The Menopause Marketing Lie with Alicia Reitz

Alicia Reitz returns for our 5th conversation - this time we're torching the "cortisol detox" industrial complex.

Why do General Counsels and C-suite executives struggle with weight loss despite having more knowledge than most trainers? It's not your hormones. It's your identity.

We break down:

• The grifter playbook targeting midlife women

• Why GLP-1s prove calories matter (even when you don't want them to)

• The identity work that actually creates transformation

• Why 98% of midlife women aren't lifting (and what that costs them)

This is our last podcast for a while as I focus on the Million Dollar Body Method launch.

If you're tired of being talked down to by "menopause professors" with philosophy degrees, this one's for you.

Connect with

Alicia: @angelishfit (Instagram)Greg Fearon : https://www.gregfearon.co.uk/success-stories

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:01

Hello and welcome to the Million Dollar Body Podcast with your host, Greg Fearon. And I think for the fifth time, no other guest, no other guest has had as many uh visits um on the podcast. We have Elissa Ritz, the Angelish Fit, the most amazing human ever. Hey, how are you?

SPEAKER_00 0:23

I'm so how can I not be amazing after that intro? I mean, that's pretty. I mean, I I like being a record holder. That's that doesn't that doesn't happen very often. Um I'm so happy to be here. I love that we do that you like reserve the end of the year banger podcast for me. That's like I'm so honored for that. It's just we get so fed up with everybody's bullshit, like we have to have a little we have to have a little pressure release valve at the end of the year so that we can come into the new year all fresh and like, yeah, okay, we can do bring that bell ding ding. We can go back in and do what we need to do. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_03 1:04

It's like um in uh so we've been doing a lot of tie boxing being in Thailand, and it's like the end of a sparring round, it's like, oh and then get ready to go again in the fight.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Um oh my gosh, against your corner man, like like I guess that's just regular boxing, but like, you know, yeah, sponging your face down, like you can do this, let's go.

SPEAKER_03 1:27

Like we could we we can do this. We can do this.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

We can break, we can break Jake Paul's jaw.

SPEAKER_03 1:33

Oh yeah, that was beautiful, by the way. That was the most beautiful thing. And then when Mike Tyson then came out and said, Well, you know, I could have knocked you out before two, it it just shows the uh the fraudulent nature of people like Jake Paul.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Yeah, did I read that that that outcome was scripted?

SPEAKER_03 1:54

Yep. We knew it was that's why we were like yeah, when the agent, because there was a time when Mike Tyson had his fist right here and he would have knocked him out, and it he almost like got the signal to not, and it was just like painful.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

Wow. See, I didn't watch the fight, yeah. I didn't watch the fight, but um, yeah, I kind of I I go to bed early, but it was really nice to wake up and see that like Jake Paul and Andrew Tate both got their asses handed to them within a 48-hour period. It was like the world is healing.

SPEAKER_03 2:25

It was really ironic, actually. There's another guy who's more based in the UK called Tommy Robinson. Um he's a racist little gobshite, but he was getting his ass handed to him at that event that Andrew Tate. So what happened? He came to do an interview, and he's very anti-Muslim, but the fight was in Dubai. So this guy walked this boxer, went up to him and said, Why are you in a in a country full of Muslims if you hate them so much? And literally scared the life out of him as brilliant. So, like for us, it was like a free peat. It was like beautiful to watch. It was beautiful to watch.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

Yeah, what a weekend. Yeah, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_03 3:02

Great weekend, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Christmas came early.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

But yeah, you know what?

SPEAKER_00 3:08

I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do a little cheers, do a little toast to all of that with my Coke Zero that is apparently gonna kill me.

SPEAKER_03 3:18

Sounds like shots fired. Cheers.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

So it's 8 p.m. where I am, and it's 8 a.m. where you are. So I I'm doing a toast with my Coke Zero, you're doing a toast with your coffee.

SPEAKER_03 3:33

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

I just saw you know who Jeff Nippert is.

SPEAKER_03 3:36

Yes, I do indeed. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

I don't know if you saw his latest post. He went into I love, I absolutely love this guy. He's so well researched. Um, my favorite science-based lifter. I I know a lot of people don't care for science-based lifters. I'm kind of a fan of science, so um, so I love it. And he just did a a post you can check out that basically you would have to drink an entire bathtub or more of zero pop in a day to like every day to even get close to the threshold of danger.

SPEAKER_03 4:14

Yeah, I saw it.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

Yes, yes, yeah, and I was just like, there's another Christmas present for me because I there is nothing like a crispy diet, uh crispy Coke Zero for this girl. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:27

Oh, we have a drink here in Thailand. It's it's uh called Singha. Normally they do beer, but they also do these flavored drinks and they're beautiful. And green is always like, don't drink too many of them. And I'm like, I've had two. Calm down.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Do they do they have sugar or they're just there's zero.

SPEAKER_03 4:44

There's zero sugar.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

Oh, there's zero.

SPEAKER_03 4:46

Yeah, there's zero. So it's the same thing, just laugh. It's just funny.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

You know, it's it's funny. Like, whenever I tell my clients that that is like when I the first couple times I go through their food logs and I see regular pop, or what people call full fat pop, which is weird because there's no fat in pop, it's just sugar, but they call it full fat pop for some reason or full fat soda. Um, in Canada we call call it pop. Yeah, in the States they call it soda. Um, what do you guys call it pop or soda?

SPEAKER_03 5:17

It depends. If you're in London, it's just a drink. But if you're in the middle, like my son, they call it pop. It's really weird. Yeah, it's really weird. The middle of England.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's but um like it is such a uh effortless swap for people that are trying to um eat better, get the most out of their calories. Like it's uh I it's such an easy thing, and there's and they taste so good now. Um it's it's really something. I don't know if we talked about this last time. They did a study with two groups where they did a water group and a zero pop group. Yep, and um equated calories and the or not equated for calories, but like they were asking them to stop eating when they when they felt full. And the zero pop group actually lost more weight than the water group.

SPEAKER_03 6:20

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

And they think it was because the satisfaction of the taste of the zero pop kind of made them feel like I'm like I'm good, I don't need to eat anymore. Where water obviously just tastes like water, and you're just like, well, I can eat more because it's just water. But yeah, so so the zero pop group actually lost more weight than the water group. So it's a very powerful, effective, easy swap, and that's why the grifters don't like it.

SPEAKER_03 6:47

Because it means that they can't do their nervous system dysregulation, their cortisol detox, their metabolic reset. Um what's the other one I heard the other day? Like there's literally a list of if you and I and I'm finding this more so on threads, but obviously I know you've preferred Instagram, but it's the same everywhere, right? It's the same buzzword, and you can also see how they've written these posts to Chat GPT, right? Because it's it's always it's not X, it's Y.

SPEAKER_00 7:19

With an M-dash.

SPEAKER_03 7:21

Yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 7:23

You know, thank you for bringing up the AI because look, is it a powerful tool for a lot of things? 100%. Is it wrong a lot of times? Yes. Does it glaze you? Yes. Like it tells you you're right when you're not. So just like anything else, you have to be savvy and you have to know your stuff, and you have to like check it. You can't just, but people are. I've noticed that there's there's hallmarks of AI copy, and people are not even editing it to their own voice, they're not even humanizing it, they're not doing anything, they're just going, yeah, this is cool, and throwing it into a post. And it's so obvious. First of all, it's bad copy, and second of all, um, you're right, the it's it's not this, it's that with the M-dash in the middle, and then it'll say something like, Here's the truth.

unknown 8:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:26

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 8:27

And you know, and the you know, the kicker, this like it's very like once you've seen it enough times, it's really, really easy. I just want to go into my story because there was something that you saw this morning that that made you decide to to it's like, let's do this today.

SPEAKER_03 8:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

Um, so let's I'm gonna segue into our next topic.

SPEAKER_03 8:57

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 8:58

And you mentioned threads, and yes, I do uh predominantly prefer Instagram, but I get drawn in by threads, and I see you all over it, right? I'll be like, be like, oh, there's fear on, there's fear on, there's fear on talking shit, it's great. And I've seen you respond to this creator before. And so when I saw it this morning, I was like, God damn. And so just you talking about the the buzzwords, they're all in here.

SPEAKER_03 9:29

Go on, how many? Let's count, let's count the buzzwords, people. Let's go.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

So I'm gonna read, I'm gonna read it, and I'm and you can do the running tally of the buzzwords.

SPEAKER_03 9:38

Let's see if I can keep up without blowing my my brain out because that's that's the problem. It's like the anger every time you mention a different word, and being a man multitasking, trying to keep calm, but listening to the BS is very difficult.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

So you have to do men multitask? We try men were unit, I thought men were unitaskers.

SPEAKER_03 9:56

We can multitask.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

You just don't let the women know.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

Yeah, exactly. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

Okay, so this is uh enemy of the pod, menopause professor.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Oh ask me, hang on.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

I I did my research, there's a buzzword. Okay. So here's the post. Women gain an average of 1.5 pounds of visceral fat per year after menopause. Okay. That's 15 pounds of belly fat in a decade. Okay, so what have you got so far? You've got visceral fat, you got menopause. What else you got? Belly fat?

SPEAKER_03 10:45

Yeah, it was do your own research at the beginning. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 10:48

Oh no, that was me. That was me saying that. Oh, sorry. Okay. And then she said, and then, and we're told, just do more cardio. First of all, no one says that. No one says that. Then she says, I've worked with hundreds of women trying to cardio their way out of visceral fat. Well, if they're working with you and you're not supposed to just do more cardio, then why are they cardio cardioing their way out of visceral fat if you're working with them? Anyway. She goes, and then she says, it didn't work. They needed their specific insulin and cortisol protocol. You need yours. There it is. There it is, right? They need their specific insulin and cortisol protocol. And of course, who's the only person that can prescribe that? The menopause professor.

SPEAKER_03 11:49

Oh, I I would never have thought. I would never have thought that.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

I would never have and so I was feeling a little uh a little froggy this morning. So I responded, they need to be in a calorie deficit. Shame on you.

SPEAKER_03 12:06

Oh, and then let's let's go through the what happened and the rest of it. Because I think this is a very pertinent what the replies you got afterwards, because I think this is important. So I then I obviously that's when I messaged you and said, Hey, you need to this this lady will block you because the number one way you know there is a grifter is that whenever you respond asking for science or providing anything contrary to what they say, they block you. The medical professor, for example, is very well known to block people who do not, and it doesn't care if you're a man, woman, child, she will block you the minute you say something contradictory. However, obviously, if you say anything that kind of aligns with what she says, she'll hype you up, right? So that's number one. But what was really interesting is that you were then told to stop talking and by other women, which is which is always fascinating me because you always get the whole women on women supporting women thing. But so you were told to stop it and shame on you a calorie deficit.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

For doing boy math. That's what I thought. It was another creator who accused me of ignoring the obvious, yes, and doing and using boy math to explain obesity, and then she had the nerve to put up uh an equation that said stress equals weight gain. Um, no.

SPEAKER_03 13:41

No. So all those people in countries where they're starving who are highly stressed are gaining weight because of the cortisol. Is that the that's the that's what people are using is like stress, the stress hormone is cortisol. And I think I know why, but I'm gonna share with you in a minute. I'll let you carry on. Go on.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

Okay. Yeah, so I I think I did get blocked because I don't know. Did was there comments after that? Because I think I came back and I was like, you are ignoring the obvious.

SPEAKER_03 14:11

So there was another like there was another lady who then who I responded to, who responded to you and I responded back to her, and she then said, Oh, I've been eating two slices of toast and I've been in a calorie deficit for a decade. And I said, if you've been in a calorie deficit for a decade, you would have lost a whole lot of weight by now. Um and she was then like, no, then this is the switch, this is how you can tell. Because what happens then is they go, Oh, but you're a man, you don't know, you don't understand. So that's the classic playbook, right? So it makes me laugh. You, as a woman who's trained, knowledgeable, has clients, follows the science, educated, get shut down if you don't conform to what they say. I'm a man, I'm automatically the devil if I don't agree that someone's not in a calorie deficit.

SPEAKER_00 15:11

Well, and and and the thing is, yeah, it doesn't make sense because I as a woman, a midlife woman with a degree who is training clients in midlife and getting results for them. I'm doing boy math. So it was like she found a way to like call me a man, like, well, you're not a man, but you're just as bad as one by oversimplifying, and you know, everybody knows that like stress equals waking. And it's like and and then to disqualify your experience and education and background, like, and getting results for clients because you're a man, like that that reminds me of the um Stacey Sims narrative where men and women are different, and yes, they are, but not when it comes to thermodynamics and physics. Do and and as someone who's gone through the menopause transition, does estrogen dropping change where extra fat is distributed? Yes, it does tend to settle in your middle where it didn't before. However, you can't you can't make it out of nothing.

SPEAKER_03 16:46

Nope.

SPEAKER_00 16:47

These women want to tell these women want to tell women that just that visceral fat just spontaneously appears on their abdomens because they're in menopause. Nope. That's not how it works.

SPEAKER_03 17:06

Let me breathe. I have to breathe for a second.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

And and it and and this is the thing, like like nobody but these same people don't want to talk about alcohol. They don't want to talk about sleep, they don't want to talk about um they're getting 850 steps in a day, like they don't want to talk about any of that. It's cortisol, it's insulin, it's it's you know, it's and so I think it's really, really interesting how they almost had to make me into a man in order to disqualify what I was saying, and then they can just disqualify what you say outright because I'm actually a man. Well, well, last time last time you checked, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_03 17:51

I think so. Let me I mean I just woke up a while ago. I everything looked like it was in working order.

SPEAKER_00 17:56

Um, I think I I'm curious if I'm blocked because I haven't gone back in. Um I haven't gone back in. She hasn't blocked you yet. I'm actually surprised she blocked you yet.

SPEAKER_03 18:06

The reason why she hasn't blocked me because I my profile got deleted by Instagram, they just took it down, so I had to create a new platform, uh new uh profile. But she blocked me on my previous one and my account just because you know that's so and and here's the go ahead, go ahead. I was gonna say all the funny thing was so once I decided to sign up for one of her um her masterclasses, so this was her segue into selling her program. So I've sent you the link, right? When you get a minute and you want to cry a bit, cry or laugh. Have a have a look. I've sent it to you.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

And is that the YouTube video that you sent me?

SPEAKER_03 18:45

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

I I started watching it before, like prior to this, because you know, I like to be prepared for our conversations, and I want it made me want to cry. First of all, the first thing I saw was that it was two two and a half hours long. And I'm like, how am I gonna get that time back in my life? Like, I I'd rather, you know, I'd rather watch another like Marvel movie, but like I I'm like, okay, I can I can't do this. So I'm scrubbing through a little bit, and I don't know how many people she's talking to, but there's not that many people. What I was and and it was like, and it was the same, it was literally an an explosion of the bullshit that was in the thread that she posted, all about the insulin and the cortisol and blah blah blah blah, and blue light at night. And unfortunately, you know, with these people, they will say a couple of things that are based on a kernel of truth, and then there's all kinds of bullshit so that they can sell you their program or their whatever, but like, yeah, sitting up scrolling on your phone at night is shitty for your sleep. Yeah, it's gonna keep you awake, yes, but so don't scroll at night. You don't need to buy a program to put your fucking phone down at night, like and I think that's the that's the problem.

SPEAKER_03 20:21

So there's um, and for the listeners like me and Alicia are both geeks on kind of marketing and understanding the psychology of it. So there's a guy who wrote this kind of manifesto on marketing, it's called Blair Warren, but basically he says something along the lines of people will do anything for someone who um supports their dreams, um throws rocks at their enemies, justifies their failures, and something else.

SPEAKER_00 20:58

I can't remember the other bit, but that's the whole like it's not your fault. It's not your fault, it's your cortisol, it's not your fault, it's your insulin, it's not your fault. It's what and it's like it is your fault.

SPEAKER_03 21:10

It's it's male, it's male doctors. That's the new one, that's the classic one.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

All doctors. Did you there was a thread that I saw this morning that was saying suggesting it's embarrassing to have an MD degree. What? Yeah, I was like, wow, but you know what? That's that's all part of the like part of that broader anti-intellectualism movement that we're seeing. And apropos to that, I was very curious as to this woman's credentials and background, and calling herself a professor. And so I found myself on LinkedIn trying to find this woman's credentials, and uh she In a couple of things that said professor, professor, uh my like University of Miami or something like that, menopause coaching and life coaching, and it's like none of that makes sense. None of that makes sense. So it looks like she went to the University of Miami or whatever, Miami University or whatever, graduated in 2000, doesn't say with what doesn't say with what. And it's like there's no letters next to this woman's name, there's no nothing. And it's like, what are you a professor of exactly? And no wonder she blocks people with actual letters next to their name, people that have actually gotten degrees in a field that makes sense to shoot your mouth off about this kind of stuff. You know what I mean? Like, um, I think I don't know if we ever talked about it. There's a local um woman here that has a coaching program, and I looked her up on on LinkedIn because um it was actually a client who showed me her little manual because she had tried this program before. I was like, this is bullshit, this manual. And I went to find this woman on LinkedIn, and like she has like a history degree.

SPEAKER_03 23:26

So funny you should say that. The menopause professor has a degree in philosophy, if I remember rightly, because another coach tracked her down and looked through. Um yeah, so he looked through. I think it was someone like Fit Adam or someone, one of those kind of controversial guys. He went and did some digging and found that she was uh had a degree in philosophy. Um and yeah, this is you mentioned it a minute ago, this anti-intellectualism. This whole thing goes back to, I think there's actually a bit of like a scientific study on this about hormone balancing. So they did a paper and they kind of talked about how hormone balancing was more like this whole self-help thing, because a lot of women felt you know uh that they weren't being looked after by general medicine, by the Western type medicine. So what happened was the self-help industry came out with balance your hormones as the antithesis of general, you know, Western medicine. And a lot of it stems from that because you know, if you go to the doctor and the doctor doesn't say, doesn't agree with you on what you believe is actually wrong, then immediately you've that's now the enemy. So now I can come in and be like, hey, your doctor was wrong. And if it was a male doctor, even worse. And you know, I can the reason why it didn't work for you was because, and I can list all the things, or they didn't listen to you, your hormone, they don't understand hormone balance, they don't, they don't give you the test that I do. Um, you know, the Dutch test or the hair mineral sample test is always the one they use. And you sit there and go, oh my god, I feel seen. And I had a conversation with a lady a little while ago on Fred where she complained about people giving advice on weight loss. And I said, these are well-meaning people, but if you put a post up that says, I'm struggling with weight loss, I don't know what's wrong with me, people will try to help. A, because people like the sound of their own voices, but B, there are also people like us who are very helpful and want to give you the science. Like we're giving you away our degree knowledge, years of experience for free in the comments. And she made a very interesting point. She said, Oh, I don't really actually want to hear advice. I want to be connected with other people. So then I said, But you know what people are like. Why would you say these things when you know what people are like? You like you actually know the minute you say I'm struggling with weight loss, or if you struggle with a cat, people are gonna offer advice because that's what people are like. So why would you do that? Oh, we're here for connection, I want to connect. I was like, that's a load of rubbish. Because anyone, and we can see anyone that validates your experience, you you you you agree with. If someone doesn't validate you, you don't do it. So if you have a weight loss issue and you don't want people to give advice, don't put it in public.

SPEAKER_00 26:52

No, don't say that you're struggling with weight loss. When and and if if you just say, I want to connect with people that are that are struggling with weight loss.

SPEAKER_01 27:03

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

If if if you're struggling too, like let's talk, let's connect. But yeah, if you just say, hey, I'm this old, I'm this, uh, you know, this is what I'm trying to do, like I'm struggling, people are gonna be like, oh, well, have you tried this? Have you tried that? That's when people put stuff up like that, they assume they're looking for advice. Like there's all kinds of groups on Facebook that are, you know, ISO and like please advise and da-da-da. Like that's I mean, people are just naturally helpful that way, or you're right, they just want to be the one where they go, Oh my god, that's amazing! Thank you, you just solved all my problems. Like, I totally, yeah, I totally get that. But I also think, you know, I mean, you're from the UK, I'm from Canada, we both have universal health care. It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. No, it isn't. However, I do find that in the states, that is the only first-world country without universal health care. It leaves a huge gap for these wellness grifters to step in and and listen, I've heard a lot of stories. I I have a lot of women that will message me and say, you know, um, they'll see my content or whatever, whatever. And like, I'm 54, I don't, I don't hide how old I am. I've gone through menopause, I'm on HRT, you know, I I was lucky enough to have a primary care physician where I went to her and said, these are my issues. And and she she was like, here's okay, here's the thing. This is the truth. Um she's she said, normally, if she was very honest with me, I I'm very lucky to have her, she's amazing. She said, normally, if a patient comes in with that, with these complaints, first I will say, are you drinking alcohol? You put should probably cut down or stop that. How is your sleep? Are you getting exercise? What's your diet like? What are your stress levels like? And and let them try to dial those things in a little bit. If they're still having the same complaints, then okay, now let's look at um more of a pharmaceutical or a medic a medication um solution for that. And she said to me, Look, you're already doing all those things. You don't drink alcohol, your sleep is good, you train a lot, you eat well, like you already have all those wheels on the road. Let's go to let's try this and see how you feel. And because I had all those things dialed in already, my the change, like the relief and the shift that I felt with that medication was very quick. Like she said, you know what, like it usually takes a couple of months, whatever. I went from 30 hot flashes a day to zero in three weeks. Is that gonna be the same for everybody? No, but I didn't she wasn't like, well, let's get your hormones tested. Let's no, no, you don't need to get your hormones tested. If you are having symptoms, those symptoms need to be addressed, period. Period.

SPEAKER_03 30:41

But you mentioned something that was really, really important, and I think this is the disempowerment of women, especially, I find is really prevalent. You had all the wheels on the road. And we have to be honest, a lot of women in the West are not sleeping well, not training, not doing their cardio, not doing their strength training, not moving enough, not eating a nutrient-rich diet, and actually overeating more than they realize. Now, someone is gonna tell me I'm misogynistic or something, I'm sure, when they listen back to this, but I don't care. That's the fact. And it's the same for men, actually, as well. There's a lot of men who are not. Um so you have to address those things. And I used to coach a doctor in the UK, and she said, Greg, it's exhausting because she wanted to take the approach that your doctor took. But she was more of a general practitioner, so I don't know if your doctor was uh she was mine is two.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

Mine's two. That's my family doctor. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 31:44

In the UK, they don't get time with their patients. But it's like it's like a conveyor melt of patients, it's literally like there's a waiting room full of patients, and it's exhausting because I want to tell these ladies you need to dial in those kind of four or five things first and then come back. But they want a medication intervention straight away. And I think a lot of symptoms can be alleviated by dialing in those things, and like you said, once you've got the basics down, then you move to the the next thing. But I've I've had countless of women work with me who have thought it was perimenopause, and they may have had symptoms, but we've dialed in their diet and their nutrition, and this they look after themselves and they treat themselves right, right? And they go, Oh, I think I can handle it without HRT for a while. I feel all right.

SPEAKER_00 32:37

I feel all right, yeah. Yeah, and and this is you know, this is the thing is that these are the women that don't have, and I don't think it's misogynistic to say that. There's you're right, men and women in in the Western world aren't doing these very basic things to look after themselves, and um, and then what happens is they go the pharmaceutical right route right away, they go the HRT route right away, and it's not gonna work the way it should because you don't have all those other wheels on the road, and you're not giving yourself the best chance to have those medications working optimally. Now, just to not that you need my qualification of what you were saying, but to your point, I attended the menopause show in Toronto in October and um fantastic. Like there were some there were some really I mean there were some questionable vendors, and like no, honestly, it was actually kind of crazy because I kind of went there as like half you know attendee and then half like spy.

SPEAKER_03 33:53

Yeah, research these things, right?

SPEAKER_00 33:56

Maybe three-quarter spy. Um, but but what I noticed, what I noticed was that there were quite a few of these like supplementy, kind of hormone testy, like all this, all these different booths, and they were packed. Also, a local gym had a booth there empty, empty, dead, dead. Nobody wants that, they want their supplements. But um, I don't know if you know who Dr. Sheila is. She's um she is kind of a celebrity um OBGYN here in Ontario, in Toronto, and Canada. Um, she's on a she's a frequent guest on like daytime shows and news shows and stuff in in in Toronto. And she is absolutely fantastic. And she um was talking about the same thing, like just saying, you know, like you don't need your hormones tested, like it doesn't matter if you're having hot flashes, that's the reason. Do you know what I mean? Like, women don't just get hot flashes for no reason. When you're 48 or 51 and you're getting hot flashes and doing barrel rolls at night in your bed, you probably need treatment, right? The other thing that can't the other statistic that came out that is directly to your point 98% of um women in midlife are not lifting. Are not lifting weights.

SPEAKER_02 35:38

What can you say?

SPEAKER_00 35:40

In the nine in the 90 percentage of women are not doing that. And anecdotally, walking around this show, there was probably, I don't know, a couple thousand women at this show. There wasn't one. Not that I saw everybody, but most of the people that I saw, I was like, they're not lifting. You know they're not. You can tell by the way they move, you can tell by the way they carry themselves, you can tell, like there is there is nothing more upsetting to me than a woman who is around my age or younger and looks like they're having trouble walking. Like we um we were at a wellness retreat in Mexico uh at the end of September. And um it's a pretty sprawling property, so it's like it's more wide than it is tall, right? And um and so they have like staff driving around golf carts. So if you want to get from one end to the other and you don't want to walk, or they also had bikes that you could pick up and drop off that you could ride around along the property, which we did most of the time. Um and there was a huge group of 80 women, probably between the ages of like 45 and 75, all artists. So they were at this beautiful, they were at this beautiful property to like paint for like five days. And they were taking elevators up two floors, two rooms, they were taking golf carts like a hundred meters, they were taking and some of them needed help getting in and out of these golf carts, and it it was absolutely wild to me, and it and I'm I'm not trying to make fun of these women, it actually made me sad, it made my heart sad, thinking about what a struggle that trip was for them, you know. And at 54, you know, my partner is 48, and we, you know, they had an instructor there. He, you know, they had obviously quite a few like yoga instructors and like they did meditations and stuff like that. There was one instructor that did um some of like the animal flow, yeah, that we did animal flow that that you and I did in in Portugal um when we met up, which was so cool. It was like one of the highlights of my year, by the way. She's coming to um yeah, she is. Um and like so, and and and it was, you know, it was like a full-body movement class, but there was a lot of animal flow in it and a lot of like jujitsu type um movements, yep, like we were doing. And there were people half our age that were having a really, really hard time with it. And my partner and I talked about it later, and it was like like it is such uh like it's so incredible to have the ability to move your body in that way and have that strength and that flexibility and that mobility, and it's not something that you need to be elite to have. It's just like when you when you are not strong, when you are not mobile, when you are not flexible, it it doesn't it really hampers your ability to do everyday things, and um, and I just it it blows my mind that people will wait until it gets to that point, and then what do you do? And this is what I try to impress upon a lot of my clients is like like you don't need to live that life, it really doesn't take very much. Like, I think you know, you I had seen a post that you had put up on on LinkedIn and talking about literally the minimal dose of exercise, the minimum dose to get to reap the benefits, and then like the maximum amount of food to be able to fuel those goals. And I love that so much because I think so many people think that you have to suffer for this, and you don't. You don't have to suffer for it. I think but you'll suffer without it.

SPEAKER_03 40:20

Oh, hell yeah. You'll suffer. I think something that I've really realized, and I knew it from my kind of management days. I think a lot of this is about identity.

SPEAKER_01 40:32

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 40:33

Because if you if your identity says diets don't work, the gym is hardened punishment, you failed so many diets over the. I think the average woman has been on something like 60 diets by the age of 35 or something crazy. I've read the stats. Then unfortunately, you won't be able to see what's possible. And I think a lot of that I think that's gonna be maybe one of the biggest shifts I think that will help people understanding that before you even maybe get in the gym, you have to shift your identity to the person who says, right, this is how I live my life now. And these are the results I'm getting. In order to be that person that I want to be, this is how I need to live. Um, and there's an exercise I do with clients, I call it superhero identity, where I get them to go deep on really visualizing who is that person they want to be. Like they name them, they give them a name. Like one of my clients calls herself Hyrux Helen now.

SPEAKER_00 41:38

I love that.

SPEAKER_03 41:40

And everyone knows her as Hyrux. Like they don't even call her Helen anymore, they call her Hyrox because she's embodied it. Another one says, I'm the hotbody gal. Right? Or for the more West Indian people, the hot body gal.

SPEAKER_00 41:53

Oh my god, that's what I was hearing inside my head. Stop. Like, yeah, I mean, I'm not far from the Toronto accent, right? Hot body gal. I got it, I got it. That's exactly what I heard.

SPEAKER_03 42:05

Yes! But uh and it it do you know what makes it so easy to coach my clients now? Because we do that work early. I I like I spend a couple of weeks getting them to really define it down. I'm like, how do you want to look? How do you want to move? What muscles do you want to see? And then I uh whenever they're they're struggling, I'm like, okay, talk to me about the identity in which that incident happened. So if they overate one night, I'm like, which identity was that? Oh, yeah. So don't get perfect straight away. But it once you instill that, then sometimes I don't even have to write a program. Because they just go, hey, I went to the gym or I went to a class or I did this. And I think that's gonna be the biggest shift. I think if your identity says men are all trash, because this that's a big one, I think, is a lot of trauma around men. I totally get it. Male doctors are trash, women are trash if they don't agree with me. Um, I'm weak and I'm special and I need this special whatever to make to fix the thing that you know the the cortisol detox hormonal dysregulation protocol, when you get inside it, it's like eat protein, eat some carbs, cut your junk out, don't drink alcohol, go down, go to walk, go for a walk. Like when you get inside these programs, it's exactly the same as we would tell them. The thing is we don't make it sexy. We don't be like, hey, this if you do this particular way of eating, it's gonna reset your leptin regulation. You know, like you have to sexy up because that's what people want to hear. They they love the sexy complicated. But it's the same, it's the same diet program, it's the same thing.

SPEAKER_00 43:55

Yep. And and this is the thing is that I yeah, I I I totally agree. with you and I I love the the whole identity shift um like because I think but I think because I think people think that they're just not gonna be themselves. I don't know if you saw um the video I posted on Sunday my partner and I went to a daytime club daytime dance party on a Saturday and um you know I don't drink I haven't drank alcohol since 2022 and I don't like being up late. I love dancing I love music I love vibing out I don't like being up late I don't like ruining my whole next day because I'm exhausted I don't like dealing with drunk people I don't like dealing with men that once it gets to a certain point in the night when okay and this is a little not safe for work when they realize they're not gonna get fucked then they're looking for a fight. Right? And you can feel that shift you can feel that shift in the crowd you can feel that shift in the vibe and I feel like that's a little bit of a martial arts brain thing too where it's like you're like we have to go it's time to go and I and I really missed doing that. And plus I'm old right like I'm not gonna go to some club in downtown Toronto where there's like a bunch of 22 year olds like I'm just not like running into my son. I'm like no that's fine. I'm gonna I'm gonna be honest you're probably in better shape than most of the men I mean yeah you could probably outdance them the whole night it'd be they'll be like how is she still going like well because I just how is she still doing that I do bogaring because I got a good night's sleep the night before that's why but thank you for saying that um my partner and I always joke because um I'm a couple of years away from my black belt in jujitsu and he's about the same amount of time away from his purple belt. So we always joke about how we look so innocent and cute and we're both like lethal right like we it's like we feel so safe when we go out together. Like people have no idea that like but whatever. But like you know to walk out of like the thing started at 11 in the morning they had local vendors with like Greg I had the best jerk chicken Jamaican patty I've ever had in my life with like truffle ranch. Oh my god dude it was insane but this is what I'm saying like and then they had they had this this pizza place they also came in they brought a portable oven 900 degrees they were making pizza from scratch fresh and like two minutes in this 900 degree oven was amazing. But like like daytime like beautiful light like great music nothing but good vibes coffee food you could get a drink if you wanted but it didn't seem like a lot of people were doing that. And we walked out of there at 230 in the afternoon and the difference between walking out at 230 p.m and walking out of a club at 230 a m is like life changing. Yep and then it's like all right well let's go home and have turkey leftovers and still in bed before 10. It was glorious hell of a way to get your steps in too by the way hell of a way to get your steps in I got like 1600 steps in that day and it's like I to me it was such a such a great experience because it's like you can you can live this life and still have fun and still be fun and still do the things that you want to do and still enjoy you know treats and stuff like that. Is that you know am I gonna have like patties like that every day thankfully no I'd love to but it's far away so I can't they ended up following me too it was really cute because I mentioned them in my video but um but like you know like that identity shift is like you can still be you just a stronger healthier better rested you know what I mean like better fed more joyful version of you that is gonna take you into what your next how many we got four or five decades left on this planet because then I know how I want to feel through those and I can tell you right now like I didn't think I would feel like this or look like this at 54 but when you have that consistency and you are ruthlessly consistent with those basics it's life changing and that's the that's the crux of it right is that ultimately the basics always matter like I I can't tell you the amount of times I've been to Mew Thai Thai boxing for those who don't know and we do the same drills.

SPEAKER_03 49:32

And I've seen people go who are like are we gonna do something new this week and I'm like you haven't perfected that first kick yet and maybe it's because we are martial artists as well we kind of have that understanding that the basic things I mean Ingrid always says to me how do you remember this thing from Kung Fu you did like 35 years ago I'm saying because I practiced it so much I can just whip it out anytime. That's the whole point. And the basics of lifting getting enough protein getting some fiber getting out in nature getting some sunshine going to bed at the right time is the cornerstone of every successful person. Like you see I mean we don't like them people like even like the the richest of the rich and some of them are absolute a-holes I totally agree but yeah but you see them with their personal trainer they they they show up when they get their train and people will say well you know they're rich they can afford it I'm like have you got a meter square in your front room get some press ups done get some squats done get some lunges done pick up a child like a couple times the body is the gym and these basics are universal and I it's interesting I'm in Thailand now and I see the women and the older women they're all very active right they they're all lifting stuff they're cooking every day that they're really active they they don't running out for kids just yeah they don't have the convenience factor so they do all this stuff but they look so vibrant so active and so healthy they put the one thing about Thailand is really interesting. You go to a shop to buy you want to buy some chocolate the chocolate is like this big and it's so it's hard as hell to actually open it's really funny it's like they ordered the the I don't know the security lock but the chocolates are tiny. So in in the UK and I know in America and I know in Canada you can buy a big bar of dairy milk chop cat here it's about this big so you you you can't over so the basics are all here and I think a lot of this stuff at the minute is very much a disempowerment of women and that's what's making me sad. I think that's why I get angry this is why I go on threads and I rant at people and it's not because I'm right or I'm above anybody it's just because I see so many women who like my mum and my sisters struggled with their weight struggled with their health and my mum and my sisters wouldn't let me help them because I was just the brother even though I'd been to uni you know everything I've done they would they're like yeah we don't care what you say. So I guess I'm triggered by it a little bit but I'm like you don't need to do all this stuff and I can see it as well the the way the mindset is the issue because you see the same people on the same threads or on the same Instagram posts always with the same story. Oh I did this but it didn't work for me. Oh I can't do this I can't do that this doesn't work this is not true and it's really interesting you can find the people who are going to be successful the people versus not people successful will always be asking what can I do the people who aren't will find as much evidence as possible to disagree with what's being stated. So if you say calories in calories out that like that is the ultimate trigger word for certain people. Anything with that C calories calorie deficit calories in calories out it sends them into apoplexy like I feel like they're gonna have a fit on the other side of threats because they have trauma around it and there's a story in their head that they're potentially being bullied by people because of their weight and stuff that I I get it totally.

SPEAKER_00 53:39

But that's the actually the subconscious blocker to you becoming successful because if in your head you have a thing that says I hate diets I hate tracking calories I hate all of the anything to do with calories you you've already blocked yourself from the things you have to do anyway yes except here you know people don't talk about this enough people will say calories in calories out doesn't matter it's not calories it's cortisol it's insulin it's this it's that I've I you know I've tried calorie deficit doesn't work for me and then they go on a GLP1 agonist medication and they start to lose weight why why Greg why are they losing weight tell me why because they feel fuller and more satisfied and they eat less food so therefore they probably eat less calories that's the my don't like stop don't tell me that a calorie deficit doesn't work for you because then you go on a GLP1 like Ozempic or Rugovi or or Manjaro and you start to lose weight because you're eating less food.

SPEAKER_03 55:09

Ma'am but but but but this is the rebuttal to this this is the I've I've seen this rebuttal yeah but it it doesn't just stop appetite it also does stuff to your metabolism and da da da and I'm like what it's like almost anything not to actually agree with calories in calories out calories out that's that's the that's the mindset that so they'll start they'll be like yes but the the medicines do so much more and as you can see they're doing so much for this and this and this and this and I'm like really like what? They'll talk about um what was the one that they that this one it helps reset your glucagon and your insulin and stuff I'm like yeah that's all part of metabolism.

SPEAKER_00 55:55

And and it's part of appetite regulation? Appetite regulation.

SPEAKER_03 56:00

But but they don't satiety signals. But if you mention that that sends them into but it's not about that it's something else because they want to have something special this is the thing the identity that they hold is that they are the exception to the normal rules of metabolism because for so long they've tried to lose weight. So therefore if you say the GLP put you into a calorie deficit they'll go crazy and they'll find other a million a gazillion other things to tell you what the thing what it does. And then I I love um Dr. Spencer Andorski. Yeah he's great. And I just copy the post that he wrote which says if you want to lose weight without the GLP to calorie deficit if you want to lose weight with the GLP to calorie deficit like I've got a client she's dropped 85 pounds now. She's on she was on um Monjaro she's now on the Govi she stopped stopped losing weight at one point. Why because her work got really busy she got really stressed with some big decisions I had to coach her through the decisions before I could get back on track of her diet. Then she started to lose weight again it wasn't that the GLP did this magical thing it actually stopped working because she was eating too much simply because because because sometimes sometimes and this is what they're seeing with some patients is that their their brains and their bodies will override the medication and that's you know that's something that I that was see that was see what I did there this is my GLP1 topic.

SPEAKER_00 57:45

See see how I just rolled your right you you segue it in because what I was gonna say interesting how there were a lot of people like oh well you know with these medications like you're gonna be obsolete and you go only only if you're if your entire goal as a coach is weight loss.

SPEAKER_03 58:12

Yep exactly that's not that's and so and that's not what we do we do recon we do building we do mindset shift we do identity shift we do nutrition coaching we do you know um behavioral change hygiene behavior change like like that's just to me those medications are just helping us do our job I think I think there's a tranche of people who hate personal trainers and hate nutrition coaches and hate kind of strength coaches and they were almost jumping with glee and they were like yes you guys are gonna go out of business now because of these drugs and we're like the good ones are going yeah my clients my clients take them I I told clients actively like if we've done certain things and it's not I'm like maybe we need to look at this talk to your doctor I I actively like I'm not worried they do the same losing business or whatever my role is to help the client in every area of their life I don't I'm not that fast if they if they go on the GLP or not as long as it's in their best interests I'm game.

SPEAKER_00 59:30

Do you um do you are you familiar with Johan Hari? Are you familiar with stuff? Yes so I read his his book on GLP1s uh magic pill do I agree with everything no but it was an interesting insight into someone who was taking these medications and also like talking to medical professionals and and researchers and stuff like that. But I found his personal um journey with these medications really interesting because to me it's like okay I want to be able to see these through the eyes of someone that's taking them if some of my clients are going to take them I think it's interesting to see. And a couple of his insights really informed how I could shift my coaching and that was like the first time I realized because I think people like us we kind of assume like oh if you're losing weight like you're doing all the right things and the thing is one thing that was so compelling where he's like I noticed that I wasn't eating better. I was just eating less and that was like a eureka moment for me because I was like this isn't like this doesn't these medications don't make us obsolete they need us sometimes more because if they're still eating like shit they're gonna be losing muscle tissue they're you know they're like if they're not lifting their their bone density is at risk their fatigue cardiovascular fitness is is is at risk there you know what I mean so yeah like it's that it doesn't negate or you know lifestyle change meaningful lifestyle change is still a necessity whether you're on one of these medications or not and so um yeah it was it was a really interesting it was really interesting to see it through see his experience through his eyes and be like wow like yeah it's it's for somebody who is morbidly obese these are life changing life saving medications um but you still need that lifestyle change on top of that especially if you want to get off these medications at some point and Nardowski will say like people can take them for the rest of their lives sure um not everybody is able to do that for lots of different reasons whether it be financial reasons side effect reasons whatever um so you're gonna need to make that shift that identity shift that behavioral shift that habitual shift at some point right um and I think you're right the good coaches and I don't really call myself a trainer I do identify like I call myself a coach just like you call yourself a coach because like to me and no shade on personal trainers but I feel like those are more the people that are like counting your reps for you that's not something I do but um so I think I think it's important that people understand how these medications work and that it is part of part of the future and the present for people. It's New Year's Eve day New Year's Eve day for you and it's New Year's Eve Eve for me. Let's uh let's do you want to close this out by like looking at what what you think is gonna happen in the next 12 months or what you're hoping for or something that you want to do?

SPEAKER_03 1:03:10

So I think for me I would love to see more people talking about identity and mindset. I think the big issue is that mindset doesn't feel sellable because it feels like oh I can just change my mindset but you don't understand the story you're running. You don't understand the words you're saying to yourself you need someone external from you to see it. And I think that has to be a massive part of how people change like we can't just tell people oh here are the five steps to losing weight eating a calorie depth to eat protein blah blah blah yarn yon yon I hope that people start to see the AI ness of content. It's not you're this was the best one that made me laugh by the way it was about she was talking about metaphors or something like that and she was like it's not because you're undisciplined it's because you don't it's because of food timing and structure and I was like hold on food timing and structure hold on that sounds like that sounds like discipline. So literally people are just people are just changing the synonym because they're fit they're scared of of of saying the discipline word because a lot of women will associate discipline with uh really low calorie diets and loads of cardio and all that stuff and I'm like why don't we just tell tell women yeah that that's that that's exactly the line they used in Willow marketing. And I'm like can we not just tell women that actually having structure and discipline can be very um modest and neutral like it's just it's just consistency. Like we need to stop scaring women women are not um like fragile flowers like you guys are tough as hell but the marketing at the minute is very disempowering it's like but on your late luteo phase you know you need to calm down and be so gentle with your body and I'm like ingredients in the in the gym crushing it like so I think that's why I want to see a lot more return to the what the women can do amazing things and to stop disempowering them by by trying to market to them too much you're just disempowering people like let's just talk I totally agree yeah yeah you want to make money market to women you want to make a lot of money market to women in menopause and lie to them.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:36

Yeah because that's what's happening they're being lied to we like spit out babies and can can like sit for eight hours in a tattoo chair and we can't do they're saying that like during your luteal phase you can't go and lift weights for 45 minutes.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:00

that it's the whole cycle sink the whole cycle syncing thing which we know this which we know has been this debunked about a gazillion times but it's still sold and again it's like cycle sinking is just auto regulation it's just going hey here here's the client where are the what's their levels of energy like yeah let's adjust what you do today based on your and how you feel like it's not yep no you got cycle sinking and you're a man you don't understand remember that because that because that's the that's the marketing spin right I'm a man that is the marketing spin and and it's divisive it's divisive and it's and it's and it's harmful because it it it it reinforces that distrust of men that men don't really want women to be strong and there are men out there who are like it's masculine whatever whatever and it's like I don't know I like you can you can go through you can go through my content on on Instagram there's a lot of adjectives you could use.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:00

I don't think masculine is one of them um so yeah um so yeah I I would like to see a little bit more truth um and sort of the demise of the fitness influencer um because a lot of them are just using um they're on steroids and trying to tell you that you know they're showing you their bullshit what I eat in a day and it's and they're leaving out their anivar syringes and that that needs to stop. I think I think um a shift towards more evidence based lifters more people more people like Nardolsky like Aragon like Lane Norton like Bill Campbell like Stuart Phillips um you know that that actually know what they're talking about.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:57

Lauren Semple as well I love her as well Lauren oh yeah yeah yeah Dr. Lauren yeah she's awesome because yeah yeah she does not have the BS yeah uh Jennifer Gunter Amanda Thebe whom I met I met at the menopause she's awesome love her too she was she was so gracious like oh my god I was I was like fangirling all over her I have a we got a picture together back like I like walked backstage like I like I was supposed to be there like that's right you just strutted in didn't you just strut in like you owned I did I was like try and stop me like whatever like you know I'm yeah anyway so yeah I I let's let's go in hopeful for 2026 I think it's it's more it's it's it's it's pretty much um evidence based coaches assemble is what the message is I love that we have to assemble please watch anchor man please watch anchor man i like how you brought that around full circle but I have to watch I watch I have to watch Avengers endgame first before I before that so I have to do a little you haven't seen that yet oh no I I've watched it about 20 times come on I'm the biggest Marvel geek in the world like like part of my program is the superhero identity come on that's right that's right that's right yeah I think like I just firstly want to say thank you um like I feel like I've missed you and missed our conversations I think obviously us resettling in Thailand and stuff has been busy but um it was so beautiful when you came out to Portugal um yeah it was a great day we loved it and just riffing in the back of the car that's a podcast we literally did a we literally did a podcast in the car while it was raining outside we couldn't do anything else oh yeah and was such a trooper for that like she was yeah and it's so funny because obviously you know Ingrid is yeah same similar yeah same age as you and she's like the one thing I I will I guess I want to leave the listeners on is this you know my partner is in her mid-50s she's lifting she's training and she even says herself that sometimes she doesn't believe the things that I tell her because there's so much conditioning over the years of all of this stuff and she says something to me the other day she says Greg I really wish I'd met you or Elysia or there's another lady Michelle Barnes who she loves or JJ another coach that she loves earlier because she goes a lot of these women don't have access to people like you who can break it down, make it very simple because the marketing the myths that they're hard for her to get out of her head even now sometimes she pauses and I'll be like okay Lisa did a post on this just the other day go go listen or I'll say I'll point to someone else hey I'm just the partner right she won't listen to me once once a week I become trainer it's really funny um she hires me for one day for the training but it's so but I'm like I I just go listen to other people like I don't have to be the fountain for knowledge I could be wrong go and I'll say to her if I don't know the answer I'm gonna go look it up and I'll whatever but she says it's it it's the difference because a lot of these people are so confident in what they say and they don't waver and people go for that confidence over actual expertise and this is now a rant lived experience is a real challenge because that's often used to say that the science doesn't matter it's a lived experience and I remember saying someone okay so does your does an oncologist need to have had cancer before the before you uh or does my urologist who is a woman does she need to grow testicles before she has lived experience and is able to treat me like what what is that I don't understand and I get it but that circles back to the this is the story you're telling yourself all the time and until you can get out of that story you're always going to stay stuck yep a hundred percent yeah if you tell yourself you can't you're right if you tell yourself you can you're right you know so and there's your mindset shift right there. That is it that is the whole podcast that's it's done um peace out thank you so much um by the way there's always one thing that we always do at the end of the show um I haven't done I haven't done too much of this kind of work in the gym I get bored of bicep work but uh you know look at this yeah okay all right ready let's go go on i i wait i saw i saw a tick tock that was like if you see if you see a gym girl with cap delts that's somebody she's serious she's serious she knows her stuff we'll we'll just start with the cap delts and then and then just one two three ready yeah love it love it love it love it love it happy new year my friend happy new year and um for the listeners this is gonna be my last podcast for a while i'm gonna I'm gonna hold the podcast to concentrate on a few other things however I reckon me and Alyssa will be back for a couple of episodes this year because I I feel like I just want to do like some special ones maybe um where we could maybe really dive deep on a specific topic but um and make it like an exclusive couple of podcasts we'll talk about that but if you love this show then obviously share it with people but this will be last podcast for a little bit oh my goodness maybe maybe the next one we do together we'll both be in Thailand what you mean maybe that's that's see you got change that story straight away change that story you will be in Thailand my Vietnamese friend says that Thailand is the gateway drug to Asia that's what he said well look look at look what look what it did to us like look what it did to us we I know you guys are converted yeah we we got converted real easy um yeah the most depressing place is Bangkok Airport Departures Lound it's the most depressing place ever like yeah so get get over here okay I'm working on it I'm working on it I'm working on it as long as you as long as you're moving that's the main thing right that's the main thing as long as you're moving forward that's it but yeah but thank you you are the best guest ever and an awesome thank you you're the best host ever let's um keep up the good work shall we let's fight the good fight yeah 2026 26 no more grifters peace out see you on the other side