Dr. Ian K. Smith: The Truth About Obesity, Discipline & How to Transform Your Body in 90 Days

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The views, opinions, and statements expressed by our guests are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Dr.
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Jason Littleton or the Concierge Doc Podcast.
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Welcome to the Concierge Doc Podcast.
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I'm your host, CEO, and founder of Littleton Concierge Medicine, Dr.
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Jason Littleton.
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Welcome to the podcast.
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Now, today's guest needs very little introduction.
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He's a good friend of mine.
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He's been on this podcast before.
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You've seen him on TV, but he absolutely deserves one.
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He's a graduate of Harvard College, holds a master's degree from Columbia University, and earned his medical degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, one of the most prestigious medical institutions in the world.
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He is the author of more than 21 books, with millions of copies in print worldwide.
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Of those, eight have reached the number one spot on the New York Times bestseller list.
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That includes Shred, The Revolutionary Diet, Schrooper Shred, Blast the Sugar Out, Fast Burn, and Eat Your Age, programs that have transformed the bodies and lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
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He was appointed, not once, but twice by President Barack Obama to serve on the President's Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition.
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He served as the solo host of the Emmy Award-winning nationally syndicated daytime television show, The Doctors.
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He was the medical correspondent for NBC News Network and the Today Show.
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He has appeared on the O for Winfrey Show, The View, Anderson Cooper 360, Good Morning America, Larry King Live, and more.
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He served as the medical and diet expert for six seasons on VH1's Celebrity Fit Club.
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He is the creator and founder of two national health initiatives, the 50 million pound challenge and the makeover mile, bringing free health screenings and wellness resources to underserved communities across the United States.
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He has written for Time, Newsweek, Men's Health, and the New York Daily News.
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And he has been featured in People, Essence, Ebony, and Cosmopolitan.
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He is also a critically acclaimed fiction author, winner of the BCAA Fiction Honor Book Award, whose Ash Kane Crime Novel Series has captivated readers across the country.
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His newest novel, Beyond Midnight, was released in August 2025.
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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the show, Dr.
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Ian K.
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Smith.
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Welcome to the show, Ian.
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Thanks for having me.
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I'm glad to be with you.
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I mean, I love reading your introduction.
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You're so accomplished.
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You've done so many things.
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What got you interested in medicine?
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What brought you to this point?
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How did you do all of this?
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What happened?
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Tell us the story.
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Well, I've always wanted to be a doctor since I was a little boy.
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The only other thing I also wanted to be, of course, was a basketball player because I played basketball my entire life.
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So every little boy who could dribble the ball wanted to be Dr.
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J.
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So I wanted to be that also.
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But it's interesting.
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Even as a kid, I saw myself doing both.
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I didn't think it was mutually exclusive.
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You had to do one or the other.
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So I grew up kind of with this parallel desire of being a professional basketball player and being a doctor.
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I think my love of being a doctor really related back to my pediatrician.
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And even at a young age, I was fascinated by how this stranger to me and to my family, who didn't go to our church, who didn't eat Sunday dinners with us, who didn't listen to our type of music, how this stranger could build such trust with me.
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You know, back then, stranger danger was real.
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I mean, we don't really, you know, as a kid, you don't really interact with other adults who are not familiar with, who you don't know, who aren't family friends.
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But this guy I really liked.
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I enjoyed my visits to the pediatrician's office.
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I always looked forward to my salted pretzel rods, uh was a treat.
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But I really enjoyed talking to him.
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And I, as I became more comfortable with him, I talked to him about life, you know, not that I had a bad life, but you know, things that were going on in my life that were beyond my health.
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Um, and I said to myself, even at a young age, I hope that I could become a doctor one day and engender that type of trust and bond uh in another person who um is a stranger and doesn't know me, but really respects my knowledge, respects my desire to care for them, that they would trust me uh with very um personal information uh and with their health care.
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Also, you know, I read an article um in Ebony Magazine about the dearth of black neurosurgeons in the country.
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And featured in the article was Dr.
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Benjamin Carson.
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Um, and I just loved hearing his story.
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I loved hearing the need for more black neurosurgeons.
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I loved hearing about the complexity of neurosurgical practice.
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So there were so many kind of influences I had as a young boy that constantly propelled and pushed me uh to want to become a physician.
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Yeah, I mean, you know, that's that's such an amazing story.
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I think one of the things that um, you know, I admire about you among so many things, and your story in itself is so um, you know, inspirational and is that, you know, you're you're a great communicator, you're a great storyteller.
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And, you know, that not only reveals itself in the books that you've written in the Ash Kane series, but in terms of how you make complex situations and concerns so easy to people.
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Tell me about that and how did you develop that skill?
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Where did that come from?
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Because I don't see that every doctor doesn't do that.
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Well, first of all, I love story, and I've always loved the story, which is why I now write fiction and I write a murder mystery PI series, uh, the Ash Kane series.
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I love stories.
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I've always loved it as a child, I've loved it as a physician, and I really see the world and my interactions as scenes, and that's just kind of how I see the world.
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And everything and everyone has a story to it.
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Whether I was just writing, I'm writing right now, and I believe it or not, I'm writing a memoir I'm in the middle of about my first year as a surgical intern.
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Wow.
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And I was never planning on writing a memoir, particularly this early in my life, what I consider to be early, though I'm not a young spring chicken anymore.
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But I'm telling you this to say, I'm in the middle of writing um this memoir of my first year as a surgical intern.
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And it's all about story.
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It's story.
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And I'm writing a chapter on a night in the trauma center at a South Bronx ER.
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Wow.
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And the patient comes in, young guy, 25 years old, thin, gunshot, multiple gunshot wounds, um, gang-related violence.
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And I talk about how after the patient unfortunately dies, how his head turns, and I see a small tattoo on the back of his neck.
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And I'm locked into that tattoo because I'm now thinking about what's the story of that tattoo?
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When did he get it?
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Where did he get it?
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Why did he get it?
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What does it mean?
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What is that tattoo?
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Now his life is gone, um, but that tattoo is still here.
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And so that tattoo has a story.
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Yeah.
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So what I'm saying to you is that I see story in everything.
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Um, and as far as communicating, you know, when I was a third-year medical student at the University of Chicago, um, and I was on rotations on the wards where we do, you know, the first two years are in the hospitals.
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I mean, sorry, the first years are in the classroom.
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Um, we were learning about physiology and gross anatomy and uh neurology.
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And these are things that I learned at Dartmouth when I was at Dartmouth Medical School for two years, and I was at the University of Chicago.
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But the south side of Chicago, where the University of Chicago is located, 80 to 90% of the patient base is African American.
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Yeah.
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And so I found myself really bonded to the patient population from a racial and a cultural standpoint.
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We ate the same food.
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Our grandparents came from the same region of the country.
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We had a shared experience that, regardless of my Ivy League degrees and regardless of me wearing the white coat, that didn't mask the bond and the shared experience that we had.
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But what I also noticed was that a lot of these patients did not understand the doctors, the white doctors.
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They didn't understand the way the doctors were speaking, they didn't understand the esoteric um medical language that the doctors used.
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They didn't understand the manner of the doctor.
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There's a lot, there was just you talk about pure cultural dissonance and disconnect.
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And that's what I saw as a young medical student.
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And I realized that equally important to me learning about medicine, learning how to make a diagnosis, learning how to draw blood and treat.
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Equally important was me being able to talk to these patients so that they understood what was going on with them and to them, to empower them with the knowledge that we as the medical staff had, but people were doing a very poor job of communicating or not even trying at all.
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And so I took it as a personal responsibility for every patient I had, and even patients who weren't mine, but who I saw in the hospital, to try to explain to them this is what hypertension, high blood pressure is, this is how it works, and giving them analogies.
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Think about a garden hose.
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And so, really, as a young medical student, is when I first started crafting my ability to take complicated medical and scientific information and crystallize it so that our people, because most of my patients were our people, but I did it for all patients, but so that our people could better understand what their doctors were saying and become more informed to make good decisions and hopefully to make changes in their lives that would make them healthier.
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How did how did you see that translate into better health care and amongst the black community?
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How did I see the like just being able to be their doctor and just being able to um communicate in the way that you do?
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It was big.
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It was very impactful.
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It was impactful because I think the patient, you know, when you're on the this side of the stethoscope with the white coat, yeah, sometimes you lose connection to the humanity of the person at the other end of the stethoscope.
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And I felt like me being able to talk to them, not talking down to them, but me being able to talk to them in a way that they understood, that they could hold on and grasp the information, that had an impact.
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It had an impact not just on their knowledge base, but it had an impact on their fear.
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Yeah.
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Okay.
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It had an impact on their feeling of being empowered because now they understood.
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And so therefore, they could make decisions and do what they needed to do.
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So I think that being able to clearly communicate in a culturally sensitive way when necessary is extremely impactful on delivering quality healthcare.
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Yeah, well said.
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Well said.
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Now, let me ask you this question.
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You know, you worked across so many platforms, medicine, media, public health.
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What do you think is the biggest health problem in America that we're still not addressing well?
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When you talk about health problems from a illness standpoint, right?
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Not healthcare system problem.
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I'm talking about what illness kind of bucket.
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I think it's obesity.
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No question about it.
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Okay.
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Um obesity, chronic obesity um has its uh hands in almost every disease process.
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Um, and it's getting worse.
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And we are seeing rates of complications related to obesity, like heart disease, stroke, diabetes, kidney disease, some cancers.
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We are seeing these number numbers at record levels, which are commensurate with the rise in obesity.
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And I think that we have done a tremendously poor job of really attacking the issue.
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I think that, you know, we do a little campaign here, we do a little movement here, but approaching it from a systemic standpoint as a country, a nationally global perspective of how to reduce obesity in this country, I think we have done an absolutely inadequate um job at doing that.
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And if we really want to make a change in a lot of the medical afflictions that are prematurely killing people and making people's lives, you know, very difficult to live, we have to attack obesity in a very serious way.
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Do you do you think that this is a result more of lifestyle or genetics when we talk about obesity?
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Well, I think it's a combination of the two.
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And I think that, you know, it's very difficult to tease out what the ratio is of responsibility.
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But if I had to make a guess, and I don't have research numbers, but just based on my experience of being in this area of weight management for so long, I would guess that the majority of it actually relates to lifestyle behavioral choices.
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Yeah.
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You know, what people are eating at their table, how they're moving on a daily basis, whether or not they're reducing their stress, are they chronically overstressed, therefore leading to sustained chronic levels of cortisol?
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I think that a lot of what is afflicting us is actually within our control.
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And I do think that there is a part of the genetics, but I think that even the genetic side can be overcome by behavioral changes.
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And so I've been very concerned recently hearing statements from celebrities who are, you know, endorsing and pushing these GLP1 agonists.
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I've been very concerned to hear statements like, you know, I've come to realize that obesity was not a choice.
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What does that mean?
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I mean obesity was not a choice.
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Sure, there are a small number of cases where people have a genetic predisposition to physiological processes that lead to obesity.
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But that number is very, very small.
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The vast majority of people who are clinically obese, morbidly obese, and overweight are there because of combination of unfortunate and unhealthy lifestyle choices that they're making.
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And I'm not, this isn't victim blaming because they're not victims.
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I'm not blaming people.
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I'm not being mean about it.
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I'm just being honest about what the situation is, even though I know people like to hear, it's not your fault.
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Don't worry about it.
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Right.
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I think that's very disingenuous and very dangerous.
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Yeah, you know, I agree with that.
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I think that um it's something that you know all different types of people deal with, all different backgrounds.
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Um, but I think when people say it's not your fault, it takes the responsibility out of it.
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And then we don't focus on the things that we have to do to empower us, whether it's diet, exercise, you know, avoiding, you know, again, certain habits.
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Um sleeping better.
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Yeah, sleeping better.
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And but how do we communicate that so that people don't get turned off?
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Or or what how should we be communicating that to make a difference in people who do struggle with obesity?
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How do we articulate that?
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How I have done my entire career and will continue to do in my books and whether I'm making appearances is to be honest with people.
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And the first thing I say to people is that weight loss is difficult.
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Weight management is very difficult.
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I have never struggled with weight problems because I've been an athlete my entire life.
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And part of my belief in being an athlete was treating your body like a temple.
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And so I've done that.
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Not because I have, not because I'm clairvoyant, not because I'm special, not because I'm smart.
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I just I did it by default because I wanted to be the best athlete, which meant having a good body and exercising.
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So I was doing things that were making me a better athlete that also happened to be things that made me healthier.
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So I'm not so the first thing I say to people is weight loss is difficult, it is not easy, it is challenging.
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I'll be the first one to mention that.
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But there is no silver bullet to kill weight loss, overweight, and obesity.
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There's no silver bullet, it doesn't exist.
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It's a multifaceted approach to try to bring your weight down and maintain a healthy weight.
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And so I talk to people, the way to communicate is to talk to people honestly and openly and start there and then talk about the things that are contributing to this obesity and things that they can change.
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Yeah, I love that.
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So discipline's a big role in this, obviously.
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Would you say that?
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Or I will, but you know, discipline is getting a bad rap, right?
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The minute you say discipline, everyone doesn't want to hear the word discipline because that connotes that you're saying someone is weak, that they're undisciplined.
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So they don't want you to use the word discipline, but it is discipline.
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Whether you call it discipline, whether you call it focus, whether you call it consistency, they're all the same thing.
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The idea is that you have to do what it takes in order to deliver results.
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Doing that on a consistent basis is discipline.
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Yeah.
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And I think that discipline is not a bad word.
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It's not a word that is shaming someone.
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Uh, and it I also believe that it's something that we all can actually that most of us can actually do.
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Obviously, there are people who have addictions, so that becomes a problem.
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But, you know, most of us have it have a disciplined muscle.
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And the only way for that disciplined muscle to work is it needs to be exercised.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Yeah.
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Now I like that.
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I I know in practice when I look at patients, um, there's that factor.
00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:39.759
And I also look at metabolic issues such as thyroid, um, cortisol, you know, hormones.
00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:52.720
Um what role do you feel like that plays in any individual case, or is it possible that we can just correct that, override that with good exercise and good nutrition?
00:20:53.119 --> 00:20:54.000
It depends, right?
00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:56.960
That's a that's a very difficult question to answer specifically.
00:20:56.960 --> 00:20:58.640
It depends case by case basis.
00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:05.920
Yes, there's some people who are hypothyroid, which leads to lower metabolism and all the kinds of problems that lead to weight gain.
00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:15.119
There's some people who have chronic levels of cortisol due to various reasons, they're too stressed out in their life, they're not getting enough sleep.
00:21:15.119 --> 00:21:23.440
So it really depends on what the cause is of these problems that are leading to weight gain.
00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:28.240
And so if the causes are related to lifestyle, yes.
00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:30.160
Now you talk about someone who's hypothyroid.
00:21:30.160 --> 00:21:32.720
Well, obviously, we know there's a way to treat hypothyroidism.
00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:44.799
Some people get treated very well where they become, you know, thyroid becomes, you know, normal uh after treatment, not the thyroid itself, but their thyroid hormone levels become normalized.
00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:48.720
And those patients um obviously experience less weight management problems.
00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:50.319
But it depends, really, honestly.
00:21:50.319 --> 00:21:54.240
It's it's it's it's hard to say unless you look case by case.
00:21:54.240 --> 00:22:08.640
I don't want to, in a broad brushstroke, say that all patients who have some type Genetic predisposition or some type of a physiological thing happening can overcome that by eating better and working out.
00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:10.559
That may not be the case for some people.
00:22:11.759 --> 00:22:19.519
If someone listening um wanted to dramatically improve their health in the next 90 days, what are the first three things you tell them to do?
00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:25.039
The first thing I would tell them is to make a plan.
00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:26.960
Make a plan.
00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:41.920
This business of haphazardly trying to make changes and make improvements and break bad habits in a haphazard fashion typically ends up giving you haphazard results.
00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:44.960
You have to have structure to a plan.
00:22:44.960 --> 00:22:47.440
I've obviously written tons of plans.
00:22:47.440 --> 00:22:53.839
There are thousands of other plans that are out there that are good, that are accessible and doable.
00:22:53.839 --> 00:22:56.160
Find a plan that works for you.
00:22:56.160 --> 00:23:03.839
Take that plan and customize it to your lifestyle, to the resources that you have, to what your schedule is.
00:23:03.839 --> 00:23:05.839
Make the plan work for you.
00:23:05.839 --> 00:23:06.880
So that's number one.
00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:08.559
Find a structured plan.
00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:12.559
Um number two is exercise.
00:23:12.559 --> 00:23:22.400
You know, if I could only write one prescription to people for better health, it would be exercise.
00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:26.000
It wouldn't be medication, it wouldn't be eating.
00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:29.519
Well, yes, because nutrition is my thing too, you know that.
00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:29.759
Yeah.
00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:32.720
It would be if they said only one, it would be exercise.
00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:45.759
Because physical activity and the results of physical activity can affect almost every uh organ system, uh, physiological system in the body.
00:23:45.759 --> 00:23:46.480
Period.
00:23:46.480 --> 00:23:47.680
It does.
00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:59.920
And the body itself, as you know, the way the body is constructed, it is the most elegant, most complicated, most amazing machine that's ever been built.
00:23:59.920 --> 00:24:05.519
But that machine needs to be tested, it needs to run.
00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:07.839
It's like my mechanic once told me.
00:24:07.839 --> 00:24:15.279
You can't take an expensive German sports car and because you want to preserve it, leave it sitting in a garage.
00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:20.559
That's the worst thing you can do for it because the seals and the engine break.
00:24:20.640 --> 00:24:20.960
Yeah.
00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:21.519
Right?
00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:26.240
Oil starts to leak, you know, valves don't work as well.
00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:26.799
Right.
00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:29.119
So hoses dry up.
00:24:29.119 --> 00:24:31.920
So a sports car needs to run.
00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:34.079
Same thing with the human body.
00:24:34.079 --> 00:24:36.079
The human body needs to move.
00:24:36.079 --> 00:24:37.599
So that'd be number two.
00:24:37.599 --> 00:24:54.240
And then the third thing I would say is that I think that what people can do right now is try to make sure that the diet ratio of what they're consuming in food, that 70% is plant-based and 30% is animal-based.
00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:55.200
Okay.
00:24:55.200 --> 00:24:57.759
I'm not saying you have to be a vegetarian.
00:24:57.759 --> 00:24:58.480
I'm not.
00:24:58.480 --> 00:25:00.000
And you can if you want to be.
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:01.599
I'm not saying you need to be a vegan.
00:25:01.599 --> 00:25:22.799
What I'm saying is if 70% of what you consume is something that comes from the ground or from a tree, and 30% comes from something that was walking around, then you are going to have better health simply because of the concentration of phytoplant nutrients that exist.
00:25:23.359 --> 00:25:24.319
I love that.
00:25:24.319 --> 00:25:26.880
I I I love that.
00:25:26.880 --> 00:25:31.920
That honestly, that that's worth the ticket of omission right there.
00:25:31.920 --> 00:25:33.200
I I love that point.
00:25:33.200 --> 00:25:38.640
Um you know, you've written this is just an off-the-cuff question.
00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:40.319
You've written several books.
00:25:40.319 --> 00:25:43.599
What book do you have that in?
00:25:43.599 --> 00:25:47.039
Do you know, or is it like in all of them in principle?
00:25:47.359 --> 00:25:50.240
Oh, that principle is in a book called Plant Power.
00:25:50.480 --> 00:25:50.799
Okay.
00:25:50.799 --> 00:25:51.680
Okay.
00:25:51.920 --> 00:26:00.640
Which was actually my personal journey into moving to a 70-30 plant-animal lifestyle because I was the opposite.
00:26:00.640 --> 00:26:01.119
Wow.
00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:04.799
I ate a lot of animal products, I ate a lot of red meat, a lot, love ribeye.
00:26:04.799 --> 00:26:05.759
Oh my goodness.
00:26:05.759 --> 00:26:07.839
I ate ribeye two or three times a week.
00:26:07.839 --> 00:26:09.039
I haven't had a ribeye.
00:26:09.039 --> 00:26:13.920
Jeez, if you gave me a million dollars, I couldn't tell you last time I had a ribeye, and that was a staple of my diet.
00:26:14.079 --> 00:26:14.319
Yeah.
00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:15.279
Do I miss it?
00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:16.160
Yeah.
00:26:16.160 --> 00:26:21.599
Maybe I'll have one on my birthday this summer, a ribeye, a good old-fashioned ribeye.
00:26:21.599 --> 00:26:26.799
But I haven't had ribeye a steak in over three years, maybe.
00:26:27.039 --> 00:26:30.240
But can't that make a part of the 30% there if you have it what?
00:26:30.240 --> 00:26:32.000
Yeah once every two weeks?
00:26:32.319 --> 00:26:32.640
Sure.
00:26:32.640 --> 00:26:33.839
Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:35.119
I'm a I'm a little extreme.
00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:39.519
Like once I get out of something and I like it, I go with it.
00:26:39.519 --> 00:26:45.519
And so I say to myself, ah, you know, yeah, one steak every once in a while is never gonna hurt me.
00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:45.759
Yeah.
00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:47.200
I haven't had a burger in a long time.
00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:48.880
I love burgers too, by the way, cheeseburgers.
00:26:48.880 --> 00:26:50.559
I like making my own burgers, by the way.
00:26:50.720 --> 00:26:50.880
Yeah.
00:26:51.119 --> 00:26:52.880
Seasoning them, making them at home.
00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:56.960
Uh, you know, there's nothing and taking my bread and toasting the bread.
00:26:56.960 --> 00:26:58.880
I'm getting hungry thinking about this, by the way.
00:26:58.880 --> 00:27:00.799
But um, but yeah, you're right.
00:27:00.799 --> 00:27:02.720
Having an occasion is fine.
00:27:02.720 --> 00:27:07.119
I tend to be a little on the extreme side, but you know, it's just me.
00:27:07.359 --> 00:27:08.880
This this is so motivating.
00:27:08.880 --> 00:27:15.599
I I want to ask you this next question for all my CEOs and entrepreneurs out there, all my high-functioning people.
00:27:15.599 --> 00:27:17.680
You're a high-functioning person.
00:27:17.680 --> 00:27:20.240
You're on TV, you're traveling a lot.
00:27:20.240 --> 00:27:32.000
But one of the things you've pointed to us today in so many ways, you eat healthy, you train your body right, you are an athlete, you keep that type of discipline up.
00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:41.920
Why is it so important for the successful person to take care of their body so that they can function and do their careers at a high level?
00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:43.440
Why should they do that?
00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:50.640
Why should they continually be motivated when they're 60, 70, and they're running businesses, they're running corporations.
00:27:50.640 --> 00:27:52.559
Why should they stay healthy?
00:27:52.559 --> 00:28:00.480
I kind of answered the question by asking the question, but I want to I want to hear I want to hear what you have to say.
00:28:01.519 --> 00:28:10.160
People who are highly functioning, who have busy lives, I'm going to speak specifically to that demographic since that's who you mentioned.
00:28:10.160 --> 00:28:10.720
Okay.
00:28:10.720 --> 00:28:16.000
You have to have some type of vision of what you want your life to look like.
00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:20.240
And by that I mean you have to divide your life up and say, this is kind of where I'm going.
00:28:20.240 --> 00:28:24.240
And I'm not speaking from just a career standpoint.
00:28:24.240 --> 00:28:25.519
I mean life in general.
00:28:25.519 --> 00:28:27.359
What do you want out of life?
00:28:27.359 --> 00:28:52.880
Um, and I would argue that most type A executives want to have a life where they are financially solid, they're providing for their family and their grandkids, that they can retire well and live well and comfortably and travel and eat whenever they want and not worry about expenses.
00:28:52.880 --> 00:29:05.039
But my argument is this if that's the life that you want to lead, then you also need to make sure that your physical is up to the challenge.
00:29:05.039 --> 00:29:20.720
There's nothing worse than having a bank full of money and you're on five different medications because you have high blood pressure, you have a little congestive heart failure, you have edema in your legs, your kidneys aren't working too well.
00:29:20.720 --> 00:29:22.319
There's nothing worse than that.
00:29:22.319 --> 00:29:26.400
And so what I would tell people is this I'm a very busy person.
00:29:26.400 --> 00:29:27.519
I travel a lot.
00:29:27.519 --> 00:29:33.440
I'm on planes a lot, I'm in hotels much more than I ever want to be, but I am consistent.
00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:43.759
I will get a workout in and a hotel anywhere in the world with the most inexpensive minimalist equipment.
00:29:43.759 --> 00:29:46.240
And I post videos on my Instagram, which is at Dr.
00:29:46.240 --> 00:29:49.039
Ian Smith, spell the doctor out, Ian Smith.
00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:53.839
On my Instagram, I say, hey guys, here's a 15-minute hotel workout.
00:29:53.839 --> 00:30:04.000
And I do that because people tend to make excuses when they get to be executives in corporate, they make excuses, they don't have time, it's not available for them.
00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:05.279
It is available for you.
00:30:05.279 --> 00:30:08.640
The other thing I do is I make a conscious decision.
00:30:08.640 --> 00:30:22.240
If I fly into a city and it's at night and the restaurants are closed, and my options are limited, and the options are fast food, junk from downstairs at the vending machine.
00:30:22.240 --> 00:30:26.079
I try to find a yogurt.
00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:28.480
If I can't find the yogurt, I go to sleep.
00:30:28.480 --> 00:30:31.680
Going to sleep hungry one night is not gonna kill anybody.
00:30:31.680 --> 00:30:34.160
Went to sleep hungry many nights as a kid.
00:30:34.160 --> 00:30:34.880
Trust me.
00:30:34.880 --> 00:30:37.680
Many nights as a kid when there was nothing to eat.
00:30:37.680 --> 00:30:40.559
I learned as a kid, you know what can solve that hunger?
00:30:40.559 --> 00:30:41.279
Sleep.
00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:42.640
You can't think about it.
00:30:43.279 --> 00:30:44.240
Yeah, yeah.
00:30:44.559 --> 00:30:50.400
So, so it really is about being serious and committed.
00:30:50.400 --> 00:30:55.839
I say the three C's commitment, challenge, and consistency.
00:30:55.839 --> 00:30:57.920
And that's how I live my life.
00:30:57.920 --> 00:30:59.599
And by the way, I gotta tell you something.
00:30:59.599 --> 00:31:01.759
I am more productive than ever.
00:31:01.759 --> 00:31:05.519
I wake up with great energy, I'm positive.
00:31:05.519 --> 00:31:08.960
Um, writing, obviously, is my main thing.
00:31:08.960 --> 00:31:10.160
I am writing like crazy.
00:31:10.160 --> 00:31:22.319
I'm in the middle of writing right now, this book that I thought of uh a week ago, and I've been going guns blazing because I can focus and lock in, because the rest of me is up to the challenge.
00:31:22.319 --> 00:31:23.599
Because now I have bad hours.
00:31:23.599 --> 00:31:32.079
I'm up three o'clock in the morning, you know, uh, or going to bed at six and waking up at 11 and writing, because that's what happens when I get my writing zone.
00:31:32.079 --> 00:31:33.359
There's no clock.
00:31:33.359 --> 00:31:45.519
But the only way my I can withstand that and continue to be productive because that schedule makes me productive, is that my habitus, my physical habitus is up for the challenge and my mind's up for the challenge.
00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:46.799
I love that.
00:31:46.799 --> 00:32:00.480
I you know, and I have um this next question I want to blend into our sponsored session uh by Littleton Concierge Medicine, our move, eat, drink uh section, where I ask you how you move, eat, drink, sleep, our meds protocol.
00:32:00.480 --> 00:32:06.880
Um, with that being said, as you walk us through, and you kind of have already, how you move, eat, drink, sleep.
00:32:06.880 --> 00:32:13.200
One of the questions I want to ask you, if you would blend in, is you know, do you ever have brain fog?
00:32:13.200 --> 00:32:18.160
And do you always go to sleep and wake up at the same time?
00:32:18.160 --> 00:32:20.480
And what do you do when you can't do that?
00:32:20.480 --> 00:32:22.960
Walk us through that progression.
00:32:23.440 --> 00:32:23.920
Sure.
00:32:23.920 --> 00:32:26.960
Um, I work out six days a week.
00:32:26.960 --> 00:32:28.960
I used to work out five days a week.
00:32:28.960 --> 00:32:30.720
I have a particular goal in mind.
00:32:30.720 --> 00:32:38.240
I'm going to my 35th year reunion this summer, and I have a physical goal that I want to reach.
00:32:38.240 --> 00:32:40.960
And so I have upped my workout schedule.
00:32:40.960 --> 00:32:42.640
Does everyone need to work out six days a week?
00:32:42.640 --> 00:32:43.200
Absolutely not.
00:32:43.200 --> 00:32:44.880
Three to five is completely fine.
00:32:44.880 --> 00:32:46.400
But I work out six days a week.
00:32:46.400 --> 00:32:47.519
I'm a morning person.
00:32:47.519 --> 00:32:48.799
I love mornings.
00:32:48.799 --> 00:32:50.799
I have great energy in the morning.
00:32:50.799 --> 00:32:52.559
Mornings are quiet.
00:32:52.559 --> 00:32:54.640
Everyone else is sleeping.
00:32:54.640 --> 00:32:58.720
The world is sleeping, at least in our region, the world is sleeping.
00:32:58.720 --> 00:33:00.400
So there are very few distractions.
00:33:00.400 --> 00:33:03.279
And so I get my workouts done early in the morning.
00:33:03.279 --> 00:33:08.640
Um, and by the time, by 10 o'clock, it's my afternoon.
00:33:08.640 --> 00:33:14.960
Because I get up within 10 minutes at the same time every single day.
00:33:14.960 --> 00:33:16.319
I'm an early riser.
00:33:16.319 --> 00:33:18.960
I'm up between 4:30 and 4:45.
00:33:19.359 --> 00:33:19.920
Wow.
00:33:20.160 --> 00:33:22.400
If I'm running late, it's 5.15.
00:33:22.400 --> 00:33:27.920
But you can be assured, and this is without an alarm clock, that I am up, and that my body gets up.
00:33:27.920 --> 00:33:30.400
And my body's not getting up saying, oh, I'm still tired.
00:33:30.400 --> 00:33:32.000
My body's saying, okay, it's time to go.
00:33:32.000 --> 00:33:33.599
Like I can't go back to sleep.
00:33:33.599 --> 00:33:34.319
Nah.
00:33:34.319 --> 00:33:35.359
What do I do?
00:33:35.359 --> 00:33:37.599
I also take a nap when I can.
00:33:37.599 --> 00:33:38.960
I love naps.
00:33:38.960 --> 00:33:45.839
I think people underutilize and underestimate the restorative power of napping.
00:33:45.839 --> 00:33:48.480
A lot of European countries, by the way, nap a lot.
00:33:48.480 --> 00:33:51.119
Um, they call it siesta in some countries.
00:33:51.119 --> 00:33:53.039
But that's important.
00:33:53.039 --> 00:33:56.640
You know, rest is not a luxury.
00:33:56.640 --> 00:34:03.440
Rest is a necessity of the body saying that I need time to restore and reinvigorate.
00:34:03.440 --> 00:34:05.839
Because imagine running a car.
00:34:05.839 --> 00:34:10.639
Imagine driving from New York to LA without stopping.
00:34:10.639 --> 00:34:11.199
Okay?
00:34:11.199 --> 00:34:19.119
Now, let's say you let's say you had a tank of gas that could last that long, but imagine running nonstop all those hours.
00:34:19.119 --> 00:34:19.679
Okay?
00:34:19.679 --> 00:34:23.920
That's a lot of cycles on the engine, on the tires, on the brakes.
00:34:23.920 --> 00:34:25.679
You gotta let things rest.
00:34:25.679 --> 00:34:30.639
And so sleep, my sleep cycle is extremely uh regular.
00:34:30.639 --> 00:34:36.719
And even if I stay up late, by the way, if I stay up late, I still won't sleep more than six hours.
00:34:36.719 --> 00:34:40.159
It's just kind of like I don't get so sleepy where I sleep nine hours.
00:34:40.159 --> 00:34:41.199
Just doesn't happen.
00:34:41.199 --> 00:34:44.079
Now, different people need different amounts of sleep.
00:34:44.079 --> 00:34:45.679
You have to figure out what works for you.
00:34:45.679 --> 00:34:47.599
But that's kind of what my day looks like.
00:34:47.599 --> 00:34:52.559
Um, I eat a lot of protein um and I try to divide it throughout the day.
00:34:52.559 --> 00:34:59.440
I try to get at least 40 grams of protein in my first meal because I've typically do that.
00:34:59.440 --> 00:35:02.000
So I try to combine, so I'm very strategic.
00:35:02.000 --> 00:35:08.239
I eat fast protein, which is something that you can find in dairy, like a whey protein.
00:35:08.239 --> 00:35:16.880
Um, and then I will eat um some animal protein that will probably incorporate into my muscles, you know, two hours to three hours later.
00:35:16.880 --> 00:35:23.199
So I put both of them on board to get immediate protein uh benefits for muscle building early.
00:35:23.199 --> 00:35:28.400
And then for the next two, three hours, I put other protein in so that will help down the road.
00:35:28.400 --> 00:35:30.800
That's kind of what my day looks like.
00:35:30.800 --> 00:35:32.800
And I'm physically and I'm and I'm always moving.
00:35:32.800 --> 00:35:35.760
I mean, I'm riding a lot, but I move a lot.
00:35:35.760 --> 00:35:39.679
I'm I'm moving outside of exercise, right?
00:35:39.679 --> 00:35:51.039
It's called neat non-exercise activity thermogenesis, which basically means moving around that has nothing to do with you being in a disciplined workout.
00:35:51.519 --> 00:35:52.159
Wow.
00:35:52.159 --> 00:35:54.079
I love that.
00:35:54.079 --> 00:35:55.360
I love that.
00:35:55.360 --> 00:36:02.159
So when it comes to like, you know, I just want to I want to re-ask you something about the sleep thing.
00:36:02.159 --> 00:36:03.280
Were you always like that?
00:36:03.280 --> 00:36:07.599
Where you were waking up around quarter to five around that time?
00:36:07.599 --> 00:36:08.639
Medical school.
00:36:08.639 --> 00:36:09.599
Medical school, okay.
00:36:09.599 --> 00:36:10.320
Medical school.
00:36:10.320 --> 00:36:14.880
Okay, so doing doing my surgical rotations, yeah, yeah.
00:36:15.119 --> 00:36:16.719
I got into the groove.
00:36:17.039 --> 00:36:27.679
How do you so when you have a late night, if you're up late writing and you go to bed at two, you're still waking up around that time?
00:36:27.679 --> 00:36:28.639
Or what do you do?
00:36:28.639 --> 00:36:29.599
You make an adjustment?
00:36:29.840 --> 00:36:33.760
Sometimes, sometimes I still get up at five o'clock.
00:36:33.760 --> 00:36:34.480
Sometimes.
00:36:34.719 --> 00:36:34.960
Wow.
00:36:35.119 --> 00:36:38.400
But usually I will get up probably like 6 15, 6 30.
00:36:38.400 --> 00:36:40.719
You know, I won't get up at 8.
00:36:40.719 --> 00:36:43.039
It's just, you know.
00:36:43.440 --> 00:36:53.039
I've always felt that when a person lives a healthy life and they eat healthy, they create a buffering system within their body to be able to absorb stressful times.
00:36:53.039 --> 00:37:07.679
And I'm not saying that that's stressful, but I am saying that, you know, to a degree, when you don't get a lot of sleep, you know, um, I just feel like because you're in such great shape, your body can absorb that really well and you can move on to the next thing.
00:37:07.679 --> 00:37:08.559
What would you say?
00:37:08.800 --> 00:37:09.840
I agree with that, by the way.
00:37:09.840 --> 00:37:11.039
I agree with that 100%.
00:37:11.039 --> 00:37:14.159
I like the the concept of buffering, more than 100%.
00:37:14.159 --> 00:37:16.719
But I also want to tell you, it is stressful, by the way.
00:37:16.719 --> 00:37:21.440
Let's not, we gotta remind people that not sleeping enough is a stressor to the body.
00:37:21.679 --> 00:37:22.159
Right, right.
00:37:22.400 --> 00:37:28.559
It causes it causes elevated cortisol levels, which is the body's way of releasing a hormone from the adrenal glands.
00:37:28.559 --> 00:37:33.679
And this hormone is what helps your body in turn in times of stress to kind of lower things.
00:37:33.679 --> 00:37:41.360
So it is stressful for me to stay up to two o'clock in the morning and then try and getting up at four or sorry, get up at five or six o'clock.
00:37:41.360 --> 00:37:43.360
That is a stress, but you're right.
00:37:43.360 --> 00:37:56.960
I think that if your body is in a way that there is a buffering, um, and I think that people would do well by creating a system where they have that buffer.
00:37:56.960 --> 00:38:05.920
Hey, listen, when I was a resident, um, I was surgical resident, then I became a resident in uh physiatry, physical medicine, and rehabilitation.
00:38:05.920 --> 00:38:17.920
When I was looking and had patients who had suffered from traumatic brain injury, TBI, and they're up on our floor because they're now recovering.
00:38:17.920 --> 00:38:21.599
You know, we are the doctors of the physical therapist to bring people back.
00:38:21.599 --> 00:38:37.920
I can tell you to the patient that, and I could predict just by looking at the medical history and the demographical information of a patient, I could predict to the patient who was going to bounce out of our hospital fastest.
00:38:37.920 --> 00:39:01.280
Those patients that were manual laborers, that were physically active, that were former athletes, those patients almost always bounced back faster than the white-collar lawyer, uh businessman, right?
00:39:01.280 --> 00:39:07.440
Professors, the other guys bounced back faster.
00:39:07.440 --> 00:39:12.960
And the reason why they bounced back faster is they had that buffering that you just mentioned.
00:39:13.280 --> 00:39:14.000
I love that.
00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:19.280
Does the buffer that you have because of your health and your diet, does it prevent you from getting sick?
00:39:19.280 --> 00:39:21.039
I mean, do you get sick a lot?
00:39:21.679 --> 00:39:23.039
Well, let's knock on wood.
00:39:23.039 --> 00:39:23.679
No, I don't.
00:39:23.679 --> 00:39:34.239
I just actually, for the first time in a long time, I had something upper escritory that I caught from my wife, um, who works at a clinic full of six people, sick people.
00:39:34.239 --> 00:39:37.199
But I, it is rare for me to get sick.
00:39:37.199 --> 00:39:38.880
Um, knock on wood.
00:39:38.880 --> 00:39:44.559
Um, and I think a lot of that has to do with my exercise and what I'm eating.
00:39:44.559 --> 00:39:48.079
And so my body is resilient, you know?
00:39:48.079 --> 00:39:50.639
Um, and I also try to exercise cautions.
00:39:50.639 --> 00:39:54.719
I'm I'm very, I'm very careful about open areas.
00:39:54.719 --> 00:40:01.039
I still wear a mask, I clean my hands, I don't touch public pens and doorways and elevator buttons.
00:40:01.039 --> 00:40:02.239
Don't do any of it.
00:40:02.239 --> 00:40:06.320
Uh, because I think a lot of a lot of transmission occurs mindlessly.
00:40:06.320 --> 00:40:15.039
We're not really thinking that when we push that elevator button, how many other fingers have pushed that button and where those fingers have been.
00:40:15.039 --> 00:40:22.800
Um, and as you know, um, you know, germs are easily transferable on surfaces that they can live on, right?
00:40:22.800 --> 00:40:24.719
Depending on the germ and depending on the environment.
00:40:25.039 --> 00:40:26.239
Right, right, right.
00:40:26.239 --> 00:40:30.400
You know, before we um this has been great, by the way.
00:40:30.400 --> 00:40:33.039
I've learned, you know, I love listening to you.
00:40:33.039 --> 00:40:47.199
I mean, it's so uh educational, inspiring, and I know my audience is getting a kick off this, but I have this one last question I want to ask you, and it's just left field, but it goes along with the movie drink uh sleep protocol.
00:40:47.199 --> 00:40:52.559
In terms of hydration, um, you know, are you a coffee drinker?
00:40:53.199 --> 00:40:53.760
Zero.
00:40:53.760 --> 00:40:55.840
Never had in my life.
00:40:56.159 --> 00:40:57.119
Wow, never.
00:40:57.280 --> 00:40:58.480
It's never in my life.
00:40:58.480 --> 00:40:59.599
I don't know what it tastes like.
00:40:59.599 --> 00:41:01.039
I see no value for me.
00:41:01.039 --> 00:41:06.079
Yeah, I'm not speaking down, I'm not casting aspersions.
00:41:06.079 --> 00:41:11.039
I see no utility for coffee for me.
00:41:11.280 --> 00:41:11.599
Wow.
00:41:11.760 --> 00:41:13.119
I can't imagine the taste.
00:41:13.119 --> 00:41:14.480
The smell is interesting.
00:41:14.480 --> 00:41:18.559
I don't mind the smell, but never had that or alcohol in my life.
00:41:18.800 --> 00:41:19.119
Wow.
00:41:19.119 --> 00:41:20.719
I'm glad I asked that question.
00:41:20.719 --> 00:41:21.360
Wow.
00:41:21.360 --> 00:41:22.480
I didn't know that.
00:41:22.480 --> 00:41:24.079
I did not know that about you.
00:41:24.079 --> 00:41:24.719
Wow.
00:41:24.719 --> 00:41:25.760
Incredible.
00:41:25.760 --> 00:41:26.960
Well, listen, this is great.
00:41:28.239 --> 00:41:34.320
I also don't want to be stranded in an airport with 50 people at 7 o'clock in the morning trying to get Starbucks.
00:41:34.320 --> 00:41:36.719
I can't imagine trying to do that.
00:41:36.719 --> 00:41:38.559
Uh uh, and let me be clear.
00:41:38.559 --> 00:41:50.480
Once again, I mean, I'm kind of ribbing coffee drinkers, but I have people in my family, not my immediate family, I have people in my family who cannot have a conversation with you unless they've had some coffee.
00:41:50.719 --> 00:41:51.360
Wow.
00:41:51.920 --> 00:41:53.920
That there's no way I could live that.
00:41:53.920 --> 00:41:54.800
I do not want to be.
00:41:54.800 --> 00:41:55.920
No caffeine.
00:41:56.079 --> 00:41:57.760
No caffeine whatsoever.
00:41:58.000 --> 00:42:00.239
Uh, where do I get my caffeine from?
00:42:02.320 --> 00:42:04.400
Jeez, I don't drink soda.
00:42:04.400 --> 00:42:06.159
I drink tea occasionally.
00:42:06.159 --> 00:42:06.559
Okay.
00:42:06.559 --> 00:42:08.000
There's a little bit of caffeine in that.
00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:08.719
Occasionally?
00:42:08.719 --> 00:42:09.119
Okay.
00:42:09.119 --> 00:42:09.760
Occasionally.
00:42:09.760 --> 00:42:11.280
Occasional caffeine.
00:42:11.760 --> 00:42:12.079
Yeah.
00:42:12.079 --> 00:42:12.559
Wow.
00:42:12.559 --> 00:42:14.159
I don't have and you know what?
00:42:14.159 --> 00:42:15.199
I gotta be honest with you.
00:42:15.199 --> 00:42:16.079
I don't need caffeine.
00:42:16.159 --> 00:42:16.400
Yeah.
00:42:16.559 --> 00:42:17.119
I don't need it.
00:42:17.119 --> 00:42:17.519
Okay.
00:42:17.519 --> 00:42:22.239
I have a natural high that, you know, my workouts are caffeine to me.
00:42:22.239 --> 00:42:28.880
Those endorphins, I feel like I can lift a house after I work out because the endorphins are just running through my veins.
00:42:29.119 --> 00:42:29.599
Wow.
00:42:29.599 --> 00:42:30.480
Wow.
00:42:30.480 --> 00:42:32.159
I love it.
00:42:32.159 --> 00:42:32.719
I love it.
00:42:32.719 --> 00:42:34.719
When you work out, do you stretch?
00:42:35.519 --> 00:42:37.199
Um, I started to, by the way.
00:42:37.199 --> 00:42:38.719
You know, I learned the hard way.
00:42:38.719 --> 00:42:39.199
Yes.
00:42:39.199 --> 00:42:41.840
I stretch a little bit before I work out.
00:42:41.840 --> 00:42:44.000
Those particular muscle groups I'm going to be working on.
00:42:44.000 --> 00:42:44.880
I didn't always do that.
00:42:44.880 --> 00:42:49.519
I used to get right into the gym and go right at it because I love I've been pushing on for all of my life.
00:42:49.519 --> 00:42:52.559
Um, but I stretched now and I try to do a stretch afterwards.
00:42:52.559 --> 00:42:59.280
I injured, which is rare, I pulled a hamstring by running on a treadmill a few weeks ago.
00:42:59.280 --> 00:43:09.360
And it was simply because I got on a treadmill and was sprinting, I want you to say how fast I was going at a ridiculous speed I should not have been doing without warming up.
00:43:09.360 --> 00:43:11.039
And I pulled a hammy.
00:43:11.519 --> 00:43:11.920
Wow.
00:43:11.920 --> 00:43:17.119
So yeah, you know, and I and I said one last question a while ago, but I gotta ask one more question.
00:43:17.119 --> 00:43:18.559
This is so interesting to me.
00:43:18.559 --> 00:43:27.199
Um, I know you lift weights, but how much is like running a part of your exercise routine?
00:43:27.199 --> 00:43:30.880
Now you you've just kind of alluded to it, but how much do you run?
00:43:31.440 --> 00:43:37.360
My goal is to run three times a week for a mile as fast as I can.
00:43:37.840 --> 00:43:38.880
What's your mile time?
00:43:40.800 --> 00:43:42.000
If I'm really booking?
00:43:42.159 --> 00:43:42.800
Yeah.
00:43:43.280 --> 00:43:45.119
Oh, just over seven minutes, maybe.
00:43:45.360 --> 00:43:45.679
Okay.
00:43:45.679 --> 00:43:47.199
That's pretty that's awesome.
00:43:47.840 --> 00:43:48.559
That's okay for me.
00:43:48.559 --> 00:43:49.360
Seven minutes is fine.
00:43:49.360 --> 00:43:50.079
I'm 56.
00:43:50.079 --> 00:43:53.280
I'm not trying to setting records at 56.
00:43:53.280 --> 00:44:02.000
But but the other thing I do is um I Um we'll do um hit running.
00:44:02.000 --> 00:44:24.079
So so on some days, what I'll do is hit running real fast, by the way, and people listening may try this, is you take on a flat treadmill, um, I take the treadmill up to about a nine and I run that for about 30 seconds, and then I hop off for 30 seconds and hop back on for 30 seconds.
00:44:24.079 --> 00:44:25.679
I do that six times.
00:44:26.159 --> 00:44:26.639
Wow.
00:44:26.960 --> 00:44:27.280
Wow.
00:44:27.280 --> 00:44:30.800
That hit H-I-I-T, high intensity interfacing.
00:44:30.800 --> 00:44:36.239
Yeah, that workout, which lasts, as you can imagine, 30 and 30 is six minutes.
00:44:36.239 --> 00:44:44.079
Yeah, that six-minute workout can get you more results than walking at a steady state for an hour.
00:44:44.079 --> 00:44:46.880
So your executive should think about that.
00:44:46.880 --> 00:44:50.239
I mean, you want to you want to be efficient, do hit workouts.
00:44:50.480 --> 00:44:52.880
I love listen, I I listen.
00:44:52.880 --> 00:44:57.440
One day I'm gonna work out with you because it's like, you know, this is so inspiring.
00:44:57.440 --> 00:45:04.480
I look, I appreciate you have you you know coming on, being able to pick your brain, ask questions, and everything like that.
00:45:04.480 --> 00:45:07.039
Where can people find you?
00:45:07.039 --> 00:45:10.559
Where can people get in touch and buy your books, things like that?
00:45:10.559 --> 00:45:11.679
I mean, your books are everywhere.
00:45:11.679 --> 00:45:13.039
So that's obvious question.
00:45:13.039 --> 00:45:16.400
I'm telling you, you you want to buy this book, go to your local bookstore.
00:45:16.400 --> 00:45:16.880
It's everywhere.
00:45:16.880 --> 00:45:20.719
Go to the airport, go to the book, go to the bookstore, go to Barnes and Noble.
00:45:20.719 --> 00:45:22.320
You're gonna find it, go to Amazon.
00:45:22.320 --> 00:45:23.519
It's everywhere, okay?
00:45:23.519 --> 00:45:25.280
Look left or right, you'll find it.
00:45:25.280 --> 00:45:29.760
But seriously, what how can people um engage with you on social media?
00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:38.800
So my last book is called The Last 15, my last uh weight management book, which is not a diet book, it's a book about losing the last 15 pounds and breaking through your plateaus.
00:45:38.800 --> 00:45:43.280
My last fiction book was called uh Beyond Midnight, which is book five in the Ash Kane series.
00:45:43.280 --> 00:45:46.880
I wrote them out of uh as standalone so you can read them out of order.
00:45:46.880 --> 00:45:50.480
Um and of course, my website is dreansmith.com.
00:45:50.480 --> 00:45:51.599
Spell the doctor out.
00:45:51.599 --> 00:45:58.320
My Instagram is dr Ian Smith, and my TikTok is uh the official Dr.
00:45:58.320 --> 00:45:59.840
Ian D-R-I-A-N.
00:45:59.840 --> 00:46:01.679
Let me say this before I go.
00:46:01.679 --> 00:46:04.480
People have to find motivation.
00:46:04.480 --> 00:46:10.400
And motivation comes in all forms, in all different places, and often when you least expect it.
00:46:10.400 --> 00:46:26.000
Whether it's trying to, like for me, look the best I can for my reunion um in about 90 days, or whether it's you want to lower your blood pressure, every individual has to find what motivates them.
00:46:26.000 --> 00:46:31.039
And you need to open up your senses and be on the lookout for it.
00:46:31.039 --> 00:46:44.880
I was in getting food at a restaurant and a young guy, I was in Michigan, and a young guy behind the counter says to me out of nowhere, can you bench 315?
00:46:44.880 --> 00:46:49.119
And it kind of just like it took me by surprise.
00:46:49.119 --> 00:46:54.079
This guy just kind of, and uh I said, uh, how old are you?
00:46:54.079 --> 00:46:56.079
He said, I'm 17.
00:46:56.079 --> 00:46:59.440
I said, I'm more than three times your age.
00:46:59.440 --> 00:47:00.719
Three times.
00:47:00.719 --> 00:47:01.440
He's like, What?
00:47:01.440 --> 00:47:03.119
I said, three times your age.
00:47:03.119 --> 00:47:11.840
I said, so me trying to bench 315 at my age and what it takes to get there may not be the best thing for my joints, but I can come close to it.
00:47:11.840 --> 00:47:21.199
And so that inspired a conversation with him and a guy behind me, this big old guy in overalls, heard us talking.
00:47:21.199 --> 00:47:27.760
He had a question to ask, and that kind of I went back to the car, and my wife and son were in the car.
00:47:27.760 --> 00:47:30.480
My son was like, Dad, what why are you so hopped up?
00:47:30.480 --> 00:47:31.760
What's going on?
00:47:31.760 --> 00:47:35.440
And it was because I was motivated by that conversation.
00:47:35.440 --> 00:47:35.920
Wow.
00:47:35.920 --> 00:47:48.559
I was motivated that a 17-year-old kid was looking at me physically, and one didn't realize how old I was, but two, from a physical standpoint, he was like, Man, this guy can bench 315.
00:47:48.559 --> 00:47:48.880
Wow.
00:47:48.880 --> 00:47:49.199
Yeah.
00:47:49.199 --> 00:47:51.679
That that to me is a motivator.
00:47:51.920 --> 00:47:53.519
Wow, that's a great story.
00:47:53.519 --> 00:47:57.840
That's a great testament to your diet, your workout, your fitness, all of that.
00:47:57.840 --> 00:47:58.960
That's an incredible story.
00:47:58.960 --> 00:48:00.880
I'm I'm glad you I'm glad you shared that.
00:48:00.880 --> 00:48:01.679
Amazing.
00:48:01.679 --> 00:48:04.079
Man, can you bench three?
00:48:04.079 --> 00:48:05.920
You said, was it 315?
00:48:05.920 --> 00:48:06.719
315.
00:48:06.719 --> 00:48:07.280
315.
00:48:07.280 --> 00:48:08.800
Wow.
00:48:08.800 --> 00:48:11.280
And the bench, and the way them community is called three wheels.
00:48:11.280 --> 00:48:12.000
Three wheels.
00:48:12.000 --> 00:48:12.400
There you go.
00:48:12.719 --> 00:48:14.559
Six six forty-five-pound plates.
00:48:14.960 --> 00:48:15.920
Wow, man.
00:48:15.920 --> 00:48:17.360
Great question.
00:48:17.360 --> 00:48:18.800
Can you bench 315?
00:48:18.800 --> 00:48:20.000
Can you bench three wheels?
00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:20.800
I don't know.
00:48:20.800 --> 00:48:22.159
I don't know if I can do that.
00:48:22.159 --> 00:48:22.639
I don't know.
00:48:22.639 --> 00:48:24.480
I don't, I mean, I could leg press it.
00:48:24.480 --> 00:48:25.199
How about that?
00:48:25.199 --> 00:48:26.000
Does that qualify?
00:48:26.000 --> 00:48:27.519
You can do that.
00:48:27.519 --> 00:48:28.079
You can do that.
00:48:28.079 --> 00:48:28.719
Well, thanks.
00:48:28.719 --> 00:48:29.920
Thanks for being on.
00:48:29.920 --> 00:48:32.639
And um, you guys, thank you for listening.
00:48:32.639 --> 00:48:36.239
You know, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube.
00:48:36.239 --> 00:48:38.079
Remember to subscribe.
00:48:38.079 --> 00:48:39.360
And thank you.
00:48:39.360 --> 00:48:42.800
If you've listened to us all the way to the end, we appreciate that.
00:48:42.800 --> 00:48:43.599
Thank you.
00:48:43.599 --> 00:48:45.360
Talk to you guys later.