**Jim Hill:** Welcome to Weight Loss And, where we delve into the world of weight loss. I'm Jim Hill.

**Holly Wyatt:** And I'm Holly Wyatt. We're both dedicated to helping you lose weight, keep it off, and live your best life while you're doing it.

**Jim Hill:** Indeed, we now realize successful weight loss combines the science and art of medicine, knowing what to do and why you will do it.

**Holly Wyatt:** Yes, the “And” allows us to talk about all the other stuff that makes your journey so much bigger, better, and exciting.

**Jim Hill:** Ready for the “And” factor?

**Holly Wyatt:** Let's dive in.

**Jim Hill:** Here we go. Holly, we have a special episode today. Why don't you tell us about it?

**Holly Wyatt:** Yeah, so we have an episode where we're going to talk about someone's success. We're going to do another success journey. I think we did one of these a few months ago.

**Jim Hill:** We did Rainy. Yeah, so we have another one.

**Holly Wyatt:** Yes, a lot of people listen to that episode. So we're here with our second episode and the reason why I like this idea of showing these success journeys is these journeys are so different. And I think sometimes people think that there's only one path to success or there's only one way to success and what I've seen is there's lots of ways to be successful and success is different for different individuals. So I think my goal or our goal is to show that success is different to inspire people and to have people on who've been successful in their weight loss journey. So today I want to welcome Ben to our show.

Thank you, Ben, for being willing to share your success journey. We both have known you. Jim and I have both known you since 2016 in Colorado. So this is a long journey. And I love your journey because there's been some ups and downs. It's not a straight path, but there's so many good nuggets in it. So I can't wait for you to share that with us. So tell us a little bit about your success journey. When did it start? How much weight?

**Ben:** Great, I sure will. I recently came to State of Slim in 2016 because I was trying to lose weight, lose body fat. I had been a competitive bodybuilder when I was younger and actually started a sports nutrition company called Max Muscle and definitely knew the drill in terms of how to keep and shape. The problem is when you get older, I'm 66 now, your body changes. And, you know, I went from a sports nutrition career when I got out of Max Muscle into commercial real estate and sitting at a lot of board rooms, gained a lot of weight, a lot of pizza served, a lot of muffins.

**Jim Hill:** Different than the gym, isn't it, Ben?

**Ben:** Right. You know, when I came back in 2016, it was really originally just to lose some weight, but there's a little group at Anschutz called the Anschutz Avengers. One of the trainers put that group together and they were powerlifting group. I'd never really considered powerlifting and always done bodybuilding, but they kind of talked me into competing powerlifting-wise. So with this little group, the end shits Avengers, there were 12 of us. We did our first, I did my first powerlifting meet and in that meet, I not only broke two straight records, but I gold medalled and I honestly couldn't believe it. I didn't know I had it in me, but my original SOS journey was to lose the weight and I needed to compete in a certain weight class and that was about 40 pounds and I was able to lose the weight.

It was great. And the funny part is once you hit your first set of goals, you think, all right, this is this is it. I've reached the top. I reached the pinnacle. This is it, but it really isn't it. It's the first start of a long, very joyful journey because what I've learned since that time is it's not just about my body state.

It's about my mind state, about my life state, about my lifestyle as opposed to competition and competing. And so after 2016, I did very well on the program, kept the weight off, competed for five or six more years, founded the first LGBTQ powerlifting Federation in the world. And now all the other powerlifting federations feed their transgender athletes to us so that they have a safe place where they can compete. And I'm now a delegate to the Gay Games and that's a group that's going to put together a competition. They They it every four years.

Next year will be in Valencia, Spain. And I'm on the board not only inspiring powerlifting athletes now, but inspiring athletes across the world. So it's been a journey for me, but…

**Jim Hill:** That is really impressive, Ben.

**Ben:** But what I want to add is that during the pandemic, I had to become a caretaker for both of my parents who were wheelchair bound and sick. It drove me into the hospital about a year later from exhaustion. And when I went to the hospital at double pneumonia, sepsis shock and pulmonary embolism, and the doctor told me any one of the three of those could have killed me, but I survived them all. And in looking back in that timeframe, I really credit State of Slim and a lot of what I learned there for giving me the ability to survive an illness that was that bad. I mean, the doctors were amazed at how quickly I bounced back. I feel I bounced back because I already had integrated a lot of the principles that we had learned.

The problem was that year when I had to go take care of my parents because that was like nine-hour drives to Southern Colorado and back. I lost track of my cadence in terms of structuring my meals and working out. It just all went out the window. And so after I got very sick and got out of the hospital, I couldn't walk more than five feet. It was on supplemental oxygen.

They put me on steroids that had gotten my weight up to like 300 and almost 320 pounds. And you know, sitting in a chair that's sick, you have a choice. You can either give up and say, this is where I'm going to be for the rest of my life. Or you can say, Oh, no. I know a better way. And SOS was my better way. And so I've signed for SOS now three times since that time and have been successful at reintegrating those principles and getting back to where I was in 2016.

**Jim Hill:** Wow.

**Holly Wyatt:** Wow.

**Jim Hill:** Holly, that's what you always talk about hitting curveballs. That is one heck of a curveball.

**Holly Wyatt:** Yeah. So there's so much to unpack in this journey. It wasn't a straight shot. There's been, you know, times, but it keeps on going and you keep using that. And you know, that's what really happens.

People think, Oh, I'm going to be successful. And then boom, that, that's going to be the end of the weight loss journey. I'm, I've lost the weight. Now it's over, you know, or I've learned everything I need to learn.

It's just not how it is, but I love this. So let's back up just a little bit because you've had so many different mini journeys within this journey and just start at the beginning before you actually lost the 40 pounds and then you started powerlifting and you had that, that success there. What were you thinking then kind of how did you get started? Like for someone sitting out there who's like, this is great, but I don't know where to begin. What was your thought then? How did you start?

**Ben:** Great question. I was beating myself up pretty bad because, you know, in my bodybuilding days, I could go in and bench press, you know, 595 pounds, no problem. Here I was struggling with 225 pounds and the weight just wasn't coming off.

And I'm like, great. Do I go on another bodybuilding competition diet? And they're very strict and it just didn't sound like what I wanted to do.

Or I find some other way to resolve this. When I first read the State of Slim book and then signed up with you, Dr. Holly, I realized that this was more about a way of life than just a diet. And that's what really attracted me to this program was that it was more holistic than just being focused on a bodybuilding competition diet because that all leads to one thing, the day of the show, you win the show and then life goes on, right? This was very different and I think actually touched me on a very different level in terms of living a lifestyle versus just focusing on the weight.

**Jim Hill:** You know, that's an important thing, Ben. We talk about that all the time. And Holly, I think we even did a podcast on rethinking success. People think it's that number on the scale, but that number on the scale is only a tiny, tiny part of success. And, you know, rather than think about, I'm going to take time out in my life. I'm going to go lose weight. Then I'm going to come back to my life that never works. You've got to think about changing your life. And I think what you and others who have done it tell us is life is better, much better.

**Ben:** You know, today I wake up every morning feeling happy, feeling positive. I I right to my routines and rituals and do that and then go right to the treadmill. And once I'm done with the treadmill in the morning, because a very important this program is to keep moving. And so that sets the tone for me for the rest of the day. And that's why my routine in the morning includes movement because it sets it upright.

One of the mistakes I made when I was caretaking for my parents was I let all movement go out the window. I just stopped working out. And what I learned coming back to the program and doing SOS essentials is do 10 minutes, do 15 minutes. Do something. Just move. And the culmination of those 10-minute journeys in a day, you do five of those and you pretty much got your hour done, you know? And so, and there are some days we're going to have your perfect hour. There are going to be other days when Dr. Holly calls it chunking, we are like, all right, I'm going to chunk 15 minutes here and do another 15 in the evening. It just makes a big difference because it's not so finite. This program really makes allowances for life because life is not always perfect.

**Holly Wyatt:** So, tell us what do you eat? What do you eat? Let's get to some basics. What do you eat when you're losing weight? What do you eat to maintain?

**Ben:** Actually, for me, that part was the easiest. I mean, phase one, I actually really liked because phase one taught me to use flavor enhancers and herbs. And my God, there's just no limit to what you can do in phase one. And so, when I got to phase two, that was easier for me from a travel standpoint because then I could pack like rice cakes and stuff like that when I travel because that's always a challenge, right?

What can you bring on the plane? So, my favorite things even to this day still are the turkey chili and the oatmeal muffins. I use oatmeal flour to make tortillas, to make pizza crust. I mean, oat flour is amazing and that's so simple.

You just take steel-cut oats, put them in the blender, grind them up and, you know, put some baking powder and baking soda in there, and bingo, you do. You've got what you need. So, I just learned a lot. The other thing I enjoy doing is going to the farmer's market every weekend because, my God, there are hundreds of different types of vegetables that you can buy there. And I never used to look at vegetables that way. You You I was almost just like a salad guy or, you know, carrots and celery. You know, now I eat all kinds of different things I find at the farmer's market. So, it just opened up a whole new world for me.

**Jim Hill:** And you know, then a lot of times people will think, oh my gosh, I've just got to be so restrictive. I'm not going to be able to eat anything that tastes good. I'm not. I'm going to be hungry all the time. It doesn't sound like that's your life.

**Ben:** No, actually State of Slim opened up a whole new world for me in terms of how I looked at what I put in my mouth. And I'm telling you, when you go to a farmer's market or vegetable market and just stand there and take it all in, you're like, oh my God, you know, why would I ever want to go to Burger King in McDonald's? What's in here not only is amazing to look at, but it's so much better for me. And I feel so much better after I eat it. You know, I don't feel that horrible lump in the stomach feeling that you feel when you eat junk food. And really, there's no reason to eat junk food.

**Jim Hill:** So, you've talked a little bit about what you eat. You've told us about your exercise routine. You've talked a little bit about your mindset, and how you approach things. What was the hardest part of your journey? And that may be different things at different points, but what was tougher for you, Ben?

**Ben:** In the first week, it was getting organized. This is such a radical shift. I had to do the kitchen audit. I had to pull all this stuff out of my kitchen that wasn't going to serve me when it came to doing this program. I had to get organized in terms of buying, you know, silicone muffin tins and stuff like that. So organized was tough and one thing I appreciated in doing SOS Essentials last year, it's a little different.

In SOS Essentials, you actually get a week to get organized. And I really like that a lot because once I got organized now in my pantry or in my refrigerator, I'm never without turkey chili. I'm never without oatmeal protein muffins. I'm never without the go-tos that I need. You know, non-fat Greek yogurt is another one that if any given day, I haven't had time to go to the store or whatever. I've already got ready-made stuff in my fridge. I don't have to reinvent the wheel and I especially don't have to go to Uber Eats to get something. It’s in my fridge.

**Holly Wyatt:** Yeah. So it sounds like some planning and prep and we've talked about this on the show that planning to get ready is important. Not waiting too long. Some people think it has to be perfect. There's never a perfect time to start, but preparing and knowing what will help you with your success is a part of what you do. Tell us about your social environment. I know that you're a very social person. Kind of how has that changed maybe for you over the course of your journey or is that something you think about who you hang out with, who you rub elbows with?

**Ben:** That's such a great question because the social group I had before, I mean, great group, but very much into alcohol and, you know, football on the weekends and stuff like that, as I changed, my social network changed and I didn't lose the old one. I just started relating to them in a different way. The new people that I formed friendships with like the Anschutz Avengers are now I've got a Tai Chi group that I meet with on the beach every Saturday. They're part of my mastermind group for State of Slim. And so while my, while my drinking buddies, I don't drink with them anymore.

I don't have any desire to. We still get together. We just do it in different ways. And if I do go to a football game now, I bring my own tray of veggies and I bring a case of Pellegrino water. And I am totally happy with that because unlike them, I'm not going to have her hangover the next day. I'm going to feel really great and get up, do my treadmill, and start another really terrific day.

**Holly Wyatt:** So this isn’t a punishment, right? You're not seeing this as something that you have to do. Well, so many people I think do, right? Oh my gosh, I can't have pizza. I have to drink water, right? That's a mind state. I don't even think you realize how much your mind state has changed the way you're looking at your life now. Very different.

**Ben:** And this journey, particularly the powerlifting, I went from 300 friends on Facebook to now I'm maxed out on friends because, you know, you meet people across the world and they get inspired by your journey or they see you competing and they want to know you because they want to know what you did. And that reinforces your commitment to do this because the one thing I'm not going to be as a phony, you know, I have my bad days just as much as I do my good days, but over a period of time. And that's why I love keeping the body weight and life score journal. I do that every night because over time it's made me understand that, you know, you're going to have your bad days, but you're going to bounce back and you're going to be just fine. So don't get too caught up in the bad days. There are many more good days than there are bad when you start tracking that.

**Holly Wyatt:** I love that you're tracking because you're aware. And if you started to have your weight started to go up consistently over a long period of time or your life score, which is one of the things that you're talking about tracking, I'm not starting to go down. I'm not starting to feel that joy or satisfaction in my life. Red flag. I might need to adjust something before it gets too bad.

**Ben:** Yeah. And I really equate that to having a savings account. You know, if you're saving for a special world cruise you want to do or saving for a new car or whatever. Part of the process of the saving is the anticipation of getting there. And saving may not sound fun to some people, but if you do it in little increments in the end, you'll get there. And that's how this program works. Every week you're putting in more money into your savings account of health. And I think I can bear witness as somebody who's alive after suffering some really serious setbacks that SOS paid off for me because I had healthy habits before and I kind of knew mentally what to do afterwards.

**Jim Hill:** We talked about your social environment, but as you also pointed out, you changed your physical environment. You have stuff around the house. We always say if you're hungry at 10 o'clock at night, you're not going to go out and get something. You're going to look at what you've got in your cupboard or refrigerator. And if you've got some good stuff there, that's what you're going to do.

If you've got bad stuff there, that's probably what you're going to do. So you can change both your physical environment and your social environment. So talk a little bit about motivation, Ben. What motivates you now? How did that change from when you began? How How how does motivation change over time for you?

**Ben:** My journey became one that was much more external because that's what bodybuilding is. You get up on stage and people judge you on what you look like externally. A lot of people don't realize about competitive bodybuilders.

They're probably in the most unhealthy state they can be in at that point because they're less than 5% body fat and on a lot of diuretics and other things. What I learned through State of Slim is that the journey really wasn't about my physical appearance. It was more about what was going on in my head and my heart.

Like what gives me joy? And every morning I wake up now, one of my little routines is I have a box outside of my bedroom door that has my tennis shoes, my journal, my water bottle full. And even though I know I don't have to do that anymore, just the fact that I open the door and that stuff is sitting right there is like, all right, put the tennis shoes on and get to work.

So those little anchors really helped me a lot. But my point of view is really switched more to what gives me joy, which is why I live in a part of San Francisco where I can walk to the beach and I do. I do a lot of beach walks because those give me a lot of joy. I mean, they're also good for me physically, but it's the joy part that really drives that.

**Holly Wyatt:** Yeah, you can see how you have made this journey so much bigger than just about the weight. It really is about the weight loss and sure, you like keeping your weight at a healthy level. That's part of it. But the reasons why you are active and the reasons why you're eating a certain way and the reasons why you're keeping your mind, you know, facing forward or thinking in a certain way is because of how you want to live your life. It's much bigger. It's not just about the weight. It's about the weight and.

**Jim Hill:** I love it. It brings you joy. This is the reason you do it. And I think that's the real reason people want to change. You know, they may say it's to be healthier and this and that, but people want more happiness and more joy in their life. And it’s not just the number on the scale that brings that. And I think you have demonstrated that.

**Ben:** Yeah, I put together a little group, this Farmers Market group. We're now growing like I'm growing a lemon tree and a persimmon tree in my backyard. Another friend of mine, she's doing sweet potatoes. Another friend's doing carrots. We're going to bring all this stuff together in another month and, you know, share veggies with each other. But, you know, the idea of growing sweet potatoes, I was like, really, you can do that. And so, you know, that's the kind of joy that you discover about things that you didn't even think about or know about before.

Like, why would I go to a store and buy processed foods when I can enjoy something that I grew in the ground myself that I know is going to be really good for me?

**Holly Wyatt:** The other piece about your journey that I think is so important for people to realize is you have had a lot of curveballs. It's not like you had success at the beginning. And then curveballs came and some people would see that as not successful.

But I don't see it that way and I don't think you see it that way. So talk about how you got the mental mind state to understand that these curveballs come. They're going to be there part of your life. Everybody has them you move through them and you just continue and that's still success.

**Ben:** Mm-hmm. It sure is. I look at it the same reason you play golf or the same reason that I lift You're never going to have the perfect golf game. You're never going to have the perfect lifting I love to deep-sea fish. You're never going to catch the biggest fish who want to catch but it's the journey It's the process that makes it fun and that's I think that's the reason why most guys go back and hit more golf balls You know, it's like you're never going to have the perfect game But the journey is what's more fun than the purpose even if you have that amazing game day, next week it's going to be “Alright, next.” But I think I think in terms of the curveballs, Dr. Holly, they're just an inevitable part of life. Everybody has curveballs everybody, but I think I really visualized myself when I was a kid they used to have this little toy called a super ball. You slam that thing to the ground and it bounces twice as high. I really visualized myself as a super ball like throw whatever you want to me universe. Throw it at me because I'm gonna come back twice as hard. That’s how I look at curveballs.

**Jim Hill:** That's a good mindset, Holly.

**Holly Wyatt:** I talk about curveball hitting I'm like being able to the curveballs, but you're taking it one step further. You're like give me the curveball. Send them my way. I want them.

**Jim Hill:** I'm going to hit them over the fence.

**Ben:** Because I can tell you in the curveballs and then the toughest parts on my journey, that's actually when I learned the most. I really had to slow it down and kind of think about it and go, “What's really going on here?” And understand that every thought that comes into your head is not a true thought. I mean you need to step back and look at the thought and go is this really true or is this message being sent to me for some other reason, you know? And that's another thing I love about SOS is that not only does SOS help you slow down the journey of life, to kind of look at all aspects of your life to see what's contributing to it positively or negatively. But what it also does and we haven't talked about this yet is the amazing community that has been built here. I mean I love going back in to SOS when I sign up again and seeing people I was in class with three or four years ago because they are my super friends. And a lot of us do stay in touch that way and they are such a wonderful mastermind of support so that when you do have those difficult times, they're just a text away. I mean that's huge.

**Jim Hill:** That's really important. So, Ben, there are probably people listening to this that say kind of this guy's incredible but I could never do that. He's something special for him. I'm sitting here. I'm 40 pounds overweight. I don't like to exercise. There's no way I'm going to do that. What do you tell him?

**Ben:** You know, I would tell him I bought my first golds gym when I was in my late 20s. I didn't know I could buy a gym, but I bought it. I bench press 95 pounds that was my bench press when I first started and when people would watch me bench press five or six hundred pounds they’d be like, how did you get there? I was like the same way anybody gets there. You start at the 95 pounds and you just go in and you put in your time and you put in the effort and you will get there. Anybody can get there anybody. I mean if I could do it, anybody could do it. And that's one thing I want to comment on about that I learned in the bodybuilding world. I meant many bodybuilders who were genetically very gifted but they were lazy and I met bodybuilders who weren't as gifted but had that drive. They won the first prize trophy every single time because they had that desire so desire more than compensates for questions in your mind about lack of talent. Desire is everything.

**Holly Wyatt:** But then what do you do when you don't have this motivation? I mean we can feel it now, right? You're motivated. You're ready to go and it's strong, but I know and we talk about motivation kind of comes and goes. It's like a fire. Sometimes that fire is burning really really strong which it is right now you can tell and sometimes it's barely going. What do you do when your motivational fire is about to go out or isn't very strong?

**Ben:** Great question. I take early morning walks. You know why? Early morning is my way to become a part of all the energy that's around me. The sun comes up. You see little rabbits out looking for food. You know, you'll see a fox here and there you realize that you're connected to something much bigger than what's just going on in your head. And that shakes me out of my funk like no I'm a part of something that's even bigger here in this universe. And you know look at this rabbit, look at the sun that the sun comes up every time every morning. It goes down the same thing every night. Your life is the same way. If in your 24 hours, you can fill it with joy, with movement, with healthy food, and healthy friends around you, you're gonna have a great life. There's just no way around it. And so When I have my down days and I really do, I get those early morning walks in so I can reconnect with the energy forces that give me inspiration to go “All right, get back on the horse and get going.”

**Holly Wyatt:** I think what this means is you figured out how to keep your motivational fire going. You figured out what works for you. I think the parallel is everybody can figure that out. It may not be morning walks looking at sunrise. But figuring out what that is and recognizing that and having knowing when my fire when my motivation is getting low, here is what I do. So I think that's critical, brings us to something that I know Jim always thought was heading this direction is Identity. Identity, when you talk about connection, connection to others, you've talked about super friends, but connection to yourself. And I can tell you are really connected. How is your identity maybe changed over this journey or tell us about your identity now.

**Ben:** My identity now I do a lot more public speaking because you know in addition to powerlifting thing I chair a museum board here in San Francisco and sit on a couple of others. So I have to get out and speak and what I've noticed is that I reach people now on a spiritual level that never happened before. And I think the reason that happens is because you can't fake being genuine, right? You can't fake being authentic. Either are you or aren't and part of being authentic is acknowledging the failures in your life and looking back on them and going, they all just made me stronger.

They all just made me more resilient. This painting that's behind me, I love this painting for a reason. This painting is called a resilience tree and every morning when I walk into my home office I look at that resilience tree and I say look how beautiful and vibrant that tree is that's your spirit. That's you.

So I think my journey became much more internal and spiritual for lack of a better word and spiritual can relate to anything, you know, to God or the universe or whatever. But just a connection to knowing that there's a much bigger world out there than just myself and that through what I'm doing I can inspire others and make their lives better. And I don't mean that as an ego thing. I'm just speaking from experience of the number of people that come up to me and say something that you said really resonated with me and then they will go through talking about it and I realized that I was just telling them something really authentic that they probably never had the courage to talk about themselves, and then that's something lit up in them, you know. So that's the most amazing thing for me about this journey as it has become almost a spiritual journey for me in a really awesome way.

**Jim Hill:** Well, you obviously are in a really good place, my friend. I'm just curious what's the next chapter in Ben's life going to be like?

**Ben:** You know, it's gonna be this I want one of my favorite people was Jack LaLanne. I love Jack LaLanne.

**Jim Hill:** I grew up watching Jack LaLanne.

**Ben:** My mom used to make me watch Jack. I love Jack and I was lucky enough to meet Jack when I was in Venice and Jack must have been about 80 at that time. But I remember him saying don't ever eat anything that's man-made and that made a lot of sense to me, right? I mean that still kind of sticks with me. But what Jack did, and I think this is where I feel at 66 I'm getting ready to compete in a powerlifting show. I'm going to do it 70. I want to send a message to people that are my age or older that there's definitely life after 50 and there's nothing worse than being in the gym with a 27-year-old trainer who's got a perfect body trying to tell you what to do when they don't experience the aches and pains that you experience. Any of that so, my journey at this point is to tell them, you know what? It's okay to have all those aches and pains get in there and move anyway, and I'll help you I'll show you how you can do it.

**Jim Hill:** Yeah, I've just been going through that with the trainer I can relate so much. People don't understand when it hurts a little bit all the time. It's life, right? You just play through it.

**Ben:** You do. You just do. So yeah, I think my bigger thing is to reach out. I mean Dr. Holly there was a person in one of our classes, Laura. Laura sticks with me to this day because Laura really couldn't walk or run much and we did like this triathlon thing but you know what Laura did? Laura grabbed a basket at the grocery store and walked up and down the aisle with it. Now, what kind of determination? I mean that's a voyager. I mean, that just blew me away. I mean much more so than meeting somebody who just did a 10k. I'm like, oh my God, that desire and willpower really inspired me.

**Holly Wyatt:** She was definitely focused on what she could do.

**Jim Hill:** I think you're going to inspire a lot of other people Ben and that's amazing. I'm so happy you're doing that.

**Holly Wyatt:** Should we ask a couple of vulnerability questions, Jim?

**Jim Hill:** Let's do it.

**Holly Wyatt:** All right you start.

**Jim Hill:** All right Ben what did you get wrong in your journey? What big mistake or mistakes did you make?

**Ben:** Great question. I'm a very competitive person. I hate second place in anything and so when I first started this program I was so focused on the weight like just losing that three pounds every week and sticking to the plan like 100% like never deviating ever that I kind of lost sight of what the real purpose of this was. I was so focused on the weight and then after I reached my first goal and competed powerlifting-wise, I just sit back and go, “All right now you're not weight loss mode anymore. Now you're in weight maintenance mode.” You need to shift gears here. What's going on? That was a tough transition to make because all of a sudden it didn't feel so competitive anymore. It's a kind of felt kind of boring. But on the other hand, I said to myself hey listen, this is actually a great opportunity in sustainability to see if this program is really sustainable. Get curious and see if it is and my God, this is the most sustainable program I've ever done in my life.

I mean when I go to a restaurant now in the morning to have breakfast in a business meeting I tell him point-blank steam cutouts and a chicken breast grilled no oil. I'm not shy about asking about that and other people the table look at me like what like oh You can have your omelets or cheese or whatever you want, but I'm having what sustains me In my life and my goals and I have no compunction about that now. Ten years ago, I would have been embarrassed to ask about that at a restaurant.

**Jim Hill:** Wow.

**Holly Wyatt:** I love what you say. Jim and I talk about weight loss is kind of sexy for the reasons you said right? Things are changing. People are coming up to you and saying you look different. You buy new clothes, you know. Weight loss maintenance, it's like scale doesn't move. No one says anything. Kind of boring. I mean that was your words but in reality, weight loss maintenance is where it's at and Jim and I are saying we need to make weight loss maintenance sexy. So, Ben, you need to make and you are making weight loss maintenance sexy.

**Jim Hill:** You are. You are.

**Ben:** I want to tell you one of the sexiest parts for me is my a1c level. Because five years ago, I didn't even know what that meant. And then as I get older my doctor saying, Ben, you've got to watch your a1c level. What's that? You've got to watch your cholesterol. What do you mean?

You know that happens when you get older, right? So my a1c level now (I had my test done a couple of weeks ago) was 6.1. A year and a half ago, it was almost 10. That's what State of Slim did. I mean that's no drugs. That's no prescriptions. That's nothing. That's just using food as medicine and so your priorities change. I mean, you know 40 years I was concerned about my waistline and my chest, how big my chest was. Now I'm concerned about what is my a1c level. What is my cholesterol? Because I've got to be concerned about my kidneys and my heart and all of those things. Those don't last forever, but if I take care of them, they will last a long time.

**Holly Wyatt:** And you're concerned about joy in your life, right and having those experiences you want to have.

**Ben:** Oh my gosh. Yeah.

**Holly Wyatt:** All right, so you can ask us any question. Jim, do you have another question?

**Jim Hill:** No, no you go ahead. I want to hear if Ben has any questions for us.

**Holly Wyatt:** Time that you if there's any question nothing's off the table. We've been asking you questions.

**Jim Hill:** We know everything so we can answer anything.

**Ben:** My question for you all is was there ever a situation you were in where you just totally bombed in your eating like a Christmas weekend or whatever where you went to a relative's house and they're like I made this especially for you and if you don't eat it, you know and just blew it. Have you all ever had those times when you just blew it, and if you just blew it then as experts in this field, how did you get yourself back into your lane?

**Jim Hill:** I just went through that. I grew up in Tennessee and when I go home and get the chicken and dumplings and apple pies and everything, you know. I can not do it and oftentimes I'll gain a few pounds, but for me, I know how to get right back on it and for me, it starts with movement. I'm literally doing something every day and when I miss a day I just don't feel good. Holly and I talk about having a flexible metabolism and that's what movement gives you. So when you do over eat, it minimizes the damage. The damage is not zero but it's a lot less than it would be if you don't have that flexible metabolism. So yes, I do experience that. I know it's gonna happen and I still do it anyway.

**Holly Wyatt:** Yeah, me too happens not infrequently, you know I actually think of it as a mistake. I want to be able to have periods of time like that. I want to be able to go and eat my favorite foods. I want to have those experiences. My life is better because of it. Even my mind state has even changed about that. That's okay, but like Jim said, I know what to do to get back on track. I know what to do if I gain a few pounds. I'm confident in that and what I do to get back on track. Jim talks about movement, mine’s about mind state. Mine’s about mindset. I know what I need to put in and we're similar in that my morning routine. My morning ritual when I start to get off track when I've been not doing my normal stuff I recognize it. Getting that mind state back pulls me back in and allows the behaviors that I know need to be my long-term behaviors, my frequent behaviors to come right back in. And I do not beat myself up over the fact that I got off plan which is another big important learning. I think that that's okay. That's actually what I want. That's actually a good thing. I want periods of time in my life when I get to experience that.

**Ben:** Those are great answers and I appreciate your honesty so much because that's what I found too. If ever I had a time where I slipped up, the first thing I did was give myself kind internal self-talk to be like hey, it's okay. Everybody screws up Just get back on the horse and let's go. The second thing though Dr. Holly which resonates in me so much are routines and rituals. I cannot stress enough the importance of having your own set of routines and rituals which are really designed around your why. Why are you doing this? But your routines and rituals create a structure that helps keep you together when things go off-plan instead of letting a month go. You may not let any more than 12 hours go like wait a minute, I got to get back on this.

**Holly Wyatt:** They’re your safety net.

**Jim Hill:** I think we need a podcast on that Holly on routines and rituals. It is a big deal. Let's summarize. Can I summarize Holly? Ben is amazing because he does every single thing that we suggest doing and what I will say it starts with movement then we tell people if you're not prepared to make movement a part of your life It's probably not worth it. You're not gonna keep weight off. So it starts with movement.

He prioritizes it. He has a plan for how to do it. He has rituals for doing it and that allows him to eat in a way that you didn't sound to me like you're depriving yourself. It sounds to me like you're having a good healthy diet. You're eating smart and then the mindset. I wish everybody had a mindset like yours. You are one heck of a curveball hitter. You're ready to deal with whatever comes along. You've changed both your physical environment and your social environment and then I think there's for you. It's this giving back I think that fuels you the fact that you have learned so much and I think giving back helps other people but I think it helps you as well. I can think of nobody that best illustrates the success of what we're talking about Holly than Ben.

**Holly Wyatt:** I Agree I have been following his journey for many years And I couldn't think of anybody better to really come on here and just share it all and show that there's many different layers to it, levels to it, but that it's absolutely possible.

**Jim Hill:** And it's worth it. He has joy in his life. He's not saying how life is great because there's this number on the scale. He's saying I have joy in my life. That's what we all want. Ben, thank you so much. This has been truly Inspirational. It is such a privilege to be able to have you on this podcast.

**Ben:** Well, it's great to see you both as always and real honor to be here with you all and I just want to leave you all with one last thought. To me one of the greatest things about State of Slim is it's sustainable. It is something that you will live till the end of your life and that's a great thing.

**Holly Wyatt:** Thank you.

**Jim Hill:** Thanks, Ben. Holly that's it for today. We'll talk to everybody next time on Weight Loss And.

**Holly Wyatt:** Bye everybody.

**Jim Hill:** And that's a wrap for today's episode of Weight Loss And. We hope you enjoy diving into the world of weight loss with us.

**Holly Wyatt:** If you want to stay connected and continue exploring the “Ands” of weight loss, be sure to follow our podcast on your favorite platform.

**Jim Hill:** We'd also love to hear from you. Share your thoughts, questions, or topic suggestions by reaching out at [weightlossand.com](http://weightlossand.com/). Your feedback helps us tailor future episodes to your needs.

**Holly Wyatt:** And remember, the journey doesn't end here. Keep applying the knowledge and strategies you've learned and embrace the power of the “And” in your own weight loss journey.