← Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth
Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth
2612: How One Man Lost Over 300 Pounds Without Any Cardio
01:14:51
How One Man Lost Over 300 Pounds Without Any Cardio with Jamie Selzler Lessons learned. (2:02) What episode got him hooked? (3:23) His highest recorded weight. (4:30) Obesity is a disease. (6:21) Food became overpowering. (10:17) The...
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- [00:00]
Zoe Saldana
Hi, Zoe Saldana. Welcome to T Mobile. Here's your new iPhone 16 Pro on us. Thanks. And here's my old phone to trade in. You don't need to trade in. When you switch to T Mobile, we'll.
- [00:09]
Jamie Selzer
Give you a new iPhone 16 Pro.
- [00:11]
Zoe Saldana
Plus we'll help you pay off your old Phone up to 800 bucks and you still get to keep it.
- [00:15]
Jamie Selzer
There's always a trade in. Not right now.
- [00:17]
Zoe Saldana
At T Mobile.
- [00:18]
Jamie Selzer
I feel like I have to give.
- [00:19]
Zoe Saldana
You something in return for karma.
- [00:20]
Jamie Selzer
That's okay. I don't really have much in my purse. Oh, let's see.
- [00:24]
Zoe Saldana
Hand sanitizer.
- [00:25]
Jamie Selzer
It's lavender.
- [00:26]
Zoe Saldana
I'm good.
- [00:27]
Jamie Selzer
Seriously.
- [00:28]
Zoe Saldana
Let me check this pocket. Oh, mints.
- [00:30]
Jamie Selzer
Really, I'm fine. Oh, I have raisins.
- [00:32]
Zoe Saldana
I'm a mom. Wait, wait one sec. I've got cupcakes in the car.
- [00:35]
Jamie Selzer
It's our best iPhone offer ever. Switch to T Mobile.
- [00:39]
Sal Destefano
Get a new iPhone 16 Pro with Apple intelligence on us.
- [00:42]
Jamie Selzer
No trade in needed. We'll even pay off your Phone up to 800 bucks with 24 monthly bill credits. New line $100 plus a month on.
- [00:49]
Zoe Saldana
Experience beyond finance agreement.
- [00:51]
Jamie Selzer
$999.99 and qualifying ported for well qualified plus tax and $10 connection charge.
- [00:55]
Zoe Saldana
Pay off via virtual prepaid card.
- [00:56]
Jamie Selzer
Allow 15 days credits end in balance due if you pay off early or cancel. Have you ever wiped with a piece of dry single ply toilet paper and wondered, is this as good as it gets? Well, it's not. It gets a lot better. Thanks to the wet, extra large cleaning power of Dude Wipes, they comfortably clean up whatever TP leaves behind on your behind. It's time to stop being an A hole to your B hole and start experiencing the confident clean of Dude Wipes. Available at Amazon and at major retailers nationwide. Dude Wipes Best clean. Pants down. If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. Mind Pump. Mind Pump. With your hosts, Sal Destefano, Adam Schaer and Justin Andrews. You just found the most downloaded fitness, health and entertainment podcast. This is Mind Pump. This episode, I'm not lying, it's my favorite episode I've ever done in the history of Mind Pump. We had a listener on the show, we had actually had him as a caller a while back, and he shared how he lost over 300 pounds through listening to our show and employing some of our advice. When we talked to him, we all thought, we need to have him on this podcast so that other people can hear about his Journey. He literally lost over 300 pounds. Didn't do a single bout of structured cardio. But of course, he's strength trained. He changes diet. You'll hear all about the struggle and the learning that he went through on this incredible, amazing journey. No surgery, by the way. He lost it all without surgery. His. His name is Jamie Selzer. By the way, you can found him on Instagram selzer.com that's J S E L Z L E. You can also find him on TikTok at jam. Jam sells. So that's J A M S E L Z. We know you're going to love this guy. We totally loved him. We all got emotional many times on this podcast while interviewing him. By the way, this episode was brought to you by Legion. In fact, in this episode, he talks about some of the things he used to help him, and he did use Legion supplements. And so this episode is brought to you by that company. And if you go through our link, you'll get 20% off. Go check them out. Go to bylegion.com that's B-Y-L-I-O-N.com. mindpump. Use the code mindpump. Get that discount. We also have a sale on some workout programs, the Shredded Summer Bundle and the Bikini Bundle. They're both half off if you're interested. Go to mapsfitnessproducts.com and then use the code June50 for the discount. All right, here it comes. Jamie, welcome to the show, man.
- [03:36]
Zoe Saldana
I can't believe I'm here. It's absolutely wild that I'm here.
- [03:39]
Jamie Selzer
Like Adam said, off air, we've never done this right, so we've never invited a listener or a caller onto the show. But when we had you on and you told your story, I mean, we're trainers. That's our heart. And when we heard that, we're like, we gotta get this guy on the show. We gotta get this guy in here so we can tell his story. Because there's people who were in situations like yours, similar ones who feel like this is, this will never happen. This can't happen. It's impossible. And that's why we wanted you on, man. And you do such a great job of communicating.
- [04:11]
Zoe Saldana
Well, I appreciate it. Should say I have a bit of a bone to pick with you guys to start, though. You know, all your live callers, you know, they're excited, and so they send it to their, you know, friends and family. And I did that as well. And I had a number of confused, angry messages back because it was in the episode about having a bigger rounder butt.
- [04:30]
Jamie Selzer
So people are like, why are you.
- [04:31]
Zoe Saldana
Sending this to me? All my particularly female friends are like, are you trying to tell me, oh, that's hilarious. Oh, that's hilarious. And so. But, you know, it was a huge honor to be on. As I said in that call, I've been listening to you guys. I wouldn't say since you've been around, it's really the last two or three years, but I've listened to every episode and I've learned a lot. And that's how I got here today is lessons like what I learned from you guys and others.
- [04:54]
Sal Destefano
Do you remember what the first episode or thing that you heard that hooked you into listening to more?
- [05:03]
Zoe Saldana
I don't know if it's a specific one. I remember when I started listening two years ago, it was just to the very. To the newest episodes at that point. And then I started going back and listening to the early ones. Not in order at first, but just in particularly stuff about anything that was fat loss related. You did a number of episodes where that was a focus or there were callers that were about that. So that's really what I was focused on at first. And then it was fascinating to go through. I started going in order. And so I remember like getting to the 2000, and I remember the first time, and this is like a year ago, I heard this. You guys were like, you guys heard about this thing out of China, this flu or whatever. And it was sort of like we didn't know at the time what was going on. And then of course, once you got into the COVID times and the stuff about having people work out from home and the stuff you could do, like. But really it was really the. For me, the fat loss kind of stuff because that's what I was focused on.
- [06:01]
Jamie Selzer
So Jamie, you know, we were talking off air and you had sent. You had sent, I guess, some videos and pictures of yourself when you. Before you really got onto this journey.
- [06:09]
Zoe Saldana
Yeah.
- [06:10]
Jamie Selzer
And you said in one of the videos, I think you said you were officiating your sister's wedding in that.
- [06:14]
Zoe Saldana
How much did you weigh in? That one is about 625. My highest weight was 652. My highest recorded weight. I suspect I was higher. And I'm happy to talk about how I got there and the whole story, but I. The video that you'll see was my sister's wedding was three years ago today. It was on a beach in Florida. And it obviously was a great day. It's your sister's wedding. But it was a brutal day. I mean, walking when you're 600, 600 plus pounds, walking on the sand is hard. I mean, it's really hard because you're sinking in. And I fell on the, I fell on the sand right after the wedding, like we were. I stepped back a little too far, slipped and was on the ground. And I remember it was hilarious because I mean, it didn't hurt myself like from the fall. I did end up hurting my knee, but I was on the ground trying to get up and just laughing at myself, but also terribly embarrassed that I would someone record me and I would become like some viral star of like the fat guy stuck on the beach. And I remember my brother, my new brother in law, one of his good friends came up to me and he's like, here, I'll get you up. And I looked up at him, I'm like, I'm 600 pounds, like, you're not picking me up.
- [07:28]
Jamie Selzer
And.
- [07:29]
Zoe Saldana
And he's got guys in his 50s. He's like, I'll get you. And he reached down and put his arm around me, just popped me right back up. And it turns out he's like an amateur power lifter and like benches £500 international. I am so lucky this guy was here because he got me up before. Too bad.
- [07:44]
Jamie Selzer
But that's great.
- [07:45]
Zoe Saldana
But yeah, I've been over £500 now since I'm 46, so since I was early 20s.
- [07:51]
Jamie Selzer
Wow. So let's go back and let's talk about what this was like for you because there are people listening. Definitely going to tune to this episode who are very challenged by this. Like there's, you know, typical weight loss, 30 pounds, 40 pounds. And then there's where you're dealing with large amounts of weight. And it's a completely different. It's a much different struggle. I worked with quite a few people in this at the back in the day. I managed a gym these guys did as well where it was across the street from a weight loss clinic that did, you know, bypass surgery. And I started when I started working with people in this category, it was very different. It was similar in the sense of the steps, but different in terms of like, what it was like for them. And so let's go way back. When did this start to become a challenge for you? Do you remember when weight was an issue or when this was something that you noticed? Like, okay, this is something I have to deal with.
- [08:42]
Zoe Saldana
Probably high school is when my weight, it was not an issue. In terms of mobility or things like that. But I knew I was bigger. For me, it started probably when I was 9 or 10. I remember going to my grandparents place for a few weeks over Christmas break and my sister and I never really had like, you know, sugary like soda, stuff like that. I remember my grandparents having a fridge in the garage that had like full of sugar of soda and they're like, take one whenever you want. I remember like going back after two or three weeks bigger. And that really changed something in me where now I started using my allowance instead of buying baseball cards, I was buying, you know, I'm not going to say brands but you know, you know, bad drinks for you. And like that's how it began for me. Then I. So I was probably in high school, probably 350ish. Maybe I'm 6 foot 2. Actually I'm 6 foot 3. But I recently went to the doctor and he says I'm 6 foot 2 now, which makes my doctor a dirty liar. But anyway, so I'll always be 6 3, but. So then once I get to college, gain a little weight in college, turn 21, start drinking with my friends, begin eating poorly and balloon up higher and higher. But it really wasn't until I was probably in my mid-20s where I got to 500, where it was really impacting my life. And I guess my message to folks who are not that big is to have some empathy. Like, there are many reasons. No, I should say this. No one chooses to be that big. No one in their right mind chooses to be that big. It happens from a series of, I'll start next week, I'll start getting better Monday, and then failing on Monday for a variety of reasons. I truly think that obesity is a disease. It doesn't mean that you don't have a role in managing that disease or preventing that disease. But I think it was for me, being that large impacts everything in your life. I mean literally everything. When you're that size, from the moment you get up to the moment you go to sleep at night, and even while you're sleeping, because I've developed sleep apnea. And when you go through life like that, you end up really beating yourself up and you end up feeling like you are not worthy of living a better life. You get looked at, people stare at you, they laugh, you, I can't tell you how many times when I was that size, traveled for work for many years. I'd be in airports and I'd see people sneaking pictures of me. And occasionally I would stare. I'D be like, I know. I know what you're doing. I had. When you're that size, you have to get used to kids saying things, mommy, that man's so fat. And I don't fault the kid. It's. A kid's gonna say what a kid's gonna say, so it's no one's fault. But when you're faced with that every day and you find that the only thing that is really comforting you and not judging you is food. Yeah, that's what you go back to. And that's what I went back to.
- [11:47]
Jamie Selzer
Yeah. So. So when did you re. When did you find food comforting? And when did you start developing that? Was it when you were having the sodas and.
- [11:55]
Zoe Saldana
No, probably. Actually, once I was later 20s, early 30s, I started. I worked for a large tech company for over 20 years. And so I moved for work a ton. I was moving like every 12 to 18 months. And so I'd moved to these places where I was generally going to be alone. Right. I didn't know anybody, only knew people who worked for me. I was always a senior manager. And so I generally don't hang out with people who work for me. And so it began to just a thing to do when you're bored or you're lonely. And what eventually happened for me, and I've talked to other people who are significantly obese who experience the same thing, which is where food becomes how you handle emotions, but all emotions. If I had a day where I had good news, I got a promotion.
- [12:34]
Sal Destefano
Celebrate.
- [12:35]
Zoe Saldana
I'm gonna celebrate. I'm gonna order a pizza tonight. If I had a bad day, I'm gonna mourn with food. If I'm bored, I'm gonna eat some food. Like, food was part of every single aspect of my life until I eventually started glp. One medication, which made a difference. But that's eventually what happens, is the food becomes overpowering. And, you know, I try to lose weight a few times over the years and to failure every time, and in one case, I think actually ended up damaging myself because it was just an incredibly restrictive diet that involved no weight training whatsoever and ended up losing, you know, 75 or 100 pounds in a few months. And this is under the care of a doctor, losing 75 or 100 pounds over a couple of months, and then moved and gained it all back quickly. And I guarantee I lost a huge amount of muscle and gained back fat. And after that move, which was 27, 16, is when I really started to notice my body breaking down.
- [13:28]
Jamie Selzer
I like what you said about empathy, because this problem doesn't get fixed or solved, I should say by shaming yourself or feeling bad about yourself. So by making someone feel worse, what you're. What you're going to do is encourage this or make this a harder thing to struggle with. What, what was the. What was the switch? What was. When was the moment when you were like, I'm gonna tackle this, but I'm. You talked about losing weight before, so you attempted before, but what was the final. When was the final thing that started to work for you? What was the mentality? That's what I'm most interested in. What was the, the mental process that. That made this now a far better success?
- [14:11]
Zoe Saldana
I. There was a moment which is I was. Couldn't get off the toilet. I was too big and weak to be able to do it. And feeling like, what happens if I can't actually somehow get up? I didn't have my phone and is this how I die? Not this moment necessarily, but something like this. I started thinking about, what's that going to be like for whoever finds me? How's my family going to have to deal with this? What do you do with a body this size? Like, those are the really dark thoughts I had. And it wasn't self harm thoughts because I've always been. Even at my heaviest, I was still generally happy person and optimistic. But that's when I realized I'm in serious trouble. A few years before that, right after Covid happened, it was the first flight I'd been on and I was next to a woman. And when you're that. No one likes. No one really likes flying. But when you fly and you're that big, no one wants to be next to the person that's that big. I get that it's not fun being that person either. But anyway, I was next to this woman and apologized to her because I was crowding her on the airplane and she was very kind and empathetic and told me that she was fine from Seattle. And she told me she was a doctor, an endocrinol endocrinologist. And she started talking about this new class of medication that rifled bariatric surgery. And this is before these had come out. And so she gave me her card and said, you should come and find me when it's time. When, when, when you get back home. And I never did because I was of the. I was never going to get bariatric surgery. I was never going to use medication because I thought, I can just out. I have enough willpower I've been very successful in a business career managing thousands of people. It's not like I have a lack of ambition or willpower.
- [16:15]
Sal Destefano
You're not lazy.
- [16:16]
Zoe Saldana
Not lazy at all. And so I thought, I can just get through this. And so when I had the moment years later where I realized that this was not going to get better, no matter how badly I wanted it, I needed to change. And so for me, it started with the doctor and figuring out what was going on with me having insulin resistance, having pre diabetes, having metabolic issues, and was able to get started with semaglutide. And I didn't start really changing my mindset yet. That was just sort of the door that I opened that allowed me to start realizing that I actually could lose weight. Once I started that, I started listening to things like Mind Pump. I started reading various blogs and realized that the way to lose weight is obviously a calorie deficit, but what goes into a calorie deficit? And so I had to start learning and educating myself. As the process went on, I developed just some rules for myself, which I shared when I called, and I'd be happy to talk about them again. But once I just started saying, these are the rules I'm going to follow, everything became significantly easier.
- [17:31]
Sal Destefano
You have to share those, because that was one of the things that I was like, he's got to come on here and talk about that. Because I thought that was such a brilliant way to approach this. So share those again for sure.
- [17:40]
Zoe Saldana
The most important thing for me is that I have to start keeping promises to myself. And there are so many times in our lives, all of us, whatever we struggle with, whether it be weight in my case or addiction or anything, it's so easy to keep a promise you make to the people you love. And we do that pretty well. It's so easy to break a promise we keep to ourselves. I bet all of us in this room, I bet many of those listening, can list off five promises they've broken themselves in the last week. And so I just said I have to make a promise to myself and keep it. Like it's a promise to someone I love because I do love myself and I have to treat myself like someone I love. So that was the most important thing that I did and that I've done ever since.
- [18:27]
Jamie Selzer
Did you start small? Did you start with smaller promises? Or did it encourage? Because that's a big deal. What you just said is a huge deal. And 100%, everybody struggles with this and what it does when you start keeping promises to Yourself is you start to become more honest with the promises you make. Did they start smaller? What was that process like? Just that right there?
- [18:50]
Zoe Saldana
Yeah, they started pretty small. The promises initially were things like, I had a major problem addiction with, like, food delivery services. And so the promise to myself was not that I wasn't gonna. That I was gonna just stop ordering them. It's that I delete the apps. So if I'm gonna order, I'm gonna go through the trouble of downloading the app. Re signing in.
- [19:13]
Jamie Selzer
You created a barrier.
- [19:15]
Zoe Saldana
I created a barrier, a hurdle. And so that was the initial promise to myself, which is, I'm not gonna say you can't eat the bad food. And I've never said I can eat. I still eat. I mean, I still eat bad food. There's no such thing as a bad food. I just don't eat a lot of it anymore. But anyway, so that was it. It was small promises like that.
- [19:31]
Jamie Selzer
Where'd you get that? Okay, that is, by the way, the fact that you came up. That's how we used to coach people. Where did you come up with that? Did you learn that? Or were you just like, this makes sense.
- [19:41]
Zoe Saldana
I just did it because it made sense, because I was. Because it was like My go. My go to app. I put them on the main screen.
- [19:47]
Sal Destefano
You realize how easy and convenient it was. You're like, I just need to make this a little more.
- [19:50]
Zoe Saldana
And I also canceled the subscriptions to those so it'd be more expensive.
- [19:53]
Jamie Selzer
Do you know how hard, you know, that took? That takes a long time to train and coach people to really figure that out, to create a barrier. Like, it's just a small barrier.
- [20:02]
Sal Destefano
Such a smart one, though. Like, it's a.
- [20:04]
Jamie Selzer
It's like a speed bump.
- [20:04]
Sal Destefano
Yeah. It's a big enough one that will make an impact right away. So. But it's not crazy enough to where it's like, I can't hold this commitment.
- [20:11]
Zoe Saldana
I create barriers all the time. If I'm walking to a door and there's like an automated door on one side and then a push door on the other, I will walk around and go to the push door because I'm like, well, at least I'll get a little bit of resistance here.
- [20:20]
Jamie Selzer
That's great.
- [20:21]
Zoe Saldana
And I walk around. So, like, I try to create the little barriers like that all the time.
- [20:24]
Jamie Selzer
So the first one was that.
- [20:25]
Zoe Saldana
Are there any others that you remember drinking water? Like, switching off of soda and drinking water was a huge one initially. And then walking more. So I was walking initially. The Promise to myself is that I would find a reason to walk. Because initially my walking was sadly. But from like, my recliner to the door to get, you know, food.
- [20:49]
Jamie Selzer
So it wasn't like, I'm going to walk this many steps. It was like, okay. My promise to myself is if I can walk somewhere to do something, I will.
- [20:55]
Zoe Saldana
Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, I look back now and I was getting 500 or 1,000 steps a day at that point, which is wild because I, you know, I regularly do 15,000 now.
- [21:04]
Jamie Selzer
Wow.
- [21:05]
Zoe Saldana
And the. And I mean, I walked here today a mile and a half to the studio because I'm like, oh, it'll be a nice little walk in today. And so you just have to find reasons to do it. But that's what making promises to yourself is like anything. And we can talk about goal setting later. But the. You have to make a promise you know you can keep.
- [21:23]
Jamie Selzer
Yes. How did that change that process, change your relationship to yourself?
- [21:31]
Zoe Saldana
What a question.
- [21:32]
Jamie Selzer
Yeah.
- [21:34]
Zoe Saldana
I think that I respect myself more than I used to. I've been a confident person my whole life.
- [21:42]
Jamie Selzer
It comes across, by the way.
- [21:43]
Zoe Saldana
Thanks. I've always tried to be confident, not arrogant. I don't think I'm better than anybody, but I've been confident. But I don't think I respected myself.
- [21:52]
Jamie Selzer
You know, just for people listening, just to put it in perspective, think about how you would be with your relationship with another person if they were the kind of person that didn't keep their promises to you versus if they started keeping their promises. That's what happens to yourself. And you use the best word, respect.
- [22:10]
Zoe Saldana
Yeah. And part of this, for me, a promise myself means that when it comes to living a healthy lifestyle, I have to keep my foot on the gas all the time. And maybe not everyone does. Maybe some people can take the foot off the gas. I have to actively make decisions and choices every day because I know I have decades of poor choices and no medication is going to stop me from making those choices. Only I can now.
- [22:36]
Jamie Selzer
How did this. When did you notice that this started like your friends and family started to notice this shift in this mindset shift.
- [22:44]
Sal Destefano
That you were starting to make.
- [22:47]
Zoe Saldana
It probably took about six months or a year before others noticed. Unfortunately, one of the downsides of being the size that I was is I had such a hard time with mobility. That's one thing I always very much appreciate about. Talk about mobility. I read your book in the section about mobility. So critical. And my mobility got so bad that I. I needed a walker. I mean, I got It. After the whole toilet thing is, I got. I needed a walker to get around my apartment. I needed it to get everywhere. But I. I had such ego that I could not let myself be seen by friends and family with needing that support. So I just stopped seeing people.
- [23:26]
Jamie Selzer
Can I just. I just want to just tell you something a little encouraging about what you said about keeping your foot on the gas for this particular topic or issue for yourself. Everybody has that. It's just something else. For some people, it's. It could be gambling. It could be I'm on my phone too much, could be I'm distracted. I'm not present with my family. It could be a lot of different things. It just isn't as visible. This is one of the reasons, you know, besides the fact that we train people for so long, I always had a lot of empathy because you get to know people and you figure out and you know yourself. Let's just start there. You know yourself. Like, there's things that you struggle with. It's just. You don't wear it, so it's not so obvious. So people might not notice. And like you said, for all intents and purpose, you were successful in other aspects of your life.
- [24:09]
Zoe Saldana
And it's an excellent point. So people have obesity, their biggest. I don't know if you want to call it a flaw. The thing that they struggle with the most is the most visible thing.
- [24:21]
Jamie Selzer
That's right. That's right.
- [24:22]
Zoe Saldana
And maybe that's covering up some underlying thing, but it's so easy. It's easy for us to. It's human nature to judge things that are different than us. And so we have to be very conscious that we sometimes do that. And for people with obesity, that's what they experience constantly. But. Yeah, so for me, having the foot on the gas means that if I slow down, it doesn't mean I can't. I take rest days. I do all that stuff. But if I say, you know what, I'm just going to take a week off from all of this. I know. You could put every ounce of semaglutide or tirzepatide in the world into me, and it will make no difference if I decide to stop.
- [24:56]
Jamie Selzer
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So let's talk about the rest of the rules.
- [24:59]
Zoe Saldana
Rule number two is that motivation is great, but it's not important to me anymore.
- [25:06]
Jamie Selzer
Now, did you hear that from us or did you figure that out?
- [25:10]
Zoe Saldana
Do I have to pay you if I heard? No?
- [25:12]
Sal Destefano
No.
- [25:12]
Jamie Selzer
Because I'm gonna tell you something I heard it from.
- [25:13]
Sal Destefano
That's why I think motivation is bullshit. Self bullshit.
- [25:16]
Jamie Selzer
Well, you know why? You know how long it took me to figure that out with, with clients? Like, it took years. And I don't think I would have figured out by myself on my own. I would have had to figure it out by training people. Yeah, so that's a big one.
- [25:25]
Zoe Saldana
No, it's definitely something I heard, I heard from you guys and I realized that and I, I tell people, like, if I use motivation losing, I've lost £330 from my highest weight and I'm stronger and I'm excited to use my body in ways that I never have before.
- [25:46]
Jamie Selzer
That's so great.
- [25:47]
Zoe Saldana
I'm still motivated to sit and watch Netflix for all day. You know, I wake up on some days and I'm still motivated to just lay in bed. But I practice consistency and discipline. I go lift weights four days a week, not because I'm motivated to, but because I am a guy that lifts weights four days a week.
- [26:06]
Jamie Selzer
That's great.
- [26:07]
Zoe Saldana
And I walk at least 12,000 steps a day because I'm a guy who walks 12,000 steps a day whether I'm motivated to do it or not. And it's when you are, when you. And I don't have to tell you guys this, when you are feeling that motivation, it's great. It makes it so much better, but I don't need that. So consistency and discipline trump motivation 100% of the time.
- [26:28]
Jamie Selzer
Have you seen any carryover from that understanding to other aspects of your life? Or has it just changed again? How has it affected your relationship with yourself or the world or people around you? Because that's. That bleeds into. In my experience, just like man, that applies to almost everything.
- [26:43]
Zoe Saldana
I think I'm a better friend. I think I'm a better coworker. I think I'm a better family member to the people that I care about. Because my lack of consistency and discipline was beginning to bleed over into other areas of my life where I wasn't there for people the way I should have been. But once I started practicing this and realizing that consistency and discipline are just important, you can apply that to every aspect of your life, not just fitness. You can apply it in your relationships, in your work, in anything really. And so it certainly has changed my life. I mean, there's so many people think when you need to lose weight, you just have to cut your calories or lift more or do cardio, which I don't do. But really you have to start with your mindset. If you don't change your mindset. Everything else is temporary.
- [27:37]
Jamie Selzer
Jamie, you have no idea. The people that we get the most angry with, the people we get frustrated with, they have to hold our tongues and not just tear apart on social media. Are these fitness? I don't know what you would label them that have no experience working with other people have never. They're just obsess themselves and they communicate fitness in this, like, terrible, inaccurate way. Just do it. Food is just fuel. Go work out. No excuses.
- [28:02]
Sal Destefano
We all have the same 24 hours in a day.
- [28:04]
Jamie Selzer
You have like, that is. You are not helping anybody.
- [28:08]
Zoe Saldana
I could, I mean, and maybe during this time we can talk about it at some point about like. I have a lot of advice for trainers and coaches out there that I've learned. I have a great one now. I think of the last time I really got. I tried to lose weight the right way. Lifting. I hired this. I lived in Lexington, Kentucky. This is 2012. Fantastic coach. I'm gonna shout him out. Josh. JB Bowen, Aspire Fitness. Check him out if you're in Lexington. I worked out with him three days a week. He is of the mind. Mind pump philosophy.
- [28:38]
Jamie Selzer
That's great.
- [28:39]
Zoe Saldana
And he was so good and he believes in mindset. But I was not ready. I feel like I failed my trainer in that case, not the other way around. And I didn't really change how I was eating. And I'm thinking if I were to have a trainer like that, once I started doing the work, I mean, could have taken over the world. But mindset is so critical. And I think coaches and trainers have a role in teaching that mindset.
- [29:01]
Jamie Selzer
I'll tell you why he did a good job. Because you went and worked with another trainer. Because here's what would have happened if he was a crappy trainer. You might not have ever gone back.
- [29:08]
Zoe Saldana
That is absolutely right. And that's my number one message to trainers and coaches out there as they're dealing with people who have a significant amount of weight to lose, is that if it takes a lot when you are hundreds of pounds, I'm going to say 50 to 100 pounds or more overweight, you are dealing with the emotional aspect of going to a gym and feeling judged. I'm aware now that at gyms, if you're listening to this and you're a big person, no one at the gym is judging you or looking down on you for your size. I promise you they are impressed and proud that you're there. But you don't realize that at the time because you're Used to being judged in every other aspect of your life. So you think the people who are the most fit are going to judge you the most. And that includes trainers. Anyway. If you are a trainer or coach and you have someone my size or close to it come in, you should first ask yourself if you are the right person to coach this person. I think it takes a special coach to take on a client who has 100, 200 pounds to lose.
- [30:12]
Jamie Selzer
It does.
- [30:13]
Zoe Saldana
And it's okay as a coach to say, I'm not the right person for you, but let me find someone who is. Because if you are a bad coach for that person, not only are they going to continue down a path to an early death, but you have now scared them away.
- [30:28]
Jamie Selzer
That's right.
- [30:28]
Zoe Saldana
From all gyms in the future. And you have hurt your profession by being a bad coach for this.
- [30:33]
Jamie Selzer
Very well said. Absolutely. Very well. By the way, how. How awesome is it now to go to a gym? Because I. Okay, so you have this fear of being judged. But I know what it's. I work in gyms. I know what fitness quote, unquote, fitness people think when they see somebody who's a couple hundred pounds overweight trying to work out. You know, we're all thinking, oh, my God, look at that. What a badass. And we're fighting the feeling. I actually fight the urge.
- [30:57]
Zoe Saldana
Inspiring.
- [30:58]
Jamie Selzer
I fight the urge to go up and high five the person because I don't want to come across as being, you know, like, condescending. And I literally say, I don't want to do that. I don't want them to think I'm like, making fun of it. But in my mind, I'm like, every, every, you know, time I'm wrestling, I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna give the guy high five. I wanna go give the guy high five. And I do it now because I hope they recognize me. So maybe they don't think I. I.
- [31:17]
Zoe Saldana
Think as someone who's that size and has had that before, someone coming up and saying, you're killing it, keep it up, it's for me, that's just fuel to the flow.
- [31:25]
Jamie Selzer
Awesome. Okay, good.
- [31:26]
Zoe Saldana
And now, you know, I, at my gym, I joke that I want a leaderboard because I want. Because I think I lift leg press heavier than anyone. I want my name on a leaderboard at the gym. And I'm telling you, and I say that to be funny. But also, three years ago, the idea of going into a gym scared the ever living shit out of me.
- [31:43]
Jamie Selzer
Yeah.
- [31:43]
Zoe Saldana
And now I think I lift More than others do, at least in one lift.
- [31:46]
Jamie Selzer
That's awesome.
- [31:47]
Zoe Saldana
And I encourage people just to do it. But anyway, for coaches out there, you have a responsibility to your client. You have a responsibility to your profession. And that means that it's okay to say no to a client as long as you help them find someone who can say yes.
- [32:04]
Jamie Selzer
100% agree.
- [32:05]
Sal Destefano
You know, Jamie, during this process, did you ever start to unpack anything that led to maybe something traumatic that happened? Like, did you ever like feel like, man, something happened to me as a kid that I started this coping mechanism and then it. Obviously you talked about what it snowballed into, but through this whole process, did you ever unpack anything else?
- [32:28]
Zoe Saldana
A little bit. I, when I was. Parents got divorced when I was young, single mother. My mom got remarried to a great guy when I was a little bit older who adopted me. So I think there was probably something along the lines with that one thing I did. When I started this process, I thought it was really important for me to have a team. So my team includes my doctor, it includes my personal trainer, it includes a physical therapist who helped me. I have a grade two meniscus tear, which happened when I fell on the beach that day. And so he's part of my team. And that also includes seeking therapy. And so I found a therapist. I only did a few sessions and she said that, she said I didn't really need it because I was working through some of this stuff. For me, part of why I sought therapy is that when you see people who lose significant amount of weight, they're often treated differently and they're treated better by people in their circle. They're treated better by those in their, you know, random strangers. And I've experienced, not by my. I'm treated the same as I always have, but by my friends and family, by strangers. I definitely noticed a change. And so I, I sought therapy at first to prepare myself for being treated differently. Smart and, and my worry was if people start being much nicer to me, is that going to make me angry at them for not being as nice before?
- [33:50]
Jamie Selzer
You're a very self aware, your self awareness and intelligence. These are conversations I had with clients that they were.
- [33:57]
Sal Destefano
That happens.
- [33:57]
Jamie Selzer
Yes, happens.
- [33:58]
Sal Destefano
Then all of a sudden you start questioning everybody. Oh my God, this is like, it's.
- [34:01]
Jamie Selzer
So funny too because I don't know what you want to call this human nature or whatever that you would think, oh, people are nicer to me. This is encouraging. But here's the mind games we play with ourselves. Why were they Treating me like they were before, the way that they were before, like, what's wrong with me? And it turns into this terrible spiral that keeps you in this. In this trap.
- [34:19]
Zoe Saldana
I think a huge part of this that I share with people is everyone deserves love, respect, compassion, and empathy, regardless of their size. Whether they're 650 pound Jamie or 320 pound Jamie or whatever I end up being at the end, everyone deserves it. And that includes showing empathy and respect for yourself, including your past self. A big part of this for me has been forgiving my past self for not seeking help sooner, for not making the right decisions sooner. I've had to forgive myself and say I did the best I could with what I had at the time I was doing it. And the only way I think you can really approach your future successfully is to let go of that anger or sadness about your past self. And that's one thing I've learned as part of this process.
- [35:16]
Jamie Selzer
Yeah.
- [35:17]
Zoe Saldana
And it's so much easier now.
- [35:18]
Jamie Selzer
I've been told that our approach, when we talk about, you know, health and fitness, is grace based. You just. You just broke it down right now.
- [35:26]
Zoe Saldana
Grace is my favorite word. I think extending grace to yourself and others is the most powerful thing that we can do in this life.
- [35:33]
Jamie Selzer
I 100 agree. All right, so you gave us two steps. What's the next one?
- [35:37]
Zoe Saldana
Third is celebrate every win, celebrate every success. And so not with pizza, though, you know, it's interesting.
- [35:45]
Jamie Selzer
It might be. It might be a little bit.
- [35:46]
Zoe Saldana
I went out with the buddy and had beer and pizza a few weeks ago. And this used to be. This used to be three times a week for me. I think it's probably been a month or two months since I did that. And it was the best pizza I've ever had in my life because I had had a great lift that day and I had not done it often. I'm like, oh, this is the best pizza. I didn't eat the whole pizza like I used to. I had like three or four slices and called it a day. But I celebrate every success and every win, and it does not matter how small it is. I walked here today. It was 1.3 miles from where I stayed. And the whole time I'm celebrating because I walk that all the time. But I'm walking that in California now. That's kind of fun. So I'm going to celebrate that. Me being here is a huge win for me, one that I never anticipated. So thank you for giving me this. But it can be something as small as fitting In a booth at a restaurant, which I never used to be able to do. It used to be if a friend wanted to go out to eat and they'd suggest a restaurant, I'd have to go online and look at all the pictures to see what's the seating? This is what big people have to do. What's the seating situation like there? Are the chairs going to break? I've never broken a chair, thankfully. But are the chairs going to break? And so if you look at it and say, I can't do that, you're usually, you're embarrassed. You don't want to tell your friend, I can't go there. Say I'm not feeling it tonight, whatever. So getting to like actually interact in life is a big part of that. I flew here for this. It's the first time in 25 years where I did not need a seatbelt extender on any of my flights.
- [37:18]
Jamie Selzer
Great job, man.
- [37:19]
Sal Destefano
Killer.
- [37:21]
Zoe Saldana
I was the last one to board all my planes, hoofing it down the jet bridge. And even a year or two ago I would have missed the flights because of, you know, layovers. So I just celebrate every single success. I write them down. I literally write them down on paper and I speak them out loud. I tell them to whoever is around with me, like, I'm sitting comfortably in this chair, that's a win. I want to speak it out loud. I really think that celebrating all of those wins that you have, what do they say, like winning creates winners. And so by speaking that out loud, you are drilling into your head that this is worth it. And even if, and I'm not a fan of watching, I watch this, I weigh myself every day, but I use it just as data. I don't use it as an indicator of my self worth. I think that if you get so focused on those outcome type things, which we'll talk about, you don't celebrate the wins and successes.
- [38:19]
Jamie Selzer
Yeah, yeah, I. I mean you just the wisdom that you're speaking right now and the brilliance. I don't know if you realize just how I.
- [38:25]
Sal Destefano
Well, we talk about trying to teach clients to attach all the other positive things that come from having a lifestyle like that. So it's a similar type of process. It's. Man, I just, I've got great energy today or I slept so well or I'm in such a good mood or I was able to like we so often with clients, they get hung up on the outcome, the scale or how they look in the mirror and it's like, man, living a healthy and Fit Life provides so many other positive things that if all you focus on, on this, you're going to allow that thing that changes all the time, up or down, to ruin your day. And it's like there's so many other wins that you had that it's like you got. And that's such a powerful thing to get a client to know how to attach all those things.
- [39:08]
Jamie Selzer
And just to add the neurobiology to what you're saying, by the way, this applies to life, okay? So our nature, if you would allow yourself to just naturally notice things, our nature, our biology is geared to notice negative things and scary things. Okay? So your. Your biology doesn't say, I want to keep Sal happy and joyful. It says, keep him alive. So it's negative and scary. Negative and scary. It actually takes awareness and focus to notice positive things. It really does. And what happens is it changes your filter as you notice positive things or you write them down. That's another brilliant step. I don't know if you realize how brilliant you are for doing that. Writing it down. That's a whole nother level of awareness. And what's happening is it's changing your worldview. And your worldview goes from negative and scary to joyful and amazing and great and grateful, and that changes everything. A grateful, joyful way of being is one that is pro health. The other, the opposite side of that is. Is the opposite. And so what you did was so brilliant, but you have to do it through awareness. So this doesn't happen naturally. So people listening right now, if you just, like, I'm just gonna be more positive. No, you literally have to pay attention. Write it down, say it out loud. Intentional effort. So that's. That's. That's awesome.
- [40:25]
Zoe Saldana
It's. It's certainly. You know, the thing that when I post pictures, whatever, on Instagram or something, the most common thing that my friends say back to me is that I look happy. I get it all the time. And I've always been a happy, optimistic person, but now it's just very different. Because of that reason is if I'm seeking out wins all the time, and it doesn't matter how small it is, I sure hopped out of my car awful quick. Win.
- [40:54]
Jamie Selzer
Did it make you realize, Because I do this a little bit now. Did it make you realize that there are a lot of good things to be grateful for that you missed or that you might miss if you didn't just.
- [41:05]
Zoe Saldana
No, absolutely. There are things when your body changes where you are more mobile and functional that I just My body was a prison. My body was a prisoner. And it got worse and worse over time, and my body now is still a work in progress. Is. It's a superpower. It's my superpower. And that changes everything. I mean, you're more optimistic about everything. I mean, I'm sitting here in a room with the six largest biceps I've ever seen in my entire life, but I still feel awesome. Way to kiss the bicep.
- [41:51]
Jamie Selzer
He does it all the time.
- [41:52]
Zoe Saldana
But I still feel great about myself. As you should, because I don't have to compare myself to other people, you know, that's great.
- [41:57]
Jamie Selzer
All right.
- [41:58]
Sal Destefano
I hear. I wait. I have to ask this because, I mean. And I think everyone's already. The self awareness, the confidence, the optimism. Where does that stem from? Mom. Something like, where does that come from?
- [42:10]
Zoe Saldana
My mom. I. You guys are gonna make me cry. I don't want to cry.
- [42:13]
Jamie Selzer
You're almost making me cry this whole time. So let's. Let's find.
- [42:16]
Zoe Saldana
My mom passed away 12 years ago.
- [42:18]
Jamie Selzer
Okay.
- [42:20]
Zoe Saldana
And everyone says this about their mother. You know, the kindest, nicest, most empathetic person my mother really was, like, legitimately was. My mom was the kind of person who, if she knew that a lot of people don't want charity. So if she was somewhere or at someone's house or knew of a person that was really hurting financially, she would, like, offer to buy a pen or a broken toaster for, like, 20 bucks that they were going to throw away. And she said, I really need this. And it was her way of, like, helping someone and having them be able to keep the pride of. I didn't. Charity.
- [42:57]
Jamie Selzer
That's great.
- [42:58]
Zoe Saldana
Of the dignity of that. And that's who my mother was my entire life. And she passed away 12 years ago. And ever since then, literally every day I. Every decision I make, I try to ask myself, what would she have done? How would she have approached this? And it's colored every aspect of my life, including this. She always encouraged me to be healthier, never judged me or made me feel bad for my size. She would be insanely proud.
- [43:34]
Jamie Selzer
That's great. Yeah, that's great. Fourth step.
- [43:38]
Zoe Saldana
Fourth step is input goals only, not output goals. So output or outcome goals are things like the number on the scale. I've never had a goal weight throughout this. I mean, I started at 650, I think when I first met with my doctor about starting GLP1 medication, he's like, kind of, where would you want to be? Where would you be happy? And I remember Saying if I got to 400 pounds, I'd be pretty happy. Because when you're 650 pounds, 400 pounds is skinny.
- [44:08]
Jamie Selzer
That's 250 pound loss.
- [44:09]
Zoe Saldana
Yeah. And so I thought if I get to £400, that's great. So I never really had a goal as I went along. And I just started creating goals based on inputs. I think I got this listening to your podcast. I think I got this from the workplace over the years. I'm a huge believer in lean six Sigma processes. I encourage those who want to learn about to look up dmaic. Dmaic. It's a way to solve problems by finding root causes. And part of that, as you control and fix problems, is focusing not on what the output is, but on what are you actually doing to cause the problem. And so rather than look at a defect driven model from my case, I just wanted to create goals that were about positive, good things. So my goals are about things like what am I eating and how many steps am I walking, what am I lifting, what are my lifts like in the gym? Am I actually using progressive overload, which I had no clue what that was until mind pump. And now it's just like it's my bible is in many ways this progressive overload. How much water am I drinking? Things like that. And so I set all my goals very reachable. I don't make them easy. I don't make it like too easy. I don't set a goal of drinking, you know, 10 ounces of water a day, but I make sure that I can actually achieve the goal. And I do that for everything. And I assume that all of the outcomes, which would be my blood work at a doctor, the number on the scale, those all take care of themselves.
- [45:40]
Jamie Selzer
Yes.
- [45:41]
Zoe Saldana
And so I still don't have. I mean, I think I'll probably lose maybe another £50 at some point, but I don't really care a whole lot.
- [45:49]
Jamie Selzer
You're focusing on what causes the result, not the result itself. So brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. And it keeps everything in the right perspective and it keeps you consistent versus like, I gotta do this. Here's this target. It's like, I'm gonna walk. That's my goal today. I'm gonna walk. What's gonna happen, you lose weight? I don't know. We'll see what happens.
- [46:06]
Zoe Saldana
And in practical steps, for me, even after I started GLP1 drugs, I didn't really lose a whole lot of weight. I lost a little bit, but I didn't lose a whole lot of weight. The first three or four months until I actually started tracking my calories and macros. And I had always sort of eyeballed it beforehand or guest and I just, I wasn't. People are not aware of how calorie. Yeah, calorie dense. A lot of foods are. And so I really had to educate myself on what I was eating. Yeah. And so once I did that and realized, oh, I can still eat a lot of food and just change how I'm eating, then the weight started dropping off quickly.
- [46:45]
Sal Destefano
You have to share some of those. Because this was even a moment for me as a trainer. I'd already been a trainer for like 10 years when I really started to weigh and track things. And I was just blown away by, you know, what I assumed was a certain amount of calories. So share some of the ones that like you went, oh my God, I.
- [47:02]
Zoe Saldana
Still laugh about this. I love stir fry vegetables. Give me some peppers and broccoli and I'll make the world's best stir fry. And I'm like, why am I not losing weight? I'm eating all these vegetables. I'm eating like pounds of vegetables. And I realize as I'm doing the stir fry, I'm like taking the olive oil, like just like formula. Oh, it tastes so good. And you know, stuff like that, like that, that blew me away. Oils like how calorie and I still use them a little bit tablespoons, like.
- [47:28]
Jamie Selzer
100 calories or nuts.
- [47:30]
Sal Destefano
Right. A handful of nuts. How quick that 600 calories.
- [47:33]
Zoe Saldana
I think if you're not educated on this, you sort of associate the size of food with how many calories it has. And it's calorie dense. Food does not have to be big. In fact, it's usually the opposite.
- [47:42]
Jamie Selzer
Yeah, yeah.
- [47:43]
Zoe Saldana
And then protein really focus, really focus on protein. I eat 275 grams of protein a day, which I joke is like you guys are. Sounds like a part time job.
- [47:51]
Jamie Selzer
Yes. That's a lot. Where are you getting that from?
- [47:55]
Zoe Saldana
So chicken and ground beef, tuna and then I supplement with. I do a couple of protein shakes a day. I'll do some protein bars. Okay. I. If there's something out there that is protein, I will try it just to see how it tastes and if it works. The science is important to me. I, I really care a lot about where I get my supplements, my protein supplements. So I won't say names, but I only you. The people I use are, you know, like Mike Matthews, sponsors of sponsors Legion. I really focus on making sure that it's not just kind of garbage. Yeah, Supplements. But I supplement for protein.
- [48:31]
Jamie Selzer
That's good. So input inputs, not outputs.
- [48:35]
Zoe Saldana
Inputs, not outputs. I think that's probably the hardest one. I think most people can start saying, yeah, I can be consistent and I can care about myself. But when you are trying to lose weight and not seeing the number change on the scale, it's sort of like working a job and not getting paid.
- [48:52]
Jamie Selzer
That's right.
- [48:53]
Zoe Saldana
I probably stole that from one of you, actually.
- [48:55]
Sal Destefano
I use that analogy all the time. It's an analogy I always use.
- [48:58]
Zoe Saldana
I'm gonna say I came up with it. And so I really do think about that when if I'm online and talking to my friends and people are like, I'm doing all this stuff. And you just want to say, you have to practice some patience. So I think the input goals are the hardest thing in a culture that is built around a number on the scale.
- [49:16]
Jamie Selzer
Totally. Totally. By the way, run your business this way and watch what happens. All right, so that's step number four. What's number five?
- [49:24]
Zoe Saldana
Really? Those are the four main steps. I mean, I have other things that I do constantly, but everything kind of goes back to one of those key four things.
- [49:33]
Jamie Selzer
Let's talk about your experience with the glp.
- [49:35]
Sal Destefano
That's right where I was going to go. We didn't make this about that, which I'm so glad.
- [49:38]
Jamie Selzer
Well, it's not.
- [49:39]
Sal Destefano
It's because.
- [49:40]
Jamie Selzer
It's not. Because everything you said was so sound and so amazing. That's how I've coached everyone, and that's how I'll coach anyone on a GLP1 or not. But let's talk about what the GLP1 did. Did that change how you perceive food? Did it help you change behaviors? You know, neurons that fire together, wire together. So you had these behaviors over decades. Did the GLP1 help kind of break those behaviors and then develop other ones? Like, what was that experience like?
- [50:09]
Zoe Saldana
Yeah. There's a guy named Dave Knapp who is in the GLP space. Really? News and stuff. And what he says, and I want to give the reason I'm saying this, I want to give him credit. He says that GLP1s are a tool that levels the metabolic playing field. And I think that's a really good way of looking at it. I thought that it was before glp. I thought it was normal to think about eating all the time. I thought it was normal that when you're out having lunch on a Tuesday, you're planning your dinner for tomorrow night. And I thought that's what everyone did. And so once I started glp, that stopped. I still get hungry, and I've always. I mean, I still eat, but I realized, like, oh, food was not a central tenet of my thought process all the time.
- [50:55]
Jamie Selzer
Can I just say, by the way, this is the disease part of obesity that people will point to that there seems to be. You have. When you look at American society. Yes, most people are overweight. Obesity is growing, but past the what would be considered average. You start to have these signs and symptoms or the way that a person's brain operates. And many people are not aware of. Like, you weren't aware until it went away.
- [51:19]
Zoe Saldana
Yeah.
- [51:20]
Jamie Selzer
Like, what is going on?
- [51:21]
Zoe Saldana
I thought everyone just had stronger willpower than me.
- [51:23]
Jamie Selzer
That's right. And GLP1s seem to help with that. You know, Dr. Seeds labels it like the hedonistic reward system of the brain, where it starts to kind of change that a little bit. And so you just all of a sudden noticed I'm thinking differently.
- [51:37]
Zoe Saldana
Yeah.
- [51:38]
Jamie Selzer
And what was that like?
- [51:39]
Zoe Saldana
It was that weird. It was weird. You know, I'm not a scientist. I suspect that some people are more predisposed to gaining weight than others.
- [51:45]
Jamie Selzer
Yes.
- [51:46]
Zoe Saldana
And I think our food environment with ultra processed food makes it so much easier for those specific people to gain weight. Because before glps, if it didn't come out of a box or a can, I probably wasn't interested in eating it.
- [51:58]
Jamie Selzer
Yeah.
- [51:59]
Zoe Saldana
And so I actually had some sadness after I started glp.
- [52:03]
Jamie Selzer
That's what I was waiting for. I didn't want to say it to you, but I wanted to.
- [52:06]
Sal Destefano
Did you hear my experience with the ice cream? I don't know if you heard me talk about my experience with glp.
- [52:09]
Zoe Saldana
I remember hearing you talk about. And it resonated with me because I felt that when I saw it.
- [52:12]
Sal Destefano
Yeah. I remember not even craving it. It being in the freezer and that already being weird for me because if it's in my house, it's like I'm thinking about it and it was in there not thinking about it. And then I even like, I'm gonna go have it, even though I didn't even want it. And then just not satisfied. And then I was sad a little bit. Like, that's my favorite food in the world.
- [52:29]
Jamie Selzer
Pleasure of. It's like you're losing a friend.
- [52:33]
Zoe Saldana
It was like losing a friend. I re. Once I just stopped craving this stuff all the time, I realized how much I was relying on it to fill a gap of boredom or emotions or. And it took A good month or two before I. I worked through that stuff.
- [52:52]
Jamie Selzer
I was just gonna ask you. So I was waiting for you to say that. Use the perfect word, sadness. Because that's what people experience when they change a. A behavior that has been their friend for so long. Maybe a bad friend, an abusive one, but a friend nonetheless. That gap is still there, though. So you're not filling it with this thing now, right? Did you. What did you fill that gap with? What was it that you put in there? Was it just the positive, you know, awareness, all the steps that you're talking about, like, how did you fill that gap?
- [53:18]
Zoe Saldana
Weightlifting.
- [53:20]
Jamie Selzer
That's great.
- [53:20]
Zoe Saldana
Lifting weights.
- [53:21]
Sal Destefano
What a way to fill that gap.
- [53:23]
Zoe Saldana
It was around that time that I started lifting, and it was a challenge at first, as it is for everyone. I thought I was always of the mindset, I'm huge. I have so much muscle. And I realized that my. I have. I have strong legs to move me around. I have the world's strongest triceps because I realized when you're obese, pushing yourself up, you're pushing yourself up. So if you're out there and you weigh 400 pounds, I promise you have great triceps. No, I filled it with. Lifting weights was a big part of it. You know, the first time I truly realized that the GLP1 had changed, my thinking was every weekend, Saturday, Sunday morning, I would drive to a fast food place. I'd get a couple breakfast sandwiches and some orange juice. And, you know, it's probably 1500 calories. Calories or 2000 calories. And I would just. It was just routine. I did it all the time. And I'd been on the GLPs for a month or two, and I. I'd been doing this every weekend, but I was driving to the fast food place, and halfway there, I just had this thought in my head which is like, what am I doing? Like, I don't want this. Why am I actually doing this? And I'm like this. It's just habit. So I pulled into a parking lot and I turned around, I went home, and. And that's the last time I ever did that. I've had no desire to do that ever since.
- [54:38]
Jamie Selzer
Wow, that's incredible.
- [54:40]
Zoe Saldana
It was life changing. And right after that, I had a friend of mine, his daughter sells cookies for Girl Scouts, so I had some Girl Scout cookies. And in the past, if I would have got four boxes of Girl Scout cookies, those would have been demolished in four days. And I put them in my cabinet. And then a month later, I was getting something, I found them. I'm like, I forgot that these were in here. But for those who want to know what fish food noise is, which is what the GLP ones have a huge impact. If I have Girl Scout cookies or anything. Calling your name, call my name. I know that it's in there. And I'm thinking about it all the time. It's always there, and I have to go take a bite of it. And that's what food noise is. Food noise is if you're in a store or on an airplane and there's a kid who's just crying and having a tantrum and wants a candy or the phone or whatever, and you're trying to quiet the kid down. You know, the only way to do it is just give them what they want, even though you know it's not the right thing to do.
- [55:37]
Jamie Selzer
Right.
- [55:37]
Zoe Saldana
That's what food noise is.
- [55:38]
Jamie Selzer
That's right.
- [55:38]
Zoe Saldana
And when that goes away, life is significantly better because you can fill it with stuff like lifting weights or walking or, I mean, whatever you like doing. You find new things. I didn't know that I loved lifting weights. Now I'm sad if I miss a day. So you just don't know that when it's happening.
- [55:56]
Jamie Selzer
Are you. How long have you been using the GLP1 now?
- [56:00]
Zoe Saldana
Almost two years.
- [56:00]
Jamie Selzer
Okay.
- [56:01]
Zoe Saldana
And I started with semaglutide, then I switched to. There were shortages. I use name brand. Then I switched to tirzepatide. I've been on that for about 18 months.
- [56:08]
Jamie Selzer
Okay. Are there any plans in the future to try to taper off and come off? Or is this something you're like. Well, not that you need to. Or like, it's.
- [56:16]
Zoe Saldana
Yeah, I think it's a fair question. My. My perception is those. First of all, for those who are listening, these are not for everybody. And I think if someone has truly chronic obesity and has made many other efforts, has made efforts to. With lifestyle change and diet and can't stick, I think these are a valid thing. These are not for someone who is trying to lose ten pounds to look better in a swimsuit. And I worry that that's happening.
- [56:45]
Jamie Selzer
There are actually better peptides for those people, by the way.
- [56:47]
Zoe Saldana
I'm sure there are.
- [56:48]
Jamie Selzer
Yeah.
- [56:48]
Zoe Saldana
And this is not one of them. But I was significantly obese for many years. And so I imagine, although I've completely changed my lifestyle, I mean, in every way, my lifestyle is different than it was three years ago. I don't know that I want to tempt fate on that one. I think I will eventually lower a dose. And I don't know if that means getting to microdosing at some point or getting just the lowest dose at some point here. Soon I'm going to, you know, I'm 46, so colonoscopy time. Right. So when you do that, you have to stop for a few weeks. I'm going to have plastic surgery to remove. I have a huge amount of skin on me. And you have to stop for a few weeks. So that'll be my chance to see what happens to my mind.
- [57:34]
Jamie Selzer
That's perfect. I got it. So just to encourage you again, so when you think about behaviors and how we build, I remember. I remember who it was we had on the show that communicated this. But if you think of, like, fresh snow on a slope and then you people start skiing down a path, and eventually that path gets deeper and deeper as people ski down it. This is what happens with behaviors. We develop these really strong neural connections with repeated behaviors. And when we stop doing those behaviors, those connections start to weaken. And when we do other behaviors, we create new neural networks or neural connections and those strengthen. So over the last two years, you have weakened a lot of those old behaviors, and you've actually built and strengthened new ones. And so it's intentional. It's intentional. And I don't know how long that's going to take, but at some point it's going to be hard. Yeah, it's going to. It's not going to. It's not. Well, I'll tell you this one. It's not going to be like it was before.
- [58:29]
Zoe Saldana
I've specifically described it to people this way. When. Because many people have asked me that question. Or they just say, you have to stand up for life. And I'm like, well, yeah, if I have a disease and a medication that treats it. So here's how I put it. I plan on using these for the rest of my life. I assume that I will not be on these at some point, either because insurance issues or cost or access, or they take it off the market because they find some terrible problem. So this entire time, I've assumed that I will be forced to stop. And so I've tried to change all those behaviors to make sure that if I do have to stop, it's not new. I saw this very recently. If you go online, you'll see this. The start of new health, new plan years for health insurance. A lot of insurance companies are dropping this coverage for, you know, for GLPs. And you realize when people find out they're about to lose their coverage in a month. They totally freak out because they realize they've not actually changed anything. They've just used them to essentially they change how they eat or suppress the appetite or whatever. And so there have been many weight loss medications over the years that get taken off the market after a little while. I don't think this one. I think this one's pretty solid. But, you know, I think it's better to be safe than sorry and change my lifestyle before I'm forced to change my lifestyle.
- [59:49]
Sal Destefano
It's a great attitude you have. You have the right attitude.
- [59:51]
Jamie Selzer
I couldn't have done it better.
- [59:52]
Sal Destefano
I don't think it's going away. I think it's going to. And I think you've said it so well, that there is a type of person that this is really, really powerful for. Then there's people that probably shouldn't be doing this. And I agree. I think we see a lot of people that shouldn't be using it and then those that are, I don't think are quite using it the right way, which is just taking it, using it for the calorie restriction, but not trying to change lifestyle and behaviors because otherwise you come off and it'll all come right back on.
- [60:18]
Jamie Selzer
You've built muscle, you've got stronger. The way that you're working on yourself, creating new behaviors, how positive you are about self care. You couldn't have done it better. I couldn't. I don't think I could have coached you better. Process.
- [60:34]
Zoe Saldana
I appreciate that. Oh, you have coached me. You just didn't know it like you have coached me. You all have been coaching me. You know, I know that you have a lot of fitness professionals, coaches that listen to you. And I really want everyone, if you were a professional who makes your living off of fitness, you need to see these things as an opportunity to grow your business.
- [60:55]
Jamie Selzer
Totally.
- [60:56]
Zoe Saldana
There are many people, if you go online, particularly these online type coaches, but I'm sure it's in person physical fitness trainers as well, who say things like, this is the easy way out.
- [61:06]
Jamie Selzer
Unbelievable.
- [61:07]
Zoe Saldana
And I'm like, there are 20,000 people a week starting GLP1s in the United States. That's 20,000 people who are willing to invest resources into getting healthy.
- [61:18]
Jamie Selzer
That's right.
- [61:18]
Zoe Saldana
And if I'm a coach, which I'm not, if I'm a coach out there, I see this and say these are people who are ready and all they need is someone to not judge them and show them how it's done.
- [61:30]
Jamie Selzer
That's right.
- [61:30]
Zoe Saldana
And that you have some of these mostly guys, but there's women too out there online just attacking people and they're attacking someone for using these drugs. And I'll click on their name and you know, they're like, online fitness coach. I'm like, well, you are a shitty coach if you think that you're going to get any clients and keep them by making them feel bad for using whatever tools they have at their disposal.
- [61:52]
Jamie Selzer
Yeah.
- [61:53]
Sal Destefano
We've been telling all trainers this is a massive opportunity because even though it helps tremendously with the food noise, there's still a lot of steps that you take and that you. As you've laid out, it's not just take this and then you get fit and it's. It's an easy shortcut.
- [62:08]
Jamie Selzer
And here's what we. Here's why they're. Here's. I'll tell you why they're saying that either. Either number one or maybe a combination.
- [62:12]
Zoe Saldana
Of the two things.
- [62:13]
Jamie Selzer
Either number one, they are. They have a dysfunctional relationship with their body, their body image issue. There's just those kind of trainers. They're. They're orthorexic or obsessed. They're not healthy. They look ripped, but they're not healthy. Or, and, or they see this as a threat to their business. Now, if you're not that orthorexic, whatever, and you're not projecting that and you think, oh, my God, it's going to take away my clients. No, because here's what happens. You get people who would never step foot in the gym going to GOP 1, start losing weight. Now they're thinking about working out. So what you're actually seeing, and I bet we're going to start seeing data on this, are more people are looking for trainers and coaches once they started crucial that they train than before.
- [62:54]
Sal Destefano
Well, Jamie just said it. I mean, would you say 20,000 a week are starting. That's crazy. 20,000. And then you're. To your point, a big portion of those people are forking out quite a bit of money to do that. They're not. They're not cheap to do it and.
- [63:05]
Jamie Selzer
They'Re interested in working.
- [63:06]
Sal Destefano
So in other words, they are actively putting money towards. I need, I need help with this. Which trainers and coaches are supposed to be guides for people like that. And so you're silly to not think that's a massive opportunity.
- [63:18]
Jamie Selzer
We teach our trainers. Totally. Yeah. Jamie, what do you do for work, by the way?
- [63:22]
Zoe Saldana
So I've worked for, can I say, companies maybe.
- [63:24]
Jamie Selzer
Yeah.
- [63:25]
Zoe Saldana
I worked for Amazon for 20 years.
- [63:26]
Jamie Selzer
Okay.
- [63:27]
Zoe Saldana
And so when I started Amazon had, we had 3,000 employees and when I left, there were a million and a half. So I was there for, you know, I was there back when Bezos would like just pop around the office. And so, you know, it's a bit different now. And actually I left Amazon partially because. Because of my weight. When Covid happened, Amazon got real busy and I worked at our corporate headquarters or in basically tech support, customer service type area. And so when everyone else was hanging out at home watching Tiger King, I was working 80 hours a week. I keep seeing these people talking about Tiger King. I'm like, boy, if I wasn't working 80 hours a week, maybe I could watch this. I eventually did get to see it. But so anyway, during that, especially that year of COVID I was working eight hours a week and mostly from home in the office, some a little bit, and really gained a lot of weight. I mean, I'd lived. I'd been living in England right before that for work. I'd moved all over. So I'd lived in England for three years and then moved back to the US and then Covid happens. I'm like, great. I was socially distanced internationally because I didn't know anyone over there and now I'm socially distanced here. But I gained a huge amount of weight. Like, I don't want to begin to tell you some of my what I. My eating during COVID rough, bad. And my mobility got so bad. I remember like flying back. I'm from North Dakota. I flew back to North Dakota to see some friends. I volunteer in this program for the American Legion every year. Teaches leadership skills to young people. And so I went back for that and could barely move. Was. I was ginormous. And my friends all separately were pulling me aside saying, hey, I'm really worried about you. Like, they didn't like collaborate on this. They were all just individually. These are friends I've had for 20 years and have known me this whole time. And I, I went back to work from that trip and realized this job, I loved my job, but this, this job is just killing me. I'm working too much. I'm. My health is worse than it's ever been. And so I quit. I mean, I called the long goodbye. It was like a four month long notice I gave, but eventually left and went back to a place where I'd have a support system. If you asked what the fifth one is, it's probably having a support system. That's great because I now have friends and family I fished at my sister's wedding three years ago. She and her husband have gone away. Less journey. I think between the three of us, we've lost £700. So radio. And so having the support system is critical, which is why I moved back. So since then, I worked for Amazon's top competitor for a few years, left that. And so now I'm kind of figuring out what's next for me. I don't really.
- [66:15]
Jamie Selzer
I got a suggestion. Have you ever. I mean, as you're talking, just my mind spinning. Because I think you have a book. Yeah, I think you have. I think you have the ability to reach people that we couldn't reach. I mean, people look at us, we do a good job. We have a lot of listeners, but people look at me and I can't necessarily reach them right off the gates because, like, what do you. How do you. You don't know what I'm going through. There are a lot of people who are challenged, who were challenged like you. And I wouldn't tell you this if I didn't think you'd communicate the right way, but I. You communicate it as well as we do, except you've lived. It's infectious in the best way. You have a book. You got a book there that I think that is compelling and I think would really help a lot of people. Yeah. And so I think if you. If you wrote a book about. I think it would crush.
- [67:03]
Zoe Saldana
I agree, I.
- [67:04]
Jamie Selzer
And we'd have you back on to sell it.
- [67:07]
Zoe Saldana
I appreciate it. I do know that as I figure out my next chapter, it has to be something related to what I've done to change my life and hopefully encouraging others to do the same. And I don't know if that meant I would. I don't know if that means I'll do it as a living or if I'll just do it on the side. You know, I just like. Like I've started social media, like, posting little videos of advice not to make money, just to like, hey, here's how you should set goals. As an example, I. Because there's so many people starting these medications and a huge, you know, million plus people a year are going to be trying to get healthier. There are dangers, and this is what I've learned from you guys. So I guess I have to give you some royalties from a book deal at some point. If you do this the wrong way, you can cause harm to yourself, which is why I'm constantly telling people you have to incorporate resistance training, whether you're using glp. Or bariatric surgery or just like the old fashioned way. If you try to do this without resistance training, you're going to see a number on the scale go down, but you're going to end up in worse shape than you were before, even if you've lost £50. And so I'm trying to evangelize that constantly. I'm sure I'm annoying the hell out of my friends and family because I'm talking about it all the time.
- [68:23]
Sal Destefano
I wanted to ask you something about friends and family that we didn't really touch on. Did you? Because this. My clients that had to lose a lot of weight many times had to change their circle of friends because a lot of them were enabling them. So it sounds like you have different friends. I think you had, for the most part, friends that were more supportive the other direction. But in my experience, I've had clients. Did you have to cut anybody out? Did you have any bad friends that would just encourage bad behaviors that you're like, I can't do this anymore.
- [68:47]
Zoe Saldana
No. I mean, I'm old at 40. I know I look like I'm 29, but I'm 46 at this point. And so I didn't really have to cut anyone out. I'm a confident dude. And so I've never really put myself around people who encouraged really bad behavior. I certainly had friends who were also big. I mean, one of my best friends in the world. I officiate weddings for fun. I've done seven of them. I'm retired. I'm retired. Don't ask me to do anymore. But his was the first one. And he had gone through bouts of cancer. He would. He had been a death's door multiple times. And he and I were both. We're both really big, about the same age. And I won't say his weight. He was bigger than I was at 650. And he's lost a huge amount of weight through surgery and, and other kinds of things. And. But as I've gotten older, the people that I'm around also are just getting healthier as well.
- [69:47]
Jamie Selzer
That's great.
- [69:48]
Zoe Saldana
And so that's great to hear. And I surround myself with. I have a really good friend who is started thin. He's trying to grow muscle. And so we're like going through this process together where we're eating similar foods at the same amount, but he's trying to add muscle and I'm trying to lose fat. So I mean, having that type of thing is really good. I would not hesitate to cut out anyone in my life if I thought they were. Because for me, getting in the way of my health journey or my. I, by the way, I hate the word journey. I use it all the time. But getting someone getting in the way of what I'm trying to do for myself, health wise, they're not just being annoying. I view them as actively harming me.
- [70:27]
Sal Destefano
Yeah.
- [70:28]
Zoe Saldana
If you have someone in your life who is actively harming you, you should find a way to change their behavior or if not, remove them from your life.
- [70:38]
Sal Destefano
That's what I was looking for from. Because even though you didn't have it, I had imagined from your experience you could, you could imagine how difficult that would be if you had a friend that was constantly encouraging you to go have the beer and do those things versus encouraging you to do what you do it. Yeah, I think there's a lot of people that that's, this is, that's another big hurdle I'd always have to work on with clients. It's like, how do you tell somebody to cut out their friend who they've been hanging out with 15 years even? It's just, it's same thing with like a drug addict, someone who has a friend that wants to party and spouses.
- [71:07]
Zoe Saldana
I don't mean. I know you want to talk, so I didn't mean to interrupt.
- [71:08]
Jamie Selzer
No, that's it.
- [71:09]
Zoe Saldana
I see this with, with talking to people with spouses where there's one the husband or wife is getting healthier and the other one is not. And maybe they're supportive at first, but you. And I'm not married, but you start to see the one who's not getting fit start saying, what are you doing?
- [71:23]
Jamie Selzer
So I was coached on that when I first started training people who had to lose 100 plus pounds and that was that the divorce rate actually spikes. And so that you, when you have somebody who's on this big weight loss journey whose wife or husband is also struggling is they both do it together, otherwise it can actually cause more issues. So that's how I would encourage people when they come in.
- [71:43]
Zoe Saldana
And I mean my sister and brother in law are a great example of this. My sister, I say one nice thing about her every 10 years. So Jess, this is the ones who's recorded now. This is the ones. Don't wait till we're in our 50s. Really is my hero in this stuff. She got started on this stuff before I did. She started GLP1 support. She started changing her life before I did. And she's my little sister and I can't let you can't let your little sister beat you. But she and her husband, then her husband got on board and I'm like, all right, so I know that I have them in my corner, so let's get this done.
- [72:16]
Jamie Selzer
That's great, Jamie. I gotta tell you, this has been one of my top five interviews.
- [72:21]
Zoe Saldana
Oh, wow.
- [72:22]
Jamie Selzer
Yeah. No, thank you so much for sharing. You've definitely helped a lot of people just through this podcast, and you communicate it better than most traders I've ever talked to.
- [72:33]
Zoe Saldana
I appreciate that. I guess if I want to give a message to folks out there who are in my shoes, it's that it is never too late to take your life back. Would it have been great years ago? Sure. But today is as good a day as any to start, and you should start today. You don't have to start tomorrow. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Don't be afraid to find a good team in your corner. Don't be afraid to go to a gym and interview a trainer and make sure they're right for you. Don't be afraid to fire a coach if they're not the right coach for you. Don't be afraid of what is on the other side. Because I'm telling you, as a guy who was months away from being totally immobile, life is better. There is no way in which my life is not better. Today, I can't think of anything. And what's exciting for me now is I know you guys know Jack Lalanne.
- [73:30]
Jamie Selzer
Yeah, of course. Hero mine.
- [73:32]
Zoe Saldana
Yeah, Jack Lalanne's, you know, was in his 70s doing one arm push ups on TV. I watched it growing up, you know, in the 90s, and I remember thinking that was kind of silly or, you know, a joke. And now that I've gotten my life back, that is not a joke. I want to be the guy in the 70s who's jacked, you know, but if you're struggling, you know, I wasn't on the edge of a cliff. I had fallen over the cliff and I was gripping on to a rock and somehow got myself over back up. And so if you are in that situation where you are over the cliff or about to fall, stop, get help. And you can be in a life that you look forward to every day. And you can see your body not as a prison, but as your greatest strength. And part of that means that the stuff you see as the process to get healthier, eating better, lifting, getting your steps in, you eventually realize that the process to get there, a better life, isn't a process that is the better life. And for me, that's the biggest change that I've made and it's a mindset change and it's one that everyone can get and I encourage people to explore it.
- [74:59]
Jamie Selzer
Thank you so much.
- [75:00]
Sal Destefano
Great message.
- [75:01]
Jamie Selzer
Very well said. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Appreciate you.
- [75:04]
Zoe Saldana
I appreciate you guys not just for this, but for everything. I want you to keep up the good work and I can't wait to hear another 11 years of thank you.
- [75:12]
Sal Destefano
Thank you man.
- [75:12]
Jamie Selzer
Thank you.
- [75:13]
Sal Destefano
Appreciate it.
- [75:13]
Jamie Selzer
Thank you for listening to Mind Pump if your goal is to build and shape your body dramatically, improve your health and energy and maximize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB super bundle@mindpumpmedia.com the RGB Super Bundle includes maps, Anabolic maps, performance and Maps aesthetic. Nine months of phased expert exercise programming designed by Sal, Adam and Justin to systematically transform the way your body looks, feels and performs. With detailed workout blueprints and over 200 videos. The RGB Super Bundle is like having Sal, Adam and Justin as your own personal trainers, but at a fraction of the price. The RGB Super Bundle has a full 30 day money back guarantee and you can get it now. Plus other valuable free resources@mindpumpmedia.com if you enjoy this show, please share the love by leaving us a five star rating and review on itunes and by introducing Mind Pump to your friends and family. We thank you for your support and until next time, this is Mind Pump. When the Moore family ditched cable Internet and switched to Zigly Fiber, they got so much more. Mr. Moore got more upload speed for next level gaming and livestreaming to the masses with reliable service. Mrs. Moore is no longer her family's IT guru, leaving her more time to stream games into overtime. Let's go. And young Mason Moore got more done quickly uploading HD product demos and video conferencing. Without freesight, the numbers look good.
- [76:44]
Zoe Saldana
Brad, you're on mute.
- [76:45]
Jamie Selzer
Switch from cable Internet to Zibli Fiber and get more of what you love for $65 less per month than cable@zibliefiber.com.