Hello. Hi everybody and welcome to the fit to fat to fit experience podcast. I’m your host, drew Manning. Thank you guys so much for joining us today on the fit to fat to fit experience podcast today. We have an amazing episode with Shawntee from insanity. Everybody knows who Shawn is. He, he’s a very successful entrepreneur who has built a brand around his fitness DVDs. He has his own fitness podcast, super inspiring guy. And you guys are honestly going to love this, this episode because he is so open and vulnerable during this episode. You guys, you really get to know him and, and feel how genuine he is in today’s episode. We cover things like him growing up, being sexually abused as a kid and how that affected him and has actually helped him and made him stronger. He opens up about being a proud, openly gay married man and he’s happy with who he is and you can feel it in his voice. Like to hear him talk about is is awesome. And, uh, we also talk about how he has his own fit to fat to fit story, where instead of gaining the freshman 15, he gained a freshman 50 believe it or not. So it kind of opens up and talks about that and what he learned.
And he also talks about his upcoming new TV show that comes out in January. So that’s kind of exciting.
Yup. And so we really think you’re going to enjoy today’s episode, but first our show sponsors, today’s episode is brought to you by dollar workout club.com.
So dollar workout club.com you guys, you get five at home workouts that you can do at any fitness level. So we show beginner, intermediate, and advanced. There are about 10 to 20 minutes long designed to be high intensity and burn fat. You get five healthy recipe videos, you get five motivation fitness tip videos and you get them each week. All for just a dollar. There’s no hidden fees, there’s no longterm contracts. Just a buckwheat.
Yup. So check it out. A dollar workout club.com. Our next show sponsor is highly [inaudible] dot com. H Y L E T E. highlight is a fitness apparel company that we love, honestly, um, the quality of their clothing. Uh, their workout shorts, their workout shirts, their socks are some of the highest quality I’ve ever purchased. And uh, my favorite apparel of theirs is their shorts, so they’re so functional, I can use them for CrossFit, I can use them for running, I can use them for swimming. Uh, their, the dry fit material, they have pockets down the size of the hip. So you can put your phone, it’s perfect for any smartphone. You can put your phone in there and it stays tight to your hip. So pretty much you can do a full CrossFit workout or you can go for a run with your phone in your pocket.
You know, in case you want to snap a selfie of yourself, you know, doing burpees or pull ups or while you’re running. Right. And it’s not juggling around, it’s not shaking around. It stays, stays tight to your hip. You could be doing burpees and pull ups and it’s not going to get in the way. Um, they have, these are some of the lastest, some of the longest lasting, uh, fitness apparel that I’ve ever purchased. Um, I still have shorts from two, three years ago, whereas this other stuff that I bought from authority tends to wear out, you know, within six months to eight months it starts to fade and
yeah, and for the, you women out there, they’re capris are the only ones that I wear their workout capris because they actually stay on, you know, when you squat and sometimes your pants come down, that doesn’t happen here. So highly.com/fit to fat to fit. We’ll put that in the show notes. If you use that, you can get up to 50% off your [inaudible].
Yep. So check it out@haile.com forward slash fit to fat to fit for exclusive pricing. All right, let’s jump into today’s episode and get right into it with Shanti. All right, Sean, thank you so much for joining us here on the fit to fat to fit experience podcast. How are you doing today?
Doing a wonderful, it’s so nice to be talking to you guys and you know, we haven’t seen each other in a while, so it’s time to stop and get, uh, get our talk.
Exactly man. And that’s what I kind of want to start out with is just let people know how you and I met because I love telling the story of how we met. We were on the piers Morgan show on CNN and I think the premise behind the episode with, with peers is he wanted to bring in all these fitness professionals, right? So, uh, I think there was like 10 of us right on the show that that one, one hour episode and we’re all in the green room chatting it up. And to be honest with you, Sean, you are the only dude that I recognized. I mean I’ve heard of these other people, but like I saw you, I’m like and insanity. What’s up man? And we started talking and we hit it off and it was really cool, man. I, and that’s I think was like what, two years ago,
I instantly got a text message. You will not believe who I talked to. Oh my gosh.
Because, um, I think the difference with, you know, I think the other people who were on there, they had names what they were products, you know, like they’re, they’ve kind of sold products or classes where, you know, we are the product of our product. So I think that that’s what the difference was. Hold on skies.
Yeah. Hold on
Scott.
Gotcha.
Hello.
See right now, geez, he’s trying to [inaudible]
I had some girl scout cookies or, you know,
that’d be hilarious. That’d be great. That’d be freaking awesome.
Get me some Samoas please. Alright, sorry about that. That’s okay.
Um, you know, it was interesting because we had a product that, a product, and so I remember I, when you came out with that YouTube, um, I call you a YouTube sensation of how you actually gained weight and then lost it again. I thought it was just an amazing premise of new acting, leading by example, just to kind of put yourself in everyone’s shoes with, made you really trustworthy. This is why I respect you so much. So, and you’re really cool and yeah.
Yes,
dude. I, that’s why I love you Shawn. Man. You keep it real. And that was, that’s what’s cool is you had heard about my fit to fat to fit journey and I didn’t have explain it to you. And I think I feel like it’s always awkward when I have to explain to people, well, you know, I gained 75 pounds on purpose, then I lost it. And people are looking at me like, why would you do that? Like you’re crazy. I don’t want to talk to you, you know, but, uh, you had already heard of my story and, and uh, felt an instant connection. So I appreciate you coming on the show, man. And we, we love having leaders in the fitness industry, uh, come on our podcast, like we’ve had Chris and Heidi Powell from extreme weight loss and, uh, and now we have you, um, and, and first of all, you know, I know 99.9% of people out there know you, but can you tell us a little bit about your background, like where you grew up, what kind of household you grew up in, and like a little bit about how you were raised so we can kind of connect the dots to how you got to be mr insanity.
You know, Shawn T the one that everybody knows.
Yeah, absolutely. So, um, thanks. First of all, I have you on the show. And then, you know, I grew up, I grew up in Jersey and kind of a single parent household and I mean, I had a stepfather, but that’s a whole nother situation. So, but we grew up like, uh, I mean we grew up, we didn’t have a lot of money, but my mom was amazing and what she did was, um, she made sure that my brother and I got really good grades and she was extremely strict, but she also allowed us to play sports and kind of do the things that we wanted to do as kids growing up. And, uh, it was, it was kind of pretty cool. I was pretty, um, I was a pretty shy kid. Believe it or not, most people know me as like this allow and crazy person screaming at them to dig deeper.
But I was actually really shy. Um, and you know, in my early years of life, I went through four years of sexual or sexual abuse as a kid. And so, um, I really kind of closed, closed off to the world and went into a shell, just literally like a turtle. I was just like, I don’t want, I didn’t trust people. I didn’t want to talk to people. Um, because the person that, uh, molested me, if you will, was someone who was supposed to be, you know, kind of someone I looked up to in a, in a, in a, an icon to me as a kid, you know, so, um, but I went through that and then I made the decision at 14 years old. Um, I made a decision at 14 years old that I wanted to, I have found a way to move out of my house to get out of that toxic environment.
And I think that was like kind of the first, that was the first step to me kinda trusting and believing in who I am. And even though it was a really tough challenge and a decision to make, I did it for the betterment of me and ultimately really for my family as well. That’s kind of a long story. But anyways, so, you know, at 14 years old, um, I, I really felt like that’s when I was born and you know, I got to high school and I became, you know, more outgoing and fun and I, you know, I ran track and play football and I actually, I didn’t play football in high school. I played football as a kid, but I ran tracking and I loved it. And in track and it’s really all about using your body to perform to your best capabilities. And so I’m just doing that and I was a 400 meter hurdler and I, and I made a promise to myself that once I started training, I would never run slower than I ran the last race. Like every race I would run faster and faster and faster. And you know, I kinda carry that into my college years. But at one point like you drew where you got fat on purpose. I didn’t know.
Yeah, I was going to talk to you about this cause a lot of people might not know that you were, you were overweight at one point in time, right? Yeah. A lot of people, a lot of people don’t know this. I know, cause you told me.
Yeah. So, well here you go.
No, so I’m in college. Instead of getting the freshman 15 I gained, I gained 50 pounds the first year and it wasn’t from drinking alcohol, it was really from, you know, we grew up on food stamps and government assistance. So for us food was like, you know, you didn’t really have seconds, you know. And so I got to college and I got this food card, you know, that that food card that they give you. And I was like,
yeah, left and right and I, no, you can use it again.
Dominoes at two o’clock in the morning,
a brother was going in to am pizza.
Right. You know what I’m saying? So, so you’re not gaining weight. And one day I looked in the mirror and I was just like, it was, it was different. It wasn’t necessarily all about how I looked. I just didn’t feel like I was myself. Especially having had a scholarship to college for track and field and not taking that scholarship. That’s okay. Academic scholarship instead. And, and just, you know, I started my fitness journey there and I started riding on a treadmill for 10 minutes a day. And that’s all I did for, that’s all I did for like, I think like a month. And then I started adding, lifting and, and then I fell in love with fitness and I started teaching classes and I changed my major to sports science. And so I started to lose weight and I started teaching classes. And I really, I remember the first time, you know, a 40 year old man came up to my 19 year old self and said, you know, you changed my life. And I was like, what are you talking about? Like you’re old, you know what I mean? But almost almost 38 40 is not old, but at the time,
yeah. And so I know it’s funny, but,
um, and then I just said to myself, I want to do this for the rest of my life because if people could feel, if they could just feel good about who they are, you know, forget about the aesthetics, like what you look like. If you can just start to feel good about who you are and what you are and trusting, believe in who you are, then you could, you really have the foundation to believe and achieve in everything you do. So, and then, um, I moved to LA, I graduated college. I, you know, I’ve worked in a corporate world for a while and then I moved to LA and I also have a whim. Me and my brother jumped into my Ford focus and we drove all the way across country from Jersey to LA. And you know, I said goodbye to my brother and I was just like, I’m going to try.
And he was like, you know, you can do it. Cause I went to really just be a professional dancer because I love dancing. And I was like, if I don’t do it this age, then I’m never going to do it. So I was teaching fitness and um, at Equinox and then, um, a producer from Beachbody saw me. I was like, Oh my God, your class is awesome. Do you want to try and make a fitness workout? And I was like, hell yeah, let’s do it. But I’m so it was amazing. Um, I know you could ask a lot of questions. I’m giving you guys a cliff note version because the story is very long. Um, you know, but that’s how I kinda got into beach body and how started with my first program, hip hop ads and so, and here we are today, you know, that was 10 years ago. Um, it’s actually 10 years ago, November where I got approached or, and I got my first track to go into Beachbody. So it’s pretty fun,
man. That’s so cool. Yeah, that’s amazing. I um, I didn’t know that you were such a good dancer. I didn’t actually know that you started with hip hop ads, but I was just laughing to myself, imagining myself trying to do it cause I dance like Elaine from Seinfeld. Have you ever seen that episode where Elaine from Seinfeld is dancing? It’s pretty bad. I took Zoomba once and the instructor came up to me afterwards and she looked at me and she just smiled and she’s like, Oh, that was sweet. I was like, what? What does this mean? What does this mean
in my dance class? I’m like, if I go right and you go left, then you keep on going left because eventually you’ll catch on.
I love it. I love it.
That’s you man. No, but I love your story, Sean. Like going back, there’s so many things we could talk about and we could make this into a five hour episode, but I appreciate you being so honest and open about, you know, growing up and the trials that you went through being sexually abused. Cause there’s people out there who have been that don’t want to talk about it or don’t know other people that have been through it. But I feel like great people come from hard things in life like that. Like sexually abuse, like being sexually abused. I feel like there’s a, it happens to a lot of people. I don’t know the stats on it, but I know what happens to a lot of people, but some of the greatest people I know in my life have come from some kind of hard trial like that.
And so I appreciate you being open and vulnerable and talking about that. Cause I’m sure there’s some people that can connect with you there. And to see how you’ve thrived in your life I think will provide people a lot of inspiration. Cause it’s, you know, here on our podcast and your podcast, I know that it’s not just about how to get a six pack and you know how to lose fat. Like that’s cool. And all we know like people, that’s what people kind of want. But ultimately people want to be loved, they want to be happy about who they are. Um, and so I feel like, um, we’re kind of on the same page there as far as that goes. But anyways, fast forwarding to you beach body. So you got approached, uh, you, you, I didn’t know that you lived in LA. You, you live currently live in Arizona though, right? Yes.
So we live in Arizona now. Um, I actually, I moved to LA, I think I told you that, but, um, and then I moved back to New York in 2000 I moved back to New York part time in 2008. So I have my place in, um, in LA. And then in 2010 is when I met my amazing husband Scott in New York city, which, um, which is like amazing. And he kept me in New York cause I was like about to be out. I was like, it’s cold here. Like I’m just not in the mood. And so, um, yeah. Then we ended up, after getting married, we moved to Arizona and it’s so nice and peaceful. You guys should come hang out with me.
Hey, you guys should come hang out with,
but we’re stuck here in Hawaii unfortunately for the next six months. Yeah. Did you know we’re calling from Hawaii. We live here now. I didn’t know that.
My business manager did tell me. And um, well I guess we’ll come there whenever you guys [inaudible]
you guys are officially Arizona’s nice too cause it’s warm. But I mean, you could just, we literally live across from the beach. Like you could see the beach from our place. You might want to just rub it. I’m just saying.
No, we love Arizona too, man. Um, but, uh, but anyways, yeah, we appreciate you telling me this is store. So you guys are in Arizona now, now you’ve been with Beachbody 10 years, right? Yes.
It’s so funny. I just thought about that as I’m sitting here talking to you guys. I have to post something about that today. Be fun.
Yeah. To throw back Thursday, right? 10 years ago. So, so what has it been like working for Beachbody? You’ve been with them 10 years. Um, can you talk about things that you’ve enjoyed and maybe some things that maybe you haven’t enjoyed or you, some things you’ve learned that are different about the industry. Can you talk a little bit details about maybe the pros and cons, if you will, if you think that’s safe?
Oh, please.
Okay.
You know, I started on this journey and I accepted to go into Beachbody because, um, I was always under the impression that if you can help change one person’s life, you, you know, you kind of have done your duties in the world. And so when I first accepted, when I first got my contract to work for these body, you know, the agency I was with told me that, you know, my, my, the program, I was going to create network and work because it’s an infomercial. And so, you know, it was kind of very discouraging. And then so I was just like, well, I’m sure there will be one person that decides that they want to do my little workout video and I’m sure they’re going to lose weight. And so that’s the only reason why I decided to continue to move forward. It was just like,
someone’s going to benefit from this, you know, and I think all fitness product someone will benefit from, so it’s all worth it. And, um, and so, you know, hip hop ads is a great success. And then I did rocket and body and then I did. And then I moved into insanity, which you all know. Um, and then, and then asylum and then T 25 and so it, so the greatness has been just constantly being able to enhance people’s lives, you know, cause that’s like, that’s, it’s always, it’s always go back to that. Like that’s the reason why I started this in the first place. So that’s the constant pro to this whole situation. Every day the people I get to talk to on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or, or via Periscope or whatever it is. Um, the only cons that come with it is, you know, I think sometimes like when you work with a big company like that, like people that kind of puts you on a pedestal that you don’t really need to be on.
You know, I don’t walk outside being like, you know, I’m Shaun T so I should be. Yeah. Cause I, and I’m just a human, like I’m literally just a human, like I wake up, you know what I’m saying? I eat, I go to the bathroom, I got, I got to go back to God. Isn’t it a surprise? Crazy. You’re not me. So desktop, I think that’s the thing. It’s like I’m just a human, like I don’t, I’m, I’m not, you know, no one person is better than the other. And so I think sometimes like people really dissect, you know, Oh, well he’s, you know, drinking that or he’s eating that or, you know, and I’m just like, I’m doing okay me. You know what I’m saying? You do, you and I’m doing me. And just know that when I wake up every day, my whole goal, my only goal is to help enhance people’s lives and into other pro about this whole situation is actually seeing, you know, people change their lives or even people like you guys.
It’s just like really fun to be around and inspired by people who are constantly wanting to, wanting to better themselves. Because even myself, I mean, I have days where I’m like, you know what, I’m going to eat a cheese steak and [inaudible] care. But you know, I don’t know what I’m saying. I don’t stay in the cheese. Well, because you know, when I do interact with a fan or another fitness expert, you know, I get the motivation right back to say, okay, this is why you need to stay on this journey. So, um, yeah, but I think that’s the thing. And then, um, the other thing, the only other con that I feel being in this industry, especially working, you know, with a company like Beachbody is that you are, you kind of get a lot of overuse injuries on your body because of the development of programs.
So, you know, when you, when you’re just doing a workout every day you, you warm up, you do to work out, you cool down, you stretch or whatever, where sometimes when I’m developing a workout, it takes so long to develop in, you know, you’re kind of like doing different exercises. So you might jump 10 times here and you might talk about it and your body is not at a constant motion. It’s kinda just kind of in and out of movement. And so you’re like, Oh, dag, I’m sore. Or, you know, you just gotta get these like different ailments, you know, from, from the creation process. And I think that’s what I think I want people to know like when myself or any other Beachbody trainer, I mean I can’t really talk for them, but when any other trainer in general puts together a workout video of sorts, it is a lot of work physically and mentally and emotionally and it’s really draining. And for me, if you watch my DVDs, even from hip hop ads, I come off very first one. It’s like my thing, like I don’t really care about the actual exercise that you’re doing. I care about the fact that you want to do it and you’re internally motivated and inspiring, inspire. So when I’m talking to the camera, like in hip hop as I was cutting up like, Oh
[inaudible]
right Sandy, I’m like, you’re right. They’re like, I have so many different things going through my head. So the, the con is like the emotional, mental and physical stress it puts on your body. But obviously at the end of the day it makes it all worth it because, sure. Oh. But I mean like, you know, best like anyone’s job, you know, anyone’s job, they might love what they do, but it comes with stressors and, and, and it comes with like some, some challenges. And so you just kind of find your way to keep moving.
Yeah. And a couple of things I can relate to you on that. Like there’s so much that goes on behind the scenes, mentally, emotionally, physically, uh, like you don’t know if your producer’s a jerk that day or is having a bad day or you’re having a bad day. Like you gotta be on point, you know, uh, high energy the whole time. And this is like, you know, even though it’s a 45 minute workout, it’s taking you five, six hours to, you know, film it the right angles. Let’s do that again. This again, I can only imagine, man. And a couple of things going back to your point about, um, if you could only impact one person, it’s worth it. There’s always going to be haters out there telling you, Oh, this hip hop abs program program isn’t going to work because this, that, and that. You’re fit to have to fit is stupid cause you know you’re getting fat on purpose and no one’s going to be inspired by that. But I felt like for example, I can relate to you in that. I felt like if one person is changed by this for the better, to me it’s worth it to risk my body. You know, my, my body from my low body fat percentage to gain weight and lose it if, if, if one person is inspired to make a better lifestyle change. So I can totally relate to you on that.
Yeah. And like the thing that I love about following you on social media because I follow you on, on different social media accounts is that you’re not, yeah. Well and because you’re fun and funny and cute and stuff too. But I mean, what I love about you is you’re not the typical I the, the one thing that I have a really hard time in the industry and I think you painted a great
picture and I can really on so many levels is I’ve always struggled in this industry because I’m not a typical trainer. That’s like, you know, eat kale and do two hours of exercise. You know, I don’t feel like that’s necessarily going to make someone happy with who they are. You know, it’s not about the, it’s not necessarily about, like you said, the exercise, it’s not necessarily about the exact, you know, measure this out. You have to have exactly this much protein, carbs and fat at each meal during the day. It’s more about believing in yourself and loving yourself. And I love that you focus on that. Like you post so many positive, positive things for people about, you know, believing in themselves and overcoming hurdles and just pushing forward. And I feel like in our industry sometimes we miss that Mark, you know, what is your focus? Do you try to focus a lot on, you know, self-love or self-improvement, you know, and you, do you feel like you do that because of your history?
Yes. Oh, well thank you for the question. Thank you for following me on social media. I appreciate it. And yes, I do try to stay as positive as possible. Um, and sometimes I have to fix people too. You know what I’m saying? But I think for me like coming, I can wake up, you know, I’ve attempted this and this is going to be a very honest slash a vulnerable moment. Like I have attempted to write down every workout I’m going to do for the week and try to stick to, you know, the food that I’m going to eat. And I was just like, this is impossible. It’s impossible for me. You know, some people are very good regimented like that, but I’m so I realized in my life like I’m so spontaneous and I have to feel good about what I’m doing in the moment. So if if Sunday night I do a schedule and I’m like, Thursday I’m going to run three miles.
You know, Thursday I might feel like dancing because I was stressed out from Wednesday and I need to just relieve some emotion. And so kind of to answer your question and you can let me know if I’m answering this correctly or if I’m answering what you asked is like I completely stick to the emotional side or like the internal side of, of my motivation. It’s like, the thing that motivates me most is what is it that you want? And I think that everyone should ask themselves that question when they wake up in the morning. What is it that you want? You know, because if you find out what it is that you want in the beginning of the day, you immediately have a goal to go and attack that. And so, um, I just, there’s, I, I, it’s like I tell people all the time, I’m like, if you’re in the middle of doing 60 days of insanity and at day 34 you’re like, Shaunty I just, I’m not doing this anymore.
I’m like, I don’t care if you don’t do insanity. I’m like, just kidding. But what is it that you want, like switch to something that you are going to do that is going to make you happy? Because you know, insanity is not for everybody, you know, dances and for everybody. You know what I mean? Like, and, and, you know, we were saying earlier about how people, you know, gone from fit to fat to fit people. Like, Oh my God, I can’t believe you did that. I’m like, well, people say that about the shake weight too. And guess what?
Okay,
think about it. There’s a woman out there to got her arms tight and right from shaking that shake weight. So you know, don’t tell me what I need to do. And you know, the other thing with that whole thing is I also had to accept, now people are going to say, people might think what I’m about to say is like silly, but I also had to accept my body type because if I, if you look at each one of my workout programs, I look different in every single one of them. And you know, and that’s just proof that as you grow and get older and change, uh, your workout regimen or whatever or whatever’s going on in your life, your body is going to change with that. And I’m just like, you have to accept where you are today because the minute you try and be like X over there, you have extra stuff out of the equation. So be like you and, and you know, stay in your lane and switch lanes when you have to, but if you stay in your lane and be, you know, 100% authentic to who you are, then Oh my God. Like guys like the most amazing thing. Like don’t try to lose 50 pounds if you only need to lose 20 like be real cute at that sweating, you know?
Yeah. No, and I love that. That’s exactly that you answered it exactly how I wanted you to answer it because you know, if you look at the statistics of how many people start a program and how many people quit, sometimes for me that gets really discouraging and I think, you know, how are we missing the Mark? Like what can we say or do to make it a better experience for people? Is it simply that people and I, my opinion is that it’s a lot to do with people have a hard time being motivated, not because they don’t want it. I hate when people say they just don’t want it enough. Those people don’t want enough. They do want it. Most people just don’t believe in themselves or they’ve been through hardships or they’re depressed and they need like some type of motivation. And I think you hit it right on the head where maybe they start out in a program but then they wake up one morning and their body is kind of telling them, yeah, I don’t want to run five miles today.
I want to do yoga. And instead of, you know, quitting, you know, this is just for like everyone listening. Do yoga, you know, listen to your body. Like with my clients, yes, I give them a program, but I tell them, wake up every morning, thank your body and listen to it and just ask it, what do you want to do today? Like how do you want to move? And I’m like, and if your body says that it doesn’t want to do that workout and wants to go for a swim or it wants to dance or it wants to skip, wants to run through the sand, whatever your body wants to do, do it and love it.
Yeah, exactly. And one thing I’ve learned over the years and from doing fit fit to fit is you can’t hate your body enough to use that as long term fuel for motivation. You have to love your body first and foremost before you can make a lifestyle change. In my opinion, I used to be of the mindset, okay, you know, I’m going to be, you know, I hate this extra fat right here and this and that. And people use as as motivation, but it burns out really quickly and then, then they just end up hating their body no matter how perfect to get. They’re always critiquing every little thing. So if you can teach your mind to love your body first, um, I think that is, is what we’re trying to get people to do. So that along their journey, they’re still loving themselves along the way, no matter what they look like. It’s about how you feel right about yourself. And so there’s, there’s nothing sexier than confidence. Sorry, I didn’t mean to cut you off, but I just want to say it. There’s nothing sexier than confidence, no matter your size. So try and love yourself first before you, uh, you know, go and start a program or, or, uh, do something to make a lifestyle change.
Yes, I agree. And the reality is, you know, I dunno how it felt for you when you went from fit to fat to fit, but I do know that a lot of people still, you know, even if they lose a hundred pounds or whatever, how much they lose, they sometimes still see that that overweight person. And I’m like sometimes like people are like, I just wanna forget about the overweight person. And I, and I say, I’m like, uh, no, because sometimes you need to turn around and look because life is like a relay race. To me. It’s like if the, your first leg of that relay race was you being fat, then that fat person that you were or that overweight person that you were was the, was the first leg of your team and they helped you get to where you are today. And so you need to celebrate every milestone that you hit. And, um, you know, it just brings me, you were talking about just body and people looking at what they have on their body. And so my first podcast of 2016 for trust and believe is going to be about accepting yourself naked. And I went around the um, I went around town when I was in Atlanta, I was in a restaurant, I was everywhere asking people what they felt about themselves and how comfortable they were with being naked because my challenge is for people to just like walk around. But as,
yeah, of course
every, every man in America is like, I F I feel like all the women shouldn’t be on board with this. I feel like everybody should watch.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yes. It’s so funny. But um, which reminds me, I’m going to have to call you guys back and um, and record your answer to my questions about being Nicky cause I think it’d be really fun.
I have no problem. You will answer that question while we’re naked. How about that? That’ll be even better. And we’ll be like, how do I feel right now in the moment doing
that though, because you know, it really, I, you know, I post similar questions to my female clients. Like, you know what my goal is, I want you to feel comfortable in your skin. You know, and a lot of women do. They think it’s about the size. But yeah, they get to a size two but they don’t feel comfortable naked. They don’t really love themselves. They don’t really love their body. That’s such a power man. I love that. I love that you’re doing that. It’s powerful. Yeah. And you know I how open and intimate you are. So I’m kind of going to ask you something personal just cause I’ve really been curious about it and really admired you for this. So hopefully you don’t mind me getting kind of personal here, but you know, hearing about your story about you ever overcoming adversity, you know, you’re dealing with, you know, growing up in humble means dealing with sexual abuse and then seeing the prejudice that we’ve had to do with homosexuality in the, and then of course you being so prominent in the industry. Was that ever a huge hurdle for you to overcome? Did you feel like you had to hide that you were gay or was that never an issue for you since you had kind of already come overcome so much in your life?
Right. Thanks for the question. Oh my God. So, um, when I was 16 years old, I was sitting in my bedroom and I was kind of really stressed. I was really, I was really excelling at sports. I was pretty much, I was pretty good in academics. I was, you know, I was in a lot of organizations at school, but I was still very unhappy and I was sitting in my bedroom one day and I was just like, you know what, Sean? Like you have to, you have to just accept this. You have to accept who you are. And I got up and I walked into my bathroom and I turned on a light. I closed the door, I looked in a mirror and I said, you’re gay, you’re gay, you’re gay. I said it like 10 times. And when I walked out the bathroom and I shut out the light and I closed the door while I left the door open.
Cause when I left the door open. But when I said that F from that point forward I was like, I don’t give a crap what people think of me. I’m just like, I just don’t have time for that. I mean, think about it. I had already been through like crazy molestation. I had been through, um, moving out of my house. I had been through, out of, grew up in a hood. So, I mean, I had been through so much, I’m just like, for me, what was really interesting when, um, when my assistant posted on Twitter, you know, Shaunti and Scott gets married or whatever, and then all the, the tabloids were like, you know, Shaunti finally comes out. I’m like, bitch, I was out.
I love that. I love your recent, your attitude and I’m not sure what you want me to do. I’m not sure what you want me to do. Like, I mean, let me, let me just keep it very plain. Trust me. I know there’s people out there who believe that like sexuality is a choice and like, you know, there’s religions and all that stuff. So I’m just like, if you know, your belief is your belief and I S I respect your belief. But the other thing that I know is that I’m going to be me and my husband is fine. So even if I was straight, I might be like, damn, he fine. You know what I mean? Like,
so,
but to be very, you know, a candid, it’s never really been an issue for me. I actually, you know, my mother and my brother were just extremely accepting when I came to them. And, um, I actually didn’t really experience any kind of prejudice to it until I got married, which was interesting, but not prejudice on me is because Scott, um, he was a professional soccer player and he actually struggled with being gay because, you know, he was in professional sports and you know, as we started to develop our relationship, he had to get more, more comfortable with, you know, he was, you know, it’s not like I was his first gay relationship, but he just wasn’t really open to the world about who he was 100%. Instead, there was still some friends that, you know, may not have known that he was gay or people in his life.
And so, you know, I actually was able to experience that through him and I thought it was really kind of amazing and interesting to kind of go through that struggle through, you know, someone who I loved dearly and, but as far as you know, as far as just the whole sexuality thing in general, this is what I tell people. If you’re out there and you’re struggling with your sexuality, you know what? Not everybody is going to like you anyway. You could be the prettiest, you could have the best looking eyes, you can have the best boobs a but the best ads, and it still won’t be somebody out there who doesn’t like you. We weren’t put on this world for everyone else to like us. We were put on this world for us to just be who we are. And you know, I’m really, I believe that you are the average of the five closest people to you.
And if you have five people around you that constantly lift you up and you constantly exude positivity, I’m like, if people don’t like you because who you want to sleep with, then they weren’t meant to be in your life anyway. And, and lastly I’ll say, you know, sexuality is not just about having sex. You know, sometimes I hate that it’s called sexuality. It’s really about who, who you love and you know, who you vibe with and your partners, your partner. And uh, you know, and the other thing, and I just have to say this because you guys are so cool. So when people, when people have said, when I’ve been in like conversations where people are like, you know, you know, being gay is a choice. My thing is like, so as a guy, as a straight guy, so you can,
when did you choose? Yeah, yeah.
Well I say, when did you choose, bots are going a step further. I’m like, so what you’re saying is you would actually enjoy being with a man. You just choose to be with a woman. Because if it’s a choice, then everybody likes everything. And I don’t think that fades. And so I’d be like, bye Felicia. You know,
I agree. And then of course, of course they look at you with these eyes are like, well that’s not what I said. It’s like, well it is. It’s, that’s exactly what you just said.
You’re basically telling me I had a choice. I’m like, no, a choice is out. You want to do, when you wake up in the morning, a choice is what food you want to eat a choices, you know, where do you want to go to school to better your life. You know, a and B is a choice. So
no ma, much respect to you, Sean. I appreciate you coming in and talking about and being vulnerable and being open. And I think it’s encouraging to other people who might be struggling, right? Or who feel like they have to hide. Um, so I mean, honestly, a lot of respects.
Yeah. Or like he said, you know, if it’s not, I love what you said about if it’s not this, if it’s not your sexuality, it’s something else. Like everyone is not going to like you. There’s plenty of people that don’t like me no matter what I do. And I think for me it really took me getting into my thirties to finally understand and grasp that concept and be me regardless of who, who liked that. And I, one of the quotes that I remember hearing that really hit me is it’s not your job to like me, it’s mine. You know, it’s my job to like me. Yeah. And it’s exactly what you said. Like the moment you, the moment you stopped being in everyone else’s business, worrying about what they’re gonna think of you and instead focused on you and loving yourself, everything else watches away and you don’t, you know, you start to love yourself more and you in a good way, stop caring about what all these other people are thinking about you. Like you said, the people, you know, the people that mine don’t matter and the people you know, like the people that really love and care about you are always going to be there to support you regardless.
Yeah. I like reset people that mind don’t matter and the people that matter don’t mind. So there you go. Yeah. But thanks for asking. I mean, you know, it’s something that I don’t even think about any more daily, you know, cause I mean, I’ll wake up next to the person I love and hopefully you do too. And life is about being happy and we only have one. We’re only gonna be here at one time unless you’d be a believer in reincarnation. And that’s a whole nother thing. But we’re only here for one life, you know? And so the other thing is, you know, I wake up every day again and my first thought is, you know, what can I do for my family? Of course. And then what can I do to enhance the world, enhance someone who may be struggling. And if you don’t like me purely because of who I love, then you know, go find somebody that will make you think positive. And that’s all I say about it.
I love that man. And we really appreciate you talking about that. And uh, yeah, hopefully there’s, uh, there’s, there’s definitely people out there that you talking about it is, is going to help, you know. Um, so really quick, we’re running out of time, Sean and uh, man, we, we have to have you back on again man, because we didn’t get through half of our questions. Uh, but what we want to talk to you about is just yesterday. So today is November 19th, I believe, right? 1819. And it was yesterday you came out with a big announcement man, and you posted it on social media, so you can talk about it. I’m assuming your TV show, please tell us the details. Everything thanks
was called as someone beyond ABC network in the new year as January 7th at 8:00 PM and it’s called my diet is better than yours. And what this show is about, what makes this show so incredibly amazing is that, you know, on any weight loss journey, the person who, the constant, the most consistent thing in a weight loss journey is the person who needs to lose weight. And so a lot of other weight loss show shows eliminate people, you know, if they don’t lose enough weight or whatever, which is fine. I mean, people have different methods of motivation, but this show, my diet is better than yours, is about keeping that person who is trying to lose weight and eliminating the experts. So, um, you know, so what happened? Yeah. Yeah. So it’s like, you know, like, like, and it’s so true to me because I’m like, if insanity doesn’t work for you, then don’t use my programs, but you need to go find something else that’s going to keep you motivated. And that’s what this show is about. It’s about all these people have, you know, upwards of a hundred pounds to lose. And they start these diet plans and they have their experts and if they aren’t losing a weight or if they’re just unhappy, they get to switch plans. And it is amazing. This is why it’s more amazing at anything because these people are in there realize they’re at work, they’re in their homes, they’re doing this like with, you know, just having kids around or having, you know,
your life, you may not, yeah. Not the fake camp. This is real life. People really implemented it. Yeah.
So you’d have, you know, they have to go shopping, they have to do it. And so, and I love that it’s coming out in the new year because everyone’s has that new year’s resolution of wanting to stay fit. So for the month of January, people can tune in every Thursday night from eight to 10 and see, my diet is better than yours, hosted by yours. Truly humbling and exciting. But, um, you know, it’s emotional, it’s an emotional journey and it’s so interesting and fun,
which is cool man. And I love the premise behind the show. Congratulations, Sean. We’re definitely gonna be watching and tuning in a very unique approach. And I love that you’re putting the power into the client’s shoes, you know, whereas before, you know, the, the powers and the judges or the trainers, you know, this time the client can be like, you’re fired. I need someone else who knows how to help me lose weight. I think that’s, that’s awesome man.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Yes. Um, okay. So we’re going to get into our really quick lightning round questions, which are just very quick, very fast. Have nothing to do with anything.
Light Brown is like the best part actually. I feel like with Shanti we could in like a really long lightening round because he’s so fun and the stuff he says is hilarious. It would’ve been great,
but it was funny. I do the same thing. Am I right?
You do. You do.
That’s so funny. And every time, like I’ve had some people after their lightning round be like, when we’re not recording and be like, why did you ask me that and why did I say that? And I’m like, it’s perfect.
Oh yeah, I love listening to yours, dude. It just makes it entertaining, you know? And so great minds think alike.
I’m not very good at listening to podcasts. I’ll be honest. So I haven’t listened to yours, but I love that you do that and I’m not surprised because you’re hilarious. So of course we’re going to ask you a series of completely unimportant questions that we think matter. And the key is, of course, since you do this, you know, you answer as quickly as possible. The first thing that comes to your mind. Okay, perfect. Number one question. Are you a shoe whore?
So many shoes. It is terrible. And literally
how many approximately?
I would say over 200
Oh yes.
Just last night Scott was like, here’s a box you need to get. You needed like go give these away to somebody who needs some shoes.
Aw, okay. You’re like, okay, I’ll bring it down for 200 to 190 shoes and it’s going to take me all freaking day to pick the 10 that I am willing to give up. So you know what? Before I got married really young, I was like only 22 I know super young and I had like over a hundred pairs when I got married at age of 22 so don’t feel too bad. Don’t feel too bad. Okay. Most embarrassing moment.
Oh my goodness.
Oh my God. Really bad. Okay, good.
So it’s kind of sad but bad. So I was at a basketball game when I was 14 years old and there was this old, this woman who was a, she was a, an adult and you know, I was cheering for my friend’s plan and she yelled out to like, I was on the bleachers, you know, and she yelled out and she was like, stop being such a fag. This is what she said. And I was so embarrassed. Like I was so embarrassed and I turned around and I gave her the middle finger. And while, I mean it’s not fun, but it was this like one of the worst moments of my life. Cause I’m like, I wish I would’ve handled that in a different way. And so that was the most embarrassing moment. And you asked and I told you,
Oh my gosh, you know what? You should have just mooned her if it went in down. If somebody is treating you bad, you turn around, you show them the moon. You wouldn’t have felt so bad about that. And you have a nice ass.
Thank you. And my favorite part of my body is my assets. So you know
me too. Okay. If you could be any superhero, who would you be and why?
I would be ice man. However, I’m going to switch it up. I would turn into black ice man. Not as in like, because I’m a black man. I’m talking about
because it’s,
you know, black guys like out on the street, because I spent, you can see people like everyone can see you, but with black eyes, you know, if someone was trying to like hurt somebody, which you could do is um, you know, you could just kind of melt into the middle of the street at night and they could slip and fall.
I have never even heard of a superhero. You are original.
It’s not, yeah, this is like a regional thing. And if I, if I ever become, if I ever get into movies and if I can ever write a screenplay, it would completely be about, um, I would create a movie called black ice man. That is hilarious. Okay. We’re, we’ll be looking forward to that.
Okay. Favorite dessert or favorite like treat mail if it’s not dessert, if you’re not as much of a sweet person.
Well my, I’m going to go with the first question. My favorite dessert is an Apple crisp with vanilla ice cream with some Carmel on top. Oh my gosh. Like, Oh my gosh. And so here’s a quick funny story. So we were in Atlanta shooting the show. My diet is better than yours and a um, there was this, there’s this restaurant across the street called public Drafthouse, this really fun. And they were asking me one day, they were like, do you want dessert? And I looked at ZIRP menu and I was like, well, you guys don’t have Apple Chris. So no. The next time I went to that restaurant, I was like, they were like, do you want dessert? I was like, no, you don’t have Apple crisp. And they walked up to the table. They had gone to the store to buy an Apple crisp pie. They put ice on top of it. And so isn’t it?
I love people. It restores all my faith in humanity right there.
So it was okay. Last three really quick questions, really quick answers. Have you ever done peanut DX? No. Have you ever done CrossFit? Yes. Okay. And what’s your fastest hundred meter? 10 my first a hundred meter time. If I, if my memory serves me correctly, it’s an 11 one. Okay. So pretty much Usain bolt right? Nine eight at nine five but I would say I was a 400 meter hurdler, so, Oh okay. Gotcha. So my son, my real speed kicked in at like 200 150 meters is when I was started to roll. Cool. Man. What’s your fastest mile time then? Um, I don’t remember. It’s like a five something.
That’s good man. That’s good. We should throw in this little extra one now that we were talking about it. How do you feel about yourself when you’re naked? How do you feel? Naked?
So this is going to be really good cause it’ll be part of my podcast and I enjoy it. So as a kid I was extremely, because I was molested, I would never want to be naked. And so when I got into college, high school and college, you know when you have to take showers, I would always wait until everyone was gone cause I just didn’t want to be naked. And even as a, even as an adult in my sexual lifestyle, I would always want to have the lights out just because of it was just like a very crazy, you know, situation went through however. So what I did in college, cause you know I’m always trying to dig deeper. What I would do is I would then, like if one person was in the shower I would go and then eventually I just started showering around a lot of people. But I didn’t get super, super comfortable with being naked until I got married. And you know, cause Scott is constantly like Oh my God, you got a nice this and a nice that. And so now I’m like shit, I’m positive.
You’re like walking around everywhere. He’s like, well you could wear clothes sometimes. You’re like wow, I’m good. Right.
And so it started out with not really being comfortable and gradually to being like, I just wish I lived on a nudist colony now because I’m like, I don’t feel like doing the laundry. This is to get not a hand.
Well, there are some, there are some nude beaches out here, so you’re welcome.
Only you two decide to come with us. That’s the best.
Hey, I’m in [inaudible]
so now you have
[inaudible]
I’m not joking either, man. If you, once you get to know me, I mean, I just say it like it is so
very true. Well, you didn’t get an answer from you.
I know. Something you guys would forget about me. I’ll be honest. I’m kind of more towards where you were before you got married. You know, kinda, you know, I like being naked when I’m the only one around. Uh, but other than that, I’m not, I don’t know if I’m brave enough yet, but maybe you’ll be able to talk me up, Sean. We’ll, we’ll have to talk about that. We’ll progress from, we’ll start with a Speedo. How about that? Okay.
I’m gonna use, I’m gonna use that little S little clip from my podcast and yeah.
Ah, okay, cool, cool. Uh, okay, last question. Honestly, would you ever do fit to fat to fit on purpose? Would you ever do, would you ever gained 75 pounds on purpose and then lose it? Oh, like let’s say it was a TV show and you were on in like a Keshawn T’s gonna do fit to fat to fit. Don’t tell him to say no. He can say yes, he likes Apple crisp. He could have every day for six months.
Oh my God, would I do that? Oh, can I talk through this or do I have to say yes or no? All right. So part of me like I would love it cause I’m like, shit, iron God work. Yeah.
[inaudible]
but the problem is, the thing I’d be afraid about is because my family, like, you know, I can either be really ripped or I can gain a lot of weight. And so I’ve seen so many people in my family have a hard time losing weight after a certain age just genetically. So I would probably not do it because I just don’t even like, it would just, I just wouldn’t know if I would be able to get back to where I am now.
So you’d be worried if you would be able to get back. Cause I worried about that too. Even at 30 years old, I was worried. I’m like, man, what if it doesn’t look the same? I will. I was honestly worried about that.
Yeah. I, I don’t, I probably,
I don’t think Scott would be too happy either if you, if you would do this.
He loves me so much. He could care. He really could care less about.
Ah, that’s cool man. That’s cool. It’s not, it’s not a serious question. I’ve had 99% of people say no. Obviously I’ve had a couple of people, girls actually say yes they would do it, but maybe it’s because they just love chocolate so much.
Oh my God. Love donuts too.
Hey to my favorite.
I mean, I really, you know, I really, um, just respect you so much for going on that journey because I just remember seeing it and I was like my, to be very honest, my first, um, my first response to it was like, are you effing kidding me? Like I was like, cause I was like this guys, you know, and you know how you show yourself before and then you gain weight and you lose it or whatever. I’m like, this guys is like, it’s amazing body. And then I was like, what in the world?
The world is going on. You just fly.
he wins. I love that man. No, I appreciate that. And honestly, I know what I did was crazy, but I learned a lot from it and it gave me a totally different perspective as, as a trainer, as a, as a person, as a human. And I definitely gained a lot of empathy. So I have no regrets. Would I do it again? Definitely not. But I did what I did and I, I learned what I needed to learn. Um, and now, you know, I have a different approach to helping people with that kind of experience. But anyway, Shawn, we know that you have to go, we’ve went way over our a lot of time, but honestly we will have to have come back on, especially after the show airs. So January 7th, ABC, my diet is better than yours. New info in the show notes. We’ll put the info in the show notes for that. But we loved having you on Sean.
Yeah. And so if you don’t mind in the new year, I would love to have you guys on my show too. That’d be really fun.
Please. Yeah, please let us know. We’d love to and actually nakedness, nakedness
topic of conversation. I would like to know, withdrew thought about herself naked after he gained 75 pounds. But don’t answer now. We’ll talk about it
all the, Oh wait, Oh wait till your podcast. And maybe some things will have changed by then, but um, anyways, yeah, we, we really appreciate you, Sean. We appreciate what you do for so many people out there and thanks for um, for being who you are. Man. I appreciate both of you. Thank you so much. And let’s definitely thank you guys for listening to today’s episode. We really hope that you guys enjoyed today’s episode with Shanti from insanity
and I don’t know how you can not, that man is such a kind, compassionate, motivating, inspiring person. I got so much out of [inaudible].
So for you guys today, if you guys enjoy today’s episode, please share it with your friends. Tell others about the fit to fat to fit experience podcast, and please support us online. Check out our podcast shirt with your friends, subscribe on iTunes, please leave a review. Let us know what you think about the show. Uh, we, we want to bring on other future, uh, amazing future guests to the podcast. So let us know your suggestions. Uh, stay in touch with as you guys on social media. All my handles are at fit to fat to fit. And my website is 55 to fit.com and sign up for the newsletter to stay in the know and all of my social media handles are at the number to fit at home. And my website is the number two fit@home.com and I also have a newsletter sign up on there. So thank you guys once again, we appreciate all your support and we will see you back here on the podcast next week. You guys.
