Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 1747: Weight Loss That Sticks With Jenny Hutt

Episode Date: February 10, 2022

In this episode Sal, Adam & Justin speak with Jenny Hutt, host of the Just Jenny show on Sirius XM about her weight loss journey and what she does to stay permanently on track. How she got into media. (3:22) How her legal training served her in everything that she did. (6:05) What makes an argument effective? (7:14) Her struggle with weight early on, and the tragic moment that sparked her weight loss journey. (10:05) What mistakes did she make along the way? (19:23) Parenting with as little judgment as possible. (23:08) Did she have preconceived notions about the gym? (29:26) Jenny’s daily habits to keep the weight off. (32:26) Shifting her priorities and focus to the other metrics as the defining factors in her health. (36:29) Creating the mindset shift for the mental health benefits of exercise. (39:45) Her one piece of advice if you are struggling with your weight. (48:43) Check out her eyewear line, Bunny Eyez. (51:05) Related Links/Products Mentioned February Promotion: MAPS Performance and MAPS Aesthetic 50% off!! **Promo code “FEB50” at checkout** Visit ZBiotics for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! Welcome to JustJenny.com Stylish Reading Glasses - Bunny Eyez Mind Pump Podcast – YouTube Mind Pump Free Resources Featured Guest/People Mentioned Jenny Hutt (@justjennyhutt)  Instagram Bob Harper (@bobharper)  Instagram

If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, with your hosts. Salda Stefano, Adam Schaefer, and Justin Andrews. You just found the world's number one fitness health and entertainment podcast. This is Mind Pump, right? Today's episode, a lot of fun. We got to talk to Jenny Hunt. She's a media personality.

She actually hosts the podcast Just Jenny on serious XM. She's a lot of fun, but what we talked about was her fitness journey. Now here is a non-fitness expert. She doesn't work professionally in the field. She's a lawyer and a media personality, but she went through the journey of getting fit, getting healthy, and she figured out a lot of things on the way. She figured out how to be consistent, how to love herself, and the whole process. And it's really cool talking to someone like this because what you end up hearing is a lot of stuff that we

Talk about on the show, but you get to hear it from the perspective of a, you know, for lack of a better term regular person. Not a trainer, not a fitness expert, just a regular person who's struggled with weight, who figured things out. So it's a really, really good conversation. Now, this episode is brought to you by our sponsor, Zbiotics. Zbiotics makes probiotic drinks to help you deal

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click on Zbiotics, and then use the code MindPump10 for 10% off your first order. By the way, if you want to find Jenny on her podcast, of course, I told you it was just Jenny on Series XM You can find her on Instagram at just Jenny hut hut is spelled H U T T She also has a company where she sells glasses that include blue light blocking glasses, but much more You can check out that company at bunny eyes. That's B UN and Y E Y E Z

calm Also one more thing before we start the show. We are running a huge sale this month on two very popular maps workout programs. Maps performance, this is a program that helps you train like an athlete, perform like an athlete, and look like an athlete. So it's non-functional, excuse me, it's functional, non-conventional type of training.

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I met you for the first time. The first time I came on your show and right away, loved you. We got great, great energy, great personality. We had a great conversation. I'm very curious. We were just saying this off-air, but I'm very curious on your how you got into media. You're much more experienced than we are and you can hear it when you hear you on your show. How did you, like, how did you first start? You've been doing this 16 years, did you say? Yeah, a little longer than that. So I was a lawyer and a mom. I'm still a mom. I'm still a lawyer.

I'm still a wife. And I had an opportunity to be a personal assistant to my father. He's still my father. But he was going to work for and with Martha Stewart. And so he needed an assistant and he needed an assistant because in the early days of the internet, I ended up finding out that somebody who was working for him

and helping him was stealing from him, via shopping and using credit cards that were not theirs. Oh, wow. So yeah, I mean, I was like a super sleuth. And back then, you really had to have very little training in being a private eye to be one because you could just call a company and be like, what was my password that I used? And they'd give it to you. It was just like really the Wild West. So when I found this out, and she couldn't help him anymore, somebody had to. So I just sort of at the dinner table one day,

it was like, I'll go work with you dad. It was weird. And my kids were little, and I'd been home with them and had only done just like a little bit of loyering legal work for a period of time prior to that. So I started to assist my dad and I met Martha's daughter Alexis and this is going back to 2005 and she asked me to do a radio show with her on serious XM. So that was how I got into broadcast and truly it was on the job training. So I did a show with her for five and a half years and we did some TV shows. And then after that, I got my own show and then I did some television. I co-hosted Dr. Drew for a year and just did a bunch of freelance. And that's it. And then I've been doing my just Jenny shows since 2012.

Now, what did she tell you? What it was about you that made her want to do that? I mean, that's for someone who has no experience in that. Hey, we're gonna thrust you right into serious rate. I mean, that's kind of a big deal. So what did she see? Yeah, so she didn't, she didn't have experience doing it either. And we just had great chemistry when we would talk

and we were very different. So the premise of the show back then was sort of, we would talk about anything like I do on my current show, but it was from two different vantage points. So I was the still-up mom and sort of a more traditional lifestyle in a sense and she was single and living in New York City. So, and she wasn't a mom at the time.

So we would just talk about everything and it was great, it was a ton of fun. Well, and now what, when you were doing doing that was it hard to not go back to what you had gone to school for to be a lawyer Was that an easy transition? Well, I mean once you have legal training you kind of just have that So I have that in my way of thinking so that only serves me in whatever I do Because I have it like I know how to think a certain way because I've been trained to do that. But being an actual lawyer and having clients is not something I really wanted than anyway.

So it was all good. What kind of law, by the way, if you don't want me asking? Oh, I was. So I would go and like, I like the drama part of it. I do per-dem work where I'd go to court on behalf of another lawyer who couldn't show up to like have the judge hold off on something. So I did that. I did some mortgage stuff. I did some personal injury where I'd talk to claim representatives from insurance companies. So that kind of thing. Now what what what skills that you acquired from being a lawyer have

now carried over into what you do today. Well, they carry over into everything in my life. It's a way to argue and to see both sides of all the issues and find sort of where there may be loopholes or just sort of like holes in people's arguments. What makes it, like, yeah, this is an interesting topic. What makes an argument effective? Because I know people argue all the time, especially now with social media, what makes something,

like, is the, obviously the goal is to win the argument by convincing you to the other person or the judge or jury usually is the loudest person, right? Yeah. Well, I don't know that it's to convince, I think if it's a regular person, if you're having a conversation with someone,

the real trick is to get them to sort of see your point of view, but think they came up with that on their own. So it's not necessarily winning. It's all what your objective is or what your goal is. In court, it's a very different thing. It's using the law and whatever is the merits of the case, how they fit into the law, the way in which you want it to turn out. So that's, it's like figuring out a puzzle in a sense.

But the way to do that the best is to always see both sides. See how the side that you're opposite or opposing, what their argument would be for them to win, and then find how yours can be strong or for you to win. You have to be always see both sides. Do you win all the arguments with your husband then? I don't really win much in my house. So I have at all.

So my husband is, he's in the insurance business, and he's just the best person. So let me just put that out there. So I don't win arguments with him, but I'm also not very confrontational. So I sort of step back from most arguments, and then we have two big kids. So my 23 year old is in law school

and is like a super brainy. I mean, Pupipu, his greatest kid, and what I love in my lift for him, but he's like super duper smart. So he will say to me, like, yeah, mom, you're a quote unquote lawyer. And I'm like, dude, you're in law, so it's like, I am a lawyer.

Like you can't say quote unquote, because I'm actually like, oh, there's my husband. Wait, can you give me a form of that? I've earned that, yeah. Just come here for one second. So I could just, kind of just send you with the greatest person.

So come around just for when my husband just walked in. Oh, that's great. Wait, just come say hi. So come around just for my husband just walked in. Oh, that's right. Wait, just come say hi. They can see how cute you are. Yeah. Tell me give us a double bicep. Oh, there he is handsome man. He's a worker out. I can tell he's yeah, it looks great shape there. That is it. Would he would he? Mr. Shredd. That is right.

Would he say that you that he wins all the arguments to or is it what he said? He said he wins most of the arguments. Wow. So my grandmother used to say that the trick to any... He won 49, my thing. Exactly. My grandmother used to say that the trick to any successful marriage or relationship is to make him think that he's won. Oh gosh.

So far so good. But yes, my son likes to... He will... He and I argue well together and he's nerdy and we play like grammar games and then my daughter who's 21. She's like the coolest person ever. So she like came out of the room that way and I don't have a cool bone in my body. So basically, I'm always low person on the totem pole in my house. That's okay. They love me.

So, okay. So you had, when you and I first met, we talked a little bit about your fitness journey, you had a weight loss journey, and I loved hearing about it because obviously we're all experts in the field. This is what we do as a profession, and we work with people to try to kind of get them to the place you are. So you're not a personal trainer. You're a regular person, you know, for lack of a better term, who went through that process and kind of figured it out because you've stuck to it now for so long, to the point now where you devote some time on your show to talk about health and things. How did that start? Let's start there. Like was this a struggle for you

growing up and what did it, okay, so what did this look like? Awful, looked awful, looked terrible. Look at a lot of trauma. My whole life, I've battled my weight and I think that you'll find with most people who in adulthood have sort of that weight struggle that it started early on. So from the time I was probably eight years old, I was like the rounder one in the group. I wasn't fat, but I was chubby. And back in the, I guess in like 1978 being a chubby eight year old stood out for whatever reason, and it terrified my mother. So from the jump, it was sort of clear that there was something about my body that wasn't right, which started that whole kind of weight-defining, worth thing, which

is the most damaging of all. Like, if there's any message to give any of your clients, which I know that Sal already does, your weight doesn't define anything about you other than your freaking weight. Like, we give it so much power and so much importance. And so from that age, I was going back and forth, I was checked for diabetes. And I wasn't like, I go back and I look at the pictures. And I was like, a kid who maybe had 10 extra pounds. I wasn't, but I was short. So my mother was scared.

And she had her own sort of food and body issues, which again, super common. And throughout my life, I was like a little bit fat, like moderately heavy, and I used the word fat because I just don't care, like at turn 52, like that was the vocabulary we used. We didn't have sort of heavy and plus size and extra, but I just, it was always this thing throughout my childhood and my teenage years that my weight would go up, my weight would go down, my weight would go up, my weight

would go down. And then after I had children, and even when I met my husband, I was probably 30 pounds heavier than I am now, which was like the most healing thing in the world because he just loved me. He didn't, like he thought I was hot and sexy and that whole pedunca-dunk thing. And I, for me, that was so strange because I was always so insecure. But, but not he, that was incredibly healing because he really, he loved the whole thing

which a lot of men, that's a thing. They like a woman that has curves and stuff. And so, but after I had kids, my weight, I just, there was stresses in life and I think hormones and I think my anxiety, it just got out of control. Then I started to kind of reign it in on my own doing a little bit of weight watchers and changing my food habits and then my mother got sick. And my mom had pancreatic cancer and she passed away in 2008. She was 65 and I was 38. And when she died, I think there was something in me that kind of clicked or flipped or something. I all of a sudden was staring my mortality in really in the face

because I had never, you know, like you worry about stuff happening, but then when the actual thing happens, it's like a, it's a, you're sucker punched. And it was a wake up call, I think on every level, like I all of a sudden was like, oh, wait, I only have one life. And that could end really at any time. And if I don't do the things that I want to do in this life, then why am I here? And if I don't make the effort to choose my health over sort of everything else, then again, that's not great. And I realized that I had to love myself enough

to want to be well. And so I, and I'm sure also a part of it because though my mother was my best friend and we lived next door to each other and we're forever really, really close. I don't know if any of you were Jewish, but a New York Jewish home, there's a lot of, there's a lot of measurement and we were super attached.

So I'm sure that part of my weight struggle and sort of heard difficulty with my body size made it harder for me to lose weight while she was alive because it was sort of like to make her happy in that way. I'm sure it was a complicating on some con just level. That was a tough thing. So I remember going to my, of course, I had, and still do had a lot of doctors.

I went to this cardiologist because I was always afraid I was going to drop dead because I was overweight and I was 38. He said, not going to let you die of heart disease. We had this discussion about cancer and fat, actual fat, how fat can contribute to cancer and cancer diagnosis, and certainly the digestive cancers. So I think at that moment, I just sort of knew that something had to give. And it was the first time in my life that I approached weight loss, not from a perspective of, oh, I'm going to wear a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, or I'm going to look a certain

way. It was like, I'm just going to not be clinically obese. Like if I could just get out of that like clinical obese categorization, I'm good enough. And I'd never thought like that before. It was either I'm going to look like someone on TV or I'm not even trying. But changing my mindset, starting then,

changed everything. And I'd go to a nutritionist to be weighed backwards once a month to make sure that I was losing weight and it was going in the right direction. I couldn't look at the scale until I was not classified as clinically obese. And then once I could get to that point, then I took ownership and could weigh myself. And my God, I still don't understand how I was able to lose as much as I was able to lose. And I still don't understand in a way, like it still feels like a miracle that it's 11 years later,

and I still wear the same size jeans. But I see that knowing that it's by design, like I work really hard at it, it's just become very much my life that I just do the things I do in order to keep myself as I am. Well, no secret as to why it was successful. It was the approach that you had.

This is something I want to do for my health. You didn't look at the scale. By the way, this is a very effective tool. I've done this with clients many, many times where, depending on the individual, I'll say, let's take your scale, put it in the closet. I don't want you to weigh yourself for the next two months. And I just want you to focus on your strength and your performance and how you feel.

And at the end of two months, we can look at things and see where you're at. And of course, if they do that, like it's like magic. Oh my God, I can't believe I lost seven, eight pounds or 10 pounds of body fat. And I'm like, well, yeah, it makes a huge difference. Going back to when you were, I have children.

So this is a very, this is, when you talked about being a kid and getting the message at eight years old, was it like a, was it a blatant alpha, you know, like, hey, you're okay. It was terrible. Okay. So it was sort of, but also in all fairness.

As a mom, once my mother died and I could have some space from all of it, I actually just posted, it's funny because I posted a reel on Instagram of I do this what I eat in a day, reel all the time on Instagram on TikTok. I make these videos of what I eat every day. And I did one every year on my mother's birthday, I celebrate her birthday by eating cake

because that's what she would have done. And so it's just so funny to have the space from all of it because it was like that was such a small part ultimately of our whole relationship and certainly of our adult relationship. But from the time I was like eight years old till probably the time I got married, it was a big deal because she was so terrified because of the world that, how would the world treat me? Heavy. How would the world treat? How would I meet someone?

This was all her thinking. And so of course she sort of gave that to me, but it was her own insecurities with her body, even though she was skinny she had, her own eating issues. And but yeah, she was pretty direct. I mean, it certainly felt like my way to determine how much she was gonna be happy with me,

with whatever was, and I had a sister who was still have a sister, and I love her. But she was always super skinny as a small child. So we had different body types, and she's older than me. So I think it was just a different, you know, I think, and also I think it was a lot, I think it was a lot to handle.. I had, I always had a big mouth and, uh, so, a lot of energy. Yeah. A lot of energy and I'm the youngest of three. I have a big brother too. So yeah, but it was pretty direct.

Yes. People and also shoot off for like my sister was giving cookies and I was like giving a salad. I mean, the whole thing was a disaster. Now, Jenny, you've been consistent for the last 11 years now. Did you, when you made that mental switch and then down this path, has everything been the right decision or did you make some mistakes in these 11 years? Have you learned new things about exercise and nutrition?

And what were some of the mistakes that you made during that time? Well, I think, and I know, Sally, you've talked about it too. You've had different times and you've had to read, though that was Justin or Adam, who just asked. That was Adam. All right. You've had different times, or you've had to, I only know Sal's story. I know more than the two of you, nothing personal. I've talked to him in my show.

We've got to spend some time together. Exactly. But, yeah, of course, I mean, I think every person who does go through a weight loss journey or a body Transformation, it's just the worst language, but anyone who who does that. Yeah, there's a lot of mistakes So I've had I think one of the mistakes that I've had is always trying up until the past couple of years trying to sort of fit into a mold of what is The proper food identity or way to eat like I'd watch other people and think that I wasn't doing it right because I eat the way I eat and I don't count this or I only count that. Or even exercise was for many, many, many years

for me punishment. And so I did it. When I first had lost a lot of weight, I worked out a ton and I worked out in the way that people told me to work out at trainers. And every time I had trainers, nothing personal, I would just want to tell them and I can curse on your show. You can, of course. Yes, please. So I would be like, I'm paying you, but also fuck off. And like, what? It doesn't even make sense because I hired somebody to wait train me and then I'd tell them literally to go fuck themselves because the psychology of being told what to do just really didn't work for me and it took a long time for me to trust

that, to know that I had to find it within me to train and to want to learn and to want to do the things on my timeline, how I need to do it. So that was definitely a mistake sort of putting my power into somebody else. Also just an inability to, again, sort of to quiet the noise around me of people or people at sea places telling me what our shoulder should not do. It also took me a very long time to realize that the scale is just data. And I think that was a mistake kind of putting my worth in that number. And there were times early on where I was decimated. The scale would go up three pounds and I'd take to the bed and I'd be like, oh, I'm just,

this is all over for me. And like three pounds isn't 80 pounds, but in my head at the time, I couldn't, like, I couldn't understand how it all worked. Where's now I laugh. I mean, I'm going to be 52 years old. The skill is so wacky. It could be three pounds up tomorrow and then four pounds down the next day.

Like, there's no rhyme or reason tied to sort of what I've eaten exactly at this age, because I'm a woman. And so I've had to really change how I think about that too. And I have changed that. And then the exercise, as I was saying, was so much punishment. Because again, like, my saying, was so much punishment, because again, my family, we would be going on a family vacation, where there would be vacation from school. And my brother and my sister and my dad would be essentially going to Disney, and my mom would be

taking me to a spa. And I was like 10. And so, no, can really wants to go to the spa at 10, the like diet place that they're gonna put you on mountains to walk a pill, like no. So it took a long time for me to look at exercise as a gift and a joy to be able to move my body rather than extreme punishment. I mean, walking was just, I was like, what I have to do that.

And now I love it so much, like I love to exercise, which is so weird to even say. That's great. Let's speak in of your family too. Now knowing how it affected you, the conversation around weight and everything going up, like what are those conversations like with your kids? Yeah, well, do you all three of you have children?

We do, isn't it the most terrifying thing? Nothing is, nothing is scary. There's little most terrifying thing? There's nothing scary. When you're talking about your mom and her challenges, I just think to myself, we're imperfect and then we're raising other humans. You just do the best you can. I think the goal is that you will mess them up in different ways your parents messed you up because you're going to screw them up. I mean, they're gonna have issues with you. You just want them to be different from the ones that you have.

Yeah, that's a tough thing to accept. Okay. But it's true. And when you realize that, and then the other kind of parenting thing that my husband and I both from the start agreed upon is that the things that matter the most with our children is that they're breathing, that's first and foremost, and that they find the thing that makes them tick.

And it's going to be different probably from what makes us happy, but if they're like decent enough humans and they find what makes them happy or tick or be okay, then that's good enough. The rest of it will fall into place. We try to parent with it very little judgment. And certainly we do the good cop bad cop stuff like he's the good cop and I'm the horrible mother. But you've sort of modeled this for them. Have they been paying attention to your weight loss journey and everything? Oh yeah. Okay. So the best. So we laughed because when my daughter was three, all I prayed, all I prayed was that I would not

give my children my issues. I just not want their worth to find by their weight, especially my daughter. I was really like, you know, I was always modest and my body, I was ashamed of every bit of my body. And, but not around my family or my husband or my kids. And you know, from early on when I was first with my husband, we would have sex and I would like try to scamper into the closet

to put my clothing back on. And he literally walked over the closet, opened the door, and was like, you need to get out of the closet. Like, obviously, I love you in your body because this is all going on because I love you in your body. Like, this is absurd. And from then on, I was like, you know, then I was always naked, which is all weird too,

but okay. I was young at one point, but with my daughter, we always had this kind of, I mean, even to this day, I'll be showering and she's 21 years old and she'll walk into the shower with me, like we have zero boundaries in this house. And so, and that was good because she saw, even though I was overweight and even though

I was not super secure, it didn't translate to her being insecure, like she loves her stuff. Like I have to, like I'll be like put that away. Like I'm like, can you please put some clothing? I can't enough. She's so cute. But she used to look at me and I remember it three years old. And when I was, oh boy, my heaviest was probably 2004.

Like my son had had a health scare and I just did not leave my house for six months. And I was awful, but he was fine, thankfully. And, but she would say to me, mommy, I want to grow up and be just like you. And I want to have a butt just like yours. That's great. And nobody wanted that ass. Nobody wanted that. And yeah, no. So she's thankfully has grown up with a really healthy self-esteem when it comes to her body. And look, she's a 21-year-old girl. So she's aware of society and she is certainly not like a teenager.

You know, she's tall. She's well tall by my son five, two. So she's like five six and and she looks a lot like my husband. And she's adorable. And she just is comfortable in her skin. So she's not she's not skinny and she's not fat. She's strong and she's beautiful. And her body is no issue.

It's only her issue as much as it's any other girls issue. Like a normal, she gains five pounds, she loses five pounds. She doesn't define her. Yeah. It's just like whatever. You know, it's really, so I have three kids, right? And two of them are older and I have a daughter, now that's 12. Yeah.

And I did not real, I remember taking my daughter to ballet class and she was, I wanna say nine. This is the first time I realized my daughter was really aware of how she looked. While they were sitting there, supposed to listen to the instructor, I could see her looking in the mirror and kind of fixing her hair

and then she was kind of like trying to suck in her tummy and I was wow, devastated. And it she was kind of like trying to suck in her tummy. And I was, wow, devastated. And it's like, this is part of growing up. You become aware of how you look and how, and this happens much earlier for girls, I think. And I was just, I remember thinking like, my little girl is now entering into a shitty, this is, she's learning that there's a shitty part

that she has to deal with. And it broke my heart was so difficult, but this is just, it's a part of things. And we have to navigate, we have to learn how to navigate it now, probably better than ever, especially with social media and all that stuff. Really, Rachel.

How is your relationship with her? Really, I mean, my daughter, she knows she's my princess. I love her to do that. She'll be fine. That's one of the most important things in terms of how women ultimately grow up and choose a partner. If they're straight, I mean, so from what I know. And so if you have a strong bond with her and she feels like in your eyes, she's the most beautiful and the smartest and the coolest

and the greatest and the funniest and all those things, she'll be fine. Oh, well, you know what I do, Jenny? I purposely try to set the standard really ridiculous. So every year, there's this father-daughter dance that we go to. Yeah. And I make it such a big deal. Like, I show up, wear a suit, I kneel, and I give her a croissage, and I take out her chair, and I'm like, yeah, and I'm like, I'm going to ruin it for the douchebags that try to date her.

Of course you are. They're never going to be able to live up to these standards. Yeah, and that's like my husband and my daughter standards. That's what I'm going to do. Yeah, no. That's like my husband and my daughter have watched Grey's Anatomy since the show started. That is their thing. And they say they have girl time every weekend. And before she went to college, and it's so cute.

And they're best friends. And it's really been, she's lovely relationships and it's all good. So your daughter will be fine. Thank you. I want to ask you this because growing up, you mentioned about the spa as a kid. You hated it, obviously. And you weren't a gym fanatic up until later on.

Did you have a perception of the gym before you started working out and then did it change at all as you started to become more consistent or maybe change your own relationship with exercise. Were there preconceived notions that maybe were either off or were they justified? Yeah, so yeah, for sure, I think that Jim's now today, it's a much better world for

the most part, for someone who just likes to exercise because they like to exercise. You can find your right place to work out. But again, back then, I mean, it was just like like every other aspect of the weight stuff. I always felt less than when I would see somebody who was kind of jacked at the gym and look at them and be like, that's never going to be me because I didn't I didn't understand really that like that was their job. I mean, like if you're a female and you're a trainer and this is what you do every day, then of course you're going to be in that kind of shape and you're doing all the things you have to do to get there. For me, I think the the shift to understand that exercise is for my mental health

and while being it's great for my heart to move a lot. And that was something that was important to me. I think that really helped me a lot. I don't see exercise as sort of the antidote to overeating or a way to fix if I don't know how to dig, whatever. Like it's not going to make you lose weight, just doesn't. And I also think for I, for a while, I remember someone saying to me, like, I'm gonna train you,

and this is when I was probably 50, 60, 70 pounds overweight. Someone was like, oh, you could start to train with me, but like you might gain weight at first. And I was like, if I have 70 pounds, so it's like, I can't afford to gain any weight. Like that's not the way to approach this. I already hate exercise. Now you're telling me it's gonna make me heavier.

How about no? So again, like finding and really learning by experience, like yes, the scale can go up sometimes for exercise. If I overdo it, the scale does go up. Like there are days that I do so much cardio and I know that's ridiculous and I know that people are like, don't do so much, but I like it for my hat. I love how it makes me feel. So I do it for that. But if I do that and then I also like lift a few weights or do some high intensity interval trainer or whatever, the scale will

go up to pounds. Like I have that full on inflammatory response. And then because I know it, I can laugh at it. Like I've learned how my body works. So yeah, I mean, it's totally changed how I, how I see exercise also as I age. I was saying when I was talking to Sal earlier, like I wanna have mobility. And if you don't move your body, you're not gonna be able to move to do things like pee. Like I need to be able to sit on the toilet

and then also get up from the toilet. Like I need to be able to do all the reach for things in my kitchen or have balance when I get a step ladder. You need to be able to do things. If you don't move, you're not going to be able to do things. Jenny, one of the hardest things for people is to, because we don't have a weight loss problem in this country, people will lose weight every year. It's they don't keep it off.

Right. And so have you been able to distill down to a handful of things or values or habits that you're like, these are my, okay, tell me what those are for you. Yeah, well, so this is the, and I'm sure because of your podcast, you guys know, there's this big movement for people to say, don't worry about what you eat and how much you eat

and don't worry about your body. And it's all okay. Right. Great. It is all okay. But if you're somebody who has lost a lot of weight, the only way to keep it off is to be aware of what you're eating pretty much always and to have some element of movement in your life, a significant exercise.

So you got to work out an hour a day, you just have to. I don't really get days off. And again, because I changed how I think about exercise, I love it. It's a gift. I'm in my happy place, but I'm in my gym. But, and I also, I pay attention to my food. I just do. I mean, it doesn't mean that I don't eat cake,

or eat pizza, or eat junk, or whatever sometimes. Of course I do. But I always know when I'm, it doesn't mean that I don't eat cake, reed, pizza, or eat junk, or whatever sometimes. Of course I do, but I always know when I'm doing it. I don't ever get to just go ham somewhere because it just doesn't, I can't. And I know that because if you've been heavy, you can always be heavy again unless you are on a consistent basis doing the things that keep you not heavy.

Now, having said all that, it's not a motivation, it's really habit. And I know you guys look at it as discipline, I really see it as habit. I don't think I have presence of mind enough to be disciplined, but I do have habits. And so, like, I brush my teeth every day, I get on the scale every day.

I go on my treadmill every day, do my radio show. You know, it's like I do the things that I do. And that just taking care of myself that falls into it. Yeah, habit, discipline. I think when some people think discipline, they think like, oh, I'm gonna tough through this. Well, the discipline is what led to the habit. Yeah, it's how you have discipline.

Sure. To be consistent with that, it became a habit. And now the habit is what's really important. I want to comment on something that is, because there's a lot of insight that you've figured out for yourself that I don't know if you realize how brilliant it is and I'll explain what I mean. So you talked about being aware of what you're eating. Now, you know, 50,000 years ago, this wasn't a problem.

You had food you ate it and food was hard to come by. We now live in a situation where food is so accessible, so plentiful, so inexpensive. I mean, I can have any flavor of anything I want within 10 minutes, especially if you live in a city. In a city. So awareness part is extremely important. And it's funny because they do studies on this and they find, for example, if people eat while watching TV

or eat while on their phone, they'll eat like 10 to 15% more calories. And it's literally the lack of awareness that is causing that. There's also studies that show that if people put their fork down in between each bite, they tend to eat less. All it's doing is it's bringing more awareness to what's happening and to simplify it. It's more complex than this. It's literally that lack of awareness, it means that those satiety signals are going

to take longer to hit. It means that you are going to potentially go past the point of satiety, which, you know, 5-10% more calories than you normally would eat while you add that up throughout the week. And that, yeah, that's pounds and pounds and pounds of body fat every single year. So awareness is extremely important when you're eating. And most people don't realize that their their awareness starts and stops with what sounds good, you know, what do you want for lunch? Mexican, I don't know that doesn't kind of maybe that sounds good. What about Chinese? Yeah, let's do that

So the awareness is really just about that But around nothing else and you know, so what you're saying is and I love talking to people like you because You figured this out through staying through that process, right? What about this? Did you have a, because you talked about weight on the scale. And one of the things that I noticed with clients, probably, I'd say more true for women than men, they're afraid of the weight gain until they start to have a different relationship with muscle, because muscle is denser

than body fat. Sure. So five pounds of muscle takes up about one third of the space than body fat. And so I used to do this thing, Jenny, where I had this trainer that worked for me, this female trainer. She was very fit or whatever. And whenever I'd have a potential member come in that wanted to lose weight and I talked them about lifting weights and cardio and all that stuff.

And they said, well, I don't want to gain any weight. I don't want to build a muscle. I'd say, I tell you what, I'm going to have one of my trainers come in and if you can guess her body weight within 10 pounds, I'll give you a free six month membership and they say, I love that. She would come in, she was tiny, she was like five foot one and they'd be like, oh, she weighs 90 pounds and she'd get on the scale and she was like 130 pounds or something like that. And I'd say, yeah, she looks like she's tiny because she's muscle and she's lean.

It's compact. Yes, and she takes up less space and she's got the curve and of course the faster metabolism goes along with it. Did you start to change your relationship with muscle and strengths? I know a lot of people start weight loss. I just want to get the weight off. I don't care. I just want to get smaller.

And then as they stick to it, it's like, I want to feel strong. I don't mind some of this muscle curve. Did that happen to you through the process? I think what I learned, it's like, well, you know, I want to feel strong. I don't mind some of this muscle curve. Did that happen to you through the process? I think what I learned, like my whole life, I've always weighed 10 pounds more than I looked because I have one of those dense bodies. Like I was built that way with strong leg muscles and, and you know, very narrow on top, but really strong and just strong that type of physique.

So I was never going gonna weigh the super low numbers that other people who look like me my way, right? Like you put, someone who looks like me and she'll probably weigh 10 pounds less than I do. So I already have had like an understanding that my weight was never gonna be one of those crazy low numbers. And really I became okay with that

once I put health as the as the priority. So I really go by blood work first because I'm a big believer and you go to your freaking doctor and take your blood and look at your blood sugar and look at your cholesterol levels and look at all like the inflammation markers. And you'll know if your weight isn't an okay spot because at least for me, my body is very weight sensitive. Some people aren't and God bless them. But if I am overweight, my numbers are not good. And so I'm one of those people that can't be overweight because they talk about health at every size.

And I do believe there are people that can be really significantly overweight and they're great. They don't have any metabolic syndrome. They have none of that. But I will, like all of heart disease. I can't afford to have, I have to be alive. So, first and foremost, I shifted my priorities and perspective to being about the other

metrics as sort of the defining factors in my health. And then in terms of the muscle versus fat, well, yeah, I mean, I want to be strong. So I don't, like, I know that there's muscle in there. And I'm never going to build like, I'm never going to build like a in there. And I'm never gonna build like, I'm never gonna build like a body builder because I'm not built like that either, but I do have the kind of body that when I wait to try and I do build some muscle. And the scale doesn't scare me like it did in that way,

not at all, because I just know what it is at this point. Yeah, that's awesome. You said earlier about exercising to kind of like, take care of yourself, and whereas before you would exercise, it's kind of like a punishment. Can you talk about that a little bit? We talk about that all the time on the show. But I'd love to hear from someone who

went through that shift of, oh, this is me punishing myself, beating myself up to, I'm going to take and care of myself right now. What was that like? So I struggle with anxiety. Does everybody, do you guys have anxiety issues? You know what, you're a very smart person and thinkers, people tend to be in their head a lot,

tend to overthink things and there's a higher rate of anxiety among the soil. It doesn't shock me that someone like you would struggle with that a little bit. I think there was a compliment in there. Yes. Also, I complimented myself. Adam doesn't realize that. Right, I got that.

Oh no, I realized that. Oh my god. Adam's super calm. Yeah, never ends in any way. Adam's very melancholy. Yeah, I spoke a lot of ways. No, don't worry about a thing ever. It helps.

Just doesn't cost his mind. So, yeah. So, I've always had anxiety. And so about, I guess, right before the pandemic around November, early December before, so December of 2019, I wasn't, I hadn't really been exercising regularly or exercising enough. And I think I felt it, like I think I felt not as well walking up stairs. And my weight was around the same. Maybe I was five pounds heavier, I mean, really nothing.

And, but exercise was still at this point where it was a, it was punishment and was a weight of maintain my weight. And it was, it was drudgery. I was just miserable. Like I didn't want to deal. And I was about to go on a family vacation and with my extended family. And I had kept reading over and over again that exercise was a great stress reliever and exercise is a great way to improve your mental health and to help when you feel down or depressed. And also I was turning was I in 2019, I was turning 50, I turned 50 in 2020. So I was like 49 and I, so my hormones are in every, you know,

I am not menopausal yet, people, but I knew it was come, it was on the horizon, still on the horizon. I, okay. And so have we lost everyone who watches your podcast? Yes. So, um, so I kept reading this like how you get relief from feeling awful is to move. And I was like, huh. So you're saying, I would say to what I was reading, that if I just move my body for 30 minutes a day, any which way that that will decrease my stress level and make it more, make me more able to deal with

whatever's thrown at me. Okay, I'm gonna try this and I gave myself zero rules, like zero heart rate importance, zero sort of intensity importance, didn't matter what I was doing. I was like, you were just gonna move your body for a half hour every day and see what happens. So I start doing this in December.

I do it all through my vacation. I went through that vacation and actually had fun. I, all of a sudden, like, and when I saw the sudden, it really probably took 60 days, like that whole 30 days to create a habit is a lie. I think it probably took 60, but it shifted. In January, when I was already starting to sort of feel a mental improvement and like moving my body, which was crazy, I added

the goal of 10,000 steps a day. That changed everything because again, that's my only role. Now, do I do more things? Yes. Do I find a way to like do arm weights twice a week? Yes. Do I sometimes work out really hard like on my Peloton or whatever it is that I do? Sure. The only rule I have is that every single day I get 10,000 steps. Since January of 2020, I have not, I've missed one day and that was because in here we're going to lose more viewers again and listeners. It was the day of like a colonoscopy and a dospe. Now, I just the day, I was like out and whatever.

And I put you in a past. Yeah, you get a past. I got it, but that's it. That's the only day I've missed. Yeah, you know, it's funny whenever I talk to anybody who's been exercising for a long time, they start touting the mental health benefits of exercise way over the physical.

You know what I love about this conversation, Jenny? It's literally like most of what you're saying is what we tend to tell people and prescribe. Like the 10,000 steps, the value in that isn't that's 10,000 steps. It's that you spread them throughout the day, you're more aware of your activity and your movement. And you know, there's many, what do they say?

There's many pass up the mountain. But at some point, if everybody's, this is what I love about fitness. If you stick to it and you're consistent and you do it for the right reasons, you'll learn the right ways to do it. You start to figure that out. And like, I didn't train you.

You weren't following Mind Pump this whole time. You weren't listening to what we were talking about. But you're talking about a lot of the stuff that we talk about on the show. This is so great. I love hearing all of this. If it is said to you, you have a very, you stuff that we talk about on the show. This is so great. I love hearing all of this. But I said to you, you have a very, you guys have a very good philosophy with training. I don't think any of you think that somebody should walk into a gym and just go hard.

No. Because it doesn't, like that wrecks the whole process. You have to like little by little create that language within your body to be able to do the things for the time and day that you can go hard and then the next day Don't go as hard like there has to be that sort of flexibility and understanding that it's all good and the 10,000 steps I mean that number you know comes from just a guy who liked the sound of that number. Yep Well a lot of this a lot of it too and you touched on this earlier briefly and and we come from this point is the psychology of it right. Yeah. I mean, yeah, going in and working harder in the gym for the your first day may burn more

calories, may make you lose weight a little faster, but it's a terrible way to start somebody who was doing no exercise whatsoever. It just it causes that extreme one way than the other way. And we know that from years of experience. And so that's why it's such a bad message that our industry perpetuates. I mean, it's very popular that all the fitness influencers are touting the beast mode and the all out and the crush it and kill it.

Like those are all sayings that you hear all the time. And it's one of the biggest problems with, I think people being consistent, is they're given the wrong advice on how they should. Yeah, figure out those repeatable actions that you can keep up and maintain so it becomes a lifestyle. So we gotta figure those things out first.

Yeah, totally. You don't like it, you have to like it. Even the discomfort, you have to like it. 100%, it's not as sexy either. You could watch the biggest loser and watch them go through that crazy drama and they cry and they beat the crap out of them, whatever, as trainers.

It's like listening to nails on a chalkboard the entire time. This is so wrong. You are teaching people. I can only imagine, like you're a lawyer. I'm trying to think of like a lawyer, like a law show. I try like TV show. Yeah, you're probably watching, like that's not how a good word is just a joke. I'm trying to think of like a lawyer, like a law show. Try like TV show.

Yeah, you're probably watching like that's not how it works. Good job. Listen, I, well, no, I mean, yeah, actually, I, some of the procedures I happen to really like, but yes, they're all that none of that's, it's television. But the biggest loser I actually like, I found it when I was happy.

God, I was like, can I just go on this show? If they didn't, if they didn't make people wear the jog rods and the bike shorts, I think I would have put myself in the running to be on the show. But I just couldn't have doubtless that there was just no on. And I now, you know, years later, Bob Harper's a friend of mine, I really like him a lot. He's changed his whole philosophy about exercising wellness. And yeah, there are some nice people that came out that came out of that show. That listen, great people, nice people.

It really does glamorize the wrong, I'm so glad you do it. I know you're joking, but I'm telling you right now, how do you go on on that show and done that? Well, I think the intent of that show originally was actually really good and pure. I really do. But what happens? And I'm sure you know better than any of us.

You know, you have to dramatize it. Well, ratings, happens? And I'm sure you know better than any of us. You know, we have to dramatize it. Well, ratings, right? And you start to go, oh, wow, when we had somebody do this, we got more views. So let's, let's start to encourage. So what ends up happening? Something very good and pure. And with good attention starts.

And then it kind of molds into this monster getting involved. You know what I mean? And they learned a lot. They learned a lot about metabolism and why people gain back weight and what is the real truth about exercising. You know, it's, it is so complicated. You know this, right? That it is.

It is. Body stuff is complicated. It is, but we make it so much more complicated. You know what it reminds me of? Remember the original season of the real world? I just watched the best ever. Are you kidding me? It is.

I just watched the reunion and they got along for the most part on the show and everybody. I know Heather B. I work with Heather B. No way. Okay. Yeah. Eventually the producers figured out, man, if we put people together who want to go at each other's throats, we're going to get more ratings and it turned into a shit show. But the original one was really beautiful. Yes. Yes. It was so great. Okay. So one last question, Jenny, because I love, again, your story's so great and you're a great person to communicate this. Do you, if there's somebody listening right now, they're overweight, they've,

something they've struggled with since they were a kid, and they have those body image issues, which most of us have, even, especially many people in the fitness space, what's the one piece of device you could give them that you think will help? That they have to keep trying. If it's what they want to do. So first and foremost,

anybody with a weight struggle has to determine if they want to lose weight, I have to determine, oh, it has to determine if they want them to, in fact, lose weight. It's up to them. They don't have to listen to anybody around them. They have to make that decision.

And if, in fact, they do want to change their bodies or their body, they have to then find their specific way, which isn't going to look like anybody else's. For some people going on weight watchers or doing adkins or doing the zone or the Mediterranean diet or freaking out Tavia, I don't even know what like whatever it is. It's going to work for you is Different from what works for somebody else. It we're not all physically the same I would also say always check in with a medical provider because maybe there is we used to joke back in the 80s and 90s about Metabolic issues, but some people have them and there are now medical doctors who are trained in the disease of obesity to really help these people.

And so you can seek out support. There's a whole field of medicine in addition to doing, there's no magic, never going to be magic. But there are ways to get it done. You don't have to live in a body that makes you feel not well. That's just what I believe. But it never ends. It's not a process that like, you're going to lose weight. And then, yeah, I'm done. There is no done. So like, your philosophy has to change about it, which I think is the other shift that happened for me. Just this understanding that it's lifelong, that if you have, if you struggle with your weight, it's lifelong. And that's okay. We all have some struggles. But there's no, there's no end point. So, but you have to ultimately, like you've said before, love the process of it because we get one life. So find a way to like enjoy what you're doing in it.

Beautifully put, it's a journey with no destination. Thank you so much for coming on. Thank you. Yeah, you're wonderful. I really appreciate you. Thank you so much for coming on. I'm going to mention one more thing though. I want you're if any of your listeners and viewers are over 40, they have to go to bunnyis.com, which is my glasses. I invented glasses that can you can tilt the front of the frame like that. So you can watch TV and read your phone at the same time, but you can also like drop the temple. So like if you're lying in your bed, your temple doesn't dig into the side of your head.

Oh, wow. Yeah, when you're reading or watching TV on your side, and then while you could drop both temples and then when you're getting your hair done, you're like, since you went, since you went that way, I do want to ask, I heard you got into the blue blocking space. Is that correct? Of course. Yeah, we make blue blockers.

So tell me, did you, did you have a personal, what led you that way? This is something, by the way, as a, as a teenage kid, I remember when they were popular back when my, the commercials of the driving at night. Yeah. It was kind of a joke, right? We made fun of anybody that were here. I am now in my 40s now and I wear them every single day. And so you don't need readers yet. You don't need like one or one. I'm lucky. And you're over 40.

Yeah, I know. He just doesn't read. Yeah. That's right. Remember, he's the one that doesn't worry. And he doesn't read. Yeah, that's why. You know, pictures.

Don't read. Don't read anything. Don't watch TV. You won't have any anxiety. I'm so good. Yeah, we started making blue lightwalkers because there was a need for it because people want them. So that was why we added them to our our line very cool. Yeah, yeah

Yeah, we talk about blue light blocking glasses all the time in the value So and we use them all all the time. Yeah, they make a big difference again. Thank you so much Jenny Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Thank you for listening to mine pump your goal is to build and shape your body dramatically improve your health and energy, and maximize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB Superbundle at minepumpmedia.com. The RGB Superbundle includes maps and a ballad, maps performance, and maps aesthetic. Nine months of phased, expert exercise programming designed by Sal Adam and Justin to systematically transform

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