Maspalomas Winter Pride 🏳️‍🌈 Gay Gran Canaria

Hello and welcome

to The Outlifting Lounge.

This is the podcast

that's all about pride, fitness

and everything in between.

I'm Derec.

And I'm Alan.

Thank you so much for tuning in.

And if you haven't subscribed yet,

hit the subscribe button below.

So what is in store for episode

three today, Alan?

Well we definitely need to talk about

Drag Race UK Snatch Game.

I definitely want to talk about

gay christmas at the beach.

And if we're talking about that,

we need to talk about

Winter Pride Gran Canaria.

Yes.

And

Death at the Yumbo Centre.

Oh, and how you can ditch the douche.

I hope you don't mean me.

No comment.

Hmm.

Okay, let's

get the show started.

So how's your week been?

The week's been good.

Just lots of gym,

lots of dog

walks. And it's quite nice

when we've been out

because we're going around

Maspalomas, Playa del Inglés and

you can

see it getting

busier and busier and busier

now, eh?

Yeah, like

when we were out on Thursday night,

we were obviously around the Yumbo

for a wee bit and you can feel that

pre-Winter Pride

build up. And I love it.

I get really, really excited

because like it was a bit busy,

but not too busy. But we know

like from kind of Monday,

tomorrow onwards, it's

going to be mental.

The buzz is building,

you can feel

the excitement in the air

from all the gays.

I was driving earlier

and I saw a hire

car pull up and it was just

full of gays and their suitcases

all getting into their hotel.

How do you know they were gay?

Well... That's maybe...

I think I might have assumed

their sexuality.

There was a trail of sparkle

behind them.

Well,

there was a trail of

something behind them.

Beginning with

sp...

Yeah. So yeah,

they left a trail of sparkle.

Okay.

And yeah, it's really good

seeing it come to life.

And I really enjoyed that

little impromptu

night out

that we had on Thursday

because it wasn't planned,

it was just impromptu.

We went out for some food.

We took our dog, Haggis,

and then we went to

the Yumbo Centre because

Sparkles,

one of the main drag bars

there, were playing

Drag Race UK

and they had a very

special guest, didn't they?

Yes,

Bonnie Ann Clyde.

Bonnie Ann Clyde,

who used to work in

Sparkles.

Used to work

in Sparkles.

Yeah, Bonnie Ann Clyde. She was on

stage on Thursday night

because they were showing her

episode. Well, not her episode.

It was her episode.

Oh, spoiler. S***.

S***.

Just so you know,

there will be spoilers for Drag

Race UK.

So if you're not caught up

with the latest episode,

which was Snatch Game,

maybe catch up before you

listen to this.

Yeah,

it was brilliant. Like her

Cher as a chair

was fantastic.

And the one liners

she was coming away

with was brilliant.

It was phenomenal.

Yeah. Phenomenal!

The bar was like packed out.

There was so much love

for her in the bar.

Then she did

a little Q&A afterwards

as well, which was quite nice.

And she was wearing her

runway look

from that episode as well.

So it was quite nice.

She looked amazing.

To see it side by side

on the big screen and on her.

And she's actually

performing on Monday night

in Sparkles.

In Sparkles?

Yeah.

We should go.

I don't know,

we've got a lot on this week

with Winter Pride.

We do.

We're in our mid-40s, remember?

Yeah.

Never.

I am forever 25.

No.

Yeah, we'll talk about Winter Pride

in a moment. Let's finish talking

because I have things to say.

I have quite a lot to say about

Bonnie Ann Clyde's

performance.

Good.

I fell in love with that.

I think it's one of the best

Snatch Game

performances in herstory.

Yeah.

Phenomenal.

Aye.

And there's some like

amazing Snatch Game performances

that we always talk about.

Yeah.

And that was definitely,

I would say top three. Easy.

I think you might be right.

I think you might be right.

It was so creative.

It was so conceptual.

It could have gone

so badly wrong.

But it was polished.

She had perfected that character.

She knew exactly who it was.

She had the point of view down

to a T.

And every line

that she came out

with was hilarious.

And she actually made

Ru laugh. But not, you know,

like Ru's like fake laugh

that she does.

She actually was belly

laughing. Yeah.

And you know that

if Ru's doing that, then

you've got her.

Yeah, totally.

And it was an amazing night

to be in Sparkles for that

because the whole crowd

were there.

They were all cheering on

Bonnie Ann Clyde

and everybody was laughing at

every single joke

because it was really landing.

And it was...

when they announced the winner.

We'll put a little clip

up actually. Yeah.

So if you're watching

the video version of this,

I'll put a little shaky

handheld clip that I took.

And we were sober

that night as well.

I don't know why it was so shaky.

Yeah. It's

because I was so excited.

Is that what happens

when you get excited?

You know.

Lucky me.

Alan knows

what happens when I get excited.

You nearly took my eye out

this morning.

Can we put that in?

Probably not.

Yes.

Let's see

what happens in the edit.

Yes.

It's just innuendo. It's fine.

It's okay.

So who else do we like in

Snatch Game?

Catrin Feelings

doing Bonnie Tyler.

Absolutely brilliant.

Amazing.

Those one-liners

that she had as well.

And she was doing it

kinda like Rock Profiles-esque.

If anybody knows what

Rock Profiles is.

It was very Rock Profiles.

Like I love, my favourite

Rock Profiles ever is the Tom

Jones, Shirley Bassey.

It's Matt Lucas and David

Williams with Jamie Theakston

interviewing them.

And that is just so super funny.

You should maybe

put a tiny wee clip of that

up on the video section as well.

Or I could just do

an impersonation.

No.

The diamonds they are

forever sir.

She doesn't have the range.

She doesn't have the range.

Yeah. I think..

Maybe, I think you might need

to put something up

for a bit of context.

Yeah. Yeah.

I'll definitely put a link anyway

to the YouTube of

the Rock Profiles episode.

But yeah,

her Bonnie Tyler was very Rock

Profile, Matt Lucas-esque.

Yeah. And again,

kind of a bit

left field. Which we, that's

our kind of sense of humour,

isn't it?

We love that kind of thing.

Oh, totally.

The other one as well was the,

is it Lady

Cassandra from Doctor Who?

The face that's been...

Aye. Stretched.

That was, that was quite good.

It was a good episode this week.

It was a very good episode

this week. Long may it last.

And here's hoping that we see

Bonnie Ann Clyde in the final

and hopefully winning.

Yeah.

We're Team Bonnie, aren't we?

Team Bonnie.

Right, let's talk about Winter

Pride then.

One of our favourite times

of the year.

Oh, okay then.

So a little bit of background

about Winter Pride.

So I've been to Winter

Pride before. And Derec

and I had our first holiday

in Gran Canaria in 2017.

And it was over Winter Pride.

And Derec

had never experienced it before

and it turns out

that actually Winter Pride

but specifically

the 11th of November is now

one of your favourite days

of the year because

it's the German carnival

down on the beach

and basically

everyone's in fancy dress.

And I told Derec this

the first time we came over

and he didn't believe me.

And I was like, no,

we need to get a

fancy dress costume.

So we dressed up as,

as always, sexy,

bunnies.

and Derec

was so hesitant about it

because you were like,

oh, are people actually going to be

in fancy

dress down the beach?

I was like, trust me,

they will be.

We will be the odd ones out

if we don't do fancy dress.

And it turns out that

you love it.

So I just want to correct

you actually because you said that

it was one of my favourite days

of the year.

Oh, sorry.

It's my favourite

day of the year.

The favourite day of the year.

So yeah, it is

my favourite day of the year.

I love it. I love it.

I love it. It's,

as I refer to it,

gay Christmas.

Gay Christmas.

Yeah. Gay Christmas.

Everybody's dressed up.

And it's more

fun than Hallowe'en because

it's more of a kind of a party

carnival atmosphere.

But everybody's in fancy dress.

And quite often,

so there's kind of two things

that I really love about it.

One is that a lot of the fancy

dress is quite weird and wacky.

like people just dress up

as these like

mad creations.

Like people

get really, really creative.

Anything goes.

There’s anything.

There's no theme is there?

There's just like...

you dress up

as whatever you want.

Yeah.

And then the other thing

I really like about it as well

is that

you get the same groups of people

going back year

after year after year. So

you get to know them

when you go back year after year

and people

in their groups do like,

group themed costumes.

Yeah.

So you get the,

there's a huge contingent

of Dutch people that come.

There's maybe like 30

or 40 of them.

And they all have

like the same costume

and it's always bright.

There's a bright orange element

of it because they're Dutch.

And they are always like

kind of standing together

as a big crowd.

And don't forget Craig.

You need to mention

Craig and his gang.

Yes, absolutely. Our German

friends.

Scottish German.

I don't know

if Craig knows that we call him

that.

No,

I don't think he does.

He’s originally from Glasgow.

He's been living in Germany

for loads of years.

And I met him here on holiday

years ago before I knew you.

And then each year

we catch up

with them on the beach.

And they've always got amazing

group costumes as well.

They do.

But they don't tell us what it is

until the day.

So we don't get to see... Well,

we only see it on the day.

And they're always phenomenal.

They're very, very good.

So they did...

I think

my favourite one of theirs.

So I've got two favourites

of theirs so far.

So one,

they dressed up

as firefighters.

Yeah,

that was good.

Yeah, they had the little fire

hydrant. They had a siren.

And that was quite fun.

Yeah.

And then the other one

that I really loved

was the Cookie Monster.

I knew you were going to say that.

That was brilliant.

Absolutely brilliant.

Yeah. So I can't wait

to see what they're dressed up

as this year.

And obviously each year,

our costumes,

not more elaborate,

but they've got better because...

I learned how to sew.

Well, yeah.

Year one,

it was like stuff that we bought on

Wish, which was,

I don't even know

if Wish is still a thing.

So it's like Temu

kind of stuff.

Yeah. It was basically bunny ears

and a bunny tail

on a pair of black speedos.

Yeah.

It was a bit basic,

but it worked.

So then it got more

elaborate over the years.

So then I think the second year

was the year that we dressed up as

sexy doctors, was it?

We were Dr.

Dick Handler.

And Dr. Willie Stroker.

We actually had NHS lanyards

with those names on it.

And then we had our big boards

that had free health checkups.

Yes.

And we had our stethoscopes

and we were making sure

that everybody was in

tip top condition.

Shall we say?

Cough, please.

That was fun.

That was fun. That was good.

That was interactive.

So that was very fun. Yeah.

Mickey Mouse,

we did that one year.

Yes.

A certain

famous mouse.

Copyright.

Copyright!

So yeah, we had the big gloves,

which were impossible

to hold a drink with.

Yeah.

We didn't really think

that one through, did we?

And we had our little noses

painted black

and the ears and stuff.

And red jock straps.

And red jock straps,

which were pretty

much see-through.

Thank God it's

a clothing optional beach.

Otherwise we might

have been arrested.

We also did

sexy Woody

from Toy Story.

Disney are definitely going to sue us.

The Woody one I'm quite proud of

because I made

that all from scratch.

So the shirt that Woody wears

is the yellow with

red check shirt.

And I couldn't

find that fabric anywhere. So

I went to a supplier in the UK

that prints rolls of fabric

and got that specially printed.

The same with the cow

print fabric. So I made little cow

print harnesses.

We had the hats.

We had the boots with Andy written

on the bottom with the N

back to front.

Yes.

Attention to detail.

Attention to detail!

We had little strings

with the rings at the back,

the little pull string.

And the piece

that I'm most proud of

which was the denim jockstraps.

So I made those

from two old pairs of jeans

and some elastic.

And everybody

kept asking

where did you get them?

Yeah.

I actually had people asking me

that day if I would

make them one and

they would pay me

money to

make it.

But then you would have to do pants

the way that Joey's tailor does

pants in Friends.

That's how they do

pants.

The people I was talking to

that day probably would prefer me

to measure their inside

leg that way.

With a cup.

With a little cuppage. Yeah.

So that was a pretty good year.

We also, I think we did

our Supergays on the beach. Yeah.

So that was one

that I'd made

from scratch as well.

So huge big rainbow capes.

We bought

metres

and metres and metres of fabric

in six different colours

to make the rainbow capes.

And the harnesses to hold the capes

and stuff.

And the little,

even the swimming trunks

that we'd made

with the shiny fabric.

And our pride progress shield.

Yes, our little pride

progress shield at the front.

Our little crest.

So I think we might

put up some photos

from previous years on our story.

On our Instagram.

Yeah. We might even,

if people are watching this

podcast on YouTube,

we'll put some photos up as well

to let people see. Yeah.

Because we might recycle

some of the costumes this week.

Yeah. We've been a wee bit busy.

I have not had time

to make a new costume.

We have got a very special costume

in the planning stage

for May Pride. Yeah.

But we're not ready with it

just yet. We have the,

we have the fabric. Again,

we had to get the fabric

specially printed for that.

So we're going to start creating

that after Winter Pride's over.

But this year, Winter Pride's

going to be a recycle.

Reduce, reuse, recycle.

Yeah. Yeah.

A couple of our favourites

that we love.

Yes. I think we're... Right,

why don't we talk about

what we're going to do

for the beach party?

Okay. May as well give that away.

Because we've done it.

We have done it before.

Right, let me do the impression and see

if anybody gets what it is.

I fix-a the toilet-a.

Alan has never played

a Mario game in his life.

We are going to be

Mario and Luigi.

Yes. Full title.

Super Mario

and Super Luigi?

Sexy.

Hello!

Everything has sexy

at the front of it.

So sexy Mario and sexy Luigi.

People probably can't tell

if they're watching this,

but Alan...

I know what you're going to

say. Alan's a little bit

shorter than me.

Pocket size.

Alan's a pocket gay.

Bijou. Bijou.

What would an estate agent,

if an estate agent

was trying to rent you out.

Eh, careful.

Estate agent.

If an estate agent was trying

to rent you out or sell you,

they would describe you as,

eh, bijou.

Cozy.

Perfectly sized.

Perfectly sized!

I'm going to quickly digress

a little bit here but

when I used to be on the apps.

We know what ones,

Scruff, Grindr.

All those kind of ones.

I used to say my height was five

foot seven, right.

I know you did.

I know this is for everyone

that doesn't know.

I'm actually five foot five.

I'm an actual short arse.

And I remember

I met a guy once to go on a date

and I turned up

and the first thing

he said to me was, you're short.

And I went,

yeah I know!

Where's the rest of you?

So yeah,

and it's funny because when people

sometimes meet me in

IRL

in real life,

they're always quite surprised

because they think I'm

quite tall on social media.

So before we met IRL,

I'd obviously seen you

on the apps

and I, so

I am not one of those guys

that looks at height

and all those things

because it's not important to me,

it's the person that's important.

So I hadn't

looked at your height on the app

anyway, so I wasn't expecting

you to be five foot seven,

so it didn't really come

as a surprise that you weren't

When I wasn't!

Yeah.

But your handle,

your name on the app

was Scrappy Doo.

Aye.

And it didn't click to me

that that's

why you were called Scrappy Doo,

and yeah,

the first time I saw you

I was like, oh, okay,

that's not what I was

expecting. But,

do you know, after talking to you

the first time

I realised why

you were called Scrappy Doo

because you have got

Scrappy Doo energy.

You're just so like,

you've got a zest for life.

You just wanna get in there.

Let me at him.

Let me at him!

Let me at him.

The first time I saw

you I was on my tiptoes

You were,

being held back,

because you were going,

let me at him!

I couldn't see you across the bar.

I had to literally go

on my tiptoes.

We call that your

meerkat.

Alan meerkatted.

So will we tell the whole story?

What was the whole story?

So I had seen you on Grindr.

No we're not telling this story,

that's definitely

for another time. Okay moving on,

Winter Pride.

I had seen you on Grindr.

I had,

I could not believe

that this beautiful man...

Oh whatever!

Was in Glasgow

and he was so close to me.

And I thought...

I didn't actually send

a lot of messages on Grindr

when I was single.

I didn't really like being

on Grindr when I was single.

And I

thought I need to shoot my shot

with this guy.

So I sent you a message.

And you never replied

And then like two weeks later,

you saw me on Scruff

and you sent me a message.

And I thought to myself,

that's that guy that

didn't reply to me

and it's a Sunday afternoon

and he's probably

looking for something in particular

right now. And I'm like, nah.

So I didn't reply to you.

I was just being friendly,

just starting a chat.

And then it was maybe what,

a month or two after that,

that we saw each other IRL

across a bar

and we locked eyes with each other

and I don’t think we've stopped

looking at each other since.

Eight long years later.

Eight and a half.

Eight and a half!

Well done.

You didn't paint me to be that

bad.

You know what,

I think anybody that's

listening to this who is gay

or bi,

who has been on those apps,

which is probably

a hundered percent of the people

know what the apps are like.

They are quite desolate

and devastating sometimes.

In my defence,

I wasn't in a good place

mentally and stuff like that

at the time. And we've always said

that if we did meet on the apps

then we probably wouldn't

be where we are just now.

It would have been a one and done

situation. Bye!

Ordered you a taxi.

See you later!

That was great.

Yeah, your Uber's outside.

I don't know actually.

Maybe...

I think I'd have gone back

for seconds and thirds, but.

I'm not saying anything.

So that was

eight and a half long years ago

and we're still together,

we're happily married.

So things worked out the way

they were meant to work out.

Exactly!

Right, there's a costume idea

for the beach one year.

Scooby and Scrappy.

Yeah.

We can...

Might be a bit warm though!

We can get sued

by, who are they,

like Hanna Barbera?

Yeah. Yeah?

We'll get sued by Disney

and Hanna Barbera.

Great!

Mario and Luigi.

Back to what

we're actually talking about!

Sexy Mario.

Sexy Mario!

And sexy Luigi.

And sexy Luigi!

So yeah,

the height difference.

I'm Mario.

And I'm Luigi.

Yeah,

So if anyone's here

for Winter Pride

and you see us down the beach

on Tuesday, Mario and Luigi, then

definitely come and say hi.

And actually,

any time over Winter Pride.

We're going to be out

on the Tuesday,

we're going to be out on the Friday

at the Tropicana beach party,

and then obviously on the Saturday

for the big parade.

But we might pop down the Yumbo

for some other nights

as well. Yeah,

and we'll probably be out

and about with our dog Haggis.

Yeah.

Little labradoodle.

Yes. So...

Don't forget

my dad's here as well

so we've got a babysitter,

which is good. So we might not

actually have Haggis out

as much

as what we normally would.

True.

So we're having a dog free

few days.

Yes.

I think we deserve it.

Aye.

I think we deserve it.

Do you know,

I probably should say that

we see quite a lot of Mario

and Luigi costumes at Pride,

so we will be the ones

with the sparkly plungers.

And that's not a euphemism.

We actually do have

sparkly plungers.

I sparkled them myself.

And we've got our little cute

little shorts that I made.

Yes. On the sewing machine.

Don't give the whole costume

away. Okay.

But we also have our cute

little bags.

Our cute little bags

and our little baseball caps.

That's the whole costume.

That's the whole costume.

Because it's sexy.

Because it's sexy.

So if anybody does see us,

and you know us,

so we will probably end up

in the Yumbo Centre

for a drink

after the beach.

After, yeah.

Still dressed up

as Mario and Luigi.

Because they're doing

the after party thing

there as well.

They are doing the after party,

so that'll be good.

And there's plenty coming up.

So like the Friday pool party

with the Vengaboys.

Yes.

Really looking forward to that.

That'll be a lot of fun.

Yeah. And then the pre-parade party

that we're going to go to at Ritual

with Miss Claudia,

who's one of the drag queens

we spoke about last week.

Yes.

From Terry's.

And then we've

got the actual parade,

which is great.

Well, they call it Pride Walk.

It's a bit different

from Summer Pride, isn't it? It's

a pride walk.

There's two big floats.

Then everybody starts at the Riu.

And then there's about

30,000 people

walking up the street,

up towards the Yumbo.

It's such a good atmosphere.

And it's not like

some other pride parades

where they're kind of cordoned off.

Like London pride

parade is cordoned off

and you need to have a wristband

to be in the parade.

Here it's

very much like everybody

just joins in. Yeah.

It's much more fun on the street

because you get to talk to people,

you can get your pictures

taken with people.

And then there's loads

of people there

that don't realise it's on.

I say loads of people,

the straights.

Because then you see them

lining the street

and they're just like,

what the f*** is happening here?

It's so much fun.

It's really good.

I'm looking forward

to the Saturday.

Yeah.

So all that to look

forward to this week.

And obviously

we're still going to be working

in between.

Taking a few days off

here and there.

Because that's the thing,

since we moved here,

we don't really go on holiday

because we're kind of like

in a holiday destination

anyway, so...

Aye, rub it in.

So this is us

just like taking

some days off for a holiday.

So that's fun. Yeah.

So on the Saturday, obviously,

that's the main day,

but throughout the week, there's

loads of events on in the Yumbo

especially on the main stage.

And I love Winter

Pride over Summer Pride

because they actually get some

big acts on

in the Yumbo, don't they?

Rather than

Summer Pride where there's a lot of

just like DJs.

A lot of DJs in Summer Pride,

but I think as well as that, it's

catering to a different crowd

at Summer Pride because there's

a lot more Spanish people

are there for Summer Pride.

So a lot more of the acts

and entertainment are really good

Spanish acts.

But I think

Winter Pride is a little,

it feels a little bit

more international

and that's reflected

in the entertainment

as well on stage.

So it's good fun. Yeah.

So Winter Pride and the weather's

still lovely at Winter

Pride as well, which is nice.

So you can spend

your nights in the Yumbo,

but you can also

sunbathe, no bother around

the pool and at the beach

during

Winter Pride. I'm

sounding like I'm working

for the Spanish tourist

board here.

We could maybe get a sponsorship.

I know, I know.

But the reason I'm saying

that is

it's like, it's perfect

sunbathing weather,

just to relax,

chill out, read a book,

have a couple of drinks

around the pool.

And do you know what?

If I was here on holiday,

I would have the perfect book

to recommend

because we both read it around

about Summer

Pride this year.

Yeah, yeah.

Death at the Yumbo Centre.

Amazing. Highly recommend that.

So if anybody's

listening or watching

and you are coming to Maspalomas

for Pride and you want a book

that's easy to read,

that's quite camp,

that's quite fun

and is all

based in the area,

Death at the Yumbo Centre

is the book.

Yeah, by D M Pickersgill

and Darren

was actually one of our clients

for a little while there as well.

Yes, he came on board

for our three

month programme. Yeah.

Yeah. He got really good results.

Brilliant results.

Yeah,

and his book's doing brilliant

because every week, obviously

at his check-in

we would talk

about his fitness stuff,

but we talk about how

well the book's doing as well.

And like you said, it's

so familiar to people

if people have been to Maspalomas,

the Yumbo Centre,

but the amount of twists in

the book is just like,

it keeps you hooked on it.

So if you're coming over

for Winter Pride, grab a copy,

get it downloaded onto your Kindle

because it's just,

it's a good read.

I really enjoyed

particularly

the second half of the book

because it's so fast paced

and everything comes together and

it does keep

you wondering who done it.

Who done it?

It's a pretty good book

and I think based in the Yumbo

Centre as well,

there are very familiar

locations. Yeah.

Although for legal reasons,

because he didn't

want to get sued by Disney

and Hanna Barbera. No,

No, I think for legal reasons he's

changed the names of the venues,

but you kind of know

what they are.

Yeah.

One of my favourites is

Construction is changed to,

I won't give it away

because it's a great name.

Yeah.

And if anybody knows Construction,

which a lot of people will do

that are listening,

it's a fab name.

Yeah.

And there is a drag bar

that features called Rocky's

and you can probably guess which

drag bar in the Yumbo that is.

You just need to change

one vowel.

But yeah, no,

it's a really, really good

read. Thoroughly enjoyed it

and would highly recommend.

It's the perfect book

to read by the pool.

And hopefully

there'll be a follow up.

Yeah, definitely.

So I think, listen,

we have talked enough about

our gallivanting at Winter Pride.

Anybody who's not coming to Winter

Pride who's listening or watching

this is gonna...

Major FOMO. Major FOMO.

So what I would say is

they can keep an eye on our socials

this week. We're

just @outlift.ing for everything

and we'll be sharing

plenty of content this week,

no doubt.

Absolutely. Yes.

So we have reached

the fitness section

of the podcast and today,

instead of fitness,

we're going to talk

about some nutrition stuff.

Yeah.

So following on from a post

that we put on Instagram

and TikTok this week,

which was titled

How to Ditch the Douche.

Ditch the Douche.

You've just

turned that into a tongue twister.

I know, you put that on the spot there.

It's called Ditch

the Douche.

Ditch the Douche.

It's very difficult to say.

I know

we love

alliteration in our posts, but

Ditch the Douche.

Ditch the Dirt on the Douche.

Ditch the Douche.

So it was about,

it was highlighting

five foods that are high

in fibre.

Yes.

To help you have cleaner movements

so that you don't need to rely

on a douche quite so much

if you are a guy who

bottoms. Yeah?

Yeah! Yeah.

That was it. That was it.

Do you know what?

31 people have saved that.

So if you think, like

actually saved the post.

On Instagram. On Instagram.

Yeah.

There's even more

on TikTok as well.

So we think it's been very useful,

which we love

because we love putting

content out there

that people are going to make use

of. Yes. Yeah.

It got

a really good reaction actually.

I was surprised because

that kind of static

carousel content that's educational

that we put out every now and again

doesn't really perform as well

as when we put out

videos and things.

But that did really well. Yeah.

There was a good reaction to that

on both platforms.

Obviously

a lot of people saw value in it,

which is good. Yeah.

People are fed up of douching.

Yes. I designed that post

and put it up.

And when I was designing it,

it was big, big title,

Ditch the Douche,

and it's got a picture of you.

And I thought to myself, hmm,

I wonder, are people going to think

that I'm announcing

that I've broken up with you?

So I then thought,

I'll put like...

So this is the first time

I've heard this, by the way.

So that's why

I illustrated a little picture

of a bulb douche

with an X through it

so people didn't

think I was talking about you.

Thank God.

I was like, newsflash!

Newsflash!

Yeah.

So, yeah, I think that

that had quite a funny cover.

So it encouraged

people to swipe through

and then they actually did learn

something from it

as well about fibre

and just even the simple process

of adding some different foods

into their diet that can help

just increase their fibre intake.

Yeah.

I mean, it's really important

because not getting enough fibre in

your diet

is actually a known problem

in a lot of Western countries.

And one of the things that quite

a lot of people

actually messaged us directly

on Instagram through DM was about

keeping the skin on your kiwis.

I've always eaten

my kiwis with the skin on

and it's, it's

actually really, really nice.

But people are like, oh,

but try it.

It's really tasty.

You can just eat it like an apple.

That's the way I eat it.

So what I will say is

you got me to try this and

at first I had like a little bit

of a sensory thing about it.

I didn't like it

and I've kind of

got used to it now.

So after the, after

a couple of kiwis,

it's fine. It's fine.

I've put worse in my mouth.

I was actually thinking that

and I was like,

I'm not going to say it.

I have.

It's not even a joke.

Why are you laughing?

So in that post we

covered, I think it was apples,

kiwis, lentils,

chickpeas and avocados,

which all have

considerable amounts of fibre

and can really help.

But one of,

one of the comments

that we got under that post

was somebody saying that

when they increase

their fibre intake,

it doesn't help them.

It makes it worse.

And I think we wanted to focus

on that and talk about that

because they described,

might be going

into graphic detail here,

but they described their

bowel movements as clay-like

when they increase

their fibre intake.

So I thought it was

maybe good to talk about this

because this is something

that people experience.

And we actually experienced

that when we went plant-based

for the first time

because we actually did it

during Veganuary

coming up

eight years now? Yeah,

so it was in 2018.

And on the Sunday

we went out for our last

meat feast,

if you like, which was disgusting

because we had the meat sweats

and everything. It was horrible.

Ordered everything on the menu

that had meat. Yeah,

we went to one of

our favourite places in Glasgow,

which unfortunately

is no longer there.

And then on the Monday

we went fully vegan

and there wasn't

a transition period.

And we increased

obviously our fibre

probably overnight.

Yeah, manyfold,

manyfold.

And we found that

we had some real digestion issues

because of that sudden

increase in fibre.

Yes, I, what I'll say

is for the first few weeks

I felt really bloated.

It wasn't nice.

It was really uncomfortable

feeling pressure

and I wasn't regular with things

and it wasn't a nice feeling.

But we kind of figured out that

the missing part

of the ingredient for us was

we needed to increase our water

intake as well.

Yeah, increase

in fibre equals

increase in water.

Yeah, because basically fibre

almost acts like a sponge.

It binds everything together

in your gut

and it's really, really good

for keeping things moving along

for your gut motility.

But you do need to increase

your water intake.

Yeah, and can I say this was before

we were PTs as well. Yes.

So we didn't know about this

kind of stuff, really. Yeah.

So interestingly,

I went on a yoga retreat in Bali

a couple of years ago, as you know,

and I think there was maybe

like 22,

23 people at this retreat.

But all of the food was vegan.

Everything was absolutely vegan

and I think me

and two others were plant-based

and everybody else wasn't.

They were all omnivores

and they found

it really difficult.

And I actually lost kind

of how many people came to me

that week, just kind of to the side

and quietly said,

I'm really, you know, I'm feeling

very bloated.

I'm not feeling too good.

I think it's this vegan food.

It's like you're

plant-based, aren't you?

So how do you cope with it?

And every one of them, I said,

drink more water. Yeah.

And every one of them

came back to me

the next day and said, that's it.

That's fixed it.

Flushed it out of me.

Flushed out!

So yeah, I think in a way they were

basically trying to low key say

I've had a good s***.

Yeah.

I've had a toilet

blocker.

Yes.

Yeah.

So, that is key to it.

I think making sure that you're

increasing your water intake

as you increase your fibre intake

is absolutely crucial.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

It could also be the

case, though, that

the foods that you're

introducing to your diet

maybe don't agree

with your digestive system.

There is always

a kind of a bedding in period

when you change your diet. So

you might get a little bit over

the first week or two

just while things change.

But if it persists,

it might just be

that you have an intolerance

to that food as well. Yeah.

So that could be it too.

But what I would maybe say

as well is if these things persist

and you've tried

elimination, you've tried

increasing your water intake

and you've been patient with it,

the alternative is as well,

maybe that might be a sign

that you need to seek

medical advice

from a doctor. Absolutely.

Because we can give you

the knowledge that we have, but

obviously we're not

medical professionals.

So it's always best

if you're having issues

beyond the stuff

that we talk about,

then definitely go and seek out

some medical advice. Yeah.

But I have to say,

because obviously we eat a lot,

like, copious amounts of fibre

in our diet

because we eat a lot of fruit

and veg,

we don't eat any meat,

everything... Quite

a lot of what we do is

just freshly prepared

and quite a lot of raw

fruit and veg too.

So we get copious

amounts of fibre in our diet

and we are very used to it now.

And it really does

help because...

We're very regular.

You can set your watch.

I know exactly

what time of the morning

it is by the sound of Alan

at the bathroom door.

Come on now,

that's TMI.

TMI.

Yeah. It is good, but

there is a bit of a trial

and error with it,

but it's totally worth

it. Totally worth it.

Not just, I mean, the Ditch

the Douche thing was just a bit

of an attention grabber

for our...

Demographic.

Our demographic on

social media,

but there are so many

other benefits to this as well

in life.

Good gut motility,

it helps with brain

fog, it helps clear that up.

It just helps you have more energy,

makes you feel better

about yourself.

And just in general it is better,

so we'd recommend it for anybody.

Yeah, absolutely.

Now obviously this is the health

and fitness section

and in the past couple of weeks

we've spoken more about

the fitness side of stuff

in terms of exercises

and exercising, but

nutrition is a huge,

huge part of that as well.

So if anybody has

any questions about nutrition

then drop us a DM on Instagram.

We're always happy

to answer the questions there,

but also if you want us to cover

anything nutrition wise

on the podcast as well,

drop us a message again

on Instagram.

Yeah, we also,

so we've set up

an email address

specifically for the podcast.

So if people want to get in touch

they can also do it by email

to podcast@outlift.ing

That's good.

Well done, you

did that during the week as well.

I did that during the week,

I've been a busy little beaver.

So yeah, they can get in contact

by DM on Instagram

or by email and suggest

topics, ask questions,

give feedback, whatever it is.

We love to hear all about

it, don't we? Yes.

And remember

The Outlifting Lounge is

just part of what we do.

It's part of Outlifting,

which is the business

that Alan and I run together.

We help gay, bi

and trans men

transform their bodies and minds

and help them build unstoppable

confidence through fitness,

nutrition, wellness

and accountability coaching.

So if that is something

that you feel

you could benefit from,

we do offer

free, no obligation consultation

video chats where you can talk

to one of us

about the service

and see if it's the right fit

for you.

You can get in contact

with us through Instagram,

you can check out our videos

and our content there. That's

@outlift.ing It's

the same handle on TikTok

and you can visit our website,

which is outlift.ing

We're going to be doing

some amazing

Black Friday deals this month.

So keep an eye out

on our social channels

for all the details.

We're going to be putting out

loads of content.

And if you don't follow us yet

on our social channels,

you can get us at @outlift.ing

Thank you very much

for listening.

We have been

The Outlifting Lounge. Remember,

we have got new episodes

every Sunday.

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But for now,

over and Outlifting!