Order of Man - OoM 053： Going From Fat to Fit with Drew Manning

00:00:00.000 If you're anything like the way I used to be, you are ready to get back into shape.

00:00:03.220 You know that you want more out of life, and you know that living a healthy lifestyle is a huge component of that.

00:00:08.420 That said, it's hard, not only physically, but mentally.

00:00:11.260 My guest today, he gained 75 pounds in just six months to learn firsthand

00:00:14.840 what his clients experienced as they started towards their journey to a healthy life.

00:00:19.280 Drew Manning shares with us his experience, what he learned, and how you can finally go from fat to fit.

00:00:24.340 You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest.

00:00:27.340 Embrace your fears and boldly chart your own path.

00:00:30.260 When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time, every time.

00:00:34.720 You are not easily deterred or defeated.

00:00:37.020 Rugged. Resilient. Strong.

00:00:39.760 This is your life. This is who you are.

00:00:42.320 This is who you will become.

00:00:43.980 At the end of the day, and after all is said and done, you can call yourself a man.

00:00:49.520 Men, what's going on today? My name is Ryan Michler.

00:00:51.660 I am the host and founder of Order of Man.

00:00:53.840 Now, if this is the first time you're joining us, I want to welcome you.

00:00:56.600 Here on the show, we talk about all things manly, specifically, we're teaching you and all the men listening today

00:01:01.200 how to become better leaders in your family, your business, your community, and your life.

00:01:06.380 So, I hope all is going well for you.

00:01:08.260 I got to say, my energy is a little low today.

00:01:10.440 I competed in a Spartan race over the weekend with some buddies.

00:01:12.980 It was not my prettiest race ever, but I did see where I needed some improvements. 0.90

00:01:16.840 Now, if you guys haven't competed in a Spartan race, I highly, highly recommend it.

00:01:20.220 You'll learn a ton about yourself, and I promise you that you will come out a stronger man.

00:01:24.900 Now, along those lines, we are going to be talking about health and fitness today

00:01:29.260 from a man you're probably familiar with, Mr. Drew Manning, the founder of Fit2Fat2Fit.

00:01:33.820 But before I get into that, a lot of you have asked me how you can get more involved with Order of Man.

00:01:39.380 And the best way to get involved and get off the sideline of life is to join us in our elite mastermind, The Iron Council.

00:01:46.040 Well, 50-plus members strong now, we're talking about relationships, health, wealth, and most importantly, yourself.

00:01:52.180 Now, this is not for guys who simply want to learn about or want to talk about being a better man.

00:01:57.340 This is for men who actually want to act on the knowledge they have to improve the connections they have with their wife and their children,

00:02:03.100 or they want to increase their wealth or start a new business.

00:02:05.720 All of the things I know you're interested in because I get messages every single day from men like you

00:02:10.540 who are just not satisfied with where they are.

00:02:13.600 They feel like it's just mediocrity in their lives.

00:02:15.760 So, if that's you, if you're one of the few men of action, I invite you to join me and the rest of the men in the Iron Council.

00:02:20.820 You can go to orderofman.com slash ironcouncil to get all the details, and hopefully you'll join us there.

00:02:25.560 Now, we want to get to the show today.

00:02:26.780 Remember, as always, you can find the links and the resources at orderofman.com slash 053.

00:02:31.720 And also, make sure you join in the conversation we're having with over 2,600 men now on our Facebook group

00:02:36.580 at facebook.com slash groups slash orderofman.

00:02:40.380 Now, let me introduce you to Drew.

00:02:42.020 He is a New York Times bestselling author of the book Fit2Fat2Fit.

00:02:46.280 He's best known for his Fit2Fat2Fit.com experience that took the media by storm when the story went viral online.

00:02:52.300 He's been featured on Dr. Oz, Good Morning America, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The View, and a ton more.

00:02:58.220 He's a certified personal trainer.

00:03:00.060 And through his Fit2Fat2Fit journey, he has inspired thousands of men across the world to embrace a healthier lifestyle change

00:03:06.420 through some dramatic self-experimentations.

00:03:09.540 This experiment has now turned into a hit TV show called Fit2Fat2Fit on A&E,

00:03:13.880 where they document 10 trainers who have deliberately got out of shape

00:03:17.160 so they can get back onto their healthy lifestyle together with their clients.

00:03:22.060 Drew, what's going on, man?

00:03:23.160 Glad to have you on the show today.

00:03:24.120 Hey, Ryan.

00:03:24.620 Thanks for having me on.

00:03:25.320 I really, really appreciate it.

00:03:26.680 So you've got this new show out, Fit2Fat2Fit.

00:03:28.780 I know you've been doing this for a while.

00:03:30.160 Well, tell me a little bit about the premise of your brand and what you're doing and the idea behind Fit2Fat2Fit.

00:03:36.400 Yeah, that's a great question.

00:03:37.840 So basically five years ago, I did this crazy journey called Fit2Fat2Fit, right,

00:03:41.800 where I grew up my whole life in shape, never struggled with being overweight,

00:03:46.100 and I decided as a personal trainer to let myself go for six months to kind of relate to my clients a little bit better

00:03:51.840 or to have a better understanding of where they were coming from.

00:03:54.480 So I gained 75 pounds in six months.

00:03:56.440 I documented the whole thing on my YouTube channel, on my website, and it just went viral, right?

00:04:01.420 It went crazy.

00:04:02.080 It went on all these TV shows.

00:04:03.480 People were like, who is this crazy trainer?

00:04:06.300 Yeah.

00:04:06.660 I gained weight on purpose, and then I showed people how I lost the weight, and it really did humble me,

00:04:12.260 and I gained a lot more empathy, and I think that's why people related to it

00:04:15.100 is because I wasn't doing it to rub it in people's faces or to say, look how easy it is,

00:04:19.500 or there's no excuses.

00:04:20.800 I did it, and I was truly humbled and was like, this is way harder than I ever imagined,

00:04:25.540 and it changed me as a man, and it changed me as a trainer, and then I wrote a book about it,

00:04:30.780 created this brand.

00:04:31.800 Fast forward until now.

00:04:33.460 Now there's a TV show called Fit to Fat to Fit on A&E where 10 trainers from across the country

00:04:39.380 are now doing what I did, so I'm their coach throughout the season, kind of walking them

00:04:45.160 through the steps of what it's going to be like from a physical and mental and emotional perspective,

00:04:49.160 and so these trainers for four months have to let themselves go, but the twist is that they

00:04:54.500 then are teamed up with an obese client after those four months of gaining weight, and together

00:04:58.340 as a team, they have to lose the weight together, and so it's a really great twist, and there's

00:05:04.080 nothing else like it on TV, to be honest with you, and it really puts these trainers in their

00:05:08.660 client's shoe.

00:05:09.660 Not to say that they know exactly what their clients are going through, but I mean, to be

00:05:13.380 honest with you, they gain a better understanding.

00:05:14.860 They're humbled, they truly see how, kind of how hard it is for their clients, and it

00:05:20.080 just motivates their client that much more to push harder for them, and you really see

00:05:23.460 this bonding moment between trainer and client.

00:05:25.880 Well, and it puts them on the same side of the table, as opposed to working against each

00:05:28.600 other, or you have to be like me, it's like, let's do this together, and that team effort

00:05:31.480 seems like it would probably be a better approach.

00:05:33.360 Yeah, exactly, and that's what you see with the other weight loss shows, which are great,

00:05:35.980 by the way, I'm not saying anything.

00:05:36.880 Sure, yeah, you don't want to knock those.

00:05:38.080 Yeah, but at the same time, you see a trainer that's in shape, that's probably been in shape their

00:05:41.480 whole life, and it's so easy to say to people, look, just push harder, stop,

00:05:44.640 you know, stop quitting, just try harder, it's so easy, just don't eat the junk food,

00:05:48.380 what's wrong with you?

00:05:49.340 Whereas this time, the trainer's going through it, and they're like, oh my gosh, okay, I

00:05:52.460 totally see where you're coming from, this is way harder than I thought, but we're going

00:05:55.480 to do this together, I'm doing this for you, and this is teaching me some new things, and

00:05:59.820 we're going to do this together as a team.

00:06:01.460 And I love the concept, because you and I were talking about this earlier before we hit

00:06:04.760 record on the podcast, I mean, I look at you, and you've got a good physique, and it

00:06:08.540 would be easy for me or anybody out there to say, oh yeah, look at Drew, he's had it

00:06:12.320 easy, this is just his body, no big deal for him, easy for him to do all this stuff,

00:06:16.640 but me, on the other hand, this is different, and so I'm sure, like you said, there's a lot

00:06:21.440 more empathy and ability to relate with your clients when you go through the experience

00:06:25.300 with them.

00:06:25.760 Yeah, and that's what so many people have reached out to me and said to me that, you

00:06:29.900 know, who have been overweight for years, they feel like this trainer that used to be

00:06:34.620 on top of this mountain, you know, I'm just kind of illustrating it here, yelling at

00:06:38.540 people to climb up the mountain, telling them how easy it is, for the first time they

00:06:41.740 feel like I was, you know, climbed down the mountain with them and was able to climb back

00:06:45.440 up the mountain along with them, and it gives me a totally different perspective, and at

00:06:50.520 the same time, it's more relatable to your average American that's, you know, at the

00:06:55.400 bottom of the mountain trying to go up.

00:06:57.660 Sure, yeah.

00:06:58.400 So you said 75 pounds in six months, this might be a really weird question, but was it just

00:07:04.380 a matter of just letting yourself go, or were there some things that you were doing

00:07:07.760 deliberately to make yourself out of shape, if you will?

00:07:11.380 That's a good question.

00:07:12.460 So, obviously, deliberately, I mean, I didn't exercise, I did that deliberately, and then

00:07:16.940 I ate about 5,000 calories of highly processed, typical American foods.

00:07:22.720 Now, most of us have seen Super Size Me, the documentary, you know, where he eats McDonald's

00:07:28.220 every day.

00:07:29.120 Most of us know fast food is bad for us.

00:07:30.880 What I wanted to do was focus on everyday American foods that we grew up on that sometimes

00:07:35.420 we think aren't that unhealthy for us, so I ate a lot of white bread, white pasta, sugary

00:07:41.540 cereals, sodas, juices, granola bars, chips, cookies, crackers, all those convenient, easy

00:07:46.720 foods that taste good at the grocery store that sometimes are marketed to us as, you know,

00:07:51.000 oh, you know, multi-grains, or low-fat, or non-fat, or fortified with vitamin A and vitamin

00:07:57.440 D, you know, things that are pitched to us as, okay, this isn't that bad, but I ate a lot

00:08:01.960 of those foods, and I ended up getting 75 pounds in six months' time.

00:08:07.020 Yeah, chips are my vice.

00:08:08.460 I could eat a bag of chips, just pound chips all day long.

00:08:12.380 Yeah.

00:08:13.160 So, that's the hardest thing for me.

00:08:15.600 Yeah, Pringles, man, once you pop, you can't stop, right?

00:08:18.280 That's right, that's right.

00:08:19.460 Salt and vinegar Pringles for me.

00:08:21.320 We better stop talking about this, I'm getting hungry.

00:08:23.140 I know, I know, we're gonna make everybody hungry here.

00:08:25.720 So, okay, so obviously you knew going into it that there's gonna be some health side effects

00:08:30.460 to this experiment, but I guess, what were some of those side effects, and were there

00:08:36.300 any that were surprising to you that you did not expect?

00:08:39.600 That's a good question.

00:08:40.460 I'll talk about this in two different ways, one on the physical side of things, and one

00:08:44.160 on the mental and emotional side of things. 0.98

00:08:46.240 Physically, I knew I was gonna get some man boobs and a big gut, some love handles, right? 1.00

00:08:50.540 Sure, right. 0.99

00:08:50.840 Some cottage cheese, I knew that was gonna happen.

00:08:52.980 The surprising things on the physical side were, for example, bending over and tying my

00:08:57.340 shoes, like, or clipping my toenails, I had to hold my breath, you know, like, seconds

00:09:02.160 while I'm trying to clip my toenails as fast as I could, come back up for air, and my wife 0.97

00:09:06.240 at the time would tell me, now you know what it's like to be pregnant, you know, having 0.82

00:09:09.460 this big belly that gets in the way, and it blocks your airways.

00:09:13.180 Snoring, chafing were things that I wasn't prepared for that happened from a physical point

00:09:18.520 of view.

00:09:19.620 On the mental and emotional side, I'll be honest with you, this was the hardest part of the

00:09:22.780 whole journey.

00:09:23.240 And this is where my eyes were opened, and I really was able to connect with my clients.

00:09:27.920 I had no idea how much of transformation was mental and emotional, so I lost my self-esteem,

00:09:33.100 my confidence.

00:09:34.260 Going out in public, I was worried about what others were thinking of me.

00:09:37.960 I didn't want my wife to see me naked.

00:09:39.680 I didn't want to see myself naked.

00:09:41.360 You know, I was disgusted because I, my whole life, I related who I was with what my body

00:09:46.280 looked like, my six-pack.

00:09:48.200 And once all that was gone, I didn't know who I was anymore.

00:09:50.820 I didn't, you know, that was the hard part for me was going out public and worrying about

00:09:56.280 what others were thinking of me the whole time and, and just being so unhappy with who

00:10:00.760 I was because I related who I was with what my body looked like my whole life.

00:10:05.920 So did this change then your perspective, even now, fast forward to now, change your perspective

00:10:12.140 of how you identify yourself currently and who you are today?

00:10:16.880 Great question, man.

00:10:18.260 Yeah, for sure.

00:10:19.000 I mean, it's, it's totally redefined the way I look at myself.

00:10:23.380 Before I used to relate who I was with my body.

00:10:26.640 And so I used to obsess about what I look like, you know, my physique, you know, what

00:10:30.460 body fat percentage did I have?

00:10:32.580 Whereas now I'm probably around 12% body fat, which is higher than what I was before.

00:10:38.340 I was probably around eight, eight or nine, but I'm totally happier with who I am because

00:10:42.600 I have more of a balanced lifestyle.

00:10:43.620 I don't obsess so much about going to the gym every single day and looking a certain

00:10:47.920 way.

00:10:48.500 Like I've learned to, to be happy with who I am, despite what I look like.

00:10:53.240 Now that doesn't mean I'm going to let myself go completely because I, I like who I am when

00:10:57.000 I feel healthy and I don't focus so much on, you know, how much do I bench and, you know,

00:11:01.940 what my six pack looks like all the time.

00:11:03.860 I'm totally fine.

00:11:04.340 I'm taking my shirt off in public if I, if I haven't worked out in a week, you know,

00:11:08.000 whereas before I'm like, Oh, I do it.

00:11:09.280 I'm embarrassed, but now I just, I, I see everybody, you know, totally everyone is not

00:11:15.780 their bodies, you know, even if someone's overweight, like I could care less about that.

00:11:19.440 And that's, what's helped me as a trainer now is helping people not focus so much on

00:11:23.860 their physical appearance, which is hard for some people to grasp, but in the long run,

00:11:27.920 it's better from a mental perspective.

00:11:30.420 Yeah.

00:11:30.960 It sounds like you're instead of the outside factors, like the way you look, or like you

00:11:35.020 said, the body fat, you're more worried about how you feel.

00:11:37.880 I'm, I guess I'm both physically and mentally how you feel as opposed to how you look.

00:11:41.860 Exactly.

00:11:42.400 And that's what I try and get across to people nowadays is, you know, yes, weight loss is

00:11:46.400 sexy and yes, look, having a six pack is cool and all, but that's not what makes you happy

00:11:50.420 at the end of the day, right?

00:11:51.760 That's not what's going to make you happy.

00:11:53.460 You have to be happy with who you are now and just realize that you're becoming a better

00:11:56.860 version of yourself as you become healthier, uh, not so much skinnier or, or less fat on your

00:12:02.080 body, but just a healthier person.

00:12:03.780 And so I try and get people to focus on, on medical health first and let them realize

00:12:08.320 that, Hey, weight loss will be a by-product of living that healthy lifestyle over time.

00:12:12.500 If you treat yourself right and you love who you are.

00:12:15.600 Right.

00:12:16.020 So how do you do that?

00:12:16.940 How do you, let's say somebody is out of shape and they get on this health kick.

00:12:21.140 In fact, three years ago, I weighed 50 pounds more than what I weigh today.

00:12:24.620 So I've gone through this experience, so I'm, I'm familiar with what it's like.

00:12:28.160 How do you not obsess about those things and maintain moderation and balance as opposed

00:12:35.660 to be so focused on the way that you look?

00:12:38.420 Yeah.

00:12:38.700 You know, one of the things that's, that's helped me and a lot of other people is kind

00:12:42.240 of in a way, and this sounds hard, but disconnecting from, uh, uh, the social media, uh, atmosphere

00:12:48.460 that's out there in the fitness industry.

00:12:49.760 You know, we, we see these fitness models and we compare ourselves and it's just, it's

00:12:54.460 really hard to do, but you do need to take a step back, take a break from what's out there

00:12:58.600 that's being thrown in your face as far as what you're supposed to look like.

00:13:02.180 And one of the things that's helped me honestly is meditation every day.

00:13:05.340 Uh, and, and that's helped me to connect with who I am on the inside and focus so much more

00:13:11.560 on just, uh, having a healthy day throughout the day instead of focusing on, okay, how many

00:13:16.320 calories, how many macros, how many grams of protein, grams of fat, grams of

00:13:19.740 carbs, which are all, you know, can help you.

00:13:22.700 But at the end of the day, if you're obsessing about that, I feel like you're just going to

00:13:25.520 get burned out eventually.

00:13:26.680 And if your goals are just about looks, you know, you're going to, you're going to get

00:13:30.060 burned out after, you know, 90 days or whatever.

00:13:33.020 Um, so meditation has helped me a ton and just taking a step back from the social media

00:13:37.740 fitness world that's out there.

00:13:39.700 I love that you take more of a moderate approach because it would be easy for you to get consumed

00:13:43.740 and how many calories are in this little piece of whatever and just lose sight of the

00:13:49.140 thing that's important, which is at the end of the day, just eat healthy.

00:13:52.280 You know what to eat.

00:13:53.100 You know what not to eat.

00:13:53.920 You got to move, you know, those things.

00:13:55.700 And so people get consumed with, well, what's the exact best workout I should do when in

00:14:00.440 all reality, just go do something, right?

00:14:02.460 Exactly.

00:14:03.100 Yeah.

00:14:03.240 Like for example, we recently moved out to Hawaii about six or seven months ago and I

00:14:07.580 used to do CrossFit or used to work out in gym.

00:14:09.660 And honestly, one of the most satisfying things is every morning I'll do my daily meditation

00:14:14.640 for 10 months and then I'll go work out on the beach.

00:14:16.800 But when I work out, I just grab a big stone that I find there, you know, I do some squats

00:14:21.120 with that, run on the beach, do some body surfing.

00:14:24.300 And that's like the most fulfilling workout ever versus anything I do in the gym.

00:14:29.020 Yeah.

00:14:29.240 I might not have the biggest, you know, shoulder muscles or biceps by doing that kind of a workout,

00:14:34.440 but it's more, it's more therapy than, than anything else to be honest with you.

00:14:40.480 Right.

00:14:40.640 Right.

00:14:41.040 What type of meditation do you do?

00:14:42.540 Cause I've just started to get into, into doing some meditation myself, even just over

00:14:46.680 this past week.

00:14:47.860 And so I'm curious what you do and what maybe you would recommend.

00:14:51.260 Yeah.

00:14:51.540 So this is kind of funny cause I don't consider myself a meditation expert by any mean.

00:14:55.680 And I'm, I'm your, your person that came from this kind of jock era of, you know, meditation

00:15:01.000 is weird.

00:15:01.520 Like what the hell is this?

00:15:03.120 Yeah.

00:15:04.700 But it's really, really helped me.

00:15:06.400 And so I honestly started with just the free headspace app and just the daily guided meditation.

00:15:12.660 I just, I feel bad.

00:15:14.380 I honestly use just those 10 free sessions and just go through those over and over again.

00:15:18.020 And I've kind of tweaked it to, to my own personal use of it where sometimes I'll do

00:15:23.760 seven minutes or eight minutes when I feel like I've gotten to a place of, of, of peace.

00:15:28.040 Um, I don't really need the whole 10 minutes anymore, but if you're just new to it, the

00:15:33.120 headspace app, I think it's perfect to kind of give you a feel of what it's like and what

00:15:37.520 you're supposed to think and, and do.

00:15:39.560 And it's not supposed to be forced, uh, to have that guided meditation, I think is a great

00:15:44.100 first stepping stone.

00:15:45.500 Now, I mean, I've only been doing this for about eight months, so I'm not perfect at

00:15:50.100 it, but it's helped a ton in my life.

00:15:52.440 So I would recommend that.

00:15:53.900 Yeah.

00:15:54.320 I'll make sure I link that up in the show notes so guys can check that out if they're interested.

00:15:57.380 So I want to jump back to something you said, cause you talk about building confidence and

00:16:01.100 I was actually having this conversation with some guys this morning about what comes first.

00:16:04.600 Is it the actions you take to build confidence or is it this mentality of fake it till you

00:16:08.780 make it?

00:16:09.180 Let's say somebody is out of shape and I know that they need to get in better shape, but

00:16:12.800 they're just not confident in going to the gym or any of that stuff.

00:16:16.380 Like how do you, how do you start?

00:16:18.640 How do you get in the mindset to get going to have at least enough confidence and energy to

00:16:23.160 start something?

00:16:24.320 Yeah.

00:16:24.560 You know, that's a great question.

00:16:25.660 And in my book, I kind of go into this, like, um, some steps you can take to first get

00:16:29.600 started.

00:16:29.940 Even if you're not, you know, you don't have a plan in place or you're not, you don't

00:16:33.580 have anything, you know, uh, perfectly organized before you get started, just declaring, publicly

00:16:38.680 declaring your goals.

00:16:39.780 So announcing on, on social media or to your friends or family, what your intentions are

00:16:44.320 like, Hey, I want to be healthier this year.

00:16:45.980 I'm really going to try harder.

00:16:47.220 And then that, what that does is that distinguishes who's going to be your support group and who's

00:16:51.540 not.

00:16:52.040 So even if it might be your closest friends or even your family that aren't your support

00:16:56.540 group, um, you'll, you discover at least who your support group is because no matter who

00:17:00.680 you are, you're going to struggle along the way.

00:17:02.880 You're going to have days where you just lose motivation, where you just want to stay in

00:17:06.480 bed all day and you don't want to go to the gym. 0.99

00:17:08.220 And what the support system does for you is gives you a kick in the butt when you need 0.96

00:17:12.640 it, but also gives you that love and empathy and letting you know that you're worth it 0.96

00:17:17.880 to be healthy.

00:17:18.700 And so, um, that's why I'm a big proponent of, of a lot of my, uh, followers have started

00:17:23.580 blogs or a social media account where they post updates, um, of their progress or, or,

00:17:29.420 you know, Hey, I'm going for a walk today or, Hey, I'm drinking more water.

00:17:32.260 You know, I'm, I cut out soda today.

00:17:34.420 Today's day three of, of no soda.

00:17:36.480 Those kinds of things are very powerful because it keeps you accountable.

00:17:40.660 People are looking, people are, people are looking at you and that, that, that fear is

00:17:44.860 very powerful.

00:17:46.120 Um, and so I've had so many people that have started these blogs and, uh, it just keeps

00:17:51.600 them accountable because they know people are looking at it.

00:17:54.400 I've become friends with a lot of people from biggest loser and extreme weight loss.

00:17:58.280 These TV shows that where they have all this attention on camera and on TV and,

00:18:04.420 and I've noticed that a lot of them gain the weight back, but the ones, yeah, of course,

00:18:08.680 the ones that have maintained this lifestyle I've noticed are the ones that are the most

00:18:12.980 active on social media.

00:18:14.260 They continue to post their workouts.

00:18:16.220 They continue to post their meals.

00:18:17.580 They continue to post inspirational quotes and these are the, and the ones that have

00:18:21.900 dropped off that have gained the weight back and fortunately go into hiding.

00:18:25.480 Um, and so that's one thing I've noticed is they maintain that accountability after they're

00:18:30.500 on the TV show and that's what I try and pass along to people that are just getting started

00:18:34.660 is to find someone to be accountable to.

00:18:37.060 No, this makes a ton of sense because we actually have a elite mastermind group that we have for

00:18:42.280 order of man.

00:18:43.720 And somebody said to me just yesterday, they said, Oh, why would I, why would I pay to be

00:18:47.420 involved in this?

00:18:48.020 I can just find this information for free.

00:18:49.660 And that's true.

00:18:50.340 You can find the information out there.

00:18:51.420 You can Google whatever you want.

00:18:52.700 But at the end of the day, is it, is it number one packaged in a way that's consumable for

00:18:55.780 you?

00:18:56.020 And number two, are you actually going to do it because it's not a lack of information

00:19:00.140 out there drew everything that you teach is available for free.

00:19:03.500 That's not really what it is.

00:19:04.940 It's the fact that you're going to be accountable.

00:19:06.620 And I think this goes back to humans thousands of years ago when we were operating in tribes, you

00:19:13.740 had to be a productive member of the tribe.

00:19:16.940 Otherwise you were worthless. 0.54

00:19:18.840 You weren't worthy of having around because you weren't even carrying your weight.

00:19:22.520 And then I think as, as we've developed and evolved in society and we go to this lone

00:19:27.400 wolf type thing, we're able to slink in the corner and we're able to hide and we're able

00:19:31.920 to sit behind our computer.

00:19:33.960 But when we're in a team, we always work a little bit harder, right?

00:19:37.740 Man, that's such a good point.

00:19:38.920 Yeah.

00:19:39.100 Cause so many people can find, you can find this information anywhere, just like you said.

00:19:43.140 But I mean, it's so powerful to be accountable to somebody and that's why people are willing

00:19:46.980 to pay thousands of dollars sometimes for a coach that, you know, is going to push them

00:19:50.880 and keep them accountable, you know, just to check in with somebody, you know, people

00:19:54.860 pay for that nowadays and, you know, can charge quite a bit of money to be honest with you

00:19:58.780 because that it's so powerful.

00:20:00.680 And so there's cheaper ways to do it, of course, and you just find your, your support

00:20:04.840 group and, um, find someone to be accountable to and you'll see just how powerful it is

00:20:09.440 and keeping you accountable each week.

00:20:10.960 So, so yeah, I guess my question with regards to support group, as you, as you put on this

00:20:16.440 weight and you got out of shape and then you decide, okay, now I'm ready.

00:20:19.460 I'm going to get back into shape.

00:20:21.040 I'm assuming you did the same thing.

00:20:22.600 You had a support group.

00:20:23.560 Were you surprised at who was in your support group and even surprised at who maybe weren't

00:20:28.660 supportive of what you were doing?

00:20:30.180 Yeah.

00:20:30.600 I mean, my situation was a little bit different, right?

00:20:32.540 Cause I had all this media attention.

00:20:34.080 I was on TV.

00:20:34.980 That's true.

00:20:35.340 Yeah.

00:20:35.740 So I had all, I had a ton of accountability and to the point where I was worried if I

00:20:40.620 went to the grocery store and I had cinnamon toast crunch or some soda in my cart, I was

00:20:46.720 worried if someone saw me, they're like, Hey, aren't you the fit to fit guy?

00:20:49.320 Like, what are you doing?

00:20:50.740 So that fear kept me from giving into cravings, for example.

00:20:54.260 So obviously my situation was a little bit different, but, um, I did have that, that

00:20:59.880 accountability and that support group of, of people, you know, of, uh, people keeping

00:21:04.400 me accountable.

00:21:04.900 But, you know, I think it's different for each person.

00:21:07.460 And I feel like, um, whether you have that or not, there's still ways to do it, to have

00:21:12.340 people keep you accountable and not that people are going to know who you are everywhere you

00:21:15.500 go.

00:21:16.040 But I mean, yeah, it's, it's just, it's a necessary step in, in transformation in general.

00:21:21.380 Just taking a quick time out to introduce you to my friends and sponsors of the show,

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00:22:28.960 Now back to my interview with drew.

00:22:32.180 With your clients, what's the hardest part for your clients as they're starting to get

00:22:36.080 into shape and take hold of their, of their health?

00:22:39.360 That's a great question.

00:22:40.400 You know, it's, it's so individual.

00:22:41.940 I do work with a lot of families like couples, and it's one of the toughest things they tell me 1.00

00:22:47.600 is what do you do when your spouse isn't supportive?

00:22:50.420 You know, like let's say the guy's on, on, on track.

00:22:52.880 He wants to get healthy, but his wife's like, no, let's just Netflix and chill, you know?

00:22:57.240 Right, right.

00:22:58.520 Which is fine too.

00:22:59.600 There's, there's times for that too.

00:23:01.100 There is.

00:23:01.660 And that's what I try and tell people.

00:23:02.640 You can have this balanced lifestyle.

00:23:04.320 You don't need to say, okay, I can only eat, drink, and be merry, or I have to go live

00:23:09.040 in a cave and eat chicken and broccoli for the rest of my life.

00:23:11.200 There's an in-between there, you know, and I try and help people discover what that is.

00:23:15.940 But, um, I would say that's the biggest thing people struggle with from a couple's perspective.

00:23:20.220 But honestly, the, the number one thing that people struggle with is on the mental and emotional

00:23:24.600 side.

00:23:25.140 And that's, um, what do they do when they're by themselves and they have cravings or what

00:23:29.400 do they do when they're depressed?

00:23:31.400 Um, we eat our emotions in our society.

00:23:33.440 When we're sad, we eat.

00:23:35.180 When we win at something, we celebrate, we go eat.

00:23:38.500 You know, if there's a party, if there's a holiday, a birthday party, we celebrate with

00:23:43.240 food.

00:23:43.600 And so we have an uphill battle.

00:23:45.980 That's why being accountable to other people that are doing this with you is, is so powerful.

00:23:51.420 And so I can't stress that enough, but that's what it, those are the number one things I

00:23:54.820 think people struggle with.

00:23:55.940 And it all comes back to accountability.

00:23:58.140 It's not lack of knowledge for the most part.

00:24:00.980 It's, it's being accountable to other people.

00:24:03.760 I know I struggle the most when it comes to eating when I'm bored.

00:24:06.920 So at the end of the night, when everything's kind of winding down, that is like the biggest

00:24:11.260 challenge for me not to eat the whole house down.

00:24:14.660 So I either try to find something to do or I just hurry and go to bed.

00:24:19.480 No, that's a great piece of advice, man.

00:24:21.640 A lot of people struggle with that too.

00:24:23.380 Me included.

00:24:24.560 I'm going to go back to what you said about not having a spouse on board with this because

00:24:29.240 yeah, you can choose your support group and your support group in a way will identify

00:24:32.620 itself.

00:24:33.120 But at the end of the day, when it comes to your spouse, I mean, that's your spouse,

00:24:36.820 right?

00:24:37.020 You love that person and you want to be with that person and you can't just shun them

00:24:40.900 because they're not supportive of your new goal.

00:24:43.400 So how do you deal with that?

00:24:44.780 A couple of things.

00:24:45.940 One is it's, it's always, it's so funny because if it comes from the spouse of like, hey, we

00:24:52.400 should exercise, we should lose weight.

00:24:54.320 It's like the worst idea causes the most confrontation I've realized in relationships.

00:24:58.100 If a guy says to a girl, hey, you know, we should go to the gym or are you really going

00:25:02.380 to eat that?

00:25:03.540 Of course.

00:25:04.080 Yeah.

00:25:04.280 Because of the way that comes across.

00:25:06.100 But if it comes from someone else outside of that circle, they're like, oh yeah, that's

00:25:09.760 a good idea.

00:25:10.360 It should totally work out.

00:25:11.500 And, you know, we should start eating, you know, more broccoli or more kale in our, in

00:25:14.900 our diet.

00:25:15.260 But if it comes from the person they love, it's like, what do you, you know, people get

00:25:19.700 offended easily.

00:25:20.380 So a couple of things.

00:25:21.580 One is to always just be the example instead of verbally telling someone what to do, just

00:25:27.920 be the example, the silent, you know, leader in the relationship is the number one thing

00:25:32.160 you can do.

00:25:33.320 Another thing you can do, which I love this idea, but it's not easy is the idea of inception.

00:25:38.860 Now I'm not talking about the movie where you go into their dreams and plant the seed,

00:25:42.920 but if you can make them, if you can make them realize that it's their idea instead of you're

00:25:49.440 the one pushing it to them, then that's going to make things a lot easier.

00:25:54.380 So for example, what you can do is say to your spouse, look, I want to lose some weight this

00:25:59.900 year, but I can't do this alone.

00:26:01.900 I need somebody to help me, to keep me accountable.

00:26:04.480 And I'm not saying you need to do this with me, but I just want you to help me along the

00:26:08.800 way.

00:26:09.080 Like, would you be willing to help me?

00:26:10.220 I know you care about me.

00:26:11.080 I know you love me.

00:26:12.060 I know you want me to be healthier.

00:26:13.600 So all I'm saying is for you to keep me accountable.

00:26:15.860 I'm not saying you have to do this with me, but just push me along the way.

00:26:19.780 And that seems to work for a lot of couples I've worked with because then the spouse is

00:26:24.160 like, okay, I'm here, you know, I'm here to rescue you.

00:26:27.000 I'm here to help you.

00:26:28.460 And they might not join on board at first, but when they see, you know, how motivated

00:26:34.140 you are and how you're keeping them accountable, it's a, it's very powerful in my opinion.

00:26:38.980 So it's something new to try if you haven't tried it before.

00:26:42.000 So what you're saying is that all the men out there listening should set their wife's iPad

00:26:46.460 or iPhone to the fit to fat to fit podcast and let them discover it from themselves.

00:26:51.100 Right?

00:26:51.880 Yes.

00:26:52.240 There you go.

00:26:53.860 Or watch the TV show, you know, there you go.

00:26:56.260 That's right.

00:26:56.960 That's right.

00:26:57.460 Yeah.

00:26:57.900 Yeah.

00:26:58.140 And that makes great sense.

00:26:58.920 You know, I'm a financial advisor by trade and I've had this conversation.

00:27:02.300 I think I've mentioned on this podcast before.

00:27:03.840 Or I tend to be pretty structured and pretty regimented with my money because that's my job.

00:27:07.980 Just like you're into fitness and this is what you do.

00:27:10.380 I tell my wife all the time, okay, here's what I want to do.

00:27:12.640 Here's our savings goal.

00:27:13.540 Here's how we're paying off debt.

00:27:14.620 Here's what we're doing.

00:27:15.500 All of this stuff.

00:27:16.420 And she's never been interested in it and almost fights me on it all the time.

00:27:21.080 But one day she came home and she said, hey, you know, Ryan, I really want to start

00:27:25.180 paying off debt and I want to, I want to invest all this money.

00:27:28.020 I want to do all these things.

00:27:29.240 And I thought to myself, well, this is great, but where is this coming from?

00:27:32.820 And she said, oh, I was listening to Dave Ramsey on the way home.

00:27:35.440 And I'm like, I've been telling you this stuff for a decade, but it takes Dave Ramsey to tell

00:27:40.940 you for it to actually sink in.

00:27:42.580 So I totally understand what it is you're saying.

00:27:45.100 That is so true.

00:27:46.540 I want to ask a question about discipline because I think it's easy for people to start.

00:27:52.920 I don't think that's necessarily that difficult, but it's the same reason we have New Year's

00:27:57.480 resolutions, right?

00:27:58.180 And we're done with them by, it's February 5th as we're recording this episode right now.

00:28:02.280 And everybody's done with their New Year's resolutions.

00:28:04.160 How do you maintain discipline and commitment to your goals when life is hard and Burger

00:28:09.720 King's way easier than sitting down and eating a salad?

00:28:12.400 You know, that's a great question.

00:28:14.120 And it's something that I struggle with as well.

00:28:16.140 I tell people all the time, look, I lose motivation all the time.

00:28:19.340 I get burnt out of doing the same exercises and just going to the gym.

00:28:23.960 That happens to me as well.

00:28:25.380 And so one of the things I found that helps me and others maintain this healthy lifestyle

00:28:29.740 from a physical point of view is to plan a few competitions, races throughout the year.

00:28:38.640 Because what that does is you put money down for these things.

00:28:40.960 And anytime money is involved, you're five times more likely to succeed with your goal

00:28:45.920 if money is at stake.

00:28:47.240 So if you put $50 down for, let's say, a 5K or a 10K or a Spartan race or a Tough Mudder

00:28:52.520 or a physique competition or some type of competition where you put money down and you are competing

00:28:58.980 in a way, you, for the most part, aren't going to waste that money by not training for that

00:29:03.740 event.

00:29:04.620 So what I recommend is for people to plan two to three races, put the money down now for

00:29:10.320 it so you know that it's already set in stone.

00:29:12.820 You put the money down and here's the date.

00:29:14.380 And then find a group of people to train with, find some people or friends to sign up for

00:29:19.240 this race with you.

00:29:20.800 And if you do two to three a year, I mean, it's so powerful in keeping you motivated throughout

00:29:25.540 the year to continue to train and eat healthy because you don't want to show up on race

00:29:29.260 day out of shape and waste your money, especially if you're, you're training with other people.

00:29:33.980 And so you don't want to let the team down.

00:29:35.900 Exactly.

00:29:36.480 So for example, I mean, let's say Spartan race isn't your thing.

00:29:39.200 And even if you're just getting started signing up for a 5k with your wife or a couple of

00:29:44.500 friends, I think is, is a great way to get started.

00:29:48.200 Because like I said, when you put money down for something, you're not going to waste that

00:29:52.040 money for the most part.

00:29:52.880 I mean, most people I know won't.

00:29:54.560 Right.

00:29:55.360 So that's a great way to stay motivated throughout the year is, you know, in January, February,

00:30:00.240 even now sign up for two or three races right now, put the money down now instead of saying,

00:30:05.460 well, it's not October, I'll wait till September to sign up for the race, put the money down

00:30:09.880 now, sign up for it now.

00:30:11.360 And then you have all year to train and you're not going to waste that money.

00:30:14.720 Find some people to train with, stay accountable to.

00:30:17.220 That's great advice.

00:30:17.900 I actually got really stagnant with my fitness goals last year.

00:30:21.800 And excuse me, I had a friend of mine invite me to a Spartan race in the Bahamas, actually.

00:30:27.280 And I was completely not prepared for the Spartan race, but I said, yeah, let's do it.

00:30:32.540 I was very committed to getting in shape, getting where I needed to be because I didn't

00:30:37.560 want to go embarrass myself in front of my friend on this race.

00:30:40.940 And then I did three Spartan events and you, it sounds like you're familiar with Spartan

00:30:45.120 races.

00:30:45.680 They have the sprint, which is like three to five miles.

00:30:48.320 And then they have the super, which is seven to 10 or nine miles.

00:30:52.220 And then they have the beast and every race I did, I extended the distance, even though 0.97

00:30:57.200 I knew I wasn't adequately prepared at the time that I signed up for the race.

00:31:01.120 But it was easy for me at that point to be motivated, to continue to get in shape.

00:31:04.920 So I would be ready for the race.

00:31:06.680 Exactly, man.

00:31:07.340 And that's the perfect example of how it can be.

00:31:10.580 You know, you put the money down, you sent you, you train for it and then you do the

00:31:14.300 race.

00:31:14.600 And another thing that I would recommend as well is we all know habits are very powerful,

00:31:20.040 right?

00:31:20.260 They're not easy to get rid of old habits, bad habits.

00:31:23.600 It's not easy to start a new habit.

00:31:24.900 But another thing, if you can make meal prepping a habit in your life, it makes eating healthy

00:31:30.100 so much easier in the long run, right?

00:31:31.700 If you can, the way I teach people is to meal prep twice a week, Sunday night, and then once

00:31:36.440 they get on Wednesday night.

00:31:37.780 And if they can repeat that and prep their food and you're only cooking twice a week,

00:31:42.400 so it saves you time, saves you money.

00:31:44.380 And if you have the healthy food already ready to go in your house, like you said, you struggle

00:31:48.720 with cravings late at night.

00:31:49.840 If all you have is healthy food in your house, yeah, you might give in to eating some, you

00:31:56.540 know, healthier food at night, but that's a lot better than giving in to eating chips

00:32:00.220 all night if the chips are in your house.

00:32:02.180 So fill your house with healthy food by doing meal prep.

00:32:05.320 Make that a habit.

00:32:06.260 That's going to help you for years to come.

00:32:08.580 So that's another tip that I would recommend for people.

00:32:11.440 Yeah, that actually happened to me last night.

00:32:13.020 We were out of our chips and I had to eat almonds instead last night while I was watching

00:32:17.380 a show.

00:32:17.860 It's like, oh man, which, you know, at the same time, yeah, people are going to say,

00:32:23.320 well, almonds are, people are going to say almonds are high in fat, but at the same time,

00:32:27.420 they're a lot healthier for you.

00:32:28.360 There's a lot of healthy benefits to eating almonds versus, you know, a can of Pringles.

00:32:32.880 So sure.

00:32:33.700 Right, right.

00:32:34.560 Anyways.

00:32:35.000 Yeah, that's a good example.

00:32:36.600 Well, Drew, we're winding down on time a little bit here.

00:32:38.160 I want to ask you a couple of additional questions.

00:32:39.840 I don't know if I even prepared you for this question.

00:32:41.680 I tried to, but I may have forgot.

00:32:43.400 And this is a question that I ask every single guest of mine.

00:32:46.300 And that question is, what do you think it means to be a man?

00:32:50.580 For me, I'm 35 years old and I feel like I know nothing in this life.

00:32:55.480 I feel like I've, my 35 years of existence, I've, I've gone through experiments and tests

00:33:01.340 throughout my life.

00:33:02.060 I failed again and again, but all of it happened for me to finally discover who I am and learn

00:33:08.620 to love myself.

00:33:09.480 As a man, we look at vulnerability as a weakness.

00:33:13.760 Our whole life, we don't talk about our weaknesses.

00:33:16.420 We hide them.

00:33:17.080 We pretend we're strong.

00:33:18.460 But one of the biggest things I've learned is that being vulnerable is actually a strength.

00:33:22.540 And it's helped me develop a relationship with who I am.

00:33:25.420 And I feel like I, I love, I finally love who I am at 35 years old versus my entire life.

00:33:31.760 I pretended like I love myself on the outside, but on the inside, I struggled with self-confidence

00:33:36.860 and loving who I was.

00:33:38.280 And I feel like being vulnerable has helped me develop that relationship with myself, which

00:33:43.180 is in turn helped me love others.

00:33:45.960 So I'm a dad now and I feel like I'm a happier, healthier dad.

00:33:51.440 It sounds kind of selfish, but because I love myself first, if you can love yourself first

00:33:56.580 and foremost, you can better love and serve others.

00:33:58.680 And I used to think of it as the opposite, hate yourself, do nothing for yourself and

00:34:03.420 serve others only.

00:34:04.760 But I feel like I can be a better service loving who I am.

00:34:08.300 And I know that doesn't sound manly, but I promise you it is like, it's taught me so

00:34:13.340 much in my life going through these struggles and tests and, and, and hell.

00:34:18.640 And I've come out a lot stronger, but in a way that society doesn't think is manly, but

00:34:24.640 to me is, is being vulnerable.

00:34:26.880 Yeah, Drew, that's a great answer.

00:34:28.420 And I completely agree that the more you take care of yourself, the more you have the

00:34:33.320 capacity to love others, whether it's your children or your wife or your employees or

00:34:37.840 your clients or your neighbors.

00:34:39.400 And that's extremely valuable and manly as well.

00:34:43.520 So I appreciate that, Drew.

00:34:44.960 So as we wind down on time, I want to know how we connect with you.

00:34:47.580 You've got the book going on.

00:34:49.060 You've got the show going on.

00:34:50.080 How do we connect with you and follow up on some of the things that you've got going

00:34:54.460 on?

00:34:55.080 Yeah.

00:34:55.660 So my brand is called fit to fat to fit with the number two in between, whereas the TV

00:35:00.660 show is fit to fat to fit.

00:35:03.380 Uh, but you can go to my website, fit to fat to fit.com.

00:35:06.380 You'll find my book on there.

00:35:07.800 Um, my podcast is the fit to fat to fit experience.

00:35:11.000 Um, I'm on social media.

00:35:12.420 All my handles are at fit to fat to fit with the number two.

00:35:15.600 Um, the TV show is on Tuesday nights on A&E 10, nine central, um, check that out.

00:35:20.400 Uh, but yeah, I'm on all social media handles and I answer everybody's comments and questions

00:35:25.980 on, uh, social media.

00:35:28.160 Awesome, Drew.

00:35:28.600 Well, I appreciate you.

00:35:29.520 I appreciate your time and being on the show today, imparting some of your wisdom.

00:35:32.620 Thanks for joining us.

00:35:34.080 Yeah.

00:35:34.300 Thanks, Ryan.

00:35:34.780 I really appreciate it, man.

00:35:35.640 There you have it guys, Mr. Drew Manning with fit to fat to fit, teaching us what it takes

00:35:40.600 to go from fat to fit.

00:35:42.120 Again, if you're one of those few men who are action takers, I personally invite you

00:35:46.200 to join me and the men in iron council.

00:35:48.360 You're going to get a ton out of this and actually start seeing results in all your relationships,

00:35:54.000 your health, your level of wealth, and most importantly, yourself head to order of man.com

00:35:58.180 slash iron council to get started right away.

00:36:00.620 Again, all the details for this show can be found at order of man.com slash zero five three.

00:36:04.980 You can also join the conversation we're having about masculinity in our Facebook group at

00:36:08.620 facebook.com slash groups slash order of man guys.

00:36:11.680 I look forward to talking with you next week, but until then take action and become the man

00:36:15.160 you were meant to be.

00:36:16.880 Thank you for listening to the order of man podcast.

00:36:19.840 You're ready to take charge of your life and be more of the man you were meant to be.

00:36:23.880 We invite you to join the order at order of man.com.

Order of Man - March 22, 2016

OoM 053： Going From Fat to Fit with Drew Manning

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