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What's Really Causing Your Obesity and How To Fix It with Jonathan Boulware - E66
17 Plays7 hours ago
Habits hold more power over our health than most of us care to admit, trapping us in cycles of stress eating, self-doubt, and failed attempts to change. For many, this means struggling with ongoing obesity, a disease that millions struggle to break free from.
This episode lays bare why true health transformation begins with self-awareness, compassion, and a clear-eyed look at the root causes behind our choices. It walks step by step through building a foundation for lasting change - not by piling on shame or impossible goals, but by creating new patterns from the inside out. You’ll hear straight talk and a practical playbook from someone who’s battled these challenges firsthand, and emerged ready to help others do the same.
Jonathan Boulware is a personal trainer and behavior change specialist. Following his own journey with obesity, and the passing of his mother from the disease, he developed the 432 Playbook, a practical framework for sustainable lifestyle change, and has worked with dozens of clients facing chronic weight and health issues. Jonathan's approach is grounded in research-backed strategies that have resonated with anyone seeking lasting well-being, and a sound way to beat obesity.
“Every time I felt stress I would turn to food in order to get that reward of relief and relaxation, and find a way to justify it. That was my problem to solve.” - Jonathan Boulware
In this episode you will learn:
- Why habits drive behavior, and how breaking negative patterns starts with a shift in mindset.
- The key role of personal “why” in driving lasting lifestyle and weight changes.
- Why self-forgiveness and self-care matter in overcoming mental barriers to health.
- How to build a strong foundation for healthy change using five simple steps.
- Why focusing on process over outcomes leads to more lasting results.
- The value of small, steady wins and setting up your home for healthy choices.
Resources
- Connect with Jonathan on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-boulware-b29b54bb/
- Learn more about Jonathan’s offerings on ‘You Can Beat Obesity’: https://www.youcanbeatobesity.com/
- Join Jonathan’s ‘Fight Against Obesity’: https://www.youcanbeatobesity.com/book
This podcast was produced by the team at Zapods Podcast Agency:
Find the products, practices, and routines discussed on the Alively website:
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Transcript
Breaking Free from Negative Habits
00:00:00
Speaker
Habits drive your behavior. If you get in those type of habits, it's really hard to get out of that. And then what happens is you start looking at yourself and you just have this sense of hopelessness of how am i ever going to get out of this?
00:00:11
Speaker
And so that's where my journey first started to take me is what's the answer to that question? How do I get past these negative forces that are just telling me that I'll never be able to achieve this?
00:00:25
Speaker
This is the Home of Healthspan podcast, where we profile health and wellness role models, sharing their stories and the tools, practices, and routines they use to live a lively life.
00:00:38
Speaker
Jonathan, it is a pleasure to have you on the Home of Healthspan today, bright and early your time. So i appreciate you coming on so early. But before we jump into it and everything you've done and are doing, how would you describe yourself?
00:00:50
Speaker
I'm a lively lifestyle change behavior coach. ah That's something I've spent my last few years focusing on and I'm very excited and lively about and passionate about that. So that's how I describe myself.
00:01:04
Speaker
That's amazing. I mean, to me, that is the killer app for human success. If you can change lifestyle and behavior, you can change everything about your life.
00:01:16
Speaker
And it It applies to any realm, your professional life, your personal life, your love life, everything you do. But for you, it really started in a specific area with a specific issue you were facing, I understand.
Jonathan's Personal Journey and Wake-Up Call
00:01:31
Speaker
And from what I know of your story, you really spoke to because it seems to really mirror a lot of what I saw with my own father. ah but So that I don't tell your story, could you describe a little bit ah how you got into this work?
00:01:44
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. really started with my mother and actually myself. or My mother had been battling obesity ah for years and and I had been had my battles off and on as well. And in December of 2013, she'd been on blood thinners for another health issue and she'd got a wound and in her leg that was hard to heal.
00:02:03
Speaker
And so ah fast forward in February of 2014, we put her into a rehab home. And during that time, i was doing my best to try to motivate her and say, Mom, you're going to overcome this.
00:02:14
Speaker
I can help you. And I started writing down a little motivational notes for it for her. And I looked at myself and said well, how am I going to help her when I'm puttinging pushing almost 300 pounds? And then I had something happen to me while was at work. I felt like i was having a stroke. There was a tingling sensation that happened on the left side of my body.
00:02:31
Speaker
Went from my foot all the way up to my my my face. I ran to the bathroom, threw water on my face, and i was fine. I went to the doctor, said everything is fine, but I wasn't fine because I knew it was because I was almost pushing. I thought it was because I was almost pushing 300 pounds.
00:02:48
Speaker
In April of 2014, it was my last good conversation with her. And she said, Jonathan, this is not gonna help me. your Your motivational notes are great. Please, please pass along, help yourself, help your family, your friends.
00:03:01
Speaker
But I'm in a position where my body is winning the battle. And two months later, she passed away. And it really touched me because I thought to myself, for for myself and for her, how is it that we cannot change our lifestyle? We can't change, in this case, obesity.
00:03:18
Speaker
when we know it's going to kill us or or hurt our health or whatever the case may be. I had two-year-old daughter at the time. How is it that we can't do that. And that's where it really led me down the passion of, I need to, I need to understand
Addressing Obesity and Habitual Behavior
00:03:29
Speaker
this. I need to find an answer to this. And, and that led me to become a, um write a book and become a certified personal trainer, health coach, master coach, just to really understand the answer to that question. Cause there's so many means of people that suffer from obesity.
00:03:44
Speaker
And that number sadly is only growing. I mean, not just for adults, but for children and I think we know when you set that base weight level,
00:03:57
Speaker
your body's always trying to get back to it. So it makes it harder the the earlier that you start suffering from that as a child. You know, they say to change the world, you got to start with yourself.
00:04:08
Speaker
And it seemed like that was a little bit of your aha moment of like, hey, I can't just do this. I need to look internally. So as you were getting into coaching, as you were getting into writing in the book, as you were getting into, hey, I'm going to go save other people's lives with this work.
00:04:22
Speaker
What did that work internally start looking like? Well, you're absolutely right. I started with myself. I mean, because I at the time, i my daughter was very young and I said, I've got be here for my daughter and my my wife and my family.
00:04:34
Speaker
So I looked internally and i said, what is it? like Why can't I look at my my daughter and say, OK, I'm just going to jump in and do this. And so I started with that and and really started. And where that took me was the answer to that question, which basically is that in the research of 40 to 50 percent of our behavior is habitual.
00:04:54
Speaker
And a lot of times it's automatic. So you do things that automatic. And a lot of times that's a good thing. You want habits that are good, that you don't have to think about. But then there's also habits that for me, for obesity, that started to happen because i would I would justify. So there would be a trigger.
00:05:11
Speaker
Something that would say, look, I want to reduce the stress in my life. And then I would turn to I would justify, well, I'll work out tomorrow.
00:05:22
Speaker
I can do this today because I'm tired. I don't have time. And that thought process continually dominated me to where I just continued to eat and and got into that habitual pattern of thinking that way.
00:05:33
Speaker
And because of the fact that. Habits drive your behavior. If you get in those type of habits, it's really hard to get out of that. And then what happens is you start looking at yourself and you just have this sense of hopelessness of I'll never get out of this.
00:05:47
Speaker
How am ever to get out of this? And so that's where my journey first started to take me is what's the answer to that question? How do I get past these these negative forces that are just telling me that I'll never be able to achieve this?
00:06:00
Speaker
Yeah. and you touched on a couple of things there. I mean, one, you touched on working out. And so somehow how we move our body, what we do with it. And then the other was, I'm just going to eat more and the the fueling.
00:06:11
Speaker
But then I think where you you finish it may be actually where we have to start for most people, which is the whole mindset behind Was there a specific day? Was there a period of time? Like what did that change in mindset?
00:06:25
Speaker
Cause I can give you an example for my dad, right? Like each person kind of gets their own aha. So my father was a pediatric cardiologist, right? Like he went to meds. This is what he did for a living. He's talking about heart health and he's six, five. And so he was, he was larger, but it didn't look that big cause he was so tall.
00:06:43
Speaker
And I got him Ferriss is four hour body. I don't know if you're you're familiar with this book, but Tim Ferriss wrote The 4-Hour Workweek, all these others, but The 4-Hour Body. And one of the chapters is how to lose 30 pounds of fat in 30 days without ever being hungry, without dieting.
00:06:58
Speaker
And I gave it to my dad and he read it. And one of the stories in the chapter was this NASA scientist. who was out shopping for clothes and he thought to himself, why does it matter? I'm not going to look good in anything I get. I'm, I'm so overweight. It's just going to be gross.
00:07:15
Speaker
And then the guy thought to himself, wait, I'm a NASA scientist. I'm, I'm great at anything i choose to do. I can do this. I'm going to be great at this. And he completely changed his life.
00:07:26
Speaker
And my dad, big, who my dad is, said, wait, I'm great at anything I want to do I can be great at this. And so he went and lost 65 pounds over the next 12 months and put thousands of patients on this slow carb diet and and really changed a bunch of lives. But that that was this wake up call. I was reading this one story and he he had this realization, wait, I'm a very accomplished person. When I choose to go do something, I'm going to now choose to go do this.
00:07:53
Speaker
Did you have a similar kind of Damascene moment? Oh, I absolutely did. So the the time I told you when i felt like I was having a stroke and I and um i ran the bathroom, threw water on my face, about a few days later, I told my wife to take a picture of this. I need you to take a picture of me, which I which i should which i share.
00:08:11
Speaker
I said, because this can't stand. I cannot live my life like this. So she took a picture of me and you know front angle, side angle. I looked at it. i said, I can't live my life like this. I can do better than this. And I got to find a way.
00:08:24
Speaker
And at that time in that picture, I didn't know where I was going to go, what I was going to do. But I knew that this was not going to define my life. And at that moment, and that was in February of 2014, I said, I'm going to find a path. I don't know what that path is, but this this will not stand because I won't allow that.
00:08:40
Speaker
And so that was the moment for me that really ignited my passion, ignited my focus and really just said, how am I going to solve this? Yeah. And I mean, there's this coming out. My my father, obviously, a high performer, you're a Stanford grad, high performer.
00:08:53
Speaker
Do you think you have to be that level of high performer to override this? Or i mean, you've worked with so many clients. Is it anybody with that right trigger with that right motivation can make this kind of change? Oh, absolutely. Everybody, everyone has this in them.
00:09:09
Speaker
Everyone has superpowers or unique things that make them unique in them right now that have the strength. The problem is they get buried in this self-shame, body shaming. do I let myself get like this?
00:09:21
Speaker
There's no way out. Those start to rise to the surface of your mindset. But if you... dig in and you and you reach into that superpower and you start talking about your why and all these different things that strengths that you have right now that everybody has right now.
00:09:36
Speaker
There is no reason why you can't beat
Building a Foundation for Lifestyle Change
00:09:38
Speaker
it. There is no reason. And so that's what I had to tap into. Like you mentioned, I was a Stanford grad. I had a successful career and I started to feel guilty about, well, if I if I have these successful things, why can't I do this as something that's so important to my health?
00:09:53
Speaker
And so once I started moving past that mindset, as far as, hey, don't body shame, don't don't make yourself feel this this type of person. Let's focus on the solution. And you have the solution inside of you, which everybody does.
00:10:05
Speaker
then Then things started to turn. I started to develop a plan and and and really turned my life around. Well, let's talk about that solution and that plan, because to your point, anybody can do this. But like they say about a lot of things, it may be simple, but it's not easy necessarily.
00:10:21
Speaker
That's right. So it's a simple plan. So the first step, is it that why? Is it that aha moment? What's that first step working along that plan? So the first step is building a foundation, meaning that just like yeah if if you're building a house, the first thing they do is build a foundation. Why?
00:10:37
Speaker
Because that will provide the structure for the house, protect the house during the longevity. So the first thing is you have to have a foundation that you build upon. and what I mean by that is five steps in the foundation.
00:10:48
Speaker
First is, and this can be easy for some people and maybe not for others, is you have to know that you have to have problem solve. You have to have a sense of awareness that you have a problem solve and you have to acknowledge it. You have to take ownership. hey I have a problem solve and there's no shame in that.
00:11:03
Speaker
Once you acknowledge, you take ownership of it. The second thing is what exactly is your problem to solve? So I really had to think about I was obese, but was it my nutrition? Was it my not lack exercise?
00:11:15
Speaker
What it ended up being was every time I felt stress, I would turn to food in order to get that reward of relief and relaxation and and wait find it and find a way to justify it.
00:11:27
Speaker
That was my problem to solve. And so once you know, once you acknowledge you have a problem, you know exactly what your problem is, then you dig into your why. And your why is really, really important for your foundation, because the reason why your why is important is because there's always something that's going to rise up that says, Jonathan, you can't do this.
00:11:47
Speaker
Remember, you have anxiety or you have stress or you have financials, whatever it is, something's going to rise up to say you can't do this. And your why, the reason why you want to make this change has to be your best friend, because it's going to be right there beside you, picking you back up and say, remember your why. It's your deep reason for wanting to change.
00:12:05
Speaker
And then the last few things of the foundation is that you have to be ready to make a change and that you have to believe that you can. And the reason why those are the first five is because if you're not ready to make a change, then you won't.
00:12:16
Speaker
If you don't know you have a problem solved, then you and you certainly won't but take action. And those are the that's the foundation you build upon because everything else can build from there. So once I established that foundation of those five steps, those five things that became my core, then my confidence started to grow and I started to build from there. But you have to have those five things, especially in why in order to move forward.
00:12:39
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, that that really speaks to me. just started to keep coming back to my father, but it's just such a parallel story on the realization when he finally said, Hey, you know, I'm tall. I look like this, but I, I'm not now. Right. Like I can change it. And then his why not coincidentally coincided with his first granddaughter being born and wanting to be there for her. So he had this why of, Hey, I do want to be healthier.
00:13:04
Speaker
And then getting to the, the, I can do this, that aha moment. Wait, wait a minute. Like this guy realized he was great. He could do this and he wouldn't did it. I um a smart guy. I'm a capable guy. I can do this.
00:13:16
Speaker
And really those were the steps. I've never heard them articulated that way, but just watching him and his journey, it really speaks to the power of this framework you're setting up.
00:13:26
Speaker
It is. The why is so, it is really hard to overstate how important the why is because when when you wake up in the morning, you look at yourself in the mirror and and you don't see any change, your why is going to be there to remind you, hey, you're doing this for your granddaughter.
00:13:42
Speaker
You're doing this for your daughter. You're doing you're doing this for a better life. Keep going. And the other thing, Andrew, I say what is really, really important is self-care in the sense of self-forgiveness.
00:13:53
Speaker
Forgive yourself for the feelings that you have about yourself. Maybe you're frustrated, maybe you're angry that you you're at yourself. You have to have self-compassion and forgive yourself um as as you build, as you go on and build your plan for lifestyle change. That's really important because mentally, obesity,
00:14:11
Speaker
can hurt you physically, obviously, but it can tear you up mentally to where you don't want to move forward whatsoever. So self-care, um self-compassion, forgiveness is really, really important as you move forward.
00:14:24
Speaker
May ask a specific question on that? Because there have been so many people i've come across in in so many aspects of life, but definitely when it comes to food and eating things that we shouldn't be eating or have told ourselves not to eat.
00:14:37
Speaker
And you'll be good for a day, a week, you know, some period of time. And then it's a birthday party or something. You have the cake and then say, well, today's ruined, so then they just eat trash the rest of the day. Or this week's ruined, I'm gonna eat trash the rest of the week. and Or now the whole diet's ruined, I'm just gonna eat trash going forward.
00:14:56
Speaker
so Have you seen something that helps move past that, right? Like you think a golfer, if they hit a bad shot, like, well, this round's ruined, I'm just gonna hit bad shots the rest the time. I say, no, that was one shot.
00:15:08
Speaker
The next shot's my new opportunity. Why is it so difficult for us in that nutrition thing and say, okay, yeah, you know, at lunch, I had cake at the birthday. let me forgive myself. Like, that's fine. It's one thing out of ah hundred meals. Maybe i'm going to have, I can get right back on it.
00:15:23
Speaker
My next meal, I don't have to throw everything out. What works or doesn't in that? Cause I see it fails so many times. Oh, it does. all and And that was, that was part of my story as well too. What happens is you get into the mind, the behavior, the habit of, of telling yourself, well, when this happens, this is going to be my reaction. So when i eat a piece of cake, then my, my mindset tells me I've ruined the day.
00:15:46
Speaker
and now I'm going to move forward with eating bad for the rest of the day. So the first thing is you've got to change the mindset, change the fact that, you know, know it just because you eat a piece of cake doesn't mean that it ruins the rest of the day. But that is that is a new neural pathway that you need to create for yourself to say, when that happens, this is how I'm going to think.
00:16:05
Speaker
And it sounds hard at first, but it does work. So when I when i eat something that I know I shouldn't have eaten, Then my mind, i instead of just going the rest of the day and just eating poorly, I'm not going to let that to happen. I'm not going let that happen. So it's easy to say.
00:16:25
Speaker
But one of the things you can do, so one of the things you did, what helped me was I didn't really beat myself up. So if I had a piece of cake and then my goal was. I knew I couldn't go the rest of the day and just be good the rest of the day if I started the mindset. So I'd say, let me just go an hour.
00:16:40
Speaker
Let me just go two hours where I'm healthy, even if I go the rest of the day poorly. And then I focused on those two hours. See, Jonathan, those two hours, you didn't have to go the rest of the You had success for two hours.
00:16:53
Speaker
And I just built slowly upon that and celebrated that little bit of progress. Because chances are you're not just going to make this one transformational change to say, well, I'm just going to change my mindset.
00:17:04
Speaker
It's little baby steps at a time. So when that happened to me in my life and that happened to me a lot, I would say when that happens, I'm just going to I'm to find two hours in which I just drink water. I'm good. going eat something healthy, even if I do the rest of the day. And I focus and celebrate those two hours and just slowly build from there.
00:17:20
Speaker
So I so started to change my mindset. This seems to be a lot around, because we talked about fitness and I'm sure there's sleep components and, you know, sort of connect but the, it seems the biggest component really is nutrition. You know, the, the adage I always hear, you lose ounces in the gym and pounds in the kitchen.
00:17:40
Speaker
That's right. It's about what we eat and how we eat, when we eat, what have you found in your own experience and working with clients works and doesn't work on that side?
Challenges of Healthy Eating and Triggers
00:17:51
Speaker
Cause we,
00:17:52
Speaker
Our bodies evolved for a world to keep us alive where we didn't necessarily know when and where our next meal would come from. So storing fat was a tool our body developed to be able to help us survive certain situations.
00:18:04
Speaker
We now do not live in that but environment. And so these tools that serve us in one way have now become weapons used against us in a lot of ways in our health. And so how how have you found navigating this modern world we live in?
00:18:18
Speaker
Where I start is not necessarily, it goes back to why, not necessarily with what you're eating, because most people know when you're dealing with obesity, most people know, hey, I should be eating healthy chicken breasts and broccoli as opposed to ah this piece of cake.
00:18:34
Speaker
They may not know carbs break into glucose and amino acids and all those type of things. They may know the specifics, but most people know I should not be eating this. So then real start is, well, what is the reason why? What is the reason why? where Where does it break down to where you feel like you need to have that particular meal as opposed to something that you know is good for me?
00:18:54
Speaker
So that's where we focus, because if you focus on, hey, you shouldn't be in this. I know that. I know I should be in that. But what's the reason why i choose that as as opposed to choosing something else?
00:19:05
Speaker
So then everyone's unique. Everyone has a ah different reason as to why they choose that. But that's really where we start, because that is what permit change is all about. Once you understand that about yourself and it's not as difficult and lot of people know the answer to that reason, then it's a lot easier than to because the end result is the food that you choose.
00:19:23
Speaker
But where you need to start is I had a stressful day at work. I feel overwhelmed. um I have financial issues, whatever the case. We have to start there. And then slowly build, because once you have a solution for that, then it's much easier to make the decision to eat healthier.
00:19:40
Speaker
Can I ask a little more there? Because, I mean, for me, you know, I can stress eat, right? If I'm stressful. like right and And two, have a sweet tooth, personally. So cookies, cake, like it just tastes delicious. I like it.
00:19:53
Speaker
And after a stressful day, after a long day, when I'm tired, I don't have much self-control. If there's something there, I'm... a thousand times more likely to eat. In the morning, I have zero. I'm like, I'm not going to it. In lunch, nope, not going to do it. But come post-dinner time before bed, it's lot harder.
00:20:09
Speaker
And so for me, I've just had to not keep those things in the house. but it If it's difficult for me to... go um And now I guess everything's easy because you can order ah Uber Eats or whatever and get some ice cream delivered.
00:20:21
Speaker
But i I don't because it's just that one extra step. Whereas if I could just walk to the fridge, then i go get something. Knowing kind of your triggers or even knowing the why, you can know the why and still slip into habits. Do you have help that you give people on, okay, you know your why, but let's set you up for success. Let's not put you where we're constantly tempting you or making it more difficult than it needs to be.
00:20:47
Speaker
Yeah, that's exactly what you said earlier. are your What you just said as far as your environment, it's easy to, hey, I'm to take this out of my environment. But we live in a world now where it's easy to get access to different different types of things.
00:20:59
Speaker
So what we really would really try to hone in on is where does it break down? You mentioned you're good at breakfast, you're good at lunch, but you're not good at dinner. So let's focus on, well, I come home, I'm tired, I don't feel like cooking.
00:21:12
Speaker
And so at that point, let's center on what we can do in that particular situation. For example, maybe there's food that you can prepare very quickly. i Like for myself, I know when I get home, if I'm in that situation, if there's food in my pantry that is healthy, that's easy for me to cook, that's already done, I know that I'll do that rather than choose to go do something healthy.
00:21:34
Speaker
So again, we focus on where does the breakdown happen? Why does it happen? And being able to set your environment up for success. Because i have found that people will remove things, but it's hard to do when you have kids.
00:21:48
Speaker
If kids... We want those things that you're not supposed to eat. Like you mentioned, Uber Eats, it's easy just to order something really quickly. We have things are open 24 hours. So now it's more important than ever to realize, well, why am I in that situation in the first place?
00:22:03
Speaker
What can I do earlier in the day? Like, what can you do at lunch before you get home to to so you don't put yourself in that situation in the first place? and And once you identify what that is, start turning that into a habit.
00:22:17
Speaker
And then you won't have to worry about, hey, I'm tired of this, that, because it's already a habit. I know when I get home, I'm going have something healthy, I'm going to eat this. It starts to become a part of your behavior. So that's what we really start to focus on.
00:22:28
Speaker
Because that's, again, in order to make permanent change, it really starts with what are the reasons that you're in this situation in the first place and how do we how do we attack
Setting a Healthy Example for Children
00:22:38
Speaker
that? You mentioned kids as kind of an excuse to keep unhealthy food or snacks or something around the house.
00:22:45
Speaker
And curious, we recently had a guess two guest, two guests from WeNatal, who talked about you get these baby registries that people would put, I want the non-toxic detergent because we're going to watch the babies close.
00:22:58
Speaker
And they say, well, why wouldn't you want the non-toxic detergent for yourself? Like, why would anyone want to put toxicity into their life? And here it sounded almost like the opposite of like, hey, I'm going to go fuel myself with all these healthy foods, but I need these really unhealthy ones to go give to the kids because it's what they want. I mean...
00:23:18
Speaker
Is there something to it's kind of our jobs as parents, knowing the society, knowing what it's led to in our own life, not to set them up for the same failure 10, 20 years down the road to say, hey, if we know fresh plants, fresh animals are the right answer to fuel our bodies, shouldn't we do that for our whole family?
00:23:37
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. I mean, you absolutely. If you if we can do it for our entire families, that is the absolute way to go. But now kid know i can take my own daughter, for example, they get exposed to other foods from schools and around their friends and they want to try different things.
00:23:52
Speaker
But the absolute best way is if your environment, meaning your family, the people that live in your home. if you are all aligned aligned in the same direction with with regard to nutrition, moving your body, all those types of things, it is going to set you for success very easily. But,
00:24:08
Speaker
You know, and sometimes it doesn't happen. And sometimes you have to work with people where the kids, they want different foods or or their spouse. They want different things. And those things that they want may not be a part of may not be in line with your success.
00:24:23
Speaker
And so that's a very real situation that you have to navigate as well, too. but But you're right, Andrew, if you can create an environment where everyone's moving to the same tune. Absolutely. That that is the easiest and best way to make lifestyle behavior change permanent.
00:24:36
Speaker
Yeah, you can't want something for someone else. They they have to to want it. And I mean, at least in my experience with my daughter and nieces and friends' kids, it's what I've seen that when the kids get the realization how different they feel when they eat certain foods versus others.
00:24:55
Speaker
And when you keep helping them, hey, remember, like, let's have this and then let's see, let's track in 10 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour how you're feeling versus when you eat this other thing. Kids, a lot of times like, whoa, you know, I, when I consistently eat those sweet rolls, those donuts, the next hour awful.
00:25:12
Speaker
Whereas when I eat this fruit and I eat this oatmeal, I like, I actually feel really good and I go play and I'm having fun. That it's a really different world I live in. and It is. And what I've learned as well, too, that the kids will follow your your lead. um And thatte that's where my guilt started to fall in because I was not setting a good example for my daughter.
00:25:29
Speaker
I mean, when they're really young and even when they as they grow up, if you are eating healthy and you're stressing the importance of nutrients and moving your body and what you just said about how well you feel, if you're setting that example in your household,
00:25:42
Speaker
then they are set up for success as well, too. And that's what I struggle with is I'm not setting my daughter for success because look how look at the the message that I'm sending her that it's OK to be this way. And so, ah yeah, but that that that hits home.
00:25:56
Speaker
That really does hit home. A friend told me before my daughter was born, kids won't always do what you say, but they will do what you do. Yes. And so that back to that change has to start internally.
00:26:07
Speaker
OK, so we've we've set the foundation and you're really understanding the why and working forward. What once you have that established? that foundation, what are the next steps for people who are trying to have this lifestyle, this habit change to go live a different way than they have been maybe for years or decades?
00:26:27
Speaker
The next set of steps is to focus on you. When I mean focus on you, meaning that you make your health, your mental and physical health, the number one priority in your life. And a lot of people struggle with that as well. But what about my job? And what I said, I want to tell them that's important to you're not going to sacrifice those things.
00:26:46
Speaker
Obviously, if you have to pick up your kids from school, that's going important. um Those type of things. But you're no longer going to make excuses for you. So you're going to treat yourself ah your body, your mind as a number one priority. And once you start to make that shift, meaning that I'm not going to put off if I can do a 10 minute walk for somebody else, if if I can do that, I'm not going to put off therapy or mental health or or the types of things that going to help mentally.
00:27:13
Speaker
I'm no longer going to put those things off. So that is the really next step to to really make that commitment. I talked about self-care, self-forgiveness, forgive yourself and you and just don't know how relieving that is.
00:27:24
Speaker
And then you can start focusing on ah the importance of sleep, the importance of, and I first was introduced this by an author named James Clear, Tom McHavoc, who said, determine the person that you want to become.
00:27:37
Speaker
Because once you have the foundation, and you can always go back to that foundation, Then you start to focus in number one, health your body, determine the person you want to become. And then Andrew, I'm going to say something that's probably not going to be, people are going to be motivated to do this, but you've got to go to the doctor to understand what is going on inside of your body on the inside.
00:27:56
Speaker
So to really change your lifestyle, do you are you pre-diabetic? are you Are you diabetic? or Do you have high blood pressure? All of these things that you need that may not show symptoms on the outside, you've got to understand what is going on inside of you.
00:28:10
Speaker
Because in in order to truly create a plan that's going to work for you, you've got to know, you you've got to do a checkup and understand what what do you need to focus on. So when you make self-care important, determine the person you want to become, get enough sleep, self-forgiveness,
00:28:25
Speaker
and do internal check, understand what is the state of your body so that you can formulate a plan. Hey, I've got high blood pressure. I'm go after that. My triglycerides are a little bit higher, or this is really good and I need to keep doing what I'm doing.
00:28:39
Speaker
Those are important. That is critical information so that you can understand your health. It's better to know than to not know. Yeah, that's incredibly important. And you said people might not be that motivated, but I mean, thanks to Obamacare, like we all get an annual physical.
00:28:54
Speaker
So it's free, guys. you have to there's There's really very little excuse not to go get it. And if you want to up at a level, you have things like function health. that will look over the course of the year and give you really, really in-depth look at your blood. Whoop just launched, Whoop Labs.
00:29:11
Speaker
And there's so many other options. Get Healthspan. If you're on one of their protocols, they do it, I think, every six weeks. So there are ways to see, hey, let me get a baseline and let me see if the things I'm doing are having an impact and what is and what isn't so I can double down on those.
00:29:27
Speaker
That makes a lot of sense. I mean, you need to your starting
Focusing on the Process and Celebrating Progress
00:29:30
Speaker
point. You need to know, am I moving in the right direction? What is the scoreboard I'm working towards? Yeah. and And if your body is giving you signs right now to go get yourself checked out. So that's that's from a physical standpoint so that you understand.
00:29:41
Speaker
And here's the other thing. to Because and when I work with my clients on this. when you're dealing with obesity, lot of times you'll use the scale as a way of measuring your success or look in the mirror and I said, we're not going to pay attention to that because you could go for a 10 minute walk and and do it for weeks and maybe your body doesn't change on the outside, but inside you're getting healthier.
00:30:03
Speaker
you're you're You're affecting ah your metabolism, you're affecting your blood flow, your A1c. There's so many things going on inside that are making you healthier. So those are the things that we need to ah measure our progress on. And so understanding where you are and you just feel better mentally. When you you go, waiting for test results is one of the most stressful things.
00:30:24
Speaker
But once you know and you have a plan and you say, OK, this is where i'm where I am, it is so relieving to be able to say, OK, this is what I'm to do now to move forward. Can I ask there too, because when you're looking at metrics, whether it's a scale or blood work, whatever it is, there's this destination mindset. Okay. Now I've hit it I'm good.
00:30:43
Speaker
Whereas your health is truly the the Simon Sinek infinite game, right? It is the game of life. And so how do you, when you're working with clients, think about the destination, which for every single one of us is death versus the process and, and really When you talk about, hey, well, what about my job? What about my relationships? All this.
00:31:05
Speaker
In my experience, when I'm healthier, every one of those things are better. And so falling in love with the process of, hey, I like to move my body every day because I have more energy when I do. I like to fuel with really good things because I don't get these energy crashes or grumpiness like I do if I eat these sugary things.
00:31:24
Speaker
Am I making any sense that destination versus the process itself? You are. And as matter of fact, what? I don't even focus on the destination. We call those outcome goals, hey, I'm going to be 50 pounds lighter. or Because at the end of the day, you really don't have control over the end result.
00:31:42
Speaker
So let's say your goal is to lose 20 pounds. lose twenty pounds You could do everything right, but you really don't have control over whether you lose 20 pounds or not. What you do have control over is, I'm gonna walk 10 minutes a day. I'm gonna make sure that I eat this type of food. I'm go to make sure that when I feel stressed, I'm gonna do this instead of this. Those are the things you have control over, like you mentioned process.
00:32:04
Speaker
So when you focus on the process, the things that you have control, not only do you feel more control of your health, not only does it keep you motivated, um But you the outcome goals and the destination you want are going to happen over time, but you just focus on the process rather than the outcome.
00:32:21
Speaker
Because when you focus on the outcome and it doesn't happen as quickly as you like, or it doesn't happen to the same results, then that can be very devastating and it really throws you off path.
00:32:32
Speaker
So focusing on the things that you can control and the outcome will take care of itself. Yeah, it it reminds me of a ah friend who would talk about, he was a founder of a company, we would always say up into the right.
00:32:44
Speaker
And then if on a long enough time horizon, we're going up into the right, then we're on the right path. It's not about today. It's not about necessarily this week, but am I going up into the right? That's exactly right.
00:32:55
Speaker
Are you on the right trajectory? um if you're on the right path, right trajectory, everything will take care of itself. And then you'll have more fun because you'll start seeing and the results and the progress. And I can't tell you the importance of having fun on your journey is is one of the most important things you can do. And when you start focusing on the process and measuring progress in different ways that you may not think instead of the scale.
00:33:19
Speaker
Hey, you know what? I usually it only ain't great at all, but I eat great for two meals. I'm going to celebrate that. You start to state start see results and stay motivated. You feel better and slowly things start to change for and it's permanent.
00:33:32
Speaker
Yeah, it becomes about much more than your weight, right? It is the quality of your life. And the work you've done and are doing is absolutely tremendous. I know you have there's there's a lot of steps in there. There's a lot of work to do. but It's straightforward. And you have a playbook for people to be able to to follow this journey in their own lives.
Introduction of the 432 Playbook
00:33:54
Speaker
Yeah, I do. It's called the 432 playbook and it's a lifestyle program. So it helps you. When you complete the program that you have designed your own personal lifestyle journey change that you can follow and it'll be for the rest of your life. Because what happens, Andrew, when you come out of the doctor's office and they say, OK, Jonathan, you're overweight, you need to lose weight.
00:34:14
Speaker
And they'll hand you something. Here's like the Mediterranean diet or whatever it is. They don't tell you, okay, well, how am I gonna deal with the overwhelm? How I gonna deal with my mental state? They don't, what do I do first? I don't know, I've done this before and I feel like a failure and all those things. It's not their job to do that, but when you walk out, you have no idea. right and that's And that's what happened to me.
00:34:37
Speaker
So when I created the 432 playbook, and it gives people a place to start. So the four stands for the four different areas that where you want to set your goals, move your body, to healthy life, work on your mental resolve and personal organization.
00:34:51
Speaker
Three is for three months. Give yourself plenty of time in order to achieve those micro goals. And then take progress checks every two weeks. That's where the 432 comes from. So by the time you're completed, you have your own lifestyle change program strategy just tailored to you that you can follow and by the time you're done with it it goes by very quickly you've changed your life for the rest for the rest of your real life and you don't have this yo-yo effect where i've lost weight and didn't lost weight so that's where it helps people dealing with obesity that don't know where to start want to change their lives and now they have something they can use to help them do that yeah that's that's amazing and for people who want to get their own copy where can they find that
00:35:35
Speaker
Well, 432 Playbook right now is a course that I have a blog that I talk a lot about, but of course, they go to my website, youcanbeatobesee.com and they can read all about it. And the course will be coming out in October.
00:35:46
Speaker
And when they go into the course, it really is personalized to them. I can't stress that enough. It's not just this generic, hey, one fit one size fits all. Meaning where you're at right now.
00:35:58
Speaker
Where are you in your life right now? And then taking you from there through this step-by-step, building your lifestyle change journey and helping you deal with the physical and mental devastation of obesity.
00:36:09
Speaker
You put it succinctly and perfectly in the domain. You can beat obesity. And I appreciate the work you've done to help so many people do that and what you're doing with this course to help even more.
00:36:21
Speaker
So thank you for all the work and especially for your time today. It was wonderful speaking with you. Andrew, thank you so much for having me. here I really appreciate the time. Thank you so much. Thank you for joining us on today's episode of the Home of Healthspan podcast.
00:36:35
Speaker
And remember, you can always find the products, practices, and routines mentioned by today's guests, as well as many other Healthspan role models on Alively.com. Enjoy a lively day.