Have you ever been too embarrassed to go to the gym because you’re afraid everyone is judging how out of shape you are? Have you seen a fitness instructor or personal trainer and thought to yourself he or she had NO idea what you were going through? They’re already so fit, so how could they possibly know what you’re going through? It’s not always easy to get in shape. There are definitely some hurdles to overcome. So I asked my friend to come on as a guest today because he knows exactly how it is to go through all the obstacles from being completely out of shape to being fit.
My guest today is Drew Manning. NY Times Best Selling Author of the book, Fit2Fat2Fit and is best known for his Fit2Fat2Fit.com experiment that went viral online. He’s been featured on shows like Dr. Oz, Good Morning America, The View and many more. His experiment has become a hit TV show, called Fit to Fat to Fit, airing on A&E! In today’s interview, Drew shares some very interesting insights he learned in his journey. He shares why he thinks this went viral. And, we discuss what it really means to be fit. (Because just like skin is not just about appearance, neither is being fit, right?!). And, Drew shares some very practical tips to overcoming the big challenges to getting in shape and healthy.
So please enjoy this interview…
To learn more about Drew Manning visit his website here.
If you have not done so already, I highly recommend that you get your customized skin profile here. It’s free and based upon your answers, it will give you great tips for glowing skin and vibrant health.
Thank you and we’ll see you next time.
TRANSCRIPTION
| Trevor: | Hi there, I’m Dr. Trevor Cates. Welcome to the Spa Doctor Podcast. Have you ever been too embarrassed to go to the gym because you’re afraid everyone is judging how out of shape you are? Have you ever seen a fitness instructor, or personal trainer and thought to yourself, “He or she has no idea what you’re going through. They’re already so fit, so how could they possibly know what you’re going through?” It’s not always easy to get in shape. There are definitely some hurdles to overcome along the way. I asked my guest today to come on because he knows exactly how it is to go through all the obstacles from being completely out of shape, to being fit. |
| My guest today is Drew Manning, New York Time’s best selling author of the book, “Fit to Fat, to Fit,” and is best known for his Fit2Fat2Fit.com experiment that went viral online. He’s been featured on shows like Dr. Oz, Good Morning America, The View, and many more. His experiment has actually become a hit TV show called, “Fit2Fat2Fit,” airing on A&E. In today’s interview Drew shares some very interesting insights he learned in his journey, and he shares why he thinks this went viral. We discuss what it really means to be fit, because just like skin is not just about appearance, neither is being fit, right? Drew shares some very practical tips to overcoming the big challenges to getting in shape and healthy. Please enjoy this interview with Drew Manning. | |
| Drew, it’s great to have you on my show. | |
| Drew: | Thanks Trevor, it’s my pleasure. |
| Trevor: | Yeah, so I want to start off with you have a really interesting story and background of how you got to where you are now. Let’s start with that. |
| Drew: | Yeah, so basically over five and a half years ago I had this crazy idea. Before that, let me start from the beginning. I grew up my entire life in shape. I grew up with 11 brothers and sisters, we all played sports. I grew up playing football and wrestling. For me, physical fitness came very easy. I never once struggled with my weight, I never once struggled with cravings. The way I viewed health and fitness was something that should be easy. You exercise, you eat healthy, boom. It’s not that hard. |
| I grew up with that mentality, and I became a personal trainer. I discovered that there was a disconnect between the way I thought of health and fitness, and the way my clients who were overweight thought of health and fitness. There was a disconnect between me and them. I couldn’t figure out why it was so hard for people just to stop drinking the soda, and go to the gym, and do the exercises. It’s not that hard. | |
| Then they would look at me and say, “Well you know Drew, you don’t understand because for you it’s easy.” I’m like, “You know what? You’re right. I don’t understand.” For whatever reason I felt like there was something I needed to learn. This idea came into my head, to get fat on purpose. I know that sounds crazy, right? It sounds insane. It made sense in my mind, and it clicked. I felt like this is kind of like my calling, I needed to do this. I decided to run with this idea of letting myself go for six months. No exercise, eat whatever I wanted to for six months, and document it on my website, on my YouTube channel. Hopefully that would give me a better understanding. | |
| I did, and it was called, “Fit2Fat2Fit,” right? For six months I gained 75 pounds, I ate foods like white bread, white pasta, juices, granola bars, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Mountain Dew, all of the highly processed foods that are so convenient here in America, that are affordable. They also taste really, really good, I’m not going to lie. Cinnamon Toast Crunch is like a drug, I had it twice a day. Same thing with Mountain Dew. | |
| Anyways, I gained 75 pounds of pure fat. I was so humbled because it was way harder than I thought it would be. I felt so self conscious, I’ve never been over weight. I kind of freaked out. I wanted to go up to complete strangers and tell them, “Look, I’m not really overweight. This isn’t me. This is what I used to look like. I’m not really one of these people who is overweight like this.” I kind of freaked out and lost my identity. It was good for me to go through that because I started to realize how much of a transformation is mental and emotional. | |
| Yes, I did get back to fit to make a long story short. That’s why it’s called, “Fit2Fat2Fit.” Took me six months of gaining weight, six months of losing weight. The whole thing just kind of went viral. I went on a bunch of TV shows like Jay Leno, and Dr. Oz, and Dr. Drew, and Good Morning America, and The View talking about this crazy trainer who had this idea. Now it’s inspired thousands of people from all over the world, to embrace the healthier lifestyle change. I have no regrets doing it. | |
| Trevor: | That’s so amazing that you were able to go through that. It took you six months to gain the weight, and then six months to lose it? |
| Drew: | That’s correct. |
| Trevor: | The impact that this has had on people, who are the people that have reached out to you? You feel like it has impacted the most, and what have they said to you? |
| Drew: | Yeah, I would say it’s your everyday average person that sees TV shows like The Biggest Loser, or Extreme Weight Loss. They see other people losing weight, and I feel like they maybe haven’t turned the corner because why isn’t that enough inspiration? To see someone transform on TV from morbidly obese to healthy and fit, that should be inspiration for everybody. For whatever reason, people seeing me doing this backwards, it was inspiring in a totally different way that they’ve ever seen before. I feel like those people were the ones who could gravitate towards me. |
| They would tell me, “Before we saw your pictures, you with the six pack, and chiseled muscles, and all of that.” They’re like, “That’s not relatable for me.” The Jillian Michaels of the world, the Tony Hortons, those people aren’t relatable to them, and they felt like me doing this made me more relatable as a trainer. I was humbled, and I really was, my eyes were open to just how hard the struggle can be for some people. I feel like people gravitate towards me because I was empathizing with their struggles. It truly was a humbling experience, and it made me be able to relate to their struggles so much more on a mental, emotional level. I had never realized how powerful that emotional connection was to food, right? I just thought, “Hey, just stop eating it. Why is it so hard?” Until I lived it, and I tried to get off of it. It was one of the most humbling things I’ve ever experienced, and one of the most powerful things I’ve experienced. | |
| People will tell me all the time, “Thank you for doing this.” They submitted their before and after photos, their transformation stories of how this changed their life. That’s why I have no regrets doing it. | |
| Trevor: | Yeah, absolutely. If people are watching especially, or maybe even if you’re just listening, you should go and see pictures of Drew. They’re online, you can just go Google Drew Manning and you’ll see the before and after, and after again pictures. |
| Drew: | Yes. |
| Trevor: | It’s truly amazing. You look like a completely different person. |
| Drew: | It’s so funny, I still get people today that think it’s photoshopped. When you see the pictures you can be like, “Oh yeah, it’s photoshopped.” Now that you guys know me, you know that I’m a real person and that really happened. It wasn’t photoshopped. |
| Trevor: | Yes, and there are other trainers then that have done this too, that have kind of followed in your foot steps and done this to help other people as well, right? |
| Drew: | Yeah, so basically what’s crazy about this whole idea is I wrote a book about it, became a New York Time’s best seller, and then the book evolved into a TV show. Here we are now, fast forward five years, and there’s a TV show that I am the creator and producer of called, “Fit2Fat2Fit,” it’s on A&E. Season one just aired this past January. What we did is, my whole goal is to take trainers from across the country, and put them through the same program. I feel like there’s a lot of judgement. There’s a lot of misunderstanding in the fitness world. |
| Then I put them through this program, and they see just how hard it is. You see them for four months, they have to gain weight for four months. They can’t exercise, and then they have to lose the weight with their client. It’s such a humbling, powerful experience to see these trainers go through that process and come out so much more empathetic, more respect, and a better understanding for their clients. That’s the whole concept of the TV show in a nutshell. It’s called, “Fit2Fat2Fit,” on A&E. Season two will air this spring. | |
| Trevor: | That’s fantastic, I can’t wait to watch it. That’s so interesting. Tell us about the program that guests … I mean, I think we all kind of have an idea of what it takes to gain the weight, and to get fat. To get fit from being in that state, what are people doing to get out of that and then back to being fit? |
| Drew: | Yeah, so my Fat to Fit program, right? One of the things I did was document what I ate every single day for six months, and the way I exercised every single day for the six months. People thought, “Oh, you’re a personal trainer. You’re going to workout five times a day, you’re going to eat 1,000 calories and you’ll get back in no time.” What I did is I want to show people, look, you don’t need to go on some crazy diet where you starve yourself. You don’t need to workout three or four times a day. What I show people was a simple lifestyle change that is very reasonable, applicable, and balanced that people can really do. I documented all of it on my website, and then my book as well. |
| I worked out five days a week, 30 to 40 minutes a day max, no more than that. I ate around 2,000 calories a day. 2,000 calories is not starving yourself, you know? I ate real food. I went from eating 4,000 calories of processed Cinnamon Toast Crunch, which tastes really good, and Hot Pockets, and Macaroni and Cheese. To 2,000 calories of vegetables were my main source of carbohydrates, I drank water, and it was more of a high protein, high fiber type of diet. Minimal carbs. I wouldn’t say low carb, it wasn’t Atkins. There was different phases where I did lower carb, but then other phases where I had some carbs from things like grains. | |
| It’s six months worth of content. It’s what helped me lose 75 pounds, but it’s also the same program that people use from all over the world to embrace this healthier lifestyle change. That’s kind of the program in a nutshell. You could check it out in the book, or you can check it out on my website, Fit2Fat2Fit.com. | |
| Trevor: | One of the things that you talk about is Ketosis, right? |
| Drew: | Yeah, so obviously I feel like we’re all, we all should be upgrading our knowledge, or learning new things, or always progressing in life. Whether it’s nutrition, or fitness, or health. I’m a huge fan of the keto diet. I started researching the science a couple of years ago, started listening to a doctor out of Florida called, “Dr. Dominic D’Agostino.” His research that he’s doing over at the University of South Florida, and I was just amazed by it. |
| I’m like, “Okay, it’s one thing to research it, and learn about it. It’s another thing to apply it, and experiment on your own body with it.” I became a huge fan, adopted it, and was just blown away by the results. Not so much to lose weight, or to lose fat. For me, the reason I like it is because of the improvement in cognitive function, and mental clarity, and focus, and energy throughout the day, and I’m not a slave to food anymore. My old diet, I used to have to eat every three hours, right? Protein, carbs, fat, boom. Every three hours, six meals a day. That’s what I’ve been taught my whole life. I adopted that. | |
| Then doing keto, I’m eating two meals a day, and I could go. I recently just did a seven day fast, a couple weeks ago. I could go seven days without food, without feeling like I’m going to die. I didn’t lose all my strength, I didn’t lose all my muscle. It was such an amazing experience. My brain feels so much better. I call it, “Nutrition for your brain.” Yes, you can lose weight, you can lose fat, cause in theory what’s happening when you’re in ketosis, your body is using it’s fat storage as energy. We have a lot of fat stored in our body, and that’s why I was able to go seven days without any food and not die, right? Our body has that mechanism built in. If we had to stop eating, we could still live for days, and days, and days based off of our fat storage. It’s just getting into ketosis is kind of hard for some people, but I’m a huge fan of it. | |
| Trevor: | You have a program that you’re leading people through too? |
| Drew: | Yeah, so on January 16th. I don’t know when this will air, but on January 16th it’s a free program, anybody can join. It’s a 60 day challenge. Basically I email you all the content, right? You just enter in your email address, you get emailed all the content for the 60 days. It’s a 60 day intro to ketosis. If you want to do the challenge part and try and win the money, that’s cool. If you just want to learn how to do it, and know the basics, and know what a typical day looks like … Because people don’t understand. We’ve been taught fat is bad for you, right? We’ve been taught since we were little, or since the 70’s, that fat is the enemy, right? Low fat, non fat, stay away from cholesterol, those types of things are so wrong. I think everybody’s starting to realize that now. |
| Trevor: | Yeah, I think that people are coming around to that now and realizing that it’s more about balance, and that’s probably a healthier approach. It’s really interesting Drew, how it seems like you like to experiment on yourself, and you like to prove things yourself. Maybe you hear about something, you think about something, and then you’re like, “Okay, now I gotta figure this out,” or, “I’m going to put people through a challenge and see what their results are.” What do you think has led you to kind of think this way? What led you to that? |
| Drew: | I think it all started with my Fit2Fat2Fit journey to be honest with you. I felt like I needed to put myself through whatever the program was, to better empathize with those people, and have a more knowledge. If you read about it in a book, you could be educated all you want about it, but until you’ve tried it on your body, how are you going to be able to preach it to other people? Or tell people about what you really experienced doing it? Even with things like veganism. I haven’t tried that yet, but I promise you I’m going to do a future experiment about that, so watch out for that. How am I going to tell someone, “This is not good,” or, “This is good,” without me having tried it first? |
| I really do feel different things work for different people. Even though I’m a big fan of keto, I don’t think it’s for everybody. I don’t think there’s a one size fits all program that’s out there. My whole goal with me doing these experiments, is to teach people how to become their own self experimentation, you know? Become your own self experimenter on yourself, cause that’s the only way you’re going to know if what you’re doing is optimal for you. You could have a doctor, or read a book and think, “Oh, well this, this sounds like a good program. I’m going to do this.” You need to do it consistently. I would say a minimum for 30 days, or 60 days, depending on the program, of consistently doing it. | |
| Then there’s some things that I would recommend. Getting your body fat tested, getting your blood work done before and after, and see how you feel. If it’s optimal for you, it doesn’t matter what the books say, or what other people are saying. If it’s optimal for you based off of your blood work, your body composition, how you feel. Those three things I think are very important, and I just want to give people the power. You can do this yourself too. I do it for myself. I’m trying to teach people how to do it, and trying to embolden them to do it as well. That’s the only way you’re going to find out what is optimal for you. | |
| Trevor: | I think that’s so great, because I think there’s so many different diets out there. People get frozen in confusion, and overwhelm of, “Okay, there’s this. There’s a vegan diet, there’s raw vegan, there’s vegetarian, there’s pescatarian, there’s ketosis, there’s high protein, low protein, low fat, high fat,” all these different things. It’s like, “Okay, what’s right? What should I do?” There isn’t one diet for everybody. I mean I definitely think that the foundation of eating whole foods, and getting away from processed foods. I think we can all agree on that, that that’s important. |
| When it comes down to the specific ratios, and the amounts of food. There are a lot of different variations that you can do. Instead of just freezing in time and going, “I don’t know what to do so I’m just going to give up. I’m not going to do anything, and I’m just going to eat Corn Flakes,” you know? That to just do, what you’re doing is just try something. Try it for awhile, try it for 30 days, 60 days, and see how you feel with it, right? | |
| Drew: | Yeah, exactly. The reason I say 30 or 60 days is because most transitions into a new lifestyle, the first week you might not feel that great, right? Your bodies so accustomed to whatever the way you’re eating before. One example of that is when I did Fit2Fat2Fit, I had all those processed foods everyday for six months. Then boom, I went cold turkey and got off of those foods. Those first two weeks I felt, I felt horrible. I’ve never felt so bad in my life. It was literally Hell to go through. If I had based it off just those first two weeks, I would be like, “Well, healthy food isn’t for me because I tried it for two weeks. I had headaches, I was grumpy, I was moody, I’m going to go back to Cinnamon Toast Crunch cause that made me feel good.” |
| You have to give, I would say a minimum of 30 days, try and push it to 60 days of staying consistent with it, right? Journaling, I think journaling’s so powerful too. Some people just skip that. Journaling about your emotions, how you feel during the process of how it’s changing over time. That way you’ll be able to look back and say, “This worked really well for me, and I remember writing about it.” Then you remember it. Anyways … Or blogging too, blogging’s very powerful too. Anyways, that’s why I recommend 30 to 60 days minimum of transitioning into a new lifestyle. | |
| Trevor: | Yeah, and for me, what I found is that two weeks is that tipping point when people start to feel better. That’s why I have a two week program cause I feel like in two weeks, you can see the results, and that will help you continue to make those healthier habits. I feel like two weeks is the minimum amount of time. If you can go for something for four, six, eight weeks, you’re going to get even more results. Then of course by that point, especially after two months, you’re probably just going to stick with it. Then it just becomes part of your lifestyle, they become part of your habits. Then hopefully you’ve picked up these healthy habits for the rest of your life, right? |
| Drew: | Yeah, yeah. |
| Trevor: | If something hasn’t worked by that point, then yeah, you need to revisit some other options. |
| Drew: | Yeah. |
| Trevor: | I’m kind of curious with your, when you went from fit to fat, what were some … I know you mentioned a few things, what were some of the other things that you really noticed during that time? I’m also going to ask you about the second part of that journey, cause it sounds like you really … You journal, you think about these things, you really pay a lot of attention to what’s going on with your body. Six months is a long time. |
| Drew: | Yeah, I’ll walk you through it really quick. Fit to fat, honestly and I’ll be completely honest, the first month was fun. It was cool to go to the grocery store, go down the cereal aisle and pick out all the cool colorful cereals, and get all the snacks, and sodas, and chips, cookies, and crackers. I’m like, “Oh my gosh, this is going to be awesome.” The food tasted good, I didn’t have to go to the gym. I was like, “This is kind of freedom,” you know? I talk about that a lot, I felt like this was freedom. |
| Then after about a month I started snoring, I started breathing heavy walking up the stairs. I started to feel sluggish, and lethargic, and tired all the time. My mood changed, my energy levels changed. Then, very quickly, that freedom. That sense of freedom started to go away. That’s why so many people, I feel, think that they’re free without having to follow a diet, or a nutritional program, or a workout program cause they can do whatever they want to. I promise you that’s not freedom. When your health starts to take a toll and you have bad health, you are not free to do what you want. | |
| Very quickly things started to change, and it started becoming more of a mental and emotional journey at that point. I knew physically I was going to get the man boobs, and the big gut, and the big butt. I knew physically my body was going to change. I was not prepared for how it was going to effect me mentally and emotionally. Like I said, going out in public was very hard for me, covering up in front of my wife at the time, I didn’t want her to see me naked. I didn’t want to see myself naked, so the lights were always off. I freaked out in public. I never took my shirt off at the pool, I remember swimming with my shirt on at what point in time. | |
| I remember, almost like one of the breaking points where I had an emotional situation was with my daughter at the time. She was two, she wanted to run and play. I could keep up with her for like a minute, but man. Two year olds have so much energy, and I was lacking energy. I remember huffing and puffing after a minute or two. I had to tell her, “I was tired from working all day.” I remember telling her, “Daddy needs a break, I need a rest.” She was trying to pull me off the couch. She had these puppy dog eyes, and she started crying. She didn’t understand what I was doing, and it just broke my heart because I realized how many people, millions of people can’t play with their kids or grandkids. Not so much because they’re overweight, but because they’re so unhealthy, and they’re out of shape | |
| That broke my heart. I could only imagine what other people have to go through with bad health, that can’t play with their kids, or their grandkids. It’s so much more mental and emotional than I ever realized. That’s the big powerful lessons that I learned, and that’s what helped me relate to people, and their struggles so much more was on that mental and emotional level, versus just physical. Which is what I focused on before as a trainer. | |
| Trevor: | Yeah, absolutely. During that time did you go see your doctor, did you get check ups? How was your health physically? How were you? |
| Drew: | Yeah, I had a doctor take my blood once a month. It was really bad. I remember, so just a few numbers off the top of my head. My blood pressure was 167 over 113, which as well all know isn’t good. My triglycerides, and HDL, and LDL were all in the red. I don’t remember the numbers off the top of my head. My testosterone, which is very surprising … Well, not surprising actually now, but plummeted to low 200’s at my heaviest. A lot of people … That’s another thing people don’t realize, is how food effects you on a hormonal level, right? We know food effects us on a weight level. Yeah, if I eat this cheeseburger, and Big Mac or whatever, it’s going to make me gain weight. If I eat the salad I’ll lose weight. What we don’t realize is how that food effects us on a hormonal level. If your hormones are out of whack, you’re not the same person. You’re a different person. Your personalities different if your hormones aren’t balanced. That was an eye opener for a lot of people, was to see how my hormones changed throughout this process. |
| Trevor: | Yeah, and also you weren’t exercising the same, and that’s going to impact your testosterone levels too, yeah. |
| Drew: | Yeah, so trust me. You don’t want low testosterone as a middle aged guy. |
| Trevor: | Yeah, okay. Any thing else you want to add about that? I mean it certainly sounds like physically, mentally emotionally, everything. It was really tough to be in that place but you got to learn what it’s like to be there. We get, we’re marketed these foods, so people think they’re safe. They’re like, “Well, if they’re available to us. If the government’s letting us eat these foods, and they’re not being pulled off the shelves, then they must not be so bad. Wow, they certainly taste good. Why would I say no to that? Why would I deprive myself of that?” It’s not. We have to look out for ourselves, we have to make these choices for so many different reasons that you talked about. For physical reasons, for our energy, for our mood, for our families, for the people around us. You really learn that. After that point then you went to being fit. What was that journey like? |
| Drew: | Like I said, it was very humbling. The first two weeks were really, really hard of getting off of that food. It was like I was getting off of a drug. My body fought back so hard. I went through this crazy withdrawal symptoms getting off of that junk food, and starting to eat healthy. Here I am, this personal trainer, knows how to eat healthy. I’m disciplined, I’m eating fruits, and vegetables, and high quality meats, and nuts and seeds. All the healthy nutrient dense foods that you should be eating, non processed. Here I am feeling horrible, like feeling the worst I’ve ever felt in my life. The food didn’t taste nearly as good as I remember it tasting, and it was a very, very humbling experience. |
| I didn’t sugar coat it. I told people, “Look, this sucks. It really does.” I think that’s what so many people struggle with going on a diet is cause they feel like, “Oh, the food’s going to suck. I’m going to feel so horrible.” People, those feelings, those emotions are real. Before I used to be like, “Well stop being lazy, just do it. It’s not that hard.” Then I realized, “Wow, the emotional connection to food is way more powerful. These food cravings are way more powerful than I ever imagined.” I’m glad I went through it, cause I could finally relate to my clients who struggled and told me, “I cheated, I messed up. I just can’t give up my soda.” I really can relate to that now, I totally get that struggle. | |
| Luckily things did get better. What’s interesting, another thing that was really powerful about this journey is as people saw me eat these foods, these unhealthy foods. They would email me and say, “Drew, you’re eating these foods that I … You’re eating the exact same foods that I eat.” Like you mention, we think sometimes, “These foods, oh it’s not that bad, right? It’s low fat, it’s all natural, it’s gluten free. It’s not that unhealthy.” Until you look at what it did to my body, and that’s where I think it was so powerful for some people to see what it was doing to my body. Somebody who had grown up my entire life in shape. | |
| People would tell me, “Drew, you’re not even going to be able to get fat. Your body won’t let you because of genetics.” Then boom, here I am 75 pounds later people are like, “Oh my gosh.” Even I was like, “Oh my gosh, I gained this much weight in six months. I didn’t realize that.” That was another powerful thing from the journey. Then going back into the gym was a very humbling process as well because people used to tell me all the time, “I don’t like going to the gym because I feel judged.” Before I’m like, “No one’s judging you.” Then when I went back as an overweight guy, I was like trying to tuck my shirt in, suck in my gut. Trying to act like I used to be super confident, and I didn’t have that confidence anymore. | |
| It was good for me to go through that because when you’re overweight and you’re in a gym surrounded by beautiful fit people, whether they’re judging you or not, you feel judged, right? I don’t think people really are judging you. I think a lot of it’s in our head, we tell ourselves the story of, “Oh, that person looked at me weird. They’re probably looking at me because I’m fat.” We tell ourselves this story, and we believe them. When in reality we create it in our heads. | |
| If someone’s judging you, that’s their problem, right? That’s their issue, and you don’t need to worry about that. Anyways, it was a good humbling experience to go through. I kind of compare it in my book to this situation of me, my entire life being on top of this mountain as a health and fitness professional, trying to help my clients who are the bottom of the mountain. Yelling at them from the top, “Keep going, keep pushing. It’s not that hard, don’t give up. Stop falling back down, just one step in front of the other.” Until I went down the mountain in this situation, and looking up from the bottom was a totally different perspective. It was so humbling to take that journey from the bottom, and walk up. It opened my eyes. Like I said, it totally changed my perception of what I thought I knew. I think that’s why people were able to relate to me better, and I was able to relate to them. | |
| That’s why Fit2Fat2Fit I think became so powerful. Now it’s a book, now it’s a TV show, and now I’m getting other trainers to jump on board with this movement so that they are more empathetic. Empathy is so powerful, and I think us as humans need more empathy. | |
| Trevor: | Yeah, absolutely. So interesting, and so brave of you to do all of this. Honestly, I think … I was thinking, “Can I do this?” I don’t know if I could. |
| Drew: | Yeah, could you do it? Could you do it? |
| Trevor: | It’s very brave of you. I don’t know, I’ll have to think about that. I’ll get back to you on that Drew. |
| Drew: | Okay, if you do let me know, I’ll coach you. |
| Trevor: | Okay, awesome. Everybody will want to see that. |
| Drew: | Exactly. |
| Trevor: | In those two weeks, that first two weeks of going from fat to fit, you said that was the hardest part. What are your suggestions for people when they’re in that two week zone and they’re like, “I’m never going to make through this.” |
| Drew: | Yeah, there’s two things that are essential that people need to have in that situation. No matter who you are, whether you’re a trainer that had only been overweight for six months, or whether you’ve been overweight for years or decades, and you’ve tried and tried and tried. Two things that are essential. One is accountability, and two is a support system. It’s more on the mental and emotional side. I could give you the best meal plan to follow, the best workout program to follow, none of that matters because ultimately if you don’t know how to overcome your own mental and emotional challenges, it’s just going to be two week diet, or three week diet, then you’re going to go back to your old ways. |
| Staying accountable to someone else to give you a kick in the butt when you need it, but also love and encouragement when you need it as well. Sometimes that’s your friends, family, your closest group to you, right? Letting them know what your goals are, being vocal about it and putting it out there, which makes people afraid. When you put it out there to the universe, to your friends, you’re setting your intentions. Those who are your support system, whether it’s friends or family, they’re going to support you. They’re going to help you, they’re going to give you encouragement when it’s hard, or maybe they’ll do it with you so that they understand the struggle, and they can help push you past those moments of weakness where it’s cold, and it’s rainy, and you don’t want to go to the gym. You’ve had a stressful day and you just want some Girl Scout Cookies and some wine, you know. | |
| We all have those moments, they’re going to happen to you. You’re human and that’s okay. Having accountability and a support system is what’s going to help keep you sustaining that type of lifestyle over the long term. Those two things I think are essential for anybody to have in their life. Sometimes it’s not your family, sometimes your families are the ones who are sabotaging you. Telling you, “You don’t need to lose weight,” or, “You don’t need to get healthier. You look to skinny,” or, “Don’t get too skinny.” Those kinds of things, that people will sabotage you. | |
| Sometimes it’s an online community, like my private Facebook group. A coaching program that’s out there, or an app. There’s a lot of coaching programs that are out there. It’s important for people to find who their support system is, and find out who’s going to keep them accountable during those moments of weakness. | |
| Trevor: | Yeah, absolutely. I think there are a lot of different options. I think so many people are online these days, and at their computers. Not as many people are in communities of people like they used to be, where so many virtual experiences that people have. I think there are also virtual opportunities and groups that you can access online too. I think you can have a little bit of both, right? Do you have any suggestions on that? |
| Drew: | Oh man, with technologies nowadays I would say, “Embrace it,” right? There’s Coach.Me is a great program, there’s DietBet.com, where studies show that when people invest money into their goals, or they put money down on themselves, they bet on themselves, they’re five times more likely to succeed. If you’re paying for a coaching program, you’re paying for a trainer, or you’re paying for a Diet Bet competition, which is fun. You don’t want to lose 50 bucks, or 100 bucks. There’s another one that I just learned about. I can’t remember what it’s called, but basically what it is, is you put money towards … If you don’t reach your goals, the money that you put down will be donated to a charity that you hate. |
| Let’s say you hate, you’re Republican and there’s a democratic charity out there, or vise versa. If you don’t hit your goals, that money is going to the charity that you hate. That are the things that are powerful that will incentivize people to stick with their goals. There’s all these cool ways with technology nowadays, and apps, and coaching programs online, and Facebook communities, and Twitter, and Instagram, or blogs, or vlogs on YouTube. There’s so many ways to stay accountable to find your audience. It’s amazing what there is out there nowadays. | |
| Find what works for you, and stick with it. You never know who you’re going to inspire too. You might start to get followers, and they might ask you questions. You’re like, “Oh my gosh, here I am now. I gotta teach other people, right? Pay it forward.” | |
| Trevor: | That’s great, that’s great. I know a lot of people are doing before and after pictures too. You definitely did that before and after picture so you can document, you can see what you look like before and after. I think it’s important though, if people do that to not be hard on yourself. I mean, especially women can be … I mean men can too, be really hard on themselves, and judge yourself, and criticize yourself. Don’t be too tough on yourself. That could be a good way to help see where you’ve come from. |
| Drew: | Yeah, and no, honestly women are so much harder on themselves. They have it harder, right? Most men lose weight easier. Physiologically it’s different for men and women to lose weight. That’s why I tell people all the time, “Don’t base your success off your scale weight.” There’s so much more to you. There’s so much more to your success than that number on the scale, and your relationship with gravity. Don’t base your success off of just that one number. There’s so much more better ways to measure progress than just the scale. Find other ways to make progress on your journey other than, “Well, I’m not losing weight so I’m a failure,” right? |
| That’s what we have built into our heads because we see these TV shows, these magazines of like, “How to lose 10 pounds in 10 days.” It’s all about weight. Just cause you’re skinny, or just because you’re losing weight, doesn’t mean that you’re healthy, right? We need to get rid of that mentality, get rid of our physical appearance as our self worth. There’s so much more to us than our physical appearance, there’s so much more to us than our weight. That’s one thing I try and get people to embrace health first, medical health first. Weight loss and looks can become a byproduct over time, but that should not be your ultimate goal. Why? That will fade over time, and it’s not sustainable. Just cause you look good on the outside does not mean you’re healthy on the inside. | |
| Trevor: | Right, exactly. I think about the word fit. I don’t know the actual definition of the word fit, but I don’t think of it as just being a physical thing. Of course it’s how … In a way it’s how you look, but it’s also how you feel. That’s so much about this kind of lifestyle that we’re talking about, and the changes with diet and exercise is about how you feel, and your health, and your longevity, and your mental emotional well being. |
| Drew: | Yeah, same thing with health, right? The medical definition of health is, “The absence of disease.” There’s so much more to health than just the absence of disease. |
| Trevor: | Yep. Okay, well Drew tell everybody where they can find you again, and we’ll also put up your website on my website so people are driving, listening, and they want to refer back to it they can go to the SpaDr.com and get your information. |
| Drew: | Yeah, so my website is Fit2Fat2Fit.com, and that’s with the number 2. F-I-T, number two, F-A-T, number two, F-I-T dot com. All the information for the keto challenge if you want to join us is on there. My book is Fit2Fat2Fit with the number 2, just like my website. That’s on Amazon, or Barnes and Noble, or iTunes. I’m on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, SnapChat, InstaStories, let’s see … Youtube, everything. That’s all @Fit2Fat2Fit. You can reach out to me. |
| Trevor: | Okay, perfect. Well that’s easy to remember. Then the TV show, tell us again when that’s airing |
| Drew: | Yeah, so that is actually called, “Fit T-O Fat, T-O Fit,” right? It’s still called Fit2Fat2Fit, but it’s spelled differently with a T-O instead of the number 2. That’s on A&E. You can watch season one on demand if you go online, or season two should air, I’m guessing this April sometime. Trust me, you’re going to love it. It’s such a different … It’s not a weight loss TV show, there’s so much more to it than that. Trust me, you gotta watch it. It’s going to be awesome. |
| Trevor: | All right, all right, well thanks so much Drew, for coming on today and talking to us about how to be fit. |
| Drew: | Thanks Dr. Trevor, appreciate you having me on. We’ll talk to you soon |
| Trevor: | I hope you enjoyed this interview today with Drew Manning. To learn more about Drew, you can go to my website, “TheSpaDr.com.” Go to the podcast page with this interview, and you’ll find all the information and links that he talked about there. While you’re there I invite you to join The Spa Doctor community on my website, or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t miss any of our upcoming shows. If you haven’t done so already, I highly recommend you get your own customized skin profile at TheSkinQuiz.com. It’s free, just takes a few moments to take the 10 question quiz and you’ll get your own customized skin report with some recommendations from me. Just go to, TheSkinQuiz.com, find out your skin type and what root causes might be holding you back from having clear, glowing skin. |
| Also don’t miss out on the latest tips to get glowing skin and vibrant health. Join me on social media. On Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube and join the conversation. Thank you, and I’ll see you next time on The Spa Doctor Podcast. |
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