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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. Yes, team.
Speaker 1:Welcome back to another episode of The Last Diet Podcast. Hope everyone is having a good week, and you're enjoying the nice weather wherever you are. And if you can hear the fan in the background, it's because I have a fan
Speaker 2:on in the background. Believe it or not, it's absolutely your role sitting here. Sweat. So, yeah, trying to trying to stay cool. Hopefully, it won't come true
Speaker 1:too much on the audio. So, guys, I'm going
Speaker 2:to get straight into today's podcast because similar to Tuesday's episode, this is something that's been just fresh on my mind for the last couple of weeks and months, and it's basically how consistent you need to be to make good progress. And I want to do this right because there's such a false belief out there from many people and driven by a lot of it's driven by the fitness industry. This extreme approach need to be almost like fully disciplined bootcamp style mindset that a lot of the fitness industry actually pushes. Okay, and what the big problem I find with this is when you don't believe that you can do something until it's really, really consistent or like it's nearly perfect, you're always going to struggle to actually commit it. You're going to struggle to find the time or the moment to actually do it.
Speaker 2:And it ends up being this self fitting prophecy. So I'm going to take you through what I believe is the true sweet spot in terms of consistency and what that actually looks like. And I'm going to give you some examples as well for myself and some of my clients at the moment that are living proof of this. Because especially now in summer, this is like a key time where if you're listening to this podcast, you might be in a position where you're like, you're not comfortable. Like you might, for example, going through the heatwave at the moment, maybe you're just not feeling good, maybe you have excess body fat at the moment and it's making you feel uncomfortable, maybe you're afraid to wear less toes because you're not feeling good in your body and maybe you're avoiding social situations or going through things like the beach or taking off the top because, again, you're not fully comfortable and it's still impacting the enjoyment you're actually having over the summer.
Speaker 2:And you're probably thinking to yourself, well, now is not the right time to do because we've got so much on, but I do need to eventually get on top of this. So what I'm going say if you're in that headspace, right, keep listening because at the end of this podcast, you're going to understand why that mindset is actually killing you at the moment and what you can start, the way you can start thinking instead to actually get back to where you want to be physically, mentally and just in terms of energy as well. So big, big problem I see, guys, is if you're striving for 100% consistency to see results and that's your belief, then you're always going be waiting for that perfect time. Okay, and as I said, it's not your fault because these beliefs have been ingrained in you over time. Okay, but with this being said, right, we have to be so, so careful and actually start to challenge this and start to look at this a total different way, right?
Speaker 2:So big thing I see for many, many people, right? They're either all in where they feel like they're really motivated. You might think, oh, after summer this will be me now, I'm really motivated, I'm going to start a plan, give me the plan, I'll stick to 100%, I need to lose this weight, I need to get in shape, I need to feel good again, just what do I need to do, right? And you're really motivated. And then you start to plan and life happens again because you think it's perfect time.
Speaker 2:Have someone else. It's great. Have nothing to come up. But then within a week you get sick or the kids get sick or there's a social event on that you didn't know was coming up or you just have a bad week at work and you're emotionally drained. You have a few bad nights.
Speaker 2:Something's gonna happen. Something always happens. It's life and that's just the way it is. But because you have the belief in your head that this needs to be 100% to work, you then start to just sabotage yourself and just stop doing what you're doing. And then you're like, oh, start to get 11.
Speaker 2:And this goes over and over and over and over and over again. And it's a killer because you never actually you never actually get to where you want to get to because you're always driving for this perfection. And it truly just comes back to this all or nothing mindset. I'm either fully in and doing it right in your head or there's no point in doing it at all. But it's impossible, absolutely impossible to be perfect on this on this journey.
Speaker 2:And I wouldn't be able to define perfection because it's very subjective. Like perfection to me is actually a balance of keeping your life normal while getting results. That's perfection to me. But other people don't see it as perfection. They see that as failure because they're not hitting every single target to the absolute 100 degree.
Speaker 2:But here's the problem with this. It's a self fulfilling prophecy. If you believe you can't achieve unless it's 100%, then you're going to keep playing it out. It's like, you're right. So we need to challenge that belief.
Speaker 2:That's the first thing I'm going to really encourage you to do. Challenge that belief that it needs to be 100% or it won't work because that is BS and in fact trying to be at 100% is the reason that you're at probably 40%. And then it's ironic, right, because people trying to be at 100%, they disregard the time that the 100% is making them be at 0%, which averages out to be probably 40%, which isn't enough to progress. In fact, it's probably regressing when you actually zoom out. Because so many people look at this in a timescale of like a month or three months even.
Speaker 2:But that's not the timescale you need to look at this. You need to zoom out. If you're not where you wanna be right now, you need to zoom out and you need to ask yourself, how consistent have I been over the last twelve months? Because that's gonna tell you the true story of why you are where you are. Okay?
Speaker 2:Because if you're if you're, like, a 100% on it for two months of the year, but then you're 20% on it for the rest of the year, you're still going to be in the same place you're in last year. Even though in your head, you're like, oh, had perfect two months. Because we always look at it in isolation, we have to look at the big picture always. So that's why it needs to be sustainable. No matter what people tell you, you cannot go through a short term plan and expect to get and maintain results.
Speaker 2:You may see some initial results, but you won't actually keep them and you won't ever get to where you truly want to be, truly feel good. And I'm sure you can relate to this. I'm sure you know people like this, but they're always on dates and they have some success sometimes. But is it truly success if you never actually get there and actually stay there? Because if you're always on a diet, you figure always on a diet, then you're not doing it right.
Speaker 2:There's something missing there. So I'm going give you a couple of examples. So one of my clients, Tom, had joined probably about two just over two months ago maybe now. Since joining, he's had a stag. He's had a weekend away with his missus.
Speaker 2:He's had, the great news that they're having a new baba, a hamster, a bit of, like, celebration on that, he's and just after coming off the back of a week in Spain at a wedding. Now do you think truly Tom was at a 100%, a 100% for the last two months for for for us? Absolutely not. You couldn't be. You can be 100% if if you're doing things.
Speaker 2:And if you are 100% while doing these things, your partner won't be very happy with you. You're gonna be miserable. You're gonna be obsessive. You're gonna be anxious all the time about little things. It's like, how are you supposed to track every calorie and meal prep and not drink alcohol and exercise perfectly and get you all your steps in when these things are going on?
Speaker 2:But what Tom was is he was good enough over the course of the last two months plus, on average, to move the needle forward at a good pace. Now, what I would consider, now this is subjective enough, what I would consider probably optimal number for most people is probably seventy to 80%. So that's 70%, probably even over 65%, but 70% sweet spot. So 70% to me is like you can get quick results, but you can also live a life that isn't too dissimilar to what you're living right now. But you have to just consider small things, which I'll go through shortly.
Speaker 2:Right? So I think Tom's over a stone at this stage down while filling all these things in, and he couldn't get over how quick it was. It's only been, whatever, eight minutes. We're overstolen down and actually feel, like, feeling good on himself. So the key change he's made is he actually had a specific plan that fit his life.
Speaker 2:He does night shifts. He does shift work. He plays sports. He's obviously trying to maintain a social life, a relationship. And now he's above on the way as well.
Speaker 2:But the main thing we focus on is fitting this into his life and then focusing on an easy 70% consistency each week. So not a crazy, crazy, like, targets. It's just the basic stuff done really, really well. It sounds boring, but it's what works. Okay, if you're looking for something sexy and extreme, it's not gonna work.
Speaker 2:Again, it's just gonna take you back to where you are now. So just another example, I have a client, Heather. So Heather's down two stone. She started with me in January, so she's down two stone in six months. Now, she could have potentially been further along, but she is traveling the world.
Speaker 2:So she's had trips to Asia. She's had trips around Canada locally. And there was one more trip. I can't remember where it was, but she there was another trip in Mexico. There was a trip to Mexico.
Speaker 2:So them trips, and they just like a day couple of days. These were like months of trips. So we have lost over two stone while doing all these things within this year. And again, Heather's come from a big background of, do you know, all or nothing? This needs to be perfect or it won't work.
Speaker 2:And she had lost weight in the past, but she got very stuck before she came to me. And she couldn't get over how this is working out with what she's got going on, but also that she doesn't feel like she's changed that much. And this is a crucial part, right? You won't feel like much has changed when you're getting these results, But it's the it's the stuff you you almost disregard that makes the biggest difference. So Heather felt like she was doing a lot of the same things.
Speaker 2:But when we actually got the structure and system in place and she had accountability, she realized that she was missing lots of stuff when she was doing this on her own. And the results don't lie. Like, she's over two slowing down, but she doesn't there's no sign of her slowing down at the moment. She has a bit more to lose, but we're absolutely getting there, she's living her life in the meantime as well. So if you ask me what percentage has had her at, I would say between seventy and eighty.
Speaker 2:A really good pace that she's feeling motivated of doing, but also she's eating out. Most weeks, she eats out two or three times. Most weeks, she's got some bit of alcohol in her diet. She obviously had them trips, but she's still doing enough to move the needle. Now I got I I gotta just say, guys, you gotta be very careful because I'm not telling you that you don't have to work.
Speaker 2:I'm not telling you that this isn't going to be an effort as well because it is. And a lot of people that try to eat out twice a week, three times a week and drink really struggle at the start because they don't have the other stuff in place. So if you're doing that right now and think you don't have to stop anything, do still need to do the the main things right. And that's why Tom and Heather are getting such great results. They're doing the basics really well, and they're not getting complacent within things just because other stuff is going on in their lives as well.
Speaker 2:Okay, so they really fought the all or nothing mindset that they used to have before. And this is crucial. If you want to get results long term, you need to fight the all in mindset as well. And that means starting now. If you're in a position where you need to start and you're putting an app, you have to start now.
Speaker 2:Because it's not even just about
Speaker 1:the fact you're starting now, it's the
Speaker 2:mindset and the challenging of the better time because there'll never be a better time. Right now is the best time to do it, because right now, even if it's very busy, is a snapshot of what life is always going to be. You might think, well, it's definitely gonna quite announce that you won't, because we always fill that time with something or that our social calendar with something, external things will creep up, good and bad. So you need to make progress within the chaos. I'm gonna give you just an example of myself as well at the moment.
Speaker 2:If you follow me on Instagram, you see that I've sort of last maybe a month or so, I've kind of done a little bit of a tidy up diet, we'll call it. But I wanted to do it and prove that I could do it because I didn't need Vancouver this year. So I wasn't willing to I wanted to get a little bit leaner, but I wasn't willing to give up my social life here to do that. So the only way it looks, I was pretty happy where I was. So I was like, okay, I'm gonna see, can I do both at once?
Speaker 2:So over the course of the last six weeks, I've been, I had a stag, my weekend just gone, so was away from whole weekend eating, drinking. The weekend before that, we were away at, we were in America, we were at a concert. The weekend before that, we went to LA for a full day and we were eating and had a few drinks as well. The week before that, I think Arsenal won the league, so I was gone. Talked about this in previous podcasts.
Speaker 2:I was gone. Basically, I went out for two days drinking. Regretted that a little bit because I was not drinking, but did it. The week before that, I think there was maybe camping or something on. The point being, I've had a lot on and I actually made it a purpose to myself to fill my calendar because I knew this was going be my last summer in Vancouver and I wanted to just enjoy it as much as I possibly could with all the people I wanted to enjoy it.
Speaker 2:And it's going to continue till I leave. So every weekend is filled with something from now till I leave. So I just wanted to see, could I do well, I knew I could do it, but I I just wanted to prove I could do a little bit mini cut where I would see some results while doing all these things. So basically, I locked into the Monday to Friday really well. So I got back tracking, and I wasn't just loosely tracking, I was accurately tracking.
Speaker 2:So I was weighing things out, putting on scales, weighing things uncooked, weighing the small things, especially at the start, counting for anything I was doing outside of this, so picking. I wasn't fooling myself. I was just really locked into that myself. But a big thing, that's huge, but even a bigger thing probably, is after every weekend, I made an absolute mission that I was going to reset quickly and I wasn't going to leave or go on too long. Small decisions made a big difference.
Speaker 2:So if I, for example, the night of the match or the weekend of it, I drank a bit and I ate a little bit too much, but I didn't do the dog where I would have done the dog where I was hungover on, let's say, Monday and I was like, I'd leave and run into Monday. That's another day I'd be in a deficit. Actually, I'd be in a surplus. It's another day when I'd overeat. And it's another day where I'd be like, just fine.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's actually tomorrow. But that day is massive if it happens every single weekend, if you're going out every weekend. So the weekends themselves, I tighten them up. So I didn't leave a run. So for example, if I was this weekend for the SLEG, I had the Saturday.
Speaker 2:So I went down Friday for a few drinks and then to major dinner. Saturday had the whole day. We're drinking, eating barbecues and stuff, snacks, all that stuff. And then on Sunday, we were we were driving home. So on Sunday, that's usually when I would have just let things kind of get loose because I was bit tired and I'm over.
Speaker 2:But in this mindset, like, no, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to eat decently today. I'm going to control the calories. I'm going to make sure I was sick today, not tomorrow. That's another day I could have wasted.
Speaker 2:But instead, I didn't. I managed it and pushed on. So over the course of the last month or so, I've basically got back to the best shape I've been in since I've been in Vancouver. It's not just about weighing the scales, but I think I've dropped from seventy five point something to seventy two this morning. So it probably lasts about six, half stone maybe.
Speaker 2:But I did it while, you know, I did it without any extremes. I did it while having to socialize. I didn't go crazy restrictive Monday to Friday. I just ate my normal foods, but I just quantified them, and I put myself into a deficit, a 500 calorie deficit, nothing major. And it worked really well.
Speaker 2:That's what my clients do as well when we have a business. This is something I'm to say, and it might trigger some people, but it's a part of it, right? You have to own it. If you aren't progressing objectively, you are not being consistent enough for long enough. And this is the thing with it, right?
Speaker 2:You are not being There's no way you're at 70% consistency if you're not seeing any progress. And the thing with people is, and I don't mean this in bad way, because we human and we all do this. We only ever remember the good things we've done. So I'd often have a conversation with someone, they're like, geez, I've been tracking my calories, I've been eating this, I've eaten good food, I've been doing this, but they're only ever remembering the good days. And they always like almost try to avoid remembering the slips that they've had.
Speaker 2:And I get it because that's naturally what I would do as well. But owning it is so important. And that's why during the last six weeks when I've lost that half son, I've owned everything. There was nothing that went into my mouth that wasn't owned. I've had a conversation with a few clients to speak about this very thing, and I've called them out on it because they needed to be called out on it.
Speaker 2:They needed to be called out because they were going into avoiding avoidance and suppressing the memory of what they were doing. So you have to own exactly what you're doing. I know that you feel shitty about it. I know there's a bit of guilt and shame attached to it, but the only way you're truly gonna get results is you own it and accept you are where you are because of what you're doing consistently. Every every everything you get in life is down to the the habits you're doing consistently, good or bad.
Speaker 2:So if you're not in the shape you want to be in, it's because you haven't been consistent enough with the basics. Well, it's not that you're missing the magic pill. It's not that you're doing something wrong in terms of the actual things you're trying to do. It's just that you're not being as consistent as you think you are with them. Okay?
Speaker 2:So be honest with yourself. Take accountability. Don't just remember the good news. Remember every single thing you put in your mouth the whole week, because that's going to give you the big picture. Now I'm gonna finish off this podcast phase with some practical takeaways.
Speaker 2:First thing I'll say to you, start now. If you don't start now, you might as well forget about it because there's always a reason not to do it. Start right now. If it's busy socially, if you've got things coming up, it doesn't matter. You can still make progress, but at the very least, you won't regress because that's what'll happen with other people.
Speaker 2:I've often had clients sign up, and it's only after they tell me this, but they're like, Oh, I signed up with you, Mike, on that date, and we're starting on a Monday, so I binge it for the whole week before that because I knew I was starting with you. And if you actually zoom out from that and logically think about it, it's like they basically regressed over that week a good bit, so they were starting from further back than they would have been starting to get into that. So that's something you have to catch up with now is saying, even if you aren't progressing during the busy period, you can at least stabilize. Okay, so that's the first thing, now no matter what. Second thing, focus on just making progress.
Speaker 2:And like I said, some weeks it's just about stabilizing it, you might even make progress, but on average over the course of the next month, let's call it, you're making some progress. So even if it's a very busy month, if you can just commit yourself, right, it won't be perfect, but I'm going to make some forward movement, then it's going to be somewhat motivating for you. Again, if you think it needs to be really, really quick, you have to accept that there's a trade off with that. I always describe this as a dial to my clients. So the aim here is to get to, like I said, 60 and maybe 80%, right?
Speaker 2:If you're at 60%, chances are you're probably maybe progressing a little bit, but you're probably just stabilized, which isn't a bad thing. Okay? But then once we turn the dial up more like 70%, speed turns up a bit. Again, remember, 70%, not just over the course of a week or the course of a month and two months or three months. Then once we get up to 80%, that's where the trade off becomes a bit more.
Speaker 2:Maybe you stop going out as much, you stop eating out as much, maybe you're a bit more locked into things you need to be doing. You might be doing a little bit extra exercise. You might be maybe tracking calories a bit accurately Monday, Sunday, not just Monday, Friday. And your speed of progress is going to go up as well. Now, the thing about 80% is you've got to careful because if you do that for too long, you end up presenting this journey because you've given up too much.
Speaker 2:So So like I said, for me, I've probably been about 70% on average for the last six weeks, but it's been enough to drop half stone. And that's the reality of it. We don't need extremes. It's been very simple things. The last thing, which is really important, Track metrics.
Speaker 2:Don't just wing it and guess. Don't just say, I'll see how I feel now. And then you're guessing after a week, oh, have I seen any change? Probably not. Because you get demotivated, and it's too emotional.
Speaker 2:Like, the biggest thing I do for my clients is I'm an objective viewer on their journey. So they come to me and they're telling me X, Y and Z. And I'm like, no, here's the objective data we have about this. So if you're if they're not seeing weight loss averages over time, there is no choice about it. It's because they're not being consistent enough.
Speaker 2:They're not in the deficit long enough to see it. So it's objective. So what we want is to get objective measures. So have a weight average for the course of a week, two weeks, three weeks. So take averages.
Speaker 2:Don't just take one reading. Take an average, maybe two or three readings a week, get the average for that reading and then check what's the next week and the next week and the next week. I trend graphs with all my clients so they visually can see that how they're progressing. But you can also use progress pictures. Once every month, it's a good thing to do just to see how you're feeling about it.
Speaker 2:Something I've been using with a lot of my clients recently because it's probably one of the biggest indicators of their progress is close. It's like try on something now that is fitting you, but not comfortably fitting you. And then in a couple of weeks time, try it on again. Is it fitting you better? If yes, great, we're moving forward.
Speaker 2:And every time you hit a new milestone, then you're like, okay, now I'm going try on a size down. If it's a little bit tight, great. That's going be our metric for next one. And you can use that and you can progress. You You could obviously do other things such as taking metrics and stuff.
Speaker 2:But to be honest, I find that's a bit inaccurate because people doing it don't take the same sites all the time. So I would say close the pictures and waste the best metrics here. So that's three things for you guys. Start now, don't wait. Make some forward movement, some progress, and think about it as a dial.
Speaker 2:Even if you're very busy, just focus on small progress. Doesn't have to be perfect. And then the last thing is track metrics objectively. So that's it in nutshell, guys. Hopefully, this has helped you out, and it's opened your eyes to the fact that if you're making excuses, you don't need to make excuses.
Speaker 2:Now you might ask me, well, Mike, what do I need to be doing? Like, what does the power of 10 even look like? Very, very simple stuff. Number one thing I would say always is calorie intake. Track your calories as accurate as you can.
Speaker 2:And even if you can't track them until we get into stuff, be conscious of what you're eating, the portion sizes, and do your rest. That's number one thing that's gonna make the biggest impact. Number two, move more. If you're not getting, like, eight to 12,000 steps in a day, that average in and around there, you're not moving enough. You need to make that an absolute priority to get that into your week.
Speaker 2:Then third thing is exercise. Adding two to three sessions a week, whether it be classes, gym, running, whatever whatever flushable. Just do something, even if it's only for thirty minutes. Not only will it help you burn more calories, but it'll help you psychologically as well. You'll be in better form, your chance of you eating shit food will be less, and you'll be just overall in a better place.
Speaker 2:So there are the three practical things I would say to you. Okay? If you do the things, say it's 70% consistency with that. That that allows you for some sips and some bad days and you're sick and kids are sick or something. Seventy percent consistency.
Speaker 2:Be very honest with yourself. You are going to move forward at a good pace. Right. Any questions? As always, feel free to reach out.
Speaker 2:We're happy to answer it. Guys, have a fantastic weekend and chat to you all soon.
Speaker 1:Thanks for tuning in to the latest episode of The Last Diet podcast. If you want
Speaker 2:to inquire about how you
Speaker 1: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.
Speaker 2:See you in the next one.