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Transcript of 844. #75HARD Vs Natasha & David Pehrson

REAL AF with Andy Frisella
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Transcription of 844. #75HARD Vs Natasha & David Pehrson from REAL AF with Andy Frisella Podcast
00:00:11

What is up, guys? It's Andy Fursella, and this is the show for the realest sake of out of the Lies, the fakeness and delusions of Modern Society. Welcome to motherfucking Reality, guys. Today, we have a special 75 Hard Versus. I have my good friends here, Natasha and David Pearson. What's going on, guys? Hey, what's up?

00:00:36

Thanks for having us.

00:00:37

We're so excited to be here.

00:00:38

It's incredible. It's awesome. I found these guys on the internet. I watched their transformation, and I'm going to have them come in and tell their story and see what they got going on. Where do you guys want to start? What brought you to 75 Hard, and what got this going?

00:00:53

We had a couple of friends that were doing this, our friends Tom and Jess, and they had come down to Arizona to visit us, and they were in the middle of it. All of a sudden, I'm out doing workouts with them outdoors. We're doing walks and runs. And I was like, I feel pretty good about this. But I was in a position... In my mind, I had been two years off the job. I was in law enforcement, and now I'm just a full-time dad. And so I was just in no man's land where I wasn't really... I felt like I just wasn't doing anything with my life, except being a dad, which...

00:01:33

It's a big job.

00:01:34

It's a big job. Three kids, four now. I just felt overwhelmed just trying to figure out what I was going to do because I think I was lost in this identity like, Oh, I'm still Dave the Cop, and I wanted that. I missed that brotherhood, and I was just trying to figure out what I wanted to do. This just seemed like something I had gone up. I'd gained 40 or 50 pounds since I had lost I had left my job, and I was just feeling miserable. I saw how fit my friends had gotten, and I was like, All right, this seems like something I need to do.

00:02:11

Yeah, he came home, he's like, I'm going to do 75 hard. I had been seeing a lot of my friends doing it, and I was a little cynical about it because I had the childhood where it required me to be mentally tough from a young age. I was like, I don't need to prove to anyone that I can do this. I didn't really want to do it, but when he said he wanted to do I mean, I think one of the great things about our marriage is his weaknesses are my strengths, and my weaknesses are his strengths. And so the second he said, We're going to do it, I'm like, Crap, I'm going to have to do this with him because I want him to be successful, and I love him, and I want him to finish it. And I know that his best chance is if I stand there by his side and do it with him. And I remember that first workout on day one, I was walking and I was just like, I'm so pissed right now. I don't want to be doing this. I have other things I can be doing.

00:02:56

But I'm so grateful I did. I mean, we both had incredible mental transformations, physical as well. They were both very different, but it was very transformational, not just for us, but our entire family, because we have four kids. We had three at the time, the first time we did it. Second time we did it, we had four kids, and they got to see our example, which was so cool. They got to be a part of it with us. We told them what we were doing. And every day, our daughter, she was seven at the time, she would open up both of our apps. All right, did you take your picture? Did you do this? It was really cool to see that you can teach that trait to your kids. Set a goal, follow through. This is how you do it.

00:03:34

I think that's the most important thing going on in the world right now. You guys, other families that have children, setting that example of not just being an average person sitting on the couch, consuming all kinds of bullshit food. It took me a long time personally to break out of that because that's what I really grew up around. I grew up around eating Doritos and pizzas and all that stuff. It just took me a long time to really understand that not only is that not good for me, but I'm setting a poor example for everybody around me. You were cynical about it. That's cool. A lot of people are. I got to be honest. Yeah, no. That's great. Did it change as you went through the program?

00:04:20

Yeah, it definitely changed. It reminded me, well, yes, I already have this skill where I'm mentally tough. It's like a muscle. You have to exercise it. You're not I'm going to keep it all the time. That's right. It just reminded me of like, oh, yeah, if I ever feel like I'm at a place in my life where I feel stuck, usually what I need to do is the thing that I don't want to do. That's what I did. I was doing 75 hard, pissed off about it in the beginning, but by the end, I'm like, oh, yeah. I still got it. I have three kids, and I still got it.

00:04:47

Yeah, a lot of people don't understand that. They think that you can become disciplined one time in your life, and then you're just going to stay in that zone. You have to understand, guys, it's a perishable skill. If we don't exercise it, just like you were saying, like a muscle, it's going to get weak. I think a lot of people really struggle with that because I grew up struggling with my weight. I don't know how you guys, if that was something that you guys both struggle with. But for me, I found myself at certain points of my life where I was doing everything right and I got the results. But then I would find myself on the roller coaster, sliding back down the other side pretty quick. That I never understood why. I never understood why it was that certain people didn't struggle with that. It seemed like they had no struggles, no problem staying fit, no problem staying healthy. And I did. It made me bitter. It made I'm really mad. It wasn't until I started really… This is how we got 75 Hard into existence because I wanted to know what they had that I didn't have.

00:05:58

And I wanted that. I wanted what they that I didn't have. The ability to go to a restaurant and order something that was healthy for you or the ability to say no to alcohol, that was a big thing for me. I grew up in an alcohol culture where Thursday, Friday, Saturday, we were out partying, and that was a hard thing for me to kick. But dude, the biggest light bulb that really came on for me in my journey was the idea of discipline being a perishable skill, meaning we have to consistently exercise it in order for it to stay. That's been life-changing for me.

00:06:33

Absolutely. I would agree, and I can relate to you on the... For me, it wasn't the alcohol, but it was the food.

00:06:40

What food do you like?

00:06:41

Fast food, talk about.

00:06:43

So not sweet, just regular It's still the food.

00:06:45

It still is. Like you said, it's perishable. I still consider myself a food addict. Yeah, me too. The way people refer to themselves as an alcoholic, I'm a food addict.

00:06:55

Bro, me too.

00:06:56

It's like I get a taste of it. It never goes away. I got four kids at home. It's really easy to pull in the drive-through and order something, happy meal for them or whatever, and then be like, Oh, and I'll take a McDonald's and Big Mac.

00:07:08

And by the way, I'll get it back together tomorrow. I'll get back on it tomorrow.

00:07:11

Tomorrow is the exit. That's what I feel like I gained the most. One of the things I gained the most from that was being able to develop that skill where I can go back.

00:07:24

Yeah, bro. You're taking the power away from this and giving it to yourself. Exactly. That was That's something that I think for everybody that has a successful program in terms of running 75 hard, I think that's what I hear the most, is you're taking the power back from these inanimate objects, the food, the alcohol, the things that shouldn't control us but do. I struggle with the food addict thing, too, man. I was just talking to my buddy Anthony, heavy to modified, who's been on the show before he lost 5, 600 pounds. I'm still like that, dude. I still feel like that fat guy on the inside that has no control, but that I do have the control because I have the ability to say no now, which I don't know how bad you were, but I could not say no.

00:08:16

Every time, it was like, I couldn't say no. You're exactly right. I could not say no.

00:08:21

Well, I think for me, it also made me realize how good I felt without it. When I did pass it up, I mean, a lot of times when you're repeatedly eating that crap over and over and over again, you don't realize what it feels like to feel good. And eating good food and exercising and drinking water physically makes you feel good. And you realize, I don't actually want that because I don't like how it affects my body. Yeah.

00:08:44

One of the things that... Man, I don't want to sound like I'm judging because I've been this guy before. I've been a 350 pound dude a couple of different times. But you're exactly right. When you go to the grocery store and you see people, what they're normally eating, and they don't think anything of it. You look at it like that and you say, Dude, if I ate that, I'd be sick. I would be sick to my stomach. I'd be probably having diarrhea. When you start to realize how damaging that food is, it does change your perspective I know for me, man, I definitely will still eat once in a while. I'll do fast food. I'll do culvers or something like that. It's in between. The cheese curbs. Yeah. Culver's pretty good, man. You guys got culvers out there?

00:09:32

Our neighbor actually owns three. Really? Yeah. It's a good connection. Yeah, dude, that's my go-to, or Chick-fil-A.

00:09:39

I like that, too. But dude, I had to quit taco Bell cold turkey. I've not had it in eight years because I cannot have it because I'm afraid if I have it, I will go back down the slide because I can't control it.

00:09:53

It was Chick-fil-A for me. Like I said, this really impacted our entire family when I was pregnant with our third baby, and he was still up in Washington as a cop, and I was in Arizona with our kids.

00:10:05

You were in the state of Washington? Yeah. Okay. So Arizona is pretty new for you guys.

00:10:09

Yeah, we've been there for about- Almost five years. Almost five years.

00:10:10

Okay.

00:10:11

But I thought, Yeah, my kids are going to be in school. This is going to be easy. I'll have all day to myself. The day we moved into our house, everything shut down, and I was just exhausted taking care of the kids, running my business, doing all the things. And I would take them to Chick-fil-A every single day. I mean, six days a week. Except Sunday, right?

00:10:30

I was just so tired.

00:10:31

I didn't want to cook. I didn't want to do dishes. I gained so much weight during that pregnancy.

00:10:36

When I got- How much did you gain? Oh, gosh.

00:10:39

I got to the heaviest I had ever been. After I delivered, I was 235 pounds. Holy shit. I've lost over 100 pounds. But I've lost weight after.

00:10:49

I cannot imagine you with an extra 100 pounds. Yeah. I mean, it's not like you're a petite. I'm pretty sure- Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Wow.

00:10:56

Yeah, but when I got pregnant with our fourth, and this was a It was a very devastating moment for me, but we were telling our kids, and I told her daughter, and the first thing she said was, Does this mean we get to go to Chick-fil A every day?

00:11:08

No, mommy's pregnant.

00:11:10

I felt embarrassed. I mean, that was what I was teaching my daughter. And kids aren't going to do what you tell them. They're going to follow your example. They're going to do what you do. That was so transformational for us when we were doing 75 hard the first time because this guy does not like vegetables at all. I saw this video on TikTok, and I sent to him right when we started. Oh, gosh, I wish I knew who it was, but he was pretty much like, You're an adult and you don't like vegetables, suck it up and eat it because that's what's good for you. And so I said that to him. Oh, a tough love. And he started eating the vegetables. Our son, who was the piquiest eater ever saw his dad. I mean, I ate pretty healthy, but he wasn't as good as me at the time. But as soon as he saw his dad, a male role model, eating these healthy foods, he started wanting to eat vegetables, and he wanted to do these things, and he wanted to work out with David. Seeing that was incredible.

00:12:05

Dude, I think that's the biggest thing we're missing in the world. When we look around the world and we talk about all the things that are wrong, we have to look at our own example. We have to look at our own lives, and we have to look at the examples we're setting for the people around us. I'm not fortunate enough to have children, but I've got a lot of people that follow my lead. It's a serious obligation for us if we want the world to be better. We We can go out and we could complain, and we could cry about the way things are. But the reality is we are society. We are the world. If we don't live that on an individual level, what are we creating? What are we leaving behind? Oh, we're leaving behind just more of the shit we complain about. I think that's amazing. I think people are getting more aware of that, knowing that the world's messed up right now. You know what I mean? Let's talk about this. You guys did it together, and I'm curious how it affected your guys's relationship.

00:13:08

If anything, it brought us closer together. I think especially communication-wise, trying to juggle two workouts, several hours apart for both of us while taking care of all the kids, doing all the things, we really had to communicate. We were cheering each other on the whole time. It was really cool to be working towards a big goal together and grow as people together. I especially saw it through the personal development as well that we were reading every single day and watching my husband transform. I had been reading personal development for years, but watching him really get into it and seeing him turn into this confident man, I mean, It made me love him even more.

00:13:46

Yeah, there's nothing more attracting than people that actually believe in themselves.

00:13:50

Exactly. My confidence was through the roof. Good. Absolutely. Just the biggest booster. I think, like she said, it brought us closer together She was 100 pounds lighter or heavier than she is.

00:14:05

How much weight did you lose?

00:14:06

I lost 60 pounds. Okay. I was up to 270. Yeah, wow. I got down to 209, 208.

00:14:12

You look great, too.

00:14:13

Yeah. It's What you've set up has been incredible to be able to just bounce back to. I think what she was saying about the... We were so much more attracted to each other. Yeah. I didn't even realize what had separated us. It's like we've always loved each other and always supported each other, and then how much more attracted we were to each other.

00:14:41

Well, it's more of a physical, too, right? Yeah, exactly. When you do that work together, you build a mutual respect because you're working, you're suffering together, you're doing things that you don't want to do that you know you need to do. You're keeping those promises, and it builds that respect. The physical is awesome, but that respect, I think, is where that real connection is born from.

00:15:05

Exactly. To add on top of that, I was the stay at home parent. She's at home working her business, but I was at home, and there was things We're getting the... I was always the guy, there's not enough time. I don't have time for this. I'm too busy. I've got three kids to take care of, and they've got baseball, piano, gymnastics, ballet, everything. I was that guy, every excuse. Then when I I did this program, and she's like, Oh, wow, you're actually getting a lot more done. The laundry's done. And I was really making priorities. Things were getting done. I think that it really... Not that she's bossy like that.

00:15:40

No, no, no. Dude, I think that's something-I am a little bossy.

00:15:42

Way more productive. My productivity was just where before it was like you said, I'm consuming the garbage food, and then I was also consuming the scrolling.

00:15:53

The tasks seem like a lot, but once you start doing them, you realize, wow, I was wasting a lot of time before because I'm actually able to do all of this.

00:16:00

That's something that I hear all the time. It makes people realize how much time they're wasting. The other thing I hear a lot is that it makes people realize how empty certain relationships are that consume your time for no reason. Your tolerance for bullshit just seems to go away.

00:16:22

Yes.

00:16:22

Did you guys notice that?

00:16:23

Oh, yeah. Yes.

00:16:25

A thousand %.

00:16:27

Yeah, man. David, I want to hit back on what you were saying with being a little bit lost after this career change. I think that's normal, especially for anybody who's been in a certain… It's been your identity for a long time. How long were you a cop? Almost five years. Yeah. That's your identity for five years. Then you move and you're trying to figure out a new identity. How did the program help you come to terms with that?

00:16:59

I would say, the books I read, I was trying to learn a lot more about finances because I'm the CFO, the MFCEO. Cfo, I should say. Yeah. The MFCEO of her business. There we go. Yeah. I really took that role more seriously and started studying more about finances and how to manage that and gave myself more of a job and took it more as a job rather than, Hey, you're just a finance guy. Yeah. I hadn't picked up a book since high school. And so 12, 13 years later, I'm reading these books and my brain's just soaking it up. And I just felt like that helped me a lot.

00:17:44

Yeah, I think definitely. I saw it before 75 Hard, it was almost like life was happening to you, and you were letting life happen to you. Then once you started it, you were like, No, I'm going to take control of my life, and I'm going to go do the things that I want to do.

00:17:57

Dude, having that power just changes your whole entire I spent so many years of my life feeling like I almost had to catch the momentum and get lucky to see if I could actually do it this time because I told myself so many times, I'm starting Monday, I'm starting after the holiday, I'm starting after this, and I would never start. What I started realizing and becoming aware to is that every time I did that, my belief in myself was being diminished. My confidence was being diminished. My self-esteem was being diminished. I don't think we, as humans, stop and think about how damaging that actually is to our lives. Because, dude, when you've lost all your belief in yourself and all your strength in yourself and all the power that you're supposed to live with, which is our individual will. I mean, dude, it just makes everything not just hard, but you feel out of control, you have anxiety, you get bitter because you're like, Why can't I do anything? Why can't I do? Everybody else can do this. I can't do this. Getting that control back and understanding that, dude, we are in control of a lot of things that dictate the quality of our life.

00:19:20

We are in control. People, like you were saying, they will make excuses, and they will say, I got this much going on, or I can't do this because of that. Our Our ability to tell ourselves lies and believe it, nobody can lie to us like us. You know what I mean? We tell ourselves all these reasons, and all it does is keep driving us lower and lower and lower and lower. Eventually, we've got to stop and be truthful and say, Hey, man, I'm making bad decisions. That's it. I'm making bad decisions. The problem isn't that I don't know what to do. The problem is that I'm not doing it. I think what's really magical about 75 Hard is that it teaches people for example, the things that you can control are massively impactful to your everyday existence. Okay, yeah, we can't control what's going on in the world. We can't control the weather. We can't control a lot of things. But the idea that we could control what we drink, what we eat, how we move, the information we consume. Those things right there will dictate, I think, 80%, 90% of the quality of our existence.

00:20:29

So How many people just discount like we have no control, and we do. I know that for me, just having the power over these inanimate objects, the food, the alcohol, whatever this thing needs to be, being able to say no to social situations. Dude, it changes everything, man. It just changes everything. It changes the way I see myself. It changes the way I behave. It changes the way I look. It changes the way other people see you.

00:21:03

Yeah. I'll say even like, you know how you're saying that goes down and down and down, but you can also build it back up. That's right. I hear women. I help women lose weight for a living. And all the time they say, I just want to be confident like you. And I always say, you don't just hit this number on the scale and all of a sudden you're confident. Confidence is something you need in order to lose the weight. And how you do that is show up for yourself. That's right.

00:21:24

You got to earn it a little bit every day.

00:21:27

Yes. Don't think about losing 100 pounds. Think about losing one pound. Show up one day. Don't worry about this weekend. Dude, that's it. Show up today, tomorrow. You'll be more confident that you can do it again and again and again. And that's ultimately how you get there.

00:21:39

That's right. It's winning the day. That is it. And then when you wake up, the best part about that strategy. I mean, that's been my philosophy in business and life forever, and it's worked pretty well. If I win the day, I can wake up the next day. And even if I'm not where I want to be, I don't look at my yesterday and say, Oh, man, I really messed up and look where I'm at. No, you can wake up with a little bit more confidence. It might just be a smidgen of more confidence. But you could go... I can remember lots of times where I've gotten up and I know I didn't do what I was supposed to do the day before, and I look in the mirror and I'm like, Fuck, I look like shit, blah, blah, blah. And then I'm like, I wasn't doing what I was supposed to. And then you start like, the day starts to compound the other way. And dude, at least when you're not where you are, if you follow that philosophy, you will wake up and, yes, you're going to look in the mirror and you're going to say, Oh, I'm not where I want to be yet, or my bank account is not where it should be yet, or whatever the goal is.

00:22:41

But at least you can look back yesterday and say, I did everything I could have done yesterday, and you could start that new day off with positive momentum. That's something that's really huge for me. If I am not where I want to be in any area of life, which happens, dude, it happens to all of us. There's times when I go a little... The difference is now that I'm in control of it, I recognize it right away and I get back on track. I was talking to my buddy Anthony, like I mentioned earlier, and I said, Dude, if I go two or three days, I won't let myself go more than three days off anymore, ever, Because if I go that fourth day, I can start feeling the fat dude re-energizing inside of me. He's getting his power back. Exactly, dude. The amount of awareness that you gain about yourself by going through that and accepting that as the reality. We are here to win the day. If we win the day, and we go tomorrow, and we win tomorrow, and we go Wednesday, and we win Wednesday, and then we end up winning six days out of the week over the course.

00:23:48

That's a winning life if you amplify that out, multiply that over the course of life. I wish more people thought like that. I wish more people would realize this is very, very simple. It's about what's right here in front of you. What is right here in front of you? And then doing that thing the right way. It's that simple, man.

00:24:09

It's just taking control of what you have control of.

00:24:11

Yeah. And realizing you're stronger than your excuses. When we did 75 hard the first time, we went on a vacation. We went to New Mexico for the Hot Air Balloon Festival, and we were both very nervous going in because vacations before used to be a free for all. Let's eat whatever we want, let's do all the things. And And we had to go in and be very intentional and think ahead of time, all right, how are we going to fit in our workouts? I mean, we were up at three o'clock in the morning working out, and we did it. And I remember getting home and thinking, not only were we able to accomplish that, but I actually think I enjoy going on vacation and being healthy. I like waking up in the morning and feeling like I have energy instead of hung over from what I ate the day before.

00:24:54

And all bloated shit.

00:24:55

Yeah. This actually feels pretty good. I mean, now we have a little bit more balance. We love You don't get to be 100 pounds overweight because you don't like food. That's right. We like food, but we have better balance. We still prioritize exercising. We make sure we stay at places that have a gym or we can go outside somewhere. We eat healthy most of the time. We prioritize water and vegetables, and we'll still enjoy some things, and it's a completely different lifestyle that we have.

00:25:18

Yeah. Let's talk about that for a second. David, you especially, you've mentioned you were in a very low spot. For both of you guys, I'd be curious to hear your take on this. But before, when you were at your beginning, when you were 100 pounds overweight, you were 60 pounds overweight. If you had to guess, and I was to say, Hey, what capacity were you operating on in life as a percentage? What would you say it was?

00:25:47

Probably in the twos.

00:25:51

2%? Two or three, yeah. Really? That low?

00:25:53

Yeah, it was low. It was low. It was what she said. I was just letting life just happen. Yeah.

00:26:01

You were a passive participant.

00:26:03

Big time. Yeah. Bro, I get that. I've been there, too. That's how it was just my whole life, really. I was just a go with the flow, easygoing.

00:26:12

You've made some huge transformations here. You understand now that you can go get and make whatever you want happen. Exactly. That's fucking awesome, dude. That makes me super happy for you, bro. That is some badass shit. Yeah, it's huge. How old are you? I'm 34. Bro, most people never figure that out their whole life. That's super cool, man. So 2%. And what would you say right now? Now, we all know we always got room to get better.

00:26:38

I have a lot of room to improve, but I would say I'm in the high '80s, low '90s now.

00:26:44

That's incredible.

00:26:45

And I think the great thing about this, though, and like you said, it's almost like something that you can always come back to, where- It's a tool. I don't think he'll ever get to 2% again. He won't let himself, because if he ever goes to 50, you know, Oh, I need to get it back together, and I know exactly what I need to do. I think for me, when we started, I was probably at an 80%, but it was 80% to everyone else, and I wasn't taking care of me. I was a mom. I was doing all the things. I was trying to take care of everyone else. My energy was nowhere internal. It was everywhere else. I realized I need to get back to me because if I take care of myself, then I can be a better mom, I can be a better wife, I can be a better businesswoman. I need to make sure I'm taking care myself.

00:27:30

Yeah, you got to be selfish to be selfless. Yes. If you're not operating at a high standard for yourself, you're giving a lower standard to others. That's just the reality. That goes for our kids, it goes for employees, it goes for peers, it goes for friends. We can only give what we're capable of giving. If we're not capable of giving to ourselves, what are we capable of giving to anybody else?

00:27:53

Now I know if I'm struggling in any area of my life, while it might seem counterintuitive to someone else, I know I need to focus on myself for a bit. I need to do something for me. And I mean, this summer, whenever I feel that way, I'm like, What do I not want to do? Because that's what I need to go do. This summer, I'm like, I'm going to sign up for a half marathon. I don't want to train for it. I know it's going to take a lot of work. I hate running, but I'm going to do it because I need to prove to myself I can. I'm going to go do the hard things because that's what I need right now.

00:28:21

Dude, did you do it?

00:28:22

It's in a couple of weeks. Okay, let's go. But I have a nine-mile run this weekend where I'm like, I don't want to do it, but I'm going to do it.

00:28:29

You mentioned in It's the beginning of the show that you said you didn't have anything to prove. It sounds like on your statement you just made, you figured out that it's not about proving it to others.

00:28:41

It's about proving it to yourself. It's about proving it to yourself, yes. I think that's why seeing it blow up online and seeing everyone do it and post it, it's like, great. I don't have anything to prove to anyone else. I don't want to do this just to go post about it. Then I realized when I was doing it with him, no, I need this for me. These are things that I need for For me. Yeah.

00:29:00

Well, I mean, obviously, let's be real. There's a lot of people that post about it because it's cool, and there's a lot of people that do it the right way. There's a difference. You can tell. There's a lot of ways you could tell. And I'm not really here to bag on anybody that doesn't do it, but I mean, I can fucking tell. You guys could tell, too. It's a real transformation mentally. Dude, I'm super high for where you're at.

00:29:25

That is super cool, bro. It's unreal, and it's crazy, not just on the children, but people around you. Because you feel like you want to share it, and we want your friends who are in that spot. Can I tell you something, dude? They feel that way, too.

00:29:40

Go ahead. When I met you, we just met an hour ago. I would have never guessed ever in my life, ever. First of all, I never guessed that you were that overweight, and I would have never guessed that you were in that place, confidence-wise. Just so you know, you're doing fucking good because I would have never, ever, ever thought that. It was really cool, dude.

00:30:01

Yeah, you know the phase three task of talking to strangers? He did that during 75 hard. He talks to everyone. That is one of his strengths. He is very personable.

00:30:10

That's good. For sure.

00:30:12

It's just the effect that's had on other people. I've had other friends that have done it now and just changed their lives. The guy who's a firefighter, and he was severely overweight, and he was having heart issues, and now his life's completely changed. That's awesome. What's his name? From you, his name's Steven.

00:30:29

Hey, Steven. He's a firefighter. Good job, bro. He's a firefighter. Let's go. I love that. You guys mentioned the books. You guys still keeping up with the reading, or is it something that's here and there?

00:30:40

Well, she's gotten into this whole new trend with these romance books, I read personal development.

00:30:46

She's getting the Fabios.

00:30:49

I'm not complaining, but there's some personal development with that, too. Yeah. It's not A hundred %.

00:31:00

What were your favorite books you guys went through?

00:31:03

This is actually a good learning experience for me, too, because I started this book, and at the time, I thought I wanted a book like, I want someone just to yell at me and be tough with me, and it was not like that at all, but once you start a book, you got to finish it. It was exactly the book I needed, Take Back Your Time by Christie Wright. I read a personal development book, and I can't retain all of it. I usually pick out one thing, and that's what I work on implementing.

00:31:30

Dude, that's how I look at it, too.

00:31:31

And then I can read it again and get something else.

00:31:32

I think anybody who... I think most people that... I think a lot of people misunderstand the value of reading. They think that they read a book, you have to retain the whole thing. Oh, no. Dude, I might read a book five times over the course of five years because every single time I read it, I pull one little thing out of it, one sentence, one paragraph, and then I'll work on that just like you're saying.

00:31:52

Yeah, and the thing that stuck out to me the most is she talks about balance in the book. For the longest time, I just felt like I was never enough because I couldn't balance everything. And she said something that I still remember to this day, where it's balance isn't spending equal amounts of time on all of the things. Balance is spending appropriate amount of time on whatever is a priority for you in the moment. And so while we were doing 75 hard. I mean, we were a priority. We were spending most of our time doing that. That's how we were having balance. I mean, you have different phases of life where now my kids are my priority or my work's my priority. But it helped me just have a different perspective on life, and it made such a huge impact.

00:32:30

Now, how long have you been doing your business?

00:32:33

Well, I just actually launched my own program, not even a year ago, where it is a mindset program where I help women lose 50 to 100 pounds by changing their mindset. It's not with a diet It's because a lot of women come to me and ask, Will I get meal plans? I literally say, just a little tough love, if it were that easy, you would have done it because there's millions of free meal plans out there. That's right. Your problem is you're not able to follow through. That's right. You are not keeping these promises to yourself. And so I teach them how to build habits, how to build their confidence so they can show up every day and keep getting results and build their confidence like that.

00:33:08

When did you start that?

00:33:09

I launched that in January this year.

00:33:12

You've been working with women before that, though.

00:33:14

Yeah. So it's been about 10 years. I have had a lot of weight loss transformations. You have four babies. That alone is really hard because right after we finished 75 hard, I got pregnant again. And then you have the mental game of I'm going to do it right now.

00:33:30

Those romance novels. Yeah. Those romance novels.

00:33:33

Yeah, that's why we have the four kids. But it's hard as a woman working so hard. I mean, you lose 100 pounds, you find out you're pregnant, and you think, I'm going to gain weight now. That's really difficult. But 75 Hard gave me the skills to say, I'm going to do what I can. Some of my pregnancies have been rough where I'm sick, I can't exercise as much as I would like to, but I kept up I could, and I had a different mindset throughout it, and it was the easiest pregnancy I had had out of all four.

00:34:06

How has your business grown since developing or working on these skills?

00:34:10

I think what is most important to me is seeing the transformations within women lose weight. I see my business growing because people are starting to realize I don't just need another diet. I need to actually change my life. That's right. I need to change my habits.

00:34:29

When I It's not just lose 30 pounds for a vacation. Yeah.

00:34:31

I hate when people say that 75 hard is about weight loss. That is not what it is about. Because when you can change your habits and your mindset, weight loss is a byproduct of that.

00:34:41

That's right. You have to be able to adhere before you can gain the benefits of any nutritional program or training program. We all know what to do. If we're fat, we got to eat less and we got to move. If we need to gain muscle, we got to eat a little more. We got to lift weights. We We all know what to do. At my fattest in my entire life, and every single person I've talked to who has been extremely overweight like I have, and like you guys have, we know what to do. But it's just we have not figured out how to take that power away from these things and give it back to ourselves. We're not paying attention to our internal dialog. When I started to really become aware of my internal dialog, justifying the decisions I was making, when When I was supposed to be dieting, and I'd go and I'd be like... The story I would tell myself, I'd be like, Fuck. I'd go in a restaurant and be like, I'm going to order a steak, a potato, or a chicken and potato or something. And then I look at the menu and it would be all the stuff.

00:35:47

The pizza, the beers, the nacho, all the stuff I love. Mac and cheese? Yeah, bro, all of it. Because listen, I love food, too, man. I am a food connoisseur. I look at it and I started noticing my voice, my bitch voice, which is what I call in the program and in the book, is it knows exactly what to tell me to get me to eat this shit. It makes you powerless. When I started paying attention to it, I actually started getting mad. I started getting mad. This sounds so crazy, but I would look at that pizza on the menu, and then I would hear my voice come in and be like, Oh, it's okay. We'll get right back on track tomorrow. Then immediately, I'd be like, You know what? Fuck you, dude. Fuck that pizza, too. And those nachos. That's for weak-ass people. I'm not weak anymore. I'm strong now. When I started really becoming aware of that dialog, that's when it really started clicking for me, where I could now become someone who, instead of being a victim of my outside elements and circumstances, I started realizing that those things, I was in control of those things, not they were in control of me.

00:37:08

That's where you start to get into an unstoppable phase. Because, dude, if people could really Stop. If you would really stop, all of you right now, stop and think about where your life would be if you followed through, if you had the ability to follow through on every single thing you ever told yourself you were going to do. If you had done that, where would you be? When you really are honest with that, your life would be completely different. What skillset are we missing to create that? Natasha, we are talking about the ability to adhere, the ability to follow through, the ability to keep promises. When we talk about confidence and not having any, the reason we don't have any confidence is because we're lying to ourselves more than anybody. If someone came in here every day and told you, Hey, I'm going to do this thing, and they didn't do it. After three days, we'd be like, Dude, this guy's full of shit. You'd have no respect for that person. But we don't realize that we do that to ourselves over the course of our lives. We do that in many different days with training or reading or our food or the alcohol.

00:38:20

We do it with a lot of things. I think once we start to understand that the skill set that we're missing in our lives is a discipline-based skill set, and it's a skill. It's not a trait. People think, Oh, man, I wasn't bored. Because I used to think that, too. I look at all my friends who were in good shape because I grew up around athletes, and I felt like, Man, they don't even try. It wasn't that they weren't trying. It's that they had disciplined and appeared like they weren't trying. They weren't having the same struggles that I had, excuse me, from the outside, but it seemed like easy. But they were having the same decision-making process. They had just built up that boss voice that said, Hey, that's not an option for me.

00:39:06

I think people think they need the willpower, and it's like, You don't need willpower. You need to learn how to have discipline and show up. That's right.

00:39:12

And show up. And understand what we're really talking about when we talk about discipline, dude. This is not just saying, Hey, make better choices. Be disciplined. We have to understand that any acquired skill, if you're going to go out and try to ice skate today, and you never ice skated, you're going to suck. You're going to fall in your ass. When we tell people, Hey, go be disciplined, that's like that. It's your first day of ice skating. We have to build that skill set up. By building that up, other skills start to follow along. The self-confidence, the self-belief, the grit, the fortitude. The amount of times when you have to go out and do cardio in Arizona, it's 120 degrees, right? Or here, we've got tornadoes and thunderstorms and snow. Those things teach you things, and they make deposits into our belief system that we are making the right choices. For me, dude, one of the biggest things on 75 Hard is when I have to do the workout in very bad weather.

00:40:14

I was just going to say that. I was like, I want the bad situations because I go in telling myself, This is going to suck, but I'm going to feel so good afterwards.

00:40:22

Those are the best ones. Dude, it is the... I can tell you the hardest workout I had to do. It was also the workout at the end. I was like, I was like, Fuck yeah, dude. Nobody's doing that. Nobody's doing it. Dj actually did it with me. We give DJ a lot of shit, but DJ did it with me. It snowed 18 inches here, and we had to do our 45-minute workout. We were out doing the normal route that we do. We got halfway through, and it was 45. We could have turned around in 45 minutes. We were both like, Fuck, we got to go do the whole route. That's what we got to do. It took 2 hours. But we got done, and we were like, Fuck, yeah, dude. You can I can do anything. Nobody did that. Nobody. There's a lot of things that come with that, whether it's true or not. Maybe there is a couple of people that did it. I don't know. But my point is that when you can look at yourself in the mirror and you could say, Nobody's doing this shit. How can you not feel good about yourself?

00:41:18

Exactly. I just really, really, really want people to understand that no matter where you are, if you feel like you're not in control and you feel like, Man, I relate to what these guys are saying, but I don't know how to fix it. Listen, dude, do the program and do it the right way, and it will give you an amazing level of awareness and foundation for you to become who it is you're trying to become. Because, man, if you can develop the skill of discipline and the ability to adhere to a plan, and all you have to do is decide what plan you're going to do for your life, whether it be business, whether it Whether it be family, whether it be your fitness or whatever, I could just make a plan. I could decide where I want to go. I could make a plan to get there, and I can follow the plan, I'll get there. Dude, it really removes most of the limitations that we have as humans. That's been the most powerful thing for me, man. It's just understanding that I am in control and not these other things.

00:42:24

Exactly. Once you do that, it stops that. I was the guy with all the excuses, right? Yeah. It's like, Oh, well, they don't have kids, or they don't have... They've got all this money.

00:42:39

They've got all these advantages I don't have.

00:42:42

All these advantages that I don't have. Those excuses My users, they don't even come in my mind anymore. It's like, I'm going to go do the hard work.

00:42:49

That's badass, dude.

00:42:51

Do what I got to do. That's awesome.

00:42:54

Look how proud you are. I'm so proud of him. That is so cool, dude. That is so cool. That's respect. That is what that is. That is respect. All right, guys, we're taking a break. I just want to remind you before we get right back that you can get the 75 Hard app in the App Store on your phone. It has many tools. It'll help you stay on track. It's very, very popular. It's been the number one fitness app for a number of years. You can get it anywhere, you get the app. Go get it and we'll get better together, all right? Did you guys follow through and do any of the other phases or did you just do 75 Hard?

00:43:28

I got pregnant, so I didn't. But after we had our fourth baby, we did 75 Hard again. We did it with four kids. We did three and then four.

00:43:37

I jumped into phase one two weeks after, and I felt really good after that, too. I decided phase one, but I never finished the full Live Hard. That's cool.

00:43:45

Yeah, some people, they just continuously use 75 Hard as the tool. It's a good tool. It'll get you recalibrated, man. I do the same thing that you do when I start to notice myself, because a lot of people think because I made the program, I must be like, Look, bro, the reason I made the program is because I fucking need it. You know what I'm saying? Exactly. I am the exact same as all of you. I tune it up, and then it starts to drift, and then I tune it up, and it starts to drift. And there's certain habits in my life that really... I maintain pretty much the same physical shape almost all the time. So you don't really see it, but I can tell in other areas. You know what I mean? I can tell when I'm getting sloppy or less detail-oriented or less disciplined, and it scares the shit out of me because I don't want to go back. I'm like, Fuck, dude, I'm not going back to that.

00:44:37

But you have the tools, so you don't have to go back. You got your baseline.

00:44:41

After you guys finished the program the first time, what did you do after that?

00:44:49

Like the next day?

00:44:50

No, just... Look, did you maintain the habits moving forward?

00:44:57

I would say most of them, yes. I mean, still the water. I think that the hardest part for me is the two workouts. We're juggling a lot, and when both of us are doing two 45-minute workouts, it's a lot. But we still exercise every single day, and we make that a priority. But I'll say right afterwards, one thing that helped us going through it, we have a shared album on Instagram that is called After 75 Hard, and it's all these food reels in there of places in Arizona. Different recipes. But I don't think we've even gone to any of them because when you're having that craving, if you just know it's there for later, and then when it passes, you don't want it again.

00:45:33

Dude, also, I feel like when you get done, you've got all that momentum, the last thing I want to do is fuck it up. Oh, yeah, exactly. I want to create... The one thing What we've learned about momentum, man, is that number one, it's not up to circumstance for it to happen. We create it. You guys experience this through 75 hard. The first 10 days, you're pretty sore. It sucks. The first 20 days, you're like, Fuck, I got to do this. And Even by day 30, you're cruising, and you've got all this momentum, and you feel really good. Creating that momentum, I think understanding that we, as human beings, are in charge of the momentum that we create. The reason that people create or have felt momentum in the past is if they backtrack it and are honest with themselves, it's because they created it. They didn't catch it. They created it. They went one day, two day, three day. All of a sudden, they caught some momentum. But that was created. People aren't aware of that. Once you start becoming aware that we could create momentum at any time through force, that's real powerful.

00:46:37

But the one thing for me is that once I've got it, man, I will do anything to make sure I keep it. You know what I mean? Because starting it back up, it's hard.

00:46:49

Yeah, we were definitely more consistent afterwards as well. I mean, going from him making up excuses why he wouldn't work out all the time to him actually making it a priority every single day and realizing how that one thing impacts every other area of your life.

00:47:04

Yeah, that's cool. Exactly.

00:47:07

Just starting the day with that, it changed everything. What was your routine for the program? Well, Like a basic day, how would that look? Include your family and everything.

00:47:20

I can't wake up early. He would wake up at like four o'clock in the morning and go do his first workout.

00:47:27

I'd get up, then get the kids ready, get them off to school.

00:47:31

That's when I would be doing my first workout.

00:47:33

And then, yeah, while I'm doing that, she's doing her workout. Then we'd try and usually get something done before the kids came back from school, whether Sometimes we'd do stuff together. We'd go for a big family walk with the other kids, pushing them in the stroller.

00:47:50

We used to walk laps around the park while they would play. Yeah.

00:47:54

And then I would always get my reading done first as well before I got the kids ready. I'm all over the place.

00:48:03

So you would do that ride in the morning?

00:48:04

Yeah, I would get all that.

00:48:04

So first thing, wake up, you're reading.

00:48:06

I got to knock everything out. I'm just trying to knock it out. I was really trying to knock it out sooner. If he doesn't do it first. Yeah, because if I don't get things done early, it sent me in this where it's like, oh, and you feel the weight of it. You feel the anxiousness of it. The anxiety and all of it's getting on you and you're like, all right, I got to get organized. I've always struggled with the organization in general, but that really helped me a lot just having that plan and sticking to it because there was a couple of days, even later on, that I can think of where it was like, yeah, I got out of bed later. I slept in, so then I was up till 11, 12: 00 the night finishing up these things and having those nightmares.

00:48:47

The second time we did 75 hard, he failed on day two because he forgot to read. And I'm like, I'm sorry, I'm not going to go back and start over with you this time. You can do two extra days.

00:48:56

Yeah, that's true. But yeah, that's really what the day looked It was just trying to knock things out earlier in the day because then once the kids are home from school, like I said, there's gymnastics, there's ballet, there's baseball, there's baseball.

00:49:08

Making dinner, taking care of everyone, back, that time.

00:49:10

Dinner, all of it. So it's just a matter of... It was just trying to stay organized and sticking together.

00:49:17

How old are your kids?

00:49:19

We have a almost two, four, eight, and 10.

00:49:23

Are the older ones wanting to exercise with mom and dad? Oh, yeah.

00:49:28

Really? Yes. Ralph I was always out in the garage wanting to learn how to do pull-ups and stuff and lift weights. My daughter Gretchen and I, we signed up to do a mud girl race together in a couple of weeks. So we're going to do an obstacle course and just really learning how to prioritize health. I mean, that's another huge thing for me because like you, I grew up loving food. I became overweight, and I didn't really have a lot of healthy habits. And I know it's my responsibility to teach that to my kids. And I ask myself every single day, Am I being the woman that I would be proud of my daughter's to grow into. There you go. That is what drives me every single day. That is why I follow through is for my girls. Well, I love my sons, too, but mainly for my girls because I know what they're going to struggle with in life. I want them to feel confident, and I want them to know what health is. I know I need to be that example. I'm really excited. Our youngest daughter is not quite old enough yet, but it's so cool now that I'm able to do that with our older daughter and bond together.

00:50:25

He does that with our son, Ralph, too.

00:50:26

You pick out your workout outfits together.

00:50:28

That's cool.

00:50:29

She She wants to exercise. If she has a cute outfit, it makes a difference.

00:50:33

Hey, look good, feel good, play good. That's right. That's what Jerry Rice used to say that. You look good, you play good.

00:50:39

Yeah, she's going through that now, our oldest. I think it's true. It's so fun.

00:50:43

I think it's true. Yeah, it's 100%. Yeah, You look good, you feel good, you're going to perform good. Exactly. I'm a big believer in that. Let me ask you this. Magically, right now, you could go back, and we'll start with you on this, David. If you could go back and talk to that guy who was... Because you weren't just miserable for a little bit. It took you a long time to make the change, right? Mm-hmm. Okay. A couple of years. If you now could go back and talk to that guy, what would you say?

00:51:17

I would tell him, You got to get it together. You don't understand what you're capable of, and Stop making excuses and go, like it says here, do the work.

00:51:34

What about you, Natasha?

00:51:37

Well, just to say something about that is one thing that was really hard for me is because I've been really into my weight loss journey for a long time with having babies and watching him and his habits and I'm doing other things. It was hard for me because I'm like, why isn't he wanting to do the things that I'm doing? I realized he's not going to do that until he decides he's going to do it for himself. There's There's nothing I can do. There's nothing that I can say that's going to turn things around for him. Seeing him have that realization that I'm the one that needs to do this. That's why I did it with him. I'm like, I need to support you as much as I can, and I'm going to make sure. Yes, I got a lot It's a lot of it for me, but a lot of it why I did it the first time was I want my husband to have success. I want him to know what it feels like to feel good and to have that mental strength, and I know what he's capable of, and I'm so proud of him.

00:52:28

That's so cool.

00:52:30

But yeah, if I had to go back and say anything to myself, I would say there is power in setting an example for other people. Sometimes you can't make people show up for themselves, but if you keep showing up for you, maybe one day you will be that inspiration for them. Maybe one day you will be the reason why.

00:52:46

One thing I found that helps people get their shit together a little bit more than, and you've hit on this a couple of times during this conversation, but it's not just about you, dude. It's just not. You know what I'm saying? If we tell ourselves, Hey, I want to get in shape because I want to look good at the pool, or I want my clothes to fit, or I want... Those are all surface level, and they're valid motivations, right? We want to feel good. But that's not enough, man. We have to understand that how we live and the example that we set is going to legitimately affect other humans' life. It's going to affect what decisions they make, what their outcomes are, and how the quality of their life is going to turn out. For you guys, it's your kids. But it's also your peers, it's your friends, it's the women that you help in your business. We all have much more impact than we give ourselves credit for. A lot of people will say, Hey, man, I don't have a big following. Dude, you got people around you, bro. I had a good buddy of mine recently who had to close this business if things weren't going well for him.

00:53:54

He was telling, I don't have anything left. I'm like, Bro, you're a great dad, you're a great friend, you're an athlete. You have all these good things going for you. You have all of these things, dude. You're just discounting it. I think when we start to realize, Hey, man, it's not just about these things that are for us, but it's actually about what our example means and how it sets a standard for other people around us. I found that people are more willing to go for that than they are for themselves. If I'm going to let down this guy over here to my left and this guy over here to my right by my inaction, I'm going to do it. But if it's just for me, I can sell myself on the idea of, Oh, it's not that big of a deal. Exactly. I think if we all have, and we all should have, especially as Americans, we should have a sense of obligation to live life at a high standard or at the highest standard that we're capable of. I'm not saying we're going to be perfect. We're going to screw up, we're going to make mistakes, we're going to get off track.

00:54:58

But the reality is that we make a genuine, real, consistent effort to be a great example. The world wouldn't look like it does. It would be much better. I think that responsibility is on all of us. Like I said earlier in the show, A lot of us, we like to look around and complain and bitch and moan and cry about the way things are. But when we look at ourselves, we're living a shitty example of what it means to even be an American. You know what I mean? I think it starts with the things that we can I'm not trying to make this a big political statement, but the truth of it is we can control our food, we can control what we drink, we can control what we eat, we can control what information we put in our minds, we control how we treat people. These are the things that matter the most in our lives. If we set that example, that ripple effect moves out and out and out and out, and that's how things get fixed. If you're out there and you're listening to this and you're like, Man, I really want to get my life together, think about Think about the example that you're setting for the people around you.

00:56:03

Think about the example you're setting for your friends, your family, your kids, your peers at work. Because, dude, maybe you can't get enough courage or strength to start for yourself, but you should be able to start for the people around you. Because it matters, guys, it really does. It matters the example you live. This is not about losing weight. This is not about going to the swimming pool or going to the beach. We're talking about living a high standard life that matters and impacts people in the best way possible. I just want to say that I really appreciate you guys taking that responsibility serious. It's a really refreshing, amazing feeling for me to hear that coming from you, and especially you, David. I could see it in your voice when we first started talking, bro. I could tell you came from a lost, hurt place, and I could tell you're doing fucking great now, and it's just really... It's awesome, bro. I could feel it. I know it's real.

00:57:10

It's very real. It's unreal. Like you said, the impact that you don't even realize that you have. Even years later, a lot of the videos that she's posted of the different transformations have circulated, and all of a sudden, I'm getting messages from guys like, Hey, help me out. I'm in a tough place. Yeah. What can I do? What did you do? Tell me what you did. I'm like, Yeah, you're capable of- You can do it, man.

00:57:36

Yeah, dude.

00:57:37

If I can, anybody can.

00:57:38

Dude, I'm a big believer in that.

00:57:40

Kind of piggybacking off of that. What I always tell people is, marry the action, not the result. You're so focused on, I want to get the car, I want to get the house, I want to get the body. It's like, what do you need to do in order to get there? Now, focus on the action because that's also where the real joy comes from is following through, not actually getting to the destination.

00:57:59

Dude, and not only that, you don't even want the shit you say you want if you're not executing that behavior, it's just a fleeting thought. It's like there's a difference in saying, it would be nice to have this, versus, I'm going to make sure I have this. That's two different things. Most people, they get upset because over the course of their life, they continuously say, It would be nice to do this. It would be nice to do that. But they never make the real decision decision to make that reality. Because of that, it never becomes a reality. Then they get bitter and they get upset and they get low belief in themselves. They end up saying, Well, I don't have any power to do that, or it wasn't in the cards, or I didn't get lucky. It's like, dude, you're not actually setting a goal. You're just saying it in a passive way when it feels nice to say, Hey, I'd like to have some extra money. I'd like to not be 100 pounds overweight. I'd like to not be someone who can't say no to food or alcohol or partying or whatever. That sounds nice, but I'm not really committed to it.

00:59:09

But I am a big believer in what you just said. If one man can do, another man can do. If you are willing to make that decision to make, like you're saying, Natasha, your daily tasks, your daily wins in line with the path that you actually want to create. Dude, there's nothing stopping anybody. There really isn't. It just This comes down to, can we make the proper decisions when the proper decisions present themselves to us? Or are we going to make the decision that is what our old selves would make, what would be easy, what would be convenient in the moment. It comes down to the instant gratification. So many people derail their entire lives, their entire dreams, over what's comfortable now. It's not a worthy trade. It's just not. But you can't know it unless you've gone down the path. I was talking to some of my friends over here at the smoothie bar the other day, Gavin and Anna, and we were talking about how... Because they're newer here, and I don't know that they didn't realize that I used to be 350 pounds. We were talking about it, and I was like, Bro, if I could go back and talk to that version of myself and explain to myself how much better things could really be if you just did these things that are minorly uncomfortable for a short amount of time, because the reality is after you do it for three or four weeks, it becomes habit anyway.

01:00:41

And you're like, this is great. I feel good. If you could just get through that first block, dude, of being uncomfortable, having your body be a little sore, having to eat food that maybe you are not used to eating. Dude, the trade-off is just... It's not describable unless you've lived It's just not. It goes back to what you were saying about people who are unhealthy and they're so used to being in that place that they don't realize how good they could feel. Their normal feeling is literally the worst feeling that you would feel once you've taken care of that problem. Yes. And it's sad.

01:01:22

It is.

01:01:22

It is sad, bro.

01:01:23

Yeah. But I mean, even I'm sure you feel this way, too. But being 100 pounds overweight, sometimes I look back and I'm mad at myself for letting me get there. I'm like, why did I do that?

01:01:34

And why did I live so much life that way? Exactly.

01:01:36

Then at the same time, I'm so incredibly grateful that that happened to me because of how I was able to transform on the inside and because I've been able to use that to inspire so many other women who are stuck in that spot and just not loving who they are and waking up every single day and just wondering, is this it? And why am I still overweight? You can do something about it. You just got to do one thing at a time, one step at a time.

01:02:01

Dude, I feel the same way. Sal and I talk about this, too, because my brother, who's the CEO here at First Form, we've always struggled with our weight. We've always been athletes, but we've always had the fat kid gene. Legitimately, we both have it. I just wish I could sometimes… I'm super thankful, like you said. If I hadn't have gone through that, I wouldn't be able to relate to people understand what they've been through in any meaningful way. This conversation would be very empty. I don't know what the fuck you guys are talking about. What's it like to be overweight? I don't know. I've always been in shape. There's a lot of that in the fitness industry. There's a lot of people who look real good, who have always- You don't know what it's like. Yeah, who have always looked pretty good. One of the things that Sal and I always talk about is how thankful we are that we've struggled with that because it's allowed us to understand what the struggle is. Then that's It's allowed us to help so many other people realize and unlock their potential and take control of their lives.

01:03:06

Honestly, dude, that's the coolest part about it. You know that. The coolest part is not what we've done for ourselves, but it's your firefighter friend. You know what I mean? Steven, right? Yeah. Or your clients who come in and they're lost and they're powerless, and then they figure out that they have to fix this to fix everything else. I was pointing my head for those of you guys on audio, but it truly is a mental game. That was a big turning point in my life, dude. When I realized that this is mental, it's a mental game, it's a mental test, I'm good at that. But I never really understood that's what it was. I always looked at it from the outside in. I always looked at it like... Probably like how most of everybody looks at it.

01:03:53

You feel like you're being controlled by everything around you. You're like, No, I have the power. I'm the one that gets to make the decisions here.

01:03:59

But Dude, my ego, we all have an ego. Let's be real. Everybody has one. My ego has always been based in, I wanted to be mentally tough, but inside of my heart, I knew that I wasn't. I craved being that in a genuine way. Once I figured out that, dude, the reason that you're fat and the reason that you're unhappy and the reason that you don't feel good about yourself is because you're not training your mind the right way. Once I saw it like that, dude, it changed the game. It changed the game from, Oh, I'm on a diet, to, You know what? Fuck that food. Those nachos, they don't have power over me. That alcohol, it doesn't have power over me. You know what has power over me? Me.

01:04:46

It's taking accountability. You are where you are because of you. You are not where you are because of anyone else. And that goes for everybody. Yes. And once you realize that, you're like, Man, I have the power. If I'm the one that gets to decide where I want to go, I can do anything.

01:05:02

Yeah, for sure. So guys, we're going to close out here. I would like for both of you guys to talk to the people out there, man, because there's a lot of people that listen that are in that position that we've been in. You know what I'm saying? Where they feel powerless, they feel like they need to get their lives together, but they just don't know that they can or they don't believe. Talk to them for a second. A minute while we close out.

01:05:31

I would say all you need to do is make a decision. It is truly a decision to decide that I'm going to show up for myself, I'm going to do these things. And once you decide that failure is not an option, you're going to be able to get better. But it truly does. Just starts with deciding, I'm going to follow through. I'm tired of lying to myself. I'm finally going to keep those promises, and I'm deciding that I'm in control and I'm doing this.

01:06:00

Yeah. I would say, I would echo what she said, and then just say, make the decision. It's 100% mental, and don't quit.

01:06:11

No, it's going to be hard, too. It's not called. Welcome it. There's 75 easy. I went into it knowing this is going to be hard, this is going to suck, there's going to be days I don't want to show up, there's probably going to be books that I don't like, but I'm deciding I'm going to do it even though it's going to be hard and I'm going to be a better person for it. That's what's up.

01:06:29

That's what it It is. Guys, I want to close by saying this. First of all, I appreciate you guys coming all the way here from Arizona to do the show. A lot of people are going to be helped because of this, but more so, I appreciate you guys living the example. We need more of that. You guys are doing it. You're helping other people doing it. I think that's one of the most needed things that we have going on in the world right now. I think it's very, very, very underrated and extremely important. I want to commend you guys and thank you guys for doing It matters a lot. That goes for all of you guys that are doing that out there as well. I just want to say this last thing. If you're out there and you feel powerless and you feel like you can't control what's going on in your life, I would highly encourage you to do 75 Hard and do it the right way. It is a free program. It is free. You can get it at episode 208 on the audio feed. It will give you the entire program. Now, there is a book that you can buy.

01:07:31

It is not free. It is on my website, andyfercela. Com. It's called The Book on Mental Toughness. It will give you the entire Live Hard program, plus a whole bunch of chapters on mental toughness. It will make you a student of the game, so to speak. You don't need it. I'm not telling you to buy it. You can do it for free. But the book, we have a trouble keeping it in stock. People like it. But if you're one of these people and you're struggling, please take a minute and just evaluate where you would be if you were able to adhere to all the goals, all the dreams, all the plans that you have made for yourself in the past and have failed on. Where would your life be? Then the second thought needs to be that you can become that person. All of these things that you want for yourself, your fitness, your relationship, your career, these are all a product of your ability to follow a plan. The reason you're struggling right now is because you haven't developed the skillset of discipline, which would then help you develop the skillsets of grit, fortitude, which then help you build self-belief, self-esteem, and confidence, which gives you all the intangible magical tools that we always think other people are born with, that we are actually responsible for creating.

01:08:54

So please understand this. You are in control, and you are where you are because of the decisions that you've made so far. But just because you made those decisions in the past doesn't mean that's who you are now. You are a product of those decisions. It doesn't mean who you are. You can become a different person today by committing to these new behaviors. While your life may not change today, it will eventually, and you'll become that person of those behaviors. I just really, really I want you to believe that because I spent a lot of time, and I know you guys have, too, feeling like you weren't in control and feeling like it was this massive struggle. Once that click over in your mind happens that this is about discipline and developing a perishable skill, it changes your life. That's what I want for people, man. I want them to live their life. I want them to be happy. I want you guys to be impactful and set a good example. It starts with us. If we want to fix the world, if we want to fix society, we have to that we are the world and we are society, and how we're living is a reflection of what our world is going to become.

01:10:08

Again, I really, really, really appreciate you guys coming in. Amazing stories. I'm proud of both of you guys. I'm especially proud of you, bro. I could fucking hear your voice. Thank you so much. It's super cool, and that's nothing to take away. I know. I'm proud of him too. I can fucking see it on him, and I can hear it, and it makes me feel good, bro.

01:10:30

Yeah, That's amazing. It's really amazing. Just to echo what you said, it's 75 days, guys, and your whole life will change.

01:10:37

A new person, a whole new person in 75 days. It's such a small blip of your whole life. You can do anything for that long.

01:10:42

Wild. Where could people follow you guys?

01:10:46

Well, I don't think Dave's on any socials right now. You can follow me @Natasha Pearson, and that's spelled P-E-H, R-S-O-N, the H comes first, on Instagram, TikTok, my website, natashaperson. Com. I have my program on there, the Body Confidence Academy. That's where I help women change their mindset, start to lose weight, start building your beliefs. You do believe you can do a program like this?

01:11:09

No. I'm just at davidpeerson.

01:11:12

Com. All right, guys.

01:11:15

Well, I appreciate you guys. You guys out there in the internet, make sure that you understand you have this ability, too, and you have this power, too. You've just been taught to believe that is a trait when in reality, it is a skill. So get to work building those skills. Do what you got to do, and maybe one day you'll be sitting over here and we'll be talking about you. I appreciate you guys. Thank you so much. Thanks a ton. All right, guys, that's the show. Don't forget to share the show. But also, don't forget that the 75 Hard app is a massively beneficial tool that will help you stay on program. If you're going to go start the 75 Hard program, like many people are, I'd highly recommend downloading the app. It'll help If you stay on track, I'll give you reminders. It has a bunch of tools that are available to help you guarantee success. All right? You can get that anywhere. Apps are sold. All right? So guys, let's go out and let's kick some ass. We're for some ass.

AI Transcription provided by HappyScribe
Episode description

On today's #75HARD Vs, Andy is joined in the studio by Natasha and David Pehrson. They discuss the spark that made them want to start the 75 Hard program, how their relationship with food has changed since starting the program, the confidence they've gained from the program, and the example they're looking to set through their actions for their family and friends.