Coach Super Mario Lost 40 POUNDS in 4 Months??

You've lost a lot of weight. You seem like you're happier, in a better mood, like you have more energy, and maybe you cut yourself in half. Like, you look like you lost to Mario working on the other half in the process. Right?

Yeah.

And so I think going into 2020 and what. What we were kind of talking about is it's a relevant conversation and for everybody listening, because everybody wants to make New Year's resolutions and you want to join a gym and you want to do all this stuff, but come February, like, I think it's hilarious at my gym down here downtown that it's going to be super busy the next month. 30, 45 days, can't get the weights, can't get a machine. And then by February, it's empty again, you know, and so that's not sustainable, and that's not what anybody wants. Like, you really want something sustainable. And it seems like you've kind of created something. It wasn't an overnight thing. It was a journey, not a destination. And you've just been consistent. You don't always win, but you win more than you lose. And so you've been going. So let's, let's kind of dissect that a little bit and help everybody listening or watching understand, like, what, you know, what it takes to do that. So do you know how much you've lost?

It's going to be upwards of over 30 pounds at this point. Yeah.

That's huge.

Down from like 267.

That's like.

Yeah, right. From 267. I think I'm down under 230. You know, I fluctuate depending on how much water, what I did that day or that week, you know, so between 225 and 230 is my current weight right now, which still got a lot to go. But, yeah, you're right. The energy level, the excitement, the. The awareness of everything, it just. It's in tune with everything I'm doing, you know, so it's. It gets exciting. Yeah. You know.

So what made you. What was the turning point? Like, what made you change to the degree that it stuck so much?

You remember we went to Chicago.

Yeah.

So when we went to Chicago and we met, we met up with Dennis and Greg. What did you notice?

The group there and Dennis is the manager.

Yup. What did you notice instantly about those two guys?

Well, Greg, for sure, like, lost a ton of weight.

Ton of weight.

He had hip surgery, which surprised me, because usually, you know, you're not that active, right? Yeah. Because he had his his whole hip replaced, I think.

Yeah. And then so you have Dennis the manager, and then, you know, Greg, the one that operations manager. Half the people I knew, and I'm staring back, and I'm asking a bunch of questions. Like, I'm excited, because if you're half the person that I used to know, then I eventually want to be half the person that people knew me at. So I'm asking them all these questions of, what are you doing? Are you working out? And, you know, the funny thing is they actually had different routines, but they had the same results. So they had different routines.

And I knew you were asking them.

I was asking a bunch of questions. I realized really quick that I didn't want to do what Dennis was doing. He was. He had just, like Patricia coined it the best. He had like a. A bums diet. Right. Because it was like a can of beans and some tuna. That's what he ate every lunch. Right. I'm. I'm looking at, like, well, you definitely got the results that I'm looking for, but I don't know if I want to do that. I don't think I can do that for the rest of my life. Right. And once I started talking to Greg, you know, the interesting part is he told me, I'm reading this book.

Yeah. I remember that. Him, like, saying, read this book. Read this book.

Yeah. And so I asked, what was the book? It was Burn the fat, feed the Muscle.

Burn the fat, feed the muscle.

Yeah. And I believe it was by Burn the Fat, Feed the muscle by Tom Venuto or something like that. Tom Venuto. And so I got the book. I got it on my audibles, and instantly I started reading it right away. And. And, you know, I did frame myself as, I'm not going to learn nothing. This is obviously going to tell me, hey, don't eat and go work out. But ironically, the way they explained it, it resonated with me. It just. It made me really understand.

That diet is 80% fitness is going to help you, but it's not the way to go. Right. And so I guess. Let me back up for a second for a long time.

They always say, like, abs are made in the kitchen.

Yeah. And so to that coin, the way I grew up was, eat what you want, just work twice as hard in the gym. So I always worked out very hard.

Works when you're young.

Yeah. And so I took that mindset, and that's what I knew is, like, if you want the body, you got to go build it. Right. And forever, I Don't know if you grew up like me, Chris, but when it comes to eating Hispanic, you know, mothers don't really teach you the right macronutrients that we're supposed to intake. They just cook a Thanksgiving dinner, every dinner for, you know, dinner and Thanksgiving.

Dinner, if that's tortillas and well, I.

Mean, we'll have our protein and it's like 20 to, you know, 30 sides. And your mom's cooking as she's serving you more food and more food and more food. And the last thing that they always.

Say, mad if you don't eat.

Yeah. Make sure you polish off that plate. Don't throw away the food. People are suffering, you know, they don't have food. So you just learn to eat everything they serve and, and then not even manage, you know, how much portion size or anything.

Yeah. And in a Latin family, food is very much a part of like that's.

How they show ritual.

Yeah. It's part of the whole thing.

So I have the mindset of eat what you want, if you want to burn it, go work out the book. Really it resonated with me that I feed the muscle, meaning I'm going to go to the gym, I'm a workout, I'm going to break my muscle. Right. You're tearing it apart and then you need to feed it. So you got to have the proper nutrition for you to recover faster, for you to go out and be able to work out the same, the same intensity you did the day before. So that's how I started understanding, oh, food is fuel. Right.

Not entertainment.

Not entertainment, exactly. And most of us perceive it as, well, I can't wait to go eat and we overeat and you know, we'll go from a sampler or an appetizer to all these little things before we even get our meal. And by that time you went over your kids calorie intake. Right. And so when I understood food is a fuel and I got to look at it differently and depending on what fuel I eat, that's how fast I recover, I go, oh, I got to change my diet.

Yeah. So, you know, a lot of people listening to this are working long hours, right? Yeah. And so the thing that impressed me about traveling with you a couple times recently was that, I mean, even if you're a service manager working 10 hours.

Yeah.

Your thing is you're staying in a hotel, so you don't have a kitchen and all that when you go to stores. Right.

Usually. But not.

No, usually you don't. And so you're eating out most of the time. Second of all is you're in the store by 6:15 probably, so you, you know, you don't really have a lot of time in the morning, although you could make it work. You'd have to get up pretty early and then you're working until 5 or 6 and then you're, you're starving by then like most managers or advisors, right. Like you're really not putting food as the priority and the food actually is probably more important than the working out like we established. So every time that I've traveled with you recently, you're getting in a workout before we go to dinner and you kind of are planning, it seems like you're planning out your meals better. What is changing? What advice would you give to anyone watching this that kind of has that, you know, I stand at my desk all down, really have time for food and workouts and that sort of thing.

Preparation, Kris. I mean, at the end of the day is you got to prepare yourself. Not only when am I going to work out, how long am I going to work out for, what is the goal when I'm working out? And then you do the same for meals. And so in me understanding, you know, how important meals are, I realized that the hotels are a mat are actually giving me very good breakfast meals. But it's a choice, right? I can go for the waffle and I can go for the extra bacon. But if you real. Yeah, if you realize it, they have hard boiled eggs. And so I typically eat three hard boiled eggs. Maybe get an oatmeal and a little yogurt because now I understand that there's so much fuel in it. There's a lot of protein in yogurt, things that I didn't eat. Yeah, waffles are definitely entertainment, right? But once you understand that and then you start making the proper decision when you're snacking. So I'll have an apple. One of the things that I'll eat is, you know, I do a lot of beef jerky because it has protein. It kind of just keeps me from really making a bad decision. Because when you go too long without eating now you just want something in your belly, right?

See that's the thing for me is I go too long and then it's like I just want a pizza or whatever because I just gotta eat, right? So it's all about the planning.

You gotta have some healthy snacks that you're gonna like and you know, you can just grab your bag and eat something before you go too long. And Then we make wrong decisions at that point.

Yeah, I think in, and I don't know, you can tell me if you feel this way, but the eating is more for your weight, but the working out is more for your mind.

The way I understood it, I agree 100%. The eating is to fuel yourself, the working hours to burn the excess fat, right?

No, but I mean, when I work out, I have a clear mind and make better decisions. I'm calmer.

Right. So my add, what I was going to add to that is as you're focusing to burn the fat and you start doing workouts to burn the fat, your brain starts kind of opening up and your heart and everything just feels like you can breathe better, you can think clearer. Like the awareness that you do in working out is a form of meditation. Right. And so I don't know if you remember coming couple weeks back or I would say a couple months back when anybody said something about running, I would roll my eyes and be like, yeah, right, I don't want to run. And now I actually, I'm excited to go run. One of the things like preparation, I have a minimum requirement. My minimum requirement is I have to do a mile every day. That's the minimum requirement. That's it. No matter what, no matter what, rain, snow, sleek or shine, do a mile every day. And so what I've noticed is when I do a mile now, my body feels warmed up. Guess what? I want to do another mile. I want to work out or do another mile. And so your brain just starts craving.

People always say the hardest part of working out is putting on your tennis shoes.

Just getting in there, right?

Yeah. Once you put on your shoes, you're.

Going, yeah, you don't want to waste the day. You're already there and you might as well get a good workout in.

But say like put your tennis shoes right by your bed, roll out of bed, put them on and then you'll never look back.

Exactly.

That's awesome. Well, I hope that inspires you guys going into2020, that it's a long term game, it's not about the quick win, right?