Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
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. Team team team. How the hell are we?
Speaker 1:Hope you're having a good week. Start of week, summer, everything. So, guys, I want to I wanna kick off today's podcast, just by sharing a few things with you from the last few weeks. So I've had a few conversations recently with clients that have been on the journey for a few months. And I wanted to explain a little bit about the journey today because I know a lot of people are probably starting their fitness journey and there's probably a lot of nerves, there's probably a lot of scepticism, apprehension when you first start.
Speaker 1:And I wanted to actually talk about the journey because I don't think I've done this enough in terms of painting out a true journey actually goes because a lot of people see the stuff on Instagram. You see the highlights. You see the weight loss. You see the the good things. But it's it's only when you're actually coaching someone.
Speaker 1:And I've coached hundreds of clients. I've probably come up in a thousand clients at this stage over the last, whatever it is, eight, ten years. And you don't ever get to see the journey unless you're actually in sight with the coaching and the person that's actually going through it. So I had a client, actually two clients come to mind. So I had one client to speak, she did her check-in, and she said she's gone through the top of month, but she's still doing well and she's still coming through it.
Speaker 1:But she said she can't get over how much she's learning about herself on this journey so far. Now, this very, client has tried so many different things in the past. She's tried every fitness regime you can think of. And it all ended up in the same place, her just going back to square one, feeling worse about herself and just not knowing where to go next. So with this journey, we talked a lot about this before we started.
Speaker 1:I set the expectations and I said, look, you're going to well here, but it's not about the good days. It's about the bad days and the ups and down. And which checked in this week, she was just saying, like, it's crazy how much she'd already learned about herself. She had a really I wasn't easy, but it was it was very productive first month. And then the second month, a lot of stuff came up.
Speaker 1:She got really sick and she actually didn't realize how sick she was and she was beating herself up because she, yeah, she thought she should be no more. She thought, you know, she should be motivated, but she didn't actually realize until she did her blood set. She was actually quite sick. But it really hit her because she realized that throughout a lot of her journey, she's actually ended up putting too much pressure on herself, too much expectations, blaming herself. But sometimes she deserve to blame herself because other things were actually happening.
Speaker 1:And the reason I bring this up is because a lot of people listening to this are probably very, very similar in that you're great when things are going good, but there's an almost a shame and guilt when you go through a struggle. It's a feeling of I should be always feeling really good. I had another client as well, and he got sick last week as well. I shouldn't laugh, right? But it's funny because in today's check-in, I said to him, I was like, I'm actually really glad you got sick.
Speaker 1:And it sounds terrible as a coach, but I think it's important you go through these things with me as part of this process and actually challenge yourself to overcome. And the way I paint the picture to all my clients guys, and again, I say this straight up in the start, it's like you realistically need at least nine to twelve months of going through this journey properly in order to actually feel really, really confident and empowered that you can take it on yourself. And the reason I always say nine to twelve months is because you almost need to go through every situation that life is a threat within that timeframe in order to prove to yourself that this time is different. So like when he's first sickness, because this guy now is doing extremely well and he's been ticking every box, he's been losing weight and he's been feeling really good, he hasn't had like a setback. And this was probably the first, I won't call it setback, but it was the first kind of real challenge he's had.
Speaker 1:And I said to him, I'm happy it's happened, not that he got sick, but I'm happy he just had to deal with the struggle because there will be plenty more of these struggles to come. And it's important that we're able to not think this journey is going to be just seamless all the way through. So I want to start with them two examples, guys, for today, because I'm going to take you through what a real journey looks like. And I'm going to set just expectations that I always take with my clients when I have a call with them first so that you understand if you're starting your own journey now, so what you can expect from it as well, right? So the first thing I'll do with a client when we're on a call is I'll talk through with them the first few months of how this is actually going to go from so that they understand how to deal with it when it comes up.
Speaker 1:Okay? Now, I think anyone listening here, you've all been through the first phase, the first excitement. I can't wait. I'm buzzing something new. I've got motivation, you know, throw everything at me.
Speaker 1:That phase is great. We all love that phase because that's the part everyone, you know, does really well. And you feel really motivated and you're getting up, you're jumping out of bed, 05:30 in the morning and going to the gym and getting your steps in and eating good foods. You're cutting out alcohol. You're doing all these things and you're feeling really motivated, right?
Speaker 1:So this is like the first, I guess, peak, if you want call it. I talk a lot about peaks and valleys with my clients. There's an awful lot of valleys as we go through this journey as well, but there are a lot of peaks as well. At the start, generally, you're going get that peak. You're going to get some initial quick results because the water weight is going to fall off and you're just going to you're going to feel really good at the start, right?
Speaker 1:And the momentum is going to be good. But I always say to my clients, right, you're also gonna come to the stage where you've hit a plateau or externally something will happen, like what the clients have talked about there, they got sick, but it might be sickness. It could be a kid's sickness. It could be a work situation that's taken over. I have another client at the moment who's really struggling with an internal thing going on at work, and it's impacting his journey at the moment because he's finding himself more stressed, a little more inclined to talk food, a little more inclined just to beat himself up.
Speaker 1:So you're going to go through these moments as well. And these the valleys when things just get harder. You feel like everything isn't as easy as it was at the start. You feel like the small things now are becoming a little bit harder. You're feeling maybe like you've tadled a little bit.
Speaker 1:And that's that's going to that's going to test you as well. But the main thing I would say to my clients, first of all, to normalize these situations, they're a part of it and they have to have to happen. And you have to prove yourself that you can can deal with these situations. Now, it's not always about like, oh, God, these situations happen. You need to just drive on and get results anyway.
Speaker 1:It's it's it's always case dependent, but most important thing during this time is actually to stabilize yourself and make sure that whatever happens, you just don't fall into the extremes. Now these two clients, I said this exact same thing to them. I said, the biggest win for you wasn't even that you were able to stick at the journey. It was more so that you didn't fall into extremes, again, of, God, I've ruined it all. I didn't get my sessions in this week.
Speaker 1:I didn't get my steps in this week. I guess a little bit looser than I usually would. It's all ruined. My weight's gone up. You didn't fall.
Speaker 1:They didn't fall into that. They didn't fall into the extremes of it. It wasn't perfect. And the weeks like that are never going to be perfect and they shouldn't even aim to be perfect. But it was more their ability to actually allow themselves to to pull back a little bit.
Speaker 1:That's that's a skill that a lot of people really struggle with, especially when they start a coaching program. It's that ability to actually let yourself like I'm not going to say quotes because it's not costing. It's giving yourself what you need when you need it. And during these periods, really important to be able to do that. It's a skill knowing when you're, you know, you're fooling yourself and knowing when you actually truly need rest.
Speaker 1:Because sometimes it is just an excuse. Like we all have excuses. Life's always busy. Life's always hard. But there are times when you have to accept that it's not an excuse.
Speaker 1:This is genuinely something I'm struggling with. And how I usually help my clients differentiate that is, is this a pattern of behaviour, or is this something that's come up isolatedly? So like once every couple of months. So for example, like a sickness where you have to pull back from the gym for a week happening on a given week versus you not getting your sessions done nearly every week because something comes up. That's the big difference.
Speaker 1:And knowing when, again, you're just fooling yourself or when you actually genuinely need to take the pressure off a little bit. So that first time I was talking about, she said her biggest win from the week was actually realizing that she's putting too much pressure on herself, realizing that she had to take a step back and that she didn't throw in the towel because of it. She didn't go into avoidance mode. She said in previous times she would have. But instead she actually took ownership.
Speaker 1:She did her check-in, she reflected on it, and she's building herself back despite the sickness in a way it suits her. So just bring it back to the journey, again, for you going through a journey, when you start, I know it can be all exciting, that, and you should lean into that too. That's a nice part and I love that. But the only way you're ever gonna get beyond the place of actually when you get results and keep results, because that's where most people don't ever get there. They get to a place where they lose a bit of weight, but it's never actually where they want to be fully or it's never feeling stable with that.
Speaker 1:It's just lose weight, gain weight, lose weight, gain weight. But for you to ever get to that final destination, you need to learn how to deal with the peaks and valleys throughout this journey. Okay? It's a true client journey. Last year, I sat down and again, I've worked with some of clients that it's repeated things come up time and time again.
Speaker 1:So I actually sat down last year and I was doing a course, coaching course, and they helped me to build out like a full twelve months of the client journey. So it helped me to actually create four phases that I take the client through that helps them to actually not just get the results they want, but also to feel very, very stable at the end of it that they can actually take it on after. Now, this starts obviously at the start when you have the initial phase where everything feels easy and you're motivated. And then we go through a spell of actually like true weight loss. So maybe the first three to six months, we're actually going through that phase of losing the initial maybe one to two stone, depending on how much the client needs to lose.
Speaker 1:And then after that, it's actually helped to help a client overcome the invisible wall that often hits them. So I often say this to clients, it's like there comes a point in their journey, and this happens to everyone, where they're actually quite happy. They've maybe lost a couple of stone They feel pretty confident. They're not fully where they want to be, but the pain that they came to me with isn't fully there anymore. And that place is amazing to some degree, but it's also very dangerous because they know they want more.
Speaker 1:They know there's more in them, but they often find themselves stuck. They get either too complacent where they feel like they know everything. And it's like a case of, just same, same, I should be fine, I know what I need to do. But they end up actually getting overconfident and to the point where they stop doing the things that have actually got them to where they are. And this is a very, very dangerous place because it's often the time, the place where clients will be feeling like they're working extremely hard or working as hard as they've always worked, but not seeing the results.
Speaker 1:And this is where beliefs then, old beliefs start to creep back in. My metabolism is broken. I need to cook carbs. This doesn't work anymore. I'm getting old.
Speaker 1:Do you know, I need to do more exercise, I need to cook calories. Will I ever get to this final point? So these are the thoughts that start coming in. Over time, when you're in that position long enough, you burn yourself out. Psychologically, feel like you're dieting, but physiologically, you're not seeing any progress.
Speaker 1:So they've hit this invisible wall. But the reason I call it an invisible wall is because a lot of it is actually just down to the behaviors that they've let slip. Because the things that they're doing at the start, they think they're doing them, but they've actually got complacent. So they're not tracking as well as they used to. They're letting old habits slip in in terms of food choices that they're making.
Speaker 1:So at the start, maybe you're balancing their food and fitting in some small bits, but now it's gone too much. They are now starting to maybe go up more than they ever were. They're starting to maybe not track as much because they think they can eyeball everything. They're starting to maybe skip some workouts because it's only one day, but then it starts to snowball. So the consistency just slips.
Speaker 1:And again, they feel in their head, subconsciously everything feels like they're doing what they need to do. But on paper, if they actually wrote down, they'd realise that they've had a slip. So for us, this is like this is the big phase in the journey because this is the phase where most people actually fall off and then give up on it because they're not truly where they want to be. And over time, then it's a case of actually regression. It's a case of actually feeling almost like deflated because you're not seeing the results.
Speaker 1:And then slowly but surely, you start falling back into the same patterns again. And the way it starts creeping on, time passes. And before you know it, you're I want to get back to square one, but you're going back there again. And that's again, then the pain starts to rise and this new cycle starts over. I need to start something else.
Speaker 1:And then it's like a case of, oh, I need to do something different. And the same thing happens every time. It's not about the actual approach. It's more about the ability to get to the endpoint and sustain it there. So the reason I bring this up today, guys, right, and I'm not going to go into this too much detail, I would love to actually do this as maybe one podcast.
Speaker 1:But as part of the journey, this is a really, really common place that people actually get to. And I'm sure you probably, the synthesist probably got there yourself. You've probably got to a point where maybe you've lost some weight in the past and actually feel really good. And then you end up, for whatever reason, you're probably not even sure why, but you end up back to square one. And then you're wondering to yourself, why did I stop doing it?
Speaker 1:I actually was enjoying it. I actually was feeling good. It was actually a positive journey for me. So why am I back here? Why did I stop doing that?
Speaker 1:But then you start beating yourself up and you start again comparing yourself to where you are, and then you try to get back to where you quickly and you burn yourself out, it's just, it's a vicious cycle. So again, guys, this whole journey, I would say it's important to focus on the point where you most commonly fall off, not the good times, but the peaks, but actually through the valleys as well. The valleys that will kill you most. Because once you break through that point where you've maybe got there before, but you're happy ish, but you're not fully happy, once you break through that point and you actually get to new territory, that's when things really start to click. That's when your belief goes through the roof because it's like, I never thought I could get here.
Speaker 1:And then you can actually truly start thinking about maintaining and reversing out of the diet you've been in for a long time. That's the last stage for our clients. It's like we get them to a place where we can actually build their calories back up and get them to maintenance so that then they understand what that looks like for the rest of their life, as opposed to this constant cycle of of a never ending diet. But that phase has to almost be earned, and you have to get to a place where you've actually gone through a lot of shit to get there, because there are lots of, as I said, daddies with this whole process as well. But if you go into the journey with the mindset of that's going to be part of it, and you're going to have tough days, tough weeks, but you're willing to work through them and you're willing to actually learn from them, that's when the true magic actually happens, because that's when your belief is actually gonna grow that it doesn't matter what life throws at you, ending it happen, and you're still gonna work through it.
Speaker 1:That's the key part of this journey. Okay, so I'm going to shut this one down here, right? I know it was a bit of a ramble today, but I just wanted to share these, especially these stories from these couple of clients this week, because, again, they've been on their journey for the last couple of months, and they've had lots and lots of wins, and they're feeling really, really good. And I hate even sometimes when they're in that mode. I hate bringing them down dark sometimes.
Speaker 1:I hate actually saying to them, look, is great, I love it, but you're probably going go through a struggle soon. Because when it comes, it's kind of like for them, it's like, oh, here it is. But it's a good thing because they realize then, Okay, they just need to stabilize, get through it, and then they can start moving forward again. And look back on that moment with pride that they actually stuck at it at the time and didn't throw in the towel just because they had a bit of struggle. Okay, guys, I'm gonna shut this one down.
Speaker 1:Hope you enjoyed the episode. As always, if you any questions, reach out to me. I'm more than happy to answer them. Other than that, have a great week, and we'll chat soon. Thanks for tuning in to today's episode of The Last Diet podcast.
Speaker 1:If you want to inquire about how you can join The Last Diet 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.