How Baby Steps Made Joe Feel Better In Every Way At 62 Than He Felt At 42 | Joe L. | Better Man Podcast Ep. 178

Dean Pohlman: Hey guys, it’s Dean and welcome to the Betterment Podcast. Today’s episode is a member interview. I’m talking with Joelle, who lives in San Diego, about his dramatic transformation. He went to a he went to donate blood. He was at six years old at this point. This is two years ago. And he was told that his blood pressure was too high.

Dean Pohlman: And that inspired him to start working on his fitness. And now today, he was 55 pounds less than he did at that time. We also talk about how he realized that he had extremely low testosterone, and how getting back to a normal range helped him dramatically. And in many ways. You’ll find out in this episode, and now he’s at a point in his life when he’s ready to just just have fun.

Dean Pohlman: That’s what we talk about. He spent his entire life working, and now he just wants to have fun. And it’s it was, it was a great interview. Just see this guy at 62, just living life and loving life. So I hope you guys enjoyed this interview. I hope inspires you to be a better man. And I hope it gives you a good blueprint about how to implement changes slowly when you’re ready and, how those little changes add up over time.

Dean Pohlman: Hey guys, a scene. Welcome to the Batman podcast. Today I’ve got Joelle here and we’re going to be talking about his fitness journey. So Joe, thank you for being here.

Joe L. : All right. All right.

Dean Pohlman: So right before we started the call, you mentioned that you’ve lost a bunch of weight and now women are attracted to you again.

Joe L. : Yeah. Yeah okay.

Dean Pohlman: That’s pretty cool.

Joe L. : It’s amazing. Yeah. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: I remember, I mean, we met at the. And you’re from San Diego, right?

Joe L. : Yes, I’m in San Diego. I was born in Ohio, but I’ve been here since I was five. So you’re in.

Dean Pohlman: Ohio, guy. Okay, what part of Ohio?

Joe L. : Sandusky.

Dean Pohlman: Sandusky. The roller coaster capital of the world.

Joe L. : Yep. Right. Like, Erie.

Dean Pohlman: Okay. Very cool. Yeah. I went to, I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, so I went to Cedar Point quite a few times.

Joe L. : Cedar. That’s what I meant. Yeah, but it’s on Lake Erie. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Yes. Awesome. But I was like, many Midwesterners. And then I met. I remember meeting you in, we did a San Francisco, sorry, Los Angeles event, and, and you came up from San Diego, and, I remember you saying this was life changing, so I just want to say thank you. Thank you for that.

Dean Pohlman: And, absolutely. Yeah. And, you’ve lost a bunch of weight since then, so. So we’ll get into that because I definitely want to hear about how that all started. But let’s go back to, you know, I was like, asking people what’s what’s kind of your oh, shit moment when it comes to your fitness and realizing, okay, I’ve got to make a change.

Dean Pohlman: And usually it happens in waves. It’s not all at once, but what was what was there a was there a big impact? Was there a big moment in particular where you were like, okay, this has got to be different than it is now?

Joe L. : Absolutely. I, there’s a blood drive where I work every year and I’m all negative, and it’s the universal blood. They can put it, they can put it in anybody. So I go in there, they take my blood pressure, and they told me they wouldn’t take it because my blood pressure is too high. And it would say for me.

Joe L. : And I was like, what? I couldn’t believe it. I was shocked. Yeah. I didn’t know that was.

Dean Pohlman: How old were you and how many years ago? And how old were you when this happened?

Joe L. : About maybe two years ago. Maybe. Okay. I’m 62 now.

Dean Pohlman: Okay. So 60. Okay. And what what did you, what did you think after that? What happened?

Joe L. : Well, I, you know, I, I do a lot of googling, and I learned that high blood pressure is the silent killer. They call it, it can it increases your risk for heart attack and stroke, you know? So, you know, I knew, Dean, I knew I was out of shape. You know, I lay on my side sleeper, and I could feel my belly laying on the bed.

Joe L. : You know, I knew that was a right. And, So I went to the doctor, and, you know, I had.

Joe L. : I had made up my mind. Okay, I’m going to get in shape. I’ve gotta do something about this. Let me talk to my doctor and, you know, I’m like, give me medication, give me six months, and I’m going to start working on myself, because what he told me was lose weight. And this is key. This is, this is this put me in the right mindset.

Joe L. : He said lose 10 pounds and when you’re done losing 10 pounds lose ten more. And it made it a mindset of steps. Little things at a time. The first 10 pounds was easy. It was like water weight I don’t know.

Dean Pohlman: But what do you what did you do the what was the first change you made to lose those first 10 pounds exercise?

Joe L. : Okay. Start started walking. Previously in my life, there’s been other times when I wanted to get in shape and I would always get injured. You know, I would go to the gym, start lifting, you know, and all that. I was doing push ups once, and I messed up my shoulders and I always had to stop, you know, it’s very just disenchanted.

Joe L. : You know, you get kind of like off of it, you know, for, you know, years have gone by and and try again.

Dean Pohlman: When was the last time in your life that you were consistent with exercise? Like did you did you play sports in high school or.

Joe L. : I did, I played little league. That’s not high school. I didn’t play by the time I hit high school, I was out of sports. Okay. The inner city influences were not good. And, you know.

Dean Pohlman: Did you play a did you work out when in your 20s or like, did you ever have a time in your real life where you were outside of the league when you were playing sports consistently?

Joe L. : No.

Dean Pohlman: Or working out consistently?

Joe L. : Not really. No. Okay. I was a construction worker for 20 years, and a lot of heavy lifting, a lot of climbing and moving and climbing ladders and I install air conditioning. And so it’s very physical and, you know, like ten years ago, I changed careers. And that’s when my physical health really started to clot, to decline.

Joe L. : And not only that, I turned 50. Right. Looking back at my life, it seems like every decade is a shift, you know, of.

Joe L. : A mind shift first and then as you get older, a physical shift. Yeah. Okay. More or less.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So you were pretty active with your other what’s your previous career up until 50. And so you didn’t really have to worry about health because you were moving enough. You were just active enough there. I mean, it’s it’s it’s great that you were able to get through, you know, that entire career and hit 50 and not be honestly and not be in pain and discomfort.

Dean Pohlman: I mean, I talk with a lot of guys who are in construction who, you know, even in their 40s, in their 30s, they’re like, everything hurts all the time.

Joe L. : It did.

Dean Pohlman: Oh it did.

Joe L. : Oh, my back. My elbows, my wrists. Yeah. My knees. My knees weren’t too bad, but a little bit. Mostly my back.

Dean Pohlman: Was it just did you just say, like, oh, this is this is what happens when you’re in your 30s or 40? So there was no I there. And there was there was no like, oh, maybe if I go to exercise or maybe I can do something to make it. It was just like, oh, I’m, I’m older and this is what happens now.

Joe L. : That was, that was. Yeah, I was just I’m getting old, you know, it’s how I saw it. And I was so wrong. So wrong. Yeah, I.

Dean Pohlman: Mean age.

Joe L. : Age does matter. But you gotta take care of yourself.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. I mean, it’s it’s I think it’s I think it’s normal that people think that, you know, I mean, we look at, and I think I was having this conversation with someone the other day, and, you know, I think different generations look at it differently. I think a lot of people, you know, like my grandma, for example, like my grandma is 89.

Dean Pohlman: She just broke her femur. You know, she’s she has dementia. She’s, you know, she’s really struggling. And she she stopped exercising consistently. She played golf and she was active, but she didn’t really do any strength training. And, and most of the people that I talk with now understand that strength training is really important to longevity and to aging.

Dean Pohlman: And so, you know, even if they’re not doing it, there’s some sort of like, oh, well, you know, I’m hiking instead or like I’m doing this other thing instead. So I think it’s, I think there’s just a difference in, you know, in the normal ness of exercising or not exercising. And I think different generations just don’t exercise, just, you know, didn’t exercise is frequently and and now a lot of guys like like you’re 62 of my dad’s 67, for example.

Dean Pohlman: And you know, I think I think, when people hit that 60 mark, that’s when I think a lot of those guys figure out, like, okay, it’s now it’s time to, like, really get into gear. Like, I’ve got to do it now. I’ve got to get.

Joe L. : All your exercise. You’re actually behind you. Oh, yeah, I get behind and you have to catch up.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Okay. So. All right, so let’s go back to your first month. You lose 10 pounds, you’re walking. What else? What did you do after this? What what what enabled you to to to do the walking, right. And to just do the things that led to the first 10 pounds walking easy.

Joe L. : You know, we do that all day long and everything. And I knew I needed more than that.

Dean Pohlman:

Joe L. : And.

Joe L. : You know I really don’t remember exactly why I thought yoga.

Joe L. : Maybe just googling research. You know it’s a low impact. Good thing you know. So I Facebook is, is almost horrible because if you Google something and then all of a sudden these yoga things start coming through your algorithm.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah.

Joe L. : And you’re not even on the same website that does that. I don’t know how they do that, but, this app kept going through, talking about yoga, and there was chair yoga and all this, you know, we’re showing these old guys that are cutting, you know, ten minutes a day, you know, and stuff. I finally landed on this one app and I went ahead and paid for it.

Joe L. : And that’s what got me started. I think it was called yoga go, I think. And,

Joe L. : There’s a stigma behind yoga that I had anyway, you know, it’s for women, you know, and like, it seemed kind of women driven. You know, and I, I.

Joe L. : Like for women and I just, it just never felt right, you know. And then one day I googled yoga for men.

Joe L. : And I became you. And it was body by yoga. Yeah. And I found some of your videos on YouTube. I’m like okay this is, this is better. I mean look at this guy. You know, and you know and I and I knew I knew you’re not just doing yoga by looking at. Yeah. But it.

Joe L. : It was hard at first. I couldn’t believe how out of shape I was. And but I could see improvement over a couple of months. You know, I, I started seeing definition in my legs. I was able to hold the poses longer. And that is that’s very motivating. It’s working and, you know, and then,

Dean Pohlman: So after a few months, you noticed results. But what what kept you doing it, you know, earned those initial few weeks when you weren’t noticing the results.

Joe L. : So I would say this, the first promise I made was give me six months to my doctor. I’m on medication now. High blood pressure medication. You know, and I, I set that goal you know and that was my motivation was to try to get off the medication. I didn’t want to have to do this for the rest of my life.

Joe L. : You know. And then I started seeing results and I lost another 10 pounds. Now I’m down 20, you know, and then, I think I wanted more and then I found man flow yoga. My memory’s not very. I’m not in our young anymore and I don’t remember exactly how it all happened, but I bought the membership because I was, I was hooked, I was stuck on you.

Joe L. : I thought this is perfect, you know. And I like the way you deliver. You know, I like that you give variable levels of poses, you know, that it’s hard for you to just do this. You know, you you get it. You know, that there’s old guys out here trying to do this, you know, not everybody can do everything.

Joe L. : And you give options, you know? And, I bought the membership. I went to LA. I was huge I again there was a stigma. I didn’t know what to expect. And literally when I walked out of that building I said that was good. Yeah. And I really got a lot out of it. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Did you connect with any of the guys there?

Joe L. : No, no, no, I’m kind of a loner a little bit, yeah. No, I actually, you guys all went to dinner. I already had my own plans. I went to a I went to a spa, you know, the hotel. I went to the the, not the Ritz-Carlton, but the one next connected to it. Hilton, whatever. They had a spa.

Joe L. : I had a massage, and I had dinner. And on my own, I just did on my own thing, you know, I, I do, I, I, I’m not an LA guy.

Dean Pohlman: Okay?

Joe L. : San Diego is.

Joe L. : A lot of people just have a distaste for LA because of we’re like little brother syndrome here. And we know and, you know, so for me, even go to LA was was huge. I don’t go that way. But anyway, yeah. No, that was huge. I left there, and that’s when I really, really, really, really just got into it.

Joe L. : Yes. You know, I started with.

Joe L. : I like to say that I started with three days a week, a half an hour. Okay. That was fat. And I’m up to six days a week. An hour. Now.

Dean Pohlman: How much does your weight or heaviest like? Let’s go back two years.

Joe L. : To 28 to.

Dean Pohlman: 28. Okay. So at this time you’re like down like to what, 2 or 5? 2 or 8.

Joe L. : Something very to ten. Yeah. Somewhere. Yeah something like that. And I now I’m like really motivated because I’m seeing it. This is working. You know, the definition of my legs.

Joe L. : So I started I also went to Kaiser and took a wellness club. Oh, cool. You’re saying you should be doing five days a week, 30 minutes minimum? Yeah. So I added on. I started doing five days a week. 30 minutes. I can’t remember if I was doing three days of yoga and to a walking or vice versa.

Joe L. : I just so here’s you can kind of get what I’m getting to. As I slowly added on this time I didn’t go all balls right away. Yeah I got used to what I was doing and it became kind of a normal, you know, then I was like okay, I can I’m doing this, this is normal. And I would add something small.

Joe L. : You know, I went from three days of walking to and adding. Then I added yoga and then I, you know, on and I emailed you once and I said, you know, there wasn’t a whole lot of things going on for upper body. It’s all mostly core and lower body because I wasn’t seeing anything up here. Changing in

Joe L. : I asked you or you told me whatever you said done to some resistance training which could be weights or bands or whatever. And

Joe L. : I added that in and the whole time I’m changing my diet, you know, first I stop eating so much,

Joe L. : Smaller portions. And when I went to the wellness thing, they showed you a plate of what you should put on your plate. A quarter of it’s protein, a quarter of it’s starchy or carbs, and then half of it’s vegetables. And that started doing that. And then.

Joe L. : I was I was at a little hiking group bike hike would sometimes and there was this girl there and.

Joe L. : We would go to lunch after the hike and then she wouldn’t eat. I’m like, how come you’re not eating? And she goes, oh, I’m fasting. I’m intermittent fasting because I’ve gained 10 or 20 pounds. And I’m like, really? What is that? And she said, oh, she told me about it and I googled it. And I added that in, and that’s when I really saw the just the weight, just sharing.

Joe L. : I mean, I could I couldn’t believe I can’t believe it. I’m still kind of do it. I’m in the phase right now where I’m down to, I’m hover between 168 and 172. Oh, sorry. 511 I’m.

Dean Pohlman: Loving. That’s good. Good way.

Joe L. : Yeah, well, I Google it. How much? How much should a man, 62 year old man 511 weigh in they say 170. My goal was 180. And if I thought if I hit 180, I’ll be happy. Well it had become such a lifestyle for me now to that I just kept going up the, let’s see if I can get to 175 people now telling you you’re sick, don’t lose more weight, you’ve lost too much.

Joe L. : And I’m still I’m like, I want to lose more. I don’t want to lose more weight. I want to lose more fat. So I’ve my skin is kind of baggy and rich and wrinkly now. And, and I talked to my doctor and he said no. Yeah. You have to get muscle mass now. Replace the fat with muscle.

Joe L. : And I’m like okay. So that’s kind of where I’m at now. You can see that my little resistance band set up there. I have a bench over there I don’t know if you see. Yeah I do and my yoga’s here and yeah this is my work. I turn this into my workout room. Nice. It’s great I yeah. And it’s.

Joe L. : And then you’re there every almost every day. You know, what I do now is let’s see what do I do Sunday, Tuesday Thursday I do yoga. And then I walk and that and the walk I do is I live in a very hilly neighborhood. So I call it my intermittent training because I go up a hill and I start breathing heavily and, and then I go down in the car, you know, and then I start again and, you know, and it’s like intermittent is better for you.

Joe L. : And one thing I’ve noticed is.

Joe L. : There’s so many things, Dean, I hope I have time.

Joe L. : Pantyhose. If I do yoga before I walk. Because I have an app and I have my earbuds in, and it talks to me every quarter mile and tells me how I’m doing. And if I do yoga before I walk, I go much faster. It’s like a it’s a warm up or something. Yeah. You know, if I don’t do yoga before I walk, I go slower.

Joe L. : So I’m like, oh, that’s good, you know? Yeah, I wanted to mention. Down dog. When I first started I was all fat and everything. You know your head is like below your heart and it would pound my, my head would pound. And I would have to lift it up to relieve the pressure.

Joe L. : That has gone away because my blood pressure’s dropped. I had no idea. If you’re doing down dog and your head is pounding, it’s probably because you have high blood pressure. Okay. Good. That’s my experience.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Makes sense.

Joe L. : And there was a couple other poses that it was it was like that too. And something recently. So I’ve gone from beginners to intermediate. I’m doing a clerk actually. I just went through the second week of it. I’m going to move on from that because that’s what the sheet of paper had on it. Two weeks worth. Okay.

Joe L. : I’m going to move on from that. But something that happened that recently that, just keep getting more and more motivation, the eagle pose. I could never get I could barely grab my thumb the last time I tried it in one of your workouts I got the full clasp fingers, everything. I was like Holy shit this working.

Joe L. : It’s working. Yeah I was just that was exciting. Really exciting. Because when I first did it, I thought, I’ll never be able to do that ever. And I swung right into it. I was like, oh my God. Wow, I’m making such good progress.

Dean Pohlman: So it sounds like.

Joe L. : There’s a whole time.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So it sounds like results. The noticing the results for you have just been really pushing your motivation, and it sounds like you’ve seen enough of them over the course of however many years or months it’s been that you keep seeing new improvements, and that just gives you more and more motivation.

Joe L. : Right? February 25th is when the blood pressure, the blood mobile thing happened. Okay, so it’s been and February of this year I went back to the doctor and I had lost, I think I was around 45 pounds. Wow. Or so. So I got he Sapphire.

Dean Pohlman: Or what is.

Joe L. : It? I’m like, I went in there with my dude. You’re the man. All. Man. I just can’t believe the motivation you gave me and all this. And and he’s, like, totally deflecting. He’s like, no, you. He told me. He says, I just he told me I’m going to think about you for the next three weeks because nobody does this.

Joe L. : Yeah. He’s like, this is amazing. This is all you. He gave me all the credit and a lot of people do. It’s it’s it’s so I also I look back and there were hard moments, you know I like I said the first ten was easy. But after that I remember standing in my kitchen thinking, God, I’m doing all this stuff because there were moments when the weight just wasn’t coming off and it nothing’s happening, you know?

Joe L. : And it was a little discouraging. But I thought, you know, I just, I just going to keep going, you know, I just just keep going, Joe. Believe, you know, and I want to get emotional here, but.

Joe L. : There were moments that I was doubtful. How? Because the work, the results didn’t equal the work I felt at the time. And.

Joe L. : At the in the moment, it wasn’t easy, you know? But now that I’m there and I look back, it was easy. It wasn’t hard. Consistency. Stay with it. Stick with that. You say consistency and that sticks in my head, you know. And it it it it works.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Tell me about some of those, those hard, those hard moments.

Joe L. : Yeah. Like I said, I, I was like, I just can’t believe I’m not, you know, I’m not losing the weight. You know? What else can I do? You know, because I would it would.

Joe L. : I guess or. Good word I’m thinking up right now is it would like plateau. Yeah. You know, it seemed like. So I would have to. That’s when I thought, okay, what else can I add? What else can I do? You know, first I.

Joe L. : Lower portions. Right. Then I.

Joe L. : Changed the portions. You know, the the protein, the carbs, the vegetables.

Joe L. : Then I took out carbs. Now I’m just protein and vegetables.

Joe L. : Then I added, I just kept adding. I’m like, okay, I’m plateauing. I need to do more. This is what I’m doing is is only getting me to here. I want to get here. So what do I what can I do to get here. And I want to add another little thing that you can’t I, I think it’s key that you do a little bit at a time.

Joe L. : Because if you try to do it all too much, it’s too hard and you will get overwhelm. And it just you just get depressed, you get bombed. It’s not working. So don’t try to do it all at once. Just add a little bit at a time. And that makes it easy, easier, a lot easier than to try and do it all at once.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. I mean, that’s the thing that we’ve heard over and over again on, on these interviews that we do, that I do, it’s yeah, it’s the little consistent. It’s the little it’s the little changes over time. I really like, it’s not like, you know, making these huge dramatic changes all at once. And I love that you mention that when you met those plateaus, it was for you is kind of the question of, okay, well, what else can I do as opposed to, you know, hitting the plateau and then thinking, oh, why me?

Dean Pohlman: You’re like, why isn’t it, you know, what do I need to do now? You you’ve changed course, which to me makes a lot of sense. So, I think that’s I just think that’s. Yeah, I think that’s insightful. So.

Joe L. : Yeah, you have to I don’t know, I don’t know, believe, that you can do better. You can do more, a lot of mental things, too.

Joe L. : You know, I, I, I didn’t realize this. I’d been seeing a therapist for four years, and, I thought it was more like two, but he’s been. You got to have a place to go talk. I’m a cat. I’m a one on one guy. You know, I don’t. Not a group guy. And he’s been. He’s been instrumental.

Joe L. : Another thing that happened, this is going to get kind of personal, but,

Joe L. : I got lockjaw. We call it TMJ. And I mean, it hurt to open my mouth. I was eating soup for like a week and it it just kept getting worse. And death.

Joe L. : It got to the point where I was it was a struggle to talk.

Joe L. : And I’m like and I have a point behind this is.

Joe L. : So I finally I just said I gotta go to the doctor. This is bad. And they, I didn’t see my regular doctor. I saw first available and it was a woman. She’s she was beautiful and, very nice and she goes, I think he got TMJ, but let’s take a, let’s take a CT scan just to be sure.

Joe L. : And they did. And they saw something beyond that.

Joe L. : And they said, oh, we always see a little something in there we need to look at. Let’s do an MRI and come to find out, I have like a tumor on my pituitary gland. And I’m trying I want to I’m telling you this story to make the point. I’m.

Joe L. : So. It’s my doctor said don’t call it a tumor. It’s not a tumor. It’s a macro and a gnomon or something. And I’m like okay it’s a benign it. Google Mayo John Hopkins they all call it a benign tumor, you know. Okay, I won’t call a tumor if you say so, but, it’s.

Dean Pohlman: Not a tumor.

Joe L. : Yeah. And.

Joe L. : So I got with a gland doctor, endocrinologist. And there’s options. Surgery. They go through your nose. Radiation, or medication and these days, or. I don’t know, maybe it’s just my case. I don’t know, but they decided to do this medication, and I’m like, okay. He said, take that. Come to find out. Been. This is huge.

Joe L. : This is huge. And this is part of the woman thing. A lot of guys out there telling you, I thought I was getting old and this is why my sex drive was going down. It maybe. But I’ll tell you what they did. Blood. My testosterone. I think it’s supposed to be between 3 and 600 or something. It was almost zero.

Joe L. : Oh, wow. Because of this tumor, because of what it was doing to my pituitary gland.

Dean Pohlman: I’m surprised you were able to lose weight. Where starts from.

Joe L. : Astronaut. This happened.

Joe L. : I probably had only lost about 20 pounds when I discovered this. Okay. That’s what I’m saying. This the I kept plateauing, and it just these little. It’s been a it’s been a journey, you know, and prolactin. Prolactin is what makes women produce milk and makes their breasts grow. It also can give men breasts and give them head.

Joe L. : Prolactin is supposed to be between 12 one two and 17 one, seven, 12, and 17. Mine was over a thousand.

Dean Pohlman: Wow.

Joe L. : I was basically a woman and didn’t know it.

Joe L. : So my point is. So we put you put me on this medication.

Joe L. : I don’t remember exactly how many months went by. And we checked my blood again.

Joe L. : Within a week of taking this medication, I was all of a sudden I’m so freaked and horny. I don’t know what I’m doing. And what the hell just happened?

Joe L. : I want to do anything that moves all of a sudden. And this. This had been gone for years. Slow decline. You know, my my libido and. It’s come roaring back with a vengeance. I it’s the fact. So I’m trying to get to my point man out there. Go to your doctor.

Joe L. : Make them use your doctor. Don’t be afraid of the doctor. It’s it’s so important. Because it’s been life changing for me. Not only the doctor part, but the taking better care of myself part. Not. I lost basically 55 pounds. We’ve stabilized my body chemistry, and I feel better than I did 20 years ago. Now. I’m. I’m.

Joe L. : I think age has something to do with it, too, because I’m much more confident than I’ve ever been. And I’m not afraid to, approach women now make comments to them. And they love it. They love it. Within the last four months.

Joe L. : I’ve been with two different women, and I’ve gotten another phone number. I ended up tell her, you know what? No, because it was a friend of one of the others. So I thought, you know, I better not. I can’t do that.

Dean Pohlman: Well, well, that’s exciting to learn about. I mean, I think just overall health, being a reflection of that. But I think it’s great that you you figure that out and you got the, you know, the MRI and you got the treatment for the TMJ. I’m I’m curious because I want to learn more about this because my, my dad was a doctor.

Dean Pohlman: So, you know, I, I never grew up like scared, I guess, of the doctor or like, worried about what? You know, what would happen. I, you know, as a guy in his I’m now in my 30s, but as a guy in his 20s and early 30s, I’m kind of like, I’m really healthy. I probably don’t need it. But I’m curious, like, for you, what?

Dean Pohlman: You know, you just mentioned you just you tell guy, you know, as you just said that, you said, guys, don’t be scared of your doctors. And I’m curious for you. Like, what? Where does that what is the fear? Or like, what is the, what is the reluctance?

Joe L. : I think it’s a tough guy syndrome. Okay.

Joe L. : Maybe a little bit of an inconvenience. I just had something happen recently, and I’m like, I don’t go to the doctors or the all heal. I know I well, I’ve done a pretty good assessment, and, I’ll be fine.

Dean Pohlman: So my dad say he would. He would say, well, it’ll kill you or it won’t wrinkle. That’s true.

Joe L. : My mom, I used to say to my mom, it hurts when I do this. He goes, then don’t do that.

Dean Pohlman: That’s what that’s. So my wife, the physical therapist, says she’s like, then don’t do that.

Dean Pohlman: Okay.

Joe L. : I have one vice left. Well, two. Here’s another thing. Drinking. I change the way I drink.

Joe L. : I was I for the longest time, I was a captain and coke guy. Oh, and another thing is, do no sugar or carbs after two do okay? Because. Those turn into sugars in your body, which is energy. And if you don’t burn that up before you go to bed, it turns into fat while you’re sleeping. So if you don’t do any carbs well okay.

Joe L. : If you’re trying to lose weight, no sugar or carbs after two I cut cream and sugar out of my coffee for the intermittent fasting everything I’ve added it back in since. Since I’ve hit 170. But I’m trying to do this slowly because I was reading that, you can kind of start adding things in, but you really have to monitor what you’re doing.

Joe L. : So you don’t start gaining weight again.

Joe L. : I know that you’re a yoga guy and you probably want to talk more about yoga, but I’m. I’m trying to just.

Dean Pohlman: I don’t have no.

Joe L. : This is a wellness for men thing for me.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. I mean, that’s what this is.

Joe L. : Okay. I mean, ultimately for better man broadcast, right?

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. I mean, ultimately for me, you know, I thought about this a lot, and, like, yoga is a vehicle for, you know, my main.

Joe L. : Goals.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, it’s, you know, I’m I’m, you know, why do I care about yoga? Well, I care about yoga because of what it does for my health. You know, so I do like yoga. I like the the practice of it. I like the I like how it’s different from, you know, the workouts that I mostly do as an athlete, or as someone to lift weights.

Dean Pohlman: I like how it compliments, you know. Yeah, I like how it complements those workouts. But yeah, it’s also, you know, it’s, it’s just one of the things that fit into the men’s wellness equation.

Joe L. : So I honestly think.

Joe L. : You know, I, I hope to live for quite a while. I’ve abused my body my entire life. I’ve been a drug addict. I’m not eating right, not exercise. I stopped drinking, captain and Coke. There’s so much sugar in that, you know, and I. I’ll have a couple of nightcaps and, What am I doing? I put a sugar, a ton of sugar into my body before I go to bed.

Joe L. : And once I do, turns into fat. So.

Joe L. : I start researching. What’s the best alcohols to you while you’re trying to lose weight and stuff. And, Come to find out. Vodka. Yeah, if I start. Started drinking vodka. Couple martinis. You know, it’s the lowest in calorie. Basically, the clearer your alcohol is, the better. The least less worse it is for you. Unless you’re talking about wine or things different beast.

Joe L. : That actually has good stuff in it for you. Especially reds, but, and, you know, I, I vape still. That’s my next big thing, because I’ve smoked cigarets my entire life. Or vaping.

Dean Pohlman: Probably better than cigarets.

Joe L. : Nicotine is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to quit.

Dean Pohlman: So a lot of people are using nicotine now just as a stimulant throughout the day.

Joe L. : Tell you what I know. There are times like when I wake up in the morning and that first hit, I get a massive rush, you know, from it. So yeah, I mean, I think I’m we’re kind of on the edge of.

Joe L. : You know, my tolerance level being down, you know. Yeah.

Joe L. : Cool. My doctor’s like he’s looking at me now. He’s like, dude, you just lost 55 pounds. That frickin vaping shit’s easy. And then he cusses, too at me too. I’m like, I love it because I’m a I’m a big cancer. You know, I don’t know if I done too much here, but, we’ll be in that little room together.

Joe L. : And he talks to me like a normal guy. You know, I really like him. He’s pretty good. He’s written three books. I’ve read them all. Oh. Diet books. Okay. I don’t follow his plan, but I pulled things out of each, you know, and a couple of books you recommended. I, read and Tiny Habits and Atomic Habits.

Joe L. : Yeah, yeah, yeah, I read those. And, you know, I pull. Out of each book. Little things, you know, that hit me. You know, I remember them. It’s been a process. It’s been a process. And it’s been a little out of time. It’s worked. Every time I’ve tried to do it all at once. It never worked. It’s so key to just do a little at a time build.

Joe L. : Yeah, yeah.

Dean Pohlman: That’s great. Glad you’re doing that. But using that process. So what’s, what’s the next thing you want to work on in your fitness? It sounds like you mentioned muscle mass is the next thing. Is that it?

Joe L. : Yes. And it’s it’s working.

Dean Pohlman: I did you, I have you have you tested your testosterone again?

Joe L. : We’re supposed to do that, here in a few months. Okay. But I’m. I’m normal. I’m in normal range. Yeah. Okay. Oh, good. Oh, I didn’t tell you that. No. My. Okay, so my prolactin the last time we checked it is down in like 23. Okay. And my testosterone, that’s what I’m saying. It’s somebody told me once women smell testosterone on a man, it’s the confidence.

Joe L. : I don’t know what it is. It gave me confidence. I, to me, the the woman thinks huge right now because I’m really been a ladies man my whole life. All of a sudden, I’m getting all this attention, you know, it’s because of how I’m carrying myself. And plus, I look better.

Joe L. : You know, I another thing I’ve learned is I used to take it personal. If a woman I was interested in wasn’t interested in me. No.

Joe L. : Just like a man isn’t attracted to every woman.

Joe L. : Not every woman is going to be attracted to you. And that’s okay. It took me this long to realize that if I key on the ones that they’ll talk back to me.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, that’s, That’s probably better for your confidence.

Joe L. : I’ve actually had a woman go ooh to me before that. Who hurt my bad. Was in a bar and, Yeah. And and I carried that with me for a long time. And, you know, I’m I’m I’m just not her type, and that’s okay. Yeah. It’s a mind change, you know? Shift.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Okay. Because, you know, it’s.

Joe L. : It’s a bitch getting old, but it’s of good to because of the experience in the life.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah I’ve I’ve that’s that’s been consistent with what I’ve heard. Like we had our we had a Boston event similar to what we did in LA. Kind of different format. But we had Boston and, a no beginning of May, this year, 2026. And, there was one guy there who was in his 70s and he’s like, you know, when I was in my 20s, I thought everybody cared about anything.

Dean Pohlman: When I was in my 40s, I, I, I thought I forgot what he said. There was an intermediary. And then he was like, when I got to my 60s, though, I realized that nobody cares about anything, and I don’t care about what they think either. And it’s kind of, it’s wishing that we could we could, acquire that wisdom that comes in the 60s when we were younger.

Joe L. : Yeah, absolutely.

Dean Pohlman: You might have to earn it.

Joe L. : So many guys said, I wish I knew now or I wish I knew what I know now when I was younger.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah.

Joe L. : And I was like, yeah. At that time, it didn’t make a whole lot of sense, because when you’re young, you think you know it all. And now I get it. Absolutely get it. I wish I knew, I wish this was happening 20 years ago. Yeah, but life would be different, too. I might be married with children and miserable.

Joe L. : I don’t know. Not divorced, you know, I don’t know. You know, I don’t know. It just. It is what it is at this point. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: So what is the next thing you want to work on in your fitness?

Joe L. : You just keep doing what I’m doing. I still have more muscle to game to fill in from the fat. I want to get more fat off. Keep doing what I’m doing. And. And the weight. I gotta quit that. It’s not good.

Dean Pohlman: Right. That’s your. That’s your goal. Throw it away. Throw it away.

Joe L. : Right now.

Dean Pohlman: I’m working. Environment. New habits.

Joe L. : Yeah. Right now I’m working on also adding him back because one of his books, The Doctor’s Book, said, once you hit your goal, you can add carbs back in. So I’m kind of working on I’m still kind of intermittent fasting. Sort of about every single day I, I just again, it’s baby steps. Yeah.

Joe L. : You know, I’m seeing what I can basically get away with, before I start gaining weight to, to get stable and make sure I just stay where I’m at and gain muscle. And, you know, it’s it’s a wellness thing, right? We’re talking about here. I just want I want to have fun. I want to live my life.

Joe L. : I’ve been I’ve spent my entire life working, you know, and I think now it’s I’m still working. I got, I don’t know, four and a half to seven and a half years to go before I retire. But I just I want to start living. Yeah. You asked me what my goal is. That’s it. And my fitness is, is gonna enable me to do that.

Joe L. : Truth. I was with a 45 year old woman and it was. I couldn’t believe it was. She was telling me, I don’t know what it is about you, but. And I’m like, I do, I’ve taken care of myself all of a sudden. Yeah. And it’s I, I was sitting in my house saying, you know what? I don’t know if this is you.

Joe L. : If you’re going to send this, if you’re going to publish this or whatever you call it, but I’m going to go ahead and say this. I was sitting in my house after I lost like 40 pounds, thinking to myself.

Joe L. : I just want somebody that’s going to come here, fuck me and leave. I don’t want to move them in.

Joe L. : And it happened.

Dean Pohlman: You put you put it out there and it happened. You know, that’s, that’s the universe in action.

Joe L. : And then just last weekend, another one.

Joe L. : Did me and left. I’m like, okay, I like this. I kind of got into my feelings with the first one. I still am. It’s kind of I’m just trying to figure out what I’m going to do about that. Probably not much, but, The second one I’ve known for a long time. So. But then the, you know, I got that other chick’s phone number and, and then I, I did ask her out, and then I said, you know what?

Joe L. : Right now is not a good time. She said, yeah, that’s cool. Okay. Well, this is this wellness journey has made my life so much better. I just can’t wait.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah.

Joe L. : Ready for my.

Dean Pohlman: Dude? Well you’re welcome. I mean, thanks for sharing your story. I appreciate it, and I’m glad that you. And honestly, like like the doctor said, it was it was you. I mean, yeah, we we gave like the basic advice and, you know, I already had the things built, but, it’s, it’s one thing to present it, right. To present the plan.

Dean Pohlman: It’s a no, there’s the entire would actually do it. And so, you know, that’s all on you so well done. Yeah.

Joe L. : Yeah. And that’s part of the confidence to the testosterone coming back. But being older and wiser and the accomplishment as you see I went through those things added up.

Joe L. : Yeah. So appreciate you. Doing this. Yeah. You’re welcome.

Dean Pohlman: I’ve got some rapid fire questions for you. You ready?

Joe L. : Okay.

Dean Pohlman: What’s the one habit, belief or mindset that has helped you the most with your health and wellness journey?

Joe L. : Consistency. Like you say, you just got to keep doing it because there were moments when I didn’t think this was working. And I told myself, just keep doing it. Just keep doing it. Just keep doing it. It doesn’t matter if it’s working or not. I don’t know, I don’t know what I saw, but I just like, just keep doing it, okay?

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

Joe L. : Here’s another thing I wanted to make sure I said on this podcast you don’t lose weight in the gym. You lose weight in the kitchen. You actually gain weight in the gym because you build muscle and it weighs more than fat. That’s it’s all about your diet. The exercise just helps you more burn more calories. Yes, it’s the diet that was the big thing.

Joe L. : Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: What’s the most stressful part of your life?

Joe L. : Work.

Dean Pohlman: Work. What do you do?

Joe L. : Yeah, I’m a building engineer. Basically take care of rich people’s property. And, you know, they have clients and management and sometimes the owners, you know, there can be demanding, you know, and, and, I have my mind set about how things should go, and sometimes it doesn’t match up with what they think. So they’re the ones paying me.

Joe L. : So I need to adjust.

Dean Pohlman: You know, what’s, last question. What’s your best piece of advice for men who want to be healthier?

Joe L. : Well, you’re gonna want it.

Joe L. : You know, if you don’t care and it’s not going to happen, you’re not even gonna start. You’ve got to want it. You’ve got to want to live. That’s. That was a huge mind shift for me, too. You know, a lot of depression in my life.

Joe L. : You know, and I’m to a spot now. I wish I could show you my place. It’s. I got a pool and a hot tub, a fire pit. I’ve this all happened within the last five years. Shit. I want to enjoy it. What was the question again?

Dean Pohlman: Your best of best piece of advice for men who want to be healthy. You said you want to. You got to want it.

Joe L. : You got to want it. You got to have. If you if you don’t care, then yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. I even ask you about the therapy. But I’m glad that you started. What made you start therapy four years ago?

Joe L. : Depression. You know, I should talk to somebody. And plus, you know, I was leaning. I realized I’m leaning on my friends, too much. You know, I’m becoming a burden to them. And I was actually talking to my therapist about this, 1 or 2 sessions ago. He’s somebody that I can say anything to talk about.

Joe L. : Anything without judgment. Right? You know, when you talk to your friends, you have to you you kind of have to filter a little.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. No, the the people who are very close to you are the ones that you have to filter the most for.

Joe L. : Yeah, that’s why.

Dean Pohlman: That’s why when we do events like people are like, oh wow, I was able to come here and be open right away. I’m like, well, yeah, of course you don’t know these people. It’s all.

Joe L. : Right. You’re going to go home and never see them again, right?

Dean Pohlman: Oh, no way. They hang out again.

Joe L. : Well, yeah.

Dean Pohlman: But yeah, it’s easier to. Yeah, it’s hard to be open with the people who are close to you. Totally.

Joe L. : Yeah. Because you want to stay close, especially if you’re having problems, you know, and you don’t want to be. You don’t want to be a person that is a problem. And they’re not going to want to be around you.

Dean Pohlman: You know, I have to believe that people, the right people, will want to be around you. The more that they know about you.

Joe L. : Yeah. A friend is somebody that knows everything about you and still likes you.

Dean Pohlman: Yes, exactly. All right, Joe, I was great. Thanks for coming on and sharing wisdom, sharing life experiences. And, I think, your health journey is just a really great example of how to be successful with the health journey, which is just those those little changes, those little shifts that happen over a long period of time and just consistency and dedication to the process.

Dean Pohlman: So I.

Joe L. : Want it.

Dean Pohlman: Well done.

Joe L. : Cool. Thank you. Sweet. This is more of my more of everything. My therapy. You know it.

Dean Pohlman: Is.

Joe L. : You know how big a deal it is that Dean Perlman has asked to interview me for a podcast.

Dean Pohlman: You know, you’ve got to get story, man. So. And then, like you said, you were saying, like, I feel like we haven’t talked about yoga. I’m like, I don’t I don’t care if we talk about yoga or not. I’m really just interviewing you. And I’m asking like, how did you get more healthy? And of yoga is part of that great.

Joe L. : Absolutely. It’s where it started. Besides the walking, it’s where it started, you know, and it’s facilitated everything. The learning, it’s it’s, injury. I did I think I did it in bed, but I hurt my side and,

Dean Pohlman: Well, yeah, you’re, you’re sexually active again. So you’re, you’re, you’re doing stuff and that you haven’t done in a while. I’m sure you meant sleeping, but I just I did. I felt it pruning to make the make the joke there, so I.

Joe L. : Was very good.

Dean Pohlman: Thank you. I’m, I’m I’m quick witted sometimes. All right, guys, I hope you enjoyed this episode, Joe. Once again, thank you. I hope this inspires everybody to be a better man. And I’ll see you on the next one.

Joe L. : See you.

Dean Pohlman: All right, guys, hope you enjoyed the interview with Joe. Thank you so much for listening. If you’re enjoying the podcast, leave a review wherever you’re listening. Apple podcasts, Spotify, we also have video versions, the podcast on the net that a man podcast YouTube channel, and also in the mental yoga app and members area. Do you want to learn more about joining our community?

Dean Pohlman: Check out a free seven day trial at Mansell yoga.com/join if you want to join a wellness focused community for men, where you can get support and motivation to embark on your own on this journey. To lose weight, to get stronger, to work on your own longevity, this is the perfect place to do it. So check us out if you want to try a free seven day challenge.

Dean Pohlman: No credit card required. This is how you can try out the workouts. See if you actually like them. Go to Mandalay yoga.com/7 DC. I hope you guys enjoyed this interview. Check out some of the other interviews we got on this podcast. There are so many great interviews that I’ve done with members, and it’s not just about mental yoga.

Dean Pohlman: It’s really focused on, you know, the the, the wellness journey as a whole. And how do these guys get healthier, throughout life. And it’s it’s just a really good example of how, again, this always come back to this theme of these, these little changes over time that add up to the big results. So I hope that’s what you’re getting out of it.

Dean Pohlman: I hope does inspire you to be about a man. I’ll see you guys on the next episode.

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