Podcast Transcription: Success Story: 66-Year-Old Retired Professor Lost 13 Pounds, Achieved a Healthier Lifestyle And Increased Her Energy

Ted Ryce: Hey, Cindy, thanks so much for coming on the show and sharing your experience in the coaching program so far. How are you doing today?  

Cindy: I’m doing great, Ted. Just great.  

Ted Ryce: Okay, me too, because I’m getting here having an opportunity to sit down with you and talk to you about your experience in the program.  

So, the first question I want to ask you is you introduce yourself a little bit, talk about who you are and about the results that you’ve gotten so far. You’ve been in the program for about six months now. Can you just briefly introduce yourself and talk about the results you’ve gotten in the past six months?  

Cindy: Sure. Well, I’m a retired professor. I’ve been retired for six years now, and I have been doing lots of traveling. And in this program, I have lost 13 pounds. I am sleeping better. I believe I’m eating healthier, and I think one of the big bonuses for me is that I’m 66, and I’m feeling like I have more energy than I did a couple of years ago.  

Ted Ryce: Amazing. And what I’d love to ask you…I want to dive into that more, because what’s kind of been fun is you and I on Twitter, you’ve come to my rescue a few times when I’ve said some things about women weight loss, metabolism. Let’s get to that later. But I definitely want to talk about it if you’re up for it. What I’d love to ask you now is where were you before joining the program?  

Cindy: You know, I’ve always held health and fitness in high regard through my life, but when I turned 60, I don’t know, I started to feel a little old, and I thought, well, maybe I need to slow down. Maybe I don’t have energy because I’m doing too much.  

And then what ended up happening is that I was doing nothing. I turned 65, and it was like, gee, I can’t even walk up a flight of stairs. Is it because I’m old, or is it because I’m not doing anything? So that’s where I was right before the program. I sort of almost gave in to the old age standard of slowing down, not doing as much, and then I ended up doing nothing. 

Ted Ryce: Interesting. And I know you’ve done other programs in the past. What made you want to join my program?  

Cindy: Oh, I love that question because I probably followed you for about a year on Twitter and listened to your podcast, and what inspired me was your scientific data. I’m a sucker for scientific data. Your sort of commitment to doing individual things for people…I have a very different lifestyle than lots of my friends, and so I’m sure we’ll talk about that.  

But your individuality and your focus on calories. I just love the calories in, calories out. It’s simple. But given that it’s simple, sometimes you need that extra support. And certainly, your charming personality, Ted, it all lured me into wanting to find out more.  

Ted Ryce: Thanks so much, Cindy. Yeah, I try to make this as fun as possible because it is hard work. So, can you talk a little bit about the differences between some of the programs that you’ve done in the past and our program?  

Cindy: I think one of the major differences for me is the connection one-on-one, and the connection to the group calls. So, connection to people, rather than information just being read and sent over the internet. Following exercise routines that were generic for everybody and not necessarily fit for my lifestyle. So, I think those things combined made it very different than other programs I had followed.  

And also the focus on scientific information was something that was new to me, rather than just having a program sort of not thrown at you, but sort of just given to you—it’s more cookie cutter than, I’m finding this program.  

Ted Ryce: Interesting, and could you just share an example of what you’re talking about so someone knows? What was the customization like for you personally? What aspect of the customization stood out for you or made the most difference for you?  

Cindy: Yeah, I think for me, I travel a lot and I’m never in one place for longer than a couple of months, which makes it impossible to have a gym or even a consistent place to work out.  

And so I believe you and your team have designed, probably by now, six exercise workout plans for me that I can do, whether I’m on the road, whether I’m in a place that doesn’t have a gym, whether I’m in a place that has a gym.  

And recently I had a little bit of a back injury twinge, just a slight issue, and you even designed a workout for that. So that customization is huge for me because of the lifestyle that I’m leading.  

Ted Ryce: Yeah, I’m glad you are sharing that with me because although I’ve hired a coach to help me get in shape, I’ve never been a part of anybody else’s group coaching program. I have no idea what they do or what the experience is like. So, it’s fascinating to hear the difference.  

I would ask you this: You mentioned some of the results that you got. You mentioned the weight loss. You mentioned that you’re sleeping better. You have more energy. What’s something that occurred during the program that you didn’t think was or going to happen. Or maybe it was unexpected for you.  

Cindy: I kind of gave into the: When you become an older woman, fat around your midsection is the acceptable route to go. And I think I believed coming into the program that I’d still have that kind of pudginess around the middle section, but I could still get fit in other ways. So, one of the real, I don’t know, unexpected surprises, serendipity was, my tummy’s flatter, and it looks pretty good. Not Bad.  

Ted Ryce: Fantastic. So often we think that age is the issue, when it’s not. And certainly, age causes some things to happen. I’m 46. There are some issues that I have that I didn’t have when I was 26, but when it comes to muscle mass and the amount of fat we have and where we have it around our waist, there’s a lot you can do, so thanks for sharing that.  

And let me ask you this: What was the hardest part of the program for you? Most difficult part of the program?  

Cindy: Well, I think one of the difficult pieces for me was starting to lift weights, because I hadn’t lifted a lot of weights in the past. So thankfully you included videos because I watched them many times, and even now I check them to make sure I’m doing things right because I am 66 and I didn’t want to have an injury. So, I think for me was learning how to lift those weights properly. I think that was the most difficult part.  

Ted Ryce: Yeah. So, what I hear you saying is you have a past of exercising a lot but not with weights. So that part, how new is it to you? How many times have you lifted weights before joining the program?  

Cindy: I don’t know. Not many, maybe I did a waiter’s carry once or twice in a program, but nothing really significant. So, I always had them around me, but they collected a lot of dust.  

Ted Ryce: Interesting. Yeah. And that’s just one of the fundamentals, too. So, I’m really glad we helped you with that. Another question I have is our program, when we started—well, you went through an initial four-month phase and decided to continue with a second time around. What caused you to renew your contract and spend another four months with us?  

Cindy: I wasn’t done yet. I had so much more to learn in practice. I needed so much. I needed more support, and I got the coaching calls I love, so I didn’t feel like I was ready to sort of leave the fold just yet. I was afraid of breaking up with you, Ted. I personally wasn’t ready. I didn’t feel like my toolbox had enough in it just yet to be able to go out on my own and do it. And I’m so glad I stuck around, because it was a hard decision.  

Ted Ryce: Yeah, thanks for sharing and being honest about that as well. What I’d love to hear is, when it comes to learning more, someone might say, well, I can do this on my own. It’s just calories in, calories out. You just lift some weights, you do some exercise. Why would I need a coach to help me with that, other than maybe a cheerleading, do they cheerlead? What would you tell someone about the coaching program? What are some misconceptions that maybe you had before joining and then you’re like, “Whoa, this is different.”  

Cindy: I thought the same thing when I signed up. You know, by 65, this should be easy. I’ve read all these articles. I’ve listened to all these podcasts. I should know how to do this stuff. I think I’m pretty smart. I should be able to figure it out if I don’t know how to do it. But you know what? Without the support of you and certainly the others that are in our chats, I couldn’t have done it on my own.  

And I think the other piece is that you have somebody to call on when you’re not understanding something. I’ve learned so much from you in the calls about lifting weights and how important that is. And I’ve really felt that that kind of information is something that I didn’t have before some of the data. I think all of those things were so important to what I’m doing now.  

Ted Ryce: What would you say is the most impactful part of the program for you personally?  

Cindy: Well, there have been a couple of things that have been impactful. I think being part of the group chats, I learned that everybody’s not perfect and we got to share our experiences and not being perfect and maybe getting back on our routine.  

And it was that sharing of experiences with other people that I’ve never had before, because I think myself personally, I kept my health and fitness and my weight and my issues around food and maybe alcohol. I kept them all to myself and I didn’t share them with other people. So, for me, that was really impactful, was having that opportunity to share experiences with others that I’d never done before.  

Ted Ryce: Interesting. So that sharing aspect, it’s always fascinating asking a person, asking a client, hey, what is making the most difference for you? Because I’m on the other side showing concepts, talking about things. And for the group, the answer to the question I’m asking is quite often what you just said. It’s being part of the group and normalizing some of these challenges that we face, even if we’re high achieving, highly intelligent people.  

And so what I hear you saying is that you just didn’t have a group to talk about that with, and so you felt more isolated in your challenges and maybe like you were the only one with that problem. Is that what it is? Or something else?  

Cindy: No, absolutely right. And also the problem solving that happens between you, your other coaches and the group around. We’ve got this problem and how are we going to solve it? Whether it’s not sleeping at night, whether it’s around supplements. So, the support has been incredible.  

Ted Ryce: Got you. So having that support, too. Well, I guess the last question that I have for you is if someone was listening to this now and they’re on the fence about whether they should join coaching or whether this particular program is good for them or not, what would you say honestly to them about the choice, about making the decision to do it or to not do it?  

Cindy: Well, I think it comes down to: Do you want to look better, do you want to feel better, do you want to age gracefully with lots of activity in your life? Then I think you can’t do that alone. We’re not an island. And I think I’m pretty smart and I practiced my whole life health and nutrition, but I couldn’t get into a phase where I could do it alone.  

I think I’m almost there. I really do. I really think I’ve really solidified all of the information and the exercises and the routines and the counting calories, and I’ve solidified that, and I think I’m almost at that stage.  

But I would never have been here if I hadn’t had the support; someone to send a message to, like yourself. “I hurt my back. Should I stop exercising?” You said, “Well, let me give you some back exercises.” In the past, I would have probably stopped exercising for three weeks and wouldn’t have done anything else.  

So, it’s having that opportunity to reach out to somebody and get a quick response about, okay, what you can do differently to make that work for you right now. Don’t quit. What you can do differently to make that work. And you build a way better house if you have lots of tools in your tool chest.  

And I believe that, having taken this program, I have gained so many tools for my health and wellness tool chest to go forward as I age that I would never have had had I stayed on the couch and just kept reading and listening about health and wellness and fitness.  

Ted Ryce: Fantastic. Cindy, really appreciate you. I appreciate you coming on the show and sharing your story, and it’s been a pleasure to help you with this. And you’ve been such a great client. And a bit of a challenge, too, with how much traveling you’re doing, but it’s been fun. Thanks so much for coming on the show and sharing your story today.  

Cindy: Oh, absolutely. My pleasure, Ted. Thank you.