071: My Story of Leveling Up and Creating Everything From Nothing with Natalie Jill

Hi, I'm Natalie Jill, fat loss expert turned high performance coach. When odds are stacked against us, how do we shift and create everything from nothing? How do we level up when we aren't feeling it yet or we've had a big setback? On this podcast, I'll be talking to some of the most inspiring and courageous men and women on this planet who at their worst, learned how to achieve success greater than they ever dreamed possible. Leveling up and creating everything from nothing. Today on Leveling Up, I wanted to switch it up a bit so you can all get to know me on a little bit of a deeper level, especially with my new book, aging in Reverse, coming up. So I invited my good friend Justin Schenck, who is the host of Growth Now Movement, and he's also the reason I started a podcast. So he's going to be interviewing me today on the three big questions that I always get.

Natalie, thank you so much for giving me the honor to be able to do this. So, you know, obviously you're somebody who I had on my show a year and a half ago, and we really just connected, and I've learned so much more about you, and I think this is really cool to be able to have this conversation because how incredible you are from a business standpoint. Not just a fitness standpoint, but also a mindset standpoint and everything else. And I'm excited to have your audience get to know you a little bit more from that standpoint.

Thank you, Jeff.

They know you as this fitness guru who they follow, and they learn how to really live their best life from a healthy standpoint. How does somebody even begin that process of getting into doing that?

Yeah, it's so funny because my business actually started by accident. And I'll explain that a little bit more because a lot of times I'll get messages like, how do I start my own brand or my own business or my own journey in fitness or whatever it is that they're passionate about. Mine really started by accident, and it started. I'll just give you a little background story. So if you take. Go back about 11 years, I had just had my daughter because she's 11 now, and I was, what looked like to everybody else living this ideal, perfect life. I was doing what I was supposed to do. I had the corporate job. I was married. I lived in the white picket fence house. I had the daughter. I had the two dogs. I had all the things, the things that you could check off the list. I had gone to college. I had all the. Just the things that people would have expected me to do at least the way that I was raised. And I was pretty self righteous about it all, to be honest with you. And when we get self righteous about things and our ego takes over, we tend to be humbled. And that's exactly what happened to me. So I don't know if you remember, Justin, what was going on in 2007, 2008, maybe you're younger than me, but the housing market had crashed, the financial market was a mess. And that was happening in my life like everybody else's. But what people didn't know about me at that time was I was learning that I was going to be going through a divorce. That was a decision that me and my ex husband were making. I was now going to be a new single mom. Nothing unusual, there's lots of people that go through that. But now the market had crashed, the housing market had crashed. And I also knew being a single mom, how was I going to have my job that required full time travel? So I started going down that road of having to make some tough decisions. And what added to it was I was extremely overweight. Now let me explain that because somebody might look and say, well, you were pregnant. And you know, I'm 5 foot 2 and I had gained 60 pounds more than I am today. And that's a lot of weight on somebody who's 5 foot 2. And especially with my daughter, she weighed about 6 pounds when she was born. So it was a lot of extra weight. It was a lot of extra weight. So with extra weight can come lack of confidence, depression, mood swings, pain. So I had all the things then too. And what makes this story different is that it felt very fake to me because I didn't share with anybody. It was like I was in hiding because I thought I was supposed to have this perfect life. And here I was, overweight, depressed, going through a divorce, scared about my job, what I was going to do to earn a living, freaking out about my savings, watching that dwindle. And next thing you know, I can't pay my mortgage, I'm completely backwards on it. And I had to stop making payments, which completely shot my credit. So now I'm broke, overweight and depressed. And that's the start of my journey and my business.

Yeah, and that's crazy. And there's so many people who find themselves in that rock bottom moment of everything kind of fell apart. There's two different types of people though, right? There's the people who then live in that and they allow that to define them. And then there's somebody like you who started to take incremental steps to build what it is you have. Now. How did what made you kind of fall into starting to take those steps? And I think if I remember correctly, you just started sharing your food online or something.

Yeah, so it took me, there was about a four month process of me wanting to hide and cover up. And I know because I meet people constantly or I hear stories of people still doing that. Like, and when you're in that, you don't even realize you're doing it. You're just trying to hold it all together. And you're not, you're thinking, you have to have it all together so you don't ask for help, you don't share. So I watch a lot of people doing that and then people take two different spins on it. They either become a complete victim and go down that path, which really doesn't fix anything, or they become accountable and at some point take responsibility. So for me, what happened was I had that defining moment where I remember thinking, do I want to stay in this spot or do I want something else for my life? Because I was so depressed and so miserable and I wasn't really hanging out or talking to anybody because I didn't want to put my burden on them. So I remember making this decision of like, okay, I don't want to be here anymore and I don't know how to get out of here. So what am I going to do? What am I going to do? And you know what? Something I know now that I didn't know then is that in order to change your circumstance, you have to change your thoughts and you have to change your actions because you can't solve the problem that you're in with the same thoughts that got you there. Like, you have to learn a different method. You have to do that. So I remember the first thing I did was I remember turning on the TV and I watched Oprah and I saw her, she was featuring the Secret at the time about Law of Attraction. It's the first time I'd ever heard of it. And about vision boards. And I remember first hearing it and going, that's so, that's kind of woo, woo. But then I started thinking about it and I'm like, you know, in corporate, this is what I used to tell people. I used to say, you know, you have to create a vision. You have to know what your goals are. You have to know where it is that you want to go before you can even work on a plan to get there. So it kind of hit me that, wow, I've sort of known this, and I'm not practicing it on myself. So that was my turning point. I came home, I remember I sat down, I made a vision board. I went through a bunch of magazines. I started pulling out different images of anything that was appealing to me. Fit women, fit girls, a beach, sunshine, palm trees, happiness. Just anything that, like, I was gravitating towards anything that was not how I was feeling right now, but at the time. But I remember putting healthy food on there. Just anything that made me feel good looking at it. And I put it on this vision board. And I thought, if I could just stare at this vision board and imagine that I am the person living in that vision board and start asking myself the questions, like, what would this person be doing? What would they be thinking? What would they be saying? What would they be eating? Then I have to turn into that. And that was like, that first. That first step. And I remember I would just stare at it. I would stare at it daily. And I didn't just stare at it and think it was gonna, you know, absorb into my body. It was more, I'm gonna stare at it and try to evoke some feelings. So I take different actions. And that was step one. That was really step one.

And that's incredible to me because I'm a big visualizer. I believe in the whole vision board thing. And, you know, obviously, when you focus on it, your actions start to take form. Right. Like, so if you're staring at healthy food and then you go see a burger, you're not gonna feel right because you're kind of healthy food. You're like, I can't have that greasy burger.

Yeah.

Looked amazing in that photo. So from that standpoint, obviously, that's where it began. But what actions did you take from there? Because, yeah, you know, there's a lot of people doing this who then don't create this, you know, following of millions of people online.

Yeah.

What was the next step?

Totally. So the next thing was I actually didn't have a vision of having, like, millions of people online or creating a business at that time. I was in step one. And I want to tell people that because we hear a lot about massive action, but massive action can be very intimidating for people and keep them stuck. So just taking any action in the right direction is actually a great first move. So that's what I decided I was going to do. Like, I'm just going to take steps forward every day. So the next thing that started happening is I Would look at the girl on the vision board and think, well, what's she eating? And. And I knew she was eating differently than I was eating. So I started digging and diving into nutrition and researching that. And what I found is what a lot of people find online. I got complete information overload. I was overwhelmed by the information, and I thought, there's got to be a simpler way. So I really started to dig in and uncover simpler ways of eating that would work. And I decided for accountability, I was going to post it on my Facebook. Now, when people hear that, they go, oh, okay, that's how you got your business started. Well, I didn't have millions of people on Facebook. I had like a hundred friends from high school. I didn't have anyone asking me if I post food. I just had my. Whatever Facebook had just started. So I remember posting my food. I was that original what I'm eating poster. And I would share like, this is what I'm eating for lunch. This is what I'm eating for breakfast. And I was doing it for myself. I really wasn't doing it for anyone else. It was my own accountability. But what happened next, Justin, was so. It's so amazing. And this is just a total testament to when you're living in your passion and doing the right things. So I had no agenda other than I'm just working on myself at the time and getting better and sharing. And I started sharing and I was being really real with people. People started to see I was, you know, what I was going through and what was happening in my life and that I was going to shed the weight and I was going to get healthy. And I made declarations that I call them now. I decided it was happening and I declared it publicly, and I would share pictures of food. And people followed. They loved it. They were like, tell me more. How are you eating? How are you putting that together? And the next thing, I'm getting questions like, hey, why don't you make a recipe book? Well, I didn't know the first thing about making a recipe book. And that's another thing that stops people is they get stuck on the how and the process. And I didn't know. And somebody mentioned to me, make an ebook. And I was like, what's an ebook? And I remember googling. I was embarrassed. What's an ebook? And I was like, oh, okay. So at the time, we didn't have iPhones. I had my BlackBerry phone. I took the food pictures I made on my BlackBerry and I made them into. I turned them into a word Document that I then converted to a PDF and I put a $10 price tag on it and I put it on Facebook and I said, okay, I did what you guys suggested. I made my first ebook, you know who wants it? And I got a bunch of emails. I don't a bunch at the time was maybe 10, but I got some emails like, okay, I want it. And I would send them a PayPal link and they'd send me their $10 and I'd email them the ebook. That's what started things. That's literally what started things. And what happened from there was really quite amazing. This is what happens when you just add value and you're real. My body was changing and I was getting super fit and I was starting to do some fitness modeling and people started asking, what are you doing to get your body like that? How are you eating your food? How are you putting that together? So I sat down another weekend and I wrote my original book, which is now a best selling book in stores called 7 Day Jumpstart. But at first it was a 12 page ebook and I put that online for $35. I didn't have a sales page, I didn't have a marketing plan, I didn't use Facebook ads, I didn't have any know what the heck I was doing. I didn't have an email list. I had none of that. I just put it on Facebook and I said, okay, I made my seven day jumpstart. Who wants it? And I charged $35 and people bought it and it was awesome. And not only did they buy it, they got amazing results from it. And they would send me a message and say, oh my gosh, Natalie, I got your jumpstart. I've lost all this weight this first week. I feel great. I have no bloating, I'm not having cravings. I have my energy back. And I would screenshot it with their permission and I would post it and say, who is next? Who is next? And what's so crazy, Justin, is that's literally what launched my business. That launched my whole business. Because that point program took off by me sharing real, adding value, answering questions, and literally sharing like that. And that that product alone turned into a. It launched my whole business.

That's incredible. And what people don't always realize is like, you were doing this before there was a model for this and now people have copied your model and there's tons of people all over the planet using this as their business.

Yes.

And how they're growing everything, which is amazing to think that you are really like the first person to step or one of the first people to step into that.

Yeah, I really was. I mean, there were people doing things online, but not to the scale that they were now. And what's interesting too is like, you know, sometimes we stop ourselves from doing things because we think there's too many people doing it, or we get into comparison mode of what won't work. But, like, I wasn't asking those questions. I wasn't like, who else is doing this? Should I do this? I didn't even care. I just was doing what felt right to me. I was being authentic. I was sharing real information and that's what worked. Yeah.

Ignorance is bliss. Sometimes, I think when you don't realize, like, who you're competing against and you just go into your passion and you follow that like you're a great proof of that is to not worry about what other people are doing and just start giving as much as possible and, you know, the rest will follow, which is incredible.

Yeah.

If there was a trait that you have that you could just take out of you and instill into everybody who has a passion to do something like you're doing, what would that trait be?

Be authentic. And that sounds so easy to say, but it. But nobody. People are f. I don't mean fake in appearance. I don't care about that. I'm not like, talking about what you look like. I mean, like, let's be real about what's going on. I see so many people, like, just. It's so fake on both sides. I see marketers being fake. Make millions of dollars in this one week course or lose hundreds of pounds. Like, it's just this crazy marketing thing. Like, everyone's on this agenda. Like, this is quick, this is going to happen like that. So there's that side of it, and then there's people that are just trying to make ends meet, that are faking it, that are acting like they've got something that they don't. And when you're not real and you're not authentic, you're not opening up for real relationships, real connections, and real results. So my one piece of advice there would be real and share what's going on. As I've evolved in my business, I know we're going to talk about the podcast and aging in reverse and how those happen. All of those things came from a diversity, all of them. Everything I've accomplished, my life came from an adversity and working through it, not around it, not tricking out of it. Because when you Try to, like, cover something up or hide or find a trick or a shortcut. That doesn't work.

So true. And what you said is so true to who you are as well. Like, getting to work with you over the last year. I mean, you're truly authentic, you truly care, and even how you approach. And we'll get into the book later, but the new book, where you really break it down so simplistically, where it's not some crazy thing, it's not the keto diet or the Paleo diet, it's just real work, but it's simple and.

You break it down.

So we'll get into that a little bit later. I do want to talk about your podcast, because that's been a journey in itself, and you're currently sitting at, I think, 52 in self help and just absolutely crushing it. But the important part about what I just said there was you started a podcast in self help and not fit.

Yeah.

So why.

Yeah, so, okay. Also another great example of an adversity and a setback. So about a year and a half ago, you know, I told the beginning, the beginning story of how my business started. But what I didn't share was that, yes, my business kept growing and evolving. And as people asked me for things, workouts, I create DVDs, as. As people were asking me for things, I would create. And I grew my business that way. But then at some point, my ego got back in the way. And this is what happens to everybody, right? Like, so when you let your ego. It's what I said at the beginning. When my ego gets in the way, things start checking me. And my ego was getting in the way. Like, this is working. And the more my ego was getting in the way about what was working, the more I kept hiring people and outsourcing and thinking that I could be more hands off. And that didn't work. That didn't work because the more money I was spending, the more people I was hiring, the more hands off I was getting, the more I was losing my voice and it wasn't really me anymore. And I was breaking my own rule because, yes, I had copywriters helping me, and I had people giving me strategic direction and all that. But now it wasn't my vision and it wasn't coming from just a pure place of helping people and being real. So what happened was my business started to fail. I mean, and when I say fail, like, if you were to look at the numbers, you would see revenue coming in, but what you didn't see was all the Expenses going out and the crazy amount of money I was spending on ads and marketing and whatever else. So, you know, a lot of times when you hear marketers talk about how much money they're making, they're not talking about profit. Like, it doesn't matter to me if you're making a million or $10 million if that's not profit. Like, what? Like, what if your overhead is costing all of that? So there's a misleading thing there. You got to ask people about profit and what. And their time. Like, how much time things are taking. So my ego got big. I'm now outsourcing. I'm spending a ton of money on things. Things are starting to not work. And instead of looking at myself and saying, what am I doing wrong? What do I need to change? What do I need to fix? I was blaming everybody else. I went back into victim mode. So it's like, oh, I have the wrong team. I have the wrong person. I have the wrong marketing company. I have the wrong ads people. Like, it was, like, always the wrong whoever right the wrong. The wrong seminar. So, like, and I didn't. And I wouldn't have even believed I was in victim mode. I really thought, like, it's these things. So I'm watching this, like, kind of fall apart, and I'm watching things get just very stressful for me. Like, super stressful. Like, all I felt like I was doing was working, working, working, and nothing was working. And I didn't understand that. What was really happening was that I had checked out of what I actually am good at and in the being the real person, connecting with people, which is what I do now, again, in my business, I had checked out of that. I was working on things that are not my unique ability. And I'm wondering why the money's not working. But I didn't understand this at the time. So what happened was I pulled back. I started going through a lot of my own personal development. And this is where it started to hit me. It started coming up for me, like, okay, it is me. I see what's happening here. So now I'm starting to see that it's me. I'm wanting to fix it and get myself back and be real and have this all figured out. I start making changes in my business, letting people go, cutting expenses, cutting off things. And I'm having a really hard time creating now because I felt down. And when you feel down and depressed and beat up and like a failure, it's very hard to create from that space. Or at least I thought it was. I still think it is, but. But I would. And I would see all these people online, I'm like, but they had failures and did it. Like, how did they do it? So I started questioning, like, how do all these people that have created these massive success stories from a place of failure, how did they do it? Because when I'm feeling like that and I'm in self beat up and depressed and miserable and feeling like a failure, I don't feel like creating. I feel like no matter what I do, it's not going to work. So how do they do it? So, Justin, I started reaching out and on podcasts, like, I started listening to other podcasts and looking for these stories. And what was crazy to me was I found the stories, but I never found them in the way that I wanted to hear them. So I would find somebody interviewing someone, but they wouldn't ask the questions I wanted to ask. They wouldn't go deep enough or they wouldn't asking the hard questions. They wouldn't get them to open up. And I found myself frustrated. Like, I would want more. So I'd listen to an interview and I'd be like, oh my gosh, I love this, but why isn't he asking this? So I would email the person that was being interviewed and try to ask the questions. So eventually it hit me. Yeah. And then, and then what happened was I think you interviewed me for your podcast and you said, why don't you start a podcast? And I put the seed in my head, like, maybe I'll start a podcast. But I also went to the negative of, oh, it's another thing that won't work, it's too hard. Like, I go to the story, but you mentioned it, and I had it in the back of my head. And as I'm listening to these other podcasts and I'm realizing I'm not getting the answers I want, I decided I'm going to start my own. And once again, just like I started my business initially with Seven Day Jumpstart and my first recipe book, I did it because I wanted to learn, not because I had an agenda of making money. And that's another big lesson for me, again, that when I do things for the right reasons, they work. So I started a podcast purely for my own knowledge and benefit, but I shared it around with everybody because I felt it was valuable information. And it was. And it took off.

Yeah, and it's so true as well. Actually, if you weren't going to say that, I was going to say that like your intention with the show is purely to learn and then give your listeners the same answers. And I was reading some reviews that you had on your podcast before we even hopped on this call, and one of the people said, you literally asked the questions that I want to ask the people. So I love it. Asked the question. I was like, that's really funny that you brought that up, because it is about going deep. It is about getting. How's. Like, how did you truly break out through all of that stuff?

Yeah. And I'll tell you. I'll tell you, I do that well. I believe I do that well because of these reasons. One, I literally have no agenda. I just want to understand. That's my only agenda. Like, I'm not trying to sell anything. I'm not trying to market anything. I'm not trying to take them down a path. Like, I literally. I'm just trying to understand how did you overcome this and how did you create from a place? And so I want to know that. And the other thing I do that I don't know that any podcaster does this, except for me, because I, again, I didn't go and read, like, how to podcast or how to, like, interview, you know, when you and I first started the podcast, I. To get. When you first helped me do it, I made a list of questions. I've never used those questions, because what I do is I don't. I actually don't research guests. I research enough just to know that I want them. Like, I want to understand them, but I don't go into, like, they're all their marketing material and their book and all that. I won't do it. Because when you do that, then you're on an agenda, and then I'm like, specifically asking things based on what I thought I read or what. So I just have a conversation, pure curiosity, knowing enough about them that I want to go deeper. And I, you know, they all send me their stuff ahead of time, and I tell them I'm not going to look at this because I want it to be a really generic conversation.

Yeah. And I. And I have a similar approach, too. And I think that that's why it works for you, because it allows you to go deeper because you're listening to what they're saying instead of, like you said, having that agenda.

Yeah.

And it's so true. And I'm loving watching the journey and the consistent growth and everything like that, because it is genuine.

Thank you.

Which is great. And so, you know, I look at somebody like you, and here you go. And obviously, You've built this business, you have a best selling book, you have the podcast that's doing extremely well. The business is performing at a high level. What's the need then to go ahead and write this next book of yours? Aging in reverse.

Yeah. So I wouldn't say my business is performing at a high level. I would say that it's constantly evolving. For one, I'm still trying to. I am not an entrepreneur. Let me just be really clear. Like I have no business running a business. I really don't. It's funny though, you know, it's funny. I've had a couple companies reach out to me. They want to interview me to be their CEO and I laugh. I'm like, okay, you don't even know what you're talking about right now. I like to share information. I like to teach, I like to speak. I like to be creative. I am not a business runner or business. That is not my gift at all. I hate everything about that. I hate running numbers, I hate looking at spreadsheets. Don't send me an email, I'll never look at it. I don't like anything like that. I just want to create and go and teach and ask questions. That's what I want to do. So when I hear about my business being success, it's a funny thing to me because I don't know, I just know I like to live in whatever I'm learning and accomplishing and focusing on and studying at the moment. So why the book? Well, I always want to share and teach whatever it is I'm personally dealing with and going through. And I'm 47 years old and I honestly don't know how much I care about staying in being just a fitness person. Like, I never set out to be a fitness person. I set out to help people when I figured out what I was doing. And I became a fitness expert. And I like fitness, but that's not like my end all, be all. And I don't think it's the answer to everything either. I think it's part of my life. It's not the answer to everything. But as I'm 47 and as I'm aging, I do see a huge need for women in their 40s and 50s, especially to feel good about themselves. Because my gosh, society, the media, social media, everyone makes them feel bad about aging. And I found myself starting to struggle with it because of what I call false assumed truths and self imposed stops where like we hear something and we, we start believing it's true and then we Basically give up. And there's this huge epidemic of women in their 40s and 50s that are feeling depressed and lost their confidence and like it's too late and have lost their passion. And I have friends that don't feel that way. But we're also in Southern California in a little bubble. And I have lots of huge audience that is feeling that, and I see it everywhere, and I want to shift that. And it's important to me. So a big reason I wanted to write this book, I had this initial vision for this book was that. And then what happened was I had my own setback again. And I'm going to share in a second about my injury that propelled me into doing this even quicker. And what happened there was I had just like a lot of women do, I have degenerative disc, which as we age, if you do an MRI on anybody, you're going to have some sort of degenerative disc. It would be rare not to, especially in your 40s and 50s. Now, whether that causes symptoms and pain, it depends. Some people don't feel a thing. Some people, it's very painful. For me, I had years of it, and I learned to work around it. I learned because of what I know about exercise and fitness, I learned how to really work my core and take my lower back out of the equation. Even though your lower back is part of your core. But I mean, I learned to work my abs, work my glutes, stay on the right way, work out the right way. So basically, I was never using my lower back. And that helped me avoid the problem, avoid the pain. What I didn't know was that that was a bad idea. And the reason it's a bad idea is whenever you totally stop using a part of your body, you're going to weaken it even more. So a lot of exercise advocates, a lot of certified trainers, a lot of people will teach this idea of taking your lower back out of the equation. And it's just bad information. And I know that now firsthand, because you're going to weaken whatever you don't use. So what happened was I really weakened that area. So sometimes I would say sneeze or bend the wrong way and I would really feel it. But it didn't get in the way of my life because I learned how to always stand, sit, walk correctly so I wouldn't feel that area. Well, what happened was I was shooting some videos, workout videos, and I was on set shooting for nine hours. It was like a really extra long day, and I was doing exercises that I don't normally do. It was for another company. And my ego got in the way. My ego got in the way because, again, I'm in my 40s. I was in my mid-40s then. And there's a lot of young people on set, and I'm like, I can do this, too. I can do it. Let's go. And I was feeling a lot of pain, and I ignored it. I just kept trying to work through it, and my pain kept getting worse and worse and worse. Like, really bad pain. Like, I remember equating it to when I was in labor, like, it was so bad. And I remember calling my husband and saying, my back hurts so bad. I've never felt it hurt like this. And he said, just work through it. Like, you can do this. You've got it. We didn't know what had happened. What's funny is I had Myodol with me, which is a menstrual cramp medicine that you get over the counter. And I kept taking that, thinking that was going to help. I probably took eight of them, and all it did was give me a caffeine buzz. And it just wasn't helping. I remember finishing that day, really in pain. Went to dinner, went home, went back to the hotel. Sorry. Went to sleep. Woke up the next day and my back had stopped hurting. And I was like, oh, my back isn't hurting. And I went to get out of bed and I collapsed. My whole right leg was numb, like it was asleep. And my foot was dragging. I had something called foot drop.

Oh, yeah.

So now something was wrong with my right leg. I'm like, okay. So instantly I went to. Maybe it wasn't my back. Something's with my leg. And I felt it in my back. So I didn't know. Start Googling things. I'm like, oh, maybe it's my piriformis. Maybe I ripped my. I thought it was my piriformis. I didn't understand what had happened. I just didn't. I didn't know enough about sciatica. Foot drop disc. I didn't know any of that. I just thought I did something on my piriformis. I thought it was my back. It's my leg. So I get back to California, dragging my leg through the airport, not knowing I had really done something wrong. Go back. See my chiropractor. He doesn't really help me much. He looks at it. He doesn't know what to do with it. I end up, my husband has me text my friend who's an orthopedic Surgeon. And I tell him what's going on, and he's like, natalie, this isn't like, you can't mess with this. Like, you need an MRI right now. Remember, it's a Friday night. It's like, you need an MRI right now. So he got me an emergency mri, called me in his office. He's like, you need surgery. Like, tomorrow. You have a ruptured disc from L5S1. Not only is it ruptured, it's the biggest rupture I've ever seen. And it's wrapped around your spinal cord. And you. Every day you wait, you're going to lose your. More use of that right leg and you'll probably lose your bowels and your bladder control. I was like, okay, no, I'm having surgery. It's not an option. He suggested this amazing surgeon in San Diego, obsessed with him, Dr. Chul Kim, who does something special called a laser endoscopic spine surgery, where he didn't put any hardware in or replace anything. He just removed. Very minimally invasive, removed the rupture. And it was amazing. It was amazing. My leg is not fully healed. It's been about 16, 17 months. I have about 95% use back. I still get a little bit of a leg cramp and some weakness in my foot, but for the most part, it really fixed the problem. But what happened there was. I had to really realize a lot about what I had formed as far as false assumed truths, like taking things for a fact, like taking things at face value, like, oh, you should just take your lower back out of the equation. Or like, I didn't think about, like, I used to eat an unprocessed natural food diet, but I didn't think about inflammation. Like, what about what foods cause inflammation? Like dairy and grains. They cause inflammation. They cause inflammation. And so people say, I'm getting older, I have pain and inflammation. That's a false truth. That just because you're getting old, but what's happening is the foods you're eating, you need to change them. That is a truth. So I felt especially called to write this book because now I was dealing with the aging epidemic and how people are feeling and feeling like they have to give up and there's no possibility. And I was learning all this about food and inflammation, so I felt super called to write this book. And I did it again out of my own healing, putting things down on paper of what's working for me and wanting to share it with the world.

I love that. And, you know, the fact that you had this Ruptured disc. And you were walking through airports and doing all that. That's insane. Insane.

My surgeon laughs at me all the time. He's like, I cannot. I don't even know how you were doing that. I filmed workout videos. Like craziness. That's what your mind over matter can do, I guess.

Yeah. Well, that's also a testament to you being so physically fit as well, you know, going into it. So just being physically fit when bad things like that happen, it helps you get through all that stuff.

Yeah, but.

But, you know, I do love the fact that you focus so much on with everything, which, you know, your three things are change your state, plan your plate, love your weight. And it's really focused a lot on mindset and simplicity.

Yeah.

And when you look at that, I mean, obviously like you were saying before, mindset's the first thing that you have to fix. So to give a little taste to people of what's in the book before they go out and get it, how does that whole process start for them?

Yeah. So people always want the quick fix. They're like, what's the workout? What's the pill, what's the recipe? And this book will not work for you that way. So, yeah, there's some great meal planning in there. So stuff. But just jumping to that's not really going to fix things. Because the ultimate issue, and it's just like, you know, I just shared three rock bottom kind of hardship stories that I've had and I've got. I could spend all day telling you even more because everybody has those stories. But those are three big turning points in my life, all three of them. The commonality of what needed to change was my mindset. I had to make a decision. So I start this program, aging in reverse with a mindset shift, which is people do need. And this is when any time someone does my program, like my full body reset or any of my programs, when they get results, which they do, when they do my program in entirety, any of them, they always tell me. What I loved most about your program was the shift in mindset you gave me. Which is so funny because no one shops for a mindset program. Like, no one's like, hey, I loved I want to lose some weight. Where's can you deserve what's the best mindset program? Like, I want to make more money. Where's the best mindset program? Like, no one asked those questions. Right. They want the quick, the solution. They just want that. But what's interesting is I have a unique method that I teach in this book on how to change your mindset, which is so simple that like within 10 days you change everything. You change how you're looking at things, you change how you feel about things. Your body starts to literally physically change because of these new beliefs that you have. And the example I give and I know listeners, maybe they've watched this movie. If not, they should. There's that movie with Amy Schumer. Have you seen that? Where she's like knocks her head on a spin bike?

I have not seen that.

I'm having a total blank on what it's called, but it's hysterical. There's a movie, if you google the movie with Amy Schumer, you'll find it. But she's. She. Oh, I feel pretty. That's what it's called. I feel pretty.

Oh yeah. I haven't seen that. I know.

Yeah, it's such a good movie. It's such a good movie. So. But I love sharing this example and I don't mention this in my book, but if you get that movie, if you watch her, she is like, she's this average looking woman in the movie and she goes to spin class, she's not feeling confident, she's feeling bad about herself. She bumps her head and she wakes up from bumping her head and all of a sudden she thinks she's a supermodel. Like literally nothing's physically changed on her, but she thinks she's a supermodel and her whole world, her whole life changes because she believes she's a supermodel. It's hysterical. But it's really powerful to that movie because it just goes to show what you believe is what you end up attracting and achieving. So yes, in this book we dive deep into states and I give you really simple formula to follow, exercises that you could do, mindset w that are fun, that don't take a lot, that will change the way you look at aging and your body and you'll start looking at things for how they can help you versus it's working against you. And then I give you meal planning and I teach you. It's just a 10 day simple plan to follow. Anyone can follow it. It's a whole nother level from what I originally did at seven day Jumpstart. It's anti inflammatory. It's going to help you feel better. What I expect to happen for people that do this book is they have a whole new outlook on life and themselves and they feel amazing. And at the end of the 10 days, not only have they dropped we, but they're not bloated, they're clear headed. They don't have that brain fog anymore. They're motivated, they're creative and it's just you've got everything. And my gosh, the book is like $18. So what do you have to lose?

Yeah. That's incredible. So obviously this conversation has been amazing and I've learned things that I didn't know about you, which I love. So where do people go to get this book?

Yeah, yeah. And we're going to definitely put a link here too. But you can get it anywhere on Amazon, Barnes and Noble. But if you want to get the bonuses, which I definitely recommend, you'll go to www.age-in-reverse I'm sorry, I have a problem with this. Age. Yes-in-reverse.com age-in-reverse.com yes. And that's only because the other easier URL was taken. So it's age page-in-reverse.com or you can just go to my website, which is really easy, NatalieJill.com and click on the little pop up that comes up and you'll. It'll take you right over to that page.

Awesome. So we'll link that up in the show notes for sure. I believe this episode is coming out the day of the book. So it is live and ready for you guys to grab. Is there anything else before we sign off, Natalie, that you want to add?

No, this has been great. Thanks for turning it around and interviewing me today.

Justin, thank you for giving me the honor to do it. I love the conversation. And guys, make sure you go out and get this book. It's phenomenal. I've been able to preview it. Big fan and just thank you so much for what you do. Natalie.

Thank you so much. Thanks for leveling up with us today. Please share this episode if you found it helpful so others can join in. And don't forget to hit that subscribe so you don't miss out on future shows. And if you would leave me a five star review, I I appreciate those so much. I read all of them and it's how I know that I'm giving you information that you find valuable. And come interact with me over on Instagram @nataliejofit. I read all the direct messages and comments over there. Make it a great day. Creating everything from nothing. Sam.