Lifting More Than Weights: Zach Lloyd's Battle Against Binge Eating and Addiction

If I haven’t said it lately, I am so grateful for the opportunity and privilege to be able to do this. Being a podcast host allows me to connect with and learn from some of the best. It also is a conduit for putting me in touch with people I probably wouldn’t have connected with otherwise, but I’m so glad I did.

My conversation today is with Zach Lloyd. As you know we rarely have male guests on and I don’t think any of them have been in their early 30s. However, don't let his age fool you. He is wise, authentic and vulnerable and I appreciated his full transparency about his story. He shares how he almost lost his life to alcohol and hard drugs and then his journey into health and fitness but found himself in unhealthy patterns like binge eating.

I think you’ll find his wisdom and brave storytelling compelling and if you have binge-eating tendencies you’ll appreciate the guidance he has. We also talk about the shame of binge eating and his anti-diet approach to helping people who struggle with weight and body image called food freedom, your transformation.

WE DISCUSS:

• Zach’s terrifying story of drug and alcohol abuse
• His evolution into fitness training
• His binge-eating story
• The three-step process he offers to heal from binge eating

Zach Lloyd is an Anti-Diet coach, speaker, and owner of Lift Life Fitness gym. He gives credit to God's Grace, basketball, and heavy weights in saving him from nearly losing his life to drugs and alcohol abuse. He's been coaching for over 11 years building skillsets in every area associated with physical and mental fitness. He is driven to help others find meaning and fulfillment in suffering through fitness.

Connect with Zach:
www.ZachLloydCoaching.com
Instagram: @zachlloydcoaching
Facebook: ZachLloydCoaching
X: @CoachZachLloyd
YouTube

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

But also I would say, when you reach that peak physique, if your identity is not solid in who you are, separate from that mirror or that picture or whatever you deem fit to identify as you, the moment you go back to your old body weight, that is still extremely fit. If you're in bodybuilding, you're still extremely fit. Any day of the year, right, you will not feel the same way and ultimately that's that's what it was. It's funny because if I go back and look at pictures, the most visually fit I ever was, I was the most unhappy at all of those times.

Speaker 2: 0:41

Hey there, welcome to the Grace Health podcast, your source for aging strong in your physical, mental and spiritual health. My name is Amy Connell. I'm a weight neutral certified personal trainer and nutrition coach who loves walks with friends, chocolate and Jesus. Whether you're looking to grow stronger as you age, nourish your body, mind and spirit, or fit all the pieces of your health together to holistically thrive, this is the place for women over 40. I am here to guide you in the areas I can and bring on experts in the areas I'm still learning, and, of course, we cover it all in a whole lot of grace. I'm glad you're here. If I haven't said it lately, I am so grateful for the opportunity and privilege. Truly, it really is a privilege to be able to do this. Being a podcast host gives me the opportunity to connect with and learn from some of the best. It is also a conduit for putting me in touch with people I probably wouldn't have connected with otherwise, but I'm so glad I did.

Speaker 2: 1:47

My conversation today is with Zach Lloyd. As you know, if you are a listener of any length of time, we rarely have male guests on and I don't think any of them have been in their early 30s. However, don't let his age fool you. Zach is wise and authentic and vulnerable and I so appreciate his full transparency about his story. He shares how he almost lost his life to alcohol and hard drugs and then his journey into health and fitness but finding himself in unhealthy patterns like binge eating. We do spend a bit more time on his backstory, which was so fascinating to me I just kind of had to park there for a bit. But we do get into the binge eating and his story and journey out of that. As I was putting my thoughts together for this intro, the verse from 1st Timothy 412 comes to mind Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct and love and faith and impurity. I think you will find Zach's wisdom and brave so brave storytelling compelling and if you have binge eating tendencies, you'll appreciate the guidance he has.

Speaker 2: 3:14

We also talk about the shame of binge eating and his anti diet approach to helping people who struggle with weight and body image, called food freedom your transformation, and we talk about this a couple times in the episode. But if you need professional help, please get it. There are people there for you I have been connected with some amazing registered dietitians, so if you need more than what Zach can offer, you get in touch with me. Before we bring on Zach, let me tell you a bit more about him. He is an anti diet coach, speaker and owner of Lyft Life Fitness Gym. He gives credit to God's grace, basketball and heavy weights in saving him from nearly losing his life to drugs and alcohol abuse. He's been coaching for over 11 years, building skill sets in every area associated with physical and mental fitness. He is driven to help others find meaning and fulfillment in suffering through fitness and yes, I know that sounds a little strange, but we do dig into it. Okay, let's bring on Zach. Zach, I'm thrilled you're here today. Welcome.

Speaker 1: 4:22

Thank you, Amy. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited.

Speaker 2: 4:24

I am too. We were talking just a little bit before we hit record, and I am so grateful for you coming on. I know that binge eating is often one thing that can lead to feelings of shame, and we don't talk about it a lot, and so I am. I'm really glad that you're here. I asked for your permission ahead of time to do this, but I would like to address a bit of an elephant in the room, and that is I am in my late 40s. My community is 40s, 50s, 60s, and you are not a woman and you are not in our age range.

Speaker 1: 5:01

That is correct.

Speaker 2: 5:02

So I would love to just you know, one of the things that I think sometimes we do is and not this is not the right way, but sometimes we dismiss people because of their age and I want to not do that, because I think you have a powerful story and I love the interaction that you have, a faith and fitness and food and all of that. So talk to me first about how we can fit this together in our midlife, women's brains and your presumably male millennial experience and story.

Speaker 1: 5:37

Yeah, totally, I get it. So, if anything, I question myself more than more than anybody else about this one, because it's just one of those things that God put me in a place that all of a sudden, years pass and there I am. So, long story short, just I started personal training one day and over time, 90% of my clients were middle-aged women, and if you put me in front of anybody, it's just my natural personality. I'm going to get to know you. And even in the earlier years in personal training, when I had no idea what I was doing, I just built a relationship with people and it just happened to be the clients were middle-aged women, and so over time I got to know their problems and I saw I started seeing patterns.

Speaker 1: 6:19

A lot of those patterns were related to stuff that wasn't even fitness specific. Right, it wasn't about the workout or anything like that. It was stuff that was happening at home or at work or with a spouse or whatever it was. And ultimately, that's what I've been doing for the last over 10, over a decade now is working with middle-aged women, and that's been my focal point. But I still work with some younger athletes and some older men as well, just to mix it out, but ultimately that's my main focus.

Speaker 2: 6:51

I think that's great and I think also sometimes we are drawn to maybe people who are not in our exact same life stage and that we can lead in various ways. I mean, I was just telling you before we started that I'm working through a lot of mind nonsense in the fact that I've written this book for young women and I'm like what in the world? I have too many wrinkles and gray hair for young women, but that's where God has put me. So I completely resonate with what you were talking about and I think any trainer will agree that whenever we are with people, it is like part fitness and part therapy. We are not all qualified to be therapists, but we are qualified to be a safe space to just hear the problems. So I love that.

Speaker 1: 7:37

Definitely, I totally agree.

Speaker 2: 7:39

One of the things that really draws me to you, Zach, is just your vulnerability and your willingness to share some of your hard stories. You have shared that. You almost lost your life. We talked about this in the bio to drugs and alcohol. You talk about binge eating. I'm sure this is a loaded question, but can you tell us the transformation from that part of your story to where you are now?

Speaker 1: 8:05

Yeah, definitely. So I'll just run you through. The general timeline is a little bit foggy because of the drugs and alcohol, but I'm sure the point will still come across. I always go back and trace it back to somewhere. In middle school and high school.

Speaker 1: 8:21

I was bullied mercilessly and over time I internalized a lot of that and what I internalized it now in retrospect was just being absolutely worthless and my identity was just always resided in just being unworthy of just anything. And then there's this ridiculous belief that I was becoming a man, and men they don't show weakness. So it was just this double whammy of suppressing everything emotional at all, unless it was just pure anger and rage or anything. I was getting out in sports at the time and I ultimately I coped with pain by just suppressing and suppressing and suppressing all of those emotions. And I didn't have anybody at the time. It's not that I didn't have people around me, the lovely, necessarily. It was just the fact that those conversations weren't taking place and I wasn't old enough to know any better really, and that bullying just kind of spiraled into Depression. And you know in middle school and high school, like you care about depression, but you don't really know what it is, and so it was one of those things that kind of got overlooked, especially since I was one of those types of people that just kind of puts their head down in the sand and Doesn't talk to anybody about their problems and keeps trudging forward, and that didn't make the depression any better.

Speaker 1: 9:39

Obviously, somewhere around eighth grade I cut myself for the first time and that was one of those just I don't even know where that came from. To be completely honest, it was just one of those ways that I was going to deal with my emotions that I could not possibly manage on my own. And then that kind of led to the drugs. Now call kind of just a typical High school, you know experience, where it's, it's it's being, it's being done in parties and stuff like that, and that's kind of how I got started, but ultimately it just became Abuse and and just another.

Speaker 1: 10:16

You know it's just another tool really to suppress more emotions and not deal with the problems and Try to like keep up with the day-to-day but really not dealing with the problems. And then I ended up making some friends in high school that were very similar and they had pain of different sorts as well, and they were kind of dealing with pain in very similar ways, and that's where that like the whole gateway drug thing I think it really gets its bad rap. It's like it was more like the gateway friends really, because we were all just sympathizing with each other and not we weren't talking about it. Don't get me wrong, that was definitely not happening.

Speaker 2: 10:57

Yeah, life sucks exactly, exactly.

Speaker 1: 11:00

Yeah, it's about as deep as it got, yeah, and then that turned into, like you know, violence at parties and vandalizing and just so many dumb things that you know I regret doing. There was one night that it really culminated and it was like my first major girlfriend and she broke up with me. Right, and it wasn't really that I was upset about her breaking up with me, don't get me wrong, I was, but I had seen that coming for a long time. There was no surprise there. I was not a stand-up guy at this point in my life, but what it really did was it was kind of like this explosion of Wow, zach, you really have no control in your life, and that was like the last thread. And so I just felt completely hopeless and I found myself in my 1989 Mazda RX 7 I'll never forget it and, like I said, there was some violence going on and stuff like that and I like to put this in the proper context when I had a gun in my car at the time that was being Not used in any means necessary, but it was there because it was one of those things that it was kind of like cool if I had a gun, and I Never really intended to use it, but it was there.

Speaker 1: 12:21

After this breakup, I'm alone in my car and I have an 18 rack of keystone light. I'll never forget the beer either, and I'm just pounding beers again another tool to suppress my emotions, because I didn't even know what to do with it and I Just had this realization I like. This is it. This is life. You know, I was 19 at the time. I felt hopeless. Life wasn't gonna get better, like there was no sign of it getting better. There was really nothing. There was no light at the end of the tunnel for me. So I had this gun in my hand.

Speaker 1: 12:49

Ultimately, I was coming to the point of just finishing my life and my phone rang and there was a split second where there was no way I was gonna answer that phone or even look. But there was this Super natural feeling that I had and I was not a believer at the time and I checked the phone and I answered it and it was my sister, and my sister and I. She's been my hero ever since I was a kid, and that's that's probably partially why I do what I do as well. She's a Recovering alcoholic. She's been clean for a long time. But growing up I had seen her come close to death many times and I think that always Just kind of left a mark on me, and so she was probably the only person that I would actually answer that phone. I always say that God intervened and he used my sister to save my life.

Speaker 1: 13:47

At that point I wish it was all just like you know, roses, and everything like that, but ultimately the pain didn't go away. After that I dodged the bullet literally, but the pain didn't go away and I was still not getting the help I needed. So I moved on to oxycock, into more of an escapism route, and that's that's why I really say like true addiction took place. I don't think I was ever really addicted to marijuana or alcohol. There are more tools and Again you just get into the wrong crowd and the same people were all stunting the pain. So that was kind of you know, my friend group at the time as well, and it got. It got really bad where we're selling clothes, we're selling electronics, we're doing whatever we can do to scrounge up more money To get oxy cotton at the time. And it's really strange too, because at the time I realized you know one pill. We were spending like $80 on one pill, sometimes more. That would last, you know, the night, maybe. And Ultimately what I realized too was this is where a lot of my friends at the time they started moving to heroin and Thank the Lord that's not the route I took my. My sister actually that was part of her thing back in the day and she made it very clear to me when I was a young boy it's just don't touch that. She's like do all this other stuff, try, have fun, but don't touch that. And for some reason I feel like that was the little thing in the back of my mind that said no. But Ultimately the oxy was just destroying my life was after high school, so I was 19, 20, 21, that's 21 at the time, and my life was just falling apart.

Speaker 1: 15:23

I had this miracle morning that I'll never forget. I'm driving to work after being extremely home over from the oxy and whatever else, and this song comes on and I always joke like God saved my life through Eminem. And it was Eminem song, not afraid. And if if people aren't familiar with it, I just wanted to read a couple of the lyrics real quick because I think it'll really hit home.

Speaker 1: 15:49

In the refrain it says I'm not afraid to take a stand. Everybody, come, take my hand. We'll walk this road together through the storm, whatever weather, cold or warm, just letting you know that you're not alone. And that not alone piece, I mean it, brings me to tears now just thinking about it. That's what I needed to hear that day and I say it's a miracle morning, not just because of the song, but I Quit oxy that day. I never went back to oxy cotton. I don't know how else to explain that one Other than a miracle. Anybody that's had friends or family or has had any drug issues in the past. Usually that's not how it happens. It takes a lot of time to get over something like that.

Speaker 2: 16:35

Medical help, often to and major medical help 100%.

Speaker 1: 16:39

So again kind of fast forward a little bit more. After that, that miracle morning I kind of went back into the gym, one because I just wanted to be a ladies man, let's be honest. But but yeah, but second, you know I had done it a lot in sports, but it was just that thing to get better at sports. It wasn't something that I truly enjoyed and ultimately what it turned into was you know, it was like became this healthy addiction. And I say addiction very clearly because as we talk a little more about binge eating soon, it's very important that that becomes a piece, because for the longest time, working out was that new addiction for me and it appeared healthy on the outside but ultimately I ended up abusing it, just like I abused other things. So I just want to make that point now. But it really was lifting those heavy weights in the gym that started kind of rewiring.

Speaker 1: 17:29

And now what I know is there are neural pathways on this negative thinking and that feeling of being unworthy, and it was just an outlet for all those emotions, like those emotions just had somewhere to go finally and it's like, wow, what was I doing that whole time? That would have really helped if I did something like that. So I still wasn't having talk therapy yet. I had plenty of that down the road, don't even wrong. But Essentially people were asking, hey, zach, what are you doing? Start asking me questions. I'm like, oh wait, I can, you know, do this for a job? Like, why not? I enjoy it. I'm, I'm apparently pretty good at it, so let's, let's give it a shot. So God really just used the gym as the catalyst to help cultivate that self-awareness that I really needed in my life and to step outside of those harmful tools that I was using to suppress my emotions and, over a long road, finally, you know, talking some of those things out and working through those and prayer and stuff like that.

Speaker 2: 18:20

There's so many things that I want to. I want to pull from there, I mean. But I will say I think that is such encouragement and hope for parents who have children who are struggling in one of those many areas that you mentioned, and that there is redemption, they are not alone in parenting, that and their children are not alone, not alone, and Just the hope. I have to imagine that someone out there listening Needed that, to know that my kid may be walking through this right now, but that doesn't mean that that's the rest of their story, and so I really thank you for that. And I had no idea the depth of Challenges that you were going through, not only physically with addiction, but also in your mental health. And what's your sister's name? Stephanie, stephanie, thank God for Stephanie, I mean.

Speaker 1: 19:11

I don't know Amen.

Speaker 2: 19:12

I don't know what state she was in when she called you because you said she had her own stuff and I don't know where she was, but that was definitely God working through her. So that's that is really incredible. And I'm just curious, if you don't mind me asking. You said you were an athlete in middle school, high school. Where were your coaches and all of this? Did they know what was going on? Did they try and speak life to you? Where was that? Because one thing I have realized is just how impactful coaches can be in many different ways.

Speaker 1: 19:42

Yeah, I definitely. I definitely agree with you there how impactful coaches can be. If that's, that's one of the biggest reasons. Sometimes I wake up in the morning I'm like I, there's somebody, I got to be there for today, and that is so empowering. Unfortunately, the coaches really took to the the boys that were the cool boys or whatever and I actually turned out to be a pretty decent athlete. I ended up starting in football junior and senior year, which was kind of surprising to me at the time. So they were not available in that capacity and I don't want to also blame them either, because they just may have not had the Skills to be there. They might have just been there to win games, and I can understand that as well. But yeah, that was not that possible. So, yeah, definitely something that I hope will change over time. And it seems like it is because A lot more people now are aware of mental health issues and stuff like that going on that you may not see if you're just looking at somebody.

Speaker 2: 20:34

Yeah, well, the other thing, too, that I think we have to give a lot of grace to is, particularly in the sport of football, you are rewarded for aggression and, on the field, anger and fight and gr, and so if that's how you were and that's where your suppression of everything was exhibiting itself, yeah, you were going to be rewarded and they were going to embrace that.

Speaker 1: 20:58

Yeah, 100, that is so true. Yeah, you're totally on with that.

Speaker 2: 21:02

I'm curious where in the and we will get to the binge eating. But this I just I can't let a powerful and compelling story go. You say that during all of this you were not a believer. No, where did God meet you? Tell me, your your testimony in terms of that, because what I hear now is just God speaking through you.

Speaker 1: 21:22

Yeah, I mean all those kind of little key, key areas that I mentioned. Now in retrospect it was God, it was God, it was God and maybe a couple of those times, especially the miracle day I knew that there was this higher power of some sort. I was born and raised in the church and I actually worked for the church for a little while when I was a teenager, doing like youth group video Work, stuff like that. I was never, I was never Shown who Christ was in a relational way and it was very legalistic and for people that aren't like aware, that used to be a big word to me. I was that even mean.

Speaker 1: 21:53

You know, it's like we have to do certain things to get in the grace of God and Luckily my aunt was a huge part of that. That intervened and like really Showed me God's grace and mercy in a different light and the relationship I can have with Jesus and we can call it, you know, whatever type of Christianity you want it, but at the end of the day, if that's what you have, you have a relationship with Christ. That's it, that's the ticket.

Speaker 2: 22:16

Right, absolutely. I want to pivot just a little bit and talk about what we had with our plan for today, because Part of your story, and where you help people, is with binge eating. I know this is a subject that is Not talked about enough. There's a lot of shame that goes along with that. It is not something that One can pinpoint visually. I mean, it's just like I talk a lot about your health. You cannot visually assess someone's health, and I think a common misconception is well, if they're binge eating, they would be, you know. Then their body composition would be bigger than what their natural body would want to be at. And there's just so much power knowing that you're not alone in the middle of this. And so, wherever a listener is, if they feel like maybe they are in this binge eating or you talk it, talk about oh gosh, I can't remember exactly what it was, but the, the habit of binging, maybe, rather than the formal diagnosis. So clarify that, if I, if please if I do too but but share some about that.

Speaker 2: 23:21

I would love to hear some of your story about that.

Speaker 1: 23:24

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 23:24

So along that way of just enjoying what I was doing at the gym, eventually it turned into you know kind of bodybuilding and a couple of times I came really close to actually contest prepping.

Speaker 1: 23:34

Well, I actually did contest prep, but I never competed and I really feel like that was some grace from the lord too, because I got down to you know six percent body fat or five or whatever it was, several times and ultimately, through that process, what I realized as I was looking around is most of the people that I was working out with, or Most of the people that we kind of held up on a pedestal for having these, like you said, visual, physical they were some of the most disordered eating people I had ever met.

Speaker 1: 24:04

And to specify too, it depends on you know, you could google this too and it's it's even more confusing. So, ultimately, whether or not I had an eating disorder or not, I didn't get a professional to say that right, and I want to make sure that anybody listening to this with an eating disorder. There's a couple things I might allude to that are helpful or might be, you know, helpful tips to look into or habits to start thinking about, but if that's where you're at it's, it's definitely not a good idea to go there. Definitely seek professional help.

Speaker 1: 24:35

Yes however yeah, however, there's these emotional eating pieces as well, and it can all kind of be tied together, but ultimately, what happens is if you restrict for so long or you diet for so long, which so many of my clients have done, both including myself and that's what you have to do. It's in the rulebook for bodybuilding, basically right, it's not going to be successful.

Speaker 1: 25:00

Yeah, it's part of the process and once you do that a couple of times, it can leave lasting effects on you and part of it is you just create these new habits. But also, I would say, when you reach that peak physique, if your identity is not solid in who you are, separate from that mirror or that picture or whatever you deem fit to identify as you, the moment you go back to your old body weight, that is still extremely fit. If you're in bodybuilding, you're still extremely fit any day of the year, right, you will not feel the same way and ultimately that's that's what it was. It's funny because if I go back and look at pictures, the most visually fit I ever was, I was the most unhappy at all of those times. Now I'm a 33 year old dad of two and I'm the most out of shape I've ever been.

Speaker 1: 25:53

Most people would look at me and not say that. So I don't want to say like, oh, poor me, that's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying visually it's not the same, but I am the most mentally and to me I'm physically well as as what I can, you know, jump in the gym, have a good time. I have good habits. But I also am not restricting and I'm also not beating myself up with shame because I missed a workout, you know so you are at 33 where I.

Speaker 2: 26:21

It took me a solid 10 years beyond that to finally get to that point. Yeah, yeah, and I would say at 33, I would probably look the best that I ever had in the gym, teaching hours a week, and just not in the right space. So I'm so glad that you were there early and what a great model you're going to be for your kids too, of having that balance and sustainability and not and for it to not to be an idol or something that that rules.

Speaker 1: 26:50

Oh my gosh. Yes, 100%. Well, thanks for sharing that, amy, because I sure don't feel like I picked up early. I feel like I got it really late. So that's nice to hear. But I would say too, that's been the double blessing. Right Is like I've coached, you know, middle-aged women or some older population like man 50, 60, 70s and there's so much wisdom there and I just didn't like a sponge. So I feel like I've got the double blessing there. I was helping them and coaching them, but ultimately I learned a lot on the way as well, so I'm super grateful for that.

Speaker 2: 27:20

Yeah, well, god, god puts us in really great places for sure. Yeah, you know you talk about the lasting effects. I mean, I think I have never done any kind of competition prep or something like that. I have a few, like you know, friends, slash acquaintances who have done it and my understanding is, yeah, I mean, it is a pure lifestyle and you do pick up on some habits and maybe not habits that you want.

Speaker 2: 27:42

And then the other thing you know from a hormone standpoint and I'm sure you know this, but number one, this research shows that when you restrict, then you will overcompensate that often into the binging. And then the other thing that it does is that the very scientific term is it totally jacks up your hunger hormones, your leptin and your ghrelin and the. You know, leptin is the one that says hey, I'm hungry, and the ghrelin is the one that says we're full. You know those get jacked up and so you can't even respond to the, to the God given hormones that your body has, because those have been altered so much. So, yeah, I think I mean, when you talk about lasting effects, I'm sure that is not something that is easily filed away Like you've. You've done a lot of work in your mind and and it physiologically, and it takes a bit to to recalibrate.

Speaker 1: 28:34

Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 2: 28:35

So I'm I'm wondering if you have for the person who is maybe identifying with some gene habits, you know, and maybe not to the point, or you know, I love how you encourage people to find help from a professional if they need it, but like actual steps to help people who who may be binging, to just help guide them and, you know, gently get them there to the food freedom, because I know that's one thing that you really focus on.

Speaker 1: 29:03

Yeah, definitely, and I love that.

Speaker 1: 29:05

Just food freedom it sounds great, just free to eat, you know like it's crazy too, cause what we're talking about is like that's what makes food extra challenging, right? Like we could, you know, sit in our chair all day long, work from home and never move, and we could survive till, you know, we're 80 or 90 or 100, right, but ultimately, we do have to eat, and that's what makes this a little extra challenging, right? Because if you have these health goals and then you have these, you know other things that are overriding these goals, like well, at the end of the day, you do have to eat something, right? So, yeah, I have a three step process that I like to use with my clients and I will say first off is, these are three steps that I didn't just read somewhere or get educated about. It's something that I've applied in my life as well and I find really powerful.

Speaker 1: 29:51

But there's a huge caveat here, and it's that it takes time and you're probably going to fail a lot, and that's okay and that's okay, and I failed all the time. So I just got to put that up front right away, because that's huge.

Speaker 2: 30:06

Yeah, that's a really great caveat and I appreciate that. You know it's funny. I had Leslie Schilling on, who is an intuitive eating author, and we were talking about the book Feed Yourself. I just happened to have this right by. Are you familiar with the book?

Speaker 1: 30:21

So, yeah, it's on my list. I have not read it yet. I'm excited to read it.

Speaker 2: 30:23

It's fantastic, you will love it. But she was saying that she'll counsel people and really just like letting go of the you're putting all of these boundaries on foods, and she'll say you know, she'll tell people you can have whatever you want because this is part of the steps, and they'll come in in two weeks and say, well, it's not working. It's not working, I'm overeating. She's like you have been living this way for 42 years. You think this is going to change in two weeks? It's not.

Speaker 2: 30:50

Yeah so same thing like let's adjust our expectations. So sorry to interrupt you with that. So you've got your points.

Speaker 1: 30:58

You stole my first principle, or she did, I guess.

Speaker 2: 31:00

I'm so sorry.

Speaker 1: 31:01

It's just so perfect, though, because it's exactly what we all need to do, right? If you're in this situation, is you need to give yourself permission to overeat? And it's like wait, what did he just say? Yeah, that's right, go ahead, do it. See what happens, because if you don't do that, you're approaching from a restrictive place and there will be no progress. If that is the place you're coming out of from right, and it's going to be uncomfortable, but that's the point, that is the point and that's where you're going to grow.

Speaker 1: 31:29

I don't need a whole bunch of people that are like, yeah, I was really comfortable on my couch and I just made a whole bunch of progress in my life.

Speaker 1: 31:34

Like no, we got to do uncomfortable things and that's what's so great about coaching, right?

Speaker 1: 31:38

Like that's why Amy's awesome and that's why we have people that are doing that, and so, first off, do that, give yourself some permission there, okay, and ultimately, what this is going to do is like the first principle is just awareness and getting curious, and getting curious is one of those things I heard probably a hundred times over and over and over, and I was just like I'm tired of hearing like get curious, but really you need to get curious about why you do what you do and what is really going on, because what we were talking about earlier is, ultimately, we're using food in this situation as a tool to suppress or give us comfort so we can overlook or not deal with something, and that something might be a big something, it might be a small something and it might change from time to time.

Speaker 1: 32:23

Whatever it is, you have to get curious and then, ultimately, you have to be okay, put it on the wall. This is a judgment free zone and if you're just starting this, that is going to be very challenging. Like I said, this is not the easy process and I'm somebody who cannot sit, sit still, like my neat, like activity I'm like I'm always tapping or itching or something. I can't sit still.

Speaker 2: 32:47

You're the guy who bounces his knee in church, aren't you?

Speaker 1: 32:50

Yes, I am that guy. Like I got a Bible bouncing in the air at church. Yeah, that's exactly it.

Speaker 2: 32:55

My kids are too.

Speaker 1: 32:58

So I will. I will make sure this is I. This is one of the links that I'm going to give you, amy, to share, and it's it's you know, it's a way to, like, help you get curious and ultimately it's just a couple of questions, really simple, so you don't need it, but it's you know. Who are you with, what are you doing? When are you doing? Where are you as you're having these, how would I say, how would I put it? These, these activities around food that are leading you to do things that you don't ultimately want to do with your food? Right, and you got to go the before, the during and the after and just taking a step back and becoming more aware of what's really going on, right? So I get a call from my mom, and every Friday she calls me after work. And then what do you know, right after that call, oh, it's straight to Dairy Queen and it's a blizzard. And then, all of a sudden, I get home and it's oh, it's popcorn time. Oh, is there Oreos up there too? Okay, let's go, and that's what it can turn into, and that's, that's like a real thing, so don't shame yourself if you're taking out reams of Oreos. Okay, we all start somewhere and that's I've been there, okay. So that's really the first place is how are you going to get aware? And then having some of those kind of journaling activities where you're going to just sit down and write a little bit about it ask yourself some of these questions. And the amazing thing about asking questions is it actually is a way to cultivate more awareness and get more curious about what's going on and take you out of self, because ultimately, our ego is just going on and on and on. But if we start asking questions, we're not able to stay in that you know, ego state if you will, and you're going to find out some pretty interesting things. So that's the first thing. And then you might start just noticing these patterns, like I said, the mom calling you at a certain time, or you get off of work and your bosses you know one of those bosses we really don't like whatever, it is right and that can be really huge. So that's the first piece is awareness.

Speaker 1: 34:55

The second piece is I like to call it a nourishment menu, okay, and I love the word nourish because it gets into that idea of we're eating food to nourish our bodies, but it's also not just like, yeah, we're at. That fuel your body thing kind of drives me crazy sometimes, because, like, I just fuel my body. Well, I enjoy food too. Like, every time, I make a very special oatmeal a Puerto Rican I'm half Puerto Rican a Puerto Rican oatmeal that my mom used to make me back when I was a kid. I get amazing emotions going on. Right, like we don't need to throw out all that good stuff with food either. Right? So having a nourishment menu, what does that really do? Well, we're talking about interrupting the pattern, whatever is triggering the event. You figured that out in the awareness stage.

Speaker 1: 35:46

In the second stage, this menu that we're going to create is how can we interrupt the pattern? This is super individual, so I'll give you a couple of examples. Then you can take it with a grain of salt and then make it your own, because that's ultimately what we have to do is just make it our own. For instance, what could it be? Well, maybe you have a really good friend or family member and you always talk to them and they know your stuff, they know your junk, right? You share all that with them. When you start to notice this pattern arising, you might just call them Anybody that, hey, I'm having that feeling. Ultimately, what happens is you do that a couple of times. Then that trigger gets interrupted. With that new cultivated awareness, you're able to make a new decision.

Speaker 1: 36:31

Another couple of ideas, too, is we can get into some breathing techniques. There's some really good ones out there. Ultimately, it's not going to matter as much which one you choose. I have some of my favorites, but it's really not important. It's more about just relaxing. What we know about that is the exhale is super crucial. You don't want to be hyperventilating through the nose a whole bunch. You want to just long exhale. If you can count it, see how long you can get, make a game out of it. All of a sudden, you do that three times. That pattern was interrupted. You could take the pets out for a walk. I will say the one thing I don't want people to do is drink water. Okay, because that drives me nuts. There's a lot of coaches out there that are telling people hey, are you hungry?

Speaker 2: 37:20

Oh, just pick a glass of water, because then you won't be hungry anymore, what?

Speaker 1: 37:25

Yeah, let's stack on some more problems here, amy. Is that a couple of good examples there?

Speaker 2: 37:31

No, those are great. That's great. I love to learn from Dr Andrew Huberman.

Speaker 1: 37:36

I don't know if you're familiar with him, with Huberman Lab, the cyclical sign, right?

Speaker 2: 37:40

Oh well, he does all kinds of things I have learned so much from him because he's such a strong researcher and then he reads stuff and he puts it out there for mortals like I am. But I think you were talking about the breathing and I think what I learned is, if you are trying to calm yourself down, you want your exhale to be longer than your inhale. But if you're trying to rev yourself up, like maybe you're getting ready to start a race, there are times that we need to like okay, okay, but that's when your inhale needs to be longer than your exhale and I thought, oh, that makes a lot of sense too, because it's kind of diaphramic control with the relaxation.

Speaker 1: 38:23

Yeah, I love that. And yeah, if anybody hasn't heard of Andrew Huberman, for sure go check it out. He's just dropping so much knowledge in. Yeah, it's awesome.

Speaker 2: 38:30

Yeah, so good. Okay, so you have number one awareness, number two nourishment menu. Can we get into that?

Speaker 1: 38:36

Yeah, so, let's wrap it up with number three. Okay, so, number three is the self-compassion piece, which has never been my favorite piece, because whenever I hear self-compassion, I'm like, well, that kind of sounds woo-woo and that's like, oh gosh, it just sounds boring to me. But this is one of the again, this is one of the hardest pieces for me and I'm sure there's going to be some people out there that are the same. So let's talk about what I'm really talking about, right. So, again, judgment-free zone, right, but ultimately, there's actually some really good evidence out there, scientific evidence, and I'll copy some of those studies and send them to you, amy, as well. But ultimately and it seems like dopamine's on every YouTube and podcast now but this neurochemical is related to striving towards things and rewards right, and dopamine is involved in the formation of these habits. And what they realized is there's some evidence saying that when you're talking negatively to yourself and you're beating yourself up with shame, what you're really doing is reinforcing this neuro pathway and releasing this dopamine to say, yeah, this is a good habit, let's keep doing this. And ultimately, it's kind of interesting too, because that's similar to the addiction pathway that you know, a lot of researchers talk about as well.

Speaker 1: 39:54

So this self-compassion is not just like, hey, let's just all sit around and sing Kumbaya. It's actually super important because you need to start separating that negative self-talk that goes along with these habits, because I'm sure there's not a lot of people that are emotional eating and then afterwards they're feeling great Like we wouldn't be having this conversation if that was the key right. We end up feeling a lot worse and I don't like using the word hate, but that's exactly what I wanted to feel and tell myself and that's real and we don't want to run away from that. We need to give ourselves compassion, and that's okay, but also move out of it. And that's where that self-compassion piece comes from, where you can really start to sit with again the awareness, but really sitting with, okay, what happened.

Speaker 1: 40:45

And then what am I going to do differently now? Because now you interrupted the trigger, the pattern. What can you do differently Out of self-compassion for yourself? And that strategy will look very different from any different people. But again, I don't want to give you know, like some people are, like, oh, it's a great time, like, instead of eating the candy, I'm going to go eat broccoli, like that's not what I'm talking about, but it's just saying that behavior is not making me feel good in my body and in my mind. And now what? What can I do instead of that? And it's going to be one of those things where it's not restrictive. Again, we're not going the restrictive route.

Speaker 2: 41:21

That's so good, you know, and it's funny. When you were on the awareness thing, I mean, I feel like a theme in a lot of this is being kind to yourself when you realize these awareness things and interrupting and like all of the things that you have talked about, really does. I feel like that threads it all together, which is something that is difficult to do because of exactly what you just said because we do, it's easier to think the negative thoughts. The more we think them, those pathways are deeper and more set, and then I don't think that I really understood fully about the dopamine that we get when we do that. So, of course, of course, we're going to say the negative things. How could you, why did you you're smarter than that, you're better than that and go down all of that. So I love those steps and I love your anti diet approach as well.

Speaker 2: 42:11

I am highly discerning about the food conversations that we have on here, because I believe that we were all we are all unique, original bodies and we have unique and original ways of, I say, fueling ourselves. But I know what you mean. I also talk a lot about nourishment and of what makes us feel well. I talk a lot, in fact. I mean, feeling and functioning well is a big tenet of the things that I talk about. So, in terms of this anti diet approach to helping people who struggle with their weight and their body image, you've got this one-on-one coaching program called food freedom, your transformation. So tell people some what they can get with that. And I would also love if you mentioned the download that you where people can get that one as well, the download of the questions to ask each other before, during and after.

Speaker 1: 42:59

Yes, yeah, yeah, we'll call it the break the patterns.

Speaker 1: 43:02

Yeah, yes. So with the one-on-one coaching, essentially, you know, over time with my clients I tried many different avenues and ultimately what it comes down to is whether I was training a doctor or a night shift person or a stay at home mom or whatever it is, ultimately everybody needs some customization around their plan. And I kind of look at our lives as this pyramid and you know, just think of three tips of a pyramid, nothing special to each tip, but there's movement, there's nutrition and then there's recovery, and then over that pyramid is a big stress cloud. And it doesn't have to be a dark stress cloud, it can be like a nice sunny kind of cloud. It just depends, and that stress always ebbs and it contracts and it expands sometimes around those different factors of movement, nutrition or recovery. So ultimately when I see someone, it's clear up front that we're not going to use dieting to get to the health goal, whatever that is, and I try to set the goals with them. So there's this process of the goal setting, but ultimately it comes to what do they want? And then reverse engineering that and where are they at now? And then deciding okay, what is the first intervention we should make, because ultimately, you know, when I was a super greenhorn in my first year of personal training, I remember like, okay, here's a meal plan, here's a workout, here's the thing on sleep, and then, oh yeah, I'll text you this time and see if we're doing this, and it's like it's way too much right, like we all have these busy lives, and so ultimately it's finding one or two things that are going to get you to your health goal closer, that we can say, okay, these are like, if we fix these two things, or if we change these two things, two things, you're going to see a major shift. And so sometimes that's around movement, sometimes that's around nutrition, sometimes that around recovery. It just depends. So that that first phone call I have with people it's a I call it the success session. We're going to just find out how you can have success and you can book it on the website and ultimately it's the first calls free, which I love because sometimes I can give people some really good information and then they can take it with them and go try it for themselves a little bit.

Speaker 1: 45:12

But ultimately, intuitive eating you mentioned that earlier that's, that's kind of one of the routes for the nutrition I take. I'm one of these people that has a hard time using buzzwords anymore because they're just all loaded and who even knows what they mean anymore. But I had to go with the anti diet and I think that says it pretty well. Right, and ultimately the program is called food freedom, your transformation. So Freeing yourself from whatever that bondage or restriction is in your life around food. But also you know, your transformation. Where do you want? What do you want to transform? Let's, let's get you there. So ultimately, that's what I do in the one-on-one coaching and that break your patterns. I will give you that link, amy, and you can put it in the show notes and people can click on that and that'll Send them the break, the pattern sheet so they can get going on that and then if they want to book a call, great.

Speaker 2: 45:58

Fantastic, that sounds good. Okay, I have. I feel like I could just keep going and going, but I know you've got little ones that you've got a tend to, so I'll wrap this up With the questions that I ask all my guests. Number one is I love learning about people's tattoos because I found that when they have a one, it often has a meaning behind it, and I have been known to ask some really random people about their tattoos and it has never disappointed me, I will say that. So I was wondering, if you have a tattoo, if you might would mind Sharing the meaning behind it, and if you don't have one, but you had to get one, what would it be and where would it go?

Speaker 1: 46:33

Yeah, I love this question. Has anybody ever gotten a tattoo because you asked them the question?

Speaker 1: 46:37

no no, well, I have a tattoo, I do, and it's kind of those things nobody knows about unless you know. I'm like out on a boat and they find out it's on my shoulder, okay, and I got it when I was 21 and I was I was trying to be smart about. I was like, okay, I'm not gonna be that guy that gets it, gets it at 18 and then regrets it. I'm gonna do it at 21 when I'm very mature. I'm very mature at this place. Yeah, I know what a crazy thing to think of that time.

Speaker 1: 47:03

That's funny looking back, right, but ultimately so it says liberty or death. It's just some text. It says liberty or death, which is applied to the don't tread on me flag. If people aren't familiar, it was kind of like well, it wasn't. Kind of like the the American Revolution was going on. This flag was created and it's a snake and Each coil in the snake is representing the 13 colonies revolting back to the British.

Speaker 1: 47:23

So I have a huge passion for this country because I feel like, with all the struggles I went over, today, if I wasn't living in a free country, not only would my struggles been way harder, but I don't know if I would have been able to come out of it. So, but ultimately, why I got that tattoo was not because of the patriotism in my heart, it's ultimately because at that time I went to the jet, I went to the jail. That sounds weird to say. I went to jail for the first time and it terrified me to such a great degree that I knew that if I ever went back I would I would die there. So liberty or death on the back of my shoulder, it truly means that I would die if I went back, and I could never forget that feeling, and so I had to put it somewhere on my body. So I chose my shoulder.

Speaker 2: 48:10

Wow, wow, okay, that's, yeah, that's a. That's talk about a wake-up call, for sure. I think we talked a little bit. Well, how, how can people connect with you? And I will definitely put all of the your websites and Instagram. You have a lot of really great stuff on Instagram, I know, but just kind of give them the the high level of that.

Speaker 1: 48:29

Yeah, great, you can always go just straight to the website Zach Lloyd coaching, comm to L's for Lloyd or Zach Lloyd coaching on YouTube or Instagram should work great. That's a good place to start great, great.

Speaker 2: 48:40

Do you have a meaningful Bible verse that you would like to share?

Speaker 1: 48:43

I do, and I have to pull my phone because my Bible. I really like the, the NIV version, and my Bible is what the new Oxford, so I'm gonna go with the NIV and it's Proverbs 16 to All. The person's ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord, and I feel like that really applies to our conversation today, because we all have these things we're striving for, especially in health and fitness, this, this like perfect body, or this perfect feeling or whatever it is. But ultimately, what is important is, are we centered in Christ? And he will know our motives, and I think that's a great reminder.

Speaker 2: 49:25

That's beautiful, thank you. Okay, we've talked about a lot. What is the one simple thing you would like our community to remember about our conversation today?

Speaker 1: 49:36

This is hard, but I I really Over the years, have you know? In my bio you said I'm driven to help others find meaning and fulfillment in suffering through Fitness. I wouldn't be half the person I am today without all of the suffering and, to be clear, that was suffering. I basically chose. So don't feel sorry for me, but it no matter where someone is. I hope, after hearing this, wherever you are now, no matter how dark of a place you're in, no matter how high the mountain looks, you can overcome it and there is hope. And having just that glimmer of hope, that's what I hope you take from today.

Speaker 2: 50:15

Amen. Okay, that is all for today. Go out there and have a graced day. Thanks for listening today. If this episode was valuable to you, could you do one of two things that are enormously valuable to me but super simple for you? Number one just share this with a friend. Super simple. Number two Provide a rating and review, particularly if you listen in Apple podcast. This is super valuable for me. Also, if you haven't yet subscribed to my monthly journal, why not? I send it out twice a month and it is a private fun space for me to share some of my favorite foods and recipes, movements, books, sermons and more. You never know what you're gonna get, but I promise it will add value to your day. You can sign up at grace health com slash monthly dash updates and, of course, the link is in the show notes. Thanks again for listening and I'll see you next time you