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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 Dive 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, how are we? Hope we are all good.
Speaker 1:Welcome back to The Last Dive podcast. Hope everyone is, as always, having a good week. I feel like I start these podcasts with the exact same line every single time, but it gets me into flow. So, guys, today's episode, right? I hope you've been enjoying the shorter episodes.
Speaker 1:Trying to keep them between fifteen to twenty minutes. I just feel like they're they're more digestible for people, especially this time of the year. Feel like I don't want to overwhelm people. I just want to give you what you need to start to make some progress. So over the next couple of months, because I've actually got a good few exciting guests lined up, lined up even, some clients and also some external guests coming in as well.
Speaker 1:So this year, I wanna just have a few more long, like, long form conversations as well as the usual podcast that I put out because I feel for a lot of people, it is easier to relate to other people's journeys as well as, you know, listening to conversations as opposed to, you know, just me talking about a certain topic. So I hope you look forward to that. And as I said, for all the new listeners, because there has been a good few over the last few months, I hope you're enjoying the podcast. And yeah, I hope you stay with me for the year and I can help you in some way. So with today's podcast, guys, right, wanted to start with something that's been on my mind for a while.
Speaker 1:Most people think staying fit into your 30s, 40s and even 50s is about moral discipline. It's about restriction. It's about sacrificing things. But the thing about this is like most people don't understand that that is what's actually holding you back. It's the mindset you have around that and it's thinking that that's going to get you there.
Speaker 1:Like, it's funny because I've had I have a lot of new clients at the moment, and I've been talking to a lot of them about like my own approach because they obviously follow me on Instagram, maybe some of you do as well. And they see a lot of the foods I put up and a lot of the stuff I'm doing. And it's kind of like they seem shocked when they see what I'm eating and the flexibility that I allow myself. When they see me drinking pints and they see me going for dinners and then they see my dinners, I'm eating myself, I'm cooking. They're like, jeez, how are you eating so much and you're staying lean?
Speaker 1:And there's almost this belief that, oh, it's just because I'm built a certain way or it's just because I exercise so much compared to them. But the reality is totally different. It's totally different, right? And stay with me to the end of this episode, right? Because I'm going to share exactly with you the strategy I use in order to stay lean, in order to feel energized, feel good day to day so I can perform in other areas of my life outside of just fitness and how I do it within a flexible approach so I don't have to give up my other values, my social life, my relationships, my family life and all the other things I enjoy as well.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I'm going to go through that. So just a bit of backstory with this, guys, right? One of my main goals, and I've said this many, many, many times, one of my main goals is to be the youngest version of whatever age I am. I'm currently 33 years of age. And when I'm 40, I want people to look at me and say, how are you 40?
Speaker 1:I thought you were 30. Just because the way I look, the healthiness I have, the physique I have, the functionality I have, just everything, right? When I'm 50, I want people to think I'm 40. When I'm 60, I want people to think I'm 50. And that's the way I'm going to live my life.
Speaker 1:And that's the way I encourage my clients to live their life as well. Because that goes beyond just looking a certain way. That also goes to your health and your functionality, which as you get older, you're going to see that that's the most important thing. It's very sad, but I've actually, I don't know if we're caught up in a bubble of it. There's a lot of news of health issues for a lot of people that we know of, or people that we know that their families and stuff that are having this moment.
Speaker 1:And it's scary when hear it. But you also disconnect from it when you are a little bit younger maybe and you don't ever think it could be you or it could be your family. And I don't know, is that something that we naturally do just as a defensive mechanism or what? But as I start to get older, and I'm sure as I have kids and family and stuff, it'll probably even amplify. But I'm starting to become so much more aware of my need for health and functionality long term and to be that person that is a shining light for the people around me as well.
Speaker 1:And if you're listening to this, there's a good chance you're probably in the same boat. And maybe you haven't quite figured it out, and that's why you're listening to this podcast. And within these episodes, I'm going to help you get there because there's so much BS out there in the fitness industry. There's so much pushed around weight loss and punishment and restriction that it becomes even more toxic than the position you're actually in, which is ironic. Now, just to take you back a small bit, guys, right?
Speaker 1:Between the years, I'd say 2016, maybe even 2015, to I'd say 2021, just around COVID, I would say, I really, really struggled with extremes. So I was either dieting hard and getting great results physically, but my energy was in the floor, on the floor even, and just restricting myself, giving up social life, giving up so much, but seeing results because I will power my way through and I'll be so disciplined because I'd be so excited to see the results. Or else I'd be on the opposite end of that extreme where I'd be living my life and like, oh, I'm loose now. I'm, quote unquote, I'm trying to gain from weight. But it would just be justification to overeat, overeat, get very loose and just put on body fat.
Speaker 1:And that cycle for me, it literally went on for five years, maybe even more. And it wasn't really healthy. Like, okay, you could say there's elements of it that were healthy, and there was times where I was actually locked into healthy habits. I would say it's very similar to what most people do, where they're on plan, off plan, on plan, off plan, on plan, off plan. And I got to the stage where I was like, do I really want to live my life like this anymore?
Speaker 1:Just so I could have some, you know, before and after pictures, some Instagrammable abs, you know, just say so I I did it. But the thing here with this is even when I used to get lean, I was never that happy. Like I was was lean, but I felt weak. I felt small. I felt frail.
Speaker 1:I felt like I had no energy. I had sex drive dropped. Things people don't talk about. You just see the pictures and like, oh, they're so lean. Amazing.
Speaker 1:But it was done in the wrong way. And I remember because it was probably 2021, it was probably during COVID actually, it was the first time that I truly was able to lock into what a healthy approach to this looks like. So I did a Fortitude, for anybody that follows me, I did Fortitude in 2021. And I did it like really proper, I was restrictive. I was on a big gaining phase before that over COVID, which went quite well, gained loads of muscle.
Speaker 1:And then I went on a twelve week photoshoot date with a professional bodybuilder who was coaching me, and I got in great shape, I had a great photoshoot and everything, but it got to the point then COVID obviously was ending. So things were opening up. We had spent so many years, two, three, whatever it was, years locked up, basically. And then everything opened up. So it was at that stage that kind of hit me.
Speaker 1:I was like, I don't want to be spending my life either restricting myself and trying to diet or else yolo ing it and not feeling good at all. Because the thing about this place is it's worst of all worlds. You're either restricting yourself and not going out and not enjoying your social life and losing your energy and feeling a little bit blah just for pictures, or you're very, very loose, you have no structure, you're overeating, you're feeling bloated, you're feeling blah, feeling self conscious, and you don't have any energy either because you're basically just overeating and probably lying around the wrong foods. So it's like you get worse than both worlds with that. And I remember we went to Asia in So I went to Australia in 2019, and I did a diet up to that.
Speaker 1:And it was actually an aggressive kind of an extreme, this is how you learn all the lessons. But I went to Australia and I was in good neck going. But then obviously in Australia, was like working all day. I was drinking a lot. I was eating out and the usual first time properly away from home.
Speaker 1:And I ended up traveling Asia with Karen. And it was the first time I've ever actually done something like that where it was two months of traveling, no set routine, no settled living situation, eating out all the time. And I put on a lot of weight. As in I was unrecognizable because I grew up without ever having a whole pile of weight on me, because I was always sporty and I always had G or soccer or something to keep me active. And then I was always kind of conscious of my diet as I got older as well.
Speaker 1:But this was literally, I've never put on as much weight. I put on about a stone and a half, I think, and it was all body fat. Like I wasn't training and I wasn't eating great. And I remember looking back at the pictures and it was like a moment of, I don't know, it's hard to explain. It's like I lost myself.
Speaker 1:It's like I didn't feel like me. To go into I the gym near the end of it because I wasn't feeling great, but then it was almost like I'm getting self conscious. And it's kind of in my head, people here don't even know that I do this for a living. They'll be judging me. And in a weird way, it was actually good for me because gave me an idea of where a lot of the clients come to me are in terms of being self conscious, in terms of losing a sense of himself, that person that used to be fit and maybe grew up active and then retired or got injured or something and then lost that and put on weight as they get older, which happens to a lot of people.
Speaker 1:You get away with it when you're younger and then as you get older, other priorities take over and then you start to put on weight. Before you know it, you just don't even recognise yourself. And then you're fearing the judgment of everyone else. They're like, oh, they're going to be saying, look at you, look at the state of you, whatever. But to be in it myself and especially because I always relate to myself as a fit person, I would associate myself with being a fit person.
Speaker 1:That would be my identity tied up in that, especially as it's my work as well. I studied in college. It's my sport. It's such a huge part of who I am. It was even amplified even more.
Speaker 1:So, of course, when I came back from Asia, to Ireland, I ended up going on a big long diet, got very lean, and the cycle has repeated itself again. So I know I rented a small bit here, guys, but to bring it back to original point here, most people are on this cycle their whole life and they never actually get what they should be getting or need to get out of their health and fitness. And this goes for trainers as well. Like a lot of coaches go through this. Like people assume you're looking outside, right?
Speaker 1:And you think, wow, look at them. They're in great shape. Wow, look at the pictures are awesome. But when you see behind the scenes, I talked to a lot of coaches, a lot of them struggle with a lot similar things, balancing social life, balancing and of them eating disorders, obsessive eating. Like there's lots that goes on behind the scenes that you don't see as well, right?
Speaker 1:And here's the kicker, right? This is the main point I want to come to. You cannot separate body changes from lifestyle. Okay, so what I mean by that is you can't just say, I'm gonna go through a diet, gonna lose all this weight, I'm gonna live happily ever after. That's literally what the dieting industry wants you to think.
Speaker 1:It's like, come do my plan. We'll go through this plan, punishment, restriction, torture. You're gonna get in great shape. You're gonna look like that bodybuilder or there, and you're gonna live a happily ever afterlife. After that, you can go back to your normal life and you can enjoy everything, enjoy all the food you're eating now, and it'll be all great.
Speaker 1:But again, it's the exact same thing. It's the worst of all worlds because you have to look at it like this as well, okay? Even though we think sometimes auditing is restrictive and it's hard and it's like, oh, God, I can't go through that. I don't want to give up all the things I love. But most people don't actually enjoy the things that they say they love.
Speaker 1:Like how many people truly enjoy overeating food? In the moment, yes. Okay, it's like anything. But do you genuinely enjoy when you're overeating? Do you enjoy how it makes you feel?
Speaker 1:Do you enjoy how the food sits in your stomach? Do you enjoy the taste of food even when you're already full? Like, is it actually that enjoyable? Or is it just the thought of it and the kind of initial dopamine hit you get from So it's, again, it's the worst of both worlds. So we can't separate these things.
Speaker 1:We have to create a lifestyle where our healthy habits and fitness lifestyle complements our other priorities and values, our family life, our social life, our hobbies, our work life. It has to fit in as one because they help each other. And it's amazing when you do this right, it's amazing how they help each other. Think about it, right? Imagine having confidence and energy and a really good discipline structure with your fitness nutrition.
Speaker 1:Imagine the knock on effects that has on your work life, the confidence it will give you, the productivity it'll give you, the energy it gives you, the discipline it gives you to go and strive for more with that, which gives you more progress, gives you more growth, gives you more money. Same thing with family, the energy you have with your kids, playing with your kids, your role model with your kids, with your partner, the confidence you have with them, your sex life, whatever you wanna talk about. If you do this right, it amplifies and improves every area of your life you care about. If you do it wrong, which most people do because it's not your fault, again, it's the fitness industry telling you or pushing you towards do this plan because it's gonna help you. If you do it wrong, you're just gonna get nothing out of it.
Speaker 1:It's going to make your life worse. It's going to make you irritable. It's going to knock your energy. It's going to make you feel resentful towards not being able to eat food you like. It's going to make you probably have a really poor relationship with it, which is where most people are at because, again, the fitness industry had pushed them into that, like a really toxic relationship with their body, with food, with everything else.
Speaker 1:And then that has a knock on effect in terms of what your kids are seeing you do, and then they pick that up. So that's not what you want. Nobody wants that. I'll give you a great example. One of my new clients, Shane, started with me before Christmas, right, in November.
Speaker 1:And a big thing with me is I don't promote just weight loss. I promote body composition changes. So we wanna gain muscle, we wanna lose body fat. We wanna look athletic, we wanna look healthy, we wanna feel good, energised, perform well, right? So when he came to me, we said, okay, look, we're gonna go on this phase of cutting down some body fat, right?
Speaker 1:Which meant he lost some weight, yes. But we do it in a way where we don't cut it too much. We still feed ourselves with the right foods and we gain some muscle by getting into gym and building habits. As he was losing the weight and gaining the muscle, okay, from a physical point of view, we were simultaneously working, and we still are, on his lifestyle habits to make this stick. So we were working on his relationship with alcohol.
Speaker 1:We were working on the structure of his week so he can fit it in with work without it being overwhelming and, you know, him absolutely hitting it. We were working on other habits he had to get in place in order to make this stick such as sleep, such as his hydration. So all these things, we were working on his body transformation and we still are, and the body composition he has. But simultaneously, we're also working on his fitness lifestyle, because that's what creates long term change. If he doesn't become the person who likes this and it complements all the things he's working towards outside of fitness, then he's not going to stick at it after.
Speaker 1:So what we're doing here is we're compounding. We're like, we're showing him how to get results, but also how to become the person who keeps results. Your identity as someone who's active. I am the person who goes to the gym. It's not, I'm on a plan so I'm going to the gym.
Speaker 1:And that's the difference. And the beauty of it is you actually can do less. And I'll talk about that in a second because that's the point I'm gonna make now at the end where I'm gonna talk you through what I'm doing and the process I'm actually using, right? But just before I get to that, right, when you're done, there's two models you can use here, right? You can use the punishment model or you can use the performance model.
Speaker 1:So the punishment model is where most people are and it's what most people are using. It's the, I need to earn my food, so I'm gonna basically run for miles so I can have more calories. I'm gonna restrict bad foods because they're the devil and it's not good for me, right? So I'm gonna cut all them out. And in fact, I'm gonna restrict just food in general because the less the better, I get better results.
Speaker 1:I'm going to do loads of cardio. I'm going to do loads of exercise. I'm going to do everything. I'm going to walk like 20,000 steps a day. Just literally, I'm going to do everything I need to do to punish my body until I get in good shape.
Speaker 1:That's the punishment model. And that's where most people try and obviously break down after about a week. 75 hard. I'm gonna bash that one more time this year. Okay, that's the punishment model.
Speaker 1:Now let's talk about the performance model. So the performance model is basically where you eat to fuel your performance, not just in the gym, but also in work, day to day, having more energy, being able to do things you want to do, hobbies, everything else. So you eat for that. So that comes with just eating the right food, but also the right quantity of food and not cutting out foods. We train for optimality within your lifestyle.
Speaker 1:So this means that we train with more intention, but for less time. But it's good sessions and they're fueled by your nutrition as well. It's really important. We recover well. So it's not just about training really hard and eating less, it's about getting the recovery right.
Speaker 1:So taking downtime, spending time with your family, getting to sleep, having rest recovery weeks. Do you know what, hydrating yourself, doing things that actually help you to recover because there's not been training really hard if you're not gonna recover because your body has to adapt, otherwise just burning yourself out. And then the last thing with the performance model is flexibility that complements your life. It has to, Because if it's taken over in your life, that thing becomes a stress. Because you can imagine if your partner, like if you're away all the time at the gym, if you're telling your partner, can't eat that because it wasn't tracked there, you know, we have to cut out this and that.
Speaker 1:Imagine the strain that puts on your relationship. Imagine the extra stress that puts on you to have to almost disassociate with the people around you because you're on a plan. Now I can't go for a few drinks because I'm on a plan. No, I can't go on a trip because I'm on a plan. I can't eat that, I'm gonna plan.
Speaker 1:So you can imagine how isolating that is for you, which then, again, it creates a punishment mindset where you need to do this to get to the end point. But the end point never comes because even if you've got that great body at the end of it, where do you go from there? Okay, so let's finish this off, guys. I said I would tell you at the end what I'm currently doing. This is, for me, the best period of my life in terms of my health and fitness, I promise you that.
Speaker 1:I feel like I've got so many of my pillars in a good place. But I had to go through all them things to learn what that meant. So you probably saw that I went through a bit of a diet before Christmas just to cut a bit of body fat. But for me, I always range within a body fat range. And I don't veer too much of it.
Speaker 1:But the beauty of that is you can live a flexible life, but you're never too far away from where you want to be in terms of your peak condition. So for me now, when it comes to summer, I might do a small bit of a tidy update just to get a little bit, you know, I need to, but I probably won't because I'm in and around where I need to be anyway, right? So what it looks like for me in terms of performance, because my main priority now is functionality and performance, not just in fitness and how I look, but also in terms of work, in terms of the other goals I had as well, Okay? So exactly what I'm doing at the moment, right? I'm eating loads.
Speaker 1:I'm eating loads. And people have said this to me. They've seen my posts and my stories and even clients have said it to me. I posted them in one of our channels groups. It's like, how are you eating so much food?
Speaker 1:It's like, I'm eating so much food because I'm eating the right types of foods. So it might look like there's loads of volume, but they're healthy foods which are filling, which means I don't overeat on loads of other things as well. But there's also flexibility in that as well, which I'll talk about in a second. So I'm eating loads of food, but there's a high quality with that as well. I'm thinking of myself as an athlete and it's fueling performance as opposed to, no, I need to go low calorie with everything, because again, that's just restrictive.
Speaker 1:Second thing, training with intention and energy, but for less time. I probably don't spend more than forty five minutes in the gym anymore. And I probably go to the gym four or five times a week, but I could get away with less. I go sometimes because I love my head and I enjoy it. But sometimes I only go to do a recovery session.
Speaker 1:I'll spread out my sessions throughout the week so I'll be there for less time the other sessions. But again, gym is very accessible to me, and I actually enjoy how it creates a routine for me every day. So I don't need to go there from a physical point of view, right? But I'm training less in terms of time than I used to. I used to do sessions that were like an hour, ten minutes, an hour, twenty minutes, and I could be doing five, six sessions a week.
Speaker 1:And I did that over COVID. I was doing six sessions. There was a time over COVID where I was doing two a day sessions. Now, it was over COVID, obviously there's more time and everything, but I was doing that. But now it's literally training less with more intent, more energy, because I'm fueling myself as well.
Speaker 1:Just last point on that, quickly, I finish up after this. Most people are in the gym for hours when they start to plan, but they don't actually do anything. Like they're on their phone or they're going through the motions, they're not putting intention into their sessions. So they're there for hours, but they're not doing anything. And you don't get the results from that.
Speaker 1:And not only is that not great because you're not getting results, but it's also taking away time from you and your family or other things that you could be doing. So for most people, don't have a lot of time. So don't be doing long, long sessions that you don't have to be doing and then just procrastinating inside there. So breaking it down. If you got to the gym, for most people, three times a week is loads for forty five, fifty minutes.
Speaker 1:Absolutely loads. So you can get four fantastic as well. So that's the trend, literally intention with energy because I'm feeling it. Third thing, recovery in downtime. So we're doing a lot of that at the moment, being able to take some wholesome time away, going for walks, taking in scenery, actually having downtime over weekends, and not constantly being under stress.
Speaker 1:Now, know everyone's situation is different. It depends on your family life and kids and stuff like that. But it is really important that you are taking at least some downtime. I work a lot on that with my clients in terms of where in the week you'll get back to yourself a little bit and where can you get a bit of time back to yourself. Okay, so very, very last thing, and this is probably where most people struggle, it's flexibility within the approach you're using.
Speaker 1:So I'm not trying to lose weight at the moment, I'm not trying to gain weight as well. I'm just kind of just maintaining around where I am. But a lot of people struggle because when they get a bit of flexibility, or you take a little bit of a rope, you take it too far and end up sabotaging results. And this is where I was before. Trust me, I've done this so many times.
Speaker 1:It's like, oh, I'm gaining, so I can eat that. It doesn't matter if I go drinking this weekend because I'm not dieting at the moment. But it's really important, again, during these periods, give yourself flexibility. Like I eat out once, maybe sometimes twice a week, have few drinks every so often. I'm eating foods I like, high calories.
Speaker 1:I'm fitting in nice foods every day, chocolate, sort of that. But it's within a structure and a bit of routine as well. And most people don't find that, especially if you're not good at this. I've done this for years and years and years. If you're not good at this yet, you can't wing it.
Speaker 1:You can't. You can't, or from dieting and really good habits, lose weight, and then I'm just going to wing it now. You're going to just put the weight back on. You need to find a structural routine, especially if you're someone who has other priorities and you are busy and time poor. You have to find structure and there has to be some rules.
Speaker 1:Of course, flexibility is great, but there has to be some rules within that. So I will track a little bit, not just totally give up my tracking, especially over the last few months because I've been trying to hold a lower kind of body fat percentage. So I'll track a little bit. I will eat out maybe once a week, but I won't be eating out every day. I will fit in some chocolate every day, but it won't be more than maybe two or 300 calories worth of them type of food.
Speaker 1:So there is rules within what I'm doing as well. So that's it guys, basically, four of them things are, is how I set it up. And I'm maintaining, energy is high, feeling good, and I'm only ever maybe four weeks away from my condition. That's the beauty of it, because I'm not going to leave it just slowly sabotage because that's what I usually always do in the past. Right, guys, I hope the session has helped you.
Speaker 1:I know it's probably going down a bit longer than I actually would like, but I think it was an important session. And I feel like it hopefully will relate to a lot of the struggles that you're having and have had, and it will have given you something to think about in terms of the strategy you're using going forward and especially the whole thing of. Not separating your body changes from your lifestyle. It has to become one. That is the most important thing I'd say today, not doing extremes and being on off time.
Speaker 1:Guys, have an interesting week. And and we'll chat you next week. 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.
Speaker 1:See you in the next one.