115: How to Become Happier In Your Own Skin (with Jesse Lee, MFY Community Manager)

Jan 16, 2025

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If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you already know Jesse Lee, Man Flow Yoga’s Community Manager. But it wasn’t all that long ago that Jesse lived a completely different life.

In 2016, after tragically losing his best friend, Jesse soothed himself like many guys do. With booze and food.

He quickly ballooned up to 330 lbs, strained his relationship with his wife and kids, and found himself in a world of self-hate, regret, and shame. Jesse wanted to change the trajectory of his life, but didn’t know where to start. And he didn’t want to run the risk of injury that came attached with weight lifting and running—especially at his size. (He wasn’t just 330 lbs, he’s also a giant who stands at 6'7”.)

But then he discovered an old Man Flow Yoga DVD. And the rest is history.

Jesse lost 60 pounds and became a model. He quit drinking (and has been sober for 7 years). He attended my Be The Better You retreat and started working for Man Flow Yoga. And he’s even gotten his own yoga certification!

Despite the gigantic (pardon the pun) improvements he made, he started small. He stayed consistent. And he proved that any man—no matter how big or out-of-shape—can achieve life-changing results by making one small decision today.

In this episode, Jesse shares:

How to be happier in your own skin (even if you’re consumed with self-hate, regret, and shame right now)
Jesse’s secret for staying motivated enough to workout that he wakes up at 5 am
How to start your fitness journey right now

And more!

Other highlights from this show include:

How Man Flow Yoga turned a 330 lb version of Jesse into a model (and saved him from a deep bout of depression) (1:08)
Why yoga is the superior way to exercise if you’ve been inactive for as long as you can remember (6:01)
This ancient, even somewhat cheesy Taoism maxim can fill even the emptiest motivational tank (7:08)
The “Find Your Why” motivation technique for starting your fitness journey today (and sticking with it tomorrow too) (8:33)
How to trick your brian into working out on days when you have zero motivation (13:09)
What to do if self-hate, regret, and shame overwhelm you (22:45)
The “Share Your Struggles” secret for feeling less alone and isolated (27:56)
How to improve your mental health, reduce your stress, and boost your productivity by doing absolutely nothing (34:55)

Listen now!

Quotes from this episode’s guest:

(6:12) I did what everyone else does: I googled “yoga for men.” I wanted to just start something simple because I knew that if I started running or lifting weights that I would probably overdo it. And so I decided to start slow.
(17:09) When it comes to fitness, you have to start small because if you start big, you end up getting overwhelmed or burning out or hurting yourself.
(21:20) My head benefits better from yoga more than my body.
(22:03) More people should be doing yoga. At least give it a try.
(22:45) I want people to be happier in their own skin. That's it. And, for me, when I was at 330 pounds, there was a lot of self-hate, a lot of regret, a lot of shame. And the yoga helped me be okay with that and know that it's a stepping stone towards a better self. But it's hard to start that journey without a little bit of self-love.
(25:43) This journey is really hard. The beginning is really hard, especially when you're not happy. But it gets better.
(26:57) Different versions of community will give you different forms of support.
(37:52) Do it now. Like right now. Because you're not to be this young again.
(39:09) If you make excuses now, you're going to make excuses later. There's always going to be an excuse.
(41:55) Dean, what you created helped me through some of the roughest times of my life.