56-Year-Old Wildlife Photographer Battles 200+ Tumors with Yoga | Lee H. | Better Man Podcast Ep. 108

Dean Pohlman: Hey guys it’s Dean. Welcome to the betterment podcast. Today is a member interview. I’ve got Lee Hoy who is a wildlife photographer from West Texas from the mountains of West Texas, here to discuss his health and wellness journey. Lee, thanks so much for being here.

Lee H: Thanks for having me, Dean. Greatly appreciate it. Proud to be a member.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So I love your story because you are such a, you know, an atypical guy when it comes to men who do yoga. You, you know, if you’re looking at the background right now, you know, you’ve got all these, you’ve got this huge beard, you’ve got this great cowboy hat on, you’ve got, you know, you’ve got all the game that you’ve hunted in the background.

Dean Pohlman: And also there’s some amazing photos that every now and then I get to see on, on, on your Facebook. You know, I think some of the recent stuff I saw a leopard recently.

Lee H: Jaguar. Jaguar from Brazil. Jaguar. Right. Yes.

Dean Pohlman: Okay. And you actually lead photography, seminars in these areas, right?

Lee H: I do, I lead workshops all around the world. I love wildlife, landscape, macro, night sky, photography. I’ve hit five of seven continents. My goal in the next 2 or 3 years is to hit the last two, which is Australia and Antarctica. So I love what I do. I’m very blessed.

Dean Pohlman: Wow. Yeah. So, and those, those photos are really cool, by the way. You should go. You go look at some of them. So. Yeah. So. And, you know, but based on some of what I’ve seen, you know, I don’t know if you’d still be doing this, frankly, if you hadn’t changed things and changed the change the way that you were doing things.

Dean Pohlman: So I’d love it for you if you could take us back to what was your oh, shit moment where you realized, okay, I’ve got to do things differently and or, you know. Yeah.

Lee H: Yeah. You know, so all my life, I mean, I was an athlete. High school, football, baseball, wrestling, track. I worked out constantly, and I developed some bad eating habits because, you know, when you’re working out for hours every day intensely, kind of can eat one at age 16 through 20, right? Hit college. I was still very active. Still lifted and then then late 20s.

Lee H: I actually went to seminary to, to. And so I’m working for ten days. I’m going to school full time, two small kids. I couldn’t work out, and he put on a lot of weight just sitting around studying and hit my 40s and went through an unexpected divorce. And boy, the stress of that added a lot more weight to the point I ballooned up to just under 300 pounds and I’m only 57.

Lee H: I’m very stocky, very solid, but and I was still active case, so I was still active, but, you know, I then went through some career changes before I finally became, around age 49, I finally did another career change, saying, I’m ready to do what I always wanted to do, which is this photography. And in, in my in my late 30s, I became a CrossFit trainer and I loved lifting heavy.

Lee H: I loved I loved the strenuous workouts, but I did experience the occasional muscle, you know, injuries. I would have to sit out for a little while. And, you know, as you get older, you start thing about injuries. And with my career, I’m very protective of my hands, my feet, my back, my eyes. Because if I if I hurt one of those, I can’t go in a workshop, you know, I’m done.

Lee H: Stick walking. So I’m like, if I’m hitching a trailer, man, these fingers. I am OCD to begin with, and I am very OCD about protecting them. And I realize, man, you know, you have to get in a lot of weird positions if I’m on a boat, like photographing that Jaguar image where I’m there. Actually, I don’t know.

Lee H: Yeah, you probably saw the one where I’m down low and the Jaguar actually seems like it’s above me. Well, I had to slide way down in the boat, to be honest. And and Dean said, don’t make this about promote man for yoga. But when you hear my story, I can’t help but do that. I, I one leg is sticking straight out because the seats were very narrow and the space in between them was very narrow and I was able to slide.

Lee H: Didn’t get as low as I could in the boat, have the strength to lean out over the edge and get my camera as low as possible. And, one thing a lot of people don’t know, cause I don’t talk about a lot. I have multiple familial like Poma syndrome. And what that means is, right now, I have somewhere between 2 and 300 tumors on my body.

Lee H: I’ve had over 225 removed through surgery from about age 20 up until a few years back, and anywhere from pea size, I’ve had up to baseball size removed. So that also means when I’m bleeding, you get stuff. Tumors are being pushed on blood vessels, muscles. When we do, you know, Dean, when we’re doing, Oh, good grief.

Lee H: I’m just blanking on me. When your feet are on the ground, your your hip up, and I’m on my back. Good grief. Yeah. What is that?

Dean Pohlman: Bridge.

Lee H: Bridge to bridge. Yeah, yeah. Bridge, Well, when you talk about pulling our feet and our shoulders together, I have a big tumor on the back of my left hamstring. I have to be really careful or it’ll trigger a cramp no matter what. No matter how hydrated, no matter how much I’m supplement, you know, supplement electrolytes that tumor pushes on there.

Lee H: So I have to be super cautious when we do the one leg one. Me and I’ll have to sometimes kick that foot out. So, yeah, you know, I got to a point where because my weight, because my tumors that I’m almost always in constant pain from a tumor somewhere. And I was like, man, I if I don’t make a change, some people get, wheelchair ridden from, from the, like, homeless.

Lee H: And I was like, you know, I love what I do. I mean, people ask me all the time, do I need an assistant? And I generally joke that either they’re not blond enough or big chested enough to be my assistant, you know? But the reality is, the reality is, is I get to live a great life. I mean, I live up here in the mountains, partially off grid.

Lee H: One of the best views in Texas. The weather is such all my windows and doors are open with the breeze. It’s like in the 70s, you know. Well, how long do I want to keep living like that? How long do I want to keep doing my career right? And it was funny. My ex wife was a certified yoga instructor and she was into a lot of the, pardon my French, frou frou shit.

Lee H: And I could care. I had no time for that nonsense. Right? And, when you look at most yoga pictures, it’s thin young women in poses that would break my bones. And to be honest, probably 4 or 5 years ago, if you brought up yoga to me, I probably would have made fun of it. Okay. And I mean, I’m being dead serious, right?

Lee H: What the crap would yoga do for me? Well, we went in this, yoga store, I think, called Blue Lotus in Red nose in Mexico for my ex-wife. And I looked down and lo and behold, there is a book that says man flow yoga. And I was like. And so I pick it up and, you know, there’s Dean himself.

Lee H: And I start looking through and I’m like, you know what this guy’s talking about? The exercise. There’s no running your fingers around the rim of crap. There’s no chanting. There’s no I’m like, and I bought that book. I bought a, I bought a non main flow yoga mat, which I’ve since rectified. I bought a couple of small blocks and a strap and I was, I was staying in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, and I just started look into your book and I’m like,

Lee H: So I go online and I register to be a member. And I made the commitment. As soon as I got back to my house, I started and even even in the beginners programs. And by the way, Dean, the way you structure your programs for me and I believe for everybody, if someone says they can’t do Main Flow yoga, well, they’re just full of crap because they haven’t looked at how you’ve laid out the programs, like the beginner’s fundamentals, like the intro, like like you could literally lay down on the ground and do stuff and you will be blown away at the improvement.

Lee H: So what I noticed right away, I also had been doing keto and South America. It’s kind of hard to stay on keto, and I came back at one point in July, this past July, and I said, I’m going pure carnivore. I would always have inflammation, my joints would ache. So the combination between man flow yoga and the new diet, my energy level, like if if I knew about man flow yoga and carnivore diet when I was a teenager, I probably would have worn state as a wrestler.

Lee H: I would have been a much better running back. I would have been a much better husband. I’d have been a much better father. I’d have been a much better lover. Holy crap dude, I’m not going to go into graphic detail, but let you say my life right now at 55, is nowhere near what I thought it would be.

Lee H: And the reality is my flexibility. But I’m able to grow muscle quick. But I would have been a fool making fun of yoga 4 or 5 years ago, because the strength gained blows me away. And I’ve done so far since. So I did, man for yoga, and he quit for a while that I talk to you about.

Lee H: I had some blood clot issues, which I probably could have continued, but it just had me. I just didn’t feel good at. All right. So.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, I mean, you got to take a break there.

Lee H: Yeah, yeah. But you know what? When I came back to it as a godly man, I lost a little bit. But how quick you gain it if you, if you I won’t lie, there’s times I get really pissed at you when you keep talking. When I’m hurting. Yeah. Which we all talk about.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. That’s.

Lee H: Everybody’s in treatment. Right.

Dean Pohlman: And that, that’s, that’s part of the rite of passage.

Lee H: Not to make the time that you’re doing the exercise any shorter. But sometimes I’m hurting. You’re like are just sharpening. But then you go, oh God. But what he’s telling me is really good. Like I need to pay attention to those things in my body, you know, so it we can all relate to it. Like, it’s like you have a love hate relationship with Dean.

Lee H: You’re like, oh my God, this this man. It’s changed my life. But right now I just want to be quiet so I can hurt and quiet, you know?

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, yeah.

Lee H: You know, what’s cool is, most people my age can’t keep up with me. You know, they have a hard time when we’re out in the field doing photography. And I’ll be honest, I’m going to treat that 100%, to my my diet and and meaningful yoga. And I’m not lifting right now, but it’s important, you know, I, I hold heavy equipment with my shoulders hunched forward, right, my neck at an angle, my back in weird positions, my leg in weird positions.

Lee H: Some days I’m standing. I mean, it’s just like God says, okay, you’re going to need this workout the next day. And it’ll be like, oh my gosh, this really takes care of that because I’m in the field in certain positions. What? And then I’m I’m seated right here in my office chair editing images and in editing. You know, or promoting workshops or trying to sell images, whatever it might be.

Lee H: And, and so my, Oh, Dean, help me out. The little muscles here that.

Dean Pohlman: Your hip flexors.

Lee H: Yep. My hip flexors. Man, those get so tight. Like you’ll be doing lunges and I’ll be like, mother of God one day. They feel phenomenal. And then the next day I’m like, it feels like I haven’t been doing yoga and. The way you balance it out, like I have almost zero soreness. Okay. So for people that want to workout guys where you don’t like lifting heavy man.

Lee H: You know there’s days and you can hardly lift your arms I don’t I can do my job. I can do my life with incredible endurance. I don’t go do any extra cardio and I can hike forever. I can, you know, I can sprint again. I couldn’t sprint if I don’t go out and sprint, but I can if I need to.

Lee H: So the benefits really are pretty dadgum impressive. And again, you’re talking to a guy who would have made fun of this 4 or 5 years ago, a guy who would have Pooh poohed it. But because of your program focusing on the exercise, making it. Yeah, I may not be your typical guy doing yoga, but the reality is meaningful yoga is for every guy out there and for a lot of ladies, right?

Lee H: I mean, not every lady is built like the people you see on Instagram. So that was that was a long answer to a short question when it broke.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. And that concludes our app. And just interviews with.

Lee H: And get your 23rd discount. No idea.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. No that was great. I think you give people you give us a lot of stuff to talk about. And I think, yeah, knowing all that background about you and what you do with your body and how it’s helped you, I think that’s great. So I want to go back to when you first got started. So when did you first start what what what year, what month where.

Lee H: That would have been June. June I think of, maybe 2019 or 2020 I’m having or I’m terrible at dates, but either June 19th or June 22nd I came back from Cloudcroft. I went there for, Memorial Day weekend and, the the forest was closed due to wildfire issues. So I was just spending more time in shops and stuff, and my, my, my aunt lives in Reynosa, so ran up to see her.

Lee H: And that’s when I went in that store. And you guys, if you don’t own the book and Dean. Dean is not asking me to throw dangerous Tommy, tell my story. But if you don’t own the book and you’re not sure you know what? Just just give a look at the book and see how Dean stages things. Because, like like, baby, golly, I’m terrible.

Lee H: I can’t remember crap right now. Dean.

Dean Pohlman: What’s baby? You’re excited. It’s okay.

Lee H: Yeah, baby.

Dean Pohlman: Baby. Happy baby.

Lee H: Happy.

Dean Pohlman: Happy.

Lee H: I want to tell you in the beginning it’s anything but happy, baby. When you have T-Rex arms and. And you’re five seven and you’re big sick guy touching your foot seems like a freaking impossibility, right? But this morning I did it. And when you begin, I have to literally grab my leg, pull my in it it, you know, you say, don’t let it get painful, brother.

Lee H: When you got T-Rex arms. It’s nothing but painful at the beginning. But the reality is, when you get to where I can reach up and grab both my feet without having to do that, it’s like I know I’m protecting myself from injury. I know I can get in better positions out in the field. I just know, I know every aspect of life, is going to be better because my core is better, right?

Lee H: I mean, that’s the design is let’s strengthen our core and so for me, when I hear people say, man, I just I don’t know, I don’t know if I can do this. Dude, you’re you’re talking to a man who when I first started both the first time in the very beginning and when I restarted, you know, I’d lost a lot of that flexibility.

Lee H: So in the beginning, what I noticed, like you’d say, okay, breathe this long, and I’m like, hell, if I can, man. You know, breathing through my nose was very difficult. I can go through most exercises. I just started 90 days to flexible. Okay. And I can still do almost all of that with calm, shallow breathing. And, you know, another benefit.

Lee H: You know, you’re going to ask me this question about what else does, meaningful yoga benefit. Thank you. Dean.

Dean Pohlman: That’s great. Well, let’s let’s let’s go. Hold on. I’m gonna I’m going to pull you back. So let’s go back to when you’re first starting. It’s June 19th or June 2020. And you are you just starting the workouts. So that first month what you know, how is that for you in terms of, you know, how difficult was it.

Dean Pohlman: When did you when you encountered resistance or when it got difficult, what did you tell yourself and what enabled you to be? Let’s let’s break it down question by question. So how did you stay consistent that first month despite the challenges?

Lee H: So I’m very disciplined guy. In order to do be self-employed. When you’re a wrestler you learn a lot of self-discipline, right? So, you get to the point, you know, you know what happened? I got to the point where the consequences of my lifestyle outweighed the benefits of comfort food, of being comfortable. All right. The consequences became too great.

Lee H: I mean, there were there were some nights in bed where drinking too much caffeine, I was having heart palpitations, not needing eight hours of sleep, or now I need five and a half for six. The consequences of my lifestyle were greater than the quote unquote benefits of living that way, right? So for me, I know I’m an early morning guy.

Lee H: Okay. So I knew that that means I wake up and the first thing I do is I put on my yoga clothes, which are, you know, my shorts, or if it’s cold up here, it’s tight. And try not to picture that, folks, but picture a cab. We were in tights and it probably give you the exact response I’m thinking.

Dean Pohlman: So I’ve got a I’ve got a video for you. That’s, that’s actually this. It’s a super funny video. It wasn’t it wasn’t meant to be funny, but it’s this great video. It’s called cowboy yoga, and it’s this. Anyways, I’ll send you the link. I’ll put it in here when you get a chance. It is,

Dean Pohlman: It is worth a watch. I better be funny.

Lee H: I’ll make sure to put those on with my acting boot. How about that sometime? But when it’s cold, if you’re. Man, it gets pretty cold up here in the mountains. So I wake up and right behind me, I roll out my mat first thing right. I fix a water, put my electrolyte packet in there, fix my water, take a drink, pops and potassium and, then then I lay that out.

Lee H: I get my blocks and my my strap and my pad, my knee pad. Whether you say we need or not, I just get it all. It’s a part of my routine. Right? Turn on my TV. I open my phone, I go to my schedule. So how do I stay consistent? The first thing I do is I try to have my workout scheduled a month in advance, because I travel all over the world.

Lee H: I don’t want to. You know what? If I leave up to the last second what my what my workout will be? It is not going to happen, is it? Right? I need to plan it just like I planned my career. Like I plan my relationships, like I plan holidays. So I try to schedule using the app, you know?

Lee H: So if you don’t have the app on your phone, if you don’t use the laptop, you know, if you don’t Airplay or have the app when you’re. I bought a brand new TV and I was really pissed because for whatever reason, won’t let me get the Man Flow yoga app on there. And, I just airplay to it.

Lee H: So the first thing I do is I go to my schedule, boom, I open it up, I set the airplay up, I take a couple more sips of water, I turn the ceiling fan on, I open my doors and windows, have nice cool day. And, the first thing that starts my day is, man flow yoga. And I’m also man of faith in that.

Lee H: But I know, like, I’m going to start my day with yoga and then I’ll be better prepared for prayer, whatever, whatever, whatever other aspect. Because preparing my body prepares, my mind prepares my spirit prepares my soul for the day. So if you struggle with consistent see, then you know whatever habit or patterns you need to develop. But for me, that’s how I stay consistent.

Lee H: Like like keeping in my mind how I felt and how I lived before and how I was on a path to some really miserable life. I mean, having 2 to 3 tumors is pretty difficult to deal with as it is, right? But the yoga makes it a lot less problem problematic. So I just say, okay, here are the benefits.

Lee H: You know, here the consequences. You paid this price, you wasted at least ten years of your life, you know, going through the divorce, dealing with weight issues and all that in your 40s. Do you really want to do that with your 50s in your 60s? Because I’d love to do this career until, you know, till I fall over dead at 84 or whatever, you know, so I have to be consistent.

Lee H: You remind me some other aspects of your question.

Dean Pohlman: I think that was great. So you talked about how you dealt with that, that discouragement or I don’t know if it was discouragement, but how how you remember to stay consistent is you remember this is how bad it was. This is how bad it is if I don’t do my workouts. So so I’m going to do it. So my next question leads into how long did it take you to start noticing results, and what were those results and how quickly did it happen?

Lee H: You know what? If I’m completely honest, I can say I started feeling results within the first two weeks. And I think and maybe even sooner, you know, it’s a little hard to remember back there, but what?

Dean Pohlman: And you were were you doing it every day or was it a few times a week?

Lee H: No, I think since I start, since I restarted at the end of July, I think I took two days off and, you know, the thing is, because it’s. And when I say low impact, I do not want people to hear that it can’t be extremely strenuous. Okay. To me, there’s a big difference in strenuous and high impact.

Lee H: When I think of high impact, I think of jogging. That’s, you know, that’s going to probably you’re inevitably going to have an injury from jogging, right. Whereas I never feel like I’m going to have an injury from yoga because I know I can moderate, you know, when you teach us to breathe, that breathing puts me so in tune with my body.

Lee H: I can tell, like, okay, Dean says, go to about a seven or a four, you know, depending on what your goal is. And so for me, I really try to be aware because I can’t afford an injury. I just cannot afford it. But within the first couple of weeks, you know, like I get frustrated because my hamstrings have been tight all my life and I’ve had a couple of pretty big terrors when I was an athlete or even older, you know, my hamstrings don’t aren’t as flexible as I’d like, but when you do, you know, when we when we shift from a, from a lunge back to a, where we straighten

Lee H: that leg, put it out in front of us, and I can tell a big difference in keeping my back straight and getting a good stretch. You know, in the beginning, I couldn’t curl my toes toward my body. It was too painful. Now I can curl those toes back and really feel a good, And then you’ll remind us to tighten that left glute, you know, and that body awareness, being able to do that, I’m like like like this will sound really weird.

Lee H: This is kind of embarrassing. I’ll lay in bed and squeeze my legs. Like if I were trying to ima and just think, oh my God, I can hold this like maxed out squeezing for a very long time without my breath changing. And if I tried to do that at the beginning, oh man, it’d be a few seconds in your muscles.

Lee H: But so. So I’ll do things. I’ll be like, you know, like shoulder flexibility. When I restarted, I couldn’t I could see my arms and I can put my arms so far back. Now when we’re doing certain poses, I can’t see them. And that’s just in, you know, into July, August. And here we are mid September. So that’s a month and a half the strength gained to my shoulders.

Lee H: Right. You know, the hard thing I struggle with but is when is not tensing up my neck. That’s my struggle. Yeah. Not. And you say that like, hey man, if your shoulders are yours, I’m like, hell, my shoulders are up above my head. I think you know. So you give us tips if people will just listen and trust and don’t.

Lee H: My suggestions don’t try to advance to a more difficult program than where you really should be. You know, like be honest with yourself. And if there’s a program where you’re seeing gains and you’re still challenged by God, do it over again before you think, well, now I’m ready to do an airplane for, you know, two minutes, no, stick in that program and repeat it.

Lee H: And that would be one of my suggestion of folks like me that think, I can’t do this. You know, don’t try to think it’s too quick because you’re feeling gains. Don’t think that means that you’re ready for the next one. It may mean repeating them. And in finding out that wow, I feel it because there are some days I’ll do one of your workouts and I feel loose and strong and great, and I’ll do that same workout 2 or 3 weeks later, and I feel a little more tight and tense and like, oh, this one is easy as the last time, right?

Lee H: And you talk about that, which is very helpful to us.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Your, your body’s going to change day to day. So I want to get back into some of those benefits that you noticed early on just to just kind of encourage people to stick with it until they notice results. So you talked about noticing improvements in the workout and the workouts themselves. How did you notice those benefits in day to day life?

Dean Pohlman: Was it you know, maybe it was going up and down stairs. Maybe it was you noticed you were less stressed. And I don’t want to don’t take those examples directly from me. But, you know, I’m curious for in your own life, what did you notice mean?

Lee H: You triggered a couple of really good memories. So I just, after my divorce, I said, man, I’m going to remodel my house. Right? So first thing I did was I went out my refrigerator, new stove and microwave, and the frigerator I brought home in my pickup. Because you can’t get a delivery truck, you need four wheel drive to get up to my house, going up switchbacks.

Lee H: So I and I was like, I didn’t realize how big it was. It’s a big ass frigerator. So I pull it up and a storm’s coming, so I need to get it unloaded, one by myself, and it’s in the bed of a truck, and I have a ramp to my back door, or I have steps on the front.

Lee H: And I realized, oh, I’m by myself. So I put this lifting strap around this big ass refrigerator, and I decide to move it to the edge, leaned it on the edge, and I had to do a squat with it down gently onto the wood platform. There. Kind of a step, big step, and it and it’s a big step in that refrigerator.

Lee H: And I thought, you know what? Had I not been doing man flow yoga, I’m not sure I would have successfully got it out of that truck, because the flexibility and strength in my shoulders and in my and the flexibility for me to go deep in a squat, I was able to lower it slowly all the way down with and then roll it up here, get it in.

Lee H: I thought, man, if I did not restart man flow yoga, I’d. And it’s not like I have a neighbor, you know, they’re down in the valley and it’d take them, you know, a while to get up here and there’s no way to call in. A storm was coming. I didn’t want to get rained on. That was a big deal.

Lee H: And that’s just everyday life. I mean, that’s just simple. Yeah. In my photography, you know, like photographing the Jaguars in Brazil, you know, sometimes they’ll I’ve sat the longest I’ve sat we had a, we had a pair of jaguars mating and we sat in the same spot in a boat for probably close to 2.5 hours. Well, sometimes I’m having to twist at a weird angle.

Lee H: And when you have us do, our good grief on September Warrior one worry two where we where we then kneel and put an arm up towards the sky, you know, and.

Dean Pohlman: Oh, yeah.

Lee H: What’s that one side angle?

Dean Pohlman: Yes.

Lee H: I’m angle. See? You think I remember this?

Dean Pohlman: Okay. Yeah. It’s like a it’s like I know the poses or something, you know? Yeah.

Lee H: It’s like you’re like, you’re an expert, right? That’s why I ask you. Well, when I first started that man, when I’d start to raise an arm, my back sounded like a cereal commercial. Snap crackle pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop me. And now I can go so far back I have no popping, complete fix. My tumors don’t hurt.

Lee H: There are some things you do that I’ll, They don’t. My tumors will hurt. But if you think about it, I can sit in a bowl and turn sideways and photograph for extreme extended periods of time. The muscular strength and flexibility. My shoulders. I can hold my big lens up for a very long time, which means I’m not missing shots.

Lee H: You know, I live up here in a remote area. If I got to deal with jacking my truck up on a rough road to change a tire, I jump out of the. So two years ago now, further than that, like five years ago, if I had tried to jump out of the bed of my truck onto a hard ground, where in boots I probably would have been in real big trouble.

Lee H: Man, I jump out of the back. We’re in boots. No big deal now. And so those are real practical, beneficial benefits that every single day I get to experience by doing this. You know?

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, that’s pretty cool. So, you know, you talked about that on and off periods with with doing the workouts. How has that led into you approaching or improving other areas of your life? And so I’m curious, I’m going to just so when you started man for yoga, how were you? Were you pretty big at that time?

Lee H: So the first time when I started, I was probably 270 something and I got down to 220. And right now I’m a couple of pounds from 220,

Dean Pohlman: About how about how long did that take you to get down to to 220.

Lee H: And I was doing keto then, not covered. That probably took me two and a half to three months, but it went.

Dean Pohlman: 50 pounds in three months. Wow.

Lee H: And in this time I’ve gone quicker by doing just carnivore. So I generally eat between 1130 and for generally one meal and then maybe a snack. So I’m literally doing just meat, seafood, butter and eggs and then water. And my little treat is an occasional, you know, like, sugar free diet soda thing, you know, and that I know it, you know, I also I use, you know, I use drink bourbon, scotch every now and then, all that.

Lee H: I also gave that up completely. Just because your liver shifts to dealing with alcohol instead of, ketones. And I’m kind of an I’m kind of a hardcore guy. If you haven’t figured that out on here yet, but, Yeah. So I feel, I feel amazing but but let me be honest, if I was just doing carnivore I would have lost weight but I would not have the, the strength, I would have the flexibility to do my job.

Lee H: Yeah. I’d feel better. I mean that’s a no brainer right. But I can tell you that doing the diet without the main flow yoga, I don’t I think it would be 20% of the benefit instead of 100% of the benefit that I feel now. If someone said I do carnivore or the Main Flow yoga, I’d say start the flow yoga first and then work on your diet.

Lee H: Start building strength and flexibility and feel the improvement. And then yes, move to to either keto, carb or, you know, or something like that. You know, I’m clearly I’m from West Texas. You know, I’m not a vegan or vegetarian fan. So if you are, I don’t care, you know, go eat in your safe space. But, but but for me, the way I feel now, I’m a testimony.

Lee H: And, you know, my doctor was worried about my blood stuff because I was eating all this and they tested it. Well, we need to do a scan. Your arteries. I had zero zero plaque. Nothing. My blood is phenomenal. I test my blood sugar. It’s usually between like 80 and 107. It almost never varies. So, you know, I’ve probably read 40 to 50 books on nutrition in the last two and a half to three years.

Lee H: And when I’m like to meet man flow, yoga and and carnivore. Tito is a is a beautiful blend you talk about. I’ve seen some of your videos about testosterone and and let’s just be blunt, honest erections and all that, right? Holy crap. And guys, he ain’t lying. You do carnivore keto and man flow yoga. It is crazy the benefits in your life that you’re going to see.

Lee H: So in all areas.

Dean Pohlman: That’s good to hear. So, so I wonder, the question I’d like to ask is how has has community been helpful to you overall health and wellness? I mean, you sound like you’re a very disciplined guy. You probably could have done all of this on your own. But I’m curious for you, how has community helped you when it comes to your health and wellness?

Lee H: Well, you know, I have a rich colleague of, fellow photographers, around the world, and I and I have a huge online, community because of what I do as a living. I mean, if I were a professional photographer, I’d be off social media probably yesterday. Right? But. So when people see your images and they. I was high energy before I had a client asked me not too long ago, do you have an off switch?

Lee H: I said yes, regretfully. And, you know, the reality is, is when you hear those affirmations, my two love languages are, you know, physical touch and words of affirmation. So words of affirmation are very encouraging. And that’s the way I was raised. My parents were very affirming to me and very loving. And so for me, I don’t need anybody to encourage me, you know?

Lee H: But let’s all be honest. When you hear words of affirmation that they can see the benefits right when they see you, you know, kneel down with one leg completely out to the side, the other leg in a crouch, and you’re rock steady nailing shots. And they don’t even want to take a knee. Well, you see the difference, you know, because most likely I’m usually the young buck or I workshops.

Lee H: Right. I’m the kid. And and when I see that I don’t want to be 74 not able to kneel down and get the shot, you know, or lay down on the sand and be worried about getting back up. So, you know, I can truly be I’ll say no, I would need community. You know, I’m a part of Main Flow.

Lee H: Yo, get engaged. And lately I’ve been so busy and wrapped up in work, I haven’t been able to participate as much. But for me, when, when. And I hope to get back in there, you know, seeing the comments from other guys and, and what’s cool is the, the diversity of men. And there are some extremely heavy. I haven’t been working out much to guys who have been doing this for a long time.

Lee H: And you can they can do some of the crazy poses. I think I’ll be honest. I think for most people they need that community. I mean, I live up here on top of a mountain, you know, kind of by myself. So I’m kind of a kind of a able to take care of it myself kind of guy. Right.

Lee H: But but let’s be honest, not a lot of people are wired that way. So my recommendation is if you need accountability, if you need that encouragement, I mean, put together a program. And believe me, I’m not getting anything as a result of this except hopefully seeing other men be able to tell people like, Holy crap, you’re not going to believe what happened in my life.

Lee H: Then I would really recommend the man flow engage because the resources are there and you just have to make time to be a part of it.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, well, I remember you made a critical, you had a very inspiring post when you talked about your, your experience with, with carnivore. And I think, you know, I think a lot of people I think a lot of people in general, when it comes to talking about the carnivore diet, people like, really all you eat is meat, but then, you know, you look at the results and you’re like, oh, guess I guess it’s working.

Dean Pohlman: So,

Lee H: Yeah, you know, what I tell people is, you know, we all have different digestive systems, we all have different issues, and I have some psoriasis and they think psoriasis is liver. Right. And then and then they think these tumors may be a result of liver issues. And I got to thinking, you know I love brussel sprouts. But when I eat them it’s not that I, you know, they they I get inflamed.

Lee H: I was hospitalized as a teenager. And to this day, black beans, squash of most kinds, avocados. If I eat one, I’m going to be in extreme pain. And they they did all kinds of tests. They they don’t understand it. Right. And most plants have chemical defenses. Well, you know, I mean, I’m just going to be a smartass in case people haven’t figured out that I am one, you know, live like a lion, not a cow, right?

Lee H: Like, lions gorged on a ton of meat. They they digest it. And nobody would say lions are lazy or fat or not energetic. Right. And you look at I just look at, you know, 300 some thousand years of, of our history, we’ve been eating the way we’ve been eating now for about 300, which is a drop in the bucket.

Lee H: And I’m not saying everybody needs to be on carnivore keto, but man, if you want to have just off the charts energy, if you want to feel like you’re 20, in your 50s or 60s again, man, I am living proof and every goes well. Isn’t it expensive? Well, yeah, I rib eye 3 or 4 times a week. But how much money are you blowing on?

Lee H: Chips, hot dogs, bread. You know, ice cream. You know your cigarets. Whatever the crap it is, I guarantee you it’s a whole lot more than good quality meat when you’re eating one, maybe two meals a day, right? So don’t let price. I mean, I get, I get a fish shipment from a company out of Alaska. I get good quality meat from different places.

Lee H: You you know what? You just have to be self-disciplined, right? I mean, you talk about that all the time.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Cool. Well, those are some good tips. All right. Let’s go into our rapid fire section because I think you’ve, I think you’re going to have some good responses here. So what do you think is the one habit belief habit belief or a mindset that has helped you the most with your overall health and wellness?

Lee H: How long do I want to enjoy every single day in my life? Because I don’t know when my last day is like. Like I see people who waste their life in different ways and I was like, wasting mine some in certain ways. And I thought, you know what I mean? Like, you know, doing this what is today, September 16th.

Lee H: Right? I’ve got my birthday’s coming up in nine days. I’ll be 56. Well, this is the only September 16th, 2024 I’m going to have outside of a marvel movie. Right? So what am I going to make out of today? I mean, am I going to. Am I going to just like I like to say, I wake up and kick the kick every day right in the balls and just get rolling.

Lee H: And man, I like to set the wind up. Like I like to just fall into bed. Like knowing that me and I, I tore up September 16th. Right? And that doesn’t always mean I’m active or crazy or having or out in the field, but I got did I live my best life that God gave me that one day and I’ll be.

Lee H: I don’t know about you, but when you walk around America, I mean, I’m in airports all the time. Hell, half of them don’t even get dressed and wearing their damn slippers in their pajamas. And it’s embarrassing. I’m like, is that is that your best life? You know, like, maybe it is. Maybe it is, maybe it’s not. But I don’t know about you, but you know what I mean?

Lee H: Like, you know, we aren’t guaranteed tomorrow, right? So I want to take the most out of every day. Well, you know, there might be some men in their 30s that want to lift hard. Like, there’s a part of me that misses lifting, but I think, I mean, what what if I was lifting heavy and and I, and I do something to a finger, or I tear a bicep and I can’t hold my camera.

Lee H: What would that do for me? So I’m doing what I can to have the best life every single day. That’s my belief. Man is like I’m a tiger like yours. Where the crap out of me? God bless them. God loves them. But I’m a tiger man and I want to be around other tigers. And I think, and I’m not saying yours, he works for the hell out of me.

Lee H: I’ll just be on this strike. But. But I want to live my life as a tiger as much as possible every single day.

Dean Pohlman: All right, good answer.

Lee H: You’re getting answers like, Holy hell, I didn’t expect that.

Dean Pohlman: Oh, this is this is good. Everyone has unique answers. It’s cool. What is one thing that you do for your health that you believe is often overlooked or undervalued or.

Lee H: Man, honestly. So in today’s culture. So, you know, I’m just going to talk about who I am. I told you, I’m a man of faith. I was a I was a church planner for a while, started church from scratch. I live in the darkest skies in the lower 48. Right. So when you walk out at night here, if there’s no moon and I turn my house lights off, it’s too dark to walk around.

Lee H: And you know, the busyness of the cities, the busyness, the noise. Like when I come back to Austin to see my daughter and whatnot, the first thing I notice is how bad it smells, how loud it is, how how there’s so much visual stimuli like it is. It is absurd. And when I lived there for many years, like you don’t realize it, right?

Lee H: And you come out here and in the quiet still of night, you know, you’re not well. And however, people believe I’m not here to push on anybody. But I know there’s a God. Me. And I’m out here all the time. Right? And if you aren’t grounded in something like that, if you just if you just believe this life is random, and then when you die, there’s nothing.

Lee H: I mean, I feel sorry, and I’m not I’m not judging, buddy. I’m just saying that when I stand out here, look at the night sky, it’s overwhelming. I mean, I’m a little pissant thing in the middle of this massive universe, but my life matters. Your life matters. And so for me, I think having a strong, faith connection because you have to be rooted and grounded in something and in I honestly, as much as I love my photography, if I thought that the day I died, my only legacy was my photography.

Lee H: I probably be a little depressed about that, right? But my legacy is in my daughter and in her family and in and in the people I’ve impacted throughout my life. And so for me, I would say that that having some kind of faith based connection and again, I’m not here pushing thing on anybody. I’m just on on my story.

Lee H: That is critical for me because every day I wake up, I say, you know what? You know, I am grateful to God that I have this day. I mean, think about this like I’m I’m so grateful that I found meaningful yoga. What would my life be like? Right? If I bought the book? You know, what would my life be like if I hadn’t researched and read about ketone carnivore diets?

Lee H: What would my life be like if I didn’t have the funds to buy meat to do carbonite? You know, what would my life be like if I weren’t out here in the middle of nowhere communing with God on a daily basis and then getting to see, you know, Dean, when I was young, my family, they were teachers. We didn’t go on international trips.

Lee H: I mean, they spent all their money on our sports and into think. You know, I’ve been to the Galapagos Islands eight times now. You know, the owner of the company has been 50, so I’m not quite caught up with him. But how many people get to go there? Eight times? I mean, if I didn’t have somebody to give thanks to in gratitude, I just I don’t know that that wouldn’t work for me.

Lee H: So so for me, having a good, strong faith commitment. And if I do have a second thing in there, self discipline, I pick up discipline right there, up there with it.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, that was nice to hear that answer. I think that is something that’s not often talked a lot. And, I like that you also do it from a, you know, from a non non-denominational standard. I think, being able to appreciate nature and recognizing that, you know, I used to, I used I don’t go is hiking as much as I used to unfortunately.

Dean Pohlman: But I remember when I first started enjoying hiking, and I really got to the point where it was like clicking for me. It wasn’t that you were going to be in nature, it was you were going to be part of nature. You got in. You got to a point where you’re like, I’m just one part of this.

Dean Pohlman: It wasn’t. I’m not. I’m not in nature. I’m part of nature in this. When you’re in that.

Lee H: Yeah. You know, I have Hovland, I’ve had mountain, you know, tracks on my back deck. I have ringtail raccoon, I have I have wildlife. I just, you know, I can sit here. I know you’ll hear roadrunners doing their Bill Clavel out back, and, I mean, I have I’m just surrounded, you know, and, you know, mental health is a big thing in our culture today.

Lee H: And of course, we, you know, we’ve lost a lot of our mental health services and stuff. So I think the outdoors and connecting and communing with nature is incredibly important. For mental health, too, you know, for guys that are out there depressed, struggling, you’re caught up in this cycle of go to work, live for the weekend, man.

Lee H: Find a way, find a way to to immerse yourself in nature. You know, you’re there in Austin, you got the greenbelts, you got the parks, you got all kinds of amazing areas. So don’t don’t let there be excuses for not not connecting with that because it’s very important in life. And, again, I’m lucky to get to live where I live, you know, a lot of people couldn’t live this lifestyle partially off grid and, you know, be by yourself on top of the mountain much of the year.

Lee H: But, man, it’s people who come out, you know, the number one thing they get intimidated by pretty quick. The quiet, the quiet quiet, you know.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, yeah. All right. I got a couple more questions for you. What’s the most stressful part of your day to day life?

Lee H: Day to day? I tell you right now, with the state of the economy being on the forefront of tourism, you know. Right now, it’s tough booking out trips, you know, when, when economies get bad, you know the first thing people cut back on your tourism. Right. Travel they’re going to cut those expenses. And all my life God just taken care of me.

Lee H: It’s the weirdest thing. Like I can never I don’t I don’t worry about do I have a big savings some months I have a lot of money in my account. Some months I have a little. And I just trust God to provide. But if I do say one thing in particular, it’s it’s in this right now, the economy, the finances, you know, getting paid consistent selling trips.

Lee H: You know, for me, I would say, you know, another stressor, you know, is, is worrying about the world my grandsons are going to grow up in. Those two were up there and you just, you know, the fact that you asked about stress, I will tell you a benefit that that you talk about pretty good, but I don’t think guys realizes what yoga in the breathing, what you do for being able to handle stress.

Lee H: Like I didn’t post this on social media, but during our Brazil trip, the owner of the company got very sick at our lodge before we went, and we were already kind of in the middle of nowhere. And then we were going to go five hours down an unpaid road. To catch a boat, to go 30 minutes or, I’m sorry, an hour upriver to get on a riverboat in the absolute middle of nowhere in the paint and all of Brazil.

Lee H: And he was sick. And I said, man, you shouldn’t go. And he decided to go anyways. And, I had to do a medical evacuation of him three days later where we had to coordinate a plane landing on a grass runway, a boat ride to getting there. We had to pick him up, you know, get him in the boat.

Lee H: And he’s one of my best friends, and I’m literally thinking he’s going to die. The doctor ladies later told us he was 3 or 4 hours away from cardiac arrest, and then I had to do all that. And then I had to go right back. That afternoon. With clients out in the field photographing Jaguars, there was no time to sit and worry about my friend.

Lee H: There was no time to wonder about the future of the company I’m working what I mean like and honestly, by doing meaningful yoga, eating right, my ability to handle that stress, it was hard. When I came home, my body, I kind of felt like it went, you know, and but I’ll be honest, I really think that the breathing, and, and, you know, between faith, the breathing may and flow feeling better, eating right, sleeping.

Lee H: Well that would have had let’s let’s go pre man for yoga and pre carnivore and Tito di I would have been screwed in royal ways. My man. So I thank you because I mean when this isn’t just about you know having more flexibility to be able to reach back more similarly you’re back. This is about living your life better.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. That’s a cool story. Thank you for, thank you for sharing that. All right. Last question. What is your best piece of advice for men who want to be healthier?

Lee H: All right. Since most of them live in an area where not like I do, where you have the quiet, the peace and all that. You know, in the stillness you’re caught up in the hectic heck, the heck. Easy for me to say.

Dean Pohlman: Whatever that noun is.

Lee H: And busyness of everyday life in the city, your commuting, your stress, being on 935 or I mean I’m giving an office an example, whatever. Yeah, whatever highway you’re around right? You are. You’re worried about the economy. You’re worried about your job. Most likely. If you’re like most Americans, you know, you’re paying for groceries, you got kids, you got a wife that maybe got some relational issues with.

Lee H: I mean, there’s all that, you know, you got some credit card debt. You’re not going to be able to go on vacation. You know, you’re just you’re just surrounded by negativity and stressors. You’ve got to decide what’s most important in the long run. And I shared this, I think in my I think in my post on the engage community, I shared that a great one of my favorite quotes came from all people John Tesh.

Lee H: So don’t don’t stop the podcast. Listen to what John Tesh had to say. He said. To say you don’t have the time is not a statement of fact. It’s a statement of priorities. Okay, so if you say you don’t have the that if you just don’t have the time for, you know, eating right, the time for shopping for good food, the time for doing man flow yoga, that’s a statement of priority.

Lee H: Maybe if you got your kids in 27 different, you know, school activities, maybe you need to cut it back to 15, right? And this is coming from a man who famously was so dedicated to his school activities that he knew that his mom and dad ended up divorcing because they didn’t have a relationship amongst themselves, because they put everything into myself and my brother.

Lee H: Right. So make the commitment. Tell your, tell your wife, tell your family, tell your friends, tell your roommates. Whatever. Hey, guys, listen, I’m going to do my best to be quiet, but, you know, get headphones. I bought different headphones. I bought some over the year, you know, like, portable headphones, like wireless, but. But over the year, not the full ones, but smaller ones.

Lee H: So because AirPods wouldn’t stay in my ears during yoga, you know, so you don’t disturb people if you got an iPad, if you got if you got an iPhone, I mean, you don’t need a huge screen to do man flow yoga. I mean, because Diem is constantly talking and walking you through everything, just tell everybody I need you to keep me accountable.

Lee H: And if I don’t get up, ask me why, right? Like, if I’m not doing it, if I said I was going to do it, create that schedule. Make space in your life for that. Because what’s going to happen is you’re going to die younger than you planned on. And so you’re not going to get to do all the things, you know, the whole American concept of working your ass off to retirement.

Lee H: How many? I can’t tell you. I mean, my clients do that. And then three years later, they can’t go do anything right. Don’t wait till retirement. Start living your life by God. Live it now. You may not make it to retirement. So my encouragement and what I would say to every man out there, and any women listening to that this might be applicable to, is just say man flow yoga or and and or eating right are going to be my priority.

Lee H: I have to create the time. So again, if you say you don’t have the time that your statement of priority. So you know, I love football as much as anybody will help, you know have the game one. Turn the volume down. Put these on on the side on your phone and do your yoga while the game’s on. You know, or record it and watch it later and save three hours of your life.

Lee H: Right? So I mean, there is the time to do this. And, you know, I mean, you’ve obviously got incredibly successful business and I know how busy you are and all that, but but, you know, I remember I remember on the one of the few engage live events I got to participate in, you know, you were lifting in the background while the camera was on.

Lee H: Right. So, guys, if you got a meeting at work, if you can participate, why not do stuff then? I mean, if you got to turn your camera off or, you know, whatever. So.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. And I was just I was just watching there. I wasn’t leading that meeting, I wasn’t involved. I know that’s right, that’s right. That’s why I was lifting in the background.

Lee H: Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah.

Dean Pohlman: But even if.

Lee H: We’re talking to us like who could who would be? Why complain? Like, you know what? Dean’s making time for both. Heck, yeah, I mean, I that wouldn’t bother me in the least. I’d be like, okay, there’s a man who’s making sure he gets done what he needs to get done. You know?

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, I appreciate that. And I like what you said about, you know, priorities. I like to I’ve reframe this in my mind. I do this pretty well now, but instead of saying, I couldn’t do it, I say I did not make it a priority because that’s the reality is, I had the time, but it just didn’t make it onto the list of priorities.

Lee H: So that’s right. And, you know, there’s some days, like there’s some travel days where I fly overnight and I just I don’t have, you know, like coming back from Brazil, man, that was three flights. And all through the night I landed an office. And then I immediately drove eight hours home. Mean, I couldn’t I couldn’t make it, like there’s no way, you know, pretty sure the people on the plane, we got pissed at me if I broke at my yoga mat in the middle of the flight.

Lee H: Right.

Dean Pohlman: But that’s what the that’s what the Galloway is for. That’s that’s what that that area where they where they have the drinks. That’s what. That’s what that’s for. And so until someone tells you to sit down.

Lee H: I’m sure fight a broken, a happy baby right in the middle of a plane, they would have said, we’re diverting this flight. We’re going to get this guy off this plane.

Dean Pohlman: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Lee H: Yeah, yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Oh, well. Well, Malia, I want to thank you for coming on and tell them. Telling us your story and and, these, you know, tidbits and strategies and advice that’s worked for you. And I just want to say, for someone who’s, you know, who’s gone through, you know, your, your condition with having, you know, several hundred tumors on your body, but still doing everything that you can, it’s really cool.

Dean Pohlman: I mean, it’s inspiring. So, you must be doing something right. You know, in addition to the in addition to the yoga and the diet, and there’s, you know, there’s got to be other things that are that you’re doing well. So, thank you for sharing that all with us.

Lee H: You bet, you bet. I want to show you something before we go. All right? They always say, let’s do it now, boys should not squat with his spurs on. And I would not have been able to do this. Honest to God, right. I would not have been able to do this probably a few months ago. But then tell me, brother, how’s that?

Lee H: My man with your boots on? Hey, in your belt.

Dean Pohlman: Hey, that looks solid to me, man, I appreciate that.

Lee H: Seriously, bro. That’s all you know. Thank God for me. Info, yoga man. And think about being able to be in that position and photograph. Right. Huge Bill. Yeah man. Huge benefit to.

Dean Pohlman: Let me see.

Lee H: How much I appreciate you. I you’ve never been one to seek that stuff. You said you told me before we ever recorded. Hey, this isn’t just about promoting. Well, I am, because I appreciate the work you do. I appreciate because, you know what? It’s not easy to just come up with the way you do things, and you’re on top of it.

Lee H: And, you know, for me, it’s probably one of the best value things that I’ve ever been a part of. So, truly, from the bottom. My heart, man. Thank you.

Dean Pohlman: I appreciate it. And, thank you for for trusting me and also for, you know, putting in the work to show that it works. So keep it. All right, guys? Well, Lee, once again, thank you. I appreciate it, guys. Listening in. I hope this inspires you to be a better man. And I will see you on the next episode.

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