October 9, 2019 • 40 mins
There are far too many articles telling you that once you are overweight, it is next to impossible to lose it and keep it off. Well, think again. In this episode, Tom interviews David Garcia, who not only lost over 150 pounds, but has kept it off for years. Hear David’s simple yet incredibly effective tips for losing weight the right way, once and for all, without dieting.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Fitness Disrupted, a production of I Heart Radio. Hi.
I am Tom holland Welcome to Fitness Disrupted. What do
you think I think the most important part of a
(00:22):
fitness magazine is no, I know there aren't many left.
When I first started in this industry, That's kind of
how I started, was contributing to and working with fitness magazines.
I started my company way back in the in the
late nineties, early nineties, mid nineties, somewhere around there. But
what do you think I think the most important information
(00:43):
isn't there? Is it? The workouts? Is that? The nutritional
advice is that? The advertising and those supplements? What do
you think? I think you know what it is. It's
the success stories. I remember they used to have that page,
and of the magazines that still exist, I believe many
of them still do, it was that one pager on
(01:06):
that man or woman who made major change, and quite
often it was weight loss because that's what a lot
of people want to achieve. And I get that, But
that was the page. That's the information. That page contains
the quote unquote secrets, tips, tricks that aren't secrets tips
or tricks, their tips to success. That's how someone did it,
(01:32):
and you know what, it's never the short term fix.
It's never the fat diets, it's never the crazy workouts,
not long term no, sirree Bob, it's not. Those are
the most powerful lessons. If you want to achieve something,
(01:53):
find someone who has achieved it and do what they did.
That's how I got where I am. Studied the people
who had what I wanted and did it, didn't make excuses.
And guess what, there are no short term tips and
tricks to get you to that kind of result. And
(02:14):
that's what I love the most about those pages is
that it just shows you, Hey, do you want to
achieve the weight loss, the the building muscle, the the
achieving maybe an event, a run, a bike ride, whatever
it is. It's slow steps, it's consistency. It's that there
(02:35):
are no secrets. So that's why I have shows like today.
Today's show is amazing, if I do say so myself,
because it has an amazing guest attached to it. With
Fitness Disrupted, I'm gonna bring you the top PhD people.
I'm gonna bring you the best of the best when
it comes to all the topics, all the myths that
we are going to disrupt, debunk once and for all
(02:59):
and when it to success for you to have the
takeaways on doing what you want to do. I want
to bring you people that have done it, and not
only done it, but done it for a long time,
who are successful. It is so important, and that's David Garcia,
(03:19):
the guy I bring to you today. If he doesn't
inspire you, you got to get your heart checked. I'm
gonna let him tell you his story, but I'm gonna
give you the quick synopsis, the quick bio. This guy
was over four hundred pounds, unhappy and he made major change.
He took four hundred pounds, he lost over a hundred
(03:42):
and fifty and he has kept it off for a
ridiculously long amount of time. And that's the most important
part is that he's kept it off right because so
many people, many of you yo yo dieting and the
information he is going to give you because I know
him now, we're friends. I met him years ago and
was blown away when I did, and I knew that
(04:04):
this is someone I would stay in touch with for
my entire life. And he gets it and he will
help any of you who have similar type goals. And
for those of you who have different goals, it doesn't matter.
The message is the same. So David Garcia from four
hundred pounds lost over one hundred and fifty pounds, and
(04:27):
he's doing much more than that. I'm gonna let him
tell you. But that's why I have these shows. We're
gonna disrupt fitness in so many different ways. And the primary,
not the primary, but one of the primary reasons I
love David's story so much is because he shows you
it can be done. For those of you who are
reading those articles that say it's your genetics, give up,
(04:48):
it's your once you, once you achieve a certain amount
of weight, your body wants to stay there, give up?
Not true? Not true? Is it easy? Nothing is easy?
Is it challenge? Sure? David will tell you. Can you
do it? Absolutely? And does it get easier without a doubt.
I've spoken long enough because I want David to talk.
(05:10):
So when we come back from this break, I bring
to you David Garcia. So sit back, get ready to
get inspired, and you're gonna hear his story. We'll be
right back after this short break, and we are back,
(05:33):
and I could not be more excited. We are here
with David Garcia, who you know, I met years ago,
became a friend of mine and could not have been
more excited, as I said earlier, when I met him,
because I love my job. But I know my limitations.
I know. Yeah, we can talk about the science, and
I know that people think I came out of the
(05:54):
womb running marathons and doing iron Man triathlons. Couldn't be
further from the truth. I was a kid on the bench.
But this guy has has accomplished what so many people
think they can't, and that is so important. And so
much of the media and the articles out there that
talks about weight loss and fitness, it's just it's it's negative.
(06:15):
It tells you you don't have control. It tells you
just to basically give up. It's your genetics and and
if you have gained weight, forget it. There's a set
point your body will constantly fight to get there, and
and there obviously is some scientific truths to that, but
you know what, you can do it and and your body, Uh,
you have so much more control over that than these
(06:36):
articles than a lot of this just pseudoscience and just
bad information will let you believe. So I got the guy.
I got the guy. And when I first heard his story,
I just I said, this is a guy I will
be friends with for the rest of my life because, uh,
he's everything I want to bring to you about that message.
(06:56):
So how's that, David. Are you embarrassed? Um? Completely? No,
one continued blushing. But I mean, uh, I value you
with a friend, and I value as a as an
amazing resource. And it's always a pleasure to talk to you.
So yeah, let's get into that. And thanks so much.
Obviously coming from uh telephone interview usually and and when
(07:18):
David is in the area, we will interview him again
in person. But this is it's it's such an important
show and I'm so excited. So if weight loss is
your goal, and truthfully, if you just want to be inspired, uh,
this this is the show for you. And it goes
further than weight loss, and and that is what I
talk about here on Fitness Disrupted. It is reframing the
whole message about fitness why we do it. Sure, weight
(07:41):
loss is a part of it. It will always be
we want to be a healthy weight, but exercise, as
I've talked about on so many other shows, go so
far beyond that. But that being said, here's the guy
here's the guy. So all that stuff you read that
says can't be done, give up. Uh. And I'm not
saying it's not challenging, right David. I'm not saying I'm
agreeing with all of that right lately, completely challenging, so
(08:05):
challenging every day. But we'll get to it. But it
gets easier in a certain way. And and I'm not
putting words in your mouth. I'm just gonna let you speak. So,
David Garcia, a guy who has made incredible change, uh,
is gonna tell you how he did. He's gonna give
you tips on on on how he did it and
how he kept it off. So take it away, David,
given your story absolutely First, It's just you mentioned how
(08:30):
challenging it was. And one of the things I tell
people is um should be completely truthful. The story that
I'm about to share is like single most the hardest
thing I've ever done in my life, but like hands
down is by far the most rewarding. And I can't
celebrate that reward without having, you know, overcome that challenge
and continue to overcome that challenge. So that's why to
(08:52):
set that aside, Like it may seems on things, but
like the payoffs is so huge. But to go back
a little bit, I've always been heavy. I was aware
like an elementary school that I was the heaviest guy
in my in my class. And I remember making efforts
to diet as young as middle school and high school.
And I just tried all sorts of things through my UM,
(09:12):
through college and through my twenties, where I would try
different diets and you know what they are, because a
bunch of us have tried them, and their big brand
names and they have commercials on TV and their books
and all sorts of stuff. And I would maybe lose
thirty or forty pounds and I'll gain it back. And
I would try something different though maybe lose the same
or maybe lose a little bit more, but that I'll
gain it back, And nothing ever ever really stuck. And
(09:33):
by the time I was UM in my early thirties,
I was UM pushing up and passed four hundred pounds
and at that point I saw it, I'm done. There's
I can't do this anymore, and I won't never be
able to do this and I won't ever be able
to find that sort of success in regards to my
health and UM. And it was it was depressing. It
was miserable because I was happy another prets of my life.
(09:55):
I have awesome friends, I have an awesome career, I
have an amazing family. But I just would have taught
that going forward, I was always going to be um, Oh,
it was going to be a bourbon and it was
going to make me unhappy, and that I would just
have to um live with it and soldiers through it somehow,
And and that was my mindset. And then UM, I
(10:18):
used some work in television and I had the opportunity
to meet Richard simmons um and began working with him,
which was amazing. And at first I didn't think anything
would come of it in regards to me losing weight,
because that was so firmly in translument the least that
that it wasn't achievable for me. And um, and and
time you asked me for some tips, and I'm going
(10:39):
to share these tips, and I sort of tell the
story and for everyone listening, like I didn't have these
tips sort of going in, like Richard gave me all
sorts of information and and all sorts of resources, but
like I sort of figured these things out and I
went along. And when I think back. It's these things
that really click and really made it work. And the
first thing was I started small, like I I had
(11:01):
a hundred and fifty two hundred pounds to lose on
the seventy five pounds to lose, and the part of
that was so daunting, it was so completely overwhelming. But
like how it shut down, it would be like you know, proud,
where my brain would just shut off because it just
couldn't register. Be like that, I had to lose an
entire person and um. And so I decided, you know what,
(11:21):
let's let's set that aside, and I'm just gonna find
two things tomorrow that I can do differently. And for me,
it was I'm gonna start bringing my lunch to work
and emploid you know the junk foods that was in
our office kitchen and that people were bringing in. UM.
And then I would also bring a change of clothes,
so I would just go for a walk before I
got home, because I knew that once I got home
at the end of the busy day and I sat
(11:42):
down on my couch, chances are I wasn't gonna get
up again. So it wasn't like the decision where all
of a sudden. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to eat next
number of calories and work out next number of minutes,
but not eat that and not eat carbs or fat
or sugar or any you know. It wasn't like I
didn't go into it like I my life needs to
change and everything all at one right now. It was
I'm gonna start small and sign those one or two things.
(12:04):
And I did those every single day. I brought my lunch,
I thought a change of clothes. I brought my lunch,
brought a change clothes day in, day out. And after
a week or two weeks, it became a habit. And
it was a habit that I created that sitting into
my lifestyle and sit into my routine. That wasn't depending
on me driving across town to go to a certain
gym or you know, only eating certain foods that were
delivered to me through the mail or whatever. And then
(12:26):
once those became a habit, I started adding a third
and it was for me, I need to up my
water and take and that's another one my test. Just
drink a lot of water and it helps fill you up.
It helps flush out like nasty tassons out of your body,
help clean you out it's metabolism. Start your day by
drinking a glass or two of water, um, and just
(12:46):
get that metis metabolism going. And you know, and then
apart from that, there's very specific medical basits. It's so
awesome for your circulation, it's awesome for every major body
system and function that you had. Such a drink water.
And so I decided that I would work my way
up to a gallon a day and that would be
the next change that starts to implement. And then all
of a sudden, after another week or two, I had
(13:06):
these three really healthy habits that were um. Despite how
terrible any given day might have been, I still did
these three things and I could feel proud about that.
And then I started noticing that weight was coming off.
And now I had this momentum and I could figure
out a posting, figure out a pisting, and still keep
that pattern. Us. Let's focus on this new thing for
a week until it becomes a habit, until it's ingrained
(13:28):
in me, and I can keep building. And because of
that sort of process, I was able to lose a
lot of weight, and ultimately I lost a hundred and
sixty pounds um. But but it wasn't in a way
that was incredibly restrictive to how I functioned and how
I lived and how I shopped and how I you know,
scheduled my day. Uh So, yeah, I lost others fifty
(13:50):
pounds and um, and I sort of figured out after
I got like four or five of these little changes
under my belt, but that in order to keep going
and to do more, I needed to have a plan.
So as a third tip for anyone that's trying to
lose weight, it's have a plan for your day, even
if it's a really even if it's a really rough
plan and something maybe sort of a little bit gray,
(14:13):
Like I sort of had to figure out, Okay, I'm
bringing my lunch, so I've taken care of I can
you know, wake up and have healthy options for breakfast.
So that's part of my plan. Eat breakfast at home,
have fruit, have oatmeal, have you know, eggs, some good
protein whatever it is, and then um, and then where
I knew I got tripped up with at the end
(14:33):
of the day because I want to figure it out.
When when I started this process, I was working at
a job where I drove past on my way home
eleven drives through and I never wanted to put myself
in a position where I went through any of them,
So I need to have a game plan. Some days
it was Okay, I know I have leftovers and my
bridge waiting for me. That's gonna be my dinner. Some days, honestly,
it was I gotta bring my lunch and my dinner
(14:55):
because I know I'm gonna be working late and I
know I'm gonna be starving, and I don't really want
to ride by fast for the places and be even
confronted with that temptation, because I know that a swing
through a drive through for me like that in my
past could easily equal forward to six thousand calories. I mean,
it sounds outrageous, but that's the way that I ate.
(15:16):
That's how I got up to Florida pounds. So have
that plan. If I wasn't, if I went out and
met friends at the restaurant, I would have had that conversation.
Well there, I was like, Hey, where are we going?
And I would check the menu online and figure out
if I could eat stuff there and if I couldn't.
I wasn't afraid to be that guy that was like, hey,
you know what, how about this place down the street,
I can get us out there. I really want to
(15:36):
hang out with you guys. And my friends were really
awesome and like nearly every time they said yes, and
if they said no, that I'd be like, oh, well,
I think I gotta get to bed earlier that night.
Like you know, I wasn't afraid to put my tolp
out there and be assertive. And if everyone was around
eating pizza, like great, let's let's have that plan where
we're gonna hang out and in order pizza and I'm
just gonna make sure to bring my own salad. So
(15:57):
let's have that plan and try to eliminate those uptudies
for uh temptation and giving into craving because you have
no idea where your food is going to come from,
when you're gonna eat next, or where you're going to
get that food. Unbelievable. But oh my god, there's no
way I'm gonna interrupt you, David. I mean, if you
could see me seriously, I am in the perfect job
(16:20):
because you we've we've done these interviews before. That that
was You've just that was the greatest ten minutes I've heard.
No I I and I mean that because I'm taking
notes and and you know what I wrote, control and
I just love it. It makes me so happy that
that you you know, you know the math you obviously
(16:43):
if you've been a successful you know everything you really do.
But it's about temptation. It's about controlled controlling, you know
what you bring, your route to work, the front, you know,
getting online too. I just I love it. And it's
and it's hopeful for people and it shows them. Um,
it doesn't matter where you're starting from. And and your
(17:04):
message of small changes, I mean my heart rates like
it's excessive moderation, makes small changes, uh frequently, not big
changes infrequently. And you know there's nothing in what you
just said in ten minutes that is in the popular
diet conversation. Nothing because it doesn't sell books because it's
(17:27):
short term fixes. And and we could talk and you
know what, We're gonna have another interview because uh we
we need to do you know, like a three hour podcast,
and we can do that. That's the beauty of this format.
And even what you said is how you're successful going forward.
It's controlling everything that you can and still enjoying it. Right,
So let's take it to that step, David. So now
(17:50):
you've hit your success up and down like most people. Uh,
how have you continued and and where have you taken it? Too? Sure? Um,
so I worked really hard and I stayed very focused
and I and I lost a hundred fifty pounds in
a little over a year, which which sounds like a
big loss, and it certainly is, and it sounds like
(18:11):
a short amount of time, and also it certainly is.
And um what I figured out real quick, especially you know,
in the second half of that year, is that this
world that I'm in is opening up to me in
ways that I've never previously had or in ways that
I hadn't experienced in you know, a decade or two,
where all of a sudden, I could sit on a
(18:32):
rollercoaster again, all of a sudden, I didn't have to
like break out into hot sweats because we were going
to a restaurant that only had booths and I don't
know if those tables are polted to the floor or
if they could nudge four inches so I could actually
sit in the booth. I didn't have like anxiety about
eating someone at a crowd of place and having to
like excuse me, excuse me, pardon me, like squeezed through
(18:52):
a crowd of people where clearly people have to make
a giant pass because I was so large, and that
like that moment right there gave me so much embarrassment
when it happened, and so much freedom when it didn't.
So I was in this place where I could do
all these things, and I was much more physical, and
I was much more active, and I was exercising a
lot more. And I know, I'll give them to the
specifics of what that exercise was in the general sense,
(19:14):
like I could do things that I wasn't able to
do for a really long time, if not ever, and
I was enjoying it. And and so that was. We're
now until like eleven, So I've kept this weight off
most of it. I go up and down. There's fluctuations,
and you're never gonna stay the same weight, you know,
every day until the end of time. So um, So
there's done fluctuations. But I've kept a vast majority of
(19:35):
this weight off for eleven So that's like eight years now. Um.
And I'll tell you that the things that I think about.
First of all, my first tip is you have to
reset your brain, um and have the right mindset where
losing the weight is not the goal. That's the first goal.
That's a goal. But you're not done. You're never done.
(19:56):
I hear people say all the time, like I just
gotta get I just gotta drop these thirty pounds that
I'm done, I'm off that I just gotta drop, you know,
thirty pounds, fifty pouns and a hundred pound, two hundred pounds.
You're unfortunately that the truth is is that you're never
gonna be done. And there are times because when she
leaves once she once, you take it off, once you
lose the weight, keeping it off is just as challenging,
(20:18):
if not more than losing it to begin with. And
there are times where I've like sort of rethought that
and it's like, just put me into a depression, because
you know, I want to be done. I want to
just be able to live my life and eat what
I want and not gainly. And but that's not me,
and that's nut the situation that I'm ever gonna be in.
So I had to figure out how to think about
(20:39):
it in a way that just didn't put me into
a mental health till sin And what I came up
with was, this is what I need to do to
keep enjoying this life. This is the way I need
to eat, and this is the way that I need
to stay active, so I can go and be active
with my family and be active with my friends and
not worry about booze and roller coasters and feet felt
I broke I broken car suits before, and I don't
(21:01):
want to do that. I don't ever want to have
to ask to flight attendant for a seat boltic subject
because I feel like there's twenty such device in the
entire coach section around me that all of a sudden
staring at me because I'm a guy who can't fit
in the seatbelt and I don't want to have to
like worry about someone signing next to me on an
airplane because I'm so big, and be told if they're
signing audibly and annoyed like on them, but like it
(21:25):
still made me feel bad and I just swore, and
you might want to I'm sorry. I'm sure this is
a you know, family friendly podcast and my apodect, but
the idea is that you know it's no longer I
need to keep this off so I can be done
now if I want to keep this off, because I
don't want to give up all of these things that
(21:45):
I have worked so hard and that I've earned, And
that's how I think about it. I've earned the ability
to not worry about car sits and boozing roma posters,
and I will fight tooth and nail so I can
keep going and keep enjoying you thing and keep the
door open so I can enjoy so much more that
I haven't even like thought about. I love it all right,
(22:08):
So I just want to unbelievable and and I'm taking notes. Uh,
it's it's so eye opening. Every time we speak, you
always take it to even to another level. And and
because you're still on that journey and and it's going
to be so helpful to so many people before we
get finished, I want to make sure that people know
that not only have you kept it off, not only
have you enjoying things. I love that you said that
(22:29):
things that you wouldn't have expected, but you're now you're
racing up buildings. Tell people about that. Yeah, you're absolutely right.
And that's one of the things that I was able to.
You know, one of the things that I think so
that to our friendship earlier, that both of us have
had this experience of racing up a stairwell in the skyscraper,
but not many people have done, and most people don't
even haven't even heard about. In twelve, I started using
(22:52):
the stare Master a lot of the gym, and I'm
a big nerve and I love our texture and design
and urban planning, and so I would use a stair
master or a stetinell across the stetinel um and I
would use a stetinel and at the end of the
workout and be like, Oh, I just climbed. You know,
there's this play is telling me. I just climbed sixty stories.
And I would go and I look at the sky
(23:12):
Stripper online and look at pictures of the sixty story building,
which was hugely motivating. The stinks that I got to
the top of that building, you know, just at the
gym forty five minutes ago. And Um, a summer after
doing this for months and months, and I heard about
a tower run um which is another word for a
stair climb race where I was living in Los Angeles
and there was a sixty three story building and you
(23:33):
could race up to the top of it, and I
signed myself up for that. I thought, I'm doing it hypothetically,
it's the Jim, Let's like, let's do it for real.
And it was the most sarifying moment, one most terrifying
moments in my life, standing on the sidewalk looking up
at this building and just being like, I can hardly
see the top and I and I gotta get there,
and and my legs are the ones, you know, get
(23:55):
me there. But I did this race and it was
and I got to the top, and it ended on
the roof of on the helopad eight and something feet
above Los Angeles, and there was just the swirl of
emotions that was like obviously pride and accomplishment and and
and looking down and seeing this whole city belongnan and
that's what I just climbed, That's what I just ran.
And that felt really amazing. And then there was this
(24:17):
sort of utter complete pain and exhaustion and fatigue because
that was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life,
racing upstairs, and I just sort of felt invincible and
I've never ever felt like that before, and I thought,
I gotta keep doing this, I gotta I have to
chase that feeling. And so um now you know, it's
been seven years and I've done over seventy times. Of
(24:39):
these races, I've competed in many of the most famous
buildings in this country, including World Trade Center, Sears Tower
which is not called Willis Tower, the Stratosphere in Vegas,
the Space and you know, I've been one of roughly
twenty Americans ever that have been invited to compete up
the Eiffel Tower in Paris. And those races get me
(25:00):
going and they and they motivate me and they feel
me and I love it. And if I love the challenge,
I love the that reward, that feeling that I mentioned,
I just sort of love all of it. And I've
met this amazing community of people that I see as
these races that are all over the country. Um so
I have this amazing network of supportive people and and honestly,
I just someone into it because I decided I was
(25:20):
just gonna start doing something different at the gym and
and facing a fear of the step mill, which honestly
like intimidated me because everyone that's ever on the set
at the gym, they're like trench after thirty five seconds,
and you took on one of the toughest pieces of equipment, David, Yeah,
and I guess you know. And and I'm not gonna
sit here and encourage everyone to go find stairs and
(25:42):
climb them. So that's not for everyone. Like, certainly, if
you're at the mall or at the airport or whatever,
it takes, the stairs if you can, you know, stip
the escalator if you can, But like you don't need
to go climb onto count of the story. But what
I tell people is, in order to keep the way off,
in order to keep going moving forward, moving forward, moving forward,
you have to sign some sort of activity that you
love that you're gonna do every day. And maybe it's
(26:04):
walking your daughter on the block or walking a greater
distance than you normally would. Maybe it. Um My dad
is in his seventies and and in the past year
he discovered puckle ball, which is this um racket sport
that's like a like but in between ding pong and
tennis with on a smaller court and a smaller net
and a whistle ball. But like he's sort of found
the sport and now my seventies, something bad is playing
(26:27):
it three or four times a week without fails on
his schedule. He goes every single time it's available at
the community center down the street and um, and his
health has benefited and he's much more mobile and he's
much less stiff, and you know, and he's doing something
that so many people would never ever want to do
or can do or think they can do, and like
(26:48):
he's in his seventies, like finally in the seventies. So
you just got to find something. And you don't need
to become like some sort of um competitive athlete or
participate in some sort of extreme sports. But what are
you gonna do? So you so you can keep burning
calories and revolves rewards that benefit you know that exercise offers,
like better sleep and and better focus and having a
(27:10):
mental release. Like That's why I've always loved exercised, because
I could have a real crumby day or real crumby
conversation or something didnt go how I thought it would,
and I could just take that energy and expend it
with a really active workout and just feel so much
better and feel much more calm and collected. So, you know,
if you've got to keep you're not gonna be able
to keep weight off without being active. So find something
(27:31):
and if and if you don't like something, find something else.
Find new people start taking classes at the gym and
talk with your classmates and figure out who they are
and how you can connect and fond with them and
built those friendships, you know, follow people on Instagram and Twitter,
and listen to these podcasts like like Fitness Rusted and
and just keep your mind open. And that sort of
(27:52):
leads to my third point, which is you gotta keep evolving,
you know, keep trying new food, keep trying new exercises,
keep reading article and listening to podcasts and reading and
reading books. And the thing is that, like you can
read a book or an article and and and not
commit to any of the points that they're making or
any of the tips involved, but like you can fashion
away and know that moving forward, you can you can
(28:14):
just sort of have it in your arsenal so you
can lean on it later. And if you continue to
build that arsenal and and build those resources and and
know that, like if you're you know, in this sort
of situation, this Instagram person is someone that I can
look to for inspiration or you know, I can I
can turn on an episode of Finish the Truck that
I can go to a blog like my you know,
(28:34):
like my blog shameless Plug for keep it up, David
dot com. But like you, you know, if you have
all you know, you're better equipped to pivot away from
challenges and pivot away from stress if you just have
this arsenal. So, just like I said earlier, you're you're
not done when you lose the weight. You're never done learning.
And I've never done learning, and I love that because
I love to learn. I love like I'm very curious.
And so if I see a food that I've never
(28:56):
encountered before, like I'm gonna buy it, I'm gonna read
about it, I'm gonna cook it, I'm gonna eat it.
And whether or not whether or not I enjoy it,
that's a different matter. But like you know, I'm not
gonna know whether or not I enjoy unless I do
those previous steps. And then the next time I can
go to the grocery store, it's either there and I
love it and I'm buying more, or it's like, Okay, great,
I'm just gonna go back to broccoli. Broccoli. That tried
and true. You know, Just you gotta keep Yeah, we
(29:20):
need five hours, we really do. And I'm so busy
taking notes because it's just every time lean on it
I mean, just lean on it later. I love and
you're talking about evolving, you know, that's that's the variation
that I bore anyone who I talked to about fitness,
about how we gotta mix it up everything, as you said,
(29:41):
the food to exercise, the motivation. We need hours, but
we don't have today. I just I love and we're
gonna have you back. I'm gonna, I keep saying, we
like I have an imaginary friend next to me. I
don't know, there's this all encompassing we uh, everything execut
from room I know exactly, but it's you. You inspire me.
(30:06):
And I'm so excited for people to hear this show.
And you just hit on everything in the absolute in
my opinion, and I'm very biased, the best way to
give people the tools they need to enjoy life. And
I love that you finished up by saying, I'm gonna
try all these different foods. It's not about deprivation, it's
not about starving yourself. It's about what you talked about
(30:28):
for this entire show, David, trying different things, try and
and you know, hey, but what I love and I
gotta point out one last time, is that who would
have thought you would be racing up buildings. So that
is when we talk about weight loss and people getting healthier,
that's awesome and that like for most people, as you said,
that's like their goal. But oh my gosh, keep your
mind open because it will open up the world to
(30:48):
you in ways that you had no idea. And that's
why when we talk about fitness and exercise, I'll say
it one last time. Sure, weight law is super important.
We're gonna get there. You're gonna find that weight. But
there's so much more than that, and it's living, it's
enjoying foods, it's finding these communities, David, racing up buildings,
it's finding relationships David and I friends. Now, it's it's
(31:10):
so much more. And David couldn't thank you more. We're
gonna have you back, and we need to race up
the empire state building together. Although you have to go
easy on me because you're stronger than I am. I
don't know if I'm stronger than anytime. You're pretty strong,
you know, like anytime I love talking to you, I'd
love to come you know, I'd love to come back.
I will be knocking on your door, um the second.
(31:31):
I mean, although I honestly, I have no current plans,
but you know I I love you and I'll talk
to you. You gotta get out here, yeah, absolutely, we'll
get you out here. We give everyone your social media,
so you gotta keep it up, David dot com. What else?
Keep it up, David dot com. And it's really easy
on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, all three. I'm keeping up David.
(31:52):
I found something that worked across all platforms and I
was like, yes, I'm never changing this because I was
able to register them all. So keep it up, David. Now.
And if you say hi, um, I love meeting people.
I love chatting with people. UM, So don't hesitate to
reach out um and just say hi. You know you
don't need to have a question, just say hi. I
love making friends. So keep it up, please do. Because
(32:15):
the new world is, David and I know is community
and connecting with people, and now we can do it
in an amazing way. And if if David's story resonated
with you, and it didn't, you you got problems. But
if you go to his social media and connect and
watch and learn and and as David said, you may
not take the advice right away, but you uh lean
(32:35):
on it later or put it aside. Uh and and
when the time is right for you, uh, then you
may use it. But but again, connect be inspired David.
Thank you so much. We will we will talk again soon.
Thanks for taking the time. And I just I can't
say enough. I'm speechless. Thank you, David. Have a great day,
speak soon. Thank you very much. Yea, and we are back.
(33:14):
How amazing is David Garcia? Again, if you're not inspired
by his story, if you have goals you want to achieve,
and that didn't move you, you gotta get your heart checked.
So great. Took notes like crazy because David just what
comes out of his mouth should be so helpful to
(33:37):
those of you who have been struggling, the simple yet
just super powerful message of how he did it. You know,
I was scribbling down notes like crazy. I keep notebooks
on all this stuff because it's it's all research, it's
all helpful, it's all amazing and just things like He
(33:59):
felt proud it. He felt proud. But the small changes,
the small changes, as he talked about, started bringing lunch
to work, brought his clothes to work so he could
get a workout in because he knew he was was
less likely to do it once he got home, back
to the gym, back to the whole thing of time.
(34:23):
You gotta make the small changes that make you feel proud.
It's called self efficacy. You will hear me talk about
that on almost just a crazy amount of shows. Because
self efficacy is situational confidence. It's building confidence, it's feeling
good about yourself and in certain situations. And that's what
drives me nuts about fad diets and fad workouts and
(34:46):
bad information because it does the opposite. It diminishes, It
breaks down your self efficacy. You don't feel good about yourself.
Small changes builds on itself, exactly what he said. He said,
keep building things like stopped driving by eleven drive throughs.
(35:06):
Goes against all those articles that I talked about at
the beginning of the show. You can't do it. It's
your genetics. How about not driving by How about the
little things that can make it easier for you. We
make it difficult on ourselves when we try to make
huge changes in a small amount of time. Back when
I was a trainer, towards the end of of being
(35:29):
a trainer, when I had figured it out what was
working and what wasn't, and I was never a big
change type of person. But it's just my clients were
shocked when I would say, here's the small changes we're
gonna make over time. Everyone wanted that I want to
lose ten pounds in a week, How about one or two.
We're gonna shoot for these short term goals that will
(35:51):
bring us to our long term goals. But we're not
gonna make that long term goal our short term goal.
That's what's amazing and so powerful about someone's like David's story.
He brought his leftovers okay, and and and the final
(36:13):
thing that just blows me away with his story is
how he said the world opened up to him in
ways he never realized, in ways he never thought possible.
One of those was his stair running, but as he said,
it was going on planes and not having to ask
for the seatbelt. But it was so much more than that.
(36:34):
It was opening up things to him, opportunities that he
didn't know he didn't have, that he was missing out on.
So I hope you enjoyed him, and I'm gonna have
so many more people like him because it's such a
(36:55):
powerful message and it's a message that works. It works.
I'm gonna bring you stuff that works. Small changes my
term excessive moderation. Don't do a little bit of exercise
or sorry, don't do a lot of exercise, A little,
(37:16):
do a little a lot. And it was funny when
I threw an excessive moderation to the term to a
publisher not too long ago. She said, it doesn't make sense.
They're contradictory, and I said, exactly, it's the point, it's
the whole point. Uh. We have fun, Uh, David Garcia,
(37:43):
We listened to the show over and over right down.
Take notes. If you have the same goals that David
had and you want to maintain them the way he has,
then do what David did. And as he said, it
may not be you don't have to. There's other ways
around things, But it's he didn't tell you what type
(38:04):
of foods to eat. He told you to avoid driving
past the fast food places. He didn't tell you a
kind of exercise to do. Although walking is the greatest, simplest,
easiest way to start for the vast majority of people,
you're gonna find what works for you. But it's the
concepts that he threw out there that work for just
(38:26):
about everybody. You have to find within those concepts, what works,
what works for you. And then, as he said, you're
gonna you're gonna mix it up, even hit on that
topic that I talk about all the time, mix it up,
mix it up, find new things will work for you
(38:48):
for a long time. Over time, you're gonna have to
change it up. And that's great news, not bad news
when you get bored doing the same thing over and over.
And if you love it, keep doing it. But but
we need to keep mixing it up. Thanks for listening,
and hey, if you have a couple of extra seconds
and really would appreciate it, if you would connect with me,
leave a review, leave a comment, whatever you want to
(39:10):
talk about wherever you listen to the show. So I
hope you enjoyed David Garcia. I hope you got inspired.
And I hope if you think you can't achieve something
because of your genetics, he is of anything. I hope
he changed your way of thinking on that because there
(39:33):
are three things that we have total control over, what
we put into our mouths, how much we move, and
our attitude. So I have a great day, Thank you
for listening, and believe in yourself. Fitness disrupted as a
(39:58):
production of my heart radio. For more podcasts from my
heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Fitness Disrupted, a production of I Heart Radio. Hi.
I am Tom holland Welcome to Fitness Disrupted. What do
you think I think the most important part of a
(00:22):
fitness magazine is no, I know there aren't many left.
When I first started in this industry, That's kind of
how I started, was contributing to and working with fitness magazines.
I started my company way back in the in the
late nineties, early nineties, mid nineties, somewhere around there. But
what do you think I think the most important information
(00:43):
isn't there? Is it? The workouts? Is that? The nutritional
advice is that? The advertising and those supplements? What do
you think? I think you know what it is. It's
the success stories. I remember they used to have that page,
and of the magazines that still exist, I believe many
of them still do, it was that one pager on
(01:06):
that man or woman who made major change, and quite
often it was weight loss because that's what a lot
of people want to achieve. And I get that, But
that was the page. That's the information. That page contains
the quote unquote secrets, tips, tricks that aren't secrets tips
or tricks, their tips to success. That's how someone did it,
(01:32):
and you know what, it's never the short term fix.
It's never the fat diets, it's never the crazy workouts,
not long term no, sirree Bob, it's not. Those are
the most powerful lessons. If you want to achieve something,
(01:53):
find someone who has achieved it and do what they did.
That's how I got where I am. Studied the people
who had what I wanted and did it, didn't make excuses.
And guess what, there are no short term tips and
tricks to get you to that kind of result. And
(02:14):
that's what I love the most about those pages is
that it just shows you, Hey, do you want to
achieve the weight loss, the the building muscle, the the
achieving maybe an event, a run, a bike ride, whatever
it is. It's slow steps, it's consistency. It's that there
(02:35):
are no secrets. So that's why I have shows like today.
Today's show is amazing, if I do say so myself,
because it has an amazing guest attached to it. With
Fitness Disrupted, I'm gonna bring you the top PhD people.
I'm gonna bring you the best of the best when
it comes to all the topics, all the myths that
we are going to disrupt, debunk once and for all
(02:59):
and when it to success for you to have the
takeaways on doing what you want to do. I want
to bring you people that have done it, and not
only done it, but done it for a long time,
who are successful. It is so important, and that's David Garcia,
(03:19):
the guy I bring to you today. If he doesn't
inspire you, you got to get your heart checked. I'm
gonna let him tell you his story, but I'm gonna
give you the quick synopsis, the quick bio. This guy
was over four hundred pounds, unhappy and he made major change.
He took four hundred pounds, he lost over a hundred
(03:42):
and fifty and he has kept it off for a
ridiculously long amount of time. And that's the most important
part is that he's kept it off right because so
many people, many of you yo yo dieting and the
information he is going to give you because I know
him now, we're friends. I met him years ago and
was blown away when I did, and I knew that
(04:04):
this is someone I would stay in touch with for
my entire life. And he gets it and he will
help any of you who have similar type goals. And
for those of you who have different goals, it doesn't matter.
The message is the same. So David Garcia from four
hundred pounds lost over one hundred and fifty pounds, and
(04:27):
he's doing much more than that. I'm gonna let him
tell you. But that's why I have these shows. We're
gonna disrupt fitness in so many different ways. And the primary,
not the primary, but one of the primary reasons I
love David's story so much is because he shows you
it can be done. For those of you who are
reading those articles that say it's your genetics, give up,
(04:48):
it's your once you, once you achieve a certain amount
of weight, your body wants to stay there, give up?
Not true? Not true? Is it easy? Nothing is easy?
Is it challenge? Sure? David will tell you. Can you
do it? Absolutely? And does it get easier without a doubt.
I've spoken long enough because I want David to talk.
(05:10):
So when we come back from this break, I bring
to you David Garcia. So sit back, get ready to
get inspired, and you're gonna hear his story. We'll be
right back after this short break, and we are back,
(05:33):
and I could not be more excited. We are here
with David Garcia, who you know, I met years ago,
became a friend of mine and could not have been
more excited, as I said earlier, when I met him,
because I love my job. But I know my limitations.
I know. Yeah, we can talk about the science, and
I know that people think I came out of the
(05:54):
womb running marathons and doing iron Man triathlons. Couldn't be
further from the truth. I was a kid on the bench.
But this guy has has accomplished what so many people
think they can't, and that is so important. And so
much of the media and the articles out there that
talks about weight loss and fitness, it's just it's it's negative.
(06:15):
It tells you you don't have control. It tells you
just to basically give up. It's your genetics and and
if you have gained weight, forget it. There's a set
point your body will constantly fight to get there, and
and there obviously is some scientific truths to that, but
you know what, you can do it and and your body, Uh,
you have so much more control over that than these
(06:36):
articles than a lot of this just pseudoscience and just
bad information will let you believe. So I got the guy.
I got the guy. And when I first heard his story,
I just I said, this is a guy I will
be friends with for the rest of my life because, uh,
he's everything I want to bring to you about that message.
(06:56):
So how's that, David. Are you embarrassed? Um? Completely? No,
one continued blushing. But I mean, uh, I value you
with a friend, and I value as a as an
amazing resource. And it's always a pleasure to talk to you.
So yeah, let's get into that. And thanks so much.
Obviously coming from uh telephone interview usually and and when
(07:18):
David is in the area, we will interview him again
in person. But this is it's it's such an important
show and I'm so excited. So if weight loss is
your goal, and truthfully, if you just want to be inspired, uh,
this this is the show for you. And it goes
further than weight loss, and and that is what I
talk about here on Fitness Disrupted. It is reframing the
whole message about fitness why we do it. Sure, weight
(07:41):
loss is a part of it. It will always be
we want to be a healthy weight, but exercise, as
I've talked about on so many other shows, go so
far beyond that. But that being said, here's the guy
here's the guy. So all that stuff you read that
says can't be done, give up. Uh. And I'm not
saying it's not challenging, right David. I'm not saying I'm
agreeing with all of that right lately, completely challenging, so
(08:05):
challenging every day. But we'll get to it. But it
gets easier in a certain way. And and I'm not
putting words in your mouth. I'm just gonna let you speak. So,
David Garcia, a guy who has made incredible change, uh,
is gonna tell you how he did. He's gonna give
you tips on on on how he did it and
how he kept it off. So take it away, David,
given your story absolutely First, It's just you mentioned how
(08:30):
challenging it was. And one of the things I tell
people is um should be completely truthful. The story that
I'm about to share is like single most the hardest
thing I've ever done in my life, but like hands
down is by far the most rewarding. And I can't
celebrate that reward without having, you know, overcome that challenge
and continue to overcome that challenge. So that's why to
(08:52):
set that aside, Like it may seems on things, but
like the payoffs is so huge. But to go back
a little bit, I've always been heavy. I was aware
like an elementary school that I was the heaviest guy
in my in my class. And I remember making efforts
to diet as young as middle school and high school.
And I just tried all sorts of things through my UM,
(09:12):
through college and through my twenties, where I would try
different diets and you know what they are, because a
bunch of us have tried them, and their big brand
names and they have commercials on TV and their books
and all sorts of stuff. And I would maybe lose
thirty or forty pounds and I'll gain it back. And
I would try something different though maybe lose the same
or maybe lose a little bit more, but that I'll
gain it back, And nothing ever ever really stuck. And
(09:33):
by the time I was UM in my early thirties,
I was UM pushing up and passed four hundred pounds
and at that point I saw it, I'm done. There's
I can't do this anymore, and I won't never be
able to do this and I won't ever be able
to find that sort of success in regards to my
health and UM. And it was it was depressing. It
was miserable because I was happy another prets of my life.
(09:55):
I have awesome friends, I have an awesome career, I
have an amazing family. But I just would have taught
that going forward, I was always going to be um, Oh,
it was going to be a bourbon and it was
going to make me unhappy, and that I would just
have to um live with it and soldiers through it somehow,
And and that was my mindset. And then UM, I
(10:18):
used some work in television and I had the opportunity
to meet Richard simmons um and began working with him,
which was amazing. And at first I didn't think anything
would come of it in regards to me losing weight,
because that was so firmly in translument the least that
that it wasn't achievable for me. And um, and and
time you asked me for some tips, and I'm going
(10:39):
to share these tips, and I sort of tell the
story and for everyone listening, like I didn't have these
tips sort of going in, like Richard gave me all
sorts of information and and all sorts of resources, but
like I sort of figured these things out and I
went along. And when I think back. It's these things
that really click and really made it work. And the
first thing was I started small, like I I had
(11:01):
a hundred and fifty two hundred pounds to lose on
the seventy five pounds to lose, and the part of
that was so daunting, it was so completely overwhelming. But
like how it shut down, it would be like you know, proud,
where my brain would just shut off because it just
couldn't register. Be like that, I had to lose an
entire person and um. And so I decided, you know what,
(11:21):
let's let's set that aside, and I'm just gonna find
two things tomorrow that I can do differently. And for me,
it was I'm gonna start bringing my lunch to work
and emploid you know the junk foods that was in
our office kitchen and that people were bringing in. UM.
And then I would also bring a change of clothes,
so I would just go for a walk before I
got home, because I knew that once I got home
at the end of the busy day and I sat
(11:42):
down on my couch, chances are I wasn't gonna get
up again. So it wasn't like the decision where all
of a sudden. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to eat next
number of calories and work out next number of minutes,
but not eat that and not eat carbs or fat
or sugar or any you know. It wasn't like I
didn't go into it like I my life needs to
change and everything all at one right now. It was
I'm gonna start small and sign those one or two things.
(12:04):
And I did those every single day. I brought my lunch,
I thought a change of clothes. I brought my lunch,
brought a change clothes day in, day out. And after
a week or two weeks, it became a habit. And
it was a habit that I created that sitting into
my lifestyle and sit into my routine. That wasn't depending
on me driving across town to go to a certain
gym or you know, only eating certain foods that were
delivered to me through the mail or whatever. And then
(12:26):
once those became a habit, I started adding a third
and it was for me, I need to up my
water and take and that's another one my test. Just
drink a lot of water and it helps fill you up.
It helps flush out like nasty tassons out of your body,
help clean you out it's metabolism. Start your day by
drinking a glass or two of water, um, and just
(12:46):
get that metis metabolism going. And you know, and then
apart from that, there's very specific medical basits. It's so
awesome for your circulation, it's awesome for every major body
system and function that you had. Such a drink water.
And so I decided that I would work my way
up to a gallon a day and that would be
the next change that starts to implement. And then all
of a sudden, after another week or two, I had
(13:06):
these three really healthy habits that were um. Despite how
terrible any given day might have been, I still did
these three things and I could feel proud about that.
And then I started noticing that weight was coming off.
And now I had this momentum and I could figure
out a posting, figure out a pisting, and still keep
that pattern. Us. Let's focus on this new thing for
a week until it becomes a habit, until it's ingrained
(13:28):
in me, and I can keep building. And because of
that sort of process, I was able to lose a
lot of weight, and ultimately I lost a hundred and
sixty pounds um. But but it wasn't in a way
that was incredibly restrictive to how I functioned and how
I lived and how I shopped and how I you know,
scheduled my day. Uh So, yeah, I lost others fifty
(13:50):
pounds and um, and I sort of figured out after
I got like four or five of these little changes
under my belt, but that in order to keep going
and to do more, I needed to have a plan.
So as a third tip for anyone that's trying to
lose weight, it's have a plan for your day, even
if it's a really even if it's a really rough
plan and something maybe sort of a little bit gray,
(14:13):
Like I sort of had to figure out, Okay, I'm
bringing my lunch, so I've taken care of I can
you know, wake up and have healthy options for breakfast.
So that's part of my plan. Eat breakfast at home,
have fruit, have oatmeal, have you know, eggs, some good
protein whatever it is, and then um, and then where
I knew I got tripped up with at the end
(14:33):
of the day because I want to figure it out.
When when I started this process, I was working at
a job where I drove past on my way home
eleven drives through and I never wanted to put myself
in a position where I went through any of them,
So I need to have a game plan. Some days
it was Okay, I know I have leftovers and my
bridge waiting for me. That's gonna be my dinner. Some days, honestly,
it was I gotta bring my lunch and my dinner
(14:55):
because I know I'm gonna be working late and I
know I'm gonna be starving, and I don't really want
to ride by fast for the places and be even
confronted with that temptation, because I know that a swing
through a drive through for me like that in my
past could easily equal forward to six thousand calories. I mean,
it sounds outrageous, but that's the way that I ate.
(15:16):
That's how I got up to Florida pounds. So have
that plan. If I wasn't, if I went out and
met friends at the restaurant, I would have had that conversation.
Well there, I was like, Hey, where are we going?
And I would check the menu online and figure out
if I could eat stuff there and if I couldn't.
I wasn't afraid to be that guy that was like, hey,
you know what, how about this place down the street,
I can get us out there. I really want to
(15:36):
hang out with you guys. And my friends were really
awesome and like nearly every time they said yes, and
if they said no, that I'd be like, oh, well,
I think I gotta get to bed earlier that night.
Like you know, I wasn't afraid to put my tolp
out there and be assertive. And if everyone was around
eating pizza, like great, let's let's have that plan where
we're gonna hang out and in order pizza and I'm
just gonna make sure to bring my own salad. So
(15:57):
let's have that plan and try to eliminate those uptudies
for uh temptation and giving into craving because you have
no idea where your food is going to come from,
when you're gonna eat next, or where you're going to
get that food. Unbelievable. But oh my god, there's no
way I'm gonna interrupt you, David. I mean, if you
could see me seriously, I am in the perfect job
(16:20):
because you we've we've done these interviews before. That that
was You've just that was the greatest ten minutes I've heard.
No I I and I mean that because I'm taking
notes and and you know what I wrote, control and
I just love it. It makes me so happy that
that you you know, you know the math you obviously
(16:43):
if you've been a successful you know everything you really do.
But it's about temptation. It's about controlled controlling, you know
what you bring, your route to work, the front, you know,
getting online too. I just I love it. And it's
and it's hopeful for people and it shows them. Um,
it doesn't matter where you're starting from. And and your
(17:04):
message of small changes, I mean my heart rates like
it's excessive moderation, makes small changes, uh frequently, not big
changes infrequently. And you know there's nothing in what you
just said in ten minutes that is in the popular
diet conversation. Nothing because it doesn't sell books because it's
(17:27):
short term fixes. And and we could talk and you
know what, We're gonna have another interview because uh we
we need to do you know, like a three hour podcast,
and we can do that. That's the beauty of this format.
And even what you said is how you're successful going forward.
It's controlling everything that you can and still enjoying it. Right,
So let's take it to that step, David. So now
(17:50):
you've hit your success up and down like most people. Uh,
how have you continued and and where have you taken it? Too? Sure? Um,
so I worked really hard and I stayed very focused
and I and I lost a hundred fifty pounds in
a little over a year, which which sounds like a
big loss, and it certainly is, and it sounds like
(18:11):
a short amount of time, and also it certainly is.
And um what I figured out real quick, especially you know,
in the second half of that year, is that this
world that I'm in is opening up to me in
ways that I've never previously had or in ways that
I hadn't experienced in you know, a decade or two,
where all of a sudden, I could sit on a
(18:32):
rollercoaster again, all of a sudden, I didn't have to
like break out into hot sweats because we were going
to a restaurant that only had booths and I don't
know if those tables are polted to the floor or
if they could nudge four inches so I could actually
sit in the booth. I didn't have like anxiety about
eating someone at a crowd of place and having to
like excuse me, excuse me, pardon me, like squeezed through
(18:52):
a crowd of people where clearly people have to make
a giant pass because I was so large, and that
like that moment right there gave me so much embarrassment
when it happened, and so much freedom when it didn't.
So I was in this place where I could do
all these things, and I was much more physical, and
I was much more active, and I was exercising a
lot more. And I know, I'll give them to the
specifics of what that exercise was in the general sense,
(19:14):
like I could do things that I wasn't able to
do for a really long time, if not ever, and
I was enjoying it. And and so that was. We're
now until like eleven, So I've kept this weight off
most of it. I go up and down. There's fluctuations,
and you're never gonna stay the same weight, you know,
every day until the end of time. So um, So
there's done fluctuations. But I've kept a vast majority of
(19:35):
this weight off for eleven So that's like eight years now. Um.
And I'll tell you that the things that I think about.
First of all, my first tip is you have to
reset your brain, um and have the right mindset where
losing the weight is not the goal. That's the first goal.
That's a goal. But you're not done. You're never done.
(19:56):
I hear people say all the time, like I just
gotta get I just gotta drop these thirty pounds that
I'm done, I'm off that I just gotta drop, you know,
thirty pounds, fifty pouns and a hundred pound, two hundred pounds.
You're unfortunately that the truth is is that you're never
gonna be done. And there are times because when she
leaves once she once, you take it off, once you
lose the weight, keeping it off is just as challenging,
(20:18):
if not more than losing it to begin with. And
there are times where I've like sort of rethought that
and it's like, just put me into a depression, because
you know, I want to be done. I want to
just be able to live my life and eat what
I want and not gainly. And but that's not me,
and that's nut the situation that I'm ever gonna be in.
So I had to figure out how to think about
(20:39):
it in a way that just didn't put me into
a mental health till sin And what I came up
with was, this is what I need to do to
keep enjoying this life. This is the way I need
to eat, and this is the way that I need
to stay active, so I can go and be active
with my family and be active with my friends and
not worry about booze and roller coasters and feet felt
I broke I broken car suits before, and I don't
(21:01):
want to do that. I don't ever want to have
to ask to flight attendant for a seat boltic subject
because I feel like there's twenty such device in the
entire coach section around me that all of a sudden
staring at me because I'm a guy who can't fit
in the seatbelt and I don't want to have to
like worry about someone signing next to me on an
airplane because I'm so big, and be told if they're
signing audibly and annoyed like on them, but like it
(21:25):
still made me feel bad and I just swore, and
you might want to I'm sorry. I'm sure this is
a you know, family friendly podcast and my apodect, but
the idea is that you know it's no longer I
need to keep this off so I can be done
now if I want to keep this off, because I
don't want to give up all of these things that
(21:45):
I have worked so hard and that I've earned, And
that's how I think about it. I've earned the ability
to not worry about car sits and boozing roma posters,
and I will fight tooth and nail so I can
keep going and keep enjoying you thing and keep the
door open so I can enjoy so much more that
I haven't even like thought about. I love it all right,
(22:08):
So I just want to unbelievable and and I'm taking notes. Uh,
it's it's so eye opening. Every time we speak, you
always take it to even to another level. And and
because you're still on that journey and and it's going
to be so helpful to so many people before we
get finished, I want to make sure that people know
that not only have you kept it off, not only
have you enjoying things. I love that you said that
(22:29):
things that you wouldn't have expected, but you're now you're
racing up buildings. Tell people about that. Yeah, you're absolutely right.
And that's one of the things that I was able to.
You know, one of the things that I think so
that to our friendship earlier, that both of us have
had this experience of racing up a stairwell in the skyscraper,
but not many people have done, and most people don't
even haven't even heard about. In twelve, I started using
(22:52):
the stare Master a lot of the gym, and I'm
a big nerve and I love our texture and design
and urban planning, and so I would use a stair
master or a stetinell across the stetinel um and I
would use a stetinel and at the end of the
workout and be like, Oh, I just climbed. You know,
there's this play is telling me. I just climbed sixty stories.
And I would go and I look at the sky
(23:12):
Stripper online and look at pictures of the sixty story building,
which was hugely motivating. The stinks that I got to
the top of that building, you know, just at the
gym forty five minutes ago. And Um, a summer after
doing this for months and months, and I heard about
a tower run um which is another word for a
stair climb race where I was living in Los Angeles
and there was a sixty three story building and you
(23:33):
could race up to the top of it, and I
signed myself up for that. I thought, I'm doing it hypothetically,
it's the Jim, Let's like, let's do it for real.
And it was the most sarifying moment, one most terrifying
moments in my life, standing on the sidewalk looking up
at this building and just being like, I can hardly
see the top and I and I gotta get there,
and and my legs are the ones, you know, get
(23:55):
me there. But I did this race and it was
and I got to the top, and it ended on
the roof of on the helopad eight and something feet
above Los Angeles, and there was just the swirl of
emotions that was like obviously pride and accomplishment and and
and looking down and seeing this whole city belongnan and
that's what I just climbed, That's what I just ran.
And that felt really amazing. And then there was this
(24:17):
sort of utter complete pain and exhaustion and fatigue because
that was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life,
racing upstairs, and I just sort of felt invincible and
I've never ever felt like that before, and I thought,
I gotta keep doing this, I gotta I have to
chase that feeling. And so um now you know, it's
been seven years and I've done over seventy times. Of
(24:39):
these races, I've competed in many of the most famous
buildings in this country, including World Trade Center, Sears Tower
which is not called Willis Tower, the Stratosphere in Vegas,
the Space and you know, I've been one of roughly
twenty Americans ever that have been invited to compete up
the Eiffel Tower in Paris. And those races get me
(25:00):
going and they and they motivate me and they feel
me and I love it. And if I love the challenge,
I love the that reward, that feeling that I mentioned,
I just sort of love all of it. And I've
met this amazing community of people that I see as
these races that are all over the country. Um so
I have this amazing network of supportive people and and honestly,
I just someone into it because I decided I was
(25:20):
just gonna start doing something different at the gym and
and facing a fear of the step mill, which honestly
like intimidated me because everyone that's ever on the set
at the gym, they're like trench after thirty five seconds,
and you took on one of the toughest pieces of equipment, David, Yeah,
and I guess you know. And and I'm not gonna
sit here and encourage everyone to go find stairs and
(25:42):
climb them. So that's not for everyone. Like, certainly, if
you're at the mall or at the airport or whatever,
it takes, the stairs if you can, you know, stip
the escalator if you can, But like you don't need
to go climb onto count of the story. But what
I tell people is, in order to keep the way off,
in order to keep going moving forward, moving forward, moving forward,
you have to sign some sort of activity that you
love that you're gonna do every day. And maybe it's
(26:04):
walking your daughter on the block or walking a greater
distance than you normally would. Maybe it. Um My dad
is in his seventies and and in the past year
he discovered puckle ball, which is this um racket sport
that's like a like but in between ding pong and
tennis with on a smaller court and a smaller net
and a whistle ball. But like he's sort of found
the sport and now my seventies, something bad is playing
(26:27):
it three or four times a week without fails on
his schedule. He goes every single time it's available at
the community center down the street and um, and his
health has benefited and he's much more mobile and he's
much less stiff, and you know, and he's doing something
that so many people would never ever want to do
or can do or think they can do, and like
(26:48):
he's in his seventies, like finally in the seventies. So
you just got to find something. And you don't need
to become like some sort of um competitive athlete or
participate in some sort of extreme sports. But what are
you gonna do? So you so you can keep burning
calories and revolves rewards that benefit you know that exercise offers,
like better sleep and and better focus and having a
(27:10):
mental release. Like That's why I've always loved exercised, because
I could have a real crumby day or real crumby
conversation or something didnt go how I thought it would,
and I could just take that energy and expend it
with a really active workout and just feel so much
better and feel much more calm and collected. So, you know,
if you've got to keep you're not gonna be able
to keep weight off without being active. So find something
(27:31):
and if and if you don't like something, find something else.
Find new people start taking classes at the gym and
talk with your classmates and figure out who they are
and how you can connect and fond with them and
built those friendships, you know, follow people on Instagram and Twitter,
and listen to these podcasts like like Fitness Rusted and
and just keep your mind open. And that sort of
(27:52):
leads to my third point, which is you gotta keep evolving,
you know, keep trying new food, keep trying new exercises,
keep reading article and listening to podcasts and reading and
reading books. And the thing is that, like you can
read a book or an article and and and not
commit to any of the points that they're making or
any of the tips involved, but like you can fashion
away and know that moving forward, you can you can
(28:14):
just sort of have it in your arsenal so you
can lean on it later. And if you continue to
build that arsenal and and build those resources and and
know that, like if you're you know, in this sort
of situation, this Instagram person is someone that I can
look to for inspiration or you know, I can I
can turn on an episode of Finish the Truck that
I can go to a blog like my you know,
(28:34):
like my blog shameless Plug for keep it up, David
dot com. But like you, you know, if you have
all you know, you're better equipped to pivot away from
challenges and pivot away from stress if you just have
this arsenal. So, just like I said earlier, you're you're
not done when you lose the weight. You're never done learning.
And I've never done learning, and I love that because
I love to learn. I love like I'm very curious.
And so if I see a food that I've never
(28:56):
encountered before, like I'm gonna buy it, I'm gonna read
about it, I'm gonna cook it, I'm gonna eat it.
And whether or not whether or not I enjoy it,
that's a different matter. But like you know, I'm not
gonna know whether or not I enjoy unless I do
those previous steps. And then the next time I can
go to the grocery store, it's either there and I
love it and I'm buying more, or it's like, Okay, great,
I'm just gonna go back to broccoli. Broccoli. That tried
and true. You know, Just you gotta keep Yeah, we
(29:20):
need five hours, we really do. And I'm so busy
taking notes because it's just every time lean on it
I mean, just lean on it later. I love and
you're talking about evolving, you know, that's that's the variation
that I bore anyone who I talked to about fitness,
about how we gotta mix it up everything, as you said,
(29:41):
the food to exercise, the motivation. We need hours, but
we don't have today. I just I love and we're
gonna have you back. I'm gonna, I keep saying, we
like I have an imaginary friend next to me. I
don't know, there's this all encompassing we uh, everything execut
from room I know exactly, but it's you. You inspire me.
(30:06):
And I'm so excited for people to hear this show.
And you just hit on everything in the absolute in
my opinion, and I'm very biased, the best way to
give people the tools they need to enjoy life. And
I love that you finished up by saying, I'm gonna
try all these different foods. It's not about deprivation, it's
not about starving yourself. It's about what you talked about
(30:28):
for this entire show, David, trying different things, try and
and you know, hey, but what I love and I
gotta point out one last time, is that who would
have thought you would be racing up buildings. So that
is when we talk about weight loss and people getting healthier,
that's awesome and that like for most people, as you said,
that's like their goal. But oh my gosh, keep your
mind open because it will open up the world to
(30:48):
you in ways that you had no idea. And that's
why when we talk about fitness and exercise, I'll say
it one last time. Sure, weight law is super important.
We're gonna get there. You're gonna find that weight. But
there's so much more than that, and it's living, it's
enjoying foods, it's finding these communities, David, racing up buildings,
it's finding relationships David and I friends. Now, it's it's
(31:10):
so much more. And David couldn't thank you more. We're
gonna have you back, and we need to race up
the empire state building together. Although you have to go
easy on me because you're stronger than I am. I
don't know if I'm stronger than anytime. You're pretty strong,
you know, like anytime I love talking to you, I'd
love to come you know, I'd love to come back.
I will be knocking on your door, um the second.
(31:31):
I mean, although I honestly, I have no current plans,
but you know I I love you and I'll talk
to you. You gotta get out here, yeah, absolutely, we'll
get you out here. We give everyone your social media,
so you gotta keep it up, David dot com. What else?
Keep it up, David dot com. And it's really easy
on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, all three. I'm keeping up David.
(31:52):
I found something that worked across all platforms and I
was like, yes, I'm never changing this because I was
able to register them all. So keep it up, David. Now.
And if you say hi, um, I love meeting people.
I love chatting with people. UM, So don't hesitate to
reach out um and just say hi. You know you
don't need to have a question, just say hi. I
love making friends. So keep it up, please do. Because
(32:15):
the new world is, David and I know is community
and connecting with people, and now we can do it
in an amazing way. And if if David's story resonated
with you, and it didn't, you you got problems. But
if you go to his social media and connect and
watch and learn and and as David said, you may
not take the advice right away, but you uh lean
(32:35):
on it later or put it aside. Uh and and
when the time is right for you, uh, then you
may use it. But but again, connect be inspired David.
Thank you so much. We will we will talk again soon.
Thanks for taking the time. And I just I can't
say enough. I'm speechless. Thank you, David. Have a great day,
speak soon. Thank you very much. Yea, and we are back.
(33:14):
How amazing is David Garcia? Again, if you're not inspired
by his story, if you have goals you want to achieve,
and that didn't move you, you gotta get your heart checked.
So great. Took notes like crazy because David just what
comes out of his mouth should be so helpful to
(33:37):
those of you who have been struggling, the simple yet
just super powerful message of how he did it. You know,
I was scribbling down notes like crazy. I keep notebooks
on all this stuff because it's it's all research, it's
all helpful, it's all amazing and just things like He
(33:59):
felt proud it. He felt proud. But the small changes,
the small changes, as he talked about, started bringing lunch
to work, brought his clothes to work so he could
get a workout in because he knew he was was
less likely to do it once he got home, back
to the gym, back to the whole thing of time.
(34:23):
You gotta make the small changes that make you feel proud.
It's called self efficacy. You will hear me talk about
that on almost just a crazy amount of shows. Because
self efficacy is situational confidence. It's building confidence, it's feeling
good about yourself and in certain situations. And that's what
drives me nuts about fad diets and fad workouts and
(34:46):
bad information because it does the opposite. It diminishes, It
breaks down your self efficacy. You don't feel good about yourself.
Small changes builds on itself, exactly what he said. He said,
keep building things like stopped driving by eleven drive throughs.
(35:06):
Goes against all those articles that I talked about at
the beginning of the show. You can't do it. It's
your genetics. How about not driving by How about the
little things that can make it easier for you. We
make it difficult on ourselves when we try to make
huge changes in a small amount of time. Back when
I was a trainer, towards the end of of being
(35:29):
a trainer, when I had figured it out what was
working and what wasn't, and I was never a big
change type of person. But it's just my clients were
shocked when I would say, here's the small changes we're
gonna make over time. Everyone wanted that I want to
lose ten pounds in a week, How about one or two.
We're gonna shoot for these short term goals that will
(35:51):
bring us to our long term goals. But we're not
gonna make that long term goal our short term goal.
That's what's amazing and so powerful about someone's like David's story.
He brought his leftovers okay, and and and the final
(36:13):
thing that just blows me away with his story is
how he said the world opened up to him in
ways he never realized, in ways he never thought possible.
One of those was his stair running, but as he said,
it was going on planes and not having to ask
for the seatbelt. But it was so much more than that.
(36:34):
It was opening up things to him, opportunities that he
didn't know he didn't have, that he was missing out on.
So I hope you enjoyed him, and I'm gonna have
so many more people like him because it's such a
(36:55):
powerful message and it's a message that works. It works.
I'm gonna bring you stuff that works. Small changes my
term excessive moderation. Don't do a little bit of exercise
or sorry, don't do a lot of exercise, A little,
(37:16):
do a little a lot. And it was funny when
I threw an excessive moderation to the term to a
publisher not too long ago. She said, it doesn't make sense.
They're contradictory, and I said, exactly, it's the point, it's
the whole point. Uh. We have fun, Uh, David Garcia,
(37:43):
We listened to the show over and over right down.
Take notes. If you have the same goals that David
had and you want to maintain them the way he has,
then do what David did. And as he said, it
may not be you don't have to. There's other ways
around things, But it's he didn't tell you what type
(38:04):
of foods to eat. He told you to avoid driving
past the fast food places. He didn't tell you a
kind of exercise to do. Although walking is the greatest, simplest,
easiest way to start for the vast majority of people,
you're gonna find what works for you. But it's the
concepts that he threw out there that work for just
(38:26):
about everybody. You have to find within those concepts, what works,
what works for you. And then, as he said, you're
gonna you're gonna mix it up, even hit on that
topic that I talk about all the time, mix it up,
mix it up, find new things will work for you
(38:48):
for a long time. Over time, you're gonna have to
change it up. And that's great news, not bad news
when you get bored doing the same thing over and over.
And if you love it, keep doing it. But but
we need to keep mixing it up. Thanks for listening,
and hey, if you have a couple of extra seconds
and really would appreciate it, if you would connect with me,
leave a review, leave a comment, whatever you want to
(39:10):
talk about wherever you listen to the show. So I
hope you enjoyed David Garcia. I hope you got inspired.
And I hope if you think you can't achieve something
because of your genetics, he is of anything. I hope
he changed your way of thinking on that because there
(39:33):
are three things that we have total control over, what
we put into our mouths, how much we move, and
our attitude. So I have a great day, Thank you
for listening, and believe in yourself. Fitness disrupted as a
(39:58):
production of my heart radio. For more podcasts from my
heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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