These Little Moments Podcast

It's my birthday. I'm 35, and I wanted to record something a little different. This episode has almost nothing to do with fitness or nutrition. It's me journaling out loud, which is something I like doing with this podcast, and it's probably going to be a little emotional. I started recording in 2019 when I was 28, and a lot has changed since then.

I've had a tough year in some ways, but when I stepped back, so much was going well. My family is healthy. My friends have my back. I spent the year getting to know someone I'm really glad I met, and I've been building a business I love since 2017. A conversation this week reminded me to focus on the wins, so that's what I do here. I talk about my mom, my dad, my sister, and the guilt of living far from them, along with how much I appreciate them.

I also talk about being in a season of growth. For me that means stepping more fully into being an adult, building toward family, stability and abundance, and not losing my sense of humor along the way. Growth feels uncomfortable and daunting, and that's normal.

The biggest thing I learned this year came from a conversation with my dad about God and time: you don't need all the answers. There's real peace in acceptance, and I'm also grateful to still be here at 35. I end with a challenge I've set for my next year, and I'd love your ideas.

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This one started at 8:46 p.m. when I paused Breaking Bad and decided we should record. My guest is my girlfriend, Resina Kim, a fitness and nutrition coach for women. We start with how each of us found the gym, including Resina's year and a half of boiled chicken and spinach (no salt), and then she tells the story of how we met at a coaching conference in Las Vegas.

Then we get into the coaching side. For the last couple of months Resina has been the coach and I've been the client. I'm about ten pounds down since September 1, and she walks through what has worked for me: very little in the morning, a bigger meal at night, a sweet treat every day, and pizza when it's social. Her rule is simple. What you can do the longest is what's best for you.

We also talk about what happens when the scale starts moving. It's easy to get excited, cut calories you don't need to cut, and end up under-fueling. Resina explains why she'd rather I sit at the upper end of my calories and keep losing steadily, and why I don't need to throw in more activity or lower calories just because I've been dieting for a while.

The last stretch is about being a partner. Earlier this year my body image was not in a great place. Resina shares what helped, which was reassurance without shaming, and we talk about why a supportive (or at least neutral) partner makes any weight loss phase easier, including the time I got to be that partner during her bodybuilding prep.

Find Resina: resinakim.com | Instagram @coachresina⭐ Rate and review the show: leave five stars and tell us what stood out💪 Apply for 1:1 coaching: https://bodybyryan.com/coaching🧮 Free calorie calculator: https://bodybyryan.com/calculator📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bodybyryanfitness🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryankassim▶️ YouTube: https://youtube.com/ryankassimlifeisgood

My part-time co-host Paul Buono is back, and he's the perfect person for this one. Paul has spent years getting good at tuning out his body, which made him a strong athlete and also makes listening to it really hard. We talk about why awareness and self-management are two different skills, and what happens when you ignore the signals for too long.

Then we get into the question I hear from clients constantly: am I giving myself too much grace, or too much grit? Paul's starting point is to know your pattern. A type A overachiever who never rests needs a different answer than someone who drops off every time life gets stressful. We also talk about your season of life, and why a work deadline you'll have for the next 30 years is not a reason to skip your workout.

We give listeners real tests for both sides. Too much grace looks like standing at the 50-yard line and not moving toward the goalpost. Too much grit looks like clenched jaws, shallow breathing and feeling like you're fist fighting life from 6 a.m. on. And checking in with yourself doesn't have to be complicated. One to two minutes, no phone, is enough.

We finish with a rapid-fire round of five real scenarios where we each write down grit or grace and reveal at the same time. We disagree more than you'd expect, which is exactly the point. It always depends on the person in front of you.

⭐ Rate and review the show: leave five stars and tell us what stood out

💪 Apply for 1:1 coaching: https://bodybyryan.com/coaching🧮 Free calorie calculator: https://bodybyryan.com/calculator📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bodybyryanfitness🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryankassim▶️ YouTube: youtube.com/ryankassimlifeisgood

If you keep falling off your plan every Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, maybe you're not inconsistent. Maybe your plan is too aggressive.

In this episode I break down the Monday-to-Friday burnout cycle, why a fast start doesn't prove a plan will work (think sprinting a marathon), and three signs your plan is asking too much. I also walk through how to tell a planning problem from an execution problem, a simple repeatability test, and how to adjust the dose without abandoning the goal.

The rule for this week: make it repeatable before you make it harder.

⭐ Rate and review the show: leave five stars and tell me what stood out

💪 Apply for 1:1 coaching: https://bodybyryan.com/coaching

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📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bodybyryanfitness

🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryankassim

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Ever eaten like pizza was about to become illegal... right before starting a new diet?

That’s what I call the Last Supper mentality, the urge to overeat before you begin another diet. In this one, I break down why future restriction makes food feel urgent (hello, scarcity), how Sunday night’s blowout makes Monday’s plan stricter, and why banning your favorite foods just turns the volume up on them. Then I give you the six steps I use with my clients to start losing weight without a farewell weekend.

I also share my own college cheat day (ramen for breakfast, Girl Scout cookies, a large specialty pizza, and Ben & Jerry’s while watching The Walking Dead), plus an update on my own 20-pound goal and the trick-or-treat challenge I’m running with my clients.

(Also, this is episode 180. That’s 180 episodes since 2019. Wow.)

Why does starting over feel so much better than just getting back on track?

“I’ll start again Monday” feels like relief. But Monday isn’t magical, and waiting for it might be the exact thing keeping you stuck. In this one, I break down why the restart feels so good (hello, false hope and a brand new identity), how one pizza turns into an entire weekend, and why the problem was never the pizza... it’s the story you attach to it.

I give you the flat tire, the dimmer switch, and the Google Maps analogy to show why getting back on track only needs your next decision. Then I walk you through the Calm Catch, the five-step process I use with my clients to win the next five minutes instead of waiting for Monday.

(Also, a few of you have DMed me about the podcast and it made my day. Keep them coming.)

🔗 Links & Resources
⭐ Please leave a 5-star review wherever you listen to this podcast
💪 Apply for 1:1 Online Coaching
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What if you're not failing your diets... your diets are failing your real life?

If your plan only works when you're meal prepped, motivated, well-rested, and turning down every invitation, it doesn't really work. It works in a fantasy version of your life, and you don't live there.

In this one, I break down why most diets are built around a perfect day, why aggressive plans feel like they're working at first (hello, scale drop), and the difference between following rules and building skills. I give you five signs your plan doesn't fit your real life, then walk you through minimum mapping, the framework I use with my own clients to define your standard and your minimum so a hard day doesn't turn into a lost week.

Plus some homework: name the situation that knocks you off track most, and make a plan for it instead of just promising to avoid it.

(Also, I buzzed my head. Yes, we talk about it.)

🔗 Links & Resources
⭐ Please leave a 5-star review wherever you listen to this podcast
💪 Apply for 1:1 Online Coaching
https://bodybyryan.com/coaching/
🧮 Use my FREE Calorie Calculator
https://bodybyryan.com/calculator/
📸 Follow me on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/bodybyryanfitness/
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You've lost the same 20 pounds three different times... and every time, it comes back. First thing: you're not broken. You already know how to lose weight. Nobody ever taught you how to keep it off.

In this one, I walk you through the whole yo-yo dieting cycle, from the moment your pain gets too loud to ignore and the motivation fairy shows up, to the aggressive plan, the early wins, the crash, and the shame spiral that convinces you that you just need more willpower (you don't).

Then I break down the four reasons the weight comes back, why sustainable doesn't mean effortless, and a diet audit you can run on your last diet. Plus one thing you can do today to stop starting over: minimum mapping. No dramatic reset. Let's build your diet around your life.

🔗 Links & Resources
⭐ Please leave a 5-star review wherever you listen to this podcast
💪 Apply for 1:1 Online Coaching
https://bodybyryan.com/coaching/
🧮 Use my FREE Calorie Calculator
https://bodybyryan.com/calculator/
📸 Follow me on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/bodybyryanfitness/
🎵 Follow me on TikTok
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I've been away for a minute, so this one starts with some life updates before we get into it. Long distance girlfriend in Vancouver. A new apartment I still haven't really moved into. My New York Giants getting destroyed on Monday night. That's been the last few weeks.

But here's why I actually sat down to record. Weekends. I see this pattern with almost every client I've ever coached. Nutrition's dialed in Monday through Thursday... and then Friday hits, and it's like a completely different person shows up. You're not a special butterfly. This happens to basically everybody, including me, back when my whole week of grilled chicken and whole wheat pasta would end in a large specialty pizza, a pint of Ben & Jerry's, and a full night of The Walking Dead.

So in this one I'm breaking down why it actually happens... no weekend routine, eating in groups, alcohol quietly cranking your appetite up by 30%... and then the exact three things I have my own clients do instead. One anchor. Deciding what you're eating before you're standing in front of it. And understanding that it's never one meal that wrecks your week. It's the story you tell yourself about that meal.

Consistency doesn't mean perfection. A rough Saturday doesn't mean starting over on Monday. It just means making the next best choice. Let's get into it.

⭐ Please leave a 5-star review wherever you listen to this podcast

🔗 Links & Resources

💪 Apply for 1:1 Online Coaching
https://bodybyryan.com/coaching/

🧮 Use my FREE Calorie Calculator
https://bodybyryan.com/calculator/

📸 Follow me on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/bodybyryanfitness/

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Sam Forget started his coaching business at 16 years old — power blocks in the trunk of his Hyundai Sonata, driving an hour in any direction to train anyone who'd hire a teenager with a passion for fitness. That was 2012. By 2018 he took everything online, moved to Miami knowing nobody, and hasn't really stopped moving since. Miami, New York, London, Spain, Argentina, Colombia. The world is basically his office, and he's figured out how to maintain his health, his training, and his client work through all of it.

A big part of this conversation digs into the all-or-nothing cycle — the pattern Sam sees in almost every client he works with and something he lived himself early in his career. We talk about what it actually takes to break that cycle. Not by going harder, not by going softer, but by finding the 70–85% execution range and giving it a real chance to work. The thing that hit me most was this idea of building your plan around the busiest, most fried version of yourself — not the motivated Monday-morning version who's ready to do everything.

We get into how Sam manages his own fitness and nutrition through last-minute international moves — like the Friday night he realized he needed to be in Colombia by Saturday. Exercise swap backlogs, flexible meal structures, what "adaptable" actually means when you're working out in a packed gym in Medellín where every machine is taken. There's also a really solid chunk on what proof looks like for clients — the data points that show them imperfect consistency is still producing results — and how that evidence changes everything about how people show up going forward.

We wrap in two places I didn't expect: tattoos — Sam has full sleeves, knuckles, chest, a jungle-themed leg sleeve, and a frog going in the Achilles because it fits and he thinks it's cool — and Sam's little moment, which was an improv class in Miami that he spent the entire week beforehand hoping would get canceled. He showed up the only person there with zero theater experience, completely terrified, bright red, soaked in sweat. By minute five of his first scene, something cracked open. He's been chasing that feeling ever since.

Sam Forget on Instagram — @coachsamforget
https://www.instagram.com/coachsamforget/

Transformation Talks Podcast — hosted by Sam Forget

🔗 Links & Resources

⭐ Please leave a 5-star review wherever you listen to this podcast

💪 Apply for 1:1 Online Coaching
https://bodybyryan.com/coaching/

🧮 Use my FREE Calorie Calculator
https://bodybyryan.com/calculator/

📸 Follow me on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/bodybyryanfitness/

🎵 Follow me on TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@ryankassim?lang=eng

▶️ Subscribe on YouTube
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