Mark Stache

I ATE DATES every day for a YEAR! Here's what Happened

Mark Thompson — Tue, 03 Nov 2026 15:00:50 GMT

I ate three dates a day every day for the last year, and I wanted to talk about what happened. Exactly one year ago today, I wrapped up a video where I ate three dates a day every day for three months. I made that video because I was seeing a lot of hype at the time around eating dates every day.

There was a lot of hype, which happens a lot in the wellne…

The Boring Routine that Helped me LOSE 110 Pounds

Mark Thompson — Sun, 01 Nov 2026 18:51:45 GMT

So I talk a lot about how losing the weight and getting healthy has pretty much changed everything for me. I lost 110 pounds and I’m currently in the best shape of my life and I’m working to get even stronger. I did this all with the easiest method possible, eating healthy food and becoming more active. But I really think there was one change that I mad…

If I Wanted to Lose 20 Pounds by the New Year, I’d MEAL PREP THIS

Mark Thompson — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 16:59:47 GMT

If I wanted to lose twenty pounds before the new year, this is the lunch that I would have pretty much daily to do it. Now, I do want to clarify I am not speaking specifically to do this exact lunch. It is the blueprint of this lunch. I am going to meal prep this for say three days worth and I can do that once a week over the next 10 weeks. But this lunch will be the base of the next one.
It is high protein, high fiber. It is satiating. It is going to keep me feeling full all day long while also providing energy so that way I can get through my workouts and just doing a really good job on helping me drop those pounds before the holidays, which is just going to give me a jump start heading into the new year. Because honestly, why wait for the new year to get going?

The 'Boring' $60 Grocery List That Helped Me Lose 110lbs

Mark Thompson — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 20:20:28 GMT

I Tested the 'Warm Feet = Better Sleep' Theory Here's What Happened - Extended Cut

Mark Thompson — Wed, 14 Oct 2026 14:54:43 GMT

This video is a fully dedicated sponsored videos, So I cant remove the ad. I wanted to provide the transcription here for anyone interested and also provide extra footage that was cut from the YouTube release.
I don’t do fully dedicated videos often but this one was actually part of the test so I rolled with it. I read about warming your feet and I started thinking about how that could be automated, I thought about putting a heating pad on the bed then using a smart switch, but then quickly realized how dangerous that would be. I knew about the bed cooling coverers, but those cool or warm your whole body so in my research I found oval, except it wasn’t out yet.
After a few conversations they were excited to help out the test!

I Found a Protein Source Better Than Beef... And It’s Dirt Cheap

Mark Thompson — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 14:35:13 GMT

Beef, it's what's for dinner. In 1992, the National Livestock and Meat Board ran a $42 million ad campaign stating just that. That's the equivalent of spending $100 million today. The "Beef, It's What's for Dinner" campaign did not just increase immediate sales, it fundamentally altered how the commodities industry market their products and cemented beef's place at the top of the American dinner table. That campaign shifted consumer behavior, built lasting brand equity, and established a blueprint for modern agricultural marketing. I mean, through the 90s and even today, I cannot hear the classical piece from Aaron Copland, Rodeo, without immediately thinking of the slogan. Over 80% consumer recognition was maintained for decades from that campaign alone. Prior to the '90s, poultry was aggressively cutting into beef's agricultural dominance, but all of that was simply pure market manipulation by government subsidized boards that would coerce consumers into believing what they should and shouldn't be eating, all based on whatever market was the most profitable at the time. Got Milk? followed in 1993 to 90% consumer awareness.

Prior to Beef, What's for Dinner, Pork was the other white meat that was in 1987. These massive campaigns for beef, milk, and pork were all funded by mandatory federal taxes on massive, highly consolidated industries. Today, during the protein craze, you're seeing influencers pushing chicken, ground beef, and whey on the same scale and being funded like it's essentially the only proteins that exist, and they've won. People believe that myth, but something like lentils are bulk commodities grown primarily for export outside of the American market. These tend to be lower margin, high volume crops, and the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council, they spend their marketing dollars on trying to get B2B business. So we're never going to get viral campaigns that say, "Lentils: Eat them like you got to pay for healthcare." So here I am, an influencer not getting paid by a council or an industry that's trying to tell you about something that's actually good for you, and break down why I think if you are filling your bowls with lean ground beef, you can make a couple of changes that will not only significantly impact your wallet, it will significantly impact your health in a pretty incredible way, and they're good. So I want to talk to you about five of the biggest reasons why I believe you're being lied to, why the marketing hype is just that, and why I think you should be eating far more lentils.

How I Keep Burning Fat with the Most BORING Lunches

Mark Thompson — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 06:52:29 GMT

How I Keep Burning Fat with the Most BORING Lunches
Simplicity is a lot of the times the best answer. For fat loss it truly is. Nothing needs to be complicated, it doesnt even need to be this recipe. This recipe is so basic.
1/2 cup white rice
Can of beans
1/4 onion
some jarred peppers
salt and pepper and some spices.
No meal prep needed.. but you can. You…

I lost 110 Pounds WITHOUT Ozempic and the Food Noise is Gone

Mark Thompson — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 17:20:38 GMT

What Really Happened to MY GUT Health AFTER Tripling My Daily Fiber

Mark Thompson — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 14:26:48 GMT

Video Transcription.

Back in April, I told you I tripled my fiber for 30 days, and that it changed everything. In that video, I used a combination of psyllium husk, some fiber sodas, and a like fiber tortilla wrap. Along with upping my general daily intake of fiber, things like beans, I went from a kind of low 15 to 20 gram of daily fiber to around 50 6…

The High Protein Snacks That Completely CRUSH MY Late Night Cravings (Video Transcription)

Mark Thompson — Sat, 12 Sep 2026 14:03:28 GMT

One thing I know about myself is my late night sweet tooth or my late night cravings, something I’ve always had. I’ve found some ways to knock them out entirely and then I’ve found ways to essentially just kind of take care of them. But I’m also not trying to blow my nutrition.

How did I Change So Much...

Mark Thompson — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 16:09:58 GMT

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Running 100 feet used to be torture

I went to the gym to lose weight… I hated it but I had to do it. I never understood why people seemed to enjoy it.
I remember going with an old roommate of mine who would get on the treadmill and just run like crazy. She would be beet red in the face, out of breath, sweating profusely and all I could think was how nuts she was. There is no way that is what you are supposed to do. While I was 100+ pounds overweight, walking on the treadmill annoyed for 10-15 minutes before giving up and moving to a weight machine and swinging weights around not really knowing what I was doing.
Now I look forward to it, a 6 mile run is an easy day (its still hard no matter what) but I want to do it.. HOW… HOW did this happen.

This is what I want to figure out and why I created the substack.

1. Why this, why now

I release a video or 2 every week on YouTube.. have been since 2016. I can get my thoughts out, but I also have to release videos that “WORK” for the algorithm otherwise it hurts the channel which is my income. A few of the videos that I have wanted to release, the videos I have really enjoyed making are the ones that typically perform the worst.
I have been wanting to move into the health space for some time. I enjoy testing things on myself and finding out what actually works and what doesn’t. I see so many health and wellness influencers talking up so many different protocols, different weight management programs or muscle building plans, supplements, wellness hacks… its endless and 90% of it doesn’t actually do anything. It’s what I spent my whole life fighting with weight loss. Because before the wellness influencer was the TV personalities that would shill their weight loss hacks, new diet plans, and sure fire ways to lose weight and keep it off… but the same problems existed then as they do now. 99.9% of it is BS that doesn’t actually do anything.

2. I WANT to help, I want people to find what I found

I found health and fitness. I didn’t find a magic supplement, the perfect protocol… I didn’t take any meds (WHICH I AM NOT against for people that need/ want to go that route (the new medication is amazing what it can do for peoples lives))
But I found a basic and almost simple diet and healthy lifestyle just with moderation of foods and adding in more movement and I want to share with people how that happened.
It seems like it should be simple. Eat a little better and move a little more and overtime you will see the difference. But life gets in the way, food noise (the little voice in your head that tells you to grab a snack) busy schedules putting off exercise to start next week.. you all know it. How do you overcome that?
This is what I want to talk about. I don’t have all the answers and I don’t have a magic plan, but I hope that if the community keeps building on these conversations that something will spark the motivation for you to take the next steps just as I did, start small and keep building on your heath.

I always say it’s like trying to build a giant snowball but you need to start with a single snowflake. If you just keep adding to it, eventually you will get the snowball.

3. Specifics

Each week here I will be releasing the upcoming YouTube videos ideas. Hopefully it will be a way to help navigate where the channel goes to help more people. The videos will get released here ad free for paid users and eventually I will be adding transcriptions for all of the future videos.
I also hope to write more. Add more to the conversation than only what is in the videos.

4. This is all new for me.

Let me know what you want to hear? What you think I should be talking about.
Training? Life?
We are going to see where this goes.