like learning how to walk again. To put it in some perspective, I used to be a fairly decent athlete. I lived in Phoenix. I was in the Sonoran Desert like several times a week,
mountain biking 12 miles at a time. I was a full contact martial arts fighter. And so, you know, I've got some history there where I can kind of lean back on it. So, you know, I went from that to now I have these two pink five-pound dumbbells, obviously made for ladies. And I'm sitting over here in my chair doing my chair exercises, rocking it, you know. You know what? I love it. And it's really interesting how many grownups are like, I used to be this.
I was a star baseball player in high school or college. And that's great. But it's where you are now. So don't compare yourself to that guy. But also know that you can do what he did. You can get back there. And that's really important for you to know that. I said this before, but three years from now, you could be crossing the finish line of an the Ironman triathlon. There's, you haven't told me that you have major spinal fusions and your legs have been shattered in an accident.
You've just gained a lot of weight. So as that weight comes off and you pursue fitness more aggressively and aggressively as time goes on, there's no reason you can't go back to being the tippy top of athleticism if you so choose. Yeah. And that's the thing that I'm excited about because I'm only 55. So I could really get in the, you know, I've I've seen all these stories about these guys that are my age or maybe even a little bit older, and they get into the best shape they've ever been into.
I want to be that story, Fitz. That's what I want to do. And, you know, I got a stretch goal of getting down to about 210, 215, 225. My immediate goal is 275. But that is just an interim goal. You know, midterm goal, not where I eventually want to end up. So that, you know, I've got a long way ahead of me, but it's one, it's one day at a time. And, and, you know, you, you threw it out there at the beginning.
If there's anybody who might be listening to this, that wants to lose a significant amount of weight fits, you're exactly right.
You can't force it on anybody, but if you, you, if you've gotten to the point where you want to do this, then don't let anything things stop you because life i've learned two things in my 55 years one life is fragile and it's precious and every day matters and frankly i'm angry at my old self for wasting years being like this but i'm really happy with my new self for for making a decision to to be proactive and to change my here and now and my future. And that's the guy that I'm encouraging.
And I'm past beating myself up. That's water under the bridge. I can't go back and fix that. I can only focus on today and hope for tomorrow. Well, I'm so proud of you. That's the exact winning attitude that it will take to accomplish all the things you want to. I'm thrilled, thrilled by that answer. So I know you've been nursing the tooth, but you said you have your dumbbell and you're doing exercises in your chair, correct?
Yes. Okay. Yeah, the more the merrier. Every move you make is going to better you. You know, whether it's a simple walk to the mailbox. If you don't have access to a pool, you should get access to a pool. The pool is the most forgiving place on planet Earth. And, you know, it's little to no impact. and you can really start to get very vigorous workouts at your own pace in the water. That's a good idea. Yeah, I highly recommend. It's certainly pool weather. Yeah,
yeah. But even when it's not, there are indoor pools. I tell you, whether I was pregnant or injured and when I was going through chemo straight to the pool, it just was merciful, merciful. It doesn't have any of the burdens of gravity. And right now, gravity is a real burden for you, right? Right. So you should do things on land, but you'll be able to soar if you get access to a pool and start using it regularly.
Yeah. Trust me. Somebody my size is very keenly tuned into gravity, you know, like fear of falling and stuff. I'm serious. Like I don't get on ladders. I don't. Smart. Because it's, you know, it's dangerous. I've done that in the past and, you know, I'd have some balance issues. And I told my wife and she goes, let me balance you. I'm like, you need to move. I said, if I start falling, just get out of the way. You'll get hurt. I know how to fall. I know how to roll. Just get out of the way.
But the other thing that I'm doing, Fitz, is I'm trying to post nearly every day. And out of eight days, I think I've hit six of them. I'm trying to post on my blog about this journey. I'm putting daily records of my blood pressure, my weight, and then I'm updating total inches lost on a weekly basis. And that's all on my blog if anybody wants to check it out. I'd love to connect with you. Yeah, what is that?
What's the name of it? it's pwbass.com like patrick william p pwbass.com and then just click on there my weight loss journey if there's other folks that are kind of in a similar situation let's support one another and and compare notes i'd love to chat with you but you know if you want to see all the all the nitty-gritty details it's all right there in the public for everybody to see. I love it. Hey, I think outing yourself is such a wise idea because then there's ego attached, right?
Then you've said it, people are looking and then, you know, you may say no thank you to the donut or the cake or whatever it is, because you know that people are going to be asking, how is it going? How much have you lost? And so I think going public is big. The other thing I'd like to do is invite you. I have an online training group. It's called the Hottie Potty fitness challenge.
It's a, it's a Facebook group and I have about 2000 of the coolest, most delightful people on planet earth and their regular Joes and jeans. It's called hottie body. There's a whole stupid story behind that, but they're regular people and they use the formula and I encourage them and guide them with exercise. And every day they post photos of their workouts or what they're doing. And so many of them have lost between, I'd say 50 and 200 pounds.
We have, We have quite a few people who have lost in their hundreds and so forth, and they're just so wonderful and kind and supportive. So I'll send you a link if you'd like to join and connect with them. They're the best group. I love the name. I love the concept. And I definitely I definitely want to get involved with that. Thank you. Of course. Of course. And I tolerate zero. So nobody's allowed to come on and sell any garbage. And if anybody is rude in any regard, I just disband them.
You're not welcome. I delete. Ban, ban, ban. So, OK, so. So tell me, when did weight become an issue for you? Were you an overweight child or did this happen as an adult and how? I literally was a fat baby. Okay. Okay. And I grew up all of my childhood, I was 10, 20, 30 pounds overweight. There was that period in high school where I was not too terribly bad. And then right out of high school, my first job was fire department.
I was a firefighter paramedic. I was in decent weight at the beginning of that career, and then I just kind of started. You know, getting bigger towards the end of it. In 97, I got out of the department, I got in the IT field and it's, it's just been a steady climb up. At one point as an adult, I got into really good shape and that's when I was doing all the mountain biking and, you know, martial arts and stuff like that.
And then probably, probably 12 years ago now, just kind of went on a, just went nuts. And, and, and in the last three years, I've put on a lot of of weight. And so it's been, you know, this roller coaster thing that you often hear people having to deal with. Uh, for me, it's been a lifelong struggle and it's, it's been, you know, it's come to a head, I would say in the last three, four years. Okay. Is there, well, of course there's a reason.
Were you taught to eat mindfully as a child or do you think it just, you started out with access to too much and because most weight gain most most people who are overweight have a cultural issue in their family their family eats too much their family is eating the wrong things family looks to food for every celebration and and to to to make our feelings feel better so what was your situation well first of all i gotta say i love my parents but
yeah they gave me they They gave me some really poor training in that area. Okay. You know, we were part of the Clean Your Plate Club. You know that club? Yeah. Literally. I've heard, you know, there are children starving. You should, you know. I heard that speech. Yeah. And, and so, you know, not a lot of training and my family was at, we were poor, but none of us knew it kind of thing. So our, you know, our food was not great.
It was high in fat, you know, probably low in quality, but that was, you know, that was everybody in the neighborhood too. So, you know, we were just kind of right in the middle with all of them. And yeah, you know, as an adult, you know, you can no longer blame your parents for your own stupid choices. So that being said, I mean, I got to take responsibility for everything that I've done since then.
And it's just really been continuing a pattern of horrible food choices is what I can best describe it as. Okay. Okay. And when you told your wife what you were going to do, how does, how does she respond to you? She was so happy. Yeah. You know, because she's my biggest fan. She's my greatest advocate and a great source of strength for me. And so, you know, she's just been kind of waiting for me to pull my head out, frankly, and get with the program.
And so when I told her that, she's like, great, what do we have to do? Do we have to buy stuff? I mean, what do we have to do? And so she's on board completely. I mean, there was no having to sell her on this. She was just like, whatever has to be done, let's do it. I'm so glad you made this decision. Well, I am thrilled for both of you, and I'm sure she's afraid of losing you, right? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, because we came so close earlier this year.
Frankly. So this is interesting. I have, someone just tagged me on LinkedIn yesterday. Her name is Heather Gaffney and she has a podcast. Let me see what it's called. It's called Warrior Words Podcast. And so she, she states on LinkedIn that she listened to my podcast. She listened to the show just recently of a, of a previous episode where I'm interviewing Dr. Stephen Lohm, who's Jose, an esteemed cardiologist who saved quite a few people's lives at one of my races recently.
Wow. And so we talk about heart disease and its effect on all sorts of your body, on your entire body, et cetera. And so one of the things Dr. Loam and I were discussing were the dangers of the keto diet. Really? And yeah. Oh, it's, it's a nightmare. It's so funny. It's so funny how these diets are so bad. They're so bad. But so he made a very eloquent argument for not doing keto. I'm a little more impassioned, possibly less eloquent, but he, he laid it out beautifully.
And so she listens to this article or this podcast just recently. And then she decides I have to get off of keto, which she was using at the time. And so she makes an appointment with a nutritionist and 24 hours after making an appointment with the nutritionist, she started having vision issues. She said one eye was seeing straight, the other eye was seeing things at a completely different angle. So she called her primary care and the primary care said, you need to call 911
right now. So she gets on the phone with 911. One side of her mouth goes numb. She starts having these other symptoms. She's having a stroke. Oh my God. And yeah, she had a TIA, mini stroke, and they blamed it on the keto diet. it. And she said, but I just learned I shouldn't be on keto. And I just went to the nutritionist and all I can think is, oh my gosh, I wish she would have listened to that podcast in November instead of right now. But.
You got to make these changes right away, right? The sooner you make these changes, the less likely you are to have the stroke or the heart attack or the cardiac arrest. And yeah, so interesting. And it obviously makes me excited to know that my podcast was effective in convincing her to do right thing. Unfortunately, it came just a little too late, but I want you and your wife to remember always, you're not on a diet. You're not buying pills and powders. You're trying to eat the right amount of
the right food for the size you want going to be. You're just being moderate, Patrick. You are, you should never feel like you're suffering. You should never go to bed starving, you know, within three to 4,000 calories. That's a lot of food. If you're choosing wisely, there's no, no obligation for you to do any sort of insane exercise right now. It's just about moving as much as you can, right? We can, we can start leaning towards something more structured,
but you've got those dumbbells. Even if you're not using dumbbells, your arms are pretty heavy, right? Legs are pretty heavy. So if you sit in that chair and you wave your arms and legs around and look from side to side and reach, you're making your body fitter. So this is very, very doable. Let me share this one number with you, Fitz. My thigh is as big around as my waist was when I was 22. I have a 31-inch thigh right now. And I got two of those bad boys.
That's so funny. So I teach a strength training for runner's clinic, and I'm always trying to convince runners to do strength train, to strength train because it'll help them run further, faster, and pain-free. And one of the stellar points I make up front is that the human leg, I think is about 30% of our total body weight. So if you weigh 500 pounds ish, that's your entire leg. One leg is 30% of that. That's 150 pounds worth of leg you got there.
And so that's, it makes it hard to walk, right? It would certainly be hard to run or jump or do whatever. So as the weight starts coming off, your, your mobility is going to just increase dramatically. I'm really excited for you. I am too. And here's what really excites me. And I'm just sitting here thinking about it. I'm almost, I can't almost sit still. I'm so excited about this. Where am I going to be in one year? Yeah.
Because one thing I realized, time is a constant, right? It doesn't speed up. But as I've gotten older, it seems like it gets faster. So to think in terms of this time next year, it's not a stretch. I think about where was I last year, and between now and then, it's a blink of an eye. So in one short year, my life can be completely different than it is right now. And that's what's so exciting to me. This is like the best thing ever.
I wish more people could get dialed into this because to be very honest, I have been living in the prison of my body for years now. It is a prison because I'm not able to experience life the way I want to. And the thought of getting there is what really excites me. All the things that I'm about to be able to do is what motivates me. Going on walks with my wife, going on a vacation, getting back in an airplane, that kind of stuff.
That's what excites me. And that's when I'm sitting here just kind of like, yeah, I'm so amped up and giddy about it. But that's where, you know, every time I think, boy, I sure would like a donut. Okay. You want one? Go get it. It's a free world. But, you know, you're not going to change anything if you keep doing that. And it's like I've got that little devil on this shoulder and then I've got this little angel over here and I'm tired of talking to that guy because he's a jerk.
He's an a-hole. We don't need that guy. Yeah. Absolutely. Actually, what I'd like you to do is put me on your shoulder. Or put a mini-fitzy on your shoulder. Whenever you go to do something that's not so good for you, you can let me rip you a new one through your cute little ears. You're such a sweet man. I mean, that's one of the things that really resonated with me last week. I just thought, oh, I want better for this guy. He deserves.
I mean, of course you have to earn. I want better for me too. First, let me just say, I am so thankful for your help Because to me, you're like a superstar. I mean, you walk the walk, you talk the talk. I mean, and to have your support and encouragement when frankly, I mean, you get nothing out of this. I get the joy of seeing you succeed. That's what I crave. It's so pure. And I'm just so thankful for you. And when you say, you know, I want better for you, I appreciate that.
But here's the thing. I want better for me too. And that's what makes all the difference. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I can't do it for you. I can't do it for you. It's very interesting when people, thank you. And I appreciate appreciation for sure. but I always have to point the finger back at the person who's doing the hard work. You know, I'm not there with you when you're at a party and someone's offering you X, Y, and Z, you know, I, you have to do those things.
So teamwork, it's always a joy to be a part of somebody's success in fitness and every, every pound you lose will make my heart a little fuller. So I'm excited to be on this ride with you. I am too. And the other thing I want to throw out there is Because I love the idea of your Facebook group or whatever it is, because we need to surround, you know, again, speaking to people who may be in a situation like I'm in, surround yourself with people who are like-minded.
Yeah. Because that's going to be, for me, it's a source of strength and encouragement. And, you know, some days I'm going to need the group, some days the group is probably going to need me kind of thing. And that's what's exciting because, you know, if I'm around those kinds of people that know where I'm coming from and aren't going to be judgmental and everything, that's just an amazing source of strength and encouragement that we can tap into whenever we're feeling low.
Oh, 100%. So two thoughts I have for you. Number one is it sounds like food was your go-to during stressful times, not only during fun time, but food was your protector, right? Your savior, whatever. So you have to choose in advance something else. I don't know what it's going to be. It could be making out with your wife. It could be watching a movie or playing with your pets or whatever. But choose in advance. If when I get cranky, I'm going to do these things.
And for me, I have a very, very clear list identified. And sometimes life tries to drag me down and I instantly go outside and I go with my dogs or I go ballroom dancing or I go lift weights, you know, so I have these things you have to make a list. And then number two is because you'll have a support group, you have to use us. It's interesting how sometimes people will lose 40 pounds and lose 50 pounds and then they'll start backsliding and they don't reach out and say help on
backsliding. They just come back and say, oh, I regained 40 pounds. And we go, huh, you should have said something. We would have, we would have reached down and pulled you up. So you, you have to be proactive in all of your emotions, whenever, whenever things are going right or wrong, you have to be proactive and we'll be there for you. Agreed. Yeah, absolutely. And I'm going to, and I'm going to rely on and participate actively in that group.
Wonderful. You're going to love them. Oh, and they're going to love you. They're so sweet. So once we're done with this, I'll, I'll make an intro for you. And, you know, Fitz, I'm smart enough to know if somebody's thrown you a lifeline, grab a hold of that thing. And that's, that's how I view this. This is a lifeline.
Okay. So here's something else I wanted to ask, cause you put it in your, you put it on your blog, the pwbass.com and we hadn't referenced at last year, your doctor is supporting you with, is it WeGoV? Yeah. Is that correct? Yeah. I'm not exactly, again, I'm, you know, I was a paramedic. I'm not a doctor. I don't know exactly how that works, but that's the thing. I'm using every advantage I can get.
And, you know, people may have mixed feelings about that particular medication and others like it. I'm kind of at the point where I'm going to, for now, I'm going to use it and I'm going to evaluate it and see, but I'm going to get every advantage I can to ensure my success because, you know, I don't have a lot of options here. It's like, I literally could fall over dead at any moment because of the stress I've put on my heart.
You know, in some respects, when I had that pulmonary embolism, Thank God that it decided to have an infarction on my lung and not my heart. Otherwise, I might have been dead. So, you know, hey, if the universe was trying to give me a message, message received. I got it. Thank goodness. Thank goodness. So it's interesting. For my whole career, I've been telling people there is no pill. There is no powder that works. And now all of a sudden there are some medications
that actually do help people lose weight. and there's, there's sounds like a bunch of really good side effects to them. There's some negative consequences as well, but not everybody experiences, but some do. So that's between you and your doctor. But I think certainly at your weight. Gosh, I actually have one other person who's over 400 and something pounds.
I've never in my life encouraged somebody to talk to their doctor about medical support with weight loss, but he goes back and forth, back and forth. I'm absolutely terrified for him. And I wish he would talk to his doctors about doing, getting the support of one of these weight loss drugs. Cause I just, I fear for him. So I don't think you, I mean, who cares what anybody thinks, right? If you, if your doctor believes it will help you. And I actually believe those drugs will help you.
And hopefully, you know, there is no negative consequence, but paired with the exact formula and exercise, the weight will come off and you'll be able to keep it off. Some people just take the drugs and they, and they adopt no good habits. And so they're on those drugs forever or else, or they're on their drugs for those drugs forever. And they're living with these consequences and they're expensive too. They can be quite pricey. So, yeah, I mean, And thankfully, and here's my perspective
on it. One, thankfully, my insurance is covering it. Great. However, again, whatever cards were dealt, I had a $0 copay. It's about a $1,600 a month drug. But for me, it's a stopgap measure. Like you said, I'm focusing on the correct eating and things like that. It's like I've got a broken leg and I need some crutches for a while. And that's how I'm using this.
The changes are going to come. They may be hastened by this medication, but you see so often people who get on it, don't make any changes, lose weight, and then get off of it, and then it comes right back. That's why I'm doing your program, frankly, because I'm aggregating everything together to give myself the best avenue of success.
Brilliant. Brilliant. Well, you know what? A lot of people have gastric sleeve and or bypass and they lose a ton of weight and they don't change your habits and then they gain it all back. So proud of you for taking everything, utilizing every advantage you can get. And I'm thrilled. I'm thrilled to be a part of your, your path to massive weight loss and a massive increase in quality of life. I'm so excited to see all the adventures you go on and what comfortable seats
you sit in. It will all be fantastic. Yeah, I can't wait. And I'm so glad that you're here with me on this journey. And, you know, to that other fella who's trying to lose a bunch of weight, man, if you're feeling embarrassed or whatever…. Wait, wait till there's not a casket big enough to put your body in. I hate to be that blunt, but put that all aside, man. Cause nobody, you're the only, you know, here's where I had to get in.
And I know we're at the end of our time probably, but who cares what other people think? That's right. If you, if you go outside, people are going to see you anyway. I mean, it's, you're, you're not hiding the fact that you're obese. You're just hiding it from yourself. And then, and then you're the only fool because everybody but you knows, I guess. Do something about it while you can. I guess that's the bottom line. And I'm preaching to myself on that one.
I love it. I love it. So this is what I'm going to ask for you to do. I want you to have your wife take some pictures, front, side, back. You don't have to share them. If you'd like to share them, you can share them. But take them. They will delight the crap out of you along the way. When you get to visually see your progress, just mind-blowing.
And choose an outfit that you're going to wear this outfit repeatedly over and over like this this collared shirt you're wearing is so lovely but i'll share them because i want this to be as authentic and real as possible and again you know shame and embarrassment whatever that's out the window i want to share this because maybe we can together inspire a bunch of people you know start a wave a movement, a grassroots movement of extremely obese people that are adopting your method
and changing their life for the better. And wouldn't that be awesome? I would love that. I would love that. Let's change some lives. And we'll start with yours. So you get the photo. And then if you wear belts, keep track. I'm sure your belt, if you have it, it will have an extreme dent in one of the holes. Let's see how many notches on that belt you shrink out of. And when I've supported morbidly obese folks losing weights before, those were some of the most enjoyable markers.
That belt's too big. I'm into another. I've shrunk out of another belt. It can get real exciting real fast, Patrick. Think about this. My belt is almost six feet long. Wow. Wow. Well, let's shrink out of that belt. Yeah. Well, you have to get them made. You can't even buy one like that. So, yeah. Wow. Wow. Hang it up. That'll be one of your reminders to never go back there and your badges of pride that you've shrunk out of that, that you've come so far.
Is there anything else you'd like to add before we wrap things up? The only thing I'll add is this thought, and it's somebody much more famous and smarter than I said this before. Whether you think you can or you cannot, you're correct. You're right. Amen. Amen. Okay, so you've got one job for me, and it's random, but this is how we end our show. I need you to suggest a song of the week.
This is something folks are going to add to their workout playlist, and they can dance to it, lift weight, stretch, it doesn't matter. What song would you like for people to download and listen to while they're working out? The Distance by Cake. Okay. Okay. I don't know if I know that one. Maybe I do, but I'm going to add it. And why do you choose that song? Because the melody or the chorus of the song is he's going the distance and that's where I'm at. I'm going for it.
Yes, you are. Yes, you are. Well, this has been And a delight, Patrick. Folks, if you haven't done so yet, check out pwbass.com. He also has a fantastic podcast, which you should listen to. And he's got this incredible voice, such a great voice for radio. So listen, he's a wonderful host. And if you are trying to lose weight, please use my resources. Go to fitsness.com.
There's the exact formula for weight loss is right on the cover. there's probably a hundred mini workout videos to help you train every part of your body there's all sorts of articles there's all sorts of freebies that you can use to live better and longer and follow patrick's success as well join the hottie body fitness challenge on facebook it's free and it's fantastic i love you all patrick now you got to tell them to get to work get
to work get after it bye everybody hi this is rudy navatney the voice of america's marathons we all love how much running has benefited every aspect of our lives, so much so that most of us only wish we'd started sooner. Wouldn't it be wonderful to give the opportunity to children of today? Well, you can. The Morning Mile is a before-school walking and running program that gives children a chance to start each day in an active way while enjoying fun, music, and friends.
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