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Scot S: Today's episode of "Who Cares About Men's ÑÇÖÞ×ÔοÊÓƵ" is for guys who are doing pretty well with their health but maybe would like to do a little bit better and have been struggling to make progress. Who do you go see? Who can help you accomplish your goal? Is it a primary care physician? A nutritionist? A fitness bro with a YouTube channel?

This is "Who Cares About Men's ÑÇÖÞ×ÔοÊÓƵ," providing information, inspiration, and a different interpretation about men's health. We've got a great cast here today. First of all, he is the man that brings the MD. It's my co-host from the emergency, Dr. Troy Madsen.

Troy: I'm trying to think of something that rhymes with "C," but I don't have anything, Scot. But yeah, it's me.

Scot S: All right, and I'm Scot Singpiel. I bring the BS and ask the dumb questions so you don't have to. Producer Mitch is in the mix. Hey, Producer Mitch.

Mitch: Hey there.

Scot S: All right. Then we've got our all-around baller shot-caller with a PhD in eatology. It's Thunder Jalili.

Thunder: Hey, guys.

Scot S: And our guest today is a listener. He sent in a listener email and had some questions, so we're going to try to answer them as good as we can. It's an interesting situation that Scot has. Scot, how are you doing so far? Doing all right?

Scot: I'm doing all right. Glad to be here.

Scot S: Scot, tell us a little bit about what your situation was so we can set the stage for the conversation.

Scot: So my situation is I'm a mid-30s male. I'm in pretty decent health. I'm able to go running once or twice a week. I can run five kilometers at a time. They're not terribly fast, but they're not terribly slow. I do some biking. Back in the before times, I would go swimming. Two years ago, I did a sprint triathlon and I finished it, which was my goal. So things are going pretty well.

But I have a knee that doesn't really behave much beyond five kilometers. I weigh a little too much. Just kind of a lot of things that are a little bit off. My blood pressure is always up a little bit, no matter how much I exercise it seems. So just kind of everything is a little bit off.

And when I went and talked to my primary care physician about it, he pretty much just said, "If I bothered every person that came in here with a BMI of 26, that's all I would do every day," and kind of pushed me out the door. And so I sent in the question wondering, "Well, if it's not my primary care physician, who should I go see? Is it a physical therapist or whatever?" And now I'm here.

Scot S: All right. Fantastic. Hey, Troy, do you want to give the synopsis à la medical style like you would?

Troy: That's right. This is like residents when they see a patient that they come and present to me, and I would basically present Scot's case as a male in his mid-30s. He has a BMI of 26.6, which is a little overweight, with a BMI of 25 being that overweight category. Reports a blood pressure of 128 over 75, which that top number maybe a little on the high side by NIH standards. It's a little bit above 120, so maybe a little bit elevated. He sounds like he exercises fairly regularly, runs a 5k once or twice a week. He bikes. He says he can do five pull-ups.

Scot S: That's pretty impressive actually. Maybe we spend the rest of the episode talking about that.

Troy: Seriously. Yeah, five pull-ups.

Mitch: When I first read the email, I'm like, "Scot, it is the same story with me." Even down to the little bit of BMI, the running, whatever. But when it said five pull-ups, I'm like, "That's not me."

Troy: That's right. Mitch, similar to you, he does report some knee pain if he tries to run a little bit farther than 7k. So I know you've had some knee pain. You've had some ankle issues as well.

Well, I guess, Scot, is there . . . I think the first question is for you. Was there something that prompted you to really say, "Hey, okay, this is all right, but I want things to be better"? What was it that made you think this and start asking these questions?

Scot: I guess it's just kind of been over 10 to 15 years of adult life nothing has really changed. My weight has stayed at about 180. Sometimes it goes down a little, sometimes it goes up a little, but it kind of tends towards the mean.

Some thoughts of, "I'm getting older, and if I could get this under control now it might make life easier in the future instead of trying to be 55 or 60 and like, 'Oh, no, retirement is coming up and I'm going to be on the beach every day. I'd better start working on that.'" I don't think it would work. So it was really just a "nothing really seems to be working."

I guess I should state that as far as diets and exercise and stuff goes, I haven't tried anything extreme. So I haven't tried any of the "cut out all of the carbs" or "cut out all of the meat" or "only eat smoothies." I haven't done any crazy exercise regimes just because . . . It's important, but I don't want it to become my personality.

Scot S: Thunder, what's your take on that?

Thunder: Actually, I had just a couple of questions about the diet/exercise component of what you were doing. I have a general sense of it kind of in broad strokes, but could you give me a little bit of color? When you exercise . . . so it sounds like you run a couple of times a week. Is that the main thing you do? Or what else do you do to kind of burn calories, so to speak?

Scot: So that really is the main thing. I'm an office worker, so I do a lot of sitting, like exclusively sitting. So there's playing with kids and exercise. Before the pandemic, before I was working at home, I would walk to work, which was about a kilometer there and a kilometer back, which was nice.

That's pretty much it as far as . . . The exercise is the real thing. Other than that, it's just kind of walking around if we happen to go for a walk or do some yard work or whatever. It's just kind of incidental caloric burn.

Scot S: So are you going to put him on some extreme exercise program now and diet, Thunder?

Thunder: Yeah, we're going to start with the weighted vest for 24 hours a day.

Troy: But I think . . . yeah, go ahead, Thunder.

Thunder: Thank you for sharing that. One thing you mentioned that I think is great is you said you try to play with kids and walk around and do some of this kind of ancillary exercise. People don't consider that exercise, but actually, it is activity, and all that stuff counts.

So my other question is about the diet side of things. You mentioned you haven't tried anything extreme, but how would you characterize your diet in terms of variety of foods? Do you kind eat like a little everything, or are there things you don't like? And how do you feel about it? How much processed foods or fast foods do you typically have in your diet?

Scot: So I feel like we do pretty well. We generally don't have any sodas, just kind of as a matter of course. Throughout the day, it's pretty varied. However, we do lean much more towards the pasta and carbohydrate side of the spectrum than meat-heavy, but that's not to say . . . We usually end up getting a serving of meat in per day. We like eggs, so there's a decent amount of eggs involved.

Breakfasts are probably an . . . well, it's a guilty pleasure essentially because I don't really like waking up, so it's just "get up, get a bowl of sugary cereal, and be done." But that's more out of convenience than anything else.

Thunder: And are you a snacker?

Scot: So throughout the day, no, but it's not uncommon for me to have a snack with my young kids in the morning or the afternoon, but generally not both. It's apples and the goldfish crackers and a little bit of that.

Troy: What about sodas? I know, Thunder, you've talked about this before. Do you drink a lot of sodas or how does that factor into your diet?

Scot: Essentially next to none. Sometimes for birthdays or whatever it's nice to grab a ginger beer or something like that, some sort of fancy soda. So it's like a bottle or two a year.

Troy: You're doing great there.

Thunder: Yeah, great.

Scot S: And that was one of Scot's frustrations, is that he feels like he's kind of done those easy things. Not to say that you shouldn't ask about those easy things, but cutting out soda, that sort of stuff, and still not seeing . . .

Troy: Yeah, the obvious stuff is . . . he's really taken care of it.

Thunder Before we get into it, just as a little encouragement, it sounds like you eat fairly well. You try to exercise. You're really not that overweight. So don't get too down on yourself, right?

Now, having said that, a couple of things that I would think about if I were you. One is maybe some different kinds of exercise. It doesn't necessarily have to take more time out of your day, but it could be perhaps more efficient and maybe more targeted towards building strength and burning calories.

If you have any interest at all in ever going to a gym, and some people don't and that's totally fine, it'd be a great idea to hire a personal trainer for a couple of sessions. They're really good about giving you ideas of what kinds of exercises to do, how to use certain machinery, and just doing things that are maybe different, instead of just going to the gym like most guys and bench pressing and doing arm curls or something. But resistance exercise actually is good for your whole body. So that's one thought.

If you don't like that, then there are other ways to incorporate more exercise into what you do. Recognizing your knee limitation, I don't know if you can run more than twice a week, but that would be one option. Biking is actually a great alternative to that because, obviously, it's low impact and it can take about the same amount of time as running.

Scot S: How many minutes of exercise do you think you get a week?

Scot: Somewhere between 90 and 120, so an hour and a half to two hours.

Scot S: That's kind of in the ballpark, isn't it, Thunder?

Thunder: I think . . .

Scot S: A little higher?

Thunder: I think if it would be higher, it would be better just in terms of what I've learned about your weight goals and your health goals. I think if you did a little more, it'd be better.

Scot S: And that would be maybe just short-term to kind of get the extra weight off and then you could go back to a maintenance? I know time is important. He doesn't really want to invest a ton more time.

Thunder: I know. See, this is the tough part. I'll be honest with you, Scot. The way human beings are built . . . you look at the human being of 10,000 years ago, even 5,000 years ago, even now, primitive cultures, they spend a lot of physical activity, a lot of calorie expenditure, in the effort to procure and prepare food. That may take hours, right? And so they don't exercise per se, but just the act of getting food is a tremendous amount of exercise.

Now you fast forward to a modern society where we don't have to do that. We can just go to a store or go to a restaurant and we're just handed something. We cut out all that other stuff.

So when you try to incorporate exercise kind of in the modern sense, you've got to try to make up a little bit for all that lost calorie expenditure that we had in the past that we don't have to do anymore.

So having said that, probably you want to shoot for more than that 90 minutes or two hours a week. If you don't, it's just going to be harder to maintain your body weight.

Scot S: What's the number you're looking at? 210? Is it 30 minutes a day?

Thunder: Yeah, I would say 30 minutes a day is what I would recommend, just the baseline. It doesn't have to be every day. You could take a couple of days off and maybe do an hour five days a week, something like that. But the reality is you have to just have a little bit more of that activity in there, because we're just not built to maintain body weight on just a little bit of activity.

Scot: So when you're talking about activity, what are we really looking at? So when I was giving you the minutes, I was meaning . . . not really counting in the warm up, cool down, get done running and now walk for 10 minutes to cool down.

And when you're talking about other exercises, what should I really be looking for? Is it really just the fact that I am exercising? Or if we're talking about a pulse, are we wanting to get the pulse up above a certain level? Because my pulse is a lot higher when I'm running versus when I'm biking, but is a minute of running and a minute of biking comparable?

Troy: Scot, I'm going to give the quote that I know everyone loves. This is the Matthew McConaughey rule. I've quoted Matthew McConaughey before. His rule of thumb, which I love, is he says just do something every day that makes you sweat. And he doesn't . . . obviously, I'm sure he has a personal trainer and all kinds of other things, but there's something to be said for that, about not worrying about metrics and pulse and this and that.

I think if you can do something every day for 30 minutes, whether it's biking or running or a vigorous walk, or maybe it's, like Thunder said, doing some resistance training. Maybe you don't like going to the gym. So maybe if there's a way you can stand and do just some free weights or something while you're working. I think anything you can do just once a day that's incorporating it to get your heart rate up a bit, I think that makes a huge difference.

Scot S: Let me also throw in there too. So I have two or three kettlebells in my office, and every 50 minutes . . . Do you try to stand up every hour? I mean, I try to stand up every 50 minutes, every 55 minutes. But I take that 5 or 10 minutes and I'll do some push-ups or I'll grab those kettlebells, and it's called the rack position and I'll do some squats or something, some of those big muscle exercises.

Troy, you can tell me if I'm making this up, but I thought that there was some research out there that said exercise doesn't have to be the continual 30 minutes. You can do little exercise snacks. You could have a little five-minute session where you do some squats and deadlifts, some overhead presses with those kettlebells, and then go back to work. I find it gets my brain going again. It wakes me up and I'm better equipped to take that next hour or so.

Thunder: Can I add a couple of other perhaps easy things?

Scot: Sure.

Thunder: Scot, you like to go on after-dinner walks? That's an easy thing to do.

Scot: I do like to do that. Sometimes it's difficult with the little kids because we're all kind of getting tired and grumpy, but yes, we do like doing that.

Thunder: Yeah, so that's an easy one. I always encourage people to maybe do some of their own chores around the house. I mean, I know in my neighborhood everybody hires someone to do their lawn. I'm like the only one in a five-mile area that actually does his own lawn, but it makes me sweat, getting to Troy's point. So things like that, because it does add up.

Troy: And I think a great thing too . . . A couple of points here. Thunder, you talked about be sure and give yourself credit. You really are doing a good job. Obviously, you want to optimize things, but you're doing very well. You're doing a lot of exercise. It sounds like you've really focused on some of the big things on diet.

But I think it's really important . . . you mentioned, "I haven't done any crazy diets. I'm not doing any super extreme exercise stuff." And I worry sometimes that we feel like we have to do those things to really get healthy. But I think if you can just say, "Hey, this is where I am. What can I do to just do something every day?" Right now, you're doing stuff a few times a week. Is there a way you can incorporate stuff into just your daily routine, anything just to get 20 to 30 minutes of getting your heart rate up a bit just once a day every day? I'm sure after a month of doing that you'll start to see some returns from that.

Scot: Okay, that sounds good. I mean, while we were talking about it, I was worrying like, "Okay, this kind of sounds like, 'Do a little bit more and you'll see essentially more of the same.'" But I hope that there can be differences after a month or two of more consistent activity through the day.

Troy: Yeah, and I think that's important too, because a lot of times we jump in and we want to do something and we want to see results fairly quickly. But I think if you just say, "Hey, I'm going to do this, and I'm going to do something now every day where I've been doing something a few times a week, and I'm going to give it four weeks, and then I'm going to reevaluate and see where things are," I think it's important to do that just to make that commitment, that four-week commitment.

And again, just looking at where you are now, looking at how successful you've been to this point, and then just thinking adding that little more. You figure if you can do something every day you're going to increase your . . . at least those times your heart rate is up, you're going to increase that by at least 50% a week in terms of total time. I'm sure you're going to see some results with that.

Scot S: So I feel like we've talked about the physical part of the equation. Thunder, is there a nutritional part that you would like to explore a little bit further? And then I want both of you gentlemen to think about if there's anything else.

Thunder: Thanks, Scot. So yeah, there are a couple of things with nutrition that come to mind. One thing that I ask people to evaluate in their own diet, and I haven't obviously seen your diet in detail. I just kind of know the broad strokes. But what are your portion sizes? Think about that. Are they just right? Are they a little much? Are they chronically too low? That actually can be a bad thing, because if you're always kind of semi-starving yourself you're actually reducing your metabolic rate and it'll make it easier to gain weight and harder to lose weight. So portion size is one thing to consider.

And the other thing to consider is how much meat and animal products you eat. Now, I'm not telling you that you have to be a complete vegan or anything, but people who eat less meat also tend to have a little easier time maintaining their body weight.

And actually, I know Troy has had some personal experiences with this, so he can perhaps share a personal story. But I know when I went to a lower meat diet, I think I lost like a couple of pounds, which doesn't sound like a lot, but on me a couple of pounds is a lot, and right away. And it never really came back as I kind of kept that vegetarian or semi-vegetarian approach. So that's another thing to think about as you look at your own diet.

Then the last thing is think about visiting a dietitian. And I'm saying this because one of the things you were kind of a little disgruntled with is, "I don't have any time to talk to my physician. I don't know where to go for some of this information." If you talk with a dietician, if you book an appointment with a dietitian, they will give you half an hour or an hour as part of your appointment and you can just talk. You can ask them questions. You can tell them about your diet. You can get their opinion. That time is there for you.

I think that's something that you just don't find in the modern medical system, because a doctor may only have 10 or 15 minutes or whatever to see you, or 20 minutes, and then he has to move on to the next patient who perhaps is much sicker than you and actually needs the attention. So I would consider the dietitian.

Scot: I have a question about the first point that you brought up as far as portion sizes. I haven't done calorie counting or anything like that, because it's kind of hard when you're preparing your own food. I mean, if it comes from a box, it's pretty easy to look on the box and say, "I ate this much." So as far as portion sizes, I just try and make it so that I stop eating before I'm full, and that's kind of just been how I've been doing it. But I do recognize I could probably eat a little bit less without starving myself, which is probably something that needs to happen.

Thunder: That's a very intelligent way of going about it, stopping to eat before you're completely full. And another trick is perhaps try to eat a little slower. Again, I have no idea if you're a slow eater or a fast eater, but that's another approach that I know people have used.

Scot S: And smaller plates too. I use a smaller plate. You get those big dinner plates. I take the next size down and I find that . . . Because you see the big plate, and you want to fill that plate with food. Otherwise, it doesn't look right. So that might be another thing.

I know that some of the stuff we're talking about kind of . . . What's your honest opinion of it, Scot? Do you just kind of feel like it's more of the same? Or do you feel like, "Oh, these are dumb. These things won't work. They're too easy"? Where are you at?

Scot: I was expecting a little bit more of like a cheerleader type thing of, "Yeah, you can totally do it." Whereas I feel like we've touched several times about, "Yeah, you should just be chill. You should be happy for where you're at right now."

But it is nice to sit here and talk and have people say, "Hey, when you get up from your chair while you're working, if you just do some push-ups, grab some weights, do something, get your heart rate up for a couple of minutes, you might actually see some changes." That is something that I have not really tried. And so I'm excited to try that out.

Troy: Yeah, I guarantee you'll see differences here, Scot. And it doesn't have to be a dramatic effort. Thunder kind of alluded to this a little bit, and I've talked a little bit about my experience previously. My big issue was my cholesterol. My cholesterol levels were surprisingly high when I got them checked. And so I tried a vegetarian diet, which I've continued now for many years, and that definitely helped.

And then I got to a point where I just started . . . you said you're doing a 5k a few times a week. I just said, "I'm going to try and run just two miles a day." So just two miles a day every day. And I said, "I'm going to do that every day because then I don't have an excuse not to do it," because I'm like, "Well, I do it every day." And I found that just made such a big difference doing that and just trying to incorporate that. Then it allowed me to look and say, "Well, this is where I am. Can I increase this?" and then kind of build from there.

But I think these small changes . . . again, looking where you are now and just making a small change to increase that to every day, something to get your heart rate up, something to make you sweat, get working out a little bit, I definitely think you're going to see a difference with that.

Like Thunder talked about, maybe some things with your diet as well you can look at there and maybe portion size, maybe not eating until you're completely full, things like that.

And again, in your situation, we're kind of talking about fine-tuning things. Again, I know your primary care physician said you're doing well, and I think you are doing really well, but I also see exactly where you're coming from and I think this will help you get more to optimizing things.

Thunder: Hey, Scot. In full honesty, I actually exercise every day like Troy. Six to seven days a week I'll do something. So like I said, there's sometimes no substitute for volume because our bodies are kind of meant for a lot more activity. It's just that our context of our modern society makes it kind of tough. So that's something to consider.

But really talking with a dietitian, you'll get a lot more of what we're doing here and really a chance to explore the nuances of your diet that I don't think we could do on a show, because I'm not looking at your five-day food diary or anything to have specifics to kind of jump on.

Scot S: Hey, Troy. I got a question for you. So if Scot tries to amp the activity up to 30 minutes a day and then goes to a dietician and finds a few little small changes in the diet, is that going to help the blood pressure? I mean, I think we all can agree those types of changes could eventually help the BMI and the cholesterol, as Thunder said, but what about the blood pressure?

Thunder: Before Troy answers that, let me just say one thing. Blood pressure taken in a doctor's office, as Troy can probably attest to, is not always the most accurate because there's . . . some people are nervous and their pressure is a little high. So I would say if you had your blood pressure checked a lot and it's always around there, then it's legit. If that's just one measurement you've done and that's what it happened to be, I wouldn't put too much stock in it.

Troy: Agreed. Yeah, I always tell people that, especially in the ER. I say, "Do not base anything on what your blood pressure is here." You really need readings over months and months, and usually at home while you're relaxed, home blood pressure cuff. And if there's any concern, usually your doctor will do that.

So honestly, as I see your blood pressure, I'm not really concerned. I can see you're concerned with BMI being a little high, cholesterol being a little bit high.

But I think the answer to your question, Scot, is absolutely. I think you're going to see differences across the board. As your weight comes down a little bit, maybe you lose 5 to 10 pounds, I think you'll probably see your blood pressure come down a bit as well probably as a response also to just the regular exercise. I think that's going to make a big difference there.

And before you get your cholesterol checked, I'd give it six months in a new routine and see these other things come down, and I think at the six-month mark you'll get your cholesterol checked and I think you'll see improvements there as well.

Scot: How important is it to have variety in your exercise life? I can't remember who it was. It was probably Troy that said that he went running two miles every day. Is it better just "variety and the spice of life" sort of way? Or does our body really care that much? Thirty minutes of sweating is 30 minutes of sweating.

Troy: The big thing I'd encourage is try to bring in some resistance training. I think just from what you're telling us, that's one thing you could really do right now, and just bring that into your routine while you're working with some free weights, just some dumbbells or kettlebells or whatever you like, and do that along with what you're doing with the running. Then maybe throw in some biking or, like Thunder mentioned, maybe an evening walk, things like that that are easy enough to add on.

Scot S: Hey, Troy. Do physical therapists, physical therapy places you go for that, do they teach any strength training, like resistant-band training if that's what Scot wanted to try, or anything like that?

Troy: I think a physical therapist . . . I think, Scot, if you went to someone for your knee specifically, and some of the joint issues you've had, that might be helpful. Typically, I think most physical therapists are going to focus on weak areas and pain that you're having. So I'm sure they could talk to you about that.

And if that's a limitation in terms of what you're able to do cardiovascular-wise, whether it's running or whatever else you're trying to do at this point, that may be a consideration. I think if you just went in there and generally said, "Well, I want resistance training, etc.," I don't know that they would be the best person for that. But for some of these chronic issues, I think they could be helpful.

Thunder: And one other kind of plug for the personal trainer. If you find a good trainer, the other thing that they'll do, Scot, is they'll kind of try to evaluate where you're at with your current condition.

I'll tell you right now most men in their 30s and beyond have weak hamstrings. They have weak low back muscles. They have kind of weak core muscles. So those types of areas can be augmented with resistance training, right? So that's another reason to seek out other kinds of help.

Now, a physical therapist would be a great trainer. It's just you'd have to go through the medical route to get that, and as Troy said, it would be kind of targeted towards maybe an area that's injured that needs to be rehabilitated. And I think part of what we're trying to get you to think about is not just dealing with your injury, but going forward, increasing your whole-body resistance training not only to burn calories, but to also keep you strong as you go forward in years.

Troy: Scot, originally when we got your email and we talked about this, we thought, "Wow, that is certainly a common dilemma of really trying to optimize where do you really go in the healthcare system to get that." And yeah, you can try on self-education and reading and all that, but there are different health systems that will have certain programs set up that incorporate so many of these different factors.

The ÑÇÖÞ×ÔοÊÓƵ of Utah has PEAK Fitness that has different things, like Thunder talked about, a dietitian. They do the BOD POD testing. They have other specialists you can consult with, personal trainers, all those sorts of things. Intermountain ÑÇÖÞ×ÔοÊÓƵ also has a similar thing through their LiVe Well centers. So depending on your insurance, that may be something to look into.

Usually with these, there is an out-of-pocket fee, but they can also offer a lot of these people who can help really look at where you are and help give you this advice. And like Thunder said, you can really pick their brain and try and learn from them.

Thunder: I think this is why we have so many people now who market themselves as health coaches and nutritionists and trainers and wellness coaches and so on and so forth, because they're trying to address the gap that's existing now in the healthcare system.

Scot S: Going to try to wrap this episode up. So through the process of communication, we are trying to kind of come up with solutions and solve problems. Unfortunately, sometimes that can get a little overwhelming. I'm overwhelmed for you, Scot, and I have a fairly decent understanding of all the issues here.

So I want to ask you . . . Now, I've been taking notes so I'm prepared to give a summary, but I want to ask you what you think your steps forward might be, keeping in mind that it doesn't need to be a wholesale change. It's just those small little things. Are there a couple of small things you think you could do now consistently that you heard today? What do you think?

Scot: I think that some of the low-hanging fruit would be having some sort of weights, some sort of resistance training that when I stand up periodically, do something. I mean, there's bodyweight training, like push-ups and sit-ups, whatever. So I think that that's something that I could definitely do.

Maybe eating a little bit less. I am planning on contacting a dietitian. That seems like something that I would be able to do pretty easily. It wouldn't require much face-to-face stuff, or only once or twice, versus a personal trainer-type situation.

But I am very interested in getting a personal trainer. I think that if I tried to get more minutes of exercise in the week and then go and meet with a personal trainer once a week for a month, and then see where I can go from there.

I feel like there are a lot of directions to go. And I feel like this has been a very helpful conversation, I guess, to wrap it all up.

Scot S: And you don't feel overwhelmed right now?

Scot: Oh, yeah, definitely.

Troy: Well, let me just wrap it up then, Scot, because I think the big point I want you to understand is you're doing great. I mean, that's the bottom line. You really are doing well. Your numbers are, it sounds like, just a little bit off. Certainly give yourself credit for everything you've done. Again, it sounds like you've got some very specific things you can do. I think it's important to implement those things. Give it a month. Commit, give it a month, and then reevaluate. But it sounds like you're on the right track.

Scot S: You're talking about small changes, right? Because like Troy said, you're close to where you want to be. So just the fact you want a small change, that just requires small change. It's not like you're completely in terrible health and it's going to be a complete lifestyle overhaul. So I think those small changes would really make a difference. Consistency, we hear time and time again, is cool. And don't do anything crazy. You don't have to do anything crazy with your diet.

Scot: I'm so glad to hear that.

Scot S: Hey, Scot, we would like to check back in with you maybe in four weeks, six weeks, eight weeks, and see where you're at.

Scot: I'm okay checking back in, in a couple of weeks. Honestly, the pressure of needing to come back onto a podcast and tell them, "Hey, there's been progress," is probably one of the most effective tools that . . .

Troy: Yeah, the accountability. It really does make a difference. Well, let's do it. Let's have you back on. And like I said, you want to give it enough time to really get a chance to do it. So maybe six weeks.

Thunder: I think that six weeks would probably be a decent indicator that there should be some movement on one of these dials by then.

Scot S: And I think you hit at the very end of the conversation another component that we could've talked about, and that is having somebody that you're accountable to, have an accountability partner. When I used to work out with a partner, there were days I didn't want to go but I would go for that partner. We're kind of your accountability partners right now.

So that might be something else somebody is listening might find benefit. If you've got a couple of people you got running with and you're accountable to them, then that can make a huge difference.

Scot, we look forward to talking to you in six weeks. Send us any emails along the way. If you have questions, feel free to let us know. If you just even want to check in via email if you have any questions, that would be awesome. And thanks for caring about men's health, Scot.

Scot: Oh, thank you for caring about men's health. I really appreciate it.

Scot S: I wanted to thank Dr. Madsen and Thunder coming with some great advice today. Hopefully Scot got a little something out of that conversation. Hopefully you did too.

So if you're kind of in a similar situation, maybe a couple of your tests from the doctor came back a little high, whether it's cholesterol or blood sugar, or blood pressure, a couple small changes, if otherwise you're doing pretty good, can make a big huge difference. It certainly worked for Troy. So hopefully you picked something out that you could work on as well.

If you did, or if you'd like to give some advice to Scot, you can hit us up on our Facebook page. It's facebook.com/whocaresmenshealth. Go ahead and DM us there or put a post up on the wall. You can also email us hello@thescoperadio.com. And you can leave a voicemail message too if you call 601-55-SCOPE.

And the most important thing, I should've put this first but I put it last, is if you found value in this podcast and you know somebody else in your life that would find this episode useful, sharing it goes a long way to help us get word out about our podcast.

Thanks for listening. Thanks for caring about men's health.

Scot S: Mitch, Scot, Troy, can you hear me?

Scot: Yes.

Troy: I can hear you.

Scot S: All right. Great. All right. Hey, Scot, I just need to get this recorded too. I just want to confirm that that was your signature on the release form that you emailed me.

Scot: That is correct. That is my signature.

Scot S: Okay, great. And I also need to run this disclaimer. This conversation does not constitute a physician-patient relationship. It's for informational purposes only, to be more informed, and then we encourage you to seek out a provider for advice specific to your situation.

Scot: I understand.

Scot S: Great. Cool. Here we go.

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