How Dave Lost Two Small Grandchildren Worth of Weight In 14 Months | Dave W. | Better Man Podcast Ep. 153

Dean Pohlman: Hey, guys, it’s Dean. Welcome to the Batman podcast. Today’s episode is a member interview with Dave W from Indiana. And in this talk we’re going to talk about Dave’s health journey, starting with stepping on a scale, realizing he was over 300 pounds and this being pretty much the turning point and all the motivation he needed to start changing his life.

Dean Pohlman: And ultimately, for Dave, it’s about being able to play with his grandkids, being able to keep up with his grandkids. That’s his motivation. So we started with a workout program with weights and through that weight program learned about mantle Yoga, joined Mantle Yoga to complement that. And over those last 14 months, again, he’s lost over 100 pounds. He has a totally new approach to life.

Dean Pohlman: Total lifestyle change. Is postures better. He’s sleeping better. His energy is better. He looks totally different in the mirror. And I think this is just a great story. And it shows what can happen if you truly apply yourself to something and go all in. So I hope you guys enjoyed this conversation. I hope you get something out of it.

Dean Pohlman: I hope it inspires you to be a better man. Hey guys, it’s Deanna. Welcome back to the Better Man podcast. Today’s interview is a member interview. We are talking with Dave W. So Dave, thank you for being here.

Dave W.: Yeah thanks. Thanks for having me.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So, I met Dave at one of our recent weekend wellness events. And they was right up in the front row, crush posers, doing a great job. And then, I can’t remember how this came up, but we went around the room and, you know, we run around the room and talked about some of our experiences and why we were there.

Dean Pohlman: And Dave mentioned that he’s lost 100 pounds, in the last year, which is, holy crap, which is a big deal. I mean, if you lose 10 pounds, you know, that’s a lot. You know, 5 pounds is significant. So losing that much weight is is an incredible lifestyle shift. So, anyways, I wanted to talk about that, but then also talk about your kind of your health journey in general.

Dean Pohlman: And sure. But that way where we can relate it to other people. And if you guys are listening in as you are, hopefully you find it inspiring. You pick something up. So when did you realize that it was time for a change?

Dave W.: All right. So it was about it was probably 15, 16 months ago from from just about today. Stepped on a scale, saw a number started with a three and as pretty much maybe cry. Almost. Yeah. Was just a big awakening. I knew I, you know, I’d slowly, over the years, I never really worked out much at all.

Dave W.: Slowly over the years, it just kind of kept creeping up to 42, 52, 60. Never thought much about much about it. And then finally saw that three and it just dawned on me and I’ve got three young grandchildren and, wanted to be able to play with them. Don’t still move around and get out in the yard and do things with them.

Dave W.: And, so I that was one of my things, is I dive in when I’m serious about something, I just jump in and do it right away. And, so I found a coach online, got set up with a program with him, and, full disclosure, I’m also taking meds so that that has also aided me in losing that large amount of weight in this short amount of time.

Dave W.: But through the meds and his program, certainly worked on weightlifting and fitness that way. Also did a lot of nutrition work and, you know, watching my macros and things like that. I was with this guy for about seven months, and lost, roughly 60 pounds with him. And in March of this year, I needed to take a change.

Dave W.: The guy I was working with, I was honestly, he was wearing me out, so working out six days a week, my body wasn’t getting any chance to rest, and it was only consuming 7800 calories, a week. And so when I found that were on.

Dean Pohlman: Oh, you were on The Biggest Loser revamped.

Dave W.: Yes. Yeah. So I found this new coach, that I really recommend. This guy’s fantastic. And when I interviewed him, he said, well, your body is not getting any rest, so we’re going to put you on four days a week of working out, and we’re going to increase your calories because you need more fuel to do what we’re going to be doing.

Dave W.: So our four days a week I work out, although seven days a week I do cardio, I get, a minimum of 7500 steps a week or a day, 2100 calories. We’re increasing protein to a higher, higher level to gain. Give him that fuel. But through all that, when I was doing a lot of my weightlifting, and things like that, I realized they didn’t have any flexibility.

Dave W.: And that’s about, eight. No. Yeah. About eight months ago or actually ten months ago, December of last year. A couple guys I knew from this first fitness coach, introduced me to your program. And that’s when I joined Man Flow Yoga. And, that has also helped me. So it’s it’s been a combination of things.

Dave W.: So, like I said, in the last 14 months, I’ve just dove in headfirst on everything, you know, yoga, weightlifting, cardio, nutrition, the whole whole ball of wax.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. What was the. And are you on, you’re on ozempic or are you on.

Dave W.: No. I, injection shot, so I can’t give myself a shot. So I’m taking pills. The nation of different meds that help me curb my appetite. Basically. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Got it. Okay. Yeah, I mean, I there’s a, I mean, it’s very common. You know, I and I think, I think the benefits outweigh the cons. So I’m, I don’t know people that I’ve spoken with, like, it’s really weird. I mean, I’ve talked with some people who I’ve been if I know people that I’ve worked with one on one for months and then like four months later, they’re like, oh, yeah.

Dean Pohlman: And by the way, I’m on Ozempic. I’m like, why didn’t you tell me that at the beginning? That’s like a significant thing to tell me. Yeah.

Dave W.: Yeah. No, I, I’ve never been shy about telling anybody. That’s one of the bigger factors of why I’ve lost, close to 110 pounds right now from when I started, you know.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Well, you know, the thing that I wanted to say is there’s a lot of people who take it and they don’t lose much weight. I think they lose, like a little bit at first, but then they kind of plateau. Sure. And from what I’ve spoke, from the people that I’ve spoken with, the the, the, the real significant changes happen when they’re able to successfully combine that with the lifestyle change.

Dean Pohlman: So, you know, yes, you are taking meds, but also you are doing, oh crap.

Dave W.: Tono, he made it right there. A lot of changes. Yes. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: So who is the first program you worked with?

Dave W.: Who is just a guy found on Facebook? Yeah. Well, and again, it was not his full time job. He had another career. Kind of did this as a sideline on weekends in a local gym. And then he did this with, small group of guys, probably 20 to 30 of us. Okay, online, you know. So it was it was not his full time career.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So it was like a little like a cohort. You guys were all doing the same workouts together.

Dave W.: Yeah. And that’s where.

Dean Pohlman: Oh that’s cool.

Dave W.: Too. The guys in your group. Yeah. Yeah. You know. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Now who, who was it? Who were the.

Dave W.: Guys? Joe and Joe and Jamie.

Dean Pohlman: Joe and Jamie. Okay.

Dave W.: Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, yeah. Joe has, Joe has become like the, the community poster boy in so many ways.

Dave W.: He’s a flexible person I’ve ever seen.

Dean Pohlman: He is incredibly flexible. I mean, in his body, just, like, responded so well to those movements. Like, it’s, you know, I hope no one expects me to be able to, like, go next to him and do like a flexible because I I’d lose. I’m like, I’m nowhere near where he is.

Dave W.: Well. And I listen to his story as well. And he was not always like that either. So it’s really amazing. Yeah. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. And then and now you’re working. Are you, are you working with Josh?

Dave W.: No. So I’ve got a new coach. The program I’m with now is called Level Up Body. It’s, the guy’s name is Andrew. That. I’ve got a butcher. His last name was Trussell, which he goes of it.

Dean Pohlman: Something like that.

Dave W.: Okay. And my martial trainer is, is, fonso. Alfonso. He likes to go by Fonso. And. Yeah, it’s a it’s a great program. These guys are based in Canada. Jen found him through Facebook, but they’re based in Canada. They’ve got a great proprietary app, that we communicate through. We have our workouts through.

Dave W.: We have all of our nutrition. It’s an all in one app that we run everything through. And it’s it’s just a really top notch program. Yeah. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Awesome. Yeah. I’m glad you also, scaled back and started listening to your body more. So what happened when you started doing fewer workouts and eating more? What’d you know? Oh.

Dave W.: Well, right away I wasn’t sore, with my earlier program, and I will give him credit. I was making progress, but my body was sore all the time.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah.

Dave W.: After every workout and even, you know, even on my one rest day, which was Sunday, I was just always aching, you know, leg day, you know, coming up the stairs to my office. It was just painful to get up to my office. Yeah. Leg day is actually my favorite day. My legs are way much stronger than my upper body is.

Dave W.: But I was just always aching. And I’m not now. I’m not sore. And what I’ve learned from my coaches is you’re really not supposed to be sore from working out, That much. Yeah, you’re going to be sore a little bit, but not continually sore. And I was, So. Yeah, I mean, that’s one of the things.

Dave W.: And then again, I was I was always hungry because I was down at 1700 calories. And, you know, that’s really hard for me to, to I felt like I was eating like a bird. That’s not, you know, because I only gained 400 calories from then, but it was just a lot different for me.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So what did you what what enabled you to kind of, I mean, you know, going through all these changes, how quickly did you implement these changes from that 14 month period and finding the trainer and, you know, getting started?

Dave W.: Well, I mean, when I when I got the first trainer, I want to say we made we we made progress right away.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. In terms of those not the, not the actual results, but in terms of the lifestyle changes, how quickly did you.

Dave W.: Oh, it was immediate. Again, I throw myself in. I, I’m all in right away. And going to the gym became a habit really quickly for me. Yeah. First of all, I don’t really have an excuse not to get to the gym because it’s literally two blocks away from my house. I go out the front door, go two blocks, and it’s I face that face, the gym.

Dave W.: So I, I never have an excuse not to go there. Where do you live? Really? Small town in southern Indiana. But I had a a local YMCA right here. And one of those reasons is, Yeah, I know everybody who’s there, and if I’m not there, they always ask me why. Why weren’t you here today? So I’ve got accountability as liability.

Dave W.: So yeah. So it’s it’s great. And, it for a small rural YMCA that kind of help feeds three counties. It’s very well equipped. Both of my coaches have always said it’s got a lot of a lot of good equipment, a lot of good programs for us, you know, small rural area. So it’s great. Yeah, I just, but one of the, one of the things was I was new to weights.

Dave W.: I got on some of the machines in there before, but I had never done any kind of free weights, no barbells, no dumbbells. You could have told me. Get on the Smith machine and I wouldn’t have known where to walk in there. I didn’t know what it was. And so I wasn’t confident at first. To.

Dave W.: I certainly wasn’t going to bench press anything in front of anyone. I would go, I would go there when it was empty to try to do those things. And I’m fine in there now. I’m fully competent when I walk in there and I’ll do anything at any time. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Did you get feedback on your technique or did you, how’d you.

Dave W.: Yeah, every once in a while. Every once in a while, it’s all video stuff. They’re really big on letting us show them what we’re doing. Hobbs. Yeah, that’s. And especially the second coaches, program, they, walked us through a lot of, pre testing. You know, give me give us some video of how you do certain exercises.

Dave W.: Can you do this? Can you do that? A lot of it. Testing our flexibility so that they could see what we could do, to kind of give us a benchmark. One of the things we do every, every, every two weeks, we submit all of our measurements, and we have a survey that we fill out, you know, what did you do?

Dave W.: Well, what didn’t you do? Well, every four weeks, we take we take front, side and back photos. And so I have good comparisons of the, the reason I’ve been with them for the last. It’s been seven months with them now. And it’s, that’s I just, you know, just completed them last week. So from March to October, you while I’ve only been with them that time and lost 40 pounds, the the weight of my body has changed is just amazing.

Dave W.: Oh yeah. And that’s kind of been fun. People who know me and they see me out and at the gym or whatever, even though I had lost a lot of weight ahead of this time, they’ve noticed the bigger change in me in the last few months, just because of the way my body has changed shapes more than ever.

Dave W.: Yeah yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. That’s exciting. So is that, what really, what motivates you is that, you know, when you first got started and you weren’t seeing those results yet. What what kept you going? What kept you waking up early and doing your workout? Eating what?

Dave W.: You do wake up early? Yeah. I just what motivated me again, it goes back to my grandkids. And it brought it home just a couple weeks ago. We were we were able to they live here in town, so they’re real close to us. And, we had the opportunity to watch them one day, and they wanted to go to the park and wanted me to play tag, and I was able to run right after him without being out of breath, which was just just awesome.

Dave W.: So that in and of itself was the whole reason that I started this journey. Yeah. And I want it. I want to continue to be able to do that kind of stuff. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. That’s amazing. Yeah. That’s great. So and the other thing that I hear from a lot of people is they start to noticing the results is very reaffirming and motivational. Did you have a similar experience being able to look in the mirror and you’re like, Holy crap, things are changing. This is Rose. Yeah.

Dave W.: And there was a point probably. Let’s see, we’re in October. There’s a point this summer where I completely overturned my entire wardrobe. Oh, wow. Every everything. Yeah. Because I had to. Well, yeah. I mean, a year ago, I was waist size was 44. I’m now 34. Wow. I was in double X, now I’m in medium. So. Yeah, that was a real fun time to go donate all those clothes and completely get everything new.

Dave W.: Yeah. I mean, that’s when I really realized that, you know, it’s starting to make a difference.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, well, you probably should have kept some of the XL t shirts, because I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but baggy clothes are in right now. Like,

Dave W.: I like I like formfitting clothes. Yeah, as I know a knee. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. No, I get it. Me too.

Dave W.: Well, and being here in the middle, we’re always behind the trends.

Dean Pohlman: Yes. Yeah. I’m a midwestern guy. Oh, yeah. If I CA. Yeah. I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. My dad grew up in, Michigan City. I don’t know how close you are to Mississippi City.

Dave W.: We’re up into the state. Yeah. Oh. That is. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: All right. Cool. Yeah. So. Wow. So 44in. 34in. That’s that’s a big change. That’s a lot of belts to go through until you.

Dave W.: But I mean, I’ve lost in weight. I’ve lost two small grandchildren. Wow. Basically one. Yeah. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: What have you, what other improvements have you noticed in your life? How is life better as a result of that? Huge. It was massive changes.

Dave W.: Couple things. I sleep better. Well, I don’t get up. Is often in the middle of night. Usually. You know, just because I’m older, I. You wake up more, but I wake up maybe once a night. Now. Whereas I was getting up three, sometimes four times a night. My posture is better. I’ve noticed that I’m going to attribute all a lot of a lot of that, though, to your program as well.

Dave W.: But, you know, I used to look in a mirror, especially. I look sideways and you kind of had the hunch, and I didn’t want to have that old person hunched. And I’m a lot more straight and, erect now, so. Yeah. You know, I feel like that’s also, been a good thing for me. I just have more energy for one, you know, just not carrying all that extra weight that just weighs you down.

Dave W.: Literally. Yes. You down? Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Right. Yeah. So why did you start? So you started doing mental yoga a few months into the. I want to start trying out.

Dave W.: Yeah, I started working out in July of 23. Started man flow. December of 24. So yeah, about a year ago.

Dean Pohlman: Okay. Oh, yeah. That’s, been almost a year. I was thinking, oh, so a few months ago, like, no, Dane, it’s Bender. It’s been. It’s the end of bone 25. And what did you notice when you started doing mental yoga?

Dave W.: Well, when I first started, I noticed that I couldn’t bend over and touch the floor nearly as far as I thought I could have. I thought, sure, yeah, I can, I should be able to reach get my fingertips to the floor, but could not, you know, just serving somewhere, getting to the to my shins. I’ve been able to get right down near my ankles at least now.

Dave W.: So I’ve been able to stretch better, and in through my workout routines. We always start with stretching. And, I know that I stretch better now after doing a lot of your, routines as well. I, you know, started off with, the, absolute Beginners, and that was the one that really. And I go back to that one as well.

Dave W.: That one still helps me out. Again, there’s a couple different routines that I go back to because I don’t have a strong back. Had surgery probably ten years ago, and, will likely have to have another surgery, just because of some disc issues. So I go back to some of those strengthening the lower back. I actually was just doing one last night, in your, your feel better, routine.

Dave W.: It was, it was all about the lower back. It was the 50 minute one. I can’t remember the title of it right now. Yeah. And, it was, it was it was all great for working on my lower back and, you know, so those are those things that, have really helped me, get through my old injury and, keep me going as well.

Dave W.: Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. How does it help with weightlifting?

Dave W.: Well, yeah, I mean, I have better form for one. Definitely, because I have a more stable and, Well, I I’m stronger. And that’s going to be a combination just because I’m building muscle as well, but. Right. It’s also giving me confidence. And that’s one of the reasons. That’s one of the reasons I enjoyed the, the program that I went to in Washington.

Dave W.: Because I doing the doing the yoga at home alone, watching you on the screen, I felt like I was, you know, okay, you know, I was following along, and I would take video of myself and take pictures of it myself with my phone. Sometimes when I got in the room with those other, I don’t know, there were 30 or 40 of us there.

Dave W.: I’ve realized that was doing okay. Even better than I thought. Yeah. We were all different ages, all different sizes, all different levels. And, but we were all doing as best as we could, and I, I just felt that that was a good, good place for me to be. I felt good about myself doing it that way.

Dave W.: Yeah. And, you know, so it was it was that was a really helpful event for me to go to just for my confidence level as well. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. I find that’s a, that’s a common experience. A lot of people go to those those weekends. Are those working, you know those weekend workshops. And they realize that, oh I’m doing a lot better than I thought. Yeah.

Dave W.: Yeah. So and then some things I wasn’t doing well. And you know, you’re walking us through something and Jesse’s going to come by and push my butt back down because I’m too, too high or he’s pulling me some a different way. Yeah. You know, helping me get better for him. So that was also helpful.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I read the surveys for those events and realized that, you know, even though we’ve added a bunch of other stuff to them. And I think people enjoy the other stuff, but it’s still always comes back to you. People most appreciate that technique, feedback. So something I’m doing now is I’m reaching out to, I’m reaching I’m thinking I’m, I’m, I’m putting out posts and basically calling out to yoga instructors in the different areas that we’re going so we can have like a little small army of yoga instructors walking around providing feedback while we’re there, I think should be.

Dean Pohlman: Anyways, I think that’ll be fun. But but yeah. So, all right, so you’re doing, you know, you’re making these you’ve already made so many of the changes, like, you know, you’ve totally upended your nutrition. You’re working out four times a week with weights. You’re doing manual yoga. What’s the next like. What’s the next big goal?

Dean Pohlman: Do you have like something that you want to try that you haven’t done yet or whisper.

Dave W.: I don’t have a not a next fitness goal other than the coaches that we’re working on. We’re getting ready to and this is this is going to be kind of interesting for me. We’re getting ready to kind of go into my maintenance phase, at a weight, close to a weight where I think I want to stay.

Dave W.: You all share another little bit of, transparency here because I’ve lost nearly 110 pounds. And at my age, there’s excess skin. That will not shrink back. So in about three and a half weeks, I’m going to have surgery to remove that. So we actually have amped up my program right now where I’m building extra muscle.

Dave W.: We’re trying to build extra muscle because of that downtime. I’m going to have. But because of that, yeah, it’s going to, you know, it’s going to change, change my body a little bit. But that’ll be, that’ll be a different, different, different for me. But yeah, other than that, we’re ready to now get into how do I maintain a weight that I’m comfortable at.

Dave W.: We’re not going to be losing weight any longer. We’re just going to see how it is. Do I stay here but still maintain muscle, keep building muscle? I don’t want to. I don’t want to get big, bulky or anything, but I want to keep keep muscle, you know, growth. No, I don’t want it to deteriorate. So that’s what I’m interested in seeing what that next phase is going to be like.

Dave W.: Yeah yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. And you’re also entering another big phase of of life and a few months you’re retiring. What are your yeah. What are your thoughts there? What do you, what are you excited for?

Dave W.: Well, you know, I’m excited about not punching a clock. I mean, I don’t punch a clock, but, just, having the freedom to do whatever I want to do when I want to do it. It won’t be that sleeping in, because I. I get up routinely about 5:00 every day anyway. I don’t to the first, first people to the gym.

Dave W.: Sometimes I’m using my 24 hour access card to get in before the people get there to the front desk. So that’s that’s okay. But we’ll we’re going to do some traveling. We got some stuff planned for next year already. So. Yeah. So it’s just, enjoy. Enjoy life. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Great. All right, well, you want to go into our rapid fire section.

Dave W.: Oh, okay. I didn’t know that was coming.

Dean Pohlman: Oh, yeah. No. Well, actually, I, I got one more question. How has the how has community been helped for you? So you mentioned the accountability. You mentioned the accountability, the why going there and seeing other people. But you’ve also been part of some online programs. So how have how have those been helpful? Well,

Dave W.: It actually it’s been very helpful. And I’ve been in a bunch of different communities, but let’s let’s start with, you know, the man flow. So the greater community, you know, we, we kind of communicate through your Facebook page and also through, your app, smaller group, the, the guys of us that were in Washington, a lot of us still communicate together and, and, keep in touch and share what’s going on in our lives.

Dave W.: You know, we, What? I didn’t expect to get out of the the weekend, that we were there in Washington was, some of the extra talks that we had, sort of more on, mental wellness and things like that. And we got into some pretty deep discussions in our small groups. And what’s been nice is some of those guys still reach out to me and check on me and make sure that, you know, I’m doing okay with some of the stuff I was dealing with there.

Dave W.: So that’s that’s been cool. Got the same thing with, with the groups, you know, the fitness group that I’m in, with my coaches. And, you know, that’s in my case, it’s kind of important because I again, I live in the small community, we’ve got 2500 residents. So, to have that broader base of people outside my area is as important to, to keep in touch with.

Dave W.: So. Yeah, it’s been really good.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Cool. It’s great. Did you expect that we were going to go into, kind of the mental wellness category and how did you.

Dave W.: I knew, I knew, I knew in, in the title and in the, in the literature that we had seen, we were going to talk about we were to have a little breakout sessions talking about, you know, wellness. But I didn’t know, what extent and what the topics actually were. I was pleased. So, it was it was interesting because I think we discussed we had discussions that I, I would say in a lot of cases, mental get around in those kinds of groups and sit there and share like that.

Dave W.: Yeah. They should but we don’t. Yeah. So that was very beneficial. It just to that point that you said, let’s see, I got there I got there early Friday. And six of us went out to dinner that first night before everything kicked off Saturday, and none of us had anything in common other than we were there for that same event.

Dave W.: But we went out to dinner and we were already already sharing stuff about each of our lives that we probably would not have shared, let’s say, if we were all six together on a business trip together, if it was just a really interesting mix. And I don’t know why we felt comfortable doing that because we didn’t know each other yet.

Dave W.: We’d all just grab each other in the lobby at 6:00 and went to a restaurant.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah.

Dave W.: But for some reason that that weekend already kind of tipped us off as to, you know, we’re going to be close by the by the time we leave Sunday. We’re all going to be close enough to share things like this. And it was it was fun. It was really cool.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Have you had experiences like that where you’ve gotten together with groups of other men and been more forthcoming about things?

Dave W.: Well, yes, but not in not in that setting. I mean, through through my church. Yes. You know, I’ve gone on retreats and things like that, but they were specifically designed to do that. Yeah. This one. I didn’t know that. I walked into it not knowing that it was designed or would have a design to have that happen.

Dave W.: So now, yeah, it was kind of a byproduct I thought was really cool.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, yeah, I think it’s I don’t know. It’s just it’s just part of our culture, I guess within the community is, yeah, just talking about things. Talking about things that are important to you and yeah, I don’t know, I’ve always found that those are the more rewarding conversations. You know, it’s I think it’s I think there’s a thing.

Dean Pohlman: I think there’s something to be said about surface level conversations that you know, that just make you feel comfortable enough to go further. You know, like a man that bears this year doing terribly. And it’s like, oh, sports conversations.

Dave W.: Yeah. No, there’s some people there that had some really big personal breakthroughs to that. It was just amazing to see. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, yeah. Well, thanks for sharing. Or talking about that aspect. All right. Now I’m now I’m going to grill you with our rapid fire questions. And just say what comes to mind, if it doesn’t have to be the perfect answer. So first question, what’s the one habit, belief, or mindset that has helped you the most with your overall health and wellness?

Dave W.: Habit, belief or mindset? So I kind of go by I don’t I don’t subscribe to the, the, the wording. Exactly. But I’m a, I’m a carb, kind of guy, you know, just seize the day. Seize the moment.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah.

Dave W.: Do it. When I have employees, one of the other things I teach them is to, we call eat the frog, do the worst thing first thing in the day. The rest of your day gets better. Now, I don’t believe that working out for me is the worst thing. I actually enjoy it. That’s why I get to the gym early.

Dave W.: But do whatever’s hardest first. Just makes the rest of your day kind of easier once you get that worst or biggest challenge out of the way.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Okay. Thank you, Mark Twain.

Dave W.: Yeah, exactly. I was trying to remember who said that. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: What is, what’s one thing that you do for your health that is often overlooked or undervalued by others?

Dave W.: Well, I think we actually kind of touched touched on it when we were there, in Washington, taking care of yourself first. We talked about the old, the old, the whoever else that had that saying filling up your glass.

Dean Pohlman: Yes. That’s right. Okay. Sure.

Dave W.: Your glass is full so that you can, you know, pour into others for, so you can point to others. And, you know, sometimes that’s viewed as being selfish, you know, where you’re taking care of yourself first. And, I have in this past year before I even heard that saying, that was one of the focuses for folks that I, was starting to do on myself, making sure, that I was going to be healthy because I’ve got people in my life that I’m trying to take care of, and I needed to make sure that I was going to be able to do that at a better, better level.

Dave W.: So I was focusing on myself, making sure that I was going to be in a good position to do that. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. What’s the most stressful part of your day to day life?

Dave W.:

Dave W.: I will say I don’t get a lot of sleep. We haven’t figured that part out. Yeah, that’s the one equation of my eye health journey that I had not figured out yet. Just got. Oops. Other hand, just got a whoop band. Okay, we’re going to try to figure that out. My coach, helped me out.

Dave W.: Actually. I just just did a podcast for him last. Okay.

Dean Pohlman: Okay.

Dave W.: And, so, yeah, he gave me a, a hoop band. He’s really big on tracking a lot of the measurements that we do through this. And so we’re going to hopefully figure out, my sleep patterns a little bit better there. Yeah. That’s one of my. My only challenges right now is getting more sleep. It’s at best 5 hours or 5 hours a night right now.

Dean Pohlman: Okay. All right. And what’s your best piece of advice for men who want to be healthier?

Dave W.: I first of all, I would find someone else to do it with you. I used to. I did have a have a partner here in town, and we would work out together, and you gives us a little bit of accountability. You got to meet each other at the gym and do that. If you can do that, that’s great.

Dave W.: How about have somebody else to workout with? That always helps. And again, through the groups that I’ve been in with online, we share our, our, successes. And so, you know, we can compare, you know, kind of notes that way, do it with somebody. I think that that’s always going to help motivate you to get your your part of it done.

Dave W.: I think it’d be a good thing.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Okay. Cool. All right. Well, anything else you want to mention?

Dean Pohlman:

Dave W.: No, I mean, I, I can’t think of anything.

Dave W.: No. I’m sorry.

Dean Pohlman: Okay. Perfect.

Dave W.: My mind is blank.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, well, no, I want to say just thank you for being part of our community and sharing your stories and being active in our community. I think, you know, I say this in most of the interviews, if I remember to do it, but, you know, the only reason why the community exists and why it’s thriving is because people show up and decide to share things and decide to contribute.

Dean Pohlman: So thank you for, you know, being active and being an inspiration to other people.

Dave W.: Honestly, thank you. I appreciate that and I’m glad, I’m glad that Joe and Jamie turned me on to this because it’s it’s it’s been helpful. It’s been a good step into my whole journey of getting, getting well. So. Yeah, I appreciate that.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. And hopefully it helps you continue to do all these things for many more years.

Dave W.: I hope so, yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. All right Dave, thanks again for your time guys. Listening in the unit. I hope you enjoyed this interview. I hope inspires you to be a better man. And I’ll see you guys in the next episode. All right guys, I hope you enjoyed the interview. If you are already part of the mental yoga community, I want to say thank you for being here.

Dean Pohlman: Thank you for being part of the Mantle Yoga community. If you’re enjoying this podcast, leave a review wherever you’re listening. If you want to learn more about the Mantle Yoga community and join, we do have a free seven day trial or more at Mantle yoga.com/join. And if you’re not quite ready for that yet, we do have a free seven day challenge.

Dean Pohlman: No credit card required to show you what the workouts are like. You can sign up for that at Mental yoga.com/7 DK. All of these links are in the show notes below. And yeah. So guys, I hope this episode inspired you to be a better man. And I’ll see you guys on the next one. Thank you.

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