Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker (00:01):
Welcome to the
Fredericksburg Neighbors
Podcast, the place where localbusinesses and neighbors come
together.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Welcome back to
another episode of the FXBG
Neighbors Podcast, where weshare the stories of our
favorite local brands.
I'm excited to introduce you tomy guest today.
We have Charlie Evans joiningus with Faithfully Fit and
Frugal.
Charlie, welcome to thepodcast.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Thank you, Dori, for
having me.
It's a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Oh, well, I am
excited to learn more about you
and learn more about yourbusiness.
So let's start there.
Share with us a little bitabout Faithfully Fit and Frugal.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
So Faithfully Fit and
Frugal, F3 for Short, because I
realize that is a mouthful whenyou say it, right?
So F3 for Short, we are anonline fitness, nutrition, and
wellness company where we caterto busy women over 40.
Having said that, all of ourproducts are available and they
can be used by pretty muchanyone over 18.
(01:08):
They're not made for children.
They are made for adults.
They are not hormone-based.
So they are men can use them ifthey so wish as well.
But they're designed to workwith your busy schedule and not
against it.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Amazing.
Well, I have personallyexperienced your uh recipes and
they are fabulous.
So I absolutely love everythingthat you're doing.
And so I would love to learnmore about your journey and your
background.
Tell us how you got into this.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
So this is this is a
funny story.
Um, it wasn't funny at thetime, of course, but I'm I am a
retired marine girl officer.
And my first year transitioningfrom enlisted to officer, I
became pregnant with my secondchild, my daughter.
And I gained a lot of weight.
And it was not baby weight.
(02:01):
I couldn't blame it on her, butI made all the wrong decisions
you could possibly make.
And I think what happened is Itook for granted my experience
in my previous pregnancy with myson, where by the time he was
born, the doctors were trying toget me to gain five pounds.
Well, with her, I'll say bymonth five, we we had to have
(02:24):
the let's talk about your weighttalk that no one wants to have.
Um, and what I didn't take intoaccount was once the baby's
born, at that time by my regularstandards, I had six months to
lose all of that weight.
And nothing that I was doingwas working.
And I was very embarrassed.
(02:47):
Um, I felt actually I felt alittle ashamed being a new
wrinkle officer to ask for help.
There was plenty of help.
All I had to do was ask, but Ididn't do that.
And then one day, one of myMarines came to the office and
she had a fitness magazine inher hand, and there was a
beautiful woman on the cover whodid not look like a man because
(03:10):
at the time I thought, well, ifI lift weights, I'm gonna look
like a man.
That is such a myth, but youdon't know what you don't know.
So I asked her if I could readthe magazine, and she said yes,
and I read it cover to coverthat day on my lunch break, and
I was hooked because thatmagazine was Fitness RX, they
they have since discontinuedpublication, but it gave you the
(03:32):
science behind fitness andnutrition and how you can use it
to make your body healthier,and I was hooked from that day,
so I stopped running nine milesa day Monday through Friday and
living off of a hundred caloriesnacks, which nothing was
working, of course.
Um, and I picked up someweights, and those last 15
(03:54):
pounds came off, and I just I II loved the concept and I've
been hooked ever since.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Amazing, amazing.
I'm glad you shared thatbecause I imagine there's a lot
of women that can relate tothat.
It's a it's a very confusingprocess and it's very difficult
to understand.
And so uh you understood thescience behind it, the why
behind it, and how it all works,and that's um uh a big light
(04:23):
bulb moment that I imagine a lotof women uh maybe have had or
need, and you're there to help.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Well, because we
think what that it's a numbers
game, calories in versuscalories out.
It's actually more than that.
But when we believe that and wejust hold true to that nine
miles a day, Monday throughFriday, 1200 calories or less a
day, that should have worked,right?
(04:51):
But it didn't, and it wasn't itwas more it was more than a
plateau, it was a your body's instarvation mode, nothing's
going to work because our bodiesare they're smart machines,
they adapt.
Oh my gosh, she's starving me.
I'm gonna this girl's crazy.
I'm gonna hold on to everythingbecause she's not feeding me,
but I didn't understand that atthe time, so yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
What would you say
are your standout programs?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Um, I'm glad you
asked that.
Um, we are we have a signaturenutrition program.
So to date, that's been ourstandout program across all of
our you know other offerings.
Where this program, you buy itonce, it provides a lifetime
subscription, and it gives youeverything that you ever need
(05:40):
for healthy nutrition.
Um, it's four modules.
You can think of them as weeks.
So, you know, week one, weektwo, week three, module one,
module two, module three, modulefour.
And it's designed where you canlearn at your own pace or you
can jump right in.
Each module has uh it comeswith a bonus, a free bonus that
(06:01):
complements that module.
And the first module, whichI've been told is pretty much
one of the standout features,it's mindset.
And because at F3, we believethat mindset really is key.
Mindset drives everything.
So even when it comes tohealthy nutrition, we have to
(06:24):
start with our mindset first,and then we can we can dive into
everything else.
Um, each module builds upon theother module to make it pretty
much, it's gonna be if it is theonly program that you'll ever
need for healthy nutrition.
And it comes with a lifetime ofthose chef design recipes that
you've tried yourself.
(06:45):
Um, breakfast, lunch, dinner,dessert, because at F3 we
believe in realistic eating of arestrictive eating.
So of course it's gonna havedesserts.
Um, it's gonna have uh they allcome with smoothies.
Um, there's high protein, youknow, five ingredients or less.
You pretty much get to pick.
And all of our chef designrecipes, whether it's in the F3
(07:09):
signature program or our monthlynutrition subscription, they
have um QR code.
So you have to sit there andtype everything in.
Because again, designed to workwith your busy schedule to cut
down time where we possiblycould.
And also within the program,you get sample meal plans for
(07:30):
each recipe pack.
You get a weekly shopping list,you get food allergen listings
per recipe.
Because in my house, we havetwo children with severe um food
allergens.
So I know what it's like tohave the you want to eat
something, but you want to knowwhat's in it because you want to
know if it's something youcan't eat or if it's something
(07:51):
something or someone in yourhousehold can eat.
So, what we've done at F3 is wemade a all-encompassing
nutrition program that takes asmuch guesswork off of your plate
as we possibly could.
And it's been in twointernational women's fitness
magazines since November 2004.
(08:13):
Both magazines highlighted themindset module as a great way to
start.
Um, and it's just it's designedto be realistic for you.
It's designed to be, again, youlearn at your own pace.
Um you can jump right in, oryou can go in the order that
it's designed to be in.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
So tell me, what is
something that you wish the
listeners knew about FaithfullyFit and Frugal?
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Um, well, one of the
things I wish they knew is that
we have the ability to cater orcustomize, if you will, uh a
wellness program that'sindividualized to your
organization, to, you know,whether you're a community
partner or you're, you know, youhave a corporate partner, or
(09:05):
you know, you just have your owncompany and you care about the
wellness of your staff.
F3, we have we have thecapability and we've actually
just started rolling out umcustomized wellness or nutrition
or fitness programs.
Um, you can check out one ofthem on our website where we
designed a customized nutritionprogram for one of the one
(09:29):
another Fredericksburg businesshere.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
So that's amazing.
That's really cool.
I love that.
I love that.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
I'm I'm pretty
excited about it.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, so you're you're notjust catering to um individuals,
but you're catering toorganizations as well.
Right.
Uh in terms of business, that'sa whole nother level for you of
scaling.
And so clearly you've workedreally hard building this and
you've had a ton of success anduh and accolades and you've been
(09:59):
in the magazines.
And so if someone came to youand they were thinking about
starting their own business,what advice would you give them?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
I would tell them to
let fear be a driving force
instead of an obstacle.
Um so I've I've applied thatmyself.
I applied it reading themagazine, right?
I was fearful, I wasembarrassed, I didn't want to
ask anyone for help.
(10:31):
Um saw the magazine, that wasGod right there.
Saw the magazine, read it, Iwas hooked.
Um, starting my business.
I wrote F3's first trainingguide, and then I sat on it for
almost six years for no otherreason other than I was afraid.
So I came to a point where Ihad to release it afraid.
(10:55):
I let those things become astopping point to some degree
before I allowed it to propel meforward.
So for you know, burdening orburgeoning entrepreneurs or
someone who's on the fence,don't let fear be your wall.
Don't let it be your stoppingpoint.
Do it afraid, let it be yourdriving point, let it be that
(11:18):
guide, let it propel you forwardbecause you have two options.
You're gonna do it or you'renot gonna do it.
The fear is always gonna bethere.
And but fear can be goodbecause if you're not afraid of
your dreams, you probably aren'tdreaming big enough.
You your your dream shouldscare you to some degree, it
(11:41):
should, it should seem daunting,it should be like, oh man,
that's a tall order.
Then meet the tall order.
If you feel mediocre about yourown dream, nobody else,
everybody else is going to feelmediocre about it too.
So I say let fear be yourdriving force, let it propel you
forward, don't let it just stopyou there.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
I love that so much.
If you're if it doesn't scareyou, you're not dreaming big
enough.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
If it doesn't scare
you, you're not dreaming big
enough.
Everything um F3's done,starting alone, right?
Six years, it's a long time.
Starting alone, every time youknow we've pivoted, whether it's
the signature nutritionprogram, you know, lifestyle
guides, or now reaching out tothe community for community
collaborations or partnershipsand customized wellness
(12:29):
programs.
I'm saying it matter-factly,but no, it was uh it's a
brainstorm.
It's like, ooh, ooh, that's alittle, that's a tall order.
Okay, let's do this.
Let's do this.
It's a tall order, let's meetthe order.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Yeah, that's great
advice.
Thank you.
I love that.
So if the listeners want tolearn more from you, want to
connect with you, want to workwith you, how can they find you?
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Um, they can find me
on the F3 website,
faithfullyfitandfrugal.com.
Um, I'm also on LinkedIn underunder my government name, under
Charlie Evans.
Um, and we're on Pinterest,where we're rolling out our
Pinterest board.
And um that's under FaithfullyFit and Frugal as well.
(13:19):
And yeah, we have our we havefree recipes out there you want
to try if you're on the, youknow, if you're on the fence.
Um, we have a blog that westarted in spring of this year.
So every week we're eitherrolling out, you know, free more
free recipes, differentrecipes.
You can go to Pinterest for youknow recipes, you can go to um
the blog, the F3 blog for otherrecipes.
(13:42):
Um, and just blog posts, youknow, where it's optimizing
sleep that went out two weeksago, or the top things I learned
when it's when it was time forme when I wanted to lose weight,
you know, what to do, what notto do.
We've pretty much uh if you hada question about it, it's
probably that question isprobably answered out there on
(14:03):
the F3 blog.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
So amazing, amazing.
Thank you, Charlie, for joiningme on the podcast.
Thank you for all that you doand all that you provide for
your customers.
And uh go visit Faithfully Fitand Frugal and try one of those
free recipes.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Yes, thank you, and
thank you for having me.
You're welcome.
Speaker (14:25):
Thank you for listening
to the Fredericksburg Neighbors
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to FXBG NeighborsPodcast.com.