Well hello ladies and gents, Robert Sykes, Keto savage.com.
Today I've got special guest Scott King on the line.
He has undergone an incredible transformation.
He was at 1.550 plus pounds, he's lost 300 lbs following a
NSNG ketogenic diet and he is now training for a full blown
Iron Man in 2025. I'm stoked for his journey
through that. I'm super excited for him to
compete at that level in such a short period of time as well.
But also I just wanted to bring him on the podcast and kind of
pick his brain as to his back story.
Talk about his relationship with food, talk about what he's he
was doing, what he's doing currently.
Talk about just the psychology of food, how to undergo or just
surmount a obstacle of losing that much weight and stick to
the course, how to maintain that over time and how to just
inspire others in the process. So he's got an incredibly
inspiring story. I've got no doubt that you will
take something from it so that for the delay, sit back, relax,
enjoy the conversation with Scott.
We are live, Scott. How are you, ma'am?
I'm good. How about you?
I'm doing wonderful well, so just to give listeners some
context here, I honestly don't know much about you at all.
You reached out to us, Ellen forwarded me your e-mail.
You are training for a 2025 Iron Man and you've lost over £300 in
the process, Is that right? Yeah, 300.
But yeah, that I have reached out, yeah.
And that is my, my goal. I wanted to.
I kind of had like a Unicorn goal and I'm going to give a
heck. And that's that's the goal.
I love it, man. Well, I want to dive into the
back store here for sure. First, How did you find yourself
as? What was your heaviest weight,
if you don't mind me asking? My my heaviest recorded weight
and that was hard to get a a good recording of my weight
because I was so heavy. I was too heavy for most scales,
but the highest I ever saw was 552 lbs. 552 And what is What is
your current weight? Right now I'm 260-5263.
Right around there I got down to 250, put on a little wake, I got
lazy and that's kind of also the reason why I kind of set a goal
twos. I'm a pretty goal focused person
and I needed to have something to to work towards.
And that has all taken place over the course of the past few
years, right? And that hadn't been.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
So I started. I started NSNGR no sugar, no
grains in 2018, but there was prior to that a failed gastric
bypass, which is what ended up leading me over to NSNG.
Nice. Yeah, NSNG.
And he's a great guy. I've had him on the podcast.
Yeah, times. So I want to dive into that for
sure. What?
What got you up to that heaviest weight in the 1st place?
Man, Like, is your whole family heavier scent?
Was it just a relationship with food?
Was it stress? Like, what do you think led to
you getting to that point to begin with?
You know what? Yeah, I do have a larger family,
but they're not. I mean, I was significantly the
biggest person. It was just and it was just poor
choices. And then just as the poor
choices got further and further, I just kept digging that hole
deeper and deeper and I couldn't get back out of it.
My mobility got less and less and my choices got Dumber and
Dumber and it just, it just kept building and building, you know?
Again, I was always big. And in high school I ended up, I
was playing sports. So I was big, but not horribly
big, and I got hurt and that kind of stopped the activities,
graduated. And yeah, being independent,
just dumb decisions just kept adding my weight.
When you were getting heavier, did you like, were you very
aware of it, or was it something that you kind of just maybe knew
of but didn't really fixate on? Like what was the Was the
conversation of nutrition and health much a part of your
repertoire, or was it just kind of an afterthought?
I I was very aware of it. I didn't know how to treat it.
My mom encouraged me to check out Weight Watchers with her a
few times, and I did, you know, quite a bit.
Honestly, was the Weight Watchers drop out repeatedly.
That was my only up to the gastric bypass was my only real
significant efforts towards healthy eating or quote UN
quote, healthy eating. Eating.
Yeah. I mean, yeah, you can't be that
big. And I mean, I started feeling
worse and worse and you know, you can't be that big and be
ignorant to it. I mean, I knew I was bad.
I just didn't realize how bad I was.
Yeah. So that's kind of what that how
that took place. I'm not as familiar with Weight
Watchers as it probably should be.
What does that entail exactly? Like, are you tracking your
calories with Weight Watchers? Are you eating like a specific
meal plan like? How do they structure that?
So, so Weight Watchers they honestly they kind of find
whatever trend is happening and re revamp themselves every new
year and at that time when they were doing a points system.
So every food have a point value and if this is your body weight
you get X amount of points per day and certain things back then
was like a free food like a popcorn was a free food or a
certain veggie was a free food that didn't count to to those
points. Yeah so it was just a point
system not it wasn't calorie counting it was just all purely
points. And I the every time I did that
it was still operating off that point system.
Gotcha. And when you were not following
Weight Watchers, when you were just eating normally, what?
What did a day's intake typically consist of, then?
My goodness, it was it's embarrassing.
Well, we're we're big fans of Mexican food, so it would be,
you know some some sort of breakfast burrito or something
like that. And then lunch would come around
and go get a pay gigantic burrito for lunch and kill a
couple of things, the chips and salsa.
And they kind of repeat that at dinner time.
So I mean my caloric intake I could not even possibly imagine.
But it also was not uncommon for me to, on a quiet day, just go
home by myself and eat a whole entire pizza and some
breadsticks. It just there was no concern.
It was just when I wasn't on or trying to be on anything it was
just a free for all constantly. And yeah, it was just just eat
till I felt like Stockton really were.
You eating a lot of fast food too, or is it all pretty much?
Just a lot of fast, a lot of fast food.
Yeah, unfortunately the convenience, like the
convenience you just run it through at McDonald's was so
significant. I was just actually joking with
a Co worker last week. And I remember many of the times
this is not a rare occurrence, but going to McDonald's and
getting a Double Quarter Pounder with cheese, super size drinks,
super size fries with a 20 piece nugget and also a cheeseburger
to tide me over as I drove home to go eat that meal.
Yeah, I mean, I mean, that's just, yeah, it's disgusting.
I've had a lot of people on the podcast and people have just
talked with their the psychology of food always interests me
because it's something that we all do, something we all have
like a varying degree of relationship with.
And did you ever find yourself feeling guilty of the food you'd
eat and like? Would you hide the wrappers and
just not be open with it? You.
Know what I I I lived alone for a long time, so there was no
buddy I had to hide from. And unfortunately, my peers, a
lot of there's some of my peers that did have a genuine concern
for me and kind of would not I would say take jabs, but they
were loving jabs, caring jabs that showed that they had
concern. But I was in, AI mean I had a
lot of big friends. So it was just like, you know,
the blind leading the blind and who really cares.
I mean we're all in the same boat here.
And it was just like I said, a free for all just constantly
eating trash and almost to like a a joking matter like Oh yeah,
look how much I ate. It was.
There was just, yeah, no boundaries really.
Yeah. What do you think of this
healthy, at any weight body positivity movement that seems
to be gaining a lot of traction here lately?
You know, at first I didn't have much of an opinion.
I thought it was dumb at first that I didn't have a much of an
opinion. But I I've been getting a lot
more local about it lately because I'm very fortunate that
I have had people my my life, you know, my mom or my brother
or somebody my dad that that at one point said we have to do
something. We have to address something
because this is getting out of control and it is going to kill
you by calling, by by rewriting the standards of what is
healthy. It does.
It's it's irresponsible. It's it's people want to say
it's like anti bullying or or more loving towards people.
It is the least loving thing you can do to somebody by just
allowing people to continue to something that is killing them.
It's it bothers me a lot. It's it's like I said, it's been
something that's really, definitely been weighing on me a
lot lately. Just I I I'll, I'll accept the
fact like you could like people could say, oh we could redefine
beauty standard, you know, yes, there could be a very attractive
larger person. I'm not denying that whatsoever.
But we cannot redefine what is healthy and it seems like that's
what we're really trying to do and that's just that's
irresponsible to the core, you know.
Yeah, I agree. I've I've never been morbidly
obese and since I haven't had that perspective, I feel like I
don't have the right to speak as if I had.
So I don't ever want to offend anybody or come across as, you
know, unrelatable. But at the same time, and I
know, like me personally, like I like doing hard things.
I like doing physically challenging things.
I like pushing my body to the limit.
And I accept that that's not gonna be the case for everybody
and it shouldn't be the case for everybody necessarily.
And I can totally buy into the fact that, you know, beauty is
in the eye of the beholder. And some people may be attracted
to larger individuals for sure, you know, more prior to them.
Who am I to judge? But I agree with you
wholeheartedly in that redefining what is and is not a
true illustration of health can get into some pretty murky
territory. I mean, if we are getting to the
point as a society where we don't want to offend somebody to
the extent of not being vocal or incentivizing or helping or
encouraging them to pursue health, and it leads to their
detriment, that is certainly not doing them any favors.
And it just kind of enables people like it in, Like when you
look at people that are, you know, distraught with financial
issues or relationship issues or health issues, it often times
becomes from this enablement that their peers, their loved
ones allow for them. And I don't know if that's
because of just not wanting to step on toes or wanting to tread
carefully, not wanting to become offensive.
But if you truly care for somebody, then you make it a
point to help them. And if there's something that's
obviously not, you know, benefiting their health, IE
being morbidly obese and having health markers that indicate
that, I mean, we're not doing anybody any favors by not
bringing that to that attention or trying to enable them to
continue on that path. So, yeah, I don't want to offend
anybody. I don't want to be dogmatic or
negative or bully people. But if we're going to redefine
what is health just simply because we don't want to offend
people and we're trying to play it safe, but it's leading to
their demise like that is that is the least living thing, as
you said you can do. Yeah, absolutely.
And I think that's kind of why I'm a little, I I feel like I do
have a little more of a right, I guess to speak up about it
because I have been here and again I'm now I'm not even a
small guy, I'm never going to be a small guy.
But in perspective to where I was, you have a lot smaller of a
guy. So that's and it also ties into
why I do social media. As much as I hate social media,
there's a lot of people that don't understand what it feels
like to be absolutely hopeless and helpless in their white
struggles and and to be so far off the deep in a morbid, morbid
obesity. And I do.
I do it to the socials to show people that it can be done.
That you can change it. Your story's not over.
You can rewrite your journey at any time.
And that's I guess that's why I am a little becoming more vocal
on this acceptance of unhealthiness because I feel
like I can speak on that because I have been there and I have
been. I have rebuilt myself and
reclaim my life from that. And looking back, I mean, yeah,
I, it was not comfortable and I did not want people to bring up
the fact that I was so unhealthy.
But looking back, those uncomfortable conversations
ultimately prolonged my life because somebody was willing to
take that uncomfortable conversation and have it with me
because of your love, you know, allowing you don't take a
recovering alcoholic and keep feeding them drinks.
You know, we recognize how irresponsible that would be.
It's the same situation. I mean, there's nothing
different. Yeah, no, I totally agree, man.
I've had Gourmet on the podcast. You're you're familiar with
Gourmet, right? Yeah, he's.
Great. Oh, absolutely.
Yeah. And I love what he does because
he, he's also lost a ton of weight and he's been a a he's
lost a ton of weight two or three times.
And he's done a really great job illustrating that journey to
people, empowering them. And you know, I can't, I can't
speak highly enough about him, but I had him on the podcast and
he was talking about just some of the things that he would do
on a day-to-day basis when he was at his heaviest.
That you know it, it's it's kind of crazy like when you lose a
bunch of, it's kind of like when you're when you're chronically
sick and you just assume that it's normal to have sore
throats, headaches, nausea, indigestion.
And you just go to the grocery store or the pharmacy and you
pick up some Pepto Bismol because or some Tylenol because
it's just what you consider to be normal.
But when you break past that and you get to the other side, that
no longer becomes the norm. You recognize how many more
opportunities are open up to you, how much more pleasant life
can be. And if you've never been
morbidly obese, you take those things for granted because you
haven't experienced them. So on that note, now that you've
lost, you know, 300 lbs, what are some things that you would
do on day-to-day back at your heaviest versus now?
That just blow your mind? Like, what are some things that
you you you're able to do now that you aren't taking for
granted because you recognize that it wasn't the case
beforehand? Man, there's there's so many
things, so many small stupid things that people that's never
been in there would not understand how many we could.
We could spend the rest of the show talk about every single
thing, but just some key things are like one, I don't have to
actually purchase a car that's humongous just so I can fit
inside of it. I mean, most people won't know
what it's like purchasing the car and having to take their
size into consideration to be able to buy that car.
I've had to do that. Not having the seat belt on my
my car fit me and risk getting tickets or buying extensions
flying on an airplane. I mean I I have a horribly
guilty conscience and I remember taking business trips in the
past and I I didn't want to be smashing somebody next to me on
a plane so I also purchased the the seat next to me.
So just dumb things like that. But I would say like a comment
everyday thing. There's a couple of them that's
still actually just this past week and my my youngest and I,
we went out on a daddy daughter dance thing and we went and got
dinner and they were seating us in a booth.
And at that point when they were seating him in the booth, my
heart skipped a beat because I knew, oh shoot, I'm not going to
be able to fit in this thing. And it's just crazy to still
have that knee jerk reaction that going back to a different
life that that was a factor in my life or if I can fit will
this or will this piece of furniture hold me.
But also just just a huge thing was like if I had to go by the
grocery store on the way home and I could not get a parking
spot close enough to the to the store and I was not short enough
of the grocery list, I could not do that because I could not walk
the course of the parking lot, walk the inside of the store and
then back to my car. I just couldn't physically do
it. And it's just, it's so freeing
that all those are just non factors to me anymore.
But every once in a while something will trigger that
memory and you'll just think like oh shoot, you're in the
middle of it. You just don't.
Like you said, when you don't understand your struggles while
you're in the middle of it, they're brought to light as you
as you get to the other side. Yeah, I mean, just simply being
able to move like we take for granted mobility.
I mean, my mom's going to have hip replacement surgery on the
12th of February, so she's going to be kind of out of Commission
for a few months during that recovery process.
And I mean just like little things, like when you, when you
jam your finger, you break your toe, like you, you recognize how
much you use those appendages, how much you use your body.
And when you're that heavy and like simply getting up a flight
of stairs, sitting in a booth, going to the bathroom, it's just
all this cumbersome task that weighs on you.
Like when you think about how much mental bandwidth is drained
in trying to figure out how to, you know, go to the grocery
store and walk across the parking lot.
Like when you no longer have that burden, that weight on your
shoulders, it frees you up for so much more creative thought,
energy, zeal for life. And I don't want anybody to be
robbed of that zeal for life. So anything that I can do, you
can do, anybody can do to push this actual health movement
forward as opposed to this, you know, that's OK that you can't
move, just keep doing you like. Like I think I think we need to
really incentivize people that their life is going to be so
much more well lived. And then as a result of that,
their ability to contribute more to society and those that they
love and those around them is going to be so much better spent
if they're simply able to move freely and not have that mental
bandwidth sucked up. Yeah.
I couldn't agree more that I mean if somebody told me how
much different it would be if I was just to lose the way, there
is nobody that could describe or have prepared me how freezing
and how much more simple life would be just to live.
There was so much effort into living when you're that size.
I mean every and I'm not trying to be over dramatic here.
Every sense of living was a struggle that would put required
so much effort and it's just so nice just to be it's just to be
just just to live without constant effort and and like you
said just draining it's and it's I I just like I guess I won't
dwell on it too much because there's truly nothing I could
possibly say that could put in a perspective to where somebody
can truly understand it. Was there like a a specific
catalyst or aha moment in which you recognize that you had to
make a shift a a fork in the road, so to speak?
Well, yeah. So yeah, I was trying.
I was trying to get gastric bypass surgery again because, I
mean, I feel so stupid saying this.
I I needed gastric bypass surgery again because that was
the only thing that ever helped me.
I felt like, which if I'm trying to have it again for the second
time, how much, how much did it really help me?
And I got denied by insurance for a second gastric.
I was pretty devastated and I I just assumed I was just going to
kind of die. Just there was a beginning of my
end right there and I've got 3 little girls and I was just
hoping that it would not be a long prolonged thing.
I was hoping it would just be a quick get it over with and done
so not to affect their life even more than I had.
I had to. And during this time I was
listening to some podcast and venue toward Rich was on there,
you know, repeatedly and it sounded interesting.
I just didn't really care too much to dig into it.
But there was, and Vinny likes me to tell the story, but there
was one day in particular where it was the aha moment.
My at the time, she was about 2 1/2 years old.
My daughter ran towards the street.
We're out. We were out front sitting on the
porch playing around in the front yard, and I'll start, I'll
stay right now that nothing happened to her because it was a
quiet street. But I couldn't get out of the
chair and I was stuck in the chair.
And by the time I got out of the chair, I couldn't even catch up
with a little 2 1/2 year old girl running for the street.
And it just killed me that my health was so poor that I could
not provide the basic functions of protecting my family.
And I just felt like, you know, I I owe it to them just to give
this one more shot. I just can't.
I just can't hang it up already. And to my to my shock, it took
at work. And here we are.
Having kids, man is is truly, truly transformative.
Like, I've got one myself now. And it's like you just see life
through a different lens. It becomes a very selfless lens.
And when you go to life, like when you're when you're doing
things solely for your own benefit or or not benefit, like
if you're doing if if you're the only one that is impacted.
So you think it's much easier to, you know, be lazy to over
consume to not make the sacrifice.
But when you have somebody else, especially someone like a kid,
that is truly dependent upon you, and you have this selfless
motivation driving your actions, there's just so much more
staying power and incentive to stay the course and do what
needs to be done, do the hard work, make the sacrifice.
So it's awesome that that was the catalyst because you've got
you said 3, three daughters. Yeah, 33 girls.
Three girls and they were all born prior to you losing the
weight, right? Yes, absolutely.
They they they saw me. They saw Dad when Dad started
putting on the weight after the gastric bypass so that they'd
they'd always seen a large and then increasingly growing Dad.
They'd never seen a a healthy act of Dad.
What was that like for them? Like, did they understand it,
that they recognize that you were not healthy?
Did they? Did they Did they talk about it
at all, or were they totally blind to the fact that you were
as heavy as you were? The only time they would ever be
aware of anything is if we would be somewhere and another kid
would say, oh, that's your dad. You know, just they're kids.
I don't. I don't care.
I don't. I don't get offended by kids.
That's just how they are. But they'd say, like, you know,
oh, your dad's fat. And then they would ask me, oh,
are you fat? And so they didn't know better.
And you know, when they see me all the time, that's just how it
is, like how we're talking about before.
It's just, it's just what is normal.
But as they got older and their friends would talk more about
it, they were starting to understand that.
Yeah, Dad's not like the other dads are.
Dads, not participating, able to participate as much physically
with the kids as like maybe the other dads were like playing on
the soccer field or baseball field.
So yeah, yeah, they were starting to see it as they were
getting older. Yeah, so tell tell me about this
NSNG, man. So Vinny's kind of popularized
that whole concept around nutrition and that stuck with
you more so than the the Weight Watchers program.
What was it that appealed to you about that?
Honestly, it was the only thing that's ever stuck with me.
What? So what appealed to me was it's
just basically a list of don't eat this, you can eat this.
How to identify sugars, Know how to know how to really read
labels. Excuse me?
And then most of the foods I could eat are pretty awesome.
It's what I've always wanted to eat in the 1st place, but I
thought I wasn't supposed to. And you know, I'm 46 years old,
so I grew up in the era of the food pyramid and this seemed
like 100% the opposite of how I should be eating.
So I guess, I guess it was kind of a blessing in disguise that I
felt like I was already on death's door.
Because I mean, man, if this, if eating eggs or bacon or steaks
or whatever is going to kill me, I mean, who cares really?
Is it going to kill me? Anyhow?
So and then I'm also the kind of person that I I naturally my
brain naturally goes to unconventional ways of thought
and this was kind of going against everything I've ever
been taught, so that was kind of cool to me.
But following everything I was ever taught never did me
anything good anyhow. So I figured what the heck, and
it was. It took a long time for me to
even know that it was working, because I had no way to weigh
myself without making an error on the scale.
And I was just following it and I was feeling better, but I
didn't know if it was like a placebo effect or not.
And then one day at the park, I was, you know, playing with the
kids and the wife took a picture of me and made like a little
side by side deal. And it was the first time that
like, oh, wow, you know, that there is significant difference.
I mean, there's no doubt anymore.
I mean, I knew the clothes were getting looser.
But again, I was just thinking maybe that's all in my head.
Excuse me, I apologize. But yeah.
Then it was shortly after that, then I was able to start my my
scale was reading me. And then after that I was just
kind of on fire. I was like, OK, this is the
proof this is working. I feel great.
And there was always the underlying, OK, I'm going to go
get a physical or some lab works done and they're going to be
horrible and I'm going to have to quit this.
But that that's never that's never came to fruition.
Yeah the the whole NSNG, no sugars no grains protocols.
I just love how simple it is. Like it it takes a lot of the
decision fatigue out of it. I think you know we as a species
need to have some non negotiables in life and and kind
of like the whole body positivity thing people don't
want to ruffle feathers. But I feel like having some
relatively strict parameters, especially for a certain type of
person that thinks better in terms of absolutes like that as
opposed to moderation is is key. So like when you're going
through this, no sugars, no grains protocol, are you paying
any attention to calories? Are you doing kind of more
higher fat, higher protein? Are you mindful of that at all?
Are you just simply avoiding the sugars and grains?
So in the very well, up to just recently, I was not tracking
anything at all. I was just following the list
and eating to satiation, not eating to stuffed, not eating
until I was, you know, 1st. And at the scene, it's just
where I was not hungry. And if I felt like I was hungry
again later on down the road, which was not as common anymore
or not as often anymore because, you know, I was having a high
protein, high fat intake and it was keeping me satiated.
Yeah. So I I was you know, not
tracking any of that, just like you said kind of like an
absolute and also what you said. It is the most simple thing I've
ever done. At first that was probably my
biggest hurdle I had to go get past was rewiring my brain to
think differently because I always thought this was an
incredibly difficult or eating healthy was an incredibly
difficult thing. But this is the most simple and
basic thing there there is and I've ever done it.
I absolutely love it. I just it's it is beyond simple.
It's just re rewiring your brain to understand that.
So yeah so for the longest time it was no track in anything.
It was just the the basics. Don't eat this.
I can't eat this. Am I hungry?
Am I not? That was it?
Yeah, when? So, so you went from eating, you
know, breakfast burritos, fast food and all that Good stuff or
bad stuff, I guess I should say. So what does a typical day look
like for you now like when you were doing the the NSNG and kind
of up to up to the current time, like what what is your meal
frequency and meal meals consist of generally?
I I I seem to do best with two meals a day.
I'm still kind of with with this whole training thing, with this,
for this, these Iron Man dreams. I'm trying to figure out what's
best for that, which is still definitely a learning process,
you know, So I'm definitely open to input on that.
But right now I eat a lot of eggs, lead about, lead on a lot
of meat, beef or steak, ground beef, that sort of thing.
I'm trying to wean myself off of dairy.
I mean, I'll do, I'll do, you know, primarily cheeses, I mean,
but yeah, I'll do, you know a few eggs for lunch, maybe a
little burger Patty and the kind of the same thing for dinner.
I don't venture too much. That's a great thing about it.
I'm pretty simple guy. So this is the simplicity of
this is awesome. Yeah, no, I think.
I think, man, just simply reducing decision fatigue is
such a powerful, powerful thing. Like when you when you think
about the more options you give yourself, the more you're
thinking about those options and the more you fixate on anything,
the the more time you allocate towards it, the more obsessive
you become towards. And that can be a really
powerful thing if done correctly or a very debilitating thing if
done incorrectly. And when it comes to food, you
know, I feel like there's just so much more benefit to be had
if you eat quality foods and keep those foods, food choices
relatively minimal. You know, obviously get a
diversified nutrient profile, but but don't add so much
variation that it consumes you and your body's able to
stabilize and work things out like that sounds like an
incredible oversimplification, and it is.
But I feel like so much of the issues that we see in society
today around food stem from people's decision fatigue, guilt
associated with eating certain things.
Too many options. And if you rewind the clock back
500 years and there was like 4 options, I mean there was not
too many overweight people back then because they didn't have as
many options. And this just over fixation on
convenience and different flavor profiles and tastes like I love
a good culinary genius's work in the kitchen, but if you're just
trying to obtain health, you don't need to try and reinvent
the wheel. No, not at all.
And I've gotten to the point where I think it's so cool.
Just I like to see how few of ingredients I could consume.
I mean yeah, if you want to stretch it, I guess I have four
ingredients for the most part, eggs, some sort of meat, salt
and pepper that I, if you want to call salt and pepper an
ingredient. I mean yeah we don't require
much and when and that's what I learned also after getting some
time under my belt with the NSNG is that you start losing the
cravings for all the garbage when when you start having that.
I, I, I'll call it like a primitive primal diet.
You know, the the the desire to consume the the processed foods,
the sweets, the sugars subsides or just goes away period.
I mean prior we would have breakfast and we would at
breakfast would be talking about what are we going to have for
lunch and at lunch talk about what are we going to be having
for dinner. Now I just now I consume just
because I need to consume. I don't.
It's not my every waking moment thinking about again what you're
saying before is like the it's so freeing.
It's not consuming my thoughts. I pretty much know what I'm
going to have whenever I'm hungry.
It's not a big deal. I can get on with my life and go
about doing whatever I need to do.
It's yeah, people think, you know, in the groups, I would see
people when they first started, oh, what's a substitute for
this? What's a substitute for this?
And the more I got into, I
started getting a little bit irritated because I'm just like,
trust me, get your time in and you're not going to be worried
about the substitutes anymore. And that's so true.
And and the more you're the deeper you're into it, the more
basic you want it's. It's the weirdest thing.
Yeah, totally man. Totally agree.
And are you tracking your intake now?
You kind of allude that you might be are are you?
Like you know how many macros you're consuming on a daily
basis now? Yeah, I I do.
I do track now. I've been tracking for probably
a month and a half now. It's still a learning, huge
learning process for me. Yeah, But I'm.
I'm finally starting to track because I know as this training
keeps ramping up more and more and more, it's going to really
factor into everything. And I really can't.
I mean, I already, I've already set a crazy, crazy goal ahead.
I need every advantage I have can get.
And I I need to approach this with a very smart mind and I
need to, Yeah, I'm trying to. I'm trying to dial in what works
best for me and have that whatever that macro balance,
whatever it needs to be for somebody doing what I'm doing.
So out of curiosity, what what does your caloric intake and
macro distribution look like now?
Oh geez, let me see if Let me see if while we're talking I can
go on to my app really quick and and get you some information.
Here I I'm, I allow myself and be very wrong.
Like I said, I'm this is a learning process.
I have no idea what's correct or not, but I'm allowing myself up
to 2800 calories and my macros. So shoot, where are you at?
My percentages are something like I try to allow for a
between 15 and 25% of my of it for protein, 7080% fat, and zero
to 2% carbs. And I'm not saying I'm hitting
that all the time. It like I said, I'm still trying
to figure out what's the best balance here and while I'm
learning, I'm still trying to dial in getting that percentage
correct, you know? Yeah, I mean, and that that's
totally, totally fine, man. I mean, everyone's gonna perform
differently and better or worse at varying macro distributions.
I mean, if you said you said 2800 calories roughly.
Yeah, roughly. I I almost never get to that
point. I'm usually about 24.
So 2400 calories if you're only giving yourself, you know, if
you're if you're going 80% fat, 2400 calories.
You may be as shy on the protein in that regard.
Are you having any issues with recovery?
At all. No, no, I don't think I am I and
another thing I'm not great at and I need to work on is, is
that I need to I'm. I'm starting to implement more
lifting to the routine because I was focusing so much on cardio.
You know, swim, bike, run, swim, bike, run.
But I know that weight training needs to be part of this as well
and I I just as a very recently started implementing that as
well. Yeah, I mean, I.
I so, So what I say about when I say about recovery, I'm not, I'm
not noticing any recovery issues right now, but that might be
because I'm so heavily cardio focused and not weight training.
Yeah, and as you do it more too, kind of like what you were
saying earlier about, you know, if you've never been there, you
you don't know what you're missing.
But like, the same is true with the training.
Like, once you learn your body and how it feels with different
training loads and stimuli, you're gonna be able to know if
you're recovering well or poorly.
Like you're gonna be able to just inherently know all this
stuff. Like it's just gonna become
ingrained into your being. And then that's gonna make the
macro manipulations easier as well.
Because you'll know if you know you're you're recovering fully
after a hard session or not. But I would definitely encourage
you to double down the weight training, and that's not gonna
be as directly applicable to the Iron Man activities.
But that's going to be like probably the single best thing
you could do for overall health in its totality.
And that will indirectly benefit every aspect of the Iron Man
tremendously as well. Makes sense, Yeah.
Yeah, 'cause I was, I've been reading up a lot and picking on
stuff that you you've talked about with building up, you
know, yeah, building up more muscle.
And then also with the, you know, lean body mass and
everything like that. So yeah, have a working process
for sure. No, that's it's super exciting
man. Like the fact that you've lost
300 lbs over the course of a relatively short period of time
and you've done so following NSNG, keto, low carb, paleo
carnivore style diet. You've been able to improve the
health and well-being of yourself.
And thus A byproduct to that is better quality time with your
three daughters. I mean the fact that on top of
all of that, which for a lot of people would be, you know, that
that's all you need right there. But the fact that you're also
balls enough to say I'm going to do it Iron Man in 2025, I mean
that's that's freaking awesome, man.
Like that. Like people get comfortable,
they get complacent. They they they they cross one
finish line and they say, OK, this is where I'm staking my
flag in the ground. Then I can point to this and say
I did it, but there is no finish line in life.
Like you're either getting better or you're getting worse.
There is no maintenance like you're going to die.
So always having something that excites you on the horizon,
something that is so tremendous to what you think is possible
that it scares you. Which I can imagine, you know at
one point being who knows you, you didn't have a scale that
would go as high. But I mean let's just say you
were 600 lbs. To go from being 600 lbs to
doing like a full blown Iron Man within a scope of, you know,
five years, I mean that's freaking awesome man.
I appreciate it. I mean, yeah, that's I agree.
Just having something to stay focused on, because what kind of
got me into this was that I did a half iron relay with some
friends and I didn't prepare for it well and I did the bike
portion of it. It was in Lubbock, TX and it was
windier than crap. And I'm not an aerodynamic
person and I caught all the wind and it kicked my butt.
I got home and I got rid of my bike and that's where I put on a
little bit of weight. Nothing of horrible, just a
little bit of weight. I was like then I realized I'm
goal. I'm a goal oriented person and I
said you know what that's yeah there was there's there can't be
I'm done in my mind So let's let's try to re evaluate and and
you know think of something and I've always I'm not getting any
younger. I've always had this dream of
doing this and I figured what a better way also just to twofold
is 1 just to show my kids that with enough determination that
you can accomplish anything. And also just to really, I try.
I hope that this story will get out to people that are where I
was not so long ago. And then just let him say, you
know, just let him see this and be like, dude, this, this guy is
who I am now. You know, why can't that be?
Why can't that be me? Why can't I do that?
And that's exactly right. I'm nobody special.
I just got the right information.
And that's what I just want to try to do is inspire others to
to just change their story. That's the key, man.
I mean, people are going to resonate more or less with
different people's stories. Like, I might be speaking on
natural bodybuilding, but someone that's coming from, you
know, an obese background that has never desired, like never
desired to step on stage, you're going to have a hard time
relating with any of my messaging and it's probably
going to fall on deaf ears. But for someone that has
struggled with their weight, has kids want to improve their
relationship and be a better provider and just see what's
possible, You know, they're going to hear your story and
they're going to be on fire for it because it's they're going to
be able to relate with you. So I think, you know, taking
what you've learned and just simply documenting that journey
and sharing it with others is so, so empowering.
And I feel like a lot of people think that they can't put
themselves out there on social because of, you know, they're
not an industry expert, they don't have any accolades behind
their name, they don't have any MDSPHDS or whatever.
But it's like none of that matters if no one hears it.
What matters is storytelling. Like as a species, that's what.
That's how we've carried on our tradition, Our history from
generation to generation is stories.
Like what can you say that hits home in somebody's heart, you
know, tugs their heartstrings. So for someone to be able to see
your transformation take place first hand, hear about it on a
YouTube video or a podcast, and then see you continue to push
forward and do things that are outside your comfort zone.
Like that's gonna impact so many people.
Like you're changing lives in ways you don't even recognize.
And I just encourage you to keep doing that, man.
Absolutely, man. I do appreciate that.
That's That's all I'm trying to do is just to just help people
improve their life. Like you said, seeing someone's
story like mine, you know, eight years ago might have maybe been
what I needed. So maybe my story will be what,
you know, the inspiration, inspiration for someone else to
just give it a shot. It's I try to tell everybody all
the time, It's not as difficult as you think.
It's just it's just, you know, set these little goals and get
the right information. There's no secret special code
or password you need. It's just just rewire your brain
to think a little bit differently now.
And the time is going to pass anyways.
I feel like a lot of people, especially if they have a a lot
of weight to lose or a lot of health to gain, or they just
have this seemingly insurmountable wall in front of
them, like the time is going to pass anyways.
So you might as well fill that time with things that move you
closer and closer to that goal. Like if somebody said to me what
all I would have to do in order to build the business I have or
to compete like I have when I was starting at square one, it
would have been like, unattainable in my mind.
But once you recognize that, that time will pass.
And if you just find ways that you can inch forward every
single day, that's what I'm a big fan of, man.
Like, I like finding something that I can incorporate into my
life every single day without fail.
And if I just do that one thing, then I can feel good about the
day. Ideally I'd do more than that
one thing, but if I could do something every single day, not
take Saturdays and Sundays off, that moves me closer.
It becomes so much more attainable.
And when it comes to nutrition, we're all eating every single
day, so that's a pretty easy, low hanging fruit of which to
make that your one thing. Absolutely, absolutely.
That's that's such a great way to put it.
You know, like you said, you know the time's going by anyhow.
And I remember in the past I'd be like just don't gain weight
this year and then the year be over and I gained 50 pounds, 60
lbs and that's cool, is gone. It's you know now I can get past
that It's it's not let's not let's not get more unhealthy
this year. It's now let's let's set new
goals. I, I, I've, I'm working I'm I'm
working on the the health aspect of it let's get new goals and
the the time is going to pass anyhow and you know just make
just make some good memories you know 100.
Percent ma'am, How old are your daughters now?
So I got a 13 year old, an 11 year old and a 7 year old.
What do they think about this Iron Man?
They they they think it's pretty crazy they're excited about it.
They they don't quite grasp the distance of it because I've done
a few a few triathlons. So a triathlon is an Ironman and
an Ironman is a triathlon too. And it's no different that I'm
trying to help them with the the scope of how much bigger this
is. But they're excited they're they
think it's pretty cool. I'm.
I'm, you know, I'm not going to just jump into it.
So I'm going to be continuing to do our, I'm sorry, triathlons
and build up the distances. So I'm, I'm trying to encourage
them to see if they want to do some shorter ones with me like
that have little kids distances there.
So they're they're starting to get pretty excited about it, and
it'd be just a great way if I could use that to start
implementing healthy, healthy standards in their life at an
early age. Totally.
I feel like I asked this with every guest that I've had on
recently that that has kids. So my audience may be tired of
hearing me ask it, but I'm always curious now that I have a
kid. You know, you've grasped the
importance of health, you've unders, you've, you've seen how
it's impacted your own life. Has that changed how you, you
know, like what you grocery shop for to bring food into the house
for them to eat? Like, do you have more of a
conversation with them around the types of foods they consume?
Do you try and rule their consumption with an iron fist?
You just simply lead by example like how how is their
relationship with food and how do you kind of how has your
transformation affected that conversation towards food with
them? Well, before it was never a
thought. It was just whatever felt good,
Whatever tastes good, that's fine, We're allowed to have it.
There's no repercussions. But now there, and this is a
constant struggle, especially with having kids.
I I I don't do the Iron Fist thing because I don't want them
just to just to resist because this is what dad says.
But I try to by go by example. I try to educate, you know,
like, you know, sometimes they will have some just absolute
garbage and I'll let them know, you know, you can have this, but
this is going to do nothing good for you and this is not going to
be all the time thing and this is not going to be a frequent
thing. So at this point I'm just trying
to lead by example and I do because, you know, it's easier
because I know what I can eat. I do primarily most of the
cooking here and I try to cook stuff that they'll want to have
too, you know, on the weekends, you know, maybe I'll do a little
bit more elaborate food or whatever still all within what
my, my eating regimen. But I'll, I'll yeah, I'll try to
try to hook them in on some with some good food that way.
My baby, my, my youngest, She's an absolute carnivore.
There's no problem there. The only problem with her is
she'll steal food off my plate. That's about it.
Yeah, it's it's got to be tough when when they were eating foods
like normal processed food because they hadn't had that
shift at an early age. You know, I talked to people
that have kids that started out their younger years eating those
foods. It's very hard to get them to
shift course later. So yeah, but I think leading by
example is the way to do it. And the fact that they saw you
at your heaviest and can see first hand how eating the right
foods positively impacted your life.
Like they they can't be blind to the fact that food is the common
denominator there. And that's what made the
difference. So I I bet they've internalized
a lot of that and they'll make them make much better decisions
going forward as a result of seeing you go through your
transformation. Oh yeah, they they definitely
they they are definitely mindful of it.
We'll we'll do holidays like Christmas or Thanksgiving and
that the the desserts will come out and they'll know.
They'll make note of, oh, Dad's not going to have that, any of
that because that's that's garbage, you know.
So at least they at least they know that.
Yeah, yeah, for sure, For sure. Well, Scott, what what is the
YouTube channel that you you mentioned before we started
hitting recording, I want to point people to that so that
they can see this, this journey unfold even more.
Yeah, so another NSNG friend of mine, Robin Dobbins, her with
the encouragement of her husband Matt, wanted to kind of start a
new channel to of people who have had success eating some
sort of low carb ketogenic NSNG lifestyle and like the benefits
they've gotten off of it. So it's less of me success
stories. We do it every other Thursday.
Some sometimes we sneak another episode in if we need a bonus
one, but it's a it's a new channel and what we do is it's
from 7:00 to 8:00 Central Time and we we do an open chat on
YouTube where people can message in to the guests and ask
questions as well. And we're not claiming to be
medical professionals or nothing like that, but we can tell you
what worked on our journey and also what has worked in the
journey of the person that we're a speaker with that.
Day. Nice that.
That's like having some form of open communication with the
community. That does so much for the
community, but it also does so much for you, and I'm sure
you've experienced this first hand.
That's like when you put yourself out there, you have
that whole other layer of accountability and you don't
want to do wrong by them. So it makes, you know, giving in
to the temptation of foods that are not in line with your goals.
All the more reason to avoid it. I mean because you're you're not
only affecting yourself. I was saying earlier when you
have this other layer of accountability and you're you're
not going through life in this selfish manner, but having that
that outlet is is super impactful man.
So I'm I'm grateful you're doing that.
Appreciate that. Thank you.
Well, Scott, I appreciate you brother.
I appreciate what you're doing. If there's anything I can do to
help in any of the endeavors, by all means let me know.
I can't wait for your Iron Man debut in 2025, and it'll be here
before you know it, man. So keep staying the course and
keep plugging away. Will do.
I appreciate all your guys support as well.
You guys have been awesome. Thank you.
You bet, man. Like I said, keep in touch and
we'll talk soon brother. All right, you take care.