[00:00:00] Gary: I was like one 96 when I started your program, this, this fit father. And, uh, for my birthday, I was one 75. I couldn't, I couldn't be any more happier because I got to tell people in my 60th birthday party that I weigh right now today, what I weighed in high school. That's nothing cooler than that. Hey there,

[00:00:32] Anthony: my friend, it's Dr. Anthony Balduzzi. And I want to welcome you back to another episode here on the fit father project. Today, we're joined by one of our very own fit father brothers, Gary Brummett. And Gary is an amazing guy for many reasons. And we have a powerful conversation today where we get into his weight loss journey.

[00:00:50] And a little bit of a highlight is Gary just celebrated his 60th birthday. And when I saw Gary, if I had just to guess, I would say he looks like a healthy 50 [00:01:00] year old. He's absolutely crushing it. In fact, he is at the same weight he was in high school now at his 60th birthday. So, that's really saying something.

[00:01:09] And it wasn't always this way, as Gary shares in his story. He grew up with basically an unhealthy relationship to food, like the way his parents cooked. He ended up becoming a chef and so he's eating a lot of food and he couldn't really figure out how to get a health routine that was sustainable and enter the Fit Father Project.

[00:01:25] This was a really purifying journey for him where he was able to get a hold of both of his exercise and his nutrition, but most importantly of all, find the routine that works best for Gary. And that's what I really love most about this conversation is Gary has worked this program but he's worked it in a way that works for him long term.

[00:01:43] He's found his loves. Yes, he still does our MRT workouts, he's getting the double treble in, he does an apex and he shares some cool stories about that. But he does some other things that he brought in. And you can just really hear from Gary how he's so aligned now on his unique health routine. And I'll share personally, like that is [00:02:00] my wish for everyone in the fit father community is that they come in this program, they use it, they see results, and then they make it their own.

[00:02:07] And it's certainly what Gary has done. And there's a lot of wisdom in this conversation. So I know you're really going to enjoy this one. And Gary, thanks again for coming on. As you're listening to this and the rest of our brotherhood, let's welcome fit father Gary Brommett. All right, Gary, welcome officially to the fit father project podcast, my friend, I'm so happy you're here.

[00:02:23] Gary: Thanks for having me. I'm pretty happy

[00:02:25] Anthony: to be here too. It's going to be really cool to hear your story. And as we always like to kick things off, I'd love for you to introduce yourself to all the guys who are listening, your name, your age, where you're from and anything you'd like to share about family and what you do for

[00:02:37] Gary: work.

[00:02:38] Sure. Hi guys, uh, Gary Brummett. I am just turned 60 freaking years old. Wow. August 1963. Uh, that was, that was a big deal. Uh, I have, uh, four children, uh, a wife. I work, I make my living in real estate right now.

[00:02:57] Anthony: That's awesome. I mean, I'll tell, I'll say something for those that [00:03:00] are only listening on audio.

[00:03:01] They don't have the privilege of looking at you. There's no way I'd say you're 60, man. You look fantastic. Skin looks healthy. Dude, you look like a healthy 50 year old. So, good on you. And I think that kind of begs the question about why did you start this program and kind of where did you start? Take us back to kind of the beginning of your fit father journey.

[00:03:20] Gary: Sure. Well, my journey began before sit father with a, uh, dbt program, uh, dbt therapy, I guess, uh, realigning my relationship with food. I had a very bad relationship with food, uh, from being a young person, uh, in my house, uh, it was the clean plate club. I'm sure a lot of folks can, uh, can, uh, feel that, uh, and it was, uh, It was the only thing I eating was the only thing I could do.

[00:03:50] Uh, and, and know that I wasn't going to get in any kind of trouble for it. Cause as long as I ate what mom made and finished my plate, I was good. So, uh, you know, so it takes a long time to, uh, [00:04:00] to grow up and have a bad relationship with food. And I got, I got right with it for a while. And, uh, it could only take me so far because.

[00:04:09] I was refusing the exercise piece, right? It was always the food and the, and the nutrition. And I said, I, I, I absolutely have to. In the beginning, I thought I'm, I'm so active. I'm just out there all the time. I'm outdoors guy. I'm, I'm hiking, I'm hunting, I'm fishing. I'm, I do all biking. I do all kinds of stuff, but it just wasn't enough.

[00:04:30] And, uh, I saw the program and, uh, I think it was, uh, my anniversary. I don't know. It's over a year ago for sure. Uh, you guys would know what the date is for sure. But anyway, um, I was like, uh, I was like one 96 when I started your program, this, this, the father. And, uh, for my birthday, I was one 75. I couldn't, I couldn't be any more happier because.

[00:04:55] I got to tell people in my 60th birthday party that I weigh right now today [00:05:00] what I weighed in high school. There's nothing cooler than that. There's nothing cooler than that. You know, and it was about, it's about health and. Not just longevity, but the quality of, you know, the quality of life and thriving and not just surviving, but thriving.

[00:05:18] Anthony: Yeah, that's awesome. I definitely want to get more into your relationship to food. And I have the privilege of knowing a little more about your background and Is it true you were, you were a chef for a lot of time and like you were making a lot of delicious food. Let's, let's get into that. Cause I think you're talking about like the taste and the taste of food being delicious and like not being able to control yourself.

[00:05:36] I know a lot of people can probably relate to that. So yeah, let's unpack that a little bit more

[00:05:39] Gary: based on your background. Sure. Yeah. I graduated from a CAA, the Culinary Institute in 1986, and I started a 16 years old cooking at a Greek pizza shop and I've done everything since then. I had a 30 something career in food service.

[00:05:54] Um, and then I reinvented myself, reinvented myself. We can talk about all that stuff later. But from the food side, [00:06:00] uh, it was, I, I, I was privileged enough to have the, uh, skill, uh, to be, um, in some very, very high end places. Uh, working with, you know, some really cool people and great ingredients and, uh, it's just eating was eating was eating.

[00:06:16] You know, we always, we always have to taste when I was a pastry chef for a while, I was the biggest dough ball you've probably ever, cause you've got some photos there of me pretty. Pretty round, pretty big and pretty round. So, um, as far as, uh, you know, I always understood nutrition because that was part of my training as well.

[00:06:35] Um, but I really wasn't able to break the cycle. Uh, I think sometime back in the 90s, I did, uh, I did South Beach, you know, the predecessor to all the, you know, Paleo, Keto, all the stuff we're doing. Uh, it is popular now and I did. I lost 20 pounds on, on South Beach, just cutting out carbs. And then I started eating carbs again.

[00:06:58] This is an old story, right? [00:07:00] Everybody, you know, and there's the, there's all the weight again. What's different this time is that I have a, I have a, I have an exercise routine. I have a schedule every week of what I'm going to hit. Don't always make it right. But make the schedule. fall short, you still did more than if you had no, no schedule at all.

[00:07:18] Um, and I'm, I eat now in a, in a style that I call a carb aware, right? So I'm going to have pizza. I'll have pizza and it's not cauliflower crust. Not there's anything wrong with that, but it's good pizza. But instead of having, you know, five or six slices of pizza once a week or twice a week, I'll have two slices of pizza every couple of months.

[00:07:43] And I'm fine. I'm great. I'm awesome. Because, you know, I, I know, I know from my own research from listening to you and you're part of my research, you know, everything you guys put out as part of my research, you know, we don't generally get enough protein. We [00:08:00] just don't. And we need it, especially if we're building muscles.

[00:08:02] And it's so easy to get carbohydrates and then carbohydrates, cravings, glycemic index goes crazy. You know, your blood sugar is going up and down, up and down, you know, So, um, so I'm very focused on just getting enough protein and I make those choices, little micro choices over a long period of time. So, you know, it's small choices, long time and.

[00:08:27] Just deciding to have double veg and no rice this afternoon with lunch, you know, uh, small choice I didn't miss the rice. I like rice, but if I'm gonna eat it It's probably gonna be brown or maybe even quinoa instead because the protein factor so Carbohydrates, you know, and I still enjoy beer. I like to drink wine I have a mixed drink, um, but never a mixed drink with any soda or anything like that.

[00:08:54] You know, I might have a martini with some olive juice in it. Um, but I just, [00:09:00] it's, it's moderation is the hardest thing in the world, man. Shades of gray for a guy like me, it's black and white. Life is black and white. Switch on, switch

[00:09:06] Anthony: off. Yeah. So it sounds like you are finding that moderation right now in some way, shape or form.

[00:09:11] And I'm interested in how this program has helped you do that. Like, it's obviously partly a mindset thing, partly a habits and routine on a daily basis thing. Like, maybe get into like, did you have any, like some guys when they felt like the mission statement and do that stuff, they have like big epiphanies, like, Holy crap, I need to completely change my ways.

[00:09:28] I see something really deep here. Was that your experience? Was that a part of this? Or was it more just like the daily, the working of the program that started to transform you?

[00:09:36] Gary: The epiphany was that I'm not as smart as I thought I was, and I need to start listening to myself and my own. My own, uh, my own truth, which was I could do this with just diet.

[00:09:49] It's not true for me. I couldn't do it with just diet because I could get to a spot, but that's not the spot I wanted to be at. And I couldn't burn calories without adding exercise and adding [00:10:00] muscle. And the training of mixture of cardio and muscle building. You know, it's just, I don't know. It, it, it really, it really worked.

[00:10:11] It got me the last, you know, I was crying a cat on the, on the, on the email a couple of times, I'm like, you know, this last 10 pounds, like what the heck I'm plateaued for so long and, and, and just frustrated and, and working hard and doing everything and plateaus, plateaus come and plateaus go and broke through, uh, I didn't really, I kind of upped my game with, um, with really putting Um, because of my flexible schedule with my real estate business, I was able to really, for the months preceding my birthday party, the big bash, uh, I was able to increase my workout routine by probably 30 percent to just really hit it, get it down there and it really [00:11:00] watched, I really watched my, my diet more than ever, the epiphany was, um, all right, so I'm, I'm a man and I'm flawed, right?

[00:11:10] I'm human. And like every man. Uh, and woman, right. But I'll stick on this side of the lane for now. Um, you know, vanity is a thing, right? There's vanity and man, I want it to look good. I do. I feel better about myself. I'm in sales. I sell better. I'm more comfortable. I'm more powerful. I'm a more powerful salesperson.

[00:11:35] Um, honestly, my empathy is expanded through this whole journey about learning about flaws. Uh, addiction, food addiction. So that really was like the hardest thing about managing, managing a reduction in food versus a reduction or abstinence from alcohol, abstinence from cigarettes, coke, whatever your thing is, your [00:12:00] DOC, we got to eat.

[00:12:02] You don't have to smoke. You don't have to drink alcohol. You don't have to do your drug, but you got to eat. So you can't just not eat that's that's that might be easier for black and white switch on switch off guys You know, so so it's really even harder to to reduce your intake. But again, like smart choices Back to what you said about the epiphany.

[00:12:27] Yeah, I'm 60 man. There's no you know what I turned 50 you guys out there turning 50 Soon or just did you can make a strong argument. I think that you could still have have your life in front of you, right? 50 and 50 is 100 people do that now a lot more than we used to 60 120. Nah. No, I didn't play in the back.

[00:12:53] I didn't play the back nine, man. There's no get, there's no deny it. This is the back nine. And how do I want to go [00:13:00] out? You know, do I want to go out? You know, I got, I asked people in my family and I'm sure everybody's got them, you know, I mean, heart disease, diabetes, the list goes on. Those are, and I feel, and my empathy towards people who are older than me and are struggling with that, I just feel like, wow, you know, I wish like what Dr.

[00:13:21] A did for all these people, because you're in history with your dad and stuff. Um, I wish someone could have got to these folks early on. It's, it's, you know, obesity is an epidemic. It's no joke. It sounds so cliche. We hear it all the time, but it really is. The number one leading cause, I mean, all, all, all kinds of ailments.

[00:13:42] And then there's another study, uh, I can't remember the lady's name. Let's just listen to a different podcast with, with a doctor. Um, is it okay to say somebody else's name on your show? Okay. So

[00:13:54] Anthony: it was, yeah, there's a lot of people that know a lot of things. It was

[00:13:57] Gary: an interview that Ed Milet did with his [00:14:00] physician.

[00:14:00] And, uh, she is all about, uh, the skeletal muscle and the composition of the skeletal muscle and the difference between a tenderloin and a rib eye, right? All that fat, no fat, marbled, unmarbled, um, subcutaneous fat, fat around your organs, all that stuff. And then that muscle being healthy, the sweat session.

[00:14:21] Like, the sweat sesh, multiple times a week, driving out toxins and everything in your body. You're turning over stuff instead of letting it sit. Your gut system's healthier. Uh, elimination. Just, it's, it's, yeah, it's, it's way better. Um, so that muscle, that muscle that we're trying to build back up because we can lose it so easily at my age, uh, it's far easier to lose than it is to maintain or build.

[00:14:52] So, um, it, it acts as, um, it helps every system in your body. to have lean [00:15:00] muscle, lean muscle instead and prevents helps you be strong against resisting diseases and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. It's really an interesting, uh, interesting bunch of studies going on right now about how darn important lean muscle in your body is.

[00:15:15] And you know, I finally, I, I get to tell you what I've been going to the same doctor for like six, seven years and I lose weight and I lose weight and I lose weight and he's like, He would not cut me like one inch of slack. Like, you know, you're overweight, you're overweight. I'm worried about three diabetes for you.

[00:15:31] Ah, your blood sugar's like floating with high. You're you're the years and years and years. Not until this last checkup, after I hit my goal with your program, did he finally look at me and give me like one of those attaboys like, yeah, right. I'm like. Dude, if you didn't say something, I was still like going to knock you down.

[00:15:50] Like you gotta give me this prop today. Now I am 175 and he's like, yeah, you're not obese [00:16:00] anymore, but you're not done. Are you? I'm like, no, I'm not done. I'm not done. I got a little ways to go. I still got, I'm doing some measurements and, uh, there's one area I'm, uh, I'm looking to get those numbers down.

[00:16:11] Just that number. I don't care if my waist stays the same. Cause I'm fine with it. I'm good. I asked if, if I could just move it around a little, right. Reduce this, increase a couple of things I can do well. Um, yeah, I got off on a wild tangent there, man.

[00:16:29] Anthony: No, that was, that was awesome. I, I want to, I have like many comments and first off, I also want to give you the virtual knuckles through the, through the screen attaboy to from Dr.

[00:16:37] A you absolutely crushed it. Um, also I just, it was interesting and I'm kind of more reflecting at a high level of your process as well as what you shared. You knew that exercise was like that linchpin for you. That thing was lacking in the past, and so this program gave you a way to do that in an effective form of exercise, which then strengthened your resolve and your consistency with [00:17:00] nutrition.

[00:17:00] And also what you did that was brilliant is you started a research, like beyond just Fit Father, like your own research stack. Which is strengthen your mental and emotional connection to the importance of muscle, to the importance of exercise, what you're expressing right now, when you're sharing this and the enthusiasm and all the research you've done is literally the new neural connections that you've made about the importance of exercise, muscle, and health.

[00:17:20] So it's like, obviously this is way more holistic and sustainable because like you have so many different areas that are like coming together into this solidity, and obviously you've got a lot of results too, on top of that. So I see how this is like game changingly good for you. And that's like. So cool to hear I'm pumped up for you And yeah, and I think every guy listening to this like my question would be like, what is your linchpin aspect of your life?

[00:17:44] For some guys it's sleep for some guys. It's the drinking for some guys. It's a morning meal for you Gary It was like part of the exercise and how that feeds into nutrition and then to your point as well like metabolically speaking You do the workouts. It changed your metabolism. You process carbs differently.

[00:17:57] You have insulin sensitivity. Like [00:18:00] everything just works better. And then if you're in the back nine, like Gary, like, holy crap. Like, do you need to maintain your muscle? Now the longevity anti aging expert docs are saying that your muscle mass is like completely correlated very tightly with your lifeline.

[00:18:12] So that's massive and the sweating in the brain. So you're crushing it, man. Absolutely. So what is, what's, what's, what's it been like with your family watching you go through this? What's their experience been like seeing you do this? Very

[00:18:24] Gary: interesting. Very interesting. Uh, I, I credit two of my kids. I got four kids.

[00:18:29] Two are, two are my blood, my blood kids that I have with their mom. And two are my bonus kids that I have because I married their mom. Right? So they got different, uh, different genetics. And, uh, and I'm their bonus dad. They got a real dad, uh, another dad genetically, whatever, but my two kids, um, my two kids were athletes in school, uh, in a way that I, I never was able to do myself.

[00:18:56] I never fit in and clicked with the right. [00:19:00] Activity. And this is, this is, this is another really important point. We can come around to it again later, but you've got to find an activity, the absolutely love. Yeah. You don't like lifting to a little, find something you love. And I'll get back to that. I credit my kids with helping me realize and find my, my fitness minds.

[00:19:24] My, you know, you used to talk a little bit about neuroplasticity and being, you know, open to stuff. Um, My daughter is 30. She's a nurse. She's doing deadlifts that I can't even tell you how much, where I watched the video and I'm like ready to, I'm ready to die because I think she's got, you know, she's like throwing this.

[00:19:43] And my son, uh, is in the military. Uh, he's a lieutenant in the air force and he is jacked. This is a kid I used to knock around even when he was full size. Like, he was my size, look at me in the eye and I could still knock him around. And now I [00:20:00] don't even want to play knock him around anymore because he's, he's way jacked.

[00:20:04] He's into Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He's got my, he's got my grandson out in the garage doing burpees and pushups. And you know, I went down to visit those guys side by side, me and my son, he's 32 and I was 59 at the time. And, um, we did Apex 10 together, side by side. Dude, that was Amazing. I can't even tell you how, how that touched my growth, how it touched my heart, you know, to my soul to do that with my son.

[00:20:38] Um, and I had like, I think I had 15 pound dumbbells at the time. He was like doing twenties cause he's that guy. But I'm going to tell you right now, now that my grandson is going to turn seven and he's already like working out with dad, man, I can't wait. I can't wait. Me and Lucas, Lucas, you're listening to this.

[00:20:55] You're watching this, man. We, you were doing apex with me, man. We're going to do, we're going [00:21:00] to do up to 10 and back, man. We're going to do it. So, um, and I got it from like, I got a lot of it from my kids and then I knew I had to do it, the support system of seeing guys, seeing guys, seeing guys, seeing guys struggle, right?

[00:21:15] So now we're talking about inside of the father. In the Facebook page, seeing guys struggle, seeing guys cheer them on. I was a struggler. I got cheered on. I saw struggle. I cheered on, you know, and the insight that I was able to gain from my year plus journey, uh, with it, I feel like I'm in a very good position to reach back in and help out when other folks are struggling, I think I got a decent insight because I w I was there too.

[00:21:49] I didn't want to. I didn't want to do it. I didn't want to, it was a lot of stuff I didn't want to do. Well,

[00:21:55] Anthony: let's talk about that immediately right now. I want to hear about what your specific struggles were. Was it a [00:22:00] period of time on the program? Was it an aspect of the program? What did you struggle with?

[00:22:05] And what was the timeframe of the program? I think a lot of it is going to relate, like how long did you struggle? What were the struggle sources? Let's get into

[00:22:12] Gary: that. Part of the struggle sources was, were part of the struggles were, uh, I have gym equipment in the basement. I, I hate going into the basement.

[00:22:25] It's dark. I have a happy light in my office. When fall comes, that thing is on four hours in the morning for us in the afternoon, I need that, you need that sunshine. So I hated going downstairs. I even bought a bike, a spinning bike, a long time ago, not a good one. Just a, just a heavy wheel and pedals like down to earth.

[00:22:45] I used it a little just inconsistency, total inconsistency. Wasn't, wasn't, I don't know, I don't know why, I don't know what to, I don't know why I couldn't get there. And the program, I actually found a gym local, someone said, I, [00:23:00] I, no, no, I joined with father and I took like, um, like a park and recreation sponsor.

[00:23:06] Exercise class. Dude, you guys are gonna laugh. I was the one guy in the class and I was probably one of three people under 60 years old at the time. So, picture me in a community gymnasium at the school on Tuesday night with 25. 60 to 80 year old ladies doing jumping jacks, doing all kinds of crazy, just calisthenic kind of stuff.

[00:23:38] And every once in a while we get out a little weight and I'm like, all right, so I'm, I'm not quitting this. I don't, this is not my vibe. This was not my, this was not a good fit, but I, I was not going to quit. I was, I signed up for the class. I paid for it. I'm in, I'm gonna do it. I went, don't did the whole [00:24:00] thing while I was there.

[00:24:01] I was talking about it with some real estate client at breakfast. And she said, Oh, geez, you should check out my gym. I'm like, ah, you know, I tried gyms before. I don't know the vibe inside is, I don't know. That's not my scene. She's like, no, this, this gym is so different. You got to come see. Ends up, I went to the gym.

[00:24:21] It was really nice. The sense of community inside my gym. So this is a key point for me. Community is super important. And while I feel like I'm a strong person, I'm a self starter, I'm a driver. I can do stuff on my own. If I got teamsmanship, if I have community, which is again, if the father piece of community for sure, helps me stick with the program.

[00:24:47] I got into the gym and I started doing. Uh, routines of, of lifting free weights and a little bit of machines all based on stuff I learned from the, the FFF 30, [00:25:00] whatever FFX 30. And then, uh, I saw a spinning class. Oh, I've been practicing yoga for over 30 years on and off, on and off. And I'll get back to spinning.

[00:25:15] It's the weirdest thing. Maybe you guys can relate. I do something that makes me feel good and I do it and they do it and they do it. I feel good. I feel good. And I feel so good that I don't have to do it today. And then that today, today turns into like the next time I don't have to do it. It turns into three days and the next day it turns into a week.

[00:25:32] And then all of a sudden it's like, Jeepers creepers. It's been 18 months since I did a sun salutation or a yoga flow. What's wrong with me now? I feel crummy again. I had my back hurts. My sciatica is returning. All this stuff. So that's psychological. Like, why do we stop? I don't have the answer to this one.

[00:25:50] So I'll throw it out there for you and all your, all your smart, smart folks that you talk to. Why do we stop doing stuff that makes us feel so good? [00:26:00] We just stop. I just stop. I just walk away. So back to spinning. I find spinning. I'm like, someone once told me I should try it. I really like, I'm like, nah, I don't know.

[00:26:08] So I took a spinning class. I took two spinning classes. I could spin five to eight times a week right now if I had the time. I absolutely love it. I get in a headspace where nobody can touch me. Nobody can access my mind. There is nothing, there's nothing coming into my mind except my own, my own little, my biofeedback pounding loud music, strobe lights, black room, dark spinning instructor instructions, just pounding it.

[00:26:43] And I mean, shredding numbers. I sent you, I sent you a picture of my, my feedback screen there. My average watts were like, my highest I ever did was like 242 average watts, which is nuts. I don't know how it happened. I don't, you know, 180, 190. [00:27:00] I regularly peg over two, which is, which is good. I'm happy to do that.

[00:27:04] And my muscle tone in my legs, I mean, it's not all I do because I'm still doing the apex, uh, and I'm still doing, uh, double trouble. And I'm still doing yoga. And again, Some people think yoga is fufu. Some people think yoga is religion, whatever. You know what, if it works for you and you like it, um, I love spinning.

[00:27:24] It was a turning point because, and I would have never joined a gym and I would have never gone to an exercise class. I would have never done any of that. If it weren't for seeing the Fitfather thing, looking online, doing my research. Is it for real? What is this thing? You know, I always look at reviews. I, I'm like, uh, maybe like a little detective, you know, I go out and I find stuff out and I was like, yeah, this is legit.

[00:27:47] This is legit. I'll tell you what, I'll give it a couple of months. And it's funny. Um, I was like, yeah, lifetime. Yeah.

[00:27:54] Anthony: No, I'm not going lifetime. That's, I

[00:27:57] Gary: don't know. What's that? I need to be here next [00:28:00] week. You know, the stuff like that. So I stayed in long enough month to month to already have page for the lifetime.

[00:28:07] And then I pay for the lifetime anyway. So. If you guys are on the fence, do it because, you know, um, I don't know. It was good. The spinning is absolutely awesome. I sweat, there's it, there is a, like a river of sweat running down the bike. The floor is soaked. When I'm done, I drink a half gallon. This is, oh, the, we will talk about water later too.

[00:28:29] Yeah. I hate water guys. I hate water. Mm-Hmm. . But I, but I drank

[00:28:34] Anthony: it. Hey, it's Dr. Ray. I want to quickly pause this episode to thank you for listening to this Fit Father podcast. I am just blown away at how amazing this podcast has become. I had no idea when I started FFP around 10 years ago that it would grow into such an impactful mission.

[00:28:50] And I want to let you know that I am so grateful to be connected to you in this lifetime. And on behalf of me and my entire team, we are so grateful to be in your life, helping you get and stay [00:29:00] healthier for your family. That's what I want to share. Just some gratitude from my heart to yours. Let's get back to today's episode.

[00:29:06] I want to talk about water in a second, but I also just want to really make sure people caught a lot of the subtleties of, of what you were sharing, is one, you were inconsistent because you didn't enjoy your gym environment in your dungeon basement, and like, how are you going to find, and yet, we can contrast that with the joy you describe of your spin.

[00:29:23] Like you couldn't be two different environments and you're obviously going to go towards stuff which fills you up to your spin is definitely hitting you on this mental and emotional. Call it even meditative. Like you're getting zoned in, you get the feedback you're working on clearing your mind. Right.

[00:29:39] And so how good does it feel to be in the zone? I think half the reason people play sports is not because they actually love the sport, but they love the feeling of being in flow and you're finding flow in this. So that's restorative to you on a mental emotional level as well as physically. Right.

[00:29:50] Absolutely.

[00:29:51] Gary: You, I, I. The leap you did, did you do an interview with some, somebody else about, about zone [00:30:00] psychology and flow, flow psychology and being in a zone? Oh yeah, we've done some flow stuff for sure. Um, it's, it's so like what you just said before, before I had spinning, you know what my thing was to get, to get, uh, to get that head space off of myself.

[00:30:14] Was mowing the lawn. Dude. I got outside. I made your own repetitive grass. Yeah. This big freaking lawnmower. It's an hour job. That's loud. I got earplugs in. Nobody can hear me. Nobody can talk to me. Nobody can interrupt me. I'm just in. And it's, it is meditative. It's absolutely med. It's walking meditation.

[00:30:36] And I'm not like looking, I'm not driving a meditative. I'm not going into it even with spinning. I'm not going into it with anything other than. You know, this is my goal for, what's my goal for today? What's my, what's my ride goal today? And it's like, okay, minimum, uh, minimum watts, minimum mileage, average RPMs.

[00:30:55] Okay, I'm on. Let's go. And, you know, goals are [00:31:00] goals, man. Sometimes you hit them and sometimes you don't, but the headspace is, it's awesome.

[00:31:05] Anthony: It's activating deep parts of your psychology, too, because it's, uh, you're competitive with yourself. You're tracking numbers. There's a sense of completion afterwards.

[00:31:13] Like, these are all the reasons that we find stuff to be fun. And so it's so cool. I think everyone who right now is struggling can take a lot from this, that you got to find a combination of things that ends up feeling fun and restorative for you on this movement front for you. It's like, you're still doing the apex double trouble, but you're mixing it in with this broader, getting outside, doing spin all this.

[00:31:33] And, and obviously seasonally, it's going to change for you. You know, being in Connecticut, like coming into the winter, you guys are cold as shit in the winter. So being able to go to spin class is something that's very sustainable. So I love that.

[00:31:44] Gary: That's awesome. The lawn mowing goes away, right, in the fall, right?

[00:31:48] But, uh, it is New England, so I have a walk behind snowblower, and I have a 200 foot driveway that goes up. And people are like, [00:32:00] you don't. I'm like, I do. I absolutely do. I walk that thing up and down, up and down. It doesn't matter what the snow amount is. I'd never have a plow and I'm walking it. The only, I guess the only better thing I can do is hand show it, but I'm not going back that far.

[00:32:15] So

[00:32:15] Anthony: yeah, I agree. I think you're, you're in a good spot there. I want to, let's talk about water

[00:32:19] Gary: too. One more thing about the gym. I will, I will go in, I'm not a lifting like section auto. I never was like that kid in school. I never got it. I don't know. Anyway, I'll go in now early to the spin class and I'll hit two or three machines.

[00:32:33] I'll do some upper body cause nice, you know, spinning is arguably like one set of muscles repeatedly, never changes, even though they're street positions and you do a bunch of stuff, it really is, uh, you know, it's. It's, um, I don't know how to put it. It's not broad spectrum. It's, it's, it's like this. So I'm, I'm absolutely aware that I need to continue to hit other, other ways.

[00:32:56] I have to do legs in different directions. You know, instead, it can't always [00:33:00] just be that one thing. So I'll go in and hit, hit some machines and do some other stuff. Nice. Love that. So what were you?

[00:33:08] Anthony: Hydration. Yeah. Hydration. said something a lot of guys relate to that you hate, you hate water and your water looks like it's a different color than normal water.

[00:33:14] So I know there's a solution in that bottle.

[00:33:16] Gary: So, um, there's a quote by WC Fields. It's pretty racy and I'm probably not going to give the whole thing here. But he said, I never drink what he was old, drunken guy. He was a comedian. If you guys are too young, you know, you 40 year olds who don't remember 50 year olds who don't remember WC field was you wore a hat, he drunk, drank a lot.

[00:33:37] Big red bulbous nose. Cause he was always drunk and funny, funny guy. He said, I never drink water. You know, get away from me, kid. You bothered me. That's that dude. I never drink water because fish, you know, cause what fish doing it. So, yeah, so I don't like water just because of the taste. I don't, there's one I can drink like, uh, like, uh, Fiji Fuji, probably maybe [00:34:00] Pana water, but I really just don't care for water, but I do like his bubbles.

[00:34:05] So I'm a Pellegrino guy. I got, and I, and sodium is not an issue. The bubbles don't seem to be an issue. I've asked my doctor. I've read, I've done a little research. So, um, so amazon. com brings two cases of Pellegrino bottles, the big plastic ones to my house, uh, twice a month. And in the morning, um, in the morning I, I put in here, uh, this is hydration and I usually drink a little bit more.

[00:34:34] This is a half gallon. My kids would break my stones about you need to drink a gallon with all the exercise you're doing. I'm like, look, I used to get water in two ways, coffee and beer. Like, and they're like, that doesn't count. I'm like, yeah, they're both made with water. That's my water. No, no, that's not good.

[00:34:50] So, okay. So I don't like water. I found Pellegrino. I love it. Um, and you know what people like, Oh, Pellegrino, it's so bougie. It's so expensive. You know [00:35:00] what you guys probably spend more on a cup of coffee, a latte or whatever, a Starbucks coffee, the Dante, the tall one than I do on a bottle, a bottle of, of, of, uh, mineral water with some bubbles in it.

[00:35:13] So I don't have a problem with the money in here. Um, In here, I've got, um, some, um, effervescent vitamin tablets, uh, so I put two of those in here. One is a man's multi and one is, uh, more geared towards a big hit of vitamin C. So those go in here and then, um, and then a bottle of kombucha. So I've got my fermented, my gut health.

[00:35:40] Um, I, I, I taste some, so wait, back on hydration and I'll get off on the, on the supplement stuff later. But, um, so it's kombucha and those, uh, those effervescent fizzy, uh, vitamin pills and a bottle. Do you know the brand

[00:35:57] Anthony: of those in case anyone's interested in those? [00:36:00] V O O S T,

[00:36:02] Gary: V O O S T, Amazon sends them too.

[00:36:08] There's two tubes and I get two kinds cause they're, I don't know, I mix it up a little bit. And, uh, so yeah, so I got my Pellegrino water in there, the Kombucha and it's like a ginger, raspberry, something. Ginger's really good for me, for heat, for health, for, I don't know. I love that stuff. And it's got a little berries in it and then a Pellegrino and that, and I drink that.

[00:36:33] I can, I drink one of those for a spinning session, 45 minutes. Um, I drink one all day long. If I'm, if I'm not spinning, I'll drink one anyway. And then I always have like a bottle of Pellegrino. I have two offices, one in my home and one is a real office and I always have Pellegrino laying around. Um, I can't even tell you the last time.

[00:36:53] Yeah, I can tell you the last time I had a soda. It's a, it was a diet ginger ale. It was a little, cause that was the only, that was the only [00:37:00] choice there was at the time. So, hydration. Um, I cut back, I cut way back on coffee because of this. Yeah. Right. I started off, I started off pounding water like you guys, you know, in the beginning of my, in my, in the beginning of my stepfather, I was pounding water.

[00:37:18] I had a big, I had a big 20 ounce glass, like a big 20 ounce plastic filter. And I made my, I cut myself a deal. I bribed myself. Actually, it's a, it's a trick I learned from somebody else's book. about pairing stuff up. When you want to change a habit, you pair, that's a cop job. You pair up something you don't want to do or don't like with something that you like.

[00:37:43] You do those together or you can't do the one you like until you do the one that you don't like. So I couldn't, I love coffee. I only drink one kind of coffee. I'm like a snob about it. It's dark mountain from green. Green, dark mountain, dark magic from [00:38:00] green mountain. Sorry. And, um, and I drink it black and I'm, I'm, I'm hardcore with it.

[00:38:07] And I couldn't have my coffee until I drank 20 ounces of water. My man, dude, I got, I got 20 ounces of water. I could count 13 slugs. I knew I could do it in 13 and I hated it every morning. I was like, all right, here we go. I'm doing it. And I just kept doing it and doing it. And honestly. You guys said this.

[00:38:30] Somebody said it. After a while, it's really not as bad as it used to be. And then I found out that I could make it even better. But I was complaining to my kids. They're like, well, why don't you get like, uh, you know, Mio or some, some Skortan, you know, no calorie. So, I overcame, I overcame very, very bad, consistent under hydration.

[00:38:59] [00:39:00] Dehydrated all the time. You know what coffee does, does to you? You know, it's a diuretic, um, and I would, I would drink six coffees a morning and I just, you know, hit the, hit the ground running now. Now I don't drink six coffees anymore because I make my coffee and my, my, uh, my, my bottle at the same time.

[00:39:21] And I'm like this, this, this, you know, and it cut way back. I'm not, I'm probably down to having only two coffees a day now. So I don't know. Coffee drink is like the worst thing in the world for you. Um, there's some studies that actually are tying it to maybe some longevity issues, but um, I'm happy, I'm very happy to be, to be doing that.

[00:39:44] Um, so my routine in the morning, this is part of it and there is a subliminal aspect to it because of the, the vitamins and, um, and kombucha, right? Raw kombucha, gut health, all those microorganisms. [00:40:00] Um, I love yogurt. I eat, I eat Kobani vanilla, but not every day. Um, but every day I do drink kefir. So when I take my, when I take my medicine, I still have a few meds that I take.

[00:40:15] Um, I drink my magic kefir, put it away. And then I've got my, I've got my kombucha Pellegrino vitamin water. I drink down all day, um, and to start, I picked up supplements from you, from listening to your, you talk and your podcast and stuff. Um, I absolutely had magnesium and, uh, and D, D3. And that's really, that's really it.

[00:40:41] I mean, I know all the stuff, you know, the multivitamin that's got all kinds of crazy stuff in it. Yeah.

[00:40:48] Anthony: A ton of stuff. Yeah.

[00:40:49] Gary: And my, my diet is so, um, so varied. I mean, I eat. I eat everything in the, I eat everything in the world except for [00:41:00] kidneys and sea urchins. Kidneys, uh, kidneys, you can't get the smell out of them no matter what you do.

[00:41:09] And sea urchins just smell like iodine. So it's a big delicacy a lot over Europe and Asia and I've tried, but no man, but I eat everything else. If you're like, you eat liver, you eat this, like yeah, chicken feet, everything, you whatever. I eat it. I'm a huge omnivore and I love raw foods and I focus on trying to get as much whole foods as possible, you know, you know, whole, whole, unblanched almonds.

[00:41:35] Um, cherry tomatoes I'd put in the center island of our kitchen. I put, um, a three tier basket and I always, always have got like a couple of apples and some grapes and some kind of tomato, cherry tomato, plum tomato, whatever it is, and maybe an orange, not so much, but. [00:42:00] And, uh, and then that's my, that's my snacking now.

[00:42:03] It's like, it's right in my face, you know? And, um, yeah, I don't buy the, I don't buy the junk so much.

[00:42:10] Anthony: That's cool. And that's subtle. Again, I think you do a lot, you do a lot of subtle things, right? Um, But just the visual reminder of having that in your kitchen, these whole foods that are full of color probably is a constant reminder of Oh, I eat healthy foods and with your chef background, ingredient quality is so drilled down into probably your soul, like even deeper than your mind that it's probably not a problem for you to go for ingredient quality ingredients.

[00:42:32] I want to make one more comment too. It's with these plans. And I know you've experienced this firsthand. We're always trying to balance the anchor of consistency with enough variety that makes life fun. And it seems like you found your anchor of consistency with your morning ritual, with your Kefir, with your certain kinds of snacks and your supplements.

[00:42:48] Like you have this early morning anchor that's consistent, and then you eat a wide variety of foods, but they're all whole, mostly non processed foods. So that's awesome.

[00:42:57] Gary: I, I, I. [00:43:00] I'm very, very, very aware, like extremely aware of, of white carbohydrates. So if it's white sugar or white rice, white potato, white pasta, I'll have pasta, but it's protein pasta or lentil pasta or chickpea pasta or, you know, and I will, I'll have a baked potato every once in a while.

[00:43:23] And I know that's a glycemic index hitter, but I also know, I believe from, from my, my, I'm not sure where I got it. Somebody along my, along the line said to me, I'd rather have you eat, if you're going to eat bread, white bread, I'd rather have you eat white bread covered with butter, um, or in olive oil, then just eat white bread.

[00:43:47] Uh, because the oil helps slow down the, uh, way that your body uptakes and turns that into. That sugar, uh, in, in your, in your system. So I slow it down. If I eat the baked potato, [00:44:00] um, I usually, I usually scoop a little bit of it out. I will definitely have butter and I will eat the skin and then I will eat my bonus daughter's potato skin, and then I'll eat my wife's potato skin if she doesn't finish them off and then sweet potatoes too, you know, I mean, that's.

[00:44:16] Carbohydrate, but it's uh, it's a super food. It's it's good for you and the skins for sure I I love the skin more than you know, where the inside sometimes I not talking about fried potato skin I'm

[00:44:29] Anthony: sure you I'm sure you I'm sure you cook those incredibly well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Nice Have you done any fasting?

[00:44:35] Is that been a part of your journey? Have you followed the phase two recommendations of any? Yeah, I did it

[00:44:40] Gary: I have done it and, um, I very quickly learned how to beat it, how to jam in more calories than I should have in a short period of time. So, you know, I would, I'd be, I figured out how to beat it by just eating an inordinate amount in a short period of time.

[00:44:59] [00:45:00] However, I still do value, I highly value. I believe in it in our, in our, um, in the way we should live is the way that we, um, um, evolved. Thank you. The way we evolved was not having the level of access to food that we have. And it was within the last 200 years. That was a rapid, rapid change. Uh, 200 years ago, even, you know, a lot of people didn't, didn't get the daily meal.

[00:45:31] They got one meal a day, et cetera. I value what good it does my body to not always be processing some food. It's shut down. It's shut down for some time. It's good. It's good. It takes

[00:45:45] Anthony: energy to process food.

[00:45:47] Gary: It's good to be empty for a little while. So I still value that long time. I love breakfast. And honestly, in real estate, I'm always out meeting with people.

[00:45:58] And there's [00:46:00] two, there's just two or three kinds of meetings to have. And they all involve putting something in your mouth, right? So the easy one for everyone is happy hour, right? And it's, you know, it's that, or the two martini lunch thing. I really try to stay away from those. I do them when I have to, I work with a lot of attorneys.

[00:46:18] I look, we're working with a lot of folks. And so I do breakfast meetings. And I do breakfast meetings. I found a, I found a place local that puts a plate together for me. It's called Keto mountain, not a keto guy, but you know what? It's got bacon, eggs, spinach, some cheese. It's awesome. I sent you a picture of my breakfast over at Paul Gregory's restaurant, which I, I was like, listen, I know the chef in the background.

[00:46:43] I back, I know that I know the owners. I'm like, listen, I know it's, I know it's eight in the morning, but I would like a chopped salad, hard boiled eggs, some blue cheese and the whole nine yards. And I want you to take some of that awesome smoked salmon you have, and I don't care what you charge me, put the [00:47:00] smoked salmon on top of the salad.

[00:47:01] And I got a picture for you there with my cherry tomatoes and my egg. That was my breakfast. Dude, that you guys, that is one of the best breakfasts I could ever have is this awesome chopped salad with smoked salmon and the calorie load, the calorie load for smoked salmon is so low. For two ounces of smoked salmon.

[00:47:19] It's just a, it's such a great food. Um, I eat canned salmon too. People like, Oh, what is that? What is that stuff? It's like, look at the protein in here. And the bones are like all soft and crunchy and eat the whole, you know, sardines in a can. I mean, you know, not everyone has the palate for that. I'm feel, I feel sorry for guys that don't have a real wide palate.

[00:47:41] I really do. It can be really hard. You know, I got people in my family. It's, it's, it's, it's red meat and potatoes and don't put any chives in my potatoes, like leave them white, like that's all they eat. So, I feel for people without a big white palate. Um, yeah, it's easy for me because I, I [00:48:00] love food, food, food's been a passion of mine.

[00:48:03] Forever. Forever. And it, it probably goes back to, uh, you know, my, my, my, um, my heritage, my, my mom and my, uh, my grandparents, um, and being a little kid and, you know, getting praised for eating. So I, I turned food into a, into a, into a career. Um,

[00:48:22] Anthony: So how frequently do you do free meals or cheat meals? Is that a part of your, like how you actually think about your making your plan?

[00:48:30] Gary: I think you're going to like this. I do free meal when I want to. I'm good. I do free meal when I'm, when I need to, I need to, but I can still make, yeah, I can, you guys, I can, you can make a free meal better than a free meal. You can have two free meals sitting in front of you and one is just marginally better for you than the other one.[00:49:00]

[00:49:00] And why not? It's still a free meal and you're still happy and you're still satisfied. You know, if it means. with reduced fat ricotta cheese or reduced fat cheese, but you're going to eat cheese good, like have your, have your cheese, you know, um, I don't know that you could tell the difference. I know you could tell the difference between heavy cream, half and half and skim milk in your coffee.

[00:49:24] But when you're melting cheese, you know, have the lower one, um, you know, increase the vegetables. Um, I do, I do these omelets, man. I do omelets. Like my meals are a lot of vegetables. And a lot of protein, a lot of, a lot of sea protein, fish protein, definitely steaks, uh, some pork every once in a while, very lean, definitely chicken, no skin.

[00:49:47] I like the thigh better. Why? Because it's got more fat and it's got more flavor. I eat them, you know, um, but I can definitely, like if I do an omelet now, um, there's [00:50:00] only like enough eggs to just hold all those vegetables together. It's like, it's more like a frittata than an omelet. And it's, it's just a ton of vegetables and I always have got something laying around, just chop it up, fried in a pan, you know, whole butter, olive oil, avocado, whatever, whatever your, whatever your fat choices, uh, some folks are into, uh, into a coconut fat, um, whatever your thing is, you know?

[00:50:23] Um, and then I just bind everything with eggs and I usually can't finish what I made. It's only two or three eggs. But it's so much vegetables. It's a full, it's a full 12, 10 inch saute pan. It's fall. And maybe I'll come back to it for lunch. Share it with the dog. Yeah,

[00:50:43] Anthony: that's awesome. All right. So advice for some guys starting out some, some newbies, like if you could go back when you were starting out, even for times when you were struggling, what's some words of encouragement, some perspective that you would share at this point in your journey?

[00:50:57] Gary: I wrote down a couple of things. So I'm going to look down at [00:51:00] it every once in a while. One of my favorite ones, and I use this with a lot of people. I'm a, I'm a mentor to some folks in some other regards. Um, and absolutely to my kids. I'm their dad and I'm their mentor as well as some other young people in my life.

[00:51:17] Um, If you like what you have, keep on doing what you do. If you don't like what you have, do something different. It's that simple. You either are happy, like right now, I'm very happy with myself. I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing because I'm good. I'm totally good. I want to lose a little bit more. I want to look a little different, but honestly, I am real good.

[00:51:43] And I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing because it works. And if you don't like the shape you're in, like I was. For a long, long time. Those pictures go back a long ways, man. Um, I wasn't happy about it and I finally got to [00:52:00] the place where I could do something about it. So you're happy to what you're doing.

[00:52:06] You're not happy to something different. Figure out what that different thing is and keep trying. Um, nice weight loss is hard. It's harder than you are going to realize in the beginning. If you're on the beginning of this journey. This is harder than maybe people say, maybe people want you to know, maybe that you think it is.

[00:52:27] It's really hard. Um, but it's doable and it's important to do hard things every day. You should do a hard thing. And I don't even mean just about weight loss. I mean, do a hard thing, like just pick something. Um, do a cold shower instead of a hot shower. That's not fun. Sometimes that's hard, but to do a hard thing, um, I got garbage cans.

[00:52:57] I got to go up two man, two monster garbage cans. Got to go up that [00:53:00] 400 foot driveway. Once a week, there are days when I'll hook them on the back of my car and drive them up there. But when I'm in the right zone and I'm in the flow, I will pull those things up. And it takes me a long time and I have to stop and rest on the way.

[00:53:17] My arms are killing me. My quads are on fire. And they do it anyway, because I did a hard thing today. I'm doing it. I'm just doing a hard thing. My car needs to go in the shop. It's about two miles away. I drive it down there and I walk home. Why? Do a hard thing. Do a hard thing. That's what you need to do.

[00:53:38] You know, you need to change and do things differently. If you're doing everything easy in your life and you don't like the way you are, start doing some hard stuff. And you can do it. And the support's here. The support's here. Reach out. Lean. Lean on people. Nobody gets through it alone. Not nobody. Maybe. I know I shouldn't speak an absolute.

[00:53:54] Maybe somebody does, but not me. Um, another one that I found pretty [00:54:00] cool, uh, uh, written in chalk on the wall at my gym. And that's, that gym gives me such a sense of community, like the website, like the tit father inside the thing. Train the quit out of you. I love that. Train the quit out of you. Take it on any level you want.

[00:54:20] You can be physically training and train to quit. Just keep going and don't quit. Or you're doing something else in your life. You're learning a hard thing. You have a hard job. So quit, just learn, train it out of you. So some way and lean on mentors. Look at the people, be the one before you listen to advice, ask for help.

[00:54:41] Don't ever, don't ever hesitate to ask for help. Just don't quit. That's it. Sound sounds easy. It's easier to say than it is to do because you know what, who knows what tomorrow is going to bring for me. You know what? I, who knows? I could fall, I could fall again, fall off my exercise wagon. [00:55:00] You know, I fell away from yoga for, for years.

[00:55:04] Um, one of my mentors in yoga, um, he's actually, he's actually a culinary god. Also, he's a, he's a chef of, uh, he was on the first culinary Olympic team that went to Frankfurt, Germany and won a gold medal, uh, with a completely vegan. Presentation to a bunch of old European, old European guys, right? Meat, sausages, sausages

[00:55:32] Anthony: and butter, right?

[00:55:33] A

[00:55:33] Gary: complete vegan gold medal. First time ever. Anyway, he said to me, we were talking and he said to me, he said, you know what, Gary, he said, your warning sign, you know, uh, is three days. You can miss yoga for one day. You're okay. You miss it for two days, you can still be okay if you miss three days. It's a flashing red light, it's a warning sign.

[00:55:55] And I've been, I've been so, like, aware of, oh, that's good advice. [00:56:00] Jeepers. And I, I print out my weekly calendar, uh, auto, my Google calendar. I tack it up in my office and I write in my, my training days. I write in my spinning days. Yeah. I write in and I, I track, I wanna do two. I want to do two double troubles in a week.

[00:56:16] I hardly ever get that one done. I get one, you know, but I spin five times. I do three or four or five yoga sessions. I was on a kick before my birthday. Again, I'm not strong upper body guy. I never was. I don't have these big pecs and biceps. They're kind of small, you know, but a hundred pushups. So in a week, right, so I could do 10 on one day and 10 in the morning and 10 in the afternoon and this guy, this chef was actually, um, he's 71 years old and up until recently he could do 100 push ups and he's compromised.

[00:56:53] He's a compromised. And for my guy, you know, um, he's got some stuff going on. He's, he's older. Uh, but, uh, man, [00:57:00] he was 71 and I was like 58 and he's like, yeah, I just finished my a hundred pushups today. He doesn't do them all at once. Right. But like, man, I gotta, I gotta man up. I gotta do some pushups. So,

[00:57:13] Anthony: yeah, the resounding theme in all your advice is like this, this, like the actions we're taking actions.

[00:57:19] There's a lot of doing actions and in the consistency of that you're purifying yourself. You're creating and shifting momentum Like and like you said your first quote that you shared if if you're happy keep on doing what you're doing if you're not happy Do something different, do the pushups, drag it up.

[00:57:35] It's do, do, do. And it's through action, despite what our mind may say in any given moment. And I think you've just really lived that like you're getting things on the schedule, you're taking action and things are changing as a result.

[00:57:46] Gary: Everybody's different. Everybody likes different things and does different things.

[00:57:50] If you try a thing and you don't like it, don't, don't say I'm done. Just try another thing and don't stop trying things until you find yours. You will. I also got my wife, um, [00:58:00] another impact on my family. You know, uh, I'm, I'm a guy who could start something and go like a million miles an hour on a thing.

[00:58:10] And then, and then I'm gone. I ran my course and, um, I, she was impressed that I kept spinning and I've kept spinning and I like spinning. I'm still going. And she started to come to the gym. She got herself a gym membership. I got her to come to the gym. She's spinning next to me now. Um, she's got a big job.

[00:58:29] She can't, she can't hit it at the frequency that I do, but she's already like tracking, tracking her average Watts and working on her resistance and. It's awesome. It's awesome. She's you know, it's like it's what I wanted.

[00:58:45] Anthony: All right Well final question I have for you and you covered this in many ways But I love you to state it in your own words is what does it mean to you to be a fit father?

[00:58:55] Gary: Setting an example. That's everything right there [00:59:00] I'm setting an example everything else is good about it falls under that in one way or another if it's if it's my diet or my or my physical routine or the way I charge into a day The way I conduct my business as a result of it, the energy I have to get stuff done.

[00:59:21] I'm just setting an example for others and hopefully, you know, bring, bring some other folks along, like pass it along, pay it forward, do something for somebody else, help them out. I don't know. Set the example. It's like, yeah, if I can set an example for somebody and they, and they get there, that's awesome.

[00:59:42] That's, that's the best thing in the world.

[00:59:46] Anthony: Well, on that note, I'll, I'll want to thank you on behalf of myself, our brotherhood for coming on here and sharing and being a living example. Gary, dude, you did this thing. Sit, you know, 60 years young, like [01:00:00] amazing. Like truly, uh, congratulations and thanks for being a living example of this program.

[01:00:04] Thanks. I

[01:00:05] Gary: cannot believe an hour just went by. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. We had a good time. If you ever have time to talk again, you're in Connecticut. We'll sit down, we'll sit down and have a ball. a keto breakfast or some good breakfast. We'll talk some more. Yeah. You ever got time, man? It would be great. It doesn't have to be recorded or anything, but, um, you're good.

[01:00:24] You're good to talk to, man. I'd love to hear some more about your story too. Okay. Peace out. Thanks for

[01:00:31] Anthony: listening to this week's

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[01:00:40] Anthony: men who need this valuable info.

[01:00:43] To watch full video episodes of this podcast and other motivational videos to inspire your training and more. Visit our fit father project, YouTube channel. It's free and everything's made

[01:00:52] Gary: for busy guys over 40. Like you

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[01:01:01] And finally, if you or someone in your life is interested in becoming a fit father or needs help losing weight, building muscle and living healthier after age 40, Then visit fitfatherproject. com where you can see our proven programs, supplement line for guys 40 plus and free meal plan and workouts to get you started.

[01:01:18] This is Dr. Anthony Balduzzi signing off. I'll see you in the next episode.