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Dec. 17, 2025

He Lost 30 Pounds While Working A Desk Job in 100 Days - 34

In this episode of Driven For Health, Coach Brian Parana talks with Lucas about how he lost over 30 pounds in 100 days while working a desk job as a financial analyst.

Lucas had moved from Knoxville to Cleveland, started working long hours in a sedentary role, lost some of his normal structure, and began gaining weight. He had always been active through sports, golf, and pickleball, but the combination of a desk job, fewer connections, less movement, and inconsistent habits pushed him to his highest body weight.

Coach Brian and Lucas talk through what changed inside The Call To Rise: walking 10,000 steps a day, keeping calories around 1,800, understanding food as calories and macronutrients, improving sleep, reducing screen time before bed, using carbohydrates around running, and creating better social boundaries.

This episode is a strong listen for men who work long hours, sit most of the day, feel their weight creeping up, and know they need a simple system to lose fat, improve energy, and rebuild confidence.

In this episode of Driven For Health, I sit down with Lucas, a financial analyst who found himself stuck in a sedentary job, living in a new city, and slowly gaining weight without realizing how far he had slipped from a healthy lifestyle and body.

At 25 years old, Lucas hit 236 pounds, his highest weight. He also found out his cholesterol was high. That got his attention. He knew he needed a real plan, not another short burst of motivation.

Lucas joined The Call To Rise and over 100 days he dropped to 205.7 pounds. That is over 30 pounds lost.

This talk is not only about weight loss. It is about the habits and identity shifts that changed his life.

We cover:

• How a sedentary job and a big move can quietly wreck your routine

• Why structure beats willpower

• What Lucas tried before, like keto, carnivore, fasting, and cutting bread

• The simple habits that helped him get results, including steps, calories, and better food choices

• How sleep improved when he stopped scrolling before bed

• How changing his social habits made staying on track easier

• Why confidence improves when you keep promises to yourself

• Why most men stay stuck trying to do it alone

Lucas also shares something big. He is now planning to run a marathon in 2026. A few months ago, he would have laughed at that idea.

If you feel stuck and you know your health is sliding, this episode will hit home.

If Lucas’s story connects with you, visit www.thecalltorise.com and let’s talk.

Want help applying this to your own health, weight, energy, or lab numbers?

Coach Brian Parana offers Health Hot Seat coaching segments for men who want a clear next step with nutrition, fitness, weight loss, blood pressure, cholesterol, A1C, or daily consistency.

Learn more about The Call To Rise, a 100-day coaching program for driven men over 40 who want to lose weight, improve their health, and rebuild confidence:

www.thecalltorise.com

To connect with Coach Brian:
brian@brianparana.com

Disclaimer: This podcast is for education and coaching support only. It is not medical advice. Always work with your physician before changing medication, treatment, or medical care.

Welcome to a special episode of Driven for Health. This is one of my guys in the call to rise program. I'm super excited to introduce Lucas, the challenges that he had, the health situation he was in, and the things that he was able to overcome. Who is Lucas quickly? He's a unfortunately he's in a sedentary job like most people I meet, most guys. He is a financial analyst.
This guy's great with numbers, which actually worked in our favor because that's all that calories are anyways. Food is just calories. Calories and macronutrients, protein, carbs, and fats. And once he realized that, he's really good at numbers. And we had a a home run hit with this guy. He moved from Knoxville to Cleveland.
The weight started gaining in that time frame. In the last two years, he didn't have much structure, routine, community in a sense. He's just hanging out with whoever was say closest to him and he picked up some bad habits as a result that were leading him to his his highest body weight that he'd been ever. He knew that he needed a change.
Uh fortunately his dad had worked with me in the past and it was an easy hey go have a conversation with Brian and he joined the program. So, fast forward. Yeah, he's 25, but he knew that when he he's looking around his office at the other 40, 50, 60 year old guys, they were not quite the physique that he was hoping to have at that age and knew that he needed to kick into gear.
All right, Lucas, what was the biggest thing that we were able to accomplish together? You know, give us that the the juicy number of how much you lost from where you started to where you're at now. And >> All right, Brian. Yeah, thanks for the intro. So, I started out at the beginning of the program August 22nd. I was 236 and today getting on the scale I'm 205.7.
So, a little over 30 pounds lost. So, it's it's been a it's been a very good journey. >> Yes. >> Yes. Yep. On my end, it's been really easy. On your end, I mean, you've been putting in work, which is the whole point, but we've made it as easy as we can. share a little bit about who you are, what some of the situation was of how the weight came on in the first place so that people understand that you're just like any other person and just got caught up in life and the change and transition of all that.
>> Absolutely. Yeah, I am like anyone else and actually I'm I'm pretty active, too. I like to play golf. I like to play pickle ball, play sports in high school, did inter murals in college. But, you know, after I graduated, I was moved up to uh Cleveland with my company and didn't really know anybody in the area.
And then all of a sudden, reality hits and I'm working 50 60 hours a week again very sedentary job and yeah, the weight just starts coming on. You don't realize you when you take away the activity and you're sitting all day just what effect that can have on you. I think you mix that too with some you just being in a different setting so not having as many people that you know in the area not as many connections and so you you isolate a little bit and so you're not getting out doing as much and and so I think
that played into it too and and you know ever since graduating the weights just kind of slowly come on you know incrementally over the past two years that was kind of the the situation that led up to it >> and it's it's sneaky too you and you don't have uh focus and when you're not >> you kind of thinking actively about your health, it it'll it'll get the best of you.
>> It will. And you aren't necessarily at the age where you're thinking I might have high cholesterol or high blood pressure or other issues, diabetes, that is a real thing. when you start adding a lot of weight to your frame because our long-term goal is about 190ish or so. That's going to be a good body weight for your athletic build, your height, the just the way you want to look and feel.
But that's adding 40ome pounds onto your frame, which is unfortunately just not natural. That is what would happen if you were to just stay in that situation. And a lot of guys that I talked to for I've been doing this for 23 years, they don't realize the health impact beyond just the physical impact of not feeling great about what you looked like.
I mean, imagine your clothes changed. The way you thought about yourself in the mirror wasn't quite the same. You weren't that young football player from high school anymore, >> right? Yeah. Well, and actually the other thing I would add is so I did a I did a checkup with with my doctor, >> okay, >> before starting this.
And so everything looked good, but he said you you really need some dietary changes. You have high cholesterol. Some of it could be genetic, but but a lot of it's in your control, too. And you know, that for me was a little bit of a impetus, too, because it's it's like I really can't let this get out of out of hand at at my age. really get far worse.
And so, um, it was really a combination of several things. I think it was kind of being tired of, >> you know, the place I was in, you know, just like in life. And then also like, shoot, like you're >> like, this isn't looking good for your age, right? >> Got to take action. >> Yep. I can't tell you how many people show up because of the doctor visit, because of showing up to the doctor.
They say, "Hey, I have high cholesterol, blood pressure. They want to put me on meds. My A1C, which is the marker for diabetes, is 5.5 is normal. I've had some people, the highest one was 15, which is astronomical, but a lot of people come in between six and and 8 to 10 range, and you're full-blown diabetic as soon as you crash through that six barrier, and it's just not good.
your blood pressure, blood sugars are super high and you just don't feel great all day long as a result of it. Now certainly we have a slam dunk 30 lbs in 100 days. That is a slam dunk. That is a top tier effort in weight loss in a sustainable way. But what happened outside of just the physical process? We we talked a lot about different habits, behaviors.
I think that's one of the best parts about what I try to do with everyone is you're just not just a number. You're actual real person in my program that I'm supporting is however I can and we're going to talk actually talk about what the situation is, what things need to change and make sure we stick to it.
So, what happened outside of just losing 30 pounds? >> Yeah. And that's been a really good part of it too because it's you know you have your physical health but you know it all intertwines I've learned with your your mental health and and so for me I I kind of looked up and said there's a reason why you maybe I have these bad habits maybe there's a reason why I you know drink this much or do all these things and it's it's mental health too and it connects with your physical health.
You know you wake up in the morning and you feel a certain way because of what you're putting into your body. Um, and so what's been really great to see is is as I've gone through this process with you and as I've lost the weight and you know improved my nutrition habits, it's rippled out into other areas as well.
So I it's it's affected I I would say my my confidence and my ability to show up, you know, in relationships, my confidence to say no to things >> because the power of no is definitely changed for you, right? Especially in your social health, right? We we talked a lot about that about who your your Tony Robbins says your five closest people have the biggest influence on you.
And if you come into a new city and you just get adapted into adopted into a new social circle, then you end up you're you're the the weakest of those influential people and you just by default do whatever they're doing because you know, hey guys, let's as you know now, let's go on a 10 mile run. those aren't the guys to ask for that type of activity.
>> Yeah, absolutely. And that's that's been the that's been a big part of it, too, is is and you've kind of helped me realize it's it's like what's your identity going to be? And you have to surround yourself around people that >> fit that identity. And if your identity is okay, well, I want to be a healthy person.
I want to be around ambitious people. You know, maybe you have to make a change and you have to take a risk. And so, you know, one thing that I think has improved for me is is, you know, I've developed more confidence to just go and and do things and go after things and maybe not just hang out at home. And so, you know, go go join a run club.
You you put that idea in my head and and I went and did it. And, you know, it's it's a risky not a risky thing. It's a scary thing to >> to put a bunch of people. Yeah. you probably going into like, oh, there's a bunch of expert runners that can run all this distances and speeds and all this and you're going to come in and just be slow and they're going to leave you behind.
>> Yeah, absolutely. But it just, you know, and I don't think if I look back a few months ago, there's no way I would have I would have done that at all because I I would have just stayed >> and uh doing what I'm doing. So, you know, the physical health ripples out, like getting that in check ripples out and that's >> and that's been a really encouraging thing to see because it's just like people don't realize how much of an effect, >> you know, what you're putting into your body has on everything on your mind,
your ability to focus, your energy, your confidence, all of it. >> Yep. Yep. There are five pillars that I have in the call to rise. First one's the call. It's about your identity. Second one is the forge. It's about physical strength up. Yay, we got balloons. Uh third is going to be the fuel, which is your nutrition.
Fourth is your is called the code, which is mindset, which is a huge piece of this. And then the fifth one is the brotherhood of having a community of like-minded guys that are driving toward the same outcome of self-improvement initially from losing weight or getting better blood panels or feeling more confident in their body, getting stronger, those type of things, getting faster.
But those are the five pieces that that go through this. And people don't realize where some of my favorite and where I just get my fingers in everywhere is the call the identity piece of who you actually are and want to be or become. And then the second one is the mindset. Absolutely changing mindset and shifting your perspective about what you think and how you think and why you think.
As soon as I can get a grasp into that part of your life, then big doors start swinging on that that those tiny little hinges that I I I plant that seed. Hey, I didn't even tell you necessarily to join the running group, but we just started looking for opportunities of different people and groups to hang out with, and a running club came up and you like to be physically active and and do that.
So, that was a natural suggestion that came after we had a couple weeks of progress. Silly enough, unfortunately, it's December now and you joined a running club in basically November, so you get to run through a cold winter. But hey, you got an awesome Christmas list of fun running cold gear outside now.
You get some more swag. >> I'm suffering until I get it. I'm [laughter] just going to wait. >> Yeah, he's wearing two layers of sweats. I get hypothermia, but at least I don't have to spend. >> It hasn't been that cold. 31 or something is the coldest, right? But, uh, it will get colder and you'll love it.
And again, it goes back to that the code, the mindset. If you can go out, run 10, 15 miles in zero degree weather, you know, what else can you do? Because that's just a mindset type of a situation. Now, going back, what were you trying on your own to you get the weight off? Were you doing anything at all? You know, what was life like before? Think about prelucas, pre-program, Lucas.
What What were you trying? >> Yeah. So, I've I've tried a a lot of things. I think the the main error is that I've I've tried it on my own. I've tried it just with my own willpower. And one of the things I've learned is that, you know, willpower really can fade really quick. You got you have to develop a good a good structure.
Uh I've tried all sorts of things. I've tried keto. I've tried, you know, I'm not going to I'm going to do the carnivore diet. I've tried all kinds of things. And so I'm not going to just things that would just pop into my head like I'm not going to eat any bread. I'm gonna cut bread out, >> right? That's the 1990s dieting.
theory is I'm just going to skip out bread's boss is sugars. Yeah, you're you're stuck in the [clears throat] if that's what you think your approach to losing weight is. Let's let's upgrade that that thought process there. >> Yeah, I' I've tried um intermittent fasting. I've tried I've tried I've tried a lot of things and I've found that like in all the things I've tried, there's a surge of motivation on the front end.
So, it's like >> there's a couple weeks where it's just, okay, I'm going to kill it and maybe I'll drop a few pounds, but it always kind of swings in the other direction. It's like a rubber band. >> Yeah. >> You know, it kind of just goes back. >> I think some of it is the, you know, what I've tried hasn't made a lot of sense and >> it just uh yeah, it's not a great system ultimately.
So, and you have to enjoy it too. I think if you're I truly believe if you're miserable >> all the time trying to lose weight, like it's not going to it's not going to be sustainable because you're going to want to be happy at some point. >> Yep. Yeah. Designed for laziness. That is the whole process that I go through with every single person I've ever worked with. And we're humans.
We're looking for the easiest out of survival. How can I keep it as simple and easy as possible to get the outcomes that I want? Can I make a million dollars by winning the lottery? Cool. Let's do that instead of the years of skill acquisition and client acquisition and and you know serving and all that. But you know at the other end of the day, which one would you rather have? I personally would rather have the skill sets to make a million dollars rather than winning a million dollars because we've heard it time and time again. The
people who win the lottery are broke within even just a few short years, which is unfathomable to understand. But a million dollars doesn't go that long or that far these days. And you being a financial analyst know that it spends pretty quick. I've got four kids and it spends very quick.
It's just like $100 bill fell in my pocket. Okay. Where where'd that go? I don't I don't even remember. So, but we want the skill acquisition. What were some of the things that we did that taught that made it easier? That made it more lifestyle driven that made it where these were actual habits, routines, systems, processes, behaviors that change for you? >> Well, I think it's exactly what you said. I think it was the simplicity.
Uh thing that you stood out to me was get your get your steps each day. Get the 10,000 steps >> each day. code. >> It is a cheat code >> and then 1,800 caps where you're wanting to go 1,800 calories. And so it's like those two things, >> right? You know, simple. So just do those >> 10k more, 1,800 calories or less.
That is the cheat code for most guys ever that I've worked with for 20 years. They just do those two basic things, they make progress. But we also need to fill in all the other gaps of building balanced meals, having convenient meals, being able to shop, being able to cook, being able to make decisions on the fly when life interrupts whatever you were going to do to what you're doing now.
There's a lot of other things that show up. And eating in a way that improves cholesterol and you know, A1C's and all that stuff, but simple is easy. Easy gets done. What else? I know we worked on sleep. We worked on some behaviors around that and screens, the social. We talked about the social. We shifted.
I'd love to dive into that a little bit more, too. But let's let's start with the sleep routine and some of the behaviors that change there. >> I was going to add one more thing. I was just going to say please >> with the 1,800 calories. I think there's bad 1,800 calories. So another thing that's been helpful is understanding the food currency because you can eat 18 calories and still be starving because you're not getting the right.
So I think focusing on the mac and >> that wasn't your experience, right? You were content >> and hungry. >> I you know I've been getting the fiber, the carbs and and reaching those goals. >> We've actually talked about carbs especially if that was your old hat trick to lose weight with running. How much influence have I been putting upon you to make sure you get specifically carbohydrates at certain times when you are running? >> Yeah, you you need it. Absolutely.
And so it's crucial for and and I think the lack of restrictiveness has been has been really helpful and it's helped me be, you know, just have fun with it also. >> Yeah. Yep. >> The cheat meal, right? You was like, what what do we do with cheat meals? For the first 3 weeks, you you really and just kept asking about it and we kept explaining it.
It's just it just needs to be a planned effort in a controlled environment to eat whatever you want and balance out the rest of the day and after we got through say two or four cheat times where you're like, "Oh, I hung out with the buddies and we had a burgers and beers and okay, I'm starting to get it now.
If I just eat this way when I go, not having a chicken salad when everyone's having a burger, but actually having a burger, but not just killing the whole plate uh with the fries included at 1500 and add a tall boy on top of that. Now we're at 2,000, right? That's not going to help us. >> Yeah, absolutely. And then so I had a really bad habit of, you know, looking at my phone before, you know, going to sleep.
It's the last thing I would do is just get that information overload. What's going on on Instagram? What's going on on Wall Street Journal? Everything. I just >> I want to know. I want to be watching TV. And so I just want to be informed. And so, you know, that was affecting my sleep. And so I'd say for me, like if I could get six hours a night, you know, that would be good.
Then and I think going through this it's been sort of a good you know wakeup call where it's like you you know you don't need you should do an hour at least before bed without screens without all this information overload and I think putting that in place has been really helpful too and so I've you know started reading instead and >> the sleep is incre you know improved a lot and it's the sleep is important for recovery and yeah everything.
It's not something to ignore like I maybe thought it was before. >> Yeah, definitely. Definitely. And we found just lots of bad habits. A lot of guys do that. A lot of people these days just scroll and getting the phone not next to you but across the room or I have routinely for years now slept with my phone in in the next adjacent room over and I use my watch to wake me up.
my watch wakes me up and my phone is set for two minutes later which makes sure that I get up and I get out of bed and I don't want to wake the house up and then I'm up and going. How the other thing is these are just good behaviors to continue in the rest of your life as you grow in relationship and all because for the love relationships these days are two adults sitting next to each other staring at bones and we'll just throw it out not having sex.
They just they're just doing the other s the screens and on. So there's a just a a significant lack of connection because of these devices that are attention seeking and they are designed that way and they are marketed that way and billions of dollars are getting put into I think I randomly saw something Facebook, Google, Microsoft they're spending billions of dollars in these next few years like like nine 10 figures of of dollars to improve improve technology and what do you think that is? Is more attention >> making it more addictive.
>> Yeah. Yep. And so let's talk about some of the social shift too because you're starting to develop a different group of people to hang out with and and we can compartmentalize. We don't have to ditch your your last set of friends but they are more here. Hey, I want to watch a football game on Sunday.
I'll hang out with these guys. and hey, I want to be you exercise. I'm going to hang out with these this this group of people. So, how's that changed and give you maybe more that social health of connection with people because that's important, especially moving into a city and not necessarily having a good social network, jumping into a run club, they are super supportive very quickly and they just want to encourage you, right? show up and all of a sudden you're like, "Oh my gosh, all these people are just happy I'm here and they're excited and
they're running with me and they're talking to me, asking me questions about who I am and what's important to me and and I have two friends from high school because of running that I still talk to. We text each other all the time and I work out with one of them pretty regularly.
Dan once a week or once every other week we see each other because of running because we spent so much time together and we just have a connection through life. >> Well, I think like for me moving to a new city I think uh and like people who have done this like would understand it. It's like you just want you just want people to hang out with, right? Like you just want >> you just want to fill your time like you don't want to be alone all the time.
And so >> no it's awful. And so, yeah, no, it's not. And I'm more extroverted, too. It's not what I want anyways. And so, you know, you end up just kind of floating, I feel like. And I I think through this process, I've realized it's just who do you want to be spending time with? Like, what are those people like? We were going back to the identity, that whole concept.
U as I've gotten into running and I've gotten into working out more, I've realized and it's no knock on like anyone or what they choose to do, but I've realized like that's that just that fulfills me more >> Yeah. >> then maybe going out and drinking every night like that to me is is more feels more personally fulfilling. And so if I can find people that are on that on that track, then that's exactly what I should be doing.
And so that's been a little bit of a shift, too. I think it's just boundaries. And I I think I always had a fear of like if I say to the group of buddies like, "Oh, I don't want to drink tonight," I would be judged. >> Yeah. Yeah. Or I'm going to call it at 10 instead of two. >> Yeah. And it it really I would say like to anyone that's afraid of making that shift, like it's us that's usually not the case like as much as you think it's going to be, >> right? You know, people are, and this may be a negative statement, people are more usually pretty focused on
themselves. You know, they're not too worried about >> go to the gym and oh, everyone's going to look at me. No, they're looking at their phone. They're not even exercising because they're texting, people are scrolling on on Insta. >> Yeah. >> So, >> so I I mean, if I am out at the bars, I just kind of say, you know what, it's 9:00. I [clears throat] want to go home.
And it's just kind of like, okay, good. Like that's that's what you want to do at this. At first it was kind of like >> yeah it's a new identity shift >> like that's a new you >> like what wait Lucas you're already leaving man and then they might go into deprecation mode of making fun of him and oh calling it you a wimp can't hang blah blah blah and then all of a sudden you do it 10 times in a row it's like oh Lucas just leaves at 9.
So, if we want to hang out with Lucas and we just know that we need to start early enough to hang out with him and appreciate him for who he is and he's only going to drink one beer, not four, and spend $80 on beer and alcohol at the bar or something. Yeah. >> Then, but that shifts. And here's one thing I always have to throw out to people is your social circles are where they're at now and they're used to you acting in in a certain way.
You have to adjust that relationship and constantly communicate to new what is happening so that yeah sure the first time the guys will make fun of you. That's just what guys do and but after if they are quality people that continue to be in your life they will again start to assimilate to that. They will okay cool Lucas we still want you to hang out.
We just know that you bounce before it gets >> Yeah. >> too crazy or something. >> Yeah. So, >> I think it's all again, it's like the ripple effect. I've created more structure. I think my what I want has has changed because the health has improved because I've gotten into running and working out and eating cleaner.
You know, when you're eating cleaner, you're not drinking. >> We'll say healthier because I always joke clean eating. Do do you wash your food before you eat it or something? Like, what do you mean? the healthier eating >> if you're if you're focused on that like you go to the bar and you have like you know you can't have three beers because that's not going to get you where you want to go >> you know for for losing weight and so it's like okay I'm only having one beer and then it's like you wake up the next day and and that one beer feels a lot
better than three beers felt. >> Yeah. Yeah. And if you hear he still had a beer. We were able to figure out how he can be social in that aspect and enjoy the beer but not have to walk out of there say drunk or hung over the next day. That's not Lucas's behavior anyways. So I just want to throw that out there too.
He just wasn't just had a six-pack in his hand anywhere he went. But just it's easy to overindulge when you're in the environment that people are already overindulging. You are more likely to jump off the bridge if five other people have jumped off the bridge. like, "Well, I guess it sounds like a good idea. They did it, so maybe I should do it.
" Even though the gut feelings like, "This isn't a good idea. Don't do it." Like, "Well, maybe." >> Yeah. >> Now, what was some of the biggest ch Go ahead. >> Well, I was going to say, too, if you have a run club at 8 a.m. the next day, >> Yeah. >> You know that that's a good if you add that structure to your life too, you know that shoot, like run clubs can be really tough if >> I I have a Yep. Yep.
Yep. Now, the trajectory of the people that you hang out with and the way you think and feel about yourself is going to change a trajectory of say who your life partner is going to be at some point. Right? Right now, we're focusing on self-improvement of who Lucas is. And just quick question, are you going to attract more of your ideal mate when you're almost 240 lbs, living a sedendary, lack of way to put it, but a boring life as opposed to Lucas who's on his way down to say the one and is healthy, fit, takes care of himself, is energetic, is productive, is
looking for self-improvement. Well, I I think what was now that I think back on it, I I felt like I could attract the person that I wanted, you know, back when I was 240. And it was kind of like, okay, this is who I want. Like, I want someone who's fit, someone who's driven, someone who's, you know, focused and and all these great things, but it's like I'm I'm really not that myself.
But I didn't see it that way at the time. I just saw like this is what I want. Like, why am I not getting it? And >> you know that's kind of a that's a tough reality to to face because like we all want to have like the best partner you know >> of course that's just the basics of being a human the outcome of pushing your gene pool forward. >> Yeah.
But like you won't you also can't get what what you aren't really. I mean, if you're not if [clears throat] you're not, you know, working to be the best version of of yourself and you want someone great, >> like, >> you know, it's it's going to be harder to to make that connection. It's going to be harder to to, you know, >> to get that.
And so, >> I think it's given me more confidence in that that area, too. I think that's a major I think that's a major benefit. So, >> definitely definitely. And for those who are listening that are married like me, I've married my high school sweetheart. We're almost 20 years in and [clears throat] it's still important to take care of yourself.
It's still important to hold yourself at a high esteem. It's still important to have confidence when you pull your shirt off and you're playing with your kids in the pool. It's still important to be mentally, emotionally, and intimate with your partner and be attracted physically to them and not just fall into the the comfort of of proximity, closeness, marriage, relationship, stress, all the kids, all the other things that come in and next thing you know, you're back at 240.
That's not you are not going to connect to your partner like you should if you just keep taking care of yourself. That's just an important thing to know. So if you're listening, you are married, it's still important to take care of yourself so that you are still a attractable to your spouse in many different ways. Not just, oh, he's a provider now, he makes money.
No, my husband still looks hot. That's what you want. You want that 10, 15, 30 years into your relationship, you want your wife to still find you physically attractive, like, "Oh, I've got a honk. I'm so lucky to have this guy." That's gonna give you way more of what you want as a man in a relationship than not. >> All right, [clears throat] Lucas, what are some of the biggest challenges you had when getting started in the first place of just like should I do this? Should I not? Should I even reach out for someone or just do it again on my
own? >> Yeah. Well, that's Yeah. So, uh, for me, I it's like this stubbornness. I always kind of felt like I can figure it out, you know? I can I can do it. But also, you know, it wise man once said that, you know, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting expecting a different result.
And so it's like we have two years of of you know just kind of going downhill having these spurts of motivation and then just you know the net >> right >> result is you know two 240ish. And so I I think for me I got to a point where I was really ready. I I was kind of at that point but I think you know you do have the uh hesitation to commit you know financially to commit yeah sure you know the time everything like that but I would also say like if you are hesitating to you know for those reasons it's like you've already gotten to the
point where you know you're thinking about doing it where you've identified like I need to change and you've identified like I need to you know evolve as a person. So, I just I just think if you're already in that headsp space, just, you know, just go for it because, you know, what do you what do you have to lose? You know, you're only going to grow and you're only going to improve from it.
That was kind of how I decided to to take the leap and just um >> yeah, >> go for it. >> I always love like this part of our journey. Lucas, if I could take everything that you said and even the concept, we didn't say this on the podcast on the interview here, but we planted a seed of being more social with people.
We chose to do a run club and now you're starting to run and grow relationships there. And what is the potential thing that's on the horizon that you might do now that you may not have ever thought you would do? Yeah, I over the past three months gotten into running. Done it every day. Love it. And so I've decided that in 2026 I'm going to run a marathon.
>> Yeah. Pretty wild, huh? [laughter] >> So >> So Lucas, >> on our very first call, Lucas, through our conversations that we're going to have, I'm going to help inspire you to lose 30 pounds in 100 days. I'm going to get you to shift your social circles. I'm going to get you to feel way more confident and even think about running a marathon next year.
What would you say if I said that to you on that very first call? >> Well, I would have said like no, like like there's no way. I [laughter] mean, but yeah, and looking back on it, I would have never expected that. My expectation was just lose a couple pounds, you know, and that's that's going to be good and that's be worth it.
Yeah. But yeah, I would have I would have said, "Brian, you're you're you're not you're crazy." >> Yeah, I've had this conversation, this retrospective conversation so many times, and it's my why. Love I appreciate the opportunity to be able to come into your life and just speak your truth. Ultimately, that's all I did.
I just asked you questions that made you think about what it is that you want. And I didn't have to do a lot of effort per se to get you to do the thing because personally incentivized to do it anyways because you understood why you wanted to do it and [clears throat] why it was going to improve your life and you started seeing the improvements every single week cuz you're like when is this going to plateau? It's like dude it doesn't have to plateau.
We just keep moving forward being consistent doing these things that are already working and then we get results. And that's exactly what you did. You're just like, "Oh my gosh, I'm down like 2 lbs. I'm down three lbs this week. I'm just like, what is going on here?" And we just saw that we set it up in a way that helps you maintain it and be successful and doing it in a fun way, right? Your food tasted good, you were full enough, you had energy, you are better rested, you look healthier, feel stronger, all these things.
Now, speaking to say that Lucas before any other person that's in a similar position where they catch themselves 20, 30, 50 pounds of weight, cholesterol issues or worse, what would you tell them to do? What advice would you give them? >> Well, I would say do this. >> That's what I'd say to >> But no, I would honestly But I, you know, I would just I would say that it's it's not going to get better.
No one's going to do it for you. Like, you have to be the one to >> to make the the leap. you have to do it. I've I've, you know, in in the years I've I've talked to so many people and I've just been like, "Oh, I can't get in shape and I this and this." Like, "Oh, do this." But like, it has to be my decision ultimately, [clears throat] >> right? >> Um, and you know, it again, it has a huge effect.
Losing the weight has a huge effect on your mental health, your emotional health, how you show up for I don't have, but how you show up for your kids, how you show up for your significant other, how you show up at work. It all has a huge effect. And so I think if you think about it that way, it really it makes it more uh impactful.
>> Yeah. >> Because otherwise if you just think of it as oh I'm gonna lose a couple pounds like >> Yeah. >> Like that's >> that's not what I as you know that's the [clears throat] byproduct of everything >> that we do. >> Yeah. So you have to have the the why behind it. But I would again I would just say just take it seriously and just just get the get the help.
Don't be afraid to ask for help. And I think as men sometimes you don't want to sometimes you don't want to ask for help. You want to be like >> don't ask for direction. >> I'm gonna >> Yeah. Well, if you've been struggling to lose weight, to change your health, you have bad blood panels, you are not in a good spot, and you know it, and you've been trying all the things, then maybe the cult is for you.
Lucas, I want to thank you so much for our first 100 days. You're going to continue on. We've got some pretty cool things that we're going to keep working on. The initial one is getting to our our goal weight. Then the second is eating a lot more calories. Add your goal weight. And it's again, it's one of these things that's hard to bath and you're like, "Wait, I can eat more calories while staying without gaining weight.
" Yes, it's a real thing and we're going to do it. So, can I add 2, three, 500 more calories a day? And you stay at that 190ish body weight and and we're going to work on doing that, too. and then train you for the marathon and just physical body changes within the gym and all and those are other things and I'm sure there'll be plenty other good things that'll start coming out through our conversation.
Maybe a puppy or something as we spoke about the other day but or foster puppies, right? We start over with foster puppies, not not ownership of a dog, right? So, if if you're watching listening and Lucas's story hit you, then reach out the call torise.com. uh we can have a conversation about how to start making nutrition, health, fitness, and and ultimately a lifestyle change for you.
You probably need it, especially if you're this far into our video here. Well, thank you, Lucas. I look forward to our future. Thanks for everyone who's listening here. I appreciate you, and I hope to see and talk to you in the future. Off we go. That's this episode for Driven for Health. Thank you so much. Bye-bye.