The Rich Roll Podcast - How One Man Overcame Incredible Obstacles, Lost 200 lbs & Transformed His Life Wholesale

Episode Date: December 2, 2013

This interview is like nothing you have heard before on this show. It will move you. It will inspire you. It will erase whatever obstacles and excuses you rely on that perpetuate bad habits, keep you stuck, and reinforce denial. By listening, my hope is that you will realize that no matter what your circumstances or environment, we all have the power to implement profound personal change beyond our collective imagination in miraculous and fantastic ways. A couple weeks ago, a guy called Josh LaJaunie tweeted me his before and after pictures, thanking me for helping him along his journey of total transformation. Bear in mind, I get many such images sent to me. I absolutely love this stuff – It's why I do what I do. But something about this post was different. The change was so astounding, my first thought was, “Can this be real?” The 400+ pound guy on the left bore almost no resemblance to the guy on the right, a super fit, super handsome young man running with a big smile on his face. And yet when I looked closely, I could indeed determine that it was in fact the same person. I was stunned. Chris Farley had morphed into Bradley Cooper. But how? I had to find out. I reached out to him, and we exchanged a few e-mails. Then he sent me a document, with a title that says it all. “FREE JOSH LAJAUNIE” A manifesto on life transformation, it's the detailed personal account of how Josh accomplished what some would deem impossible, dropping over 200 pounds and a life-long addiction to unhealthy foods & lifestyle habits to discover a passion for running. A journey that led him to completing a half-marathon and preparing for his first marathon. He didn't just lose weight — he became an athlete. But what truly struck me wasn't just the weight loss or his discovered passion for running. It was the story of how he faced, battled and overcame astounding, impossibly entrenched cultural obstacles to change everything about how he lives his life. A gift he now freely shares, transforming the lives not just of his family members, but his beloved community at large. At that moment, I knew I needed to share his story with you. Born & bred in southern Louisiana, Josh is a 100% genuine, authentic, self-avowed “swamp dweller” from Bayou Lafourche. Someone who shirks at the label “cajun” as too highfalutin, and “proud to sound like a coonass”. A big kid surrounded by a loving nuclear and extended family united by their shared love of food — a regional imperative — Josh was a standout high school football player, recruited to play college ball. But disillusioned by college life in Arkansas, he dropped out of school, only to return home, aimless and unmoored. He found work in the family construction business, but lived for the weekend – time spent hunting, fishing, cheering for his beloved New Orleans Saints, feasting on his favorite local delicacies — po boys, jambalaya & barbeque. And partying. Lots of partying. It's just what you do down in Bayou Lafourche. The weight escalated. As did the despair. His embarrassment and shame escalating in equal measure to his declining self-esteem. Not to mention an almost certain future of diabetes and heart disease. Then something happened. In 2010, Josh's beloved Saints achieved the impossible, winning the Super Bowl. It seems a small thing. But to Josh it was everything. Forever altering his perception of what is possible, he began to question the limits he imposed upon himself. Read more HERE... Enjoy! Rich

Welcome to Episode 63 of the Rich Roll Podcast with Josh LaGianni. The Rich Roll Podcast. Hey people, Rich Roll here. Welcome to the RRP, the Rich Roll Podcast. Thanks for tuning in. What do we do here? Each week, I bring to you the best and the brightest, the most forward-thinking, paradigm-busting minds in health, fitness, wellness, and nutrition. I've had doctors, I've had entrepreneurs, I've had world-class athletes, nutritionists, activists, activists, activists, advocates, spiritualists, yogis, meditators, and the everyman,

which gets me to today's show, The Everyman, which I'm going to get to in a minute. But all of these people I bring to you with one goal in mind, to help give you the tools so that you can unlock and unleash your best, most authentic self on the world, because we need more of that. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving. I know I did, at least for those of you in the United States. Had an amazing, healthy, nutritious meal with family and friends. Feeling great. had an amazing, healthy, nutritious meal with family and friends, feeling great, got out and got some great rides in and some great runs.

But maybe that wasn't your experience. Maybe you overate. Maybe you did have that ham or that turkey or whatever it is, and you ended up on the couch having stuffed yourself, watching football, groaning with a bellyache. It's okay. Don't flog yourself. Just try to learn from the experience. That's what we're here for. We've got a long holiday season coming up, so it's good information for what's to come. Lots of festive activities probably on your calendar, a lot of social interactions, parties, and all that kind of stuff. a lot to navigate.

So we put up some recipes in our episode 60, I think it was, with Julie and a blog post from her on helping navigate these tricky times. So if you haven't checked that out, check that out. Today on the show, Josh Lajani. Who is Josh Lajani? Well, it's a funny story. A couple weeks ago, I get this tweet from this guy who I've never met, and he tweets me his before and after picture. Now, I get a lot of before and after pictures sent to me, and some pretty incredible ones. They're all amazing, and they always inspire me. I get a lot out of them. So please keep sending them. But this one really stood out.

It was incredibly dramatic. On the left was a picture of a guy holding a cocktail with his wife, pushing 400 pounds. No joke, 400 pounds. And on the right was a strapping young man with a big smile on his face, running, looking unbelievably fit. It's almost impossible to believe that this is the same guy, the same person. Like, is this a fake? Like, what's going on? So dramatic.

guy. But it's really extraordinary, the change that has taken place with this person, not simply because he lost the weight, but because of how fit and happy he looks in the after picture. And so I tweeted him back and I threw the picture up on my Facebook page. And the picture is the most popular thing that I've ever posted on my Facebook page. It got like 50,000 views or like 2000 likes and got shared, you know, I don't know, a hundred plus times all over the internet. Like it literally kind of went like viral in a tiny little way. And I was like, wow, people are really responding to this guy. I need to learn more about what's going, what's up with this dude. So I got his email address from going back and forth with him on Twitter and reached out to him and said, you know, how'd you

do it? And he sent me back a nice email, but he attached a PDF to it. And the PDF was entitled Free Josh Lajani. Free Josh Lajani. So I open this thing up and I read it. And basically he details his story. And he said that he gets asked all the time how is it possible could send it around to people and it makes it easier for him. obstacles to change his life around, not simply because he was overweight, but in large part due to the fact that he lives in a culture in southern Louisiana, like this guy is a true bayou boy through and through, that really was not really that open to this way of living because he did all this on a plant-based diet, which was pretty radical from the place that he comes from and the environment in which he lives. And I realized that I really needed to get this guy on the podcast and let him share his story. So he's coming on in a few minutes, and I'm anxious to share his transformative experience with you guys and even more excited that he did it on a plant-based diet.

I think he's an amazing example of the power that is inherent in all of us to change at any given moment, given the willingness to do so. And he carries the message in a different way than I do, but in a truly compelling and amazing way, and I think he's going to change lives and motivate and inspire a lot of people, and I'm proud to have him on today. We're brought to you today by recovery.com. I've been in recovery for a long time. It's not hyperbolic to say that I owe everything good in my life to sobriety. And it all began with treatment and experience that I had that quite literally saved my life.

And in the many years since, I've in turn helped many suffering addicts and their loved ones find treatment. suffering addicts and their loved ones find treatment. And with that, I know all too well just how confusing and how overwhelming and how challenging it can be to find the right place and the right level of care, especially because unfortunately, not all treatment resources adhere to ethical practices. It's a real problem. A problem I'm now happy and proud to share has been solved by the people at recovery.com who created an online support portal designed to guide, to support, and empower you to find the ideal level of care tailored to your personal needs. They've partnered with the best global behavioral health providers to cover the full spectrum of behavioral health disorders, including substance use disorders, depression,

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the best treatment option for you or a loved one, again, go to recovery.com. All right, so Josh, Josh Lajani, I've never spoken to this guy. I don't know what he's going to say. I have no idea how this is going to go. All I know is that he wrote a PDF called Free Josh Lajani, and that deserves a microphone. So let's open this up and see what happens. Ladies and gentlemen, Josh Lajani. Yeah, dude, we're rolling. All right. So, uh, thanks for, uh, taking the time, man. No, thank you. This is, this is really actually quite an honor for me. It's, uh, well, it's an honor for

me. I got to tell you, you, I think I was trying to remember how it went down, but I think what happened is you tweeted that before and after picture and and like tagged me in it and i saw it and i was like holy smokes like people people send me before and after pictures all the time right but yours was definitely like maybe the most dramatic not just because of the simple weight loss but because the after picture you didn't just look like a guy who lost a lot of weight. You were like a guy who was like super fit all of a sudden. Which has been my goal, right? Which has been my goal and it hasn't been all of a sudden, obviously. But yes, absolutely. And turning to plants has really sort of, that's how that transformation happened because I stopped caring about weight, you and, and, and, uh, and Brendan

Brazier and Scott Jurek along the way, Scott McDougal reading Born to Run. Those things literally without hyperbole or being dramatic, it literally changed my life, man. Well, it's so, it's so cool to see you killing it right now. And I think that's a really important point. And I was reading the document that you sent me, which we're going to get into all that. We're going to get into your story and all that kind of stuff. But the thing that jumped out at me the most in your story was that point where you had already lost quite a bit of weight. Yeah.

But you had kind of started to stagnate a little bit, and it started to even out, and you still had a long way to go, and you made this decision that it wasn't going to be about weight loss, it wasn't going to be about what the number on the scale said, you were just going to focus on getting fit and let go of the rest of that, and that's kind of when it all shifted for you, and you sort of broke the glass ceiling on the whole thing. Absolutely, because I've lost nearly 100 pounds more than once in my life.

I have done that before. Right immediately after my college football, short-lived college football career ended, I did drop nearly 90 pounds after that. But it was just for pure aesthetics and for the sake of losing weight and looking better. And it never really cracked for me to be healthy. be healthy. And that's what running in plants and this whole epiphany has really brought about to me. And they helped me turn that corner. And I think probably being older and a little bit more mature has helped with that process also. Right. So how old are you now? I'm 35. 35. All right. So let's take it back to the beginning. So, yeah, because your story is pretty cool. I mean, people say to me all the time, like, you know, who inspires like you. It's like the everyday dude who no one's really looking at them. They're not in the public eye or anything like that,

and they just make this decision and turn their lives around in such a huge way. And people are always saying to me, you've got to have some average people on, have some normal dudes on the show and let them tell their story. And you are like you just left off the page as, as one of these guys. So, so, so let's see. So you have this sort of, uh, ill-fated, uh, stab at college, right? Like what, what happened, man? Well, I, I probably honestly thought I was a little better than I was. Uh, I did get a full ride scholarship and I was so proud of that fact. And I just sort of almost kind of rode the wave on that alone.

So hold on. So you grew up in the New Orleans area? Correct. I grew up in a small town called Thibodeau, which is on the bayou. which is uh it's on the bayou i live in the you know and i'm like part of i guess uh the the the country knows about swamp people and all the different the different deal uh with our new hollywood south uh uh sort of identity down here a lot more people with all of the film trucks and crews a lot more people know about who we are now as far as characters anyway. So you're like down there,

like it's Creole country pretty much. Oh man, yeah. No, we, yeah, we coon asses, bro. This is, you know, we, Creole's a little fancier than what we are. We are just, we are pure Cajuns, grew up fishing and hunting and you know making like i say uh making rules and stews with anything that moves you know that's that's what we grew up

doing man uh-huh nice and so you're playing football in high school yes absolutely i sure did i played ball in high school uh and in high school i was you know in i was about six three 280 ish 290 ish and it got a little bit bigger every year and and uh i got some looks in college in my senior year and uh the the one college that was really interested in me um was willing to give me a full scholarship. They wanted me to switch over to the offensive line, which I had played defensive line throughout my whole high school career. And so I was like, I really wasn't pumped about playing O-line, but it was an opportunity for me. And they told me to put on some weight.

They wanted me to put on some weight. So I get up there and i'm 330 now i get up there and go through my training camp so you're three you were 330 and they wanted you put more weight on no no no at my end of my senior year i was okay i was close at about 300 what were you what did you weigh in high school in high school i flipped i went from about 280 my sophomore year up to about 295 my senior year. Holy smokes. So were you just a big kid or like how did you get to where you're right now? How tall are you?

It's just natural. I'm 6'4". Now I was 6'2", 6'3", in that area in high school. So were you one of those kids who's just always the biggest, strongest kid in the class? Right. Yeah. I was always a big kid. the class? Right, yeah. I was always the big kid.

My grandfather was a big man. I come from big people, and my grandmother kept us heavy. When you were growing up, what was the typical meal in the house, or what was a day in the life of food for you? Oh, my goodness. Well, my grandfather owned a construction business and I spent a lot of time spending, I spent a lot of time, you know, spending the night with them and getting up to go to work in the morning. Now, what we would do before anybody ever got up, what woke us up was the smell of bacon in the morning and my grandmother cooking biscuits and um so we had bacon biscuits and gravy um you know the standard scrambled eggs she did these awesome fig preserves she made all of these different things and so every meal in the house throughout the day was a completely one-off meal

brand new fresh cooked hot meal breakfast we came home for lunch and it was a hot meal for lunch and the same thing for supper and we had snacks all in between it was all about food and the food was the love in their mind they come from you know more meager beginnings and I feel like a lot of their agrarian like background and the the depression arab folks i feel like they they really kind of overcompensate with food because they had so little back then and they want to make sure that the people they're taking care of really understand how much they love them via food right i feel like that happens a lot you know, right. So do you have brothers and sisters? Yeah, sure do. So how many of those?

I have a younger brother who's about two and a half years younger than I am. Also was a football player, also a big man. And who he, by the way, he to date is down almost 150 pounds since he's followed me along. Because when I first brought it up as an idea, he's like, dude, really? You're going to give up meat and crawfish and you're going to give up fish? I mean, it's as blue as mine, you know. I say, give me 30 days and watch me. Just give me 30 days. And we did it that way, and it worked out.

So my little sister, same boat. My little sister is about five years younger than my little brother, so about seven and a half years younger than me. And she's a lot shorter than we are are we both big big stature fellows like we take after my grandfather who's who's the patriarch of our family and he was six three and high 300s my whole life that was the like he we call him bam bam and he he was uh you know, 380, 360, 380 my whole life. My little sister has, you know, she's she's got really heavy, too. And so that's it. That's all of us.

As far as the siblings go, it's just the three of us, me and my brother and my sister. And I have two little cousins as well. The youngest of those two little cousins, first cousins, he's like 6'3", 290. He's a senior in high school right now. Man, you're a big family. Yeah, we are. That's like a reality show right there. Right?

All right. So you go to college. They're putting you on the offensive line. You beef up. You beef up to about, what, 3.30, I think you said? Yeah, 3.30. Uh-huh. And so what happens, man? What happens in college then?

It sucked. It was not. You weren't having a good time I was not having a good time it was a completely different mindset playing on that side of the ball it wasn't what my was in my heart um I was heavier than I had ever been working harder against better players than I had ever played against and um it just wasn't I wasn't feeling it and then lo and behold I get hurt I get a lower my back starts bothering me really bad to the point to where I got a bulging disc and all of these other issues going on that I could have probably in retrospect maybe rehab rehab through and push through and sat out a season and corrected myself, but I hung it up instead and, uh, came back home. Um, after, after that little stab.

Right. So, so not only was football done, you were, you were done with school too. I mean, you just weren't happy. You weren't happy in the, in the school itself outside of, uh, you know, off the field. You weren't happy in the school itself outside of, you know, off the field. Right. I was not happy, really, because where I had gone, because I'm from South Louisiana, and I had gone up to rural Arkansas. And the campus was in a dry county. And that was a big deal for me. I mean, I'm a college kid. Yeah, that's no good for college.

No, man. How are you supposed to? Wow. So what I do once football's over for me and I decide to come on back to Thibodeau, I get back here and I go back to Nichols and then kind of just go off the deep end. When I try to go back to just school and no football at all, kind of go off the deep end and have a real good time with all the people that I missed.

And then I flunk out, essentially. I just flunk out. You were just having too much of a good time? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you're making up for the fact that you're not an athlete anymore and you can just let it all hang out? That's exactly right. Right.

And that was at Nichols State? Yeah. So is that the one in Arkansas or you transferred to a different school? I transferred back home. The one in Arkansas. I got you. Nichols State is in Thibodeau? Thibodeau.

I got you. All right, cool. That's right. Yeah. So you just partied yourself right out of school. Sure did. You did? Sure did.

All right, man. I know what that's like yeah that's why you resonated with me so much man and you know being an older guy when i first start trying you're the one that made me go hey it doesn't matter how old i am i can i can start attacking these runs just like it's almost like runs almost like my second chances of proving my athletic prowess you know yeah man i mean you you definitely you know embody that so um so i mean do you hit a bottom with all this stuff i mean after you drop out of college what are you doing looking are you working with your dad or something like that or what's no well not not quite yet i'm just kind of floating around taking

odd salesman jobs a bartender a little while and did those those types of normal things uh and then um i wound up going working with my grandfather um eventually and doing construction doing that right doing Doing construction and, and he's got to run a property and stuff. And so I started doing that. And my grandmother passed away in 01. And so I had to take more of a leadership role in that whole, uh, that whole front. With the business or with the family and helping him in a more real

way. Um, and it sounds like your family's pretty tight. Yeah. Very, very tight. Right. Um, all right. So you're stepping it up on the business front and, uh, and so, but you're just, you know, so you're sort of moving up in that world right like things are going along all right moving that's that's right having a little bit of a purpose right uh so where do the where do the wheels really start to fall off the wagon here um as far as food goes that's the wheels were always off the wagon all you know um that was the mo for my family and really for the entire region uh the wheels are kind of off the wagon they're permanently off right yeah right the truck's just up on center blocks yeah i mean we're in love with a lot of bad things that we actually identify with more.

It's more than just food. It's actually who we think we are. It's actually our culture. And there's so much more to it than that. That's my biggest reason for reaching out and trying to be a voice is to show the people that I call my Bayi brethren, they still don't really get it and don't know that. I almost feel like I've turned my back or I feel like other people might feel like I've turned my back on a big part of our culture

because I don't partake in some of the food or most of the food. Yeah, and I think that adds a really interesting dimension the food or most of the food. Yeah. And I mean, I think that adds a really interesting, you know, sort of dimension and complexity to your story because not only do you have this sort of personal, you know, war you have to wage to, you know, get fit and lose all this weight, you have to butt up against all of these cultural mores and ideas about, you know, whether it's, you know, what it means to be a man and the way you have to eat and the kind of things you have to do, you're taking a different tack and going in the other direction. And that's, that causes a lot of, I would imagine like social

problems for you. Oh goodness, man. And that's what I tell people all the time. The food isn't really as hard as ignoring noise. It really is. The noise is a bigger thing than anything. Oh, you're not going to have a drink? I mean, I've done enough. I've done enough. I've had enough to last a normal human their entire life as far as bad food and alcohol goes. I'm good right now.

And getting that across to folks down here is you still, I feel like an alien sometimes, but it needs to happen. You know, it needs to happen for a lot of us. Right. I mean, you know, I live in LA and essentially we're just, we're all pussies here, you know? I mean, you know, if there's a one place, I mean, you can eat the way that you eat or I eat here.

That's just the way it is. You know, it i eat here that's just the way it is you know it's like that's the way most people you know not not everybody but nobody's going to give you a hard time you know what i mean like it's very welcoming and opening so you know i haven't had to kind of combat the kind of issues that you got to come up against i mean you know getting back i want to get into all of that in more detail. It's just getting back into the kind of timeline narrative. So you're just progressively putting on weight every year, I assume. And it's just the quality of your life is sort of – I mean you're doing okay with the job and all that kind of stuff. But your health is progressively starting to deteriorate.

Right. I'm just getting heavier and heavier. And along the way, I meet my wife and marry my wife and get even more comfortable. And she convinces me actually to go back to school, which I didn't understand why I needed to go back to school. And I did. understand why I needed to go back to school. And, and I did. And during that process, I started to learn to learn really for lack of a better way of putting it in a way that I had never understood before. And I understood how to seek facts and find facts. And as I became, as I got a little bit of an education outside of just working with my hands, I started to understand that, you know, there's some things wrong here, man. It's not okay to not fit in the desk, dude. And it's not okay to break a sweat walking from class to class and I mean and all of these things that I started to get I started to get really sort of embarrassed

about I needed to I really felt a real want a need to change and And, you know, I felt like I was now becoming more equipped to go, okay, let's, let's start, let's start, uh, let's start doing something. I was really embarrassed about doing presentations. And I put that in that, that little thing that I wrote to you. And I didn't want to have to stand in front of people with my shirt tucked in. And that was a big deal. And so, but I would just worry just sort of aimlessly. And one of my lifelong buddies just calls me out the blue one day. That's how, you know, one of these things, how the universe works, just as I'm worrying and thinking my phone rings and it's my partner and he says, Hey dude, I got to join the gym, man.

And we just have that conversation, you know. Right. So it's funny that it kind of, you know, it coincides with this decision to kind of go back to school. I mean, that comes from a place of, you know, on some level a desire for, you know, greater self-esteem and then kind of going to school and developing that self-esteem, you know, not having to be the guy who dropped out of college and actually kind of taking care of business. And at the same time, the kind of, you know, depleting, devolving self-esteem that comes with getting progressively, you know, heavier and heavier and all of that.

And those two worlds, you know, become incompatible with each other after a little bit, right? Right. So, yeah, this, you know, I often think, like, life can boil down to, you know, these tiny little moments, you know, these little sort of occurrences that could mean nothing

or could mean everything, you know? And so you get this phone call from your buddy right at the exact time when you're starting to get ready to do something about this. And, you know, for me, I had a similar kind of thing. It wasn't as dramatic as your event, but, uh, you know, when that little opportunity meets that willingness and, you know, crazy, amazing things can happen. Yeah. I mean, that was, and I tell him to this day, he's a grown ass man with his own family. But I tell him to this day that I love him. Like, you know, I love him for that.

And it wasn't because he saw his buddy getting fat and his buddy, he was worried about him. You know, and he wanted me to come with him. That's as simple as it was, you know? Right. So you're helping him and he's helping you. Yeah. That's the best way to help anyone. And that's the best win-win. I mean, how do you get better than that?

Yeah, because you have accountability to your buddy because you know he's going to show up at the gym at 5, and if you're not there, he's going to be pissed. Right. And you guys can keep each other on track. And we're going to rag each other. We're going, hey, what's up? You couldn't get up this morning? Oh, man. You got your pink drawers on today?

You know what I'm talking about? I mean, we can go get on each other about it. That's it. Right. So, and at this time, you didn't even know how much you weighed right like this you were just off the scale like literally off the scale the scale the scale wouldn't go as high as you were no man it wouldn't it and you know my wife has a little scale and uh that i would get on and i had been getting on it for for you know, a couple of years where it just had

little ease across it. That's all it would say. It had like four E's and, and I, I guess that signifies error. Right. And, um, that was it. And even when I would go to my doctor's office on the, on the tall, regular, normal doctor scale, uh, it only went to three 50. So the lady, when I would go in, the lady would slide the little weight it only went to 350 so the lady when i would go in the lady would slide the little weight all the way to the right which was 350 and i would step on and go clunk and it wasn't even close to registering anything you know what what was your doctor telling you when you would go in for your checkup or whatever? Not a whole lot. Not anything about my weight. Really?

Nothing. Because it's so normal down here, man. Wow. It's so normal down here. And to be frank, you know, my doctor's a friend of mine. And so you kind of don't, I think you kind of would feel you have some reservations there. Even if somebody does need to do something with their weight, I think there might have been a little bit of a reservation there to not hurt someone's feelings maybe or embarrass them. Because he just would deal with the task at hand.

If I went in there because I rolled an ankle or went in there because I was feeling sick and he would give me a cortisone shot or whatever I was there for that's what we dealt with we didn't deal with me being big because so many people had that problem here it's not I mean they would that's all they would be doing all day every day yeah well maybe that's what he should be doing I know I mean what does he say now when you go in he is blown away completely blown away um he has to be he is he he is and uh because i i actually did it's a funny little side story not not funny it's just a little side story the The last time I went to him, I was feeling lightheaded a little bit. I would get up. When I would stand up quickly, I would get a little lightheaded. So I went in to see him, and he was like, holy cow, man, what have you been doing?

And I told him about plants, and I told him about running. And everybody makes little faces when you say, ah. So anyway, so he puts me on the heart monitor thing. And then he winds up sending me to a cardiologist to make sure that everything's OK. The cardiologist puts me through a stress test and does all kind of stuff. And he won the cardiologist. He's like, well, dude, because at the time I had lost one hundred and seventy five or one hundred and eighty pounds. He's like, well, dude, that at the time I had lost 175 or 180 pounds.

He's like, well, dude, that's why you're getting lightheaded. You have all this extra vasculature, all these extra veins that's been going to all of this far reaches of your enormous body that is not doing that anymore. And your heart just can't get blood to all of the far reaches of those veins as quickly as you can move now. And I was like, oh, okay, well, that all makes sense. But I knew that I was going to be training for a marathon, and so did my doctor. And that's why he sent me there. Everybody needed to make sure that Josh wasn't going to hurt himself doing this, reaching out so far outside of what had been my box.

Right. Right. So, um, so, but back to the, back to the scale, I mean, you, so your, your wife went out and bought a scale that could, that could handle a man like you, right? And what does it, what does it top out at? Well, it, it was, I mean, where do you top out at well it it was i mean where do you top out right it was i still don't know exactly where i topped out but this was after at 397 okay was my first time that i looked at the scale and saw a real number for how much i weighed but that's already after you'd been working out and kind of started taking control of stuff. So it's conceivable you weighed more than that. Yeah, I think it would be conservative to say that I was probably more around 4'10",

easily, because I was losing weight when I was so heavy. I was losing weight at such a rapid pace because of how heavy I was. It was easy to lose weight in the beginning. And so I think it's very conservative to say that I was 410, 415 pounds to start with. I mean, when you weigh that much, I mean, what are the kind of things that people might not realize that you kind of have to deal with, you know, whether it's sort of. Think about things that would be really fun to most people. Like, say we've like I'll take my honeymoon for an example. My wife and I flew. We went to Martha's Vineyard for our honeymoon, which was an amazing, amazing place. Well, in the commercial airline,

on the flight, think about being a 6'4", 400-pound man in coach on a commercial flight. Not fun, right? You got to be embarrassed and ask the lady for a seat belt extension and you are making everyone next to you uncomfortable my poor wife she's gotta sit and we lift up the the armrest so i can spill over into her side but i'm still you know what i'm saying and you have to buy two seats? They make you buy two seats? No, nobody ever made me buy two seats. But we were strategic about where we would sit. And my wife is a lot smaller than I am, so that helped a lot that I was able to take up half of her seat.

Right. But there was a Cessna flight that I wasn't prepared for on that trip. Oh, yeah, because you got to take a little island hop. Right. I had no idea. I was not prepared for that. And so that we – She's laughing.

She's still laughing at you. You were fat when she married you dude when she thinks now i'm actually yeah oh she she always says she's always held because my wife if you see our wedding pictures you go what the hell was she thinking but uh you know she's ecstatic she loves she's she said she's always loved me no matter what which you know that's that feels really great to know and uh she's actually bought on bought into the whole lifestyle with me she's right she just did her speed work in a 40 degree rain 15 mile an hour wind down that we're having down here right now so we're

in a little mini competition amongst ourselves right now actually i think she's a keeper oh yeah definitely a keeper she's a keeper and so but yeah um we in this little sezna and i have to actually just kind of put one butt cheek in the seat and fold my leg up in the aisle behind me. And the lady who the pilot, I mean, because I'm basically sitting up on the pilot, right behind her. And actually, she moved me up to the front of the plane because it's such a small plane that she needed to shift the weight and it was very awkward and it was very very embarrassing and very uncomfortable yeah i mean you know i'm laughing because it's all funny now but like it's not funny you know i'm sure it wasn't funny at all at the time and you know this is you know this is uh this is a

problem that a lot of people have to deal with and you know it it creates all that kind of shame and it makes you want to you know not engage with the world and i mean the trickle-down effect of just the stuff that you have to deal with on a daily basis and the amount of energy output that it requires just to do something normal yeah exactly i was listening to an interview recently. I can't remember where it was, but it was this guy, Dave Asprey, who's – he calls himself the bulletproof executive. He's got a podcast. It was on some podcast.

But anyway, he was talking about how a lot of people who are really overweight have uh losing weight because everybody tells them that they need more willpower and what people don't realize is that people that are tremendously overweight are exerting more willpower on a daily basis you know by far than the average human being because the amount of willpower it takes just to sort of do the daily things there's you have a finite amount of willpower, right? And it's expended on just that. So to ask somebody to go above and beyond to handle what seems like an obvious thing for somebody who doesn't have to deal with that is too much to bear. Right.

Yeah, I get it. Uh-huh. So, all right, so we're orbiting around the 400, 410 area most likely, right? That's right. And so you're hitting the gym and you don't really have a plan. You're just meeting your buddy at the gym and you guys are starting to, you know, turn things around. So what is that? You know, what are you doing?

You're just going to the treadmill? Are you doing weights? No, I'm not even doing a treadmill at this point. I'm just at the gym, going back to my old football roots, lifting weight. That's what we're doing. Bench pressing. I'm bench pressing and doing bicep curls. How come I'm not losing weight? Right. And so what I was- Well, you were just by probably just by moving your body. Correct. Just because I was doing.

And one thing that I did change from the old workout was I had increased my intensity because I because at this point I did understand that I didn't know what I needed to do. And so I was actively seeking information through this whole process. seeking information through this whole process. And I was looking at places like, um, like men's fitness magazine and finding these like interval training and, and circuit training. So, so whereas before I do three sets of 10 and drink water in between the sets and all of these things, now I was doing exercises and I was rotating through circuits and stuff. So even though I wasn't doing cardio on the treadmill or running or anything like that, I was lifting weights in a way that was really more intense than I had ever done before. And so I was keeping myself sweating. And, man, weight was just pouring off of me in the beginning.

It was just pouring off of me in the beginning. It was just pouring off. But meanwhile, you hadn't really started to take a look at your diet, right? So were you just going home and having the jambalaya and the gumbo or what are you eating at home? Doing less of it, quantities. I was worried about my portion controls kind of a vibe. That's what I was doing, really. And then on the weekends, it was a complete free-for-all. All the beer and whiskey and po' boys that I wanted.

It was like, took the weekend off and worked like a crazy man during the week. You take the weekend off. And I lost a lot of weight while I was doing that. But it's because I had so much to lose that it came off kind of easy in the beginning. Right. To lose, oh, to lose. I thought you were giving me some weird Louisiana term or something. Yeah. Yeah. So you end up dropping like, you know, in pretty, in a pretty, you know, short period of time. I mean, you, you drop like 60 pounds right away. Right.. Because my, you got to remember my main goal in the beginning was to look better in a

suit because I knew I was going to have to don a suit and get in front of people who I already felt awkward around because I'm 10 years older than everybody anyway. All right. And so, and on top of that, I outweigh everybody by 200 pounds at least. So I'm trying to mitigate that as much as I can during my senior year. So when it comes time for my 490 business class and I make my big, you know, uh, you know, coup de gras presentation at the end, um, I don't look like a sweating fool up there. Because I knew the material. I knew what I was doing. And I knew I could talk about it.

But I was scared to be distracted by how bad I felt like I looked. Right. And so by the time you graduate, that was where you were 60 pounds down, right? Right. That's correct. So you're 320 and change, right, at that point? That's right. All right. And then you sort of flip the page and a new chapter starts with this idea about maybe trying to do a little running.

That's right. And it just clicked because the gym that I love that it's called La Rose. It's called La Rose. Sounds like an Italian restaurant. No, it's just a cool ass name. It's Mr. La Rose. So but there's also a barber called La Rose Dan's that almost almost said La Rose Dan's instead. But anyway, it's on it's located on tiger drive which i was i went to tibidore high school which is we were the tigers and the tiger drive passes right in front of tibidore high and the gym is on tiger drive right down the road from the high school

and so i would pass down tiger drive and i would see this man um who i've known very well. My wife has known him all of her life. I'd see him on the sidewalk doing this weird little, like I would laugh, like a little jiggle. And it was barely faster than a walk. And I'm looking at it, I was like, hell, if Mr. Jeff can get it in, I can do that too. So that's what I started doing. I just started, I would just do that little jiggle

and my buddy Jeff my the the man that I modeled my initial running uh form after his name is Jeff as well but my buddy's my workout buddy at this point his name is Jeff so Jeff would walk next to me as I would do my little jog jiggle thing. And that's how I started, man. All right. You started with a jiggle. That's it, dude. You're just out jiggling. That's it.

So it's kind of like a waddle, like a walk, like a little more brisk than a walk. Right. And it was just kind of like a – it was more with the upper body. It looked like I was doing more than I was, you know? And how far would you do that for? A mile, a mile. That's where I started. And then, and then after I would do the mile, we did the mile after our weight routine every day.

Right. And then I started wanting to get faster in that mile. Started wanting to go, well, damn, it took us 15 minutes to do that, you know? And then so I started working my way down, and I wanted to get it down below 10. And, you know, it took a long time, and I was still in 12, you know? And one thing leads to the next, and I was like, I wanted to give myself a little shot in the arm, something like a carrot on a stick, so to speak. And that's when I told my buddy Jeff, I was like, hey, let's do the Crested City Classic, man.

Let's sign up to do it right now. And we're going to work towards it. That's like a 10K race. That's a 10K. That's correct. Right, right, right. How far away was that? Like how much time would you have to prepare?

It was a few months. Yeah. Right. It was a few months. So you set a goal? Yes, I set a goal. Right, right. I set a goal.

And so what's the plan? Like just go further, faster? Yeah, just miles. That was my thing. I wanted to get distance. I wasn't worried about how fast at that point. I just wanted to be it. My goal was to run the whole Crescent City Classic. That's a pretty lofty goal when you're just out there jiggling for a mile, right? when you're just out there jiggling for a mile, right? Yeah, it was. It was. And in training, and what caught me was this,

because we would do our training pre-daylight hours because we worked. So we were at the gym at 4.30 in the morning, and then we would go run after. And then so the furthest I ever got in my training, And then, so the furthest I ever got in my training, quote unquote training for the 10K, was four miles. That was the longest nonstop run I had completed. And that was just a week or so before the Crescent City Classic. Right. Right.

So you go into this, you're not sure how it's going to go. Right. So you go into this, you're not sure how it's going to go. Right. Well, first of all, the night before the Crescent City Classic, we're in New Orleans having a good time. We get a bottle of wine and a cheese plate at a place and some Gouda beignets. I don't even know what that is. Well, it's a type of a cheese made into a beignet or beignets. That's how maybe the rest. Right, fried cheese bread, basically. Oh, I got you.

Completely delicious. And we drank a couple of bottles of wine. This is pre-race. This is my night before the race. wine this is pre-race this is my like night before the race so so we get up and we go and we had to we we late for the start line we get there uh i'm all excited but we get there and and what what i failed to realize in all of the training was we had never run in the daylight right and so we take off and we start running and not only am i just slightly hung over and not now i'm not really fueled up correctly uh we take off running and and it was really taxing it was really really taxing on me and i had to start i had to start

walking in mile three right the because because of the heat, the humidity. The heat. And all that fried cheese in your belly. And the night before, yeah. Now I know it was a terrible idea to do all that stuff. I mean, it sounds like, you know, duh. But really, in my mind at the time, I was like, man, I'm about to go run six miles tomorrow. I can have whatever I want.

That was literally the logic there, you know? Right. So, all right, yeah. So you cramp up and you finish it, but you just you had to walk. I wasn't proud of my effort at all. I wasn't proud of what I had. I was happy that we did

the Crescent City Classic. I did get through it, but I wasn't really proud of what I had done. Right. It took you just under two hours, right, to do it? I just ran, yeah, the picture that I put on the before and after that you posted on your Facebook, I ran that half marathon in 158.44. Right.

So it's quite a difference. Right. Yeah, so at this time, I mean, you're 320, right? So you're down about 77 pounds. That's right. Right. That's right. But you got a little momentum, right?

I did. Because of how that race went. I was like, no, we got to do better than this. And so my wife started, that's when my wife started getting on board and she started, she joined a gym here in town and she started doing her thing too. My brother saw me complete a 10K. That's when my brother wanted to get involved as well. And all of these other people, it felt good. Hey, we all can do it. We can do it.

I think, yeah, you're figuring out how to set goals. Right. You're creating community around what you're figuring out how to set goals. Right. You're creating community around what you're doing. You have accountability to these people. And you're making it fun with the people that you care about. I mean, that's like the recipe for success right there. Right. And that's when I was listening to Jeff Spencer the other morning.

And when he goes through those steps that you were talking about with him, and all of those things were just like going bling, bling, bling in my head. I was like, wow, I'm doing something right. I feel like I could be on the path to something really cool here. And so, all right, so what's next then? What's the next step here? So the next step is my wife, once she gets involved, we set another lofty goal, in my opinion at the time,

was to get it done in under an hour. Yeah, you're going to cut your time in half. Cut it in half. Right. And you got a year to get ready for this, right? Pretty much, yeah. Yeah, got a year because we decide after that race that day that I'm doing it again. And I'm going to do it way better.

And so – So you got this time to do it. out at me from your story is this, you know, you're starting to reframe this idea of what's possible and redefining the idea of impossible. And I think that that is, you know, through the lens of this culture that you live in, where maybe, you know, it's not encouraged to kind of step outside the norm and say, I'm going to do something that's a little bit different from everybody else right right especially with all of this um you know kind of hippie stuff that i'm partaking in these days right man what's happening and it's not losing the thread man right and it's like everybody but but there's a lot of folks that see it and go you know maybe there's something to it i mean you know we are louisiana mississippi are bottom of the barrel when it comes to health

and comes to obesity and i mean or top of the class whatever however you want to frame it when it comes to very negative things you know and uh i think i think it's time to adopt a new normal here right i mean when this is happening are your friends giving you shit or are they giving you a pat on the back i mean how what's the reaction you know you're still you're still you've lost a bunch of weight but you're hardly the way you look now. No, absolutely. And everybody was pumped for me. They were more happy. They were very happy that I was losing the weight and that I was looking good. That's the constant compliment is, you know, oh, man, you look so amazing.

You look good. You're losing some weight and all of that. You look good. You're losing some weight and all of that. But yeah, everybody was really happy for me and really pumped about the running thing, you know? Right. So you're getting encouragement. All right. And now you're going to get ready to try to cut your time in half. So where does the kind of new look at food start to creep into the equation? That happened right around the time I had started preparing for that part. It didn't fully happen. My new look at running itself happened in my training for that second crescent city classic the food came the food epiphany came after oh i see all right so you got we got another year of you just right progressively learning how to run my right and i'm looking for role models in

in that activity you know and that's when i read um I read Born to Run at that time. And I was like blown away at how people run 50 miles, people run hundreds of miles. I mean, this was like crazy. It blew my mind. And I was like, and here I am. Okay. So 10 miles is not that big of a deal. And so I just, I basically just kept doing exactly what I had been doing all along with maybe more salads and less po' boys, but still plenty of beer, whiskey and po' boys along the way. So we get, and I think a lot of it was just me getting lighter in that next year helped me really get, shave that time down. I mean, and having my wife who was actually outrunning me the whole time, chasing her down really kept us on pace. And that's how we got below the hour. Right. So you did.

You finished it in 59 minutes, right? So you achieved that goal. Yes. It was very close, and my little marathon photo things that you get after races that you go online and you get right for every one of them my action photos like the one that you see now but every one of those photos for that race looks like i'm about to die i mean because i'm like i'm this is i'm redlining it because i want to fit i want to make this goal and And so I get it done. And I'm like, cool. Got it done.

That was pretty taxing. But after that race, we go to one of my favorite pool boy places. Right. And so we go to one of my favorite pool boy places, and I have a beer, an oyster pool boy, and we have some chili cheese fries and a barksroot beer. So there's people that listen to the show that live in different countries and all that kind of stuff. So no, I just want you to tell people what a po' boy is. A po' boy is a sandwich made on a French loaf, very chewy French bread, and tons of mayo, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and fried oysters is my favorite. That's what I used to always get.

So it's a sandwich, and it's a loaf, an entire loaf of bread, basically, that's split long ways. And then you slather it with mayo, and you put shredded lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and you have your meat of choice. And mine was always fried oysters was what I would get. And so here we are post-race after this enormous exertion, and that's what I've put in my body immediately after. And we felt like, we really felt like crap after we ate all that because I had read Born to Run. I knew what I probably should be doing

and what other successful runners were doing. And I did that. But it's also natural to just go out and celebrate too. Like no one's going to, you know what I mean? And you had, so at this point you lost 120 pounds. Right. So you're tipping out at 285? Yeah, in that neighborhood.

That's right. That's where I was. But you kind of normalized there, right? Like it had stabilized. Yeah, in that neighborhood. That's right. That's where I was. But you kind of normalized there, right? Like it had stabilized. I did because we were getting close to Mardi Gras at that point. All right? And so what happened after that race, okay, me and my wife both, yeah.

Well, I might have the timeline a little mixed up. I think Mardi Gras comes before that. But anyway, what happens is we wind up adopt, because I felt really guilty after that meal. And I felt really bad physically after that meal. And my wife winds up reading about eating clean. And, and that's when the food thing started to change. Um, I didn't really want to do that. I really wanted to just keep doing physical exertion, the physical exercise and, and just eat less of the bad stuff, but still have it as part of my. Yeah. You're still holding on.

Right. That's exactly right. Yeah. And you're thinking, if I just keep running, I can get faster every year, the weight's still going to come off, all that kind of stuff. But that stuff started to slow down. Right. So you're pretty much plateaued at 285. I was plateaued. And then deep down in my heart and in the back of my head, I knew I had done that before. I hadn't lost quite that much weight before, but I knew I had lost a lot of weight before. And once it started to slow down, I could really see it start to go back.

I could imagine it coming all right back. start to go back. I could see, I could imagine it coming all right back. So in the past, when you dropped a ton of weight and then regained it, I mean, what was, what were you doing to lose it? And why did you regain it? Well, I would pick a goal weight. So I would say, I want to get down to 250. And then, so that's what I want to do. I would fort, I would – like I don't know if you've ever heard of John Gabriel, but he talks a lot about being able to get weight off of your body through sheer force, how that's totally possible. And that's what I would do. I would just work really hard and eat a little less and make the weight come off. And I would get to that goal weight, and then I would celebrate with poor boys in here and have a good time. I know.

And then slowly float right back up to where he was and all the time, you know, I mean, that's exactly. It's the normal thing because all the emphasis and all the focus is on hitting that number. And once you hit that number, you've achieved your goal. You take your foot off the gas because you're not changing your lifestyle. You're not creating a new sustainable lifestyle that you're going to be able to live with over time. Yeah, and that's exactly what happened. The eating clean thing, even though it still included meat, eating clean made me feel a lot better. No processed food, and it really made me feel a lot better. No processed food.

And it really made me feel a lot better. And it was in that, in that, at that point is when I saw that. And I, is when I saw the, the documentary fat, sick and nearly dead.

It was while we were eating clean. And I was like, holy cow, this guy did this, you know? And with the trucker that got filled and that thing, I'm like, it just was, it blew me away, you know? And the way he broke it down with the little cartoons about your body, you know, all the processes and your body needing clean fuel and all that, it all made sense.

So this has you thinking about maybe doing something completely insane. Right. I actually did try the juice thing. And it didn't do. My wife slapped me. How many days did you make it?

I made it three days. Three's not bad. I made it three days and I thought I was going to die. I felt like I had the worst flu on the planet. And I was like this. In retrospect, I went from eating way too unclean to going to that far, I think. Yeah, it's pretty extreme. I made too big of a leap.

Right. going to that to that far i think i made too big of a leap right but uh it did make me go it did make me rethink um the meat thing um and that's when i was like what's another clean and it just a progression that happened because after that is when i saw forks over knives and then i saw forks over knives and then then I saw Forks Over Knives and then I saw Food Change Hungry for Change and I saw Food Matters which Netflix I have to give a huge shout out to for for helping me along this process you know it's been it's been invaluable to me but yeah so and after watching all those things hearing all of those guys spew forth about need to give up animal products, need to give up meat and dairy and all of these things. After I heard it for about the fifth or sixth time, I was like, okay, let me try it.

And that's when I told that that's when I brought it up to my brother. I said, I said, I'm doing it because i was also telling my brother about all these things along the way and i was like now not every a lot of these people seem like they might contradict one another a little bit and you know it's not necessarily 100 consistent message all the way through so you got to take what you hear with a grain of salt and but so when i tell him that i'm i'm i'm gonna go completely plant-based he's like what happened to that grain of salt bro i thought i said just give me a chance and let me try it and then you know let's see and uh and the rest is history i mean were they just looking at you

rolling their eyes going yeah absolutely lost his mind people still rolling their eyes at me and crinkling up their face when they go, well, what did you do? And then I tell them and then they go, I just can't do that. Well, no, you can. You just probably won't. Right. But you had this willingness to try this. I mean, did you have, did you set an expectation for it or you just went into it completely open, like, let's just see what happens?

Completely open. I went in. for it or you just went into it completely open like let's just see what happens completely open I went in I knew that I didn't want to go back like I'd always done before in my life and I knew it was time for something that was going to be real and I knew I needed a way of living and eating that was going to be sustainable for me because I still I like to eat a pretty good volume of food that's comfortable to me that feels good I like to eat a pretty good volume of food. That's comfortable to me. That feels good. I like to eat food. I don't like to feel like I'm starving.

And that was the biggest thing for me was understanding that, oh, I can eat, man. Right. What do you think, I mean, why didn't you say, well, I'm going to just start eating maybe more plants? What was it about where you were at that you were ready to just turn the volume up to 10 and just do it 100%? Because I think a lot of people struggle with that idea. They're like, yeah, I should eat more vegetables and whatever, but I'm not ready to completely let go of the other stuff. They want to keep their little toe still on the other side of that line. Right.

Well, for me, what it was, was I had started really to fall in love with running. And so I was reading about folks like you and Brendan Brazier, reading y'all's books and Scott Jurek. And every one of y'all was the exact same message over and over and over. And I was like, OK, maybe I'm not aiming to be an ultra marathoner, but if I do want to do this and be a real and be a runner, like the runners I see running around New Orleans and going up and down St. Charles Avenue and around City Park and around Audubon Park. And if I want to be one of those guys, I feel like this is what I need to do. And that's really what helped me along with going completely plant-based was understanding that if I want to be a runner, this can really,

really help and is optimal fuel for it. I mean, I think the proof is in the pudding, so to speak. Yeah, well, it definitely is now. I mean, did you set a, like, I'm going to do it for 30 days and evaluate or just, I'm doing this? I said i've said it i said 30 days um but i really kind of felt like i was gonna wind up sticking to it very shortly after i i uh started because the clean thing had started working the clean the clean eating felt so good for me and and then that was just a matter of removing the chicken breast. Cause that's really all I was eating was chicken breast and fish. So it was just fried cheese still.

No, no. The fried cheese is a thing in the past. So, uh, all right. So you jump into this, I mean, do you know how to go like the first week? They know, no, I had no qualms with it whatsoever. So it just agreed with you from the beginning? It agreed with me from the beginning. I loved it.

The only issue that I had was trying to figure out how to really like kale in the beginning because I had read so much about kale and all of these things, and I was struggling with kale a little bit. And what about getting, you know, you're still 285. You like to eat a lot. Like what about volume or making sure that you feel full at the end of a meal, stuff like that? That's what, that's how me and kale got to be friends. That's how me and kale got to be friends because I could eat a bucket full of kale with my – I made this little dressing.

Right. Well, before Chef AJ – my wife is telling me Chef AJ's dressing really helped me out with kale, which it absolutely did. But before that, I was doing my own little thing with some spaghetti sauce and stuff that like out of some you know organic stuff from the jar which i would spaghetti sauce on kale salad yeah yeah i was putting spaghetti sauce on kale mashing it all up but the kale i felt like it held its it held its shape better down in my stomach when i understood what stretch receptors do and stuff like that. So I knew that I needed to get my stomach to be able to be satisfied. I needed to fill up my stomach. And so kale, I felt like did that in a better way than say some other, you know, softer lettuce would have done. And, um, and that, so that's, that's how I would get my volume of

food that I, that I, that I wanted. That's where, that's where it would get my volume of food that I wanted. That's where it started, you know? What were the kind of initial noticeable differences that you started to feel? Initial noticeable differences that you started to feel? My clarity of mind and how energetic I was. I didn't have any issues getting up because, like I said, we're early morning gym people. We still are to this day very early gym people and that that was just I was up bright eyed bushy tailed I was ready to rock and roll I stayed sore for a shorter period of time after giving workouts after runs

I felt I felt lighter on my feet during my runs so it made me get like as i started to adopt better farm it was easier because i felt more springy i felt i felt i just felt amazing and the biggest one though for me was lighter and not in the sense of not being a big fat guy anymore, but lighter in my gut. Like my body's getting rid of all of this unused food and it's not sitting in there. And so there's this natural cycle that's supposed to be happening that's happening. And that regularity, I know we talk about weird stuff now that we eat plants, but that regularity is a big part of my life. I love it. I feel amazing.

It just slides right out. It's amazing, dude. It's crazy. And the other thing that I love about your story is that at this moment in time when you made this switch, that coincided with that moment where you decided, forget about the scale. It's not about the number. I'm not doing this to lose weight. I'm doing this because I want to be a runner, because I want to be fit and healthy. So you shifted that mindset away from that kind of temporary goal that had you rubber banding in terms of your weight

and focused on changing your lifestyle. And I think that's the key. And I think that's why you've been able to maintain it. Right. And I feel like, and everyone has their own opinion, but from what I've read and my experience with this whole thing, I feel like we're obviously basically just animals here on the planet Earth. We happen to be fancy animals, but I feel like we were, like McDougal's book, we really were born to run. That's what we've evolved to do, and I feel like we've evolved

to eat plants and run, those two basic things. And if you want to be the most natural human form that has sprung forth from this earth to do whatever, but if you want to get in touch with that natural human essence of that being that you're supposed to be, I feel like running and plants is where it's at. That's just how, that's what I've adopted along the way. And it has really changed my outlook on everything. That's beautifully put. And you're officially a hippie now. Yeah, I know. I mean, beyond, beyond the kind of, you plate, beyond the food conversation, this process of learning how to run and the sort of changes, you know, personal changes that, that kind of occur when you spend that so much time with yourself, like out running, like, I just, I mean, I know the answer for myself, but I'm interested in, you know.

Well, I spend a lot of time, I used to do a whole lot of running with earbuds with music blaring in the air. And I still do from time to time. Depends on how long of a run I'm on and all. But most of the time, because now I'm running 13, 14 mile runs, whereas before I'd run a lot less. I'd spend a lot less time out there. But I get, it's almost like a meditation kind of for me I've been studying I've been reading up on meditation here lately that's kind of like my next phase in the metamorphosis I feel like it's a natural progression for me is I've been real interested in meditation

and maybe even moving towards yoga some and and um but I practice my breathing while I'm on my runs and I find a lot of parallels between my run breathing and the meditation breathing that I've read about a little bit. And and it helps me think about some really deep things. I really just get a real peace when I'm all by myself and it's me and my breath and my foot falls in the scenery, whether it's in new Orleans or here on the Bayou. I really feel like I'm deeply connected to the natural human that I've evolved to be. That's beautiful. I love that.

And I want to share that with my folks that think that sounds crazy. So, you know, what is it like when, I would imagine now, I mean sort of fast-forwarding to now, you know, well, the other sort of step that we missed is that, you know, once you made the switch, then you sort of broke through the glass ceiling on your weight and it started dropping off you like crazy. Oh, yeah. Right. And ultimately you get down – like what did you get down to? Well, right now, I weigh 203. Okay, 203. So you literally lost half your body weight. Yeah.

Right. And when you look at that before and after picture, I mean, it's hard to even fathom that that is the same guy. You look like a completely different person. Right. And it isn't the same guy you know you look like a completely different person right and it isn't the same guy at all right and you live in a small community where people know you and what is that like when you know people i would imagine that there's you know there is this sort of cultural resistance that you you experience or you you up against. But at the same time, especially given kind of the extent to which obesity

and diabetes and things like that are a problem down where you live, that in a sort of private moment, that friend who's giving you shit at the party is the same guy who's coming up to you and saying, hey man, what are you doing? Because they have to experience the same thing that you're experiencing when you're on the plane or all those kind of, you know, small little, you know, things on a daily basis that affect their lives, deteriorate the quality of their lives. So I would imagine that maybe people are more interested and more curious than they let on initially.

And yeah, you're right. And the more I beat my drum, the more I start to see people kind of tab their foot a little bit, to use an analogy. I mean, because I'm beating my drum, dude, because I love these folks down there. I love where I'm from. I love the culture I was raised in.

And I'm just trying to be, you know, an example that people can follow and say, God, dog, Josh Lajani did that? Because everybody knows me. They know where I was, you know? And if I can do it, man, anybody can do it. But, yes, there are folks. Because I have people my age, literally. I'm a young man still.

And I got people my age that's, you know, on statin drugs, had a heart attack last year, in the gym, trying to lose weight. But not really doing the whole package he's just on I'm talking about one guy I'm not gonna call him out but you know it just blows my mind that I have folks my age that are dealing with this what used to be an old man problem and um but uh to answer your question about all people that you know, you know, giving me shit kind of maybe turning the corner. Absolutely. Absolutely. I see it every day. And, um, and, and, but I make sure I don't pull punches like I used to, um, by sort of appeasing the people that I'm around.

When people ask me, I tell them, I don't bring it to you, but if you got a question for me, you open the gate and I go with it. And then you tell them you just eat plants and then they... And then they like, they crinkle up their face and they're like, well, what about drinking? Oh, you don't drink anymore either? And I'm like, I may have a glass of wine. Maybe once. I can't even say it's with not even enough regularity to even say how I don't even I can't even tell you the last time I've had. I'm not interested.

It doesn't it doesn't even appeal to me to have. I'm cool, but I don't, I don't miss it either, you know? And, uh, but that one's a big one for them. Even, you know, the drinking, cause the drinking is a pretty big thing down here. It's kind of what we do. And, and, and, um, but it's okay. It's okay to not. And that's what I want to try to be, uh, a beacon for, Hey, it's okay that It's okay to not. And that's what I want to try to be a beacon for. Hey, it's okay that that's what we've always done. It's okay to not do what we've always done. It's okay. It's okay.

The world's not going to crumble, man. And that's it, you know. I mean, I'm just trying to be an example. Well, I mean, the thing is, you don't have to tell anybody what to do. I mean, first of all, you shouldn't tell anyone what to do, but you don't have to because your personal transformation is so dramatic. Right. And you're not an outsider. You're one of them.

They all know you. Yeah. And all you have to do is share your experience you know just this is what happened to me you want to know what happened to me this is what happened and then and then they're going to do with that what what they're going to do with it but that's not your business really you know no it that's exactly right all i can do is is do that and and my grandmother used to have this real this little saying hanging up in the office that said, you know, actions speak louder than words. So sit down and shut up.

But actions do speak louder than words. And I feel like I'm trying to scream to the top of my lungs with my actions without preaching to people with actual words. And I think that I like doing that. I like it. You're in a position to help a lot of people, you know, and a lot of people that need help. And I think that, you know, I think you're ready to do that and to serve your community. I could see you being like Phil in Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead and holding those little workshops in the market

and showing people how to strip the kale. You are perfectly situated to start your own little plant-powered revolution down there, man. And that's what I want. That's really, you know, I really want that. I really do. And I really want, and I've done it in my immediate family. I've been able to be the impetus for some change among some people that I love very, very dearly. And that makes me immensely proud. And I tell my mom all the time because, and I hadn't even mentioned my mom who

just ran a 5k a couple of weeks. My mom who's, you know, was, I, you know, how ladies are with weight. I can't say weight, but my mom has lost significant weight. And she's, you know, been a person that's had, she had scoliosis when she was little and she's got an 18 inch rod in her back. And so that's always that built in excuse as to why we can't do something. And she's overcome that, you know, she's overcome that in recent months. And I'm just crazy proud of what she's been able to do. My brother's blowing my brother's blowing stuff out the water with his running and his weight loss. My wife is killing it. My little sister's killing it. Even my 80 year old grandpa who can't move very much.

He's sitting at the house, but just through osmosis, he's got to eat plants too, because everybody else is, and he's losing weight as well. That's amazing. And so I want it to spread, man. And I get the idea of something that you talk about a lot too, is this idea of transitional foods. And for people that aren't ready for the kale salad yet to introduce to them something that can be delicious, regardless of whether you're a vegan or whatever you are. Um, those, those things I think are very, very powerful. Um, even though you can't maybe make a complete diet of said transitional foods, they are very powerful to just introduce into people's brains that eating

plants don't have to suck, you know? Yeah. You got to meet people where they're at, you know? That's right, man. That's right. Yeah. I mean, you know, it's huge. I mean, you are permanently changing these people's lives. It's amazing.

I mean, the other thing that people ask me all the time is, you know, oh, well, it's easy for you. You live in Los Angeles, like, you know, Whole Foods on every corner and every restaurant, you know, has a vegan option and all that kind of stuff. and every restaurant has a vegan option and all that kind of stuff. But, I mean, you live – I mean, I can't imagine many places in the United States where it would be more challenging to kind of shop and get the kind of foods that you need. So how does that work down there? Dude, every grocery store has got a produce department. I have never been a grocery store without a produce department. I've never been a grocery store without a produce department.

And so when all else fails, hit the produce department, man. And I know we have a very – we're lucky in Thibodeau because we have a homegrown business called Rouse's, and they do supermarkets. And they are very receptive to what you ask for. a homegrown business called Rouse's and they do supermarkets. All right. And they are very receptive to what you ask for. So if you go and you say, Hey, look, I would really like some, you know,

uncle Sam's oat brand. They, they'll make sure that it's on the shelf for you. I want, I love the fact that you have almond milk. Um, and I know y'all don't do box almond milk, but I still do the almond milk. It's just easier for me. But anyway, I get the unsweetened almond milk. how much more of these items are being stocked in the grocery store because I see it happening. I see more people getting Ezekiel bread.

I see more people getting almond milk. I see more people getting raw almond butter and quinoa. We have quinoa in bins just like they have in Whole Foods now at the Rouse's. And it's really cool to see all of this happening, you know. That's crazy. Well, I mean, I would imagine this is you, man. You know, I mean, who else is going in there and requesting that stuff? I mean, you're…

Well, my family, yeah. We're doing it as a whole. But, yeah, you know, my mom was the one that asked the manager for stuff at Rouse's. I've never had a person ask the manager to get things from me at Ralph's. But I know mama well, and I know that's probably where these things are coming from. And what about, like, how do you handle it when you have to go to a restaurant? I do like you, man. I pre-eat, bro.

That's what I do. I pre-eat in the event that my only my only option is going to be a dressing with salad right so so that way we don't have to go to some off the wall place just because Josh is a vegan or Josh is or Josh and BJ my wife as well she she she's the same way so but we don't need to I don't need to be difficult. Yeah, I mean I think that's a big stumbling block for a lot of people or just a fear. So they have this fear like if I do this, then I'm going to be that guy who's always a pain in the butt. And so they just don't even want to try because they're projecting into the future some circumstance or situation that's

going to be tricky to navigate i get me a big old bowl of raw oats with some almond milk and some grapes and i'll fill up my stomach and i'm full and then we go to the restaurant and then that way if they do have something there i'll be satisfied and they don't i can get a few leaves on a plate and i'm satisfied you know or like maybe a baked potato or something right yeah yeah and when it's funny when i order you know i i like uh i like san pellegrino and you know people look at me crooked you know because i'm you know i'm josh you know from tibeto and i'm drinking San Pellegrino with a line, please. And it's, it's kind of funny, but it's good. I like it.

And, uh, it's, you know, it's cool, but, but, uh, you know, we, it's fun if you want to make it fun and, and, um, it can, it can, it can suck if you want it to be that way too. It's your perspective on it. That's it. Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you want it to be that way too. It's your perspective on it. That's it. Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right either way. And that's just it. And my wife and I both have a love for not only here but that beautiful gem of a city that we have here in this state called New Orleans,

we're only 60 miles from it. And, you know, we have season tickets for the New Orleans Saints, and we have massive, massive New Orleans Saints fans. And one of the biggest things that I mentioned in there that really sort of shook my world when it comes to possible and impossible was the fact that we were able to win a super bowl which still which i'm it's settled in but at the time it was that that is that that that blew my mind that'll get you to rethink what's possible and correct it's won the super bowl you know so yeah if that's possible, anything, right? Yeah. Yeah, so Sean Payton is like a big part of your story, right?

Yeah, Sean Payton is an amazing – People out of the country tell us who he is. Sean Payton is the head coach for the New Orleans Saints. It's an NFL football team. NFL football team here in New Orleans. in new orleans and uh and so what what happened is you know we've been the laughing stock um for most part of our nfl existence um we've had some little spurts of good things that happened those spurts also happened to coincide with the san francisco 49ers and nfc west which is our division um having their dynasty at the same time that

we tried to raise our little heads. And we never really accomplished anything with our little bit of winning that we did in the late 80s, early 90s. However, for the most part of our existence, we've been just a laughingstock. And what happens is we get Sean Payton after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina down here. we get Sean Payton after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina down here. And basically we win the Super Bowl.

And after that. It's like a crazy Cinderella story. Amazing. We get Drew Brees to come over from San Diego who shattered his shoulder, his throwing shoulder, and we pick him up, and he just is on the – I mean, I really think he's on the way to being, you know, arguably one of the greatest, if not the greatest quarterback of all time. And Sean Payton's doing the same thing in the realm of head coach. And so those things are, those things are,

are really sort of stretch what, what you believe is possible. And after the Superbowl victory, I was still very heavy at the time after, right after the Superbowl, I read Sean Payton's book and, and he talked a lot about those, you know, he used a lot of F words in his book and I loved it and he kept me reading, you know, and, you know, but I loved it. And he talked a lot about, you know, forget about what normal is and screw. You know, that's the way it always is down here. That sort of vibe. And, you know, just basically reach outside the box and adopt a new normal and uh that that really resonated with me and i was like okay coach that's what we need to do man you gotta break the paradigm that's it bro you know i mean some some places are more open-minded than others but i think that you know from from the way you describe it, where you live, they're not so open to new ideas.

Right. And my thing, I think, that we can see as a roadblock is our culinary prowess here, especially in the city of New Orleans. I mean, it's a global draw to go to some of the restaurants in the French Quarter and uptown and just around the city of New Orleans. It's a global, global drum. When you start talking about wanting to eat healthy and wanting to be plant-based, that becomes a roadblock in people's minds. But so much of our economy is tied into this food that we, you know, sell. And I think, I think you can flip, I think you can flip all that on its head and say, we actually have some of the most capable culinary talent in the world right here in this city. And if anybody can turn eating plants into something desirable, it's us. Yeah, it's amazing.

It's us. Yeah, it's amazing. I mean, not only did you overcome this tremendous amount of weight that you were carrying around, you had to do it in a community that wasn't exactly supportive initially, and you had to do it in the midst of incredible temptation by some of the tastiest food on the planet. I mean, the food in the world is insane, right? So, I mean, how do you deal with cravings? Like, I think that's another thing that a lot of people really struggle with. I don't really crave much anymore. I crave, you know, my big sins nowadays are, you know, too much nut butter or, you know, too many hands full of raw cashews.

But as far as me craving because of where I came from and what I'm doing now and where I'm headed, I honestly, honestly, from the bottom of my heart, I don't crave. And understanding that pleasure trap concept, you know, I know you've heard about it and I know a lot of people listening have heard about that pleasure trap and what that is. It's Doug Lyle's idea. And understanding that when I walk past a barbecue joint and bells and whistles go off in my head because of the smells that I'm experiencing, understanding why that's happening has really sort of really quieted down any cravings I might have. It really has helped. It really has helped a tremendous amount. really has helped a tremendous amount and plus being able to identify foods like some of the smoothies that i enjoy as like these things are just like so out of this world delicious that people um that i crave those now you know what i mean right and um you can't make an entire diet of fruit smoothies, but that is a good – one, it's a good transition for somebody to get into plant-based living.

And two, it's a good place for people who are in plant-based – the plant-based lifestyle to have something that really sends bells – lights up all those bells and whistles. Right, right. I mean, do you have people that say to you now, listen you look great you lost all this weight like now what's wrong with having you know a poor boy once in a while well i and i use i i have exact i have i know exactly what i tell those people i say me and poor boy me and poor boy i don't have we we didn't Me and Poe Boy, we're not talking. And that's just it. Me and Poe Boy, we done fell out, bro. And there's no love lost between me and Poe Boy.

And just look at my before pictures, man. And I know how I felt on the inside. And I know what it did to me and even my brain and my way of thought. And, you know, me and poor boy, we just don't get along no more. All right. I hear you, man. All right. Well, let's wrap it up here. ask you of like if there you know if there's anything you want to uh sort of let people know before we tune out here or like some words of inspiration or just something that people might

not understand or fully realize or appreciate about adopting this new lifestyle that you have because a lot of people listen to show they're they, it's not all vegans, there's all different kinds of people. So people are curious though, and what might they not really understand that you want to make sure you get across? And is it doesn't suck to eat only plants. I see that face that people make all the time. amazing what what your body your mind and your soul can do when you get in touch with what we're supposed to be doing naturally and um i think plants and running is is exactly what it where it's at you know right on man i love it all right well big love to you, man. Appreciate it. Keep doing what you're doing. And you know what would be awesome is if you check in with me once in a while, let me know how it's going down there. Like, I want to see you catalyze this movement. Oh, you got it, man. I got some stuff in the works, too. Me and my wife are working on some things there in the city that, you, you know, we, we, uh, look forward to, uh, sharing,

sharing with folks. Excellent, man. And, uh, and what's next for you? You got a marathon you're getting ready for, right? Yeah, I got a marathon. I'm going to do, uh, I think my, my big goal was the, uh, rock and roll marathon, rock and roll New Orleans. Um, but I've talked to a few people actually, since you,, since you reposted my picture, a whole bunch of people have been blowing me up. So I have a few people that want me to go do the Louisiana Marathon, which is in Baton Rouge. And it's going to be a month before the Rock and Roll, which I'm thinking about doing that as a prelude to the rock and roll marathon because there's going to be a vegan village at that uh louisiana marathon post run which is a pet peeve of mine we never have good healthy food at the event to eat after

a race there's never it's always like hey all right here's the beer and the pizza and the fried shit and the the jambalaya i'm like where are where's the good stuff that we need right now our body's starving for nutrition at this point at this moment in particular and so the fact that they're gonna have that at the at the louisiana marathon really has me uh excited and i think i'm going to participate just for that fact alone. That's cool. I might actually, I'm the Louisiana marathon might cut in front of my, uh, my rock and roll marathon.

Gotcha. Um, yeah, just so you know, I mean, I, I think I emailed this to you, but when I posted that picture,

that before and after picture on my Facebook page, that, that got the most sort of views or likes or whatever of anything i've ever posted on my facebook page ever that's crazy just blew it up like crazy like that people were reposting it and sharing it all over the place like i looked at the numbers i was like holy smokes that was the most popular thing i've ever posted on my page. I literally sat in my truck looking at my iPhone, tingling, nervous, didn't know how to take it. Because my Twitter and Instagram and Facebook was going bananas. And I was just like, really?

It's just me? You know, really? And so, yeah, that was a really cool moment. And I don't know how to thank you enough for that. That was just really, really awesome. Thank you for doing what you're doing. And your story is incredible. And you are an inspiration. You really are.

And I really hope that you embrace that and really understand the power of your story and the impact that you can have, not just on your community, but everywhere you go. I'm trying. You're doing it. Thank you, Rich. So if people want to check you out, you're on Twitter. What's your Twitter? It's just, it's my name, which is Josh Leajani, which is – I'll spell the last name. Everybody knows how I spell it.

My last name is Lajani, L-A-J-A-U-N-I-E. And I'm at Josh Lajani on Twitter. Same thing on Instagram. And you can hook up with me on Facebook as well, man. Right on. And I'm going to post those before and after pictures on the page where I'm posting this episode. And I'm going to think I'm going to – your manifesto, man. Free. Josh Lejeune.

Post that on my website. Sure, buddy. Isn't that cool? Sure. I don't know how I do that. I have a – I i started a i started a blog oh you got a blog cool that's a blog and i'm come on man i'm trying to get i know your stuff josh lajani at wordpress all right uh dot com and because it's basically the same little

thing that i sent you because uh i just wanted to share it with more people all at one time. I'll repost the link to that on Facebook and Twitter and all for people to be able to get to it if people want to read more about it. I plan on doing some more posts on the blog. I have a lot more to say and we have a lot more in store this is just the beginning man yeah I got no doubt man alright man well peace with you alright thanks so much for taking the time dude really appreciate it

and big love to your wife BJ too she gonna run the marathon with you you damn skippy alright good alright buddy peace plants later with you? You damn skippy. All right, good. All right, buddy. Peace. Plants. Later. All right, you guys, that's it. That's our show. What do you guys think?

I thought it was pretty freaking good. I think that guy's pretty inspirational, man. I totally dug talking to him. I thought it was awesome. Tell me what you guys think by leaving a comment at richroll.com on the blog page for this episode. And if you've been enjoying the show, tell a friend. That's all we want. Tell a friend.

It's free. Why not? If you want to take tell a friend. That's all we want. Tell a friend. It's free. Why not? If you want to take it a step further, we would love it if you would use the Amazon banner ad at richroll.com for all your holiday purchases. Just go to richroll.com,

click on the banner ad on the right-hand margin for Amazon. Takes you to Amazon. Get what you're going to get. Does not cost you a cent extra, but Amazon throws us some loose change. Helps keep the lights on over here. You can also donate to the show one time weekly, monthly, any amount you want. We appreciate everybody who has supported us this way. It warms my heart. I appreciate it tremendously. If you are looking to supply yourself with plant-powered

needs, go to richroll.com for that as well. We've got a cookbook, meditation program, athletic recovery supplement, vitamin B12 supplement. Coming up with some new nutritional products in the very near future. Also going to get the t-shirts up. I'm working really hard to try to get that accomplished by the end of the first week of December. We're going to get the t-shirts up. I'm working really hard to try to get that accomplished by the end of the first week of December. We're going to have a couple of different Plant Power t-shirt options up there. Very, very excited to be able to finally get you guys this. There's been a lot of demand for these t-shirts, so I'm pretty pumped about that. Also, we're going to have signed copies of Finding Ultra available to you guys. Hey,

if you haven't checked out my book, Finding Ultra, what are you waiting for? But you can get a signed one pretty soon up on my site, and I'll let all you guys know when that's up and live, of course. Leave a comment at iTunes if you've been enjoying the show on the iTunes page. That helps us out a lot with the rankings. It gets more eyeballs on what we're doing. And what else? That's it. Oh, yeah. You know what? Holiday season is here. Maybe you've got a friend. You're trying to figure out what to give them as a gift. They're into health. They're into fitness, but they already have everything. What do you do? How about our ultimate guide to plant-based nutrition at mindbodygreen.com? This is our ultimate guide to eating the plant

power way. Julie and I put everything we have into this. It basically, I took a look at all the questions that I get about how I eat the way that I eat, how I fuel my body to train and race, how do you do it when you travel? How do you do it in restaurants? What should I shop for? What are the essentials that I should be stocking my kitchen with? Recipes, the whole nine yards. It's three and a half hours of streaming video content broken up into short little segments that are very specific to a particular subject matter. And there's an online community, like forum community,

where we interact with you guys, answer questions, et cetera. We're really proud of it. The production value is extremely high. We partnered with MindBodyGreen on this, and they put a lot into it, and so did we. So if you haven't checked it out yet, take a look. You can find it on the homepage there at MindBodyGreen. And you can gift it to a friend too. Make like kind of a cool, unique gift. So that's it.

I'm out of here. Hope you guys are enjoying your holiday season. And let's free Josh Lajani. Free Josh Lajani. Out of here. Thanks, guys.