The Weight Loss Journey From 660 Pounds ft. Ethan Benard | Unsubscribe Podcast 247

Summary

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Unsubscribe Podcast | Episode 247

"The Weight Loss Journey From 660 Pounds ft. Ethan Benard"
Aired January 18, 2026
Hosted by: Eli Doubletap, Brandon Herrera, Donut Operator (Cody), The Fat Electrician
Guest: Ethan Benard

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Episode Overview

In this candid, humorous, and thoughtful episode, the Unsubscribe gang welcomes Ethan Benard, whose viral online journey of dropping weight from a staggering 660 pounds has inspired hundreds of thousands. Together, they delve into Ethan’s personal story—his setbacks, struggles with food addiction, skin removal surgery plans, the power and pitfalls of social media, and finding meaning and accountability in the pursuit of better health. Alongside the laughs and classic Unsubscribe banter are raw moments of vulnerability and insight into mental resilience, self-perception, and the strange realities of going viral while battling personal demons.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Ethan’s Origins & Weight Loss Journey

• Early Struggles and Weight Gain

  • Ethan shares that by age 9 he weighed 200 lbs and had struggled with his weight throughout his life (79:23).
  • At his heaviest, he reached 660 lbs, but despite his size, he was never diabetic (74:44).

• Cyclical Weight Loss and Relapse

  • Ethan describes losing and regaining 100 lbs multiple times over several years due to insufficient mental resilience and coping with personal loss (e.g., his dog's death at 03:33).
  • "Every time something happened in my life that was hard for me... I would fall back into my old ways." — Ethan (03:21)

• Addiction to Food and Relapse

  • Both Ethan and the hosts compare food addiction to substance abuse.
  • "It's an addiction. Absolutely." — Ethan (04:33)
  • He recounts emotional relapses: “Without skipping a beat, I went straight back into that old fat man shit…” (03:58)

• A Turning Point

  • In January 2025, after reaching 624 lbs again and reflecting on his future family, Ethan had an epiphany that shifted his mindset:
  • "If I fail this journey, I'm not just failing myself. I'm also putting the lives of my future wife and kids in jeopardy." — Ethan (24:25)

Social Media, Accountability, and Mental Health

• Viral Growth and Pressures

  • After returning to social media, Ethan's story exploded, quickly garnering millions of views and over a million new followers (57:41).
  • He notes the detrimental side effects of relying on social media for accountability: “Using social media for accountability is a horrible idea for me… my mind will find the negative and focus on it…” (05:08).

• Online Negativity

  • Despite daily encouragement, criticism online hits hard, especially when it echoes internal doubts (91:31).
  • Advice he received: "Try to at least respond to as many positive comments as you do negative." — Cody, paraphrasing advice from Admin Results' Aaron (91:37)

The Physical Realities & Goals

• Progress & Milestones

  • Ethan is down to 440 lbs and tracks his progress daily, emphasizing the importance of data over single weigh-ins (27:34).
  • Huge milestones: Four shirt sizes dropped, pants from a 60 to a 54 (27:08-27:11).
  • “You lost me.” — Eli, reacting to Ethan’s weight loss (02:48).

• Skin Removal Surgeries

  • Skin removal will involve 4–5 separate procedures and could take off between 50 and 70 lbs of skin (09:14-11:24).
  • The group jokes about what to do with the excess skin, referencing pop culture ("Moisturize me," Dr. Who, Fight Club soap, etc.; 00:03, 09:29).
  • Financially, each surgery costs $10k–$30k depending on scope, and Ethan’s considering fundraising help (11:11–12:20).
  • “The skin removal saga… it’s going to be the most viral, but also the hardest part of your journey.” — Ethan (12:03)

• Exercise, Mobility, and Gym Life

  • After a nerve injury and hospitalization, Ethan now benches 125 lbs, despite doctors predicting lifelong zero mobility on his right side (84:39–84:54).
  • Discusses intimidation and mental hurdles entering gyms as a large man, tracking progress, and overcoming shame:
  • “I feel really weird going into the gym as the fat guy... and lifting as little as I do. I know it’s all in my head.” — Ethan (85:31)

• Diet & Water Weight

  • Diet, not exercise, is responsible for 90% of weight loss (73:44).
  • Lymphedema causes 10+ lbs of water weight fluctuation in a single day, making scale numbers misleading and emotionally charged (25:45-26:44).

Mental Health and Emotional Realities

• Residual Guilt and Happiness

  • Ethan admits persistent guilt for regaining weight in the past; struggles to celebrate progress without recalling previous “failures” (07:49-08:31).

• Finding Meaning & Motivation

  • Faith, family, and future serve as the core of Ethan’s renewed determination: “I 100% believed it when the Bible says that God will give you the desires of your heart... ever since I was a kid, I've had the desire to start a family.” (24:24)
  • Ethan speaks deliberately about his faith—grateful but never preachy, aiming not to alienate anyone (44:00).

Community, Support, and the Fitness Challenge

• The hosts and listeners are motivated by Ethan's story — several have lost significant weight themselves (72:21).
• The team plans to support Ethan financially and otherwise through his coming skin-removal surgeries (12:20, 14:11).
• They discuss the ongoing Unsubscribe Fitness Challenge and how lasting change, not fast results, is the true measure of success (72:02).

Fun and Classic Unsubscribe Banter

• Memes and running jokes: Making wallets or soap from skin (09:24, 09:32), “Moisturize me” (10:04), “Unsub tips,” police advice after being pulled over, and “aggressive support” for Ethan’s goals (70:46, 129:19).
• Forays into gaming, streaming, Valorant, and turn-based RPGs like “Expedition 33” (101:00–117:17).
• News/political detour: Recapping a (satirical) rapid US military action in Venezuela, mocking the speed, efficiency, and meme-ability (36:19–44:00).
• Hilarious ongoing bits on getting pulled over, interacting with police with guns in the car, and the psychology of compliance (65:04-68:18).
• Supportive ribbing about hangovers, drinking capacity, and Twitch streaming habits (97:00–98:02).
• Notable “aggressive support” from the hosts with threats of bullying if Ethan regains weight (129:05).

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Notable Quotes & Moments

(Speaker attribution & timestamps in MM:SS format)

• "Every time something happened in my life that was hard for me, I didn't have the mental resilience to not let it make me go back to what I was doing."
  — Ethan Benard (03:21)

• "It's an addiction."
  — Ethan Benard on food (04:33)

• "I quickly realized, for the sake of my mental health, using social media for accountability is a horrible idea..."
  — Ethan Benard (05:08)

• "If I fail this journey, I'm not just failing myself; I'm also putting the lives of my future wife and kids in jeopardy."
  — Ethan Benard (24:25)

• "My main goal is to just be able to see what a normal life is like. Cause I've never had that."
  — Ethan Benard (79:23)

• "You lost me."
  — Eli Doubletap, reacting to Ethan’s weight loss (02:48)

• "Let's say you've just lost 10 pounds off your right arm. You go to grab something and just, like... it's just way lighter."
  — Cody (22:13)

• "The journey itself and their life and their future matters more than the page..."
  — Ethan Benard, on social media's impact on personal progress (121:46)

• "Not every one needs to share it... for some, the stress from social media can be worse than the weight itself."
  — Ethan Benard (121:46)

• "There’s never a point of no return."
  — Cody (12:57)

• "Spite's a hell of a drug."
  — Cody (07:24)

• "I was a 600 pound dude [on a vent for COVID], and I lived. It was crazy."
  — Ethan Benard (51:06)

• "Views don’t help. The pressure makes it harder."
  — Ethan Benard (120:52)

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Important Timestamps

00:00–12:00 - Welcome, Ethan’s story of reaching out to the hosts during the early days of his transformation and recapping his astonishing weight loss journey.
12:00–14:00 - The reality and costs of skin-removal surgeries; support from the Unsubscribe crew.
24:00–26:00 - Ethan’s turning point: motivation drawn from faith and future family.
27:00–31:00 - The nuanced battle with tracking weight, big water fluctuations, and mental strain.
51:00–57:00 - Ethan’s near-death COVID experience, Twitch streaming career, and losing it all.
72:00–74:00 - Hosts and community members share their own weight loss journeys; inspiration and mutual support.
84:30–87:30 - Ethan’s gym struggles, self-consciousness, and overcoming internalized shame.
120:00–128:30 - Final messages: the importance of real change, not just talking about it; celebrating milestones while not becoming complacent.

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Tips, Wisdom & Takeaways

• For Beginners:

  • Not everyone needs to share their journey online – weigh the potential mental impacts.
  • True transformation begins with a decision, not just a desire for change.
  • Celebrate milestones, but don’t let intermediate success become complacency.
  • Even at halfway (200 lbs lost), Ethan remains humble and motivated to keep going.

• For Those Struggling with Setbacks:

  • Relapses are part of the process. The key is regaining forward momentum.
  • External motivation (even millions of followers) is not enough; internal meaning and accountability are critical.

• On Social Media & Public Weight Loss:

  • Social media can inspire, but also amplify self-doubt and stress.
  • Focus on personal progress, not the number on the scale or approval in the comments.

• On Accountability:

  • Trusted friends and structured routines (e.g., sharing MyFitnessPal logs) are more sustainable than crowd-sourced accountability.

• On Motivation:

  • If Ethan can drop over 200 lbs with major setbacks, "imagine what you can do."

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Final Thoughts

Ethan’s story, equal parts harrowing and triumphant, tears down the myth that health transformations are quick or easy. His journey is ongoing, with skin surgeries and more weight yet to lose, but the most important changes are mental; his story is about finding meaning, being accountable to the right people, and managing both self-talk and online noise. For listeners, Ethan’s journey is a roadmap to resilience—with a reminder that, whether dropping ten pounds or hundreds, every step counts.

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For continued inspiration and education, find Ethan on YouTube (The Ethan Benard Show), TikTok, Facebook (@EthanBenardLive), and follow along as he continues to rewrite what’s possible.

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End of Episode Summary

Transcript

[Ethan Bernard]

When I have the skin removed, it's gonna weigh between like 50 and 70.

[Brandon Herrera]

You get to keep it, moisturize me.

[Cody]

You cannot say that. It is not impressive that the United States s ranked an entire country while the entire world is asleep.

[Brandon Herrera]

Make sure you get that wallet real quick, officer.

[Eli Double Tap]

You don't want to waste officer's time.

[Cody]

He's had a hard day.

[Eli Double Tap]

Cops are really busy.

[Brandon Herrera]

Unsept tips. It's a good price, dude. Say hi to Eli. He's racially ambiguous. Brandon, his hair is fucking fabric. Fabulous donut. A dog joke disposition. And there's a fat electrician.

[Ethan Bernard]

Welcome to unsubscribe. Hi.

[Brandon Herrera]

Oh yeah, we gotta start it. Ready? Oh yeah, we'll do this one. Three, two, one. Oh, Cody's gonna mess up your last name.

[Cody]

I'm calling it, I'm not gonna mess it up.

[Eli Double Tap]

Hi everyone. Welcome to the Unsubscribe podcast. I'm joined today by Eli Double Tap. Eli Ethan Barnard. Brandon Herrera, my self. Donut operator. Thank you so much for being here.

[Brandon Herrera]

You did yesterday. I was like, what do I call you is like. As long as you don't mess up my last name. I was like, what is your last name? Now I am wrong. Bernard.

[Eli Double Tap]

Bernard, yeah.

[Cody]

Not gonna lie, I would have fucked that up.

[Ethan Bernard]

No, it's crazy. It's even phones when you type in my last name. Most of them autocorrect it. It's ridiculous.

[Cody]

Yeah, I've got no excuse. I've seen your name spelled like 8 times in the last 24 hours. I just wouldn't have picked it on or picked it up.

[Ethan Bernard]

Well, didn't learn this until a couple years ago, but apparently Bernard is English and Bernard is French.

[Cody]

I'm so sorry.

[Ethan Bernard]

I know it's like.

[Brandon Herrera]

We now our homie, you've been. You reached out to Cody first. This is ages ago when you just started your channel.

[Ethan Bernard]

2023. Yep.

[Brandon Herrera]

Oh shit. This is really.

[Eli Double Tap]

Did I reach out to you or.

[Ethan Bernard]

Did you reach out to me? I reached out to you. The first interaction we had was you did one of your plane ama's spring of 23.

[Cody]

I remember this.

[Ethan Bernard]

This was in the middle of my five year period of struggling with my weight. So this was like two years in, I had lost about 100 pounds and I tweeted at you on the plane. I was like, hey, I used to weigh this much. I currently weigh this much. And if I reach my weight goal, I. I'd love to come to a range day. And you were like, hell yeah, let's do it. Nice that was the first interaction we had that was like almost. That was like fricking almost three years ago now.

[Eli Double Tap]

Yeah, that was a minute.

[Brandon Herrera]

And you've lost 260 pounds so far.

[Ethan Bernard]

219.

[Brandon Herrera]

200, man.

[Ethan Bernard]

So I was. Yeah, I was 660 at my heaviest. And as of right before getting on the plane, I was like 4.40.5.

[Eli Double Tap]

God damn, dude, you lost me. Yeah, that's wild to think about.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it was, the timeline was a little interesting, man, because like 20, 20, 20, 20, 20-21 is when I started trying to lose the weight. But over the course of four or five years, I lost 100 pounds and gained it back like four times.

[Cody]

What would you attribute that to? Like, why, if you were already making like the life changing decisions to like, to lose £100? Because that's no small feat. Yeah, losing £100 is fucking crazy.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah.

[Cody]

But like, how do you, how do you think that you got sucked back in?

[Ethan Bernard]

Like, just every time something happened in my life that was hard for me, I didn't have the mental resilience to not let it make me go back to what I was doing.

[Cody]

Right.

[Ethan Bernard]

So, like, I had, you know, some. I would go throughout the years, something bad would happen. And then instead of just like continuing to move forward, I would just fall back into my old ways. You know, there were a couple things. Like my friendship with Danny went through a rough spot. I got depressed, gained the weight back. My dog died. You know, that was one of my closest companions for 14 years. She ate a mushroom and ate no shit.

[Cody]

Damn.

[Ethan Bernard]

Literally just like out of the blue. And it's so weird because when I was in those relapses, subconsciously I knew what I was doing. I told Eli. I think I literally ordered pizza the day my dog died. I just like, without skipping a beat, I went straight back into that old fat man shit that I used to do. I started doing really unhealthy shit again and I stopped weighing in. Yeah. So that's when I could tell internally, like, you're going down the wrong path.

[Cody]

It's funny. Well, maybe funny is not the right word, but just the fact that you say that you like relapse, like treating it like a drug addiction. It's an addiction.

[Ethan Bernard]

Absolutely. An addiction. Yeah. I've come to. I had to come to terms with that last year. Cause even with the social media stuff that's happened, those pages grew so fast. And there's so many people watching the journey now. But even with that determination and that amount of support That I have. I still sometimes find myself struggling with really dumbass food stuff, like cravings or wanting to eat stuff that I shouldn't and struggling to stay within a certain calorie count and stuff.

[Cody]

Do you find it easier because there are so many eyeballs on you? You're like, it's like an accountability thing, really?

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh, no, it's same as pages for that purpose. But then I quickly realized, for the sake of my mental health, using social media for accountability is a horrible idea for me because even most of my comments are positive. Like, it's a stark contrast from back when I was in the streaming space. But even with that insane amount of positivity, my mind will find the negative and focus on it. So if I have a weigh in that didn't go as I expected or something, I'll see the negative and I'll just be like, really? It'll just be really bad. So I've recently put people in place in my life to kind of act as accountability for specific things. Like, I have a guy that I literally send like my fitness pal screenshots to. Yeah, it's like, hey, this is what I had. This is what my calories are, you know, So I have the accountability, but I don't feel like I don't like to use the social media as that because that just wrecked my mental.

[Brandon Herrera]

It's hard. Like, I have training clients and I remember one client wouldn't stick to it, but my fitness pal is the one thing I'd make all my clients get and be like, hey, I need this updated. And then once a week I went to see it, and then we'll go through everything and I'll be able to tell if you follow it or not just based off when you weigh in. And then my client Wes would never wear, like, miss meals, eat too much, snack, you book balls next time, next time. And then I was just tired of it. I was like, dude, I'm going to fire you as a client. I just don't give a shit anymore. And you're not worth the time. You make me look bad. Not worth it, homie. So you need to either fix this or get out. And that's it. That dude got so pissed at me, he did not miss a single. Oh, it.

[Cody]

No shit.

[Ethan Bernard]

It lit a fire under him.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, because he wanted to prove me wrong.

[Cody]

Dude, if that's what it takes, dude.

[Brandon Herrera]

Dude, he hit first time he ever went under 200 in decade. And he was just stuck at like 230 to 250, got under 200 199. He's like, yeah, he's excited. And he looks at me, he's like, I'm not gonna lie, I was super mad at you. I was like, I noticed you would not talk to me. He was just running you through exercise. But your weight, you just knock out those weights like it was just coming off every week. I was like, dude, look at you though. Like you hit your goal. It just took me being a dick and holding you accountable.

[Cody]

Spite's a hell of a drug.

[Eli Double Tap]

Say, let the hate flow through you. Next to you, you little piece of shit.

[Cody]

He's just out. You look out your blinds. He's just like doing curls in your front yard.

[Brandon Herrera]

But it happens. I'm glad you found that accountability. Is anyone else in friends or family, do they ever be like, hey, what are you doing?

[Ethan Bernard]

Like when I'm. When I'm doing something bad? I think, yeah, I think so. But I've been pretty dialed in lately, like. Cause I. It's actually, it's kind of weird, man. Like, I had a lot of times last year where I struggled. Right. But then even when I'm having these periods where I'm not going off course and I'm staying on track, I have like residual guilt from the days that I did that makes it so. I have a hard time even like being happy that I did the right thing because I'll still feel bad about having done wrong in the past. I know that's sense, but it's also kind of stupid.

[Cody]

I mean, well, I mean, I think everybody would empathize with that when you apply it to literally anything else. Yeah, I've fucked up in the past. I still feel bad about it, you know.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yep.

[Brandon Herrera]

It's hard to move forward. That's like that breakthrough of trying to move forward or moving on, it's just okay, I taking accountability for that. I will now do better and I'm trying to not repeat the same mistakes and I'll do better this time. That's always the goal. It's just figuring it out and the best way to do that now. What is your overall goal for weight loss?

[Ethan Bernard]

Total. Oh, this has changed a lot. So initially, like, I'm pretty tall, so like my main goal was to just get under 300 pounds. Last year my doctor told me when I have the skin removed, it's going to weigh between like 50 and 70.

[Cody]

The skin itself.

[Ethan Bernard]

Skin.

[Cody]

Holy.

[Ethan Bernard]

Because, you know, I'm a big ass guy. You know, I'm tall and I was super fat. Do you get to keep it no, no.

[Cody]

Are you gonna make a lamp like, this is Texas.

[Ethan Bernard]

On one of Those.

[Eli Double Tap]

Boards from Dr. Who, dude, like Fight Club.

[Cody]

We'll.

[Eli Double Tap]

We'll scrape the fat off and make soap out of it and then sell it. Unsub soap. Oh.

[Brandon Herrera]

Oh. On sub soap.

[Cody]

See, we're Ethan Soap Company.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, we can.

[Ethan Bernard]

I'm sure if you found the right doctor, you could fight. You could make one of those really fucked up products that has like, every piece of this is made with part of Ethan's old.

[Cody]

They use every piece of the buffalo.

[Brandon Herrera]

Shadow box. That's Ethan's skin.

[Ethan Bernard]

I gotta give you points for the.

[Cody]

Doctor who reference, by the way. I did get that.

[Ethan Bernard]

That's so good.

[Eli Double Tap]

Yep.

[Ethan Bernard]

Moisturize me.

[Cody]

It's back before the CGI was decent.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, dude, that is wild. 50 to 70.

[Ethan Bernard]

Well, that's the thing, though, because now I think about 300. I'm like, there's no way I get down to 300 before skin surgery because that would mean I would be like 240. I honestly, guys, I don't know. It'll be a long time before I weigh 240. I don't even know. That's not even like my. Anywhere near my goal.

[Cody]

Well, you're also like a big dude. Like, not just like size wise. I'm like height. You are a tall motherfucker.

[Ethan Bernard]

Wide shoulders and tall. Yeah, so. So I think post skin surgery, honestly, if I stayed between like 250 and 270, I'd be happy. Like, my goal, main weight loss goal is to get under 300, but I don't know what the timeline on that looks like because the surgeries too, with how much I have to lose, it's going to be split up into like four or five.

[Brandon Herrera]

How much are they? Like, how much is skin surgery? I wasn't sure if it's like in a single.

[Ethan Bernard]

I think it's a lot.

[Brandon Herrera]

Like 10 to 20 grand.

[Ethan Bernard]

One of the guys that I know is doing, he has a GoFundMe for his final one and his goal is like 30. So if he's had like four or five. So like, this is like his fourth or fifth. I think so.

[Brandon Herrera]

I didn't realize they did multiple. I thought it was.

[Ethan Bernard]

Well, that's the thing, like, when you have as much to remove as I'm going to. I think it's just a bit too much of a shock on your body to have it all done at once because the recovery for those things is not easy. You have like, the wounds leaking and, like, it's Just shit all over.

[Brandon Herrera]

You're removing 70 pounds from a human body. Yeah. You're gonna have some.

[Ethan Bernard]

Well, that's the. It's gonna be really weird, man. I think they literally do like the face and like the arms. Like I'm. I've already got the frickin bat wings, dude. Like, they do the arms, they do chest separate, they do the arms separate, they do belly separate, then legs and back and all that are all like different procedures technically.

[Cody]

Makes sense.

[Ethan Bernard]

So that is what I'm going to refer to as the skin removal saga. It's gonna be. Honestly, I think it's going to be the most viral, but it's also going to be the hardest part of your journey.

[Brandon Herrera]

I've said we'll see if we keep this or whatever, guys, but that's the one thing I DM'd or text you about. It's like, we want to help with that. Even covering some of that bill for that, that's too easy. I was like, especially with what you're going through, it motivates the. Out of everyone out there and us. And then you put in the work. Not a month of work, not two months or three months. You put in at two years.

[Cody]

And you're a shining example too, of the fact that like all these people that, you know, might be saying in their own head, like, hey, I'm past the point of no return, there's no coming back. There's this, this, this. Fuck you.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah, too far gone.

[Cody]

Yeah. Because I, I know a lot of people get that way in their head and there's probably plenty of people watching that have just already given up. You're like, oh, I'll never be there. It's like, no, there's never a point of no return.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

Tell your dad.

[Ethan Bernard]

Well, I was. Dude, I was.

[Cody]

Tell your dad. Yeah, that's a pretty good point of no return.

[Ethan Bernard]

I've been in some pretty. I've been in some pretty nasty places, man. I've been at that point where I didn't care if I lived or died.

[Eli Double Tap]

Right.

[Ethan Bernard]

But like, you know. Yeah, no, you know, speaking side. Sidebar.

[Eli Double Tap]

He didn't say it. It's fine.

[Cody]

Yeah, throw it back my way, why don't you? I was thinking about the edit, the way that was going down, and I'm like, oh, at least I wasn't in frame.

[Ethan Bernard]

Thanks, Cody. Speaking of veterans, by the way, I did a collab with Zach when I was at his house. He had me hold up a sign and I just said, keep going forward. And then a Bunch of the comments were like, I didn't know you were a veteran. I'm like, I didn't take time to respond to most of them. I think Zach was doing it. It's just like he is pretty.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Cody]

Zack is including you in the the Forced Valor saga.

[Brandon Herrera]

No, no, no, no, no. Dude, that is amazing. Okay, so we would love to cover a portion or help with that when you do hit that point of your goal because that means you put in the work. That's an extra £140 to go, essentially.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah. So I think once I lose another hundred, I'm going to be getting at that point where I'm going to start consulting with people, you know, because when if I'm 340, you know, minus 50 to 70, that puts me under 300. I don't know if I'll be at the correct body fat percentage or where they want me to be for it.

[Cody]

But I'm just so curious. I have so many questions because that's not something I've ever explored before. Is like the skin removal.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Cody]

Like, is that something that, like, not to get like crazy personal with it or anything but like the like stretch marks and things like that. Do those like, do they have a way of like fixing that or.

[Ethan Bernard]

I don't think that ever really goes away. I think they just kind of make your. You normal shaped.

[Cody]

What?

[Ethan Bernard]

So they just kind of cut you up to make you normal shaped.

[Brandon Herrera]

It's crazy. Have you, have you seen how they do it? What they're going to do?

[Ethan Bernard]

So they'll literally have me.

[Brandon Herrera]

This all go. This gone. They just cut.

[Ethan Bernard]

They will take a marker and they will draw a dotted line of like exactly where they're going to cut. And then they will just cut it up and sew it.

[Cody]

You know, every time I think like medicine has advanced so far, we do some crazy like Middle Ages like that just like, I don't know, Sharpie it up and slice it off.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yep.

[Cody]

It's like you see those videos, people like the surgeons correcting like, you know, a car accident. Like somebody's got something like a hip.

[Ethan Bernard]

Displacement and they're using the chisel.

[Brandon Herrera]

Oh.

[Eli Double Tap]

Or putting a rod in someone's thigh. No, the range of the medical sledgehammer and just fucking.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah, yeah. The range is crazy because they have some surgeons who use like the robots and they get like super like microscopic precision. And then you have other surgeries that are just like, you know, drawing. Drawing on people with a sharpie cut.

[Cody]

Yeah, yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

I'm very sore. Well, grandma, here's the video. Here's an 80 pound sledgehammer. Missed once.

[Cody]

That's why they gave.

[Eli Double Tap]

Sorry about your balls.

[Brandon Herrera]

That's why we're calling you grandma now.

[Cody]

Oh, no.

[Brandon Herrera]

Connor, wait. You do not have to overhaul your life to start hitting your investing needs. No, Eli, all you have to do.

[Cody]

Is simply automate it. With Stash, your new year money goals quietly run in the background while you focus on everything else, everything that's important to you.

[Brandon Herrera]

Stash isn't just another investing app. It's a registered investment advisor that combines.

[Cody]

Automated investing with expert personalized guidance so.

[Brandon Herrera]

You don't have to worry about gambling.

[Cody]

Or figuring it out on your own.

[Brandon Herrera]

God forbid. Stop staring at me.

[Cody]

Gooning.

[Brandon Herrera]

Investing shouldn't feel like a gamble. No.

[Cody]

Gambling should be left to the experts. Like me.

[Brandon Herrera]

People send you money and like, yeah, this all I'm at. You're all black every time. Dude, that 50k you gave me, it's gone.

[Eli Double Tap]

Could have been 100.

[Ethan Bernard]

Could have been 100.

[Brandon Herrera]

With stash's smart portfolio, your money's guided.

[Cody]

By experts, giving you confidence while it grows. I have a lot of confidence when it grows.

[Brandon Herrera]

Stash is simple, smart and stress free.

[Cody]

Choose from personalized investments. Let Stash's smart portfolio do the work for you. Or a combination of the two.

[Brandon Herrera]

Stash is there to guide you every step of the way. Don't let your money sit around. Put it to work with stash.

[Cody]

Go to get.stash.com unsubscribe to see how.

[Brandon Herrera]

You can receive $25 to your first stock purchase and to view important disclosures.

[Cody]

That's get.stash.com unsub get.stash.com unsub paid non client endorsement, not representative of all clients and not a guarantee. Investment advisory services offered by Stash Investments llc, an SEC registered investment advisory. Investing involves risk. Offer is subject to terms and conditions.

[Brandon Herrera]

Boom.

[Cody]

That's why we gave you a bunch of fent before the operation, dude. My grandma Oma had, she had a surgery at one point that was, you know, like fairly invasive. She was getting her like hip fixed or something like that. And they legit, legitimately gave her fentanyl before the operation. And she had an entire day where she was speaking to people like perfectly like, you know, cogent and everything. Talking to people. Didn't remember any of it. That shit's scary. I've never been put under for anything and I really don't want to.

[Brandon Herrera]

Did you, Cody? Have you been put under ever?

[Eli Double Tap]

Got my wisdom teeth taken out. That's the only time.

[Brandon Herrera]

It's wild.

[Eli Double Tap]

It's like you fall instantly. You have a weird dream or two, then you're just awake. It feels like you just went like that.

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh, dude.

[Cody]

The dream, like when you say dream like, like a normal. Like you go to sleep dream like kind of like you're sleeping eight hours or like you just.

[Eli Double Tap]

It felt like a couple seconds and then you pop away.

[Brandon Herrera]

That's the best way to explain it. You're out and then open. When I had my colonoscopy and the. The mouth one and what, you got.

[Cody]

Spit roasted by your doctor?

[Brandon Herrera]

Oh, yeah. Oh, 100%. That's what the doctors, when they came in, they're like, we're doing this. I was like, you're using the same tube. Like, no. I'm like, I'm fucking with your guys. No. And it was mask or the shot, whatever, and they pushed it in and then it was waking up. And that's that violent wake up.

[Ethan Bernard]

You have the wake up immediately?

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah. There is no.

[Cody]

It's kind of like getting choked out.

[Eli Double Tap]

Yeah, yeah, pretty much.

[Ethan Bernard]

Dude, I've never. I've never experienced it like that. Like, even when I remember my tonsil surgery, I remember explicitly like having like dreams and stuff while I was out.

[Brandon Herrera]

Mine was.

[Ethan Bernard]

And like there was a longer period of time between going under and then like waking up.

[Eli Double Tap]

No, dude, I was.

[Brandon Herrera]

I was.

[Eli Double Tap]

I was out. I. For like two seconds. I was snowboarding and then. Yeah, it was weird. And I haven't snowboarder since I was like 16. And then I was back up like two seconds.

[Brandon Herrera]

And you grab the mask, put it back on. It was a sick ride.

[Cody]

That's just. Hit the nurse, grab the mask.

[Brandon Herrera]

Nurse almost got punched by me. Cause they did the real. They violently wake you up too. That is.

[Cody]

Did they read your file?

[Brandon Herrera]

They were like, oh, man, I wish Sav was like, whoa. She was like, wake up. It's time to wake up, Mr. Cuevas. And I like, boo. And it went like that. Don't remember. And it was like aimed at her. And I was like, did my butthole go on of. I don't know why I said that. Sav said I like had sex.

[Cody]

That's what you said.

[Brandon Herrera]

That's what you said. Cause they were recording everything and they were handing me the papers and I'm just like, uh huh, uh huh, yeah. Looking around. And then I finally came to what was going on and I had papers on. Like, what the fuck's going on right now? They're like, okay, you got everything? I'M like, sav, what? And she's like, you're good. I was like, okay, cool. Yep, 100%. Walking out right afterwards.

[Cody]

I remember my brother got his. I think he got his wisdom teeth removed or something like that. Like one of those where he got put under. And he was like one of those zombie states in the car ride home. And as soon as he got home, he's like, I wanna play piano. And we're just.

[Ethan Bernard]

What?

[Cody]

Me and my mom are just watching him in his room, and he's just like, playing the same song that he was practicing. And it got progressively slower until he just stopped and was, like, asleep. Like, keys held down. He's like, okay, buddy, time to go to bed.

[Brandon Herrera]

Come on. Phantom of the Opera.

[Cody]

That's funny.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Cody]

Funny how it goes.

[Brandon Herrera]

It's so fast. It's a wild feeling. Dreams are any of that?

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah. Nope.

[Brandon Herrera]

But, yeah, so you'll have to go through that. Waking up with just a portion of your meat gone. That's gonna.

[Ethan Bernard]

That's a really weird, horrible phrase. Holy shit. You're not wrong, though.

[Cody]

Here's what's crazy, though. Cause you'll still have the same muscle memory. So I imagine, like, let's say you've just lost 10 pounds off your right arm. You go to grab something and just like.

[Ethan Bernard]

Like, it's just way lighter.

[Cody]

Like you're not expecting it.

[Brandon Herrera]

Dude, walk. I couldn't even imagine waking up and then with £70 at 50 to £70.

[Ethan Bernard]

Well, that's all.

[Brandon Herrera]

Not all at once, but still, like, £20.

[Cody]

Yeah.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

That is, like.

[Ethan Bernard]

It's gonna be weird. That's the. Like I said, though, like, when I said it's gonna be the most viral, but also the most frustrating. Like, I can't imagine the mental part of that, because at that point, right? Like, when I. At the point where I'm ready to have it done, I will have lost, like, over 300 pounds. Yeah. And to have gone through all that just to be like, visually a melted ice cream cone, you know, like, you just got shit everywhere, dude. I feel like that's gonna be rough. And I feel like not being able to have it all done at once is also, like, I know for my health, I shouldn't, but just having to still live with that after putting in the work for so long, I think that's gonna be hard, man.

[Brandon Herrera]

But look at it this way. How old are you?

[Ethan Bernard]

26.

[Brandon Herrera]

So you had 24 years of accumulation, and then you're gonna have a few years of that going away. And in that Scope. If you look at it like that, it's like, oh shit, this definitely like less than.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah. My underlying goal, honestly is to just be able to live a normal life in my 30s.

[Cody]

Because I mean, realistically, like you just granted the way to look at it, I would think, or one of them. And I'm sure you've thought all of this through before. I mean, but you know, your future children just got 25 more years with their dad. Yeah, like losing that much weight, like, that's absurd. Like, congratulations, truly.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah, I appreciate that, man. Actually, speaking of future children, man, like 2025 in January I was back up to 624 pounds. It was like the fourth or fifth, I think, fourth time that I gained all the weight back. And I had a realization, man. I literally had the thought pop into my head on January six of 25 and it was like exactly a year ago. Yeah. Oh, is it? Yeah, yeah. Literally one year ago today.

[Brandon Herrera]

No shit.

[Ethan Bernard]

I thought if I fail this journey, I'm not just failing myself, I'm also putting the lives of my future wife and kids in jeopardy. Because like, you know, people can say what they want about religion, but I've always 100% believed it when the Bible says that God will give you the desires of your heart. And ever since I was a kid, I've had the desire to start a family. So as soon as I, I don't know why I didn't think like that before, but as soon as that thought came into my head, dude, 2025 was the first year in the five years that I've been trying to get it off that I kept a big chunk off. Yeah, it was a, it gave me a level of determination that I had never had. Like, I still struggled, but I never once backslid. Like, I never gained weight last year.

[Cody]

Yeah, I mean, it seems like it's been very consistent at least since I've been keeping track of, of it. Like it seems. And you, you'll have, you know, different plates and stuff.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Cody]

And that's to be expected. And like I, I think you do a good job too. When you're explaining when you're doing your weigh ins, you're like, I expected this. I was hydrating a lot more. I was doing this because of these exercises. Like, not all weight is fat.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah.

[Cody]

And there is, there is a difference. Like, that's a lot of people. Maybe if they, they're not familiar, like they don't really know that.

[Brandon Herrera]

Water weight. We have eight pounds for a single gallon.

[Ethan Bernard]

Water is freaking Ridiculous, man. I have a thing called lymphedema in my lower body and it's literally like my body just holds on to water like it's no one's fricking business. So if I have a day where I don't wrap my legs and I eat high sodium, I was telling Eli I could easily go up like £11 the next day.

[Cody]

No shit.

[Ethan Bernard]

Just if I drink water and I don't wrap my legs properly, I can gain 10 pounds in a day if I wanted to. And I know that's not fat, you know what I mean? Like, it's not physically possible. So like, even after this trip, dude, like my weekly weigh ins are on Friday and I'm gonna get back after traveling and there's probably gonna be some water weight. And that's what I'm gonna say in the weigh in, you know, like, that's hard for me because like there's water weight better. I know I shouldn't care what the comments say and I talked a lot with this about Eli yesterday. But I, I am someone who, I just want to know what people are saying. So I always read into it and I read way too much of it.

[Cody]

I'm just human, I think.

[Ethan Bernard]

But you know, I know that I'm losing weight, but when the scale, the scale, and that stupid number is like the only number in this space that people actually judge you off of, which.

[Brandon Herrera]

Because they haven't put in the work or understand it. That's why anyone that worth their salt will say, don't look at the scale, look at the size of the. Like your body's going to change so much. Yeah.

[Ethan Bernard]

Four shirt sizes in the last year and a half.

[Brandon Herrera]

Pants. What about pants size?

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh, I've gone from like a 60 something to like a 54.

[Brandon Herrera]

Like fucking. That is the stuff that matters. It's why weight, as you said. Oh my God, I can drink in a single day with water retention. 11 pounds. That's why it's like, it's a bad measurement. It's good that you're tracking yourself when you're doing it, but anyone worth their salt will be like, who cares?

[Ethan Bernard]

Well, I'm actually, I'm happy I started weighing in every day.

[Cody]

Yeah.

[Ethan Bernard]

Which kind of sucks. But at the same time, seeing the data is good, especially this week, because if I am, if I do happen to be up a couple pounds on Friday, I can go, hey, look at where I was at right before I left. You know, that's three and a half pounds lower than I was last week.

[Cody]

Because you get the full data set because it's gonna go up and down. It's just like a stock market or.

[Ethan Bernard]

You know, the graph is ridiculous.

[Brandon Herrera]

What's the average? And then what we did last night, you had sushi. Like, we went to the sushi place.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yes.

[Brandon Herrera]

So nigiri, just super clean, easy food. And then today you had what, cheese or chicken? I don't even know what you had.

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh, I just had a breakfast bowl at the brunch place.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Cody]

So what is it? Just like scrambled eggs?

[Ethan Bernard]

I calculated, like, eggs, Sausage, two. The highest calorie bacon slices I could find on the app because those were big slices of bacon.

[Cody]

It's thick.

[Ethan Bernard]

The hash browns, the brussels sprouts. And then I did what my nutritionist taught me, and I just added an extra ounce and a half of fat onto the tracking because I'm sure that it's all cooked in a bunch of stuff.

[Eli Double Tap]

Yeah.

[Ethan Bernard]

So came out to like 1200 calories.

[Cody]

But so I have to go like. Like, at restaurants like that, I have to specifically ask them, like, okay, eggs.

[Ethan Bernard]

Like chicken and avocado today.

[Cody]

Yeah. It's like, I'm like, no oil, no bullshit. Because all those restaurants add so much. Just lard and fat and whatever else.

[Brandon Herrera]

That's the terrible stuff. And then for even praising him even more, he was pacing and then we thought he was nervous or something.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah. Right before the podcast, I was actually. I'm not excited for this.

[Cody]

Like, hey, you good?

[Brandon Herrera]

I think Connor was like, hey, you good? He's like, I'm getting my steps in. Just walking back and forth, getting steps in. It's like, oh, fuck. Yeah. That was awesome. And you got a box today for the first time.

[Ethan Bernard]

That was fun.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, that was a good one.

[Ethan Bernard]

That put me in my place, dude. Like, stuff that is so. It's like, it's fun, but I'm like, oh, my God. Like, that'll really show you how fat you are if you try something like that.

[Brandon Herrera]

Well, cardio. It's hard.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah.

[Cody]

Any sort of fighting period is very good for humbling yourself.

[Brandon Herrera]

Just jab. We just worked on a 1, 2 and jabbing for three minutes straight. And you're like, this sucks. I'm like, mm, yeah, dude.

[Ethan Bernard]

That three minute round, my heart was beating out of my freaking chest.

[Brandon Herrera]

And it sparred a little bit too. We got some sparring and light sparring, and then me and Brandon did a little heavier sparring. We still did light sparring, but that was a blast.

[Cody]

It was fun.

[Brandon Herrera]

As I said, you did the best you've Ever done in a sparring session. I was like, homie is throwing fists at me.

[Ethan Bernard]

I like this still.

[Cody]

I mean, it's a great reminder, too. Like I said, it's great for humbling yourself of how fast the cardio goes, because me and you haven't been in the boxing gym in a couple months. And so, like, that fight cardio goes away so fast. Yeah, it's aggressive.

[Brandon Herrera]

That three minute round starts feeling like a 30 minute.

[Cody]

That second round, me and you did about, like, halfway through, I'm like. I started just running away. Surprise.

[Brandon Herrera]

I can't, man.

[Ethan Bernard]

Like, evasive maneuvers.

[Cody]

I've made this joke before, but it's like the stamina bar has gone to zero. And it's starting to chip away at hp. He's like, oh, no. Fuck.

[Brandon Herrera]

I'm like, put your hands up. Keep your hands up. He's like.

[Cody]

Throwing punches in slow motion. It's like, oh, I know. That looked like. Stop recording.

[Brandon Herrera]

And then I started.

[Ethan Bernard]

The contrast between the bag work and the sparring was wild.

[Cody]

Yes.

[Ethan Bernard]

Like, actually having to think about defense is crazy because, like, I was. I was trying to just get the form with the punches, right.

[Cody]

Yeah.

[Ethan Bernard]

And then we start, you know, he starts doing his, like, super, super light baby sparring with me. And I was like, holy shit. It was ridiculous, man.

[Brandon Herrera]

This ain't fun.

[Cody]

It's totally different when there's somebody there hitting you back.

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh, yeah.

[Cody]

And I think we've. I'm sure we've told this story, but the first time that I told Eli I was taking a fight, he's like, come to my house right now.

[Brandon Herrera]

You sparred today?

[Cody]

Yeah. Went to his house and he just. The only thing he threw was jabs. He just. Just one minute of just being jabbed in the head. He's like, get around my fist. And he just kept jabbing me in the fucking face. And like, after like, 30 seconds, I'm like, all right, Eli, I'm done. What? How do I. How do I get around that? This isn't fun anymore. I'm just getting hit in the head.

[Brandon Herrera]

Just the Mortal Kombat sweep over and over and over. This is stupid. It's bullshit. Stop using that, huh?

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah. Stop using that move.

[Brandon Herrera]

Jab, jab, jab, jab, jab. But it is good seeing even you trying it. A lot of people get nervous getting in the ring because it is. Sparring's terrifying if you've never done it.

[Cody]

Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

And then you don't know if they're gonna swing for the fences or not. And that's why I was like, don't worry, we're not not blasted. You don't even have a mouthpiece. I'll like touch your head if I can show you where I'm gonna hit you. But just keep your hands up, keep moving.

[Cody]

Funny people who aren't mean spirited. Like, everybody's just trying to learn, you know.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah. I appreciate the scalability of it, you know, like, like the way you did it with me today was probably perfect.

[Brandon Herrera]

You got. You burnt a lot of calories. You did round after round. You were like, okay, I'm just watching.

[Cody]

The sweat start to like, just the sweat stain. I'm like, yeah, this is what we're here for.

[Brandon Herrera]

Connor, what are some of your New Year's resolutions?

[Cody]

I want to cut back on stimulants. I'm horribly addicted to caffeine, nicotine and methamphetamine.

[Brandon Herrera]

Nice. You got a good hookup for the last one.

[Cody]

Yeah, he's a real cool biker down at the love station.

[Brandon Herrera]

What are these? Ultra nootropic packages.

[Ethan Bernard]

Pouches. Pouches.

[Cody]

Well, they're completely nicotine and caffeine free and packed with nootropics to help with mental clarity.

[Brandon Herrera]

At what moment did you realize you might have been using too much smokies?

[Cody]

Well, I showed up home and my family was all waiting for for me. And they held what was called an intervention.

[Brandon Herrera]

The boring ass story my wife left me. Oh, it's still going. Never gonna get him back. And that's why you're using Ultra now?

[Cody]

That's why I use Ultra.

[Brandon Herrera]

And I know with Ultra I'll get my family back.

[Eli Double Tap]

I'm gonna get the kids back.

[Brandon Herrera]

It's packed with nootropics, all the nootropics a growing divorced dad needs. And as we kick off 2026, maybe you want to some change. Maybe just a small change. Maybe a nootropic change. Maybe an ultra change.

[Cody]

It's got the same kick as nicotine pouches without the side effects.

[Brandon Herrera]

Most pouches elevate cortisol, raise your blood.

[Cody]

Pressure and keep you in a constant state of stress.

[Brandon Herrera]

Like war. One of my biggest New Year's resolutions was better sleep. And that's when I noticed the biggest difference. It made me fall asleep easier.

[Cody]

Falling asleep was easier. Waking up, I would feel so much more well rested.

[Brandon Herrera]

Ultra is the ultimate guilt free pouch.

[Cody]

Delivering instant focus and mental clarity, all without nicotine or caffeine.

[Brandon Herrera]

New customers can use code [e-mail] and get 15% off.

[Cody]

That's takeultra.com. use code unsub to get 15% off.

[Brandon Herrera]

After you purchase, they're gonna ask you, where'd you hear about us?

[Ethan Bernard]

Tell them Unsub or we'll you.

[Brandon Herrera]

Mr. Cody, how you been, dog?

[Eli Double Tap]

Super duper, man, you said?

[Brandon Herrera]

What have you been working on right now?

[Eli Double Tap]

I'm still just doing my streams, man. I didn't do shit last week. It turns out when you get past 30, when you do that whole like crazy partying thing on New Year's Eve, it takes like three or four days to get to recover from that.

[Ethan Bernard]

A little longer to recharge.

[Eli Double Tap]

Yeah, a little bit. So I don't think we did much of anything last week, but yeah, just started back to streaming. I wanted to box with you guys, but I really got to get some stream time in this week because I didn't do last week.

[Cody]

The stream's still like doing good, V.

[Eli Double Tap]

Wise, doing real good, man. I had a thousand concurrent viewers on Twitch this morning. Then like 800 so had about 2, 000 people in there.

[Ethan Bernard]

That's awesome.

[Eli Double Tap]

Watching dumb people drink and get arrested.

[Brandon Herrera]

100 on kick and a thousand on twitch.

[Eli Double Tap]

800 on kick and a thousand on Twitch.

[Brandon Herrera]

And you made way more on Kick.

[Eli Double Tap]

Yeah. You make a little bit more from viewership.

[Cody]

Yeah. Turns out when you don't have to pay Lord Bezos, you're doing.

[Eli Double Tap]

Yeah, right.

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh man, that's awesome.

[Brandon Herrera]

And then we had the president get stolen.

[Cody]

Yeah, that was cool.

[Brandon Herrera]

We have so much shit we haven't been able to talk about. Like this is like, yeah, there's a whole kidnapping in the middle of the night and waking up and be like, eh, we have a text from Brandon who's like, well, I think we're at war. Or you didn't.

[Eli Double Tap]

Yeah.

[Cody]

Because yeah. Sho text the group chat in the middle of the night. Because it was, it was like 3:30am I rolled over and I'm just like, oh. And I see her text, she's like, I think we're at war. And it's the, the video of like the Apaches like shooting, shooting at the anti aircraft, like blowing up the anti aircraft defenses. And I saw the text like 20 minutes later because I just rolled over and like opened it and I'm like, no, I think it's done. And I sat back like that. We captured the President of Venezuela.

[Brandon Herrera]

35 minutes on ground, wasn't it?

[Cody]

I think it was less.

[Brandon Herrera]

That's wild. Yeah.

[Eli Double Tap]

No US casualties either.

[Brandon Herrera]

No. And they had that new weapon system. Ethan talked about that. But is like their new weapon System. And then the S3 hundreds, I think that's what they're called. And they had 5,000 new systems in place. And all I seen was like, well, those didn't work because they're flying very low in helicopters. Like, what were they in? Chinooks, I'm assuming.

[Cody]

I think we had Apaches and maybe, I don't know, Blackhawks, Chinook, something like that.

[Eli Double Tap]

There's a couple different ones.

[Brandon Herrera]

Whoa.

[Eli Double Tap]

Yeah, dude. The 160th, they, you know, they weren't flying in nods, and then they blew.

[Brandon Herrera]

You know how they kicked it off?

[Cody]

Yeah, they blew up the. The museum that houses Hugo Chavez's grave.

[Eli Double Tap]

That's how they started it.

[Cody]

I believe that. I've been told that.

[Brandon Herrera]

No, that was.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yep.

[Eli Double Tap]

That's all in my mind. I feel like they extracted and they're like, you guys want to do something else real quick? It's gonna be funny.

[Brandon Herrera]

That's what we. Question mark that popped up.

[Eli Double Tap]

Oh, so I'll accept extra xp.

[Cody]

I. I wonder if that was a sanctioned military target or the pilot just did a funny.

[Ethan Bernard]

That's one hell of a choice to make on your own.

[Cody]

Yeah, it's one of those things I. You can say what you will about, like, oh, well, we shouldn't have done that. Because X, Y, and Z, you know, these, These. These different things. And like, not all of those are necessarily invalid. There's an argument to be made.

[Brandon Herrera]

It's a hard one. You.

[Cody]

What you cannot say is that it is not impressive. You cannot say that it is not impressive that the United States s. Ranked an entire fucking country, like, the biggest oil producer in the entire world that had the backing of Russia, China, you know, all these different, you know, world powers giving them anti aircraft missiles. Whatever. We go in, we destroy their entire anti aircraft defense system, swoop their president while the entire world is asleep. All of us found out about it in the morning. It took us, like, fucking two hours, whatever it was.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah. Maybe less like a lord. Like, I think someone said, you could have started a Lord of the Rings movie and walked out and be like, wait, what happened?

[Cody]

That's what I said. If you started the finale of Stranger Things. By the time you were done, we were out of Venezuela with the president.

[Brandon Herrera]

Crazy.

[Eli Double Tap]

I read somewhere on a couple of these military Twitters, I hope it's true, because it sounds super cool, that at an undisclosed location somewhere in the United States, they had built his palace with the exact materials that the palace is made of, including the safe room that he has, so that the Delta guys And all the CAG dudes could go in and figure out how to get in the quickest, grab him and get out.

[Cody]

Because we had people on the inside.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, I guarantee that was because I know they did that for the Osama raid. They reconstructed what they thought the layout was and then they would just run it, run it, run it.

[Cody]

All right, I'm throwing a Hail Mary here, but this is very funny. We start talking shit about like a world leader or something, like getting into a fit. Whether it's China, Russia, Cuba, Colombia, Timbuktu, whoever. All of a sudden we just leak intel to them that somewhere in Arizona we built a repro of their house and we were doing delta raids on that repro of their house. It's like, just so you know, maybe you should stop talking shit.

[Brandon Herrera]

I mean, think of how many dictators woke up that next day and were like, uh. Oh. Cause that is the. So they have 27 to 29 million people. And then they are ranked 50 50th out of the 145 countries in military power. And we s rank them without a single casualty.

[Cody]

0,0 casualties on our side.

[Brandon Herrera]

That's wild to be able to do as a military power. And it's one of those. It's like, oh well, US or China, like they're neck and neck. It's like, I don't think, you know how much we spend on military budget. And we love to fight. For some reason, they love going to war. Really good at it at this point in U.S. history. And that is a perfect example how good we are at.

[Cody]

And that's the other part too. It's, you know, if you look at the comparison, because I don't like being involved in foreign entanglements. I don't think we should be the world's police. There's a lot of things that I disagree with in having an invasive foreign policy. At the same time, if we're gonna do it instead of a 20 year forever war where we kill a million civilians, we have thousands of American soldier dead and we're, you know, dicking around for trillions of dollars, in and out in two hours. Captured the king. I'm down. Like, if we're, if that's the way we're going to do it, I think it's vastly superior to what we've been doing.

[Ethan Bernard]

That is pretty crazy.

[Brandon Herrera]

I don't think it's war that that's the one thing it's like, it doesn't. I don't consider that war. That is just a movie. You like, you're in, you're out. There was no casualties on our side. And it is the. The hard one because. Because it is, as you were saying, a well, we overstepped our bounds. But then it is. What's a bound on something bad? Do you just sit back. North Korea, we don't do anything with that. There's slavery, like, generational slavery, concentration camps, everything. Nothing happens. So what's the line? Do you just sit back and do nothing the entire time? Or is that one where it's like, hey, this is a dictator. Other people in the past like, oh, we gotta do something?

[Cody]

I think it's not even just the human rights thing. Cause, like, there's. Again, not to get too into the politics of it, but the argument on one side is that it's not just that they were a socialist dictatorship, but also the fact that when they took power, they seized tens of billions of dollars worth of American assets, things that American companies paid money for to put there to be able to allow them to use their oil to the extent that they are. We invested there. And as soon as they took power, they seized those. So they stole from Americans. And so, like, all right, well, you're gonna do that? On top of talking shit and saying, like, oh, we're gonna retaliate. We're gonna do this.

[Ethan Bernard]

It's like, well.

[Brandon Herrera]

Well.

[Cody]

Maybe learn your place. No, you're not gonna learn your place. Okay.

[Brandon Herrera]

No. Did you do anything on that one?

[Eli Double Tap]

I haven't done anything on it, no.

[Cody]

I mean, you were in the skit.

[Eli Double Tap]

We did that skit. That was. That was pretty funny.

[Brandon Herrera]

I was like, I haven't got to watch that. I just watched the intro, though, because I think you clipped just the intro of it.

[Cody]

Oh, yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

I was like, oh, this is.

[Cody]

That was one. We had the idea that night. We're like, all right, this is pretty funny.

[Brandon Herrera]

We're knocking this out. We're knocking this. Ethan's like, I can't. I don't know if I'm allowed to talk about this.

[Ethan Bernard]

I've been. I've been very conservative on the way. I don't speak about anything like this, so I'm not opposed to talking about it. But I'm just like.

[Cody]

It's a hard one, not pissing people off for no reason.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah. You know, this time around, because I was different back when I was a streamer. But this time around, I'm just kind of like, the more people that my videos reach, the more people it helps and the better I do. So I just try to Stay in my lane. You know, even my faith, I'm pretty, like, tactful in how I speak about it because I don't want to alienate anyone.

[Cody]

And there's a difference between rejecting your faith and also, like, just not choosing to be. Yeah, very well. Yeah, that's aggressively outspoken.

[Ethan Bernard]

That's the thing, man. Because I give God glory for everything that's happening in my life, and I'm not afraid to say that, but I will never shove Jesus or scripture down people's throats or push people away. Yeah. Because that's when you, like, if you're like, you guys are gonna go to hell if you don't accept Jesus as your savior. That is like, the dumbest possible way to convince people that that's something that they should pursue.

[Cody]

I mean, you don't want to picket military funerals.

[Ethan Bernard]

So I'm like, you know, I. I find this stuff interesting. That whole Venezuela thing was wild. But I just, like, I don't know what to say about it.

[Cody]

Yeah.

[Ethan Bernard]

Because, like, there's a lot of my wheelhouse, dude.

[Cody]

Because your message really does, like, inspire people. No matter, you know, it doesn't matter what walk of life you come from. Laugh.

[Brandon Herrera]

Right?

[Cody]

You know, what, what. What have you. Your. Your message is really, really cool. It can make a difference in. In your life. And then when they lose that weight and for guys, you know, they maybe they jump on trt, they start lifting, they feel good about themselves, and then they become a conservative.

[Ethan Bernard]

Many, many such cases.

[Cody]

It was right there.

[Ethan Bernard]

I'm sorry.

[Cody]

It was just. That was low hanging.

[Ethan Bernard]

Many such cases, I'm sure Paula Zuckerberg, dude, I know.

[Brandon Herrera]

He started fighting and lifting. You're like, oh, homeboy's fully into this.

[Cody]

World wearing puka shell necklaces.

[Brandon Herrera]

All of a sudden, oh, man. Now you get a. You actually are sponsored by Jocko and you work with that in the military space. Because I consider him.

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh, yeah. They're very heavily ingrained in that.

[Brandon Herrera]

And it was actually really cool. That was before you blew up.

[Eli Double Tap]

No, I was gonna say that raid on Visible Aliens was sponsored by Jocko too.

[Ethan Bernard]

We were talking about that earlier Origin hoodie dude.

[Cody]

It's legendary marketing win of the century.

[Ethan Bernard]

I swear to God, I thought that was photoshopped when I saw it. Like, for those of you who missed it when they captured Maduro and brought him back to the States, someone. I don't even think Jocko knows who it is. Someone in the military put him in a pre release blue Origin USA hoodie, and they posted that photo I thought it was fake. I thought it was fake. And then Jocko posted the photo on Instagram and he's like, I can't wait to meet the patriot who put Maduro in this hoodie. I'm like, that is sick.

[Cody]

The question is how they get one. How'd they get a pre release?

[Brandon Herrera]

I don't know. He's an I guarantee it's an influencer and he needed to get some margin. He was like, oh, I'll just do this here, I'm gonna put these beats on you. That's cool. Look. Yeah.

[Ethan Bernard]

Make sure you do the thumbs up.

[Brandon Herrera]

The photo of them. Use Turtle beach headphones. Right, right. Okay, hold this up. That is Raid Shadow legends use code.

[Cody]

First group for 10% off.

[Ethan Bernard]

No, the photo was hilarious. Do you remember? He's like, he's like sitting there with his thumbs up in the. In the little folding chair with a.

[Brandon Herrera]

Dude'S hand standing above it.

[Ethan Bernard]

Just like, make sure they could see the origin logo as we said.

[Cody]

Yeah, he's like, he thumbs up. He's like, no, no, thumbs closer together. Logo out.

[Brandon Herrera]

I want to see the first few of those photos because he definitely got. That was a couple of photos to get to that one.

[Cody]

I just want to see the apple, like the iPhone. Live photo version of that.

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh, yeah, just him slapping the back of his head. No, I thought that, I thought that was really cool though. Like, I don't know how the hell they pulled that off. But like, when Jocko made his post about it, he's like, we have. We have like, partners and friends in all branches of the military. And I can't wait to meet the patriot who put him in this. And it's just like, what are the fricking odds, dude?

[Cody]

I wonder if he did that as like kind of like throwing flares. Like, oh, I had nothing to do with this. Can't wait to meet the Patriot.

[Ethan Bernard]

Who knew about this one?

[Brandon Herrera]

That'd be wild to have that, though.

[Cody]

Not an accusation. That's a joke.

[Ethan Bernard]

He said it.

[Brandon Herrera]

Brandon, what kind of shirt is that?

[Cody]

I'm glad you asked, Eli. This is a poncho.

[Eli Double Tap]

Brandon and I actually wear poncho so much, we constantly end up wearing the same nice poncho shirt.

[Cody]

Good thing nobody's ever pointed that out.

[Eli Double Tap]

Because before now, if you guys have ever seen one of our live shows or this podcast in general, you'll see Brandon and I wearing these incredibly comfortable, great looking shirts all the time.

[Brandon Herrera]

Finn, pull it up with pictures. They're literally always wearing the same shirt.

[Cody]

I got Turned on a poncho like a year ago. Been wearing them ever since. Personally prefer, I think this is the western because it's got the pearl snaps because it's hot in Texas. And I like something breathable.

[Brandon Herrera]

Here's the thing I find really cool. Brandon, do the glasses trick.

[Cody]

So ponchos have this neat little thing in the pocket where you just take your glasses.

[Brandon Herrera]

No, the other one.

[Cody]

Be more specific.

[Brandon Herrera]

Who gives a shit about that? All right, watch everyone.

[Cody]

So if you got fat fingers and you smudge your glasses all the time, the bottom of the shirt actually acts. It has like a microfiber so you can clean your glasses.

[Brandon Herrera]

I make him clean my phones.

[Cody]

He does.

[Eli Double Tap]

I like the hidden little pocket on the breast.

[Brandon Herrera]

Wait, what?

[Cody]

Right over here. Got a little zipper pocket.

[Brandon Herrera]

I didn't even know about that one. Is that where you hold Cody's heart and his drugs? Things you might need to know. Poncho has put a lot of thought and detail into each one of their shirts. Oh, holy sh.

[Cody]

They're soft. They're really soft, yo.

[Brandon Herrera]

What?

[Cody]

That's my one like thing is fabric sensitivity. I don't wear uncomfortable shirts. This is comfy as.

[Eli Double Tap]

That's why we wear them all the time.

[Brandon Herrera]

So Pancho's got a bunch of great styles. The original western denim and ultralight.

[Eli Double Tap]

If you're looking for the perfect shirt, something breathable and stands out in a good way, give Poncho a try.

[Brandon Herrera]

Go to ponchooutdoors.com unsub and get $10 off your first order.

[Cody]

That's P O N C H O outdoors.com unsub oh, man.

[Brandon Herrera]

And they jocko actually sponsored you before you blew up, right?

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah, it was crazy. So, like, I used to be a full time Twitch partner back in, back in my heyday.

[Brandon Herrera]

Dude, he was getting like 1200 viewers.

[Ethan Bernard]

A thousand viewers on Twitch in the valorant category.

[Cody]

Valorant.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah. God fucking hate that game. But, but I, you know, I say that like I had years of experience of like on camera, talking, having a good time. Like I've always felt at home on camera.

[Cody]

You seem very comfortable.

[Ethan Bernard]

I love it. Dude, this is. I enter like a flow state when.

[Eli Double Tap]

I have flowing really well.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah. So, you know, I had that experience and then I was hospitalized. I don't want to really get into that again. I've talked a lot about it this week, but I was hospitalized for 60 days. But dude, I lost everything in that hospitalization. But, you know, I spent. So I spent a few years at home after the hospital recovering and just Being miserable, if you don't mind, just.

[Cody]

For the sake of the people who don't know about it, if you don't mind talking about. What were you hospitalized for?

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah, so. So I was hospitalized for 60 days in 2021 from mainly Covid. But when I got Covid, I also got a bacterial pneumonia on my lungs. So it is 100% God that I'm still here, man. I was on a ventilator for 10 days.

[Cody]

Oh, shit.

[Ethan Bernard]

So you're talking at a time where 99% of COVID patients who were put on the vent died. A 600 pound dude lived. It was crazy.

[Cody]

Yeah. Not to get too into it. I just figured.

[Ethan Bernard]

No, it's. It's fine. I know. I tried. Probably shouldn't have skipped over it as quickly as I did, but I almost died.

[Brandon Herrera]

Fast forward.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah, and I can imagine why that's.

[Cody]

Not fun to talk about.

[Ethan Bernard]

You know, I came off the ventilator with a stage four pressure wound and a nerve injury that fucked up the entire right side of my body. So I came off there in significantly worse health than I was before going onto it.

[Brandon Herrera]

Well, I think the crazy part for that story is you had 1200 viewers. It was like one of your best streams. You just got partnered and then you.

[Ethan Bernard]

Just fell off the face of the planet. Literally.

[Brandon Herrera]

But he doesn't remember two days.

[Ethan Bernard]

I don't remember two weeks.

[Eli Double Tap]

You should have streamed it.

[Brandon Herrera]

He got his partner. Apparently he did. He got a partner.

[Ethan Bernard]

Partnered, made it. And then I partnered, posted the screenshot of the email, and then I fell off the face of the planet.

[Eli Double Tap]

Yeah, well, I mean, you know how to use stream.

[Ethan Bernard]

You.

[Eli Double Tap]

You leave the stream for a week, your viewership just plummets.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah.

[Eli Double Tap]

So I can imagine being gone for as long as you were.

[Brandon Herrera]

Like how. How many days until you woke up though. It was like two days, three days.

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh, no, no, it was. Dude, it was. I don't remember the three days prior to the hospital or the like 11 days on the vent. So it was almost two weeks because.

[Brandon Herrera]

You were at home and you're.

[Ethan Bernard]

I remember the evening getting the partner email and tweeting it out and then that's the last thing I remember before waking up in the ICU two weeks later.

[Brandon Herrera]

Dude.

[Eli Double Tap]

Oh, you're a fresh partner too. Damn.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yep.

[Brandon Herrera]

Dude. Yeah, like I would. Cody knows if you have done Twitch, especially at that time. 2020. 2021.

[Ethan Bernard]

21. Yeah, it is.

[Brandon Herrera]

And then you have to be active. There is no time off for streaming. That's why it's one of the roughest career choices because you cannot take vacations. There is just zero. You are working six days a week minimum and no time off or you will kill your viewers.

[Eli Double Tap]

Especially trying to make partner too. You're having to stream like almost every single day.

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh yeah, I was in that 50 to 100 viewer area applying over and over and over for like a year before. Before getting it.

[Brandon Herrera]

And then you did the thing and then it was your mom dad that called.

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh yeah, dude. So like I was apparently just like sitting on the couch. My oxygen was so low that I was like semi unresponsive. So I think they just call 91 1. But you know, I was so big at the time. I'm still big, but I was so fat at the time. They literally had. I think the fire department got me out of the house. Gotcha. Because we have one of those bi levels. So you actually have to go up the stairs to get into the house. So they brought in like a frickin machine, brought me down the stairs, got me onto the ambulance and then the whole hospital thing happened.

[Brandon Herrera]

Damn. And then now with that. That too, like. Because it took two days for your parents to be like, oh shit. Because you said you were still doing stuff. You just don't remember it.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah, I was just sitting at home apparently, like I was literally, I was eating and like I was just sitting at home like sleeping all day and autopilot. I don't remember any of it. Damn. I mean, to be fair, I think a part of that is the meds that they put you on on the vent. They probably give you some crazy sh T When you get put on the ventilator. So I wouldn't be surprised if there was some sort of like memory loss component to that.

[Brandon Herrera]

But that's still wild. God. I fixed the AC and now it's actually chilling in here. Because that's why you.

[Ethan Bernard]

I was surprised. Like I've been roasting this last day, dude.

[Brandon Herrera]

While I went up, I was like, man, it's fucking hot right now. I need to go. That's what that. Upstairs I was getting this compressor and I was blowing out the AC pipes and now I'm like, oh, it's cold as work.

[Eli Double Tap]

Nice.

[Brandon Herrera]

I'm like, damn. Damn, dude, that's still wild to go through. That is just. And we talked about it, but it is that the hardest part was you were at the top. You just got part and you did a 1200 viewership.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah, I had like 1300 viewers because it was a part of one of those crater Events where Riot gave us early access to one of the new maps.

[Eli Double Tap]

Oh yeah.

[Ethan Bernard]

So I was one of like 10 people streaming the new map at the time. You know, Valorant was freaking popping back then, so. And then.

[Eli Double Tap]

Yeah, and over a thousand viewers too. That's really good money, bro.

[Brandon Herrera]

That's wild.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah, dude, I was, I was a moron back then. Like, I was only focused on the gaming. I didn't have any sort of business mind. I was literally renting an office to stream, but I was still like, I had no merch, I had no sponsors, I wasn't doing anything. I was making like six or seven grand on Twitch. That point though only for a few months because it popped off after I created TikTok. But yeah, that whole time my life was crazy. But it's crazy because that experience I had from that streaming, when I got back up to 624 and I started losing the weight again last May, I decided that I was thinking, like contemplating making videos again and getting back into that space and I wasn't sure about it. And I had a dinner with a couple friends of mine from church and they convinced me to do it. And dude, the first week it was like 10 million views and 17,000 followers on Instagram. And I was like, holy shit. I knew from the past with everything that I had done prior on Socials, I was like, all right, I know what to do with this. So I took that momentum and I just frickin ran, you know. But the Jocko partnership, dude, like I made a video to them a week in when I was at 17,000 followers and I was like, hey, I've been using your guys products, I want to work with you. And I sent him a dm and I'm like, if I made like this whole two paragraphs, but I'm like, if you guys work with me, you will make money. Yeah, that's what I said. They didn't respond. Yeah, they didn't respond initially, but then a week later I made a video using the their creatine or something and then they follow me back and I got a DM and I was at 40,000 followers the first time I had a meeting with the team. And two weeks later when I signed the contract, I was at 100,000.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, that's a good. I'd be like, we should sign him now.

[Cody]

That's not a bad growth trajectory, I would think.

[Ethan Bernard]

It's ridiculous, man. Like, I think last year we had over 700 million reel views and then over 1.3 million new followers across Socials.

[Brandon Herrera]

It was super awesome hearing. Oh, the one thing you did was you were cutting everything. Even when you were streaming, you were cutting everything into clips, reels, socials.

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh, yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

And you do it all yourself.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah. When I was streaming, I literally, like, I had the stream deck set up and I had a little program in obs that automatically cropped it to, like, the TikTok format.

[Cody]

Oh, no shit.

[Ethan Bernard]

So I would just, like, press a button and it would save it. I would just post like four or five times a day on TikTok. But I started a TikTok in 2021, and it went from zero to 100,000 in two months. That's how my stream grew. But I didn't expect the conversion because I see a lot of creators on TikTok that have a lot of followers but don't have a lot of twitch viewers. But whatever it was about those clips, man, it was getting people to come over.

[Cody]

TikTok is one of those weird platforms where, like, followers don't matter. It seems like. Where it's like, you. You've got, like, somebody who's got a million subscribers on YouTube and, like, you see the views and everything, you're like, okay, cool. Like, I understand TikTok's like, oh, I have 40 billion followers. And it's like, yeah, okay, well, you know, promote this T shirt. You get four sales. Like, it's just. It's so much drive by viewership. I think that. And it sounds like I'm just shitting on the platform because I don't like it.

[Brandon Herrera]

I don't. I don't like it.

[Ethan Bernard]

But they still owe me money.

[Brandon Herrera]

We all are very old when it comes. We don't use TikTok show. We thank God we have show and Sav that can figure that shit out.

[Eli Double Tap]

The Whammon. The Whammon. No, TikTok.

[Brandon Herrera]

The Whammon.

[Cody]

The biggest thing that drives me crazy is the amount of. And I think it's like a Gen Z female thing for the most part. Not even. Maybe not even Gen Z, like Millennial. But just how many people get their news from TikTok? Oh, I found this out from TikTok. Or this from TikTok. Like, so some random guy with an iPhone in his kitchen. It's like, I understand, like, that's how a lot of us get a lot of our information nowadays. But you at least vet the source. Some of these people just, like, open gullet, absorb Rando's information. Because this shit is just some of the. That I've heard. Like, oh, I saw it on TikTok. It's retarded.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Eli Double Tap]

Yeah.

[Cody]

Genuinely retarded.

[Eli Double Tap]

The sovereign citizen thing is picking back up because there's a lot of people going around TikTok saying you don't have to get out of your car for police. Which, of course the case law of Pennsylvania vs. Mims says you have to get out of your car. And there's people like sovereign citizens on there teaching people on TikTok, you don't have to have a license plate. This is comm. You're not in commerce, you're just traveling. And like all that shit that sovereign.

[Cody]

Citizens say, this is my vessel.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

Stuff you can literally just check.

[Eli Double Tap]

Just Google it.

[Cody]

Google it.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

And then, like. No. And then you get to watch them try to film them owning a police officer or a judge, whatever.

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh, yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

If you actually. No.

[Cody]

They usually cut right before the window gets broken.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Eli Double Tap]

Which I mean, they're making me tons of money. Like, it's awesome.

[Brandon Herrera]

You love sovereignty.

[Cody]

The first half of that video, you go to TikTok. For the second half, you go to Cody's channel, bro.

[Eli Double Tap]

There's been a lot of instances within the past year that I'm loving. And it's an old school police release thing where they grab the top of the window because people will crack it and they'll just pull the window out. Have you ever seen that?

[Brandon Herrera]

Oh, yeah.

[Eli Double Tap]

That's awesome, man. There's been so many videos coming out lately that it's like, yes, another window pool.

[Ethan Bernard]

This is awesome.

[Brandon Herrera]

It's not that hard. And it's not like you do. And I hate. You get hate for. It's like bootlicker. I'm like, homie will call out bad police action all the time, any day of the week. And it's not. Well, no, he doesn't like. No, I assure you. Squirrel Cops a great video on that. Like any of the bad ones where you're like, this is. No. So you don't shit on them, but.

[Cody]

There'S several bad shoots that you've gotten shit for.

[Eli Double Tap]

Yeah.

[Cody]

Like that just. You're like, oh, why aren't you back in the cops? It's like, well, no, you just do what you think is right. God forbid.

[Brandon Herrera]

The.

[Ethan Bernard]

It's a crazy concept nowadays.

[Brandon Herrera]

And that is the problem with it. It is you try to hold the people accountable for it, and then now you're reacting to it. But both sides also just, hey, here's my license. Here's. I've been pulled over with a ton of guns and I Am not a dude that looks like I would draw a gun on me. Like, walking around the corner and seeing a bunch of guns, I'd be like.

[Cody]

I've had guns drawn on me for that. Yeah. It's not great.

[Brandon Herrera]

Typically you've been called boy.

[Cody]

Oh, yeah.

[Eli Double Tap]

Straight up.

[Cody]

On multiple occasions. Well, and I usually I instigate it because I like, got pulled over doing like 20 over or whatever the fuck it was. And I've got machine guns in the back, so understandably, like, I, I could see where this is problematic.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Cody]

But I, my. The thing that always gets me about those is the, the passive aggressiveness of you get pulled over. Like, normally it's, you're swerving, you're drunk, you're, you know, speeding like crazy. And all these, like, different, like, body cam videos, and they only roll down their window like an inch.

[Eli Double Tap]

Yeah.

[Cody]

Oh, it's like the most passive aggressive shit you could do to a cop ever. Like, as a police officer. If, if I were a cop, that would just annoy the out of me. Right out the gate.

[Eli Double Tap]

Yeah, yeah. It's not the nicest thing.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah.

[Eli Double Tap]

All you gotta do is be courteous and usually get a warning.

[Brandon Herrera]

Dude, that's why I pull no matter what. The first thing I do, roll down all windows, put my hands on the steering wheel, and then turn the lights on. So when they approach, it's like, oh, homeboy's doing everything in his power to show. It's like, hey, dude, we're good here. Look away. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable about this, especially if I have guns in the back. Whatever it is. Make this as peaceful as possible.

[Ethan Bernard]

You should do.

[Brandon Herrera]

It's like, you're lucky I didn't run. Yeah, that would be very funny. I would actually laugh at the police officer. Like, you're getting a warning for that one. I like that. Hey, have you ever woke up and felt like your mattress punched you in your sleep? I still think it was my wife, but yeah.

[Eli Double Tap]

Eli, do you have the mattress right here?

[Ethan Bernard]

A pillow?

[Brandon Herrera]

No, that's an Eli sized mattress. Exactly.

[Eli Double Tap]

Eli, can I feel the pillow?

[Brandon Herrera]

Of course.

[Cody]

It's so soft.

[Brandon Herrera]

Ghostbed just launched their brand new mattress line. Every mattress comes with a 20 to 25 year warranty and a 100 one night trial period where if you don't like it, you can send it back.

[Ethan Bernard]

I don't know how many stamps it.

[Brandon Herrera]

Takes, but you could do it. Are you tired of your mail carrier liking you?

[Cody]

You take a razor blade, cut it open, you're like, I always Wanted to go to Denver and just hide inside of it. Don't do that. But do try ghostbed.

[Brandon Herrera]

And even better, you can get an extra 10% off site wide when you use code unsubscribe. And then you get to think about us every time you lay in bed.

[Cody]

More than you already do.

[Brandon Herrera]

Us just cuddled up next to you.

[Eli Double Tap]

This is on top of their everyday deals on mattresses, adjustable bases and pillows being up to 50% off versus comparable brands.

[Brandon Herrera]

Ghostbed has 60,000 five star reviews and awards for cooling, comfort and support. Head over to ghostbed.com unsubscribe to take advantage of this holiday offer.

[Cody]

That's ghostbed.com unsubscribe.

[Brandon Herrera]

Sleep better, stay cooler or code gonna.

[Ethan Bernard]

I'll eat your.

[Cody]

Ghostbed.Com I got pulled over. Speaking of that, I got pulled over by a Georgia. I think it was a Georgia State Trooper. Like 3 o' clock in the morning. I was traveling like state to state and I was probably. I was speeding. There's nobody on the highway. Got pulled by a cop. Pull over, roll down all my windows. And I'm like 10 and 2 on the steering wheel because I do have a gun. Because I always have a gun. He comes to the driver's side window and I was like, hey, you know, how's it going, sir? I'm like, how's it going, officer? Just so you know, like, I do have a gun. I'm carrying appendix. It's on my front right side. Whatever. He's like, yeah, he's an older guy. He's like, I figured you were, sir. Oh, the way you have your hands glued to the steering wheel, I figured you had to have had a gun. He pulled it. Traditional cop line. Well, tell you I'll cut you a deal. You don't touch yours, I won't touch mine. Yes, sir, that sounds very fair.

[Brandon Herrera]

It's super simple. Just do that. I know I had a shirt over gun. He's like, can you get your driver? I was like, I would get my insurance and everything, but there was a gun in that seat. I will let you grab that first if you're okay with that. And he's like, yeah, okay. Thank you. Lifts the shirt, grabs. Grabs a gun, can't figure out how to clear it. Cause safety's on. And he's like. I was like, you want me to clear it for you? He's like, can you? I was like, yeah. Took the gun, cleared it for him, handed it to him. He's like, I have to run this to make sure it's not stolen.

[Cody]

I don't think you do.

[Brandon Herrera]

As a cop.

[Cody]

You don't have to.

[Ethan Bernard]

That sounds really weird.

[Cody]

Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

I did have a bunch of guns in the back. And then because it was covered and I didn't have my concealed. Texas.

[Eli Double Tap]

That'll do it.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah. And he pointed out that's why I.

[Cody]

Had back before he had come constitutional.

[Brandon Herrera]

Carry and I had a lot of respect. He's like, hey, just so you know, next time put in a glove compartment. Then you can't get in trouble for concealed carry. He's like, because it was here with a shirt over it that's concealed. And if it was a cop, he's like, you would have got a felony for that. I was like, dude, thank you so much for that.

[Cody]

Appreciate it.

[Eli Double Tap]

Glove compartment, glove box. An extension of your home at that point in some states.

[Cody]

And that's.

[Eli Double Tap]

I was like, don't quote me in all states.

[Cody]

If you're in Illinois, don't try it.

[Brandon Herrera]

Don't try it.

[Ethan Bernard]

It's a good rule of thumb for a lot of stuff in that state.

[Eli Double Tap]

Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

But super thankful all that unfolded that way. But I did when he's like, run the security. I was like, I mean, you can. But the serial number on that gun is literally my name. Like what? It's like, that is a custom built.

[Cody]

One that has Eli69420.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yep. See, he knew it called it came back. He was like handed. Everything's like, hey, yeah, just slow down. Next time you're good to go, don't put the. The gun in the actual glove compartment or center console. Yeah. And then.

[Ethan Bernard]

Or at least before.

[Cody]

Yeah. Constitutional carry now in Texas. Because like a lot of times I'll, you know, take off and put it in the glove.

[Brandon Herrera]

When you reach something, you're licensed to hand it.

[Ethan Bernard]

Right.

[Cody]

Exactly. Super fit, super quick.

[Eli Double Tap]

The wallet shirt. Yeah. When you have to get your wallet to the officer faster.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, just do that.

[Ethan Bernard]

You get out of the car and.

[Cody]

Sprint at him, pulling your wallet out. So you save him time. You know, he doesn't have to.

[Eli Double Tap]

Yep.

[Brandon Herrera]

Unsub tips.

[Ethan Bernard]

It's a good advice, dude.

[Brandon Herrera]

Make sure you get that wallet real quick, officer.

[Eli Double Tap]

You don't want to waste all this time.

[Cody]

He's had a hard day.

[Eli Double Tap]

Cops are really busy. Don't waste the cops time, dude.

[Cody]

But the way I normally do it is, you know, because a lot of times I keep like my registration and insurance and everything in center console with usually a gun if I've like taken it off. Because, you know, if you're driving a long ways. You don't want to keep a gun in your waistband. I. I normally just like ask the cop what they would prefer. Just like, oh, can I see your, you know, registration? Like, my registration is in my glove compartment. I also have a handgun in there, like my carry gun. You know, I'm an ffl. All this sort of stuff. What, What I'll say. How would you like to proceed? Do you still want me to get it? How do you want to do this? And usually if you put the ball back in their court, they're super comfortable.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, yeah, of course, that's the way.

[Eli Double Tap]

Unless it's a female cop, she'll just shoot you.

[Cody]

Yeah, that, that will happen. Joking from time to time. That was a joke. I remember. I'm sure we've told this story on the podcast before, but that one time we were leaving a brunch on like the north side or something, you were in my passenger seat and we. I got pulled over because my registration was out. Fair enough. Female cop rolls up and I just hear Cody like, oh, we're gonna die. My windows are already rolled down.

[Brandon Herrera]

Like, what'd you say next, Cody?

[Cody]

She goes back to her car to go like, run my stuff. I'm like, whatever. Fair enough. You're like, I think I'm just gonna get out of the car, sprint to the tree line, and then put my hands over my head and see what she does.

[Brandon Herrera]

I just love to just cause a chaos to cause chaos.

[Cody]

I'm just like, actively sweating.

[Ethan Bernard]

I'm like, please don't do that.

[Cody]

This is gonna be a very simple interaction.

[Brandon Herrera]

Sober Cody, drunk Cody. It's like the wild card. We're like, I don't know if he's joking. You buckle him in.

[Cody]

He unbuckles himself. I'm like, no, no, no, put that back.

[Brandon Herrera]

Were you ruining my fun, Brandon?

[Cody]

This is. It's like rolling a 20. 20 sided dice. Like, oh, well, let's see how this goes.

[Brandon Herrera]

NATO. Just 20. No, it's the. No, there's anarchy.

[Cody]

You roll below a five. I need to find new best friend.

[Brandon Herrera]

Welcome to the podcast.

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh, dude, I'm having a great time, man. I'm not nearly as well versed as you guys are on any of this stuff, so. I'm just here for the ride, dude.

[Cody]

No, we're all just here for the ride, man.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, just lasting. Having a good time. Damn it. I was gonna. Please. What was the one thing that hit my brain and then disappeared?

[Ethan Bernard]

Fitness challenge numbers?

[Cody]

No.

[Brandon Herrera]

Something else I'm still curious about Those results.

[Cody]

So is the subreddit.

[Brandon Herrera]

Well, that's what we're doing on this. That's this episode.

[Cody]

Yeah. Oh, okay, cool.

[Brandon Herrera]

We're doing an announcement for everything at the beginning of this one. So it'll be slated right at the beginning because hell yeah, we figured this would be the perfect send off for that. It's like, hey, look, we have you on. We want to do all the announcements, motivate everyone, be like, hey. And then also being able to talk to you. And then those individuals, hey, if you want to know, if you want or not, here you go. But also watch the episode. They get more motivated because a lot of people have stayed on track months afterwards and you get a post about them saying, like, I kept the journey going. Who else did? And then all the responses for that.

[Cody]

Which that was always the goal. Like, that's. That's fucking awesome. See people like, not just for like a quick little stint for social media, but people actually make making life changes. Like, that's. That's super inspiring to see.

[Brandon Herrera]

It's hard.

[Cody]

Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

Like, it, it is not easy to actually put in the effort. You're. You're down 30 pounds.

[Cody]

Yeah. Yeah. I was 207 to 177.

[Ethan Bernard]

Dude, where's show?

[Brandon Herrera]

Did show disappear? Sho's gone. Oh, she's upstairs. Like, Sho has lost. I was like, what the fuck? Even this morning it was like, what the. Like, I don't know how much she's lost. She looks fantastic. She's crushing it. Her and Dave are killing it and they're just a gym. Eating right. Eating right's the hardest part. You've discussed that.

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh, yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

This sucks. But it's not that bad.

[Ethan Bernard]

Once you eat, it sucks. How much of it is all food? That's the most frustrating part about it. Like, I talk about this quite often. Like I'm in a position with how big I am, that there's no amount of effort that I could put in on any given day to wake up tomorrow and not have to deal with this body. That sucks, dude. Even if I fasted, you know, like, even if you deprived yourself of all food, I would still wake up tomorrow, 400 plus pound guy. And I'd still have to deal with all the negative repercussions of being that size. And then when you're dealing, like, I don't know, I think a lot of big people deal with the food addiction, whether they've accepted it or not, you know, so when you deal with that constantly too, it sucks so much worse when you realize that the diet and like the calorie deficit is literally like 90% of weight loss.

[Cody]

And the, the crazier part too, that we were talking about a little earlier, if you're okay to talk about it, is the, the fact that you said like you don't even drink. Like you don't drink and you don't, like you don't drink soda. Right. Like I've met a lot of people.

[Ethan Bernard]

I didn't grow up on soda and I never. Yeah, like this is, this is probably like the, the eighth drink I've ever had. And this is probably the strongest one.

[Cody]

5%.

[Ethan Bernard]

Well, because.

[Cody]

Yeah, the crazy part being I know a lot of people that have really struggled with weight, but these are also guys got really big. But I also unironically seen people that are a very large size drinking out of a 2 liter of Mountain Dew as if it is a personal soda. It's like, oh yeah, well no, that's so much, so many calories. But for you it was no alcohol, no soda, none of that. Just food alone.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah. And you know the crazy thing, dude, I was 660 pounds at my heaviest and I was never diabetic.

[Cody]

No shit.

[Ethan Bernard]

That's wild to me. Like even to think about that. That's frickin nuts.

[Brandon Herrera]

God, you need pre diabetic.

[Ethan Bernard]

At my worst.

[Brandon Herrera]

You need to meet our friend Jay Wolf if you want a mammoth of a man.

[Cody]

He's a big boy.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, the biggest of boy. Kindest human.

[Cody]

Seven foot plus.

[Brandon Herrera]

How tall is he? Seven two now.

[Eli Double Tap]

I think he's seven two.

[Cody]

Say seven two now. Like as if he's a growing boy still.

[Eli Double Tap]

I don't know man. You never know.

[Cody]

He might.

[Brandon Herrera]

He is because he's six.

[Eli Double Tap]

Is he 600?

[Brandon Herrera]

He's like 500 or 480.

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh shit.

[Brandon Herrera]

And he is a big. But he is also like when you go to hug, we have a photo of him lifting Rich up like a baby on stage. Like he's like this.

[Cody]

Rich is not a small man.

[Brandon Herrera]

No, it's like just this. The dude's just so big.

[Ethan Bernard]

Wow.

[Brandon Herrera]

He is on a fitness journey too. We want him to go like super into it because he would be seven foot two.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah, dude.

[Cody]

Well, see, my personal goal is just to kidnap Jay Wolf and put him on a mixture of ozempic and trend like Tren acetate.

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh shit.

[Cody]

And just like kind of like Bane just have it like just going into his traps and just turn him into a monster. Because that man has the body to be a super villain.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Ethan Bernard]

I thought we Were gonna go with the fat man camp route.

[Cody]

No, no, no. I want to turn him into a menace.

[Ethan Bernard]

Eat clean. Trend hard.

[Brandon Herrera]

Annavar, give up. If you do the simple.

[Cody]

Like, it's.

[Brandon Herrera]

Funny, the monster of it, you will be Bane. He will break all our bags because.

[Cody]

Jay will Wolf is like the nicest human you'll ever talk to. But, well, maybe not after like a horse dose of Tren. But we'll see. We'll see.

[Brandon Herrera]

Because imagine like, your size and you're like, oh, man. Like, this is now 7 foot 2.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah, that's nuts.

[Brandon Herrera]

And big. And we had Ubers pull up and they would just. Yeah, turn around. We can't. So we'd always have to get like a minivan. And it's like, oh, thank God.

[Cody]

Even some of those, like, even in Nashville, I think one of them just said, like, no, sorry. Like, we can't. Wow.

[Brandon Herrera]

Big boy. Amazing dude. To amazing man. Amazing. Also our security when we have him around because no one fucks with him.

[Cody]

Hasn't he talked about moving down to San Antonio?

[Ethan Bernard]

No.

[Cody]

That's going to be rad.

[Brandon Herrera]

He's a good dude. You have to meet him. If we have, like, shot. Show whatever it is. Brandon, why do you keep sending me money through Cash App with it saying just deck work?

[Cody]

Wait, is that not you doing all my yard work?

[Brandon Herrera]

On the real? I think we all do use Cash App. It's a quick way to pay friends if they owe you money. Finn, where's my money? You told me you could beat the house.

[Cody]

But you know the saying, Fen always wins. Real talk, though. I've used Cash App, like, this week.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, I think actually that's what we use to pay our boxing instructors.

[Eli Double Tap]

We also use it on vacation to pay for brides and just random things.

[Cody]

I was like, hey, let's split this Uber. Let me wire you $20. It's the two best things. It's easier and it's free.

[Brandon Herrera]

Why'd we go to Vegas to build decks? And why were you building decks at.

[Ethan Bernard]

2 in the morning?

[Cody]

She was Hispanic. I thought she was just good at it.

[Eli Double Tap]

Why were you skiing in the snow.

[Brandon Herrera]

At 4am The Cash App can do way more than you think to make your money work for you.

[Cody]

If you direct deposit at least $300 in paychecks each month and use the Cash App card for purchases, you can.

[Eli Double Tap]

Earn up to 4% annual interest on your savings.

[Brandon Herrera]

Also, you can hit your savings goals even faster by turning on the Round Ups feature on your Cash App card.

[Cody]

With roundups, every purchase you make Using the card is rounded up to the nearest dollar and that spare change is automatically put into your savings.

[Brandon Herrera]

Make it work for you.

[Eli Double Tap]

Take advantage of high interest savings on Cash App Today for a limited time.

[Brandon Herrera]

Only new Cash App Cash App customers can use our exclusive code Pause to earn some additional cash. Unpause.

[Cody]

Just download Cash App. Use our exclusive Referral code on sub 10 in your profile. Send $5 to a friend within 14 days and you'll get $10 dropped right into your account.

[Brandon Herrera]

Terms apply.

[Cody]

That's money.

[Brandon Herrera]

That's Cash App.

[Cody]

Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App's bank partners. Prepaid debit cards issued by SunBank member FI FDIC member FDIC see terms and.

[Brandon Herrera]

Conditions at Cash App Legal U.S. and Dash U.S. card Agreement. Direct deposit, overdraft coverage and discounts provided by Cash App, a Block Inc. Brand. Visit cash app.com legal podcast for full disclosure. So what is your overall goals? Once you hit your weight goal for skin reduction and then you hit your actual personal goal, what's next? Is it getting as strong as fuck? Athletic? Like, what is the overall idea for it?

[Ethan Bernard]

I don't really care that much, man. Like, my main goal is to just be able to see what a normal life is like. Cause I've never had that. I was £200 by the age of nine. So I've been tall and super fat my whole life and I've never known what it's like to be normal. And that's pretty much what I'm aiming for.

[Cody]

£200 by the age of nine?

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah.

[Cody]

How tall were you?

[Ethan Bernard]

I have no idea. But I was always like by a few inches. The tallest kid in class. Yeah, so.

[Brandon Herrera]

Damn.

[Eli Double Tap]

Your teachers ever try to get you into football? Constantly.

[Brandon Herrera]

Oh yeah.

[Ethan Bernard]

That whole teenage years, every freaking day someone would cough to me and be like, you play football?

[Brandon Herrera]

We got an idea for you here. Taste crabs.

[Ethan Bernard]

I played tennis in middle school.

[Brandon Herrera]

No shit.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah.

[Cody]

Really? No, I was still thinking of like football. You being the super offensive lineman.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah, yeah. Kids just plowing through them.

[Brandon Herrera]

Dude, nine years aren't stopping you at 200 pounds.

[Cody]

There's. There's offense, a line of bodies, there's defense, offense, punishment.

[Brandon Herrera]

Just a path of the.

[Ethan Bernard]

No, I probably could have just been a wrecking ball.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Ethan Bernard]

At that point.

[Cody]

I think that's why they were trying to recruit you.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

Just crush 9 year olds leading to the quarterback. Oh, we're just replacing him so fast. Okay, so do you have any. You did boxing, you did that. And you're Just like, oh, I don't care. Is there any, like, strength goals that you're trying to hit?

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh, dude, I don't know. I talked to you about this earlier this week. Like, the gym has been hard for me lately. Like, for the past couple months, I've. Mentally, the gym has felt more like a chore than it has felt like something I actually wanted to do. And when you get to that spot with work, working out, it's bad. Like, when you get to the point where it's, like, something that you feel like you have to do as opposed to something that you want to do, it's rough.

[Cody]

Does that impact how often you go.

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh, dude, I haven't been in a month. It was just horrible. But, you know, at the same time, I was, like, thinking back to, like, when I was losing weight the fastest, and what was the most sustainable for me, and it was just getting the 10,000 steps a day and eating correctly. So I don't want to give up the gym. That wasn't, like, the plan to just stop going, but, like, with the holidays and traveling and stuff.

[Cody]

Yeah.

[Ethan Bernard]

You know, I look back at the calendar now, it's like, the beginning of December is the last time me and Danny were there, so.

[Cody]

And I mean, realistically, for weight loss, lifting weights, like, especially for men, like, is not the way to do it. Like, lifting weights is good to, like, build your frame and, like, build muscle, which every guy wants. That's obviously. Obviously the goal, but it's shockingly low when you look at. Compared to other things. Like, calorie burn per hour.

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh, yeah. You don't do it for the calorie burn. And it's like, some people make the argument, they're like, oh, well, if you replace the muscle or you replace the fat with muscle, it'll burn calories more. But, like, a lot of people don't understand this, but fat burns calories, too. Like, I don't. That sounds stupid, but it does. Like, there's a reason I burn as many calories as I do. It's because of how big I am.

[Cody]

Just having to carry around the weight.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Ethan Bernard]

Like, the literal. Like, the mass will just, like, make you burn more.

[Brandon Herrera]

If I'm walking around with 200 extra pounds, that's like squatting weight workout. That's gonna. Yeah, that's a workout.

[Cody]

Not to be too crass about it, but, like, you're basically always rucking.

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh, for sure.

[Cody]

If you think about it.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah. One of the guys I met in Orlando is like, you're basically. Every time you get up or do anything. You're resistance training.

[Cody]

Yeah.

[Ethan Bernard]

Like, yeah. Just sounds stupid. But he's not wrong, you know, 100%.

[Brandon Herrera]

That's a, it's.

[Ethan Bernard]

But you know, I would, I wouldn't mind like continuing to push the weights and eventually doing like, maybe just strongman stuff for fun. I would never ever care less about doing any of it, even semi professionally.

[Brandon Herrera]

I'm going to throw Danny. What? Make him go to the gym when you don't want. So both of you will have that problem where it's like, I don't want to go to the gym. I don't want to go.

[Ethan Bernard]

He had, he actually has his own gym schedule now. He's just doing his own thing.

[Brandon Herrera]

Make him go.

[Cody]

Yeah, Actually convincing him not to go.

[Brandon Herrera]

No, don't do that. Drag him.

[Cody]

That's horrible.

[Brandon Herrera]

Me and Br. Like, I, I text Brandon, I'm like, hey, you want a gym? One gym.

[Cody]

And there's a lot of times that I wouldn't have gone. I'm just like, oh, yeah, sure.

[Brandon Herrera]

Now, the day after New Year's, I text Brian. He's like, not, I am hurting tomorrow. I text him that day, he's like, not gonna lie, I drank again. Yeah, I need another day.

[Cody]

Not gonna lie, I recovered from New Year's too well.

[Brandon Herrera]

It's like, okay, I'll go to the gym. I'm not getting out there.

[Cody]

Yeah. But other than that, we normally keep ourselves in check pretty well. Just like, all right, gym tomorrow. Yep.

[Brandon Herrera]

Go do it. Just force him.

[Ethan Bernard]

Well, no. So like the mental aspect of it, man, like, you got to realize, like with the nerve injury and everything, like I told you earlier at the boxing gym, like, I am a 440 pound man who benches 125.

[Cody]

But, and, and like I told you in the boxing gym and again, tell me if there's anything that's too personal here.

[Ethan Bernard]

But like, no, it's all fine.

[Cody]

They, the doctors told you that like, you would never be able to have that mobility again.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah.

[Cody]

So you were supposed to be able to bench £0 for the rest the of of your life. So small victories, 125 pounds. When the doctors told you that was impossible is incredible.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah, they, yeah, the nerve stuff is so stupid because they're so uncertain about it. They're like, we can't tell you if you'll ever be able to lift your arm again.

[Cody]

Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

And injuries are scary. Brandon. Got to watch my bench just fucking.

[Cody]

Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

Deteriorate for a month. And I've never had the itis, like A minuscule tear on my shoulder. But when I was struggling to do push ups, all of a sudden I was like, that's weird. I can't do pushups. And 135 pounds was a lot to me, and that was a drop of, like, £150 from my normal. I was like, what the fuck, dude?

[Ethan Bernard]

I literally failed 135 in Philly. I did a Philly trip with my trainer and the jocko team, and on the final day, we tried to push, like, plates for the first time. Like, 45 on each side, and I just could not do it. Like, I did, like, five reps of 125, which was a PR for me. But 135, dude, that's like my cutoff. Which feel, you know, feels crazy. I know this is all in my head, but, like, I feel really weird going into the gym as the fat guy to begin with, right? Let alone the fat guy who is bringing his little phone in on a tripod. And then let alone the also being as big as I am and also, like, lifting as little as I do. Like, I know it's all. It's all like, I know none of that should matter. It's all in my head because I just.

[Brandon Herrera]

Like, you'll. For me, it is watching somebody like that. You do that. That motivates the. Out of me, because I don't think, what a dumb. I think that dude's trying. Hell yeah.

[Cody]

Yeah. You don't look at that and you think, gross. You know, like, if you see somebody big.

[Ethan Bernard]

That's how I look at myself a lot, though. So, like, I do kind of look at it like that, but I know that's all me.

[Cody]

But you're worried about what other people think. And I can. I can honestly tell you that, like, in the gym, these are all people that have taken a step to better themselves, because they are there. And at least I know me. And like, a lot of the people that I know, like, our mindset when we get there is, you see somebody like that and you're like, yeah, that guy got off. That guy got off the couch. Like, that guy's taking steps. He's doing. Like, that's cool. Like, I think that that's, again, it's motivating.

[Brandon Herrera]

That's all it is. And that's what you should go. And especially with that mindset is like, you're beating yourself up. Instead, when you go to the gym and you're doing that, think of, oh, one person, one idiot might think that. I guarantee everyone else is thinking Holy shit, that is dope.

[Cody]

If that one guy who's like, look at that piece of. If that guy voiced that, he would get the fuck bullied out of him by everybody in that gym. Because it's like, that's. That's like the. The one thing you don't do. And if somebody's trying to better themselves, to put them down for that, you.

[Brandon Herrera]

You get to see that now on social media. It's like anyone that tries to bully an individual, getting in shape, they might be big, they might be overweight, fat, whatever it is, but they're in the gym doing it. And then you see, like, girls or guys. I'm like, look at this. And you get to see those girls.

[Eli Double Tap]

That's when old Joey Swole swoops in. Oh, it's a fool out of everyone.

[Brandon Herrera]

I love that.

[Cody]

Yep.

[Brandon Herrera]

Because then, as everyone says, it is motivating. That's. You have to have that mindset of going in and be like, I'm. I'm doing this for myself. But also anyone that's watching or somebody that's hesitant of going into the gym or self aware or embarrassed, they're going to.

[Cody]

Self conscious.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, self conscious. Yeah. Like, self aware is fine. Self conscious. It is what you're saying. It is. You are that motivating factor. Because then they get a look at you and be like, oh, he's doing it. Okay, I'll go do the same thing.

[Cody]

Even, like, I've been to, like, some of the, like, the steroid kind of gyms where I, like, walk in. I'm like, I don't belong. I'm just a guy who's just like Gold's Gym. Like, regular. Like, I try to be, like, fairly athletic, you know, build decent muscle mass, just normal guy. And then, like, I've walked into those, like, the, the. The gym me and Clean used to go to was like one of those where they had photos on the wall of people that won Mr. Olympia.

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[Cody]

Bodybuilding gym. They're giant and intimidating people, and they're the kindest people you'll ever talk to. Yeah, it was like, oh, you made it in the gym. Congrats.

[Ethan Bernard]

Step one.

[Cody]

Yeah, let's, like, no matter what you're lifting, like, they're just so, like, uplifting.

[Eli Double Tap]

They're just cool trend. Yeah.

[Cody]

By the way, I got a dealer. It's like, no, no.

[Brandon Herrera]

What's your number?

[Cody]

At least. That's always been my experience.

[Ethan Bernard]

No, I, I appreciate that, man. And it was. Honestly, it's more. It was never the people in person that I was worried about. It was always just the bullshit online. But that's like, I've talked your guys fricking ears off about that this week. That's just something I know I shouldn't have let affect me as much as it has. But in the past, I was really.

[Brandon Herrera]

Just like, we were talking, so I.

[Ethan Bernard]

I was just really in bad spaces because of that stuff.

[Brandon Herrera]

Man.

[Cody]

The fun part about mental health is you don't get to choose it.

[Brandon Herrera]

And I told him, I was like, dude, okay, how many positive comments? He's like, like 500. And how many negative? He's like 20. I was like, brother, you are sifting through those mountains of positive comments. You're like, but look what he said. Like, yeah, but that those. Oh, look how many people said the opposite of that.

[Eli Double Tap]

Yeah, it's like, yeah, that guy has an anime profile picture opinion.

[Ethan Bernard]

A lot of the time it's just blank. It's ridiculous.

[Cody]

You know, somebody. It was actually administrative results. Aaron, he gave me some really profound advice that I've tried to follow and failed more often than not.

[Brandon Herrera]

Don't pull out.

[Ethan Bernard]

Great.

[Eli Double Tap]

No, that's Grant, though.

[Ethan Bernard]

Holy fuck.

[Eli Double Tap]

I love you, Mike.

[Ethan Bernard]

Meet me with a better punchline. And now that's his first impression of me.

[Cody]

But he gave me really good advice about, you know, positive comments versus negative comments. Because, you know, we see, you know, thousands of positive comments and then just. It's the. The couple of negative that you see that just, like, really stick with you, especially if there's a grain of truth to it, even if they're being like an asshole.

[Ethan Bernard]

That was not to get. Not to interrupt you, but holy shit. Last year, when some of the negative comments started saying what I was thinking.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Ethan Bernard]

Bro, that's when it, like, really?

[Cody]

That's when it hurts.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah.

[Cody]

Yeah, 100%. But the one thing Aaron told me that, like, really stuck with me and, like, said, not been the best steward of this advice. But if you're going to engage with comments at all, because, you know, all of us are like, inclined to respond like, nuh. To the negative comments. Yeah, he said, try to at least respond to as many positive comments as you do negative. Because if you're just responding to negative comments, you're just putting negative energy out there. You're encouraging user behavior. Like, you're encouraging people to say negative stuff. Try to engage to positive comments. And like, man, I've tried to do that because that is just such a healthy rule.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah, that's good.

[Brandon Herrera]

Point them. And then I just don't give a shit. That's why I always say you just. I would forget. Dude, I love. I literally. I do not check anything. The one, the Stranger Things. Stranger Things. I woke up and I was like, oh, that's a lot of things. That was the videos. I was like. Or the views. I was like, what the fuck? Why is it at 4. 4 million, 3.9 million. I was like, reading that money. Yeah. I was like, I'm not reading that. That's a lot. I'll read the top ones and I'll be like, thank you. Or the bikini, because I find that hilarious. I'm like, grok, put us in bikinis. Because I just seen the hoes just.

[Ethan Bernard]

Having a. I scrolled past that as fast as I could.

[Cody]

Dude, me too.

[Brandon Herrera]

I didn't seen everyone. I was like, why is this the thing? Oh, that's actually hilarious. Pentagon photo. Gronk put us in bikinis.

[Cody]

Eli is the drive by shooter of Twitter.

[Brandon Herrera]

And then Cody's like, eli, what are you doing? That was my favorite reply.

[Eli Double Tap]

They just all look jacked, though. I like that part. He was pretty cool, dude.

[Brandon Herrera]

I know you guys have banes and Nick was the smallest.

[Cody]

Play four bodybuilder.

[Eli Double Tap]

Nevermind. Isaac Bryant.

[Brandon Herrera]

It's hard. I think the negative comments, Cody, probably is the best advice. I mean, you get positive and negative.

[Eli Double Tap]

I got a lot of negative.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, you get death threats and it's wild, but you stay so positive. You just don't give a shit on that stuff.

[Cody]

You get a lot of negative comments, but I've only ever seen you get negative comments. But I've only ever seen positive interactions in person too.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah. Yeah. These are all just, oh, I'm the same way.

[Eli Double Tap]

I try. I don't even read comments anymore, to be honest with you. I'll read like the top three or four, say hello, and then that's it. I'll just turn my phone off. It's bad for your mental health, man. Yeah, you know, when I. When I started, like, sort of streaming and YouTube and all that stuff, I would. I was obsessed with every single negative comment and it drove me crazy. And I knew it was just bad for me. So I'll read the top couple, say, hey, done. Yeah, yeah. And then go people on Twitter.

[Cody]

There you go.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, I'm not reading those negative bullies turn to bully.

[Cody]

Hey, Governor Tim Wallace.

[Eli Double Tap]

I'm not stuck in here with them. They're stuck in here with me, brother.

[Cody]

The president called you.

[Ethan Bernard]

I'm about to.

[Cody]

To call you worse.

[Brandon Herrera]

Love.

[Cody]

You think that words bad Wait till you find out some of my favorites.

[Brandon Herrera]

It's so good.

[Eli Double Tap]

Someone just called me the best white people slur I've ever heard. Right before we got on this podcast.

[Cody]

Oh, was it because of the last episode?

[Eli Double Tap]

No, no. I was just making fun of someone. But as you do, you know, it was. It was a racially motivated post. It was one of those comments. Someone was like, they would have shot.

[Cody]

That guy if he was black.

[Eli Double Tap]

And I'm like, no, they wouldn't. And someone said, shut up, cum skin. I was like, I can't be mad at that. That's awesome.

[Brandon Herrera]

You just reshare it. Retweet that.

[Cody]

Yeah, well, because the reason I say that is the last episode we put out was. Or at least at time of recording was the one with Bar none.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Cody]

And so the whole episode was, like, trying to seek the best white slur I forgot. So I think you finally found it.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah.

[Eli Double Tap]

Gumskin.

[Brandon Herrera]

Dude, that rumple.

[Cody]

Rumple cum skin. All right, Wikipedia, add it. Add it to the list.

[Brandon Herrera]

Oh, we gotta get Jake back on it. Such a good episode. Everyone's like, man, Cody talked. They were like, I think you talked more in that one episode than all of Unsub. Because he was riled. He was like, yeah, he riled you up.

[Eli Double Tap]

Me and him also had a couple of drinks in us. I think we all were doing a little bit of heavy drinking that night.

[Cody]

Well, two of us were.

[Eli Double Tap]

Oh, yeah, that was fun. It was a good one.

[Cody]

It was me and Eli trying to keep it on the rails. You guys were just feeding off each other.

[Brandon Herrera]

And then we went out to eat afterwards. And you were like, he didn't remember going. And he was asking you the same questions over and over.

[Cody]

Yeah, it was just like, so where are you from again? That happened five times over the course of dinner.

[Brandon Herrera]

And he's like, brandon also does it really well. You don't know they're drunk.

[Cody]

Yeah, I'm decently good at it, depending. But of what?

[Ethan Bernard]

Like, hiding when you are? Yeah.

[Eli Double Tap]

Or.

[Cody]

Well, no, I just. Well, also part of it is, like, pacing. Like, I just. I don't enjoy being drunk. Like, I don't enjoy the sensation. Like, I'll have a couple drinks, like, knock the edge off. I genuinely do not enjoy, like, the sensation of being hammered. It's not fun to me. Like, just, like, I get nauseous. Just the motion. I just, you know, not a big fan. So just it's about pacing.

[Brandon Herrera]

And then when you get hangovers, when you get older, fucking the worst thing hangovers. When you're, like, 38.

[Eli Double Tap]

Yeah. Like I said, after New Year's, it took me, like, four days to recover, dude.

[Brandon Herrera]

It is like, I've had three drinks. I'm like, my God, I drink so much water now. Yeah. This is very bad for my soul right here.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah. I don't know. Honestly, I don't think I've ever been drunk. Like, I think maybe two or three of these is the most I've ever had in one sitting. But I'm also ginormous. I know your weight doesn't directly equate to how much you can drink.

[Cody]

It has a lot to.

[Ethan Bernard]

But I know it means a lot.

[Cody]

Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

You might not drink much, but it is. It does correlate very heavily.

[Ethan Bernard]

Well, that's what I was gonna say. Like, I've had maybe three of those Seagrams that I mentioned earlier. That was, like, the most alcohol I've ever consumed at one time. And I never. I didn't really feel much.

[Cody]

I had an old mentor when I was back in college. He was, like, a gunsmithing mentor who was partially Native American. And I'm dead fucking serious. I knew that, like, Native American blood, like, you kind of had, like, a sensitivity to alcohol. Like, that's, you know, a historic thing.

[Ethan Bernard]

What, so they're, like, more susceptible to becoming drunk?

[Cody]

Oh, yeah.

[Ethan Bernard]

Okay.

[Cody]

Because they don't have that, you know, resistance to it, or.

[Brandon Herrera]

I don't necessarily. I think it's an enzyme to break it down in their liver or how it's broken. Broken down is different.

[Cody]

It's like typing opposite of the Irish.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yep, exactly. But they have that.

[Cody]

I. I thought it was. Oh, you know, it's one of those things where, like. Oh, I thought, like, a Native American might be, like, 10, 20% more susceptible. I. I, at one point, I had brought, like, a six pack of. I was young. It was like Angry Orchard, which nowadays I'm like, oh, my God. So much. I couldn't finish with one today, but, like, you know, brought over a six pack just, you know, around after hours. He had one of them, and he was, like, confined to the chair. Can't speak English, Piss your pants drunk. And I have never seen anything like it before or since.

[Ethan Bernard]

Wow.

[Brandon Herrera]

Wild.

[Cody]

Yeah, he legit. And. And it was over quick, too. It was like 10 minutes. 10 minutes. He was just like, I think I'm about peeing myself. Like that, sort of like, just completely fucking blasted. I've never experienced anything like that. Like, that's. Wow.

[Brandon Herrera]

There was the one guy I do not remember. He streamed and he told me, he told us. And then his like, everyone knew. But I didn't believe it at first. It was like, oh, I can't get drunk. I was like, what? No, that's not possible. He's like, no. Like, literally how my body breaks it down, I cannot get drunk. It just whatever gets you drunk or intoxicated, it flushes it out. I do not. And then, sure, shit, we streamed and he streamed drinking. He's like, tell me when to do shots. I will open a brand new bottle. It's not gonna do anything. Like half a bottle, nothing. He's like, no, I don't drink because of this. I cannot get drunk.

[Cody]

So he's got the pictos where he's just like, oh, yeah, it'll just do direct HP damage and absolutely no side effects.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah, it'll go through your whole, whole caloric intake and just not just none of the benefits.

[Cody]

Oh, congratulations, you hurt your liver. Got 3,000 calories and got no benefit out of it.

[Brandon Herrera]

I was like, now you're. You are a gamer. Oh, yeah, we, we have multiple. So you do first person shooters, which is everyone's wheelhouse. Cody does first person shooters and you do like.

[Eli Double Tap]

I'm doing World of Warcraft right, right now, dude. I'm hardcore into it.

[Cody]

You're.

[Brandon Herrera]

Are you playing vanilla or like new updated?

[Eli Double Tap]

Yeah, the classic. The classic vanilla? Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

Are you doing hardcore classic?

[Eli Double Tap]

No, no, that's.

[Cody]

I tried it.

[Eli Double Tap]

It stressed me out so bad.

[Ethan Bernard]

Dude.

[Brandon Herrera]

On a any on a soft raid, you're like, what's fine?

[Eli Double Tap]

Dead done, character's done off on.

[Cody]

No, because that's, you know, dozens of hours that just completely evaporate.

[Brandon Herrera]

Dozens. That is days.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah.

[Cody]

This is like, how do you have the time?

[Brandon Herrera]

That's why I don't play hardcore.

[Eli Double Tap]

I'm making them at night, dude.

[Ethan Bernard]

I wouldn't start a hardcore one.

[Brandon Herrera]

Dude. How many days would it take to get a level 50 in OG? Like vanilla. Wow.

[Eli Double Tap]

Like, or level cap 60?

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Eli Double Tap]

It'll take you at least two weeks if you're like dungeon boosting if you're speed running it. But if you take your time and do quests, it could take you a month.

[Brandon Herrera]

And that is.

[Ethan Bernard]

Brandon, if you die, it's all gone.

[Cody]

Oh yeah, no, I know. That's why it's fucking insane to me that this is fun to people.

[Eli Double Tap]

I got a dude to level like 25 on hardcore and I was just stressed all the time. It's like I'm not even enjoying this shit anymore.

[Cody]

It's just like life. Yeah. Pretty much I've made it 30 years and I'm just stressed and I can die tomorrow. Yeah, this isn't even fun anymore. I can't even start a new save.

[Brandon Herrera]

Dude, I would never be Tank. Yeah, playing with randoms, but you know how to heal, bro. You don't know how to heal. Oh, one bad pool. One bad pool and your team's gone. Like that's how. When you're doing instances, if you have a bad team, that no one knows shit. If you have one bad team in a bad pool, that is everyone.

[Cody]

You have your own guild, right?

[Eli Double Tap]

Yeah, yeah, it's on the. Okay, yeah, I'm gonna shout it out real quick. It's on the 21st anniversary server. It's the Night Slayer Realm horde. Of course, alliance is gay. And it's called the Geneva suggestion. So named after the unsubbed tour. So if anyone wants to join, that's where it's at.

[Brandon Herrera]

Our boy Fadar. I love that is the most random French.

[Eli Double Tap]

Pretty random. Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

This is a guy I knew from World of Warcraft or Sorry, EverQuest. Then World of Warcraft, Fires of Heaven, Foh. Guild board from 2001 and then what? He knows Cody?

[Eli Double Tap]

Yeah, he like, we ran in each other on wow. And he joined my guild and he's.

[Ethan Bernard]

Like, oh, I know Eli 25 years ago.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah. And he like, he was in. He's a very good MMO player.

[Cody]

Oh, dude, he's incredible. I did do the mental math. I'm like, how far. How old was Eli 25 years ago?

[Brandon Herrera]

Unfortunately, still old. 15 at that point. 16.

[Cody]

I mean, according to Jeffrey. Nevermind.

[Brandon Herrera]

But I was the legal age for him. But he's like that dude a monster player because they played back in the EQ days, which was the most unforgiving fucking game. Especially when you played MMOs. That was I. If you died now, it's not hardcore like character loss, but if you died in everquest back in 99 to 2002, you lost half a bubble. Half a bubble. You are looking at 20 hours in game of grinding off. If you die one time, guess who. Never bad players did not make it to level 50 and then level 60. Like there was no one bad that made it that far in the game. Because there is that reality check. It's like.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

And you could D level.

[Ethan Bernard]

You could.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yo. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That game is fucking brutal, dude. No maps, no nothing. Quests you had to type in and then hope it worked. There was no like. You know how video games have like the exclamation Point or the question mark. That did not exist at this time. It was word of mouth vendors, auction houses didn't existed. You had to trade with players and barter like you. Everyone created their own zone of where they'd meet up to barter.

[Cody]

Or could you. I was gonna say could you Bully players like PvP wise, like, trade me this for this or I will kill you and end your save.

[Brandon Herrera]

If you are in PvP servers, there was different ways. Or if you're just a bag like a lot of us, you'd be like, hey, new players, dude, we troll the out of new players. You'd be like, hey, how do I trade? I'd be like, dude, you need money? They'd be like, yeah. Because they'd beg online. They'd beg and shout all like, dude, where are you? Yeah, I got money for you here, come here. And they're like, how do I trade? It's like, oh, I got some good money for you here. I need you to hit slash T or slash P slash T slash C. Slash C and my name. Type that in and then we'll. Good, I can trade you. I'm like, oh, okay, that makes sense. Slash C type of names. Like they challenge you to a duel. Slash D. Duel, that is. And it's like they challenge you to a duel and you hit. Yes. And you go and kill them and their body is there and all their stuff stays on their corpse until they walk back out to it.

[Cody]

Because I remember, I think you were telling me where they had this thing where like you could own sheep or like whatever that would just like walk out on the map.

[Brandon Herrera]

On which one. This would be different.

[Cody]

I don't remember which game it was, but you were telling me like you could just own livestock. That would be something that you could just hunt in the game. Maybe it wasn't you. Maybe it was clean.

[Brandon Herrera]

That's probably a clean.

[Cody]

But like you could just. They would bully new players that way because like veteran players could not engage like newbie players unless the newbie players engage them first. But they could like own livestock, animals or whatever and just let them loose.

[Eli Double Tap]

You can do that in. You can with people in hardcore.

[Ethan Bernard]

Wow.

[Eli Double Tap]

If you're a hunter, I think that's. You tame a beast that looks like something in that area and then you get your pet and you walk it out there and let them. The new people doing a quest will think like, oh, that bear over there is part of this quest and they'll attack your pet and then you just stomp them out.

[Cody]

I think it was me, you and Clean that were talking about.

[Eli Double Tap]

It might have been.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah. That's messed up.

[Eli Double Tap]

That's fucked up, dude.

[Brandon Herrera]

Dude trolling and old OG everquest also you could. There was Oasis island and it is where everyone from 10 to 20 would level up. You would level up on the orcs and then for whatever reason, they had this little island in the middle with a portal. And then the level 46 specters which could one shot anything. Like level 50s max level. You do not fuck with specters. If you did invisible and you ran by, you could collect all four of them and then you run any J J boots because you can't outrun anything unless you have boots that come later in the game. You just grab and then they would follow you until you zone out. So they just follow. You have four level 46 specters that can one shot anything and then you just take him to or oh no, newbie island. And they will kill anything in the way to get to you. So they will one shot everything. Because it wasn't, oh, I can only attack this individual because they hit me. It was, I'm pissed, I'm chasing that guy. I'm killing everything along the way though. And so you just have a line of death.

[Cody]

So you're just bringing Deathclaw Valley into New Vegas?

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, every time. And they couldn't see you cause you're invisible. So they were like, who the fuck trade specters to, eh? I mean, let's just zone out, come back in and then on the way back they'd kill everything.

[Cody]

So you were just an asshole.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, I mean it was 99, 2001, I was 15, living my best life. What games? So what kind of games are you into?

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh man, when I was streaming I was doing all shooters, like pretty much. Like I enjoy single player games. That's all I've been playing lately. Like I this past year. Holy shit, guys. I used to play like 60 hours of games a week. I do like five or six now. Like I'm really not great with time management. So like my schedule isn't technically busy, but I am always busy, right? So, you know, I've a couple single player games. Like thankfully Expedition came out before all the social media stuff happened. So I was just sitting on my ass. So yeah, I played it the day it came out, I picked up my copy and I did not pick up another game until I 100% that. Oh shit.

[Cody]

I got into it after Eli bullied me into getting into it and it was best decision.

[Ethan Bernard]

It's a Game worth convincing people to play.

[Eli Double Tap]

I'll go back and try it, man.

[Brandon Herrera]

Dude, Cody. My favorite thing was like, oh, yeah. I ran into that side box. You can't beat. I'm gonna come back. And I was like, oh, you can beat him. And just. You could play perfect. He's like, you can beat that. Like, yeah, you have to play it perfect.

[Cody]

Well, so you could just choose to move past it. It was like the guy in the first area, I think the mime.

[Ethan Bernard]

No, no, fuck the mimes.

[Cody]

The mimes. Yeah, hate him.

[Brandon Herrera]

It was after they've landed on the island and happiness happened.

[Ethan Bernard]

Was it the scuba guy? The guy with the underwater mask?

[Eli Double Tap]

It was like a big green monster. Wasn't it on the right?

[Cody]

It was like in the first area.

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh, like in the Overworld, before the overall.

[Brandon Herrera]

Before you even hit the Overworld, there is that one side. If you go under, it's. You can fight everything and actually win. It's like trading. He's the only one that will one shot you no matter fucking what. And you have to be perfect on timing. Otherwise.

[Ethan Bernard]

I loved the combat in that, like being forced to learn when to dodge and parry and stuff was like.

[Brandon Herrera]

This is the most text I have from Brandon is when we were playing.

[Cody]

I remember that one boss because I didn't know what the fuck you were talking about because I immediately. Because they're optional. Yeah, because I just remember like walking straight past him, like seeing him. I'm like, that dude looks scary as fuck. And just kept moving.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah.

[Cody]

Did not ever have to fight him. I went back later and like one shot him just out of principal principle. But like. Yeah, yeah, no, I mean, I love the fact that you get to choose who you fight for the most part anyway.

[Brandon Herrera]

Such a good game. Cody, you got it.

[Eli Double Tap]

I'll give it another try.

[Ethan Bernard]

No, yeah, absolutely.

[Eli Double Tap]

You guys still talk about it and this was months ago that it came out.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah, it came out. What, like last March or something? Like, it was.

[Cody]

It's not like that one friend that's like, oh, we should play this game. You should definitely give them $20 and like you play it for one night and never play it again. It's not one of those.

[Brandon Herrera]

No, you don't. I was like, Brandon does not like turn based or JRPGs. And I was like, dude, you will still love the shit out of this because this is not turn based combat. This made it fun for the first time ever in turn based combat. This is a fucking blast.

[Cody]

The story is worth it alone.

[Ethan Bernard]

What I like a lot about it too is like, like I'm not a big turn based combat fan either. But the fact that the exploration and stuff was still you literally controlling a character.

[Cody]

Yeah.

[Ethan Bernard]

So you still got to like explore these worlds and enjoy the level design of like a traditional third person game on top of their insane combat system.

[Cody]

I just realized it's kind of like Pokemon in 3D.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Cody]

You're walking around a world and you.

[Ethan Bernard]

Just get to choose which is.

[Cody]

Oh, I'm gonna engage.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah. It's funny because I've always like, before this game came out, I've always told people the only good turn based game is Pokemon. It's the only turn based game I've ever enjoyed except for a few of the final fantasies, you know.

[Brandon Herrera]

I'm so excited for you to try.

[Cody]

I will, I will. You know what?

[Eli Double Tap]

I. I'll actually do it tonight.

[Brandon Herrera]

You.

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh, dude, it's so freaking good once.

[Brandon Herrera]

You get into it. There is a reason. It just broke every record for like winning every award is hilarious.

[Cody]

And you swept the gaming awards for.

[Brandon Herrera]

$10 million, like Indie Game. And then people were shitting. I was like, well, oh, it was AI generated. And they're like, well, no, it was one like asset.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah, it was like one small asset that was.

[Brandon Herrera]

And then that's why they were shitting. Like that's the only reason it wasn't game of the year. And you're like, no cards. It's because it was a good game.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

That writing was fantastic. The characters were fantastic. The music. I give two fucks about music.

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh, dude. It wasn't even English and it was still like so powerful, man.

[Cody]

Not to give away any spoilers, but I didn't realize that if you actually, if you, if you know French, so many of the words that they use like the gommage and different things like that and different things that are said in the music itself give away the plot to the game very early.

[Ethan Bernard]

I listened to a singer who did a translated version of one of the songs and it was wild.

[Cody]

If you were in France playing this game, you were like hammer fisted with the plot before, like.

[Brandon Herrera]

Well, the main song. I didn't realize they were singing. They were just saying Clair obscure the entire time. With the other words. I was like, oh, they're just saying the name of this game. I'm stupid.

[Ethan Bernard]

Well, I think this is true. I've saw like. Claire. Obscure is apparently French for like light and dark, which is so cool. It's like so badass to think about when you think about the game. But I saw an article recently that one of their game directors was like, we're not planning on upping the production of the next one.

[Brandon Herrera]

Good.

[Ethan Bernard]

Like, they're just going back to what they did. They're just kind of like going back in their hole and doing what they did and doing it again.

[Cody]

I'm very excited for what the second one might do. We talked about this. I just don't want to give any spoilers to people who haven't played the game yet. Because it's worth playing.

[Ethan Bernard]

It really is.

[Brandon Herrera]

Oh, I know.

[Cody]

Oh.

[Brandon Herrera]

If it goes to the other storyline.

[Ethan Bernard]

I'm like, oh, well, that's the thing with that universe. Because the next title will be a Clair Obscure game. Whatever they do, it's gonna be ridiculous.

[Brandon Herrera]

Everything possible. And then I loved the voice act. The main voice actor that won. And once it took off, he didn't know his character name. He didn't know the game. He was like. I went in and acted. He was like, that was it.

[Cody]

It was like one day. Yeah, yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

And then he's like. People were running up and being like, oh, my God, Gustav. I think it was Gustav.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah. And he's like, Charlie Cox, the guy who played Daredevil.

[Cody]

Yeah.

[Ethan Bernard]

Voiced Gustav. And then when. When someone asked him about it. Interview. Interview. He's like, what?

[Brandon Herrera]

He had no clue. And then he started winning video game awards for best actor and he was like, what the is?

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah. I think Maelle's voice actress won best performance at the game awards.

[Brandon Herrera]

Dude. Cody. Oh, you're gonna. We'll put you in a group chat.

[Eli Double Tap]

I haven't played it since release and I only got to that first starting area, so I'll go back and replay everything.

[Cody]

It won't make you feel very good.

[Ethan Bernard]

I'm surprised that the game didn't capture you because I feel like most people who like just right off the get go that game just like crazy.

[Brandon Herrera]

Well, it depends.

[Cody]

The first half hour.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah. The intro. The intro. I was like, like, holy False Paris. Yeah.

[Cody]

That whole. Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

Did you hear how far show is shows she's already in. Like halfway through J. Yeah. Halfway through act two. I was like, holy. You're like.

[Cody]

Because she.

[Brandon Herrera]

At brunch day or lunch today, she was like eli playing Expedition 33. I was like, get the fuck out of here. What? Yeah, let's fucking go. How far are you this far?

[Cody]

How long she been there?

[Ethan Bernard]

We said, how far? And she goes deep. Me and Elm are like, wait a minute. What does that mean?

[Cody]

There's like, what do you know?

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, it's A journey.

[Ethan Bernard]

Shit, man.

[Brandon Herrera]

Have fun with it.

[Ethan Bernard]

I can't even remember the last game that I remember as fondly as that. Like I have a few, like my top three of all time, like Elden Ring and Breath of the Wild and stuff. But like, that game is ridiculous.

[Cody]

I feel like this game studio needs to be paying us for how much we've talked about. But like it's. They don't, for the record. But I feel like they should because for fuck's sake, like, I. I can't remember the last time we've advocated this hard for something.

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh, dude, it's ridiculous. I bought. I got my physical copy day one. I bought the collector's edition, the limited edition, and the Amazon limited edition. And I'm just keeping them sealed. Yeah, even opening them, dude. I ordered the frickin vinyls. I don't even own a record player.

[Brandon Herrera]

My man pulling Eli on that, I.

[Ethan Bernard]

Was obsessed with that, dude. I was like, you know, in my mind, like a piece of art like that, regardless whether it's a game.

[Cody]

Yeah.

[Ethan Bernard]

Does not come around very often.

[Brandon Herrera]

Trust me.

[Cody]

I know fucking Eli immediately. Like earlier this F1 season, he's like, buy a Max Verstappen rookie card.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

This grade, do this, this, this. I was like, trust me. And it's already fucking like, like, trust me, this is. This will go really far. And that's one game. Looking at him, I was like, like, I'm trying to find all the exact same ones you just listed. Because they shot up in price.

[Ethan Bernard]

Because I didn't even buy them to resell. I just bought them because I like collecting that shit, you know.

[Brandon Herrera]

They shot up in price, I'm sure. Motherfucker. Dude. And then what I think, I mean, covers damn near everything for an episode. We got a show if we want to do an after show.

[Cody]

Yeah, well, I mean, is there anything that you'd like to talk about? Yeah. While you got the floor.

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh, I don't know, man. I just think this. This journey is just so freaking nuts, man.

[Cody]

It's understatement of the year, man.

[Ethan Bernard]

You know, I can't even comprehend it. Looking back on last year, dude. Like, you guys got to realize, like, I was in a place where I didn't even know why God kept me alive after the hospital, you know, Because I had hit it off on Twitch and I was enjoying my life for the first time and I was starting to lose weight and all that got taken away and I spent a few years not even knowing why I was here. And then that happened last May it all started happening, and I was like, holy shit. I have, for the first time since 2021, I feel like I'm actually on the path that I'm supposed to be on. And that's wild feeling.

[Cody]

It's a good feeling, I'm sure.

[Ethan Bernard]

Especially knowing the impact it has.

[Eli Double Tap]

Yeah.

[Ethan Bernard]

You know, because, like, we're at a point now, man. Like, I get recognized everywhere. It's ridiculous. Like, on the street, gas stations, like Target, Walmart, GameStop. Like, it's. It's like, actually ridiculous. But when I get to meet some of those people and then they. Not only some of them tell me about their own journeys, but then to also hear, like, firsthand the impact that the videos that I've created. Dude, it's, like, priceless.

[Cody]

Not to get too sappy about it, but if you think about it, like, what we were talking about a little bit earlier, like, the amount of sacrifice that you've done personally and just, you know, hey, I'm gonna make these personal sacrifices to make sure that I get healthier and I. I lose all this weight and everything, and you've given 20, 25 years to your future children. Extrapolate that out into all the people that you've inspired to do stuff like this. And you've granted hundreds, if not thousands of years to other people who've been inspired by your journey to do the same thing. That's a crazy thought, and I think it's something to be proud of.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah, I appreciate that, man. That's what I always. Some people get mad at me from one of my taglines, but, like, one of my taglines is, like, when I do something difficult, I'm at the end of the video, I'll go, like, if I can do something like that at my size, imagine what you can do. And then they're like, yeah, but we don't do social media full time. And I'm like, you don't need to. You don't need to.

[Cody]

You didn't either when you started.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah, like, you don't need to do that to, like, hit your step goal or do what I just did in the gym, you know, like, followers to.

[Cody]

Walk down the road.

[Eli Double Tap]

So.

[Ethan Bernard]

But no, then, like, that's. That's.

[Cody]

How do you expect me to walk down my street?

[Brandon Herrera]

I don't have a following. That's what you took away from this.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah. Like, listen, like, I. I. Views don't help. Views don't help. That stuff, like, even last. Yeah, the pressures, dude. Sometimes the pressure makes it harder. But, like, even last year, Like, I. Even when I was in, like, my peak of, like, the amount of support I was getting and stuff, I still struggle with shit. Like, it's not. It's not like a band aid. It's not just gonna fix it, you know? But I think that, that. That is, like, one of the main messages that I love being able to, like, entertain and motivate people at the same time. And, like, if I can come back from £660 not knowing why I'm alive to living a life worth living. You know the guy who has like, 10 or 20 pounds to lose? Yeah, he's got it, bro.

[Cody]

He's easy.

[Brandon Herrera]

And what's your excuse at that point? It's like, yeah, easy. Any words of wisdom or tips for anyone beginning the journey?

[Ethan Bernard]

Couple things. This first one's a hot take, right? Not everyone needs to share it, because I see a lot of people, even from my page, who started their own journeys and started sharing it. And, dude, I. I honestly believe I would have lost more weight last year if I hadn't started that page because I was losing weight faster before I started social media. And I know I made a lot of healthy changes from it because I got a trainer, I started going to the gym, I started eating more because I was starving myself for the first five months of last year. But there was so much for me personally, because I talked to you guys about how much I let you all that impact me. There was so much stress. So much stress, dude. Like, I was literally, like, for the last six months of last year, I was a fricking ball of stress. I know that if I had just sat on my ass and stayed in that crazy deficit I was in, I was eating, like 1500 calories a day. It was stupid. I lost 120 pounds in the first five months of last year. It was ridiculous. But if I had stayed on my ass, starving myself, I probably would have lost more than I did. So I'm not to say that that's what people should be doing, but I know for a fact that the stress from social media has negatively affected my journey. It hasn't stopped it. Like, I've had a few plateaus. I've continued moving in the right direction, but that's the one thing people need to weigh if they. Because a lot of people who start social media, they gotta ask themselves why they wanna start it, right? But, like, people probably should. Yeah, people need to weigh whether it's worth sharing and if they're capable of sharing in a way that they're not gonna do what I did. And they don't let it impact the journey itself. Cause the journey itself and their life and their future matters more than the page in a lot of cases, you know, So I know that that's a bit of a hot take and you know, but I think it's, I think it's important, I think it's important for people to consider because I see a lot of people who will like start their journey and then start posting and then they'll get some negative comments and then they'll just like, you know, crash.

[Brandon Herrera]

Out and way worse than what they were thinking. Social media is not the easiest life. I mean, like, you're going to get hate or you're going to get positivity. Some people are fine with the hate and they thrive off of it. And then some people, it is, you want that pot, you want to put out positivity and you're expecting that's all you're going to get back. And then when you do get hate, then you will, internally.

[Ethan Bernard]

Well, I was at, I was at a couple points last year where like, I didn't want to upload. Like, I was just so over it. I was so sick of the Internet, man. I was so sick of the Internet and. But I knew at that point how many people it had impacted and that's why I didn't stop. Yeah, but I think that's an important thing for people to consider because if they are capable of doing it, sharing it, and not letting the Internet get in the way of their journey, hell yeah. Let's go, dude. Because there's a lot. There's some really cool people in the weight loss space online that are on like crazy journeys that are just friggin killing it.

[Brandon Herrera]

And what other tips would you give if you have any other ones?

[Ethan Bernard]

The other thing, and I said this on say hi yesterday too, but like, man, if someone has a significant change that they want to make in their life, instead of just knowing that and convincing themselves that they need to make the change, they need to make the decision and actually flip the switch to change. Because until I had that epiphany, realization, whatever you want to call it last January, I obviously didn't have that decision made. And I didn't have like the determination that I needed to get to where I needed to be because that was like my fourth time getting back up over 600.

[Cody]

I feel like there's a lot of people, excuse me, that have a. There's like a dopamine reflex with talking about the thing you're Going to do instead of doing it, you know, I think there's a lot of people that. That fall in love with that, like, well, I'm gonna go do this. And then I tell you about it, and you're like, that's awesome, man. You're like, cool. I got the dopamine of achieving the task, even though I didn't do it. So even though I'm on the journey. Oh. Oh, that's so cool. I'm glad you're doing it. I'm like, okay, I got the dopamine. I don't need the actual results. Yeah, I feel like that's kind of tapping.

[Ethan Bernard]

No, absolutely, dude. One of the hardest things for me, and I don't think I actually struggle with this, but I try to be very, very aware about it. I don't want to fall into complacency because that's one of the most interesting dynamics of my journey with how big it is. Just the sheer amount of weight is. I've lost over £200, but I have a hard time even celebrating that because I have another 200 to lose. So I have to find a balance of. Obviously, you have to celebrate milestones, ones like that, because it's fricking nuts. £200 is a lot of fricking weight, dude.

[Brandon Herrera]

You're halfway there, and it's that hard part.

[Ethan Bernard]

But I also don't want to let myself be like, oh, yeah, I've lost £200. I did it. I'm not done.

[Cody]

Most people can't lift the weight you've lost.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah, I can't yet.

[Cody]

That's, you know, that's a crazy milestone, man.

[Brandon Herrera]

You've hit the halfway mark, which is, again, it can be motivating as fuck.

[Eli Double Tap]

That is.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah. I never even thought about it like that.

[Brandon Herrera]

A rote, dude, a road march. That's the turnaround point. You're at the turnaround point. You've made the walk out. Now you're making the walk back to your goal. Like, I being sure. I hated road Marty road marching. It was the worst thing in the world because it. I can't step out. I don't have long strides. My buddy's habit. Fuck you. He's like, six four, and he's like, why can't you keep up? I'm like, dog, you're six four. Your one step is like three of mine. And then I have weight on my back. So once I got to that turnaround point, six miles, if I'm doing a 12 mile, I'm like, cool. Now I just Gotta get back. Doesn't matter how fast I got to that. I got to this six miles fast. Especially for eib. It's like I ran, I just jogged the entire time. I was the second run at the turnaround point and then I was the slowest motherfucker back because I paced it. I was like, I'm going to be garbage on the way back, but I will hit it. And I'll be within that three hour window.

[Ethan Bernard]

Sure.

[Brandon Herrera]

2:51. I am at crossing the finish line. I was like, wow. Sitting down. You're at, you're walking back now. You already hit the halfway mark. Now it's just fucking staying focused.

[Cody]

Yeah. Take her home.

[Ethan Bernard]

That's the. Yeah. That was the kind of cool this year. Like this is the lowest I've been since before high school. So like I, like I said, like last year was the first year in this whole time that I've been struggling with my weight as an adult that I've actually kept a lot of it off. So it's very interesting going about it now because I've never been at this point.

[Cody]

Yeah.

[Ethan Bernard]

So it's kind of a new territory in a way. But it's really good.

[Brandon Herrera]

If you fuck this up, we will bully you. How about that?

[Ethan Bernard]

Oh, you should bully the out of me, dude. If I'm not, if I'm not under 400 by the time you guys see me next, you don't need to fucking slap.

[Cody]

This is a threat. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

[Ethan Bernard]

Any other last aggressive support?

[Brandon Herrera]

Exactly. I love aggressive support.

[Ethan Bernard]

No, I'm good, brother. Whatever. You guys.

[Brandon Herrera]

Where does everyone find you at, brother?

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah, so I just started a new YouTube channel. Literally today. It's YouTube.com theethanbenardshow cause I couldn't transfer my original username.

[Brandon Herrera]

So. Ethan Bernard show. The Ethan Barnard shows. Good, good. Fucking good.

[Ethan Bernard]

Yeah, I think it's gonna be good. I think it's kind of cool to be having the YouTube channel, the Ethan Bernard show, and then having all the other socials. Just the name.

[Eli Double Tap]

Yeah.

[Ethan Bernard]

Because then the long form is kind of the show. Even though it's not going to be like a talk show or anything.

[Brandon Herrera]

But hebs for short.

[Ethan Bernard]

Then TikTok and Facebook are Ethan Bernard live.

[Brandon Herrera]

Everyone hates my joke T E B.

[Cody]

S. Yeah, I don't know about that, dude. And on that note, Cody, save us.

[Eli Double Tap]

Bye everyone. Thank you for joining the unsubscribed podcast. I was joined today by Eli Doubletap, Ethan Bernard, Brandon Herrera, my self talented operator. Thank you so much for being here.

[Brandon Herrera]

Stay tuned for the after show. We'd like 10 minutes to hang out. Talk about dumb shit. Also, hope you like the new cameras.

[Ethan Bernard]

I'm curious to see how it comes out the camera.

[Cody]

Everyone will hate it.

[Ethan Bernard]

Bye. Be my.