In this episode, Dr. Bryan Joseph invites his close friend Cloice Lybarger to share his journey of how he shifted from a life spiraling into poor health lacking wellness in all domains to one of high energy and finding passion and commitment. Learn what his breakthrough moment was that finally made him take the plunge to health and the results he’s achieved and how he is now helping others – especially dads – do the same using the “Dad Bod Detox”.
Table Of Contents
- Introduction To Dad Bod Detox
- The 6-Week Transformation from Dad Bod Detox
- What Is Keto?
- Benefits of Keto Diet
- What Is “The Dad Bod Detox”?
- Changes In The Relationship With His Family
- BONUS: One Week Free Course
- Closing Thoughts on Dad Bod Detox
Introduction To Dad Bod Detox
Dr. Bryan: Today we’re going to have a conversation around the transformation that my friend Cloice has made and some of the ways that he’s done it. And this is all from a health transformation, but a lot of health actually starts with a psychological transformation.
There are some cool things that I think that he can bring to the recording that you and your friends may benefit from. And he’s got a cool little story that continues to go beyond just himself, but he’s actually moving into now helping other people start to transform their lives. Specifically dads. we’ll talk about the Dad Bod Detox here in just a little bit but… Cloice Lybarger. Welcome. How are you?
Cloice Lybarger: Pleasure to be sitting here talking to you. It’s hard to even believe Bryan. I remember coming to you about three and a half years ago and told you of my vision. And I was going to try to dive into the scene and see what would happen and see where I could help. it’s coming full circle.
Dr. Bryan: Any boundaries on this conversation? If I ask something that you don’t want to answer, you just tell me.
Cloice Lybarger: 100%. No, I should… I’m an open book here. That’s what I’m trying to teach these dads out there is you got to be vulnerable and get rid of the ego and just be you. yeah. Anything you want.
Being 40 pounds overweight
Dr. Bryan: If you’re not just listening to this podcast, but you actually go and see the blog or the website version of this podcast, you’ll see some images of course. Cloice does not look like he’s 48 or 49 years old anymore. He looks like he’s Fabio and 27 years old and he’s all ripped and strong. And so, you weren’t always like that, right?
Cloice Lybarger: No, that is correct. No. I was not. That’s how I happened to come in the spot about three and a half, four years ago. I was about 35, 40 pounds overweight. And I was just starting to get the occasional of heartburn H pylori was popping up and my waist was not agreeing with me and I just needed to make some changes.
I was living the weekend warrior lifestyle for a really long time and I was just… Came to my rock bottom, right? My relationships weren’t great and I knew I had to make some changes. And so, I started out with nutrition and from there it just took off.
The 6-Week Transformation from Dad Bod Detox
Dr. Bryan: We’ve all had ups and downs and highs and lows, but very few people can take the low and then ultimately make a sharp turn to transform it into something cool. What was your breakthrough moment?
Cloice Lybarger: Well, I’ll tell you what my wife. We were having arguments about the same thing over and over. And with me specifically, it was just me just getting a little bit too carried away on the weekends, having a couple too many beers. Sometimes I would get the asshole award and I was sick of doing that. And I just knew I had to take a look at my life and make a change. Our good friend, Josh brought keto to me and said something about, “Take a look at this.” And I gave it a good six weeks. And with that six weeks, there was no alcohol involved. That’s when the life transformation began.
Dr. Bryan: What happened? What’d you notice during those six weeks? What started to transform?
Cloice Lybarger: Well, I can tell you for about the first two weeks. It was extremely boring on the weekends. What happened was, is I had a lot of free time on my hands and I just started diving into this whole health scene. And when you dive into the health scene, what you find out is a lot of these guys who I wanted to be like, they have a whole lifestyle approach. They’re addressing their anxiety, they’re addressing their sleep, they’re addressing their nutrition. They’re hitting it from every angle but they’re making it enjoyable. This is something that they really enjoy doing. And that’s where I started on that.
Health is not unidimensional
Dr. Bryan: We talk a lot on the show about how health is really not unidimensional. You’ve got to approach things from your spiritual health, your relationship health, your chemical health, your physical health. And a lot of times we typically start or go deep into one side of that, one dimension. And what you’re saying, what I’m hearing is, it’s important to start to… We are fascinated in a sense of all the different facets and the different dimensions that exist. But it sounds like the transformation started from a physical dimension of like, “Man, I got to get my body… I got to get in better shape first and to start giving up some of my bad habits.”
Cloice Lybarger: I just wanted to get rid of my dad bod and I remember I had to go to get some new jeans and it was 36’s. I never wore 36’s is in my life. And right around 2017, I jumped on the scale on new year’s eve. And it was 199 and really that just sent me into a depression. I know it doesn’t sound bad. 199 pounds but I’m only 5’9″. And for me that was just an eye opener to do a dad bod detox.
What Is Keto?
Dr. Bryan: You’ve got a lot more study behind it now because you’ve gone pretty deep in the rabbit hole on that concept. But from your perspective, what is keto?
Cloice Lybarger: Keto to me is just basically when you transition your body from being a carb burner, which essentially almost every American is and you give your body… You strip away the sugars and you strip away the carbs and then your body has no alternative but to learn how to burn body fat. And it’s a process and doing it the right way, it takes about three to four weeks and it’s a slow go. But once you get there is where all the magic starts to happen.
I remember the first time working out and hitting into ketosis and it was like I was floating on the cloud, walking out of the gym. I remember I called up Bridget or somebody, maybe even Josh and I said, “Man, I can not believe how excellent I feel and these ketones are running through your body. And you just feel like Superman. With my personality… I’ve been chasing ketones for the last three and a half years now. And I just don’t see myself going back even though I jump in and out now but when you first start it out… Strict keto, healthy foods, no processed foods and the majority of your calories are coming from healthy fats. That’s the bottom line.
Misconceptions on ketogenic diet
Dr. Bryan: There’s a wild misconception. I know we’ve spoken about… On another show when we mentioned keto but people talk about like, “Man keto is just… Doesn’t seem healthy from the perspective…” We were just talking about this earlier, prior to the show I was like, “You’re eating a lot of meat, a lot of butter, a lot of fats.” We’ve been told and taught over the decades of our health education that, that’s the antithesis of how you actually stay healthy and thin. Do you face opposition a lot that when people start seeing your transformation and then ask you what you’re eating and why you’re eating it? Is it hard for people to understand that, that’s actually a healthier way of eating?
Cloice Lybarger: It is hard. Especially to just the regular dad out there that I’m running into in everyday life. When I tell people what I’m doing, that is the first thing they think is I’m going to die of a heart attack or high blood pressure and it’s the complete opposite. If you can do exactly opposite of what our government is telling us to do right now, you’re probably going to be in a pretty good spot. If you just flip the food pyramid around upside down then you’re going to be on a road to good health. stripping the grains and the vegetable oils is the major key factor.
Benefits of Keto Diet
Dr. Bryan: Let’s just for a fun conversation. What are some of the strange things that you’ve ingested or that you’ve eaten now, since you’ve transitioned to a caveman keto style diet now?
Cloice Lybarger: My forte now is this nutrient dense foods. And it’s going to sound wild to a lot of people out there, but a majority of my meals are steaks and hamburgers and lamb and all that stuff. But I do delve into some beef heart, beef liver, duck hearts, lamb hearts. I’ve even tried kidneys, spleen, a lot of ligaments and bone broth and all this stuff. And it doesn’t sound great, but if it’s prepared the right way, which as you know, I love to cook. Some of this stuff can really taste amazing.
Dr. Bryan: But beyond taste, why did you want to bring some of those things into your diet?
Cloice Lybarger: Well, because they’re available. Your body can break these things down so much better and make them usable to build muscle and to repair your body. And when you do that, you throw fasting into the scene. You get this autophagy. And it’s such a cool word. Autophagy. But basically it’s just your body… It starts looking at the cell inside out and repairing the cells. And with what you give to your body, these high nutrient dense foods, your body knows exactly what to do with them. And with some of the plant foods and stuff like that, it’s got to work a lot harder, But the body is an amazing thing. No matter what you put in your body, as long as it’s whole foods it’s going to be a good thing compared to the standard American diet, right?
Biochemistry changes from doing Keto diet
Dr. Bryan: As you’ve gone down this pathway of eating this particular way, have you run labs on yourself throughout the process at all in the last several years or off and on or… So that you see your biochemistry supports that you’re on track also?
Cloice Lybarger: 100%. that was another key factor to me making this change is when I went to the doctor and got blood work, I did have high triglycerides, cholesterol was high, blood pressure was not perfect and I was pre-diabetic. Now I get my blood work every six months and I’m not trying to brag here but… Got the blood work of almost an olympian right now.
My Testosterone is great for someone my age. Cholesterol is good. You don’t even have to worry about cholesterol much anymore these days. Cholesterol is a good thing. From my understanding, Bryan, you might know a little more than I do but cholesterol is really just the firemen coming to the fire to put it out and he got blamed for a lot of bad things.
I just do not worry about cholesterol and my blood work. All the doctors I work with are on the same page as me. And they can interpret these blood work whereas your typical family doctor would probably think, “Hey, we’re going to put you on medication.”
Dr. Bryan: And you and I were talking about that one of my brothers that actually had lab work not too long ago where his blood sugar showed that he was nearly pre-diabetic also and then his cholesterol and then some of the particles, the bad particles in cholesterol were showing that they were really high. There’s good and bad side of cholesterol.
What Is “The Dad Bod Detox”?
Dr. Bryan: I said earlier in this episode that you not only transformed yourself but now you’ve bitten to the proverbial app. You’re excited and you want to help other people. Why don’t you share a little bit about what is the project you’ve been putting energy into to try to help people? I know I referenced the name. Which is a very great name, Dad Bod Detox.
Cloice Lybarger: When I was thinking about people that I could reach out there and who I could probably be the best fit for, it just made sense to me that I would try to reach out to the dads that were doing the same thing I was doing for probably 20 plus years exactly like I have and put my hand over there and bring as many dads over as I can. If they could just give me six weeks. Getting rid of the beer, it’s not a big deal. And if you can’t do that well, then there’s probably other issues and you look at.
But if I could just get them six weeks and implement some really good systems to where they can focus on nutrition, focus on sleep, focus on themselves mostly. A lot of dads don’t… They have a lot of times to themselves. if we just get them to focus on themselves for an hour a day, I think the changes will be tremendous and they’ll be able to move forward and see where… The moving picture. You’re always striving towards a goal, but that first six weeks is huge because then by then we can get you fat adapted, and then we can start getting some more tools in the too.
Give it time to transform yourself
Dr. Bryan: A lot of people like to see momentum. I hear that all of the time in the clinic. Like, “Yeah, I’ll try it but if I’m not seeing changes or feeling changes then I may give up.” Well, you can’t give up after two days. realistically, if you’re going to give me at least six weeks then you’re going to start to give in an opportunity to transform. But what I loved about your transformation was in our previous discussions that we had last year or even a year and a half ago is not only were you transforming yourself and you really hadn’t had the concept of wanting to start helping and coaching and mentoring other people with this. But you were just diving deeper and educating yourself.
Cloice Lybarger: That’s got to be a passion, right? It was so exciting to me that… And I was getting these results. And so, as you know me, I’m always trying to push the limits with anything I do. with this particular project, I just kept on diving into biohacks and just seeing how I can tweak things and how I can get my body to look in as best as I can. As well as my mind.
My mind has never fired so good in my life, Bryan. But other than taking fish oil for 10 years, that was really all I was doing for my mind. And you start throwing meditations in there and breath work and all this stuff. Your body just says, “Thank you,” and it just raises the bar and gives you so much energy to get so many other things done that you never thought possible.
Changes In The Relationship With His Family
Dr. Bryan: Now that you’ve gone and made yourself a better person in all dimensions of your health, how do you see that pushing its way down in the relationship you have with your children and your wife?
Cloice Lybarger: I remember about two months into this thing, which was a long time ago now, but I remember talking to my middle daughter, Stella. And she just said something to the tune like, “Dad, I just love you so much more this way.” And to me this solidified the fact that I was doing the right thing and It makes you focus your energy with your kids and the time that you have with them so much more.
You’re not sitting there thinking about, “Hey, I wish I was at the bar with my buddies,” or, “I wish I was watching the baseball game games with my buddies drinking beer and eating wings.” You just got such so much more of a focus, more presence in the conversations you’re having with different people. I was always a small talker but there wasn’t a whole lot of deep conversations. I just feel by dealing with your lifestyle and just opening up your eyes to concepts. It’s just a good thing. I think a lot of dads could try and take a swing at it and see what happens.
Dr. Bryan: Yeah. I couldn’t agree more, man. You took personal responsibility for what we consider the most precious asset that we all have, which is your health. Because as we all have seen and heard stories, you lose your health, you’ve got nothing left and it’s hard to give if you don’t have it yourself.
Everything is in control
Cloice Lybarger: That’s another thing is it’s amazing. My wife has always been super supportive but when she started following my lead and then the kids started following my lead on a lot of these things I’m doing… It’s just a good feeling, right? It gives you a feeling of being the leader of your family. Everything is in control. When my wife is jumping into the sauna two and three times a week and starting to meditate and all and eat, she’s lowering her carbs and no processed food in the house. Hardly at all anymore. It’s a good feeling. You’re moving the boat in the right direction. And I feel responsible for it.
Dr. Bryan: That’s a generational thought, right? Because that’s not just what’s going to happen at your home now but you know that if you set the foundation right then it’s going to impact your kids’ kids. Your kids’ kids’ kids and this could be a generational decision that you made when you decided to transform yourself.
BONUS: One Week Free Course
Cloice Lybarger: You just go to dadboddetox.com and I’m… Right now, I got a one week free course that is a hundred percent doable and will give you some really good momentum. And then if you want to take a deeper dive, you can go enroll in Dad Bod University. That’s a 28 day course with about 16 different modules ait’s going to give you a good start from every direction from maintaining your anxiety, your health, your recovery, sleep, everything that you need to work on to start a good lifestyle transformation.And there is no blueprint for everyone. Everybody’s going to tweak this to make it doable for themselves and enjoyable is the most important thing to me.
Closing Thoughts on Dad Bod Detox
Dr. Bryan: We’ll put the links to the actual websites on this podcast episode. You’ll find it at the wellnessconnection.com/e67. And I know myself, I’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars on learning different aspects of health. You’ve now dumped in a lot of money yourself. when I literally heard what Cloice was making available for literally the cost of a cup of coffee each day in the course of a month and you can transform your life the way that he had it’s a no brainer. head over there.
If you think that… If you don’t know anything about keto, you don’t know anything about the paleo style, eating, about caveman living about… Whether it’s you, your husband or you know somebody that is ready or looking for a transformation, do yourself a favor. Pass this message to them and let them check it out. I think they’d benefit. I really do.
Cloice Lybarger: A lot, 100%. I would love to work with any dads out there. You would have 100% access to me. I love talking about this stuff. And man, yeah. Go to the website. If you’ve got questions, all you got to do is hit the comments tab and that will go directly to my email and I’ll get right back to you.
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