The Science Of Weight Loss: 3 Openly-Known Secrets

Here is the complete transcript of the podcast

Welcome back. Happy Monday morning to you. Start a new week, a new day. Today on the podcast, I want to address a question that has become a debate. In fact, I have been talking about hypnosis and weight loss for a while on this podcast. Recently, I was just a couple of weeks ago, I believe I was talking about the role of hypnosis and weight loss and how it can be used and all that. So I have gotten some questions. So thank you, when I get questions, it means you’re listening. So it gives me hope that gives me the motivation to come back and do more. I was going back and forth with a bunch of people on email. So I thought I would expand on it a bit. And take hypnosis out of the discussion completely, and simplify this whole process. Now, if you look at weight loss and fitness in general, there is a lot going on. I don’t know how many billions of dollars of an industry, it is so many products, so many programs, and so much going on within the weight loss space.

But question is when you say weight loss in just a few words, then people think, you know, he’s oversimplifying this. And when you share a lot about weight loss, then they’re like they’re lost, they have no idea because already, they are overwhelmed with everything that they did. And now they have to deal with some more information. So it’s difficult for me or for anyone to kind of give a lot of information at the same time, simplify it, it’s very hard. So what I’m going to do as a part of today’s podcast episode is kind of share my strategy, like what I do to stay fit. And I don’t do a lot. And sometimes people so you have the genetics, and all that you have a very good metabolism and all that your lean all that. So I get it. But I do have some other issues also, such as I do gain weight quickly, I do lose weight quickly, but I do gain quickly. And when I gain I gain in my belly. So that’s all genetics, again, it’s run some in some families, it runs that way. For most families, it runs that way. Sometimes when you try to lose weight, you lose weight, very late in your belly. And that’s, that’s who I am. That’s what my family is. So there’s no way to answer a question on weight loss and fitness in a way that’s going to appeal to everyone, every listener, it’s very hard. But I’m going to address it from my standpoint of the thing that I do and how I do it. And I simplified this to three steps. And I want to share these three steps with you. So first and foremost, I eat six times a day, when I was working out I was getting ready to I was training literally training to go to Everest, I was working out six times, I was eating six times a day. So diet is six times a day, small meals six times a day.

Now before I go and give all the details on this, I call it a three-by-three formula. That’s what I call it now because I’m practicing it right now with this as I speak. And there are three things that you have to do on a daily basis. And you can multiply each one of them. You can do it like literally three times a day, three things you have to do three, three times a day at the minimum, but then you can do more. So let’s talk about the first one of the said already, which is the diet. I eat six times a day. So can I eat three times a day? Yes, they can also eat six times a day. So I’ve gone twice and have ducked out each time I eat 300 calories worth of food. And the reason why I do that is that at the end of my sixth meal, all six meals together come to about 1800 calories is my sustain. So that’s my bass line, maintenance calories.

So those calories I need to maintain myself. Now the reason why I would like to maintain myself is that anything beyond 1800 calories for me based on what I’m trying to do, adds weight. So every time you take in calories, you’re adding weight and you have to burn those calories. So just to give you an idea, if you go run on a treadmill for about at the speed of six miles an hour and you do that for 30 minutes, you will end up burning about 300 calories. Now those 300 calories will take you 30 minutes a lot of pressure on the body and you will dessert a lot better than those 300 calories can be replaced with three pieces, three slices of bread. You’re now 300 calories into your body. So as you see, calorie intake is critical, you know, you got to really, really manage it. And that is why I’ve said this multiple times here on this podcast. That good body is built in the kitchen, not in the gym, which most people think is the gym. It’s not.

Most people go work out and spend a lot of time working out and all but the reality is, you know, everything happens in the kitchen, everything happens the way. So this is a behavior thing. And less of science, less of builds less of habits, of course, habits, but more, it’s just the way that you behave. And of course, habits, good habits, behavior implies good habits, good behavior implies good habits. So I eat six times because I want 1800 calories, I distribute those calories throughout the day, such that my blood sugar levels do not spike. That’s an important part. So people become hungry, and people don’t feel hungry, based on the sugar levels in the body. And there are many other side effects when you drop sugar in the body, which is you become irritated, you could become angry, and. So, spreading 300 calories, I measure every calorie that I take. And I’ve gotten to a point where I don’t measure anymore because I really know every time I fill a cup, you know I can look at the quantity of rice, I can see how many calories cities, I can look at the number of lentils, I can say what kind of you know how many calories are there. So I have a very pictorial understanding of how calories work now because I’ve been doing it for a while I haven’t measured, but I have an analog measure. And I never upgraded to a digital measure. So if you want to measure your calories, all you have to do is three things you go by, you go to a place like Bed, Bath and Beyond. I don’t think they are open anymore. I think they close down. You can go to Walmart, you can go to Costco, I don’t think Costco but maybe Amazon or someplace, and you can order measuring cups, and measuring spoons. And then a scale you need three things, measuring cups, measuring spoons, and a scale. A scale could be digital, awkward be analog, so having an analog one never graduate to digital, but I should. So now I’m able to measure the calories.

Now, how do I measure these calories? And how do I know one cup of rice is 60 calories or whatever? All you need to do is look up your download app called My Fitness Pal. And my fitness pal has all the details on how you know all the measures of you know every all you have to do is put in the quantity of the liquid or the weight of the food. And it tells you all the details in terms of calories and all that, okay gives you all the all of that. Now, the second so this is six times I just eat six I measure I eat. Then the second part, the second step, and the three-step process are I walk 3000 steps. Minimum, I’d say 3000 steps. And in 3000 steps is because I want to burn a lot of calories understand I take in 1800 calories. In fact, I take that back I take in more than 1800 calories my maintenance calories are about 2000 1800 is the bare minimum I just put in 200 more just in case. So 2000 calories is where I am and I won’t because I’m losing weight.

I try to burn more than what I’m taking in at this point in time. So I’m shooting for about 3000 calories burned a day today as I’m speaking. Now, I don’t suggest you do that right away. But I try to walk about 3000 steps a day to burn those calories. Now, 3000 steps is not a lot, and take about an hour to walk 3000 steps. And I suggest that you go three times up somewhere around 10,000 steps a day really if you want to really burn now. That is who again I’m suggesting not to you to myself because I keep going I’m not a fitness expert to tell you you know I understand fitness but I’m not an expert. I’m not certified or any of that stuff so so 10,000 steps is what I walk today, but my bare minimum is 3000 If I’m starting today then I will do 3000 But I’ve gotten a lot of momentum, a lot of agility already so 10,000 is I’m very cool about it and I take three hours to walk back. Now walking is proven to generate better calories and a better burn as compared to running because you run you become tired you eat when eat Then you’re putting back the skeleton into the bloodstream. So it doesn’t work as it’s supposed to and got to be extremely mentally strong so as not to put in calories. Once you are done with a full body exercise where you’re really, really burnt a lot of calories and you’re exhausted, it’s very difficult to contain the hunger at the time. So 3000 steps to 10,000 steps. In the third step, as I already told you, the goal is to hit 3000 calories, now I don’t hit 3000 calories right away, just to let you know, 3000 calories come from active and static.

So active means that I’m really going, you know, doing exercise in the gym, and all that. So for, let’s say, walking right now 3000, so about 1000 calories, I want to burn, walking, running, whatever, all that on the gym, and then the rest 2000 calories come from me being static. Now static in the sense, just doing the basic things like I’m driving around, and you know, just doing the day-to-day chores. Let’s talk about the diet for a second before, before I wrap this up. Today, the way I stand with my night, you know, 2000 calorie maintenance diet, I take in about 165 280 grams of protein every day. And these 180 grams of protein are divided across six meals. Now, it’s hard. And if you’re a vegetarian, you have to take that protein that amounts to a lot of calories. So you got to be extremely careful how you take it in, you are a nonvegetarian, yes, you can eat a lot more protein with lot fewer calories. So it’s, it’s okay, it’s going to work out. But then for vegetarians, it’s difficult. So there are different recipes available and all that maybe I’ll come back and talk about that later on in a different podcast episode. And then I take in about maybe 200 to 300 grams of carbs, and maybe about 50 to 55 grams of fat. So those are the macros. So there are macro calculators available on the internet, you search for your new lookup macro calculator, you put in your age you put in your activity level, whether you are moderate, whether you’re active, there are super active, you can choose, you can kind of put in all that information, and it calculates the macros that you need as a part of your diet and tells you how many, you know right now I’m burning about two pounds a week, like losing two pounds a week. But I’m also gaining too because I’m losing fat and gaining protein. So protein is important protein intake. Protein is what helps you burn more calories while you’re stuck.

So this is my plan. And some people as a part of my communication with them, over the last few days, asked me about what’s your plan. And how do you do it? And I’ve been telling people what I was doing by email. And I thought it makes sense to discuss this as a part of a podcast episode and hence, I’m here talking about it. And I think this podcast episode will also generate some more questions. If it does. Let me know email me text me, you know, you have all the numbers. The best way is to is where text 888-818-0404 That’s the number text me and let me know and I’m going to respond to you. And that’s all that’s the three-step plan for weight loss. So give it a try. Bring it in, and become serious. And then let me know how it worked out for you give it maybe two weeks, three weeks before you judge anything. Okay, that’s all for now, and I’ll catch up with you, Manana, stay tuned.

My Grandma’s Winning Financial Plan

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It’s difficult recording today’s podcast hard. Because every time I turn the microphone on, I have a set agenda, usually a question from someone, maybe some discussion I had with someone. In fact, I had a discussion with a friend of mine last night, in which I wanted to talk about, which is dominant in my mind. But then as I turned the microphone on, the thought is not leaving my mind and had not left my mind since 21 years. And I remember the day this day, 21 years ago, when my dear dear friend, and now even closer friend, called me up around 930 Pacific Time, and said, Srini, I’m sorry, what happened? And I’m like, I said, I don’t. What are you talking about? Well, he says, You don’t know what’s happening. I said, No, I remember his words. Man, the world had changed. How are you? Where are you? Like, his thoughts? His thing? Where are you remember that the world had changed? And I’m like, no, no idea. Because I was sleeping. I was sleeping, my wife was sleeping. And I was going through a very difficult time. 21 years ago, so I was going through a tough time with my business. And I was new to the business. And I was struggling to get the business up and running. And I had some setbacks.

So it was tough. So I was negative on credit cards, and my financial levels were broken. And he tells me that the twin towers have collapsed. And yeah, and he doesn’t say that he says, go turn on your TV. And I turn the TV on, I’ll tell you never experienced anything. as deep and as hard. You know, I remember those bills, I remember those, those videos and the and all that so, so hard, and has never left a memory and will never leave the memory. So I wanted to pause and I kind of took my mind there. As I pressed the record button. And, you know, if you lost a loved one or somebody who you knew, my heart reaches out to you my heartfelt feelings and condolences to everyone who asked I think this goes to all of everyone, everyone. I think all of us have suffered. So at some level from that, we will continue to keep it in our hearts. Just dialing into that conversation. I had my friend yesterday, we were talking about finances. We’re talking about money yesterday. And I will spell my friend about a simple financial plan that my grandmother had, which my mother told me about very late in life.
And it’s interesting that when 911 happened, I was going through a very tough time, financially. And that’s why my goal, the only thing I was doing back then was just I had so much debt. And I was so broken running a business, that I had no idea what to do and how to come out of it. So I used to eat and sleep and the economy was already gone. Anyway, by the time you know it, the.com economy in Silicon Valley was gone. And it was a tough time to be in business. And post 911 Everything went away anyway, it took a long time before everything recovered. It’s seen NASDAQ go from 5400 5500 to 1600. Something’s 16 something. I’ve seen the crash I’ve seen, you know, the emotions, the moods, and everything during the time I experienced that firsthand. So it’s talking to my friend we were talking about. I was telling the story about my grandmother which I think I have talked about here already in one of the podcasts. But if you are new to this podcast, you’re listening or maybe you did not listen to that episode.

Then this is the plan my grandmother had with money which my mother told me very late. So I asked my mom I said Was there any discussion on money growing up? Like how did you manage the house and also there was I remember the discussion all the also the day I was actually driving my mother to my to one of her infusions you know, she was taking the chemo and I was taking her to our pet scan at PET scan. I was taking her to scan and while driving, I was talking to her, No, I was going through another episode of her going through cancer and me trying to juggle my business while see going through her trouble here. So the monthly discussion of money came up. So she shared, this thing with me. And, and which I think she did share also before so, this was a continued discussion that started many years ago, but kind of, she said, your grandmother had a very simple formula for money. Now, she said, there were 16 members in the family. And the household income was 56 rupees, which was technically $50 if you can take it back in those days. So I’m referring to a discussion from 1954 and 1956, that was the timeline 54 To 5054 to 60 That was the timeline, my father was making 56 rupees a month in Indian rupees salary.

And my grandmother was running the house of 16 members. And she had a plan and this is the plan, the plan is simple 25% of that income was going towards the house 25% was going towards the food 25% was going to miscellaneous expenses, whatever missed, there were some expenses because so many kids in the house and, and all that. And patients also some, you know, older members in the family who were sick, that was a joint family then and then 25% towards gold. Because gold was a necessity not to save money or not to possess gold. But gold was required because as the girls in the house grew up, and when their marriages are going to happen, eventually they’ll be married off. At that point, doubt, gold has given us dowry that was my grandmother’s, you know, thinking. And she used that thinking in the 1930s 1920s 1930s 1940s.

It’s an interesting formula that my mother told me, I said, you know why not some other percentages? No, that’s how it is because the Indian rupee 25, per se, not 100% makes one rupee. So 25 per se is a small little coin and backed somehow, somehow four of them make one be. So that’s how they divide mentally. I don’t know how, why that is that way. But that’s how they divide mentally. Now, fast forward, to the year 2022. Here we are. And we’re dealing with some extreme data when it comes to money, and how we plan how we invest how we analyze markets and opportunities, and investments, thanks to AI, a lot is happening in the space. So that was, you know, but the basics are the same. I was drawing a very simple, you know, the battle between what was the 1930s and 40s and 50s. In India, growing up to now living here and just looking at how the markets work and how the economy works. Even today, a good financial plan is that 25% of your net income goes towards your house. Very simple. So 25%, towards your mortgage, property taxes, and all that everything collected hospital here percent, and 25% goes to food. And maybe, you know, some level of entertainment. I don’t know, maybe utilities, something along those lines. But say utilities, food, and utilities, I would actually categorize food and utilities separately, but let’s say for the sake of this discussion, food, and utilities are 20% Then entertainment, transportation, and all that is 25%. And then the last 20% goes towards building emergency funds and maybe investments out of savings. Simple. So the formula still applies interestingly, like if you go back in time by maybe two 300 500 years. The same principle applies because if you look at any budget, there are four things you have food, you have utilities, you have shelter, you have transportation, and the budgeting doesn’t show how to build emergency funds and doesn’t talk about how to favor to save where to invest? None. But those four have been around for a long, long time. So the discussion yesterday was how do you deal with inflation? How do you deal with structure, you know, your expenses and all? And I was like a simple thing. Now, this 25% formula worked back then and works back.

Now, today also provided that you do two things. Number one, your budget, you budget all everything. Number two, make sure that your expenses are less than your income, simple. Two things, if you do the two things, then the 25% formula works. And a simple plan, there is no need for a financial planner to really do this. In fact, I was also I also ended up making a statement to my friend yesterday, saying, You know, you not only invest when you make money, or you save when you make money, but you also save and you’re not making money. Like everything else you’re doing you are you have your food for which you’re spending, you have utilities, you’re spending, you’re spending for your transportation you’re spending for your shelter and all that. Hence, if those things are true, then a certain part of that money should also be going towards saving.

Now, he said, If I’m borrowing money to make my living, while I’m waiting for my income to kick in, should I still be saved? Of course, if you are borrowing on credit cards, or you’re taking personal loans, or your use still should be saving, even though you could be borrowing at 23%. And you if you say then we’ll put that in a money market account, you probably get what a one or 1.5%, whatever that is, even then you should save. Because it’s a habit. It’s a pattern, you fall into it. So a certain percentage of your money as it is coming in, it’s leaving should leave from the top into a savings account. For example, you might have had 401, K’s or you have 401, K’s where money is going in already pre-tax, then post-backs also some money should go in and post expenses. Some money should also go out into investments or savings. So the money goes out pre-tax, and money goes out post-tax. And then money also goes out post expenses so as this pattern is there, it doesn’t matter where the money is coming from. But this pattern has to be played.

Now, you can’t have a pre-tax and post-tax setup when you are borrowing money. But then it’s not seen as income. But it’s a loan. But even as you take a loan, you spend money, and a part of that money should also go into savings. It just establishes and habits and it creates your life more meaningful.

That habit is going to sustain long after you know when you start making big money. And you’ll that behavior is going to be there. As simple as that. So I was sharing this principle with my friend and we got into a big debate on this, but I hope you agree with me. Okay, the idea the reason behind me talking about that here today on the podcast is to see whether you agree with me. And also that this is a way how this is one of the ways how I recovered from my post 911 pre 911 debacle, business debacle. So yeah, so that is the two different reasons behind today’s podcast episode. Hopefully, this is helpful. I still have a lot of questions and more questions are coming in as a result of my radio shows every week now. So I’m going to catch up with those questions over the next few weeks. And over the next few days, not a few weeks, but a few days because I think we’re pretty close. But we’ll see. That’s all for now. So wherever you are, be safe, and I’ll catch up with you as early as tomorrow. Stay tuned.

How to Take Small Steps and Accomplish Big Goals

Here is the complete transcript of the podcast

On the podcast today, I want to talk a bit about small steps, small things that we do that add up over time towards the big thing that we want to accomplish. Welcome back to success with Srini. Happy Saturday morning to you. I’ll keep it simple. I’ll keep it to the point. Now, this discussion is about small steps. This is in line with goals and goal setting and accomplishing projects and all that. And this podcast is all about that. And I have spoken about goals and goals, goal setting for a long amount of time. And that should be some podcast episodes that you can go back in time and listen to primarily from January, to February of this year.

Now, I want to share this, this formula, it’s a four-step formula for introducing small steps for attaining big goals. It doesn’t matter what the goal is, maybe you have a career goal or a financial goal. You know, whatever goal that you have fitness goal, health goal, whatever you have, everything starts with a small step. Lao Tzu said a journey of million miles starts with one step. And talking about small steps and the power of small steps, there is an incredible amount of literature available on the internet. And as I was thinking of doing a podcast episode on talking about small steps, and I wanted to convey this kind of express my thoughts on small steps, and the power of small steps, I was thinking, what else can I add, because there is so much already available. And I should be telling you just go Google this topic and read, which I think you should do anyway. You see, we know this, in order to accomplish any goal, we need to take action. And action is possible. Only when the actions are broken down into multiple steps, smaller chunks and small little steps can be done. That can be accomplished. Because here is what is now known. And This is also this principle comes from project management, which is when you identify something to its lowest level, any task, for example, who is going to work on it, how much time is going to take for them to work on it? Does this individual who’s gonna work on it has the capability and this task, what are some of the unknowns of this task? So we know the time we know the effort know the unknowns. And it’s only possible if you can, if you can break a bigger step into smaller steps, the more the smallest upside, the easier for you to contain the effort, the time, and the unknown, simple stuff. It’s product management stuff.

So we do the same thing. In our goals in our life, life goals, whatever life goals you have, should break them down into smaller, little steps. And then each step is further broken down into sub-steps to a level where you have full control out of the unknown full control of the time and full control of the effort that you’re going to put in. Now as you start now, putting them on a timeline and start working on them, you start to see that you’re accomplishing them. And then slowly they’ll start adding up to the bigger accomplishment over time. For example, I want to lose 100 pounds. What do I do? It’s very simple. I take the lowest step what is the lowest step? The last step is I want to drink four glasses of water every day for the next 30 days. Just drink a glass of water. What time should I drink? I’ll wake up drink, and three hours later drink. Then three hours more later drink, I can schedule, I’m going to I will take a 24-hour timeline divided by three times before you know and then go after it. Simple. Okay? Or take a taller timeline and just divide by four that like every three hours, one glass of water, basic, basic step. And I do that over the next 30 days. And then I now know that okay, so I have some data, right? I’m successful in drinking four glasses of water every day, at a set time for 30 days. Remember, most people don’t talk about this, and I’m not seeing many people talk about this, which is the goal behind every goal is to build a sustainable habit. Every time you have successfully achieved your goals and you start analyzing those goals.

You’ll start to see that there are some habits that you either changed or you dropped or you created and And you, and you did all those three pretty sustainably. I guarantee you, that’s what has happened to you. You may not know this. But if, if you really go deep and spend time exploring yourself, and analyzing all the things that you have done, you’ll start to see some patterns. So here’s a formula on how to take the power of small steps in my understanding. The first and foremost is that when you take the smallest step, okay, it should not take you away from that which you’re already doing. Drinking one glass of water kettle in the morning doesn’t change anything, literally doesn’t take away anything from my life. And it’s a good place for me to start because it gives me hope, it gives me the possibility, it tells me that yeah, you know, yeah, we will do it. Listen, somebody who’s trying to lose 100 pounds on 50 pounds, you know, the struggling with it, and they’re frustrated, and they want to win. And it’s one glass of water that doesn’t change a life. Now, if I ask the same individual to run for a mile. That’s a lot.

And they can’t do that. And they give up. So every small step, the first thing is it should not take you away from whatever else is going on with your life. Second, every small step should not add more unknowns, to what is already there in your life. See, you’re dealing with so many. So everybody, all of us, we’re dealing with stuff. So much going on in our lives. Anything that you introduce, should not create more unknowns. Because of finite time, 24 hours, and lots of things that we need to accomplish, we don’t want to delete more unknowns. Now, every third part of this is every step new step should somehow create invisible growth. See, every time I have worked with any weight loss clients never did that ever. Anybody tells me that drinking water is bad. Not a single client ever said that to me. People told me they don’t like the taste of water. I’ve heard that. But nobody said that drinking water is bad. So they also agreed that by drinking water, they are going to become healthy. It’s a good habit. They tell me this. That means the acre in their mind that yeah, I’m growing as a result of doing this.

So there is invisible growth, from that step specifically drinking a glass of water. Ideally, it should be enjoyable, but not necessarily enjoy all the time. So invisible growth is is every small step should have an element of invisible, invisible growth. And the last step is that somehow that step that you’re taking, it has to be ingrained into your mind that if I do this over a long period of time, I know that I will win. So every small step should have an element of a win in the larger context. So Winning is important for tanks. Now, if any of the things that you’re engaged in or you’re engaging in right now, doesn’t satisfy this for any action that you’re taking any step that you’re taking, I’m not saying you will not accomplish your goals. But then, when you identify those steps in this four-step with this port parameters, I think that’s the right way to say it’s more sustainable. It will be sustainable, you’ll enjoy the process, and it’ll be more fulfilling. So given the life that we live and everything that’s going on, that’s happening that’s going on around us, we tend to overlook the power of small steps. Lao Tzu said, you know, the distance of a million miles starts with one. And there are so many other metaphors. You know, how do you eat an elephant, you know, you start eating an elephant with one, one bite at a time, something like that. So there are so many metaphors being shared and being talked about and all that. The key is taking that small step and agreeing that small steps do add up, which, which they do, and we need to have we need to build that that mental map for that.

Give this a try, let’s say you have some goals that we are planning for this year, or maybe for next year, give this a try and see if you can bring any habit, a new habit, or something around to support your goals and use this formula to, to break that habit into multiple steps, action steps and see how this brings you closure as you know, build that character within you to get to that outcome. Okay, give it a try. I hope I tried this. This is such a difficult concept to convey. But I hope I did. Okay. In expressing here. I’ll come back. We’ll talk more. This is the part of the year-end of the year. So we’re getting there. So December, and January is all about goals. We’ll talk more about this. And I’ll have more episodes on this. But for now, this is it. Have a wonderful, wonderful Saturday. I’ll catch up with you, Manana. Stay tuned.