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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. Team, team, team. Welcome back to The Last Diet Podcast.
Speaker 1:Hope everyone is good. Having a good start to their week. It is officially June, June 1. I know it's a long weekend in Ireland, so if you are out and about, hopefully you're recovering okay and you're getting back into the swing of things with your week. Today's podcast guy is actually going to touch a lot on beliefs.
Speaker 1:Right? And specifically coming into the summer months now, I know there's there's a lot of things that people maybe fear in terms of getting results, but also just wanting to, like, live their life and and not be obsessive about things. Right? So what I'm going to talk about today, guys, is why the mindset that got you fit in your twenties actually keeps you stuck in your thirties? And I'm specifically going to go through five beliefs around that that are actually holding you back at the moment.
Speaker 1:And I'm excited to get into it. So I have examples. I also feel like examples work best. So I've got loads of examples here of clients that I'm currently working with, but also myself. Over the last two weekends, I've had pretty big weekends and I've had some struggles, hiccups around nutrition, around social life.
Speaker 1:And I wanted to explain it a little bit more because there's this perception out there are times that fitness people are always locked in. They don't eat any bad things. They don't ever slip. It's just always on it. And that's how they keep their results.
Speaker 1:But it's the biggest misconception going. It's absolutely BS. And we're going to delve into that, right, because I have a lot of great examples of why you need to switch your mindset and your belief system, especially in your turkeys, if you're actually going to get results long term and you're not going to be spending your whole life spinning your wheels or starting stopping. And this stuff isn't even that mind blowing, difficult, but it's very, very practical and tangible if you actually understand it. So just probably get this, guys, that we've actually got a couple of exciting interviews coming up with my current clients.
Speaker 1:So two clients interviews coming up over the next couple of weeks. So I'm excited to put them out as well because I feel like the conversations always show you practicality in terms of how you can change your mindset because the clients who come to us, specifically these two clients, have gone through all the stuff you're currently going through, the ups and downs, the on off, the old beliefs around fitness, the extremes, all the different plans. And they're very, very relatable in terms of their life at the moment, the struggles they're still having, but they're getting results. So I'm going to we're going to have them over the next couple of weeks. So keep an ear out for them because I'm very, very excited to to record them.
Speaker 1:So, guys, I'm going get straight into it, right? Because I don't want to I don't want this to to go on too long. Right? But the first belief that holds people's back in their 30s or 40s is they think that they have to win the week. And I'm always careful with the terminology I use with people, right?
Speaker 1:Because win the week could mean lots of different things to different people. But basically what most people think about when they're trying to start a plan and win the week is just basically go through a perfect week and just not have any slips or quote unquote failures, right? But the thing that actually works for the majority of people, especially people that have other high priorities, right, is good enough to keep momentum. That's what I literally say to my clients. It's like, we just need to do enough to keep the momentum going forward.
Speaker 1:And that doesn't even necessarily have to be over the course of a week. That might be over the course of a month because you might have one week where something just happens. For example, I have one client who got very sick over last week. Her focus isn't on progressing, her focus is on surviving. Her whole family is sick.
Speaker 1:So it never has to be this perfect week, perfect month. It just has to be good enough to keep momentum going. So for that specific client at the moment, it's actually just helping her to get back on her feet and do the simple things so that we can get momentum going in the right direction. Because she does that this week, and then the next couple of weeks will be forward moving again. And then over the course of a month, she would have kept momentum going despite life getting in the way because it always will.
Speaker 1:I have one new client who started two weeks ago, and he went on a trip to Netherlands last week. And again, when you start a programme like this and coaching, there's always that mindset and belief that, geez, I need to be locked in now. I need to make sure I do this right. But I always say to people, it's like, no, we need to go through life and we need to actually just learn by doing. And he was able to go to Netherlands.
Speaker 1:He's able to go there for four, I think, or five days. And his momentum over the last two weeks still hasn't taken a knock whatsoever because his mindset has shifted from I need to be perfect to I just need to do enough to keep the ball rolling, basically. Right? So that's number one. Okay.
Speaker 1:So stop trying to win the week. Everything perfect in the week. Belief number two, right, is I need to I need to wait till life comes down before I get results or before I start something. Okay? This kills people.
Speaker 1:Right? It's that mindset of I'll start after when this calms down, when I have more time, when, when, when. But here's the thing with this, right? Life is always happening, Always happening. So you have to make it work within your life.
Speaker 1:And this is another thing. Like, when you get your turkey to the parties, hopefully, you're you're kind of more mature to this and you realize that it never slows down because everything that you're taking on is stuff you want to take on, like families, the work, the hobbies, social life. They're things you want. They're not things that just slow down because you're constantly taking them on because you need them to function at your very best. And that's important as well.
Speaker 1:We don't wanna remove them things. I have one client at moment, and he's actually gonna be doing the interview with me. So I'm excited to explain his story. But got an awful lot going on. He does shift work.
Speaker 1:He works like crazy hours. But then he's also like looking after the family. He's taking the kids to sport all the time. And he's just on the road an awful lot for different trips. And now we we went down into that when we had to interview.
Speaker 1:But what I love about his attitude throughout this process, he's got great results, but it's it's always been a mindset of just just make it work despite what's going on. Stop waiting for this perfect week or perfect month to start something. He started with me in the busiest period of his life, and it hasn't got any less busy. He actually bought a new house recently. He actually moved.
Speaker 1:The family moved in the middle of everything. And he said it to me, he was like, Jesus, don't make this easier for myself, do I? I always bring these things on. The key point here is that he's getting great results and he's really changed his lifestyle within the chaos. So stop waiting, guys.
Speaker 1:Stop waiting for that moment for things to come out because it's never going to come down. You need to learn how to get results within the chaos. And that is the key part of the coaching that we do because a lot of people will put you out of time, Here, dude, 75 hard for so many weeks. But ultimately that is a short term fix for a long term challenge that you're actually trying to achieve. Okay, number three, people thinking that they can control everything, right?
Speaker 1:This is one of the biggest, biggest mistakes that I get a lot of people make. It's like, I need to control everything for this to work. And there's a sense of perfectionism with this as well. Right? Like, you cannot control everything because there's always going to be moving parts within your life, external things that happen that you can't control or even predict.
Speaker 1:So for us, right, we always want to focus on it. And like coming back to coming back to back when he started a couple weeks ago, like he went to he went to Netherlands, but he he basically control what he control within that. Right? Because I said it was like, we don't want to be going to go on your trip and obsessing about every calorie you put in your mouth or obsessing about having to get loads of workouts in and loads of movement. And it's like, let's control what we can control within that and focus on the things that will be easy to control while still enjoying your time away.
Speaker 1:And he said that's exactly what he did. He didn't really obsess about it. He didn't overthink it. He just made better choices when it came to food. He didn't overdo it when it came to food, and he just basically stabilized.
Speaker 1:And when he came back, was able to just lock back in and move forward again. So, yeah, you can control everything. So just if you have that sense of it needs to be perfect and I need to make sure everything's controlled and I need to be on top of everything, it's like you have to release that a little bit in order to actually see success. Again, long term, especially. Like you can control things potentially for a short period of time.
Speaker 1:Again, this is like the rigid plans people go on. It's like, I'll go on this meal plan. I can control that. Then I can track everything. Can meal prep it.
Speaker 1:I'll do all these sessions, I can get this done. It's like, yeah, you can until you can't. That's the thing. We need to be adaptable and flexible and not be obsessive about trying to be controlling of everything. Like one of my clients, Con, he went on holidays at the Valley when he was about a month into the program, and he was absolutely flying.
Speaker 1:And he went to Valley with the mindset of, do know what? I'm really happy, things are going well, I'll be able to control something, so I'm here. But he got Bally Bally. If anyone knows what Bally Bally is, it's basically fruit poisoning, and everyone tends to get it at Bally. He got Bally Bally over, and basically he was KO'd for forever a few days.
Speaker 1:And when he came back, he was zonked as well. And again, if he went in with the mindset, I need to control everything and do I need to be all perfect? I really when he came back, he needs to be perfect again. He would have just felt really bad about things, and he would just felt like he lost all momentum, then he would have actually given up, which would have been the the big issue. But he didn't.
Speaker 1:He just, he accepted it happened. He's human. Life happens sometimes, and you just got to make the best of it, control the controllables, get yourself back, and then move forward again. Right. So that's number three.
Speaker 1:Number four, You need to punish yourself to see progress. That's a huge, huge, again, belief that a lot of people come to me, especially have slight this extreme or nothing mindset of like, I need to do lots and I need to work really hard and I need to be sweating loads. And again, it's so interesting because when I when people come to me, their their lives has changed, which is why you come to me and they can't figure out how to make it work for their new life. They can't commit to the crazy hours they used to commit to in the gym or with exercise. They can't commit to the extreme approach they used to use in nutrition.
Speaker 1:So they need something else. But it's always funny because when we go through the process and they start to realize how how easy it is, and it's like, obviously, I don't want to sugarcoat, there's obviously still things you need to do, but it's a lot easier than people think. Like one of my clients today, even he's absolutely flying at the moment, to the point where I was like, I think we need to slow down a small bit in terms of weight loss. And he was like, Oh, I'm actually going to have more time in the near future because of work situation. And he was like, I'll be able to exercise a bit more consistently.
Speaker 1:I built the prep food and stuff and be easier for me and stuff. And I was like, That's great. It's good to have that. But look what you're doing now within the chaos that you're in. And I was like, We don't need to be doing too much more than we're doing.
Speaker 1:So we always got to be careful not to think more is better, right? Because again, it's this mindset of the harder I work, the more I do, the quicker the results be and the better it'll be. And it's all based off of our previous experiences. That's what we grew up on. We grew up on hard work and graft, especially if you played a sport.
Speaker 1:It's like, if you're not getting sick, you're not trying hard enough. But unfortunately, well, actually, fortunately, very fortunately, that's not what gets results in real life outside of sport. That's not what gets people actually sustainable results. It's actually the simplicity and making sure things are sustainable that actually matters the most. Okay, so progress beats punishment.
Speaker 1:We always want to focus on doing things consistently, progressing, but not to the point where we're doing extremes, right? So you don't need extra cardio. You don't need to be cutting your food way down. You don't have to be suffering all the time. We just want proper structure and then ease of success.
Speaker 1:I love when people come back to me like Tom, one of my clients, he basically said last week like that, a huge realization he had was that he didn't have to change anything drastically to see the results. And he was, in fact, he was very surprised with how quickly the results came within the first two months. And it was just, it was a shock to him because coming into it, he thought he was going to have to drastically change everything. And love that eye opening moment they have and they're like, geez, I didn't actually change that much. I'm just a bit more conscious of my food choices and quantity of food.
Speaker 1:I'm a bit more conscious about my order and mindset. I'm a bit more conscious about my weekends. And said like, I've been doing a lot of stuff anyway. Now I just needed to tighten a lot of it up. And that's the beauty of it.
Speaker 1:So we don't need extra, we don't need punishment. We just need to do the basics really well. So that's number four. Now, number five, this is massive, massive, probably the biggest one I would say, right, is the belief that it's the night out or that one slip that ruins everything. Wherein, like in reality, right, it's the I messed it up mindset that actually sabotages most people's results.
Speaker 1:Because all that actually matters is how quickly you reset after a little slip, because that's it. It's never the slip that creates the issue. It's the it's the compounding of the slip and the spoil after it. Okay. So I'm gonna I'm gonna be very honest with you.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna as I always am. I was I was out the weekend. I, again, come back to Arsenal. It's always come back to Arsenal. They lost on Saturday and I was basically it was on quite early here and I just obviously wasn't very happy that last.
Speaker 1:I was a bit annoyed about it. And I actually because I had a match here as well, I didn't we didn't actually go do anything for the weekend. So basically, early Saturday, went to play my football match and then actually watch Arsenal news as well. So the thing is, we lost our football matches as So So I was just a bit depressed after after it all, to be honest. Right.
Speaker 1:And because we had no plans on that day, I had also given up my weekend of actually going doing something, which we have limited time here at the moment to do stuff go forward. And so I just felt I was just bit down with it all. And it was just like, oh, god. You know? So I wasted weekend and two matches last.
Speaker 1:I'd like had the whole kind of day to to mull over it. But I emotionally asked on on Saturday. I emotionally asked. I went for basically, I had my normal breakfast and lunch for lunch, went for, like, a big ice cream. After that, we went out for dinner.
Speaker 1:Then I came up to dinner. And so I asked Karen, let's let's just watch a movie and get popcorn. So we ordered popcorn from the from the cinema, had some chocolate after that. So I mostly ate. I over it.
Speaker 1:I over it. And it wasn't it wasn't great eating, like, and I didn't feel great after it. But it was like, again, it was just filling filling the scab. But then on Sunday, we again, I just drew line underneath. Was like, I know I'm not going through this today, but we actually ended up going to a lovely lake with two of our friends, and it was amazing.
Speaker 1:It was so amazing. We drove two hours, we carried a barbecue, we had food and had drinks. And I rarely were drinking a sundae, right? But this wasn't like hardcore drinking. This was socializing drinking.
Speaker 1:So I went to I had, like, six small cans. I had barbecue food and whatever. I felt very bloated yesterday just because of Saturday, overeating Saturday. Then, obviously, yesterday, the food quality wasn't the best eater as well as the drink. But the difference yesterday was was wholesome.
Speaker 1:It wasn't emotional eating. It wasn't overeating to comfort me. I actually was very present. I was actually really enjoying our time awake. So even though I probably had the same calories in both days, it was just how I did that mattered.
Speaker 1:But anyway, that's a that's a side point, right? But the whole point again is today, straight away, just like last week, if you remember last week's podcast, I talked about this where I had two big nights out last weekend. Today was all about the reset again. So do I let this roll into today and then tomorrow and then so on? Because we're actually away for this weekend as well.
Speaker 1:But no. I I reset quickly today. Right? So I got this morning, I actually wanted to get up to go to the gym. We didn't get to bed till late because we weren't home till late.
Speaker 1:So I would have only had six hours sleep. So I decided, smart, you know what? I didn't even feel amazing waking up and I was like, you know what? Now I'm just going to sleep in. I'm not just going punish myself to get out of bed because I feel like I need to.
Speaker 1:So instead of doing that, I just got up, let myself sleep in a small bit, got straight into work. I went for a little bit of walk first, went straight to work, had a really good first meal, had a good lunch, then I actually went for a gym session in the middle of the day because I had a bit of time off. So I said, you know what, I'll get it done now because it'll be a good start to the week for me. So, again, a quick reset. I was supposed to have training this evening, but I couldn't make it.
Speaker 1:So I decided to go for a little bit of a run as well. So I had three solid meals today, really healthy meals. I wasn't even that hungry because I had over eaten for the last two days, but I kept the meals very healthy. I have currently about 13,000 steps done just because I went for a five k run, and I have the gym session done today. So a reset done.
Speaker 1:And I always say this to my clients. I'm like, just reset it reset as quickly as possible within the constraints of your life. Because today I actually had time and I could manage to go for the gym session and a run. It's not gonna be feasible for everyone, but the key point wasn't the run or the gym session, the key point was resetting and controlling the controllables within that. So even if I hadn't got loads of exercise done today, I still had control over my food.
Speaker 1:I still could control how much food I was eating today and the quality of the food. Like, obviously, after two days of not eating great, you're going to be a little bit kind of picky and cravings are to a bit higher. So for me today, it was just really important that I set the standards to eat well because even that first meal for me was like, boom, back. I'm back in the swing of things. And like I said, if I never did exercise today, at least I would have had a control of that.
Speaker 1:And that is number one, control the food intake and get back to your normal eating without restriction, without cutting everything out. Like the worst thing I could have done today was not eat because that's what lots of people do. I'll have to overeat for two days, therefore I won't eat today. I'm not hungry, won't bother to eat. But that then again creates a real negative relationship with food and it creates probably a spiral down the line.
Speaker 1:So that's not a good thing to do. You can maybe reduce the food and take a little bit, but I would eat generally decent meals and good quality food as much as possible. So that was that for me. Now, if I hadn't had exercising today, I would have made it a priority to get it done tomorrow. So again, my main recommendation when resetting is get something done early in the week.
Speaker 1:It could literally be just a fifteen minute run, something just to get you moving, a fifteen minute twenty minute gym session or homework, just a long walk, something that would actually just, again, reset the mind more than anything else. And you're not trying to make up for the calories. Like, nothing I do today is going to, like, drastically make up for calories because, like, the calories weren't too bad. Like, it's fun. Like, I probably ate three and a half 4,000 calories both days or weekend.
Speaker 1:Like, that's going to make very little difference to my physique or anything else. The only thing that makes a difference to is my mindset and my my feeling because I know emotionally, so I felt a bit blah, but felt a bit guilty, felt a bit sluggish. But nothing has changed physically unless I let her roll into today and tomorrow and the rest of week and the next weekend to get more away. And that's when things actually are problems. So that's number five, guys.
Speaker 1:I know I went in a bit deeper to that one, but I think that one is so important. Okay? Thinking that one slip or one quote unquote bad meal or one day will ruin your results. It won't. You just need to get back on the saddle as quickly as possible, get back to basics and move forward.
Speaker 1:And you'll do really, really well with that. So guys, just remember this whole journey, and I'm gonna finish it with this, right? This is not just about getting quick results. So many people like it's just so focused on, I just need to get quick results. You can get quick results.
Speaker 1:Yes, you can get relatively quick results. But you need to always be focused on the sustainability of it and the long term adherence to it. Is this something you can see yourself doing in a year's time? Are you gonna be finished this and add something else? Okay, so it's so, so partners.
Speaker 1:What we focus on so much within our coaching, because our clients, I've said to a few clients this week, like they're doing great physically, they're dropping weight and they're seeing a lot of progress. But I was like, I was like, I almost don't really want to celebrate this too much for you at the moment because you've been through this before and you've got these results before. What I want to celebrate for you at the moment is the way you're doing it and how you're changing your mindset and relationship with with the whole journey, not sabotaging yourself because you missed a workout, not extremely cutting out calories because you think it's going to work quicker. That's why I always celebrate my moment. That's it.
Speaker 1:There was two or three clients already this week that I said that time. And it's because I want to do things differently. I don't wanna feed into the same circle that they've been on for so long, that same cycle target that they've been on for so long. So yes, results are great and it's important to see results, but they can't come at the expense of sustainability and long term lifestyle change. Okay.
Speaker 1:So as I'm going to finish that there, as you probably see on my Instagram, I've opened up five coaching spots for lads who are sick of being on the stop start cycle. I want to reset. This isn't a sales pitch. Like I I would have the spots probably filled by the end the week. I've already got a couple of calls booked in.
Speaker 1:But if you're on the fence, guys, and you you want to do this differently, just at least reach out to me because I love helping people like me. I love helping people like clients I work with the moment, I'm I'm I'm absolutely buzzing because I can just see so much of myself in them and the stuff that they're going through. So I love helping people like that because I can just really resonate with it. So if it's something that you are struggling with and you need help with, reach out to me. Let's have a conversation at the very, very least And we can see if there's if there's something we can do again just to get you back to the standards and just the lifestyle that you know that you're capable of as well.
Speaker 1:If you're not feeling yourself, if you're second guessing yourself, if you're avoiding things, this will be perfect for you because it's not going to take all of your life, but it will make a drastic change to how you actually feel about yourself and how you live your life. Right, guys. Another episode down. Hope you have a good start to June. Other than that, have a great week.
Speaker 1:Chat soon. Thanks for tuning in to the latest episode of the Last Diet podcast. 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.