The Struggles of Starting A Weight Loss Journey | Will C. | Better Man Podcast Ep. 124

Dean Pohlman: Hey guys. Justin, welcome to the Better Man podcast. Today is a member interview focused on reclaiming your fitness. And I’ve got we’ll see here to tell his story so well thanks for being here.

Will C. : Nice to be here.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So, when did you first go looking for a solution, like man for yoga. And what was the oh, shit moment that caused you to do that?

Will C. : Okay, so, about a year before I, signed up for manual yoga, I had been going to a local studio, because I was hitting back issues and my own chiropractor had recommended that I start going and visiting a local yoga. Pilates. That particular my back was improving and I was receiving major improvements from that. And then the holiday sale drive Your Wife for sale dropped last by Friday, and I was looking for something to have a more consistent everyday workout for, so the price was great.

Will C. : And I went back and watch some of your YouTube content, and I was like, okay, this is similar to what I’ve been doing. So I signed up for it too. So I would have that as my back up, you know, from here on out. But my oh shit moment happened. Right about the time that you’re about to, engage.

Will C. : I had just had, a major, pacemaker. Removal and, surgery. That was pretty major. Back in February. When I went back in for some post, surgery, related. Follow ups. My, my doctor accidentally. Put in a hospital code that treated me as, like, ultra, obese, passive, morbidly obese.

Will C. : And, the insurance started, denying my claims because it was a, the code was something that they didn’t cover. So that moment really shook me because I’ve, I’ve always had major health issues. And so I was born at six months old. I was diagnosed with, congenital heart disease. So I’ve always had medical baggage following me.

Will C. : But that moment that, the insurance stopped covering me, I realized that I no longer had that connection to the health care system to take care of me, and I needed to jump in and save myself. Luckily, to ensure that my provider did go in and they were able to correct it and everything’s sort of getting covered again.

Will C. : But, that was my moment where I released, okay. I was like, you, I want to get that classification off of my records. And I want to, you know, other general benefits that come with being healthier. But that was the moment that kind of shook my little world and, wow, things that were in perspective.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. I mean, what a powerful what what a you know, how you know, what a terrible mistake to make, but also what a, what an amazing experience to be able to realize, oh, I’ve got to do this on my own now, and to feel that motivation and to be able to to make the changes. So what was the what were some of the first things you did when that happened?

Will C. : Well, I had already, so my heaviest weight ever, I was probably around 335, and that was probably about a year and a half ago. Since I am a diabetic, we have been doing some, semaglutide, treatments, mainly just to make sure my agency was being controlled. So along with that, and, like I said, I’ve been doing yoga of some form for about two years now.

Will C. : That and every day at work, I’m on my feet all day, and I probably get in between 15 to 20,000 steps a day. I was able to get down to about 300 when I started in. So for an engage, that was mainly when I started doing the, yoga workouts, every day. I dropped about 10 pounds.

Will C. : And it’s been slow and steady, but, through some of the, educational information that I’m, I’ve been getting from some of the special guests you’ve had on and some of your podcast. I’ve been exploring other, I’m now on a CPAp for my sleep apnea. That’s come up a couple of few times in discussions with some of the guys on, the gauge.

Will C. : We’re in the process. We’re in the process of eventually going on TRT, because when I did some bloodwork a few months ago, I was down in double digits, for my testosterone. But in the process, we found that I potentially have a, pituitary gland, tumor that we are, working on. Oh.

Will C. : Yeah. Well, it’s it’s nothing if I can’t get an MRI yet. You know, you have a pacemaker. So, we only had we’re able to use a Cat scan, and it really couldn’t tell anything. So we’re mainly going based on the drug. We’re trying, to see if my, hormone levels level out. And the last two times we’ve gone in, a prolactin has been, back in low, normal.

Will C. : So we’ll retest. All the, the free t and all that in six months. To see if that tumor has been reduced enough where we don’t have to worry about that.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So before you started doing this, or I guess, you know, prior to you learning about these things on some of the, you know, some of the suffered on the podcast, some of the guests that we’ve had on engage or some of the just the conversations that we’ve been having there, were you were you looking at these things before or were you just kind of doing what the doctors told you to look at or what?

Will C. : I pretty much was staying in the lane of whatever my, primary care doctors and my cardiologist were, saying, hey, we need you on this particular drug. We need you to, you know, they’re, of course, they’re encouraging me to lose weight and whatnot. But, like, specific pathways to get to where they were wanting me to get.

Will C. : And, they, we they were they weren’t looking at the full picture of everything that could be involved. They were more like my cardiologist was focused on the heart health, my, primary care. They were mainly focusing on dealing with the, the diabetes and those two major concerns that we had with my health. It wasn’t until I started, educating myself on some of the other health concerns that hit men.

Will C. : I just turned 45 last weekend. So I’m starting. Started, you know, at a certain age. And there’s a lot more concerns that come up at that age that when when I was in my 20s and 30s, I may not have thought about. So we were exploring those, and found out that, yeah, you got problems with us, too.

Will C. : So if we get those fixed, maybe it’ll get to where you want to be. Energy and, health wise.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Got it. So start starting to educate yourself. What did that look like for you?

Will C. : It. I, I kind of fell down the rabbit hole where a lot of people do when they’re, using, you know, YouTube and Google to research their, you know, potential problems. And I was watching all of the health gurus and, all the podcast, anything that I could get my hands on and what I found was I was presenting myself with too many options and too many, sources of information.

Will C. : So it was making it making my, this it was decision fatigue was really taking it. I’m like, okay, what do I explore? When do I need to do? And I found trimming back on the number of voices that I was listening to. And I like. So when Engaged Community came around, it was really, really helpful to have you did have, you know, you had your guests on there and they were, you know, they would do the Q and A’s, and that was extremely helpful.

Will C. : But having all of the other guys that are going through similar things or some of the guys are a little bit older, so they’ve already gone through all this part of their life. It was fantastic to hear their, their stories. And I’ll be like, oh, that’s what I’m going through right now. And I’m able to like, come, I can come back to my care team and be like, hey, someone said that I might want to look at this or, see if this is a possibility for treatment for this or not.

Will C. : And, it helped. It’s helped me streamline, the decisions that I make with my health care. And I know, you know, if I’m having a problem with something that. Okay, eventually that’s going to I’ll work through it. And, it won’t be as difficult it as it is at that moment. Yeah, that makes sense.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Totally. That’s awesome. So. All right. So. And I know you walk, you walk a ton. I mean, 15, 20,000 steps a day. That’s amazing. Wow. So I’ve been doing yoga for two years now. When you first started, how often were you doing it?

Will C. : I was probably going 2 to 4 times a week, just depending on the availability of what was, my schedule and what was available at the studio. But in April, when engaged started and I really, buckled down, I think I did the I did absolutely beginners. I think I did it straight through, and I think I only missed maybe two days out of the.

Will C. : But it’s 80 something, I think. So that, that nine then 90 days stretch, I was pretty much doing it every day. And then, I made the I fell into the pitfall where I was like, okay, I’m going to move on to, beginner fundamentals, and I’m going to incorporate more walking and strength training. So I kind of, when I made that transition from absolute beginners over, I took on too much.

Will C. : So, I’ve had to step back and, go back to focusing on just the progression scheme for, mental yoga. And I’ll add the, strength training. And once I’ve made if I go to like a month of doing it every day, I’ll be, more able to add on three days a week of strength training eventually.

Will C. : With. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: I mean, yeah, and even two days a week is fine, by the way. Just just so, you know. Yeah. We just had a conversation, with, Jesse on engaged. She was our expert for the month, focused on combining other workouts and creating weekly routine. Anyways, not relevant for everybody listening to this, but I’m just telling you, since you’re in it and you can access it.

Dean Pohlman: So when you were doing so, you’re doing yoga at the studio, you’re going 2 to 4 times a week. You got in demand for yoga. Really? All all in kind of. It sounds like an April. And you did workouts for almost 90 days, maybe missing a couple days here. What helped you be consistent?

Will C. : The the checklist, the tracking sheet that, it’s provided in the comments or the, it’s. Yeah, it’s I’m one of those people that if I make a checklist for, like, what I’m doing for the day and seeing it completely checked off at the end of the day, it’s extremely fulfilling. So having having that sheet up on the wall and then every, you know, every day when I get up, I’m like, okay, check that.

Will C. : The first thing I check off in the morning and then, I if I miss it, I’m not hard on myself. I do give myself grace, but, I’m like, okay, before I go to bed tonight, that check mark will be on that sheet. Unless, and if I’m having an off day where I, something’s hurting or, if I’m feeling sick, I won’t.

Will C. : You know, I don’t push myself, but that next day, that check mark is going up there as soon as I can get it done for the day.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Awesome. I was going to say, what else, if anything.

Will C. : I was going to also say that just like, even on the, in the Facebook group and in the engage group, you’re watching everybody that puts their, workouts every other day or whatever dates they do, their workouts. It’s definitely, pushes you to also want to be able to like, oh, I did my video too. That engagement helps you, stay on track.

Will C. : And when you see guys that are, you know, really pushing forward, and they’re making leaps and bounds and their improvement on either their yoga or their getting their activities and, it really does uplift you and make you want to try harder.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, absolutely. So, that’s good. So community and then just the tracking sheet sounded like it really did it for you. So when you. So that was one aspect, I guess. Did you, did you figure out what your, you know, as you’re going through this one thing that, you know, I like to talk about a lot is people finding their why for wanting to be more consistent.

Dean Pohlman: And, you know, this is different for different people. It’s deeply personal. It’s very individual to you. But when you got to a workout and you’re like, I really don’t want to do this today, or maybe you didn’t sleep well, maybe you’ve had a bunch of stuff other got those other stuff going on. You’re like, I’d be so easy to skip this workout and just do all these other things that I have to do.

Dean Pohlman: What was the motivation? What did you kind of tell yourself that that you that allowed you to do that workout as opposed to skipping it?

Will C. :

Will C. : Normally, I know at the end of a workout I’m going to feel better than when I started it, even if I don’t show up for it 100%. And I only, I only hit like 60% of the poses or hold them for half of the time. I know at the end of the workout I’m going to have the, the accomplishment of getting it done, even though I didn’t want to.

Will C. : And your body does feel better after you get a yoga session. And, if if I do it, I’m going to feel good, and and sometimes I just. You’ve got to do your heart, even though, you know, you don’t want to do it if you just. You’ve got to push through and make it happen. So just knowing it’s like, okay, don’t want to do it.

Will C. : I know I feel better, but I just got to make it happen because nobody else is going to do it for me.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, yeah. That’s true. Well said. So we already got it. Kind of talked into this a little bit. You talked about, getting on CPAp, working on your sleep. How did this do this? What are some other things that you started exploring once you got more consistent with, with Mantle yoga, and you worked at and kind of a trend that we noticed as people, right?

Dean Pohlman: They get in there, they dial in their manual yoga habit and they’re like, oh, I can do this. What else can I do? And so what were some of those things for you?

Will C. : One of the, the there are several guys on the page that are getting pretty, like Jesse hikes all the time and a few of the other guys have started hiking in their, on their days off doing as a social thing. I already get a crap ton of steps in every day. But most of mine is on a flat level surface, and I’m like, you know, I don’t spend enough time outdoors.

Will C. : So I’ve been trying to incorporate more outdoor walks during lunch and after work. And I eventually want to build up to, being able to go on a full fledged, hike, you know, start on two 30 minutes and then build up to, you know, like for a longer four and five mile hikes. So I’ve been slowly incorporating that a little bit.

Will C. : And I would eventually like that to be, my outdoor time to get some more vitamin D.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Definitely helps. So and you posted you shared kind of a it seems like a big win in your overall sleep. Maybe last week. How has that, how has starting to work on your sleep just made and made it improvement in other areas. What did you notice.

Will C. : So I’m still lasting about the same. Okay. So my day to start at three in the morning. I’m going to be at work by four. Before I started working on my, sleep routine. I probably my, like, my version of the day would probably be by 8:00. And then by like nine, I would start, you know, wanted to take it out.

Will C. : I’ve noticed that that tiredness doesn’t really kick in now until more like 10 or 11 in the morning. So the energy levels are getting better. We’re not quite there yet, but, I’m still making it about the same length of day. But the, fatigue and tiredness kick in probably 3 hours or 4 hours later in the day.

Will C. : So, okay, hopefully, hopefully after another month it improves a little bit and then hopefully I’ll be able to do a full 16 hour day without wanting to go lay down and take a nap in the middle of the day.

Dean Pohlman: I mean, if I was working at 16 hour day, I’d probably want to go take a nap during the middle of the day. So yeah. But yeah, that’s not we’re not allowed to do that. I can’t take a nap while you’re while you’re on the job. Yeah. Unless you work at I don’t know, I’m just gonna make a bad joke, but I’ll just, avoid that.

Dean Pohlman: So can you tell us, can you walk us through what? What that sleep improvement process looks like for you. So what did you. You know, who did you go see for that? And what did you. I guess what, I’m just curious because I don’t understand it at all. Personally.

Will C. : Okay, so, I have to admit to some bad health care on my end. So back in 2008, I was on a, college, trip abroad. We were in South Africa. I, I knew I always snored, and, there was at one point where there are four of us rooming in a room, and I cleared the room because my story was so bad.

Will C. : And, one of my professors, he said, hey, you probably really need to go check for sleep apnea because you’re where you’re sleeping and snoring is really bad. And so when I got back, I, went and saw with, once I, sleep clinic and they did diagnose me with, pretty bad sleep apnea, gotten sleep apnea machine after the sleep test, put it on a shelf for 16 years.

Will C. : Never used it. Well, when we started working on all of my. This time around, trying to lose weight has been way harder than it ever has before. And so I, in talking to my care team, I was like, okay, I need to do everything possible to eliminate any roadblocks. I have to try to improve my overall health and my weight, right now.

Will C. : And, so the one of the questions that always pops up are you used your CPAp at 16 years. I said, no, I should use it. So they’ve got me hooked back up with another, sleep doctor that I really like. When did the sleep study? It was a split night sleep study. So the first, first two hour, 2 to 3 hours of the night, you’ve got all the electrodes on in there.

Will C. : See how many, episodes you have per hour? Well, it only took me two hours to realize I was how you. 22 episodes per hour. So the second part of the test, they were bringing in a CPAp hook you up to for the night and see if you’ve have a reduction in episodes. And if that’s the case, your insurance will cover getting a CPAp.

Will C. : Well, I made it through the sleeves and he filled it with flying colors. The, and then when the gentleman went to put the mask on my face and from the pressure on, I had an extreme panic attack, and, wasn’t able to keep it on more 20s. He tried like 3 or 4 mask and I’m like, okay.

Will C. : I was like, I can’t do this. And I was mad. My body was just didn’t want to have anything to do with it. So he sent the study on to the, the pulmonary team and they, they called me back to go ahead and they said, okay, your study was bad enough. You can get it CPAp. So for two months, I kept postponing the appointment to go see them to get set up for the CPAp, because I didn’t think I was going to be able to handle it.

Will C. : And then after meeting with them a couple of times, they were able to coach me through how to different techniques to, not have another anxiety or panic attack while I was trying to get used to the pressure.

Dean Pohlman:

Will C. : So when Guy finally broke down, like, okay, I’ve got to do something. I’m tired of being tired. Got the machine. I didn’t use it in when the technician was setting me up with it. So I started using it that night, and you’re supposed to do a minimum of four hours a night, over 21 days out of 30 for the month in order to get, your insurance to cover it.

Will C. : The first night I hit that minimum of four hours, took it off. And in order to get that night, and I slowly built up, and I think, what night was night? 20 of my first 21 days. So I missed the night. So I’m pretty, pretty amazed by that. Still getting used to it. So running into a few little problems, but I’m hitting all the notes, and I’m.

Will C. : I’m seeing improvements. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Cool. All right. Thanks for explaining that to me. I didn’t know how that worked. So is that, is that the latest thing that you’ve been working on? Is there is there anything else that you’ve been. Yeah.

Will C. : That, I’m I’ve got to get back on. Over the last month, I kind of lost, not control, but I haven’t been as, tedious about watching the watching what I eat. And I think I’m noticing a little bit of, fall back on that. So, I’m starting off this week. I started working on, you know, making sure I’m hitting my calorie, range and not eating too much or too little.

Will C. : But other than that and just trying to stay focused and, work through everything that I’ve got going on right now.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Have you noticed that there are certain things that you do, when you are, eating better? Are there certain patterns of certain habits that you are better about when you are, you know, just doing better with your nutrition?

Will C. : Yeah. When I do my nutrition, I do, and if, if you, if I, if I eat, let’s say I get somewhere and I need a bigger meal or, more than I really should on some of the times, you’ll feel bloating and other, gut symptoms. And just me too. Even more sluggish than normal. So I find that when I’m watching what I eat and, spreading my meals out correctly, I feel better throughout the day.

Will C. : Not as tired. And my energy levels are more even. And honestly, sometimes my, the temperament, my, attitude a little more. I don’t get hangry or, Yeah, as much if I’m making sure that I’ve eaten what I’m supposed to. So that does help even that out.

Dean Pohlman: Got it. So what’s the next thing that you want. Like what’s the next thing you want to work on with your overall health and wellness. What’s the next big thing. You’re, you’re trying to improve.

Will C. : I’m trying the, I’m working on. So the yoga, it’s kind of just like the foundation. So it’s always there. There’s not really much other than improving on technique and, you know, whatnot. There’s not much there that I can improve quicker. I’m working on, trying to this past weekend I was in Atlanta, and there was a lot of walking.

Will C. : We were at Six Flags and the Botanical Gardens and other places, and I found that I could keep up with everybody for the most part. I was, you know, a little bit slower, but when it got it to inclines, I was struggling. Like, I would have to catch my breath. And I would go slower than the rest of the group.

Will C. : So with the walking that I do on a daily basis, I need to and want to put more inclines and, paces, you know, like speed up to get the heart rate a little bit higher than just, you know, regular steady speed a little bit to see if that can, help and, build on my endurance and my, ability to keep up with friends when we’re out doing, physically tedious stuff.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, yeah. So what’s what do you think is the biggest, the biggest threat to your to your health right now?

Will C. :

Will C. : Just not doing what I need to, I’ve, I’ve learned that I’ve got, you know, if I follow a certain routine and I make sure that I take the proper medications, I get the right amount of sleep, I eat correctly, and I get some some form of physical activity. And, my days are probably as good as the going to be for that day.

Will C. : And if I do anything, if I miss, if I, if I don’t follow the full routine, it can really set, part of my day off, like, I’ll be tired or or, I just won’t be feeling well for that day. So for me, the just sticking to a routine and, focusing on the basics, really keeps me healthier and more in line.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, it sounds like a lot to give up with. It sounds like you’re balancing a lot in in your.

Will C. : Has there’s.

Dean Pohlman: Improving in a lot of areas at once.

Will C. : And. Yeah. And I mean if I don’t I mean everybody says, you know work on one thing at a time, but I’ve got so much going on I just it, it’s, I got to keep it simple. But I if I drop one, one ball in the juggling it can affect the other one. So it’s best to try to keep all of them balancing as much as I can.

Will C. : Yeah. Even if it’s not perfect. But as long as I keep all the balls in the air, I’m usually doing pretty good.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, I mean, just just just listening to you, I can just, like, I’m just here, like, wow. It’s got, like, a lot of stuff going on. Is managing a lot of stuff. I like what you said about the yoga that you’re doing now. You’re like, yeah, I’m doing it, and I’m getting better, but I’m also not rushing it.

Dean Pohlman: And I have the habit dialed in, so it’s nice that you have something that like you’re doing consistently and it’s just it’s there and you don’t feel the pressure that you have to, you know, do more or improve more in that area. So, anyways, I like I like that for you. I hope that, I hope that other things have a, I hope for you that other things reach more of a homeostasis level where you’re able to where it feels manageable, you know?

Will C. : Yeah. And a lot of it, I mean, not all of it, but a lot of it is new. So I think once I get used to, you know, okay, if I do this much of this or this much of this, I’m good. I’ll get there. I just I’m at the beginning. And anytime you’re going racing uphill, you and what your body gets used to, you’ll be good, but I do.

Will C. : I’m still on that upward climb to getting to where I want to be.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, I think it’s. I think it’s hard to remember that this is like, you know, this is not necessarily something that you have to fix immediately. Right? This is something that you’re creating for yourself that’s going to last you for the rest of your life. But yeah, it’s really it’s really it’s it’s really tempting to want to fix it all at once.

Dean Pohlman: Like, I, I definitely get that desire to fix it all, as quickly as possible. So, I think.

Will C. : You’ll expect if you, if you try to take on everything all at once, you’re going to burn out quicker and you’re going to go two steps back, so you might as well just take the baby steps.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So I have a question that I, that I wrote in here after we started talking. What is what are some of the struggles that you, that you what are some of the, just the challenges that you face as a bigger guy that people don’t really get?

Will C. : So, by shopping for clothes? Oh, my God, I can’t tell you the horror stories, but, losing weight. I mean, luckily, I’ve been able to get down, and actually, I actually bought the last yoga, for yoga. Clothing drop where you had to take tops. Actually, I was able to get it down to two x.

Will C. : So freaking excited. Nice. But, Yeah. So I’ll just speak for my experience with yoga. Luckily, the in-person yoga studio that I dropped into there were predominantly 95% ladies. There’s only maybe two other guys that went through practices. It was all different body shapes. And so the instructors there, they didn’t really know how to address a bigger person in general because they the cues and stuff weren’t quite there, but they were patient enough to help you work through it and find what would work.

Will C. : But, I don’t know that the general, especially the fitter, more, you know, healthier, public knows that it’s it’s harder to like when you’re doing your poses. You’re but my body is not going to work like most other people at a yoga studio trying to do something. It may look like I’m flopping around on the floor, but I’m filling the proper, cues and everything, like, you know, I feel it in my head.

Will C. : So I’ve thought here and I it there. And I did one time go into a studio that, they were trying to correct me on what I was doing, but I would I would just ask the instructor, I’m like, okay, what am I supposed to be feeling right now? I was like, you know what muscles and what what am I supposed to be hitting?

Will C. : And they would tell me to move my body a different way. And I’m like, well, if I do that, it starts hurting. But if I do it this way, I was like, I’m doing where you’re telling me to feel it. And some folks have a harder time to understand that coming from us bigger folks. And then you just do it every day.

Will C. : Like, so if you’re going out with a group of people that are more fit than you, they sometimes if they’re somebody who known for a while, you know, they’re there, they know where you’re at. But, just, you know, being able to physically keep up with the group when you’re walking through downtown, when you’re going through an airport, some people, you know, if you be one of those people that’s afraid to ask for an extended on, you know, when you have to sit in that tiny little plane, see, you do run into, you know, situations like that that can be really uncomfortable, for you.

Will C. : And as a bigger person, you’re not like, you know, so my upper part of my body is bigger than my legs are, you know, particular. But most of my way to carrying my chest in my belly. So when I said I could sit down in a seat perfectly fine on a plane. But when you know somebody sitting next to me, I always try to get a an out of the seat.

Will C. : That way I can lean a little bit into the aisles. That way I’m not, you know, have any value. But, you know, growing up a good person makes me, I don’t think sometimes the general public understands that we’re not there to make them so uncomfortable with the situation, because we’re we’re probably way more uncomfortable than they are.

Will C. : But I’m going to try my best to make myself more miserable. You know, I’m okay with being uncomfortable if the person next to me is not. But if they feel okay with me, you know, the little more space than they probably think. I said that makes sense.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. I’ve definitely been on I’ve sat with with bigger guys next thing before and I have noticed the the apparent lack of comfort that they are in or sorry, lack of comfort that they are in because they’re like they’re hugging their arms like over the front of their body to try and make themselves smaller. Like, wow, that looks really uncomfortable.

Dean Pohlman: I’m sorry. That and that’s just kind of like.

Will C. : That’s kind of just like an example of, you know, what we went across in general. I mean, it’s not it doesn’t hit me that often, but, you know, it does happen. Or when you’re walking through a crowd, you know, you’re you’re bigger, you take up more space. So you’re naturally might accidentally bump into somebody more than, you know, a thinner person.

Will C. : But, yeah, something to work through is part of who I am. Can’t change it. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Well, you’re changing it.

Will C. : Well, but I see it’s still there. Yeah. I mean, it’s still I’m still going to be a bigger guy, but but yeah, I can fit into my space a little more.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. All right. Well, thanks for answering that question. That was something I wanted to ask. So, yeah, let’s get into our rapid fire questions. So I always like doing these. So what’s, what’s the one habit, belief or mindset that has helped you the most with your overall health and wellness?

Will C. : Over the year, I’ve, I know it’s kind of cliche, but, every every day is a new day, so let’s say yesterday I had a really shitty day. Everything was going wrong or whatnot. Or maybe I didn’t eat well enough. Or maybe I said something I shouldn’t. I said to somebody, going to bed, resetting, waking up the next morning and try to going through the new day with, you know, all the new possibilities.

Will C. : I, I can reset every day and with, you know. A little better, each day. And like I said, I’m going to have bad days, but I don’t have to let them accumulate and become, one big, bad day. I can just be like, okay, this is a new day. I don’t have to repeat yesterday. I can do better.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So, what is one thing that you do for your health that is often overlooked or undervalued by others?

Will C. : So I’ve noticed a lot, and in different conversations I’ve had with people on, even the engaged community or in person. A lot of people want to be an advocate for themself. So when, when you’re going through your lunch with health care as a, as an example, you know, you’re the only one that’s going to stick up for you.

Will C. : So you need to be the one to make sure if you’re not comfortable with something a doctor tells you, or if they want to try a treatment or they don’t want to try. And like a certain test, you’ve got to be your own advocate for what you think you need. And that, you know, the doctor can educate you and what you can learn that you’re wrong.

Will C. : But if you’re not advocating for yourself and asking questions and requesting you know what you think you need, you’re you’re hurting yourself more than you think.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. And you’ve gone to that person. So yeah, a good lesson you learned. What’s the most stressful part of your day to day life?

Will C. : I’ll be honest that I my I’ve built my life where it’s fairly simple. Probably the most stressful thing at times is, trying to be a good form of selfish for myself to to take care of myself and put myself as a priority first. But still being there, being open and available and, vulnerable for other relationships, within my circle of friends and family.

Will C. : That can be, an interesting balance for me to mix. I’m, I’m I’m pretty independent, introverted person. So, me finding the balance to be more involved with other people’s lives. But while maintaining my. My personal, well-being can be a little stressful at times because there’s like, oh, am I overdoing it or am I not doing enough?

Will C. : That’s probably been one of my more, frequent struggles. Over the years.

Dean Pohlman: Okay, that makes sense. And then last question, what is your best piece of advice for men who want to be healthier?

Will C. : It’s easy to look out there for all the answers to the problems that you think you’ve got. But you need to start with the the a good foundation pick, pick something to follow, something to do it. Pick one thing at a time to work on and build a community around you. Whether it’s your friends or a group like engage or the yoga Facebook group.

Will C. : You need the support. And you’re going to be a better person and more successful if you build connections with people that are going through. So these are if they’ve already been through the process or they’re going through the process with you at the same time, you can get a lot from those connections and interactions.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. It’s great advice. All right. Anything else you want to mention with.

Will C. : No, I think we covered at the.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Thanks for going in-depth on some of those things. I appreciate it. So, Yeah. I mean, it’s been great seeing your progress. It’s been great seeing you kind of come out of your shell. I know that that’s challenging you. You attended one of our weekend workshop series, and I know you had a lot of, anxiety about coming to the point that you almost didn’t come.

Dean Pohlman: And then you came, and, like, I was like, which one of these guys was nervous again? Like, I couldn’t even tell, you know, so that was really cool to see. And it’s been great seeing all of your contributions to the community. And I know it’s been helpful to other people. And I hope you know that, that people were inspired by you.

Will C. : I think there’s a lot of inspirational guys on there. So I’m among many of great gentlemen. Yeah. And I’ll be in Austin next weekend too.

Dean Pohlman: So cool. All right. I’m gonna, I’m assuming from for the weekend workshop that I’m hosting, but I’m discussing.

Will C. : Yeah, yeah, yeah. Going to do yoga with some people. So cool. Some of you guys.

Dean Pohlman: I’ll be there. So, hopefully. Yeah. I think that if I wasn’t, Cool. All right. Well, well, thank you again for joining me on the podcast.

Will C. : Right. Appreciate it. Thank you then.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. All right, guys, listening in. I hope you enjoyed that. I hope it inspires you, to be a better man. I’ll see you guys on the next episode. And I really hope you’re enjoying this. This series focus on reclaiming your health, reclaiming your fitness.

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