Podcast Episode 21: From 600 Pounds to the Stage with "Possible" Pat Brocco

Nick Collias: So here's the thing. During the month of July 2017, we are participating in the annual "People's Choice Podcast Awards" and we're asking for our listeners to nominate The Bodybuilding.com Podcast for an award. Here's the deal: Go to PodcastAwards.com between July 1st and 31st to nominate the show in categories like People's Choice, Health, and Sports and Recreation. The ceremony will happen on International Podcast Day, September 30th, and you can spread the word on social media by using the hashtag #PCA17.

Alright, good morning, everyone. Welcome to The Bodybuilding.com Podcast. I'm Nick Collias, an editor for Bodybuilding.com. Next to me here, we have Heather Eastman, also an editor for Bodybuilding.com as well as a physique coach and judge. And today we have a man getting ready for the stage for that competition. Pat Brocco, aka ‘Possible Pat’. Thanks for coming by.

Possible Pat: Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Nick: He's got a video series up on our YouTube channel currently 10 episodes deep. Hundreds of thousands of people have watched those. Also seen you on ... What? On the Ellen show, followed on Instagram, Facebook ...

Possible Pat: FOX, To Tell The Truth. A few shows.

Nick: But not just because you're not some run-of-the-mill fitness model. This man used to be 600+ pounds, if he didn't know already. Maybe more. I think you said ...

Possible Pat: 605.

Nick: And we've been ... Yeah we've been watching all of your episodes, everything we can find about you and… eager to have you here. Now I don't want to spend a ton of time on your deep backstory because I want people to watch those videos. But we got to go into it a little bit. Now for people who don't know, you were a bodyguard for a long time, right?

Possible Pat: Yes, for ... Since I was 17.

Nick: Since you were 17, and ...

Possible Pat: so, it's been 15 years.

Nick: it's a job where the big part of the job, right?

Possible Pat: Definitely. Definitely got paid to be big.

Nick: Right. Exactly. So, how did that ... I don't know. Did that cement that in your mind like, "This is who I am. I'm a big guy. This is who I will always be."?

Possible Pat: It definitely made me more comfortable with being big. And being on tour, I always felt like the bigger the better. I was more intimidating. I felt like I can move more people, and to be honest, just being on the road, sitting down 15 hours of the day and eating at truck stops and going straight to hotels, eating there then going to concerts, being backstage in the green room. A lot of time was spent eating and sitting. So, years of that. It's funny, my last tour that I did, I never even realized it, I left that 500 pounds and came back at 600. So, I gained a hundred pounds ...

Nick: Wow, how long was that tour?

Possible Pat: About year and a half. So, a hundred pounds in the year and a half. And I didn't realize until just recently. I was like, "Hold up. I gained hundred pounds!" It's funny I tell people I lost 100 pounds in 90 days right. How long did it take me to gain it? Year and a half.

Nick: But, yeah the difference between 500 and 600 is shorter than people think.

Possible Pat: Yeah, definitely. And to be honest, I was doing a livestream and I was talking to a gentleman about being ... because he was 600 pounds. "So, are you going to start now?" And this is how it came up, me figuring out that I was only took a year to gain that weight. I was like "Are you going to start now or are you going to wait? Next year you might be 700 or 800, who knows?"

Nick: Right.

Possible Pat: You know? So ...

Nick: That's an interesting perspective to bring to somebody. It's really interesting to think about you now talking to that guy all the time.

Possible Pat: That guy that I was.

Nick: That guy that you were. Yeah, I seen it on your Instagram where it's ...

Possible Pat: It’s so relatable where sometimes, I just ... I know where they're at and it is really an emotional time for me as well them. But just hearing the pain in her voice not knowing. Not knowing if they're going to lose the weight. If they're going to even start. So, I feel the struggle.

Nick: And you had tried at various points, right?

Possible Pat: See, look I'm getting emotional. But yeah, I think every overweight person tries to lose weight maybe once a year and it just is what it is, they just ... I personally would start and last a week, but I don't want to eat like this. I don't want to work out. I don't want to do none of these things. And it's not that it's hard. It's just different. It's something that we've never done. We've never ate healthy. I mean I spend 90% of my life eating the processed foods, eating McDonald's, drinking sodas. As a kid, that's where you wanted to go and it just so happens I never transitioned to eating healthy and as a bigger person I ate a lot. So if something would happen like I sprained my ankle, and I spent a month not being active, I would gain weight because my appetite wouldn't change.

Nick: So, the time that it did take, though, what was different there? Really that made that switch turn and this time it's like, all right you're going in that direction. You're staying.

Possible Pat: You know what? One of the reasons a lot of people lose weight is because something emotional happened, and the last time before this time, and not to backtrack, but the last time before this time I lost weight because of a girl. I lost 90 pounds and I was like, “I'm going to do it.” It wasn't the right reason because then you find someone else, or you stop caring about that person, and then you go right back to your old ways. Or you get sad and as overweight people a lot of us eat with our emotions. So, that's what gives us comfort. But the last time my pushing … that pushed me over the edge was death, and I feared it, and I was told how much longer you think you can go on at 600 pounds? High blood pressure, pre-diabetic, high cholesterol. My family, my dad died of a heart attack. My grandma died of a heart attack. So, both sides of my family had diabetes and died of heart attacks. So, it really just hit me like, "Man, I need to change right now." I didn't want to die. And that's what pushed me. Everyone's going to be different. Someone may be pushed because someone else died. And I talked to a gentleman that he just lost his brother, and he reached out to me.

"My brother was 400 pounds, I'm 500 pounds and he died. Help me. I want to make him proud. I want to live longer." And people just don't understand what they're doing to themselves at five, six ... I mean even at 300 pounds, if you're supposed to weigh 160? Still 150 pounds overweight. So, it's dangerous. It's just a dangerous thing and we just never realize it.

Nick: But you didn't ... It's not like this pushed you directly onto the treadmill. You did, which is a brutal but really interesting approach as you said, "I'm hungry. I'm going to go walk to food."

Possible Pat: Yes. So the first step was after the doctor's office, I emotionally ate. And it's funny because everyone thought it was right then that I changed but it was like a week later after just like depressed ... finding out all this bad news, and I stepped out of the shower and it's the before picture I use. That was the moment that I said I was going to change. I looked at myself in the mirror, said I'm not going to be this guy. So it threw everything away. And I knew nothing about how to eat clean. Nothing about working out. Haven't done it in years. And I said I just know I can't do this, I can't do what I'm continually doing every day that's holding me back or making me worse. So, I through everything out and I said I'm just going to walk. I'm going to walk to get every meal. That'll be my exercise and ...

Nick: Every meal.

Possible Pat: Every meal.

Nick: Three times a day.

Heather Eastman: That's the incredible part. Every meal.

Possible Pat: Sometimes, if I was hungry, it would be four or five times. I would try three times because at 600 pounds, walking three miles back and forth is a little rough.

Nick: Just put that in comparison for us. Now you're preparing for the stage. You're doing these brutal leg workouts and everything. Just in terms of that voice in your head saying, "I want to quit. I want to quit." How comparable is that that walk to Wal-Mart versus working out?

Possible Pat: So the walk to Wal-Mart, I had a purpose. I was hungry. I wanted to eat. The hard part about the walk was the first thing in the Wal-Mart was McDonald's. So, I would walk in, I'm like, "Do I get the egg whites or do I get the 100 chicken nuggets?"

Nick: 100 chicken nuggets?

Possible Pat: Yeah. I used to eat 100 chicken nuggets. So, it's a lot different. One was I was faced with death and now it's a bigger purpose. I feel like this is bigger than me. It's bigger than stepping on stage. It's actually helping people. And for the first time in life I feel like I have a purpose. The first time I feel like what I'm doing is positive and I'm changing lives. And to be honest, there's no better feeling in the world.

Nick: So at what point in that journey did you really start to feel something different for the first time where you ... Maybe you were lighter, or you had more energy, or you just, "You know what? I think might actually be on the way to being a new person."

Possible Pat: It was like a gift and a curse. I remember about 90 days into it, I wanted to figure out where I was at. So, I found a doctor that did a body scan and went there and I found out I was a hundred pounds lighter and I looked exactly the same. So, I was like "I lost 100 pounds. I can do this." I looked and I'm like "I don't look no different." Like just imagine losing 100 pounds and still being that overweight where you can't even tell the difference.

Nick: And you didn't. Did you feel any different?

Possible Pat: I felt great. That 100 pounds ... The walks were easier. I can get out of bed. At 600 pounds I used to roll out of the bed and use something to stand up. Everything ... My back started feeling better. My legs ... just everything felt better. More energy. It was definitely a difference in how I felt but not in how I looked and that's the gift and the curse. I felt great but I wasn't seeing it. And it's funny because as time went on I got more insecure. I lost 200 pounds, I still don't look good. I lost 250 pounds, I'm still overweight. I lost 300 pounds, I'm still overweight. So, I went through that for three years. And then once I finally lost the weight, I have loose skin. So it was just ...

Nick: Challenge after challenge.

Possible Pat: Challenge after challenge after challenge. And one thing I know about that is we can overcome them all. You just have to keep fighting.

Nick: Sounds like you're learning a lot more skills there than just how to lose weight. Yeah, it's easy to think about those walks. Like, "Hey, I burned a bunch of calories." "Hey, I did this." But you're learning crucial skills every step of the way about what? Dealing with boredom, saying no to stuff.

Possible Pat: You know what? Losing weight was definitely challenging and it opens your mind up because, one thing ... I never wanted to take back steps. I always wanted to move forward. So, one of my biggest things was sodas. And for the love of me I used to drink at least 5,000 calories of soda a day, at least. I mean at 600 pounds you got to eat almost 10,000 calories to stay that weight. And so at first it was diet sodas, then it was water, then it was amino acid. So, every step of the way it's improving. You may not jump from, “Oh, this is my lifestyle,” but just changing little things, and adapting, and then going to the next step and the next step. People don't understand it's a process. You don't have to go as extreme as I did. No carbs for a year. It's a process. Sometimes you can change the little things and see progress. And that's what I learned in my three and a half years is, I was a little extreme but there's other ways.

Nick: Yeah, there's a place for that extremeness, though, to probably, right? Just in helping you understand it.

Possible Pat: Definitely, definitely. I definitely learned a lot through it.

Heather: I had a question for you, Pat. I've been a personal trainer for 12 years. And you mentioned in one of your videos that you didn't want to see a personal trainer because that person would never understand what it was like to stand in your shoes.

Possible Pat: I'm put on the spotlight. "I'm a personal trainer."

Heather: And I don't mean to put you on the spot but it did really strike me as what can the fitness industry do better to reach someone who was in your position because that is something that I think a lot of people struggle with. They don't even feel comfortable setting foot in a gym, let alone approaching a trainer.

Possible Pat: So let me rephrase that. During that time it was a bad experience. A lot of time people deal with one bad experience and if you go to a restaurant, the first time you there, you have a bad experience you’re like, “This restaurant's horrible." And you're probably never going to try it again. In all reality, might have just been a bad cook. Somebody might have been having a bad day, whatever the case is. I later learned that not all personal trainers are bad but not a lot of them ...

Heather: You're just saying that to be nice.

Possible Pat: Yeah. 90 ... I have to say 90% of the people that are personal trainers have been somewhat fit. This is obviously the career that they chosen. So, it's years of being fit and knowing the way, versus someone coming in 200 pounds overweight and you're going ... I just felt ... I was walked through the workouts that I couldn't do. I was told to do things that I shouldn't have done and I just felt like they didn't understand where I was coming from. So, I feel like more research, getting to know people's bodies. They were telling me to do burpees. I'm 500 pounds. I can't do burpees now. But as someone that big, it doesn't take much, and that's what some people need to realize. It doesn't take much. And the fact that they're there is the hardest part. So, maybe you don't go extreme as the guy who's been working out for a year. And like I said, everyone’s not like that. Just so happened the guy that I met, he was like that. And to be honest, he's won shows, he's a bodybuilder. I've seen him since, and it is funny because of my ... He knew what he was talking about, it just didn't apply to me at the time because the stuff he was saying I do now. I just wasn't ready for it.

Nick: I remember in one of your videos, though, you also were saying like yeah when you were in there the first time you didn't know you were doing, lifting weights or anything like that. But then, you see it in that same video, you know what you're doing now. So what did get you from point A to Point B?

Possible Pat: YouTube. YouTube was definitely a help then. And even like now it's funny because I still ... The other day I'm like, "I need to work on my upper chest." And I go right to Bodybuilding.com and I'm looking at upper chest workouts. So, people make these excuses, "I can't figure it out." "I don't know how to eat." Well, you can figure out how to get directions. You can figure out anything online, you can figure that out, and will it be a bunch of trial and error? Yes. Everything's not going to be right, but the information is out there. And we need to stop using that as an excuse. And that's for real. I didn't know what to eat. I used to google ‘healthy recipes’ on my way to the store.

Nick: Just those words, ‘healthy recipes.’

Possible Pat: Healthy recipes, fat loss, diets, and that's how I ended up doing the no carbs because of the ketogenesis, and it worked for me. So, that's what I do every time. What's a good recipe? What's a good stir fry? And that's what I did.

Nick: But then at some point your goal changed to “I want to be a bodybuilder.”

Possible Pat: Yeah, so...

Nick: So, what did that represent to you? And what was that world to you before? Looking at yourself now, if you passed yourself on the street now, the old you and the new you, what was that world to that guy?

Possible Pat: Look at that guy thinking he's buff.

Nick: Look at those sleeves.

Possible Pat: Look at those sleeves. No, to be honest it's all together. And you do something long enough, just as if you eat bad food long enough, it's just what you love to do. You just like to do, it's routine. Sometimes I will wake up and not even realize and I just ate a whole box of cereal and a half gallon of milk because it's just routine. And if you put yourself in around other people, and you're doing the same thing day in and day out you learn to love it. It becomes part of who you are, and working out, eating clean, and just the fitness industry in general just became part of who I am. And I feel like with my story and what I accomplished, bodybuilding wasn't part of the journey, but I feel like it'll make a good ending to this chapter. So to go from 605 pounds to actually stepping on stage is morally more of a complete story for me and not just I got fit. I want to take it all the way. To show people not because ... I don't want to be a bodybuilder.

To be honest I can never honestly be a bodybuilder. Seven feet of loose skin. As you know, your skin is everything. It has to be tight. And no matter ... I had seven feet removed and it's still not tight. So, I'm really just doing it to show people it can be done. And win or lose, regardless of what happens July 1st, I know I'm going to motivate some people.

Nick: Okay, so in case people don't know you do have a specific show. It's all over every episode. It's all over every Instagram post, there's a day.

Possible Pat: Yeah, July 1st.

Heather: Four weeks out. How do you feel?

Possible Pat: You know what, losing weight wasn't hard, prep is hard. It's a big difference between just eating to lose weight because you're never super doubting when you're losing weight. This, to the ounce, to the gram, to that one almond, I mean you can't go an almond over? And now in a week and a half I'm cutting water. So, it's going ... It's definitely a big difference. I tell people I've never counted the calorie until now and I didn't even know what a macro was. I'm like, "Macro, I thought was ... What is that? Can I eat it?"

Nick: Eating better for a long time. That's enough.

Possible Pat: You know what? And that's what I did. I just ate better and it worked for me. But now it's a little different with the nutrition, the workouts, the cardio.

Nick: The workouts look different in your video. I saw you with a coach training these big yoked dudes.

Possible Pat: Yeah, that's my coach.

Nick: Just roasting you. How different is the training once you set a goal like, "All right, I'm going to go to a real show. I'm going to try to win this."

Possible Pat: To be honest, I've always had the mindset, I'm going to give it all I got. I'm going to the gym with a purpose. I'm going to give it a 110%. Now, what's hard is doing it on less fuel. And in Arizona, when it's 100 degrees, or 110 out so it's ... And he doesn't allow me but sometimes when you're by yourself people don't realize working out by yourself and being coached, totally different. I can do the same exact workout and then be coached and do that work and it feels so different, like this is so much harder. What was I doing wrong? And it might be an inch of where my elbows were, or just my stance, anything. Just little tiny changes that perfect the workout, and my coach ...

Nick: You can probably speak to that.

Heather: Yeah we just talked about that last week that that's really what a trainer's job should be is kind of helping you get the most out of your workout. Not pushing you to do something you're not capable of doing or getting you started on a program that's not right for you. So, that's great that he's able to give you that little push in each workout. Now knowing what you know now, having gone through this bodybuilding prep, to someone else who's doing a transformation has maybe lost 100+ pounds and is thinking about it what would you say to them?

Possible Pat: Do it.

Heather: Do it?

Possible Pat: Do it.

Heather: I like it.

Possible Pat: Sometimes I feel like it builds confidence, and being able ... I mean the WBFF has took it to the next step where they have a division, it's built on transformations. So, this show I'm doing is I'm going against everyone that's lost weight, or whatever type of life transformation they went through. And if I win this show, eight weeks later I'll do the championships, which will be in London and hopefully I get to go to London. But, man, you've got to chase your dreams regardless of what it is. And I tell people losing weight was one of my dreams but it's opened up so many other doors and not just with Bodybuilding.com, not just with doing shows or being on TV because that stuff isn't important to me. Helping people and just seeing the difference on how you treat yourself and how other people treat you is worth it all alone. And a lot of times I had this thing in the back of my head that people treated me bad because I was overweight, and it did happen. At 600 pounds, I get it. People stare. I'm huge. I'm huge now. So I at 600 pounds ... People stare. You feel a lot of negativity.

But 90% of it comes from yourself and you can't expect people to love you or treat you better if you’re not treating yourself better. That's what I learned. You have to love you first. And if you love yourself, you're going to take care of yourself.

Nick: Yeah, but thinking of you as a bodyguard too, like that's a guy who kind of blends into the background, right?

Possible Pat: There wasn't much blending.

Nick: But like you're front and center now and you're dealing with heavy shit in every video it seems like. Were you prepared for that kind of intensity and that kind of emotion in your life?

Possible Pat: I'm still not prepared for it. It's shocking for someone to come up to me like, "You're Possible Pat. Can I take a picture?" I'm like, "Why you want to take a picture with me?" Like I'm not being an ass or anything. I'm just like, "Me? Really?" I'm like, "Okay. Let do it." But yeah it's definitely something different. For me to spend years of being around somebody that got all the attention and me to have never got any attention for the right reasons. And now I'm getting it, it blows my mind. It blows my mind.

Nick: And how much ... You have three kids, right?

Possible Pat: Yes, 3 kids.

Nick: How much did they serve this journey? How much do they know and how are and are they invested in this.

Possible Pat: So my son's younger, so he doesn't ... He's seen it but he doesn't know. My daughters are like, "Daddy's famous! He's on Ellen." They go crazy. They go to school and they're just, "That's my ..." It's just a problem only for me. You know what? And all this has ... Not that I was a bad dad, but I feel like I'm a better dad now. I feel like I'm just a better person. My attitude ... A lot of stuff comes with being overweight. A lot of anger, a lot of depression, and I felt like I was putting that on my kids. I may not have been meaning to do it, but it was my life and now I'm more ... I'm happier. So they see that, they feel that, they feel that energy and that's one of the best feelings to know you doing something positive for your kids, and showing them the way. They hate it though. My son, for the first year and a half, didn't have sweets. He tried ‘em, and he's like, "eh," Doesn't really like ‘em. So, he’ll eat grilled chicken and rice then … it’s beautiful … "Yes." His vegetables ...

Nick: They only know what you give them.

Heather: Exactly.

Possible Pat: Yes. So like people come over, his grandma, and they try to give him cake, and he'll throw it out. I'm like, "That's my son!"

Nick: But I think there's something really important in what you're saying there, which is a lot of people who are on the before end of things will look at what you're going through right now and say, "That's a lot of time. That's kind of a selfish undertaking." But you're seeing it pay back even though this is ... That time you spend in the gym is time you're not with your kids. But this is still a positive thing in your life, investing in yourself.

Possible Pat: Definitely, definitely and I'm going to be here longer. I can honestly say I'm live longer. And if it takes an hour a day to live longer, spend that hour and live. So, who knows? I could have been dead already and then we wouldn't be having this conversation. Who knows what will be going on with my kids. Would my family be struggling? So it's worth it. Every minute in a gym it's worth it for me.

Nick: Now, there was a crisis of faith it seemed like in one of your recent episodes, though. Episode 10, just 20 ... There's no there's no gym, there's no cooking, it's just you talk to the camera. It got pretty real and it was a different feeling in that one. It was like you were struggling it seemed like.

Possible Pat: That was ... I didn't know we were recording. So, we recorded and then we were done and then ... Yeah. My videographer agent and he asked me a question and ...

Nick: Just one question?

Possible Pat: One question and it led to a 30-minute video. There were a couple of other questions asked throughout it. But I do struggle. I'm human, and I want people to know that it's going to be hard. Change is hard. No matter what it is. If you move to a new state it's going to be hard at first. You don't know nobody. This is something you're not used to. You adapt, though. As humans, we're able to adapt and we're able to grow, take advantage of that.

Nick: And there was a news story we wanted to talk to you about recently. There was a woman who, I don't know if you saw it, she went on stage in just a local bodybuilding competition, right?

Heather: Yeah, she was a bodybuilder she lost 100, 150 pounds.

Nick: Had the loose skin.

Heather: Had the loose skin but she's up on stage, she's got the suit, the tan, she's posing, she's so proud of herself. And then the photographer didn't put her photos up on the website because he thought she'd be embarrassed because she didn't look like every other competitor up there.

Nick: But it brought up this question of … yeah, there are people who ... They've been transforming and they aim for the stage versus that person who's like, I'm a personal trainer, I've been jacked my whole life like those … Is there a common ground for those people, and why did why should somebody go on stage? If not in the transformation division, but why do that?

Possible Pat: You've got to do what you want. If it fits a goal that you have, and if that goal drove you to be a better you, you have to finish it. You have to go all the way. so if you decide, you know what? I'm lose 100 pounds and I'm going to step on stage, then you lose 100 pounds and don't step on stage. You're not finished. Let's do what we say we're going to do. And I feel like that's ... To be honest I didn't want to get loose skin surgery but I said I would. It was the most terrifying thing in my life. I had one surgery ever and I was, like, okay signing my life away. I'm going to be skinned alive, which I was. I posted the video. It's pretty harsh.

Nick: Painful recovery.

Heather: Oh, 3000 stitches.

Possible Pat: Definitely a breaking point in my life, but I committed to it and I feel like it when we make commitments we need to stick to them. It just makes you feel like you accomplished something. And even if stepping on stage isn't your goal. If it is, do it, be proud. To be honest, I have loose skin and I don't know if I regret cutting off the skin I had because I felt like it added to my story, it added to my journey, it gave me a different outlook on things because it was three years of bam bam bam, I'm doing this, I'm doing this, I'm doing this. No struggles. I struggled but there was nothing to ever put me at a stop. And then I get this surgery, which I thought, "You know what? I going to get this surgery. I'm going to be perfect." I already had abs. I'm just going to look magnificent. And then I got it, then I couldn't work out. And you think you've overcame something, and I didn't because the first thing I turned to was food. The first thing I turned to was food. I didn't want to talk to nobody. I didn't do social media. I just felt like I can't work out, I can't do nothing. I'm moving backwards. And the first week I was good on my diet and then I started getting depressed.

I can't do these things that I've been doing for the last three years. So, then I started eating bad. And it's funny, I seen a message one day, just bored, just browsing through my Facebook of someone telling me I saved their life and why haven't you been posting? Why haven't you been doing anything? We need you. And that's when I knew, I got to stop this shit. I can't move backwards. I can't give up because I wasn't giving up on myself. It's easy just to give up on yourself.

But giving up on thousands of people? I get suicide letters saying if it wasn't for you, I would have committed suicide. Like how can I turn my back on that? So, that's why I said, "You know what? I don't care, I'm going all the way." Even if people don't think I look good. Even if what I accomplish isn’t amazing. I'm going to do it because for the people that do believe it me.

Heather: Hearing your story where all of a sudden the tables are turned and now it was your followers who are pulling you ...

Possible Pat: Oh, they tried so hard.

Heather: And they were the ones kind of pulling you out of that tailspin and they were the ones reaching out to you. And I thought that was the most amazing part of your story, is that it could have been this huge backslide and you turned it around and kept going, and ...

Possible Pat: So, I owed this show to them. I really do. I really owe it to them because I don't know what would happen if I didn't get out of that slump. Definitely challenging moment. So, I'm thankful for my followers and all the people that support me. And it's more than ... I don't even like call them followers. It's like a relationship. I feel like even if I don't get to talk to someone that we have a connection. And when I do get to talk to them, I feel like we know each other. When I do my live calls, I feel like I know this person and I tell them like, "Why are you bullshitting? We're family." And they're like, "I don't know, Pat. I'm sorry." Like I'm their dad.

Nick: Your only person who can talk honestly to that person.

Possible Pat: Yeah, and it's just a beautiful this, to be honest.

Nick: But now you've got another big point, a difficult point coming up when you go on stage. You've talked a lot in your early videos especially about it like, I want to win. I want to go to Worlds. I want to do this. What if you don't win? I'm sure you thought about that. How does that change the story for you? Or does it change it at this point?

Possible Pat: That's a good question.

Nick: I don't want to throw that doubt in there.

Possible Pat: Dammit. If I don't win life goes on. Life goes on on. I won't do another show. Well, at least in the transformation division. Probably won't just do another show to be honest. It's not what I like. I love to work out. I love being clean. I love the challenge of prep, but I feel like it's too much for the 80% of America that's overweight, or 70%. Whatever the number is. It's too much. It's intimidating. So, yes, I'm doing this show to prove a point. But that point isn't for everyone. I don't want to lose the connection and I feel like bodybuilding loses that connection because for some people it's unrealistic. Me at 600 pounds? I would have never thought, ever in a million years, would I be stepping on stage, or even be coming close to it. Even committing to doing a show is something I would never even have thought of. So, my mindset then is a lot of people's mindsets now, and I don't want to lose people. I want to show them it can be done if this is something you want to do. But then I want to go back to just helping people be better, helping people lose weight, showing them it’s possible. Just connecting with the people, and who knows?

I may not do bodybuilding but there is going to be another journey. It just may not be on stage but I'm going to pick something and I'm going to commit to it and I'm going to show people I can do this, too. I haven't decided what it was yet. Maybe powerlifting. I don't know. Something, though. And that's what it's about. I want to always have something to do. I want to always grow. I always want to try new things and commit to things to show people I've never done this but I'm going to try because it's something I want to do, and it's going to make me better.

Nick: Just the process of going.

Possible Pat: just the process of going through it. But hopefully I win.

Nick: Right.

Heather: No, of course.

Possible Pat: And I can call you up and say, "I won." No, but to be honest, one of the main reasons I want to win, it's really not for me. I just want to show, doing the show will complete the story, winning the show is this going to add the cherry on top.

Nick: That's the movie at that point.

Possible Pat: Then I get to go to London.

Nick: All right. Well, we'll be watching every step of the way, man. Thank you for coming down. So, we can find you on YouTube, of course. On the Bodybuilding.com channel. Then you have your own website with meal plans.

Possible Pat: Meal plans.

Nick: What else do you do?

Possible Pat: Approved foods list. I'm actually, in the next week or so, going to do Losing Weight 101. Teach people ... I don't want to be the guy that's about the money. I have a career. But do I want to make money? Everyone wants to make money. But I also want to give back, because I know people can't afford it. I know there's people out there that won't invest, even if they have the money, they won't invest in change. So, I'm going to offer a lot of stuff for free, which I have my approved foods list, but I want to take it up another notch where it's going to tell you how to calculate your body weight, how to figure out how many calories, how much deficit you should be in, how much fat you should be doing, and how many carbs should be doing. And just basically walking people through it and all they have to do is pick the food off of my macro list and if they choose to go that route. Thank you. You're changing your life. If they choose for me to put something together for them? Thank you. But there's already a free option on there. But I want to make my free option to where you look at the paid option, "Ah, I don't really need it." Because it's not about the money and I want people to understand that. It's really about changing lives.

Nick: And you're reaching a lot of people through free channels, too. Instagram, Snapchat. If somebody really wants ... If they want to reach you, how do they reach you through those?

Possible Pat: Everything's "PossiblePat". Instagram PossiblePat, Facebook PossiblePat, and to be honest man, I get a lot of messages and people are like, "I don't have money. I don't have ..." I've written free meal plans. I've sat there, called a person up, worked with them for two hours, told them what they need to do, send them workouts, and it helps them, and that's what it's about. That's truly what it's about. Just helping people out because I wish I had the help. Maybe when I was ... The first time I decided to lose weight, if there was someone out there making it easier for me and someone I can relate to. And there's hundreds of us out there. There's a lot of people that have lost weight. So let's team up and build this super team of transformations and help some people.

Nick: I think so.

Heather: Yeah. Speaker 4: Great. Well thanks for coming in and talking with us.

Possible Pat: Thank you.

Heather Eastman: Yes, Thank you, Pat.

Possible Pat: Appreciate you.

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