 This is Think Tech Hawaii, Community Matters here. Aloha, and welcome to Out and About on Think Tech Live Streaming Network Series, broadcast from our downtown studio at Pioneer Plaza in Honolulu. I'm your host, Winston Welch, and I'm delighted you're joining us today where we explore every other week a variety of topics, organizations, events, and the people who fuel them in our city, state, world, and everywhere in our minds. So that said, as a disclaimer, I just wanted to say any opinions or views expressed by me are strictly my own and not connected with any organization. With that said, joining me in the studio today is David Tosaka, and we're going to talk about David's upcoming books and life enhancement series, which are focusing on our health, our wealth, our love, and resulting happiness. And so with that said, I would love to welcome you to the show, David. So thank you for being my guest today. Thank you, Winston. So as we were talking about this, I loved following you over the years because you have such a positive energy about you, and just your Facebook posts are always ones that are interesting, and one of those, I call them, I guess, in this day and age kind of a safe page to go to. So you know about that? Do you have a philosophy about when you're posting to Facebook about what you put on there? I usually post things that help people with the three areas what I call the life triad, health, wealth, or love, or all three. The life triad? Yes. Okay, and so this triad is responsible. These are the three pegs of a triangle that give us a balance? It's the three arenas of our life that people usually are involved in. And usually it covers most of how people live and why they do what they do. And I imagine that there's sort of overlapping circles in all of them because if you have wealth but you don't have health, or you have love but you don't have health. Well, it's in a triangle form. I have a graphic on my website. Okay, and while we're talking about that, what is your website just so we can get that out for people? It's davidtasaka.com. DavidTasaka.com, okay, easy enough to remember. And so we're excited to talk about one of your first books that's coming out in this Life Enhancement series. And I think your title is first going to be about health and specifically about weight. Is that correct? Yes, yes. And what are you going to call the book? It's called Fat Games in a Thin World. Fat Games in a Thin World. And why did you choose that title? Because I have worked with over 15,000 people with weight problems. And what I saw for me, because in 43 years ago, I weighed over 305 pounds. Wow. And it took me 62 weeks to lose 130 pounds. I belonged to a group of 21 of us, all of whom have lost over 100 pounds. Unfortunately, within three years, I was the only one still that go away. And so I began, of course, to see what happened. We all had the same food plan, the same everything. And what I learned after meeting with three of them who would meet with me was I was the only one who had made significant life changes. The rest did. And when you say that, significant life changes. You all had the same plan. It was a program that you all agreed to follow that actually did result in weight loss. And so this was a done deal. You'd all lost weight over the course of, you said 62 weeks. So just a little over a year. And so you were dropping about, let's see. Roughly two pounds a week. Two pounds a week. Which is not an unsubstantial amount. No. But you're watching this fall off. And the other folks all lost about the same weight. One girl had lost 170 pounds. 170 pounds. And so this is all pre-biggest loser. Everything before that. The unique thing is that so many of us were able to lose over 100 pounds and reach gold. And then you reached the goal. Yes. But after three years, you were the only one that had kept it off. And what do you attribute, you said your life changes that you had made or permanent changes? My particular view of weight and weight problems stems from the fact that people think that food causes weight problem or lack of exercise. My philosophy is yes, those play a role. But the key is that how people are living is generating their weight problem. What do you mean by that? How they're living? Because obviously, you know, we have to eat to live. Right. It's not so much the physical living. Like, did you exercise? Did you eat a balanced meal? No. It's have you taken care of your needs, and these are more psycho-emotional needs. And many overweight people are eating their hearts out, trying to compensate for what they are or are not getting in life. Would you say that there's the same parallel between that and smoking or drug use? It's a little different because smoking and drug use addictions are optional with optional addictive substances. We have to keep eating. We do have to keep eating. I'd say probably some smokers would say they have to keep smoking. Yeah. They might snap or we see drug users like heroin addicts. Yeah. The way that they get a lot of them off of heroin is to switch them to methadone. Yes. There are many technologies that have been used to help people who have life problems. Psychophysical, psycho-emotional. And in the arena of weight loss, it's usually come in the form of some magic diet. If you eat this particular food, product, drink this smoothie shake, the pounds will melt off. Or get this particular machine. It's going to massage your fat. The fat will dissolve and low in the hole one day you'll show up and go away. The thing is almost anyone can get to go away. Yes. Because weight loss is mechanical. Maintenance is psycho-emotional. Okay. So let's say that again because so weight loss is mechanical. Right. Maintenance is psycho-emotional. Right. Because people have reached goal with no problem. Even though they've had to sacrifice and all these things. And what tends to happen is the further from that person's lifestyle, the system they use to reach goal weight, the less chance of their ability to maintain their weight loss because eventually it's not there. So for example, if I'm a big carnivore and I have to go on a vegan diet, then and I might the pounds might fall off but ultimately it's probably not going to be. Well, you have social things. Like your family is carnivore. You go on the vegan. You announce we're all going vegan. There would be a huge pushback for this. Sure. So what changes did you specifically make or that you can tell us that resulted in you maintaining a healthy, I don't know what do you call it an ideal weight or a balanced weight? Balance weight or goal weight because there's a range. The big thing that I did is I began to really live rather than exist. My life prior to my losing weight was taken up with TV, Ozzy and Harriet and leave it to Beaver, The Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers, very passive, non-involved. I was an observer to life. When I lost the weight, a part of me knew that I had to change my life. And from this, what happened was number one, I was living at home with my parents. Something told me you have to move out. So my mom was more traumatized than me because she said, how can you move out? You have never washed a load of laundry in your life. And I remember sharing with her, I said, Mom, I'm going to go to the laundromat. When I opened the lid, I think there are instructions. She did not like that answer. But it was more about reclaiming my ability to be empowered and independent. At home, my mom did everything for me. She cooked, she cleaned, she washed and everything because she felt sorry for me and I did too. And a lot of people play the role of victim to the mask. What if we're someone who says, David, that sounds great. And I wish we had a mom that would have said, we'll take care of you like that. But maybe they're living on their own or they're in a couple or they've just had kids. And they put on the baby weight and they've tried everything. And they just said, it's just too hard right now. I've got these kids, I have my job. I would like to lose the weight but it's just too... Well, we have a term for that. It's called their fat act. Fat act? Right. Which means a fat excuse. And what it produces is a temporary ease of being overweight. A temporary permission to be overweight. Well, you don't know my story. And then they pour out, well, I was teased, I was bullied and so I used food to compensate. And the only question would be, okay, then where are you now? Well, didn't I tell you I was teased, I was bullied and I said yes. But isn't that in the past? Even if it's in current time, it's a fat act because you can change. And so it brings to the point... So, you know, I was looking at some statistics from, I think it was the World Health Organization and it says that 39% of adults age 18 and over are overweight in 2016 and 13% were obese. And of course, we're seeing childhood obesity rates really growing. And, you know, there's a part of this that there's some pushback that says, well, you know, if we're all just a little obese or a little overweight, what's the real problem here? I mean, that's just how it is in the modern world. We're behind a desk. You know, lay off of me. I don't smoke. I don't gamble, you know. Well, part of the system that really thrives on this is fat discrimination. If you look, there are hardly any fat actors and actresses unless they're comedian. There's no overweight newscasters unless they're the sports person. Which is interesting. Yes. And there are no overweight women newscasters. They're very rare unless they've been in their business a long time. But all the ones who were the icon in this arena were thin, beautiful, dressed right, everything. So we've got fat discrimination in society, certainly. Big time. And it's one of the last, it's an area that's really open to be, we can discriminate. We can't discriminate out on race, religion, nationality, color and all of those things. But we can discriminate still on our size. And I think it happens a lot more than we realize. And like you said, whether it's actors or people, models, that it's rare when we have a person of size. So how do we get over that? There's a question that I want to pick up after a break. We have to take a short break and I'd like to talk more about some of the other books that you're coming up with as well. But anyway, this is Winston Welch and it's out and about on Think Tech Live Streaming Network series. And we are talking with David to sock us. So we'll be back in a minute or so. So stay tuned for more of the story. You can watch my show every other Tuesday at 2 p.m. We will bring you entertainment, educational, and also we'll tell you what is happening right here within our community. Think Tech, Hawaii, Aloha. I just walked by and I said, what's happening, guys? They told me they were making music. Welcome to Sister Power. I'm your host Sharon Thomas Yarbrough where we motivate, educate, empower, and inspire all women. We are live here every other Thursday at 4 p.m. and we welcome you to join us here at Sister Power. Aloha and thank you. Hey, we're back and we're live. I'm Winston Welch and this is out and about on Think Tech Live Streaming Network series talking with David to soccer on his upcoming book series life enhancements. And the first book title is called fat games in a world. We were just talking about discrimination and fat people and during the break we were talking about how we we don't see and just before the break how we don't see fat people on TV as models that it's the exception, real exception. Well, if you look there are no role models for overweight people being winners. And so your goal is to get people to a healthy weight. So my goal, I think, is to help people really reclaim their personal power. Okay. Because most people think, well, I'm losing weight to get healthy. And that's true. But what I found weight maintenance is really about reclaiming your personal power so that you naturally redesign, reprogram a life that supports you as a thinner person. And it's too, it's because we can that we will have a happier life when we're a healthier life. And that's part of that. The big thing used to be that healthy, happy were the terms. And there was a push on having fat. You can be fat and still healthy. And there's just been a recent study that shows that's not true. And that even sometimes thin people can be fat on the inside as well. Right. So the arena of fat is a big commercial adventure. Because if you look at it, weight loss systems succeed when their clients fail. Right. Yeah. Because what happens if a person got to go and never had to go back again? The companies are going to go out of business. Right. So they need a constant stream of people. But you know, I've often said that it's really a challenge to not be overweight in our society. Really a challenge. We're sitting behind screens for eight, nine, ten hours a day. Where our diets are laden just with artificial things, high fat, fake foods. Even if we're eating a healthy diet, we're still not getting out there and burning off the calories, the mechanics of calories and calories out. So how does this, how do we tap into a system that's going to allow us to lose weight and to reclaim the sense of ourselves and empowerment? I have a term called making friends with food. Meaning that every food is your friend. It just depends on the quantity and the preparation. Chocolate and candy is not bad. But if you eat a pound of chocolate and a pound of candy, that's not so good. When you tell people they cannot have something, there is a natural inclination to feel like deprivation is at hand. So that becomes the issue. Then your book is going to, it obviously has some mechanical... We actually are having some evolutionary approaches to weight loss. And I call it the omnisystem of dieting. Tell us about that. The omnisystem of dieting is where the reader can choose their particular food plan, exercise plan that is a good fit for their life, their family, their lifestyle. That way they choose, and they can choose again, we give them complete freedom to choose. That's not the area where we want to focus on. The analogy is we're providing the fuel for the vehicle, the weight loss vehicle to reach goal. Everybody else is selling vehicle. I see. So you have the mechanical part of it is saying, you figure it out yourself. We'll have guidance. But here's inside of this in our omnisystem. You already know what's going to... You can find out what works for you. We're working with weight loss veteran, some for decades. That know about this. But then your main focus is going to be on the motivation. And that's the fuel. Because if you are motivated, you will get to goal. Without motivation you could be in a clinic, you could be in a starvation system. You're not going to do it. It's interesting because as we were talking about... So your main focus in these series is sort of the psycho-emotional spiritual behind the physical manifestation. The greatest thing is you can have a Ferrari as your vehicle for getting to go away. But without fuel, a person could be walking next to the car. They'll be to go away. So as we are getting fatter as a society, and I know personally I just... As soon as I hit 30, it was like 10 pounds a year and another inch on the way. So I thought, oh, it just sort of happened. Is there a psycho-social-emotional-spiritual component behind our entire society that is underlying this? That is beyond the food industry and beyond sitting behind a screen? I think the main thing that I found is the phrase loving the self. People who are overweight have not found a way to love themselves in a constructive and healthy way. The food becomes the default system they use. Fast, easy and cheap. Fast, easy and cheap. So would you say that that also applies to other areas of life as well that you found? It spills over because these are life systems, not just weight systems. So if a person is in the arena of looking for love, if you don't love yourself, how do you expect another person to love you? Yes, but how does one learn to love oneself in a world where sometimes there's a... The other key is there are systems that are omnisystems because the key is when people are giving the freedom to choose with guidance, then their chance of succeeding increased tremendously because it is their proprietary system. It may not work for anybody else, but it works for them. I love this idea. So the omnisystem is empowering the individual within a loose framework to choose what is appropriate for him or her to succeed. And the key is to trust yourself. So the question I usually ask clients to ask is, would a loving person eat this for their body? And then listen. Most people don't even listen. They're consuming. And usually the answer is the truth. But a lot of the times we're not listening to that inner voice. So it's tuning in. It's tuning in and then being aware of... I was listening to a tape by Louise Hay. I just absolutely love it. The deer recently departed from this plane of existence, Louise Hay, and I recommend all of her books at Hay House. But she has 101 power thoughts. But one of the things that she had said a few years ago was, would you give this to a baby? And I've always thought that's really interesting because, of course, if we naturally... You wouldn't give a baby alcohol or cigarettes or Cheetos. Not to mass Cheetos. I do love Cheetos. But a baby, what would you feed a baby healthy and appropriate for... Well, I love Louise Hay also. I feel that that arena has been fantastic. But where I feel that it's sort of, when the rubber hit the road, the long-term results did not really produce what the person really wanted. And the one thing is in money. In money. I'll affirm. I am a millionaire. Money comes to me and all. Affirming is good. But it's what I call doing and producing measurable results is where the rubber really hits the road because without measurable results, it's just a lesson in vocabulary in the mind. So that's... Those are two other areas that are going to be part of this life enhancement series, which, so we have health and with the initial focus on weight, on ideal weight, maintaining that, choosing from an omni diet system and then as the vehicle for us to make our own wisest choices within a good framework, and then working on the psychosocial and self-empowerment aspects behind that. But this also goes over into your other two areas of focus, which is money and, I guess, wealth and also into love. And I like the phrase that you had, which was looking for love in all the right places and for the part about love. I think encapsulating which is great. And for wealth, which is... Was it frugal without sacrifice? Yes. So that we can achieve some financial health without a sacrifice. Many people are approaching life situations almost completely broke. And the statistics are staggering that over 50% of people will reach retirement with nothing. With no saving. And that is a really important topic that I would love to explore in depth on our next show because, unbelievably, we are out of time, but I would love to invite you back to talk about that. I'd love to come. And your books are going to be coming out maybe in January. We hope it'll be in Kindle books. It'll be all virtual books. Virtual books so we can go to davidtosaka.com. Right. And that's where we can find some more information on the life enhancement series, models of self-empowerment for health, wealth, and love, which leads to our happiness and satisfaction here in life. And I really look forward to continuing this conversation because it does hit on these fundamental areas and looking at it from your many decades of experience and having success in these areas yourself. So you're speaking really from experience and knowledge of thousands of people. And so I really appreciate you coming down on the show today. Thank you for having me. So, unfortunately, I can't believe it. This is a very, very fast period of time, and we didn't have enough time even to cover this one, but we do have to wrap it up today. And my name's Winston Welch. This is out and about on Think Tech's live streaming network series. And we've been talking with David Tosaka on his upcoming life series, Enhancements Book, and look forward to much more of this in the future. Thank you for tuning in and welcome. We welcome your feedback. Thanks to our broadcast engineer, Ian Davidson, our technical producer, Ray Sangelang, our floor manager, Robert McLean, and to Jay Fidel, our executive producer. I'll see you here every other Monday at 3 for more of Out and About on Think Tech. Aloha, everyone.