Brandon Baltzley - Leaving the Restaurant Industry for a Career in Fitness and Nutrition

Welcome, everyone. This is Chris with the Chefs Without Restaurants podcast. Today, my guest is Brandon Baltzley. His company is Brandon Baltzley Fitness and Nutrition. He's a personal trainer and wellness coach, working with about a dozen clients at any given time, privately, some in person, some long distance online. He's also a trainer at Planet Fitness. Welcome to the show, Brandon.

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

So, I guess we can kind of jump right in here. So, you're doing your fitness work right now. You're also the co-owner of The Buffalo Jump restaurant on Cape Cod, and a former chef. In fact, I think most of listeners probably think of you as a chef, and know you from the culinary world and not the fitness world. So, how did you get there? I mean, I remember a tweet earlier this year saying you were done, and retiring from cooking after 20 years working in kitchens. So how did you end up making that switch?

Yeah, it was it was kind of a it was a progression of things. You know, a couple years ago, I wanted to get healthy. I wanted to lose a lot of weight. I was obese. I was kind of in the grips of like alcoholism. And through that process of getting sober and losing the weight. I had kind of like an internal realization that the restaurant business, the type specific type of restaurant business that I was in the fine dining aspect was not the best thing for my mental health. And it would probably do me a good service to find a new occupation and even you know, working in the industry for so long. I think I developed a passion for fitness while I got into it. I saw a opportunity to kind of blend my food knowledge with a Exercise. And I found a niche, working with mostly hospitality people that also want to get into wellness and kind of do better for their bodies and minds.

Had you ever done any of this before? Like, were you a guy who ever worked out in your teens or 20s or eating healthier? Is this completely new to you?

It was completely No, I mean, the closest I just talked to somebody about this the other day is, I if I had to think I did cardio, when I was a kid, you know, either skateboarding or playing drums. That's the closest thing to exercise that I ever came to. I ate like complete, utter garbage my entire life. Even when I became a chef, and got into the higher echelons of cooking, like you know, you're, you're eating, you know, quote, unquote, good food, but it's not really good for you, you know who you are in the business of making everything hyper palatable and that's through practice. Assessing. And that's not necessarily the best thing for your body. So I think when I started to eat differently to enhance my workouts, I realized that the work that I was doing on my tasty menus wasn't really doing any good for anyone. I personally felt like I was contributing to other people's deterioration of health. And I didn't want to be a part of that anymore. Now I could have like, you know, flip the script and just like, Oh, I'm gonna make healthy Whole Foods, things like that. But there was that aspect of it. And then there was just the, the me struggling with anxiety, the pressure, the constant judgment, that also made it easier to make the transition out of the industry.

But that could have been an easy one. I mean, you have like 20 years experience, right? I mean, you start a young guy in in kitchens.

I started young. I started really young but like you know as a paid cook, I when I was like 15 full time dropped out of high school worked and did that all the way up until you know now 35 if I molded over, you know, I mean I you know, another aspect of this as COVID happened, right? So I was supposed to be doing my final season this year, I was still going to cook this year. When COVID happened, we saw another opportunity to re concept the restaurant to make it more casual to suit the needs of our community instead of the needs of the summer tourists, which is what we were geared towards before. And it was also an easy way for me to go ahead and take you know my exit make my exit. There was a little bit of ego involved when like I wanted to have a last season I wanted to like kind of go out with With the bank, that was definitely a part of it. That was in my head. But it was surprisingly easy to put down. After I did it, you know, once it has like, you know, it's done, it's over. It was it was almost a relief.

And your wife who's the CO owner, she the head chef, does she do the brunt of production there? What's the kitchen

team look like? Yeah, so she has always been, you know, the CO owner kosha for the restaurant with me. You know, the first three years that we were a pop up, she did dinners with me. On the first year that we were a brick and mortar restaurant. She did the dinners but kind of started veering towards more of the daytime operations, the lunch and breakfast. And then when we switched over this year to casual, she's just she's running the whole show, you know, she it's, it's her, her mother who runs it. bakery out of the same venue. And to, you know, prep cooks slash dishwashers, that that's all it is now, we had to cut down staff severely, due to COVID we let some good help go, we kind of, you know, made our peace with them, we were bummed that we couldn't have them back this year because we've had higher time that we've been an entity these cooks. So that was kind of hard, both on a professional and personal basis. But at the end of the day, it was I mean, survival You know, it was either close the restaurant on are completely rebrand.

How's the reception been? I mean, it's business good doing what you're doing right now with that?

business is Yeah, no, I mean, I was gonna say, you know, it's been slow, but, you know, honestly, with the, the new, you know, with with profits and loss, like, you know, I mean, I'll come out and say like, you know, the first year that brick and mortar, we lost $10,000 at the end of the year. The second year we were brick and mortar we lost $4,000 this year, we'll probably make a profit. So, yeah, I mean, that profit might be 200 bucks, but we won't we won't lose money. I don't think this year's

that's an interesting conversation about the whole restaurant industry in general. I mean, I think we're seeing this whole thing being thrown on its ass and when we come out of COVID whenever that is, who knows what the restaurant scene is gonna look like at all i don't think it's gonna look anything like it did in February, you know?

Yeah, I've been in conversations with a few people I'm talking to a couple people that are still kind of have their hands in the industry. And my they asked like, you know what, I think my end like my prediction is I mean, there's always going to be a place for fine dining, right? There's always going to be that elite crowd that was spent a lot of money be pampered. That that whole thing. There's going to be the highly creative Have chefs that want to do, you know, art through food. But I think that aspect of food, which has been so popular for so many years, is about to shrink by like 90%. And you're gonna start seeing you're already starting to see it through food media, we're starting to see them focus on on people that have been overlooked for a long time, chefs of color, casual dining, street food, all kinds of different operations, you know, you don't have to sell a $400 menu to get noticed anymore. And that's a good thing. I think the whole landscape is gonna change completely and needed to

it did. And there's a lot of chefs and restaurants out there. I mean, that's what my whole community is, is people kind of forging their own path, but also there are people who have never had any attention. I mean, there's every once in a while, like a food truck that's really well known, right? But other than that, most of these people are just having to push every day their mom and pop businesses, they're very small, and you know, just trying to get out there and survive, but I think They've been very innovative in how they've been dealing with COVID. Because they've been able to pivot a little faster, you know, not having this big brick and mortar business. I've seen a lot of successful people being able to change their business model on the drop of a dime, you know?

Yeah, I mean, I think, I mean, we have a relative that's in the food industry here on Cape Cod, who does casual food, and you know, they're they're highly profitable. Everyone that I know that's in the casual business. There, it just seems like they just they just do better as far as financial financial successes, maybe not in terms of like critical acclaim, but you know, they're putting their kids through college. So I think the ego to a certain extent, is going to be taken out of the food industry. You know, whether it kind of wants to or not, but I think it's going to, it's just gonna change

and was it tough where you are. So you're on The cape was a tough customers what people were accustomed to. I mean, I'm from Massachusetts, most of my living relatives are on Cape Cod I don't think of many really interesting or fine dining so I know when you first opened up your menu is pretty innovative what was the reception and you know did people eventually come to understand what you're going for?

Yes, so I mean, I you know that when when the globe first started talking to us about like, our concept for like doing food on the cape back before the buffalo jump when it was when we were doing the 4170 um, you know, I said some things similar what you said and not so nice always about the food here on Cape Cod and got a lot of flack for it. But you know, I mean, you can't be naive to it like there it's it's, there's there's a certain type of restaurant that does well on the cape. That is not the business of you know, Making people think about what they're eating, you know. And we did have a good reception. When we started the pop up. We were pretty busy in the pop up. When we turn in a brick and mortar and we instituted breakfast and lunch, we had that casual aspect. So we still had a draw locally on the dinners got, you know, weirder and weirder and weirder as we went. And that began to weed through our customers for dinner. You know, by the end of year two, I mean, we never did more than 36 covers a night as me and one other cook. Um, but by the end of it, you know, we were averaging like 25 covers a night. So um, for what we were going for, we had the client tell for if we ever tried to do it on a larger scale, no, but completely bombed. Here, yeah, you're just it would never work. It would never work. And how

about your new business? What's the reception been there? How's it been finding clients? I mean, are there a lot of people in your area who are looking for personal trainers meal prep, that kind of thing? And what's that been like?

Yeah, so it's a lot of moving parts, um, all together, they make a sustainable business. But it takes all the parts you know, I have to have my day job at the gym. You know, that's just kind of the wise thing to do. It puts you in front of, you know, hot leads all day for clients. Outside of that I have a very niche corner of mostly back of house chefs cooks, kitchen employees that want to get into shape. That's another part that's done a lot online coaching I have so a couple of private clients that I see in person. You know, it ranges From the, you know, the chef of a very popular restaurant in Boston, that drives all the way to the cake twice a week to work with me to, you know, I've got 73 year old clients that just want to, you know, keep trucking, the meal prep. You know, I I'm only doing maybe like 20 meals a month for people because nobody. The thing is, is like when you when you start to do meal prep, you have to commit to like, you know, eating the same thing every day for long periods of time. And it's not for everyone, you know what I mean? I think that the meal prep aspect of the business will be better once COVID restrictions relax, and I can put those things on display, like at the restaurant type, like in our like, grabbing go area, but for now it's all privatized.

I looked at that a little bit. I couldn't Find a model where that really worked for me. And it wasn't really what I was interested in doing. But I have a lot of friends who are making a good go at it. But it seems like you have to do if you're going to do that exclusively, you have to trade on volume. You know, I know a lot of people who that's their only thing, it's like, how many $15 dinners Do you need to make to make a profit? You know, and it just seems really hard. I can't imagine doing it as a full time business.

Yeah, and then, you know, especially when, you know, I mean, I'll say, like, the people that live here, it's Cape Cod, you know, Cape Cod, if people are listening to don't know, Cape Cod, people around here kind of have like, finer tastes and things so they want like, good ingredients. And like we know as chefs, we like try to provide that for him. But at the end of the day, you know, they, they space, get a meal, and they see like, you know, like he said $15 or whatever. And we need three of those a day for two weeks. All of a sudden that builds like $400 sticker shock and you know, it It's a constant toggle back and forth. So I, I think that eventually what I would like to have happen with my fitness business is to turn it into an all inclusive like one type of thing of coaching that I am meal prepping for my coaching clients while I'm doing their nutrition for them. Like have it be like, all in one type of thing and not, you know, this person over here does meal prep this person over here does coaching this person orders programming from me in Chicago, that that's that's easy to handle right now and juggle right now because it's small, but if it gets much larger, you know, by even I would say like, five to 10 more clients, I'm gonna have to quit my day job. So it's gonna be interesting to see what happens.

And I know with health and nutrition having like goals is essential. In general, are you someone who's good with setting goals? I do have 510 year plans? Is that how you are? Are you more kind of fly by the seat of your pants?

Me, for myself, I have a long term plan. I'm I'm trying to like be a bodybuilding competitor in the next five years. So that is what I'm focused on for myself. So a lot of my clients do weight training. I'm not I'm not in the business of like circuit training, spinning things like that. All of my clients do weight training.

You look pretty wrecked right now. When When did you start this journey? Like when did you decide to get healthy?

So I started about seven months before I got sober. I got sober October 3 of 2008 teen I think that's right. I'm coming up on two years. So whenever that was, um, yeah. 2018 So I started it, and like I said, I was 235 pounds. And I dropped down to like 140. And I did it the wrong way. You know, I did it through all through like cardio, and through, you know, calorie restriction. And I ended up just looking like I did when I was 15. Just all skin and bone. And I was like, well, that's not what I wanted. So now, so I would say, over the past year and a half, I focused more on like gaming.

Was there one defining thing that made you say, like, this is the time that I'm going to get sober, get healthy, clean up my life. I mean, you you wrote a book, we haven't mentioned that at all. And you Chronicle you know, some rough years that you've had, so I I know you've had struggles over the years with substance abuse and a lot of things. But was there any, like moment where you're just like, this is it? I'm gonna clean it up and pull it together?

Yeah, there was, I mean, it's I, you know, my daughter was two when I got sober. Um, so I think, you know, I say it's my daughter, that's my daughter, but I mean, it's not technically my daughter's my daughter was alive for two years before I got sober. But I think that I started getting serious about trying to get sober when she came along. Um, and it took me two years to get to go, you know, trial and error. I mean, I tried before that time too many times to get so likely and I'd put together nine months here, nine months there, but I think that at a certain point, I just when my weight was at its highest. I felt ill all the time. I didn't like the way I went. Looked, I wasn't happy with my relationships. The doctors were telling me you know, I started off with a fatty liver, which turned into alcohol induced hepatitis A. The next step is cirrhosis. So I had to make a decision. I had to figure something out. I, you know, I went to rehab in September. It was right at the end of a buffalo jump season. And I think while I was in rehab, having my daughter drive from Cape to Worcester, to see me in a rehab was kind of like the moment where I was like, yeah, I'm not going to do this again. Because she's not going to remember this. And I don't want her to remember. I don't ever want her. You know, growing up, knowing me when I was Drinking.

I mean, that's fantastic. I'm so happy for you and proud of you. I mean, having kids changes your life the same with me. I mean, I didn't have anything like that. But just wanting to be a better person be healthier. I mean, I'm trying to get fit right now, it's really hard because I'm the reverse. I never really worked in restaurants before. But though now because I'm a personal chef, I'm basically on a restaurant schedule. So now I'm in the mode of working late at night, eating at like 10 o'clock. And now I'm trying to figure out at 44, how to eat properly, I spent a good deal of my life working in contract food service, where I go and work at a retirement community and I get home at 730. And I can have dinner or eat at work. And now it's the opposite. I feel like I just started this new restaurant career at like the age of 40, where now I'm trying to figure out how to eat better and work that into my schedule. So I've had some fluctuation with with diet and weight and need to get it together. But I've put together a plan and I'm already losing weight. So

that's great. Yeah, I mean, it takes It takes a lot of trial and error. You know, like I tried like keto I tried, like I did, like all the things, right, all the things that you could do, and you just have to figure out what works for you. And it's different for everyone. And the, the important part is find what works for you and something that you can stick with. And it's all about the consistency, the consistent consistency is key because your body, you know, to lose weight, and to re to re comp, the re composition your body, it has to be either in like a, you know, a slight caloric deficit for certain amount of time. You can't just zigzag it, you know, eat not enough food one day, and then you know, just enough food the other day and then too much food the next day because anybody doesn't know what's going on. And it's constantly going doing this up and down. But once you find what works for you, and you can just stick to it for just like a month and you start to see those results. That's when I usually see my clients like have the breakthrough and be like, oh, now there's some results. Now there's some motivation now, you know, it's the same thing with drinking. Oh, I haven't drank in one month like why I don't want to like ruin that. So I'll make it another day. I won't drink tonight type of thing. Same thing with food and diet. And it's so hard for restaurant workers, because you're around the food all the time you got it, you have to taste food as part of your job. And, and that's, that's the biggest challenge that I face with my clients.

Yeah, I don't think people who don't work in food service understand how easy it is to put on those calories like a cook makes a chocolate mousse and you come over and try it and like that one spoon is like 100 calories and then you like, need something, put some cinnamon in it and they do and they come back and give you a you've had like 400 calories in tasting mousse and you're not satiated. You don't not eat dinner because you've had that you just added 400 calories of straight fat, like and multiply that out 40 times a day. I mean, it's so easy to put the weight on.

Yeah, I mean, I mean it's it's very it's completely reasonable and mostly acceptable in a lot of restaurants for a chef To eat 6000 calories a day, you know, the let's let's stuff a quart sized deli full of rice or pasta and eat that as our family will have the insulin spike and almost fall asleep right before service starts then taste food throughout all of service. But then you won't eat you know, the entire morning. So you're like missing nutrition throughout the first part of your day, you're back loading all your food, you're eating late at night, when you get off, you're probably drinking if you're working in the kitchen at the end of the night. It's just it's not an environment conducive to healthy living. But that is changing.

It is um, I'm optimistic for it, but it's still not changing fast enough. But I really think at least we started the ball rolling I feel like the end of 2019 we started having these conversations and now some more so

yeah, yeah, I think like he said, like when the conversation started happening when I think you know, when when Kat kinsman started her like campaign of like mental health and well being and all that. And I think like the fair kitchens movement or whatever, you know, there was, unfortunately, these things like, they are trends, right, they common trends, and they're covered really frequently, and then they drop off, you don't hear about him again. And now with COVID, there's, you know, it's gonna be this is how it is with any thing in the media, it's hot for a little while and then shows off. But I think, you know, I'm like some of my one client in particular, you know, we talk a lot about the work environment, and just how, you know, you can't really hire cooks anymore, that will tolerate the bullshit that we tolerated, coming up through the ranks. And and because it's been put out there that it's not acceptable. So now people aren't accepting it. And they're demanding fair wages are demanding not to be treated like shit, they're demanding. If you're telling me that I'm coming to work, a 10 hour shift. That's fine. Don't make me stay here for Another four hours and be like, Oh, we got to get this other stuff done and make it happen, you know, four out of my five days a week, these things are starting to gain traction. And I think the the younger generation, the newer cooks are just going to, you know, elaborate on that. And I think it's I mean, it's going to be, I wouldn't even if I ever tried to get back in the industry, say 1015 years or now I wouldn't recognize it, I'm sure.

And I've seen so many people starting their own businesses like mine, because of kitchen life, but also barriers to being able to start your own, you know, a lot of people on my shelves about restaurants community, there are a lot of people of color people from different countries and backgrounds. And just, you know, they've maybe worked in the industry a little bit and saw that there was no way they were going to be able to be promoted. They weren't going to be promoted up through the ranks. They probably were going to have challenges getting loans to open that big, expensive restaurant, and it's just easier to say, you know what, I'll do the personal If thing are all you know have 40 grand and start a food truck because of so many of the things both barriers within there to moving up and financial barriers

yeah there's there's a lot of roadblocks put in place by restaurant tours and and banks and things like that. Especially if you don't have like, you know, the hot train of media engagement you know, I mean it's it's, it's it's weird that for so long that's all it took to you know, get I mean, that's what happened to me, man. I mean, like, it's the only reason why I made the success that I made was because I became like immediate spotlight for a hot second and I'm grateful for it, but it's also fucking ridiculous. When you look back on it, I mean, and in it, and you can look back and you can poke the holes through it, you know, you can see where like, this is not how this should have went down.

I bet That was exhausting. When did you first start getting some media attention? Do you remember what year around?

Yes. So I was 2526 years old. So I had been cooking for 10 or 11 years at this point I was already. I was an executive chef in New York City. And I left my executive chef job to go be a line cook at Alinea, because I wanted to take the next step and get into Michelin starred restaurants. I think it was a I think it might have actually been before linear got three Michelin stars right when they got three Michelin stars. But, uh, so I did that. And then I left the linea and walked in to a restaurant that I saw an ad for on Craigslist moto had no idea what the restaurant was who the people I was, I'm completely unfamiliar with the Chicago food scene. I wonder this restaurant I got hired on the spot. It just so happened to be that Robin Love it. The chefs of motto, were were very popular chefs in Chicago and they had just walked out of this restaurant and left the owner. They had a falling out. I don't know who is to blame, it doesn't fucking matter. But that me getting hired there, put me on this pedestal and put me into the media spotlight without any vetting. They just started writing about me. And through that, and through the dissolve amount of my relationship with moto and then going on through there to other restaurants in Chicago. They just kept following me. And no matter what I did, they just would kept writing they would they were interested in where I was going and what I was doing. And I can tell you at the beginning, it wasn't for the food because my food was not good at that time. It was not good. It I don't think my food got good until You know, I don't think I really found myself until maybe like five years ago or so. And and and that happened through my work in Massachusetts, I think I think I really kind of found myself at rebel a and Brookline Boston, and then went on through there, but anything pre rebel a, you know, looking back is horseshit. And it was just right time, right place. Um, and I was lucky.

I think that's how I found you, you know, I talked about, I do love early Twitter, and I'm talking like 2010. And I think, you know, I probably started following you because you were one of those guys. You know, it's like you Richie line cook, you know, like, Who were the chefs on Twitter that had a lot of attention, but I have to say, I'm super grateful. I loved meeting you. You were always supportive of what I was doing. Like when I was no one like I'm cooking in a retirement community, but I'm posting up some like really interesting dishes and you always had nice things to say you You were always great about retweeting them. I got a lot of followers early on because of your engagement with me. So I'm eternally grateful for that, because I feel like that helped get me a little bit of a platform when nobody had ever heard of me and then watching the stuff you did, I mean, you might think it's bullshit. And it probably was, I was doing bullshit too. But like seeing those videos of you doing like, Cool pop ups, or collaboratives, or all these things, you know, you had your Crux culinary collective, I thought that was so cool. The idea of like a bunch of chefs coming together who are individuals and have their own thing going, but you know, that's kind of what chefs without restaurants started as for me, so just, you know, I want you to know, all the cool things you did really influenced me in both perfect little bites and chats about restaurants. So you know, that's cool. I'm glad I got to meet you on Twitter. And I think we've only met once in person back at Star chefs and like Star chefs 2011 or 12 or something like that.

That was a while ago. Yeah, I do think that Crux and Particular was was important. I think I think that looking back on that, like, I'm proud of that, I'm proud of some of the food that came out of that. I'm proud of like, the greater meaning of it and the influence that it had on other people for collaborations and for travel, the concept of traveling pop ups and kind of taking like, I mean, as you're in the punker, I was a punk rock kid. I was like, let's take like punk rock band philosophy. Let's like get on the road. Let's just tour Let's live out of a truck. Let's party. Let's make some food. Let's meet some people. Um, make make a little cash off of it, uh, to survive and and, and I think that that was definitely you know, that's that's a timestamp that like, will be in my head forever. Especially at the last like, couple of Crux tours. I think we were putting out some really cool food then. Yeah,

man, thinking about back to health and nutrition, you know COVID is so scary and when you see all these people who are dying, it seems like most of them are overweight or many of them are overweight have diabetes underlying conditions. I can't believe that that wouldn't be enough to scare everyone into getting healthier. I mean, it's definitely at the front of my mind. Are you seeing people? Is that a reason people are coming to you at least that they're verbalizing, saying, Jesus like I don't want to die I'd like that's my wake up call to get to get it together.

Yeah, I think unfortunately, if you're not healthy now there's nothing you can really do right off the jump you know to change your your fate if you were to get it. Um, however, this is dark. This is just went dark all this. But however, if you This can also be a wake up call to like for the future. It's not It's not like let's get healthy now to be COVID. It's like let's get healthy to beat the next day. Like this is a wake up call. If you get through this, then maybe you should be more prepared for the next thing. And I'm just like, I just I lucked out, I got like wicked healthy, like I'm in the best shape of my life. And I have been now for about a year. So I made the mark, but um, I would say that at least the people that I work with, I don't think COVID COVID was much of a reason. I think, um, if anything, COVID made an excuse of people that have more time to get into fitness. I'll say that much. But the reasons people come to me are kind of more deep rooted, mentally, trying to overcome certain things. food addiction issues, depression, anxiety, related to the end History and a lot of people career changing and things like that. So like I said, I work with a pretty niche crowd. The crowd that's not in the industry. They're mainly just people that just want to be healthy.

So are you still looking to pick up new clients? I mean, do you have enough time to pick up more people?

Yeah, I um, I mean, I was actually thinking about this today on the way home, as I tried to figure it out was like, how many more people can I take? If I see them like twice a week? Like I think with my day job I currently have time, I can see like, maybe like three or four more people on the weekend only on my weekdays are completely maxed out. I get up at 4am every day, I go workout. I you know, I I do the meal prepping for myself too, because I'm trying to stay fit as well. So I do all that I work at the gym. Sometimes I'm training people before I go into the gym. Then I go to the gym. I'm training people at the gym, those aren't my private clients that the people that I see in my day job I am those are not my clients those are like the gyms clients. Everyone that I see personally I see before after I go into my day job so I'm Jan tight until seven o'clock when I go to bed at night, which is hilarious. I go to bed at seven now.

Every night religiously like rounds I get in bed at seven and I usually fall asleep by eight. Wow, I don't know that I I don't know that I can do that.

So, to lose to do what I want to do with my body, I have to get eight hours of sleep at night or it just wouldn't happen. There's a certain point that you get to that you have to have things so completely dialed in to achieve like a certain level of like leanness or like muscle hypertrophy that you have to you know your diets got to be dialed in within like the 100 calories. marker, you got to get a certain amount of sleep, you got to take a certain amount of supplements. You got to spend a certain amount of time in the gym. You know, I mean, I work out for two hours a day every day. I don't take rest days. I mean, I'll take a rest day, once every couple of weeks if I'm really tired, but it's it's it's it's a commitment.

So is there any actionable advice you can share with our listeners? I know it's so personal. But are there any places to get started? resources, anything you could recommend to someone who you haven't met? Like, just if they're sitting on their couch and need a kick in the ass to get going? What would you say?

Yeah, I mean, I think you know, there there there. There is one way to you know, you can look at people, right. You know, there's someone that you like, you know, Google David Goggins or Jocko willick on those are like very inspirational like fitness people. They're like they're the Marine Corps, Navy SEAL type people. motivational speakers, you can you can look towards people you can look you can find the person. I you know, I always said this when I was cooking too is like you know, it's like you find the chef, find the guy who has what you want, and then go get it, you know, and it's the same thing with like fitness goals. Find the person that has what you want, you want that body you want that lifestyle, well do what he's doing, and things should follow suit. Then outside of people, you know, resources. I mean, I you know, if you want to get started, you know, just get up in the morning and go on a run. And if you can't run without, you know, losing your breath, you know, an eighth of a mile, then then walk for 30 seconds and start running again. Next day you're gonna make it you know, another eighth of a mile longer and the next day before you know it, I anyone no matter how obese, they are, you know within Two to three weeks of running will be able to run a mile, you know what I mean? And make it through. And and, and you might feel like you're gonna die at first have a heart attack, but you're not, you just got to kind of it's a mental thing that it's all the mental blocks that you got to get through. It's It's all in the person and how much they want it and how much work they're willing to put in. I mean, at the end of the day, it's a self discipline that you either have or you don't. And if you don't have it, you got to figure out how to get it. And then as far as diet nutrition goes, You know, I tell all my clients, it's like if you don't want to count calories, if you don't want to track macros, you don't want if that's all like too much, two things. All you got to do is just think of it this way. Is it one ingredient, is what you're about to put in your mouth, one ingredient. No, it's got three ingredients. Don't eat it. It's one ingredient. Eat it. Rice, great potatoes, great. carbs aren't bad, right? fats, not bad. It's moderation. It's good carbs, good fats that you want. Have an apple, eat a steak, have, you know a fatty piece of pork belly if you want, it's one ingredient, it's good for you body's gonna process it turn into what it needs to be. It's all the processed stuff, the multi ingredient, foods that turn into stored fat and are harder to digest, and don't really do much for your body.

That's great advice. And I just started counting calories this past week, and I've never done that, but it's not hard. I mean, I've a digital scale and just I think once you get into it, it's a lot easier, but right now it's like, oh, that's half a cup of brown rice. Oh, that's how many calories are in half a cup of brown rice, and then you just get used to kind of having an idea but it was so weird. Like the first time I broke out my scale and started weighing food and really counting.

Yeah, at first it's kind of a pain in the ass. I mean, you've got to, uh, you know, it takes longer, right and so like it makes your day longer and this is the This is like I said earlier, it's all about self discipline, and how much work you're willing to put in. Just take the extra time do it. Before you know it, you won't even need a scale, you'll know you can eyeball it, you know, things don't have to be that exact. And that's if you do want to calorie count, but you know, at the end of the day, like, eat whole ingredients. Don't overeat when you're listening to body if you're hungry, eat food. If you're not hungry, don't mindlessly eat. Most people pack on the extra calories, extra weight from mindless eating, and especially during COVID I mean, come on, like because that was that was hard for me to you know, and I'm very disciplined now. And I was having a really hard the last two weeks of COVID got me. I was eating ice cream. I was eating pizza. I was like Screw it. I've been good this whole time. I'm gonna go to town for two weeks. And you know what I felt like utter shit. from it. You eat good for a certain amount of time and the trail off you find out how you find out real quick The difference your body feels.

I found the same with drinking. I mean, I haven't given up drinking completely, but I don't drink often at all like maybe once a week once every other and at that you have it and you know, you feel like crap, right? It's like I have one beer and I'm like, I feel gross. And not that I even feel drunk, but it's just like, the next day I have a headache from drinking one beer. It's like, like this, like, I feel like crap. Why am I doing this?

Yeah, that's no good. That's no good. And, you know, if, you know, I've got a heart, a fitness monitor that I use, and any day that I go off my diet, of eating clean of eating clean foods. If it's even if it's just one meal, one cheat meal, my resting heart rate will go up almost 10 beats a minute, overnight. My heart rate variability will sink all the way down. My respiratory rate increases by like two fold. And you can just see if you have a monitor, you can see what they say. You're doing your body, and you don't really notice it until you abstain. Right, you have to abstain to really notice things.

So is there anything else you want to get into?

I feel like we kind of covered it all. I think this is a super cool thing that you're doing, and I'm glad it's taken off.

Thanks everyone. This has been the Chefs Without Restaurants podcast. Thanks, Brandon for coming on. And as always, you can find us at chefswithoutrestaurants.com and .org and on all social media platforms. Thanks, and have a great week. Transcribed by https://otter.ai