CalcanisCast 15 (first half)
Jason: So. Good afternoon everybody this is Jason McCabe Calacanis. You’re listening to, or watching, depending on your tastes, and which RSS feed you are subscribed to, the CalacanisCast! We are in Beta. We are still in Beta, right, Tyler?
We’re in beta and this is the 15th cast of 50 that we plan on doing this year and of course it’s still in beta.
As you know, this show is hosted on Podtech.net. P-O-D-T-E-C-H.net. Podtech, Podtech, Podtech.net. You should check that out. Lots of great shows on there!
LorenLoren Feldman, 1938 Media is on Podtech.net. As is Scobel, Robert Scobel, the most famous blogger in the world. Somebody who should be on this telecast, since our ….on this “Interweb” cast, this “Netweb” cast; since he is certainly qualifying as a fat-blogger, which will be our topic for today. It’s ok, I talked to him a couple of times. He said he is on the cusp of joining.
And of course, this podcast is sponsored by GoDaddy. GoDaddy, GoDaddy, GoDaddy! I love you GoDaddy! Everybody out there: go to GoDaddy. You go register a domain name. You’ve got domain names you want to register? Your family’s name? .ORG? .NET? There’s a whole bunch of different names you have to get so other people don’t get them. You want to sit on those to make sure nobody can go buy your last name and then sell it back to you for thousands of dollars later on. So I use GoDaddy. I’ve used GoDaddy for years. I have about 2,000 domains over there. And if you go over there and use the code, JASON1, you’re going to get 10% off and it’s already cheap, it’s like $8.95 a domain name. So we love GoDaddy and of course, all the sponsorship money from the show goes to the Bay Ridge Preparatory School’s Opportunity Fund, which, of course, puts foster kids into private school and that’ a really good thing and I’m very happy with GoDaddy and Podtech for sponsoring it. Hey, maybe you out there want to sponsor the show? If you do, call the folks at Podtech.net. You can get their phone number on their website. Call up the sales group. Make a donation and I’ll read a donation just like I did for Podtech and for GoDaddy.
So today’s topic is Fatblogging. It’s become an incredible phenomenon on the “Interwebs” and Internets, and the series of pipes that we know of as the Internet. And I’ve got a great group of people on the show today actually on speakerphone. We have a speakerphone set up here at the Calacanis…I can’t say Calacanis Condo or Compound because we’re not at the Compound anymore. We’re at the location of Project X and we have great equipment here to do this. We’re actually recording, right, Tyler, off of the Polycom speaker and it sounds better than any other speaker solution. Like, Skype is just so ‘ghetto’ compared to this setup.
Tyler: (inaudible)
Jason: Yeah, we did a bunch of tests and it sounds great. Umm… we’ve got people all over the country here. I’m going to start with my good friend, Loren Feldman, from 1938 Media. Loren, how ya doing?
Laren Feldman; I’m doing well, Jason. How are you? Thanks for having me!
Jason: Oh, it’s a pleasure! I mean, after all these years working together in the industry from television to stage. I mean, all the different projects we’ve worked on. It’s about time we did a podcasting together!
Loren: A lot of good memories, huh?
Jason: Oh gosh! It was great. Family Ties was probably the best!!
Loren: Ha ha!
Jason: People don’t know this but we both worked on Family Ties. That’s where we were both writers. I was an intern and he was a writer. I wound up being a writer.
Jason: So Loren, you’ve really jumped into the Fatblogging arena. Although you’re not fat you’re more… soft.
Loren: Exactly! Exactly. Basically, I’m six foot, 185 lbs. I was six foot, 175 lbs in high school, which seems like a thousand years ago. And, well you know, I’m not fat, I have just hit 41 and I know that’s a little bit older than you, Mr. McCabe, but things start to change and you know that wonderful six pack and all of that stuff that I had to compensate for my horrible personality is gone. And my problem isn’t so much with the dieting but it’s really getting motivated to get back into working out. Before I was in the web business, I was an actor near you in Hollywood and, you know, in those days it was part of my business to go to the gym every morning. Now that I am in this business I’m sitting in front of a computer all day and I need to just really get motivated to get back to the gym and get the regular workouts going. So that’s really my problem.
Jason: And so when you look at it you’re basically at some point decided, you read my blog post about it, which is a very off the cuff thing, and when I tipped the scales at 207 when I was doing the Weblogs, Inc a year ago I used to run marathons and was 165, 170 when I did and I was just like, ‘Oh God, this is ridiculous! I have to talk about this on my blog because I realized that every time I’m transparent on my blog about some subject I wind up getting more information back than I put out there. And gosh, the response to this has been pretty incredible, don’t you think?
Loren: Oh yeah! I mean, when I first read it I couldn’t believe it. Generally people who know you know that you are very business-oriented and I was just so thrilled to see you really embrace the subject that’s so relatable to people outside of our business. In fact, that’s really how my sister got involved.
Jason: Yeah, she’s actually on the line! Great segway, Loren!
Loren: Yeah why don’t you give her a call there and tell her how you got involved.
Meredith (Loren’s sister): Hi Jason.
Jason: Hey Meredith, how are you?
Meredith: I’m fine. How are you?
Jason: Now are you the mother of Ethan and all those other cute kids than Loren exploits on the show?
Meredith: I am the mother of Ethan and Keisha, yes I am.
Jason: Ok, I was wondering who these exploited children were that had to hang out with Loren but I see, Loren’s their uncle.
Meredith: Yes he is.
Jason: Wow.
Meredith: Wow.
I kind of got involved with it, I heard about you from my stupid brother who was staying at Jason’s place and steal my kids toys to do that and I was like ‘Who is this Jason Calacanis? who my son now named his Barbie doll after?
Jason: Haha.
Meredith: You are very much a part of my family. I do have a four year old who is a big fan and I said let me just check out his site and his weblog and you know, I don’t understand most of it because I’m not tech-savvy at all. And then I read about the Fatblogging and I was like…I love talking about my weight especially when you’re dieting you need to write down how much weigh and what you ate. I think that doing that and talking about it helps you keep focused. Just by reading you and seeing you I feel exactly the same way about me. I feel really…it inspires me!
Jason: Well that’s great. And you know what? Actually it’s really like one of the sweetest things ever in a long time you know that you were inspired just by me opening up and being transparent about it. I think it’s one of those subjects that, I guess, you know is a little embarrassing. You know, you gained a lot of weight or whatever, you know you’re struggling with it and what I’m finding is that like the most successful people I know have a hard time keeping their weight under control. And I’m talking about, you know, Masters of the Universe… Not to be a namedropper but my friend, Mark Cuban, was on Donny Deutsch and Donny was like, “What are you most embarrassed about or whatever?” And he says, his weight - the guy is a billionaire and he can’t keep his weight under control and he has a hard time with it. And it’s one of those things that cuts across across the entire society and I think to be totally honest about it. I am self conscious about it now. I look at myself during my podcasts and I’m like, ‘God what happened?” I used to be so thin. Then I see those pictures of Loren next to his El Dorado and uhhh… What did you have? You had an IROC?
Loren: Haha. I thought you were mistaking that with the Trans-Am maybe?
Jason: Oh that was your Trans-Am. I would have known what you had at the time but .you know I see those pictures of him on Brighton Beach or Jones Beach or wherever he is and he looks great and ahh….and man the harem Loren! I mean amazing.
Loren: I know that’s what killed me. If I only had the hair!
Jason: Well, you know what they say…I think that’s why your personality has become so great. I mean, let’s face it, you lose your hair and if you get out of shape you’ve got to be a nice guy all of a sudden.
Loren: Exactly. If you end up with lemons you make lemonade, right?
Jason: Exactly. Exactly.
Jason: So, Meredith… I guess: do you have a blog? Or are you actually thinking about getting a blog? I know you’re sometimes on Loren’s little videos on 1938Media.com.
Loren: I really don’t plan on it. I have two small kids and I’m a social worker so between all of that and a husband its kind of hard but I do love reading yours. And I would like to start fatblogging. I really would - just for my own advantage to see how far I could go.
Loren: I think what we’re going to do JC is whe’s going to start video blogging over at 1938Media.com. I’m going to try to get her once a week and think of it as an update.
Jason: Yeah. I think it’s a great idea. I mean, the other thing you’re more than welcome to do, I think, Meredith is when I post my blog you can always put a comment in there and join the discussion. Feel free anytime. I think that’s one of the great things about it is that people are now sharing information because I started getting a little like a….you know, you read these things and I think one of the big tips is, you know I got the treadmill and it had fat-burning as one of the levels on there so I’m like well fat buringn, that seems like what I want to do so I’ll do the fat burning program. And everyone said to walk for a long time and you’ll burn more fat. And all these people who are trainers are like, “Hey Jason, that’s actually very misleading.” You burn a higher percentage of fat to calories in your stomach when you walk for a long period of time, but when you run you actually burn more fat and more calories but a lower percentage of fat”. So you’re actually much better off running.
It’s totally misleading out there in the market and I think the sharing of the information, the supporting of each other is really what’s making this come together. I mean, it’s amazing to me how people spend millions of dollars to startup companies and they don’t get half as much passion as they do when you really hit one of these nerves on the web when people want to talk about something that’s a little pent up desire there.
So Mereidith, what is your regime? Are you doing any regimen?
Meredith: I joke in my brother’s site about the JC. We do now call you Jason Calacanis but I also…you know…but I’m on Jenny Craig and the thing you wrote about the gym and just feeling about only walking about 30 feet into your garage and I do put all my stuff in the garage. I’ve been trying to do that and everyday going a little bit further on it. But, my problem is that I degrade all day and then by 5 o’clock or 6 o’clock I’d be starving to the point where I’m not satisfied and then I’m like I’ve got to eat and then instead of getting back on track I’m toying with myself and I’m like, screw it! I screwed up - I might as well just eat bad for the rest of the day. And then I lay in bed and I’m disappointed with myself. And so you’ll be joking in my house and I went out and did it, I bought a Powe Bbar! You know? But that’s what you wrote about and so when I’m hungry I grab a Power Bar instead of a Snickers.
Jason: And you know what the great thing about that is and I was about to make the suggestion, I’m so glad that you read my report on it was, listen, we’re all going to have weak moments. We’re all going to make a mistake once in a while. I grabbed a donut on the Steve Rubel show. It’s not about the mistakes. It’s about the good things. You’ve got to focus on what you are doing well and then avoiding turning a mistake into a total disaster is sort of like, damage control. Ok you’re going to cheat or you’re really hungry and you need to eat something. These protein bars are extremely low on the glycemic index. They provide the long sustained energy and you drink that and you have a big glass of water you’re going to forget about you’re hunger for 2 or 3 hours and it’s only going to cost you 2 or 300 calories versus doing what we do in Brooklyn and Long Island which is getting 3 slices of pizza and some zepoli.
Meredith: Right.
Jason: Which a thousand calories or something.
Loren: How do you deal, Jason, with when you slip off the bandwagon? That’s her biggest problem. I mean, she gets so disappointed in herself and it’s almost like a self-destructive kind of spiral kind of thing. What have you been doing on the site in terms of motivation when you do kind of slip off the wagon?
Jason: Yeah. It’s a tough one. I think the weighing of yourself everyday is a good way to keep yourself from straying too far. So, the other day when I hit 194 (lbs) and I looked at it and I said, ‘what’s going on?’ I hadn’t seen 194 in like a week or two and obviously, you can’t get too obsessive about it but I said to myself; ‘ Ok I’ve seen 194. Today’s going to be the day where I’m just going to try to get a salad, couple of carrots, a yogurt, and a piece of fish, and things I know are good. I don’t try to look at the long term. I just try it just for today, one step at a time, let me just eat a salad. And what I find is after you eat the salad or after the chicken breast on the salad you feel so good about yourself it’s just like those first ten minutes on the treadmill. It starts to spiral in a good way I guess. So if you forgive yourself. Try to do one or two simple things good. What I would suggest is after you’ve something like a donut or whatever you’re supposed to have, “Ok, I shouldn’t have done that. Let me do ten minutes on the treadmill. And let me eat a salad.”
Immediately try and do something in the next six to 12-hour window that makes you feel good about yourself again and know that this is a marathon and not a sprint. You’re not going to solve the problem overnight this is a lifestyle change that we are all trying to make. So you’ve got to forgive yourself!
I mean, Meredith, the fact that you are even addressing it and talking about it is much more than the majority of this country’s doing and this obesity has become now and epidemic in this country and it’s not even our fault. I was writing on the blog about these restaurants you go to and they have these like grilled chicken pasta and you say well that sounds pretty healthy and it has a thousand calories in it! We’re being setup by these food companies and corn syrup and everything, I mean...we actually really have to educate ourselves because these companies out there are really trying to destroy us. It really is a war. So, I think it’s going to take time to turn around people’s attitudes and you know, it’s a slow road. But you’re doing something! I mean, you’ve got the treadmill now, right?
Meredith: Yeah, I do. And it’s true like what you say. You know if its ten minutes a day and what you get past those ten minutes it’s like, alright I did it for ten I can do it for twenty..
Loren: You know, Meredith, I think you brought up a great point of when you slip off the bandwagon and you’re in this negative thing and just to do something positive even if its not a full workout it’s just something to get the right frame of mind back.
Meredith: Jason, I really have to admit that you’re really good at this. You might want to be a nutritionist or a motivational speaker on the side?
Loren: Haha. He’s already that! I think more than likely Jason’s going to be at the point where he’ll be buying Ruby Tuesday’s.
Jason: Exactly. Fire the CEO. I mean, how does that…how do those people live with themselves? I read some of the wrappers and I think, I’m an executive and I work at a company…I and I just think how do you sleep at night knowing that you are making people fat? You’re making people have diabetes. I mean, these people are real scumbags! You know? And I know…People are supposed to take care of each other and we’re supposed to care about each other this whole human race thing and I don’t mean to get all “Jesus” on everybody but how do you put products out there that you know are destroying people’s lives? People have self control but---
Loren: People have to look at the bottom line and I think that that brings up another good point though is that, you know, I’m on the run constantly… I would eat healthfully if it was more available. You know there’s no chain of real health places and it’s so easy to just go in and like you say, you know, get a slice…
Jason: Yeah, grab a slice on the run!
Loren: Yeah. It’d be great if there was some kind of chain brand or whatever that could reach some scale where you could have a healthy place every two blocks instead of a Starbucks or McDonalds. I think that that is a big part of the problem is that especially with the way society is now and how everybody is on the run---
Jason: Yup.
Loren: Is that it’s just easier to jump into one of those places because there are more of them!.
Jason: Yeah, and you know what? You have to almost create your own strategy when doing that. One of the things that I’ve been doing, because I’m on the road a lot, you guys know I’m on the road all the time…I’m at the airport all the time and I look up and it’s like Chile’s, McDonalds, and Starbucks. You know and I thought that I was eating healthy by having the scone this morning because I figured, ‘Oh that’s not so bad, right?” The scone at Starbucks is 5- or 600 calories each. It’s the same as a Big Mac! And that’s what’s cool!
Loren: Is there a health chain out there that has a decent amount of units that you know of?
Jason: I don’t - but this is a good strategy for people…I will go to places, I’ll buy the salad, I won’t use the dressing, I won’t eat the fried chips, maybe a little bit of the cheese that’s not so bad.
And then I will buy and sandwich and I’ll just toss the bread. You know, if you just throw the bread away immediately and don’t tempt yourself you can have a pretty good chance of getting through it. So, like I bought a sandwich, even one of those that’s got 9 grain bread or whatever, that stuff goes right to your hips. I throw that away and I eat the turkey and cheese and the tomato and the lettuce and then I have the salad and I always try to drink a big glass or a big bottle of ice water and you know what? I’m satiated. And I’ve got those Power Bars in my back and you know what? I got through a 12-hour period and that’s how I look at it. I look at it as each one as a 6 or 12-hour period as like a mini challenge or war. You’ve just got to get through the 6-hour or the 12-hour period and then before you know it you’ve gone to bed, you’ve got your workout in, and you’re back on the road to recovery! So throw away the bread.
Loren: This was my final point, Jason, because I don’t want the fellow from 1938Media to hog the whole conversation…but what’s your thought on Subway? Are they real or is that bullshit?
Jason: Well, you know, when they did that ad campaign I looked into it because I was going to get involved and, you know in terms of eating there, and…I just think bread immediately, it immediately turns to sugar in your system in terms of the glycemic index which I encourage people to understand their glycemic index, which is what the diabetics use to figure out which sort of things turn into sugar quickly and then the Satiation index which is closely correlated. And so, bread and pasta and all that stuff just, you know immediately turns into sugar in your system and it goes right to your hips or wherever. Whereas the protein and fiber like whole, whole fiber, like flaxseed or something, is more complex and takes longer to break down so if you do go there, you’re best bet is to just have salads now. You know, give me the turnkey, give me some cheese, give me tomatoes, lettuce, and salad, I’ll eat that!
Loren: And is there bread ok?
Jason: Well from what I understand from reading the Atkins stuff, a little bit of cheese or something like that gives you a little bit of fat and fat will actually satiate you. So a little bit of fat is ok because it makes you feel full. And you don’t want to overdue it and you certainly don’t want trans fat or too much saturated fat. So, I’m getting educated on this so I don’t know all the answers but I think a little bit of fat is what will satiate you and keep you from eating too much.
Loren: Did you just say you don’t know all the answers?
Jason: I definitely don’t know all the answers. I’m learning! That’s the whole point of this, you know, process, is everybody talking to each other and learning from it. But, Meredith, listen, you got started! You’re into your journey and you’ve got to…you know…It’s got to be a lifestyle change.
Meredith: I know. Im----
Jason: What are you? Like 30 or something? You’re about, what 30?
Meredith: I’m 32. And I really look at it as like what a drug addict must feel like. Like everyday is a challenge. And if I go off the bandwagon in a bad way you know it’s hard. But, I appreciate that if you put yourself out there and people read it and you make yourself available to other people and they really do believe in fatblogging and that it’s definitely going to help me and a lot of other people.
Jason: Yeah, well I think you are doing a great job and keep up the faith and you know if you make a mistake it’s ok! It’s not the end of the world. It’s a lifestyle change and I mean, let’s face it, I grew up in a pretty similar neighborhood to you where we were, like, you know, the pizza and pasta it’s like that’s two of the four food groups, whatever. You know, it takes 32 years of learning this and it takes a couple of years to unlearn it. So it’s not going to happen overnight so don’t beat yourself up about it.
So Loren and Meredith, thank you so much for calling. I’m going to move on and talk to some of the other folks and ----
Loren: Absolutely.
Jason: Eat a salad! Eat a fish! Have some fish.
Meredith: Yeah, I have to go because I have two kids that I have to feed right now so.
Jason: Alright. It was great talking to you. Very inspirational!
Meredith: Thank you for including me in this.
Jason: My pleasure. Talk to you guys soon.
Meredith: Thank you so much. And I look forward to watching this.
Jason: Yeah, it should be fun. Ok, well that was great. Loren is a great guy.
Loren: I’m still here. I’ll hang up. I’m just interested in everybody else’s plight.
Jason: It’s funny, you know…Loren just totally ripped into me and called my BS a couple of times and you know everybody’s like, what’s up with this guy? Is he a member of the Friar’s Club? And I’m like, you know, he’s really a very nice guy and I like his shtick, you know. I like guys who call BS and that’s what I do all day long and I think it’s great that you’ve joined the conversation. You’ve got a good energy.
Loren: I appreciate that.
Jason: Let’s move on to some of the other folks here on the call. Jason Coleman’s on the line from Philly. Jason, are you there?
Jason Coleman: I am.
Jason Calacanis: Hey, so we’ve never met? Correct?
J Coleman: No.
J Calacanis: And you were one of the first people to start fatblogging with me. I think you did it the first day didn’t you?
J Coleman: Yeah, I think I must have. Yeah.
J Calacanis: So, you’re in Philly. What are you a programmer or something? You have your own blog. What’s your URL?
J Coleman: My personal blog is therealjasoncoleman.com.
J Calacanis: Right. And what do you do for a living?
J Coleman: I’m an independent developer. I quit my other job at the consultant lab last summer and I’ve been doing client projects and working….
J Calacanis: And so basically you’re in front of the computer 18 hrs a day.
J Coleman: Yeah. For sure.
J Calacanis: And you live the programmer lifestyle so you’re probably pounding down pizza like myself, Burger King, Snickers bars, whatever?
J Coleman: Wel, I work with my fiancé now so she’s been a really good influence. It was worse when I was on the road as a consultant.
J Calacanis: Yeah that’s just what we were talking about with Meredith and Loren. Where are you at right now? What are your goals? And how has fat-blogging affected you?
J Coleman: I’m doing pretty good! I’m getting married May 5th so that was my motivation to start losing weight. I was about as heavy as I ever was at about 234 lbs and you know I wanted to look nice in the pictures.
J Calacanis: How tall are you?
J Coleman: I’m 6’2.
J Calacanis: Ok, so that’s not totally out of control because you’re a tall guy.
Coleman: Yeah, I’m a tall guy so I can hide it as well. But…I know it’s there.
Calacanis: And what’s your goal?
Coleman: My goal is 210 by the wedding. And I’m down at 223 lbs. I was running around 224 but I had a bad weekend.
Calacanis: Oh yeah? What happened? Did you fall off the wagon?
Coleman: Yeah, a little bit. I went home and I was out of my normal environment and eating with my family and there was a lot of eating out and Kate and I were on a little two day hiatus for our belated Valentine’s Day trip. I wasn’t working out as much so…
Calacanis: yeah, I find that on the travel it kills you. I went away for the weekend and I didn’t work out for 3 days straight and that was after putting together a string as you may have read in my blog, of 9 days of walking and running in a row. So I really sort of beat up myself too and I shot back up to 194 from my 191 so …it can happen. But you got back on track this week?
Coleman: Yeah for sure. I just got back from the gym before I called - I’m back at the gym AND we’re dancing every night.
Jason: Oh, yeah for the wedding?
Coleman: Yeah, yeah that too.
Jason: I got roped into that too my friend. I got married in June and we did the dance in July. I got married in Hawaii and I got roped into the stuff and I actually tried to lose a couple of pounds before my wedding as well. So, tell me about your involvement in fatblogging? You are pretty prolific! Your writing 5-600 word posts on a pretty regular basis. Huh?
Coleman: Yeah, I mean it’s kind of an excuse to write so once I find that I want to stick to writing just to get things flowing and you may find if you read my blog stuff that I started out talking about the fatblogging and then I moved on to other subjects.
Calacanis: Yeah, you know I started of doing that myself too. It’s almost like my daily check-in. It’s like ok, here’s m weigh in at this amount, I’m eating this, I’mm working out, or ….is your audience or family or friends or whatever giving you support because of it?
Coleman: Yeah, I think so. A little bit. Kim, my fiancé and a couple of others