Habits and Hustle - Episode 355: Beth Wilkes Feraco’s Real Talk on Health, Fitness, Sobriety, and Social Media

Episode Date: June 18, 2024

Are you sick of extreme diets, unnecessary restrictions, and the constant fear-mongering in the wellness world?  In today’s episode of The Habits & Hustle Podcast, I chat with Beth Wilkes Feraco, a strength and nutrition coach who's cutting through the crap and keeping it real. Beth's refreshing, no-nonsense approach to health and fitness is exactly what we need more of on social media. Our conversation delves into the fact that consistency beats intensity every time. Instead of chasing the latest fads or pushing yourself to the brink of exhaustion, focus on building sustainable habits that you can stick with for the long haul. It's not about being perfect, it's about making progress. Beth gives insights on everything from intermittent fasting to the importance of walking. Her story of overcoming alcoholism and disordered eating to build a thriving online coaching business is truly inspiring.  At 42 years old, Beth Wilkes Feraco was 180 pounds and deep in an alcohol addiction. In the summer of 2015 she quit drinking and started running and weightlifting. Through her own recovery, she decided to help people lose weight, get strong, and accomplish things they never thought possible! What we discuss… (00:01) Inspiring Fitness Influencers Thriving Online (06:08) Navigating Diet Culture and Disordered Eating (12:05) Overcoming Addiction and Finding Balance (20:23) Fitness and Supplement Discussion (32:04) Fitness Coaching and Social Media Realness (39:24) Praise for Beth Fracco Fitness …and more! Thank you to our sponsors: Magic Mind: Head over to www.magicmind.com/jen and use code Jen at checkout.  BiOptimizers: Use code JC10 for 10% off and shop here: bioptimizers.com/jennifercohen Find more from Jen:  Website: https://www.jennifercohen.com/ Instagram: @therealjencohen   Books: https://www.jennifercohen.com/books Speaking: https://www.jennifercohen.com/speaking-engagement Find more from Beth Wilkes Feraco: Website: https://bethferacofitness.com/ Instagram: @bethferacofitness

Hi guys, it's Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits and Hustle. Crush it. I want you to tell everyone, so this is Beth, what do you call yourself? Are you like a health influencer or a fitness social media influencer? What do you call yourself? I call myself a strength and nutrition coach and a mindset coach. I actually used to train in person as a personal trainer inside of the gym and then transferred online when COVID happened. That's like a long story. But actually, I love that you interviewed Jordan Syatt because he's my biggest mentor.

In fact, a lot of my journey started with Jordan. I've been in his inner circle. I've been in his personal trainer mentorship with him. And actually how I got started really on social media was because of Jordan. He gave really. Yes, he gave us during our mentorship program that happens like I started it in 2020. So literally got thrown in the gym got shut down. So I'm like, all right, I'm going to go online and start working with Jordan and Mike Baconte. And so there was a TikTok challenge,

right? Let's post on TikTok every day for 30 days. And I'm like, fuck this. Like, are you, are you serious? Like TikTok, my step daughter was on it and it was like dancing and stuff. Like, that's, this is going to be interesting. So I did it. And one of my videos went viral. And I'm like, all right. And I have not stopped in, it's been like four years. So I went from like, you know, in person, never went back to the gym after that, and then grew my online business. Wow. Okay, so which video went viral, by the way? Gosh, it was one, was it 2021? It was like, it was a lot of f-bombs.

I think it was the first video that I was like, you know what, I'm going to try to be myself, because you're trying to figure out who you are on social media. It's like, do I swear like I normally do? And it started being weird not swearing because that's just me. So holding shit back, I felt like my content wasn't really authentic. And so when I let it all out, that's when it was, okay, this works for me because it's me. Yeah, absolutely.

But I think it was like, you don't need to fucking eat 1200 calories. You don't need to starve yourself. It was like all these things you shouldn't be doing in order to lose fat and people lost it. Well, also, that's what your content is, right? Like, you know, it's funny, it's funny that you said Jordan, because the way I would describe you is like, you kind of remind me as a female version of him, like so much because that's what he does, you know, like even like the walking video that you did. And then he did, like everyone's, you know, like even like the walking video that you did and then he did like everyone's, you know what I mean? Because just in the way you just describe it and funnily

enough also before you came on here, I just interviewed Dr. Idz. I think that's how you pronounce it. I say Dr. Idz. Dr. Idz. Yeah, that's what I say too. He's he's one of a person that I met on social media in the tik tok early days we became friends and they are like 2020. It's cool to see his growth as well, like to see him have a book now. My god, that's amazing. Yeah. And he's really good too. And it's I think it's I think what's happening is it's like this anti fear mongering, you know, like, because fear, like why I'm so happy to see you thrive and see him thrive and why I like Jordan stuff is because I have a really big problem with what how people typically get well known within social media is about fear mongering.

They stick to something and they hard press it. And just because they're they're good at reiterating something over and over again in a loud way doesn't make it right. Exactly, exactly. And so I like to see these people like you who are now like doing the opposite. Cutting through the bullshit. Yeah, cutting through the bullshit. It's cause fear sells.

Fear does sell, but apparently so does this other, the anti-fear is also selling like look at poot i mean there's not many of you but it's it's happening more and more yeah that's true that is you know so you tell me a little bit about how you got to this place you said that with of course with covid and everything you ended up getting online but were you like a were you a personal trainer full time at a gym? So I started actually going to the gym as a client. And from there, they were looking for a front desk person.

And so I'm like, perfect. My son's about to go to preschool. I'll start working at the front desk. And then the owner was like, I feel like you'd be a really good trainer. Do you want to start interning here? And I'm like, yeah, that'd be amazing. So at that same time, I found Jordan on social media. He was like the one person I could relate to. And I started actually working

with him through the inner circle and kind of learning about nutrition. I was going through my own fat loss journey. And one thing I did notice from going to the gym and taking these classes where the women were going through the same thing as me, they were working really fucking hard, but they weren't seeing any difference. And they kept saying, you know, I don't understand what's going on, you know? And I'm thinking, okay, what I'm learning right now is like nutrition, right? So I decided to get certified in nutrition first. So I did that.

And then I became a personal trainer as I was interning. So that's really how it started there. I was there about five years before I ventured online. Oh, wow. So you were doing nutrition first, actually. Yeah, I, nutrition's my first love, really. So you were doing nutrition first, actually. Yeah. Nutrition is my first love, really. If you notice, I don't do much weight training content.

I mean, I'd rather follow a program than write one. Yeah. So nutrition and mindset and behavior change is what I love. Yeah. And you're good at it, so good at it. So what was your fat loss journey? How much weight did you lose to even go through that? What was your path?

I lost about 50 pounds and I've kept it off since 2018. Yeah. Wow, that's a lot. And so do you wanna just tell people, so I can say it, but be more better if you say it, but so your whole thing is like not to be extreme, right in any one way, right? Like all this nonsense, like your videos, I think are like, that's what I love about it, because it really does cut through the

bullshit, like you said, and people are so extreme oriented. Yeah. And it's, it's like, completely unnecessary. So can you like, like, what kind of like, what kind of feedback or what kind of stuff do you, when you started to do this and it went viral and all the other stuff, was there any particular thing that you thought that people really kind of like started to ask you the most about? Was it like a particular, is it particular trends

that happened on social media? Was it like one thing or do you find that these things are constantly, like people glom onto let's say the gut health or I mean, you know, microbiome or sugar, blood sugar spikes, like what do you see, how do you kind of talk about that stuff a bit? I think what I see, yeah, I do notice the trends

with like in the beginning, when I started TikTok in 2020, a lot of it was like carbs, people were afraid of carbs and they were afraid of fruit. All these things, and I'm like, are these people, what the fuck is going on here? These people are like literally afraid to eat a banana. I'm like, some people are like potatoes, haven't had one in like a year.

I'm like, you haven't had a potato? It's like one of the most nutrient dense foods, low calorie, but they're afraid, like literally afraid of eating these things because of these fat diets. So there's always these extremes of like black and white thinking, like give up everything and then they end up like binging. So there's a lot of like restrict and binge calling food good and bad. I notice a lot of that going on on social media.

It's still as much as I talk about it, I'm like, I can't believe this still is out there. There's so many people that still believe this stuff. Like it's consistent. It's crazy. Do you, so you never had So you never struggled with that stuff? Oh, I did. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. So my thing was, I mean, I was an alcoholic. I've been sober for nine years. So that's really what got me back into the fitness. So it was me quitting drinking. So throughout my alcoholism, I would do juice cleanses. I would do these crazy diets mixed with my alcoholism, I would do like juice cleanses. I would do these crazy diets mixed with my alcoholism.

Like I would, to try to quit drinking, I would do like paleo for 30 days or do the whole 30 because it would give me a time where I had to give up alcohol. Or I've done the master cleanse 14 days of fasting. Yeah, crazy. Like no food? No food, just water, cayenne pepper, lemon juice

and maple syrup. Oh, you did that one for 14 days. Yes, 14 days. Yes. That's a long time for that one. Very. Yeah, I can't believe it when I think about it. I'm like, wow.

So I had a lot of disordered eating. I would give my husband shit because he was eating ice cream, but meanwhile, I just downed a bottle of wine. But I'm juicing the next day, so health. I was the biggest hypocrite. So I had to learn how to heal my relationship with food. And I kind of did that actually through posting on social media and kind of helping other people was kind of helping me at the same time.

I was kind of going through it in the beginning of 2020. And then I would do these candy challenges in October that was like, Okay, let's have a piece of candy with every single meal. Make sure you track it. Because usually people go crazy on the Halloween candy and then they binge it, right? So the longer you track it, have one with every meal. And by the end of this month, you're not going to want any and it's so true. I did that. And I was like, I can't even deal with this candy anymore. I don't want candy. It's like exposure therapy. Yeah, it is a totally exposure therapy. The funny thing is, that's why they say when you deprive yourself, I mean, it happens with me. Like,

if I don't eat something, and I deprive myself for too long, I end up thinking about it incessantly. Right? And then I'll end up eating it, but I'll eat an exorbitant amount of it. I'll have three pizzas, literally three pizzas. Because I've now created this whole story around the pizza. Yeah, the pizza's bad. I can't have the pizza. And then you're thinking about, God, but I really want pizza. Or you'll have things that are like, instead of pizza, making your own healthified version

of pizza, but that never satisfies you. So you're like, I'll end up eating it anyway. That is actually exactly what neuroses would be. Like for the first few days or a week, I would eat all these alternatives to what the actual thing is that I really wanted and never be satisfied. But also be thinking about it constantly. And then finally eating it, but eating like I said, 10 times the amount that I would have to. So how did you like actually get over that type of disordered eating? Because I find like you can get better, but it's really hard to like eliminate that thought

pattern. I find, like how do you tell people what they can do? Or how did you do it? Diet culture, you know, when you think about it, diet culture is so ingrained in us, right? It really comes down to unlearning and relearning so many things and I'm still like unlearning shit that I grew up with with my mom who was a habitual diet or like Jenny Craig Weight Watchers, you know, she did everything. Yeah. And I grew up around that. So it's consistently like- Well, how old are you?

Because that's probably like around my age. I'm 51. Oh, you're 51? Yeah. You look fantastic. Thank you. Yep. 51.

Crazy. I can't believe it myself. Well, you look like you're 31 and you were actually, you said an alcoholic also? Yep. I drank for 20 plus years. In fact, you live in LA, right? I think. Yeah. Yeah. I worked at the Ye Rustic Inn in Los Feliz for five straight years. I was one of the top bartenders there five days a week. I don't know if you're familiar with that place. No, I don't know Los Feliz that well. I'm more on the West side.

Okay. I know that. Yeah. So you were there for that long. So basically though, when you, I didn't mean to interrupt you. We're going to get right back to, I'm going on the West side. Okay. I know that. Yeah. So you were there for that long. So basically though, when you, I didn't mean to interrupt you. It's okay. We're going to get right back to, I'm going to remember making a note to where you talked about the diet culture. Yeah. But I wanted to ask you about that.

So because when you said, when your mom was dieting all the time and the way you said Jenny Craig and all that, I'm like, oh my God, that sounds very similar to like my era. That's why I wanted to ask you about your age and then you, so you are how many kids do you have? I have one I have one I have a son and a stepdaughter. 12 12 year old son and a stepdaughter. Yeah. And okay, so were you like a really functional alcoholic or were you like a really bad like how bad I would say, gosh, functional alcoholic until it wasn't. So the drawing board, my whatever you wanna call it, rock bottom was in 2015, it was my anniversary with my husband and I was at like a family barbecue.

I had the two kids with me, my husband was working and I decided to drive home on a half bottle bottle of wine. I don't remember. I don't remember the two kids were in the car. It was just me and them, you know, get home. I puked. My husband ended up coming home and was so fucking pissed at me. You know, I could have killed the kids, could have killed myself, could have killed someone else. And that day, I'm like, I need to stop. And before that, I knew I needed to stop. I just couldn't do it on my own. And that's why I would do those crazy diets. This was my, you know, like, okay, I get to stop drinking.

It was that hard for me to quit. And I decided to, there was an AA meeting down the street for me. And I walked in that AA meeting the next day and went every day for a year. Wow. Yeah. And so, wow. So that's how you became sober. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Hardest thing I've ever done. I mean, it's one of those things I thought about for years, tried, you know, and it's like, it comes to a point where if you don't, like you're one decision away from a totally different life. And I felt that in my soul. I was like, if I don't do

something, I'm going to die or someone else is going to die. I'm going to end up in jail. So, yeah. And then is that, and so that's how you found this new nutrition and fitness and health and well, because a lot of people I know who had that addiction, they just start they actually just replaced it with a healthier addiction, which would be fitness or whatever it would be. But it seems to me that you're pretty balanced. That's why I was curious. Did you replace it for a bit with an addictive personality? Yeah, I did actually with running. So as I quit drinking, I met a girl, Allison.

She got me into running. So I was like, wow, this is fucking hard. But it's giving me that runner's high. It was kind of like replacing. I would be like, all right, let's run like three miles. And then, you know, going from zero to 160, right? I would get shin splints, plantar fasciitis. I started enrolling in races.

And so running was my thing until, you know, I was beating myself to the ground with it, getting injured. And that's kind of the same time I started hybrid fitness coaching and things like that. And then I kind of learned like, okay, this is really healthy for me. I think I'm doing this a little bit too much here because I'm trying to build muscle and all this stuff. It's like you can't run yourself to the ground, try to build muscle, change your body and

do all this crazy shit. It doesn't have to be that way. So I learned through trial and error in my own, you know, facing my own shit, what works and what doesn't. So it's kind of like walking through it like everyone else, you know, I'm just like, everyone else trying to do this, except I'm a little bit of a head of a lot of people right now. Yeah, well, okay, so that's where we where we kind of were interrupted. You were saying how you kind of were able to find this like balance because it's very, very hard.

You know, it's like that rumination about food and how much you're eating. No, don't eat this. You can't eat that. Restrict that. How were you able to kind of and how do you, how did you unlearn those behaviors? And you were saying about your mom and she was dieting all the time. I think for me, this worked for me, this may not work for everybody. But for me, tracking my calories and starting this may not work for everybody, but for me tracking

my calories and starting to become aware of what foods made me feel good, that I can actually lose fat eating anything that I wanted, which I didn't really fathom before because I didn't understand. It's like, oh, that's bad. That makes me gain weight. No, it's actually because of the calories. It has nothing to do with the actual, you know, whatever food it is. It's just, you know, I was eating too much rice, too much avocado, you know, too much healthy food, you can gain weight. It's just calories.

So that tracking calories and seeing with my own eyes and seeing, you know, results, I'm like, okay, this makes sense. I can actually eat anything, but obviously not, you know, within moderation and still be healthy and still lose fat and maintain my weight. You know what's interesting? That tracking your food is the game changer for sure. It really is. If you've never done it, I suggest doing it for like 30 days because I'm like when Jordan was like, let's try tracking calories and weighing and measuring your

food. I'm like, weighing and measuring your food. I was like, what? And then I started doing it and started working. I'm like, how come no one told me this before? Like, if someone was to tell me something worked and I was like, I don't know if I could do that. I mean, do you really want to see your goals then? I don't know. It's just, I try it, right?

Yeah. Well, I just think it's like, it's something that we tend to underestimate everything we put in our mouth, our mouth for sure. And we overestimate how many calories we're actually burning when we work out. Those are the two things that I've noticed, right? Like you think you're burning more calories than you actually are when you're working out and you're actually eating much more than you actually think. Like I thought my breakfast for the longest time was like for sure under 350, 350 calories. And then when I actually counted all the things like, oh, but I forgot

about the cheese and I forgot about the half and half and I forgot about this. It was like 600. It was like literally double what I thought I was having. Is that crazy? But I feel, yes. And I, and I feel that that's what people do. And you can a hundred percent gain weight on healthy food because you think, oh, it's only avocado. I can have like 4,000 calories of it because you don't think that it would be that much. Or your coffee. It could be your cream and your coffee every day if you're having like a fucking Baskin Robbins amount of calorie coffee, which some people will go to Dunkin'

Donuts, not even think they're eating a 400 calorie iced coffee and they're not tracking it. They're eating a 400 calorie iced coffee, you know, and they're not tracking it or just no, I know. Are you still tracking your food then or not really? Currently, I'm in a fat loss phase because I went through a like two year maintenance bulk like lifting heavy shit. So now I want to expose the muscle that I've built. So but I normally I'm mindful eating.

But I do. You really? Yeah, I do love tracking though. I will intermittently like see where I'm mindful eating. But I do. You really are. Yeah, I do love tracking though. I will intermittently see where I'm at. I'm like, okay, what's going on here? Just to check in with myself, but it's not like a all the time thing. What do you think of intermittent fasting? Are you a fan or not a fan?

I find, no, I'm not a fan. People ask me that question all the time. It's interesting. Because it's a fat, right now it's super fat. It's like everyone's talking about all the time. It's interesting. Because it's a fat. Right now, it's super fat. It's like everyone's talking about it. Yeah. It's like, you don't have to starve yourself or not skip a meal in order to lose fat.

I find people will end up binging at night because they skip that morning meal. And it does them disservice by doing that. It's harder to get your protein in also. So I'm not a big fan. I know it does work for some people. If you you're a shift worker, you know, that might work for you, but it doesn't work for a lot of people. And it's actually something that you don't have to do. So there's all that theory on like autophagy, right? Like your body, if you're longer, you

don't eat, it gives your body a chance to repair itself and autophagy and all these things. It happens in your sleep though, too. Autophagy and all these things. It happens in your sleep though too, autophagy, right? It does actually happen in your sleep. That's what I say. I also think it's just another fancy way of calorie restricting is what I believe. And I think most people are like, they bullshit themselves. Oh no, no, no, that's not what I believe.

But majority of people who are doing it is because they want to figure out a way to eat less calories. But because it's such a fad and everyone was talking about it, did you ever have you tried it? Oh, yeah. For a period of time and see you did. Oh, yeah.

I was like, fuck this shit. And you didn't see it. Yeah. First of all, I love breakfast. I love breakfast. And I love dinner. Yes. Me too.

Breakfast is like my best fun meal of the day. I get the most protein then. It starts your day off right. I want to take a quick break from this episode to thank our sponsor BioOptimizers. Let me ask you a quick question. Are you ever just tired of feeling tired? Do you always hit snooze and then slam your head straight back on the pillow or wish you

can? You take care of a lot of things. We have issues with work, home, family, and friends. It's no wonder we just feel exhausted sometimes. And if you ever stop to think about it, who takes care of you? Magnesium breakthrough is an all-natural supplement that helps you reduce fatigue and sleep more peacefully. It even strengthens muscle and improves your heart and brain function. While most other magnesium supplements

aren't full spectrum, Magnesium Breakthrough is the only magnesium supplement on the market that contains the optimal ratio of seven essential types of magnesium. Their formula includes co-factor ingredients to multiply the delivery of magnesium to every cell in your body and absorb it at a very high rate. And not all formulas can do this. Imagine having the strength and energy

to get out of bed every morning and face the day boldly, courageously, and to be able to show up as your best self. And of course, keep your energy up through the day and into the night. So if you want to be and feel more energized and get the best night's sleep you've ever had, give Magnesium Breakthrough a try. And for an exclusive offer, go to biooptimizers.com slash Jennifer Cohen and use promo code JC10 during checkout to save 10%. That's biooptimizers.com slash Jennifer Cohen and use promo code JC10 during checkout for that savings of 10%. What's your take on cardio versus strength training?

I think both should be included in your life. I don't know why so many people hate on cardio. You know what I mean? They hate it. I love cardio. I'm a runner, but I also strength train. I know how important it is. I also know what my body looks like through strength training.

And also I'm 51. I want to maintain the muscle that I have and make sure that I don't lose anymore. So it's super important for us ladies. So yeah, I think people hit on cardio too much and this whole like, oh my God, what is it they say about the cardio that it does to you? Like your stress, your cortisol.

It's like, shut the fuck up. Oh my God, you know? Like seriously, cortisol is a stress hormone. Exercise, yes, is a stress. It's like, shut the fuck up. Oh my God, you know? Like, seriously, cortisol is a stress hormone. Exercise, yes, is a stress. It's normal. Like, some things that are stresses are actually good stresses, you know? But people hate on it too much.

I think both should be included in your life, for sure. It should be, I know. It's funny that you say that because whenever I talk to people and I say that I'm like, I love cardio because it's actually good for my mental health more than anything. Like it's great for like the focus, my being more alert. It actually makes me more productive the rest of the day I can go on and on. People are like, well, you really shouldn't be spending that much time with the cardio. You should be doing a strength training. And I'm like,

yes, but it doesn't give me the same dopamine that I need and my endorphins don't go as well. It doesn't happen as easily for me. And people are just mortified, God forbid. That's what I find so interesting. Living in a time when if someone doesn't agree with somebody else, it is blasphemy. People cannot have a conversation unless I thought like you and you thought like me. We wouldn't be able to be friends unless we've thought exactly the same way. It's like a terrible, I don't like how our society has become this way.

I mean, why do we want to agree with everyone? I mean, exactly. I don't know. That's why I'm saying exactly. I definitely don't. Yeah, it. I don't know. That's why I'm saying exactly. I definitely don't. But, you know, yeah, it's either that's not it's either this or that. Right. It's like, oh, no, you're wrong.

And you're right. It's like, no, why can't we have a mixture of both? Exactly. You can you can you can two things can be true at the same time. Absolutely. Absolutely. Right. So how do you get your ideas for your funny content?

Like is it because it seems you post a lot. And are you doing everything yourself? And are you finding the content? Like how are you doing it? I post everything on my little iPhone, the same that I did in 2020. I don't edit them. Yeah, all me in my house, my kitchen or my car. And I get a lot of my ideas from the comment section, or my coaches clients, like what's going on in our client scene, like what is someone struggling with? My Facebook group, they usually like off the cuff, I don't plan anything. So it's usually every day I'm like, all right, what's going on? What do people need help with right now? And then, you know,

I'll make a video on that. Or I get sent a lot of videos, like, what do you think of this? What do you think of that? So if if it's something worth, you know, stitching, I'll do that too. Yeah. What? Well, what video the one that walking was what I remember the most right now. Yeah. Because I mean, walking not I mean, that to me was the number one exercise of all time. Yeah, I got tagged in that video for on TikTok and Instagram for a few days before I didn't did anything because Gabrielle and what's his name? They're pretty big people, you know, and I actually liked Ed Milat, you know, I feel like he's a good person. I don't know. But the way they said that just pissed me the fuck off. And I had, you know, clients and people messaging me like is this

true is walking a waste of my time I'm like oh my god I mean I work with general population people people that just want to get their healthy and get moving and some of them maybe have mobility issues and the only thing they can do is walking some people may you know be very overweight and the only thing they can do is start walking so So it's like, why are we shaming people or making people feel less than because they're not fucking growing out in the gym like you are? You know, I think everyone should start somewhere and walking is the easily most accessible thing anybody can do. If you're physically capable, it's free. It's low impact. You know, there's also it's good for your bone density. It's good for your mood enhancement. There's good for your mood enhancement.

There's a lot of benefits. I think that walking, it's funny because when people ask me what I think the best exercise is, I say walking is the best exercise because of all the things that you just said and what I just said, I've never actually heard anyone say it's not considered an exercise. That was very surprising. I know. I'm like, okay, let's look up exercise in the dictionary. I mean, it's like.

You probably would see a person walking right there. You know? It's like, oh my gosh. It's like everybody walks. It's just something you should do. It's like, OK, you can go fast walking. What is hiking? You're walking up a hill.

So because you're calling it hiking, it's not walking. No, it's fucking walking. You're just walking on an incline. So, you know, But by the way, most people actually, sadly, do not walk. They're stuck at a desk and they're maybe walking to their car or walking to the fridge. But they're not really, you know, they're not actually taking out a substantial chunk of time to do anything. They're not taking 20 minutes and doing any form of exercise, walking being included, even if it's free. And even if it's, you know, the easiest, you

know, path of least resistance, people don't do it. Just because it's just because it's easy and available doesn't make it something that people are actually taking advantage of. Yeah, unfortunately, it is unfortunate. Oh, yeah. It's like what we try to have people do every day. All right, get up, move, you got to move. That's the biggest part of your metabolism is your knee, which is your non-exercise activity, thermogenesis. And if you're just sitting at a desk all day, like you're going to have a slower metabolism than someone that walks around and is busy.

And you know, you got to get up and doing your things. Exactly. So you said you have a group. What kind of group do you guys? Do you have like these inner circle groups? It's just my free Facebook group. It's about 30,000 people in it. It's called the No Bullshit Nutrition Made Simple. And it's free. Yep. And you don't do any online coaching for people? No, we have, I have a team of now 13 coaches and we work with people all over the world.

Oh, you do 13 coaches? Yeah, 13. So it just started with me in 2020. It was like me and I was taking my own online clients. And then I started having a waiting list. I'm like, okay, I'm not able to help these people. And I don't know when I'm going to have free time because I had 40 clients. And I'm like trying to be a mom, a wife and like, start this business. And so I ended up hiring my first assistant coach in 2021, who's still with me. And then I actually got a business partner who was the owner at the gym that I started at. So he's now, yes, so he's now the COO of my business. So all I do right now is run my team

with him. And my full job is making content and being in my community and running my team. That's amazing. So you have, okay, so walk with it. You have 13 trainers. Yep. 13 trainers, a sales team, an executive assistant, Hunter, my COO, I call him. Yeah, right now we're actually- That's amazing.

It really is. It's actually, it's a miracle honestly that I'm here. I mean, well, because of the drinking or just because of the fact that you're here in terms of the success that you've had? Or all of it? All of it, yeah. All of it. Like I said, one decision away from a totally different life.

I wouldn't have this life if I didn't make that decision nine years ago. It's amazing. Are you ever tempted to go to have a drink or not at all? Not, no. I mean, not like I was my early days. But I keep remembering of like what I felt like then and where I am right now. And it's like, why would I want to ruin everything that I've done? Because, because I know it would for me, I just know. That's like, and so that's, I mean, the fact that you have that kind of ability to see that,

and and then not be impulsive and act on it. That's one of the hardest things for relapsing, right? And that's amazing. So tell me what you do with these coaches. What's the plan? What's the program? People will DM you. Walk me through with the actual...

So they would go to my website, fill out an application, and from there they would get on a phone call with one of my transformation coaches, which is part of my sales team. And then from there they would give them some homework to do to make sure that they're invested. They usually have them send them pictures of their food or whatever they choose. Then they would have like a second call and from there they would get paired with the coach that would best suit them. And then they would go through our program.

So it just really depends on their goals. Everything is individualized. They get individualized strength training if that's what they decide to do. We have like video chat apps that they chat back with the coaches. So it's like, I don't know if you've heard of Marco Polo where you can see somebody and you can talk back and forth kind of like FaceTime almost. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So we have that. That's pretty cool. We do like end of the week check-ins, monthly check-ins. We have cooking classes once a month. We also do like guest speakers.

Like we have people come talk on Zoom about emotional eating, mindful eating, you know, strength training, maintenance. We have a team therapist also who does quarterly therapy sessions in a group fashion with our clients. Wow. So altogether, how many clients do you have with all the 13? Right now, I think we're close to 300. Really? Mm-hmm. Our coaches, I make sure that they're not taking 100 clients at a time because I want the

clients to have good service. I mean, if you're trying to serve 100 clients as one coach, that's so overwhelming. I can't even imagine. I know I was stressed out having 30 clients. So it's up to the coaches really like when they feel capped out. Like if they're like, I can't take anymore, they won't get anymore. It's really up to them how many they can take and give good service. Is it majority women or do you have some men in the team? We do have some men, yeah. But majority women in their 40s, 50s, 60s. Do you touch upon hormones and pre-menopause, perimenopause or menopause?

We work with a lot of women with perimenopause, yeah. And a lot of my coaches are taking the Molly Gelbrith, girls gone strong menopause course right now. So that's awesome. Oh, I haven't heard of that one. I just had Mary Claire on my podcast. Okay. Have you heard Gone Strong menopause course right now. So that's awesome. Oh, I haven't heard of that one. I just had Mary Claire on my podcast. Okay. Have you heard of the new menopause?

Did she just write? No. Yeah, she just wrote the book called The New Menopause, I think. Oh, okay. No? No. Which one is that?

I wanna see what that is. Molly? It is Molly Galbraith, G-A-L-B-R-A-I-T-H. And- Maybe I did hear about that actually, Girl's Gone Strong. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Girl's Gone Strong, yeah. That's a good name actually. Do you guys do fitness too or is it just nutrition or is it both?

What is it? Yeah, it's during training and nutrition. Yep. So you give them their program like today you're going to do this. Is it like an athlete? It depends really on their goals. If they want to build muscle, if they just want something, you know, to keep them active. If they have injuries, we

have to work around that. So usually goes month to month because they have monthly check-ins and it depends on the coach. Maybe they the coach might be like, you know, I want you to keep this program for another two weeks. You weren't consistent with the first two. So until you're consistent with these ones, then we'll program you new ones. We're huge on consistency. Yeah. Yeah. It's good. Yeah.

Because consistency wins over intensity all the time. Exactly. It's like, okay, you want new workouts, but you did two of them. No. Why do you want new ones? You didn't even do the ones you had. Exactly. No, it's so true. I didn't even know you had that vast of a program. How much is the monthly fee for that? It really depends. It's individual based off your goals. So, you know, we have payment plans, you know, different, we work with different people in that aspect, but it could be anywhere from between five and 600.

Okay. Yeah. You get the fitness and the nutrition and you get like all that other accoutrements. That's great. Yeah. You get the fitness and the nutrition and you get like all that other accoutrements. That's great. Yeah. Like I said, I just learned something new about you. I figured you had a coaching program. I just wasn't sure how vast it was. Yeah. So that's amazing. Okay. Now walk us through a day in the life of you, Beth. What do you do? Day in a life. Oh my gosh. Yeah. I get up around 530 and I sit there and I scroll on the internet. I'll answer a lot of my DMS and then I'll make myself some dark roast coffee. Get my son ready for school.

Make myself breakfast. Make him breakfast. Make his lunch. And then I'll head to the gym. The gym is like the first thing that I do after I drop my son off from school. And then all the meetings and all that shit starts after that. Yeah. So, yeah, it's like the team meetings, the one-on-one meetings, the coach meetings, the podcasts.

So it's really that content creation. Yeah. All that stuff, right? And then what time are you done? And are you a big fan of like all the other modalities like sauna, cold plunge, all the things? I'm a basic bitch. I'm a basic bitch. I'm a basic bitch.

Yeah, and basic by the way works. Yeah. Stuff actually works. Yeah. People want all these other modalities and magic potions and pills, but at the end of the day, if you can't get the basics down, it doesn't matter what the hell you're doing. Exactly. I mean, you couldn't pay me enough to get in a cold fucking plunge. I mean, that sounds brutal. Have you done it yet? Oh, I'm staring at mine outside right now. I have a,

I have all the things that one thing that freaking cold plunge. I grew up in Canada in minus 40, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Wow. There's no way I'm going to be cold on purpose unless I absolutely have to be. Right. That's it. That to me is like my kryptonite right there. Yeah. Give me a sauna though. I'll be in that.

Yeah. I love a hot sauna. See, who doesn't? Like that's a whole different thing. That's just because it feels good. But the other stuff? No. No.

It's not for me. Do people ask you about this? Do you get approached a lot now? Like, now social media is like your business. I actually just recommended you. I'll tell you afterwards for somebody to work with you. Oh, nice. Thank you. You're welcome.

Did you ask me a question? I forgot. Yes, I asked you like if... Oh my God, hilarious. I said with social media, like, do you get, like, I don't see you pimping out a lot of brands. That's not really your jam, right? Oh my God, the fucking links.

It's funny because, you know, I got on there to talk about nutrition and really to help people didn't really know what this would amount to. Right. And then, you know, you start growing, you start growing and you get these like, can I have a link for those glasses? Can I have the length for that shirt? Can I have the length for that necklace? I'm like, no.

Like, do you think I keep a running fucking tab in my notes section of every length that I have for everything that I get? And like, no, I'm not giving you fucking links. Like, you're swamping my DMs with asking me about links. You should be asking me about other stuff that has to do with nutrition. If you need a link for a calorie calculator,

link for coaching, if you need a link for a protein, I got that, but I don't have links to my fucking gear. I mean, I think sometimes someone asks me, where did I get this cowboy shirt that I got in LA at like Squaresville in 2000. And I'm like, there's no link for this. It's a Pearlbutton snap 2000, you know, cowboy shirt. So it's funny. That's what I love about you. You're so freaking real. I think I saw that. I think you got

mad at someone because you're like, why do I need to give you an Amazon link for like, I think they asked you about something like, I don't know, was it maybe it was a shirt or glasses, and you were like, angry at them. You're like, leave me alone. My job here isn't to like give you links. I was hysterical on the floor. Because this is why though, because people assume now this is the problem though, people assume that where everyone's a walking advertisement, right? Like, that's what happens. Like, no one wears anything, talks about anything, says anything, unless they're getting a check and paid for it. So that's like, that's what people's like, automatic go to it. So when someone's actually not doing that, I think it's actually quite jarring for people. They're like, oh, wait, you know, like, but it's true. It's like, that's like, why would you have like,

why should you have to give a link to your necklace? Yeah, I mean, right. I'm like, I don't want you to have the same fucking necklace as me. Yeah. Copycat like I'm like screenshot it. Find that shit on Google Lens. And you know, exactly. It's 2024. Yeah, it's so true. And I guess your trademark is those glasses.

Like, I actually have the same glasses as you though. They're good. Are those gooders? Do you wear gooders though? No, I have on peepers and these are from Amazon. I don't know the brand. And then there's another good one. Oh shit, I forgot the name of them,

but I found them through like a Instagram ad. They almost- Did you do that on purpose? Like always wear the glasses on every video just to have some kind of synergy with everything. I just can't see see close up. So I'm actually blind, Jennifer. That's why I'm wearing the glasses.

Fucking read. Seriously, I can see far ahead far away. Like, as soon as I'm like not near my phone the glasses are off But so they're just oh my god readers. Yeah Like I thought you were doing that more for that branding thing cuz like everything looks the same in every video like I'm actually Just blind leave me the fuck alone. I'm blind. I did not that's hilarious. Oh my gosh Well, I love the look anyway, but is there anything else that we could talk about? I think I just really wanted just to say hello and tell you how much I love your stuff and

I love the work you put out there. I think it's so real. It's so relatable. No bullshit. We need more of you. We need another like 10 million of you on social media. We really do. I appreciate that.

No, it's so true. And if people don't know, tell people where they can follow you if they don't know. And if you're living under a rock and you're into health and fitness, you got to know this lady. So, um, you can find me at Beth Fracco fitness on Instagram, tick talk bethfraccofitness.com is my website. I also have a podcast called cut the crap with Beth and Matt on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, anywhere you can listen to a podcast.

That's pretty much it. First of all, I didn't even know until I saw your notes the other night that you had a podcast by the way. What's your podcast on? Like just let me guess, no bullshit health and fitness stuff? Cutting the fitness bullshit. Yep. I had no idea. How often are you doing it? Once a week. We release a new episode every Friday. We record every Wednesday.

Wow. Well, I'm going to listen to that. I love you. So just keep up the good work. Thanks, Jennifer.