Joe Wicks: Nothing I can do or say can truly motivate you to do something. You have to take action. It's like the action of getting up and just doing your exercise. That's what's going to motivate you, that's what's going to give you the sense of achievement and keep you on track. So people are constantly asking me what can I do to do differently, but ultimately you have to just get up and just take action and just do.
Dr Rupy: Welcome to the Doctor's Kitchen podcast. Today I'm doing a slightly different episode with none other than Joe Wicks, the body coach, who I'm sure a lot of you are aware of. He's sold over 3 million books. His highly engaging, motivating videos are an absolute smash on Instagram and all other social media platforms. He's sold 3 million books across the world, one of which is his latest, Veggie Lean in 15, which is 100 delicious vegetarian recipes with some plant-based recipes in as well. And talking about books, my new book Eat to Beat Illness is out now. I talk about the nutritional science and the lifestyle practices that improve so many different aspects of our well-being: our brain, our skin, our immunity. Also, check out the newsletter for the doctorskitchen.com. You can sign up at the website. There's loads of fascinating information that I'm trying to pump out every two weeks. No spam, just pure nutritional and lifestyle goodness. I actually came across Joe's work through one of my patients and we get into that story. Today's podcast is going to be a little bit different in that we're going to be talking about motivation. How do you keep motivated when you're trying to lead the healthiest lifestyle? Joe, someone who's sold thousands of his plans and has got an engaged social media following, is the perfect person to ask about how to maintain motivation and how to create behavioural change, which is something that is very, very hard to do. We're going to talk about how to get over the hump when you're not motivated to work out. We're also going to talk about routine and how to keep yourself onto a healthier lifestyle. We also talk about Joe's humble beginnings and parts of his life story that I don't think a lot of people have come across before. So I know you're going to find this absolutely fascinating. Let's get to it. Joe, welcome to the pod, mate.
Joe Wicks: Thanks for having me on the show, dude.
Dr Rupy: No worries. It's been, we've been talking about doing this for a while, haven't we? Just getting us in the studio and just talking about what has motivated you, how you've got to your current status at the moment.
Joe Wicks: Yeah, man, and we're always on other sides of the world, aren't we? So it's nice that we're both in London at the same time and, yeah, I'm looking forward to having a chat with you and discussing some things.
Dr Rupy: The first time I came across some of your work, right, was from, I don't know if I've told you the story, it was a patient of mine who came in to clinic. I hadn't seen him for about three, four months or so, and he'd lost so much weight. And I remember thinking, I mean, he came in, he was like, I feel great. We were actually talking about his hypertensive medications. So we were actually able to reduce some of them. And I remember asking him, I was like, mate, how on, obviously I didn't say mate. How on earth have you been able to lose so much weight? We were talking about different ways in which you can exercise better, eat better food, and I remember talking to him about diet quite a bit. But he said, I've been watching this guy, I found him on Instagram, and I watched some of his videos and I've done his plan and I've lost this tons of weight and I've got all this sort of bounding amounts of energy. And he said, it was some guy called the Body Coach. And that was the first time, a few years ago, that was the first time I'd come across you. And so I duly looked you up and I was like, wow, you're doing so much, you've got so much energy. And yeah, you actually really inspired me at that time as well, so.
Joe Wicks: Oh, that's great to know. Yeah, and it's so nice when you hear these stories of people who are basically taking themselves from a really unhealthy, unhappy kind of low mood, low quality of life to turning it around. And you can, in 90 days, my 90-day plan has really helped hundreds of thousands of people because it's just simple, that simple message of short, quick home workouts at home, quick, simple food. And if you enjoy your food and you're not depriving yourself, we always talk about these low-calorie diets and meal replacements and these solutions that people go for and they're not sustainable. So I think my message from the start has been, look, if you love your food, all you need to do is exercise regularly, cook some simple, healthy home-cooked food, and you can allow the odd treat now and again and not be depriving yourself. So, well, I'm glad we came into contact and we obviously connected. And I remember your videos in the early days used to have the little chalkboard, didn't you? The little fruit and veg laid out and what I loved about your content was I actually learned something about the properties of foods because I don't really understand that. I'm not that clued up on it, but you talk about the actual ins and outs and what these things will do from a health perspective. So really interesting content, man, and glad we met.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, definitely. And I remember thinking to myself because as a general practitioner, anyone who's listening to this who is in healthcare will understand and resonate that behaviour change is super difficult. I can sit in front of someone and try and convince them to stop smoking. The likelihood of them actually doing that is very low. So finding a formula as you have with 90-day plans or with engaging, motivating content is actually very difficult. So that's something that you should be really proud of, mate, because it's super hard to do.
Joe Wicks: Thanks, man. Yeah, it is really difficult and people slip into their old ways. It's really weird. I met a cab driver this morning. I jumped in the back of a black cab on the way from the station and he could hear my voice but he couldn't see my face. He goes, you sound like, are you that Joe Wicks guy? He's like, mate, I've been doing your workouts. He goes, I was 20 stone. He goes, I've lost six stone in seven months doing your workouts. And I love that. I love that I've connected with your mums and students and fitness bunnies, but also someone like that who's a cab driver who just saw me on Instagram or something or saw me on TV and he's gone out and done my YouTube workouts, and he's completely turned his life around. So it is powerful stuff. But I always get asked, how do I get motivation? And it's one of those things, nothing I can do or say can truly motivate you to do something. You have to take action. It's like the action of getting up and just doing your exercise. That's what's going to motivate you. That's what's going to give you the sense of achievement and keep you on track. So people are constantly asking me what can I do to do differently, but ultimately you have to just get up and just take action and just do and just do a little bit of something, even if it's 10 minutes a day, it will be a catalyst to do a bit more, to make better food choices, and that's the start, I think. You have to just wake up with intent and action to get going.
Dr Rupy: How has that changed you? That's pretty nuts. For a lot of people listening to this, they'll be like, you jumped into a cab and there's someone whose life you've impacted in a huge way and will probably that impact will last with them for the rest of their life. How does that change you? What does that like?
Joe Wicks: It's just, I was with Nikki, my brother, and it's just, yeah, we were just both, I just love that. I love that I've got a geezer who, he basically said he loves beer, he's a big drinker and he said one day I woke up, I was 20 stone and I just wanted to do something. And I got your YouTube workouts and I bought your DVD and he's been doing it. And he said he lives in a flat and the neighbours were going, what are you doing up there? You got a girl up there or something? And he goes, no, I live on my own. I've been doing the body coach hit workouts because he's running up and down and doing burpees. But it is, it's very motivating, and it's of any achievements I've got, whether it's whatever, Guinness World Records or selling a certain amount of books, it is all nice, but when I meet someone like that on the street, that is truly like inspiring. I love it and it motivates me. I think, keep doing it, Joe, you're going to reach more people and you will benefit people like this who may have never thought about exercise. So it's very motivating and very inspiring for me to just keep meeting people and when I do my book tours, I find it, it's tiring, but also it energizes me again because I think I realize why I put so much effort online because it's really actually helping people in the real world. So, yeah, meeting people is always a lovely thing and I never get bored of hearing stories like that.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, that's great. And I think a lot of people will see the facade of you being energetic and motivating on Instagram and videos and stuff and they'll see this sort of bubbly character, but I want to know a bit more about how you started. What was your childhood like? What were your, what were the beginnings of Joe Wicks, not just the body coach?
Joe Wicks: Yeah, so as a child, I was definitely, so I grew up in a place called Epsom in Surrey. Everyone always thinks I'm from Essex, they're like, Joe Wicks, the body coach from Essex, but I'm definitely from Epsom in Surrey, a little town in Epsom, in Surrey. And so I've got two brothers. I've got an older brother called Nikki and a little brother called George. And I effectively grew up with my mum. My dad kind of was in and out of rehab through drug addiction from a very young age. So he was there and I don't look back and think, oh, what a terrible childhood I had and what trauma I went through and I was abandoned because I just, I'm very much proud of my past and me and my dad now are like best friends and he's clean today. So I don't look back with kind of resentment. I'm quite a positive person who just thinks, right, that's it. That's what my life is and let's look forward. But I was very, I was quite a, I was class clown, but also very hyperactive and quite distracted easily. So I never really, I'd always be doing one thing, one week I'd be doing roller skating, next week I'd be doing BMXing and football and karate. I was always very energetic. And so exercise and fitness and just movement's always been a big part of my life.
Dr Rupy: Do you still do karate?
Joe Wicks: No, I got to like, I think like red belt or something and I gave it up. But yeah, I didn't have a very good attention span. Academically, I wasn't that focused, but really excelled in PE and sport and team games and cross country and I don't know where that came from, but I just loved, I just loved always running. I was always running somewhere and doing sports. So I've always found that side of things easy. But in terms of my nutrition as a child growing up, so single mum, living in a council house, we didn't have access to great food. She couldn't cook either. So we would always just have loads of junk in the cupboards. It would be like wagon wheels and ice gems and we'd have picnics for dinner, like sandwiches and Sunny Delight, I must have run on like 200, 300 grams of sugar a day. I was always drinking fizzy drinks and stuff.
Dr Rupy: Do you think that impacted your attention levels when you were at school, do you reckon?
Joe Wicks: Yeah, and you don't realize at the time, but it's just, I wasn't educated on that, but there's no doubt. I mean, I would have a carton of Sunny Delight and a bowl of Coco Pops for breakfast. And when you're a little kid and you get to school, can you imagine how hard it is to focus? And that's very normal for a lot of people. So I've come on this massive journey into nutrition and I've now influenced my friends and family and my mum's cooking more and so yeah, it's been a crazy journey to where I've got to, but ultimately, I always knew I'd do something in fitness or kind of sport and I originally set out to become a personal trainer. Sorry, to become a school teacher.
Dr Rupy: Oh, really? A school teacher?
Joe Wicks: When I was about 12, St Mary's University in Twickenham did a little campaign where they reached out to different schools and certain children were taken to have a little kind of introduction day and hang out at the university. And I thought I was chosen because I was one of the good kids, but I was actually chosen because I was one of the naughty kids. So they were like, we need to take this kid on a another path. And it really, it was amazing. I went there and I decided that day, I must have been about 12 or 13 that I was going to go to this university and I was going to become a PE teacher. And it was exactly what I'd done. I went travelling for a year, finished my...
Dr Rupy: So you knew from a 12-year-old, from age 12, you were like, that's what I'm going to do.
Joe Wicks: Because I really got on with my PE teacher and I thought this is a cool, he's a cool dude and I love PE and so I kind of made a decision that I was going to go to university, I was going to do a degree in sports science and become a PE teacher. And I went travelling for a year and when I came back, I done my degree at St Mary's. And I thought I'd better try and do a bit of teaching assisting just to kind of see how I get on before I make the leap to doing the graduation program to become a graduate training program it's called where you become a teacher. And I did it for about six months and I just realized I wasn't cut out for it. It's a really tough job. Teachers, they're under pressure. There's a lot of pressure on them to get kids to perform and I just thought I don't think I could do this for the rest of my life. So I thought, what else can I do with my passion? And that was exercise and fitness. So I then done a quick kind of six-week personal training qualification and then yeah, set up my boot camp and then here I am today as the body coach.
Dr Rupy: What was university like? Those three years?
Joe Wicks: Were you still like the class clown? Were you still hyperactive or?
Dr Rupy: No, as soon as I left, as soon as I left high school, I went to college. So I did a GNVQ. So I was more like coursework and practical based because I just couldn't sit and do exams. And I just kind of matured really quickly. I thought I'm not just going to be silly and I want to, I kind of realized that I like doing this and this is what I'm good at. So let's just put some effort into it. Did my three years at uni and I didn't really do the whole uni lad life and getting boozy and I lived with my dad and I just used to commute to from Surbiton to to Twickenham.
Dr Rupy: So this is the point in your life where you and your dad had sort of reconciled or you'd see more of him in your...
Joe Wicks: Yeah, so by this point actually I was living with my dad. So I was about 19, 20, I was living with my dad for uni and had a girlfriend. So I wasn't like out partying and doing the whole student SU nights and stuff. And yeah, I just got on with it. I got a 2:1, I got my degree and but then I was really, I went through, I call it the quarter-life crisis. When I hit 25, I spent my whole year basically playing Call of Duty and FIFA online and just not because I couldn't handle the fact that I didn't have a, I couldn't actually be a teacher. I had no other qualifications. Being a sports scientist, what can you really do? And I was just like burying my head in the sand because I didn't really want to accept that I couldn't do much and I felt a bit useless. So I basically ran away. I got my bike and I flew to Canada with my rucksack and my push bike and I cycled down the west coast to Mexico. So I spent 2,000 miles on my bike with a friend of mine.
Dr Rupy: Really? No way.
Joe Wicks: Me and my mate Ted, I cycled um...
Dr Rupy: Which part of Canada?
Joe Wicks: I flew to Toronto and then I, sorry, to Vancouver and then I cycled all the way down the west coast right the way down California, all the way to we crossed the border to Tijuana.
Dr Rupy: So have you always been into cycling then? Is that one of your passions or was that something...
Joe Wicks: No, I just wanted to run away and I thought, how do we do it? Well, I ain't got enough money to get a bus, so let's get a car. Let's get a bike. And it was a long adventure, but yeah, I had, I always had this sense of, if I ever had a rough time and felt down and a bit lost, just go travelling because you're better, you're happy in Thailand, you're happy in Australia, you're happy on the beach somewhere. So I had that feeling of running away and I'm much more content now and happy in what I'm doing, but...
Dr Rupy: Where'd you get that sort of travel bug from? Because had you been travelling when you were a teenager or at school or...
Joe Wicks: Yeah, when I finished uni, I went travelling for a year, so I went to Australia and New Zealand and Thailand and stuff because I just felt like it was my right of passage, we've all got to do a bit of travelling and I'm glad I did. But yeah, my whole, all through university, I'd take my student loan and rather than go and get boozy down the SU, I used to go travelling with it. So every summer I'd go to like Thailand or Vietnam and do a little trip. So...
Dr Rupy: That's actually, that resonates quite well with me actually because every year we used to have like two months in between years at medical school. And I would always go away. So in my two-month break, I've been to Thailand, I went to South Africa at one point, sorry, not South Africa, Tanzania, and I did South America as well. So yeah, and I think those sorts of experiences of what it's like abroad really does heighten your awareness of what cultures are like around the world and that kind of has inspired me to do meals and stuff from around the world in terms of cuisine.
Joe Wicks: Yeah, I mean, I love travelling. I'm at my happiest when I'm exploring somewhere new. I just love going to a new place and trying new food and just visiting new, yeah, new cities and stuff. So it's a big part of my life still.
Dr Rupy: Yeah. So you grabbed this, you grabbed your bike and your mate, Ted, and you took and you went to Toronto. I mean, that takes a lot of confidence. A lot of people don't have that sort of thought process behind just leaving everything and going travelling.
Joe Wicks: Yeah, it took us six weeks. We had a tent each and we had a rucksack, you know, bikes with panniers, bags hanging off the side of it. And we just basically headed south and we always knew if the ocean was on our right, we were heading south and we were going to reach California eventually. And we would sleep in parks, on benches, on trampolines, we used to sleep under the lifeguard huts on Malibu beach. We had no money. We used to live off like $10, $15 a day, so we were skint. Um, yeah, we just eat Subway and get fast food and just crack on and just some days you do 50 miles and stop and some days you do 100 miles depending on how we felt, but it's a really great trip. It's like my last kind of big trip before I got into kind of my career and became the body coach. I was like, all right, just one more big trip. Then when I get back, I can focus on what I want to be. But I was very lost. I was a bit like, what am I going to do? Who am I? And I had no idea. So that was my way of just exploring a little bit while not facing reality for a few weeks.
Dr Rupy: Did you think that you figured out who those what those questions were while she were travelling? Or were you just in the moment, just enjoying the present, not really thinking about I'm going to have to go home in a few weeks' time and then try and figure out my life?
Joe Wicks: If I'm being honest, if I had had my way, if I had had more money, I would have gone all the way down to the southern tip of South America. I didn't want to stop. I would have gone straight down Baja, California, I would have gone right down through South America, but I just, yeah, obviously just came home and faced up to it and got myself into personal training. But I'm glad, the time was right. But I just, I think a lot of people do hit that stage where they finish uni. They may not love the subject they were in and they may think, oh, I've got to go and do a career in that and it's quite a difficult time. You're not too sure who you are when you're like 25. Now I'm like 33, I'm so much more confident in what I'm doing and more content. I'm not always, I'm not looking at other things thinking, oh, I should be doing that or am I going to be good enough? And yeah, it comes with age, isn't it, I think?
Dr Rupy: I think that quarter-life crisis is something very real. A lot of young people of today, particularly with social media, there's a lot of expectation on them. Everyone appears to be starting their own thing, being an entrepreneur. There's a lot of pressure, I think, on a lot of young people these days. I certainly had that when I was 24, but I can't imagine what it's like for 24-year-olds and 25-year-olds now.
Joe Wicks: It'll be worse now because all you see is the perfect life and everyone's doing better and they've got a nice house and so there's so much comparison going on, isn't it? Yeah. Back when I was going travelling and all that, it was like, you just had MSN and Facebook. There was no Instagram stories and walls and people curating their dream life. So yeah, I reckon now, someone coming out of uni today is under more pressure to either go and work for a company or set up their own company and there's, yeah, there's a lot of um, a lot of pressure. I never had that. That's the one thing from my family, never had any expectations, just always loved, even though my dad was a drug addict and and wasn't available, but he was always there emotionally, he was always supportive and loving and same with my mum. So that's really sculpted me as an adult, I think. I'd rather, I'd rather have love and support than have parents that aren't really engaged or pushing me into a direction that I'm not that interested in.
Dr Rupy: Who inspired you in that first 24 years of your life before you set up the, you know, did your six-week course and then set up the body coach?
Joe Wicks: Um, I don't know really. I mean, I just, I just kind of, I've always, if I want to do anything, I want to work hard at it. Like even if it's working as a lifeguard or working in a sports shop when I was younger, I've always just, I've turned up, I'm on time, I'm punctual, I get the job done and I think I've become way more ambitious before. My only ambition was when I had the boot camp, I thought, I'd just like to have franchise the location, have like 10 boot camps. I never thought, let's build an audience and get a book deal and go on TV. I just never in a million years thought I'd ever have these things happen to me. I just thought I'd, you know, get a, get a few boot camps, get a mortgage, have a nice little place and a little family and that would be it. I never imagined I was going to go on this mission and help all these people all over the world. It's just definitely like the more you achieve, the more you can start to set bigger goals.
Dr Rupy: Do you think there's something about that work ethic of just wanting to work hard to set something up, to be happy? Are those sorts of things that have sort of come from your childhood at all or is it just something that you've you've always felt the need to do?
Joe Wicks: I don't know. Like I said, I'm not, my mum's a social worker, my dad's a roofer. There's no like, there's no really successful people in my family or any entrepreneurial people, but me and my brother Nikki have become, you know, because we work together, we have become very ambitious together and we have become very motivated and we work really hard. But I don't know, it's just, it's just something when it's one of these things like, I didn't know I was even working. When I started doing Instagram videos, it was just fun. I was just having a laugh and it's like because I loved it so much and people could see I was having so much fun, then it became a business, but it wasn't the other way around. It wasn't like, I'm going to just do this to make money and get audiences and get brand deals. It really came from a truly organic, authentic place. And probably now because there's people seeing me and other trainers and see the success I've had, they're now thinking, well, I can do the same. I can get a book deal and I can if I just, you know, get followers and get likes and get comments and get brand deals. Whereas I was truly, truly authentic and organic from my intentions. And that's how I've had the success I think I've had, you know?
Dr Rupy: Yeah, yeah. I think the intention I think is an important point because when I started the Doctor's Kitchen, I'd had the idea for a number of years whilst I was training in general practice. And then when it was wasn't until when I was in Australia that I was like, you know what, I'm just going to get behind a camera and I'm just going to start talking about antioxidants and different foods and why they're healthy and what the clinical research was saying. And the intention, honestly, was just to inspire my group of patients, maybe 100 or 200 or so, so they can eat their way to health. I never in a million years thought six months after starting that, you know, I'd get a literary agent, Harper Collins would come knocking and then I'd have a book deal. That was definitely not something I was aiming for.
Joe Wicks: They just can't, you couldn't, you can't see it, can you? But now people have seen whether it's me or, you know, Clean Eating Alice or other people that have had book deals, it's like everyone just thinks that you can just get an audience and get brand deals and everyone's going to consume everything you put out. But it does take a long time to build the trust and and the kind of the community. So yeah, but you've done a great job of it and but like I said, you'd never imagine it, but now you're doing it, it's like this is exactly what you want to be doing and you're more passionate than ever and you're more ambitious and you start, you know, how can you reach more audiences? You use podcasts and Instagram and YouTube. So I think your mission, like me, you're mission-led, you're purpose-driven. And because of that, people warmed to you, people love what you do and people follow you and then they, you know, support your products when you release a book or something like that. So it does have to, I think people are so, they're so savvy and they really tune into genuine intention and people that are passionate and love what they're doing.
Dr Rupy: One of the, I think the best piece of content that you've ever released, right, is something that I don't know if a lot of people have listened to or watched, but it was your lecture at your old university to the graduate students. And it was your story, uh, for, you know, what it was like being a 24, 25-year-old having just graduated and not knowing what to do, which I think a lot of people, even at later ages in in their life as well, are probably going through. And you told this story about how you would start your boot camps, uh, and some people, you know, you'd do your boot camps on Saturday and you'd ride your bike there, you'd get all your kit, and then sometimes you'd only have a few people, sometimes no one would turn up, but you'd still do it every single day. That motivation to continue to do things despite all the barriers and all the obstacles, how on earth did you muster that? Like, what was the drive behind that? Because I think a lot of people struggle to get out of bed in the mornings these days.
Joe Wicks: Yeah, I always think back to that. My brother used to ask me the same, like, how did you, how did you do it and how did you used to just keep going back? And I just, I don't, I don't know where it came from, but I just knew that if I just kept going, like I'll just build, you know, it would build and if I, if no one turned up, just go flyering, give out some flyers, get a little bit of business in the area and people will hear about it and come back and it was just, I just thought, I just don't want to give up. Like I just think there's so many people that have ideas and great, you know, great things they want to start, but people say, oh, stay in your lane, you know, do what you're normally doing. You're good at, you know, keep doing what you're doing. Why are you going to go ahead and try something new? And if you did that and listened, you'd never, you'd never break the mold. You'd just stay in the same, the same lane your whole life. So I just thought, I want to do this, I want to make this success and I want to work for myself. I really didn't want to work in a gym or work for another, you know, body, another boot camp. I thought, I want to own my own boot camp and work on my own time. So that was just the start of my work ethic. I think that was probably the start of my ambition and work ethic. I thought, I'm not just going to give up and go and work for another trainer or work in another gym. I'm going to keep doing it and I used to just keep going back until eventually it grew and it became like a decent business, you know?
Dr Rupy: Yeah. And then you started going into the plan sort of things? Was that sort of always the the goal to to start doing plans or did that just happen again like organically?
Joe Wicks: I was posting, so I was doing all my, I was like really busy as a PT. I was doing about seven hours of boot camps a week and probably like 30 hours of PT and I was literally like driving around between the houses because I didn't have a gym, so I'd do it in their garden or in their park and stuff. Um, and then in the meantime, I started sharing stuff on Twitter, just posting some motivational stuff, a little bit of like fitness tips. Then I, and then on when Instagram opened up the video, I had the idea for for lean in 15 videos, but there was loads of people doing like fitness content and video recipes. I just thought, how can I do it a little bit differently? So I started putting the recipes up like breakfast, lunch and dinner. Um, and when that grew and I had realized I had this big community, the questions were coming in like, I'm on this diet or that diet and can I have some advice? So that was where the kind of idea for the 90-day plan was born. Um, but again, that was literally like thinking, it's a nice way to supplement your income. I can do a bit less PT and it just literally almost within a few months, it switched to being my main thing and then I passed on the boot camps and personal training. And that's we've now had um 300,000 people have signed up since we launched it in like 2015.
Dr Rupy: That's incredible.
Joe Wicks: 2014, sorry, yeah.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, that's, that's, that's insane.
Joe Wicks: It's a lot of people. Yeah, so it's become, you know, a global business, which is really, really, we're really proud of and um, the mission's the same, like, can we get someone today eating healthy and can we get someone exercising?
Dr Rupy: When did you start that mission? Because that's a really clear mission that like, can you get someone today to eat something healthy and exercise?
Joe Wicks: It was when I started the um my Instagram account. When I started posting the recipes, yeah, because you got to think like, why before I ever knew of any publishers or any book deals or any anything, why would a man get his phone out and record the recipe and post it on Instagram? I for so so consistently too, like breakfast, lunch and dinner, I would not do the same recipe every twice. I would want to post everything and I would sit there and record it and post it straight away and just because I just was obsessed with sharing content. But I don't know really why I was doing it other than I found it fun. I found it fun that someone was like copying my recipes. Yeah, yeah. Um, there's not one part of me that thought this is marketing, like this is content marketing. I'm building something and I can sell something to these people one day. Like, it just weren't on my radar.
Dr Rupy: Yeah.
Joe Wicks: I just, I suppose like you, I just thought, maybe I'll get a few more personal training clients, maybe I'll get a busier boot camp, maybe I'll, you know, encourage some friends, but it was never like, let's talk to people in Australia and the US and all over the world about healthy cooking. It was just a much smaller idea, but grew and as I realized people were enjoying it and the content was making people laugh and I was getting good engagement, then I thought, right, do more of that, do a little bit more of this.
Dr Rupy: Yeah. I'm just trying to think whether it's something about your childhood like and sorry to sort of dissect it from a psychological level, but you know, being the class clown, like you said, when you were younger, uh, like kind of like liking that attention, liking making people laugh, liking people feel better about themselves. Maybe some of that came into your social media stories and and the um the lean in 15 videos because at one point, I remember you saying that you would get a lot of slack from random people just saying, what are you doing this? I don't like your hair, it's all floppy, you know, all this kind of stuff like I don't like your voice. But despite that, you know, the the effort and the encouragement and the enthusiasm you gave yourself to carry on, you know, it takes a lot.
Joe Wicks: Yeah, and I don't at the time I just was like, this is what I love doing. I didn't really think too much about it. And yeah, I did get negative comments because you know, saying, what these videos are annoying, you're always on Twitter and Facebook, like, why don't you just get back to doing your boot camp? And you know, like that's close friends as well, but I thought, no, I'm not going to listen. And then people say, oh God, this guy's so annoying, his voice is driving me mad. And I just thought, well, some people are enjoying it. Not everyone's going to love you. You know, I do, I do like it when people, you know, respond well to my content, but I also don't let negative comments affect me. I did in the early days, it used to really get to me and you know, the main criticism you probably see in like trainers and other people slaying me off. And the reason is because I don't believe that people should count calories. And I've stuck by that from day one. I just truly believe that if someone exercises regularly and they cook at home and they they take away the complications from from healthy food, then naturally you create a calorie deficit and you, you know, you burn fat. But um, I just, I see it and it's there and I know there's a bit of noise, but I just focus on what I'm doing and I'm, I'm, you know, I'm talking to millions of people about it and there's a reason I've sold 3 million books because my message is simple. And it helps people like just get in the kitchen and cook and I don't want to confuse them by saying you should count calories and track macros every day because I've never counted calories.
Dr Rupy: Yeah. I think that like having that internal voice of, you know what, you've got a goal, which is trying to help people live healthier, happier lives, uh, using your videos, using your engaging content, and to drown out the the negative noise around you because that can be really, it can be um debilitating for a lot of people. They will they will listen to that. It's almost like the little internal voice like, you're going to fail, this isn't the right thing to do, maybe you should just do, you know, whatever else is doing, stick to the herd.
Joe Wicks: Yeah, I used to find it really upsetting, like it used to really affect me and I used to think, oh, everyone's going to see it and everyone's going to think, you know, I'm I'm I'm I'm a because people call me a sellout and say that I'm like, I'm, you know, hiding facts from people and stuff. But I've really, really helped so many people get in the kitchen and cook and and exercise and I give out so much free content and I believe in my message and I'm really doing and I'm never going to stop putting the calories in my books. So, you know, as long as I can believe that what I'm doing is right and I'm helping people, then it's fine and I can, you know, carry on with it.
Dr Rupy: Selling 3 million books, something that a lot of genuine celebrities would be envious of and, you know, the plans and how recognizable you are, even taxi drivers, for example, like this morning. You know, has that changed you, that kind of celebrity? I know you don't like to call yourself a celebrity or regard yourself as a celebrity, but the actual fact is, you know, you're very recognizable now, whatever the definition of celebrity is. How has that changed you at all?
Joe Wicks: I really um, I really don't, I mean, I I kind of, yeah, I don't feel like a celebrity. I never have done. Um, and I'm not like someone who's like rolling out at nightclubs and going partying and, you know, living like a celebrity and having it having it large all the time. But I really don't, I really don't think it has. I think if you met me three years ago or four years ago, we'd be the same, we'd be having the same conversation. I'd be saying I'm really, really, you know, on a mission to do this and that and it's allowed me to have more freedoms and not just financial freedoms, but also time. Like I I can spend every day with Indie if I want and Rosie. I can be present and that's my greatest, that's what I I'm so so proud about and so grateful that I don't have to be in an office or be be somewhere every day at the same time. My days are quite different and I can take Indie and Rosie with me. So that is my greatest achievement that I can just like design my lifestyle and I can obviously go to America for a few months a year. Um, but it hasn't changed me. I'm I'm more generous than I used to be because now I can look after my friends and family and, you know, we can go to nice restaurants and things, but I'm not someone who's, I'm not like buying flash cars and spunking loads of money on expensive clothes. It's just not, it's just not who I am, do you know what I mean? So I think you can let the numbers like inflate your ego and change the way you are, but or you can just be carry on as you are and be normal. But I think the minute you let the followers and the and the fame and the likes and all that and the TV appearances get to you, then it's very easy for people to just switch off and go, oh God, like he's changed. I don't like him anymore. So I um, I just, I just keep, keep humble and try and just be, be myself really and that's, so yeah, I don't think I've changed much.
Dr Rupy: Has Indie, Rosie, and your family, has that changed what motivates you when you get up out of bed in the mornings these days?
Joe Wicks: Yeah, I'm definitely, I'm definitely finding it like more motivational. Now I've got, you know, Nikki and I've got nephews and I've got, you know, there's loads of kids around. I want to, I want to support them and look after them because it's because when you see someone you love, you know, working really hard and it's, you know, life's difficult. Like, we all work so hard and some people, you know, get paid well for their job, some people don't. So I want to be in a position where I can take care of my family and just, you know, help them with their lifestyle as well.
Dr Rupy: Yeah. There was a a bit um in your in your talk actually where you were talking about burnout, you know, you were cycling every single day and sometimes people won't be turning up to the boot camps and stuff. How do you know that you're about to approach burnout and and what do you do when you think that you are burning out?
Joe Wicks: Um, I think it's, yeah, I mean it's, it's something that can can affect you and you don't even realize it's coming, you know, like if you're having a really busy time at work or you're going through some stress. I use exercise as a tool. Like, I'm not someone who sits and meditates and and and can really slow my mind down, but when I I use I use exercise as a tool and and nutrition to to make me feel good and productive and energized. So if things are getting difficult, I just, I'm quite good now at just sort of stepping back and putting my phone down for a few hours and and thinking like, what's the work, let's just say I release a new product or something goes wrong or, you know, something you think's not been a success. I think, well, what's what's really going to happen? Like just slow down and actually think about, you're going to be fine, everything's going to be fine and tomorrow you'll be fine, you'll learn from it and I don't really let um stress and anxiety get to me because it's crippling, isn't it? When you feel it, you feel like so much is on your plate at once, it can be really debilitating. So I'm I'm good at kind of um using exercise as a tool, um stepping away and just having a little breather and and refocusing and also having a down down period. So I I don't work 365 days a year, like I do have a month off here and there where I can just switch off, chill out a little bit and then I re-energize myself to come back to work.
Dr Rupy: Yeah. I've got into the habit of not looking at my phone on Sundays for sure because I'm the first person to admit I am addicted to my phone. I'm addicted to social media.
Joe Wicks: What's your screen time a day, do you know?
Dr Rupy: I think it's, mine's six hours.
Joe Wicks: Six hours? Oh, that's way too much. That's way more than me. Yeah, mine's like two hours or so.
Dr Rupy: Only two hours?
Joe Wicks: Yeah, two hours.
Dr Rupy: So you're doing well. But that's because I've I've actually reduced it and you know what? That's amazing. That's the lowest I've ever heard. Oh, no, mine's still, mine's about two hours, which I still think is a bit too high. If you think two hours of your waking day, if you're awake for over 12 hours, that's like, you know, a sixth of your day. I'm doing half. I'm doing 50% of my day looking at a screen on my phone. It's mad. But I suppose that that for a lot of people, I mean, that's your business, isn't it? Uh, like and and Instagram and social media is our business. So that's sort of the reason why it would be so high. But you know what, there's people out there who do not have businesses on social media and they're just consuming the content. And six hours of consumption of any content is way too much. And I and I know that's having an impact on on particularly the younger generations because there's a lot of comparison. Even for me, I'm I'm the first person to admit, I will scroll through my feed and I'm like, oh, this person's doing this and oh, maybe I should be doing that or, you know, you compare yourself even at a subconscious level.
Joe Wicks: Yeah, yeah, constantly, of course. Does that happen to you?
Dr Rupy: Yeah, I mean, well, yeah, I suppose it does. I follow a lot of other people and, you know, I get inspired by certain people, but yeah, you are, you're just before it was like, it would just be you and your friends and that was all you concerned yourself with. Now it's like, there's all these people that you're following with certain lifestyles and yeah, you know, you think, what, how have they got that brand deal or how have they got that house and that car and how are they flying around, you know, the world, but but you just have to just, honestly, it sounds so important just to focus on yourself and, you know, it doesn't mean they're happy just because they've got, you know, a private jet and they're flying around with um expensive cars and stuff. But um, yeah, I'm and that doesn't truly motivate me anyway. I I'm much rather, you know, I'm much rather, I'm I'm more about family and spending time with and experiences and travelling with family than buying things and material things. I'm not really like a collector of stuff. I think it's just a bit like, yeah, it doesn't really do much for me.
Dr Rupy: There's two things I've got into uh over the last couple of years. One is minimalism, so buying less and actually enjoying more of um of of products and and things that actually give a lot of value. Um, and uh, like lack of materialism. I follow Gary V, I don't know if you probably heard of Gary V before. He's um, yeah, I mean, he's pretty minimalist anyway, but you know, the kind of, I mean, he's very polarizing though, you either love him or you hate him. I I actually find his content really useful. Um, he talks a lot about, you know, falling in love with the game or falling in love with just, you know, your mission essentially. And I think what resonates really well with with yourself is, you know, we both have missions and that's what gets us out of bed in the morning, that's what drives us. If your goal is to have a bigger house or to live in a certain area or, you know, to have a nicer car, those things are pretty transient and they're not going to last. You actually want to fall in love with doing something that has a much grander purpose, maybe, and I I try and encourage this for myself, it's actually to make other people around you happier. As a byproduct, you will become happier yourself, but if you focus on making other people healthy and happy, then that's probably one of the best things you can try and aspire to.
Joe Wicks: Yeah, 100%. I'm a massive believer in that and connectivity and community and yeah, like helping helping other people out and giving, that's what I mean, I I feel like I do that with with what I do. I help people, you know, exercise and eat and cook and that makes them feel good. So that is my true calling and that is what I love doing and and what I continue to do. But yeah, I mean, we do, we focus on the wrong things, don't we? There's there's so much noise and confusion and advertising and marketing and we're just consuming everything, but sometimes you've got to stop and just be grateful for what you've got and appreciate where you are and you're and you're healthy and, you know, and and focus on helping other people. Yeah, I'm a I truly believe that's that's the key to true happiness, I think.
Dr Rupy: Definitely, yeah. That was actually the second thing I was going to say. First thing is minimalism, the second thing is gratitude. You know, being grateful for the smallest things in life. I love your gratitude thing. You did the 100 days of gratitude. It went on forever though. Do you still do it? Yeah, I still do it. Yeah. What, what last time I saw it was like 300 days or something. It's like 700 now. Wow. Yeah, it's gone over 700. Yeah. It's very good. 700. I don't really know where I'm going to stop. I mean, like, I I just I do it as a force of habit now. I just keep going, mate. I just do it. Yeah. And it's it's fun. And you know what? The the thing that actually keeps me going, not just doing the exercise because I would do that privately anyway, it's other people see that I'm I'm grateful for even the smallest things on a daily basis. And they're like, that's really inspired me. I'm going to start doing that. And I've done it for like, you know, a couple of days now. I feel great. You know, it's just a nice positive thing to end your day on, I find. So. Yeah, definitely. I'm I'm definitely and I've started to um to do that with um with Rosie and Nikki and just to say like, you know, thank you for, thank you for your time and being here. Thank you for your, you know, the the relationship we have and our friendship and the loyalty and the trust that we've got, you know, these things are so important because that's what relationships are formed on. So, yeah, I'm doing that a lot more now. It's a really nice thing to actually say to someone, like, I really appreciate, you know, our friendship or the way you looked after me this year.
Dr Rupy: Yeah. You know, when you're when you're starting your business from scratch, um, yourself, uh, was it yourself and Nikki the whole way through or was it...
Joe Wicks: No, he actually was working as a journalist. He was an editor of a magazine in um in Singapore and I sort of head hunt, I said, I need you. I'm I've got all these comments and I've got so much going on for so social media. I can't do it on my own. So he like originally just helped me with my social media and he's just grown into this amazing, you know, business partner who helps me with um all my content and strategy. He's so smart. So, but no, that happened kind of as a natural progression of our of um as our worlds collided, we like just worked together.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's fab because I think a lot of people when they're starting out, they they need that support. They need someone to sort of bat ideas off or help them out and stuff. So, that must have been pretty uh, must have been pretty good to have someone to to support you in that respect.
Joe Wicks: Yeah, and the fact that it's my brother, like he just knows me so well and he knows the mission I'm on and we make sure, the things we turn, we turn down so much because we want to do, you know, meaningful partnerships. We want to do things we believe in and I had a massive opportunity with a supermarket like to do um, they wanted to do ready meals and like, you know, microwave dinners and I, this this not, I've been saying for five years how I believe people can cook. Yeah. It's things like that, it's making decisions like that that having Nikki to to guide me means I haven't just made the wrong decision and gone on, you know, impulse. I've I've thought things through and so yeah, we we we only really do like really, really great long-term partnerships.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, so having a good like trusted network of people around you that you can bat ideas off and stuff, that must be pretty game-changing, I reckon.
Joe Wicks: Yeah, definitely.
Dr Rupy: Yeah. I um, I put a call out via social media, right? And I told everyone that we were talking about motivation and stuff. So there's a whole bunch of questions that have come in about motivation. Some of the things that we've already chatted about, but we'll just do a rapid sort of like review of all the questions that have ended up with. Uh, okay, fine. Late afternoon exhaustion around that 2:00, 3:00 p.m. level. What do you do to keep yourself going? Because sometimes a lot of people find, I usually find when I'm in clinic actually at 3:00 p.m., I have a few things that I do, but at that point, that's when I hit my low and I'm like, oh, I just can't, can't be asked to do anything. I'm definitely not going to do a workout when I get home later on that evening. So what do you do when you hit that level?
Joe Wicks: I think it will, you have to look at firstly what you're eating because if you're having a, if you're having a really low-calorie day and you get to that point, you're going to be hungry and your energy is going to be low. But also, if you've had a really, you know, unhealthy lunch with an energy drink and a chocolate bar and, you know, loads of fizzy sweets and stuff, that's going to also bring your energy down. So you've got to be looking at your nutrition. And I even say to people like, sometimes you get eight hours sleep and you wake up feeling exhausted and you need to be looking at the food you've been eating the day before because it really does affect, you know, the way you feel. And so, um, I'd I'd recommend, yeah, firstly like making sure you're eating healthy food and when you get to that point, you know, rather than relying on caffeine and fizzy drinks like most people do, get up and just have a little 10 minutes out out of the chair, out of the office, whatever it is, get some fresh air, um, move about, just get some blood flowing. I know it seems simple, but that is going to be more energizing. I'm lucky that at my office, I've got a gym, so if the staff get tired, they can just go and do a quick workout and it really does help, but not everyone's obviously got access to that. But getting up and just doing 10 minutes of walking and getting out a bit of fresh air could definitely help.
Dr Rupy: Absolutely. I think definitely walking around, drinking water as well. I think hydration is super important. A lot of people don't realize that you're dehydrated and that can actually affect your cognition. Um, so having a a tall glass of water will certainly improve your sort of energy levels. And also forgiveness as well. Like, you know, if you if you don't have the energy or you're feeling low, you've had a hard week and you're facing burnout, sometimes allowing yourself not to exercise, chill out for that day and just get back on it tomorrow morning is one of the best things you can advise.
Joe Wicks: Yeah, I definitely think people, rest is so important and people underestimate the importance of sleep as well. And if you're someone who gets by on like four and a half, five hours sleep, like it's just not enough. You need to really work on the quality of your sleep. It's so important.
Dr Rupy: What do you reckon about routine? A lot of people that I find, I speak to in clinic and via social media, also say that they struggle with routine. How do you get into a routine? What, do you have any tips for that?
Joe Wicks: Um, well, I used to be terrible in the mornings, but I've realized that I'm I'm actually, I've I've taught myself to become a better morning person. So I prefer to wake up, have a glass of water, do a workout before I eat breakfast, just to, you know, I just feel great afterwards. I'm much more productive and I'm focused. Um, when I slip out of that routine, I do, I'll find it hard because I'll like, I'll miss breakfast, I might grab a croissant or a sandwich and then like, I'll get home and I'm tired and can't be bothered with it. So I do believe in the power of the morning workout. I think if you can try and make that routine, um, now obviously I've got a baby, it's slightly different. Slightly different in terms of what time I train, but um, yeah, I'm a massive believer in the power of like getting up, getting it done and starting your day like that.
Dr Rupy: Definitely. I'm I'm a big fan of morning workouts. In fact, I train um first thing in the morning, so it's done and even if it's only 20 or 30 minutes, that way you've done your workout for the day, you don't need to worry about having to do it after work or other times. Um, and it it actually gives me a lot of energy. If I do it first thing in the morning, I know I'm just going to bash through clinic, I know I'm going to be energized for the rest of the day and it and it really does work. And there's lots of evidence behind that as well.
Joe Wicks: Yeah, people assume that if they're tired that exercise is going to drain them and take even more energy, but I I truly believe exercise gives you energy, you know, it does so much to the mind and body that, you know, just even if you did 10, 15 minutes of high intensity exercise, the benefits are, I think it's transformative to like how much you get done in the day and therefore how successful you become, your relationships with people you work with, it's it's all related to like, you know, sleep, nutrition and exercise. They're all so interlinked, so you can't not have one, you know, you need all three of them to really optimize your life and be functioning at your best.
Dr Rupy: Absolutely, yeah. There was um this paper that I read on mitochondrial biogenesis, which is basically the production of mitochondria, which are the energy sort of powerhouses of your cells. And when you exercise, particularly if you do certain types of exercise like high intensity training, it increases the concentration of these sorts of um the battery powerhouses. So that's why you can get those like post-exercise euphoric effects, like runner's high or after you do a hit workout, you just feel super motivated.
Joe Wicks: I love that. I love that feeling. I'm addicted to that feeling.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, it's so good. Um, keeping motivation during the winter months. I get this a lot, particularly right now.
Joe Wicks: Yeah, I mean, look, I'm experiencing my own little motivational low. Like I'm doing my exercise, but I'm not making the best food choices. I'm having, you know, because you walk past the bakery and you see like a nice, you know, chocolate brownie or like a, you know, a little pie or something and, you know, you're craving these sort of wintry comfort foods and it's fine, but you've just got to keep up your exercise. I think if you start having all the extra calories and you just get really inactive and you're not doing a lot, then you are, you know, you're going to gain extra body fat and you're going to feel a bit sluggish. But um, again, it's just that thing of prep your meals, get your meals sorted so you've got food and you can rely on that and you haven't got to get fast food and eat out all the time. And secondly, it's just keeping up the exercise and like I said, if you're not someone who can face like walking out the house, getting to the gym and doing all that, just do home workouts because it can it can be so effective doing 20 minutes a day as opposed to like one hour a week and skipping workouts. So daily daily hit workouts at home is a good way to get going.
Dr Rupy: That's actually one of the questions that I had quite a few people ask actually is how you keep motivated um and moving when you work and live at home. Um, and I I mean, I personally do uh home workouts most of the time now. I barely go to the gym, maybe like once or twice a week because of that like 20 minutes to get there, then you've got to wait for your machine or you've got to wait for other things. You get back and by the time you've gone back, it's like an hour and a half of your day, it's too much.
Joe Wicks: Yeah, and the thought of the thought of like going into your living room and exercising or doing it in your bedroom, it's really weird for some people and they just think, oh God, I need to go to a gym and I've got to be in this structured environment. But honestly, like, you can have a set of dumbbells, you can be doing, you know, squats and press-ups and shoulder press and really, really good big moves that are going to get you burning loads of energy and you can be putting them weights down and packing up in 20 minutes. And like, you will, you will transform your body. You can, you really can. But people think you need more, you need a spin class, you need all these boot camps and expensive gym gym memberships, but ultimately, consistency is what really gets results. And if that means doing 100 squats a day and doing a few press-ups, like that is going to get you results over, I'm going to go and do a spin class every Sunday. Do you know what I mean? Like, so, um, yeah, try and make it, make your office or your home your gym.
Dr Rupy: Yeah. It's good to know that like even you have low days where you can't keep your morale up and you can't like, you can't be bothered or you, you know, you want a pie or a bun or whatever because, you know, they're normal temptations. There are so many temptations out there and sometimes you need to just be, uh, you just need to accept the fact that, yeah.
Joe Wicks: So what's happened? This is, I'll tell you what's exactly happened with me. I, I was in America, training loads, getting really lean, had a photo shoot when I got back and I was bang on it. Then somebody gave me a 5-litre tub of chocolate orange gelato. Honestly, he he runs a restaurant and and within seven days, I ate 5 litres of ice cream. Then my mate Ted gave me a chocolate bar from Venchi, that Italian chocolate shop. And I thought, what has he done? Because I I'm really good. When it's not in the house, I can just not have sugar, I can just not go near it. But when it's in the house, I'm all or nothing. Like, I have a little bit and then I crave more of and before you know it, within a week I'd eaten that. So I'm like coming off the back of that now. It's out of the house, I'm back into my cooking, I'm doing my recipes, but when it I'm just as weak as anyone else. When it's around me, when it's there, I'm just, I'm just as tempted as anyone. So for me, it's like, don't have it in the cupboards, have a little chocolate banana and treat yourself, but having like tubs of Ben & Jerry's and loads of packets of biscuits because you they're lovely things and they taste great. You know what I mean? But I'm I'm so much better when I'm eating healthier. I just feel so much better inside, you know, and on the outside as well.
Dr Rupy: I think that's one tip actually to keep uh in mind of if you keep it in the house, if you keep it out of the house rather, um, you're less likely to to be tempted by it. If you keep any of those things in your house, I know, I I know myself, like if I've got some chocolate or I've got some crisps and usually it's my family that has stuck uh some the cupboards at home in our family home. And I will just go for it. I do not have an off switch. I'll just finish packs and packs of of snacks and stuff. Yeah, I used to have like a bit of yogurt and fruit for dessert and now, but I'm craving chocolate and sweets and sugar every single day. Like, I want fruit pastels and chocolate bars and just want anything sweet. And that it just goes to show that once you're in the routine of it, you know, your body will, you do want it. It's not like you're addicted to it, but you just, you just want it because it tastes good and so I'm I'm more about having your cupboards and and fridge stocked up with healthy like whole foods and no processed stuff because if it's there, I'm on it. I'm all over it.
Joe Wicks: I think it's about um understanding our evolutionary design as well because we are geared to want salt and sugary snacks. And if we have that, then we're just going to go for it. And actually, you know, once you become aware of that, then you can actually make the conscious decision, you know what, no, I'm just going to stock my cupboard and fridge with all healthy items and then enjoy like some snacks when I'm outside the house or whenever I can.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, exactly. That's a much better way of looking at it.
Joe Wicks: Great. Mate, I think we've done it. Uh, there's quite a bit of content there. There was quite a bit of uh chat about motivation, but thank you so much. I think...
Dr Rupy: I've enjoyed it, mate. It's good. It's a hard thing to talk about because you really want to, you want to motivate people without like sounding preachy and all saintly, but it's a very difficult thing to really communicate and get across, but it's just, it's just putting little steps into your day that are going to make your life easier. So having your lunch for work the next day and having it prepped in the fridge and having your your your workouts at home, these little steps are going to be a massive, you know, massive benefit and keep you on track, keep sustaining your results and getting you healthy.
Joe Wicks: I think the most people will find out from this is that, you know, we're not saints. There's a there's an impression that you have to be 100% all day every week um to to achieve like the healthiest lifestyle. It's actually you can enjoy the treats, you can enjoy a little slip here and now and then. But the most important thing is to enjoy it.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, exactly. If you enjoy your food and you you do regular exercise, you can get results. You haven't got to struggle and be on a, you know, low-calorie diet or depriving yourself. You should you should enjoy the food you love and and then you're going to keep it up all year round.
Dr Rupy: I really hope you enjoyed that podcast with Joe. I found it absolutely fascinating and his insight into his life was very candid. The things that I want you to take away from this podcast on motivation is routine. Actually getting yourself into a routine is one of the best ways in which you can maintain a healthy lifestyle. Planning your meals and planning what you're going to be doing over the next couple of days does help some people. I'm more of an intuitive cook personally, but I know that when you're trying to at least start a healthy lifestyle, planning your weeks in advance would be a good way to do that. Prioritizing sleep. This is the best way to maintain your energy levels during the day. So making sure that you're giving yourself enough rest will allow you to power through your workouts and maintain your focus on healthy eating. Mini bursts of exercise, even home workouts are really, really encouraging. I find doing my workouts from home will mean that I'm actually more likely to be active rather than having to try and get myself to a gym and back. And that's time-saving as well. Limit your social media. Unfortunately, when we continue to scroll down our feed, we actually create a negative self-image of ourselves. Concentrate on your personal goals rather than aspiring for others. Finally, the best piece of advice I can give you is to forgive yourself when you don't have the motivation to do the exercise or you want to enjoy that cinnamon bun or have some unhealthy treat. The spiral of guilt can actually lead to worsening thoughts and actually you want to enjoy that moment where you don't do a healthy activity and actually get back on track the next day. Forgive yourself when you can't be bothered to do your exercise and actually the next day you'll feel much more motivated. You can find Joe at the Body Coach on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, all the different social media platforms. Get a copy of his new book Veggie Lean in 15, which is full of vegetarian recipes that you can make in less than 15 minutes. And talking about books, my new book Eat to Beat Illness is out now. I talk about the nutritional science and the lifestyle practices that improve so many different aspects of our well-being: our brain, our skin, our immunity. You can catch me at the doctorskitchen.com. Leave a five-star review on iTunes or wherever you like to listen to your podcast. They really do help people find the information. And I will see you next time.
