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The Last Diet Podcast 🎙️
The Last Diet Podcast is for people who want to rebuild a strong, athletic body that supports their life — not consumes it.
We talk training, nutrition, structure, and identity for people in their 30s–50s who’ve been fit before and want a clear, sustainable way to perform well again in work, family, and life.
No extremes. No gimmicks. Just standards, structure, and long-term performance.
Welcome to the last diet podcast. The last podcast you'll ever need to create the last diet you ever need. I'm your host, Mike Finnegan. Let's dive in. Yes, guys.
Speaker 1:Welcome back to another episode of the last diet podcast. Hope everyone is doing well. I'm coming at you today, guys, from the outdoors. I was actually sitting at the computer all day. I was on a Tony Robbins AI seminar.
Speaker 1:Actually very very interesting stuff I don't know enough about AI and it's crazy to see where it's going so I've decided I want to upscale a small bit in terms of my knowledge around it and just try to keep up with it because it's accelerating at a crazy rate. It's kinda scary, like, even just from a work point of view, but just long term living point of view. Yeah. It's it's definitely overwhelming, but I was on seminar for the last three hours, so I decided I wanted to get out of the apartment and get up and moving. So I'd said I'd do my podcast outdoors today.
Speaker 1:So with today's podcast, guys, thanks again for everyone that's been listening. This has been a record month in terms of listens. It's nearly over 500 for the month, which is, like, crazy, absolutely crazy. I know Neve's podcast on Monday got an awful lot of feedback as well, so I'm glad of that. A few things she said really, really stuck with me.
Speaker 1:I actually I wanted to create this podcast a little bit off the back of it because some people reached out to me and said they could resonate an awful lot with the way she felt about fitness before she started. Right? So today's podcast, right, what I'm gonna actually go through just for a bit of fun guys. Right? I'm gonna go through if I took over your training and nutrition right here, right now, what I would fix first.
Speaker 1:Okay? So I'm gonna break down the four things that I would fix with you right now if I was to take over your training and nutrition. Okay? And what we'll do, hopefully, you'll be able to see some patterns maybe that you're you're missing, some gaps that that have been holding you back, and just identify some of the things that you can work on right now very, very tangibly to help get you to where you wanna get to, whether that be by summer or beyond that or whatever you have coming up. But most importantly, guys, and you know that I I preach an awful lot about this, most importantly, get you to where you wanna be long term.
Speaker 1:That long term vision of where you wanna be and who you wanna be most importantly as well. Okay. So so the first one, and I always start with this, guys, and it's structure. Finding some structure. Because a lot of people thinking think it like, oh, am I is this a bad food?
Speaker 1:Is this a good food? Is this a good exercise to do? Is this a bad exercise to do? It's like nothing matters if you have no structure around your day. Right?
Speaker 1:The the number one thing that we struggle with as human, especially in this day and age, and I was just talking about AI there, but they they said that literally this is what AI is probably going to be the best for eventually, and that is making so many decisions every day ourself. So there there's a a thought process that eventually we will be literally, like, automating a lot of our decisions to AI. It's like they describe it as like a a working version of Siri where you'd actually ask us to do a certain task and it would do it automatically for you. Alright. But coming back to the point.
Speaker 1:Right? We make so many decisions every day, like more than ever before I'd say in humanity, that our brain is just like, it's it's it's just always overwhelmed. So when you have to constantly think about what am I gonna eat today? When am I gonna eat? When am I gonna get my exercise done?
Speaker 1:When am I going to get to sleep? When am I going to drink my water? How am I going to like, so many different things you have to to do and and decide every day. Right? And throw in everything else you're already doing.
Speaker 1:All the other stresses you have going on. All the decisions you have to make at work, decisions you might have to make with family, like the stresses that come up in general, the emotions, the energy, like all these things. If you don't have a simple structure to follow, then you are you're going nowhere with this. Like you really are going nowhere with this unless you're you're already so so ingrained with the habits that it's automatic. If you're starting over and you're trying to create new habits, you do need to find a structure.
Speaker 1:A structure that eventually will become your norm and then it becomes easy. Okay? So decision fatigue, we have to remove that. And you might you might ask a question, okay, what what does that even mean? What does structure mean?
Speaker 1:I'll go into that shortly, alright, when I when I talk about the actual specifics of it. Right? But structure just means basically you know what you're doing when it comes to your fitness on a week to week basis. So you know when you're getting sessions in your you know nutrition, all that, and you have a structure around what works for you and your life depending on how much time you have and everything else going on as well. Okay?
Speaker 1:So structure is key. So anyone who comes to me, that's the first thing I I would look at. It's like, how are you structuring your day? Are you just winging it? Number two.
Speaker 1:Right? It's something most people that come to me are missing. Right? They're training. They're doing a lot of training every so often on and off, but there's no actual, like, progression there at all.
Speaker 1:It's just winging it. It's going into the gym and it's kind of like, ah, just doing whatever feels good or have an old plan to kind of go back to and just just doing the same exercises over and over again, getting bored of it, but having no vision of actually where they're going. Right? If you don't have some form of a reason to actually want to progress in the gym or with your exercise, it's very, very hard to actually stay motivated. Because unless you're just going for your headspace, which is okay as well, by the way, there's no problem with that.
Speaker 1:But unless you're just going for headspace, you're going you're going to be very inconsistent because you're gonna have no actual reason to want to go if you're not seeing any progression and you're not pushing yourself. The whole idea, right, and this is what a lot of people do. Right? They're already time poor, but they'll start to plan and they'll spend loads and loads of time, too much time in the gym, more time than they have to. So they can spend hours a week in the gym and the sessions they're doing are just very ineffective.
Speaker 1:And the way I look at this is like what most people need to be doing is the opposite. You need to spend less time in the gym and you need to be doing intentful workouts where you're not on your phone for most of it, you're not just going through the motions of the exercise, you're actually you go in with a solid plan, you know what you're doing, you know what you're lifting, you're getting better at it every time or at least every couple of weeks, and you are pushing yourself basically. So you know what exactly what the purpose is. So that gives you like a focus, it keeps you like just zoned in when you're there, and it also gives you the rewards of your body adapting and getting better. Okay.
Speaker 1:So progressive training, that's the that's the second thing I would look at if I was to take over your your training for hours straight away. Third thing then, right, is nutrition. So funny enough, right, most people come to and they're like, oh, I had a couple of calls at this point with new clients and sign up and they were like, oh, I eat this. I hope that's that's okay. Can I keep this in my diet or can I keep that in?
Speaker 1:And if you listen to Neve's podcast from earlier in the week, she talked a lot about this, how she thought I was going to make or give up all the food she liked. So that's why she procrastinated on on coming to me in the first place. And, like, this is this is I hate this so much because there's such a perception of fitness industry, and this is down to bodybuilding coaching or bodybuilder coaches have just been giving people meal plans, and they haven't actually educated people on what they need to live a lifestyle that suits them, which is flexible, enjoyable, and it's not about giving everything up. But people basically think that they have to give up everything to see results. But when people get it's so funny when they come to me and they're like, oh, I didn't actually change that much.
Speaker 1:It doesn't really feel like I've changed much. It doesn't really feel like I'm dieting actually. I'm actually quite full. I'm actually fuller than I ever was. And there's there's this kind of like confusion of like, how is this working?
Speaker 1:But that's the point. Right? Most people don't need to drastically change their food and you shouldn't drastically change your food because that is that upheaval is way too much for you and your life which is already busy at moment. Imagine trying to go on a meal plan and you have kids that you're cooking for or you have a partner who wants to go on a date night or you have like food preferences that you like dread the thought of giving up. It's it's just not gonna work.
Speaker 1:You you'll stick it a further bit but like what is the point? Coming back to what I said at the start. Long term thinking. What is the point of doing the short term plan? Like unless you're just fixated on one specific event and you're just hell bent on getting there for that, then there's no point in doing it because you get results if you stick to it for a little bit, but it teaches you nothing about life and actually living a life that is enjoyable gets you results, but you're actually happy doing it as well.
Speaker 1:So when it comes to your nutrition, you basically need clarity and structure. So, again, come back to the word structure. Right? With structure, I don't mean you have to have every meal plan to a tea. Again, this this is the bodybuilding misconception.
Speaker 1:It's like, I'm gonna make, you know, 20 lunch boxes at the start of the week and they're gonna be frozen and I'm gonna just pick them out and eat them on the go. It's gonna be all cold rice and chicken. It's like, that's I've been there. It's not it's not a nice place to be. That's not what planning is in my head.
Speaker 1:So what I get my clients to do instead is we will plan really really like just vaguely plan what the week would look like from a meal point of view. Most importantly is like the times of meals. It's not it's not so much that you have to eat at a certain time, it's that you know what times you're eating and your body get used to it. So for some people they like eating early because otherwise they're starving and maybe their job doesn't allow them to eat later in the morning or whatever. Right?
Speaker 1:So that works for them and then we spread it out at certain times. So it depends on your actual day. I have people that have night shift that do night shifts and then day shifts and evening shifts, and they're all over the place. So we literally have a different structure that works for each scenario. But again, the point here is that we get to a place where your body is used of of what you're doing, not only your body but also your mind.
Speaker 1:You don't have to think about it because it's like your body automatically will get hungry. So for me, for example, right, I'll get up in the morning and my body isn't hungry in the morning because I I've I've conditioned it not to eat in the morning because I just never needed or wanted it. So I'm up at, half five. So I will have some water, and I'll have a coffee. I'll do my workout, and I won't have my first meal.
Speaker 1:I get into work straight away. I won't have my first meal until half ten or eleven. So that's my body always creates food at that time. So it's like, great. So I'm having my first meal, and then I'll work for another block of the day, and then I won't eat again till, like, two or half two.
Speaker 1:And then my dinner won't be until maybe six or half six. And then at the end of the night, I love having, like, like, some snacks in as well. So it works perfectly for me because I always get hungry late at night, I like to sit down and have some snacks. And I enjoy that, and it makes, you know, eating throughout the day so much easier when I know I'm gonna be eating nice stuff at night as well. That works for me.
Speaker 1:I find with my clients what works for them, or I help them find what works for them. So we find the structure that basically takes away all the thinking. Okay. Like, what meals do you like eating? Which meals suits you in terms of convenience and it's easy to make?
Speaker 1:And how can we basically create something that is just repeatable? Most people find it very not easy, but it's a lot easier to do that Monday to Friday because you're you're like you've a routine going. So you're like, yeah. Okay. I I can eat this time more generally and, you know, we eat dinner this time anyway, so I'll just make it this time and, you know, this food works because I know I can carry it on the go.
Speaker 1:So Monday to Friday for most people is is actually pretty okay. And then obviously the weekends, that's where things can get a little bit messy. But again, with the weekends for for clients, I'm like, well, it doesn't matter that you don't have a, like, a set structure every weekend. It's nice to have a bit of flexibility at the weekend. But there always is, like, value in having some form structure even if it's artificial structure.
Speaker 1:So it might be just having your breakfast in the morning before you leave for today on on the weekend or whatever that might be. But the the the the point here guys is if I was to take over your nutrition right now, the first thing I would do is I would keep the food you have in generally, probably add in some foods because most people are actually under basically nourished. They're not eating enough of the good foods. So I wouldn't change your foods, I'd add in foods, and then I'd find, like, an eating structure that worked for you. Generally, I would say two to three main meals a day, and then fitting in snacks where suits with that.
Speaker 1:So that's what I would do with nutrition. With nutrition, just just finally on this. Right? Most people come to me in it and not most people. A lot of people come to me and they're like, do you know what?
Speaker 1:I don't eat too bad. Like, I generally I'm I'm an okay eater. I'm an okay eater, but I don't seem to be fine in getting results. It's not enough just to eat quote unquote good foods. Right?
Speaker 1:You need to be very, very aware. And this is the second part of nutrition. Right? With my clients, I will also get them to track their food. Because one thing eating quote unquote healthy foods, another it's thing actually quantifying the amount you're eating.
Speaker 1:Your body doesn't care if if you're trying to lose body fat. Right? Your body doesn't care if it's good or or quote unquote bad foods. If you're eating in excess of calories, it doesn't matter where it's come from, you're not going to lose body fat. Simple as that.
Speaker 1:And it's like it's like I always compare like the budgeting. Right? You might think you're not spending crazily and you're like, yeah, don't really spend that much. Were only just like it's day to day living. But it's not until you actually track what you're spending and actually see all the kind of leaks within that that you realize, okay, alright, that's actually a lot more than I thought it was going out on this, like, whatever it is expense.
Speaker 1:Same with calories. It's like you might think you're eating healthy, but it's like, yeah, that's healthy in in theory, but like there's a crazy amount of calories in this. And then, you know, like, add in some of the kind of less healthy foods as well. And, you know, the weekends and all that, and it it adds up very, very quickly. So we get our clients track, and that's the that's the the number one thing, structure and tracking.
Speaker 1:So awareness and also structure just helps, like, take away the decision fatigue that a lot of people find with that. So I hope that makes sense, guys. Right? So if you're not doing that and you're winging it, again, I would say definitely try to try to just get a little bit aware of what it looks like. K.
Speaker 1:Fourth and final thing. I would say, right, for most people, again, you need to implement flexibility. So the first thing I'll do with clients when they come to me, because they think, oh, I'm gonna plan with this coach, and he's gonna have me doing, like, all these very strict stuff and I'm gonna have to just make sure I get everything right now and you know I can't do this, I won't be able do this. That's not what I do. The first thing I'd actually add with clients is like I I change our mindset around this like you know we need flexibility like basically added into your week.
Speaker 1:A lot of people will they'll like they'll start to plan, they'll be like Monday to Friday, yeah, going really strict and they'll cut out quote unquote bad foods and then come Friday they're starving, they're irritable, their energy is low, and what they'll end up doing is they'll just end up giving up. Or they'll just end up overeating at the at the weekend, feeling guilty, and then start again Monday. And the cycle repeats itself. You just probably go even, like, more restrictive for the week after because you're feeling guilty about it. Like, that never ever works.
Speaker 1:You need to have flexibility, not just at the weekend, throughout the week. If you give yourself flexibility, I always say to my clients, eighty twenty. Right? 80% of the food you're eating is wholesome food that's filling you, also very enjoyable food, by the way. But then you also fit in, like, 20% of calories coming from food our foods you really, really enjoy.
Speaker 1:So crisps, chocolate, alcohol, and different things like that as well. So you're getting your best of both worlds. You're you're it's easier to hit your calories because you're actually enjoying the food you're eating. I have chocolate every single day. And I all I actually almost force my clients to have stuff like this because if they're not eating this stuff, I'm like, you're not gonna last very long with this.
Speaker 1:But like it just gives you that it's it's such a mindset shift. It's like, I can actually have good, like, balance with this. I can have flexible approach with this that's gonna last and I don't feel like I'm starving myself all the time. So it's just a really, really good way to look at this. With flexibility, like, same with exercise.
Speaker 1:Right? Flexibility is important. You can't expect to hit your session perfectly every single day, every single week. You need to, again, bring in flexibility. So what I mean by flexibility is, like, if you miss a session, like you don't beat yourself up about it.
Speaker 1:You don't you don't start berating yourself and like, what's the point now? It's not gonna work anymore. It's like again, I bring it back to the eighty twenty rule. Like 80% of the time we should be trying to hit our sessions as we had planned for the week. But there will be 20% of time when it just won't happen.
Speaker 1:You might get sick or, you know, something might come up at work or you might be away. There's always gonna be things that happen. My golden rule when it comes to exercise is don't miss twice. And what I mean by that is if you, like, slip on a given week because of something, so you don't hit all your sessions or something something goes on, you don't make up for the next week. You don't try to do extra.
Speaker 1:You just get back to do what you were doing, but you make sure the next week that you do get it done. You get back to the simplicity, so you don't miss twice. That's the golden rule for me always when it comes to this stuff. And if you have the mindset, then you you can actually just release that pressure of needing to be perfect with it. But at the same time, you still take ownership for having to to do this stuff.
Speaker 1:It's not just a case of, ah, just, you know, I have to be kind to myself, so, you know, missing a session missing a session is normal. But then you continue to miss a session every week because if you do that, you're not gonna get your results. And, you know, there's always a trade off to everything. Like, you have to you do need to be consistent to some degree. So eighty twenty rule works really, really well there.
Speaker 1:But trust me guys, right, if you are super strict on everything you're doing, especially when it comes to nutrition, you're going to hate the journey and you're going to fail. You think in your mind you're like, oh, it's gonna be way quicker if I give up all these foods and I cut calories down to this amount. It's not gonna be quicker because you're going to fall off so many times that you'll end up spinning your wheels or just going backwards. So it's actually in essence slower. In theory, it might sound like it's gonna be quicker but it's gonna be way harder so you're not gonna stick to it.
Speaker 1:And then that's and that's only if life doesn't get in the way. Like, life gets in the way, then forget about it altogether. Even if life doesn't get in the way and your your your your normal your week's normal, you're still gonna find it really hard because you're gonna be thinking about food all the time. And it's just gonna be a horrible, horrible approach. So that's it guys in a nutshell.
Speaker 1:That's exactly what I do. If I was to take over your trained nutrition now, I would help you find structure in what you're doing to take away decision fatigue. I would make sure that you're progressing in whatever training you were doing. I would make sure that you're tracking and you're planning your nutrition weekly. At least roughly planning your nutrition.
Speaker 1:So again, it might just mean you know what you're eating generally for lunch and breakfast and you're have an idea where around dinners as well. And then you're a bit flex more flexible around the weekends. And then number four, I would help you implement flexibility with that. So a flexible approach where you're not extreme and you're not too strict on yourself with everything you're doing. So just to finish this upgrade.
Speaker 1:Right? There's just two things last things I want to mention. For like, a lot of people come to me. Right? And they think it's gonna be all about the plan.
Speaker 1:It's gonna be all about the training that I give you. It's gonna be all about the the the food I give you and the the the tracking and all that. That's that's an element of it and it helps because it gives you clarity. Right? But the biggest thing that I help our clients with and, like, if you listen to news podcast, you would have got this from from that conversation.
Speaker 1:It's actually changing their mindset around this journey. Actually seeing it for what it is. Like it's it's a beautiful journey when you actually enjoy what you're doing. That you you look at the long term pictures, not just a a means to an end. Like Niamh talked about her, the wedding, and the hen that was coming up.
Speaker 1:And that was her main goal for starting. And I don't I don't mind having a goal to make you start because that just it's a motivation and we all need that sometimes. But when she got into the journey, she realized that, oh, this is actually really good for my sleep. This is really good for my work life. This is really good for my energy, my mood.
Speaker 1:And she realized that, oh, I actually want to feel like this forever. I don't want this just to be a short term thing. And that's when the real magic started happening. So that's what we help our clients do. It's like finding an approach that feels sustainable but also enjoyable.
Speaker 1:It's like, I want to do this. This is part of who I am now. It's a lifestyle change. It's an identity shift. I am the person who does this because I want to look after myself because I'm a happier person doing this.
Speaker 1:Like, I I I know that if I asked anybody this question, right, they would they would they'd all they'd all answer that. I I'd pay anything. But, like, how valuable is energy to you? Do you not feel when you get up and you actually have a drive and want to go do something? Energy to, like, obviously, go to work and produce the work you want to produce, energy for your relationships, to show up at your very, very best, energy for your hobbies, energy for your kids, energy for for life in general.
Speaker 1:Like, you would pay any amount of money for that, and that's what fitness can give you if you do it in the right manner, which isn't punishing and restrictive. Now the last very, last thing. And again, it comes back to to, like, even AI today. Was I was they were just talking about how there's so much information and it's changing on the daily. Like, there's so many updates and different things coming.
Speaker 1:Right? So, like, having knowledge and, like, an understanding of something is one thing, but executing is a whole different ballgame. So, like, you can learn all about this stuff. And I'm sure a lot of people are listening to this podcast for a long time. They're like, oh, I love this podcast.
Speaker 1:And I I learned so much. It's like, there's no point in learning this stuff if you're not executing. Execution is the most important thing. So that's where accountability comes in. Like, you need to be accountable to yourself or to someone else, whether that be a coach or a friend or a partner or something.
Speaker 1:You need some form of accountability. If you don't have accountability and even as form of a deadline or a timeline, then it's very, very hard as humans to take action. Because, again, all the knowledge and want in the world is great, but without the actual accountability to take the action, then you're never going to execute. You're never going to be consistent enough to see the results. So whatever whatever you need to do to get that accountability, I would do it.
Speaker 1:Because that's the missing link for most people. It's not that we need to complicate overcomplicate this stuff. It's very simple stuff. It really is. It's so much more about behavior change and actually figuring out how you create, like, this lifestyle that feels easy.
Speaker 1:And that's why I always come back to structure. If you find structure and you find accountability, you're you're winning this game. Right, guys. I'm gonna leave it there from a very, very sunny Vancouver. Hope anyone listening has got something from the podcast.
Speaker 1:As always, please share the podcast if you enjoyed it with a friend or leave a rating on whatever platform you're using. It really, really helps. And, obviously, it has been helping because it's been a record month. So, again, I appreciate anyone everyone listening. Other than that, guys, have a fantastic week.
Speaker 1:Chat soon. Thanks for tuning in to the latest episode of The Last Diet Podcast. If you wanna think more about how you can join The Last lifestyle and find out more about our coaching, then the show notes below has a link to coaching inquiries. Just fill that out, and we'll be in contact as soon as possible. See you in the next one.