Video summary
The video documents a thirty-day aggressive weight loss challenge undertaken by fitness influencer Solom Mike, who aims to shed approximately twelve pounds while maintaining high productivity in his business and personal life. Starting at a body weight of roughly 216 pounds, the creator follows a strict protocol developed with scientist Meno Henselman, which involves consuming about eight grams of protein per pound of total body weight. This specific macronutrient ratio results in a daily caloric intake that is significantly lower than typical maintenance levels, forcing the body into a deficit to achieve rapid fat loss. Throughout the month, he vlogs his progress honestly, showing himself shirtless with unfiltered lighting to counteract the curated and often misleading images prevalent on social media platforms like Instagram.
To sustain this rigorous diet while traveling between Sacramento and Las Vegas, the creator adopts a highly structured eating routine that minimizes decision fatigue. His meals consist primarily of nutrient-dense, convenient options such as lean ground beef, kimchi, frozen spinach, broccoli, white rice, and specific Greek yogurt blends, often prepared in advance or ordered from the same grocery items every few days. This approach allows him to focus his mental energy on work projects, including a major company rebrand, rather than constantly deciding what to eat. He acknowledges that while he does not adhere to the extreme rigidity of professional bodybuilder preps, the discipline required to stick to this plan helps him maintain a healthy relationship with food and avoid the binge-eating cycles that have affected him in the past.
Despite the physical demands of the cut, including daily cardio sessions and heavy lifting, the creator emphasizes that mental health and sleep quality are critical factors in sustaining such a lifestyle. He notes that the low-calorie diet initially disrupted his sleep patterns, which he identifies as the most important element for his overall well-being and mood management. However, by ensuring he gets enough rest over time, he maintains a positive mindset and high productivity levels throughout the challenge. The experience reinforces his belief that setting clear boundaries and sticking to a routine can make difficult habits manageable, allowing him to feel good physically and mentally without relying on the constant cycle of indulgence and recovery that many people face.
By the end of the thirty days, Solom Mike successfully reaches a new personal low of 203 pounds, having lost over twelve pounds in four weeks while continuing to run his business and launch new apparel lines. He reflects that the process was not as mentally taxing as expected because the strict lines drawn for nutrition removed the need for constant creative decision-making regarding food choices. Although he admits to taking a few cheat meals and allowing some flexibility, such as eating pizza on his birthday, the overall success of the challenge demonstrates that consistent effort and a focused goal can yield significant results. The video concludes with an invitation for viewers to subscribe for future updates, as he plans to continue pushing toward even lower body weight in subsequent weeks while balancing his fitness goals with his growing professional responsibilities.
Read the full video transcript
ladies and gentlemen it's been 3 weeks
not tracking a single food and I may
have got a little tubby so we're locking
in for 30 days the strictest diet I've
ever done you can call it a mini cut you
can call it a jump start but we got 30
days to get it shredded as possible and
I'm taking you all along with me
vlogging the whole
[Music]
process meno henselman who's a scientist
and makes content on on YouTube and
Instagram kind of came up with a
protocol that's kind of what I've and
following to keep you an idea so it's
about 8 G per pound of total body weight
right so when I started this was about
216 you multiply that by8 that's kind of
where you're sitting all calories are uh
8.3 times that protein intake and
that'll give you your total calories an
example is 100 gram of protein a day
you're going to multiply that by 8.3 and
that's 830 calories that's the protocol
we we slammed in for a little bit over
30 days
now for the part I've been dreading um
if anyone's followed me for the last
since 2012 14 12 years 13 years on the
internet you know I uh don't love taking
my shirt off and kind of doing the
typical
Fitness content the half naked half
chubbed morning would get ready with me
um but I want to make this video as
honest as possible so we're going to go
way in I'm going to take some
measurements and then we'll do just just
a quick progress video kind of unflexed
shirtless a little bit of quad Flex let
you guys know where I
am lighting is whatever I just got one
back window behind me so pretty plain
lighting keep myself pretty
honest not my best not my worst
definitely a little bloated over the
weekend we had had a donut or two had
Chipotle couple times um for the last
kind of cheat days so we're definitely
on the bloated side holding some water
so I expect probably next update next
week to be pretty drastic morning y'all
um back in Vegas so those that don't
know who haven't followed Instagram or
podcast or whatever uh I moved to Vegas
so I split time I got my business house
in sack and I got a house family Bart
everything I love here in Vegas so we're
week two day two of the cut and body
weight was down about three lbs um I
don't have a scale here but I weighed
myself yesterday in Sack or the day
before before I flew out and I was about
212 211 and when we started we're about
215 2116 um so we're making progress
there's a couple Reasons I'm doing this
one because I hate how filtered
Instagram is um and how everyone's just
lying to you it's either Photoshop or
it's perfect lighting perfect cameras um
and I absolutely hate that maybe I need
to shave for yall is that what people do
but down about three pounds again
feeling pretty
strong nothing crazy unflexed [ __ ]
lighting there's one window open over
there um just to give you guys an
idea where we're kind of
at I don't even know how to
Poe but um yeah one to keep me locked in
two to have a goal three I hate the
internet and how they lie to you about
Transformations dude we got that emo
hair
going so being as transparent as I can
hopefully we'll take some sexy pcks at
the end uh but for now you get that pale
last week three check in I'm in Vegas
still um and I'll proudly report that I
am locked in I don't know if I've truly
locked in my nutrition for over two
weeks ever there's one day I didn't
track but uh because I had homemade
popcorn um with like olive oil I didn't
measure it but I know it was below
calorie still cuz the rest of the day I
barely ate um ate out a little bit we
had Korean barbecue just tracked it in
my brain and made sure we're well below
you overestimate what you eat um that's
it so I'm going to give you guys a
little sneak peek of the physique don't
love the idea that and I know people are
results driven I'm slightly more process
driven although trust me I like money
and [ __ ] but when you're more results
driven your only get off is showing your
physique that's not my only get off and
I hate it and I don't think the industry
should be based
on that but here we
are little hairy we'll fix
it Shadows ain't
good that's it I don't know how to flex
I don't care we're just showing progress
week to
week still the morning for still going a
shower it's straight Cofe work when I
wake up you know the grind my friends I
hope everyone's good 30-day Vlogs
probably our first time we've ever done
like a 30-day Vlog like that too to be
honest um and I've been on I've been on
TR back so at least a week check-in and
a mental check-in when I have something
to say back in California flew in today
we actually have the Rebrand of the
company coming so Rebrand a good company
a bunch of new drops and cool things on
the way you'll see them soon and
hopefully I get to share with y'all what
we've been cooking the diet's still
locked in, 15,600 calories we got one
more week not only is it my birthday the
week after that um but we'll do uh the
30-day challenge and reveal what we're
looking like so I got updates to do this
week still on the diet and then uh we'll
continue
man 203 204 and we're about 70
80% done with the cut so one more week
it's my birthday cheat day and we'll get
back to the Grind 203 is not bad um but
I'd like to lose another 10 and we might
be able to do it after a little 3-day
break take a three-day diet break
get my mind right for my birthday look
at that half R bro we're going crazy I
just woke up I'm going to go grab some
coffee back in sack for two days and
then Vegas for a week and then I'll be
back in sack again the grind continues
the drop is coming though so stay tuned
for that if you're not with it good
company apparel.com
some higher end Gym gear trying to make
you feel good look good has some
durability some real quality in what we
make some pride in the detail some pride
in the
Fabrics um but 204 ain't B 20 204 from
like
216 do the math man that's not bad so if
we do another maybe four or five weeks
give me to below
193 as soon as I'm below 193 that'll be
the lightest I've been since probably
basketball when I was 21 30 days four
weeks fully locked in and uh today's my
birthday I'm going to go eat pizza um I
feel good man I feel good uh we shaved
up I didn't tan we'll give you guys a
little bit of progress to see what
happened um it's sad and good that it
wasn't that hard it's just not that hard
when you lock in man when you really
have a goal and really laser focused um
the sad part is I don't know if I've
gone 30 full
days
without um like an unplanned meal or a
free meal or an untracked meal simply
because I'm not a competitor you know
and I don't think anything's wrong with
that I've always been at healthish body
weight despite maybe one or two times
over the my adulthood um maybe not the
weight that I aesthetically like or that
I feel best at but I've been healthy you
know I move my body I lift I eat protein
I eat my veggies I just get a little bit
overboard honestly it's just not that
hard and I'm eating extremely low
calories the cup was very aggressive you
know, 1550 1,600 calories plus half an
hour of cardio plus lifting plus like I
want to say the most stressful month of
work I've ever had but
um one of the most layered months of
work I've Had A lot's going on on the
real estate front um the full Rebrand
takes more energy than a normal launch
because we're kind of redoing processes
obviously we're redoing the look and
quality of the clothing we're doing a
lot lot of other stuff with it so that's
a little bit more
intensive um yeah the gym has some stuff
happening on the back end I can't quite
talk about yet um but a lot of different
phone calls and meetings for that but uh
plus started a new class online thought
shout out to thatch vinyl checkin and
I'm going to go eat some pizza we'll do
um hopefully I have a little bit more
training and [ __ ] in this this footage
from seos for you guys more detailed
questions and maybe will do a follow-up
video with answering all of your
nutritional questions if you want to ask
them below any nutrition cutting bulking
um questions we'll go over that if I had
a guess I'm probably about
202 maybe 2011 we start about 216
[Music]
starting weight was around 215 to
217 and the lowest weigh in through this
journey was 203 so 12 a little bit over
12 lb 14 lb in roughly 4
[Music]
weeks nutrient dense as I can as filling
as I can and as convenient as I can
because I'm traveling back and forth and
to be honest I just don't want to cook
that much like protein so um
sometimes a a real lean ground beef you
can find like a 97 uh kimchi was often
in the rotation microwave uh spinach and
broccoli or Frozen uh microwave uh
broccoli and spinach um white rice or a
v variance of Rices to mix into that
Greek yogurt oos in particular um I
think it's you know 15 protein eight
carb zero fat so you're going to eat a
bunch of those get some protein in fill
you up slightly sweet versus eating all
this other stuff um and then some kind
of like shredded or pre-made uh chicken
breast I really didn't very much and
that's kind of like the beauty in it
right like I feel like once you draw
really strict
lines in
life then you don't have to like be
creative or think about everything right
if you're already like thinking about
like relationships business you're
thinking about whatever it is there's
all these options and things you have to
like decision fatigue you have to make
decisions if I just eat broccoli chicken
and rice although I love food that just
is one less decision or thing I have to
think about to prep for cuz I'm ordering
the same thing every 4 days from the
grocery store you know I'm eating the
same thing for breakfast lunch dinner
every single day and then I can focus my
energy uh on elsewhere if you have no
plans and and although it's minuscule
and it seems like nothing it's coming
from the same like energy tank so yeah
basic man basic
yeah I mean checkins definitely helped
knowing this is going on YouTube
helped
um and that's why like having a coach
helps right if you have to email them
check-ins or zoom them once a week or a
month it's probably going to H you more
cannibal same reason we built a gym like
this like if you know a homie and you
train at 10:00 a.m. every day and you
don't show up there's a little bit of
guilt involved cuz you know your homie
was there working spotting loading and
it's just always easier and better and
more fun together um that's what makes
nutrition hard right it's like literally
just you versus plate and what you're
going to put in your fat mouth um I
don't really know what made it like
easier or not I think just like routine
as always definitely the YouTube in the
back of my head but I I don't have any
doubts I've never had doubts that I
could do it either you know like I do
struggle with food like I've binged in
the past and like I love eating copious
amounts of food is my favorite hobby
just to snack and like watch a movie
alone um so like that's still not like
the most healthy relationship in my head
but I've never
also just from so many years of sports I
know I can lock in if I need
[Music]
to do hear a lot of bodybuilders talk
about the mental task and the stress of
getting so lean in the grind of like a
real prep so I would never want to
compare what I'm doing versus that
although the nutritional factor is
similar um the rigidness of my training
wasn't the rigidness of my cardio wasn't
and also I'm just not as lean or pumped
as peeds as many of them uh but honestly
I felt pretty good I was in pretty good
mood um I was pretty productive in terms
of work there's a lot of things going on
behind the scenes that I can't quite
announce yet um obviously the Rebrand
was crunch time during that whole month
and I think it was probably our best
launch yet um just in terms of
efficiency storytelling and what the
team put together um so I think like
productivity was just as high mood was
pretty good sleep was probably the only
one and so like ripple effect from
that's really bad for me and I think it
is for most people but they just don't
work on like a a they don't they don't
know like the standard of feeling good
I've thought about this many times like
people like get hammered drunk Friday
Saturday Sunday and then like that's
[ __ ] up your next 5 days and so
they're in this constant rotation of
like get [ __ ] up body recover get
[ __ ] up so they don't know what like
feeling good is um I've used this
reference uh on how I turn into a baby
when I'm sick because I work so hard to
feel good every single day that when I
do get sick it's such a drastic change
where if people are like always like
feeling like [ __ ] like even like little
things like heartburn or sleep apnea or
stress or bad working on bad sleep and
like forcing this stuff there there like
Baseline is already low so when they get
sick it's just like a small deviation
but I try to keep my Baseline [ __ ]
rocking and rolling long story short
when you just eat less calories Energy's
expending uh sleep gets a little weird
so I got I I just didn't feel as rested
as I normally did and that's one of the
biggest factors that keeps me sane um
like keeps my mental health in check my
anxiety my depression stuff just stuff
I've dealt with my entire life I didn't
realize it till like high school but
sleep is like literally number one most
important thing in my life
um so it affected that a little bit but
for every like two bad nights sleep I'd
get one good one so it kind of slowly
even out and if that's like the worst
case of this whole thing like again
energy is good uh positivity is good
productivity is good I can't really say
um it affected it that
[Music]
bad only real thing i' Chang to like
document this better is be around sebos
more cuz obviously he makes it a lot
easier to like form my words cuz he
helps me with research on question and
then obviously the video work itself is
much easier when you have someone else
rather than like when I'm training in a
commercial gym or even here sometimes
like seos and the team see it like I got
to get it done and I just like leave cuz
I got [ __ ] to do or or I just need to
get out so um having someone follow me
with the camera obviously get you a
little bit more looks into how I eat and
how I actually move which is harder to
do when I'm on my own cuz I just have
multiple things I'm thinking about um so
I guess doing it in sack the whole time
would be like probably optimal but then
even then like saos is busy too you know
know he he helps me run the gym and and
all the apparel marketing and [ __ ] so um
it's not like we just have all the hours
just to be a YouTuber anymore and I
guess this is part of growing up so I
guess to do the challenge when I was
like 23 would be the easiest cuz then I
could just film and not give a [ __ ] and
base my whole schedule around filming
which is what I did for eight years but
doesn't pay the bills so you got to
focus on other [ __ ] um but otherwise I
think pretty good to be honest
definitely do it in the summer when it's
hot I don't want to be doing all that
cardio and [ __ ] I hate leaving the gym
sweaty when it's cold outside
um I was in Vegas most the time but even
here is nice and warm now yeah I think
that's it man yeah I can't complain
can't complain so another two three
weeks here then another free meal then
we'll we'll hopefully get down to 190 if
you follow me on Instagram maybe you'll
see some updates uh ladies and gentlemen
that was it man the 30-day aggressive
cut video solom Mike Third Street
barbell sacamento California 3 sb.
apparel needs hopefully that teaches
motivates entertain
something if you like the video man like
the video subscribe new videos every
week appreciate you guys Sal M out