Podcast Transcription: Success Story: 49-Year-Old High Performer, Scott Shed 35lbs In Just 4 Months, Overcame Burnout, And Reclaimed His Health

Ted Ryce: Scott. Thanks so much for being on the show today, you're here to share your story of being in the Legendary Life program and your success in the story and what you learned from it, and most importantly, to help other people who are listening right now, perhaps get better results from what they've been up to. First of all, how are you? How have you been? We haven't talked in a few months. 

Scott: Oh, I feel great. I'm still living the Legendary Life, the after effects of my first three months. Just, feeling great, couldn't be better actually. 

Ted Ryce: Very cool. So let's start at the beginning. You came to me, what was the situation that you were struggling with and why did you decide to join the program? 

Scott: That's a great question. I wouldn't say it was a low point in my life, it was actually a really good time of my life, but I knew I needed some direction. 

And, I remember it was a Monday morning and I thought I'm just going to make the phone call, and I did it, you got back to me. The phone call didn't go quite as the way I thought it would, because you were really serious and like you mentioned, so I appreciated it and I made it work and you made it work, but at the end of the day I needed that direction, I really did, and I was ready for it. So that's where it was in my life.  

Ted Ryce: Very cool, and when you say put pressure on you, that's so interesting. It didn't go down. No, you said it didn't go down the way that you thought. How did it go down? What did you think was going to happen? Just so, I don't know, someone thinking about hopping on a call with me might be curious, I'm curious too. 

Scott: Yeah. Well, I think you mentioned it in other podcasts that it's not going to be all fluffy and hugs and kisses, not that I was expecting that, but I said I'm ready to put my money where my mouth is. I'm like, you know what, I really need this. 

Anyways, it just wasn't soft is what I want to say. I needed a little bit of a push and you gave me that push, so I appreciate it. 

Ted Ryce: Okay, cool. Yeah. You know, just to talk about that a bit. One of the issues that I see with people who really want to make a change is sometimes they don't really want to make it. It's nice to think about, but taking action requires really taking action. 

And for a lot of people, putting skin in the game. It's when you're not ready to do that, you're not really, I just hired a new therapist for myself, and I've been thinking about working with this person for a while. She’s a bit more expensive than my last therapist, but I was like, you know what? I just need to invest in myself and I did it, and she put the heat on me. She would've gotten me to sign up earlier though, so that's what I try to help people do, is just get clear on like, if it's a no it's okay, but if it’s yes, let’s go, but let’s not be in that in-between place, and so many people are like yeah, I'm ready. Oh, but let me just think about it a little bit more, let me talk it over, let me think about it. Let me look at some other options. 

So, my goal is to really help people to take action right then and there, and then to continue that momentum throughout the entire program. Is that what you felt like happened? 

Scott: Yeah, exactly. I needed that and you gave me what I needed. It wasn't soft, what it was, was you’re an expert, and you wanted to know am I in it, and I like what you said with that in between game, where I was ready for the full game, but it came pretty quick and I liked it. So, I appreciated the very first phone call, from the start it was game on and I loved it. 

Ted Ryce: Very cool. And just so the person listening right now can understand your fitness journey. Can you talk a little bit about what you were doing before? What you've tried in the past? 

Scott: Yeah, sure. I'm the typical 6 foot 240 pound guy who thought he was an athlete, would run or bike every day, do something and then crush beers on the weekend, not really dialed in on the diet, but whenever I looked at a picture, I really didn't see it as that bad, and then it just finally, I was turning 50, what was happening. 

So it was three months before my 50th birthday, I finally owned up to myself and said, no, this is not, as much as I'm saying to myself, this is okay, it's not okay. I do have some heart issues, a previous heart attack, had three years prior, I was incrementally getting better, but I hadn't lost any weight and that was really bugging me. 

So 240 pounds in a six foot frame is not good, it's not good at all. So, at the end of the day, I kind of had a talk with myself, I've been listening to you for a long while and I said, I got to get a game plan. I need a map on how to get there, and I think Ted's the guy to do it. 

So, as I mentioned before, I put my money where my mouth is, I made the phone call and you gave me that map or whatever you want, itinerary, you name it, you put whatever fancy name in front of it. I needed someone to guide me in that, and that was you, and it worked because we got down to my goal weight, which I'm so happy for. 

So, at the end of the day, just to fine tune it, you gave me the tools to actually finalize what I was looking for. 

Ted Ryce: And, can you say? You started out at 240, what is the goal weight that you hit? 

Scott: I did not want to be in the 200’s any longer for the rest of my life. So I set my goal weight at 199, you said that was a little bit too much. 

Ted Ryce: Ambitious. 

Scott: Ambitious, but we didn't get it right on the date, we got it a little bit later, but that was fine. I did get to my goal weight of 199 and it was a huge accomplishment and I would not, I can't stress this enough. I would not have got there without your program. I would not, it would not have happened. 

Ted Ryce: Yeah. I appreciate that. And let's talk about that a little bit, because there's a lot of programs that can help you lose weight. There are so many out there that you could, I don't want to say more effective than what I do because I consider the long-term effects, but I have a client who is with me right now, he dropped 40 pounds in six weeks doing a 500 calorie a day diet. 

I forgot who he worked with. I think it was a doctor or a hospital or something like that, which is this extremely low. How would say, the Legendary Life program, how would you say it's different than other things you've done in the past? 

Scott:  For me, it was that you have a plan. It was that you have done it time and time again. I trusted your plan. I trusted you. I trusted your results, and then I started seeing the results, right? Like it wasn't crazy, I didn't do 10 pounds in one week or anything like that, but what I want to reiterate, and I think what people would appreciate mostly is that I did see the two to four pounds every week, every 10 days, every time I looked at that little graph, it was going down and I just had to say, it works, if I stuck to it, which I did. 

And, there was a weekend where you said, you have mentioned that don't look at the per se day, but look at the week calories, we ended up on a Thanksgiving and I went up two pounds and I didn't fret because I knew the program and the lifestyle you had implemented, it was going to work. So it was a combination of our talks, with a combination of obviously the app and the workout that you gave me. 

And then, obviously, my fitness app, watching my calories every day. The macros, you dialed in the macros and it's just money in the bank, like it works. And I can't thank you enough for it and giving me the tools for the rest of my life. 

And I've spoken to countless other people, because they've all come up to me and said, what are you doing? I said, I'm eating whatever I want, but I'm staying within my caloric intake every day. It gives you a sense of ease, you don't have to stress about it, and I think that's what you stress, is that don't get all bent out of shape because of one bad day, two bad days, look at it the end of the week. 

And, at the end of the day, they just kept on coming off, and I was just so thankful. It just kept on coming off. 

Ted Ryce: Right. right. One of the questions that people ask me the most are like, hey, so what foods do I get? What do I have to cut out? Just tell me, what are you going to have me eating? Can you talk a little bit about, because everyone wants to know, like, okay, so what are the foods you're going to have me eat? So, is it like no sugar? Do I have to give up alcohol? Do I have to cut anything out? What would you tell someone right now who is asking that question? Hey, well, what did you have to give up in the program, what were you allowed to eat in the program? 

Scott: First thing I'd say is, don't worry about any of that because you're going to eat whatever you want, within reason. So what happened was, the first 10 days you watched my meals, because I plugged them into the my fitness app, and you connected with me and you gave me a calorie goal, which I tried to keep it there. 

And then, around the 10 day, two week mark, you said okay, I see that you had a ribeye steak, could you replace the ribeye with something that maybe doesn't have so much fat in it? So then we went to chicken, I was still within my caloric intake, but you dialed it in where we said, let's just try and cut out a bit of the fat, and we did that and it just seemed to work really well. 

So, instead of having three eggs for breakfast on a Saturday, I would have one egg and two egg whites, and the amount of calories that I was saving, the amount of macros that I was saving, the pounds just started melting off me. I was still able to have my beer, but I said okay, let's get one of those low cal beers. 

And when you start working with the app, and you started dialing it for me, it really just clicked and it worked. So I didn't feel like I missed anything. I could have something, and I looked back at my app and go, oh I'm either a hundred calories away or I'm a hundred calories over, and it just gave me that sense of, I knew with my map that you'd given me, I knew where I was going and I was going to get there, whether it was a weekly goal or a monthly goal, I was still going to get there. 

Ted Ryce: And, with someone listening to that and are like, calories, oh, I don't know about that. Can you talk about how I taught you how to learn about the food that you're eating, and talk about the lessons that you learned from this, versus some of the other nutrition approaches you've tried in the past. 

What would you say to someone who's like, no, I really don't want to, like tracking, that sounds like too much work, it sounds like too much to wrap my head around, can I just cut curbs? Can I just stop eating fat? Can I just cut out their sugar? How would you explain that? What would you say to someone who asked you, who had that immediate reaction to knowing their numbers? 

Scott: For me, I wasn't tracking anything, and I wasn't getting the results. So, then I jumped on to your program, and I start tracking a little bit and I started getting results. So I said to myself, this is what I need, I have my phone on literally within 10 feet of me at all times of the day, it was not hard to throw in a couple of meals. 

 At the start I actually made, let's say if I had a shake in the morning, I was able to make a meal. So all I had to press on the app, I hit breakfast and then my shake, all the ingredients in it, it was just so simple and I've actually taught people how to do that. 

So you can, I would say it wouldn't take more than five minutes to put in all of your meals of the day. I did it after every meal, but it's still, if I totaled it up, it wasn't any more than five minutes of the day, it would be no much more than a couple of checks with friends. 

So, you've already got your phone on you, it's so simple, but the results are just so great for what you're doing. And again, it gave me, by the time dinner came around and I saw that I had maybe 600 or 400 calories left, it gave me a plan on what I was going to do, because I didn't want to go over. 

And again, it sets you at ease and you know you're going to hit your goals by the end of the week, because you have this app that's telling you your macros, and by the end of it, I started moving my macros around, where I wanted more protein because I want to keep my muscle up and that's a whole other aspect to it. 

But when I was just looking at the calories, for the most part, it was just the ultimate guide for me that I needed, and it was right there on my phone. It wasn't on paper, I didn't have to go and review it somewhere, I didn't have to go on to a website. It's all there, with all the foods you're already eating, it's just portion control by calorie, right? And it's calories in, calories out, that's something else I learned. 

If you keep them down, you're going to lose the weight and calories can sneak up on you. I have a partner that literally has two Boston creams a day, he doesn't realize. Boston cream donuts doesn't even realize he's putting a thousand calories in his body, every day, without even thinking, and he doesn’t know why he’s overweight. 

Well, if you plugged in a Boston cream, you're going to see oh, that's a lot of calories. So, other things we talked about was the satiation effect of certain foods, that's a whole other thing, but you can find low calorie foods with your help and the app, that are lower in calories, but keep you fuller longer, and that was a game changer for me as well. 

Ted Ryce: Yeah, that was what I was going to ask you about next. One of the concerns people have, and negative experiences they've had trying to lose weight in the past is, oh, I'm so hungry. Did you struggle with hunger during the program? What was that like? 

Scott: I struggled with it for the first five to seven days, because I was dialing everything in, but after having a talk to you and being on your group coaching call, we hashed out, and you've got some great insight on the different effects of different foods and how they keep you fuller for longer or make you feel like you're not as hungry, so I took that to heart. 

An example is adding a part of a sweet potato to your dinner, low calories, but that keeps you fuller longer or just potatoes straight across the board. But believe me, I don't want to start reciting your lessons that you taught me, but at the end of the day, having a banana as a snack at night, but freezing it in the freezer and it tastes like ice cream too. 

One of my favorite ones is, this low fat, so zero fat Greek yogurt, that was a game changer for me. I can have a big bowl of that, it was a hundred calories with some blueberries, and believe me, at the end of the night or eight o'clock when you wanted a snack, you're not hungry after that, it's perfect. 

So, what you taught myself, and all the other people, just these little tweaks that I needed, and I would’ve never figured this out myself, so all the thanks goes to you and the program, but there was a lot of foods that I wasn't eating that would have kept me a lot fuller for longer. 

And there's a lot of foods that I was eating prior that didn't keep me full at all, high in calories and got me to 240 pounds. Ex heart attack victim, and now I’m feeling like a million bucks. 

Ted Ryce: Incredible, and yeah, that's a really important one. The satiating effects of foods, because when we eat, we're hungry, that's why we eat, and if you're hungry all the time on a nutrition approach, it's just a recipe for failure. 

Scott, what would you say to someone who, what do you think now, about the whole low carb approach, after coming through my program? What would you say to someone who feels like they've got to cut out all the carbs. 

Now, if they love cutting out carbs and eating fattier foods, that's okay, but what would you say to someone who feels like they need to cut carbs out of their life to lose fat, what would you say to that person? 

Scott: Well, I would do, within reason. If you have a goal, and if they've spoken to you and you've set out a goal with them of what their calories are, then there's no problem at all, sliding in the carbs as long as you stay within your core goal. 

I'm a big bread guy, I don't think I'll ever change that. I grew up on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and then, went to, let's say, any Turkey sandwiches for lunch. I can not get away from my lunchtime sandwich or wrap or whatever it is, but I just get it into my caloric goal. 

I know for a fact that I would not do good with zero carbs, I would be one cranky hombre, so I keep my carbs as low as I possibly can. I found a really good gluten free bread that I absolutely love, I got it at Costco and man, I can buy stock in this stuff, it’s Iso good. 

But I slide it in every day or every second day. On Saturday, I have one piece of toast, absolutely. I would never give up carbs and I was still able to reach my goal, now, did I restrict them? Absolutely. Did I dial in my carbs? Yes, because I wanted to keep them within my caloric goal. So it was very easy. 

Ted Ryce: Cool, and how would you say your life has changed since you lost the 40 pounds? I guess it's more like three and a half, four months. How has your life changed, aside from just fitting into clothes differently, and the weight lost when you step on the scale. How has your life changed since the program? 

Scott: Well. I could go on and on, there’s a laundry list of good things that have happened, but first thing comes to mind is not being tired all the time. Not being tired after dinner, wanting to do things, more physical activity obviously, and obviously, you got to say it, who doesn't like getting compliments? 

The compliments were off the charts. Yeah, I had to go buy a whole new set of clothes, but the compliments and people, I noticed people really react to you differently. 

So unfortunately, when I was overweight, I always had those people say, Scott, I never thought you were 240, you carry it well. Well that's, I think that's the biggest, I don't know, they're just trying to be nice, but I know I didn't carry it well, and now then I'm down to almost perfect BMI, and I know that’s not a perfect goal, but one of my goals is to be able to get life insurance. 

And my life insurance means I won't be able to get it without the proper BMI, and that's just the way they go, but at the end of the day, the aura that you give off, and I wasn't cocky, I didn't have a big ego, but you just feel more confident, you stand differently. 

I could feel my abs engaged if I was standing for a long time, I could feel my muscles in my back tighten up and feel good because I was standing more erect. I gave off, kind of like you, when I talked to you or I've seen you in your videos or on Instagram or whatever, you stand and you just command a presence, and with a body that you're proud of and that you worked hard, you're just going to feel better all around. 

My wife has noticed it, my children, I have adult children they noticed it. Co-workers give compliments, and they're just like, there's something different. It's not just the weight Scott, and I'm like yeah, because I feel confident now. 

So there's a long laundry list. Bending over to tie my shoes, it's so much easier, you know what I mean? That’s a bonus. I can put my leg up on my knee and tie them, instead of having to hunch over and do it. There's just little things, but all the little things add up and they're just great things. 

So, at the end of the day, I could never do this, under one hour to say all the benefits, but there are many, and they're mostly visible that everybody can see and the compliments are obviously, it's so nice to get for once in your life. 

Ted Ryce: Wow. Powerful Scott. I'm so happy for you, you just crushed it, you were really ready for this change and I'm so grateful. You've given me a lot of compliments about working with me, but it's a teamwork, right? 

We had to work together, and we have to work with each other, and it was just a pleasure to work with you, you were so ready for it, and just great to hear how this change, this transformation, because you're transformation, it's just incredible. You look like a different person, and it's just so happy to hear the other stuff, right? 

The scale weight is nice, but the benefits, the intangibles that are hard to quantify sometimes, but you feel the qualitative, you feel the benefits, you just did a great job of explaining that. What would you say to someone who's thinking about working with me, but they're on the fence about it? What would you say to that person? How would they know that if it's right for them or not? 

And just very honestly, I know you're a big believer in me and what I do, but certainly I'm not the right coach for everyone. What would you say to someone who's on the fence? How would they know if this is right for them or not? 

Scott: For myself, it was the results that I've seen you get with other people, now I'm one of those other people. And for me, I would say to that person, if you haven't already achieved your goals, then you're going to need a map, you’re going to need a guide, you're going to need an expert, and Ted's that expert. 

You’ve been in the field for 23 years, you’ve seen it all, you know what works and what doesn't. You're going to save that person the pain of maybe getting into something else, that might not work because you know your program works and I needed, I saw the confidence that you had in your program and it immediately transferred to me, because I knew it was going to work. 

Well, now I'm through it and I know it works, and it was kind of like a three-pronged effect. I had you in my back pocket that I could text, which I didn't bug you too much, because I know you're a busy guy, but when I did, you got back to me. Two, you gave me this app, and anybody can sign up for the my fitness pal, but you dialed it in where you were showing me stuff that not everybody knows. 

And that subscription alone, I'm going to have for the rest of my life, and then, we had some group calls, those were really good and actually forefront approach in my workouts. I really enjoyed the workouts you did give me, you tailored them to my needs. So with those four, I want to say legs or pillars. 

Honestly, I knew there was no way I couldn't achieve the goals. So I'd say to that person, there's no way, if you follow it almost to the letter, that you're not going to achieve your goals, it's impossible. 

It's simple math, calories in, calories out, dial in what you're eating. Do the exercises, do the calls with Ted. Ask all the time questions you possibly can, because there isn't anything that he hasn't come across. No question is stupid. I thought I had some dumb questions and you never made me feel bad, you never made me feel like I didn't know, and I just relied on your expertise, and it worked. 

So that's what I would have to say. 

Ted Ryce: Scott Ritchie, thanks so much, really appreciate you. So psyched for your results, and how this is not something that just you lost weight for three months and then gained it all back, but you feel like you're set for life now because you learn skills, you had an experiential process that you went through. 

Do you feel like you'll ever need a diet book or to hire a coach? Will you ever put on 10 pounds because you had too much fun on vacation and ever wonder, oh, who do I have to hire now? How do I lose fat? What book do I read? Do you think you'll ever have that? 

Scott: No, no, I don't think I'll ever need it again. Honestly, you've given me the tools that I can take this for the rest of my life. Yes, there's going to be ups and downs, different life scenarios, but the knowledge that I gained going through the journey will be with me for the rest of my life for sure. I honestly don’t feel like I need anything else. 

Ted Ryce: Very cool. Well, thanks so much for your time today. Always a pleasure. Can't wait to catch up in a few more months, and just see how you're doing. Scott, just, couldn't be more happy for you. 

Scott: I appreciate it. I appreciate everything you taught me and take me on this journey, I really appreciated everything you did. 

Ted Ryce: You got it Scott. Well, it takes two to tango, and you showed up, you made it happen and yeah, teamwork baby, teamwork. 

Scott: That's right. 

Ted Ryce: All right. Thanks so much, and looking forward to catching up with you again soon. Thank you again for doing this.