Dynamic Dialogue with Danny Matranga - 313: He Lost 100+ Pounds in a Year (Here's How W. Dave Danna)

Episode Date: August 17, 2023

I really recommend keeping up with Dave on Twitter. His journey is so inspiring and quite uplifting. He keeps it super real. You will also like his Instagram.  Help the show (and enter for a chance to win some swag) by leaving a review on:  - APPLE PODCASTS - SPOTIFYTrain with Danny on His Training App HEREOUR PARTNERS:Vivo Barefoot: Grab my favorite training and lifestyle shoe HERE! Use the code DANNY10 to save 10%  Ice Barrel: The best cold water immersion and recovery solution on the market HERE! Use the CODE: Danny to save $125! SISU Sauna: The best build it yourself outdoor home sauna on the market. Save hundreds of dollars by clicking HERE! (CODE: DANNYMATRANGA)Legion Supplements (protein, creatine, + more!), Shop (DANNY) HERE!Get Your FREE LMNT Electrolytes HERE!RESOURCES/COACHING:  Train with Danny on His Training App HEREI am all about education and that is not limited to this podcast! Feel free to grab a FREE guide (Nutrition, Training, Macros, Etc!) HERE! Interested in Working With Coach Danny and His One-On-One Coaching Team? Click HERE!Want Coach Danny to Fix Your S*** (training, nutrition, lifestyle, etc) fill the form HERE for a chance to have your current approach reviewed live on the show. Want To Have YOUR Question Answered On an Upcoming Episode of DYNAMIC DIALOGUE? You Can Submit It HERE!Want to Support The Podcast AND Get in Better Shape? Grab a Program HERE!----SOCIAL LINKS:Follow Coach Danny on YOUTUBEFollow Coach Danny on INSTAGRAMFollow Coach Danny on TwitterFollow Coach Danny on FacebookGet More In-Depth Articles Written By Yours’ Truly HERE! Sign up for the trainer mentorship HERESupport the Show.

Hey, everybody, welcome into another episode of the Dynamic Dialogue podcast. As always, I'm your host, Danny Matranga. And in this episode, I'm sitting down with Dave Dana. Dave has lost 125 pounds in a little over a year, and he has the ambitious goal of losing 200 pounds in 24 months. Dave started his journey at north of 400 pounds and has found some really sustainable, action-based things that he's done that have helped him lose, on average, 10 pounds per month. He's tried every diet. He's tried every workout routine. And in addition to this really remarkable weight loss goal, he's managed to excel as a property investor in his field of work, which would be accounting. And he's in the process of getting married.

So a lot of plates spinning and some really, really quite remarkable results. And I found this interview to be really insightful as a coach, as a trainer, because after 10 years of really trying to wind down to the habits, the behaviors that can really help with sustainable weight loss, Dave and I have philosophically ended up in a very similar place. So I think between him and myself, between his journey and my expertise, you will learn a lot about some of the habits, tools, behaviors, as well as mindset shifts that can help you, your client, and your family members live a healthier life. Enjoy the episode. This podcast wouldn't be possible if it wasn't thanks to support from our awesome partners, one of whom is Vivo Barefoot. Vivo makes the best barefoot training shoe on the market. For years,

I stayed away from barefoot training shoes, despite knowing the benefit of low cushion, wide toe box shoes for the health of our feet, the intrinsic musculature that helps support everything that we do. I stayed away from these shoes because I thought they were ugly. But that was until, of course, Vivo started producing some absolutely gorgeous barefoot training shoes. These are low cushion, lightweight, breathable trainers that have a ton of bend, a ton of flex, low cushioning to provide for optimal stimulation of the proprioceptors at the bottom of your foot. Fun fact, 70% of the proprioceptive cells in your body, the cells that tell your body where it is in space to help you be coordinated, to help you create movement, balance, stability, all of these things, they're located on the bottom of your foot fighting to make contact with some kind of surface

so they can get the tactile feedback they need to help you optimize and coordinate movement. That's why when you're barefoot, you probably feel more stable and more connected to the ground. And I have never found a shoe that feels better to train in, not just train my clients and stand around in for eight hours a day, but literally train in. Tons of fantastic mobility out of my toe box, the ability to spread my toes, all in one beautiful climate friendly package. I'm a huge fan of the Primus knit lights. I have them in obsidian. I have them in bright white, and I absolutely love this shoe. I have been raving about it for three or four weeks straight. I've never had a better training shoe in my life. You simply can't beat these.

They feel great. They look great. My fiance even said, wow, those shoes, and I quote, make it look like you know what you are doing, which that's all I need to hear. Not sure exactly what that means, but I'm guessing it means good things. All the trainers and coaches at my studio said they make my calves look great. And I think this is because when you're wearing a barefoot shoe, you're using more of the intrinsic muscle of your foot and ankle complex that is so imperative for movement. Trust me when I say you've never had a better pair of training shoes than you will when you try Vivo barefoot. You can't beat these. And Vivo is

offering listeners of this podcast a special 10% off order by using the code DANNY10 on VivoBarefoot.com. You can just scroll down to the show notes and grab a pair. But these shoes are fantastic. They're beautiful. They train incredibly well. They're durable. And I promise they'll be the best pair of shoes you've ever had in the gym. Again, that's vivo barefoot.com and check out using the promo code Danny 10 to save 10% on the best pair of shoes you've ever owned. Dave, how are you doing today, man? Thanks for coming on. I'm doing well. Thank you for having me. It's my pleasure being here. I'm glad we're getting a chance to talk.

For anybody who's not familiar with fitness Twitter, and Dave's pretty big across all of social media, but on fitness Twitter, Dave's weight loss journey has really gotten a huge amount of traction because it's one of the more impressive ones that I've seen. I've been doing fitness professionally for a decade and it's very rare to see anybody lose a hundred pounds, but let alone to lose a hundred pounds on like a pretty consistent basis for a while. It seems like every time I check my phone, you would be losing weight. You seem very diligent in the gym. There's so many things that you've done that when I look at it from the outside in, I'm like, this is really the kind of dedication and consistency that people need. So I'm stoked we're getting a chance to

chat today and unpack what's helped make you so successful, bro. I think it's going to really be helpful for people. I appreciate that. Thank you. It's been quite a wild 14 months at this point. Yeah. So 14 months in, how many pounds down? What was the starting weight? So I'm 118 pounds down. I weigh myself every Wednesday. So we'll have a weigh-in tomorrow. And I started this journey back in June of 2022. And one of the reasons I initially started it was because I jumped on my scale and it gave me an error message. And I just moved into this house. So I assumed that we'd get broken the move. You know, it's some cheap Amazon thing. I'll buy a new one.

And then that night when I was going to sleep, I realized I thought to myself, I wonder if it has a maximum weight. So I checked the next morning and the maximum weight was 400. So the other I already ordered the other one, which is the scale I use now. It had a weight limit of 402. So for the one, I already ordered the other one, which is the scale I use now. It had a weight limit of 402. So for the first four weeks for June, I just got an error message over and over again. That's one of the reasons I started this. And then on June 29th of 2022, I got 399.9, which doesn't seem like a victory to most people, but it was a pretty big victory to me. And so that I take that as my starting weight because that's the first number I saw on the scale. So I'm down to 282 as of last week. Wow. That's one of the cooler

scale stories that I have actually ever heard. I love that because in what I do, I see people getting frequently discouraged by occasional transient bumps in their weight. I like that you're, you're, so you're taking weight just once weekly. That works for you. Yeah. I want, the scale is very important, but I don't want to get addicted to it. And one of the big things I'm trying to do is incorporate some mental health things too. And I just, I think if I got on it every day, then I want to get on it in the morning and the evening. And then every time I fluctuated up and down, it would just, you know, be heartbreak be heartbreak or elation type of thing. So my hope is by doing it once a week, hopefully some of those fluctuations get sort of evened out over the seven days.

Absolutely. I think that's a really healthy way to approach it. I think you know you need the data, but you maybe don't need the data every day. And if you get the data every day, it can lead to a kind of neurotic obsession with it. But I see people get swung wildly one way or another, like we mentioned, by one of these weigh-ins. I can't imagine how difficult it is to see an error message, but I can also imagine that $3.99 was pretty powerful. Now, if we can talk backstory... Of course. A lot of people in fitness have been thin or athletic their whole life. So for me, I've never struggled with my weight.

I've only ever needed to lose 15 pounds to reach a goal physique. So this is a story that's more relatable to people who are listening than mine. At what point did you identify like, okay, I think I'm starting to gain more weight than I would like? Was it early in life? Was it in young adult life? When did the journey up in weight begin? It actually wasn't early on. I graduated high school probably at about 175, 180 pounds. And that's sort of my ultimate goal if I were to get back somewhere. And then I remember graduating college and I was like 205, 210. And I was like, man, I can't believe I'm over 200. That's like terrible. And looking back on it now, just kind of laughable. Back then I was like,

I need to lose 20, 25 pounds. And I remember when I started this journey last year thinking, now I need to lose 200 to 250 pounds quite the difference but really it was once i graduated college right got a little bit of uh you know workaholic i think probably some mental health issues i you know i went right into accounting and dc and was working for a big firm putting in 60 65 hour weeks you know started eating my feelings eating pretty much everything and then it was you, eight years flew by. And over eight years, I gained, you know, about 200 pounds right from that college weight. So, again, you know, I wasn't athletic as a kid.

I didn't play sports, which was probably part of it. I didn't learn how to cook or anything of that nature. I had a great childhood, don't get me wrong. But once I got into the real world, I got a job that paid the salary. I thought it was a lot of money. It wasn't. But you know what I mean? Sure.

And then all of a sudden, fast food became something I could afford every day. And I didn't know how to cook. And I didn't have time to cook anyways. And there was a lot of pressure at work and things going on. And the eight years flew by. And then what really ended up happening was COVID happened. And so my job went work from home. And then the world was going to end for a year or whatever. And that wasn't great for my physical or my mental health, but I didn't have to commute anymore and no one had to see me anymore.

So I just ate even more. I was in my apartment the whole time, right? Getting even less physical exercise. And right before I got that error message on the scale, one of the reasons I got on the scale because I generally avoided it, I knew what I was going to say in general, right? Was that I had flown. This was May of 2022. I had flown for the first time since the pandemic and I needed a seatbelt extension on the plane, which was something I never had happened before and pretty much the most embarrassing moment of my life. So the seatbelt extension and then getting the error message on the, on the screen were sort of when I realized some drastic changes

needed to be made. That's, those are, those are the kind of moments I find for people that really do flip that switch. And, you know, do you feel that, you know, in looking back at it now, you needed a moment like that, or perhaps you wouldn't have done it? Do you think you would have eventually gotten to it? I don't know if I would have, to be honest. People ask me all the time, I have a relative who's very large, a friend. What do we tell them to get them to start? And my advice usually isn't for what to tell them to tell that large person, but to what to tell them directly. And that is that that person needs to have that mindset change, needs to have that wake up call, needs to take that first step themselves. And I didn't want to hear it. I pushed them away. I lied to myself. I lied to them. Right. And it took that moment for myself to take that first step. And then I've reached out to family, friends, Jim Bros, everybody to see what I can do better, what I can do differently. But

up until that moment, I don't think I would have been receptive to it. Hopefully, other people are different and they are receptive to it. But from my perspective, lots of people noticed me doubling my weight in eight or nine years, and I was not ready to listen to them. Sure. I mean, it's interesting. You bring up some great points. I think it's tough because not many people are in a position where they're going to be too receptive to any critique of their character, of their size, of their clothing. You name it. Nobody likes to acknowledge things that they maybe don't want to hear that are challenging to hear. And I think a lot of well-intentioned people say like, this is my friend.

I want to help them. But there's just such an asymmetry there that I tend to generally agree with you, man. Once that door is open and somebody says, hey, I am receptive to help and support. That's when you bum rush with all the support and help and consideration you can muster. But until somebody's ready, a lot of those efforts, genuine or not, will fall flat. And when you say things like, I was hearing people, they were telling me that my weight was a problem, but I was dismissive or I was lying to myself. What's the dialogue like there? Because I can tell you, even at the weight that I am, I make food decisions every single day that I think in the context of my diet long-term,

I probably don't want to do this for as long as I've been doing this. You're making some choices here. And the dialogue's very interesting. I'll tell my, I will make equivocations. I'll make justifications. I catch myself doing this. So I'm wondering what were the behaviors and habits and the internal dialogue that was allowing you to just kind of, nope, not today, not today, not now I'm good. I'm what was that like? Several things I would tell myself regularly. One of them was I was always making plans for when I would start the diet and how quickly and how much weight I would lose, but it was just going to be next week on Monday or next month, or really this is a stressful month. So I really don't want to worry about this right now. I've got enough going on. The other thing I would say is,

well, the rest of my life is going well, right? I worked at one of the big four accounting firms. I had bought a house at this point. I bought a second house at this point where my career is going well. I have a girlfriend, now a fiance, right? So this thing, I'll get to it eventually, but everything else is going well. So this isn't that big of a problem. And the last thing was, which was part of the wake-up call I got was, well, I'm not that big. I look at some of those reality TV shows and wow, they're twice my size. They're more than twice my size. But I couldn't... That was part of what jump-started me. What got me started last year was they weren't twice my size anymore. I was starting to have some of the same problems they were at. They have to have like special scales. They have to have, they can't fit in vehicles, right? And I was struggling with

seatbelts and cars, right? My stomach was touching the steering wheel in my own car, right? All of a sudden I was like, wait a second, I don't think I'm, you know, just big anymore. I think I'm like so big that even our society where we have tons of obesity, I can't fit in that society, even though that society has, you know, done all these things to make it, you know, more normalized. And it was just, you know, more and more, the lies I told myself started to fall apart, again, especially once the pandemic hit, and I was working from home, and I gained a bunch of extra weight. But I also was working from home. And like, in theory, right, I could start learning to cook. I could start exercising more, you know,

I was working, but I have more flexibility. And so some of a lot of, some of those excuses I had told myself in the past started to not hold so much water anymore. And then, and then it all came to a head last year. Had you tried on this journey upward, had you tried different things on your own? Like you, like you said, like typically it's rare that somebody doesn't put up a fight until they hit like 400 and they're like, all right, this is it. Were you doing different diets, different exercises, different supplements? Uh, you know, like I always liked, I do this non judgmentally. Cause like my intro into fitness, I did the stupidest diet for what I was trying to do. I was trying to like gain muscle and I was reading what bodybuilders were eating on

contest prep. And I'm like, okay, broccoli and tilapia. That's what I need to do to gain muscle. I was eating like nothing and training way too much and buying all these horrible supplements. And I laugh. Do you look back at some of the things you've tried? We'll talk about what's working for you for sure in a minute on your way up. And do you ever look at the industry that is fitness and go like, this actually is not very helpful? tried a dozen times more than that to lose weight. And to be clear, I could lose weight,

but it would be miserable and I'd fall off the bandwagon and I'm gaining all back plus 40 pounds in 2 months. And so, one of the things I wanted to do this time around was do things that were just very different than what I had tried in the past, which we can get into. But I had tried Weight Watchers in the past. I had meticulously counted my calories in the past. I eat nothing but salads with no dressing and tried to do 2 or 3 hours of cardio a day. And again, it would work. I was burning a lot of calories, I was in a huge caloric deficit, and I would lose weight. But it would be miserable. And it wasn't sustainable. And I'd get 20, 30, 40 pounds down. And I would like what I was starting to see on the scale, but I couldn't keep it up. Same with all the meticulous tracking. It definitely works.

I'm not saying it doesn't work, but I couldn't maintain it. And then I would fall off the bandwagon and I would binge. And of course, I wouldn't track that in the app. So I self-sabotaged myself. So one of the things I wanted to do this time was take a different approach to all those approaches that I had taken in the past. And you mentioned one of the big things I'm starting to realize. I'm not exactly sure how to articulate it or I'm still not even halfway really through my journey. But there is truly an industry, a weight loss industry. And it's with, with so like so many industries, they are, they're, you know, biggest profit motive and drive is to keep you trying and not being that successful. Otherwise you would stop paying for it. So I paid for a lot of different programs that didn't work. And thinking back, I'm, I'm not, I'm starting to wonder getting a little

skeptical of how many of them were designed for my success. Sure. Yeah. I mean, there could be something dubious or even nefarious there. I think in large part, there's just so much congestion. There's so many people with so many opinions and so many protocols. And ultimately, you've distilled all of that junk into something that's worked extremely well. By my calculation, you've lost at least on average 10 pounds a month for over 10 months straight. That's remarkable. Extremely consistent, not too fast, not too slow. Maybe you lost a bunch up front, but averaging it out, it's like, that's remarkable. And so you found something that works.

And what I've seen is you don't go to the fanciest gym in the world. You don't have a crazy bootcamp at 45, Barry's bootcamp. And it looks like you're getting it done with, I don't want to say the bare minimum, but you're getting it done with a protocol that the average person, if you told them, you could lose... I don't think the average person could do this because I think what you've done is extraordinary. But if you told the average person, these were the tools I had, and this is the outcome I generated, they would be like, dude, give me that plan. This is awesome. So you found something that's working super well. What are you doing? Let's start with the exercise component.

How have you used exercise to bring your weight down? Yeah. So exercise was one of the most intimidating aspects because I wasn't an athlete as a kid. I didn't work out. I'd never been to a gym. So walking into that gym the first morning at over 400 pounds, I didn't know how to do anything except the treadmill. You probably walk on the treadmill, right?

That's self-explanatory. So I did that for months and I wasn't doing it. It wasn't running. I wasn't jogging. I was walking on it and I was sometime over 400 pounds and I wasn't doing it for more than 20 or 30 minutes, but it was enough at that point, that weight to get me sweating, get my heart rate up, get my blood pumping. And most importantly, as I've learned from the exercise, when I walked out of the gym, I felt accomplished. I felt positive. I felt confident, even though everyone else in the gym was lifting heavy and I walked on a treadmill. I felt great leaving the gym. So I have incorporated what I like to call very regular, moderate exercise. I go to Planet Fitness five times a week. I take the

weekends off and I do cardio. And I've just more recently started doing some strength training now that I can fit on most of the machines, taking it slowly, focusing more on form than on weight. But I usually do 30 to 45 minutes. Again, I have a full-time job. And until May, I was in grad school full-time as well. So I go before work. I go very early in the morning. And I'm never there for more than an hour. And I usually try to do machines or strength training first. And then I'll do 20 to 30 minutes of cardio afterwards. I've now moved on from the treadmill. It turns out walking just on the treadmill for months, I now hate the treadmill. But I do try to get in some cardio. And again, people ask all the time, and like, the exercise is very important. And I post about it all the time. And I do it five

days a week. It's more for my mental health than the weight loss. I don't think I burn a huge number of calories compared to what I could eat in like two minutes at the gym. However, it makes me feel great. It's a huge boost to my positivity. And even if the rest of the day is terrible, I leave the gym, you know, by 530 in the morning, I go really early. And so I feel accomplished before the day even starts. And it's been the single best thing I've done for my mental health has been exercising and the weight loss, the single biggest thing has been has been the diet, and then they come together and it's worked very well for me. But as I mentioned, the prior times I had done tons and tons and tons of cardio,

never tried a machine, never picked up a free weight, never even looked at that. And I was doing like an hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, sometimes a day to try to get that going. And that was miserable. So in comparison to that, I do a lot less and it's a lot more enjoyable and it's a lot more sustainable. Um, yeah, I think, I think that's wonderful. And like, I love that you're now starting to work in the weights because one of the things that I think you'll find as you continue to lose weight is you'll see more and more of that muscle tissue that's kind of buried beneath the surface. And it's growing out while your adipose tissue is coming down. And it's going to give you such

a huge boost, probably when you need it most. Because it's a bit of a slog, I can imagine, to try to chip away at 200 pounds in two years. We talked before we started, that's a big goal. So seeing that muscle poking through and like, just hearing you say something like, yeah, I can fit on the machines now. Like and not knowing how to use them and finding that, that kind of bravery to go in and work from the treadmill to the gym floor. Did you ever incur like encounter any negativity, um, anything on, on, in that experience that kind kind of just you had to fight through and just deal with? Taking a break from this episode to tell you a little bit about my coaching company,

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Not in person and not in the gym. That was one of my biggest fears. I think I've learned now that they call it gym intimidation or whatever that's called. And it's common. At the time, I didn't know that. But it was very intimidating to go into the gym. There are people in there lifting more than my starting weight. And so I was very concerned. And if I could go back, one of the things I would try to convince 400 plus pound Dave would be that the gym community, those gym bros are some of the most helpful and positive and inclusive people I've ever met. And I haven't talked to them a ton. But in person, every time I have, they've been helpful. They've been positive. They know me at this point. They're not a whole lot of people in the gym before 5. So they all recognize me when I'm going in. And it's just been a very surprisingly positive aspect of this journey has been how much exercising and how much the gym

has now become, you know, part of my lifestyle. There's the online community too, which has been wonderful, but the in-person one, right. I'm, I'm down here in the rural deep South. And so like, you know, I never know what I was going to run into there. And it's been, it's been a blessing. It's been phenomenal. Yeah. That's I I've been a perpetual 5am gym guy for forever. It's been a blessing. It's been phenomenal. Yeah. I've been a perpetual 5 a.m. gym guy forever. It works with my work schedule too. And there is a camaraderie amongst the 5 a.m. crew because there's a certain degree of consistency and dedication that is required, which is my next question before we start talking about nutrition. that is required, which is kind of my next question before we start talking about nutrition. A lot of people will, I don't want to call it an excuse because it's a legitimate situation. They don't have a ton of time to allocate to exercise. Like you said,

you're working at a big firm, you're managing 60 to 65 hour weeks, trying to be social, have a fiance and in graduate school. That is a lot to deal with and carving out time to exercise is challenging. So going first thing in the morning for some people, that's like the only window that's going to work for consistency. Like can't go after work every day, but I could definitely go before, but getting up that early is hard. Have you always been an early riser? Have you had to change and build your routine here? Do you have any advice for people who want to be part of that morning crew,

but they can't quite make the habit stick? I've always been an early riser. I have never been a 4, 4.30am early riser, which is what I do now. So there's a few things I did that sort of complement the rest of the lifestyle that have helped me do that. One of which I know like everyone says this, but getting off my screens as early as I can, especially after work to spend time with the fiance. I don't know what the light does to my eyes, but it keeps me awake if I'm on my screens later at night. So, and now that I'm not in grad school anymore, I've graduated.

That's even easier since I don't have nighttime classes. And the other reason that I can sort of force myself to go to bed, at least initially, was one of the big things I struggled with and still struggle with. It's one of like the two the two weak points I'm still working on is nighttime snacking. But if I'm getting in bed super early, I can't be nighttime snacking because I'm in bed. And then after maybe a month or two, it became more natural to go to bed that early because I was up so early and I started to increase the intensity of my workouts. And then by 9, 9.15, maybe 9.30 at the latest, I'm pretty much dead tired anyway. Yeah, yeah. 15, maybe 9.30 at the latest, I'm pretty much dead tired anyways.

Yeah. So yeah, I had to... It was a struggle the first month or two, because I was used to more like 6, 6.30, not 4, 4.30. But reducing my screen time after dinner, and making sure that I'm remembering that this isn't just about going to bed at an ungodly early hour. It's also helping me from those nighttime snacks and those nighttime binges. Those are the two things I've sort of added to it in the last year. Yeah. I think I fall prey to that too. I definitely have an appetite that starts to kind of peak. If I don't put myself to bed by like 8.30, 9, I start to get a little wave of appetite that in the, in the less I sleep, the less willpower I have. So getting to bed early is, is great in the long term. And I think if you're struggling with forming that morning routine, you're, you

slog through it for a bit, but you'll eventually just start getting tired early enough that your circadian rhythm adjusts to this. So let's, let's, let's talk about food then, because you've tried, I'm sure every diet or a multitude of diets, but you know, I'm sure you and I would both agree. It's so much less about the diet than it is making sure that you're consistently in a calorie deficit and finding a way to make food semi-enjoyable along the way so you don't unnecessarily interrupt the process. What are you doing now that's working? Because I think food is the thing most people struggle with. Definitely. Definitely was the biggest thing I struggled with. And initially, part of that struggle was the signal-to-noise ratio online is so crazy. And

you'll find experts that have great credentials, great experience, they look great. And they're telling you to do polar opposite things or things that sound completely crazy, or they're making claims that, you know, I don't really know that, you know, much weight loss is possible that quickly, or if I even would want to do it that way. So at the beginning, even still somewhat now, right, I'm an accountant, I don't really actually know anything formal about this. I know a lot more than you probably are able to articulate. And that's why I think like having some, having a discussion like this is super valuable. Like I'm picking up things from you about discipline and dedication as somebody who's lifted for 10

years that I can use for my own morning workout. So there's a lot in there. So just keep chugging along. I appreciate that. Thank you. So I didn't know what to do, but at that point at over 400 pounds, I knew pretty well what not to do. I knew what wasn't working. So the first things I did, you know, in back in June was I stopped drinking calories. I cut out fast food. I cut out junk food. I cut out all the highly processed and packaged food that you normally find in the middle of the grocery store. And I stopped drinking or I cut down, you know, 95% of that. It wasn't necessarily that I had a drinking problem per se, but I would eat after I would drink. And then I had an eating problem. How many days a week were you drinking alcohol? If you don't

mind me asking. On the weekends. So I would say would say like two again wouldn't be a bad in terms of my alcohol consumption it would just be though both of those two nights wouldn't would inevitably end up eating an entire pizza by myself because inhibition reduction comes with alcohol that we oftentimes experience when we're looking at the opposite sex or when we're thinking about doing something reckless with our male friends in a frat house, that same reduction in inhibition can turn two slices into two whole pizzas. Exactly. I would get just enough alcohol in me to feel like it would be okay to order DoorDash. And then I would stop drinking because I would replace it with whatever I got delivered. Interesting. Interesting. Okay. But I did, I did cut that out early as well. And then

I needed to tighten. So I got blood work done in September and I was feeling pretty good at that point. I was like, maybe I think it was about 375. So I had stopped getting an error message and I was down another 25 pounds and all the blood work came back bad. You know, my resting heart rate was over a hundred. My blood pressure was borderline. My A1C was pre-diabetic. My blood glucose was 120 something, you name it, like all of the flags. And then the doctor was like, you know, like you've lost some weight. That's good. Like, but I'm not sure your diet is really a clean diet at this point. I think you've just cut back enough that you lost some weight because you started over 400 pounds, right? Sure.

And so, you know, he said, if you know, I was 30 at the time, I mean, I'm 31 now. So it was last year. He was just a weekend, you know, I'm not going to like medicate you right now was the first time I'd seen this doctor, but we need to work on basically all of these numbers. And then we're going to retest, you know, we're going to do blood work again that was at the end of january i had that done so my concern was going on one of these diets that you see a lot where it's like very you know uh very like salad based very i don't want to say caloric restriction because like i am in a caloric restriction but i wasn't sure that i could pull off some of these diets you see advertised that I had tried in the past. So I tried to do one that I guess I don't exactly know how to articulate, but I thought would work better for like a 30 year old guy. And so what I ended up doing or experimenting to was I can still eat the vegetables after I cut out all the processed and packaged food.

And what I can still eat meat after I cut all that out and I can still eat fruit, you know, to a large extent. And I had read a lot at this point and seen a lot of examples where low carb was good for weight loss. And so I was like, you know, I'm sort of doing it already. I wasn't, you know, actually low carb, but I cut out a bunch of the carbs just because that's what's in those processed and a lot of the sugar too. I was starting to get a feeling that the sugar might be a problem with me, maybe a little bit of an addictive personality. So I went more low carb after that. And then I got my blood work done again at the end of January. And that had been largely eating meat, vegetables, and fruit. And I post steak all the time because that's what people like.

And because I like steak, but like, I like to say, just because people will bring it up. I eat a ton of chicken and seafood and a ton of vegetables. It doesn't necessarily seem that way. And whenever I post vegetables, nobody cares. But I do eat people sometimes somehow think I just like among those people just eat steak. I'm definitely not. Yeah. But I do eat. I mean But I do eat quite a bit of it. But people ask about, am I worried about various markers because of my red meat consumption? And for starters, I am. I'm getting my blood work done. But also,

I do eat a bunch of other stuff too. It's just I don't always post it or people don't always like it. So that diet has been largely working for me. And all those blood markers moved so dramatically in the right direction. And I've posted these results. One of the things I like to do is just post everything because people don't believe me. So those MyChart posts are up on Instagram and Twitter as well. But everything was still higher than I would like, but out of the danger zone into high normal, high normal, high normal, pretty much across the board. And the other thing along with doing the low carb is I've tried to cut out snacking as much as I can. So I usually eat two or three larger meals. And then I try to not snack at all. And I try to only drink water. And if I'm going to drink something, I try to drink...

I mean, I don't try. I only drink a zero calorie drink but those artificial sweeteners they don't sit well with me and i feel like they make me hungry so i've i have not i'm not so great at that but i try to i try to cut back on those i our dietary approaches are not dissimilar despite you know having different pathways i think a practical way to maintain a lean body mass or to get to a lean body mass is with a relatively high protein diet that has a huge focus on getting a diverse array of proteins. I eat red meat too. I keep an eye on all my blood lipids, but I eat a lot more fish. I eat a lot more chicken. I eat a lot more eggs and yogurt and dairy. And, you know, I eat a ton of plants, fruits, vegetables, whole grains. I try to eat more of those things

and do the same things you do, which is elimination of processed foods or minimization of these things. And, you know, I think that these are diets wherever you're at that are probably going to promote health, promote exercise, and they have some rules, but I think they have considerably less rules than a lot of the more dogmatic, semi-religious, very rigid things. And I think you're right. You have to pick something that works for your lifestyle at 31. And you've got a lot of things going on, which is my kind of next segue here. You know, you said you've got, you own multiple homes now. I think you are somebody who I would consider a real estate investor. Yes. Which I think is something that, you know, not everybody in this country is in a position where they can invest. It's a, it's a position that's earned.

in a position where they can invest. It's a position that's earned. You've worked very hard. You've done considerably well as an accountant. And so it's like, I'm looking at this and I'm like, has your relationship with exercise and dieting, or let's say it nutrition and lifestyle and improving yourself in this arena helped you kind of cultivate the skill to excel and work and investing? Because I think it's cool to celebrate the win that the whole person is making. And I see a lot of people would say, oh, I don't have time right now. I'm working a lot. I'm focused on my career. Oh, I don't have time right now. I'm focused on my investments. I see these things as being additive and compounding off one another when I'm following you on Twitter. And I'm like, oh, wow, this guy's a freaking real estate mogul

in training here. I definitely think that they go hand in hand. And some of that discipline, that routine, and that consistency that I've built up over the last year, I see now how I could apply it to paying off my student loans, paying down my credit card debt, or even just work, like working towards that next promotion or saving up to buy that next property. I don't necessarily have any money. So I have to come up with the money, which means saving, which means I have to put a certain amount into my savings every week, every month. And it's basically the exact same strategy I employ with working on my diet, working on my exercise, working on everything else. And I also think not only is it the same strategy or a very similar strategy, but the improvements in physical health, which then feeds back and forth into the improvements in mental health, makes a huge difference in how I approach everything, right? Like, I noticed that when,

you know, I when I got a call that I need to replace a roof, like happened a week ago, right? My I was far calmer, I went to the gym, did some extra cardio wasn't a great day, I'm not gonna lie, but it was a lot better than it would have been, you know, a few years ago, handling a situation like that. And I think it's because I've built these systems and these processes around handling stress that don't involve binge eating, that don't involve then ruining your sleep, which then ruins the next day. And so I definitely think it all can come together as a package, basically. And it's built on itself almost naturally, to be honest, where it's

just like, well, yeah, I'm going to do a similar thing over here. Cause I sort of have the same goal, except this one's financial or this one's academic or this one's career. And then, you know, it's been, you know, eyeopening, I guess is what I'd say. Cause really like back 14 months ago, I was just like, I need to not weigh so much. And now it's become that plus a bunch of other stuff. Yeah. I think fitness is once you connect with it, no matter what size you are, no matter what your goal is with it, committing to it really helps expand what it is you're doing in other areas. It's an enhancer more than it is a detractor. And I know that it does take an investment of time, but it definitely is an

investment that gives it, you know, short, intermediate and long-term returns. It's, it's probably the best one you could make. So I think I'll, I'll circle the wagons there, man. And I'll ask you one, one final question to close. I, you know, we're, we're looking at 200 pounds in 24 months, you're on pace to do it. Um the goal. And you're doing it in a way that I'm super impressed with. If I can teach people to end up where you're at right now, I've done a good job. So I have a very strong... If I could bet on this, I'd bet on this. Thank you. What advice do you have for somebody who's been aware that they need to lose weight for quite some time and they're having a hard time maybe

making the commitment to themselves. Uh, how, how, what advice do you have for somebody who's listening? Not, not how, here's how to convince them, but what can you tell them as having been there? What, what would you tell yourself? Yeah, I would say, especially talking to my former self specifically at that weight, like I know how hard it is, especially for men to speak about mental health issues. And I know how hard it is for men who are supposed to be protectors and providers and whatnot to admit that we're just not doing great at something. At that point in time, I was not good at dieting and exercising and keeping myself healthy. I was bad at it. And I couldn't say that because that would be admitting a failure. And one of my biggest fears is failure. And so I would go back and tell myself,

tell that person that it's okay to ask for help, that no man is an island and that there are guys all around you. I'm saying man, just because I am a man. That guys all around us that want to help you, especially in the fitness community, especially in the gym, and want to see you succeed. And they want you to be there, even if you don't know what you're doing, and you're double their size. And the only thing you can figure out is you walk on the treadmill. That first step, once you take it, will feel so good that you will want to take the second step. And I know that former me and a person in that situation doesn't believe me when I say this, but like, it's true. And it is something eye opening that I realized

that I'm much more open now, even though it's difficult, you can tell to for me to articulate it, but to speak about mental health struggles, and to admit that I do need help and that I don't necessarily know what I'm doing or what I'm talking about and the rewards and the receptiveness from other guys to help me. And then that then builds my own confidence, my own mental health, my own physical health has just been like, honestly, the most eye-opening part of this. Because every guy who gets to my size, every person who gets my size knows, we need to do is like diet and exercise, right? Of course, like, but like, obviously, there's

something else, right? Because everybody keeps gaining more weight in general, right? So and so my what I was missing, personally, was that mental health aspect of it where I didn't feel that it was okay to admit that I was having issues. I didn't know how to ask for help. I didn't think it was acceptable for a man who was successful in all these other aspects of life to be like, yeah, but I can't figure out how to eat. And so I would just say to that person that it's okay to start where you are. And no one is going to think poorly

of you if you're walking into the gym that large or the doctor's office that large or a health food store that large or a church that large. Everybody wants you to start and to belong and will help you get through those first steps that are the hardest. Yeah, brother. I think that's perfect. And, uh, you know, I have seen a very positive side of the fitness community in engaging with your content on social media, just as a follower that gives, gives me a little bit of renewed confidence in the positivity of a space that can be loaded with comparison, misinformation, a little bit of congestion, just too much. Yeah, a lot. And I see so much support and encouragement from people following you. I see you giving it back.

I saw you had an interaction with Arnold. All of this really cool, beautiful, fun stuff that when I see, I'm like, this is what... I think that fitness in general is good for our entire world. I think it's good for our communities. It's good for our families, to our communities, to our towns, to our cities, to our states, to our whole country. The fitter we are, the more clear of mind we will be. And we're all living through a really challenging time collectively for our mental wellbeing as we navigate, how we use social media, how we deal with less social time, having to work, economic inequality, all kinds of stuff. There's a lot of reasons to struggle with your mental health, but exercise is one of the best things you can do for it. And it's probably the fastest

way to get hooked. So I want them to follow you. I want them exposed to that positivity, brother. How can they find you on social and keep up with the journey? that positivity, brother, how can they find you on social and keep up with the journey? Absolutely. I'm David E. Dana on Instagram. I'm Dave E. Dana on Twitter and everywhere else. And if you're unsure, I'm the fat guy in Planet Fitness posting selfies pretty much five days a week. That's me. One of my favorite follows, guys. Definitely worth a follow. Bring him the positivity and he'll hand it back to you. Dave, thank you so much for coming on, brother. Thank you so much for having me. My pleasure.