Book Club featuring Dr. David Prologo

Unknown Speaker 0:00
Come on

Unknown Speaker 0:11
let’s go. This is George G. And the time is right. Welcome to our monthly book club and welcome our author, Dr. David PROLOGO. Dr. David, are you ready to do this? I am ready. Thank you so much for having me. George, I’m excited to have you on. Dr. David is an interventional radiologist. He’s a pain proceduralist and a BC physician and he is the author of the catching point transformation, a 12 week weight loss strategy based in reality. Dr. David, tell us a little bit about your personal life some more about your work and why you do what you do. Yes, sir. So, again, thank you for having me. I think this is timely. I’ve done a lot of media about this book in the last six months. And I really feel like the message has evolved. So this is really the reveal here. This is where I feel like I can say it plainly. So I wanted to make sure you knew that the timing is perfect. So like you said, I’m an interventional radiologist, that’s kind of boring. That’s a job where we use image guidance like CT and MRI, to guide needles into the body. In that job, we manage cancer, we manage trauma, etc. Somewhere along the way, a few of us got the idea that we could use this skill set to target pain generators. So people who had pain from various things cancer or phantom limb pain, nerve pain, back pain, who didn’t have good options, because they didn’t want to have surgery, we realized we can reach any one of these pain generators, and we can do stuff. We can freeze nerves, we can we can block them, and so on. And so it became this explosion of what we call advanced interventional pain. So that’s my day job. At the same time, I’ve been pursuing an obesity medicine certification, which I got about five years ago, and managing patients with regard to weight loss, because my entire family has struggled with this. And I became enamored with this phenomenon were strong people, good people, people that I loved, couldn’t do it. And I had some inside, access to for example, my mom and I could talk to her every day and and I just was amazed at how you would start with this super idea. And then and then four or five days, then you can’t even remember why you started this, you bail and cetera. And anyway, hundreds and millions of people go through that. So I became sort of obsessed with that. Why is that happening? You know, it can’t be so simple as white knuckle through mind over matter. So I spent my career on the obesity medicine side, really learning not necessarily discovering these things were known learning all of the things that happen when the body goes on calorie restriction. And what stops people from succeeding, I found out during that journey, that that’s not super popular that a lot of people don’t talk about those things that stop, stop us and block us because it doesn’t sell. I found out that if you say something that’s not even true, like, here’s something that can help you lose 90 pounds in 90 days, that that will sell and people will talk into infinity about that.

Unknown Speaker 3:11
So sorry, no, it’s gone. Like I’m almost to the end of this, you’re good. So spend all this time working on that. And then started writing articles about and started trying to get the word out there Look, for all of you who feel like you try this and fail or you just can’t do it right. What patients will say to you is I cut my calories, but I didn’t lose a pound. I think it must be my thyroid or this or that. And they’re right. They didn’t because their body fought them. And I wanted to be able to explain to all those people your rights, I hear you. And here’s why that’s happening here. Here’s why you you can’t lose weight, even with calorie restriction and exercise. And as I started to get that out there, there was this huge backlash by but what I what I call the always lean people, the always lean people who have never faced this challenge would respond to my articles with terrible, terrible things like, oh, they just need this shot. They’re fat AISs mouths and you know, and I was like, What is this? You know, you don’t even know what you’re talking about. You’ve never tried to do this. And so at that point, I did two things. The first thing I did was write a book, because I want it out there and I want people to read it. And I want them to know that they are correct in what they’re saying. And they shouldn’t listen to any of this, any of this nonsense in this meanness because those people have never done it and have no idea what they’re talking about. The second thing I did, to sort of prove my point that this was a matter over mind, if you will not the other way around, is I took those pain management procedures that I that I described to you and we froze the nerve that carries hunger from an empty stomach to the brain. Thinking that if we can block pain signals, maybe we can block this hunger signal and people who are trying to die

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and that will prove if they succeed. And if they do well, that will prove that the body was firing this overwhelming hunger signal. And that’s what stopped them. Not a willpower issue. So we did that. And we blocked hunger for all these people who are trying to diet and that was a big deal. And we went on today’s show and all this sort of thing. But it was really a proof of concept. It was really just to solidify the point that this is not a mind over matter issue. That’s, that’s happening here. And so the book is out there. I want people to I wanted it to be a read, if you will, I want people to read it and enjoy and say, Ah, that’s me. That’s me who goes on a calorie restriction and feels you know, insatiably hungry, or that’s me, who goes on a calorie restriction, and for some reason, can’t lose weight, and I’m watching Sally yoga pants eats, you know, six sandwiches over here and not gain a pound. There’s an explanation for all of that. And I want people to know that they’re correct and not alone.

Unknown Speaker 6:06
Oh, thank you for that. That was a lot. Sorry. No, it’s all good. It’s impossible to condense that down.

Unknown Speaker 6:15
Have you always been a really compassionate person?

Unknown Speaker 6:19
Well, it’s funny to use the word compassion. So I have worked very, very hard to try and understand the points of view of people who have gone through things that I have not gone through. So I imagine that that’s what we call compassion. And, and during the last 15 years, I’ve made my entire existence in my entire practice about exactly that. Because George in the pain space, for example, over and over and over again, I’m coming across people who are trying to explain something that is bothering them and hurting them. And doctors who have never felt that and might not have the solution for them, we’ll just cut them loose. And so here are these people lost in the world. And if if they can’t get help from a particular person, that person doesn’t help them get to the place they need to go to unfortunately, they just say I can’t help you. And that creates a population of lost people. So I have, I have decided and promised to spend the rest of my career and life here, getting people to the right place. The other word for this is advocacy, right? Advocating for the patient, because back to the weight loss sphere, the same thing happens there patients come to you imploring you for help. I don’t want to carry this extra weight, I’m nervous about my health. And but I can’t get to where I want to be just like, I can’t get my pain managed, for example, or I can’t get my depression under control. I can’t get to where I want to be. And so we as physicians now are obligated to help them get there. But what really happens, it’s even worse than the pain example where they cut them loose. What happens here is you come back to me and say, hey, look, I tried this calorie restriction, you gave me an exercise program, and I wasn’t able to lose weight. So at this point, it’s even worse, not only do I cut you loose at this point, but I blame it on you. I say, ah, you know, you must not really want it or you must not have followed it or, and and turn this blame back on you. Which is, which is totally ridiculous. It’s my responsibility to get you to the end. That doesn’t help people when they fail at something, and then you kind of rub their face in it. I mean, can you imagine I did write this one article out there, called a doctor’s apology. And I use the rash as an example to try and illustrate this point, you know, that if you had a rash and I gave you have medicine for sled rash, and you couldn’t tolerate it, right, you just you couldn’t do it. You couldn’t take the medicine just like you can’t follow this particular weight loss program, for example. And you came back to me and said, Look, I can’t take this medicine, you know, it makes me nauseated or it burns my skin or whatever. If my response to you was up, you just must not really want to be rid of your rash. I mean, you know, what kind of kind of lazy, worthless person are you? I mean, that would be like, absurd. Nobody would do that. And nobody would accept that. But somehow we accept it in the weight loss sphere, we send people away, they internalize this message, because we’re authority figures, right? They internalize this message and start to think that they are worthless or not strong, right? One other quick example take it out of medicine. What if I sell cars? You bought a car from me? And then

Unknown Speaker 9:50
okay, and it doesn’t work. And I somehow convinced you that it was your fault that it wasn’t working right. And you walk away. Oh, maybe it is my fault. And then

Unknown Speaker 10:00
Two weeks later, you buy a new car. That’s what’s going on in the weight loss industry, I convince you, it’s your fault. You go and squirrel away and feel bad about it. And then a month later come back and buy another car. I mean by another program, right? So so yeah, if that’s compassion, that’s the cycle. I’m here to break.

Unknown Speaker 10:18
I appreciate that very much. And you could probably point to lots of different aspects of life where we are falling into that trap of turning people away, because our intervention or our solution wasn’t correct, but then blaming it on them. What is quantum of exercise capacity? Oh, cheese. So yeah, that sounds kind of nerdy, the

Unknown Speaker 10:42
quantum of exercise capacity. So why did I put it that way? Because the book is called The catching point transformation. One of the things that we know is that beyond the critical point, it’s called the catching point.

Unknown Speaker 10:55
It’s it, I want to be very careful how I word this for your listeners. Beyond that point, what I’m not going to say is beyond that point, you know, you will lose 30 pounds. That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying beyond that point, it becomes enjoyable. Okay. And that’s the difference between these two big camps, right? The always lean people. And this is also where all this prejudicial, fat shaming behavior comes from this disconnect. Because it’s two camps, people have two different sets of experiences. They always lean people, they enjoy this, they enjoy getting up eating kale running, they want to do it, they wake up thinking about it, it’s anything but a grind, let me tell you, no matter what they put on Tiktok, or on their teachers, they love this stuff. And they get up and do it. And then there’s another camp of people who are trying to induce change, and they hate it. So, you know, there’s always lean pupils that will just do it anyway, even if you hate it, and yada, yada, yada. And that gets complicated. But to answer your question, there is a quantum of exercise capacity, meaning that there is a critical point of the ability to do exercise, there is a critical point beyond which you switch camps, if you can get to and through that catching point, what you will be rid of are all these miserable feelings when you embark on your diet, anxiety, depression, hunger, tiredness, what we call a dip a stop is the inflammation, all the stuff that you know, you feel when you start that makes you quit, all of a sudden, it makes you quit, you get through the catching point, which is defined by a certain amount of exercise capacity. That’s why we call it a quantum you get through that point. And you too, will want to do these things. There’s a famous researcher, Lee Kaplan from Harvard, in this space, who has a quote, and I’ll share it with you now, it is that increased exercise capacity alters our food preferences towards healthy choices. And he said that and it’s true, and simply translated, you get past the sketching point. And you will want to do these things. And once you want to do them, you won’t need me or anybody, you’ll be on your way, with your new life.

Unknown Speaker 13:13
Nice.

Unknown Speaker 13:16
And so that’s all something that if I pick when when I pick this book up, it’s going to help me to identify mine, or Oh, it’ll get you there, right? It’ll get you there, the book does two things. The first half of the book explains all of these reasons why people aren’t successful, so that they can understand that they don’t need to feel bad about it. There are biological reasons why that’s the first half of the book, then the second half of the book is about getting to the catching point. And this also, if you want to get the word out, George and let’s get nice people like you who let me talk about it, it’s you have to come up with something either sexy or something that sells. And getting to the catching point was not really either one of those things, so So I had to write the book to get the word out there. So first half is explanation of why you feel the way you do. And the second half is how to get to the catching point. Because that’s really the key. It’s not a book that says lose 90 pounds in 90 days. It is a book that says, here’s how you get to the catching point. And what I will do for you, if you trust me during this time is I’ll bring you to a point where this whole entire experience will be different for you. And you will enjoy it and you will have fun and you will become one of those people that you see smiling with their white teeth and all of a sudden you will become one of them. And you will enjoy the experience and you will understand why they think it’s so easy because it is but you have to let me get you to this catching point first, right. And during that time, you probably won’t lose weight. You know, it’s but but here’s why I sort of implore people.

Unknown Speaker 14:53
But really, I mean, it I say this early in the book. You’re gonna waste your time anyway right?

Unknown Speaker 15:00
You’re gonna go and try some other diet and fail. So whatever amount of time it’s going to take you to do that do this. Because this way, at least at the end of this, you’ll have the tools to be successful for going forward. Another way I say this is what to do surgery, George, and you said, Hey, Dave, I know you know how to do some surgeries, can you just write it down for me what you do? Because that’s what we do with weight loss, right? Yeah, hello, fashion model. I know you do exercise, you just write it down for me, and then I’ll try to do it on Monday. And so I’ll give you the steps for surgery. And you’re like, This is awesome. I’m going to do surgery on Monday. That’s what the weight loss people want, right? I’m gonna lose weight starting Monday, what’s that that’s a false sell those people who tell you that are only trying to make money, they’re not trying to help you. So instead, I would say, okay, George, look, you can do surgery, but probably not starting Monday. But do this for me, give me X amount of weeks or days or months. And I’ll give you the information you need. And then you’ll be successful. You know, and I’ll give you the tools in this book, you need to be successful with whatever that whatever diet you want to do after that will be a whole different experience for you. It’ll be a downhill ride. So that’s what you’ll get if you read the book. Amazing. I appreciate everything you just said. Well, thank you. And I always want to add here, I’m so sorry, I always want to add here. I’m lucky enough that I already have a job. So this isn’t like, this is not me trying to sell you something if I can give these books away. I would but the publisher won’t let me. I just want you to get to the message.

Unknown Speaker 16:31
Yeah, I like that. That’s great. Art. Are you a writer? Do you obviously you’re an author. But do you enjoy writing and do tell us a little bit about that? I do the writing. So I’ve always enjoyed writing. And I heard a sort of a parable once where there was a physicist, and he had two sons, don’t stop me if you’ve already said this on your show that two sons. And in the one son, the first son was a studied physics and became a physicist and everything was good and cool. And the second son would struggle and would be distracted. And in his physics training did quite poorly. And the father finally talked to the son and son said, Look, I don’t think I want to do physics, you know, this, this, I just said, There’s nothing I want to do it. And the father says to him, think about it, when you don’t have anything else to do. And your time is your own. Where does your mind go then? Because that’s what you want to do with your life. And so that’s what I would say, my life has been with regard to writing, whether I’ve had a job or not had a job. When I had my free time, I wanted to sit down and I wanted to write. And so these, for example, I mentioned these articles on the internet that are published with a conversation or wherever, and they get picked up, you know, I always wanted to write those. And I’m glad I live in a time when you can write these and get them out there. Because there there are messages that people need to hear and truths that needs to be told. And writing gives you gives you that medium.

Unknown Speaker 18:12
Yeah, I love it.

Unknown Speaker 18:15
Well, Dr. David, thank you so much for coming on. I almost forgot people are ready for your difference making tip, you gotta give us something. Oh my gosh, yes. Oh, that’s easy. For me, that’s easy. For me, the different the one thing, the difference making tip, get to the catching point, stop trying to go from ground zero to the destination. It doesn’t work for anything else. If you want to be rich, you won’t be rich starting on Monday. If you if you want to be a surgeon, you won’t be a surgeon starting on Monday, get to that critical point get to that catching point, because that will change your life.

Unknown Speaker 18:50
Well, I think that that is great stuff that definitely gets caught.

Unknown Speaker 18:54
I think that that is obviously very, very brilliant. And that’s the flaw that we have so often, right is we try to I’m going to be satisfied and happy when I am done. But that is

Unknown Speaker 19:08
that is setting ourselves up for failure. And particularly with weight loss, which is such a it’s our body. It’s so stupid. There’s so much there. Right? Right. Let me switch it for you. Instead of being happy when you’re done. Let me make the journey enjoyable for you. Then all of a sudden, not only will you be successful because you want to do it, but your days won’t be miserable won’t be a grind won’t be like white knuckling underwater all these explanations. Yeah, yeah, that makes a ton of sense. I love it. Beautiful. Well, thank you so much for coming on. Where can people learn more about you and where can they get a copy of the catching point transformation a 12 week weight loss strategy based in reality? So I have a website. It’s Dr. prologo.com Dr. p r o l o g o.com.

Unknown Speaker 20:00
And the book is there. The book is also on Amazon and Barnes and Noble and target and all all pretty much every place the audio places Google Play and Kindle and all that. And I, I appreciate anybody who who does go and read the book. That’s why I wrote it so, so people would hear this message, I think you will like it. As far as all the other things go advocating for patients and so on. I welcome anybody wants to join that team. And anyway, Dr. pillow.com is probably the Center for all of this. Excellent. Well, if you enjoyed as much as I did show Dr. David your appreciation and share today’s show with a friend who also appreciates good ideas pick up a copy of the catching point transformation 12 weight loss strategy based in reality, wherever you buy your books, go to Dr. prologo.com, Dr. P R, o l o g o.com. And check out all the things that David is working on and appreciate your work again. Thanks again, David. Thank you so much. And until next time, keep fighting the good fight is we’re all in this together.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai