Intro:
Drew: Hey team. Welcome to the Fit2Fat2Fit Experience Podcast. I’m your host, Drew Manning from Fit2Fat2Fit.com.
Lynn: And I’m your cohost, Lynn Manning from 2fitathome.com.
Drew: We are grateful to be doing this Podcast and to be able to speak to you guys, through this avenue. We appreciate your guys support. For those of you who don’t know who we are …. most people actually don’t know me by, Drew Manning. Most people have heard of the Fit2Fat2Fit guy. This guy, a personal trainer, who got fat on purpose. It’s been all over the news. Basically in a nutshell, I am a New York Times best selling author. I wrote a book called, “Fit2Fat2Fit”, which is based off of my experience, where for 6 months I completely let myself go, you guys. I’ve been in shape my entire life. I grew up in a family of 11 brothers and sisters, and I never knew what it was like to be overweight. So, I decided to let myself go for the first time. 6 months, no exercise and an unrestricted diet. I ate a lot of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, macaroni and cheese, Mt Dew, white bread, white pastas, juices and granola bars. Those types of food, typical highly processed American foods. I ended up gaining 75 pounds in 6 months, went from 8 1/2% body fat to 32% body fat. It was crazy. I got a lot of media attention and then I lost the weight again in the next 6 months. So, it was a year long journey and that’s where most people know me from, is from my website and my crazy journey with Fit2Fat2Fit.com and my New York Times best selling book, “Fit2Fat2Fit.” My wife, Lynn, who you guys are going to get to know really well, I’ll let her introduce herself.
Lynn: I’m gonna keep it short. I don’t want to scare people with too much information after that. So, we are going to talk a little bit about ourselves today, actually. That’s what the whole purpose of this first episode is about. Really, really briefly about me. I have a website, it’s 2fitathome.com, that’s the number 2 fit at home.com. I’m a women’s fitness specialist, certified through NASM, the National Academy of Sports Medicine. I specifically only work with women. You’ll learn a little bit more about why that is, as I know it was one of the questions that was listed here that people wanted to know about me. A mother of two and I am a ‘foodie’. I grew up in a family that loved food. For me, I live by the moto, “It’s not nutritious, if it doesn’t get eaten.”
Drew: Tell them about how you guys ate pie for breakfast growing up. *laughing*
Lynn: *laughing* I did grow up where, you know, we might eat pie for breakfast, along with other delicious desserts. I mean, if you saw how my family ate growing up, it may be how you ate growing up. So, it was pretty good.
Drew: So you guys will get a good balance of me, I am more of the health nut, but with a unique perspective from my Fit2Fat2Fit experience. Then Lynn, who is a foodie. She’s not your typical women’s fitness fanatic.
Lynn: I would just say, I’m normal. And in the fitness world, it’s hard to find us. *laughing*
Drew: Exactly. Ok you guys, so for this episode, we just want you to get to know us a little bit better, like Lynn said. So what we did is, we actually polled our followers and asked them what were the questions that they wanted to ask us, or they wanted us to answer. And we are going to answer just two of the top questions for each of us.
Lynn: Yeah, we chose the questions that we really felt would kind of bring to light the basics for us. We really feel like you’ll get to know us a lot better as the episodes go on. The main question, of course for Drew, kind of going into the Fit2Fat2Fit experience is, “Why did you do it and what did you learn?”
Drew: Why I did it …. that’s probably the number one question I get asked all the time. So, there were three main reasons. One was because I felt like I needed to gain a better understanding of what it was like to be overweight for the first time in my life, because I never knew any different. So I felt like, for whatever reason, the idea of getting fat on purpose you guys, made sense in my mind. Like it felt like something I needed to do, this was like a calling that I needed to do in my life to gain this better understanding. The second reason was because I wanted to inspire people in a totally backwards sort of way, a totally unique way to inspire people. I figured, ‘Hey, this just might work’ and it did by the way. It did inspire people to embrace a healthier lifestyle change, despite its craziness. The third reason was because I wanted to show people just how unhealthy the typical American diet really is. We have all seen ‘Super Size Me.’ Morgan Spurlock ate McDonalds for 30 days straight, and almost died, right? I think most people know that fast food isn’t healthy for us, but I wanted to focus on everyday food that maybe a lot of us don’t think are that unhealthy for us. Things like white bread or white pasta, or juices or granola bars. Even some salads or smoothies, those kinds of things. Yeah, I did have a lot of sugary cereal and soda, but those are the types of foods I focused on. Now, getting into what I learned you guys.
Lynn: That could probably be a whole episode in itself. *laughing*
Drew: Yeah, this could be a whole episode in and of itself. But basically, in a nutshell, this was a very humbling process. It was way harder than I ever imagined. The biggest thing I learned, or the biggest think I took away was, how much of this journey for me was mental and emotional. That led to me realizing how much of transformation for other people is mental and emotional. Whereas before, all I focused on as a trainer was the physical side of weight loss. I couldn’t connect with people on that mental and emotional level because, I had never been there before. And that’s what I struggled with and that’s why there was such a disconnect between me and my clients. Because I couldn’t understand why it was so hard for them to just stop drinking soda, or just to stop eating the junk food. You know, for me it was so easy, look you just don’t eat that food, you go to the gym. How hard could it be? Until I did this journey and saw how powerful the emotional connection to food really is. It was a truly eye opening experience. I have zero regrets, because at the end of the day, I’m a better man because of what I did and I’m a better trainer. I can better relate to people and people can better relate to me. People used to tell me, you were just another trainer with a six pack and it was very un-relatable to the the majority of Americans. And now I’ve had so many people telling me, we feel like we can relate to you better because you kind of came to the dark side, if you will, for a little bit. My eyes were open, let’s just say that. Did I answer your question? *laughing* That was kind of long winded. Lynn fell asleep over here, I think. *laughing* Because she has heard me tell that like a hundred times.
Lynn: No, no, no! *laughing* Ok, maybe I did fall asleep a little bit, yeah.
Drew: Ok, so a question for Lynn now. And this is funny. “Why did you let Drew do his Fit2Fat2Fit journey?” Like seriously, what’s wrong with you, why would you let me do this? *laughing*
Lynn: I really enjoyed this question when I read it. Because I mean, it was obviously posed by either a very, very, very intelligent man or a woman because, let’s be honest ….
Drew: *laughing* Most likely a woman.
Lynn: Because just the way it’s phrased like, “Why did you let him?” I mean we know it had to pass the wife test. So, I just love that.
Drew: *laughing* Oh, touche’.
Lynn: I love that. But seriously, he did obviously come up and ask me. He shared, ‘Hey, I’m thinking of doing this.’ First of all, I thought it was crazy that he would ever do that. He was obsessed with working out. But to be honest, my first thought was, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m pregnant. This sounds amazing, I love food and good food is never in this house because Drew won’t let donuts even cross over the threshold of our door.’ So the joking part of me always tells people, I was pregnant, this was like perfect timing for me. But the truth is, aside from that and that is actually a small component of why I let him do it. Because I really was excited for the good food myself. The other part of me, on a really serious level, was I thought it would be good for him. It was hard for me, like Drew said, I grew up in a family of foodies. I did grow up sometimes eating pie for breakfast and we definitely weren’t the most nutritious family. For us, food is a love language and it still is today. It’s hard for me a lot of times, if somebody is having a good day or bad day, a lot of times the first thing I think of is getting them their favorite treat. For me, it’s just like a comfort thing. So it was hard to be married to somebody who was so strict in their eating habits and so obsessed with health and wellness. I felt it was unhealthy, almost to the point to where he was obsessed. I like to joke around and tell this funny story and he hates it.
Drew: *laughing*
Lynn: But I knew he was like literally in the worst way possible, when we were watching a movie with friends. We’re all eating popcorn and they so nicely bring him a bowl of carrots, like “We know you don’t eat popcorn, but here’s some carrots.” And he just looks at the bowl and he’s like, ‘You know, I don’t really eat carrots because they are a high starch vegetable.’ And I literally think in that moment, my face turned bright red. And I just thought, I don’t really know this man, I mean, I don’t. *laughing*
Drew: *laughing* Everybody knows that carrots are a little starchy. And when you are trying to get a six-pack, you just can’t do that. That’s how bad it was.
Lynn: *laughing* Yeah, yeah, no. He eats carrots now, see, that’s how bad he was. And so for me, it was two-fold. Yes, I was pregnant. Yes, I did want eat some of those foods in the house. But really, I really wanted him to have that experience. I thought if he really could do it, if he could kind of see what it’s like to emotionally eat, if he could see what it’s like to crave those types of foods like I have experienced, that he might have a better understanding and relate more to his clients.
Drew: Did my big belly ever bother you?
Lynn: No, but your personality while you had your big belly and you were whining all the time bugged me. Remember that time you asked me to rub lotion on your belly?
Drew: Nope, I don’t remember that.
Lynn: You don’t remember that?
Drew: Nope, didn’t happen.
Lynn: Are we not supposed to talk about that? *laughing*
Drew: That’s a little bit too personal. *laughing*
Drew: Just kidding, I did ask you one time.
Lynn: Twenty times.
Drew: Ok, now it’s your turn to ask a question to me.
Lynn: Alright, so then the other question that a lot of people asked was, “How do you train people differently?” Now that you went through this experience and you say that your a changed person, what’s really changed, especially in your training methods?
Drew: Here’s the thing. You could give somebody the best meal plan, the best trainer, the best workout ever, and none of that would matter if the person didn’t understand how to overcome the mental and emotional challenges. For me, before as a trainer, I could only relate to people on that physical level. Look, exercise more, eat less, how hard is it? I would focus so much more on the physical aspects of weight loss. So, meal plans and workouts and those kinds of things, which are important, don’t get me wrong. We still need to exercise and eat healthy, but that’s not the key to successfully transforming. Because the journey is so much more mental and emotional. So, now as a trainer, you guys, I focus so much more on that mental and emotional side. And that’s kind of what my book goes into, is the mental and emotional side of weight loss. You could find meal plans and workouts almost anywhere. You could get a trainer anywhere, but that’s not the key. I think most people know, ‘Oh yes, I do need to eat healthy and I do need to exercise.’ That’s not the thing that people struggle with, the knowledge of that. It’s more so things like, having a support system or being accountable to somebody. Or how do you overcome cravings when you have a stressful day? Or what do you do when you are by yourself and someone brings over a plate of cookies? Those are the kind of things that I focus on now as a trainer. So I help people find a support group, because no matter who you are, you’re going to struggle with motivation along your journey. You have to have somebody to be accountable to. Now what I do as a trainer, is yes I do provide people with meal plans and workouts, but the majority of my time is focused on helping them overcome their mental and emotional challenges. They are different for each person. So, to answer that question, in a nutshell, is I focus so much more on the mental and emotional side because now I understand that side of it. Whereas before, I couldn’t relate to people. That’s the way I focus now as a trainer, is that empathy side of helping people overcome their mental and emotional challenges. Because now I can finally say, ‘Look, I know where you’re coming from. I know how bad it sucks to stop eating
Cinnamon Toast Crunch and stop drinking Mt. Dew.’ Because I finally went through that and was humbled and saw it from the other side.
Lynn: He’s a much better trainer. I can actually admit that first hand seeing him with clients. He’s a lot more patient. He’s a lot more understanding and he learned some additional tips and tricks that really helped with cravings and emotional eating and things like that.
Drew: Yeah. And one other thing, you guys. I don’t pretend to know exactly what it’s like. I don’t want you guys to think, “Oh yeah, now Drew thinks he knows what it’s like because he was overweight for 6 months.” Look, I don’t even pretend to know exactly what it’s like. All I know is for me, I can say I have a better understanding. So I don’t want you guys to think that, “Oh, so you think you know what it’s like?” No, I don’t know what’s it like.
Lynn: It’s basically like he semi-knows what it’s like to be pregnant. Because I went through 9 months of it and it was awful.
Drew: Yeah, there you go, there you go. Kind of like those men …. have you ever seen those men that strap on those devices where it puts them through like a pregnancy, those type of pains that are somewhat similar? Have you seen those?
Lynn: Yeah, I mean you didn’t have a baby or anything, I don’t want to give you too much of that.
Drew: No, I know. *laughing*
Lynn: I’m just saying, it was a short lived process, just like pregnancy. Except you know, I had a real baby and you had a food baby.
Drew: Exactly. Ok. Moving on you guys. Last question for Lynn, which was submitted. “Why do you specifically work with women and what’s the biggest tip you give to your female clients?” So, in other words, why do you hate men so much you only want to help women, as a women’s fitness specialist? *laughing*
Lynn: *laughing* I don’t help men. I don’t do it. That’s actually a funny question. I’m not a hater. I don’t hate men, but I do love women, ok? It’s just different. I think …. I think the women out there listening can understand this a little bit. The truth is, I think I was always a little bit bitter towards how men were physically. For a couple of reasons, for one it seems like men could just think ‘I want to lose weight’, and then instantly lose weight. Verses a woman, who works her ‘a’ off trying to lose weight and it’s a hard, long progress. Put a husband and wife on the same program, the husband loses like twice as much weight in half the amount of time. So for me, I feel like there was a little bit of a sensitive spot for that. Also, you know, just how women are treated in society because of weight. I feel like even for myself, I always thought there was a double standard. If a guys big, a lot of time his friends are patting him on the back, “You are just husky, you’re a football player, like big boned.” You know? But people don’t say that to women. We live in this society where I feel like women have to wear makeup and do their hair and be a size 6 and if not, then they are judged or scrutinized. People don’t go up to a woman and complimentary wise say, “Oh, you are just big boned.” My heart would always go out because of that, you know? And I myself have been several sizes bigger than I am now. I just remember during different stages of my life feeling really insecure about my body. For me, when I decided to kind of dive in to the health and wellness industry, which seems very unlike me since I am a foodie and I’m not this huge fitness enthusiast. It was really more to help women. It was really more to connect with them and try to see what I could do to try to help women to love themselves more. Not necessarily lose weight, just to become healthier and love themselves more. I felt like weight loss would be a byproduct of living that healthier lifestyle. So, I became certified as a women’s fitness specialist. One of the parts I loved was, in my education actually realizing and understanding why physiologically it is harder for women to lose weight. So that’s something I talk about. I’d say as far as like my biggest tip for women, it would be talking a little bit about the science of why it is harder for us to lose weight. Reducing that all or nothing mentality. Letting them know it’s not always going to be easy and you don’t always have to be perfect. That doing a little bit at a time, over time, is still going to give you amazing success. And to focus on loving yourself the entire process, no matter where you’re at. Because you will see more results and you’ll be happier along the way. I know people that are size 2 or 4 that are not happy. So lets focus on being happy and loving yourself first and everything else will kind of take care of itself.
Drew: Exactly. And just to kind of follow that up, and I really appreciate what she does for women. Because in my opinion, it is harder …. society is harder on women. But now getting back to the whole idea around why are we doing this Podcast. My whole philosophy and our philosophy is …. our goal isn’t to help people lose weight or get a six-pack. Because just because you are skinny or just because you are losing weight, doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re becoming healthier. Our main goal is to get people to focus on medical help first and then have weight loss or a six pack be a byproduct of living that healthy lifestyle over time. There’s a bunch of 60 day – 90 day programs out there, but our goal is to get people to embrace a healthier lifestyle over time and we want people to have their health first. That’s one of the things that you will hear from us on this Podcast, as we bring on a lot of great guests. So basically, what we want to do with this Podcast is to bring on some very, very interesting individuals. Not only in the fitness industry, but many different industries. You guys are going to hear from a lot of people. Celebrities and people in the TV industry, specifically reality TV industry, that we have connections with. You are going to get to know these people on a very personal level and bring out the things that are relatable to you and applicable to you. That will help you better your life physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually even. Your really going to love the people that we’re going to have on the show. The majority of this will be interview based but, we will do a few episodes where we do provide free content for you guys. We would love to hear your guys ideas of things or topics you want us to cover.
Lynn: Yeah, because you guys, knowledge is everything, you know? We really want to help you reach your health and wellness goals. We really want to help you become healthy, love yourself and reach those fitness goals that you’ve been working towards. Through these episodes, whether its when we’re interviewing someone or we’re talking about maybe a diet trend. Or we’re talking about any type of health or wellness topic that we think could be applicable to you, it’s all under the foundation of helping you achieve those goals and learn more so you can find out what works for you. Because I will tell you right now, there is not one program that works for everyone. There’s not one diet that works for everyone. So, until you know all the science and facts and you try some different things out and you hear more about what maybe could work for you verses someone else, it becomes harder. That’s what we are here for, we’re here to make it easier. Hopefully it’s a little entertaining and enjoyable on the way too. Yeah, definitely let us know the topics you want us to discuss, the people you’d like us to interview. We’re here for you, to help you grow.
Outro:
Drew: Ok, before we close you guys. We want to tell you about a few things that are coming up, that are big. I can’t talk about a lot of the details of this one specific thing, but I can let you guys know that there is a TV show that is going to be happening. It will be on A&E network. It will be happening in January and that’s pretty much all that I can tell you. It’s a guaranteed thing.
Lynn: It’s amazing.
Drew: *laughing* It’s going to be so cool.
Lynn: *laughing* It’s really cool.
Drew: It’s so new and unique. There is no other TV show like it. It’s going to be awesome. Yes, I am involved with it. I do have a role on the show. And no, it’s not Survivor or anything crazy, or Dating Naked or these weird Naked and Afraid shows. *laughing*
Lynn: *laughing*
Drew: But, it will be very, very interesting.
Lynn: Naked and Exercising! No it’s not, it’s really not. *laughing* It’s not!
Drew: *laughing* No, no we’re not ready for that yet.
Lynn: Oh my gosh, no one’s ever ready for that. *laughing*
Drew: So, stay in touch you guys and you will be able to hear more details about it as we move closer to January of 2016. The next thing is DollarWorkoutClub.com. That is launching actually this month. A really cool, unique project that we’re working on with Natalie Hodson.
Lynn: Who we will totally have to have on the show.
Drew: Yes, we will have her on the show. If you don’t know her, follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. She has a very large following, mostly women. We teamed up with her to launch this DollarWorkoutClub.com. You can actually go there now and sign up. It’s the pre-launch right now, its pre-launch phase. But we will be launching that in late September. Basically what it is, in a nutshell, is we are delivering five at home workout videos with us three demonstrating the workout videos, or doing the whole workouts with you. Five healthy, easy, quick recipes and five motivational, instructional videos each week. So 15 videos, all delivered for $1.00 per week.
Lynn: I know right? Isn’t that crazy?
Drew: Super affordable. Similar to the Dollar Shave Club mentality, same kind of thing. Same kind of approach.
Lynn: But better because your not paying shipping and handling.
Drew: Exactly. No shipping and handling, just $1.00 a week. Five new workout videos, five recipe videos and five motivational videos. Check it out right now. DollarWorkoutClub.com, launching this month. And that’s it you guys. That’s our first Podcast, not too scary, not too crazy right? We really appreciate it and we hope you guys enjoyed this episode. If you guys did, then please subscribe to us on ITunes and please leave a review. We read all of those and we’d love to hear from you.
Lynn: Yeah, leave your comments. We’re going to respond back to everybody and like Drew said, make sure that you subscribe to our ITunes, because we have some really amazing Podcasts that are coming up. Just even next week, we are launching one that you will not want to miss. And go ahead and sign up for our newsletters if you’d like, at Fit2Fat2Fit.com or 2fitathome.com. And you can follow us on our social media outlets. All of Drew’s are @Fit2Fat2Fit and all of mine are @2fitathome. We are way excited to hopefully bring you guys some great content and we will talk to you guys soon.
Drew: Aloha. See you guys next time.
Social Media
Drew Manning
Instagram: Fit2Fat2Fit
Twitter: @Fit2Fat2Fit
Facebook: Fit2Fat2Fit
Lynn Manning
Instagram: 2fitathome
Twitter: @2fitathome
Facebook: 2fitathome
Resources:
Fit2Fat2Fit Book
DollarWorkoutClub.com
Super Size Me Documentary – Morgan Spurlock
“Episode Recap”
Welcome to the very first Fit2Fat2Fit Experience Podcast. In Episode One, Lynn and Drew answer the most common questions they receive on a daily basis. They also share with us their unique perspective on health and wellness and the important part our mentality and emotions play in our overall health. They also stress the importance of learning to love ourselves and how all of these components come together to help us in working our way to a healthier lifestyle. They include, as well, information on the interviews and episodes we have to look forward to in the upcoming Podcasts.
