Fit for Freelance Review: How Chris Dropped 20 Pounds and Has More Energy for His Kids

Reggie:

Alright. Welcome back. Today we're doing another great testimonial call/Fit for Freelance review… Chris is one of the Guilt-Free Gameplan clients that we worked on a 14 week Guilt-Free Gameplan.

I'm just going to find a little bit about what your experience is like, but we'll start with the basics. Like who do you serve? Who do you help? What kind of business are you running? All that stuff.

Who do you serve? What kind of work do you do?

Chris:

Sure. Well, my family is number one. I have two small daughters and my wife, Ashley. So I do everything for them and that's why I went down this journey on the 14 week Gameplan. For work I am a management consultant, which means I at times am very busy and then it can go from 150 miles per hour to zero miles per hour, very quickly.

So my schedule is very up and down and that's another reason why I needed some help with paying attention to my health in both the uptimes and the downtimes.

Reggie:

Yeah. So it sounds like you were really working well with the integrity at some moments when you had that variable schedule and sticking to your guns and making sure you're dedicated to your own goals. What's kind of the background to your values and your integrity and what you believe in the family stuff?

Fit for Freelance review: Supporting your values and goals

Chris:

Well, integrity is very important to me for a number of different reasons, but it is essential for my work and I need to maintain a solid value of integrity to make sure I'm serving my clients well and have their best interest in mind.

And also in life, I think it's an important thing to make sure you have a strong grasp and a strong sense of integrity in anything you do, just to keep your mind on the prize and Fit for Freelance was able to help me do that just by aligning my goals.

And going into it, honestly, I probably thought it was going to be a different set of goals and I came out of it with something else. And so the integrity part helps you stay strong and dedicated to those goals. So it was helpful to kind of map that out and then with integrity as a core value is kind of like a guiding light to make sure I stay in the right direction.

Reggie:

Nice. Thanks. What was the decision point of when you knew you wanted a Guilt-Free Gameplan and how did that transition work for you?

Fit for Freelance review: How did you know it was time for the Gameplan?

I had gotten to 205 pounds, which is way too much for me. I had a stressed out moment, little mini panic attack, which then led to a doctor visit. They discovered I had high cholesterol.

And so there was a lot of things leading up to it that were concerning from a health perspective. So I reached out to you and you laid out a couple of different ideas, but ultimately I think the 14 weeks was the right amount of time for me and everything involved with it. Like more the mental aspect of setting goals and having the accountability meeting every week... all the elements of the 14 week plan kind of aligned with what I thought would make me successful.

So it made sense for me to do that and it worked. I ended up losing 20 pounds and cholesterol's fine. So very thankful for all that. Thank you very much for helping me.

What mistakes and challenges were you having with your health goals?

Work is very up and down, so allocating time for exercise and putting together healthy meals was not top of mind for me

Chris:

Like I said, work is very up and down. So just allocating time for either exercise or putting together healthy meals and planning those out was not something that was top of mind for me.

And so actually making the commitment to the plan helped me to re-prioritize that and putting in the framework of the 14 week of the Guilt-Free Gameplan to align your... set out, lay out your goals.

And then if you're kind of focused on those goals, then everything that comes after that comes naturally. And so you're not forcing anything. And so that was very helpful for me and kind of continuing to stay on track and continuing to make progress.

Reggie:

Yeah. Glad to hear that. That vision and focus exercise that happens early, that really gives a lot of clarity to clients. I use it too. It helps me understand what I'm aiming for and lines things up. It makes it simple. What were some lessons you've learned from to Guilt-Free Gameplan that you can share?

Fit for Freelance review: What are some lessons you've learned?

Chris:

Well, there was a lot of more quantitative knowledge, I would say, that you were able to help me out with, scientific knowledge, quantitative knowledge where understanding how many calories per day. So at the beginning I was really paying close attention to how many calories I was taking in, not only calories, but nutrients as well.

And so getting kind of a baseline understanding of what you're taking in daily and then how that impacts your health. In my case, I was focused on cholesterol and weight in general. And so making that connection between intake and results was really helpful.

And I was also able to reach out to you for questions about like, hey, what do you think of fish oil pills and something like that. Omega-3 Fatty Acids. What are some good sources of Omega-3 Fatty Acids?

It was very helpful to have someone who has that knowledge base to give me some real advice, rather than Instagram or telling me that fish oil pills is actually poison

Whereas I asked you the question and you're like, oh, the FDA says this, this and this. And it's like, well, okay, that's probably a more reputable source than 16 year old on Instagram.

Reggie:

Yeah. That background in nutrition education and Masters in Medical Science really add up to some helpful coaching. So I'm glad that it kind of shed some light on the nutrition process.

A lot of people when they would want to make a health habits change, they'll just look at one element of it. But we really like to look at the nutrition and give you a baseline and then make little adjustments and then questions about supplements just kind of come naturally in that process. So thanks for that. Really glad to help.

How did you feel using the Guilt-free Framework? Was it simple and clear?

What was your journey like? Can you tell us about that?

Chris:

So it was simple. It takes a lot of energy to do the work upfront, kind of make sure you have the right goals in mind. So it was good effort, but it was a lot of effort and it pays off in the end.

You got the chance to sit down and ask yourself why you’re actually doing what you’re doing, or why you reached out in the first place. And it will help you make those goals real. Once the goals are correct then everything else comes naturally after that. If you have those goals in mind, then your decisions on a day-to-day basis come easier

So you're going to want to get up and go do that workout because you have written down on your Guilt-Free Gameplan that you want to have more energy for your kids.

And so making that connection, not just saying like, oh, I want to go do a workout just to check off the box. It's like, no, I want to go do a workout so I have more energy for my kids. So then you're like, oh, okay, well, that's a good reason I'm probably going to do that.

Reggie:

I can do it for that. For that, yes.

Reggie:

That's awesome. Yeah. Man, that's awesome. So you're describing kind of like the accountability of the process for ownership, which is a huge part. That's more of the three key pillars of the Guilt-Free framework. So I'm glad I was able to help you dial in.

And that is something that kind of makes a difference when you're talking about just looking up things online and have any idea of what you want for yourself. And then actually taking the time to focus and line everything up.

So it's easy to follow through with what you actually intend to do. And that little bit of extra effort you might be like, ah, this is annoying. I don't really want to do all this work. But sometimes that refining process is what gets you that little extra push and motivation. So I was glad you're able to do that and see that, feel it for yourself.

Something that I love about the Guilt-Free Gameplan is that it's not just health in a vacuum. It's not just like its own thing that you do, like you described, just to check the box and you start to connect it to other things. And that was actually part of my next question is the vision and focus exercise. You were able to make health about showing up for your family. Is there anything you want to add about that? Can you tell us more about some of the impact has had on the family?

How did the Guilt-free Gameplan help you become a better parent?

Chris:

Yeah, absolutely. I started going to the gym a lot more once we started the Gameplan and focused a lot on lifting weights because that's something I used to do in high school and a little bit in college and that just gave me so much energy.

And so as a result of that, then just doing daily things like I have two small kids, so like bending over and like squatting and helping them take a bath or go to the bathroom, whatever, it takes a lot of bending over and squatting. And I just have so much more endurance and energy to be able to do that stuff now. And by the end of the night, I'm not exhausted passing out like I used to be. So I have more energy for every aspect of my life.

Fit for Freelance review: It helps at work too

Chris:

It helps out at work, too. I think I told you at one point during the plan just in casual conversation with the folks at work and was able to recall specific statistics and numbers. And it was very helpful. And I felt like that was as a result of the nutrition plan that I was on. And the fact that I was just drinking a lot of water which I found had a big impact on everything that I did.

So all of those things had real, tangible impacts on every aspect of my life. It all goes back to having more energy and more capacity for family and friends and work.

Reggie:

Perfect. Yeah. That's all we're looking for... more energy for family and then more mental clarity at work better. Better hydration also helps. So that's check, check, and check.

Alright. So the next question, making changes, isn't always easy, simple. Like you can get stuck casually implementing health plans and resolutions and feeling immensely weak, pretty easily. Tell me about your journey, getting comfortable with changing your health habits.

Chris:

Yeah. I think I struggled at the beginning just trying to set the right goals and it was hard for me to get down to the most granular level that the plan requires for weekly goals and keys to win the week and all that stuff. So I think at the beginning it was tough for me to get that granular. I was thinking more longer term goals by the end of the program. I want to be here and be doing this, but really breaking it down takes effort.

And so once I was able to do that and then the flip side of it is, and I think we talked about one of the challenges was, recognizing the little wins associated with that. So once I kind of got the grasp of setting the right shorter term goals and recognizing those wins, then everything else kind of started falling into place. But it was tough for me at the beginning to get a grasp on how granular do you need to be.

Once I kind of got the grasp of setting the right shorter-term goals and recognizing those wins, then everything else kind of started falling into place

Reggie:

Yeah. So what Chris is describing here is first, there's a vision of focus exercise where you tie it to the bigger picture, like the purpose that you are living pretty much like family, having more energy and clarity.

And we break that down into Gameplan goals. And then on a weekly calls, we break it down even further down to the keys to win the week. So like an individual action that you can take each week that is going to help you reach those bigger goals. And so it's both. 

A lot of times when people start these new health habit changes, they just have a big generalized picture and we just bring it all into focus and make it easier for you to understand how to use it. And Chris had great experience with that. Got great results, saw it firsthand how it works and looking forward to impacting more lives with that, because that Guilt-Free Gameplan is the real deal.

Fit for Freelance review: Learning to take time for yourself

Chris:

And the accountability part is really important too, when doing those weekly meetings. So for example, like when one of the weekly goals was to set up this workout and I did set it up, then I ended up not going because I got busy with work and I scheduled a meeting at that time. And I remember I was talking to you and you were like, well you were busy at that time.

Reggie:

Yeah.

Chris:

You told me, "You weren't available." And you know, you scheduled a meeting at that time. I could have scheduled it later but I think just subconsciously, I just scheduled the meeting during the time of my workout and I didn't need to.

And so just having someone to hold you accountable for decisions like that, because then there's an excuse there. Oh, I didn't work out because I got busy with work, but you know, maybe that's not necessarily true. Like you could have scheduled that at a different time and you could have done both things. So having that accountability or somebody just call you out on your BS was very helpful in recognizing those shorter term goals.

Reggie:

Nice. Yeah. I was really glad to share that with you because a lot of people that's another one of the core pillars is confidence and self-compassion, and it's very easy for people to get stuck when they override their own plans for themselves. And you can be like, oh yeah, I can just work out later. Or I can skip meals. And every once in a while that happens and that's fine.

It's easy to override your plans for yourself, and it happens sometimes. But when you do it continuously, you're off track on the goals you have for yourself. Accountability in the the Guilt-free Gameplan helps with that -Reggie

But a lot of times people do that continuously and then they're way off track on the goals that they have for themselves. And then they can't show up their best selves for the people and things they love. And so I was really glad to kind of remind you, hey, you scheduled that, like be nice to Chris. So that was awesome. Alright.

Reggie:

And then a big question here that I didn't give you a chance to prepare for, let's say at the end of your life, it's the end of your life right now, people are reflecting on you... you have your family and your friends and your colleagues and everybody's there. And they're really sad that you're gone. And they're talking about the impact that you've made. What is the hope that they are saying about you?

Fit for Freelance review: What bigger impact do your health habits support?

Chris:

I would say that he was kind and he made time to be present with everyone. So I think that's the most important thing. And just to be kind and think of others first and make sure you're putting in the love and empathy for those that you care about. I want people to recognize that.

Reggie:

Nice. I definitely see you doing that. And I recognize that light in you. One of the kindest men I've ever met and just really appreciate you joining me on this Guilt-Free Gameplan journey. I was really glad to coach you and you can always be a client again, I'll be here. Thanks for all your support. Do you have any other comments, questions, things that I forgot to ask or didn't ask or things you want to add? Anything like that?

Fit for Freelance Review: What would you tell a friend thinking about signing up?

The plan really helped me out. It was the right decision for me and ultimately my cholesterol is way better and down into normal range now. And I lost 20 pounds. I'm lifting weights again, and getting back to a normal level of lifting and just have a ton more energy

Chris:

So thank you so much for that. It was very, very helpful. I appreciate it.

Reggie:

My pleasure, and glad to get you those great results. Those are huge life changing things. So it was really cool to work with you on that. And I appreciate you coming on and talking about that in this Fit for Freelance review. So thanks a lot. Thanks for watching, whoever is watching this now, and I'll put links in the description below to the Guilt-Free Gameplan. So you can learn more about it and find out if it's right for you. And you can also check out some of my other videos. So that's it. Thanks Chris.

Chris:

Thank you.

Reggie:

And keep practicing.

Can you relate to Chris's story?

Have you struggled to keep up with new health habits with a constantly changing work schedule plus having little kids? How would you like have more energy to play with your kids without being exhausted all the time, or bring your cholesterol back down?

Without the right preparation, a clean eating plan for weight loss is too big of an adjustment, and it doesn’t go well. You go for a month, you fall off, you feel mentally weak, like you're not good enough. Then you start beating yourself up. It's a terrible way to lose weight and build confidence.

What we want to do is keep you from feeling lost, keep you from being a stuck casual implementer because we know that feels terrible. That's just not the way to do it. That's why the Guilt-free Framework is so important to how I teach this.

Stop focusing on the weight loss; focus on your confidence.

We want to get you the energy and accountability you need to be great at what you love

Without all of the hardcore weight loss plans and all or nothing diets. Then you don't even have to focus on losing weight; you'll actually just feel more energized, more confident. Then the weight loss will come after that- if you have weight to lose, right? If you make that healthy shift and you are feeling that new energy, you're going to see your body change to reflect that.

So that's what we're up to at Fit for Freelance- Guilt-free.

Click here to go to the success and reviews page!