From Fat and Depressed to Healthy and Happy with Fitness Coach Matt Izzo

Speaker 2

00:00

 On this episode of the form adversity, to abundance podcast. I got the opportunity to interview. Matt is O of Matt, is O Fitness and man, talk about an inspirational episode super practical. Matt lost 75 pounds three different times, but this third time, he kept it off. He's kept it off for five years. And I have seen the before and after pictures on Twitter, And again, I mentioned this in the episode, but it's kind of like before, and after pictures of a, you know, a remodel of a house or something, where it's, I mean, it's just drastic the difference. Obviously, a ton of work has gone into that transformation, it's a reminder, that progress is not always linear, you know? And we so much of this episode is just so inspirational, and practical, he talks a lot about energy and how it took him. I think 25 years, he said, Kind of come to this, you know, 25 years of growth went into this transformation, wasn't an overnight thing but it has led Matt to quit his corporate job and get out of some I guess less healthy environments and just his mindset is so positive and so inspirational he mentions that his girlfriend lost 100 pounds so you know just this positive mentality and positive. Energy is contagious and now he's focused on helping others and helping others kind of with their weight loss and fitness programs. And you can tell he's just a really genuine person and is focused on true success of others. And long-term growth, not some Get Slim Quick, you know program that he's selling. So I just really enjoyed this episode. So it's very practical. We discovered each other on Twitter. I just, you know, want to thank Matt for taking the time to chat with me. And I know that you are going to get a lot of value out of this one. Thanks inspiring stories of real people. Overcoming incredible odds to live life to the fullest. We are all guaranteed to face. Hardships, how.

Speaker 1

02:23

 Will we handle the adversity? Join us to be moved by everyday people who have.

Speaker 2

02:28

 Turned poverty into prosperity. Tea and weakness into wealth Be Inspired as these relatable Heroes, get.

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02:34

 Vulnerable and former counterintelligence.

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02:37

 Investigator Jamie Bateman puts his interviewing skills to the test, restore your faith in humanity as you experience. True Cinderella stories of average people turning.

Speaker 1

02:47

 Surreal struggle and deep.

Speaker 2

02:48

 Despair into booming, businesses and financial Fortune. Take ownership of the life. You are destined to live and turn your adversity into abundance. Welcome everybody, to another episode of from adversity, to abundance podcast. I am your host Jamie Bateman, and I am super excited. Today, I have got a special guest. Matt is O of Matt is 0 Fitness. Matt, how are you doing today?

Speaker 1

03:18

 I am doing great. Jamie, thanks for having me. I am excited to talk to you.

Speaker 2

03:21

 Absolutely, I appreciate you taking the time. I know you're a busy guy and so in your time is very valuable. So truth be told, we don't know each other very well. Twitter and social media are interesting, you know, at an interesting Dynamic to life these days and I came across your story on Twitter, and I was really inspired by it. So I reached out to you and here we are. So again, I thank you for coming on. You're welcome, happy to be here. So you're you just told me that your down in Florida. Now, once you Ellen some additional gaps for our listeners, as to who you are today and what you have going on right now, and then we will back up and get into your backstory.

Speaker 1

04:07

 Yeah, sure. So like you said, I just moved to Florida and the last couple months out in South Florida. Now it's great sunny and awesome every day. I had lived in New Jersey for my entire life up to that point, you know. And right now, I am running my own coaching business where I help people primarily with fat loss. But also other Fitness and mindset related. Things, you know, this is something that I have started in the last pretty much in the last year after I quit my corporate job and decided to venture out on my own. You know, I was, I had a long struggle with obesity and depression that took me probably 25 years to overcome that. And then, you know, now that I have done that and I lost the weight, I have kept it off for coming. In five years at the end of this month, you know. I feel like I have learned so much pretty much from the internet, right? This is, I am pretty much self-taught all these things. So I have learned so much over the years from these people that, you know, I went through all this for a reason and for a purpose. So now, I share what I can, and I try to give back as much as I can to help others overcome some of the same struggles that I have overcome in my.

Speaker 2

05:25

 Life, that's awesome. Yeah, I think this is going to be a really Lee relatable podcast for a lot of people in very inspirational episode. So yeah, I mean, I mentioned before we hit record I probably need to talk to you more, so I can get a little more inspired myself to get back into the I am Into Fitness but not as much as I used to be and like we said, life has Seasons. But um, yeah, so really interested to get into the the you know, the adversity that you dealt with and of course we can take it where you want to go with that. Some people have, you know, a few months of where it was like, really, really bad and it's two or three major life events in a negative way or challenges kind of occurred in that short period of time. I am sure you do have episodes like that or time periods, like that, but it sounds like you had a long stretch of struggles to pertain to, you know, mindset and the physical, I guess challenges that you dealt with. So, Pick it up where you'd like to. I want to get you know dive into your backstory and talk about the adversity that you have been through.

Speaker 1

06:36

 Yeah you know I really started with childhood, you know and it's kind of hard to really put my finger on what it was. But you know, he sometimes you just get into a negative sort of spiral, right? And things just kind of follow, right? If your energy is that way, that's what you attract into your life and that's the sort of life and experience that you live and, you know, from an early age. That was sort of my life in my experience, I ended up you know, gaining weight. I was the fat kid in school back before. You know, most of the kids were the fat kid right? Like now probably right. But you know back then that was a really painful thing, you know, and I got made fun of a lot. I felt excluded a lot because of my weight, you know, when I would be made fun of for that. So it was always something that I really kind of fixated on. As you know this was my biggest problem. You know, I would say that as I look back on it now with the, with the added benefit, the perspective of time and all my life experience that, you know, I used to think I hated myself because I was fat, it turned out that I hated myself, and I was fat. Right? So through the years, I tried to lose the weight. I did it successfully, I multiple occasions only to gain it back again, but you know, I never really addressed the, underlying mental and emotional. All sorts of things that I needed to write in order to say that I have overcome this. And I have really healed though. You know that's the biggest takeaway from my journey is it's not just oh I lost some weight, right? It's really been more of a holistic transformation. Like yeah. Yeah. I lost weight. I live a healthy lifestyle now, you know, I do all kinds of crazy stuff with Endurance Sports and stuff like that but you know, it's more than that. It's a mental and emotional transformation as well. Well, whereas now I am a healthy person and, you know, I am able to maintain this lifestyle effortlessly because this is now who I am and it's not just something I am trying to do. Sure?

Speaker 2

08:39

 Yeah. It's that's there so many ways we could go with this, and we're obviously not going to cover every aspect today that we could, but I did watch your, your podcast with zubi and that was really good. And you guys got into toward the end, how the mental and physical, and spiritual aspects, and like you said the whole list. Approach is necessary. It's not they're not separate. I mean you can somewhat isolate them and talk about them independently, but they're really not, they go hand-in-hand so before we get to how you approach things. So you mind drilling down just slightly more on, kind of the, maybe the pain that you were dealing with. And again, this isn't meant to be therapy or painful for you in any way but just so that our listeners can understand. So you're saying for a while You thought, you hated yourself because you're fat but then and those are your words but, but, you know, but it you all, you hated yourself and you were Fetzer. You kind of saying that you may have been overweight because you hated yourself as well.

Speaker 1

09:43

 Yeah, you know, and really what I have come to learn is that, you know, obesity is a symptom of these deeper underlying emotional sorts of problems, right? And like, it doesn't just happen in a vacuum, the inside, reflects the outside and the outside, reflects the inside, right?

Speaker 2

09:58

 Something that's really good.

Speaker 1

10:00

 It's really hard for me to just kind of pinpoint one or two specific things that happened. Right? You know, but I was just, I was in a chronically — state is how I would describe it. But what was really challenging is? If you're in a chronically — State, you don't necessarily realize you're in a chronically — State, you know, much in the way of the, the fish doesn't see the, you know, you know, water that it's in, right? If this is just how you experience life, you don't necessarily realize that, you know this is different. Current, you know, you, if you had told me, you know if you had asked me what anxiety was in my mid-20s, I wouldn't have been able to tell you, let alone identify and say, oh, I am I have chronic anxiety problems, right? Because that was just, that was just life. As I knew it. That was your default, right? Yeah. And that was just how I experience life, you know, and I really never would have thought that a life that I am living now, you know, with the sort of energy and the emotion that I feel on a day-to-day basis. I didn't even realize that something like that was All for me. But you know there was always a part of me for some reason. That was optimistic. Right. You know. And I would say, I was in a chronically — state, but I always had some optimism about me and I always kind of knew that it would, it would work out, you know, and I just, I stuck with it, you know, as good as I could, you know, there were certainly lots of adversity along the way. You're right? I lost the same 75 pounds three times, right? Said, you know, I did it once in high school and then I end up gaining all the weight back again, you know, and it's really demoralizing to put in all that work and put in all that effort and reach a goal, right? And then just have it just kind of slipped through your fingers and vanish, you know, and it's you feel a lot of Shame and embarrassment when that happens, you know, because you just you're failing. So, publicly people are seeing you and seeing what you're going through, right? So, you know, these sorts of things are tough to overcome. And you know, it's that is why it took me so long to do it.

Speaker 2

11:58

 You.

Speaker 1

11:59

 Know, part of me just never gave up and, you know, always knew that there was a way out. I just needed to take to keep trying to do better every day. You know, putting one foot in front of the other, educate myself, more, you know, just try to do more with what energy I had at the time. And, you know, that's, this is how I got to the place where I am now.

Speaker 2

12:19

 Yeah, no, it's really good. I mean, it just, yeah, it sounds like you just got like a probably, a lot of people can identify with, you have got on into a mental pattern of this is my Default, this is who I am. This is my identity. And for those who, you know, are listening or, you know, are going to watch this on YouTube, even go back and look at Matt's, you know, like your Twitter Instagram. I mean, I have seen the before and after and it's, it's like HGTV picks. You know, people love that in real estate. It's like the before and after pictures are amazing, but there's so much work that went into that, that, you know, that it's easy to gloss over. So I just have a ton of respect for Or your transformation and this time keeping it off I mean it's really incredible. So okay. So you lost the weight a couple times, regained it a couple times and then have kept it off for coming up on five years. You said, I believe what's been the difference this time.

Speaker 1

13:19

 So what I realized was I needed to make a plan, right? Because I lost weight again in my mid-20s and I really educated Myself a lot about Fitness and Nutrition, right? And I taught myself all this stuff and I did it in a really intelligent way. And then, I kind of realized, I thought, that at least that, okay? My problems are solved. Right. I have all this knowledge now and you know, I didn't have this knowledge before but now I know how to eat. I know what protein fat and carbohydrates are all this stuff, and I am like, great, I did it. My problem is solved, well, knowledge is useless, if you don't apply it, right? So I had the knowledge, but I stopped applying You know, and I dealt with some adversity, right? To keeping the theme of the show had some more emotional trauma suffered an injury, you know? And next thing you know, I am back being fat again and, you know, it took me eight years to kind of get around to doing it again because, you know, it's an overwhelming proposition, you know, you know, trying to lose a large amount of fat. As I am sure many people can relate to, right? Just the energy and time that it takes to do, it is a lot. So I always knew that I Could lose the weight. What I realized was I needed to formulate a plan to actually keep it off, right? Because I don't want to do all this work for nothing and just have it, just go away again. So I figured out that if I just kind of kept doing the same things I was doing while I lost the weight, right? If I just kept that up after then it's going to be really hard for me to gain weight again. If I am tracking my food intake, if I am you know, monitoring my calories, if I am laying myself every day, then how can I possibly gain? Back again, and even if I did gain a few pounds, while if I can lose, 75 pounds 5 pounds. Yeah, it's gonna be a lot easier. Yeah. So, so I really committed myself to this being a lifelong plan and saying, all right, you know if it takes me five or ten minutes of effort a day. Well, that's a lot better than being obese, right? So, I lost the weight, and I just kept on with it. And then I kind of kept on, with my self-improvement journey. And this is how I came to, you know, turn around my mental. My Emotional and my, you know, even connect with my spiritual side, which I wouldn't say I had any connection to it was through, you know, just continuing my growth, my development continuing to learn to continue to experiment with different things. Will say meditation and journaling and, you know, all sorts of other things and you know, exposing myself to different ideas and different books. You know that this is when I started to really make connections and start to understand how I worked, how other people worked. And then I To grow mentally and emotionally. You know, in this is what has allowed me to I would say make a holistic transformation. Whereas now I don't have to do all these things. I don't have to closely monitor what I am doing because this is now who I am? I have innocence rebuilt myself image to be the person that I am now. So, when my subconscious mind takes over when I stopped being intentional, I still behave in an alignment with who I am right now. I am not the way I used to be 5 10. 15 years ago.

Speaker 2

16:32

 Have you read James, Clear, Atomic habits?

Speaker 1

16:34

 I have not but I have heard good things is.

Speaker 2

16:37

 I have put you on the spot there. But yeah, it's almost like you could co-write it. I think just what you were saying about, I mean he talks about that as far as you know, I am a runner. This is who I am. This is my identity, it's not just what I do. It's who I am. So that's it just kind of takes over and the other thing I thought, I would think of as you were speaking. Was you just Takes a lot of time to do your exercise and you know, eat, right and plan and everything do doubt for sure. But I imagine you're so much more productive in the other hours of your day. That it's almost like, who cares that it? I mean, you know that you have gained in the end, I mean, as far as energy and productivity, I would guess, is that fair to say?

Speaker 1

17:20

 It's 100% fair to say, you know? And if I go back to 2016, when I most recently started to lose weight again, I Had a number of things I would I guess I would say we're problems with my wife. I was working at a job that I really didn't like it was doing legal collections, right? Working with people who were pretty low energy negative people and I worked there for a long time and I felt like I was trapped in that environment, you know, and there are some other things but you know what, I understood some level was, I only had so much energy. I only had so much time and attention and I needed to, you know, really focus. Like I said, obsessed about Solving this one thing first and that for me, was losing the fat, right? And getting myself physically healthy. And then by doing that right now and then that raise my energy, you know, and put me in a better State, you know, a couple years later, I got another job, you know, someone actually reached out to me to hire me, you know, and, and, you know, that wouldn't have happened if you know, and I wouldn't have been able to function at that new job, which required me to be, you know, a Or capable diligent employee to, you know be a better manager. I would have been able to do that. Had I not put in all that other work right and you know in built myself into something more than I was sure. So it's definitely helped make me more productive in all aspects of my life you know, business personal everything.

Speaker 2

18:50

 Absolutely. So the first job you mentioned that you quit 2016, I think somewhere around there. Financially were you know where you a millionaire at that point you don't have to answer but you were you know, because I think what happens is because I just I worked part-time for the last seven years and I just finally resigned myself to focus on my own businesses and you know, there's always that struggle of, you know, when is it the right time and it's there's no one-size-fits-all answer, but I am just curious was that more of cutting out, negativity and then You could move on. It sounds like that's the case versus oh I have made it now, so I can kind of quit my job and do whatever I.

Speaker 1

19:35

 Want. Yeah, I made a very, I guess I would say, sort of lateral, career move but it was in a completely different field. You know, the collections feel there's not a great place to be in and I think it's hard to find happiness when you're doing something like that all day every day. So, you know, I was able to move on to another job. You know what's what I worked there for a couple of years and it was great. You know I really expanded my horizons and my skill set, you know, and I sense came around to leaving that job to start my own business. I guess what I would say is what I have learned along. The way is that energy is more important than money. Because if you have energy, you can always make more money, right? It was grab a shovel and go out and dig, dig ditches or whatever, right? But you know money can't buy you more energy, right? And you know it So, so I am you know, I am I, I understand that I am always going to have the money that I need to do the things that I need to do. Right. You know, like, you know, are there luxuries that I would love to have, you know, sure I would love to be driving a 911 turbo instead of a Subaru, right? But that's not money that I need, you know, you know. So it's just about really believing in myself. Yeah. And you know, you know do You something that I think is making the world a better place, right? Is, is adding value to the world because it's no way to live your life? If you're spending all day every day, doing something that's not making the world a better place, right? Then that's, that's not a recipe for anyone to live a happy or healthy lifestyle. No matter how much money you're making from it.

Speaker 2

21:19

 Yeah, that's really. There's a lot of I might have to re-listen to that. What you just thought has five minutes. I was really good. Yeah. I just think, you know, entrepreneurship is such a sexy term, and it's, you know, and I am an entrepreneur and I love it. I love doing my own thing, but I think that's just something everyone has to kind of decide for themselves as far as when they're ready. But in that process I don't think it's there's always something. A reason, you shouldn't quit your job. There's always feared. There's always some kind of something holding you back. So, you know, in the end I mean, you could get another job. In. Let us say yeah, if your business fails or whatever, so I would get.

Speaker 1

22:03

 The money runs out, right? Just get another job and it looks like every place is hiring right now. So yeah. Exactly doesn't seem like it'd been a challenging.

Speaker 2

22:11

 Exactly, awesome. So I am going to fire off some questions here, and we will see where it goes. What do people misunderstand about you?

Speaker 1

22:22

 I think, you know, I post on my Twitter feed a lot of sorts of unorthodox things that I do. Right. And I think people might think that you know like these are the secrets to my success. So I will give you an example. I just bought some toe spreaders. I saw this, right? It was a, it was a viral tweet and ended up getting like over five hundred thousand Impressions, which I was really kind of shocked by. I figured it would get like five or six likes or whatever, right? And, you know, I am training for an Ironman race, right now, you know, I am coming up on 40 years old, I have really almost no athletic background. So I am looking for every little advantage that I can get it. And what I find really great about Iron Man racing is that, you know, it requires me to be dialed in pretty much with everything nutrition recovery, right? Because it's just such a demanding thing to do every day for nine months. So I talked a lot about these unorthodox things. That I might do, you know, these small things that I try, I am always experimenting, right? But, but this isn't what got me to the point that I am at. Now, this isn't what I have clients doing, right? You know, like these small things, aren't the things that move the needle. If your someone looking to make a change, you know the entire kind of philosophy behind my Approach is called Boulders. Not Pebbles right if you're looking to make a change in your life, you want to concern yourself with the boulders, the really big rocks, and not worry about the Pebbles the stuff like post spreaders or something like that, right? Right. You want to get out there and start to build healthy habits that you can sustain that are going to make a difference in the long term. So yeah, while I talk about these things on my social media channels, people find them interesting and I find him interesting to write, if this isn't what got me to where I am and this isn't why I am successful, right? Because the fundamentals, I think for anybody or any business focusing on the fundamentals and really nailing. Those are what's going to lead for success.

Speaker 2

24:22

 Is in the long term definitely that's really good. That's really good. Answer on episode four of our podcast. I had Matt for fo re he does Iron Man he's really into that stuff. So the only experience I have with it is watching my sister years ago. Do she do a Chesapeake man which was is an Iron Man 2. I don't know if they still do it, but it's in Maryland. On the Eastern Shore. It's an Ironman distance Triathlon and it was delayed two plus hours due to fall. And so that's already like I am already like, you know, how do you even your timing and everything is all off? You know. But yeah, we went out to lunch. We went out to watch Ladder 49, we went out to dinner, you know, and she's doing this thing the whole time. It was like 17 hours. I have I just don't even know where to begin but that's, that's really good. So yeah. So what's your post may not be? It's really you, it's genuine but it's not what people probably should focus on if they're trying to kind of The change, they should focus on fundamentals. What's one of your biggest failures in life?

Speaker 1

25:32

 You know, I don't really, I don't know that I really kind of frame things as failures and you know, I actually I recorded a video about this yesterday. It's going to be coming out on my Twitter feed, probably this week, you know? So for, you know, I like I said, I lost 75 pounds twice, only to gain the weight back again in four years. This hung over my head. It as a failure, right? Because again, and in some ways it was a failure, you know, things are a failure from a certain perspective, right? But from a different perspective, is not a failure. But now when I look back on it, I will say, okay, well I lost weight in high school, I had no idea what I was doing. I basically starve myself and I did a lot of calisthenics, but I proved to myself that was possible, right? Because before I did that, I didn't even know that I could do this, right? So, yeah, I failed, I gained the weight back again. And then again, in my twenties, right, I did it. And I failed and I gained it back again. But I taught myself a lot, right? And I really built the foundation for my knowledge that I am still using today in my business. So, you know, I can look back on these experiences now, and I would say, well, these weren't failures and all these were important stepping stones for me to become ultimately successful. So I think really anything that you might see as a failure, right. It's only a failure from a given perspective, right? Your given point in time because if you zoom out and look at it from, A different perspective. I think you'd find that it was, you know, you can take a different look at it because in every one of my failures and I have done a lot of journaling about, you know, these things and traumatic events from the past, I have always been able to kind of reframe them from a different perspective and you know, the old silver lining from a dark cloud. I think you can always find something that you can take from that. Even if you're failing, the same level for the hundredth time, right there, still something you can learn from That and take away from.

Speaker 2

27:24

 That. Yeah, that's really good. Awesome. If you could have coffee with, I don't know if you drink coffee, but there're no calories and coffee. Yeah, I know if you could have coffee with any historical figure, who would you choose and why?

Speaker 1

27:39

 That's a tough question. I think I would pick Theodore Roosevelt. Okay. He's been a really kind of influential figure in my life and it really these last couple of years. I read an interesting fascinating three-part Trilogy about his life by I believe Edmund Morris off the top of my head but it was like a 75, our audio book. If you take up all three of these kind of individually and, you know, I just if you just stop and think How long would an audio book about your life beer or my life, right? It certainly wouldn't be 75 hours, you know? And he's just somebody who really was able to, you know, reinvent himself so many times throughout his life and, you know, just the breadth of his experience, he wasn't someone in that. Let a single roll to find him, you know, he was Police Commissioner in New York. He was President, I would state. He said that the Roughriders he basically single-handedly won One, and he started in one the Spanish-American War. He later wins a Nobel, Peace Prize for avoiding a war but the but between Russia and China he went exploring. He was a noted author and historian. So you know, someone like that, you know, you don't really see that in figures today was the most prominent figures. They really kind of drill down into one specific area, you know, but you know, you know, he's somebody that I would love to have coffee with and talk to and, you know, it's interesting because I find that even by studying a historical figure, you can really almost sort of bring their energy into your life so maybe you don't get to literally sit down with them and talk to them and have coffee with them. But if you ever read Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, he in that book, he talks about having a sort of virtual, you know, system of mentors, right? That he would talk to, you know, and.

Speaker 2

29:35

 Write his like a virtual Mastermind.

Speaker 1

29:38

 Virtual master. Minecraft, you know with historical figures in there and I think you can definitely do something like that even if you don't have formal meetings with them right but just by my studying historical figures and reading about them. You can bring some of their energy into your life and you can definitely sort of build on their influencing and gain some of their wisdom.

Speaker 2

29:57

 Yeah, it's awesome. Speak about your business. What's a challenge that you're facing in your business right now?

Speaker 1

30:04

 I think the challenge I face is, you know, selling myself and selling what I am doing because I am taking a different approach to fat loss from pretty much anybody else that you will find, right? So, you know how so well, because again, I am not really promising. A short-term result, right? I am not saying you're going to drop 10 pounds in four weeks or anything like that when I am saying is your goal, you know, you will make a holistic transformation and you will. Yes, you will get results in the short term, but they will be results that you can sustain and build the palm. And I will give you the tools to make this, a permanent change, right? So, so it's not, you know, it's a different approach than most people are taking. It's not like something I can package in a PDF necessarily and say, well here, just follow these instructions, because everyone's going to be different. So, but you know what? I am working on it every They right, I am connecting with more people, I am getting better at, you know, at sharing my message and, you know, you know, connecting with people and convincing them of that. So, you know, that's I guess the biggest challenge. I am facing. My end goal is to help over a million people lose weight. You know, I am still nodding. I am still not exactly sure how I am going to accomplish that but that's okay, right? You don't, you don't have to know step 38 when you're on step for, right? So, Sure. So I know if I just keep moving in the right direction, keep working with people. Keep putting myself out there and positively influencing people that it will work out. And, you know if I keep making adjustments, I will reach my goal. The same, as I reach my fat loss ball and other goals that have.

Speaker 2

31:46

 Reached in my life. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. Heard the analogy of the driving in fog, I have spoke of fog earlier, but, you know, you don't have you're not able to see the whole path, right? But if you drive 20 yards, you see the next 20 yards and a kind of Ends up for you. You know.

Speaker 1

32:02

 If you're trying to do something that no one else has done before, then there's not going to be a road map for you to follow you. Just kind of have to figure it out as you.

Speaker 2

32:09

 Go. So do you take and you don't have to get into how you approach things with the with a client but would you recommend? You know, someone who's trying to lose a lot of weight that they only focus on the physical at that point? Or do you take like a multi-pronged approach, and they should also deal with the mental and spiritual all at the same? Same time.

Speaker 1

32:30

 Yeah, I think a multi-pronged approach, you know, it's important that you, you know, don't bite off more than you can chew so to speak, right? So make sure that the things that you're doing really are moving the needle. I guess, one of the challenging things from what I did is I can look back at what I did really over. I guess, I would say eight year period of when I kind of started turning my life around and if I, you know if I, if I analyze how I did it, I don't think I did it the most Currently the most efficient way possible. I didn't really have the top-down picture of it. So as I kind of try to rebuild that and I will say, okay, well we can definitely make this more efficient doing the things that I did. Could have been done a lot faster, right? Yeah. You know, with and a lot more intelligently and I certainly took some, some, some missteps along the way. I think, at one point my fitness plan was, you know, switching from beer, to liquor, right? So you know.

Speaker 2

33:30

 I may have been guilty of that one. Yeah, maybe even currently.

Speaker 1

33:35

 And it kind of worked probably a little bit but it certainly opened up a whole other host of problems. I wouldn't recommend it right. So, so it hasn't necessarily been a linear progression from step 1 all the way to where I am now. So, you know, I think it's important that, you know, people really focus on their mental and emotional health is probably even more important than the Is it cold in a lot of ways? Because at the end of the day I have kind of come to understand that my physical form really isn't all that important. If you know is I am healthy, if I am able to do the things that I want to do, it's really more about what my emotional state is and how I am feeling and you know, how much energy I have that's.

Speaker 2

34:16

 Much better. I was waiting for you to say energy because you have mentioned that three or four times and that's, that's definitely a takeaway for me from this episode. For sure is just keep going back to the energy and I love that. That's awesome. I mean, yeah. It's and it's, that's almost like what draws, you know, link the to the mental and the physical seems like it's your energy, but I can tell you have a, you have a lot of energy, you have a lot of optimism. You have a, you definitely a man on a mission. You know, you're, you know, you're definitely moving forward and you're in a growth mindset. I mean, it fits perfectly with this, this podcast, it's this isn't necessarily a rags-to-riches show. It's more about, you know, and it's more about just overcoming adversity and getting to an abundance. Fine set. And that's, I mean, you're the perfect guest for it. So yeah. Anything to add to that.

Speaker 1

35:07

 Yeah. I mean it's, you know, look, having an abundance mindset. I think it is challenging for me anyway, right? And it's something that it's hard, it's hard to do that, you can't. Just if you don't have an abundance mindset, you can't just flip a switch and get one rate and something that's deeper than an intellectual understanding, right? So, It's, it's how do you, you know, how do you, how do you, you know, on a deep level having abundance mindset and not just pay lip service to have an abundance mindset. You know, I actually just tweeted something earlier today, that I think rap thing encapsulates, it pretties well, it's that. If you believe in yourself, if you believe in your ability to, you know, overcome adversity, if you believe in your ability to adapt to whatever life throws at you, then there's not much to tell. Worried about at that point. Because, you know, everybody likes to panic about, you know, how the world is changing, right? You go on to any news source or social media feed will see all this stuff about inflation and Ukraine and pandemics and all these other things, right? But when I stop and look around right now and my own life, what problems do I have? I don't see a whole lot of problems right you know and life is pretty good and I don't allow myself to get caught up in those things. I know that the world is going to change. And what I want to do is be adaptable, and when it changes, I will change along with it. And I know if I can do that, then there's really nothing for me to worry about and I think that is kind of the Cornerstone to the abundance mindset. Because if you don't think like that, if you were scared of the change, if you think things aren't going to work out well for you. Well, that's where you start to get a scarcity mindset and that's where you start, you know, you know, become really risk-averse and you start to, you know, you know like I guess gather the acorn. For the winter, right? Because if you don't you're not optimistic about the future. So if you're optimistic about the future and you on a deep level, believe in yourself, right? Which happens through action, not through words, you believe in yourself by putting yourself out there and overcoming things, and doing it and proving it to yourself that you're worthy of the belief. Then you have an abundance mindset and you know, these things will take care of themselves to a certain degree.

Speaker 2

37:25

 Yes, I love it. I mean, it's awesome. I that's for me and again, we're not saying that you don't have any adversity or I don't have any University currently or you never slip out of your abundance mindset, you know, but I made us switch around 2015. Actually 2014 2015, where I stopped watching the news and again, I still pay attention to what's going on, but I was, you know, watching cable news and just like it's depressing and I have zero control over it. So what's you know what's, what's the point? So, then I did start to switch to, okay? What Who do I know that is on my team and what are my strengths? And, and, and start taking action. And it's, I have experienced a similar thing where it's just, you know, it's so encouraging to be able to only focus on what you can control. And personally, I think people can control or influence more than they give themselves credit for and like for example, you know, you may correct me if I am wrong. But did your girlfriend also lose a lot of weight?

Speaker 1

38:28

 Yeah, she's lost about. A Hundred pounds and, you know, I definitely helped her along with that, right, you know, and, you know, I would say I did it more, by example, than by anything that I said, right, you know, I think this is, this is key right for everyone. Is talk is cheap. No one's going to. Listen to your advice right now lead by example and show people that the way you are doing it is better. And some of them are going to follow and some of them you know we will start. To sort of embrace, what, what you are doing. You know, it's interesting because at her job, before we moved, you know, she was doing that challenge 75 hard, right? Which a lot of people do to, you know, lose weight and a bunch of her co-workers started doing it right? And they saw her walking at lunch and how happy she was and how good she looked. And you know they started saying oh okay she must know you know what she's doing, right? So I think it's up to us. He talked about cutting out the Mainstream media. I think that's a great thing for everyone to do. And I talked a lot about the importance of, you know, really auditing. Your social media feed making sure the people that you're tuned into our are the influences that you want to be tuned in to know exactly. And that's really important. So, if the people in your life aren't like that, it's going to be problematic. You got to kind of put the blinders on a bit and just block them out. And yeah, you know, you know, social media is a very powerful tool, you can connect to other people. Who were aligned with you who are like-minded, you can follow people who set a great example and you can use that as your kind of support group. If you can't find these people in the real world, I know I have a hard time finding them sometimes.

Speaker 2

40:12

 No, it's I love it. I mean it's it really is about taking ownership taking control of, even your social media feed because that might sound like, no big deal. But social media is not bad or good. It's, it's very powerful, it can be right? And so just like the way I see money, I don't see Money, as bad or good, it's very powerful. It can be used in a, you know, for good or for bad. And so that's, that's really important as controlling the what you're exposed to online. I mean, that's.

Speaker 1

40:42

 It's technology. Amplifies. I think the thing is that the things that are already there. So, you know if you want to use it for bad, it's going to be that much more worse. Yeah. If you want to use it for good will they could be that much better, you know, because I have built out my Twitter and I have you know, I hear from him. Does The people every day who I am inspiring Hawaii on them, flowing some and that is so rewarding for me that's more rewarding than any money. Right? And that's not the same money, doesn't matter. Whatever. You know, obviously, I can't eat and, you know, pay my rent, with happy, you know, you know, your messages from people but at the same time, if I zoom out and look at the big picture, right? Like, these people are making their families better, their communities better, right? And so, you know, the old Butterfly Effect, right? You know, you know, just by smiling at one person, you can, you can really help hundreds if not thousands of other people, just by kind of spreading that positive message and, you know, it's very.

Speaker 2

41:38

 Powerful. I love it. I mean, we definitely the world needs more of that right now for sure. Coming out of this anyway, pandemic and everything and it's a lot of hate online and I just love the, the message that you're bringing in the, you know, the passion that you're bringing to this and energy you have and so many things that I could go on and on about. So as we wrap, Up here. Matt let our listeners know how they can reach out to you online and add any final thoughts that you like to? Yeah.

Speaker 1

42:06

 Sure. I am on, you know, Twitter's my prominent kind of social media at em, atti was easy. Oh, just at Matt is 0 and, you know, my DMs are always open. I am happy to answer any questions or talk to anybody, you know, I am selling services but again that's not necessarily my only thing. So if it's a quick question, I am happy too. To answer it. I am happy to help you out, you know, but what I would say is, you know, obviously, you don't need to hire me to be successful, right? You, I did it without hiring me and, you know, you know. So, this isn't something that anybody needs. You can figure it out on your own, but it took me 25 years, right? So if you could tell me, I could have all the information and knowledge that I have. Now will say, 15 years ago, how much money would I pay for it? Well I would have paid every dollar I had for basically, right? So you know, You know, it's really a process and, you know, you can figure it out yourself. If you want to save some time and look into coaching, if not even from me, right? You can, there're tons of great coaches out there. It's really an interesting space because there's real people out there who have experienced who are now selling their services and you can hire them and you can get, you know, you know, real, real impact from people who are on social media that can help guide you and help you down the path in a way that really never existed before because now there's a way for you to find these people and connect with them and get some sort of verification, right? Because I am out there posting the receipts of what I am doing every day. So you can see that I am not just some fraud or some kind of charlatan right and there's other people like that too. So I think it's a powerful tool that everybody can use in, you know, can really help kind of make the world a better place. If we kind of get Away from the, you know, mainstream media sorts of like these big, these big corporate influences that don't necessarily have making the world a better place, you know, as their core mission.

Speaker 2

44:11

 Right now. That's really good. So, just very quickly. So what, what does a typical if someone is interested in working with you? What does that look like?

Speaker 1

44:18

 Yeah. So we would have a, you know, initial kind of assessment call, and then I would, I build a program, you know, you know, basically something that meets that. Oh, Jules needs, right? Because it has to be, it has to be customized to that individual. What their situation is, what their physical situation is, what kinds of food they eat, right? What their, what their lifestyle is like, right? You know, so it's not just a cookie cutter thing, it's something that's customized and it starts, and then you have to live your life and you have to make adjustments and see how it works. Because not everything you're going to do is good going to work out at first. So it's definitely a give-and-take process of making adjustments as you go. Now and, you know, layering in new things right, once certain Behavior patterns, but become a habit, then finding other behaviors that can be added to that and just layering habits one on top of the other, right? Like I talked a bit about some of the unorthodox things that I do and if you had showed me my daily routine. Now you know six years ago I would have said, you're crazy. There's no way I could do that but I didn't just wake up overnight and start doing it, right. I started by making simple changes on the important. Things and I just kind of built on it from there, you know, and seeing what works and what didn't work and just you know, me no periodically making adjustments and you know that's the only way to do it. It's unrealistic to think that you're going to just wake up one day and become a new person and follow this crazy program and do that, right? Maybe you can do that for eight or 12 or 16 weeks but when your willpower gives in your motivation goes away. Yeah. What are you going to be left with and you know this is why Many people fail so often and this is why I try to instill in my clients. Hey, this is how you can be successful not just for the short term but for the long term and how you can make this a permanent change and not just a temporary thing that you do for a.

Speaker 2

46:12

 while. And then you stop and you go back to what you remote doing the photo you can tell, I can tell you're a genuine guy who really wants to help and that's the like you said a long-term. You had a long-term in mind and the best interest of the client I can tell which in the end hopefully comes back to you. You, you know, financially and in other ways, but I know that will really quickly. So, what's more important diet or?

Speaker 1

46:36

 Exercise diet? I would be more important, right? Because, you know, you know, so I actually I started walking 10,000 steps every day in at the end of 2013, when my mother gave me a Fitbit for Christmas. And I ended up doing it every day for seven and a half years just because, you know, I kind of became determined on that but it was another two and a half. Years until I really started losing weight. So I walked in and all that stuff. But then once I kind of got the diet dial down and I downloaded MyFitnessPal started tracking my food intake restricting, my calories, I was able to lose 75 pounds about nine months from.

Speaker 2

47:13

 That, so and when I say diet I don't and I know you know this but I don't mean going on a diet per se. I mean your intake of food, it's.

Speaker 1

47:22

 It's about intake and it's about food choices. Right. Both matter to a certain degree obviously. But you know, it Oh, if I exercise is great for everyone to be doing sure, not something that people who are only trying to lose, weight should do it, can be as simple as just going out. And walking though, it doesn't have to be something that's training or strenuous is if you don't want it to be, everyone should be exercising. But if you're trying to drop some pounds, diet is what you need to focus.

Speaker 2

47:48

 On for. Yeah, that's really good. Awesome. Well Matt. Thank you very much. I know we went a little bit long, and I am like I said, I know you are busy and you have a hard stop and I really You come on and sharing. There were so many knowledge bombs that you dropped really like this has been excellent. So I really appreciate it. Thanks a lot, Matt. You're welcome. Thanks for having me. Jim you, I appreciate you. Absolutely so. And to the listeners out there we appreciate you as well. We want to thank you for spending your most valuable asset with us which is your time. Thanks everyone. Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of the form.

Speaker 1

48:26

 Adversity to abundance podcast. If you're enjoying the show, please feel free to rate, subscribe and leave a review wherever you.

Speaker 2

48:33

 Listen to your podcasts, that helps others find the show, and we greatly appreciate.

Speaker 1

48:37

 It. Thanks again for.

Speaker 2

48:39

 Listening and we will catch you in the next episode.