Chapter II: “A Holistic Transformation” with Matt Izzo
Episode Details
Transcript
Matt Izzo is one of the entrepreneurs featured in Jamie Bateman’s Book - From Adversity to Abundance: Inspiring stories of Mental, Physical, and Financial Transformation. This is a republished episode (originally released on June 14, 2022 - Episode 11).
You can buy Jamie’s book here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CGTWJY1D?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860
Matt Izzo, the driving force behind Matt Izzo Fitness, brings a wealth of personal experience and insight to the table. Having successfully lost 75 pounds three times before finally maintaining his weight loss for over five years, Matt's journey is nothing short of inspiring. His positive mindset and genuine passion for helping others shine through as he now dedicates himself to guiding individuals on their own transformative fitness and weight loss journeys. With a focus on long-term success and a deep understanding of the challenges associated with obesity, Matt's story and expertise offer a beacon of hope and practical wisdom for anyone seeking sustainable change in their lives.
"Energy is more important than money. If you have energy, you can always make more money." - Matt Izzo
"Progress is not always linear." - Matt Izzo
Connect with Matt Izzo
WEBSITE:https://linktr.ee/MattIzzo
LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-izzo-a5538177/
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/mattizzo/
TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@mattizzofitness
FACEBOOK: https://m.facebook.com/MattIzzoFitness/
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/mattizzo?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLxK-MtC3Y52pyac_NIokag
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Connect with Jamie
BOOK: From Adversity to Abundance: Inspiring Stories of Mental, Physical, and Financial Transformation
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Speaker 0
Hey, everyone. This is Jamie Bateman. Real quickly, I wanted to share with you something, that's been pivotal in the growth and success of my businesses, and that is my partnership with Haven Financial Services. I've been working with Haven for over a year now. Christine Valdez was on episode seventy of this podcast. So go check that out if you wanna hear her story. It was a fantastic personal story for sure. But Haven has been awesome. They provide me with monthly reports that are super clear and discernible, and it that provides me with clarity and focus so that I can do what I do best, which is running my businesses, not preparing financial reports. Again, if you're in the market for top notch financial service company, or if you just wanna check one out, go to w w w dot jamie bateman slash haven and check out Haven Financial Services. Again, that's jamie bateman slash haven. Can't recommend them enough. Christine and her team have been fantastic. So I definitely recommend you check out Haven Financial Services at w w w dot jamie bateman forward slash haven. Let's get back to the show. Alright. Buckle up. This is a fun one. On this episode, we republish Matt Izzo's first episode with us. Matt joined us back in the summer of twenty twenty two. That episode was called from fat and depressed to healthy and happy with fitness coach, Matt Izzo. And he is also featured in our book, From Adversity to Abundance, inspiring stories of mental, physical, and financial transformation. A lot of the book does kinda slant towards real estate investing and business, and Matt's is a little different. Matt's chapter in our book and this episode that you're about to hear is all about physical transformation, but, really, it has a lot to do with emotional transformation. And that's what that's what Matt's approach is all about is is the connection between your emotional state and your physical state. And we even get into a little bit of spiritual talk, I believe, if I recall correctly. I love the fact that Matt is very practical yet very inspiring. So there's a lot of hope that comes out of this episode, but also steps that you can take to address, you you know, if you're feeling stuck or if you are overweight, if you're and most of us are not entirely physically healthy in today's, especially in the US. And so this one really hits home for a lot of people. Love the energy that Matt brings. He was so powerful in sharing his story that we brought him back for a second episode, which you can find as well. I just love love chatting with Matt, and I hope you're I hope you're inspired by it as much as I was. And like I said, he is featured in our book. He's one of the one of the few guests that we really sought out to work with to be a part of our book, and that's that's why we're rerunning this episode. Hope you enjoy it. Speaker 1
Welcome to the from adversity to abundance podcast. Are you an entrepreneur or aspiring entrepreneur? Then this show is for you. Each week, we bring you impactful stories of real people who have overcome painful human adversity to create a life of abundance. A life of abundance. You are not alone in your struggle. Join us, and you will experience the power of true stories and gain practical knowledge from founders who have turned poverty into prosperity and weakness into wealth. This podcast will encourage you through your health, relationship, and financial challenges so you can become the hero in your quest for freedom. Take ownership of the life you are destined to live. Turn your adversity into abundance. Speaker 2
Welcome everybody to another episode of from adversity to Abundance podcast. I am your host, Jamie Bateman, and I am super excited today. I've got a special guest, Matt Izzo of Matt Izzo Fitness. Matt, how are you doing today? Speaker 3
I'm doing great, Jamie. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to talk to you. Speaker 2
Absolutely. I appreciate you taking the time. I know, you're a busy guy, and so, and and your time is very valuable. So truth be told, we don't know each other very well. Twitter and and social media are interesting, you know, add an interesting dynamic to to life these days. And I came across your story, on Twitter, and I was really inspired by it. So I reached out to you, and and here we are. So, again, I I thank you for coming on. Speaker 3
Yeah. You're welcome. Happy to be here. Speaker 2
So you you just told me that you're down in Florida now. Once you fill in some, additional gaps for our listeners as to who you are today and what you have going on right now, and then we'll back up and get into your backstory. Speaker 3
Yeah. Sure. So like you said, I I just moved to Florida in the last couple months out in South Florida. Now it's great. Sunny and warm every day. I had lived in New Jersey for my entire life up up to that point. You know? And, right now, I am running my own coaching business, where I I help people primarily with fat loss, but also other fitness and mindset related things. You know, this is something that I've started in in the last, pretty much in the last year after I I quit my, corporate obesity and depression that that took me probably twenty five years to overcome that. And then, you know, now that I have done that and I lost the weight, I've kept it off, for coming up on five years at the end of this month. You know, I feel like I've learned so much pretty much from the Internet. Right? This is I'm pretty much self taught, all all these things. So I've learned so much over the years from these people that, you know, I I I went through all this for for a reason and for a purpose. So now I share what I can, and I I try to give back as much as I can to to help others overcome some of the same struggles that that I've overcome in my life. Speaker 2
That's awesome. Yeah. I think this is gonna be a really relatable podcast for a lot of people and very inspirational episode. So, yeah, I mean, I I mentioned before we hit record, I I probably need to talk to you more so I can get a little more inspired myself, to get back into the, I'm into fitness, but not as much as I used to be. And, like like we said, life has seasons. But, yeah. So really interested to get into the the, you know, the adversity that you dealt with, and and, of course, we can take it where you wanna go with that. Some people have, you know, a few months of where it was, like, really, really bad, and two or three major life events in a negative way or challenges kind of occurred in in that short period of time. I'm sure you do have episodes like that or time periods like that, but it sounds like you had a long stretch of struggles, pertaining to, you know, mindset and the physical physical, I guess, challenges that you dealt with. So pick it up where you'd like to. I I I wanna get, you know, dive into your backstory and and talk about the adversity that you've been through. Speaker 3
Yeah. I really started with childhood, you know, and it's kinda hard to really put my finger on what it was. But, you know, sometimes you just get into a negative sort of spiral. Right? And and things just kinda follow. Right? If your energy is that way, that's what you attract into your life, and that's the sort of life and experience that you live. And, you know, from an early age, that was sort of my life and my experience. I ended up, you know, gaining weight. I I was the the fat kid in school back before, you know, most of the kids were the fat kid. Right? Like like, now probably. Right. But, you know, you know, back then, that was a really painful thing. You know? And I I got made fun of a lot. I I felt excluded a lot because of my weight, you know, when I would be be made made fun of for that. So it was always something that I really kinda fixated on as, you know, this was my my biggest problem. You know, I I would say that as I look back on it now with with the with the added benefit, the perspective of time and all my life experience that, you know, I used to think I hated myself because I was fat. It turned out that I hated myself and I was fat. Right? So through the years, I I tried to to lose the the weight. I did it successfully on multiple occasions only to gain it back again. But, you know, I never really addressed the underlying mental and emotional sorts of things that I needed to, right, in order to say that I've overcome this, and I've really healed. So, you know, that's the the biggest takeaway from my journey is it's not just, oh, I lost some weight. Right? It's really been more of a holistic transformation. Like, yeah. Speaker 2
You know? Speaker 3
I I lost weight. I I I live a healthy lifestyle now. You know? I I do all kinds of crazy stuff with endurance sports and stuff like that. But, you know, it's more it's more than that. It's it's a mental and emotional transformation as well. Whereas now I'm a healthy person, and, you know, I'm able to to maintain this lifestyle effortlessly because this is now who I am, and it's not just something I'm trying to do. Speaker 2
Sure. Yeah. It's that's there's so many ways we could go with this, and, we're obviously not gonna cover every aspect today that we could. But I did watch your podcast with Zubie, and that was really good. And you guys got into, toward the end, how the mental and physical and spiritual aspects and, like you said, the holistic, approach is is necessary. It's not they're not separate. I mean, you can somewhat isolate them and talk about them independently, but they're really not they go hand in hand. So, before we get to how you approach things, so do you mind drilling down just slightly more on kind of the maybe the pain that you were dealing with? And and, again, this isn't meant to be therapy or or or painful for you in any way, but just so that our listeners can understand. So you're saying, for a while, you thought you hated yourself because you're fat, but then and those are your words. Yeah. But, but, you know, but you all you hated yourself and you were fat. So are you kinda saying that you may have been overweight because you hated yourself as well? Speaker 3
Yeah. You know? And and, really, what I've come to learn is that, you know, obesity is is a symptom of these deeper underlying emotional sorts of problems. Right? And, like, it doesn't just happen in a vacuum. The inside reflects the outside, and the outside reflects the inside. Right? Speaker 2
So Mhmm. That's really good. Speaker 3
It's it's really hard for me to just kinda pinpoint one or two specific things that happened. Right? You know? But I was just I was in a chronically negative state is is how I would describe it. But Yeah. What was really challenging is is if you're in a chronically negative state, you don't necessarily realize you're in a chronically negative state. You know, Much in the way the the the fish doesn't see the, you know, you know, water that it's in. Right? If this is just how you experience life, you don't necessarily realize that, you know, this is different. You know? If you would have told me you know, if you would have asked me what anxiety was in in my mid twenties, I wouldn't have been able to tell you, let alone identify and say, oh, I'm I have chronic anxiety problems. Right? Because that was just that was just life as I knew it. Speaker 2
That was your default. Right? Yeah. Speaker 3
And and that was just how I experienced life. You know? And and I really never would have thought that a a life that I'm living now, you know, with the sort of energy and and the emotion that I feel on a day to day basis, I didn't even realize that something like that was possible for me. But, you know, there there was always a part of me for some reason that that was optimistic. Right? You know? And and I I would say I was in a chronically negative state, but I always had some optimism about me, and and I always kinda knew that it would it would work out. You know, and I just I stuck with it, you know, as best as I could. You know, there there were certainly lots of adversity along the way. Right? I I lost the same seventy five pounds three times. Right? So, you know, I did it once in high school, and then I ended up gaining all the weight back again. You know? And it's it's really demoralizing to to put in all that work and put in all that effort and and reach a goal, right, and then just have it just kinda slip through your fingers and vanish. You know? And it's it's you you feel a lot of shame and embarrassment when that happens, you know, because you're just you're failing so publicly. People are are seeing you and and seeing what you're going through. Right? So, you know, you know, these sorts of things are are are are are tough to overcome and, you know, it's that is why it it took me so long to to do it. But, you know, part of me just just never gave up and, you know, always knew that there was a way out. I just needed to to to keep trying to do better every day, you know, putting one foot in front of the other, educate myself more, you know, just just try to do more with with what energy I had at the time. And and, you know, that's this is how I I got to the place where I am now. Speaker 2
Yeah. No. It's really good. I mean, it just yeah. It sounds like you you just got, like, probably a lot of people can identify with. You got on into a mental pattern of this is my default. This is who I am. This is my identity. And for those who, you know, are listening or, you know, are gonna watch this on YouTube even, go back and look at at Ed Matt's, you know, like, your Twitter, Instagram. I mean, I've seen it before and after, and it's it's like HGTV pics. You know, people love that in real estate. It's like the the before and after pictures are amazing, but there's so much work that went into that that, you know, that's easy to gloss over. So I I, I just have a ton of respect for your transformation and and and this time keeping it off. I mean, it's it's really incredible. So okay. So you lost the weight a couple times, regained it a couple times, and then and then have kept it off for coming up on five years, you said, I believe. What's been the difference this time? Speaker 3
So what I realized was I needed to make a plan. Right? Because I I I lost weight again in my mid twenties, and I really educated myself a lot about fitness and nutrition. Right? And I I taught myself all this stuff, and I did it in a really intelligent way. And then I I I kinda realize I thought then at least that, okay. My my problems are solved. Right? I have all this knowledge now. And, you know, I didn't have this knowledge before, but now I know how to eat. I know what protein, fat, and carbohydrates are, all all this stuff. And I'm like, great. I did it. My problem is solved. Well, knowledge is useless if you don't apply it. Right? So I I had the knowledge, but I stopped applying it. You know? And I dealt with some some adversity, right, that's keeping the theme of the show. Yeah. I I had some some some more emotional trauma. I suffered an injury. You know? And and next thing you know, I'm I'm back being fat again. And, you know, it took me eight years to kinda get around to to doing it again because, you know, it's it's an it's an overwhelming proposition. You know? You know? Trying to lose a large amount of fat as I'm sure many people can can relate to. Right? Just the energy and time that it takes to do it is a lot. So I always knew that I could lose the weight. What I realized was I needed to formulate a plan to actually keep it off. Right? Right? Because I don't wanna do all this work for nothing and just have it just go away again. So I I figured out that if I just kinda kept doing the same things I was doing while I lost the weight Right. If I just kept that up after, then it's gonna be really hard for for me to gain weight again. If I'm tracking my food intake, if I'm, you know, monitoring my calories, if I'm weighing myself every day, then how could I possibly gain weight back again? And and even if I did gain a few pounds, well, if I can lose seventy five pounds, I can lose five pounds. This is gonna be a lot easier. Speaker 2
Yep. Speaker 3
So so I really committed myself to to this being a a lifelong plan and saying, alright. You know, if it takes me five or ten minutes of effort a day, well, that's a lot better than being obese. Right? So I I I lost the weight, and I just kept on with it. And then I kinda kept on with my self improvement journey. And this is how I came to, you know, turn around my mental, my emotional, and and my you know, even connect with my my spiritual side, which I wouldn't say I had any connection to. It was through, you know, just continuing my growth, my development, continuing to learn, continuing to experiment with different things, we'll say meditation and journaling and, you know, you know, all sorts of other things and, you know, exposing myself to to different ideas and different books. You know? That this is when I started to really make connections. I started to understand how I worked, how other people worked, and then I started to grow mentally and emotionally. You know? And and this is what has allowed me to, I would say, make a holistic transformation, whereas now I don't have to do all these things. I don't have to closely monitor what I'm doing because this is now who I am. I have I have, in a sense, rebuilt my self image Yeah. To be the person that I am now. So when my subconscious mind takes over, when I stop being intentional, I still behave in in alignment with who I am right now, not the way I used to be five, ten, fifteen years ago. Speaker 2
Have you read James Clear atomic habits? Speaker 3
I have not, but I've heard good things. Speaker 2
I I I've put you on the spot there, but, it's almost like you could cowrite it, I think. But, just what you were saying about I mean, he talks about that as far as, you know, I am a runner. This is who I am. This is my identity. It's not just what I do. It's who I am. So that's yeah. It just kinda takes over. The other thing that I thought I just thought of as you were speaking was you just said it takes a lot of time to do your exercise and and, you know, eat right and plan and everything. Mhmm. No doubt, for sure. But I imagine you're so much more productive in the other hours of your day that it's almost like who cares that it I mean, you know, that you you've gained in in in the end. I mean, as far as energy and productivity, I would guess. Is that fair to say? Speaker 3
It's a hundred percent fair to say. You know? And if I go back to to to twenty sixteen when I I most recently started to lose weight again, I I had a number of of things I would, I guess, I would say were problems with my life. I I I was working at a at a job that I I really didn't like. It was doing legal collections, right, working with people who who were pretty low energy negative people. Mhmm. And I worked there for a long time, and I felt like I was trapped in that environment. You know, and then there were some other things, but, you know, what I I I understood at some level was I only had so much energy. I only had so much time and attention, and I needed to, you know, really focus, like I said, obsess about solving this one thing first. And that for me was losing the fat, right, and getting myself physically healthy. And then by doing that, right, and then that that raised my energy. You know? It put me in a better state. You know? A couple years later, I I I got another job. You know? Someone actually reached out to me to hire me. You know? And and, you know, that wouldn't have happened if you know? And I wouldn't have been able to to function at that new job, which required me to be, you know, a a a more capable, diligent employee to to to, you know, you know, you know, be a better manager. I wouldn't have been able to do that had I not put in all that other work. Right? And, you know, you know, and and and built myself into something more than I was. Sure. So so it's definitely helped make me more productive Speaker 2
in business, personal, everything. Absolutely. So the first job you mentioned that you that you quit, twenty sixteen, I think, somewhere around there. Financially, were you, you know, were you a millionaire at that point? You don't have to answer, but but you you were you you know? Because I think what happens is because I I just, I worked part time for the last seven years, and I just finally resigned myself to focus on my own businesses. And, you know, there's always that struggle of, you know, when is it the right time and it's there's no one size fits all answer. But I'm just curious, was that more of cutting out negativity and then you could move on? It sounds like that's the case versus, oh, I've made it now so I can kind of quit my job and do whatever I want. Speaker 3
Yeah. I made a a very, I guess, I would say sort of lateral career move, but it was in a completely different field. You know, the the the collections field is not a great place to be in, and then I think it's hard to find happiness when you're doing something like that all day every day. So, you know, I I I was able to to to move on to another job, you know, which which I I worked there for a couple years, and it was great. You know? I really expanded my my horizons and my skill set. You know, and I I I since came around to leaving that job to to start my own business. I guess what I would say is what I've learned along the way is that energy is more important than money, because That's Speaker 2
really good. Speaker 3
If you have energy, you can always make more money. Right? You can always grab a shovel and go out and dig dig ditches or or whatever. Right? Sure. But, you know, money can't buy you more energy. Right? And, you know, so so I'm, you know, I'm I'm I I I understand that I'm always gonna have the money that I need Mhmm. To to do the things that I need to do. Right? You know? Right. You know, are are are there luxuries that that I'd love to have? You know? Sure. Right? I I'd love to be driving a nine eleven turbo instead of a Subaru. Right? But but that's not money that I need. You know? Yeah. You know? So so it's just about really believing in myself Speaker 2
Yeah. And, Speaker 3
you know, you know, doing something that I think is making the world a better place, right, is is adding value to the world because it's no way to live your life. If you're spending all day every day doing something that's that's not making the the world a better place, right, then then that's that's not a recipe for for anyone to live a happy or healthy lifestyle no matter how much money you're making from it. Speaker 2
Yeah. That's really there's a lot of I might have to relisten to that, what you just the last five minutes. That was really good. Yeah. I I I just think, you know, entrepreneurship is is such a sexy term, and it's you know? And I'm an entrepreneur, and and I love it. I love doing my own thing. But I think that's just something everyone has to kinda decide for themselves as far as when they're ready. But in that process, I I don't think it's there's always something a reason you shouldn't quit your job. There's always fear. There's always some kind of something holding you back. So, you know, in the end, I mean, you could get another job. I mean, let's say Yeah. If if your business fails or whatever. So I Speaker 3
would Yeah. Yeah. So If the money runs out, right, you you just need to get another job, and it looks like every place is hiring right now. So Exactly. It doesn't seem like it'd be that challenging. Speaker 2
Exactly. Awesome. So I'm gonna fire off some questions here, and we'll we'll, see where it goes. What do people misunderstand about you? Speaker 3
I think, you know, I I post on my Twitter feed a lot of sort of unorthodox things that I do. Right? And I I I think people might think that, you know, like, these are the the secrets to to my success. So I'll I'll I'll give you an example. I I just bought some, toast spreaders. Speaker 2
I saw this. Speaker 3
Right? It it it was a it was a viral tweet. It ended up getting, like, over five hundred thousand impressions, which I I I was really kinda shocked by. I figured it would get, like, five or six likes or whatever. Right. You know, and and, you know, I'm I'm training for an Ironman race right now. You know? I'm I'm coming up on forty years old. I have really almost no athletic background. So I'm looking for every little advantage that I can get. And what I find really great about Ironman racing is that, you know, it requires me to be dialed in pretty much with everything, nutrition, recovery, right, because it's just such a demanding thing to do every day for for nine months. So I I talk a lot about these unorthodox things that I might do, you know, these small things that I try. I'm always experimenting. Right? But but this isn't what got me to the point that I'm at now. This isn't what I have clients doing. Right? You know? Like, like, these small things aren't the things that move the needle. If you're someone looking to make a change, the entire philosophy behind my approach is called boulders, not pebbles. Right? If you're looking to make a change in your life, you wanna concern yourself with the boulders, the the really big rocks, and not worry about the pebbles, the stuff like like like, post spreaders or something like that. Speaker 2
Right? Right. Speaker 3
You wanna get out there and start to build healthy habits that you can sustain that are gonna make a difference in the long term. So Speaker 2
Yeah. Speaker 3
While I talk about these things on my social media channels, people find them interesting. You know, I find them interesting too. Right? This isn't what got me to where I am, and this isn't why I'm successful. Right? Because the fundamentals, I think, for anybody or any business, focusing on the fundamentals and really nailing those are what's gonna lead for success in the long term. Speaker 2
Definitely. That's really good. That's a really good answer. On episode four of our podcast, I had, Matt Fore, f o r e. He he does Iron Man. He's really into that stuff. So, the the only experience I have with it is is watching my sister years ago do she did a Chesapeake man, which was is an Ironman. I don't know if they still do it, but it's in Maryland on the Eastern Shore. It's an Ironman distance triathlon, and it was delayed to two plus hours due to fog. And so that's already like, I'm already, like, you know, how do you even your timing and everything is all off. You know? But, yeah, we went out to lunch. We went out to watch Ladder forty nine. We went out to dinner, you know, and she's doing this thing the whole time. It was, like, seventeen hours. Yeah. Just I've I just don't even know where to begin. But, no. That's that's really good. So yeah. So what your post may not be it's it's really you. It's genuine, but it's not what people probably should focus on if they're trying to kinda start the the change. They should focus on fundamentals. What's one of your biggest failures in life? Speaker 3
You know, I don't really I don't know that I really kinda frame things as failures. And, you know, I I actually I I I recorded a video about this yesterday. It's gonna be be be coming out on my Twitter feed probably this week. You know? So for you know, I I like I said, I lost seventy five pounds twice only to gain the weight back again. And for years, this hung over my head as a failure. Right? Because, again, in in some ways, it was a failure. You know, things are are a failure from a certain perspective. Right? But from a different perspective, it's not a failure. But now when I look back on it, I'll say, okay. Well, I I lost weight in high school. I had no idea what I was doing. I basically starved myself, and I did a lot of calisthenics. But I proved to myself that it was possible. Right? Because Yeah. Before I did that, I didn't even know that I could do this. Right? So, yeah, I failed. I gained the weight back again. And then again in my twenties, right, I did it again, and I failed, and I gained it back again, but I taught myself a lot. Right? And I I really built the foundation for my knowledge that I'm still using today in my business. Speaker 2
Mhmm. Speaker 3
So, you know, I I can look back on these experiences now, and I would say, well, these weren't failures at all. These were important stepping stones for me to become ultimately successful. So I I think really anything that that you might see as a failure, Right? It's only a failure from a given perspective. Right? If you're given point in time because if you zoom out and you look at it from a different perspective, I think you'd find that it was you know, you you could take a a a different look at it because Mhmm. In every one of my failures, and I've done a lot of journaling about, you know, these things and traumatic events from the past, I've always been able to to kinda reframe them from a different perspective and, you know, the old silver lining from a dark cloud. I think you can always find something that that you can take from that. Even even if you're failing the same the the the the same level for the hundredth time, right, there's still something you can learn from that and take away from that. Speaker 2
Yeah. That's really good. Awesome. If you could have coffee with I don't know if you drink coffee, but there's no calories in coffee. Yeah. I do. If If you could have coffee with any historical figure, who would you choose and why? Speaker 3
That's a tough question. I think I would pick Theodore Roosevelt. Okay. He's been a really kinda influential figure in my life. And and, really, these last couple of years, I I read a, interesting or fascinating three part trilogy about his life by, I believe, Edmund Morris off the top of my head. Okay. But it it it was, it was like a seventy five hour audiobook. If if you take up all all three of these kinda individually, you know, I just if you just stop and think, right, how long would an audiobook about your life be or my life? Right? It certainly wouldn't be seventy five hours. You know, and he's just somebody who who really was able to, you know, reinvent himself so many times throughout his life and, you know, just just the the breadth of his experience. He wasn't someone that let a single role define him. You know? He was police commissioner in New York. He he was president of the United States. He he led the the rough riders. He basically single handedly won and and he started and won the Spanish American war. He later wins a Nobel Peace Prize for avoiding a war, but but but, you know, but between Russia and China. He did exploring. He was a a noted author and historian. So, you know, someone like that, you know, you you don't you don't really see that in figures today. With the most prominent figures, they really kinda drill down into one specific area. You know? Yeah. But, you know, you know, he's somebody that I I I would love to have coffee with and talk to. And, you know, it's Yeah. It's it's interesting because I find that even by by studying a historical figure, you can you can really almost sort of bring their energy into your life. So maybe you don't get to literally sit down with them and talk to them and have coffee with them. But if you ever read, Think and Grow Rich Speaker 2
Mhmm. Speaker 3
By Napoleon Hill, he in that book, he talks about having a a a sort of virtual, you know, system of mentors, right, that that he would talk to. You know? And Speaker 2
Right. He's like a virtual mastermind Speaker 3
kind of mastermind growth, you know, with with historical figures in there. And I I think you can definitely do something like that even if you don't have formal meetings with them. Right? But just by by studying historical figures and reading about them, you can bring some of their energy into your life, and you can definitely sort of build on their influencing and gain some of their wisdom. Speaker 2
Yeah. It's awesome. Speak about your business. What what's the challenge that you're facing in in your business right now? Speaker 3
I think the challenge I face is, you know, is selling myself and selling what I'm doing because I I'm taking a different approach to fat loss from pretty much anybody else that that you'll find. Right? So, you know, how so. Well, because, again, I'm not really promising a short term result. Right? I'm not saying you're gonna drop ten pounds in in in four weeks or or anything like that. What I'm saying is your go you know, you will make a holistic transformation, and you will, yes, you will get result in the short term, but they will be results that you can sustain and build upon, and I will give you the tools to make this a permanent change. Right? So so it's not you know, it's it it it's a different approach than most people are taking. It's not like something I could package in a PDF necessarily and say, well, here, just just follow these instructions because everyone's gonna be different. So but you know what? I'm working on it every day. Right? I'm connecting with more people. I'm getting better at at, you know, at at at sharing my message and and, you know, you know, connecting with people and convincing them of that. So, you know, that's, I guess, the the biggest challenge I'm facing. My my end goal is to help over a million people lose weight. You know, I'm still not I'm still not exactly sure how I'm gonna accomplish that, but but that's okay. Right? You don't Yeah. You don't have to know step thirty eight when you're on step four. Right? So Speaker 1
Sure. Speaker 3
So I I know if I just keep moving in in in the right direction, keep working with people, keep putting myself out there and positively influencing people, that that it'll work out. And, you know, if I keep making adjustments, I'll reach my goal the same as I I reach my fat loss goal and and the other goals that I've reached in my life. Speaker 2
Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. I've heard the analogy of, like, driving in fog. I've spoke of fog earlier, but, you know, you don't have you're not able to see the whole path. Right? But if you drive twenty yards, you see the next twenty yards, and and it kinda opens up for you. Speaker 3
It it it, you know, if if you're trying to do something that no one else has done before, then there's not gonna be a road map for you to follow. Yeah. That's fine. You just kinda have to figure it out as you go. Speaker 2
So do you take and you don't have to get into how you approach things with a with a client, but would you recommend, you know, someone who's trying to lose a lot of weight that they only focus on the the physical at that point, or do you take, like, a multi pronged approach, and they should also deal with the mental and and spiritual all at the same time? Speaker 3
Yeah. I think a multi pronged approach. You know, it it's it's important that you, you know, don't bite off more than you can chew, so to speak. Right? So so make sure that the things that you're doing really are are moving the needle. I guess one of the challenging things from what I did is I can look back at what I did really over over, I guess, I would say, an eight year period, of when I I kinda started turning my life around. And if I, you know, if if I if I analyze how I did it, I don't think I did it the most efficiently the most efficient way possible. I I didn't really have the the top down picture of it. Mhmm. So as as I kinda try to rebuild that, and I'll say, okay. Well, we can definitely make this more efficient. Doing the things that I did could have been done a lot faster. Right? And, you know, with with, and a lot more intelligently. And I certainly took some some some missteps along the way. I I think at one point, my my fitness plan was, you know, you know, switching from, beer to liquor. Right? So, you know, Speaker 2
I I I may have been guilty of that one. Yeah. Maybe maybe even currently. Speaker 3
Yeah. And it it kinda worked probably a little bit, but it certainly opened up a whole other host of problems. I I I wouldn't recommend it. Right? So so it hasn't necessarily been a linear progression from step one all all the way to where I am now. Right. So, you know, I I I I I think it's important that, you know, people people really focus on their mental and emotional health. Is probably even more important than than the the physical in a lot Speaker 2
of ways because at the end Speaker 3
of the day, I've kinda come to understand that my physical form really isn't all that important. If, you know, if I'm healthy, if I'm able to do the things that I wanna do, it's really more about what my emotional state is and how I'm feeling and, you know, how much energy I have. That's much more Speaker 2
I I was waiting for you to say energy because you you've mentioned that three or four times, and that's Yeah. That's definitely a takeaway for me from this episode for sure is just keep going back to the energy, and I love that. That's awesome. I mean, yeah, that's and it's that's almost like what draws you know, links the two, the mental and the physical. It seems like it's your your energy. But I can tell you have a you have a lot of energy. You have a lot of optimism. You have a you're definitely a man on a mission. You and then you're, you know, you're definitely moving forward, and you're in a growth mindset. I mean, it fits perfectly with this this podcast. It's this isn't necessarily a rags to riches show. It's more about, you know and it it's more about just overcoming adversity and getting to an abundance mindset. And that's I mean, you're the the perfect guest for it. So, yeah, anything to add to that? Speaker 3
Yeah. I mean, it's you know, look, having an abundance mindset, I I think, is challenging for for me anyway. Right? And it's it's something that it it is hard. It it's hard to do that. You can't just if you if you don't have an abundance mindset, you can't just flip a switch and get one. Right? It's something that's that's deeper than an intellectual understanding. Right? So it's it's how do you, you know, how do you how do you, you know, on a on a deep level, have an abundance mindset and not just pay lip service to have an abundance mindset. You know? I I actually just tweeted something earlier today that I think rap encapsulates it pretty well. It's that if you believe in yourself, if you believe in your ability to, you know, overcome adversity, if you believe in your ability to adapt to whatever life throws at you, then there's not much to to worry about at that point because, you know, everybody likes to to panic about, you know, how the world is changing. Right? Mhmm. You go on to any news source or social media feed, you'll see all this stuff about inflation and Ukraine and pandemics and all these other things. Right? But when I stop and look around right now at my own life, what problems do I have? I don't see a whole lot of problems. Right? You know? And and and life is pretty good, and I don't allow myself to get caught up in those things. I know that the world is gonna change, and what I wanna do is be adaptable. And when it changes, I'll change along with it. And and I know if I can do that, then there's really nothing for for me to worry about. And I think that is kind of the cornerstone to the abundance mindset because if you don't think like that, if if you were scared of the change, if you think things aren't gonna work out well for you, well, that's where you start to get a scarcity mindset, and that's where you start to, you know, you know, become really risk averse and you start, you know, you know, I I I I guess, gather the acorns for the winter. Right? Because you you don't you're not optimistic about the future. So if you're optimistic about the future and and you, on a deep level, believe in yourself Right. Which which happens through action, not through words. You you you believe in yourself by putting yourself out there and overcoming things and doing it and proving it to yourself that you're worthy of the belief, then you have an abundance mindset. And and, you know, these things will will take care of themselves to a certain degree. Speaker 2
Yes. I love it. I mean, it's awesome. I that's for me. And, again, we're not saying that you don't have any adversity or I don't have any adversity currently or you never slip out of your abundance mindset. You know? But I made a a switch around twenty fifteen, actually, twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen where I stopped watching the news. And, again, I still pay attention to what's going on, but but I I was, you know, watching cable news and just, like, it's it's depressing, and I have zero control over it. So what's, you know, what's what's the point? So then I did start to switch to, okay, what are my who do I know that is on my team, and and what are my strengths, and and and start taking action. And it's, I've experienced a similar thing where it's just, you know, it's it's so encouraging to be able to only focus on what you can control. And, personally, I think people can control or influence more than they give themselves credit for. And, like, for example, I you know, you may correct me if I'm wrong, but did did your, girlfriend also lose a lot of weight? Speaker 3
Yeah. She's lost about a hundred pounds. And, you know, I I definitely helped her along with that. Right? You know? And and, you know, I would say I did it more by example than by anything that I I I I said. Right? You know? I I I think this is this is key, right, for everyone is talk is cheap. No one's gonna listen to to your advice. Right? Right. Lead by example and show people that the way you're doing it is better, and some of them are are are gonna follow. Some of them, you know, will start to to sort of embrace what what you are doing. You know? It's interesting because at her job, before we moved, you know, she was doing that that challenge seventy five hard, right, which a lot of people do to, you know, you know, lose weight. Speaker 2
And a Speaker 3
bunch of her coworkers started doing it. Right? And they saw her walking at lunch and and and how happy she was and how good she looked. And, you know, they started saying, oh, okay. She she must know, you know, you know, know what she's doing. Right? So, I I think it's up to us. He talked about cutting out the the mainstream media. I think that's a great thing for everyone to do. Yeah. I I talk a lot about the importance of, you know, really auditing your social media feed, making sure the people that you're tuned into are are are the influences that you wanna be tuned into. Speaker 2
You know? And Exactly. Speaker 3
And and that's really important. So if the people in your life aren't like that, it's gonna be problematic. You gotta kinda put the blinders on a bit and just just just block them out. And Yeah. You know you know, social media is a very powerful tool. You can connect to other people who who who are aligned with you, who are like minded. You can follow people who set a great example, and you can use that as your kind of support group if you can't find these people in the real world. I I know I have a hard time finding them sometimes. Speaker 2
No. It's I love it. I mean, that's it it really is about taking ownership, taking control of even your social media feed because that might sound like, oh, no big deal. But social media is not bad or or good. It's it's very powerful. It can be. Right? And so just like the way I see money, I don't see money as bad or good. It's very powerful. It can be used in a, you know, good for good or for bad. And so that's that's really important as controlling what you're exposed to online. I mean, that's Yeah. It's is Speaker 3
it technology amplifies. I I think the things that the the things that are already there. Speaker 2
So, you know, Speaker 3
if you wanna use it for bad, it's gonna be that much more worse. Speaker 2
Yeah. Speaker 3
If you wanna use it for good, well, they could be that much better, you know, because I I I've built out my Twitter, and I have you know, I hear from dozens of people every day who I'm inspiring, who I I'm influencing. And that is so rewarding for me. That's more rewarding than any money. Right? And that's not to say, well, money doesn't matter or whatever. You know, obviously, I can't eat and, you know, pay my rent with with happy, you know, you know, you know, you know, messages from people. But at the same time, if I zoom out and look at the big picture, right, like, these people are making their their families better, their communities better. Right? And so, you know, the old butterfly effect. Right? You know you know, just by by smiling at one person, you can you can really help hundreds, if not thousands, of other people just by by kinda spreading that positive message. Yeah. And, you know, it's it's very powerful. Speaker 2
I love it. I mean, we definitely the world needs more of that right now for sure coming out of the Definitely. Pandemic and everything. And there's a lot of hate online. And, I just love the the message that you're bringing and the, you know, the passion that you're bringing to this and the energy you you have and, so many things that that I could go on and on about. So, as we wrap up here, Matt, let our listeners know how they can reach out to you online and and, add any final thoughts that you'd like to. Speaker 3
Yeah. Sure. I'm I'm on, you know, Twitter is my my prominent kind of social media. I'm at m a t t I z z o, just just at mattizzo. And, you know, my, DMs are always open. I'm happy to answer any questions or or or talk to anybody. You know? I am selling services, but, again, that's not necessarily my only thing. So if it's a quick question, I'm happy to answer it. I'm happy to help you out. You know? But what I would say is, you know and, obviously, you don't need to hire me to be successful. Right? You I I I did it without hiring me and and, you know, you know, so so this isn't something that anybody needs. You can figure it out on your own, but it took me twenty five years. Right? So if if if you could tell me I could I could have all the information and knowledge that I have now, we'll say fifteen years ago, How much money would I pay for it? Well, I I would have paid every dollar I had for it, basically. Right? So, you know, you know, you know, it's it's it's it's really a process and then, you know, you can figure it out yourself. But if if you wanna save some time and and look into to coaching, if not even from me, right, you you can there's there's there's tons of great coaches out there. It's it's really an interesting space because there's real people out there who have experience, who are now selling their services, and you can hire them. And and you can get, you know, you know, real real impact from people who are on social media that that can can help guide you and and help you down the path in in a way that really never existed before because now there's a way for you to to find these people and connect with them and get some sort of verification. Right? Because I'm out there posting the the receipts of what I'm doing every day, so you could see that I'm not just some fraud or some kind of charlatan. Right? And there there's other people like that too. So I think it's a powerful tool that everybody can use and, you know, can really help kinda make the world a better place if we kinda get away from the, you know, mainstream media sorts of, like, these big the the these big corporate influences that that don't necessarily have making the world a better place, you know, as their core mission. Speaker 2
So No. That's really good. So just very quickly, so what what does a typical if someone is interested in in working with you, what does that look like? Speaker 3
Yeah. So we would have a, you know, initial kind of assessment call, and then I would I I build a program. You know? You know? Basically, something that that meets that individual's needs. Right? Because it has to be it has to be customized to that individual what their situation is, what their physical situation is, what kinds of food they eat. Right? What what their what their lifestyle is like. Right? You know? So so it's not just a cookie cutter thing. It's something that's customized, and it starts. And then you have to live your life, and you have to make adjustments and see how it works because not everything you're you're gonna do is gonna gonna work out at first. So it's it's definitely a give and take process of making adjustments as you go and, you know, layering in new things. Right? Once once certain behavior patterns become a habit, then then finding other behaviors that that can be added to that and just layering habits one on top of the other. Right? Like, I talked a bit about some of the unorthodox things that I do, and if you would have showed me my daily routine now, you know, six years ago, I would have said you're crazy. There's no way I could do that. But I didn't just wake up overnight and start doing it. Right? I I started by making simple changes on the important things, and I just kinda built on it from there, you know, and and seeing what worked, seeing what didn't work, and and just, you know, you know, periodically making adjustments. And, you you know, you know, that's the that's the only way to do it. It's it's unrealistic to think that you're gonna just wake up one day and become a new person and follow this crazy program and and do that. Right? Maybe you can do that for eight or twelve or sixteen weeks. But when your your willpower gives in when your motivation goes away Speaker 2
Yeah. What are Speaker 3
you gonna be left with? And, you know, this is why so many people fail so often, and this is why I try to instill in my clients, hey. This is how you can be successful, not just for the short term, but for the long term and how you can make this a permanent change and not just a temporary thing that you do for for a while, and then you stop and you go back to what you were about doing before. Speaker 2
You can tell I can tell you're the genuine guy who really wants to help, and and that's the, like you said, long term, you had a long term in mind and the best interest of the client, I can tell, which in the end, hopefully, comes back to you, you know, financially and in in in other ways. But I know it will. Really quickly. So what's more important, diet or exercise? Speaker 3
Diet would be be more important. Right? Because, you know, you know so so I actually I started walking ten thousand steps every day in in at the end of twenty thirteen when my mother gave me a a Fitbit for Christmas, and I ended up doing it every day for seven and a half years, just because, you know, I I kinda became determined on that. But it was another two and a half years until I really started losing weight. So I walked and and all that stuff. But then once I kinda got the diet dialed down and I downloaded MyFitnessPal, started tracking my my food intake, restricted my calories, I was able to lose seventy five pounds in about nine months from that. Speaker 2
So And when I say diet, I don't and I know you know this, but I I don't mean going on a diet per se. I mean, your intake of food. Yeah. Speaker 3
It's, it's about intake and it's about food choices. Right? Both matter to to a certain degree, obviously. But, you know, if if I I exercise is great for everyone to be doing. Sure. It's not something that people who are only trying to lose weight should do. It can be as simple as just going out and walking, though. It doesn't have to be something that's straining or strenuous. If you don't want it to be, Everyone should be exercising, but if you're trying to drop some pounds, diet is is what you need to focus on for Speaker 2
that. That's really good. Awesome. Well, Matt, thank you very much. I know we went a little bit long. And then like I said, I know you are busy. I know you have a hard stop, and, I really appreciate you coming on and, sharing. There were so many knowledge bombs that you dropped really. Like, this has been excellent, so I really appreciate it. Thanks a lot, Matt. Speaker 3
Oh, you're welcome. Thanks for having me, Jimmy. I appreciate you. Speaker 2
Absolutely. So and to the listeners out there, we appreciate you as well. We wanna thank you for spending your most valuable asset with us, which is your time. Thanks, everyone. Speaker 1
Thank you for spending your most valuable resource with us, your time. If you like the show, please share it with your friends and fellow podcast listeners. One entrepreneur at a time, we can change the world. See you next time. Speaker 0
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