What Is This Episode About…

With 93% of our Code Red community being female, you never hear about the MEN of Code Red. But I promise you – they’re out there! And their lives have been drastically changed. Hear their stories!

First off, we have DJ, a husband, a father, and active duty Air Force. His wife Leisha joined Code Red and had massive success losing 115 pounds. This and surgery on a leg injury were his turning point. He joined a 10-Pound Takedown Challenge and went on to lose 52 pounds.

Next up, we have John Gallagher, a husband, father, and active duty Coast Guard. At 253 pounds, his weight started affecting his work. He’d be out of breath and got physically exhausted just doing basic things. At the risk of falling out of compliance with weight standards and losing his career, he joined Code Red and found extraordinary success.

Just imagine being 55 years old and in a career where the life expectancy is 57, being way overweight at 300 pounds, and coming from a family with a history of blood pressure and heart disease? That’s the story of Mark Peterson, one of our long-standing men of Code Red. You better tune in and listen to his hugely inspiring story.

You’ll be excited to hear our next story from Mark, a young man. After trying out many different options, he got to Code Red through a family friend. He listened to the Code Red Audiobook and followed the rules, which led to 60 pounds melting off in 6 months.

Tune in to this episode and hear all these amazing stories from Code Red Men and how their lives have been drastically changed!

Key Takeaways

• Getting to a turning point and throwing junk food in the garbage can (06:43)
• Are you on the fence about trying a challenge? Just do it! (15:34)
• Why you shouldn’t be okay living with constant back and knee pain (19:46)
• You can’t outrun your fork (25:05)
• How the Code Red program makes sense (37:54)
• Why the worse off you get with your weight leads you to even more weight (51:23)
• How to change your relationship with food to keep weight completely off (55:28)

Learn More About The Content Discussed…

Get the Code Red On-The-Go Guide here.

Join the next 10-Pound Takedown Challenge here.

When Was It Released…

This episode was released December 09, 2020

Episode Transcript…

The Transcript Is Auto-Generated And May Contain Spelling And Grammar Errors

Cristy  0:00  

Welcome to rebel weight loss in lifestyle. I’m your host, Cristy Code Red author, entrepreneur, retired professional boxer, and the owner of Code Red. I am so glad that you’re here. Let’s jump right in, shall we? Okay. 93% of our clients are females. And I don’t understand why I can’t specifically put my and I’ve asked other people this, like, why do you think that 93% of our clients are females? 7% are men? Well, I mean, I it’s not like I am ultra feminine or something. My gosh, I had an eight year long fighting career, I do have masculine qualities, I am pretty in your face, I would think that I would appeal to men as a weight loss coach. But and I don’t think that I don’t appeal to them. But I don’t think they know about Code Red , I don’t think they maybe are aware of the programmer have seen the program. I don’t know, I don’t know. But for whatever reason, we’re targeting women, I guess. And we never hear about the men of Code Red. So I set up this podcast called meet the men of Code Red. And I picked out four incredible men, all from different walks of life, from different age groups, to or in the military, one works at a correctional facility. It’s absolutely and one is really young. And he’s in college. It’s just absolutely incredible four different men, four different age groups four different walks of life. And I think this is really a great podcast. So enjoy the podcast meeting, enjoy, I should just say enjoy meeting the men of Code Red, because that’s what you’re getting ready to do. I sure appreciate your ratings and reviews. I appreciate you buying the products from our sponsors. And that really helps bring money back around into Code Red, and so we can continue to bring all this free content for you. So thank you, thank you. Thank you, and enjoy this podcast.

Unknown Speaker  1:58  

I’m Cristy Code Red and you’re listening to rebel weight loss and lifestyle where we believe food pulls the power to heal or poison. And we believe our society has been misled regarding proper nutrition and weight loss. You’re in the right place if you’re looking for some straight up truth, because I’m here to shed light on the lies and brainwashing that has taken place over the past five decades. Thanks so much for listening.

Cristy  2:25  

And welcome back to my series meeting the medica. Isn’t this fun? Are you guys liking this? This is so much fun. I’ve got I’m featuring different men. Because guys, only nine only 7% of our clientele is men. And I don’t understand why 93% of our clientele is women. I don’t I don’t know. I don’t know why because we have had some extraordinary men that have had incredible transformations on Code Red  and DJ is no exception. In fact, I was talking to DJ and I wish I wish I wouldn’t have asked the question before I hit the record button because I like being surprised. But DJ, a husband, a father, active duty Air Force. He lost 52 pounds on Code Red  I know spoiler alert. We’re just going to get this out of the way. So I asked DJ to come on and talk to you guys because he brings a whole different angle to this whole thing that we’ve ever heard. We don’t usually hear from guys in his age group. And so this is remarkable because Gabriel Aria Leisha works for Code Red  your whole family has been impacted by Code Red  so let me take let How about you take us back TJ and you paint a picture for us because it’s been a while you guys have been Code Red  for a while. Take us back on what life was like overweight? Leisha did not have a way to control the kids were probably eating sugar. I don’t know. Take us back and paint a picture on what life was like before you started this whole journey.

DJ  3:54  

Our whole family honestly we our entire diet was full of pasta grains. Pretty much overloaded on that stuff. Leisha she was really the one person I have family who liked veggies had veggies. So the only ones that I would go to at the time were what I thought were veggies were potatoes. That was my go to those knees saying that? Yeah, I got veggies in Yeah, yeah. Joking were there about that. But I was that it was constantly having pints of ice cream in the freezer that Alaskan do one or two days. Candy all over the place. It was pretty bad.

Unknown Speaker  4:30  

Wow. So

Cristy  4:30  

you were heavier, which it’s so hard because I saw you here recently at an event you were so great to come to our rebel youth reunion and just help out in so many ways. And I the first time I’ve ever seen you in person, and it’s so hard even me to picture 52 pounds on your frame. Did you know it’s kind of a dumb question, but did you know you were overweight back then? I mean, was it did you kind of know it was a problem or did you just kind of like yeah, no big deal.

DJ  4:55  

At the time I thought I might have a little bit of a weight problem but I’ve always been pretty active, like trying to do running when I could, and lifting in the gym a lot. So I just thought I was maybe a little bit huskier because I had muscle. Maybe that was it. It wasn’t until I really started having to get new uniforms because my waist was going a little bit tight at work that I started realizing maybe, maybe there’s something else to this. Maybe I’m not just muscular.

Cristy  5:22  

Yeah, it’s so did it affect your sleep? Or did it affect how you felt? Did you have headaches, brain fog, any of that stuff? Or did did none of that stuff affect you?

DJ  5:31  

Oh, yeah, I had actually pretty decent sleep from what I can remember anyway. But I had constantly had, I’ve been noticing a leg injury since about 2014 when I first heard it. And it was consistently just not getting any better over the course about four years until I had surgery. And I think to get back now from what I know how to change my diet back then I probably could have nursed it and gotten better. Maybe within a year or so.

Cristy  5:59  

You just didn’t know back then what you know now and you even have a medical doctor, your mom is married to a medical doctor. And it’s just weird to think nobody talks to you about your weight. Nobody talks to you about how sugar feeds into disease. Nobody mentioned that you

DJ  6:14  

just were doing what you knew. Exactly, yeah. And it just stems back to I think like our entire generation, going back to our childhood just being fed the same things and think that’s normalized.

Cristy  6:27  

So Leisha has lost 115 pounds on Code Red, went on to become a senior leader for us went on to work for Code Red. She’s an integral part of our staff and of our whole team. Was that the catalyst that started you on this?

DJ  6:43  

That was one of them? Yeah, I think she did a challenge back in January 2018, was her first 10 pound and she did that had massive success. Well, on February 1, is when I had my surgery for my foot. So I was bedridden for 45 days. So she was making me food and stuff. And she’d bring me breakfast. And so she kind of keeps me on a little bit of them. But I swear as soon as I went back to work and had that junk food from our snack bar, right from my face, especially feeling crappy, because my leg and pain meds and everything, I just kind of reverted back to what I was doing before. It wasn’t until like, June of that year, when I really had a big turning point. It was like I was so on my way home, there’s little gas station that was right on the way. So I’d stop by there and get like some snacks on that caliche. And you might think she’s like, No, I’m good. So I’d be getting all sorts of junk food there. And this episode, specifically, there was a Butterfinger really sounded good. It was two for one, I can’t pass that good deal up. So got that went home, I threw one into the freezer because I like my food cool all the time. And then the other one, I was getting ready to crack it open. And we should just came up to me and said that she was very concerned about me at that point that was my highest though, was 222 pounds at six foot. So she had been said that she turned about me, it really hit me because she had already lost a good amount of weight, because she was on her custom program at that time. So I looked at her finger, I crumbled it up, and then open the package, dump that into the garbage can because I knew if it was closed, and it still crumbled up, I can still have some. So there it is, the garbage can brew some other stuff, like coffee grounds on top of it, and then close to the garbage. And that was my turning point.

Cristy  8:32  

So I had met Aria in February of 2018. Your daughter, just your both your kids are absolutely incredible, incredible little humans. They’re just amazing. And so if there was major change happening then So when did you start to realize, hey, we

DJ  8:50  

got to take the kids off sugar too, or I don’t know how did that whole thing go down with the kids? Ellen last a little bit longer. Because we had a move coming up in October. And with the stress has come from all that too. It’s it was just one extra thing to do. But I believe when Lisa started custom program and started realizing all this stuff, she started taking a step out of the house. So instead of getting the kids, all the crazy, sugary cereals, we go down to like a Kashi cereal, which isn’t still not the best, but it was at least something that they were able to have less intake of bad stuff. And then I think it was probably once we moved down here to our new base in October of that year. That’s when we really started just starting brand new and getting the kids going.

Cristy  9:31  

So you’re in the Air Force, and you’re doing a pretty important job and I’ll let you kind of decide if you want to share any of that. How much does you being healthy in clear brain and on the ball? Does that affect I’m not trying to say that there are jobs military where it doesn’t matter, I’m sure I mean, every job is important, but you have a specifically you have a pretty important job you need that you need to be on the ball and on your game.

DJ  9:57  

Yes, exactly. So the job that I do it do what’s called conjunction assessment. And what we do is we take in data from all over the world from all these different radars that seem to space. And they see all the satellites that are up there. And we predict conjunction, so collision for those objects, and try to alert the owner operators of those satellites of if they’re objects might have a possibility of conjunction. So it is pretty important. That’s one of the many jobs that we have military that are very important. And yes, you do need to be on the ball. So from what I’ve seen personally, doing rotating shifts between day shifts, swing shifts, and then overnight shifts is energy drinks, sodas, sugary foods, cereals, just to keep someone energized and onpoint while they’re doing the job, because it’s very important stuff that has a global impact.

Cristy  10:47  

Weight absolutely does. I didn’t know. I only knew a more of a broad understanding of your job and miles tried to actually miles talk to you a little bit and he came home I was like, did it did it did the dJ dJ dJ, I was like, okay, man crush, okay. Okay, you know, so the whole family has made this as turned this point with a whole family has changed your diet there. You’re all eating real food, your kids are, are functioning, they’re, they’re calm, they’re easier to you know, the whole family life is much calmer. And that’s, that’s incredible show the job. Everything is leveled up and your job? And then what about? Like, do you ever go off the rails a little bit or eat something? And then you feel it come back? And if so what you feel that’s the first thing to kind of go bad?

DJ  11:33  

Yep, actually, uh, because Lisa and I were driving back from Idaho yesterday, and I did before we kind of had, we have lots of talks in the car. That’s what we do. We just have good deep conversations. And that was one thing that we were talking about was, is obviously been maintenance for about a year. Now, we’ve noticed that there are lots of foods that do trigger certain responses from our bodies. And I think that’s one thing that we kind of normalize is that when our bodies are quiet, we’re not noticing them as much, which is when we’re having good foods and everything in our bodies are happy. But when you have bad foods, that’s when your body starts getting a little bit louder. It starts letting it know about certain things. And so having a little few fries from a certain deli on the way home or something like that, all of a sudden is coming sort of kicking me while I’m driving. I noticed those things. So it’s it’s really interesting how that works. And usually the first response I’ll get is I’ll get some pain from my foot I had my surgery on that’s usually the first time that I’m actually having something go wrong.

Cristy  12:28  

Because it’s so far from the scale, like the scale. I mean, the scale goes up, you know, you can come back down. But man, the pain, the headaches, the fatigue, all those things just start, like you say stomach ache, all those things start coming back pretty quick.

Unknown Speaker  12:42  

Especially the job that I’m doing now. So I used to be in front of doing that mission every day. But nomina backstops where we are charged with the training. And back before I really switched over into full time code red, I was constantly brain fog being disorganized. With all my work. I have 10 different tests in front of me, and just bouncing back and forth between them because I couldn’t focus on just one. And now that kind of switched over, I’m actually able to focus on these things and get them done in an organized manner which helps me tremendously.

Cristy  13:13  

I know that Leisha is the love of your life, you guys, you’ve been together since you were teenagers. And I think that I could safely say soulmates and I don’t even say that I’m on my own husband. Look, I love them. I wouldn’t say soulmate, but I kind of get the feeling the two of you are soulmates. Has this improved your relationship?

DJ  13:30  

Oh, yeah, definitely. Because before I mean, there was a lot of pride on both of our sides pride and embarrassments that we didn’t want to tell the other person certain things because either we felt so deeply about them that hurt us so much that we want that person and kind of suck. Like I yesterday, when we’re driving back, there were some little bit darker things that I didn’t tell Lisa from when I was overweight. And we told her those on that drive home and it was kind of like, a nice little weekend like, Okay, well, it’s okay for me to talk about these things. Even though I’m an admin, I’m the head of the household. It’s okay to feel these things. It’s not should my ego or pride get in the way. So I think both of us agree with that. And it’s helped me tremendously in our relationship.

Cristy  14:15  

Do you think that’s the reason why there aren’t more men on Code Red  is because they just don’t want to ask for help. And it’s maybe it’s more acceptable for a man to kind of have a potbelly, or?

DJ  14:23  

I think so, um, that’s basically like in the military, obviously, with all diets or dominates the way that we eat in the military, like a good 50% of force is fit in shave, they’re doing what they need to do. I’ve seen a lot of people that have been really struggling on either losing weight or not knowing what to do in their own journey. And they’d be like, Okay, well, I guess I’ll go vegetarian, I’ll go vegan. And that’s a whole different back ads, but they try to, they might lose some weight and then they get right back, they revert. And in my unit personally, there was one woman story, I want to tell her So she had been kind of like, nudging her about Code Red for a good six or seven months just talking about the monthly challenges that had started out and everything. She has an older one, which is probably in her 50s. And she was just saying, Oh, no, I’ve done it all. No, nothing works for me and done. Each buy all that crap. And then COVID happens. Everyone got to teleworking, no one got to see each other. Came back back in June. I saw her she had lost 40 pounds, because she did a challenge. And she pushed through with it. So that’s another thing that you need to find is like their own time to do it. Yeah.

Cristy  15:34  

Yeah. Yeah, their own time, you got to be ready for it. It’s like people ask you one of two things. They ask you, they ask you, what are you doing? Or they ask you? Why are you doing that? One means they’re ready and one does not the What would you say to a man specifically, or a young man your age that is kind of on the fence about maybe trying it? Or it’s like, oh, you know, I mean, up to me, I’m thinking a steak and asparagus, eggs and bacon, like, what would be so bad about that? I don’t get it. No water. I mean, I just don’t get it. But what would you say to someone to get them to kind of push them over an edge to try a challenge?

DJ  16:04  

Just do it. Like, it’s actually one of my. So when I got put in church, my job, a new job, it was a pretty cool is strange, because I got a charter one member, he was quite overweight, at the time. And he had just failed a PT test, which for our careers, it’s very, very big. Because if you fail the PT test, there’s a good chance that you might be getting kicked out. Or you might lose a certain job or an assignment to get moved. So when he did get put under me, I told him, I was like, Hey, you failed your test. I want to go to try to help you, my wife, she works for this company. This is the thing they’re doing. They’re doing a challenge this next month, I’m gonna pay your way in. I’ll do with you. We’ll see what happens. And he lost 15 pounds doing that passes PT test after that. And then he moved on to his next phase. So seeing that ripple effects, and that’s usually a story that I tell people is Hey, it’s really easy. If you really are hesitant on it. I’ll buy your way in and then we’ll both do it together.

Cristy  17:04  

Oh my gosh, DJ, I just I can’t I never get to hear about DJ stories because I just it’s always like Leisha Nancy and stuff. So guys, this is so one of course I hear kids stories. I hear Aria Gabriel stories, but and I love him. But it’s like DJ is all skinny behind the scenes. Guys, just like what DJ mentioned. We do have rolling challenges every month and we would love to see you in them come and take your and dip your toe in the lifestyle and figure out if it’s for you. We think the proper human diet is for everybody. But you heard a whole different perspective on how it has completely changed every single aspect of DJs life. So join us DJ, thank you so much for taking your time to talk to me today.

DJ  17:43  

I appreciate you having me.

Cristy  17:46  

And today we are talking to john Gallagher. I john, are you sitting in an ambulance?

John Gallagher  17:54  

I am this is one of the best spots for for lighting that I could find. I’m on call today. So it’s a bit of a challenge.

Cristy  18:01  

Yeah, it is. I’m so I’m so thankful you could break away and talk to all of us meeting the men of Code Red  and john Gallagher husband, a father, a Coast Guardsman if I got that. Right. And right now he’s on call for a rescue with a paramedic. You work in an ambulance crew. Am I getting any of that? Right?

John Gallagher  18:19  

Yeah, so I my full time career is I’m active duty Coast Guard. A volunteer with the Fire and Rescue squads here in my local community here in Vermont.

Cristy  18:33  

Husband for a long time father of four awesome kids play you have got your plate full

John Gallagher  18:39  

1. That’s probably the understatement of the year, right? Yeah, yeah, you really should stick after the thankfully the kids take after their mother. Yeah.

Cristy  18:49  

Well, you definitely max out. But thank you again for this time to talk to us. So I’m going to jump right in john, take us back to a time because you know the code you know, you’re married to Jake Gallagher, who is my personal assistant and a code red certified coach and the event planner with Code Red. So whether you and your kids like it or not, you are 100% immersed in the lifestyle. But that to you has been a really great thing, not only to and we’ve already, I’ve already interviewed Jade about her psoriatic arthritis study, but that’s a whole different podcast, you guys go back and watch the podcast about psoriatic arthritis. But john, this has completely transformed your life in so many different ways. So could you take us back to before Code Red, and paint a picture for us and tell us not only about what you felt like not having your eating under control or your you know, just kind of paint a picture about what life was like before Code Red.

John Gallagher  19:46  

Sure. So um, before Code Red, I thought that I was completely comfortable sitting there at 253 pounds. I thought, you know, that’s fine. You know, it’s fine. It’ll be okay. And then every six months when I go to weigh in at work Which is a requirement for us, barely passed by the skin of my teeth on the on the tape measurements, there’s a major source of stress for me. And I just couldn’t do things well, you know, we’d be at a at a structure fire or something, and I’d need to climb to the top of the ladder truck to get up on a roof or whatever. And I’d be out of breath and, you know, completely nearly exhausted by the time I get up there and climb all the way up. And, you know, I’m still got a lot of work to do once I get up there. So stamina and everything, it just it was a thought that I was comfortable until I realized that it wasn’t. So then fast forward about four and a half months, got down to between 195 and 200, which is where I’m comfortable. And that I realized then it took getting to my goal weight to realize that I was not okay, at 253 pounds 253 pound me could not fit into my bunker pants, firefighting protective gear, I couldn’t snap the front buckle. And then I had to go down a size. Once I got down to my goal weight, because it was just too big, there was too much material, treating patients climbing upstairs, Holland patients downstairs, it just got to be so physically exhausting to just do the basic things that I needed to do in my daily life at 253 pounds, but getting down to go away. That’s when I fully realized that, you know, I lived so many years of my life thinking that this was okay to live with constant back pain constantly knee pain, getting sick at just random times for random reasons. My immune system was taxing just trying to fight off all the crap that I was eating. And it just, it changed everything getting down to goal weight. And if it wasn’t like this long delay, it was, you know, about a week or so in the knee pain stopped. Because I wasn’t eating things that cause me to have inflamed joints and, and pain and that reduction in just a general fatigue that I felt that was okay. All right, john, we can do this. We’re already feeling better. Let’s just keep going and see where it takes us. And then about four and a half months later, that was it. How did

Unknown Speaker  22:21  

you get to be 253?

John Gallagher  22:25  

eating my emotions, stress eating station on ships for the first 10 years of my career and on ships that right wrong or indifferent. Its food is morale, when you’re out there in the at least that’s how it’s treated. It’s when you’re out there in the middle of the ocean, and you get three and a half meals a day. You just go down to eat whatever’s there, because what else are you gonna do, and that was just a bad mentality that I got into. And then I went from my boot camp wake, which was 195 coming out of boot camp. And just over the years, it continued to grow and grow and grow until I was 253. And at risk of falling out of compliance with our weight standards at risk of losing my career. And it just found like came to a point. And I was like, No, my wife does this for a living I can I can make this happen. The resources are there for me.

Cristy  23:18  

So you’ve done so many tours on ships that I don’t remember that it’s like they they said you don’t have to keep going on ships. So you’ve been on ships a lot, right? Yes,

John Gallagher  23:29  

pretty much for the first 10 continuous years of my career. I’ve been in for 14 and a half years now. And for about nine of the first 10 years I was gone between six and nine months every year deployed on ships.

Cristy  23:42  

We’ve all seen the movies like, you know, all the movies, and because that’s all I’ve got to go on. It’s just the movies about being on a ship. And I gotta tell you, is it just me or are those places that you walk in the ships, the doorways and the different things you climb that look pretty small.

John Gallagher  24:00  

They are. And it’s a challenge, especially in some of the the firefighting and damage control roles that are filled, it was a real challenge to squeeze me at 200 and you know, 4050 pounds at the time, it was really difficult to squeeze me through that scuttle along with my air pack and everything else. Like I’d have to stop and take everything off and lower it down and climb through and it was, you know, going through this big jigsaw puzzle of trying to fit through these spaces. When if just just knowing about Code Red  and and watch what I ate and knew the things then that I know now. I wouldn’t have to do any of that it just oh, I just got all I’m just gonna go through it. But yeah, there’s a lot of small tight spaces on ships.

Cristy  24:44  

So you’re pretty young aren’t you in Jade like 33 or something or? Yeah, yeah, you’re really your show. Did it surprise you that you are already having joint pain back pain? I don’t know. Headaches is what I feel when my weight gets to up headaches and just feeling foggy brain You just kind of like, well, this is just how it is you just accept it, you didn’t know until you felt better.

John Gallagher  25:05  

I just accepted that, you know, that’s what life is. That’s how humans feel. And just accepted that that was what it was supposed to be. You know, it’s not like I was just sitting around being fat and lazy, and I was going to the gym I was working out, but I mean, you can’t outrun your fork, it just doesn’t happen. And so finding the nutrition side of what it really means to lose weight, is what was the key to unlocking a lot for me?

Cristy  25:29  

And were you surprised when you realize that you could have steak and asparagus and eggs and bacon? And it was did it go against what you were taught?

John Gallagher  25:38  

No. I’ve always been, Well, yes and no, I grew up in the south. So you know, sweet tea and biscuits, that’s, you know, that’s the thing. Fried Chicken Fried everything. So I mean, the foods that we eat now, because our whole family is Code Red. And the foods we eat now aren’t vastly different from what we ate growing up, we just, you know, instead of frying the chicken, and breading it and all that, we’ll just throw it on the smoker, instead of having mashed potatoes, or, you know, french fries or whatever. On the side, we’ll have grilled broccoli, or do a smash despair are smashed brussel sprouts, and we’ll just, it’s just choosing what we eat a little more carefully, because I was never a huge sweet person, I actually don’t even I can’t stand chocolate. It annoys me. But like cakes and biscuits and breads and things like that, those are my weak points, rice, those were the things that I would, you know, you give me a plate full of pasta with you know, some. And I would just I would go nuts for it. So it wasn’t necessarily the sweet it was for me, that was the big struggle. It was all the side dishes that went along with the food that I was supposed to eat, you know, the steaks and the pulled pork and the ribs, the bacon, those were all great things that I was already eating, I was just eating all this other junk with it. And that was the biggest struggle was retraining of. Okay, we’re we’re gonna downsize our portions a little bit and just focus on the fat, the protein and veggie.

Cristy  27:11  

Now your wife Jade, as I mentioned earlier struggled with absolutely horrific crippling psoriatic arthritis with four kids. She it was just it guys again, I’ll link it up in the in the below and you guys can go back and listen to that. How has it affected your relationship, I mean, talk about being together through thick and thin you guys have been through it. And now when you both got your eating under control, don’t even the weight I mean it is the weight, the weight just comes off naturally. But you guys get your eating into control, you get off the sugar in the crap carbs. How has that affected your relationship?

John Gallagher  27:46  

Well, gosh, there’s a certain level of shame. When you even with your with your partner, your soulmate, because God knows she’s mine, and I’m hers. But even still, there’s a certain level of shame when you have to take your clothes off in front of love your life. And that’s what you see, you see 253 pound me, even when I thought I was okay, I was still not okay with that aspect of it. And there’s a lot of things that get better when you’re thin. A lot of things and being able to go through this together and support each other and kind of cheer each other on and hold each other accountable. That’s probably been a great thing. A really, really great thing for us. But it just, there’s no shame now when it’s time to have our our alone time. There’s, there’s no oh, I need to, you know, sit in a certain way or I need to cut the lights off. I need to there’s no shame involved in this anymore. Because we’re, we’re who we’ve always been just without all the extra us that it was. It’s a lot better being thin than thick.

Cristy  28:49  

Hmm. And you’ve got four kids and they’re off sugar. And I know that Jay does try it Tuesday and they she tries new things with the kids. I’m sure that the relationship with not just a relationship, but just the whole energy of the household is much more level and calm.

John Gallagher  29:05  

Oh gosh, yes. I mean, four kids can be pretty wild and crazy. Then add a whole bunch of sugar and carbs on top of that. And it can it can be a little hard, a little hard to manage. But I mean, honestly, we’ve got great kids. they’ve handled the change over the past couple of years they have about really well of course there were there are some struggles, especially early on but we found that it was a lot easier to fight our battles with food in the grocery store aisles than it was to fight that battle in the pantry. So we just had a day of reckoning with our pantry and refrigerator and freezer and we just got rid of literally everything that wasn’t on plan. And then we just didn’t buy it anymore. You don’t buy it anymore. It’s not in your house. It’s not in your house. And so we just made the conscious decision to only eat at home until we got our cravings and our our mentality under control. We only eat at home We all eat what we bought the store and we only bought things that are on plan because that that battles a lot harder to fight in your pantry than it is in the in the grocery store.

Cristy  30:10  

Well I know that Jade and I have we’re together a lot in person and talk every day. And I remember asking her we were sitting in a restaurant and I said what is it like taking a family of six out? And she said, Oh, Christie is so expensive, you know, and it’s eating at home is so much more economical. Now john, your weight fluctuates, just like mine does. And we go through things will go up and down. It’s just how life is. And that’s not a problem on Code Red, you guys. We don’t shame people for going up and down in our weight that but we just we want to see people get it back under control. So what do you notice? When your weight gets out of control and your eating kind of gets out of control? And you get it back down? What is the first thing not even the scale but what is the first thing you notice it gets better.

John Gallagher  30:54  

So once I start coming back down after I fluctuate, my sleep is better. That’s the the number one thing that I noticed I sleep better when I’m on plan and I’m eating right. If I’m not then I’m waking up every couple of hours at night asleep restlessly. And just when I wake up in the morning I do not feel rested. That’s probably the number one thing that affects me is my sleep when I eat on plan versus Off Plan.

Cristy  31:21  

Wow, that’s amazing. And I know that you mentioned your you said My back hurts or you know my just my joints hurt and that probably just you just whole body feels better when you are back on plan versus off.

John Gallagher  31:31  

Yeah, it’s hard to sleep when you’re when your back is aching. It’s hard to sleep when you’ve got joint pain. And those are those are definitely things that that do take effect. But the thing that I lived with with back and knee pain for so long that I think I’ve become somewhat desensitized to it. But the number one thing that I noticed the first thing I noticed is my sleep. And if I’m off plan, my sleep goes just downhill quick.

Cristy  31:57  

One of our long standing men of code red mark Peterson, I finally got him to come on and talk to all of us. I am so appreciative because Mark’s been with us for a very long time. And he’s got so many good nuggets. And plus he’s just a man’s man. He’s a man’s man. And we don’t hear from a lot of guys. So Mark, this is really a treat. Thank you so much for being here.

Mark Peterson  32:21  

You bet. Glad to be here for you, Cristy.

Cristy  32:23  

Yeah, well, there’s nobody that knows a program better than Mark Peterson and his wife and his family. I think I’ve met two of your kids so far, Mark, and I and Monica and just such a wonderful family. So let’s dive right in Mark and have you take us back even before the beginning kind of paint a picture for us of what life was like before Code Red? How were you? I mean, I’ve seen pictures of you, but not a lot of people know about your journey. So what was life like before you finally made the change?

Mark Peterson  32:53  

Well just give a little little history I work in, I work in corrections. So it’s a high stress, high speed job where there’s a lot of stress. So you kind of eat on the go, you eat what you can, you don’t eat that healthy you get out of vending machine most of the time. You know you come home, plopped down on the couch, you eat whatever’s in the house, I was known as a forger. I like a big old bear that would just go through the house and just forage for food and just eat any, you know, there was no particular food that I really craved. I just like food. I just like food and generally. And as the years went by, I got bigger and bigger. And I’m one of those weight loss surgery, people that thought I’ll get the surgery, get gastric bypass, and I’ll just be perfect. I’ll lose the weight. Yeah, I lost the weight gain right back, and I got bigger and bigger. And finally, I was pushing over three bills, 300 pounds. And that was huge. I was fat. To be honest, I was truly as the fattest I’ve ever been. And looking at myself and that the pictures in the past, you know, I just, I was just fat. There was no there was no excuse for it. There was no and, and I needed something. I was in my 50s high stress job, family of high blood pressure, heart disease. So, you know, I wanted to see my family. I didn’t want to die, you know, corrections. You know, life expectancies. 57 I’m now 55 I’ve been doing this for almost two years now for you. And so it’s kind of you know, I want to I want to keep doing it and be a success for years to come and I needed something and you know, 300 pounds, those weren’t a size 46 pants, you know, 19 and a half shirt. I looked like the Goodyear Blimp going down the road. You know,

Cristy  34:49  

did you have health problems Mark before I know you come from a family of health problems but did you have your own?

Mark Peterson  34:55  

I you know I have high cholesterol. My blood pressure was high on blood pressure medication, you know, all those things, you know, go to the doctor and he checked my blood pressure, and it would be up and he put me on medication, and I go again, and that would be higher, and he put me on more medication to try to control it. And finally, I realized, you know, I’m a fat guy, there’s no excuse. There’s just really no excuse for the way I look, the way I feel. You know, what I’m doing my family, you know, to be honest, my kids were actually years ago embarrassed the way I looked, you know, they never would come out and say, but to get that feeling, when you’re around people, when you’re big, and you’re fat, they’re just not comfortable with you. Because the way you are. And you know, my kids were that way. And so I was thinking, you know, I want my kids to be proud of me, I want my wife to be proud of me. I want you know, to be that person that I know that I have.

Cristy  35:52  

Now, I don’t I don’t know if you guys caught this. But Mark said a few minutes ago, that he works in corrections. And the average age of a correctional officer is 57. Did anybody else catch that listening this that is really significant. So the reason that is and I’ve got, I have had the pleasure of being able to go to Mark’s work at his correctional facility and take a tour. And I can now understand why the it is as volatile of an environment just on your health as it is because you go from being sedentary, just everything fine to go into 10 out of 10 stress, trying to break up a riot or break up a fight or something with these inmates. And so you go from zero to 10, zero to 10, zero to 10. And it just wreaks havoc on your stress on your cortisol on all. So that’s I wanted to bring that up for people who might not have caught that. Like it’s a serious, serious business that very few people can make it in and it was taking this toll on on Mark’s health.

Mark Peterson  36:53  

It really was I was you know, I was miserable. I was depressed. I was not happy. I was grumpy. I was just that epitome of an unhappy person. And it was causing a headache on my family, my family life it was so I needed something. And that’s when I finally you know, Jim Taylor, put up flyers about about Cristy Code Red and 10 pound take down challenge for corrections for you. But I thought, um, check this out and see. And that was in I think was January of 2019. I think that’s was and I thought I’ll try this and see what it’s like, you know, see what you know, cuz I went online, I YouTube Jan, I looked you up and I looked at your website, and I thought well, I’m gonna do a little back history just to make sure this is not some fly by night. You know, thing, and I had faith in Jim that he was, you know, he’d been losing weight. So I thought if Jim can do it as big as he was, then there’s no reason that I

Cristy  37:52  

can’t do it. Why did it not work? The weight loss surgery comes with rules. All the diets come with rules, Code Red comes with rules, but yet you failed your weight loss surgery. How? why did why did that fail? Not you didn’t fit? Why did it fail you? Is it because you weren’t ready? Or because you you

Unknown Speaker  38:09  

manipulated the rules. And yet I wouldn’t let you. I think it just it was too it didn’t make sense. Ah, just the common sense wasn’t there. Were as cold read, if you really understand the system on what you teach. And what we learn is, it’s gets to be common sense. And it’s easy. And it makes sense to everybody. It makes sense to drink water, sleep, eat the right foods, and works. You know, most diets are well you got to eat so many of this, you got to eat this, you got it. You got to take these vitamins and this vitamin, so much of the this protein drink and now protein drink. And you’re just so simplistic. It just makes sense. And that was the thing that sold me on it the first time was it just makes sense. You don’t need a PhD to understand it. You don’t need, you know, cram papers to get through it. It just makes common sense. And people really understand read your book. And it just makes that common sense to understand it. And it’s not that difficult. Sometimes, you know, our lights get hectic when we get turned around and sideways and things are playing hanging but we got to just step back and take a breath in and get back on track. And it just makes sense. And that’s what sold me on the first challenge was it wasn’t that bad. It was the cutting food and cut. You know, I was used to foraging and I had to teach myself that I couldn’t come home at work after work and snacks through the house and then eat dinner and then house and before I went to bed I had to go back in and eat specific things and get away from the grains and the chips and the nachos and the dairy and all those things that I love and eat berries and eat those things I’m supposed to be eating, they’re healthy. And that makes sense for me to eat. Whereas the grains and all those things don’t make sense because of what science has done to them over the years. I’ve just hybrid them so much, they just tear our bodies up. And we’re having three ankle surgeries. Now, I can tell you if I slip up, and I finally have an ankle replacement. I know if I’ve ate grain, my joints will swell up. And especially that ankle, it’s been replaced. that sells me on not eating the grains, because my joints will swell up. And I’m like, okay, Cristy’s writing grant. See, she’s right. I can’t find it. I can’t prove her wrong. So I might as well go with it.

Cristy  40:44  

So you mentioned it just made sense. But yet, so knowing the history of high cholesterol and stuff and knowing what modern medicine teaches us about cholesterol, which is totally wrong, were you a little bit afraid at first when you first got the foods list, and it had like eggs and bacon and steak and asparagus and cottage cheese would did that scare you at first?

Mark Peterson  41:06  

Well, it did. Because you know, most diets are, you know, low fat, don’t eat the bacon, because there’s so much fat in it, you know, you know, eat this. And I was like, I like eating bacon. I can eat bacon for breakfast, I can eat sausage for breakfast, I can eat you know, that sounds good for breakfast, you know, eggs for breakfast in the morning because they usually don’t eat eggs, don’t eat bacon, drink those high fat foods with a lot of grease in them, or yours is go ahead and eat those because you need that. And when it all fits together, and you follow it, and you see the weight go off, it sells. You’re right there. It proves everything else you’ve learned about dieting over the years from all those other people and all those other programs and all those other infomercials that are so on TV, that your way is so simplistic, that it just is common sense. It becomes just so sensible. On the way to do it is is just easy.

Cristy  42:02  

But how soon did you start to see results when you started implementing the food list? And then the rules.

Mark Peterson  42:10  

I think the first take down I think I lost 11 pounds, if I remember right. On go. I’m old and forgetful and senile, and so remembering those things. So, but even losing that amount to me meant something. So you know, I lost that much. Why can I lose more with following the basics of what you teach. And being able to do the things in the cookbook. And being able to cook all those things and, and eat that code red cheesecake, who you know is phenomenal is just like, you think you’re really eating cheesecake. The first time I tried it, I was feeling guilty about eating it. We made it and I was like this is not right. We can’t eat this. This is this is sinful. We shouldn’t be eating this code or cheesecake. And then it just kind of progressed from there. I kept with it has stumbles and falls but always knew. If it went back to doing what you said and what you taught. It worked.

Cristy  43:14  

What has changed? Since you have how much weight Have you lost total?

Mark Peterson  43:19  

Right now? About 75 pounds from what I wasn’t born in 19. You know, I still I put up some some to go. But it’s been 2020 has been a weird year.

Cristy  43:31  

You said it. So what have you noticed has improved? What has changed in your life? Your relationship with Monica, your the way that you do your job? What kind of changes? Have you noticed? I mean, I know the weight. We always talk about the scale, but there are so many other benefits. And I know you’ve experienced What are those?

Mark Peterson  43:51  

Well, I think the best thing is our relationship with me and Monica, it’s you know that she’s healthy Anyway, she you know, she eats healthy and I would eat totally different than she was skinny and I was fat. So it’s kind of like, you know, the reverse, you know, the reverse of Jack’s racket eat no fat, his wife. I mean, it was the other way around for me and Monica. And I think with me losing weight and feeling better. It’s improved our relationship, you know, tenfold on how we communicate the joy, the satisfaction that we have with one another is, you know, just tenfold and she follows Code Red and it’s amazing, you know, that just that relationship in itself is improved itself, which was magnificent because before being a fat guy and man grumpy and not feeling like wanting to do anything or go anywhere because you’re embarrassed because of how fat you were enclosed in fit. And you always had to get the triple x’s and you always you know you didn’t look good and now I’m ready to go. I’ll get a shirt and tie and go out to eat now Damn good. So I’m pretty proud to go out in public now the way I looked. So and the work is just improved at work, you know, my boss said, I’ve cost him a lot of money because I went from uniform size, uniform size, a uniform size. And so the uniforms work, not that cheap to buy. And he just and he keeps giving me little flak about spending money on me to buy new shirts and new pants. And then I go down to size again, and I have to get new shirts and new pants. And so overall, it’s just made things 100% better. And it’s surprising when people see you, after them seeing you for, you know, a few months. And they don’t recognize you. As they go, what happened? Are you okay? Are you sick? And you go, No, I’m just eating healthy. I’m eating the right foods, I’m drinking water, I’m getting the sleep I need and I’m losing weight.

Cristy  45:55  

I am here with Mark now. Mark, I’m no, I’m just gonna jump right in. I’m gonna, I’m not even gonna try to act like I’m gonna try to ease into this. I’m so excited to talk to you. And I know that a lot of people are excited to hear from you. Because as you guys can see, from looking at mark, he is this young, good looking dude. And we don’t get a lot. I’m not I’m gonna get hateful messages. Now, I’m not trying to say we don’t get a lot of young Good, good looking dudes. We just don’t get a lot, a lot of Young Dudes and Mark messaged me on Instagram. And he was just like, Christie, listen, this is what has happened to me because of Code Red. And I said, Mark, is there any way you can, you’ll talk to me and talk to everybody and tell us your story. And he agreed. So Mark, thank you so much for being here with me right now.

Mark  46:41  

Absolutely super excited to do it and kind of talk about where I’ve been and where I’m at now, because it’s a great story.

Cristy  46:47  

So definitely take us back, paint a picture before Code Red, start as far back as you want. You think it’s what we need to hear in order to definitely paint a picture in all of our minds, because Mark shared with me things and I was telling him before I hit the record button, Mark, you shared with me all these details. But I’ve been hitting the head so much, I don’t remember exactly. So this is going to be like me hearing it for the first time. And tell us what life was like up until you made the switch.

Mark  47:15  

Yeah, so I’ve never been like super, super unhealthy or super, super overweight, but just throughout teenage years and whatnot wasn’t always happy with where I was. And so even being very young, I was always trying to do something, you know, I would see things on social media on how you can lose a couple pounds, or you’re supposed to look this way, or you’re supposed to feel this way or whatever. And so I would always go through this cycle of trying something, and getting discouraged because it wasn’t working. And then that would lead to you know, just another five pounds, because it didn’t work and you know, what was going wrong was continuing to go wrong. And, and so that just built up, you know, year over year over a year. And then I got to a spot where I was 215 pounds, right at the start of quarantine. And I’m looking at quarantine just like everybody else is looking at it going, Hey, you know, like this is not going to be good. It’s going to be more than five pounds this time just because of the circumstances for all in right. And so I had heard about you and Code Red  through a family friend and a youth leader growing up. And he had incredible results his wife did to like to the point where I would see pictures, and I would like just be so impressed. And just so blown away with the results they had gotten and how quickly they had gotten them. And, you know, because he’s a family friend, and somebody that my dad knows well and whatnot, we knew that that’s what he had done, even though it wasn’t super public on social media and whatnot. And so Code Red  was just in the back of my mind is like one of these options I might take eventually, you know, because that’s kind of what I always had was this set list of options of, well, you know, I’ll try this next or whatever, and see if it works. And so, in May, I was thinking in the back of my mind, I’m going to read the code red book. And so I found it, I listened to it. audio book, which I would highly recommend since you read it yourself, which is super motivating and you can I felt like I knew you at the end. So it was great. And and for the first time I was like I feel like I really know exactly what to do every single day. I know what the rules are. And the responsibility is on me now. Like I just have to follow the rules. And so I did and that’s that’s literally what I’ve been doing since then. And 60 pounds have just melted off in six months.

Unknown Speaker  49:58  

How did you get To be 215 How did you get fat?

Unknown Speaker  50:02  

Yeah, I,

Mark  50:03  

I really think that it’s just that slow cycle, just being unhappy with the way that I was trying something, having it not work. And then just giving up again and kind of throwing my hands up like, Oh, well, I guess this is just never gonna work or I don’t know if you’ve ever seen i think it’s it’s gone around before. There’s like a little picture that you’ll see on social media. Sometimes it’s like a big paragraph. And it’s basically just all of the contradictions that you hear in the health and diet world of, you need to be eating this, No, you shouldn’t be eating that you need to be doing this amount of exercise. Oh, no, too much exercise is bad. And just back and forth. And back and forth. That was really how I felt. And I would keep doing that back and forth, which I think is what the industry wants you to do. Because it gets you fat. And then they they’ve gotten you for your whole life. But I read your book, and that took me out of a cage.

Cristy  51:00  

So were you eating fast food. Were you drinking? Were you Eating sugar? Was it any kind of sadness or anything kind of just this whole cycle? I know that sugar hijacks our brain, but not everybody is, you know, a sugar like sugar, they’d rather have pasta or something. How was it that were you just kind of falling into this trap of fast food?

Mark  51:23  

Yeah, a little bit. That was probably a little bit easier to do after going out like to college and getting married. And you know, that kind of thing. But for the most part, like, I wasn’t like absolutely eating like super, super, super unhealthy. But it wasn’t healthy. And that day over day over day, month over month doesn’t lead you to a great place. And the worse off you get the more disheartened you get. And then the more emotions can start to play into it and make it even worse. So yeah.

Cristy  51:57  

What were your emotions doing when you were at your heaviest? Were you What were you battling with in your mind? And your confidence?

Mark  52:04  

I think it’s always this conversation in your mind of is this, okay? And trying to tell yourself that it’s okay, because you don’t know any other way out of it except to tell yourself that it’s okay. And I was just thinking last night that one of the ways that happens most naturally, I think is to keep telling yourself, Well, I’m only like 20 pounds over or whatever. Like, I’m not 60 or 75 pounds over, it’s only like 20. Because in your mind. 20 is like a lot like, I’ve never been able to lose 20 pounds doing anything else. And so, you know, it’s probably just 20 pounds, if I could get to 195 or 190. Like I’d be in good shape. And I was thinking about that, because it kind of comes back to your what you say in the book of your goal, weight is almost always too high. And that’s that’s definitely been my experience. So I think just kind of rationalizing what the number is that you’re seeing, as well as just trying to see it as infrequently as you possibly can, you know, by not weighing yourself very often.

Cristy  53:09  

Yeah, ignoring it. Were you taught wrong. I know you’re a fairly young guy. So you’re in school, now you’re in college, and you’re working on and you’re, you know, show, what were you taught in high school or leading up to this point, or maybe some basic nutrition classes in college that were wrong? Because you would think, well, the government’s got my back, and they’ll teach us the right way. And clearly, I mean, you were taught wrong, or you wouldn’t have you would never have gotten to be Jeff teen.

Mark  53:37  

Yeah, it’s funny you asked because I was just talking to my wife about this the other day, she works at an elementary school here locally. And she was talking about how they were talking about, I don’t know what it’s called, but you know, the the food pyramid and how it’s kind of evolved. And she was explaining what that is these days. And growing up for me, and I think a lot of other people, it was just the food pyramid. And I was laughing because I was remembering that bread was at the bottom. And it’s the biggest section and then there’s like dairy and, and cheese and that kind of thing. And stuff now that I know is is no good if you’re trying to lose weight, especially. And so I was kind of wondering, you know, what, that kind of thing early on might might have taught a lot of people about the way to eat. Because, you know, that’s something coming from the government, this big institution that like you feel like inclined to believe, you know, and nobody ever tells you that they’ve changed their mind. And so, you know, there’s probably things like that, that are deep rooted in a lot of people. I mean, I’m 24 years old, and that’s what I was learning. So, I mean, there’s a lot of people who are, who are, you know, just right around 20 years old, that that’s what they were learning. And so, that gets so confusing and creates the frustration when you You’re trying to lose weight, because you hear about all of these contradicting things.

Cristy  55:05  

So you lost 60 pounds just by reading the code red revolution book, which is absolutely. As one of my favorite things to hear, I know I can get weight off people with the challenge and weight off people with a custom program. But you did this just from the information in the book. So when you what was the biggest thing you notice other than the scale going down, that was changing as you were changing your diet,

Mark  55:28  

I think the biggest thing and probably the harder thing, which I’m grateful is, the harder thing to work on through the process is to change your relationship with food. Because if you follow the rules, the weights going to come off. But if through the whole process, all you think about every day is as soon as I hit my goal weight, I’m gonna get that favorite ice cream again, or I’m gonna go grab that or this or whatever, then as soon as the rules go away, or as soon as you go into maintenance mode, and things are a little bit less strict, then I mean, you really have to have that relationship with food changed. Otherwise, you might just find yourself back in the same spot. And so I think that’s actually one of the beauties of the whole maintenance mode concept is that this is a very long process, it’s a lifelong process. It’s a lifestyle, rather than a diet, of changing your relationship with food, even beyond just getting the pounds off. So I would say that’s the second biggest and probably my favorite thing, overall of what’s changing of you know, you talk in the book about rewarding yourself, I think it’s every 20 or 30 pounds with get a different outfit that fits better that you look good and feel good and and reward yourself with that feeling rather than with the the sugar high in your brain.

Cristy  56:47  

Absolutely Did you know you weren’t, you weren’t sick at all before, maybe that’s the direction you were to hit, you would have been heading if you had not have nip this in the bud. So it’s not like you had loads of medication that you got off or anything like that. But you just started feeling better with the 60 pounds off, you know, did you? I don’t know, did you notice? Like less brain fog or more energy or higher confidence?

Mark  57:13  

Yeah, definitely. And I mentioned to you in my post last Sunday, that there were a couple of times in there where you know, like a birthday or something would come up and then I’d have like the slice of cake or whatever during the process. And I feel like that’s an important message to get across to because I was telling my wife last night that you don’t have to be absolutely perfect, you want to be through the whole process. But part of that changing your relationship with food is making sure you’re just trending in the right direction as well. And I say that because during those, you know, that moment where I cheated, or whatever, I didn’t sleep as well that night. Or the next morning, it was harder to get out of bed and like get going on my homework. Or I’d find myself confused with what the professor is talking about, or, you know, that kind of thing where like that stuff is real. And that’s a huge benefit as well that like, even you know, when you get into maintenance mode, and it’s the whole 9010 rule. When you do that 10% or whatever, on that one day or you know that one meal, like you feel it that night and the next day, because it’s very real, because the detox has actually in reality happened this this isn’t all just some kind of joke or, you know, ploy or anything like it’s real, it actually happens in your body. And you can actually feel it. And so it makes you not want to cheat because it just doesn’t feel good. It might feel good in the moment. But I mean, you got a whole day to put up with of becoming more inflamed and gaining some weight back. And you know, it’s just terrible. You don’t really want to do it that much anymore.

Cristy  58:55  

So you are married, and how long have you been married?

Mark  58:57  

Just a little over two years.

Cristy  58:59  

Okay, fairly new. So even though this this is your soulmate, this is somebody you love through thick and thin. Obviously, she loved you through 60 pounds heavier and all that stuff. That’s not even an issue. Has this changed your relationship at all with your wife?

Mark  59:15  

Yeah, I think so. I mean, like you mentioned, she’s always been so supportive, and really loves me for who I am and whatnot, which is awesome. You know, I couldn’t ask for anybody better. But, you know, I feel like the biggest thing is that it sends a message to her that I am respecting myself, which is a huge, huge signal, I think to her that I also respect her. And so, yeah, I just think that’s a really great benefit as well of, you know, if I’m literally proving through my health that I don’t respect myself, how could I be respecting anybody else and so that’s a great change as well to to kind of show that through my actions more than my words, I think it also has made me more positive as well. Because before, you know, she got to be the one who was always hearing, oh, I’m not happy with how I look or feel, or I’m too fat or you know, this or that or whatever. And now that’s all totally changed.

Cristy  1:00:20  

Why do you think men, men are sometimes afraid to do Code Red  or sometimes? Afraid? I mean, it’s what I’m thinking steak and asparagus, eggs and bacon, why would a man not? But from from your perspective, why is there hesitation? 93% of our clients are women. We don’t have very many men. I don’t I don’t get that. Do you have an opinion on that?

Mark  1:00:40  

I think it probably stems back from the industry and how the whole diet industry like most of their guns are pointed straight at women. And I think the that men might feel the same way. Just as often, just like, I think that younger people feel the same way. As somebody who’s 45 or whatever. It’s, it’s just where the industry has their, their, their targets. And I think that men are more often comfortable or can more easily explain away the reason that they’re bigger, or all their friends look the same. Or, you know, there’s men and movies that have a gut whereas I don’t know of any women in movies that have a gut really, you know, it’s it’s much less frequent. And so it’s just all the messaging and then just the dynamic of going through your life as a as a woman versus a man I suppose.

Cristy  1:01:40  

Yeah, yeah, you hit the nail on the head. I couldn’t have said that better myself. This is show this is show good from a whole different perspective. We’ve never heard an angle like this before. And it absolutely means so much to all of us. So I appreciate it guys. 10 Lb takedown comm is where to go to join the next challenge, or get the code red revolution book is sold at bookstores go to Codde Red revolution.com. go to Amazon guys get started. Somehow you don’t have to live like this. Thank you again, Mark, so very much for being on here.

Mark  1:02:08  

Yeah, absolutely. Thanks so much for having me. It’s super fun.

Cristy  1:02:13  

Thanks so much for listening to this episode of rebel weight loss and lifestyle. Do you have a question that you’d like me to answer raw and uncut on the podcast? Then all you have to do is head over to Apple podcast on your phone or computer and do three simple things. leave a rating and review telling me what you think of the podcast. And in that review, ask anything you want related to health, weight loss or mindset. And if you want a shout out, leave your Instagram handle or name, that’s all. Then listen in to hear your question answered live raw and uncut on the next q&a episode, so I’ll see you on the next episode of rebel weight loss and lifestyle.