3RF All About The Health Podcast

Podcast.

Today, we're talking about something that I hear ALL THE TIME.

And after coaching over 700 people through their health and fitness journeys, I've noticed this has become one of the most common explanations people give for struggling with their weight.

"My hormones are messed up."

"My cortisol is too high."

"My metabolism is broken."

"I swear I'm barely eating anything, but I keep gaining weight."

Okay.

But here's my question.

HOW THE HELL DO YOU KNOW?!

Because here's something I've noticed about people.

We have become incredibly comfortable blaming things we haven't actually investigated.

Someone will confidently tell me their hormones are responsible for their weight gain.

So I'll ask a few questions.

How many calories are you eating?

"No idea."

How many steps are you averaging?

"Not really sure."

How much sleep are you getting?

"Five hours, maybe six."

Okay, what do your weekends look like?

"Well, Friday we usually order pizza, Saturday we go out for dinner and drinks, and Sunday we have brunch."

So basically, you're consuming enough calories to feed a small medieval village every weekend.

BUT IT MUST BE YOUR HORMONES! 😂

Now, before somebody takes that out of context, I'm not saying hormonal problems aren't real.

They absolutely are.

I'm saying that if we're going to blame something for our health problems, shouldn't we at least investigate whether it's actually responsible?

Because you cannot diagnose a hormonal imbalance based on the fact that your pants don't fit anymore.

And you certainly shouldn't use an unconfirmed diagnosis as permission to avoid examining how you're living.

Today we're going to break down what hormones actually do, when they can influence your weight, how your habits affect your results, and what you should do if you genuinely suspect something is wrong.

Today I want to talk about something I've been thinking about a lot lately.

The things we don't do because we're scared.

I came across a quote recently that said:

"Your biggest regrets won't be the things you did. They'll be the things you didn't do because you were scared."

And holy hell, did that get me thinking.

Because when I look back at some of the biggest decisions I've made in my life, almost every single one scared the absolute crap out of me.

Moving to Calgary to be closer to my son.

Leaving a career I'd spent years building to start my own business.

Deciding that a 400 lb guy could somehow become a bodybuilder.

And now, starting an entirely new chapter of my life with Amber.

None of these decisions came with guarantees.

And believe me, there were plenty of opportunities to talk myself out of every single one.

But here's what I've learned.

Sometimes the biggest risk you can take is staying exactly where you are.

And that's what I want to talk about today.

I've got a bit of a different episode for you today.

We're going to talk about weight loss, obviously. But more importantly, we're going to talk about identity, self-worth, relationships, and how sometimes the biggest transformation has absolutely nothing to do with what you see in the mirror.

And this whole conversation started because I was cleaning out my closet.

Very exciting stuff, I know. Riveting podcast material. 😂

But there's a reason behind it.

As many of you know, Amber is moving in with me. We're starting this amazing new chapter of our lives together, and naturally, that means I need to make some room for her things.

Now, apparently, when a woman moves in, your closet becomes our closet, which very quickly becomes her closet, and you're lucky if you get a drawer for your underwear.

I'm learning this as we go.

But anyway, I was going through old clothes, getting rid of things I don't wear anymore, when I stumbled across something I hadn't seen in years.

My old size 46 pants.

For perspective, I wear size 34 now.

And I stood there holding these things, looking at how big they were, and I had this really strange moment.

Because those pants represented an entirely different version of me.

Not just physically.

Mentally. Emotionally. In how I viewed myself and what I thought I deserved out of life.

And that's what I want to talk about today.

Today, I want to start with a question.

And at first, you're probably going to wonder where the hell I'm going with this.

But stick with me.

If a fish gets sick, do you treat the fish… or do you clean the water?

Now, obviously, depending on what's making the fish sick, you might need to do both.

But here's why I love this analogy.

Imagine you've got a fish swimming around in a tank full of dirty, contaminated water.

The fish gets sick.

So you take it out, give it some treatment, nurse it back to health, and then what do you do?

You put it right back into the same dirty water.

And then you're surprised when the fish gets sick again.

Well, no kidding!

You never addressed what was making it sick in the first place.

And as ridiculous as that sounds, I think this is exactly what so many people are doing with their health, their relationships, their personal development, and honestly, their entire lives.

We keep trying to change ourselves while refusing to change the environments that helped create the problems we're trying to overcome.

We blame ourselves for not having enough discipline.

We beat ourselves up for lacking motivation.

We convince ourselves that we're lazy, weak, or incapable of changing.

But how often do we actually stop and look at what's surrounding us?

The people.

The routines.

The expectations.

The habits.

The conversations.

The environments we spend most of our time in.

Because here's something I've learned through losing nearly 200 lbs, building a business, raising my son, and coaching hundreds of people through their own transformations.

You can be incredibly motivated to change your life and still struggle like hell if everything around you is encouraging you to stay the same.

And that's what we're unpacking today.

Because sometimes the next step in your transformation isn't working harder on yourself.

Sometimes it's cleaning the water you're swimming in.

Today we're talking about something that I think almost every single person listening to this episode struggles with.

And that's worrying.

Worrying about your health, your body, your relationships, your finances, your kids, your future.

Worrying about whether you're doing enough, whether you're good enough, and whether everything you've worked so hard to build could somehow come crashing down tomorrow.

And what inspired this episode was actually a conversation I had with an older gentleman at the gym.

He said something to me that stopped me dead in my tracks.

"Worrying is the dumbest way to use your imagination."

And holy shit, did that ever hit me.

Because think about that for a second.

We have this incredible ability as human beings to imagine things that don't even exist yet.

We can imagine building a successful business.

We can imagine transforming our bodies.

We can imagine falling in love, raising amazing kids, travelling the world, and creating a life we're genuinely excited to wake up to.

But what do so many of us do with that imagination?

We use it to create the absolute worst possible scenarios.

We become directors of our own little horror movies.

And the craziest part?

We're emotionally reacting to scenes that haven't even happened.

So today I want to unpack why we do this, how it's holding us back, and what we can actually do to stop sacrificing the life we have today because we're terrified of what might happen tomorrow.

Today, we're having a conversation that I think a lot of people need to hear.

Especially if you're somebody who has 50, 75, 100, or even 200 pounds to lose.

Because today we're talking about 10 hard truths you need to face if you want to lose a significant amount of weight and actually keep it off.

And listen, I'm going to warn you right now.

Some of these might sting a little.

You might find yourself thinking, "Well, Kyle, that's a little harsh."

And that's okay.

Because my goal today isn't to make you feel comfortable with the habits that are keeping you stuck.

My goal is to help you recognize those habits so you can finally do something about them.

Now, before we get into this, I want to establish something incredibly important.

I'm not sitting here talking about weight loss as somebody who's been lean their entire life.

I know what it's like to be severely overweight.

Back in 2018, I weighed over 400 pounds.

I was prediabetic.

I struggled with depression.

My back hurt.

I hated what I saw in the mirror.

And I was genuinely terrified of what my future might look like if I didn't change.

Fast-forward to today, and I've lost around 200 pounds.

I've competed in bodybuilding competitions.

I've won transformation competitions.

And I've helped hundreds of men and women change their bodies and their lives through 3 Roads Fitness.

And do you know what I've learned through all of that?

Losing 50 pounds isn't just about learning how to eat fewer calories.

Yes, a calorie deficit is what drives fat loss.

But maintaining that deficit consistently, while living an actual life, is where things become challenging.

Because your habits, your environment, your relationships, your emotional coping mechanisms, your sleep, your schedule, and your relationship with yourself all influence your ability to follow through.

And if you don't address those things?

You might lose the weight.

But there's a pretty good chance you'll find yourself fighting the same battles all over again.

So today we're going to break down 10 hard truths, explain WHY they matter, and most importantly, talk about what you can actually do about them.

Let's get into it!

Today we're talking about something that has genuinely changed the way I approach pretty much every aspect of my life.

My health. My business. My relationships. And probably most importantly, the relationship I have with myself.

And it all comes down to six simple words.

WHAT YOU CARE ABOUT… GROWS.

Read that again.

Actually, you're listening to a podcast, so maybe rewind that bad boy about five seconds and listen again.

WHAT. YOU. CARE. ABOUT. GROWS.

Now, I want you to think about that for a second.

Have you ever noticed how the things you consistently put time, energy, attention, and effort into tend to improve?

You start going to the gym consistently, and eventually you're lifting weights you never thought you'd be capable of.

You start paying attention to your nutrition, and suddenly you're understanding your hunger, your energy levels, and why your body responds the way it does.

You start putting intentional effort into your relationship, and you find yourself feeling more connected to your partner.

You start working on your mindset, and situations that used to completely derail you become things you're capable of navigating.

It's not magic.

It's not the universe rewarding you because you bought a crystal and started manifesting in your backyard.

It's the result of consistently showing up for something that matters to you.

And here's where I think a lot of people get themselves into trouble.

They say they care about something, but their actions are watering something completely different.

You say your health is important, but you give every other responsibility in your life priority over it.

You say you want financial freedom, but you've got absolutely no idea where your money is going.

You say your relationship matters, but the only time you give your partner your undivided attention is when you're both lying in bed scrolling through your phones.

You say you want to become more confident, but every single day you reinforce the same negative story about yourself.

And then we wonder why nothing changes.

Well, my friend, you can't plant tomatoes, spend six months watering the weeds, and then get pissed off because you don't have a garden full of tomatoes.

That's not how gardening works.

And that's definitely not how life works.

Today I want to share the four areas of my life that I intentionally focus on every single day.

Not because I've mastered them.

Trust me, I haven't.

But because I've experienced what happens when I neglect them.

And I've experienced the incredible things that can happen when I start giving them the attention they deserve.

Today I want to talk about something I see constantly in coaching.

And something I spent YEARS doing myself without realizing it.

I call it:

The “I FEEL” filter.

And this little bastard is keeping a lot of people festively plump. 😂

Because most of us have normalized checking how we feel before deciding what we're going to do.

“I don't feel motivated to work out today.”

“I feel too tired to cook.”

“I feel like I deserve takeout after the day I had.”

“I don't feel confident enough to go to the gym.”

“I feel like I already screwed up today… so I'll start again Monday.”

Then Monday becomes next Monday.

Next Monday becomes next month.

And suddenly it's fucking Christmas again and you're sitting there saying:

“Where did the year go, eh?!”

So today I want to explain why waiting to feel different before you act different is completely ass backwards.

And more importantly…

How taking action can actually change how you feel.

Something that drives me a little fucking nuts because it completely defeats the purpose of having a coach in the first place.
So…
NEWS FLASH. 🚨
Your weekly check-in with your coach is NOT a fucking report card.
I'm not your Grade 9 math teacher sitting behind my desk waiting to decide whether you get an A or an F this week.
Yet I've had so many clients start their check-in almost apologizing to me.
“Kyle, I'm sorry… I only got two workouts in.”
“I went out for dinner twice.”
“My weight went up.”
“My nutrition wasn't very good.”
“I just wasn't perfect this week.”
And immediately I'm thinking…
Okay. But what actually happened?
Because I don't need you to perform for me.
I need information.
And today I want to explain why that distinction is so important.

Apparently…

My transformation pissed off the internet. 😂

I posted a photo comparing myself from when I started my fitness journey eight years ago to where I am today.

And if you don't know my story, eight years ago I was over 400 pounds.
Fast-forward through eight years of losing around 200 pounds, rebuilding my health, learning how to train, becoming a coach, starting 3 Roads Fitness, and eventually stepping onto bodybuilding stages…
And apparently the most logical explanation some people could come up with was:
“AI.”
“Fake.”
“That's not the same person.”
“Steroids.”
“Photoshopped.”
And my personal favourite category of comments:
People pointing out how much greyer I've gotten.
Like Jesus Christ, guys. 😂
Apparently getting in shape was possible…
But keeping my original hair colour was where we drew the fucking line.
But here's the thing.
I've been putting myself online for years.
Random comments from strangers aren't keeping me awake at night.
What interested me was WHY people reacted that way.
Because I think there's something much bigger happening here than people arguing underneath a transformation photo.
And there are two things I really want to talk about today.