What’s up everybody and welcome to the fit to fat to fit experience podcast. I’m your host, drew Manning and I’m your cohost Lynn Manning. All right, you guys, we have an awesome episode with Adonis and Alyssa from last night’s episode of fits best fit on Amy. Hopefully you guys tuned in and watched that yet. If not, I’d recommend watching the episode first on TV before jumping into the podcast episode cause you get to know a Donaldson and Alyssa on a very deep personal level. This interview is so funny you guys like they just had is cracking up.
Hilarious.
Yeah, we had such a good time with them and there’s so much good information you get from here that you don’t get to see on the episode. Cause unfortunately in each episode of the TV show there’s eight months worth of content and they try and condense it down into 45 minutes of TV and there’s so much that you miss out on. But we get to cover all of that in today’s podcast episode
along with the surprise at the very end, which is a very cool announcement.
Yes, it’s going to be awesome. Just think Forrest Gump. That will make sense later on before we jump into the episode. Our sponsorships, uh, today’s episode is sponsored by dollar workout club.com.
Woo, you guys, dollar workout club.com is an online fitness platform. You can stream it from your phone, your tablet to your TV. You get five new workout videos every week and it shows the beginner, intermediate, advanced level. Literally anyone can do these workouts. They’re short, they range anywhere from eight to 20 minutes. And like I said, anyone can do them that you get new ones, five new ones every week to work out with us. You get five new healthy recipe videos and you get five motivation or fitness tip videos every week. And it’s all just one buck.
Exactly. You guys. And we do the workouts with you so you get to work workout with me, Lynn and Natalie Hodson and each of the workouts and we’re there feeling your pain doing the workouts with you so we know what it’s like. And like Lynn said, all the cost is just $1 per week. So go to a dollar workout club.com check it out. We put free full workout videos on Facebook for you to try it out first and we even share our recipe videos as well for free for you guys to see what’s on the website before you actually join. So check it out. Dollar workout club.com next, our next sponsor for today’s show is highly [inaudible] dot com that’s H Y L E T e.com forward slash fit to fat to fit now highly.com is a performance apparel company. Some of the best high quality clothing for fitness that’s out there and it’s not just for one sport, so it’s not just for running or not just for CrossFit or any other kind of fitness. You can use their apparel for any type of workout that you do. I mean, honestly I use it for my CrossFit workouts for running. I even use it for swimming. But any kind of fitness that you like to do highly has the apparel. That is some of the homos, high quality, most comfortable, longest lasting in my opinion, in the industry and the designs. The styles are.
Yeah, they have great products. People always ask me like, what’s your favorite thing? Especially if they’re going to try one thing. The most popular thing that I wear all the time, people always see me wearing their headbands, their sweat bands. I actually wear them in every single dollar workout called video. Also, I love their pants because they’re the one of the only fitness plants I’ve ever tried that don’t show my butt crack when I’m doing squats. Yeah, TMI. But seriously, they’re awesome. And then I love that their tank tops have this mesh pocket on the sides. So when I go for walks with my kids or if I’m going for a jog or whatever, I can put my phone in there. I could put a credit card in there if I’m going somewhere and don’t want to carry anything. So convenient. It’s awesome. You guys check out the website, look at their stuff. When you use the code, when you go to haile.com forward slash fit to fat to fit it gives you up to 50% off everything on there. So go ahead, check.
Yeah, it’s exclusive membership pricing. Just for you guys, my fit, try to fit listeners, so highly.com Forbes size fit to fat to fit. Check them out. All right, you guys. Let’s jump into today’s episode with Adonis and Alyssa. All right, you guys are donnas and Alissa, welcome to the fifth fat to fit experience podcast. It’s such a pleasure to have you guys on. We just signed your guys’ episode last night and we are here today with you guys as guests. Thank you guys so much for joining us.
It was a pleasure being on your podcast.
I know it’s so awesome to have you guys on. We loved your guys’ episode. It was so freaking good episode so far. It was awesome. I know you guys had such a great job. The storyline, like the way you guys work together, like all the trials that you guys had to go through and Adonis, man, you are too hilarious. You had everybody cracking up.
Wow, that’s good cause I was going to do stand up after this.
You should. I think some, you’ll get some calls after your episode, man,
the meals for the audience.
Aw you guys, you got your, your story was so inspiring. I know everyone last night was so inspired by it literally at one point. Uh, cause we were watching it with people. I’m like, I have goosebumps.
Check it out. You guys, I have goosebumps. Like all my crying laughing. He goes, it’s so cool. So good. Um, so Donna’s, I kinda want to ask you this because you’re unique compared to the other trainers on the show because you used to be 300 plus pounds in your past, which I think gives you something unique and that you bring to the table compared to the other trainers. Cause like me, I was always in shape my whole life just like most of the other trainers are. How do you feel like this a fit tried to fit experience compares to when you were first overweight and can you kind of give us a comparison of the two experiences in your own mind?
Right. So like before when I was overweight I was like 310 pounds. Honestly, I didn’t know that I was overweight. Okay. That makes sense. Right. You know what I’m saying? So like, Oh yeah, let’s say yeah she’s not, but yeah, so I didn’t know I was overweight. Um, it’s not into like, um, actually people started telling me, you know what I’m saying like, yo bro, you’re can kind of big and then you know, you’re like God big. Like you know, and then one day I just stepped on the scale and I was like, Whoa, I am kind of big and for funding like you don’t see, and this is a weird thing cause you get so comfortable being in your skin for so long that you get used to it. Like I saw your list goes up, the uh, she lives on a like a five floor walk up when, when I came the first day to meet her and now I’m already in shape. I even make it up and I’m like, damn, I use it every day. But you get used to it. So the way you get used to the everyday activity, you know what I’m saying?
Yeah. So how did, how did fitness, you mentioned in the episode fitness saves your life. How did fitness save your life?
Well, for this war about them, um, at the time I like read through a lot of stuff. I lost my store, I lost, my mom had got cancer, everything was going on at one time. So what happened is, um, I got really depressed. And if it wasn’t for fitness man, I mean, first of all it’d be way more bigger. I’d probably got up to like three, almost 400 pounds. I know I would have. And um, it just gave me a different view on life. It gave me like, uh, now I feel like I can live. And it’s like, it’s like I have worth, you know what I mean? It really gave me a lot of confidence to, um, just like to live again. You know what I’m saying? Yeah. And so, yeah.
And then how did you, being overweight this time change your, your, the way you view, like your empathy, for example?
Uh, Oh well this time is, I’m now, now I lost weight and I kinda forgot what it meant to be big because I haven’t it for so long years, but you know me and that, that is a rough patch. You kinda want to just forget it. Right. Like exit out your mind. Like it never happened, but then it did, going back into it, it was like, Whoa, you know, after I gained the weight, like this is real. Like no, it’s a difference now. Like, you know, because I wasn’t doing those activities before, so just try to jump back into those, those exercises was like the first day I didn’t, she’s laughing cause she remember right, the first day I could even lift myself up. I couldn’t even do a pushup and I uh, yeah. So now it was like, now I can see what the, uh, my clients go through and you know what I’m saying? It’s deep. Yeah. You know that somethings you just can’t do when you’re overweight. You know what I’m saying? Work towards something.
Yeah. And I can totally relate to that because this time around, you were doing on purpose versus before you kinda just didn’t really notice you were doing it. It kind of just crept up on you this time. You’re forcing yourself to do it and it’s a lot of weight you’re trying to gain in four months and then you know, you have to try and lose the weight this time. But you did have that, you know, uh, a little bit of muscle memory. You did have that, that good foundation of, of base, but at the same time it was way harder this time around for you because you kind of got experience because you felt what it was like to be healthy before was the first time around. You didn’t know what it felt like to be healthy. Right. This time around, you know what you’re missing.
Right, right. So right. And then, yeah, right. So now knowing that the grass is greener on the other side, it makes a big difference.
Yeah, absolutely. You know, the, one of the first things that came up when I was watching the episode, you know, I’m watching that workout beach scene there, which was brutal on both fronts. You know, you see, you see Alyssa really having a hard time. You see you really struggling with trying to motivate her and then of course we see her, you know, come out of that. But my thought, literally the first thing I thought of as I was like, I wonder if she would have quit had Adonis not gained this weight and was just who he is as a trainer, seeing how much she struggled in the beginning. Do you think that had you not gained the weight with her initially that she might’ve quit on you based on that workout?
Right. I think, um, I think so. Like I think that knowing that I gained the weight and seen it, I gained the weight and we’re both doing this workout together. It’s like I’m there for, you know what I’m saying? So like I met her on her side. So I view it as like a fireman going in to a home, trying to save a person without like knowing him. Right. Like I feel it’s the same thing anyway, cause I didn’t know this girl. She knew I didn’t know her and I gain weight to help her. I think that made a big difference in knowing about the journey or doing the journey or keep going I think.
Yeah. Alyssa, what do you think? Do you think that him gaining the weight did have a positive impact on you where it made you feel more inspired to want to lose it?
I was invested in him in the sense that like I felt like I couldn’t quit for him. And I think a big part of that was the fact that he gained weight. Um, but even after he gained that, I had so much confidence in the fact that he lose it. Then I think I just felt like indebted, you know, like you had done this for me regardless of what it was, whether he had drove from California to New York or like whatever the case was, I felt like I owed it back to him. So my commitment was because he like this stranger just did something for me that I will like. I forever owe them for, you know what I mean?
Yeah, yeah. No, that thing that’s really important because I like to ask the you guys, you know, this whole experiment fit to had to fit. Does it have value for the actual client as the client? Are they more inspired to do this because their trainer was willing to sacrifice their body and their mind for them? Um, versus just being a gimmick. Like, okay, he did this, but he doesn’t really, he doesn’t still understand my struggle. He doesn’t know. And so yeah, it’s cool he gained 50 pounds. But you know, I just want to make sure that there’s value from the client’s perspective because a lot of people try and chime in on social media saying, this is ridiculous. The trainer will never know, but this is happening for the client like you, Alyssa. And then that’s why I wanted to get your opinion, your perspective on this whole
so because we had been separated for four months, I couldn’t go through it with him and I wish that I could have because I felt like there was a lot of unknown to me. And then when we were reunited I, I, there was a lot of first that I watched him go through as a first for him. That I think brought us together even closer. So when it was like his turn to do a workout or something that he wanted me to do, I watched his face go through this life. And so like we’re both pretty confident people as you probably know by now. And so he led, right? Like the New York political, like he for real thought like, Oh, like I got this, like I just put on 70 pounds, but you know what? I still got whole face fell like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Okay. Like 17 times later like okay, one more time. Let me try one more time. And so he like the fact that I watched him go through that experience I think and like being like, Oh free, you’re a rock bottom too. Okay, let’s, let’s do this. That was like the commitment right there. Like Oh got it.
Yeah. No I love that. That is so cool. Cause I think, you know, a lot of people need to realize that, that this is all happening for you, that as the client, but at the same time it’s not, the whole purpose of this journey isn’t to gain a complete understanding and know exactly where you’re coming from. But at least they can have a better understanding versus who they were. If they had never done this and they kept the six pack and they had that mentality versus seeing them struggle right along with you. And that’s the cool thing I liked about you guys is you guys honestly kind of lost weight at the same pace versus you know, JJ and Ray and Steve and Tasha. It was different
the last I did it. It was like that. Yeah,
it was, I loved that actually. And like I loved at the end when you’re like, Oh, so I gained, I lost one more pound than you.
And I was like, so the whole time I’m like, whatever you do, I’m gonna just do it a little bit better.
Yeah, I like that. I like in the first and the first workout I seen Alyssa, I was like, Oh my gosh, she’s done four, she’s going to quit after the first workout. And then to see how competitive you became after that one and how you guys bonded. I mean seriously, like I’m surprised that Donna’s isn’t moved in with you and you’re cooking for him all day.
Like during the, um, while we was losing weight together, I was always at our house like,
yeah,
for us, like, because I had all for five weeks and so like we’d spent like the whole day together, but then like are like, okay, like thanks for that workout, like see a next week or see you tomorrow or whatever. Like a lot, this is like, alright, so what’s for lunch? And then we came back to my house and cook. So like we spent so much time together that the levels of like where we were at like at the very beginning was like, all right, we’re comfortable, let’s go.
I love that. And honestly, it oozes out of the episode, the bond that you guys have, the friendship that you guys had. Literally I was watching that and I was like, I just love this. So I know the part where like, you’re teaching a Donna’s how to swim. I barely choked. I like wanted to cry. [inaudible] you know, you’re in the pool with all these old white grandmas and these exercises. I was like, this is so cool. I literally wanted to cry. I had one of those moments and I was like, this is the best thing ever.
Well, because sometimes you gotta help a brother.
Yeah.
Oh, so funny, right? Because then it also opened my mind up too, because now look at me even I didn’t know she not a swim and I’m like, Whoa, like she’s floating through that water and it’s like, show it. Show that you were still, you was an active person. Like you know what I’m saying? It kind of threw me off guard like, Oh, you could swim really swept and I’m hearing, I can’t even float like as heavy down. Like boom. I know. I know. It’s funny seeing you kind of hold him up like a baby at him on his back.
Awesome. You guys. Seriously. And I, yeah, I love that part. It really touched my heart. It touched me so much. And then what are the other things I love that kind of like rang through that I wanted to talk to you about a Donna’s is, I mean you can just feel how your passion for helping people. Like you can just see it that you like really are in this because you care about people that you want to help people that you’ve been through it, that you know the change that can happen through health and fitness. You’re so encouraging. You were so encouraging to Lyssa, you can just tell your trainer like that. Um, and it just seems like, I don’t know if it’s what you say to them or do or your personality, but it seems like you really help them from not quitting on themselves or giving up, which is so common for clients. I feel like in the beginning a lot of people do quit on themselves. What do you think you say or do that maybe helps give people that courage and the confidence to keep going?
Well mainly is like just becoming not just a trainer and a client relationship. It’s like it’s creating like a friendship, a bond because it’s actually, you know, in order for someone life to change, you got to be a part of your life. You see what I’m saying? And for me I tell I call like more like the mental aspect of it. Right? And that’s like you being, knowing that I’m there for you and then knowing that I’m there for you. You want to invest in like yourself, but then also like I don’t want to let him down cause that’s my boy. I just say, you see what I’m saying? So it’s deeper. That’s why unfortunately, I love gyms. Um, but, and I, that’s why I shied away from like a one on one clients in the gym is because it became a business. And for me, a client is not a business for me. Um, yeah, we make money, but it’s not a, it’s deeper than that because it’s a, it’s a responsibility technically that you take on is to save someone’s life. I don’t think, I don’t think sometimes I lie change. Don’t realize how important it is to be a train. There’s almost like a doctor like you, you have to, there’s some people that’s gonna come to you. Everyone is not gonna come to you just to have a strong core or just to have, you know, nice abs. Some people really need you to help to save the life.
Mmm Hmm. Yeah. I love that. I love that. It seems that, you know, the difference between you and maybe some other trainers is that you really believe in them at a time, which isn’t the beginning. They don’t believe in themselves. And as you do that and become their friend, you help encourage them to see their own strength till they do believe in themselves so that they don’t quit. And I love it.
I mean, let’s say like we are all in this together. Like I, I realize that’s like w what we need. General is like the answer to a lot of our problems is love and compassion and communication. So add that into like our, my training and how I approached life. It all pans out like, you know.
Yeah. Now Alyssa, going back to you comparing the beach workout to the cemetery workout, what was the transition for you to go from the beach workout where you wanted to quit? You were struggling. I mean, I’ll be honest, you, you, you gave a down, it’s a hard time. Like it was, it was pretty brutal. But at the same time, let’s just talk within a $2 steak. I love, I love that. I love that man. Tougher. The $2 steak. What transitioned, what, what mental, what happened mentally there because in the cemetery workout you were competitive and you were having fun and you trusted it. Donna’s what helped you to transition?
Um, well I think that, I think that heading to the beach, that very, very memorable day. I think that I was like just so like, okay, here we go, like Latuda and then all of a sudden the anxiety started to build and the unknown started to build. And so to be honest, when we were on our way to the cemetery, I really thought it was about him. I had no idea what we were doing there. So I have any anxiety that we were working out. I didn’t have any anxiety like that. This is about to be about me. I thought that this is about him. Like, all right, we already did me. So like today, like let’s, we’re going to do you. And so I think that like once I realized that we were going to work out in the cemetery and there wasn’t sand there, it was already a better day. They had significantly improved already. But as far as like mentally goes, I think it was just part of this process of us getting to know each other. And like the more time that we had to talk, the more we just like clicked. So I think that like the change was definitely that. Like I trust pretty people pretty quickly, not very easily, but pretty quickly. And I think that like I had seen that like Adonis and I were connecting and I was like, all right, I just have to trust him.
[inaudible] yeah,
but real quick, I don’t know, they probably don’t, didn’t show that. But there was a pipe innocent in the cemetery where like I took a list off to the side and I started talking to a, like away from the cameras, you remember? And I was like, yo, this, this, forget these cameras, forget the show. I’m here for you. Like, I don’t care about these cameras. I don’t care about none of this. Like the Isabel, you are not. And um, that was a deep conversation. That wasn’t a, you know, the show wasn’t expecting. Yeah. Talk like that. But I had to let her know that I’m here for her and not just,
yeah. And I think what’s cool is like, um, you actually did the workout with her, which I think helped her to see that you’re not just some fit trainer yelling at her telling her what to do. Like it was on the beach here or you are overweight, you have a lot of weight to lose and here you are doing it with her. That kind of gave you confidence elicited to be like okay I have to do these jumping jacks while he’s running and vice versa. So I better, you know, bust my butt for him cause he’s doing the same for me and we’re at the same level pretty much, you know. So it was cool to, it was really cool to see that. Now a lot of, unfortunately the problem with the shows, there’s eight months of filming of content and 45 minutes to show it. So a lot of people don’t get to see the actual workout routine that you put her through a down. I send actual workout routine you put yourself through. Can you talk about your workout philosophy, what kind of routine you put elicit through and what kind of routine you put yourself through. And then we’ll talk about diet and next. But let’s focus on the exercise part.
The funny thing with the exercise, um, I did something a little bit different cause normally like, um, I do one on one with the clients, you know, I’m like standing there and I’m telling them exactly what to do. But this time, um, we approached it, uh, I approached it in a way where she was my gym partner. So like we was doing the same exact thing. But like you’ll, I’ll go on one machine and she’ll do that machine and when she’s done we’ll switch. So we was like, that was like my SWO me. I love that. Right. So we did the same as I cause I didn’t want, I didn’t, I know sometimes like I don’t like the feeling of like someone standing on top of me telling me do, do, do, do, do like, you know, so I knew where to be.
Right. And I know she does, cause she’s tough man. Like, Oh no, they show it. But this girl is tough man, but it’s a great thing. So I knew it had to be a little act approach, a little bit different. So we would do um, like high intensity workouts, but we will focus on weightlifting. And what I like weight lifting so much, especially, um, for my clients is, is once you lift a weight, you, you feel a stronger to add on and add on. And every week you feel stronger and stronger than the more strongly you feel, the more confidence you start to build. So I love ways on another level, just not aesthetically it makes it look what she’s going to look like. But, and we also focused on like a lot of butt exercises.
Yeah, my big booty.
Oh, it’s like I wanted to lose weight, but I always want to have,
yeah. Yeah. I always tell girls, I’m like, squat, get it. Squads love it.
It’s almost like every other day she was like, gosh, I’ve got so much smaller. And then they saw the in tone. My clothes size was like, I just blew through all my clothes so fast. Another thing with like actually like week Roche is just like losing inches and stuff. So they, they, you know, on the show they focus on weight. But we also, she lost a lot of inches. Really got a lot of curves cause she’s had a good, she had an, I think she had a wonderful canvas when she started cause she has like a pier shape. Yeah. Cause I was like, Oh man, I’m gonna get you like that. Kim Kardashian
like grilling me at the gym. Like what are you looking at? He’s like, Oh you might canvas. I could just see it
know
it’s like an art, right? Like so it’s like I’m like an artist so I see it and I’m like Whoa, it’s coming. My art is coming to life. Yeah. That’s why I look at you.
Okay. So, so you did a lot of supersets weight lifting supersets with her. A lot of focus on the [inaudible] but did it, was it like five days a week you had to do that? The gym, the partner workout.
Yeah. Part of workouts. And we do and we jog a couple of times to the park. We jogged together a couple of workouts and a ditch. We went together. She would all, her responsibility was to go on any cardio machine and burn 500 calories and take a picture, send it to me.
As far as the exercise part goes, did you work out more than once a day? Alyssa? Did you have her working out twice a day, three times a day, six hours a day? Like on other shows?
Yeah, sometimes I would go back to the gym for a class. Like there was a few days where I went back for Zoomba. Um, and then on days where we, we tried out like a yoga or Pilates class, um, sometimes the donnas would, um, you know, be on his way and then I would go and do like my own workout after that. So there’s only a lot of doubling up I think because of time. I was able to stay at the gym for a really long time in the summer. So that was pretty awesome to be there from, you know, anywhere from like two to three hours.
Okay. Yeah. But obviously now that you’re back at work with school, you pay, you don’t have as much time to spend at the gym. Okay. So what about food? What did you guys do? What kind of a nutrition plan did you have? Ron and Donna?
So, um, first I had a on uh, uh, Quito die, which is like sending your body into like a ketogenic phase, which was high fats, high proteins and low carbs. And the carbs were, they came from, um, vegetables, [inaudible] or your greens. So she would be on that for three weeks straight. Uh, no cheese, no nothing. And then on the third week, she picked one hour where she can have whatever she wanted. I mean, like it didn’t matter like everything. Okay. I didn’t have it once. She is that she goes right back into, uh, the keto diet and we had our own for two, uh, two months and then after two months, um, now I say it’s like, almost like coming back into like reality, right? Cause now you don’t want to start eating brains and eating more of breads or whatever. But uh, so then she went to a low-glycemic diet, which is just like low carbs but still proteins and, and, and, and um, fats, not as much sugar. Right. Oh I see. Still good level content, low especially to process food.
And that was more of a maintenance type of face for her to find some balance cause the Quito is kind of hard to maintain. Right. Like the high fat yeah, no carbs.
It was good for the beginning. Like just to give a revved up and to start seeing those changes and um, to start. And you, you started to like healthier foods. So then I was like the beginning, but you can’t stay on as a lifestyle. Yeah.
Yeah. And then did you follow something similar or Donna’s for you? Did you do the [inaudible]
well, the same thing cause I was like, I got to see you. I got, I did the same exact diet. Um, cool. It was, I think I just went to the low-glycemic a little bit quicker. Um, uh, adding the, the wheats and the breads, it took a little longer to do it because you were skeptical like you was like, no, I don’t want to add like say no. I said you have to, this is reality. You got to get back
bagels for eight weeks. I’m not going to,
and your trainers telling you to eat the bagel. It’s like what is he doing?
You really messed me up.
Yeah. No it’s good because you know, you definitely want something that’s sustainable and it’s, I always tell people the same thing too. People are like, Oh I want to try, you know, a ketogenic or paleo or whole 30 or whatever it is. And I’m like, you know what, do what you want to do, try something new. It’s great. But in the end, you know, jump back to something that for you is a sustainable lifestyle. Cause that’s all that’s important. That’s going to be different for everyone. Somebody might love paleo forever, but like me and like, I like donuts, you know, so it’s not sustainable for me to be like keto genic or paleo. Yeah. Yeah.
So is that what, what did you guys eat in that one hour? A cheat window or whatever you call it. What kind of foods do you guys have? Be honest.
I said what did I eat? Um, so my first cheat meal was the pizza Doritos. Um, like it was like eggplants lay Cecilia and garlic, not side of sauce and I’ve seen it all out and I like barely got through any of it. Um, but I’m really into beer and wings and so on my cheat meals I would do like steak fries and beer and wings. And then
it’s a one hour window every three weeks.
Yeah. No. So the first for the first three reach it was a one hour window and then every week you get a one hour window after that show. Cool. That’s the way she was getting one hour. But it’s so surprising cause the first treat meal she, she, when she bought all that, all those um, items, she called me. It was like I can’t even finish that. And she was saying the same thing happened with me. I bought all this case. I mean I went to like four different stores, like let me get a hero. Then I went to the pizza shop, like a pizza shop. I went to go get the Buffalo wings from the Buffalo spot. So I went and it, and I sat there and got all prepared ready. I even put a little napkin on my lap right. And a little bit everything. I was ready to go in. So I was like, okay, I looked at the floor, I’m like everything is said. I got my food with Sean, let’s go. And I’ll probably not even, not one 30 but I couldn’t really sit the next day, which, which kind of forced me to like eat healthier the next day cause I didn’t want to eat nothing bad flu. Like I was overwhelmed, heated my teeth was
yeah, your body adjusts. And so it’s interesting. Like I always tell people the truth. I’m like look, when I go to eat healthier after not eating very healthy, like I in Thailand for a couple of weeks, I just got back about a week ago. I ate whatever I want. I had croissants every morning. I eat whatever I want all the time. When you go back to eating a healthier lifestyle, I’m like, look, it’s, I’ll be honest, it doesn’t normally taste that great. It takes my tastebuds time to adjust. I miss it. And then if you, after you do that for a while, everything changes you get and then you become used to that. And then if you do have an Epic cheat meal, you feel like sick, sick as a dog as good. It’s kind of, cause it kind of reminds you like, okay, it really is about balance. I don’t ever want to overdo it and Gorge myself and be sick because then you’re not enjoying it, you know?
So I’m in the episode, Alyssa, you kind of, you know, you were worried about maintaining this lifestyle. Where are you at today? Cause, uh, your episode, you know, obviously it was done filming, you know, a few months back. Where are you at today and where is your mindset at as far as maintaining this lifestyle after the TV show, Ayers and all that?
So one of the biggest changes I think in my life is sharing my, my struggle with weight, with people. Like I, like one of the things that Donna’s made me realize is that like, I can’t like hide it and pretend it’s not an issue because I’m wearing it all the time. And so I’m really up front with people now about the fact that I’m working on myself and instead of trying to like mask it, like, Oh, I’m not overweight and I’m fine. Like this isn’t an issue. It’s like I tell people right off the bat like when I’m getting to know people, um, like, I mean, especially doing this experience, it’s like come up a lot recently, but I feel like every entity in my life, all the people I’ve babysit for all the people at my job, like everyone knows that I’m working on my weight.
And so I’m really able to like focus on myself more. And like we always talked about, I love to babysit at night. I mean, I enjoy it, but it’s a great second income. And so I always, always make time for the gym. So like if my mom texts me, I’m like, I’m sorry but I have to like I can come at six 30 if you need me to be there, but I can’t come before that cause I have to go to the gym and they’re so supportive. Like they’re very flexible and I never thought they would be before. I thought the ball was always in their court. But it’s more in mind now.
So. So you ended the show at, I think you lost 57 pounds. Where, can you talk? Are you comfortable talking about where you’re at today and be open?
I’m happy to report that I’ve kept off my 57 and I’ve actually lost another five. I’ve sort of pushed the 60 pound Mark and um, I am at the gym at least four days a week. Um, the weekends get rough cause I do love my social life, but if I can get there on the weekend, it’s like an added bonus. Um, I really want to get more into the classes cause I feel like I am still trying to do my own like circuits like Adonis did with me. And so I think like, I just want to have these big guns on the days where we would, where we’re not working out at, you know, I’m like really trying to like memory recall all the workouts that we did together, um, to put something together myself. So, um, the food is a day to day, you know, you have to like, I pack my food, which is way different from my life before. Um, I packed food every night, even if it’s not the perfect meal. Um, I still pack what, you know, what I’m going to bring for the day because it’s better than what I would’ve gotten, like Chinese or pizza or a big deli sandwich. Um, so you know, you just, every meal I think about, okay, what am I eating? And then, you know, eat his remorse once in a while. Like I just had too much Brown rice. But you know, it’s just, you just got to constantly be thinking about it.
Yeah. That’s why it’s great. Yeah. I was going to say, you know, there’s so many takeaways from your, your response, like one of the biggest things I love is so many people, you know, especially on the T on TV shows, after they lose weight, they actually gain it. So I love that. Not only have you kept it off, but that you’ve lost weight since then. And what I also like is that you’ve lost a steady amount. You know, people have such unrealistic expectations of themselves. And the truth is, is once you get into a lifestyle, and I love that you said, I love being social. Once you get into a lifestyle and you know you’re still gonna have your beer, you’re still going to have your wings. You’re going to have days where you eat too much rice. But even if you’re losing half a pound a week or a pound a week, like a pound a week is 52 pounds in a year. And it’s, this is a sustainable lifestyle. You’re constantly moving in a healthy, better direction all while being happy and living your life and being social. Not to mention like a Donna said, you know, I love that you guys been focusing on weights and building muscle because that means so much more than the number on the scale anyway.
My clothes still fit. I mean things are still loose. Like it just, it still feels good and like I’m just like working really hard at it. And I think that like, I always say like my worst days now were my best days a year.
Wow. Wow.
Even if I get to the gym for 30 minutes, I’m really hard on myself and I have like this internal conversation. Like you should have done 60, you could have done 60. And I’m like, you know what, I just went to the gym. I just let myself have a moment. Good. That that’s like super important. Um, and the other thing is like I’m, I’m really, really proud that I kept the weight off because not for nothing our last way and was like, you know, right before the holidays and like, hello Thanksgiving, hello Christmas. Like holiday weight. So it, you know, it’s like, it’s like every hurdle. Like everyday. I said, you just got to keep pushing through.
Yeah, that’s great. And Adonis, what about you or I know that you ended the episode a little bit heavier than where you started or you have you kept losing weight. Are you maintaining, are you building muscle? What, where are you at now versus at the end of the episode?
So I’m still, I’m losing. So right now I’m, I’m saying like, how do you say I’m happy to report
[inaudible]
so I saw the show at 2:17 AM at two 22 right now. So it’s um, so I lost a lot more weight from the show. Um, and is maintaining and building that muscle, right. Because the goal for me, like even to lose the weight for the show, it was like I didn’t want to come down so drastically because there’s so many years I was trying to work towards it, having a certain physique, a certain look, you know, building muscle. And I was feeling that I was going to tear down my muscles by trying to lose so quickly. So it was like, um, so I did a study and what I like about us losing weight and like how you guys pointed out is that it’s not about losing like 30 pounds a week or 10 pounds off it. It’s about steady losing and it’s a big difference. It’s like a big, I love it. Like, you know, I know probably people wanting me to get down to the two 17, but sometimes that’s not reality. You know what I’m saying? Sometimes it’s going to take a little bit longer and now I’m falling back down, but it takes a little bit longer. But then if, if, if I would have been hard on myself, then guess what? I would probably went back up, keep going. Uh, respect the process, right?
Yeah, no, I think that’s great. You know? Yeah. There might be some haters. They’d be like, Oh see he didn’t even lose the weight. But I feel like a lot of people are going to be able to relate to you because they’re going to be like, you know what, he’s human to lose that much weight in four months is really, really hard. And the fact that he didn’t get there, it’s okay, I don’t need to beat myself up if I don’t hit my goal right on point every single time. Like it’s okay. I have to understand that this is a a journey, not a destination. This is a lifestyle, not a diet. And so it’s not like after the four months you’re done, it’s like you keep going and living that lifestyle. So I think that’s great for people to see that that you as the trainer, you know doesn’t always hit your goal. You don’t always hit your goal. Even if you’re a trainer, you know what to do. It’s like, look, I’m going to take my time with this even though this is for TV and I got four months. So a great example from both of you guys, great advice for people on moving forward and maintaining this healthy lifestyle. So kudos you guys. You guys are awesome. Great examples to all of us.
Only four months, like a lot of other shows if you base it on other shows and I think that’s what some people are going to do. Those are like a year long process. This is only 1500 pounds in four months. I start out a lot of months.
Yeah. And you’re not on a camp or, or a place where you get to quit your job and you know, just have food fit to you and like, you know what I’m saying? Like you gotta live your life still, so it’s not easy.
Yeah. I love that. So where can people find you guys real quick? Like if some, if somebody wants to follow you, ask you questions, find your journey. Do you guys have Facebook or Instagram
media posts? Yeah. Let us know all of that.
Right? So for me, it’s Instagram, a body by a Donna’s Twitter body by Donna’s. Um, my, my website will be up by the time this is on, so our Donna’s hill.com. And uh, yeah.
Awesome. Awesome. Well, we’ll make sure to put all of that in the show notes.
Notes for you guys to follow you guys.
Alyssa cane on Instagram. Okay, cool. That’ll be a surprise, right? I was going wait, um, a Tuesday to let people know, but I’m doing something very drastic. Uh, after the show in March, I’m walking across America for obesity. Even tell Alyssa I know I am crazy, but that’s, that’s me. But yeah. Uh, I’m starting from New York and I’m walking all the way to California. It’s going to take me, uh, about 30 weeks. Yup. Thousands, several hundred 97 miles now, another 24 hours. So, and the hope is to gain awareness, um, to speak to people just to start the walk. Right? Cause that’s the thing. Like I know I look out for fitness, like my moms or people, my aunts and people, parents, a lot of people can’t do a lot of this fitness stuff. So just walking is good enough. So if I could encourage people just to start walking and I will, and I’ll take the biggest walk, right. A thousand miles.
I love the contrast and attitudes. I say I freaking love this. I’m going to be following every step of the way. I mean, obviously I’m not going to be walking, I’m just going to be watching you walk. And I love it while she eats her donut.
Right? But I’m going to, it’s going to be like a call to action. So when I get to each part, each person’s state, they can walk with me and I get to talk about 50 fat, the whole top, cause it will be still going on the show and what’s going on because I believe what all the trainers are doing is necessary and it’s needed. Like we came in at the perfect time. And one thing you drew for, for even doing this in the first place, because if it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t even have this opportunity to say save by. So it’s so much deeper than entertainment, but it’s about saving light. And I thank you brother. Like I really, you changed my life. Melissa changed my life and uh, I’m just excited man. Like thank you guys.
Aw man, this man, you got me going here man. Thank you so much. I appreciate you. I received that and man, I wish you would. I kind of want to join you on this walk also. I’ll see if, if you come, wait, what about Hawaii? Have Alyssa teach you how to swim? We’ll swim from California to Hawaii. I thought you taught him though. I saw him in that class. That one thing that’s amazing. At some point drew will have to fly out to one of the States and white girls. I didn’t know about this. This is big. I’m going to help you promote this. This is huge. Are you going to dress up like Forrest Gump?
Yep.
Oh,
but um, but yeah, so yeah, and that was, I’m going to start a goal. Fine. So when you go to my website@dinosaur.com there’s going to be, cause I’m a need the support of people to do it, stuff like that. But um, but I will need the support of people and also to get them with the information that I want to give them and to report it. Periscope, it, whatever. Yeah. Yeah.
Cool man. We’ll definitely help promote that. Um, we’re, we’re not, we’re not the podcast yet because we still have our lightning round right?
So we’re finishing up with just a few fun questions. Lightning Rand’s my favorites where we ask you dumb stuff. That doesn’t mean anything that I liked the most. And so all you guys got to do is I’m going to ask you a question. You answer it as quickly as possible, and the first thing that comes to mind. Okay. All right. Alyssa, what was your most embarrassing moment during these eight months, either on or off the camera?
Um, being in my underwear and doing a body tour.
Do we know what the, what? What’s that?
I had to like turn around and squeeze my fat and like show that I didn’t, that I wanted removed and I had to like spin around in a Brown underwear. Like,
Oh my gosh. Oh, Oh. [inaudible] it’s clarified. I don’t know. After they were talking about him staring at her at the gym and his artwork, I w I’m glad he Claire, but
okay. About, you know.
Oh, okay. A Dawn is your most embarrassing moment in general as a trainer ever.
Um, mostly, Oh, you know what, during this process, right. To train my clients and going to, um, to different gym and training them and people looking at me like I’m crazy. Like you hide him, you know, and my hand boobs. Right. So like, you know, they was huge. Yeah.
He didn’t go.
Yeah. Who’s training? It’s funny. It’s hilarious.
All right. Alyssa, your least favorite workout move and why?
Um, my least favorite workout move is like a burpee or the step-ups.
Step-ups. Yeah. Oh yeah.
Because he gave me the really high one and I had to do it for a minute.
Hmm. I feel, yeah. I hate burpees too. Those are really his favorite.
And like once, and I was like, don’t never make me do that again.
But it was a modified to cause
I couldn’t even get off the floor.
That’s my favorite. Alright. Adonis, your favorite New York treat mill. Cheat meal treat.
No, whatever you want to call pizza. I’m a piece of whore. Everybody knew that.
Pizza whore. I love it. What kind of pizza? Just like normal pepperoni. Anything deep dish. What
regular pizza? Like New York, Brooklyn, Brooklyn pizza.
And he says pizza.
Peace with that. Yeah.
[inaudible] pizza.
Pizza. Uh, Adonis. Okay. Quick question for you. Was there an experience that you had when you were overweight and you’re out at the club or you’re dating some girl that had you embarrassed or kind of like, it changed your mentality cause it or you weren’t as successful versus when you were fit. Is there any moment or experience that you had at the club or with some girl?
Oh yeah. Well yeah also like, you know, we’re dancing, right? And then the big and everything can take up space and you know, you always shot, cause you always look like that guidance mat extra where you’re there. Like you know what I’m good like but listen, but listen and then you always do extra sweating. Right? Cause like everyone’s dancing and regular. So then like your girls are like don’t put that on.
If it makes you feel better. I sweat like a man and I’m not, I don’t look like I’m supposed to. So if I am at the club dancing with my girlfriends, they look at me that same way like, Oh dear.
Alright then good, good arms circles circle.
Yeah. The last time I went dancing with my girlfriends, my hair was literally soaked in there like wow. And I was like, you know, what are you even dancing if you’re not like disgusting like this, are you? And they’re like, yeah, so don’t feel that bad.
What was the funniest thing that happened with the camera crew between you guys? Like of like Beatrice and uh, the way it was just Beatrice? Yeah, well it was some funny things that happened with the camera.
Oh, we ran over the Brooklyn bridge and she had to run ahead of us and she was running backwards with a ton of tourists and she was trying to keep ahead of us. So she hold the camera at her side and take off like Forrest Gump, literally down the middle of the bridge and then turn around and get us and then have to take off again. And it was like a just, sorry.
And I even would be with like, it wasn’t really funny but it was so funny because in a sense that she, she’s willing to put in to get the shot. Like it don’t matter so we can load on a train and like she has so many people on a train and she’s taping me from a fall and a train and everyone’s looking at her like, yo who else? Like don’t take me cause you don’t be in New York. So it was like a different attitude and they’re like looking mad weird cause he’s staying send me a tape of me and everyone’s looking at another like, what are you doing? You guys are crazy. So I was like, Oh man, this is going to get shot pretty good though. She benefited from the food as well. Oh yes. She ate very
put on some weight as well or was she,
she started working out though when we, when we started working out she started working out like she was cool.
Awesome. Cool. Well you guys did wonderful. You made it through the lightning round. I love this whole podcast interview. I think there’s just so many great takeaways for people that are on their own health and wellness journey and we just love you guys. Keep on doing what you’re doing. I can’t wait to be following your walk cross America for obesity. How inspiring. And Alyssa.
Okay. Are you still with your boyfriend first of all?
Oh yeah.
Okay, cool. Keep us posted on how that goes and uh, you know, keep us posted on social media. Two of your amazing recipes cause we’ve heard good things.
Yeah, I told him we’re going to start like a whole YouTube chat on with her. What’s it like healthy inspired recipes. Yeah.
And the next time I’m in New York, you guys, we gotta get together.
Yeah. Well hopefully it’s before March. Yes. Hopefully you can meet me in Virginia or something. Thanks you guys. Okay, thanks for coming on. And you guys. Thank
all right. Thank you guys so much for listening to today’s episode with a Donaldson Alyssa from fit, threat fit, that TV show that’s on ane make sure and tune in every Tuesday night to check out a new episode. It’s an amazing show. The ratings are growing. People are talking about the show. It’s so inspiring, so motivating. So we thank you guys for tuning into the TV show and then always check back here on Wednesday the day after the TV show airs to get to know the trainer and client from the episode on a more personal level and we get into more of the details of like the diet that they used in the nutrition plan and the workouts that they actually use that you don’t get it all we see on the TV episode. So make sure in tune in every Wednesday for the next few weeks during the TV show for great content. We’d love hearing from you guys. So please follow us on social media. All my social media handles are at fit two fat two fit. My website is fit fed to fit.com there’s a newsletter you can sign up for to stay in the know to know what’s happening in the future.
Yes, and my Instagram and Facebook is@thenumbertwofitathomeandmywebsiteisthenumbertwofitathome.com and you can sign up for my free newsletter on there as well. Again, we appreciate you guys. Thanks for listening to the podcast. Leave us a comment, give us a good review and let us know what else you want to hear from us on this podcast. We would love to do more podcasts on the topics we’re interviewing, the people that you want to hear from.
Thank you guys so much and we’ll see you back here next week. [inaudible].
