Episode 047 — with Pat Connelly — On Health, Happiness, and The Rock

“Exercise is my productivity backup plan. Even on the worst days, I can at least get a workout in and feel that I’ve accomplished something.” ~ Pat Connelly

Published in

Zengineering Podcast

4 min readNov 21, 2017

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What’s up Zengineers?! Our guest this week is a health and fitness fanatic, long time friend, and CEO of Corevity (Corevity), “A health community for millennials.” He’s here to dive into the confusing world of optimizing our health and wellbeing.

Health and wellness is one of the hottest topics for millennials. We’ve grown up in a world where the headlines about our health are a little different every day. We are inundated with nutrition information, fitness routines, mindful living techniques, meditation in the form of sitting, standing, swimming, running, and everything else. What are we to do, who are we to trust, and how are we to afford the time and money needed to be the best us?

Pat’s lifetime pursuit of health and happiness has taken him onto NCAA lacrosse fields, out on double-overhead waves of the Pacific Ocean, and now into the politics and governance of the healthcare industry as he uses his company, Corevity (corevity.com), to help people achieve wellbeing with digital technologies.

This episode is a bit of a sprawling conversation about health. What is it, philosophically, and how do we track metrics to make it quantifiable? Are steps and miles useless? What about calories, heartrate, blood levels, and the number of pushups you can do in two minutes? What do all these metrics mean and how do they stack up with actual happiness? Isn’t it happiness that we’re really after, anyway?

We touch on the disconnect between marketing (instagram babes) and what people actually need to be healthy (maybe instagram babes?). We talk about the intersection between health and productivity. Is it worth it to stay up really late if it means you’re useless the next day? We dive into how all this stuff rolls up into healthcare reform. Finally, we talk about the first version of Corevity, and the company’s pivot to community.

We believe physical and mental fitness should be part of every important conversation. Our bodies are how we interact with the world, and our minds are how we perceive it. What else is there, really? Enjoy this episode and let us know what you’re favorite health and wellbeing tips are in the comments.

As always, let us know what you think, like, or dislike in the comments below , rate and review Zengineering on iTunes , and support Zengineering on Patreon.

Cheers, Adam & Brian

“Dieting” Stats From Pat

(for your reading pleasure)

Americans spend $65 billion per year on weight loss programs, dieting and gym memberships.
45 million Americans diet each year. Only 5% of them keep off the weight after a 5 year period.
95% of people who diet will gain the weight back within 1–5 years.
Dieters are more likely than non-dieters to become obese over the next 1 to 15 years
All diets are really the same, calorie intake and output are all that matter
Fitness trackers don’t help you lose weight
Weight Watchers has little scientific data to back up their weight loss claims