Shack lost 11kg's in 3 months

Shack is in studio today to talk us through the successful fat loss phase he implemented throughout the first 3 months of this year, to lose just over 11kgs 🙌🏽

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The Eat Like Ruby podcast is not a substitute for professional medical or dietary advice.
The advice given in this episode is general in nature and should not be used to treat any medical conditions, health conditions, illnesses, injuries and/or any nutrition related conditions, deficiencies or similar.
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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Hello fam, welcome back to the podcast. I am finally back today with Shaq. Welcome Shaq.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Hello, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Long time, no pod. Um, I said the other week I updated all the podcast gear, didn't buy Shaq a microphone, hence why he hasn't been back for a few months. So I've been teasing the episode about Shaq's fat loss phase and the results of that, and we are here to do it today. So we are gonna talk today about the fact that Shaq lost, was it 11 kilos?

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Yeah, I think 11 and a half, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Counting every gram. So just over 11 kilos in the first three months of this year. We did an episode, I think it was the very first episode of 2026. We spoke about the fact that you had a big year of events. The event started from sort of like mid-year onwards, or like now onwards. So we wanted to do the fat loss before that so we could be lighter for the event, and so we weren't trying to pursue fat loss and performance at the same time, right? Yeah. So today we're gonna talk about obviously gnarly result to lose 11 kilos in three months. It was, I think it was 12, maybe 13 weeks. We pushed out that extra week. Um, but yeah, it was pretty much Jan, Feb, March.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

And so we're gonna talk about that today and just exactly what that looked like. A couple of little things I want to preface this episode by saying I want to make it very clear right now so people have a chance to leave or do whatever you need to do. I am going to let Shaq swear today because I think the swearing is gonna be needed to get across the point of this episode that I want to get across. So I'm gonna let Shaq drop F bombs. I'm not gonna beep them out because I think they are just needed to prove the point that I want to prove. Um, I'm not gonna let him drop C bombs, but I am going to let Shaq say the F-word today. I want to make it very clear because I know a lot of people like the fact that we stop swearing so they can get their kids or their daughters and whatever to listen. That's awesome. I love it. I don't think this episode is one for the daughters. Anyway, we're gonna talk pretty much about like, I don't want to say aggressive fat loss today, but like kind of aggressive fat loss. So most people don't need their daughters to hear that or whatever. So just the warning on the swearing and what we're gonna talk about today. The other little thing I want to preface this by saying is what we talk about today is not gonna be applicable to everybody. So, like I said, we're gonna talk about aggressive fat loss and really just a very strict deficit. Like a very strict deficit. And there are absolutely people who will benefit from hearing this, but there's also people who don't need to hear this and don't need to implement strict deficits. So I just want people to have a little bit of discernment at the start of this episode. If you think, oh, that's actually not a beneficial topic for me to hear about right now. Maybe you're in more of a headspace where you need to have a more chilled approach to nutrition, you're trying to move away from strictness, etc. I have nothing but respect for that, and I just want to give that warning that we are going to talk about strict dieting today, which definitely won't be applicable to everybody. Even if it's not applicable to you, you might be in a good headspace where you're like, oh, that's not relative to me, but I'm still interested to hear the episode. That's perfect, that's awesome, you can definitely hang around. But if you just know that hearing about strict fat loss isn't right for you right now, just want to give you that chance to leave. And if you don't want to hear the F-bombs, I want to give you the chance to leave. So don't say I didn't warn ya, but we are gonna get into it now. So even though I've got Shaq here today, I feel like I'm gonna do most of the talking, but I feel like you're you're gonna have some good shit to um jump in with. But just want to give like a little bit of context to people who maybe don't know you or don't know us or haven't listened to that other episode at the start of the year. 11 kilos can obviously sound like a lot, but it's quite relative to your size. So, what was your starting weight, if you remember?

SPEAKER_00 3:50

I think it was around 105.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

I think it was 105 on the dot.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

Yeah. So 105, and it was pretty much the Monday after Christmas you started. Like you weighed in on that day at 105. Just for like way bigger context, Shaq has been as heavy as like 130 kilos back in the day. He obviously played footy for a long time, played in the front row, and would consistently sit around 110, even a little bit heavier for footy. Like that was a quote good weight for you for footy. So him going into this fat loss phase starting at 105 is so random. Like back in the day, 105 would have literally been too light for you, right?

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Legit.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

Like you wouldn't play footy at 105. No, I definitely would have wanted to get that back up. So I think even right there is just like a cool little lesson, first of all, that different weights and different sizes and stuff can be quote good depending on the goal and what you're working towards at the time and everything.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

But just cool to obviously understand that he was starting at 105. He definitely, you know, if we think about everything we just said, like you used to sit heavier than that, and you'd sit had times where you'd been way heavier than that. So you definitely weren't like overweight or didn't need to lose weight. But I would say definitely for your events and the goals that you have this year, it wouldn't make sense to have stayed at 105, no way.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

Yeah, 100%. All the I think everything added up, just needed to come off.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Yeah, and even thinking about um last year, 2025, Shaq did the full Iron Man at Port Mac, and you were sitting around, I think about 97, maybe 98 when he did that.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Yeah, I think roughly, I think the race was at 97, 98, give or take.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

Yeah, and I just remember looking at you and thinking, oh, I feel like you'd be a little bit more comfortable with a little bit off. And I always say this, but I want to say it again, like as a wife, I don't care. Like I was I was here for the 130 kilos, right? So as a wife, I'm not sitting here saying you need to lose weight. As his performance nutritionist, watching him perform, I was just like, oh, I feel like a couple more would be really beneficial for you. And I felt like you agreed, hey.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Yeah, I think definitely back end on the Mara.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

I've definitely felt like the Mara in the Iron Man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so just then being like 105 at the end of the year, that was just kind of like had a pretty chilled month through like even November and December. You're pretty chilled. Training volume had come right down. You were focusing a little bit on speed and technique and stuff, but your overall distances and stuff had come right down. So I think you just had a few chilled months, which I think is so beneficial for athletes to hear. I actually have this conversation with athletes all the time. It is part of being an athlete to have peaks, like times where your training and your physique and your weight and your body composition and everything peaks, and then times where they dip. You don't need to be on an in perfect condition 365 days a year.

SPEAKER_00 6:43

Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

No athlete is. I literally had this conversation with a client the other day where she'd come off the back of Hyrocks and just had like a few chilled weeks, and she was like, Oh, like I I, you know, she was feeling like a little bit not guilty, but just kind of beating herself up, like, oh, I was just kind of chilling after high rocks. And I was like, literally said to her, think about footy players that have just played in the grand final, they're not having a good week of nutrition and training after that, right? Like, so elite athletes have peaks and troughs with, like I said, training, nutrition, physique, everything. And I just feel like that was you towards the end of last year. It's like, wow, I've had a massive year of events, I've been in peak condition, and now I'm just chilling.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

Yeah, I think it's so important, so important.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

Yeah, and cool to think that like you chilling goes to 105 kilos when back in the day that would have been too light. Like, it's just funny to think about that being like your chilled heavy weight now. So, anyway, we knew just looking at all of that, it's like, okay, if he's 105 now, if he was 98 last time we did the Iron Man, he wants to do the Iron Man again. We wanted him to be lighter than last time, so we kind of had that goal of getting to sub-95, kind of hanging in those low to mid-90s, right? Yeah, yeah, and well, we nailed it because he lost what did you say, 11 and a half kilos? So he came down into the 93s, that was the lowest we saw.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

Hey, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

Okay, so if we actually look, because I feel like the thing that would have drawn people into this episode is like, how did he lose 11 kilos in three months, right? First of all, like I said, and the reason I want to talk about all that weight stuff is it's relative to his size. Like, I probably wouldn't lose 11 kilos in three months because the percentage of my body that is 11 kilos is a lot more than yours. Do you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 8:29

Yeah, agree.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

So for you, like even if we were to just look at that really loosely, we can pretty much say you lost 10% of your weight. Yeah. So that's like a 60 kilo person losing six kilos, an 80 kilo person losing eight kilos. So I think it's just important to understand the that's like relative to your size. But the main reason that I wanted to get Shaq on today, and this is the thing that I just want to say it again, this is not applicable to everybody, and I am not saying at all that this is quote the right way to do things. I just want to point out one way to do things, and I'm also want to point out I think there would be a lot of people that look at Shaq and go, wow, he's so lucky, or I'd love to do that, I wish I could have done that. And pretty much just like I said, it being like jealousy sounds like a harsh word, but somewhat jealous of that result, right? And the reason I wanted to get Shaq here today is to really show what it took to get that result. And this is where I'm going to let Shaq drop an F bomb because I think this is where we need to drop it. If I was to just say to you, like, don't think about it, don't overthink it, just in simple words, for that three-month period, how hungry were you?

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Fucking real hungry.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

I was pretty sure he would just say fucking starving, because literally 10 times a day, Shaq would say to me, I'm fucking starving. And then again, guys, I just want to point out I'm not saying everybody has to be fucking starving if they want to achieve fat loss. Like I cannot stress that enough. But I think it's so common for people to want to avoid the hunger, or as soon as they experience the hunger, they're like, Oh my god, I need to eat a little bit more, or I need to have a snack, or whatever it is, and then look at someone who did lose 11 kilos in three months and go, oh my god, I wish I could do that. This is a person who was so fucking hungry during that time. And did you ever, ever budge on your nutrition and on your plan for the day?

SPEAKER_00 10:24

No.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

In that three-month window, you literally did not budge. You said to me 10 times a day, I'm fucking starving, and you did not budge. And just to put into context, guys, like we can break this down a little bit, but I wrote Shaq a meal plan to nail his nutrition through the day. And then we had, I think, maybe three, maybe four dinners that we would rotate through, right? So I wrote him the meal plan to hit his calories, hit his protein, etc. And then just said, okay, if the dinner is like 500 cal, let's just pick three or four, 500 cal dinners with roughly the same protein, good hit of veggies, etc. Like four or five meals. I feel like it was four because I can just think about what those dinners were because I ate them as well every night for three months. But just pick those handful of dinners that we can rotate through. But then every single day he ate the exact same thing and just mixed up the dinners every few nights and literally did that for three months, right?

SPEAKER_00 11:22

Legit.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

And so I just want to point out, I can't stress enough. Like, I'm not saying everybody has to do that. Obviously, I'm the biggest advocate of flexible dieting and people taking a sustainable approach. I think we've spoken about this on the podcast before, like, you've got different types of people when it comes to fat loss. Some people do just want to knuckle down, pretty much go like robot mode and get it done. Other people don't handle that approach well and need to have like a more chilled mindset, make it a bit more moderate, more sustainable, more flexibility. I cannot stress enough. Neither of these approaches is right or wrong. What is wrong, in my opinion, is if you want to have that more chilled, more moderate approach, and then you're looking at someone who had a really strict approach and saying they're so lucky. Do you feel lucky, Shaq, or do you just feel like you fucking got it done?

SPEAKER_00 12:14

I feel like I fucking earned it.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

Yeah, you did earn it. You absolutely earned it, and that's what I really just want to point out. And I just want to say as well, like when Shaq was literally walking around the house going, I'm fucking starving every five seconds. I would say to him, like, I would say to him, are you just venting? Or is it genuinely too much? Like, do we need to change up the food? Do we need to reduce the deficit a little bit? Like, I don't want him to be genuinely starving and negatively impacting his health. Like, I obviously calculate a good deficit for him, but I want it to still be supportive of his health. We don't want to eat unnecessarily low. So anytime he's saying I'm starving, I would be like, Do we actually need to look at this or do you just need to vent? And he's like, No, I just need to vent. Like, there was never a time that we actually had to adjust it. We didn't adjust anything at all.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

Nah.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

Yeah, because shit was just working. Like you were averaging roughly a kilo a week, even if we look at three months, 11 kilos, like that pretty much is a kilo a week. And you'd have some weeks where it would kind of drop a bit more, you'd have some weeks where it was like a little bit less, but overall we could clearly see shit moving. Yeah. So we didn't need to adjust. And then I'd say to him every now and then, like, are you sick of the foods? Do you want me to mix it up? And I feel like you just get in a good routine, you just get it done. Hey.

SPEAKER_00 13:29

Legal, I feel like it's a point where it's for a reason and it's working, so why change it?

SPEAKER_01 13:34

Yeah, and I think that like literally couldn't have said it better myself. It's for a reason, like you know what you're doing, it's working. So it is just almost like tunnel vision. Like, I'll just take the boxes and get this done because it's in support of such bigger goals as well. Like, there's no way you would want to have messed around in that three months and then got into the middle of the year and been like, Oh, I need to try again.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Yeah, fuck that.

unknown 14:01

Nope.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

See where I had to give the swearing permission today. But yeah, so true. And I say this to people all the time. When people come to me, I mean, we speak about this so much on the pot that you want to make sure if you're doing the deficit, you do it well or you get the hell out of it. And whenever people come to me and they've kind of got a few things going on, really common for people to come to me when they're maybe like six months out from an event. And side note, big yes. A lot better to come to me when you're six months out compared to when you're six weeks out, right? Because people come to me when they're six months out and they say, like, yeah, I want to do this thing in six months' time. Ideally, I'd want to be a couple of kilos lighter, like looking at marathons, triathons, etc. I want to be a couple of kilos lighter. Obviously, my training block is gonna ramp up in a couple months' time, so I want to use this window to drop those kilos. Like, that is awesome. And I always just say to that person, yes, because you've come to me with enough time, yes, this can be done. But the one thing we really just want to check in on before we set this plan is do you genuinely feel like you can implement this deficit well over the next, let's say, eight weeks? Like if you've got someone in that position where it's like, we're gonna spend eight weeks in a deficit and then we're gonna spend four months fueling the prep for the event, right? I always say to that person, do you genuinely feel like you can stick to this deficit over the next eight weeks? Looking at your training, your lifestyle, your schedule, whether you've got holidays, different shit. Like, look at everything that's gonna be happening in your life. Do you really think you can stick to it? Because the absolute fucking last thing that you want, I love that we're swearing again. This is like, I can just be myself. But the absolute last thing that you want when you are getting ready for an event is to look back and see that you've wasted time. Because if you spend, let's say, one to two months trying to implement a deficit but not sticking to it, you are in the worst position possible, in my opinion, because you've got nothing to show for the deficit, but you've also sacrificed your training and your performance. That is hands down the worst position to get in. And this is why I always say get into the deficit, get it done, or get out of it. You don't want to be half-assing a deficit. A half-ass deficit is a waste of time. A half-ass deficit is absolutely a waste of time because if we think about you, I'll let you get away. But if we think about you, if you had a half-assed those three months, and then you were like, oh, maybe I dropped like three to four kilos, but really I wanted to drop closer to 10, then you're in a position where you're like, okay, well, now all my events are getting closer, so my training volume is really cranking up. I'm not at the weight that I want to be at, but I also need to fuel this training. Yeah, it's um shitter's position to be in.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Legit.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

And that's why you just have to really do that big bird's eye. You have a look and go, like, when does it make sense to work on what thing? And then also really be honest with yourself and go, do I think I can stick to this? Do I think I can make the most of it? Because if I can't, it is genuinely a waste of time. And you're better off just going, put me straight on my maintenance slash performance cows, and I'll just fuel my training from this second onwards. The second you decide to go into a deficit, your training performance is going to take a little bit of a hit, right? And obviously, we can work with that and we can try and make it moderate, and there's shit we can do to offset that. But all right, guys, we just had to stop because Nutella decided to throw up. If people don't know, Nutella's the dog, he loves to do something in the middle of every episode.

SPEAKER_00 17:27

So I think no one talked about him for about two minutes.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

Is he alright?

SPEAKER_00 17:32

I think so.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

Okay, so completely lost my train of thought. That was about an eight-minute break. But I think we were just saying about um people messing around with the deficit when they do have those events and stuff coming, and then you're just left in that position where you're like, didn't really get to fuel my performance in that time, but also didn't get the fat loss that I wanted. It's just such a waste of time.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

100% in the quality of life this goes down the hole too.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

You tell them.

SPEAKER_00 17:57

Well, like it's the thing, like, if you're sacrificing for an event, you're in that die for a reason. There's no point trying to train and not do the thing that you need. You know what I mean? That makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

Yeah, and I don't even remember how we got into this in the first place, but I think we were just saying, like, having that conversation with people about like either getting it done or not. And I think it's just like an important thing to think about. Like I've said eight times in this episode already, and like I always say on the podcast, like there's no right or wrong. People can have a really strict intentional deficit like Shaq has and just get it done and get out. People can have a really moderate, more chilled approach where they are a lot more chilled, they're a lot more flexible, they take the ups and downs and they sit there for a lot longer. Neither of them is right or wrong, but like I said before, don't get jealous of the results someone's getting if you're not doing the work that they're doing. And I think there is an element of as well where if you are an athlete or you're getting into all of these performance events and endurance events and stuff, you do, in my opinion, you have a responsibility to look at this shit a little bit more closely and say, if I'm gonna ask my body to do these big things, I need to take this shit a little bit more seriously.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

Legit and give your body the respect it needs.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

Yeah, that's what I mean. Like, I think it's so common now for people to be like, oh, I'm gonna do a marathon, I'm gonna do high-rox, I'm gonna do triathlon. Like, events are getting bigger and bigger, people's training volume is getting bigger and bigger. And I think with that, you do have to say, hey, if I'm gonna do this stuff, I do have to, like Shaq said, respect my body a little bit more, take everything a little bit more seriously. There are times where like I can't just have a quote chilled approach to nutrition. You're not doing a chilled thing with your body. If you are asking your body to do something intense, you need to match your effort with your nutrition and fueling and everything the same way. You can't just go into massive events and be like, oh, like I'm kind of in a deficit, kind of not, kind of at maintenance, didn't really feel like eating that day. It's so funny how you see people doing all these events, but they still have that really chilled approach to nutrition. And it's like, yes, you can have an enjoyable approach, doesn't have to be super strict, but you do have to take it a bit more seriously, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

100%.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

And so with Shaq actually losing that weight, I feel like there'd be people that are like, tell us the secret. And it's like, it's not a secret, guys. It's literally what we've been talking about forever. We put him in a deficit, he had unreal consistency. We watched how his body responded, we saw pretty quickly that we were getting the response that we wanted, and we just stayed there. That was it.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

Legit, it's not rocket science.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

No, it's not like we literally put him in a deficit for him. That was up in the like mid to high 2000, his maintenance is up in the 3000s, so we had that deficit in place. You do about 200 grams of protein a day, yeah, give or take. Shaq does two protein shakes every single day, don't you? Yep. Two 50 gram protein shakes every single day. And again, I'm not saying that that's right or wrong or that everyone has to go out and do that to lose weight. You definitely, most people wouldn't need to eat as much protein as Shaq does to lose weight, especially most people listening to this episode. Like, again, that's relative to his size, his gender, his training volume, all of these things. But we know that we wanted you around that 200 gram of protein every day. So easy for you to drink protein shakes because he works in the gym, he does shift work, he comes and goes with training and work and everything. So easy for you to do that, and you just throw them back without a care in the world, hey?

SPEAKER_00 21:17

Yeah, it's just so easy, it's so reliable, like it's just easy there.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

Just don't have to think about it. Yeah, yeah. And then obviously, we always do like protein with dinner, with meat, and yeah, like we just found a good routine, and that's why we didn't change it that much because we're like, this ticks all the boxes that we want to tick, like this day of eating ticks all the boxes that we want to tick. Literally, just repeat it until you get to where you want to be.

SPEAKER_00 21:40

Legit.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

And then even since you got there, I feel like you haven't changed that day that much. We've just increased some of the portions, swapped out like bread for bagels, couple of things like that. But you haven't gone like, oh my god, deficit's over, completely changed my approach.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

Nice. Pretty much the same supplementary.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

It's the exact same day. You've just cranked like swapped a few things out, really.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

I'm a very simple creature.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

Yeah, but I feel like that even just comes with the athlete side of things. I don't think. And you know, some people out there might be doing this and go off if you can do it well, but I don't think you can be an athlete and be a foodie, like a foodie that wants to be creative and do different recipes every day and mix all this stuff up all the time.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

100% no. You get the shits every day.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

Do you mean you like physically get the shits or like you would get the shits in your mind?

SPEAKER_00 22:31

Uh pro physically. Like if you're running yourself and changing your meals, you'll get the shits every day.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

I meant more so just in your mind, but that's a good point. Like, I just think it's annoying. And any person that I work with that is really working towards serious events actually can't really stand food and like definitely doesn't want to put any time or effort or extra energy into their food than they have to. Yeah. Like most athletes do just find the shit that works and then they stick to it because they've got so much else to do.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

100%.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

So I just think that's cool to think about. But also, like a good point that you said, obviously, if you are mixing a lot of high intensity, high volume training and then mixing up your foods, that can be a bit of a rough time on the guts.

SPEAKER_00 23:15

I think everyone's been there.

SPEAKER_01 23:16

Yeah, and we spoke about that so much with the running episodes and stuff about like just familiarizing yourself to certain foods and everything. So, again, if you're doing all of that training, you don't want to be mixing a lot of shit up and finding out the hard way. It's not working for you.

SPEAKER_00 23:30

What's the number one rule? Nothing new on game day.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

Yeah, and that's because you don't want to be out there like if you're doing a race or a game or whatever, you don't want to experience the discomfort that can come from new shit potentially. But then you also just don't that want that with your training either.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

100%.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

Like if you would you run yesterday, 20Ks. Yeah, you wouldn't want to do a brand new foods the day before that, and then be out there doing 20Ks, like, okay, those foods aren't sitting well.

SPEAKER_00 23:54

Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

So we're a little bit off topic, but I think it's just cool to see like you have such bigger goals and shit you want to do, and the deficit was just part of the bigger goals. And I just watched you get in this mentality of like, I'm just gonna do what I have to do to get it done.

SPEAKER_00 24:12

Yeah, 100%. That's what you gotta do.

SPEAKER_01 24:14

Yeah, and to just watch you, like I said, just repeat that food and like Shaq has the eat like Ruby Bowl every day with biscoff. So if people don't know, yogurt fruit cereal, the original eat like ruby bowl is in a teller, Shaq has it with biscoff, but you just ditched the biscot for three months. Yeah, I don't think you've had biscoff this year, nah, yeah, and like just doesn't bat an eyelid. He's like, I'm just taking it out because it doesn't make sense for the goal that I have. That end. Like, we don't, I don't think we ever spoke about cravings or like anything at all. You were just so robotic.

SPEAKER_00 24:49

Legit.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

So it's just cool to see. And I even think I think there was like literally one time we went out for a meal in that when it was someone's birthday, and I watched you pretty much just get steak and veg and then come home because it was like a lunch, like a late lunch thing. Come home, have a protein shake at dinner, yeah, and get straight back on your shit the next day.

SPEAKER_00 25:11

Legit.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

And so again, I'm not saying it all people have to do that. Like right now, obviously, I'm in my muscle gain era. I'm out there having pizza, burgers, Mexican, all of it, all the time. I'm not saying it all that we all have to live like this. I'm not even saying that we all have to do this to achieve fat loss, but it is one approach you can take. It is one approach we can take, is to just knuckle down, ditch all of the randomness, the flexibility, ditch all of the, what do I feel like? I didn't feel like that. Oh my god, I'm hungry, I better have a snack. I think even that right there is something to look at. Like I said before, you know, Shaq was saying he's fucking starving all the time. And I would step in and go, like, no, mate, are you actually too hungry? Do we need to adjust? Or do you just need to vent? He just needed to vent, we kept going, that was fine. So I'm not saying we have to push to the point of being fucking starving, but we do have to accept that hunger is part of the deficit.

SPEAKER_00 26:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:04

And I think that's a really important thing for people to think about because I think so many people are so conditioned to be like, oh my god, if I'm hungry, so like I had to have something extra. And even people that just go, if the hunger kicks in, I'll just have a snack. That's fine. Again, some people can do that. That's fine. I'm not saying we have to always avoid that, but reword that sentence to if it's like every time I'm hungry, I'll have a snack, reword that to every time my deficit kicks in, I'll get myself out of it. Because then you're in a position where it's like, okay, cool. So you want the results of the deficit, but every single time you're experiencing the deficit, you're gonna pull yourself out of it because it's uncomfortable. And then you're gonna look at someone who didn't pull themselves out of the discomfort and go, wow, he's so lucky. Is he so lucky, or did he just stick with the discomfort that a lot of people run away from the second they experience it?

unknown 26:55

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 26:56

He's nodding.

SPEAKER_01 26:57

He's nodding, he forgets that we're on audio and he's just sitting here nodding.

SPEAKER_00 27:00

I agree.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

So I just think there's a lot to think about here. Is there anything that you want to say, Shark, that we haven't covered?

SPEAKER_00 27:07

I don't think so.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

I think um you're like, I don't think so, but I feel like you've got something to say.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

Nah, I think it's just um just embrace the suffering and embrace the suffering.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

I would say like embrace the struggle, embrace the challenge. Yeah, and like suffering sounds intense.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

Well is suffering in a good way. Like, if you've got bigger goals there at play, there's a reason why you're doing this. Just don't forget that reason you're doing it.

SPEAKER_01 27:35

Yeah, and I think obviously, like I've said it a bunch of times in this episode, but we can even look at it a little bit of a different way here. If someone is, let's like, let's say you're in a deficit and it is feeling intense and you're feeling the hunger and like everything's kicking in, you have so many options. You've got the option to go, I'm gonna stay in this and push through, like Shaq did. You've got the option to go, I'm just gonna increase my intake a little bit and therefore decrease my deficit a little bit, just to minimize this stuff a little bit. And maybe that will slow down my results and my progress a little bit, but that's what I want to do because I don't feel like I can keep doing it the way I am. You've got the choice to get yourself completely out of the deficit and go to a higher intake and go, I just don't feel like doing that right now. I'll go back to it later on. There's so many options, there's so many ways we can navigate it. And like I said before, you can take a really strict approach if that's through to, you can take a really chilled approach. Shaq could have come to me at the start of the year and said, Rubs, I want to lose 11 kilos, but I want to do it across the year because I don't want it to be too strict, I don't want it to be too intense. I'm not doing any events, I would just like to lose 11 kilos, but I don't want to have to say no to everything, I don't want to have to eat the same foods every day, etc. And then we would have approached it differently. So there's so many ways you can approach it, and I think it is so important to work out what the best one is for you, but I think it's just really cool to have the awareness around all of this. So, like I said at the start of the episode, you're not calling people lucky for getting results, you're not jealous of people's results when you're not doing the work that they're doing, you're not understanding the sacrifices and what that person has endured to get that result. I think it's very easy to sit there and go, oh my god, he's so lucky. Like I even had clients saying to me, Oh, like Shaq's so lucky, he's done so well. Yeah, he has done so well. It's nothing to do with luck. He has done so well.

SPEAKER_00 29:22

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 29:25

So, just important to, I think, bring awareness to the different possibilities and just really catching yourself and just making sure that the results or the expectations or the outcomes that you have and that you want line up with the approach that you're taking to it. You can take whatever approach you want, but you want to make sure that your expectations line up with that. Agreed?

SPEAKER_00 29:49

Agree.

SPEAKER_01 29:49

Anything else?

SPEAKER_00 29:51

Nah. I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head.

SPEAKER_01 29:54

No, I think you're good. The last thing we'll say is we did obviously time it. If people are following Shaq closely and had listened to that first episode he was on at the start of the year, we timed it to achieve that fart loss and get out of the deficit in time for his first event for the year, which was Brizzy Hyrox. So I think we got out of the deficit maybe like three, maybe four weeks before Hyrux. Um, and we said in that episode that you were on last time, we chose to do it now because even though you were training for Hyrox, that's very similar to the training that you do 365 days a year.

SPEAKER_00 30:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

Like you didn't have to drastically crank shit up. You actually probably had a lower training volume.

SPEAKER_00 30:31

Yeah, definitely. I've already so used to what I've been doing anyway, so it didn't really shock the system that much.

SPEAKER_01 30:37

Yeah, that's what I mean. It wasn't like we were asking your body to do gnarly shit that it wasn't ready for. You were just doing like your usual training compared to as we start to go into like the full marathon and the hundredk and stuff. We'll have to talk about that soon. Yeah, like we wouldn't want the deficit in place when you're training for 100k.

SPEAKER_00 30:54

Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 30:55

So then we look and go, okay, well, if you're training for high rocks, that's just your usual training. Let's line it up with that. So he did that and then came out of it with a few weeks to spare to just get back to fueling well to go into high rocks, nailed high rocks with Sienna. You guys nailed it.

SPEAKER_00 31:11

So fun.

SPEAKER_01 31:11

Shout out Sienna. So that was awesome. First event for the year ticked off, and then next event is what Brizzy Half Mara.

SPEAKER_00 31:18

Brizzy half in June, which is six weeks away from now.

SPEAKER_01 31:21

Yeah, not that far at all. So yeah, that's cool. We might get Shaq back on to talk maybe after the half and talk about what's next. Because your plans for the year have changed a little bit, haven't they?

SPEAKER_00 31:31

Yeah, a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 31:31

Yeah, we won't talk about that yet, because we've already talked teams. But we'll get you back on after the half. We'll talk about fueling for maybe we'll talk about fueling for the half and then the full and everything else after that. But that is all from us today. Thank you, Shaq, for being here.

SPEAKER_00 31:47

My pleasure, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 31:49

See you guys.

SPEAKER_00 31:49

See ya.