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. Welcome to another episode of “Weight Loss And…”, I'm Jim Hill along with Holly Wyatt. Holly, I've been looking forward to this one today. Our topic is a big one and a lot of fun for us. We're going to talk about our biggest learnings from our lives and our careers in weight loss.

We're going to focus specifically on our time working with the reality show, Extreme Weight Loss. What did we get right? What did we get wrong? What has changed? What would we do differently today?

Do we have any regrets? To help us do that, we've invited Chris Powell and Matthew Blades as our guests today. Now, most of Chris Powell is a TV and radio personality. He was the host of Extreme Weight Loss, which aired on ABC from 2011 to 2015. Matthew Blades is an award-winning radio host and a mental wellness motivational speaker. They are co-hosts of a very popular and entertaining podcast called I Needed That.

Holly Wyatt: we've listened to that podcast. It's one of our favorites. We're a big fan of it and we love that you like to let the audience have fun and learn. That's really what we're all about too.

It's about having fun and learning at the same time. I think we're on the same page, and we could not think of a better or more appropriate podcast duo to have on this show. Welcome.

Matthew Blades: Thank you. This is cool. That's our first time doing this together on somebody else's show. You've always done separate ones. I've always done separate ones, but today we're together. Let's hope we're better together, Holly and James. Let's hope we're better together.

Chris Powell: I hope so, yes.

Holly Wyatt: I think this is going to be fun. But the four of us, there's no telling what might happen, I think.

Chris Powell: This is true. You never know where we're going to go with this, but we're willing to explore wherever we want to blaze a new trail.

Matthew Blades: Okay. I'm excited about this because I just watched the show. All three of you guys were in under the hood looking at the car, changing the tires, changing the brakes. I'm excited from an outsider's perspective to maybe learn some of the things that happen behind the scenes.

Holly Wyatt: . And I think that you can give us some insight from watching the show, a little bit different perspective. So I think that's going to be fun too. But before we get into our topic about the show, I did want to ask you, why did y'all start your podcast? I mean, I know y'all weren't busy enough as it is, right? You needed something else to do. Why did you decide to start a podcast? Y'all been doing it about a year or a year and a half, I think?

Chris Powell: A year and a half now. It's crazy how time has, how fast it's gone. But consistency is everything. I don't know what the statistics are on people who start podcasts and how quickly they fizzle out, but what is it? Like, what's the average? Like seven or eight podcasts and then they fizzle out.

Matthew Blades: The only step that I know is that most people create a podcast and never get more than 100 people to listen to it. So that's the step that shocks me. And so essentially, people start podcasts for their friends.

Chris Powell: True. I think everyone's well, who knows, they can catch fire and go from there. But we started the podcast because, well, Matthew and I go way back to 2013. And so he was the morning radio show host here in Arizona. And he is Matthew Blades in the morning, 96.9. And I used to go on his show and we connected because he's just so passionate about service, about helping other people. And, when I was on his radio show, it was his idea. He said, dude, we need to put together a big group of people. And he opened it up to the listening audience. He said, look, hey, we're all going to come together at what's called a mountain, which is over at Arizona State University. And he said everyone's going to just gather at the base of a mountain. Whether you are just taking the very first steps on the journey or you are an elite athlete, we're all going to come together.

And this is going to be the first step for a lot of people to just start moving again. And we all hike a mountain together. It was a very short hike, but it was wild. We had hundreds of people.

Matthew Blades: So many people show up. We thought we probably should have called the cop. Let them know what we were doing. ,

Chris Powell: We had, I mean, hundreds of people turned out. We took over the entire parking lot and there was a huge group of us and we all hiked the mountain together. Started with a motivational talk from both of us. And then we all linked arms and we all hiked the mountain together. And some people were just moving for the very first time in years. And it was such a special experience. We did it a couple of times. It was amazing. So that's where it all started with us. And I mean, we've been just great friends ever since. And so a year and a half, two years ago, we've, this has been a long time coming, but let's get together. Let's put together a podcast and help people through the journey of transformation as they're preparing for the journey, as they're starting the journey, as they're on the journey, as they're transitioning to their next journey, and really kind of to map the process and support people along the way. And so that was the purpose of, I Needed That. Our listening audience. Every single episode, they can walk away just thinking, wow, I needed that on my journey of transformation.

Matthew Blades: Because we needed it, Holly. That's the answer to your question. We started this podcast because the two of us needed this outlet where we could talk about real things with each other. We were all coming out of COVID. Everybody was at the height of their anxiety and depression and all the things that were going on because of the pandemic. And we found that every Monday when the two of us got into a room together, we would laugh, we would cry, but no doubt about it.

As soon as it was twelve noon and we were done wrapping, we both looked at each other and we were like, I needed that. Like, I needed to get all that off my chest.

Jim Hill: Nice. I love it. I love it.

Matthew Blades: I don't know if the audience likes it, but we still enjoy coming together every Monday to talk to each other. So we're going to keep doing it. Yes.

Holly Wyatt: That's what Jim and I say. what? I don't know if our audience likes it, but we like it and it's fun. It's our passion. So I love it when those things line up and you are doing something other people like, but yes, you get something out of it too.

Jim Hill: I don't know if we have 100 listeners or not. I know both of my kids listen and call me up to tell me what we did wrong after every episode.

Holly Wyatt: I have family members who do that too. You should have said. I'm like, well, in a moment, it is what it is.

Matthew Blades: A lot of Monday morning quarterbacks when you get behind a microphone or a TV camera, trust me.

Holly Wyatt: Always, always. So this idea of bringing us together, I think, Chris, I think we were catching up. It was a few months ago. We were catching up and we started talking about how we are both living our lives very differently compared to seven or eight years ago when we did the show together, when we first met each other and did the show in Denver, Colorado, and how much things had changed and how we had learned so much from doing the show, but just in the process of things and how things were different for us now. And we thought, wow, what a perfect topic to talk about our learnings from extreme weight loss, but you have to apply them a little bit bigger, right? How it impacted our lives, not just the weight loss piece.

So we thought it was a perfect topic to help people who want to learn more about losing weight because there are always people out there who want to know that but also to apply it to how you learn and choose to engage in your life as you go through life, which sounds like your podcast is very much about that too. Those life lessons, that learning process. I think we even talked about the idea of second chances. When you're given some second chances, how do you make full use of them? And making what we're doing, it's bigger than just weight loss. It's really about this life you deserve and weight loss. And I like to say body state is part of it, but it's weight loss and much, much bigger than just about the weight loss.

So thought it would be a great topic for us both to do. Listeners always ask questions about the TV show all the time. They always say, oh my gosh, did you do a reality TV show? Holly, are you a real doctor? A real doctor? And you did a reality TV show? I'm like, last I looked, I still had my diploma, still was an MD. Yes, did a reality TV show. I know Jim gets questions. Were you crazy? What were you thinking?

Chris Powell: I have a question. In the medical world, it is frowned upon, isn't it? Because is it the idea of it being sensational?

Holly Wyatt: What do you think, Jim? I have my answer, but...

Jim Hill: I think it used to be that way, Chris, but I think people are now a little bit open to some of these real-life experiences. So I think it's changing.

Chris Powell: I think it is too. I'm living in the personal trainer world when it comes to certified trainers. And the same thing, being a TV trainer, quote and quote, and I know everyone can't see that by using my fingers and air quotes, a quote and quote TV trainer, it's almost as if you lose credibility within the certified trainer world. But at the same time, when people look back at some of the things that we were doing, there were some things that we were doing very right, that are... And people go, oh my gosh, you were there, you were kind of ahead of your time. And there are some things that we would have changed, of course, and you talked about that.

Jim Hill: I want to dive deep into this, Chris, but maybe you could get started by telling our listeners who didn't watch the show the brief synopsis of extreme weight loss.

Chris Powell: Sure, of course. So the whole concept of the show is to take one individual and to capture their journey of transformation over an entire year. And so we enter their lives when they are at a body state and body weight of 300, 400, 500, sometimes even 600 pounds.

And we address a lot of the different issues that they are dealing with in their life. And then we guide them on a journey over 365 days to help them lose approximately half their body weight over a year. It's a docu-series style TV show that captures the ups and the downs of the mental emotional and physical journey of weight loss transformation. So that was extreme weight loss in a nutshell.

Jim Hill: So related to the previous question, Chris, people say, well, how can you work with something like that? We analyzed.. I think it was the first year, the average weight loss was just over 50% of these people. And I said I can't do that. This guy's producing 50% weight loss. I can't do that. I better listen to what is happening here because it's something that traditional weight loss can't do. So I learned so much from the show. And I started to, who's this crazy guy? I went to school half my life to learn about weight and he's coming in with this. And man, did I change my tune. I learned so much from that experience and saw so many people transform their lives.

Holly Wyatt: I, Jim, I want to just shout out to you because there were a lot of people who did not want this to happen. And you have always been, I think, ahead of the curve, open and curious and just not saying, okay, there's nothing for me to learn here. I have been doing this for the last few years. So that takes a mind state that I think, you just take for granted, but that is not the typical mind state, especially of most academics, in my opinion.

Jim Hill: There were a lot of people at Colorado that thought we were crazy and thought, you guys have sold out. I come back to, I can't, I still to this day can't produce 50% weight loss. We need to listen when there's a program that does that.

Chris Powell: Well, and to give you guys credit, even coming into the experience, because I've had a lot of, in my first three seasons where we were not in Colorado and we were in Los Angeles, working with the medical teams there, I encountered a lot of resistance with what we were doing.

And, because it was along the same lines of how can you possibly produce 50% weight loss, how can you do it safely? And when I came to Colorado and I met with you, I came in with this preconceived notion of like, uh-oh, gotta meet the medical team now. They're gonna hate us, they're gonna hate me in particular. And the two of you welcomed me with open arms. And I want to give both of you a shout-out for that because it knocked my socks off. I was not expecting that, especially because of your openness. And I can't thank you enough for being so wonderful and so, and for being so welcoming and, and also wanting to sit down and collaborate, like genuinely collaborate because, the thing is, there's, and the both of you are so science-driven and science-based as, as of course as you should be. But there's also, there's areas of science that sometimes there hasn't been research done on it yet. And, and you're so open to, we need to explore this, we need to, we need to be open to this. And so I just, I don't want to, I, and I don't mean to digress, but I just want to let both of how much I appreciate.

Holly Wyatt: We're going to talk about it. We learned so much. We're going to talk about what we learned about, but I always say I learned so much during those two years. I thought they were amazing years. So I wrote down here, I wanted to ask you, what was the best part and the worst part of your experience?

Chris Powell: Of my experience with you guys or with the show? No you guys are always wonderful. We, in fact, from the moment we all got together, we all got along well because I think the three of us are perpetual students, and there's, I had never got a sense of any ego at all. And so it was like, we all just kind of came together and we were there to learn and to figure out and to kind of approach everything with childlike curiosity. Wow, I can't believe that worked, or wow, I can't believe that didn't work.

I would say when it comes to the show, people that would watch the show, one of my favorite parts was…

Matthew Blades: Paycheck.

Chris Powell: That was a good one. Yes. That wasn't bad. It'd be nice to get those paychecks.

Matthew Blades: Speaking engagements, what was it?

Chris Powell: Right. One of the really fun parts was the surprises. It was going out to the individual’s homes after they had been through, the weeks of casting, and people weren't sure if they made it or not. And to go up and do the knock on the door or the surprise jump out of the cake, those were so much fun because of the excitement and the energy and, they're ready to go. And, of course, really committing to that individual that we're going to spend a year together. And there's going to be lots of ups and lots of downs, plenty of downs, but we're going to do some extraordinary things. And so that, that part was the most fun for me. How about you guys? What was the most fun for you?

Matthew Blades: They also asked you the hardest. You got to answer that too.

Chris Powell: Yes. He's keeping, the hardest. And you guys know this, I do not like conflict at all. I am a people pleaser. And going through the course of the show, people have their ups and downs and sometimes people are not honest about situations. And so every single person had to be confronted at times during the process. I hated those confrontations. There was also a delicate balance between production and what production needed to capture moments that were very sensitive for some people. And then me and the two of you, Dr. Wyatt and Dr. Hill, we had our objectives, and that our objective was to help these people transform safely. And so to create that balance between what production needs to shoot for a TV show and then keep the trust with these people who we genuinely created meaningful relationships with and take them through a journey of transformation, the balance between the two was very stressful.

Holly Wyatt: . And I didn't work for the production company, which I think was very helpful because there was not a conflict of interest there. So, I think it worked out well, but you're right. It was that balance because we want the show to be successful, but there's a person here and you got to first and foremost make sure they're safe, that type of thing.

Jim Hill: Well, I'll tell you my favorite. I wasn't involved day to day like you guys, but the one thing I went to in both seasons was the red carpet event at the end. And what happened is, we would put them in a limousine, they would come to the end shoot center, everybody was in the lobby, they were on a red carpet and we would celebrate their success. And that brought me to tears on some of these people because that's what demonstrated to me, it was a real transformation. So you asked them or somebody asked them, what's the best part of your weight loss? And I expected them to start by saying, I lost 200 pounds or lost 150 pounds. Guess what? That was never even in the top five. One of the things that I heard over and over, I got my life back. I'm happier. I have friends and a couple of things. I have one person, I'll never forget, they said, finally, I'm the person on the outside. I've always been on the inside. This was transformation. These people over the years transformed into different people. And they were so much happier. And oh, by the way, I lost 100 pounds or 200 pounds. It's weight loss, but it's not all about weight loss without the other stuff, the weight loss doesn't do it. Holly, what was your favorite?

Holly Wyatt: Oh, my favorite part, I think it was being involved in something new, seeing something that, it was that learning piece for me that I enjoyed so much. You're doing the same thing over and over again. And then suddenly this was a brand new experience. I got to learn so much and it was fun. I definitely would do some things differently, which we can get to.

But overall, I just enjoyed that piece. So the learning and the new. I'd love to create new stuff. The TV show allowed me to create a program where people came in from all over the country. And actually, I think that's what Jim's talking about. We would do a red carpet for those people and they would come in at the end of their yearlong transformation, just like the TV show.

Jim Hill: Oh, that was our program.

Holly Wyatt: But it was based on the show.

Jim Hill: I'm old. I forget these things.

Holly Wyatt: But we did it. We did it because of the show. And I said, if we're going to inspire people, and I do think the show inspired people. I think it gave people hope. I was like, okay if they are inspired, I want to have something they can do.

And so we created a program, a yearlong program people could do.

Jim Hill: That's right.

Holly Wyatt: And in the end, we created their red carpet, even though it wasn't a true, it wasn't a true red carpet. Right.

Jim Hill: You did the same thing on the TV show. That's right. I'm getting it straight now. The big way. And at the end.

Chris Powell: But it was cool. Everything that they set up was super cool.

Matthew Blades: How many takes did you have to do some of those? I got the impression that sometimes you had to do four or five takes of those things.

Chris Powell: Oh, yes. Oh, absolutely. Even though it's reality television, there are still plenty of scenes you have to recreate.

Matthew Blades: Yes, of course. Yes, for sure.

Jim Hill: Why do you think the show was so popular?

Chris Powell: Here's the thing. Another show preceded us and that was NBC's The Biggest Loser.

Mathhew Blades: I've never heard of this crappy show.

Holly Wyatt: Not popular at all.

Matthew Blades: Loser in the title. That's just a disgrace.

Chris Powell: For what it's worth, The Biggest Loser, created so much awareness about weight loss transformation and it was sensational. And we got millions of people. It was a water cooler talk. And that was one of the biggest shows of its time in the early to mid-2000s. So when Extreme came about, it was different and refreshing, but in the same genre in that people still got that transformation, that big before and after in a single show.

But the show delved deep into the mental and emotional journey of it, which I think connected with the viewing audience because it wasn't an obese thing. It was a human thing. Because you realize that the struggles that people dealt with were trauma from loss or from abuse or from just a cultural upbringing or whatever it was that people dealt with, everybody connected with that. And it wasn't just, oh, it's just because they're 300 or 400, 500 pounds.

No, they were dealing with issues and for them to transform, they had to work through the mental and emotional aspect of something that all humans struggle with. So I think it spoke to that.

Holly Wyatt: I think it's that connection piece, being able to connect to something in a way that had meaning, has real meaning to the audience. I think that's the part that I like. So let's go to the learnings. Let's cut to the learnings. And Matthew, I think you can even say from watching the show, what did you learn? So, Chris, let's start with you. What do you think was your biggest learning? What did you learn from the show?

Chris Powell: Oh, gosh. Well, I mean, the show taking 70-plus people through the journey of transformation over five years, I mean, it was an opportunity for me. And what people didn't see was that I mean, I have probably close to a thousand pages of notes over five years of mapping every single obstacle that people ran into along the way, from the lack of support with the spouse to relationships with friends to dealing with past trauma and the specifics of that past trauma, whether it was a loss or whether it was abandonment. And I got a front-row seat to again, being there with them as a supportive friend, not helping them through because that's outside of my scope of practice.

But it was great because we had a medical team such as yourself. We had psychologists on staff. And so as these people were working through these different things, they were getting all these different tools to work through that trauma, to deal with what it was that they're working with or to deal with a, a spouse that as her husband is losing weight, she's constantly sabotaging because she's afraid that he's going to lose weight and leave her. After all, there is infidelity in the past or something. I mean, it's wild to see the true dynamics of weight-related suffering because it has so much more to do than diet and exercise. It's not just about the diet. And you might see the look on your face and I know... I'm bigger.

Holly Wyatt: It's so much bigger than weight loss. And that's really what... We try to make it just about the weight loss and it's never just about the weight loss. It's so much bigger than that.

Jim Hill: Thoughts from someone who wasn't involved with the show?

Matthew Blades: So for me, the show represented hope through and through, right? You just saw these seemingly average, ordinary people that look just like the folks that you interact with on every day of your life and you saw their ability to overcome and you were also then like learning some things along the way, right?

From a medical standpoint, a nutrition standpoint, from a diet perspective, good foods to eat, and good things to not eat. And that's what it was for me. It just... Every episode was... There was so much hope in there and I'm the kind of person... You don't know this about me too much, Jim, but I'm the kind of person who cheers for the underdog. And I look at that person that's put 300 pounds of extra weight on their body and I can see that they're just really suffering inside and that they're trying to find a way out of that madness. And for them to do that and achieve that with your guys' help was incredibly motivating.

I'm a guy who cries and I don't remember a single extreme episode where I didn't shed a tear at some point, whether it was a happy tear, an encouraging tear, or a sad tear, but to me, it was a well-done show because you guys were able to capture the emotion of the journey too.

Jim Hill: And for people out there that might be 300 pounds, 400 pounds thinking, it's hopeless, these people did it and there was nothing special about them. These were normal people.

They weren't chosen because there were special circumstances that made it easier. These people did it. It was hard work. They did it and to a person, they would tell you it's worth it. it?

Chris Powell: Oh, 1000%. Yes. When they all finished the journey, of course, they all said it was well worth it. Dr. Hill, you mentioned something earlier is that they don't talk about the fact that they lost 200 pounds. They all talk about the fact I got my life back. I'm proud of myself. I love myself.

And what? I'm going to add to something else I learned in the process, and without sounding all woo-woo or anything, but the journey of transformation, again, has nothing to do with weight loss. But I truly believe in my experience now, it has everything to do with learning how to love yourself. But how to truly authentically love yourself? That was probably the biggest takeaway for me.

Jim Hill: So Chris, here's a tough one. What would you change if you were doing the show again today? What would you do differently?

Chris Powell: Okay, so I'll be the first to admit, there's actually, there's a handful of things that I would do differently.

Matthew Blades: Let's talk about specifically this idea that Jim and Holly get to be a part of part two. Would they be included? Will they be here for the reboot?

Chris Powell: Yes.

Matthew Blades: Will they be here for the reboot?

Chris Powell: Yes. They will be here.

Jim Hill: Holly got on camera. I didn't even get on camera. So Holly and Chris were their pretty faces.

Chris Powell: Yes. Oh, you guys are coming back.

Matthew Blades: You guys are good.

Chris Powell: There's nobody else I'd want to team up with. Again, because number one, more than anything, you care. We're perpetual students. We're here to learn, but you'll also keep the parameters on there so that we'll do it safely and we'll do it the way, we'll do it the right way within the right rules. Again, that's why I love working with you guys. Okay, what would I do differently?

Matthew Blades: Come on, man, you got all, you got all. Just go in.

Chris Powell: Okay, first of all, I was early on, I was a zealot about the quality of food. And again, you can't argue with, minimally processed whole foods, etc. I was not nearly flexible enough to meet them where they needed to be met because a lot of these people were taking the very first step from A to B. And it was literally like, Hey, here's your acceptable foods. And this is what I'll allow them. Here's what I won't allow. And, they'll tell you this, but here's the thing, you better not eat that, you better not eat that, you better not drink diet soda.

Oh my gosh, heaven forbid you drink that diet soda. Oh my gosh, because there was so much restriction, especially early on in the first few seasons, before the two of you were involved, it was way too restrictive to the point where it was not sustainable. And to this day, there's a handful of people that ended up gaining the weight back because and it wasn't necessarily just because of that. But that was one of the factors involved is that I put way too much restriction on them, as far as what they could eat and what they couldn't eat. I think so much more time should have been spent, not just on my part, but also on the team's part concerning their environment, their social systems, their support systems, and even their physical environments, because all of those are such powerful factors in their struggles. Also, if I could do it all over again, I would put so much more emphasis on stress management, on teaching them coping mechanisms as far as, meditation, breathing, of course, mindfulness, gratitude, and some kindness, like different pillars that I think could have been extremely helpful in helping them work through their daily stress and also their past stress and their past traumas.

Holly Wyatt: A little bit more holistic of what I'm hearing, a little bit more holistic, broader net. But I think that's, what's kind of happened in the last seven, eight years since the show. That's really where science has gone. That wasn't what we didn't talk about breathing as much. I'm not saying no, anybody did, but what wasn't nearly out there and the data behind it like it is now. So it's a learning process and it evolves, science evolves. And I think what you're saying is some of the science has evolved.

Chris Powell: That's it. And you talk about meditation. I was like, oh, like, you go down to the yogi down the street, and we're in Colorado and there's, next to the Chiba hut. And it's just like, oh, go meditate, go sit cross-legged and stay your alms.

Matthew Blades: This guy was doing shamanic breath work on the rooftop of a house on the West side. We were doing an intensive breath work session and we benefited from it tremendously. Oh, man.

Holly Wyatt: Open and learning, right? That's the idea.

Jim Hill: So Holly, what would you change?

Holly Wyatt: So I've thought about this a lot. And, I think what I would change the most is would spend more time on weight loss maintenance. , the whole show is a lot about weight loss and, that's because they needed to get a certain amount of weight off. And that's what the show needed. But I would love to see a show that kind of works on, yes, losing weight, but just also, maybe six months of weight loss and six months of weight loss maintenance. Now, that didn't make a very exciting show.

No one likes to see people stay the same weight. I always say that's like, watching paint dry. But I think that's what we need. There's some aspect of it that helps not just with losing it. I don't think the diet was a bad diet for weight loss, Chris. I think it just wasn't the diet that works for weight loss maintenance because it was so restrictive.

It worked very well to get the weight off, but there needed to be an evolution of the diet or a change in the diet to be a diet that could be maintained more long-term in the real world. So I would, thinking of it that way, definitely kind of dividing it that way. I would have done more, if we had, lived in Denver, Colorado for at least six months. But I would have done more also about when they go home, and how does their environment change?

How does their social support system change when they go home? I would have done more of what I call gray zone eating or practicing, where I think that they were either completely on the plan or they were doing their cheat day. I think we called it a cheat day, which I wouldn't call it a cheat day anymore, but a cheat day and it was like completely off, it was like boom, it was like black and white, either fully on or fully off. And I would try to teach there's a lot of gray zone meals, right? They're not completely off plan, but they're not 100% on because, in weight loss maintenance, it's those gray zones that you need to practice. That's where you live the majority of the time. And I feel like we didn't, they didn't get to practice that enough, maybe. I would want to kind of change, I would think about it in that way a little bit more.

Chris Powell: Yes.

Matthew Blades: Yes. I'm about Jim. I want to know what Jim. . Come on.

Jim Hill: You guys were much closer than me, but I think learning about the non-diet and exercise part, I mean, when people start talking about a weight loss program, they go, well, what's the diet? What's the physical activity program? And by the way, I love it that you stress physical activity so much. But I think I would combine what you both said, the mental part of it, it's not just going on a diet. It's loving yourself.

It's looking at interactions. You're on the sidelines and you blame your weight, but your weight's not responsible for that. So it's learning to live your life no matter what your weight. And then as Holly said, we focus so much effort on weight loss. The real issue is keeping it off.

And that's forever. And in many ways, that's the hard part. So I think you focus a little more on those two things, but I'll tell you, it was an amazing experience.

Holly Wyatt: Matthew, what would you change maybe from the viewer's perspective, watching it from the outside kind of coming in? What do you think would be good to change?

Matthew Blades: It's probably, it's a great question. And my answer isn't going to be fair to you guys or the network because you just have constraints, right? You've got a 60-minute block. You've got to make room for commercials. And so there were just probably a lot of moments going through it where you were a little unsatisfied with like how much time they spent in a place for, in a direction like Bruce Pitcher comes to mind.

He always comes to mind for me. You could have done a whole hour just on the healing portion of Bruce's journey in his transformation. That could have been a whole show just by itself.

Chris Powell: Yes.

Matthew Blades: And so that's probably it. There were just moments where you were left a little bit unsatisfied because of the constraints that you guys were under, but I don't know.

There's not too much to complain about it. It was a well-done show. It had thoughtful cast members, I mean with him at home and you just knew that they were going to treat people the right way. And those are the things that we just interviewed Lucas Mack on our podcast this morning. And he said that when he was a young boy and he would watch Chris on this show, he was like, you could just feel how he led from his heart. And you could just feel that that was the North Star for Chris. And so that's what made the show so wonderful.

Holly Wyatt: I agree. And it was a great show and it was real inside. Like it wasn't fake. It was real. Like I didn't know with my first time being on a reality TV show and it was good.

Everybody worked well together. It no complaints about being involved in that show. And it was scary at the beginning because you don't know. You don't know what's going on behind the scenes, but it was the real deal, I guess is what I'm saying.

Chris Powell: And having had experience before and then when we finally came together with you guys in Colorado, it fit. There was a synergy there, which is when we came together. Yes, it was beautiful.

Matthew Blades: I have a question for the three of you guys. If you were to come together and do a reboot of this show, what parts of the show would you punt?

Chris Powell: That's a good question right there.

Matthew Blades: Because there's certainly stuff that was just for the TV that didn't benefit the person at all.

Chris Powell: Okay, so I can tell you the part of the show that I struggled with, but there was also a lot of good that came from it. Do you remember the fight or flight workouts? Yes.

Those are those intense workouts. It was like the very first one that they would come in with. Now, here's the thing. Here's the thing. There was a beauty to that because if, and by the way, just for anyone listening, there is a psychological component here and an objective. A lot of times when we have our physical ability to fight, not only fight physically, but people can fight back mentally and they can hold back and they can protect and they do that when people have the physical ability to fight back physically, they protect mentally and emotionally. And so the beauty of the fight or flight workout, and you could see this in every single one, the more and more exhausted they got to the point that tears are coming out and there's not running out their mouth and their nose, it brought them to a place where physically they didn't have, they lost so much energy to fight back physically that emotionally all of a sudden things started coming out. And so there were a lot of things that emerged at the end of that fight or flight workout when they divulged sometimes things that they didn't even know were deep down inside.

Matthew Blades: You're not making a good case to punk this.

Holly Wyatt: I always said the armor comes off, the mask comes down. It's like you don't have the energy to keep the mask on anymore and it comes down and you see or feel or learn something about yourself. We took those fight or flight, believe it or not, and incorporated them in our program, Chris, because of my experience in watching that. And while it may seem sensationalistic to the audience, there was a purpose behind that that we took, which I use now.

I mean, I even sometimes go on a long run or a hard run, increase my intensity, do something to allow myself to kind of get in that position. And so people don't realize it. It's a great question because I don't think people realize there was way more to that than just the cameras.

Matthew Blades: But you didn't like it. You didn't like putting them through the pain. I just felt that. Right. That makes sense. You're a human.

Chris Powell: That's just it. I felt so, but I was doing it with a purpose in mind, with an objective in mind. But at the same time, I just hate to see someone struggle. And the whole time, like they're in it, and deep down inside, I'm like, Oh, dude, I'm so sorry.

Sorry, brother. But that's the thing. I mean, maybe I wouldn't punt it because it was, it was a powerful tool to really, even for them as well, they came out of it like, and a lot of them came out of it saying, I didn't even know I could do that physically. , because most of them, they've been sedentary for years and they're like, dude, I had no idea.

Matthew Blades: Chris would not punt anything.

Holly Wyatt: Now he has changed his mind. That's good. That's good. We have a couple of listener questions. This is from Rachel and she says, that for the people on the show who have kept the weight off or they kept a large portion of the weight off, what made them different than those who regained the weight?

Chris Powell: Yes, that's a great question.

Matthew Blades: We know the answer.

Chris Powell: So one of the biggest lessons, and I'm sure Holly, you probably remember this, but one of the biggest things that we always talked about behind the scenes was integrity, doing what you say you're going to do when you say you're going to do it. And so it's the whole concept was like keeping promises to yourself. And if you ask anyone who's been through the show, through all five seasons, they all talk about the power of integrity, , because they would commit to say doing 30 minutes on a treadmill, and you could not pull them off at 29 minutes, because it wasn't about the treadmill.

What's a minute on the treadmill? No, it's about the promise that they made to themselves. Same thing, when it comes to them, and anything that they set out to do is about keeping their promises to themselves, which is the root of loving yourself.

There's no greater act of love than fulfilling a personal contract that you make with yourself. And so those that continue to live that lesson forward, continue to have success. Also, those who continued to have success immediately after the show started to set their aim on the next thing. They just said, oh, I'm just going to go back to my regular life. Oh, I'm not going to aim to do a 10K. Oh, I'm not going to do this. Those who continue to set goals continue to maintain the weight or even improve beyond the show.

Holly Wyatt: I call that next steps. I'm always like, it's a continual journey, but when you finish one chunk of the journey, one chapter of the journey, it's like immediately having what's coming next, and enjoying the journey as you go. It's not about always, waiting for the goal, but having that next step. I talk about that all the time with my state of slimmers what's next?

What's next? Because I think that was key, along with who had gone in and said, okay, how am I going to change my physical environment? How am I going to change my social environment? I'm new. I'm different. I have different habits. I have different behaviors. I'm different now. How does my environment support me? Those who had little effort into going in and doing that, I see a correlation between that.

Jim Hill: I think successful people learn to live their lives differently. And the unsuccessful people tried to slip back into the life that got them there in the first place.

Chris Powell: At 1,000 percent. , for those that saw the finale, that final win as a finish line, they ended up going back to the starting line. And then some. And then, those that started to create a new life and they adopted the identity of I am like, my life is different now. I am that's not me anymore. That's not me anymore.

Those who had that conversation with themselves like I am a different person. I am a runner. I am a fighter.

I am all these different things. Those who owned it continued with success. So, you can see that across the board for everyone who kept the weight off. They continued to set goals for themselves. They adopted a new identity.

Holly Wyatt: Well, we say we're 100 percent on board and we see this identity. We've even published a paper on this identity. I think it's not necessarily a new identity, but they've aligned with their true identity. It's almost like unmasking or showing an alignment with that.

And maybe it was somebody they didn't think they were, but in the end, they were. I am an athlete. I am someone who can eat healthy. I am someone who can do this and do that where they may not have thought it before, but now they know they can and they realign with that identity. And I think that is probably one of the most critical things. That's what a transformation is all about. You don't just do that by snapping your fingers. It's by going through a process that you get there.

Jim Hill: All right. Let's ask one more question. This is from Julie. This is a good one, Chris. Tell us something we may not know about the show. Something juicy behind the scenes.

Matthew Blades: I was just thinking that myself, Jim. Who hooked up on this show? What trainer was sleeping with who? Are the contestants sleeping with each other? I want to know everything.

Chris Powell: There were some romance connections in some previous seasons. I'll give you a little secret about the show. A big general secret about the show. Here's the thing. It wasn't a bunch of individual transformations. No. Every single person was going through it together. They all knew each other. What we would do before the show is for all the potential participants, we would take 40 or 50 people and we would fly them all into Colorado where they all meet each other.

We're talking like 50 people. We would take them through a solid two weeks of testing, of just getting to know them and getting to know their personality and what they were like. We were looking for key personality and character traits, as well as people who could simply pass the physical and make sure that they were ready for this journey. They would spend two weeks with all of us, with me and Dr. Hill and Dr. Wyatt in Colorado. During that time, we selected the top 13 that were ready to go.

Here's the other thing. Of the 13 people who would go through the journey, we selected 15 people. At any given time, if two of the people or one or two people were not doing what they needed to do and were not keeping their promises to themselves, we could pull them off because two people were ready and willing to take their place.

Matthew Blades: I like it.

Chris Powell: Which, by the way, was a huge motivator because the thing is it helped everybody realize what an opportunity. Here I am. I have a world-class facility that's supporting me for a year through this transformation with doctors who are the best of the best. They are here supporting this whole thing because what we learned early on is that you bring on eight people. When they're chosen, they're chosen. They're six months in, they go, I don't want to do this anymore. You go, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on. You have to. You have to. We're shooting a show. They're like, well, what are you going to do? Okay, well, we're going to get two backups. They're going to be hustling harder than you.

Matthew Blades: So the secret is that in every season, there were two people that we never saw.

Chris Powell: Correct.

Holly Wyatt: . External motivation, right? That motivation out there is kind of putting a little pressure on you to keep going.

Matthew Blades: Yep. Did you ever quit the show almost? Did you ever have a moment? You were like, I'm leaving.

Chris Powell: No, not me, but here's the best part. You spend a year with these individuals and there's these two individuals that we call them. They're on their alternative. They're like standby and you just love them and you want them to be able to share their transformation. And you're filming, by the way, you're filming their journey as well. All these incredible beats. They have a story to tell and we are filming the whole thing because you don't know which ones are going to air. And so you just know that two of them are going to hit the cutting room floor and you feel so bad for those individuals because they're, but at the same time, it's win-win for them because it's win for them. Win-win would be then actually sharing their story.

Matthew Blades: There's a lot of, perks to anonymity too and not having your stuff all yeah. Right?

Chris Powell: There can be.

Holly Wyatt: Well, I have a juicy piece. I was just thinking of this. I just had a flashback. So one of the things that we did is we weighed everybody. So, Chris, you said everybody was there, right?

It wasn't, they were all together in Colorado and coming to the center. And so one of our jobs was to weigh everybody once a week. It was weigh-in day and we weighed them backward so they couldn't see their weight, but we knew their weight.

And one thing was for safety and then also to see progression. Chris, you got to see their weight and I got to see their weight, but the individual past members didn't see their weight. We had to turn them around. So they would stand in line and then they would go into kind of this private area, but it wasn't like a completely private area. We'd be doing this like at five in the morning before the clinic opened early. And they would come in and they would turn around and weigh.

And by the end of this, I have to say the guys would strip down to nothing. I mean nothing. And I would say no, no, no, no, no, not necessary. Not necessary. Keep something on there. Like, no, me and Don Yell were like, whoa, you can keep something on there. It's like, no, everything is coming off. So I remember those weigh-ins just like that. I was like, here they come. They're going to strip down to nothing and weigh in every single, I think it was Monday mornings or Tuesday mornings.

So there were a lot of good memories. Mostly the guys are the ones that would strip down to nothing. The girls kept something on. The guys are like, it all's coming off. I saw way more than I needed to see.

Matthew Blades: The old Frank Sabine’s weigh-in. There it is.

Jim Hill: So Chris, would you do it all again? Would you do the show again or another similar show?

Chris Powell: 1000%. Absolutely I would. I want to. I want to do it again with everything that we know now and I want to do it again with you guys. And so it'd be amazing to come together and to be able to serve these people and again, to bring in all like a holistic approach. So I know that we could do it even better. And of course, if you ask me this question in 10 years, I'll say, I want to do it all over again with everything that we've learned over the last 10 years because we continue to learn. We continue to grow. And so I just think it would be so wonderful to turn around and be able to share that with either our past participants that have gained the way back or a new group of participants who are willing to embark upon the journey of transformation, but where we can truly help them transition into long-term maintenance. , Holly, you brought it up.

Dr. Hill, you brought it up. And maintenance is what it's all about. How can we help these people not just lose the weight, but keep it off forever? Like that's the journey that we're all like, I know that's what we're all passionate about, truly passionate about.

Holly Wyatt: Chris, we've got to make weight loss maintenance sexy somehow, right? I'm telling you, that's what we've been trying. It's not sexy. I get it, but it's so important. So how can we have a show that people will watch? It's fun. It's entertaining. You learn something. And Weight Loss Maintenance can be seen as sexy. That's what I want.

Matthew Blades: What if the show is completely based on Chris's new app, the Kept app, which is all about promises and the cast members all have to keep promises? And that is sexy. They're going to be like money on the line. It's like, if you keep all your promises for the week, you get such and such. And at the end of the thing, the person who kept the most promises wins a big cash prize. That's fun. It was a big grip or something like that. Gamify it.

Jim Hill: I love it. If you do something else, we're in because I will tell you, this was a transformation for me being part of this and seeing up close what's possible. And I will tell you, so many people, I saw that when they first came in, they would have told you their life was in the toilet. It was hopeless. And they walked out like movie stars. And they were so much happier. So for me, it was a tremendous opportunity to see that firsthand. And it changed my life.

Holly Wyatt: I agree. It changed my life. I'm all in. I think we've learned so much. We'll continue to learn. Science is always evolving. We've evolved. We've changed. And to be able to continue to use that to grow and to help other people, and that would be fun. So I loved my experience. Would love to be part of anything, anything like this in the future. Definitely.

Jim Hill: Hey, Chris, can they go back and look at episodes? Are they available out there?

Chris Powell: It's on Hulu.

Jim Hill: So, all the episodes are right there on Hulu. There may be some people that are saying, wow, I'd like to watch some of these. So go and look at it.

Matthew Blades: Go back and see baby Chris doing the big transformations, man.

Chris Powell: I've aged a little bit over the years.

Matthew Blades: For the better.

Jim Hill: Thank you for everything you've done for our field. And again, it's been our pleasure to work with you. And any opportunity to move forward in the future, guys, we're in.

Chris Powell: Oh, well, thank you. And it's been an honor to work with two of the biggest names in science-based research around obesity and long-term maintenance. And I can't tell you how many times I've brought your names up. And when it comes to my interactions in the professional world, and the moment I drop your names, everyone's like, oh, okay, it qualifies me immediately.

Matthew Blades: So who was the first guest that we booked on our podcast? I needed that podcast.

Chris Powell: Dr. Holly.

Matthew Blades: It was Dr. Holly.

Holly Wyatt: Yes. Oh my gosh, I remember that. Yes. That was fun. That was fun.

Chris Powell: Well, thank you guys. This is the beginning of something. Don't know what it is yet, but boy, we're.

Jim Hill: Stay tuned, listeners. Who knows what comes out of this conversation?

Chris Powell: Let's go.

Matthew Blades: I like where we're headed.

Jim Hill: Matthew, and Chris, thank you so much. And again, we will talk to you on the next episode of “Weight Loss And..”.

Holly Wyatt: Bye, guys.

Chris Powell: Take care. Bye bye.

Matthew Blades: Thank you so much.

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 weight loss journey.

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 weight loss journey.