Vault: Two weight loss challengers share their progress

Summary

The Bert Show: Vault – Two Weight Loss Challengers Share Their Progress

Episode Date: July 6, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, The Bert Show welcomes two standout participants from the Healthy Trim weight loss challenge—a group of ten listeners who’ve been losing weight to raise money for Burt's Big Adventure, a charity that takes children with chronic and terminal illnesses to Disney World. Hosted by Burt with contributions from Matthew Dwyer (Healthy Trim representative), the conversation provides an honest, inspiring update on the physical and emotional progress of the challengers, with insights into motivation, struggles, and victory over cravings. The episode also features a brief update about Jeremiah, a high-profile contestant, and outlines a special fundraising promotion.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Healthy Trim Challenge: Structure and Purpose

• The challenge involves ten listeners, each committed to losing weight; for every pound lost, $50 is donated to Burt's Big Adventure.
• "[Matthew] made a really cool offer for Burt's Big Adventure. We chose 10 Bert Show listeners who really wanted to lose weight...every pound you lose, $50 is going to the charity." (Burt, 01:31)
• Massive interest: Over 800 entries and 1,300 purchases in just 2 days—underscoring widespread community motivation.
• The show emphasizes the importance of commitment, as dollars lost in missed pounds represent less support for the charity.

2. Supporting the Challengers

• Healthy Trim provided more than supplements; trainers were hired to maximize contestant success.
• “We actually pre-bought a trainer...every Saturday morning at Forever Fit. Healthy Trim works on its own merits, but if you work out on the supplements, you can lose weight even more.” (Matthew Dwyer, 03:33)

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Personal Stories from the Challengers

Holly (Chef & Challenger)

Background: Chef for the governor, in a tempting environment surrounded by food all day.
Start Weight: 251 lbs
After 6 Weeks: Down 25 lbs
Motivation:

• "I am tired of being fat. I am. I'm a chef by profession, so I'm around food all day long, and I just needed the kick in the butt to get going.” (Holly, 04:09)
• Called their group the "Healthy Trim Posse", staying socially connected via a Facebook group, sharing aches, complaints, and wins.
  Key Triumphs:
• Resisted temptation: “I did a buffet for 100 women...I had to do all little finger desserts...and I did not lick my fingers once.” (Holly, 05:11)
• Observed less desire for overindulgence—“I didn’t eat one third of what I normally would have eaten when I was blowing it out.” (Holly, 05:28) Healthier Habits:
• Shifted to “much more healthy menus...just naturally going towards more whole grains and more fish.” (Holly, 07:05) Competitive, Yet Accepting:
• “Some of the girls have done better than me, and I'm very competitive. But I also remind myself that I'm almost twice their age, so it doesn't come off as fast.” (Holly, 06:17)

Governor’s Endorsement:

• The governor called in, proud of Holly’s determination to cook healthy for his family despite working around food all day (Co-host/Announcer, 06:34-06:56).

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Jay (Challenger)

Start Weight: 343 lbs
After 6 Weeks: Down 56 lbs
Motivation:

• Inspired by Burt’s earlier charity calls, applied after emotional response: “I was driving to work, and I heard that little montage you had...by the time I got there, I was bawling like that. So the following week...I got into it, and it's been an awesome experience.” (Jay, 08:04)

Crushing Cravings & Medical Wins:

• “I was a large cappuccino drinker. Every day, two and a half liters of diet soda a day...from day one, there was no craving whatsoever.” (Jay, 09:59)
• “Started on blood pressure meds at 19 or 20...almost 47, so it’d be the first time in like 27 years I’ll be off blood pressure meds.” (Jay, 10:46)
• “If you would’ve known how bad the caffeine cravings...from day one, no headaches, nothing, it was awesome.” (Jay, 10:54)

Impact on the Charity:

• “If you lose 100 pounds at $50 a pound, that’s $5,000, which is probably about one family that’s going to Disney World just because of you.” (Co-host/Announcer, 11:11)
• "You just pick a family and you've pretty much paid for one of those families." (Burt, 11:23)

Gratitude & Reflections:

• “This is an awesome experience...I mean, this is great.” (Jay, 11:31)

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Additional Updates

Jeremiah (Georgia Tech Football Captain 1990)

Start Weight: Claimed 455 lbs, weighed in at 498 lbs.
Progress: Down 37 lbs, but not exercising much.
Motivation Strategy:

• Matthew borrowed Jeremiah’s championship ring (which no longer fits) to motivate him: "I'm wearing on my ring now his national championship on my hand ring that Jeremiah can't fit into anymore." (Matthew Dwyer, 12:21)
• The show jokes about giving the ring to a rival fan for extra incentive.

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Overall Progress & Special Fundraising Offer

• Group Loss: Estimated at 370-380 lbs total, averaging 30+ lbs per contestant (Matthew Dwyer, 13:33)
• Supplementary Offer:
  • For every new Healthy Trim purchase within the next 48 hours, $7 will be donated per person to Burt's Big Adventure.
  • “From today through Wednesday night at midnight...HealthyTrim.com will donate $7 per person for everybody who buys healthy trim.” (Matthew Dwyer, 14:16)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Holly’s determination:

  • “I did not lick my fingers once.” (05:11)
  • “I'm developing much more healthy menus for events.” (07:05)

• Jay on transformation:

  • “If you would have known how bad the caffeine cravings...from day one, no headaches, no nothing. It was awesome.” (10:54)

• Burt about the stakes:

  • “Every pound you don't lose is going away from this trip down to Disney World.” (03:05)

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Timestamps for Significant Segments

• 00:00–01:28 – Ads/Intro; skip
• 01:31 – Burt introduces the challenge and listeners' involvement
• 03:39 – Details on extra support (trainers, social groups)
• 04:04 – Holly shares her motivation and progress
• 05:06 – Story of resisting desserts at work
• 06:31 – Holly competing, coping with comparison
• 07:26 – Jay joins, his backstory and inspiration
• 07:53 – Jay’s dramatic results (down 56 lbs)
• 09:59 – Jay details how cravings and blood pressure improved
• 11:11 – Discussion on charity impact
• 11:50 – Update on Jeremiah, the football player
• 13:33 – Matthew on total weight lost
• 14:16 – Announcement of extra $7 donation for new purchases
• 15:08 – Transition to advertisements

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Takeaways & Tone

• Tone: Upbeat, supportive, candid, occasionally emotional but always infused with humor and motivation
• Key Messages:
  • Success is possible at any age or weight, especially with community and practical support.
  • Even small victories over food temptations are worth celebrating.
  • The effort has a direct, meaningful charitable impact.
  • Healthy Trim users report reduced cravings, shifting habits, and even medical improvements.

Final thought:
The Bert Show uses humor, honesty, and authentic storytelling to spotlight real people on a weight loss journey, while helping a worthy cause—making for an episode that’s uplifting, relatable, and motivating.

Transcript

[Podcast Host 1]

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[Podcast Host 2]

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[Burt]

Refreshers contain caffeine.

[Matthew Dwyer]

The Bird Show.

[Burt]

It was a couple of weeks ago that Matthew Dwyer came in here from Healthy Trim. And Healthy Trim is that all natural diet supplement that I endorse for these guys that I really, really believe in. And I've seen it work for my, my friends, my family. My wife is three pounds away from her, her goal weight right now being unhealthy trim. And Matthew came in here weeks ago and he made a really cool offer for Burt's Big adventure. We chose 10 Bert show listeners that really wanted to lose weight. And Matthew made the offer. Look, I'm going to give $50 to Burt's big Adventure for every pound of weight loss that these 10 Burke show listeners lose. So we were doing the math in here, man. We're thinking, I mean, if we get really committ Bert show listeners to do this, I mean, we're Talking about maybe $60,000 of a donation for Burt's Big Adventure so that, you know, Matthew, I mean, that's his goal. He's so competitive that he's like, who's

[Matthew Dwyer]

got to be the biggest.

[Burt]

Who's the largest fundraiser you ever had in your life? I could beat that. So he went with 60 grand. All right, so we chose 10 people.

[Co-host/Announcer]

I hope you're using your time wisely. And trying to find somebody between the start of this contest and now to donate, like, 100 grand. Matthew always wants to be the biggest. You just keep getting bigger. Right, right, right.

[Burt]

So Healthy Trim really did. And we got, what, 800 different emails from people that wanted to be in on this.

[Matthew Dwyer]

868 contestants on top of 1300 people that bought in two days. So those are different. So everyone's Interested, but yes. 868 entries in 48 hours.

[Burt]

So initially, we talked about some of the contestants that were going to be involved in this, and some have done really great. Others, I'll be totally and completely honest with you. Others I've been disappointed in because we said, look, man, I mean, this is for Burt's big adventure. Don't do this unless you are committed to losing the weight, because every pound you don't lose is going away from this trip down to Disney World. And I've been a little disappointed that some of our contestants haven't taken it as seriously as I. Yes, yes.

[Matthew Dwyer]

Well, what I've done is we actually pre bought a trainer. A couple trainers, right, Holly?

[Holly]

Yeah.

[Matthew Dwyer]

And every Saturday morning at Forever Fit. And so Iyou know, Healthy Trim works on its own merits, but if you work out on the supplements, you can lose weight even more. So we have. Well, I think we've gone every extra mile to make ensure that you're eating right. And Holly, you've been helpful with that, and I've been personally working out when I'm in town with you guys. We hired them a trainer and the whole nine yards.

[Burt]

Now, Holly came on. Holly, were you on with us initially?

[Holly]

No, sir.

[Burt]

You were not. Okay. So, Holly, why did you sign up to be part of the contest?

[Holly]

I am tired of being fat. I am. I'm a chef by profession, so I'm around food all day long, and I just needed the kick in the butt to get going. And Healthy Trim has been absolutely amazing, and Matthew has been absolutely amazing. Our trainer Idella is so motivating, and the few that show up, we call the Healthy Trim posse.

[Burt]

Oh, that's cute.

[Holly]

We work our tails off and we have a page on Facebook and we moan about our aches and pains and muscles, but it's just. It's absolutely been awesome.

[Burt]

So when we started with you a couple of weeks ago, how much did you weigh?

[Holly]

I weighed 251 pounds.

[Burt]

And that was how many weeks ago, Matthew?

[Matthew Dwyer]

Six weeks ago.

[Burt]

Six weeks ago. And what are you at?

[Holly]

I'm down 25.

[Burt]

Good for you.

[Matthew Dwyer]

Congratulations, Holly, you're the chef. For the governor.

[Holly]

Yes, sir.

[Matthew Dwyer]

You need to tell the story about a couple weeks ago when you had to make 200 desserts.

[Burt]

What did you say?

[Holly]

Oh, wow. I did a buffet for 100 women. And I had to do all little finger desserts, and I had to cut them all individually. And I did not lick my fingers once.

[Burt]

Wow, that is strong.

[Matthew Dwyer]

Because you didn't crave it.

[Holly]

No, I didn't. It's absolutely amazing. You know, I even. I went out to dinner Saturday night with some out of town friends, and I said, I'm not gonna worry about it tonight. You know, I had an extra glass of wine, but I didn't eat one third of what I normally would have eaten when I was blowing it out. I mean, it just.

[Matthew Dwyer]

That's the power of healthy trim. I mean, you can still eat what you want. You're just gonna eat less portions and feel content.

[Holly]

Yep. It's. Yeah, it really is amazing.

[Co-host/Announcer]

Do you recall what time you had that wine? Because Sonny's gonna have an issue if it happened on Sunday. I'm just trying to.

[Ad Voice]

She didn't buy it on Sunday.

[Co-host/Announcer]

I'll just drink it.

[Burt]

You can drink it. Well, congratulations, and thank you very much for helping us out. We still got time, so I still want to milk you for some money for birthday.

[Matthew Dwyer]

Oh, yeah. She's gonna lose more. She's motivated, healthy. Transmon.

[Holly]

Oh, absolutely. I'm doing it. And I'm. You know, I kind of beat up myself a little bit. Cause some of the girls have done better than me, and I'm very competitive. But I also remind myself that I'm almost twice their age, so it doesn't come off as fast.

[Burt]

It's never too late. It is never too late.

[Co-host/Announcer]

Did you hear the governor when he was on with us, Holly?

[Holly]

Yes.

[Co-host/Announcer]

Okay. You were out, Burt, But Governor Perdue called and said was very proud of Holly and was talking about how tough it is to have to work around food all day. But she stuck, you know, sticking to it and working with it. And, you know, he says, you know, she's cooking healthy for him and for the family. So he was. He was very proud.

[Burt]

And I think that speaks to the product, too. I really do that. I mean, you're around all this dessert all day, and there's something. Something natural in healthy trim that doesn't make her just want to dive in. So it's working.

[Holly]

And I'm developing much more healthy menus for events. You know, I find myself just naturally going towards more whole grains and more fish and just developing the Whole thing.

[Matthew Dwyer]

It curbs your cravings for the carbs you desire, the carbs and the fried foods and the sugars. Less healthy trim completely curbs those cravings. We got to hear from Jay.

[Ad Voice 2]

Yeah.

[Burt]

Get up here, Jay. This is like the prize pupil right here. Every time I talk to Matthew, I'm getting an update from the contestants. First guy he talks about is this dude Jay here.

[Matthew Dwyer]

Jay, how are you?

[Jay]

Am I the cash cow or.

[Co-host/Announcer]

This isn't that Georgia Tech football player, is it?

[Matthew Dwyer]

No, but we've got something for him. We're going to have to talk about him in a minute.

[Burt]

Jay, you started six weeks ago, and how much did you weigh at that time?

[Jay]

343.

[Burt]

And what are you at now?

[Jay]

287.

[Podcast Host 2]

What?

[Ad Voice]

Amazing.

[Burt]

Really?

[Matthew Dwyer]

Jay's 47. And how many have you ever. Have you tried other meal plans, crazy plans, supplements?

[Jay]

I don't go into it or say how many, but I've tried it all and it's never worked. Bert, it's your fault that I got on this, because it wasn't actually the announcement for the Healthy Trim challenge. It was the week before. A member of the 5:30 club. I was driving to work, and I heard that little montage you had of the club, clips of you calling all the families, saying nonchalantly, hey, you're going. And by the time I got there, I was like, thank goodness there's nobody in this car, because I was bawling like that. So the following week, when Matthew was on and you guys announced the challenge, that's when I got into it, and it's been an awesome experience.

[Burt]

So how many pounds is that? I can't do math very well.

[Jay]

56.

[Burt]

£56 in six weeks?

[Holly]

Yes.

[Jay]

You gotta feel so different.

[Co-host/Announcer]

Have you had to buy a new wardrobe?

[Jay]

Not yet. Not yet. The thing is, the last two or three people can't judge my size. So for Christmas presents, I got all my clothes with the tags still on them. So I have a way before I have to go out and buy anything yet.

[Burt]

Now here's where I have to sort of step in. Matthew, and. And, like, almost like, warn people. That's not normal. I mean, losing that much weight in six weeks on Healthy Trim is gonna help you, but that's.

[Matthew Dwyer]

No, he's working out, you know, he's working out. If you work out regularly on Healthy Trim, you're going to lose a lot of weight. Now, he's a gentleman that, you know, has more weight to lose than the average person, but that's okay. Like, you've talked about. Everybody's got to see it start somewhere. And I was talking to Jay, and Jay's like, oh, my gosh, I'm going to keep going. You know, it's. It's motivated him to keep going. 70%. You know, in guys, you'll lose 7 to 12 pounds in the first few weeks. And people say, oh, okay, that's water weight. Well, 70% of the body of the human body is water anyway, but it's real weight. And, no, that's not typical. But if people work out with healthy trim, you're gonna lose a heck of a lot of weight. So I think, without question, he can be down £100 by the end of the challenge.

[Burt]

That's awesome, man.

[Jay]

One thing I wanted to say real quick on that is, though, with the healthy trim, it takes away everything. I mean, my cravings. I was a large cappuccino drinker. Every day, two and a half liters of diet soda a day. A day, honestly. And I mean, from day one, there was no craving whatsoever. The weird thing about it was the third week, I started getting lightheaded. Third or fourth week, I was getting lightheaded. And so I had scheduled a complete physical, and the doctor said, go ahead and bring all your stuff in. And so I brought my healthy trim, plex and shield. And he looked through all that and kept taking my blood pressure. And he goes, you keep taking what you're taking, but he goes, you're going to have to come back in four weeks because he goes, your blood pressure is staying normal now. And so I started on blood pressure meds when I was 19 or 20. I'm almost 47, so it'd be the first time in, like, 27 years that I'll be off blood pressure meds.

[Burt]

Good for you, bro. That's fantastic.

[Jay]

I love Matthew and healthy trim because I just. I wish I could. I could. I'm not going to get too emotional on you right now, but if you would have known how bad the caffeine cravings if you try to go all day without having your soda and your coffee. And from day one, no headaches, no nothing. It was awesome.

[Co-host/Announcer]

Well, if you don't want to get emotional, then try not to think about the fact that if you lose 100 pounds at $50 a pound, that's $5,000, which is probably about one family that's going to Disney World just because of you. So one of the families that Bert called.

[Burt]

Well, next year, when you hear me making those calls, you just pick a family and you've pretty much paid for one of those families. Jeff's absolutely right.

[Co-host/Announcer]

It's about $1,000 a person, right? Yeah.

[Jay]

And I'm glad, you know, at the last minute when we did the weigh in, you slipped in that BBA magazine. And if anybody gets a chance to really read that magazine, I'm being serious. You start from the beginning and read Vert's vision and you get into the now and the now and then part of it. You can't tell me that's not magical. This is an awesome experience. And this is. I mean, this is great.

[Burt]

Well, thanks for taking it so seriously, man. Hey, Matthew, I get a ton of emails from people that we have to get an update about the Georgia Tech football player Jeremiah that came in here. This dude was the captain on Georgia Tech's national football team. National winning football team in 1990, correct? Right, Jeremiah. And he came in here initially and he said that he weighed 455 pounds. But when you put him on the scale, it was more than that, right?

[Matthew Dwyer]

It was 498.

[Burt]

498.

[Matthew Dwyer]

Wow.

[Burt]

So how is.

[Co-host/Announcer]

Dude, he had breakfast that day.

[Matthew Dwyer]

You know, Jeremiah, I would put him in the category of someone that is taking healthy trim. So he's down £37, but he. He's not getting on the treadmill, so he should be down as much as Jay. But I had a couple. I'm trying to motivate him to really get going. So I contacted a couple of his relatives and wearing on my ring now is his national championship on my hand ring that Jeremiah can't fit into anymore because he's too overweight.

[Burt]

So he can't even wear it.

[Matthew Dwyer]

He can't even wear it.

[Ad Voice]

This is his national championship ring from Georgia Tech.

[Matthew Dwyer]

This is his national championship ring from Georgia Tech when he was All American, when they were national champions.

[Co-host/Announcer]

Wow.

[Matthew Dwyer]

He was 265. He's 490. He's down 37 pounds. But hopefully we can get him going. Hopefully his friends and family will say, Jeremiah, I mean, you got to be able to wear the ring again. So if you can lose the weight and get motivated, there's no question.

[Co-host/Announcer]

Why don't you just threaten to give it to a hardcore UGA fan should he not reach?

[Burt]

That's a great idea. That's really good. All right, so in the interest of time here, Matthew, do you have a total amount that's been lost so far?

[Matthew Dwyer]

I don't have a total amount on me that's been lost so far. I think it's Probably, I think the average is in the 30s of 10 people. So it's 300. It's probably about 370, 380 pounds total. But I think we need to, you know, like I said, we want to be the largest contributor. So maybe we have to run something special here.

[Burt]

Yeah, Matthew wants to do the same type thing that he did last time where he runs a special for like 24 hours.

[Matthew Dwyer]

Yeah, I think that. Look, we're learning all, everybody. There's so many healthy benefits to healthy trimming. You don't have to be extremely overweight. In fact, your wife Stacy, who looks amazing, she just wanted to lose that £12 that she's tried to for the last five years and couldn't. And she started it a month ago. She's down nine pounds. So everybody needs the energy out there. I don't know anybody that wouldn't like to lose an inch or two. So here's the deal. If other people listening would like to contribute to Burt's Big Adventure, for everyone that buys healthy trim, from today through Wednesday night at midnight for the next 48 hours, HealthyTrim.com will donate $7 per person for everybody who buys healthy trim.

[Burt]

Okay, so that could be big money for us right there. So you just need to go either directly to their website, healthytrim.com or go to q100atlanta.com and we have a link over there also. So for everybody that buys a bottle, we get seven bucks. For Burt's Big Adventure.

[Matthew Dwyer]

Seven additional seven bucks. For everybody that buys today all the way through Wednesday night, every person $7 extra will be donated. So everybody that wants to get involved, that's listening, that wants to raise more money for Burt's Big Adventure. And healthy trim's easy. It's all natural and it works. So why wouldn't you try it? And you could donate to Burt's Big Adventure, the bird show.

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