The "I'm Ready Now!" Podcast
Ideas to help you when you're ready for change.
The "I'm Ready Now!" Podcast
EP 23: SPECIAL EPISODE (1 of 4): Goals--The Journey to Healthier Lifestyle Choices (Special Guest: Lydia Sanchez)
What are your health and fitness goals this year! Do you have any? Did you, but then gave up on them because you "failed"--AGAIN? What does it take to transform personal setbacks into triumphs?
Join me, Isaac Sanchez, as I welcome my first guest, my wife Lydia Sanchez, to the "I'm Ready Now!" Podcast studio. Together, we share our passion for health and fitness, offering a glimpse into our journey of setting both joint and individual goals for the new year. Discover how these pursuits influence our marital relationship and get inspired to consider your own goals and values as we invite you to embark on a path of self-improvement this January.
Lydia's story of resilience unfolds as she recounts with a heartfelt reflection on her weight loss journey, where she candidly recounts her experience with gastric bypass surgery in 2006. This transformative decision set her on a path to a healthier lifestyle through exercise and nutrition, working diligently on her challenging journey of losing over 120 pounds. She also discusses her recovery from a severe foot injury, proving the power of patience and community support. Learn how a dedicated group of workout enthusiasts and hiking buddies helped her achieve a milestone of conquering a demanding trail without stopping. The lesson? With determination and support, setbacks aren't just obstacles; they are opportunities for growth and achievement.
We cap off the episode embracing the power of SMARTER goals. Join us as we commit to stepping out of our comfort zones!
This is the first of four episodes on sharing our 2025 goals and areas of focus, both for our marriage and individually.
Remember, your next move toward positive change is just one insight away!
Welcome to the I'm Ready Now podcast ideas to help you when you're ready for change. I'm your host, Isaac Sanchez, here I share my musings on whatever it is I am reading at the moment, as well as any other ideas that I believe will help you break free from a standstill in your thinking in order to get you dreaming again. Thank you for joining me today. Well, I'm ready now. How about you? Excellent, so let's get started.
Speaker 1:Happy holidays everyone. Mainly, happy new year. We're already about a week and a half into this new year. I'm excited about that, and here I go one more time explaining why this episode is delayed. Well, here it is. I took the holiday break that I didn't think I needed, but I did and it felt wonderful. So I apologize for not planning this better. I'm telling you, I'm learning a lot with this podcasting schedule, and one thing I'm learning among the many things I'm learning is to take the breaks when you need to take the breaks, but let your listeners know, so I'll keep learning. Well, I'm excited to be back. I want to jump into this episode right away because I'm excited. Into this episode right away because I'm excited.
Speaker 1:I'm so excited to bring on my guest, who will not be a surprise to you if you listen to last week's episode, particularly at the end. If you recall, today will be a step away from our regular topic, dan Miller's book, the Rudder of the Day because I have as my first guest my wife, lydia Sanchez, or, as I refer to her, the scintillating Lydia Sanchez. So we will get to our talk here pretty quickly, actually. First, let's get some housekeeping done. Here are my standard reminders I'd like to share. Right at the top, there are chapter markers on this podcast. They are very different this time because we're getting right into our conversation pretty much and there's not going to be a what's up in your world segment our conversation pretty much, and there's not going to be a what's up in your world segment, and so there'll be markers, but not pretty much the standard ones that we've done. Also, remember that in this description of this episode there's a link you can tap to text me and there you can leave your feedback on the topics we're addressing, as well, as you can always email me at IsaacSanchez at Maccom. I look forward to hearing from you. It's exciting when I hear from you, the listener.
Speaker 1:Okay, now a scheduling thing here. Let me share that I just made a decision to use January as our goals themed month, and I'll tell you why. On the episode today, my wife and I intended to get through the different areas in our marriage where we have set goals for this year, or just discuss areas of focus for ourselves and our marriage. However, as we began talking, just the first topic, health and fitness was enough for one episode, so we're going to split these into a couple of episodes that will take us through the first week of February, episodes that will take us through the first week of February. I'll be letting you know a little bit later on, I believe in the next episode, kind of how they're going to map themselves out as we go through January and the first week of February. So, as I stated earlier, I'm going to forego the what's Up In your World segment in these next few episodes to get straight to our conversation today. So let's go ahead and move on.
Speaker 1:If you recall, at the close of last week's episode, I shared that I would have my wife on as my first guest so we could talk about what we were focusing on in the new year. There are several areas that we were emphasizing. Some involve both of us as an effort that we're both working on specifically, and a couple of them are individual pursuits. Of course, these individual pursuits impact us as a couple, but we are individuals with our own ambitions, so we want to talk about that important element too. Today we'll discuss our goals and our focus on health and fitness. Okay, let's just dive in to make the most of our time with Lydia today. Well, hello, love. Good afternoon to you.
Speaker 2:Good afternoon.
Speaker 1:So here we are. You're gracing the I'm Ready Now podcast studio. You're the first. So here we are, you're gracing the I'm Ready Now podcast studio.
Speaker 2:You're the first guest that I've ever ever had. Thank you so much. I really appreciate being here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we were. Thank you for that, we were. This is well. Let me just say up front, this is not going to be necessarily interview more of a conversation, since we're going to be sharing with the audience. That's right, Kind of how you and I have entered in into this new year a little more intentionally.
Speaker 1:So there are some goals that we're going to talk about, both that are coming out of our marriage, but also we're individuals. So you have goals and I have goals. So we'll talk about those things and share, and I think what we have to share is going to be helpful to people, and we'd love to hear from people so that if they have some ideas that they want to share with us, that'd be fantastic too. So we're just kind of talking out loud with these microphones recording our conversation.
Speaker 2:Yes, okay.
Speaker 1:So there are several areas that we want to discuss, so let's just go ahead and jump in.
Speaker 2:All right, let's jump in.
Speaker 1:Okay, so the first area that we should talk about is fitness and nutrition. Let's talk about the journey we've been on. Before you and I met. We've been married a little over a year and a half, but in that about year year and a half of dating and maybe about two years of just kind of interacting a little bit online that's one thing that we did discover about ourselves is this idea of eating healthy and staying active, and we've had our ups and downs with that, both individually and even as we've been married. So, but that was a value that we kind of learned about each other very at the beginning and that led to us cooking together.
Speaker 2:Exactly, Gosh. It's already been two years that we met each other and here we are. And yeah, we first started with cooking. That was great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so our first meal together that we cooked, I remember, was steak. And asparagus and asparagus, and there might have been a salad involved there too, there was.
Speaker 2:There was a delicious salad that you made for us, yeah.
Speaker 1:And the asparagus is kind of typically a recipe that I got from my mom. Traditionally she would make it at Thanksgiving, and anyways, we loved that together, and so we were cooking together right away. So that's something that we knew we always wanted to do. It was great to be able to go shop together. When we're still dating, I'd come visit. Maybe you had the food, you had shopped for it already, but if not, we'd go get that together and we would just make sure that we kind of knew what we were putting in front of us. I had gotten off of just losing about 35 pounds on my health journey the first time I had finally taken control of that as an adult, and so that's kind of the starting point that we were at, and we loved exercising together. We sure did. I had thrown in the loop the idea. I remember I was at church during church Shouldn't be texting during church folks, but I was. I was actually helping out at the soundboard and I sent a text to you with the question. You know where I'm going with this.
Speaker 2:I do. What was it? You asked me if I was interested in running a marathon, and I answered you right away, right away.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the reason for that was because I texted you towards the end of the church service, where there was a group of folks that were up there talking about gathering different groups at different places, in this case the church, as a team to run the LA Marathon, and so they would work you out together, give you the whole plan and everything.
Speaker 1:So when you said yes, it was like game on. Now the issue is, I was living at that point in Chino, so we were about an hour away from each other, so it was kind of like workout on your own and then on the weekends, when I was with you, we'd either try to do a run together, go to the gym together, kind of different things, but that's what it was. It's like, hey, you know, you want to run a marathon together, kind of like if I just said, hey, you want to go to the park, so yeah, so that was a hard, yes, and so it was like game on. And so that was just one thing. We loved exercising and we thought let's just jump into that together. Now we would go to the gym, we would do some runs together, whether it was a walk, whatever we can do, we tried to do together right, it was a lot of fun to just be active and, of course, train for that marathon yeah.
Speaker 1:So now just to kind of run through this pretty quickly, because we're not going to go day by day on this, but as we started dating and getting serious and knowing that we're going to get married, there was so this is my part of the story there was, you know, kind of got off track during the dating because we'd see each other during the weekend and there were times where I would leave later than I wanted to. That's not a true statement.
Speaker 1:I was happy being there with you all the full night if I needed to, but I'd be traveling home at the wee hours back to Chino and I'd be tired and to stay awake, and I'd be tired and to stay awake I kept this a secret for so long I would drive into a local I can't remember if it was a Circle Care or 7-Eleven, I don't know what their gas station, and I would just grab a couple things on a snack just to be able to stay awake on the ride home. Wow, and so those were things that were. You know, these are all excuses, but get me off track. And so started there for me, and then we were doing wedding preparation and then the honeymoon, and then, once I moved over there to San Jacinto, where you live, once we were married, I was commuting a full two hours to work.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, that was so long for you to be traveling that long.
Speaker 1:Yeah it was a little bit crazy, um, and so half hour in the car, hour and a half on the train, catch an uber, get to the to work and then just turn that around on the way back. So I'm saying all that just because there was many times, many times, um, probably every day that I did that, that I was just again trying to stay awake and get some work done on the train ride home. So there was a stop at the Fullerton station. I'd go in, get a couple of snacks things I shouldn't be eating, off plan and it just became tough, you know. So I wasn't doing very well with that and I wasn't helping you out at all with that. And then you had surgery on your foot. Talk a little bit about that, because that was all part of the mix of us not being right on as we could have been with our journey to trying to be healthier. Where were you? Let's start there real quick. Where were you when we met in terms of how you felt, where you'd been and whatnot?
Speaker 2:So when we met my health journey, I've always been interested in exercising and eating healthy. I worked nights so it was a challenge to just eat healthy. You know, in the break room there was like always something good to eat donuts and pizza and so that was a big challenge to stay away from the break room. But in the past I had a really active lifestyle and learned how to eat healthy and so I've always enjoyed that and it's always interested, interested me. So when we started talking about weight loss and exercising, um, that was really exciting for me to um talk about those things, cause that's one thing that um, that's that's how we started talking. So that was exciting to um, uh, want to do those things together.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, that was, that was part of my journey and um, that's how we met yeah, and I remember seeing on your social media feed, um, seeing you post about the smoothie you were putting together or some meal you were putting together, and I just knew that I mean that just was one of the things that I really was attracted to.
Speaker 1:It's like, okay, she cares about that and of course, I was in the thick of my journey, so I just I love that. Now, just one more detail before we kind of move on and kind of move up to an update to where we're at right now is just briefly talk about the surgery, because we were just on a hike this morning and there's some tough parts of that hike and you were just doing it. And the other day, in our morning workout with our workout group, part of it, for the first time, is there was one of the stations had to do with running and it didn't dawn on me at the time, but you told me later that's the first time you'd run since your surgery on your foot. So the remind uh, just let's share with the audience briefly about how you ended up with the surgery, the injury, what the injury was, and just kind of bring us up to date on that and then we'll move forward.
Speaker 2:Okay. So when we were dating, we were working out at the gym and we were on the treadmill, and so I didn't have much more to go to finish the time, and so I thought I'm going to just run a little bit faster just to get that runner's high going. So I was running, and then, as I was running, I felt something that just tore on my heel.
Speaker 1:I remember that.
Speaker 2:And so I stopped the treadmill and I got off and I waited for you to finish, and then I remember telling you I felt something tear, so I walked away with a little bit of a limp I could still walk and so I I went to the doctor and he told me that I tore my Achilles tendon and so I couldn't afford to take time off of work, and so I continued to work with the Achilles tendon that was torn. So fast forward some time we get married and then we're living here in Orange County, so we had scheduled this surgery, like once we're into our home and everything's all settled, then I'd schedule the surgery. So everything's been planned out. And so I had the surgery and that was a tough. Two months I was riding around in a scooter and that was just. I depended on that scooter, and so eventually I was able to walk like two months after.
Speaker 2:One of the things that has really helped me is going to physical therapy, and I had been going like three times a week and there was different exercises that my physical therapist was having me do, and when I first started it was kind of scary because I couldn't do what I thought that I could do, and so, little by little, I started to regain my strength and so one of my last appointments with my therapist, he has me get on a treadmill and so he watches how I walk and he was really happy that he couldn't distinguish um, which was the foot that I had my operation on. So that was really, really exciting for me and um, yeah, that's been part of my journey with, uh, my, my surgery, and I'm doing so much better. It's a slow process. My surgeon told me that the healing process takes about a year and a half to be completely healed. So I'm just happy that I'm able to move around and I just know that little by little, my foot will be completely healed with time. So it just takes a little bit of patience.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, you're really doing well. Anyone who hears a little bit of your story is surprised about how well you're doing Our morning workouts at the gym, the hikes that we're on right now. So let's kind of give a little bit of an update. As we moved in here to this space this summer, we knew we wanted a space to go to work out and to just kind of now that we knew that you're going to be once you were healed, and so that happened well, healing enough to start working out again, even in modified ways.
Speaker 1:We found a gym and we found a morning workout group, and so we try to go two to five times a week and they're a fun group of people that we met and there's just there's different age groups in there. But it just reminded me of how important it is to be with a group of people who have the same mindset and interest as you, because they challenge us about being there first of all. But then one of them in particular, barbara, loves asking people to go on a hike with her, and so there's some trails out here in the hills that we go to, and so we got hiking buddies out of it too. Oh, yes, you know it's been really cool. So now we're back on track with our journey.
Speaker 1:And, by the way, let's just celebrate this real quick because, speaking of goals, you had a goal that had to do with hikes. That happened today as a surprise. Just take a couple of minutes and share that, because everyone was really happy for you, including me. I didn't know this was on your list officially, what you're going to share right now. I knew was you know on your mind, but I didn't know that you had written this down and that you had this goal to be done a little bit in the future, and it happened today.
Speaker 2:So share with that real quick before we move on here. Okay, so I have a yearly planner, so I sat down yesterday and I started to write some fitness goals down for myself. So we have been doing this hike with this um, with the modus group there, our fitness group, and today was our third time doing this hike. And so the first and the second time I found it really, really challenging to go up some of the inclines and I just found myself out of breath and just stopping and just gasping for air and just stopping and just gasping for air. So yesterday I wrote down you know, my fitness goal is to someday do that hike without stopping. And so Barbara, she's a wonderful, wonderful lady and I asked her before we went on the hike. I said Barbara, do you go all the way on this hike without stopping?
Speaker 1:And this is the hike this morning. That was this morning that you asked her that.
Speaker 2:Yes, and so I was curious Um, I'm like she must stop Cause you know it's really it was really hard for for me. And so she said, no, I don't stop at all. And I was like, wow, someday I'd like to do it without stopping.
Speaker 1:And real quick. From the trailhead to the peak is about two and a half miles and there are some steep inclines in there. They're just tough inclines.
Speaker 2:So just for context Right.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of steep inclines in there.
Speaker 2:They're just tough inclines. So just for context, right, there's a lot of steep inclines, okay.
Speaker 1:So you asked her this morning before this hike.
Speaker 2:Exactly. I asked her and she told me I don't stop at all. And I just was blown away. I was like wow so.
Speaker 1:Real quick. The thing about Barbara she's very encouraging too.
Speaker 2:So encouraging.
Speaker 1:So just say hey, don't worry if you can't right now. She gives us tips on breathing, tips on goals. I take a certain amount of steps and stop if you need to then try to beat that the next time. So she was all about the tips to encourage us that hey, if you can't now. You know how she talked about when she first started and people were way up before her and she'd be sitting there. You know hands on her, you know sides like gasping for air before she'd start again. So she made it very clear where she had been where before. Now she can just hike it up there without stopping.
Speaker 2:Exactly so. She was very encouraging. So I just put it in my mind just follow the techniques, the breathing, counting the steps. And so that was today, and I was like I did not think that I was going to finish the hike without stopping. And so, you know, we had fun, um with, uh, one of the workout partners, um, michael's his name, and so all three of us were hiking in. Um, and what is it called when you're all three of us in?
Speaker 1:uh, we were just hiking as a group.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we were one like we were one like we were in single file, single file. That that's what I was trying to say, and so we were just having fun, just learning about each other, and so I was looking down most of the time and, just, you know, enjoying our conversation and real quick.
Speaker 1:There are two others, there are five of us. So so Michael, you and me, and then Barbara. By this time Barbara and Alex were even. They were separated, but they were ahead of us now.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, Like way ahead.
Speaker 1:So we were kind of clumped together, Michael and I think we had him stuck with us just because of conversation. Otherwise he could have. I know he could have because we've been on a hike with him before there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, on a hike with him before there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but okay, so we're.
Speaker 2:We're there in single file having conversation, got mike and michael involved with us yeah, and so we were going up those um inclines and I I didn't look up, I just I just looked down and before you know it, we were at the top and I was like, oh my gosh, like I made it.
Speaker 1:I made it.
Speaker 2:We didn't stop and Barbara and Alex were at the top, and then she just looked at us and she goes wow, you guys made it a lot faster than the other two times, cause, yeah, we, we were she knows our history.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we were the stragglers that you know. We got nicknamed the sweepers because we're like the last ones. But I told her oh my gosh, I wrote this down. It was my goal. So I was super, super excited that what I had written down I didn't know that it was going to happen today that I finished.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was super exciting, and it was exciting for me because I didn't know that you had written to happen today that I finished. Yeah, that was super exciting. And it was exciting for me because I didn't know that you had written that down. Yeah, we'd had conversations about it, but I didn't know. It made it to your planner, so that was you know. Congratulations.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Yeah, that was super exciting.
Speaker 1:That was, and everyone was excited for you. That's the thing about this group of people like they just celebrate each other, and so they were really, really happy for you. And so just a shout out for Michael for staying with us at the back and listening to us, and we got to learn a lot about each other, including we can do things that we don't think we can do.
Speaker 1:So, we've put our mind to it. So, yeah, that blew me away because I remember towards the end there's another steep incline and Michael had started throwing a couple of questions at me about my music background or whatnot, and so here I was talking, trying to catch my breath and talk, catch my breath, and I realized I did realize, as I was talking, we're at this very steep incline before we get to the top. It's just a few yards, but it's a last bit of a push and I realize I'm talking through this right now, you know, but it wasn't until we got to the top that I realized, yeah, we did not stop, not once.
Speaker 1:And the first two times we would stop and there was some just heavy breathing in some of our stops because it was a workout and, I agree, I didn't think in my mind that we'd be doing that so soon.
Speaker 2:Right and I got to give you credit that I'm sure if I didn't have to stop, I'm sure that you would have kept going and um, I just really appreciate you just waiting for me and just being patient and, um, not making me feel bad.
Speaker 1:Well, a little selfish, because every time I stopped for you I was getting a break. Too Little selfish before you give me too much credit.
Speaker 1:A little bit of selfish motive there, so, yeah, so that was a wonderful thing to celebrate this morning and so, um, kind of uh, you know the update here we go two to five times. Um, at this workout we met these folks there, just decided to go, and just one of those life moments where you know, you meet this group of people that you realize we could have been friends for years already. We like them so much, that would have been neat. But we meet them, become hiking buddies with them, and there's already hikes in the future planned at different destinations, and so it's been a wonderful thing to be in a group of people. So we are back on track on our fitness journey, eating healthy and eating on program and so, but the journey we've made it a little bit more fun. Current weight loss right now because they started a weight loss challenge and we're on opposite teams.
Speaker 1:We're on opposite teams and, uh, speaking of Michael, michael is like the team leader for her team and Michael already was, uh, you know, right when the challenge started, was asking, you know, uh, telling her to make herself some nice grilled chicken and to feed me the fried chicken. So there's some, you know, people trying to break each other's kneecaps on this thing, but it makes it, you know, the challenge, fun and it's been great and it's good for accountability. Our goal each is anywhere between 35 to 40 45 pounds to lose, even from this point today, and so we're getting there a bit by bit, and we know that it's um, it's a journey, so we're being nice about it and if there's a slip up here and there, get back on and we keep going like if anything that we learned is, it's not perfect and I know that with coaches that have coached me through my journey, they've been wide open about that.
Speaker 1:For anyone that's lost 80 to a hundred pounds that I know there's been the slip ups. That's just the norm. So, just if anyone's out there and you're on your own journey trying to do this just, and you found that you fell off more than one time, that's, that's part of it. That's how you lose weight is you scrape your knees a little bit, get back up and kind of learn what threw you off and like, for example, briefly, that's what I learned when I fell off.
Speaker 1:I lost those first 35 pounds and then through our life journey together where a lot was going on, all great stuff, we got married, we moved, all wonderful stuff was happening but I learned that you know, by stepping away from my coaches and the community of people I was involved with on my journey, that it's easy without that accountability to fall apart. You know, and as much as we love each other and want the best for each other, it's not always the best accountability partner. Sometimes we both need someone else that's looking out for us and checking in on us, and we didn't quite do that, but that was a lesson learned and so we're back on track with that. And uh, do me a favor, though you have a very interesting story that I did not know, going even prior to what you've just shared, about weight that you had gained and a decision you made to fix that at the beginning. So share about that if you don't mind.
Speaker 2:So I grew a little bit of my background going to high school I was very active. I would run cross country and, you know, play softball and I just love to be active.
Speaker 1:You've got a good pitch too. We played softball, throwing the ball to each other at the park, and I remember the first couple of times like ouch, that hurts. You know how to throw that ball. So, yes, baseball I learned. Softball was one of them that you did.
Speaker 2:Yes, I love softball a lot. So as the years started passing, after I graduated from high school and just my life, I started to just kind of eat late at night and little by little, the weight started to come on and I would buy bigger clothes and I would tell myself you're okay, Like you're fine. And so then I ballooned up. I ballooned up um to 280 pounds, and that was within a timeframe of probably, I would say, like 12 years. And so here in high school I was about 135. And it was devastating for me. I felt like I had a fat suit on and I could not take it off. And so I would try diets and I would look at the amount of weight that I had to lose, and it just seemed like it was just too much weight to get off.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I just have to jump in here real quick because just that part of your story blows me away that to see who you are now and to know that you had that much weight on you man you know only someone who's been there as you have would really deeply. I mean, those of us outside who would see something like that are massively impressed. But you had to go through it Right and to think that happens one pound at a time, sometimes just ounces at a time, and yet you got through that. So just props to you for doing that, but continue sharing like where how that happened for you, because you I remember you telling me you got to a kind of desperate situation for yourself at some point.
Speaker 2:Right. So 280 pounds and just feeling really bad about myself. So I had heard about the gastric bypass, and so I qualified to get the gastric bypass. So I opted to get the gastric bypass. So I opted to get it, and so I knew that it was just a tool to help me to lose weight. It wasn't magic. I still had to eat right and exercise, and so I had the surgery in 2006.
Speaker 2:And so when I had the surgery, I had to go to classes before the surgery, and they talk about the kind of diet that I needed to have after the surgery very high protein and just different things that I wasn't supposed to eat. And so, um, that was like a new chapter of my life, and so I knew that the weight was going to come off if I just ate the way that I was supposed to. Um, my stomach was smaller, so I would get full faster, and so right away I signed up with Alley Fitness and then so I started to exercise. I started just to get on the treadmill, and then I didn't know very much about weights, and so I just take a class and then I have fun in the classes, and so that became part of my lifestyle and the weight started to come off, and I knew that it was important to exercise because the weight was coming off so fast and I did not want to be like some of the other girls that I would see that lost a lot of weight and they would have like a lot of loose skin. And so, um, I knew that I had an advantage if I did, uh, do some weight training, that I would build muscle and that my skin would wouldn't suck like some of these women. So, um, I worked really, really hard on that and, um, just like with everything they say, if you do something, um and you do it long enough, it just becomes a habit.
Speaker 2:And so I began to go to the gym. And if I didn't go to the gym, it was like I need to go to the gym. And so I became a gym rat. I loved going to the gym. I loved going to classes. You'd see familiar faces and I made friends, and so it was a fun place for me to go, so it became my playground. I loved going to the gym and pushing myself and, um, learning how to lift weights and different techniques. And so, um, with that journey, um, a few years later, um, I lost a total of 127 pounds. That's crazy. Yes, 127 pounds.
Speaker 1:That's crazy.
Speaker 2:Yes, 127 pounds and so I was feeling great I was wearing I think it was like a size 26. That's really really big, and so you know I'd go shopping. Shopping was a lot more fun After the weight loss.
Speaker 1:After the weight loss After the weight loss yeah, after the weight loss, After I was going to say shopping for 26. You?
Speaker 2:loved that. Huh, no, no, no. It was miserable because I couldn't find stuff to fit me. So, yeah, eventually I got down to 127 and my clothes size was a three, four and I hadn't gotten to a three, four and a very, very long time. So I was feeling really, really good about myself and yeah, that was my, my journey with the gastric bypass and yeah, I, I learned a lot from that gastric bypass to eat healthy and how important it is to stay active.
Speaker 1:Yep, so share a little bit about cottage cheese and egg story. Help me understand that this is a conversation that we were having on the way back from Yosemite the other day.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's right. So with the gastric bypass, they encourage you to have a very high protein diet, and so I started off by just having like hard boiled eggs. And then, with the exercise that I started to do, I wanted to cut the fat. And so the yolk is delicious, but it does have more fat in it. Yes, it's good for you, but I just didn't want the fat. So I started to pop the yolks out and just have the egg whites and I just dip it with a little bit of lemon pepper seasoning. And so, yeah, my diet was very, very, very clean.
Speaker 2:And then it was just different changes that was happening to me as I began to get more like healthier. So it started off with like just the regular cottage cheese. I love cottage cheese. And then I thought you know what? What if I just go to the low fat cottage cheese, Will I notice the difference? And I didn't notice the difference at all.
Speaker 2:And with the cottage cheese I'd like maybe eat it with like a little bit of salsa or low sugar fruit is pears, so I didn't mind eating it with pears. And then I thought, you know why not just have fat free? And so the cleaner that my diet began to be like I didn't want to eat stuff that had so much fat in it, and so then, from just regular cottage cheese, I went down to fat free cottage cheese and yeah it, just it, just. Everything started changing. I started to make different, different changes in my life and I I'd love to get into reading a magazine, and if it was juicing, I'd find myself interested in. Oh okay, Ginger does this for you. Tumeric and uh, cucumbers helps with, like, uh, water loss and uh, if you retain water, it helps to, you know, get rid of your water. And ginger helps with inflammation and turmeric is great too. So I just found myself like wanting to have things that were just healthy for my body, and I felt amazing, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:I love that story whenever I hear it because it's just such an incredible journey. So for again, as I stated earlier, for anyone that just feels desperate that they've gotten themselves to a weight, regardless of the number, that you're just unhappy. And you know, that is the one thing that for me too, man, that I didn't expect on my own weight loss journey, that when I lost those 35 pounds initially, so much more happens than physical my confidence mindset. There's a lot that goes on when you see that you've done something like that for yourself, and I remember feeling that and just being really excited about that. So I'm excited now that we're back on this journey again together. We have a goal we're getting to. We're with a group of people that are helping with us. I'm back in contact with a fitness coach, a health coach that I'm working with on that, so it's a good thing. Now, I mentioned earlier about this weight loss competition. We're on with some friends for fun. We were losing weight anyways, but this makes it more fun and the fact that we're on opposite teams makes it even more fun.
Speaker 1:But one of the things that I loved when you and I came together was that because you learned your way around the machines at the gym and free weights. That always scared me. I always stayed away from that. So I would always go to a fitness, a group fitness session, and that worked out wonderfully for me. And there was a time where I was working at, I was working out at a place that you would wear your heart rate monitor and they would Bluetooth it to the screen so you can see your workouts and I'd consistently be burning 800 to 900 calories. That's great and it was fun. I loved it as much as my butt was getting kicked and I was always always in my group and there were some good people there that I. I was always in the top three and I learned that about myself, like you, yeah, in terms of the top three of how many calories were burned in the session, and so I learned that I enjoyed that very much, that quick pace, someone's leading me through something.
Speaker 1:But when we came together, there'd been several times we'd go to a gym and you would walk us through the different machines free weights in some cases to help us know, and I felt that I still don't know them very well, and that's part of what's going to happen now is that after we get through the weight loss challenge. We're going to be going to that group five times, two to five times a week, hopefully more than that, but at least five, excuse me, at least two to three that once that's done, we do want to carve out in the week a couple of days where you walk me through what weights to use for upper body, lower body, and on days that I'm doing that, you want to jump into a spin class because you love doing that. You took me one time and that and I didn't finish it halfway through you saw it on my face I said I need to get out. Um, I tapped out and I went out to, I think, a treadmill. The treadmill has been my friend. Uh, I just that's that worked for me and my walks. But, um, but I was watching you work out on the those uh bikes in there in the spin class and you're amazing at that. Like you just dig in and I just I was getting exhausted so fast.
Speaker 1:So, anyway, so after it's, you know. So you're gonna work me through how to learn some machines everybody lower body and we're gonna days that we're not in our morning class. We'll be there in the morning but out there lifting weights, you in the spin class with some of the the gals that, uh, are in our, our modus be there in the morning. But out there lifting weights, you in the spin class with some of the gals that are in our, our modus fitness class in the morning. So that's kind of where we're headed. You know we have a plan and I'll be doing that, you'll be doing your thing, and then we'll be coming together with our group and so our goal is lean in tone, right, get the weight loss done, and then we just want to be lean in tone. I'm not looking to be Mr Atlas or whatever it is, but that's kind of where we're at in terms of our goals for health and fitness. That's kind of what we're looking at. Anything to add to that before we move on.
Speaker 2:I would just add that you know, with us just being active, um, well, like we, we love to go on hikes. Um, there's so much that we want to do and by having a healthy lifestyle and being active and finding groups of people to have that have the same interest, um, it's so important to bring that into your life. If you don't have a fitness group, join a fitness club and you know attend regularly and you know make yourself available. And you know, if it wasn't for just kind of hearing that they were going to go on a hike and sticking around and hey, we'd like to go, so it's really, really important to make yourself available. There's people out there that you know. There's hiking groups, running groups and yeah, so I encourage whoever wants to be active to find those people and I'm so happy that you know we're doing these things and finding people that are doing like crazy, crazy, crazy hikes of doing Barbara and her husband, roland they did the. What was that?
Speaker 1:Pacific Trail, Crest Trail, something like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they were out there for four and a half months hiking yeah, they do like 20 miles a day and then they'd camp out and I'm like that sounds like fun.
Speaker 1:So, um, you know it's, it's just fun to live a active lifestyle yeah, and and just to wrap up this section, um, it is something that we want to do, that there's no reason, life God willing, that our health stays with us and we have a long life together, but we want that long life to be as healthy as possible with what's in our control, and we're controlling those levers. How can we eat? What do we put in our body? How do we move our body every day? We're in charge of that. If I walk out and get run over by a bus, okay, well, at least I was healthy when it happened. Yeah, I know I'm going to stay away from buses, and there's a bus stop right out here too, so I'm going to walk right around the bus.
Speaker 1:But, in all seriousness, those are the levers that we're in charge of, and we promised each other before we were married, knowing that this was a value that we had, that we got to do this for each other, because we're so happy that we found each other that we want to maximize our time together with the most optimal health possible, and we want to help other people do the same thing. So that's what's exciting, and to be in a group of people, as you stated. I'm not going to repeat that, as you stated wonderfully, that, yeah, being with a group of people just makes it a lot more fun. So tomorrow it's going to be a bike ride. We're not going to the gym, but we're going to do a bike ride and to continue the trend until Monday comes, and then we're going to be back in the gym.
Speaker 2:Yes, all right, looking forward to that?
Speaker 1:Yep, that'll be fun. Well, speaking of fun, wasn't that fun? I hope you enjoyed our conversation and got something out of that, and so, with that in mind, let's do what we always do, and that is wrap this up with some application. So get out your notepad or your journal, and whether it's digital or hard copy, it doesn't matter. What matters is the doing. We need to apply, through action, the lessons, the ideas that come to us as we learn together. So here's our application today, and it assumes that you understand how critical it is that you be at your best health in order to better serve your body, your mind and those you love, beginning with yourself. Our application today involves being super clear about your goals, what you want to accomplish, when, why, etc. Etc.
Speaker 1:So I'd like to turn to New York Times bestselling author and business coach, michael Hyatt. He has what he calls SMARTER GOALS. You may have heard of SMART GOALS, an acronym. His are SMARTER and we want to be smarter. So here they are have your writing utensils in your hand or at your fingertips.
Speaker 1:Smarter goals are specific, measurable, actionable, risky, time keyed, exciting and relevant. That's where we get smarter from. So let's get super clear on these, on each of them, so that you can be just as clear as you record your own goals. Now I'm going to read straight from Michael Hyatt's LinkedIn page, so let's go ahead and get started. Here's what he says. Goals must meet seven criteria. One they must be specific. So what does it mean to be specific? Identify exactly what you want to accomplish and use as much specificity as you can muster. Two they should be measurable. If possible, try to quantify the result. You want to know absolutely positively whether or not you hit the goal. So again, I'm reading from Michael Hyatt's LinkedIn page on his smarter goals. Moving on. They should be actionable.
Speaker 1:Every goal should start with an action verb quit, run, finish, eliminate, et cetera rather than a to be verb, am, be, have, et cetera. I will quit drinking more than whatever, or I will quit drinking at all. I will run the alley marathon. I will finish whatever. It is Okay. So make sure it starts with an action verb and rather than a to be verb. Next, risky your goals must be risky.
Speaker 1:A good goal should stretch you. I go right up to the edge of my comfort zone and then step over it. Michael Hyatt says if I am not out of my comfort zone. I'm not thinking big enough. I really like that. Our goal should be time keyed.
Speaker 1:A goal without a date is just a dream. So make sure every goal ends with a by when date. You have to have that and then we have exciting. You should be personally excited about achieving the goal. If this isn't the case, then you likely won't have the motivation necessary to persevere. That's certainly the case with me. On the weight loss right now it's exciting. I've felt the loss of 35 pounds before and I just can't wait to get that and more this time, so that one just absolutely resonates with me. And then, finally, smarter goals are relevant. Your goals should be relevant or aligned with your values, your reason in life and your other goals. Again, that is from Michael Hyatt, his Smarter Goals. So there you have it. You've got Smarter Goals this year in regards to your health and fitness. I'm very excited for you because I know how positive change in this area, this area of fitness and health, has a wonderful domino effect on the other important areas of your life. It just works that way. So go forth and be well.
Speaker 1:Next week we'll continue our New Year Goals theme. Lydia and I will discuss marital goals. Now ours is a second marriage, so there are unique pitfalls to that and, based on the data of second marriages, there's one crucial goal we'll discuss. That reigns king or queen over the rest Now listen, I won't even tease this one. That reigns king or queen over the rest Now listen, I won't even tease this one. I'll tell you now the goal of all goals is stay married. No surprise there, right? So if that one gets messed up, then the rest don't matter and it'll be a short podcast. Well, that's not going to happen. We've got a lot to say because we feel so fortunate that we found each other and have this gift of marriage to each other that we're going to take and we're going to just move this thing all the way till death, do us part and we hope that's another gazillion years. That'd be okay with us.
Speaker 1:Okay, let me send you away with a quote. Here it is If you don't risk anything, you risk even more. That's from Erica Jong. That's it. That's the quote. Think about it, act on it.
Speaker 1:Thanks again for spending time with me today. Friends, please join me again next week as I ask the scintillating Lydia Sanchez back to talk about our marital goals. Thank you for listening, if you found this time together useful, please consider following this podcast and leaving an excellent rating. If you feel you can't do that yet, please reach out to me and let me know what I can do to get you to leave a top rating. If you are already excited about what you've heard, please consider sharing this podcast with a friend. I really would appreciate it. Also, I'd love your feedback, both on today's topic as well as what you'd like to hear me address in the future. I would really appreciate that input. Again, I'm your host, isaac Sanchez. I hope today's thought serves you the way it has served me. Remember your next move is just one inside away. Have an amazing rest of your day. I'll see you next time.