Lee’s Incredible Weight Loss Journey with Liquivida | Ep. 2 | Lee Stransky

Introduction and guest background 0:00

Welcome to Healthy Point of View Podcast, where we explore the latest trends and topics in health and wellness. Whether you're looking for tips on nutrition, fitness, mental health, or anything in between, we've got you covered. Join us as we chat with experts, share stories, and learn how to live a healthier and happier life. Welcome everyone to a healthy point of view podcast with your host Sam Tahata. Today we have Lee Stransky. He is the smoking Don. I've known Lee for so many years that this guy is just like unbelievable when it comes to cooking, understanding the food world.

as a chef, but at the same time I've known him for many years in other capacities. We used to actually, believe it or not, we used do bodybuilding together. Lee, how many year ago was that? It's gotta be at least 15 years ago now. That's like history at this point. Yeah, I was around 21 years old when I first started, so I'm now 33, It's like 12 or 13 years now. A long time. So the crazy thing is we both were as shredded as it could be, right? They used to call it the washboard abs. And then all of a sudden, we're both looking at each other.

I remember us texting on social media, saying, oh, you are fat as fuck. What did we do to ourselves? And truthfully, what ended up happening is, We lost our health throughout the succeeding process in business. We were too busy chasing the bag. or then eventually we're just gaining weight because of the high stress. We're not sleeping much, we are not working out, or not eating. So now look at us both, you're back in shape. I want to talk a little bit about Lee, your journey and how you got there because I remember you came and approached me because you saw we were doing these grand openings and stuff.

You said, hey we got to bring the barbecue truck to the events. and then i told you like i was like dude you got to check out this new medication that came out that will utilize it for a medical weight loss program and i'll let you take it from there now i want you to tell the story how you get to where you're at today because you changed tremendously Yeah, hey, so what's going on everybody? This is The Smoking Don Lee Stransky based at Delray Beach. Like Sam said, we go way back and when we first met each other, We were both in top-notch shape and we looked incredible.

Bodybuilding history and weight gain 2:06

We could walk around with our shirts off all day and We had no problems. we look great. Were at levels that most people wish they could achieve but that was some hard work, dedication, many hours in the gym. So, Life changed when I started my business. I had a lot of ups and downs, but as the years went on, I gained a ton of weight. When you're working 130-hour weeks, it's not an excuse that you couldn't get into the gym. And I tried everything I could. try and get things going at my restaurant and then go over to the gym.

And I'd get into the gyms and I was falling asleep. I had no energy. Couldn't even lift the weights. and i would go in the sauna room for 25 minutes, thought I felt good, and leave. But guess what? At the end of the day, I would do that and eat meals that made no sense because I'm not working out. So as I continued to put in the work and the hours throughout the years, I just continue to gain weight and I was getting very unhappy with myself. Do you think like part of gaining so much weight is what you do for a living with like the great tasty barbecue food?

You've been a chef, like you got to be able to taste what your putting out there. So sometimes like When the appetite's going, if it tastes really good, what your food does, right? I can see how you'll start eating a little bit more, a bit of more as you're tasting. Do you feel like that plus all the stress and everything else basically fed into you gaining all that weight? Oh yeah, absolutely. First of all, I'm not a chef. I am a grand pit master. And when it comes to culinary arts, i'm, not so strong in that, but when, it, comes, to meat and butchering and barbecuing.

What's the difference? Because I, am over here calling it a, chef, right? Yeah. Yeah, and I see you doing work in the kitchen. When I say someone doing what you're doing on social media. To me, that's a Chef. That's gourmet. It tastes good. You're the one doing all the work. Let's let all of the listeners know the, difference between the chef and the pitmaster. Wait, because not pitmaster, I'm thinking about maybe you just like smoking the thing, you're calculating the temperature, making sure it's as tender as possible.

Is that it? Absolutely. That's pretty much, that is definitely spot on. But one of the biggest parts about being a pit master is knowing how to control your fires to have great tasting food as such as I've achieved. And the difference between a pin master and an executive chef is an Executive Chef can take three items that are given to him or her. and they can sit down and build a top course meal for you. Me, you can give me those three items and I'm going to take, I need to read a book on how to create something.

But when it comes to, if you slap meat in front of me, and you put it down in my front, then you need me to trim it, to taper it. You need need cut it on certain angles, grill it smoke it season it all of that, that's my forte. So going back to what you're saying is, in order for me to know that my food is great, I have to taste it and I eat it. And I love to eat barbecue, and it is very hard to find put together barbecue in South Florida. Over the years, as I continued to experiment with my art and my practice, I thought it was okay.

Pitmaster craft and food-related habits 5:00

You're putting a lot of red meat, you're puttin' in pork. My chicken is incredible, but I wasn't eating as much chicken because I had chicken. Oh yeah, there's plenty of sugar in there. Even though I do make gluten-free sauces and things like that, they're still sugaring all of that. The rubs can have sugar. So when it comes down to it is that if I'm in my kitchen working, let's say, a 19-hour day, I am not going to order Uber Eats. I have stuff in the kitchen, so I'll just throw something on the smoker or pull it out and I will eat four, five, six ribs.

A couple slices of brisket with some barbecue sauce, some mac and cheese. Mac and Cheese is so good I can't not eat it. So when it comes out of the, when we're done baking it and cooking it, I have to taste it. When you do this seven days a week, basically, that just keeps adding on to your body. And I'll tell you, within a short span, and I put on a lot of weight. I bet. Right now, it's like I'm trying to wipe the salivation drool off my face because everything that you're saying about the food and what you...

Like I am getting hungry just hearing you talk stuff. That's the best part about it! So I can see how you've gained that weight throughout that process. So what changed when you actually connected with Liquivita and you got on our medical weight loss program? You lost how much weight? I lost just about 60 pounds. That's crazy, that's like another human. It is, it's a little like a child. Before I had met and came with this program at Liquavita, I was about 245 pounds Now, I'm 5'11", just under 6', and at that height, you really shouldn't be that heavy.

So, everything was hurting. My knees, my joint, and my back. Everything. I couldn't sleep well. Insomnia was insane. And I was breathing heavily. Couldn't even walk upstairs the way I wanted to. It was miserable, because that's not who I am. Because I've always been in great shape, or at least I have been athletic in good shape. and just able to just run around and do what I wanted. But when I was approached about this new product from you, I really was taken aback. I said, wait, how could this possibly work like this?

And I remember your reaction because listen, we've known all the different supplements, everything that's always been out in the industry since we used to do bodybuilding and everything else. And your first response was like, nah, bro, I know everything that's out there. There can't be anything that good. Yeah, because I thought I was going to know it all. Dude, this is crazy. I'm experiencing these crazy results myself. And I told you, you just got to try it. Whatever it is, whatever the cost is don't worry about it, just try.

yeah and what's great is that because you and i go so far back i trusted you i believed in you if someone i didn't know came up to me and said hey i got this product for you look at what it can do for We have plenty of people on the program. It's incredible. Top of the line, state of art. Look at my results. That's when I was like, yeah, I need to dip into something here and there. I believe you.I need you to try this. You look incredible now. From what you looked like before to now, it was time for me to change.

Same thing, man. And I remember when you lost all that weight initially, as I told you, is I remembered back in the day you used to bartend without a shirt. Yeah. Now we're going to have the smoke and dine. We're doing barbecue, the pit master, without our shirt! And that was actually my goal. Actually, when I was starting to watch what was happening during my transformation, I started making jokes with people. I said, i want to be known as the sexiest pitmaster in the United States.

Medical weight loss transformation 8:18

i wanna be a grand pit master with all these awards trophies and best barbecue around, but i wanted to do it with my shirt off. How is a guy who's making barbecue and eating barbecue look this good? I want to change the looks to barbecue. Everybody always thinks that you can't trust a skinny chef. I'm not a chef, as I say, I am a pitmaster, but listen, around the country, pitmasters are all sizes. But I wanna be known as the sexiest and the best pit master there is. Don't say I see some pit masters, there's some heavy dudes.

Yeah man, that's because they love what they make and they eat it and then they sauce it up. So when I began, when you approached me with this, I was very excited and I didn't believe in it at first. And then because you gave me the word and you told me, listen, try this out, see the results, look what happened with me and then talk to me in six weeks. Yeah. So Lee, obviously you saw success throughout the program. So now the way that you were performing as an entrepreneur prior to starting the program versus how do you feel now?

What do feel as a business owner who's nonstop running a million miles an hour? Like what's the difference, like health and wellness wise, energy wise? How's your day to day performance versus what it was before you started the whole weight loss program? Oh, I can't even begin to start. To tell you the truth, unbelievable, it has just been a complete 360-degree change. So before I started this program, my days were gloomy. They were long. I was dreading waking up, having to get to the restaurant, start the smokers, get things going for a 16-hour day.

The energy was like I would have to drink three, four Red Bulls just to even get my mind straight or any type of energy drinks. And I'm just so unhealthy. It was miserable. Even though I put on great food and people were happy, I wasn't happy with myself, and that's the main part. If you're not happy yourself, making other people happy is great, but it's really about for yourself as well. And if you are starting to lose the happiness in which you don't want to wake up every day to go do that. So when I started this program, two and a half to three weeks in, I've started dropping weight so drastically.

I have started feeling fantastic. My energy levels spiked through the roof. I was waking up at great times. I'm was sleeping great. My mindset was fantastic. Thinking about what I wanted to do a week from now was working. People started noticing too, right? Oh, noticing! I couldn't walk into a room and people were like, where's Lee? Who is that guy? Is that your little brother right there? To me, I would take him back. because I remember what I used to look like when we used compete on stage. 2.7% body fat, looking incredible.

And then putting all this weight on, I didn't consider myself fat but I was definitely heavier than I should have been and people are now noticing me and saying, I can't even, I don't know who you are when you walk through the door anymore, you look incredible. But to me that's, see but this is what I used to look like and then all I did was just put on an extra 30, 40, 50 pounds or whatever it was and I'm still the same person but I just was heavier. So by taking this product, through liquid Vita, it's game changing.

Even people are coming and approaching me now and you're speaking a mile, a million words a minute. That's because my energy levels are spiked through the roof now. You got your health back, man. Yeah. It feels great to have my health. Back. When I lost all of my weight on the terzipatite program, the medical weight loss program which the product that we take is terzipatit. So one week injection, small little injection that's done in the stomach. I get a lot of people always asking, dude, how did you do it?

And obviously For me, one of the most beautiful things about it, what people notice, and then I can refer them to the program,

Energy, performance, and business impact 11:48

is the amount of people that I get to get their health back. And you're probably noticing it right now with a lot of other people, because I know you've referred quite a few people. So you're probably noticing how you changing so many lives just sharing your story with other people. Oh yeah, it's incredible. People are like asking me how I did this and then like I'll pull them aside and I say, listen, there's this great program, this is a great company. It's called Liquivita. Buddy of mine is the founder, co-founder, one of the owners of it and everything he puts out on the market is top notch, A grade, best of products, no bullshit, not trying to sell you junk to put in your body to make you feel like you are feeling better and your money is gone.

This, every dollar you spend on any product in this company, it is top notch and it's pro results. You go from 245 pounds down to 189 in a 12 week span, that's unheard of. A lot of people are like, how the hell did you do that? That's almost 60 pounds in 12 weeks. We have the answer, right? We had the answers. So if you were to be able to leave any business owners that are listening to this, any chefs, on something about this and leave them a good message from you about starting your weight loss journey with Liquivita or without Liquavita, regardless who they go to, right?

Because there's a bunch of other businesses that offer it out there that are great. Liquvita is not everywhere or growing, but leave everybody with a message of what should be their next step. The next is simply don't be afraid to try something that you've never done before. Yes, it might be a small injection in the stomach or yes it may be some sort of drug that the doctor is telling you to take. Don't be afraid. If you don't have the time to go to the gym and spend three hours a day in a gym to do that cardio, to a workout, do sauna room, swim laps or to any cardio.

Basketball, playing sports. You got to figure out another way to it and I did that. And I believed in you, I believe in your company's product, and I took that product. And this is what I'm telling everybody else. If you want results and you know that you can't get out there and put the time in there that like you did when you were younger, then you need to try something like this and it's going to change your life. Not only do you lose weight, but you just feel better and happier in general. And it's been a fantastic journey for me.

And I just have to say, if you want it, just do it and don't be afraid. Grab it. Take it! And they're going to steer you in the best direction you could possibly go. That's the truth, man. It's very important for all these business owners to understand, you can't get wealth without your health. Your team needs you, your business needs, and both of them need you performing at top notch. And it's crucial to have your health up point because you'll notice yourself performing where you think you're performing at 100%. But once you get your help up going, you really notice that you are performing that like 50%. Yeah.

It's funny you say that because when I, before I started taking the trisipatide, it was hard for me to get through my days. I was just like, oh my God, when is my smoke going to be over? I want to go home, shower and go to sleep. But that mindset is trash. That's the mindset where you're just trying to get the bag and then go. Me, listen, I'm putting it out there. I sleep in my restaurant. There are many nights you can call me and I am in the restaurant passed out sleeping. Because I've already put in 22 hours of work straight, and I just needed to get a couple hours sleep real quick.

Advice for business owners and closing remarks 15:00

I don't even go home. Back at it. Yeah, right back at. So like, before I started taking teresepatide, everything was all screwed up. And I wasn't able to balance my life with my work, it wasn' helping me. Once I'd started, two weeks in, I was already noticing a change so incredible that I didn't want to leave the restaurant. But I still had time for my friends and my family. and I was making it all work. It was wonderful. And before that, I just didn't want to see anybody. I never wanted to be around anybody, and hated myself.

Didn't like the way I looked. Work was just becoming so stressful, that I kept eating and just was like, can't do this anymore. So once I started the program, whatever was told to me, i believed in it and now the results are superb. and i'm loving every day that i wake up now, go to work, have free time to go do what i want with my friends and my family. It's just, it's wonderful and I really am grateful and appreciate all the support and love that you showed me and telling me to start this program.

And without you, I would still be that miserable guy by the smoke pits just cooking food and not really being happy. When people ask me what do I find rewarding from my job? It is exactly that. So right now, this is a rewarding moment for me that I was able to help you with your health and wellness journey and get you back to where you needed to be, just so you can perform at your ultimate level. Lee, let me ask you this for all the listeners. Give everybody one fun fact about you that most people don't know.

I am a Jewish boy from South Florida and every single time I step foot into my food truck and pull up to any type of event, everybody will see the Star of David necklace hanging from my neck and they will say, a Jew and barbecue? How did that happen? And it just makes me smile every time, gotta say, because I let people know it's just that it is not about the culture or religion. It's about passion and the love that you have for something. And I put every ounce of love and passion into barbecue.

That's awesome. Let me ask you this. Does the Smokin' Don do kosher food also? We get asked about that all the time. People call us all time asking for Kosher. We do not do Koscher. Even though I'm Jewish, we don't feature Koshar. But if we ever needed to do an event that's Koshr, obviously I would go by the guidelines and have everything done the right way. Normally I tend to stay away from the Kosha products. It's a whole other level and there's certain clientele for that. And at the end of the day, I want my food to be out there for everybody.

And if I were to just have kosher barbecue, you're only portraying to basically one community, one group of people. You like to diversify yourself, which you are going to at our upcoming event in Pepper Pines. That's going be exciting. It's right around the corner, actually. Yeah, obviously. Lee, if people have to find you, find the Smokin' Dom, how can they find You can find me through Facebook and Instagram. Our handles are at The Smokin' Don is S-M-O-K-I-N D-o-n and then at Mr. Lee's Smoking Good Barbecue.

Awesome. Leah, it was a pleasure having you on a Healthy Point of View podcast. It's been wonderful. I hope everybody goes and follows your journey that's going to continue. And thanks, bro. Thank you so much for everything, Sam.