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Welcome to The Figuring It Out Podcast.
At 22, I took the plunge to go on the entrepreneurial journey and start a fitness business, 7 years later I’d been the nutritionist for 2 elite sports clubs and private coach to some of the worlds best sportsmen and women.
Now it’s my mission to show fitness coaches how you can put yourself in a league of their own, become the go to coach, and finally eliminate the self-doubt and imposter syndrome that's holding you back from building the business of your dreams.
This podcast will help you figure out how to thrive and conquer the fear that comes with the lonely entrepreneurial journey.
If fear is the only thing stopping us from achieving our dreams and we only fear what we don't understand, then the antidote to fear is knowledge. All we have to do is find out who has the knowledge that we need to conquer our fears and achieve our entrepreneurial dreams. My name is Callum Walker, and welcome to the podcast that will help you figure it out and conquer this lonely entrepreneurial journey. I really do believe that us as personal trainers have really been let down by the industry. Because would we all agree your client comes to you expecting you to know what they should be eating?
Callum:Would we agree? When a client comes and they comes for fat loss, they expect like, hey, my PT knows exactly what to eat. Problem, where did you get that information from? I spent £40,000 on a master's degree to go and do it. But you think about it, where of his personal trainers can you get the nutritional information that you need to serve your clients?
Callum:Would we all agree when it comes to fat loss, what is the one thing that actually determines whether they get a result or not? Food, yeah? You can have people who lose weight without exercise, would we agree? It's not the training, it's not the training that drives fat loss. But where can you get this information from?
Callum:The only place really is the internet. And that is such a minefield. You have people down this end of the spectrum, so you have James Smith who says that life's problems are basically solved by a calorie deficit, but then you have the other side, which is Paul Saladino saying that look at a carb and your client's gonna die. Not only like where am I gonna get this information from, but then also it's conflicting as hell. So of course you then got that paralysis, because I'm like, I don't know what to talk about.
Callum:And also the one thing with the nutrition industry which is disgusting, I go and put up a simple reel on Instagram saying, here's three things that you can do to improve your ability to lose weight, and here's three things that you can eat. Then some prick goes and takes a screenshot of it or a reel clip and then goes, look at what a dickhead this bloke is, he doesn't know any of his stuff. Anyone get a little bit scared about putting out their stuff on social media? Why? This criticism.
Callum:But the thing is that like, where can you get this information from? You can't get it from the internet because you don't know what to trust. So I really wanna make sure that I can kind of serve as the person that can cut through the noise on this is the only stuff you need to learn, and just go deep on mastering this. If there is one thing I can say to you all over the next ten, fifteen, twenty years, just go deep into mastering this one nutrition framework that I'm going to share with you today. Please.
Callum:Excellent. Cool. So why was that causing me an issue? I have got some slides, but I was saying to Francie that I'm probably gonna bin them off at some point, because I'm ADHD as fuck, and I'm like, right, I need to just write. We got a pen here, because I don't think the biro's gonna cut it.
Callum:Alright, can anyone see that? Cool. So yes, so why was nutrition a problem for me? Well, the thing is, if I look at my clients, I had clients in two camps, okay? So if I kinda draw my clients as a graph.
Callum:So if I look at my clients, I kinda had clients in two camps. I have 50% of my clients here who I just give a calorie deficit, I give them a calorie target, protein goal, And do you know what happened? They'd follow it and they'd get results.
Callum:I thought brilliant, excellent.
Callum:I'd give them a calorie goal, I'd give them a protein target, and they would lose weight perfectly fine. But these weren't the guys that were causing me the issues. The guys that were causing me the issues were in the other 50%. Now I did have 10% who were just like a waste of time. Anyone got a client who you're like, yeah, I'm doing everything that you're telling me to do, but I'm like, right, I saw you in the bar on Friday.
Callum:Anyone got one of those? Yeah? So those are the people you gotta be careful of because they can be the real energy vampires. They can suck the life out of you. So you have to be careful at seeing those.
Callum:But there is another set of people who are in the 40%. These were the guys that were stopping me from being able to do what needed to be done. Because they'd come to me and they'd be like, I've tried everything. I've been to Slimming World, I've been to Weight Watchers, I've had three PTs, I even saw a nutritionist. And personally I feel that there's something wrong with me.
Callum:And I've come along and I'm like, hey, I have the solution, I can help you. So I start working with them, I give them calorie goal, protein target, and things start to kinda happen but then there comes a point where the progress slows. The progress slows. I check-in with them on a Monday and I'm like, hey, how's everything going? And they're like, it's just not quite happening for me.
Callum:So then I'm like, okay, right, not a problem. Go to the next week, still haven't lost any weight. And that continues. And this started to cause me a problem because these guys, I genuinely believed were following what I was telling them to do. On paper, on my fitness pal, I'd look at it and I'm like, you're in a deficit, you should be losing weight.
Callum:Because the only thing I had been taught that when it came to fat loss, the only thing you have to focus on is a calorie deficit. Anyone relate to this here? Okay. I would go, I don't understand why you're not losing weight. Now, all I was taught was that weight loss is just about a calorie deficit.
Callum:And the thing is that if I go, I look at this on social media a lot, and I see a lot of coaches saying like, if you're not losing weight, it's because you're not in a calorie deficit. That's the same as me saying, if your business isn't growing, that's because you have more money going out than coming in. Really helpful, thank you very much Callum. I really know what to do with that information. But all I'd been taught was that weight loss was just about getting my clients in a calorie deficit.
Callum:So I had this client, let's say they're burning 2,500 kcals per day, okay? So what I do is I go and give them a 1,500 kcal way of eating, okay? So that gives me a deficit of a thousand calories. Everyone agree? Cool.
Callum:Now, this person had been in a deficit for a while, but the only thing I was taught was basically when it came to weight loss, the goal was about making this deficit as big as possible in a way that my client could sustain and without killing them. Would we agree? Just make that deficit as big as possible in a way that isn't gonna screw them over. Problem I had was that Jim hadn't lost weight for about four weeks now. And there's only so many times you can say, don't trust the scales, Jim, you know, they're gonna fluctuate, go up and down.
Callum:Maybe it's just like water weight. Did you have a bigger meal last night? Have you had any salt? Really kinda scratching at the floors here going like, did you go to a toilet a little bit bigger this week than last week? Anyone been there?
Callum:Kinda like running out of excuses here, because when my client isn't losing weight, based on get them in a calorie deficit, I only have two options. Which is one, increase their overall expenditure. Now Jim's already training two to three times a week. He's already doing seven to 10,000 steps a day. He's also working incredibly busy office job.
Callum:He's got seven kids, and he came to me and signed up with me off the back of me saying, I'm going to put something together for you that is going to work with your lifestyle. So, I can't tell him, let's go and move more Jim. Like He's gonna think of me as a one trick pony. It's Callum's only solution to weight loss, just move more. No shit, Sherlock, just go on the internet.
Callum:So I can't up his expenditure, can I? No. So what's my other option? Drop his calories. Now the thing is I kinda lied to you here by saying 1,500 calories because I'd already dropped his calories to a level that I hope nobody else finds out about.
Callum:Okay, it was definitely less than 50 We've all done it, And then we've all slagged the coaches who put their clients on 1,200 calories as well. But I also didn't wanna be that coach who was known as, oh, he only gets results because he starves his clients. But I didn't wanna be known as that person. And Jim's already moaning at me saying he's so hungry that if I drop his calories in low, he's gonna eat me. But that wasn't the real problem that that caused.
Callum:I was out of options, Jim's paid me for a result he's not getting. Where does your mind go to? He's gonna leave me. Why would you continue to pay me for a result you're not getting? Why would you continue paying me £250 a month for nothing?
Callum:So not only for me, and this is why I'm so hot on the retention side of things. So only for me was that a problem, that client leaves me, now I've gotta get back on the content treadmill. The hardest thing to do is to sign a new person up, would we all agree? It's not just how hard it is, it's the energy it takes out of you. I've now gotta go on that treadmill, hope that someone's come in, go through the hopeless like, almost like journey, and then muster up the call to go and sign this one person up just to fill the holes of the client that's just left me.
Callum:No wonder I felt like I was never making progress in my business, because I wasn't. I was trying to fill up the bathtub without putting the plug in. So I never felt like I was making progress. So that feeling of, you know, I'm working so hard, I felt like a race car that was on like full throttle but the brakes were on. Like I was putting all of this time, energy, and effort in, and just getting nowhere, and then I couldn't help but start comparing myself to everyone else who was making all of this money.
Callum:I'm like, I suck. But the bigger was me was this person paid me for a result, I'm supposed to be the expert in this situation, they're not getting that result, I don't know why. I couldn't help but take that as a personal reflection of how good I was as a coach. So when it came to me then having to go and sign someone up, how could I be sold on what I was selling? So I'd go onto a sales call with someone, and I'm there like promising the world to them like, yeah, you're gonna get an amazing result, but in the back of my mind I'm like, it's actually kind of fiftyfifty whether you're gonna get a result or not.
Callum:Anyone relate? The one thing I learned about sales was sales is simply just the transference of certainty that I can get you the result from my head into yours. I sucked at sales but also I wanted to avoid sales conversations because I didn't believe in what I was selling. I knew what I needed to do to go and grow my business. I knew I needed to post more content, but I wouldn't do it because I was absolutely petrified of if I put myself out there, take these opportunities, the world is then going to find me out for the fraud that I thought that I was.
Callum:Because I can't deliver, because I wasn't delivering.
Callum:Does this make sense? So I wouldn't
Callum:put the content out there because I didn't believe in myself. If I had the opportunities, I wasn't good enough to go and do it. Do you know why? Because I wasn't good enough to do it. Because based on this, I wasn't good enough for the opportunity.
Callum:So I needed to level myself up. Anyone heard of the phrase impostor syndrome before? That's what I was hit with. Huge impostor syndrome. The people who got the results, which was kinda out of genetic chance in terms of like I just give them a calorie goal and a protein target, like they would refer me and then I would do absolutely everything to duck making that phone call or signing that person up, purely out of my own lack of self confidence because I didn't believe in what I was selling.
Callum:Now, like I mentioned, if you have a rock in your shoe causing you pain, you can do one of two things. One, I can take paracetamol to numb the pain, or two, take the rock out. Now, I was procrastinating like hell. But I learned this through a book called Who Not How by a guy called Doctor Benjamin Hardy. And he said there's wisdom in procrastination.
Callum:So I was procrastinating. I knew what I needed to do, but I wouldn't go and do it. I was procrastinating like hell on putting myself out there and I could do one of two things. One, I could kick myself and be like, oh I'm a bag of shit. I'm not very good.
Callum:I'm not an action taker. I'm never gonna go and do it. Or I can ask myself the question, why am I procrastinating? Why am I not putting myself out there? And the reason I wasn't putting myself out there was because half of my clients weren't getting a result.
Callum:And I learned, would anyone like to know the cure to impostor syndrome? Anyone like to know? You don't seem very excited about it. Yeah or no? Okay, cool.
Callum:So, I learnt it from a guy called Bruce Wayne. Anyone heard of Bruce Wayne before? Yeah, sorry, what is he also known as? Batman. Now if you know me personally, if you work with me, I am the ultimate comic book like fiend.
Callum:Okay, Now, I discovered the secret to overcoming impostor syndrome in a scene in Batman Begins. So Bruce Wayne Batman is sat in a restaurant, and he's opposite the bad guy called Falcone. Falcone whips out a gun and goes, mister Wayne, you only fear what you don't understand. That hit me like a ton of bricks. Because then I go, right, what is the one thing that is stopping me from putting out there?
Callum:What is the one thing that is stopping me from growing my business? Doing what I need to do, fear. But if I only fear what I don't understand, that then means the antidote to fear is understanding and knowledge. Does that make sense? Yes.
Callum:So if I'm scared of something I can do one of two things. I can succumb to it and go, I'm a bag of shit. Or I can go, right, okay, can I overcome this hurdle? And I do that through the acquisition of the knowledge as to why I suck at the moment. Does that make sense?
Callum:So remember, there is always a solution to the problem you're currently experiencing. So for me, how am for time by the way? Have I really kind of rattled on here? How much longer have I got, any ideas? Pardon?
Callum:Twenty minutes left. What, brilliant. Or twenty minutes gone? Twenty minutes left. Right, ADHD superpower, we go fast.
Callum:Right, okay, so I went down this rabbit hole of going like, right, why are my clients not making progress? Now the only tool I had been given was a calorie deficit. What had I been given? The wrong strategy. I didn't have the right strategy to overcome it.
Callum:So I go right, how can I get a better strategy? This strategy has taken me to this level. I've seen business and also do you know what, I've seen life very much similar to a video game. Anyone played Mario before? So the way I kinda see life and business is like Mario, yeah, you don't go to the first level and fight Bowser, which I found out is a turtle.
Callum:I didn't realize Bowser was a turtle. But first level I don't go and fight Bowser. Why do I not fight Bowser? Because I'm not capable of fighting Bowser yet. I've gotta fight these weird little waddling turtles that like Martin Rooney's penguins, and I gotta fight them first.
Callum:I gotta learn how to do that. But if I only operate with the strategy of fighting little kind of turtle penguins, then I'm only ever going to be a good enough person who is capable of fighting little turtle penguins. I've gotta become the person who is capable of defeating Bowser. So how do I do that? Classic Tony Robbins.
Callum:If you wanna go do something, find someone who's done what you wanna do, learn what they did, do it. Important part there, do it. Does this make sense? So I go right, okay, I need to figure out why my clients aren't making progress, because otherwise I'm going to stay where I am for the rest of my business career, and I'm not interested in that. So I went back into the nutritional archives, and the thing that I did get out of my Master's Degree in Performance Nutrition was, it wasn't a normal Master's Degree.
Callum:Most Master's Degrees, you just go on a course, learn a load of shit, and then it's useless stuff. Whereas what I was taught was, I did something called a Master's of Research, where I was actually taught on how to research and how to find out the answer. So if I've got two papers, one says that orange juice cures cancer, one says that orange juice gives you cancer, what I was taught to do is to figure out which one is best to actually go down the hole of. So I was like, right, I'm gonna figure out where this whole thing comes from. So I looked at where does this calorie deficit model come from?
Callum:And I went back to the nineteen fifty's where there was a study, it was called the Minnesota Starvation Experiment. And basically what they did was that they got guys and they stuck them on 1,600 calories a day. They stuck them on 1,600 calories a day, which isn't really that low, yeah, I've definitely had client some lower than that. Now, they did that for six months. Now would we also agree that one pound of body fat is the equivalent of three and a half thousand calories?
Callum:Everyone agree, yeah, you all heard that? Cool. So what these guys did was they estimated how much weight their client should lose off the back of this equation. So if they're on 1,600 calories over six months, so for example, if my client was eating, was in a deficit of 500 calories a day for seven days, that means that over a week they're in a deficit of three and a half thousand calories, that's one pound a week. Everyone get that?
Callum:So using that equation, they estimated how much weight these guys should lose. And they lost 30, they should have lost 32 kilos over those six months. And this is what's really interesting. Question to you all here, are you interested in getting good results with your clients, or excellent results for your clients? Excellent results.
Callum:Yeah, finally best, yeah. There are two really interesting findings here, which is what will allow you to get from average results to excellent results. More importantly, results your client can't get from anyone else. Found two findings. First of all, they should've lost 32 kilos.
Callum:They only actually lost 16.8 kilos. They only actually lost half of the weight that they should have lost during that time. And secondly, forty five percent of the weight that was lost actually came from lean body mass. So if we actually look at the quality of weight that was lost just by sticking them on a standard calorie deficit, yeah they lost 16.8 kilos, but half of it came from their bicep. That's not very good, is it?
Callum:Does this make sense? Yes. Now yes, I'm not one of these people who says that weight loss isn't about calorie deficit. Yeah? Like I am incredibly fascinated by ketogenic diets.
Callum:Now ketogenic diet puts someone in optimal state to burn fat more than any other diet. Anyone tells you any other way, like they just don't know what they're talking about. But I could stick someone on a ketogenic diet, but if they're not in a calorie deficit, yes they will be burning fat, but they'll be burning the fat that they're eating as opposed to the fat they've got stored. So yes, in order to optimize your ability to burn fat, you have to be in a calorie deficit. But it does not mean we get our clients eating low calorie foods.
Callum:Does that make sense? The way you create the deficit determines the quality of weight that is lost. Classic, yeah, just protein target and eat your squares bars and whatever, that ain't good enough. Yes, they're in a deficit, but 45% of the weight's gonna come from lean body mass. Now, I can also hear people on social media saying, well, if they're eating the protein, they're not gonna lose lean body mass.
Callum:Yeah, that is important. There's also contributing factors with that. Is this making sense so far, guys? Yeah? Cool.
Callum:So yes, we wanna get our clients That is dangerous. One sheet of paper. Right, yes, we've gotta get our clients in a calorie deficit to optimize their ability to lose weight, but we do not do it getting them eating low calorie foods, Okay? Because if we want to provide optimal results, there's three key things we need to nail. Number one, I need to ensure my client is burning fat.
Callum:Just because you are in a deficit does not mean 100% of that energy is going to come from fat. If my client is in a deficit of a thousand calories, that just means my body has to find an extra 1,000 calories to carry out the demands of the day. So I come back to this here, where? If my client is burning 2,500 calories, yeah, they're eating 1,500 calories, they're in a deficit of a thousand. What that means is based on the demands of the day, my body will require 2,500 calories worth of energy.
Callum:I've only given it 1,500 calories worth of energy, which means that's not enough to carry out the demands of the day. Body's gotta find it from somewhere else. It gets this from the outside world, but I've gotta find this from the inside. Where does the body find this thousand calories from? Someone shout it out.
Callum:Fat? Potentially. Just because someone is in a deficit does not mean 100% of this energy is going to come from fat. It comes from your stores, stored energy. Does this make sense?
Callum:So, there's a big argument in the nutrition community at the moment. Is it about calories or is it about hormones? It's about the two together. Because key reason these guys lost weight but the majority of it came from, about 45 of it came from lean body mass was because they were doing it while excessively stimulating the hormone insulin. Anyone heard of insulin before?
Callum:If you have type two diabetic clients, then you'll understand that they use that. Now insulin's got loads of jobs, but specifically one of the main jobs of insulin is that when you stimulate insulin, you actually decrease your ability to burn fat. So you can see insulin as kind of like the door to your fat reserves. You stimulate it, you shut the door. You bring insulin down, you open the door.
Callum:Is this making sense? Now the thing that never made sense to me was that I was told basically when it came to getting my clients to lose weight, okay, I just needed to get them eating a calorie deficit. And the way that I did that was by dropping their fat content, eating low fat stuff. Everyone agree? Because basically for every gram of carb, how many calories do I get for a gram of carb?
Callum:Four. How many calories do I get for a gram of protein? How about fat? Nine. Cool.
Callum:So if my goal is basically to make this number as big as possible, yeah, I wanna do that by making this number as low as possible but by giving them as much food as possible to keep them happy. Everyone agree? So you can see why I would want to do it by eating low fat foods. Because I could eat a 100 grams of protein and a 100 grams of carbs and still not be provided with the same number of calories as if I ate a 100 grams of fat. Would everyone agree?
Callum:I get 800 calories then. So you can see, fat is expensive. No wonder it's like, hey, just cut the fat off the bacon, eat low fat. Anyone had a low fat cheese before? It's like, you know, rubber at school, ugh.
Callum:And then they use that Fry Light, which is like fucking saliva in a pan. I'm like, please do not use that. Now, the point I'm coming at here is you can see the appeal as to why I would go low fat. Everyone make sense?
Callum:Yeah? But the
Callum:thing that never made sense to me was that carbohydrates stimulate the hormone insulin. So if insulin shuts the door to my fat reserves, and I wanna keep insulin down, and I wanna burn fat, why would I get my clients eating the food that stimulates the hormone that stops them from burning fat?
Callum:Is that pretty dumb?
Callum:Does that make sense? So, if we kinda look at insulin and what's happening here, I go to this, the problem was these guys were in a calorie deficit but they were doing it while stimulating the hormone which was impairing their ability to burn fat. Now what's important, which comes to why I was having some clients on a calorie deficit, eating low fat, high carb and getting results, and others on the same calorie deficit, same macro split not getting results is because this is where people go wrong with insulin. The extent to which you stimulate insulin determines the extent to which the door to your fat reserves is is shut. So we basically have a spectrum of our ability to lose weight.
Callum:Me and Lenny could eat the same sandwich. Lenny's insulin goes up this amount, mine goes through the roof. Okay? So Lenny eats the sandwich, insulin goes up, comes down. Door shuts, opens back up again.
Callum:Me, I look at the sandwich, insulin goes through the roof, door shuts, stays shut. So those clients in my fifty percent, they were here, down this end of the spectrum who were high insulin stimulators, but I was treating them like low insulin stimulators. Does that make sense? So what I needed to discover was like, okay, well how do I help these guys? Because if I'm already doing something that works, don't change it, make it better.
Callum:So by mastering what I'm gonna go through here in my next twenty five minutes that I've got left, Tell what, you let me down big time. We were in the car yesterday and his talk kept getting longer and longer. He was like, yeah, you know, gonna be speaking for an hour and a half. Then we'd like get further down the road. I think it was quite funny, I didn't realize Giant's Causeway was as far away as you did.
Callum:He goes, oh, yeah, you know, an hour and forty. We then got to like three hours. Now I'm not here tomorrow because I'm at a wedding, I so can't see his talks. Like you should still be here, the fact that I'm on time is a disgrace. So anyway, I've forgotten what I was saying here.
Callum:So yeah, so I had to figure out where my client fitted in this spectrum, and I'm gonna show you how. Would that be useful for you? Yeah. Yeah? If you can identify where your client is on this spectrum, and then the only five things that you need to know from a nutritional point of view to optimize their ability to burn fat, would that be something you are interested in, yeah?
Callum:Yeah. Cool. And also I've got a free training that you can go through, because I knew that I wouldn't stick to time, and it goes deeper into using this, and you're gonna all have access to that. And I have another little gift for you as well. Is that cool, yeah?
Callum:Awesome. Right, so when it comes to optimal fat loss, there's three key things we need to know. Number one, I need to ensure my client is burning fat. Remember, just because they're in a calorie deficit does not mean 100% of their energy is gonna come from fat, okay? If they are excessively stimulating insulin, carbohydrate isn't the only way to do that, they are not going to be burning fat.
Callum:Everyone agree? Cool. Second one, these are my three pillars. Second pillar, I also need to make sure that my client can build and maintain lean muscle tissue. Like I said, that these results are not important, and they're not particularly good if half of it's coming from the bicep.
Callum:So I also need to make sure that I have strategies in place to ensure that I'm building and maintaining lean muscle tissue. Third one is the most important one. Because the key thing we want is long term lasting sustainable results for our clients. Would we agree? Yes.
Callum:The third one, which is what no one ever considers, I also need to make sure that I can satisfy and suppress their appetite. I had a coach come to me once and he said, I just thought that hunger was a side effect of a calorie deficit. I said, yes, if we do it wrong. Our goal is not to provide our clients with low calorie foods, it's to provide our clients with foods that satisfy their appetite so they create a deficit unintentionally. Okay, write that one down.
Callum:Because if I can get a client in a deficit automatically because they're not hungry, that's kinda good, isn't it? Because they're not going to have cravings. Again, key thing with cravings, I come back to if you've got a rock in your shoe causing you pain you can do one of two things, take paracetamol or numb the pain. What I used to do before I learned this was go, just take your mind off it, drink more water, let's figure out like a substitute. Whereas I was just getting them to take paracetamol.
Callum:The key thing was actually just take the rock out. Best way to beat a craving, make sure the craving isn't there in the first place. Have you got a client who isn't losing weight right now and you have absolutely no idea why? And maybe you're worrying that if nothing changes they could drop off at any moment? Well, I've got a free nutrition masterclass for you where I reveal the secret nutrition strategy that guarantees that that stuck client loses two to four pounds in the next seven days without lowering their calories, upping their cardio, or even tracking macros.
Callum:Click the link in the description to get access to the free elite nutrition secrets masterclass and get your client moving in the right direction, stopping them dropping off today.