The Story Behind the Viral @When_Nerds_Teach – Meet Dr. Fatty Acid (EP. 049)
The CrossFit Podcast
CrossFit LLC
4.3 • 757 Ratings
🗓️ 3 November 2025
⏱️ 75 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Dr. Fatty Acid, the viral creator behind @When_Nerds_Teach, joins Denise Thomas for a refreshingly honest conversation about finding CrossFit, battling fatty liver disease, navigating Wegovy, and rediscovering strength. A lifelong teacher, she talks about humor, vulnerability, and learning to love movement for what it gives, not how it looks.
Topics Included
- Discovering CrossFit as a total beginner and overcoming intimidation
- Balancing modern medicine (Wegovy) with lifestyle change
- Teaching, burnout, and how CrossFit helps with decision fatigue
- Managing body image, binge eating, and food anxiety
Resources Mentioned
- Book: “Body Kindness” by Rebecca Scritchfield
- Documentary: “Clemente” about Roberto Clemente’s life and legacy
- CrossFit Tantrum (Dr. Fatty Acid’s affiliate)
Community Highlight
At just 16, Harrison Kennedy is already competing at the highest levels of CrossFit, but his story is about more than training.
After facing mental health struggles, Harrison found purpose again at CrossFit Delta Fox in northern England, a gym partnered with The 180 Project, which helps people rebuild their lives after prison, addiction, or trauma.
Now he’s giving back, coaching younger athletes and showing them the same thing CrossFit showed him: that community and hard work can change everything.
Know someone you think deserves to be highlighted? Nominate them here.
Share Your Thoughts: Email us [podcasts@crossfit.com] or complete our survey here.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Because what I've seen is that coaches and members genuinely want people to show up. |
| 0:06.0 | Obviously, as a CrossFit community, we believe that fitness and healthy eating is the cure for all the ailments that we might have. |
| 0:14.0 | Connecting with people so important. And I think connecting in people outside of an online space is also really important. |
| 0:26.1 | The goal is that you put yourself in a community where you can have these natural supplements of community, fitness, health. |
| 0:34.4 | You know, I am a little disappointed. |
| 0:38.8 | Yeah. |
| 0:39.5 | This is how I like to start. |
| 0:40.6 | That happens to me a lot, actually. |
| 0:42.8 | I am so disappointed that you are not doing this interview in your car after a CrossFit class. |
| 0:50.7 | That really, you know, some of us just really dedicate a lot of effort into our studio space |
| 0:56.2 | i mean and you know i'm like the quality i put out there i make sure that it just stays top |
| 1:04.3 | notch it's top with every video i you are here because of that quality i was just at a gym this morning. There was an event going on and I was taking a picture and I'm like, do you guys know when underscore nerds underscore teach? Do you know that Instagram and there was like all these people? I know that person. We love her. I'm like, I'm going to go interviewer. What do you want me to ask her? |
| 1:34.8 | Who? Yeah. So, I mean, this is just a small gym in Massachusetts. So whether you like it or not, |
| 1:41.0 | you are, you're out there. No, I mean, that's really cool. Yeah. I mean, it's great. I mean, |
| 2:02.0 | I like, I like people starting conversations. I don't make any money off of, like, Instagram, which is like whatever. I purely do it for attention. So this is working out great for me. Well, I think that's a good place to start. So welcome to the show. I'm going to give you a little intro here. I'm going to give you an intro because there are people out there that shamelessly don't know who you are yet. |
| 2:04.2 | They might be better for it, but that's funny. |
| 2:05.9 | I disagree. |
| 2:07.6 | But I'm Denise Thomas. |
| 2:09.1 | This is the CrossFit podcast. |
| 2:17.1 | And today we're joined by none other than when underscore nerds underscore teach. |
| 2:18.5 | That's the Instagram handle. |
| 2:22.3 | Also goes by Dr. Fatty Acid. |
... |
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