Overcoming Anorexia, Living Unbalanced, & Building an 8-Figure Business w/ Jason Phillips | Ep.253
About Today’s Episode:
On today’s episode, I am talking to a very good friend and mentor of mine: Jason Phillips. Jason is the founder of the Nutritional Coaching Institute, which trains coaches to better serve their clients through the use of proper nutrition and the service of coaching.
Growing up, Jason struggled with anorexia, his relationship with food, and with his body—but after coming through that built a massively successful business. Today, we talk about his story, his journey, and how he has gone about improving his relationship with food.
We also talked about his perspective on balance and “having it all,” because Jason has one of the most full lives I’ve ever seen. He is always, on a plane, with his daughter, on stage, doing things, serving other people, eating out—but he manages to stay lean and healthy all year ‘round.
There are a ton of tangible takeaways and I know you’re going to get a lot out of this episode, so let’s get into it!
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Introduction
02:57 Sponsors
05:08 About Jason
13:16 How Jason Handles Bad Days
22:33 How to Change Your Perspective
36:08 How Jason Balances His Life
50:13 What’s Next for Jason
Transcript (click to expand)
Ep. 253 Jason Phillips
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Overcoming Anorexia, Living an Unbalanced Life, & Building an
8-Figure Nutrition Business with Jason Phillips | DFIO Ep.253
0:00:00.0 Jason Phillips: I think I was given a gift. I genuinely do. And I was put through hell to test the receipt of that gift and I passed. And so I think I was given a gift and I think I was given an opportunity. And the gift and the opportunity is to change lives through this vehicle. And so it's one of those things where I've been given this opportunity and this platform and I don't wanna waste it.
0:00:21.1 Jared Hamilton: What's going on, friends? Welcome back to a brand new episode of Dieting from the Inside Out, because we know outer work without inner work just doesn't work, and you have to do the deep work. Now, today's episode is really, really cool. I interviewed a very good friend, but very much a mentor of mine. Someone I look up to a lot and I have been very fortunate to spend quite a bit of time with him over the past couple years. And his name is Jason Phillips. Jason is one of the founders and creators of the Nutritional Coaching Institute, which is basically one of the one of the biggest and best companies in the nutrition coaching space on equipping coaches to better serve their clients with nutrition and the service of coaching. Now, here's where it gets really crazy though.
0:01:04.3 Jared Hamilton: This is one of the reasons I wanted Jason to come onto the show. Jason struggled coming up with basically debilitating anorexia. But think about that for a second. Jason has gone from being anorexic as fuck, really struggling with that eating disorder, really struggling with his relationship with food, his relationship with his body, the whole nine yards. And then lo and behold, years later, he is the CEO and the creator of an eight figure nutrition coaching company that helps other coaches serve their clients better. Think about that for a second. That's insane. So that's what we talked about. We got into his story, his journey, but also how he's gone about improving his relationship with food. The whole story behind that. We talked about how basically he's dieted from the inside out and how he's really helped mend some of the relationships he has with his body, with his food.
0:01:53.1 Jared Hamilton: He's very open about how some of the struggles he still has with those things. And it was just such a really good conversation. But then the other thing that we really got into a lot that I wanted to pick his brain on is his perspective on balance and his perspective of having it all. Because Jason has one of the most full lives I've ever seen. He's always on a plane, he's always with his daughter, he's always doing things, he's always serving other people's on stages all over the place, always eating out, always doing all this crazy stuff. But manages to stay lean all year round. Manages to stay healthy and physically in check all year round. So we talked about some of his secrets and strategies and tactics on how to do that. This way. If you're watching this and you're let's say a single mom or you are struggling with balance, with taking your kid here and going to work here and being in school here, I think you'll get a lot out of this episode.
0:02:40.3 Jared Hamilton: Now, before we get into all that, I have a few things. Number one, be sure to subscribe to the show. You'll wanna definitely make sure that you're up to date with all the episodes that are coming out every single week. And if you're not watching the YouTube I have this whole interview on YouTube where you can actually watch Jason and I go back and forth, which is pretty cool. But I do want to say a big thank you to to the sponsors of the show. Sponsor number one is FlexPro Meals. This is one of the ways I keep my shit in check and I really can stay on track with my goals with a crazy schedule is always having FlexPros in the house. [chuckle] Because this way I always have meals on deck ready to go, I can throw in a microwave and they are made by a chef.
0:03:15.9 Jared Hamilton: They taste amazing and they're high protein. The calories are where I want them at. And I don't have to spend more time, energy, or money in a drive-through. So FlexPro has been the biggest game changer for me over the years and we really appreciate them here on the show. If that's kind of your cup of tea and it's one of those things that would help you a lot having more affordable food that's ready to go, that tastes amazing, that's in check for your goals, just having them on deck in your fridge, definitely check out what's going on at FlexPro. You can go to their website or click the link below flexpromeals.com. But I wanna save you money. So use my code HamiltonTrained and it'll save you 20% of checkout, which is pretty dope.
0:03:52.4 Jared Hamilton: Because I'll be honest, this is gonna save you so much more money than going through drive-throughs, and it'll be way easier to hit your goals with. Then sponsor number two, which is 1st Phorm. I actually have one of their shirts on right now and I had a call with some of their people earlier today. But 1st Phorm is another sponsor of the show. And when it comes to supplements, we all know that supplements are not the end all be all. They are not always a must have for you. They're not anything like that unless it is a gap that is important that you need to fix and you're not fixing it with food. For example, we know that protein is pivotal when it comes to your goals, but if you can't hit your protein intake with food, we need you to supplement with that.
0:04:28.0 Jared Hamilton: But we want to do it with something that is good quality, that has an accurate label, that's safe and that's tested and all these different things. And so 1st Phorm is just one of the best places you could go. It's what I take, it's what we recommend to our clients and I just don't want you gallivanting on Amazon getting bullshit that isn't accurate or isn't made in an actual facility that isn't necessarily as safe or effective or whatever. So definitely check out 1st Phorm, hit the link below and it does support me and I really, really appreciate that. But otherwise I'm super pumped for you to listen to the show. Like I said, be sure to subscribe if you aren't already, you'll want to share this show. I'm gonna be creating a bunch of content with it. But I'll shut up now and get Jason on the line and I'll talk to you in just a second. How are you dude?
0:05:09.7 Jason Phillips: I'm well. I'm well. What do you wanna talk about?
0:05:12.0 Jared Hamilton: So a little bit of everything, dude. What I wanna get into to you... And we're already recording this stuff. What I really wanna...
0:05:20.4 Jason Phillips: Oh, so they can hear me eating fucking potato chips? Great. [laughter]
0:05:22.4 Jared Hamilton: Yes, 100%. I love it. That's half of what we're talking about. See bro, that's the best thing with my show is, I like to get right in with recording 'cause everyone likes the bullshit banter and the off the camera stuff and whatnot. But no 'cause what I wanted to really talk with you about is one, your entire story is pretty profound going from anorexic all the way to creating one of the most profound education hubs in the fitness and nutrition coaching space. I feel like those two things don't ever happen. So I'd love to hear a little bit about that story. And I really think... 'cause a lot of people who listen to my show really struggle with their relationship with food, some completely disordered eating and really the whole like that side of stuff. But now you've done such a 180 with your journey going from being what I would label an extreme on this side, like full-blown eating disorder to CEO of a nutrition coaching company, how does that happen?
0:06:26.4 Jason Phillips: Well, I wanna be really clear in the sense that I don't even think that I've completely recovered from an eating disorder, and I try to be kind of vocal about that more so for the fact that like, I think that everybody that is experiencing issues with food thinks that one day they're magically gonna do one thing and that's gonna end the negative relationship with food. And I just don't think that thing exists. Obviously, I was very much on like the extreme end of it in the sense of like, I was really... I was two days away from a clinical intervention man. Like, I was bad. I was 118 pounds. I was doing upwards of 60 minutes of cardio a day. I was weight training every day. I literally was like, if I thought it would get fat off my body, I was doing it and I felt like a complete piece of shit. I would wake up and I would have a little bit of energy and by two o'clock every day, like, that was like the magic time. I had nothing. And I used to joke, I'm like, it didn't matter what was near me. If two o'clock hit and I needed to sleep on the floor, I would just sleep on the floor. Like, I was that exhausted.
0:07:41.0 Jared Hamilton: Oh, shit.
0:07:41.1 Jason Phillips: I had to go to sleep. And so that was the extreme. And fortunately for me, I overcame that. But I don't think that I... I'm 38 today, I still have body image issues. They still prevent me from doing things that, educationally, I know would be more correct inside of my life and I'll give a couple examples in just a second. There's still a level of insecurity that I have with it at times, and I think that, honestly, man, the vulnerability that I've created around it is part of kind of overcoming the insecurity. And I think that there's two types of ways to deal with it. You can internalize it or you could speak about it openly. And I just think that the lesser of two evils is speaking about it openly. And I think that once I was able to overcome it, I was able to... I knew that overcoming it created so much opportunity in my life. And so that was like, man, I need to use this vehicle to create opportunity for others. So, yeah, I mean, there was never the intent obviously to overcome anorexia and become the owner of an eight figure company. But it most certainly was the intent after overcoming anorexia that I wanna help as many people as possible, and then I'd recognize the vehicle of health and fitness can change the lives of a lot of people in this world.
0:09:10.6 Jared Hamilton: Yeah, for sure. I think, to be honest, I think that's where like one of the facets of a really good coach is they use the vehicle as fitness, nutrition or whatever, change their life. And we immediately want to go, "I wanna show as many other people this" versus the other way around when people get into the coaching space, it's the good coaches I find. It's not like, "oh, I wanna go make a whole bunch of money." If you help a lot of people you're gonna make a whole bunch of money. But it's the, I think the best coaches that I've ever seen had the transformation like you've had. And then their instant thing is, I wanna go help as many people as I can.
0:09:40.5 Jason Phillips: Well, yeah, I mean, even Alex Hormozi, who I think everybody can agree is one of, if not the best entrepreneur of our generation would openly say that the most powerful marketing message is not you should do, but more so I did. And when you tell people what you've done and you lead by example, you're far more likely to capture trust. But I think deeper than that. I mean, I don't know if you're a spiritual person, and I'm sure there's people out there that have things on spirituality. I'm not overly religious, but I believe that some higher power inserted anorexia in my life and did so with the intent knowing I was strong enough to get through it. And I was strong enough to provide impact on the other side of it. And I think that my dealings with an eating disorder have allowed me to connect to clientele on a level that very few coaches can. If you've never had a body image, you look at a guy that struggles with body image and you're like, bro, like, suck the fuck up and get over it. But when you've been there yourself and you recognize like there are just days where no matter what you do, you feel bad about the way you look and it starts to weigh you down in virtually everything you do. That level of empathy cannot be replaced in the coaching relationship.
0:11:02.8 Jared Hamilton: No, not at all. I think that's why like a lot of... Like my community, well, resonates a lot with my story is because I never... When I was coming up in the coaching space, all my friends came out of the room with eight packs and I was like the epitome of a fat kid growing up, struggled myself. A lot of my following knows my story, but it's because I know what it's like. I know what it's like to not wanna take your shirt off at a pool party. I know exactly what it's like to have your jeans cut into you and not feel okay to even sit down and the whole nine yards. So I think you're completely right on. There's a level of empathy and of "I've been there" that nothing else can replace. You know what I mean?
0:11:39.8 Jason Phillips: Yeah. I mean, listen, I think part of the reason some people don't hire coaches is they look at a coach and... We as coaches have to remember our clients put us on a pedestal from day one because we've already achieved the things that they wanna achieve. And so there's this, it's a very gross assumption and it's a very wrong assumption, but it is an assumption that it's easy for us. And I think that we have to build awareness that it's not easy for anybody. I mean there's like 0.1% of people that are born with just like low single digit levels of body fat, no matter what they do they don't gain. And like hats off to them, man, you hit the genetic lottery. But for the rest of us, we don't have that and we do have to worry about it, and I certainly don't come from great genetics. I mean, my father was overweight. My mother actually is, I would classify her now as having an eating disorder. My sisters are overweight. My brother was borderline an alcoholic. And so I don't come from any healthy relationship with food man. And so the education in my household is laughable at best.
0:12:46.9 Jason Phillips: When I first got into wanting to gain muscle, my mom told me that protein source was chicken tenders. And so that was the advice I got, man. I'll never forget sitting at a Bennigan's with some friends that I worked with and I'm like, Oh, I'm gonna get that. There's some protein in that. And I look back at that time and they probably were like, wow, this guy is a fucking idiot. But sometimes you got to play the cards you're dealt, bro.
0:13:14.9 Jared Hamilton: That's hilarious. Yeah, for sure. So I'm curious, how do you handle this... 'Cause I believe, I agree with you that when someone comes from a background of an eating disorder or some really bigger issues around food and their body and image and all of that, that it doesn't truly forever go away, it just gets manageable. So for you, how do you handle those bad days where old anorexic thoughts and actions are wanting to come up or it's a really bad body image day where you just feel like worthless completely. So how do you manage the bad days?
0:13:44.8 Jason Phillips: I would love to say I'm perfect and that I don't give in to them, but I would be lying. There are definitely days that I certainly don't restrict to the degree that I once did, but anybody that has had anorexia that says they never restrict again is a liar.
0:14:00.0 Jared Hamilton: Sure.
0:14:00.9 Jason Phillips: Like, you're bullshit. And so my journey in overcoming it, I always say there's two levels of trust that I had to create in food to get to where I'm at. And the first level was just that food in and of itself is not evil. Right? And so an anorexic believes all food is going to make you fat. I've spoken about it before on other platforms but there's a time where I saw like a registered dietician and she recommended cheese and crackers. I was like a snack and typical RD shit. But I was like, I was on my... I was eating before I left the house to go to work and I had read all the body building magazines that talked about carbs and fats and no protein and how bad that is and how much fat there is in cheese et cetera. I'm on my way to work and I was working at Best Buy at the time, and I remember pinching the skin on my abs and berating myself, "Like, you fat motherfucker. Why would you eat that? You know it's bad. Fuck with what that dietician said." And I was berating myself. And so I had this just horrible relationship with food as a whole. There was no good food. And so overcoming that, a nutritionist got me to ultimately eat 4,000 calories, which was insanity.
0:15:15.0 Jason Phillips: I did it every day for like three weeks. And I remember looking in the mirror not being fat and being like, holy shit, this food thing it's not so bad. But that was like level one trust. And then... But I think there's a level two trust, which is now we got to take food and the control that comes with food and now we have to learn to trust less control. And so for me, I was very young. I had my eating disorder, 18, 19 years old. I obviously, I hadn't hit 21 yet. And so at 21, a normal college kid does normal 21 year old things. You go out, you have some drinks you end up having had too many drinks, sometimes and you end up getting food at that time. And so for me, I went away to college and prior to college everything was controlled.
0:15:58.1 Jason Phillips: All of a sudden I get to college. I didn't wanna be the weird kid, and so I had to do what my friends were doing. And so we'd be out drinking, Tallahassee, Florida, there was like a drive through subway. We went through Subway at like 3:00 in the morning and I remember eating and I was like fuck, I had too many carbs, too late at night. I'm like, this is horrible. I'm gonna wake up fat tomorrow. And I woke up and I look in the mirror, not fat. I'm like, oh, it wasn't so bad. Right? And then we're out, we're drinking again. Everybody wants pizza. I'm like, this is horrible. I have pizza. Had to wake up in the morning, I'm gonna be fat. I look in the mirror, I'm not fat. And I had to go through so many of those things to truly trust that the randomness and the less control was actually going to be okay as well. And I only tell you the stories to illustrate the fact that I think anorexics or anybody with food issues is very hyper aware of certain foods and their effect on the body.
0:16:51.1 Jason Phillips: I think that if you ask any former eating disordered person, and maybe this is my own bias, I'm certainly not speaking from a clinical knowledge piece, but at least anecdotally what I've experienced is if you ask them, they really could tell you how they feel after certain foods, what it does to their body cosmetically after certain foods. And so to this day, to give you a really good example I could eat, I mean, you've been around me. I could eat pizza, I could eat burgers, I could eat whatever, Capital Grille, right? No issues. Wake up the next day, I have with reasonable accuracy could tell you what the body is gonna look like. But I can also tell you if I go to the Cheesecake Factory when I get a piece of cheesecake, it is a shit show the next day guaranteed to look worse, the bodybuilding world would say watery, but guaranteed to look like I put on a couple pounds. And I know it subsides after two to three days. But I had to learn to trust this because I remember I was like, God, I'm a fat ass. I shouldn't have eaten that, right?
0:17:50.6 Jason Phillips: And I just had to learn to trust the journey. So I wouldn't say that I'm better. I think I just have more awareness. And I think that I would love to say that data solves it, but it doesn't. I'm wearing a WHOOP right now. And so I would love to say that I wake up some days and my recovery score is low, so that tells me I should eat more. But if I wake up, my recovery score is low and I don't like the way I look, it's hard to eat more. Not saying I won't 'cause I'm intellectual enough to know what works and what doesn't work. And when I go to a place like Vegas, where if I know we're gonna be at the pool or if we're going to The Bahamas and we're gonna be on the beach, like, yeah, I'm a vain motherfucker, I wanna look good too. So to the anorexic coming on here that has built this big nutrition coaching empire, like is saying like, Dude, I'm just like you. I still have issues.
0:18:51.6 Jason Phillips: I still look in the mirror, and don't love what I see. But I think I've just built a level of knowledge and I've been through enough that I have faith in the long game. I probably had my biggest breakthrough this last year which doesn't speak to anorexia at all, which on the other side of anorexia, I would say at some point I almost became bigorexic. In college I used steroids and it was... I got up to 206 when I was really trying to be on the covers of magazines and shit. And so I always had this thing like, I spent 18 years of my life until 36 training to get bigger and have a certain image, right? And so all of a sudden to, recently, I've wanted to pursue professional golf again. And so you don't see a lot of pro-golfers that are like 190, 195.
0:19:37.3 Jared Hamilton: Jacked as shit. [laughter]
0:19:38.0 Jason Phillips: They don't look like me. So I was like, I probably need to get a little more functional for this golf thing. And it was this like, give and take. It was like, I would do the functional stuff for a couple of weeks and I would look in the mirror and I dropped a couple pounds and I'm like, "This is horrible. I'm becoming a skinny bitch." And so, now all of a sudden, at one point in my life I wanted to be skinny. Now, I don't wanna be skinny. It's just a constant mindfuck. I'd say I have my biggest breakthrough this year where I really committed myself.
0:20:09.2 Jason Phillips: I'm gonna do the functional training. I'm going to do it with intent to be better at golf and to move better. And I'm gonna wake up in the morning and I'm gonna be like, "You know what? I like what I see, I like how I feel, and if nobody else likes it, then fuck them." And that was really, man, that was a breakthrough for me because I would say for 38 years of my life, I gave that power away. And so I tell you that as the final piece of the story to say, I think so many people develop issues with food because of insecurity around the thoughts of others. I'm not saying it's the only reason, but I think that it's a big reason is we wanna be well liked. We're not well liked, so we want to like ourselves. There's so many issues inside of that rabbit hole and the... I used to see people all the time, man, I'm like, "God, I just I wish I could be like you. I wish I'd go to a bar and eat nachos and have a couple drinks and go home and not give a fuck." And I can't, except now I'm glad I can't. Now I'm glad that I'm disciplined and I want success and I think it was ultimately the catalyst to my business success. So there's a lot to unpack in there, I'm sure. But that's kind of where I'm at.
0:21:25.1 Jared Hamilton: That's huge, man. I love that. And that's the thing is I think that there's so many nuggets in that. But for you, the turning point really started was... It sounds like when you basically had irrefutable proof in front of you that you couldn't argue with. You ate the cheese and crackers and you weren't a fat fuck the next day. And it's like, "Oh, maybe this isn't the way I thought it was." And that was where the moment started to turn for you?
0:21:48.5 Jason Phillips: Yeah. The first time, a trainer at the gym had told me to eat 4,000 calories a day. And so I did so, and it was really like two, three weeks later that I was like, "Wow, I've been doing this every day and I'm not fat. Holy shit, this food thing's not so bad." But then, yeah, at college it was literally waking up, vividly. I could paint the picture of what the apartment that I was living in looked like. I could tell you where the building was in the apartment complex, fucking the shape of the room, where the mirror was in the bathroom. It's very vivid in my head to this day. And I remember running to the bathroom and looking like, "Okay, I'm not fat." And yeah, man, those are powerful times.
0:22:31.8 Jared Hamilton: That's awesome. That's super big. I'm curious... One thing you said that I really wanna... I want to go back a little bit that I think is really, really powerful is when you said that so much shifted when you no longer cared and had the attachment to all the stuff that what other people think. Because I see that, like we... I see that in coaching a lot. I even see that within myself with like, I think there's a lot of... Some of the goals that I've wanted in the past is like, "well, what is it?" Because these people are gonna think or whatever the case is. So for those listening that struggle with that and they go, "No, it's absolutely that, and I'm trapped by what other people or my perception of what other people think," how would someone from your perspective go about changing that? Because it sounds like for you, it just hit you. But how does someone who's like, "No, I'm trapped by this. I don't know how to get on the other side of it," where would one start to get on the other side of that?
0:23:19.7 Jason Phillips: Yeah, first of all, you come to realize that people rarely think about you at all, and that's while you're living. And then you realize you're gonna die and after that they're not gonna think about you at all. I was just interviewed on a podcast recently and so I don't... I think it happened in late '21, but it might have happened in early '22. Betty White died. I'm like, she was really influential in society. Except if I asked you today, name somebody famous that died recently, you wouldn't say her. And at the time it was like a big deal. It was on the cover of every fucking magazine and now nobody talks about her.
0:23:58.1 Jason Phillips: And so it's one of those things, I certainly am under no illusion that I've had an impact on this world like she did. And if I expect people to give a shit what I did, post-death, they're certainly not gonna talk about what my abs looked like. They're certainly not gonna talk about the assets I had, and they're certainly not going to talk about their jealousy and/or fear of missing out because of the things that I have. They're probably gonna talk about the impact I have on this world, which is really all I link myself to. And so my whole mission became about that, which was like, if I have impact, fuck everything else and nobody can ever take it from you. Those are things that will live far beyond you living. And it's like, if... Our time on this earth is so finite.
0:24:40.6 Jason Phillips: I lost my dad last year. It really put a lot of things in perspective for me. And my dad was... He was an amazing human, dude. Everybody loved my dad. If you met him, there's a very good chance he tried to help you with something. There's a very good chance he did something for you. He was so selfless and he never had a lot, but he always gave a lot. And I was like, man, going to his funeral, so many people from the community came. Nobody was invited. Nobody put out these invites about my dad's funeral. And we got there and there was hundreds of people from his community.
0:25:21.9 Jared Hamilton: Wow.
0:25:22.5 Jason Phillips: And I was like, "Damn, that's impact." And my dad was overweight and he just didn't give a fuck. He's like... It was actually a point of contention with he and I, towards the end, 'cause he was sick and I kept saying, "I wish you would give a fuck little bit more," because, I have a daughter and I would love for her to be around her grandfather longer. And he said, "I'm happy." He said, "I'm gonna do what I can. I'm never going to intentionally hurt myself, but I'm also not going to not love what I'm doing." And I think so much of that situation just rubbed off on me. I don't know as though there's a great way, at least that I have to get over what other people think. I think to some degree as humans, we live in a very comparison-driven society. I think social media drums that even further. And I think where you have more awareness today of what other people have and what they're doing than ever before in history. And I think it's a double-edged sword because I think for some it's inspiring and I think for some it's intimidating.
0:26:30.2 Jason Phillips: And the ones that become intimidating are the ones that allow it to dictate actions that may not be aligned with what they truly desire. For the ones that are inspired, I think it's creating leadership levels that we've never seen before. I look at just the macro space and Tony Robbins didn't have Tony Robbins, he had Jim Rohn, but he way passed Jim Rohn. Zucks didn't have Zucks to chase down but look where he is. Elon didn't have anyone to chase down. Hormozi, really didn't have anyone to chase down. And it's like these guys are looking at other sources of inspiration and saying, "I can do that, and then some," and they're not caring about what the other people think, yet there's people not even trying 'cause they're like, "Well, I'll never be Tony, Elon, Zucks or Hormozi." And that's the great gap, right? That's the big dichotomy. And obviously when it comes to personal feelings and body image, it's just a whole another level, but really the same principle.
0:27:28.1 Jared Hamilton: No, absolutely. I think that example, I think it was when I first heard Hormozi talk about that, the death analogy. Like, that was one of my big moments where it was like, "Oh, shit, he's right." Like, when I die... Yeah, the immediate people are gonna be sad. They're gonna be crying in the funeral, but then that evening they're going to be figuring out where they're gonna go eat at and get drinks at. And then what that really solidified was I was over... Two days ago, I was at a funeral. My wife's grandpa died, and I was at... We were at the funeral for that, and everyone was there, lots of crying. The immediate family was super upset. But the same people that night were like, "All right, where can we go get drinks at? Where can we go?"
0:28:13.8 Jared Hamilton: And I was like, "Three hours prior, you were bawling your eyes out. Now you're literally game planning what restaurants and bars you're gonna go to?" And again, not that that's wrong. Not that I'm saying that's wrong, but I'm saying is like, that helped me a lot realize like, oh shit I really need to quit giving a fuck of what others think and dictating my actions in my life. You know what I mean?
0:28:34.9 Jason Phillips: Yeah. It's such a deep rabbit hole because again, I think you're also taught from day one to almost pander to the opinions of others.
0:28:47.4 Jared Hamilton: 100%.
0:28:47.6 Jason Phillips: Right. Our parents, they tell us when we're out, "We don't want them to think you're a bad kid," or, "We don't want them to think you have no manners."
0:28:54.2 Jared Hamilton: Oh, yeah.
0:28:56.1 Jason Phillips: So you're literally taught the impression you're placing on others matters. And I've spoken on huge stages at this point in my life, and it's no secret that I will not exactly have the best language. And my mother growing up was like, "Well, you can't say that. They're gonna think you're horrible." And now I get on stage and I'm like, "I don't give a fuck what you think." Right? And that was a big catalyst for me on that side. I wish I could get that to the body thing. I haven't figured out how to do it.
[laughter]
0:29:24.5 Jason Phillips: Again at 38, man, I'm still a little fucked in my head, but you know what? I genuinely, there's very few times in the world where I think I'm gonna care what you think about me when I'm delivering what I know to be the truth. And I think where I haven't had success on the body side, that's also why I've had success on the business side. I was just talking to a group of people this morning and I said, there's two people in our space that I think are really good. And if you hired them over me, I would say, okay. And neither are hireable. [laughter] And I said, if you told me you hired anybody other than me, I would say, "Okay, that's your choice." But I'm very much of the belief that I'm the best and that I have the skillset to give to everybody that needs my help. And I love that I've been able to get there and to say that publicly because I haven't been able to do that on the physical side. And I think there's a lot of people that will listen to this, that are struggling with the body side and looking at the other aspects of their life, and they're very successful. It's the same things that hold you back that are driving you forward. And that's the whole fucked up part of it all.
0:30:33.2 Jared Hamilton: That's super fucked up.
0:30:34.6 Jason Phillips: Yeah. Right? It's your ability to channel things that way that is driving you forward. So dude, I used to talk about... Anorexics will hate this and registered dieticians will hate this, but one of the... Anorexia, while it was the worst thing to happen to me, and I would never wish it on my worst enemy, it was also one of the best things that happened to me. I was a fucking shit head at 18 dude. I was not a good person. Not to say I was a bad person, I was raised very well, but I had no discipline. I had no work ethic. Nothing mattered to me. And I would've probably ended up working at a fucking Starbucks and did just... No disrespect to anybody working at Starbucks. But that's what I would've ended up doing. Or I would've... Honestly, man, I thought at one point right before I overcame anorexia, I thought I was going to the military.
0:31:25.5 Jared Hamilton: Really?
0:31:26.7 Jason Phillips: Yeah, I thought it was the only thing that could save me. I actually had looked into going to the Coast Guard Academy, and it taught me that I am in control of literally everything. And again, that thought process has served me to get to where I am. I am in control of my surroundings. I am in control of my future. I'm in control of my financial success and all and even my personal success. So it may not always feel great, but you put in the work and when you're anorexic, you rarely feel great, but you do the work anyway 'cause you think you're fat all the time. So you just fucking do it, man.
0:32:02.7 Jared Hamilton: Sure. No, and I totally agree with that. Ed Mylett talks about it, the most I've ever seen anyone, the concept of life is always happening for you, not to you. And I think so many people are spending way too much time fighting for their limitations and fighting for the hands they were dealt. And I think that's a huge issue. I think the interest in the coaching space, like with clients and people just in DMs and emails and things like that, I see way too many people putting so much of their time like, "Well, you don't understand, I grew up like this. You don't understand, my parents taught me that. You don't understand, I've always never been whatever." But my thing is I know I get that and I hold space for that, but that is so much mental capacity you are spending keeping stuck.
0:32:45.7 Jason Phillips: Yeah. I'm gonna be honest, I don't hold space for it. I think it's an active decision and I think that even... The funny part is, man, I didn't realize that I was gonna be... I didn't realize I was anorexic until long after being anorexic.
0:33:01.8 Jared Hamilton: Really?
0:33:03.3 Jason Phillips: Yeah. This is... I don't know if I've ever talked about this publicly. So, I was 48 hours away from the clinical intervention. A trainer at the gym... The story goes, there's a body builder that would come in the gym every day. I was working at the desk at Gold's Gym and he was prepping for a show, so he was super-lean, super-jacked, and I was like, "That's what I wanna look like." And she was like, "Cool. I do his training, I do this nutrition," and I'm like, "Can you do mine? She's like, "Yep. Go eat 4,000 calories a day." And I was like, "Done." This is 2002 so I went to I went to Barnes & Noble, I got a calorie counting guide. I wrote up my own meal plans and I just started eating it every day. So I was 48 hours away from my doctor and my mom clinically intervening and taking me to a clinic.
0:33:41.6 Jason Phillips: At the time, anorexia ruined every facet of my life. I thought I was going to be playing golf for a major university, I ended up taking a scholarship at the local university, George Mason University by my house in Virginia. I ended up tearing my labrum so I didn't play, but I did take courses there. My mom's thing was like, "If you're gonna stay at home and you're not gonna play your first semester, you're still taking courses." My parents were very adamant, I was gonna be the first one in my family to graduate school. And so I obviously... I was super-fascinated by nutrition and so I took a nutrition course. And I'll never forget, the teacher starts talking about eating disorders, and signs and symptoms of them and characteristics individuals display, and the one that hit me was that anorexics hold it as a trophy and that they share with others how much better they are because of the negative habits that they continue to display. And I remember being like fuck, I was anorexic. Or maybe I am anorexic but I was like, "Fuck."
0:34:55.6 Jason Phillips: Dude, my nephew at the time... God bless him, he's grown up to be a great guy but my nephew at the time, I remember being like, "God, you're eating that? You fat fuck." And all the people around me. I just judged everybody and I had like this moral superiority complex of like, "Wow, how could you do that?" And... anorexics, food is fuel, blah, blah, blah. I just remember being like, "Holy shit, that... " I was anorexic and I hadn't connected the dots so it wasn't 'till several months after that I actually connected the dots. And there's me strolling up to George Mason University with my gallon jug and... I think one day, I made the mistake of... I used to put Crystal Light in it so I could get my gallon of water in and I think one day I made a mistake of putting lemonade flavor in so it looked like I was carrying a gallon of piss.
[laughter]
0:35:47.4 Jason Phillips: And I got asked like three times at school, "Why are you carrying a gallon of piss?" But...
0:35:49.5 Jared Hamilton: That's hilarious.
0:35:51.7 Jason Phillips: But yeah, man. That was where the realization really sunk in, that was the time in my life.
0:35:57.6 Jared Hamilton: That's crazy, dude. I've never heard that story. That's fantastic.
0:36:00.1 Jason Phillips: Yeah. I don't know if I've ever told it. I don't know if I've told it.
0:36:02.5 Jared Hamilton: That's awesome. I love that. Well, I appreciate you sharing that here. And you and I have spent a lot of time together so that's that's awesome. That's super-cool which... And well, that's one of the other things that I'd love to hear you touch on and I think my audience would really benefit from is you have one of the fullest lives of anyone that I know, on top of not just like you're a dad. Not just as if that wasn't enough, but you're a dad. You play golf, you're in a relationship. You run a massive company, an eight-figure company, and you're... I know I see you at least several times a year, four, five, six times a year, but you're... I swear, every time we talk, you spend more time on a plane than you do at home. And then you love going to things like we've gone to UFC fights together. We've gone to fights together, all these things...
0:36:48.2 Jason Phillips: Yeah, we got another fight together this year, man.
0:36:50.7 Jared Hamilton: Yeah, 100%. I'm pumped. Well, now... But my question is, how the fuck do you balance that while still having your goals aligned and especially your more aesthetic goals? Most people I know, we see, they have trouble keeping their kids or keeping their shit together while their kids are in soccer and they have a job and that's it, let alone have a life as full, as crazy, and as psycho of a calendar as you have. How do you keep all that together? And if we... I hate using the word but if I had to use it, balancing all of that?
0:37:24.0 Jason Phillips: Yeah, yeah. I was gonna say, I'm gonna answer it two ways. The word you used was balance and so I'm gonna just be very honest, you don't. Anybody that thinks that I'm balanced is absolutely psychotic and...
0:37:33.4 Jared Hamilton: [laughter] You're not?
0:37:35.3 Jason Phillips: You just can't and... But I also say it's seasons and so I'm in a season that lacks balance and I'm okay with that. Now, that being said, there are certain elements that I will not sacrifice balance in, meaning if you looked at my schedule, you would see that the majority of my travel happens every other week and the reason for that is I have my daughter every other week. And so, when I have my daughter, there's no travel. Very rarely will I break that and when we have my daughter, we're home. She's the priority. Now, the off weeks, if I gotta travel, I gotta travel. And the truth is, the mission is a billion lives. The foundational mission of my company is to change 1 billion lives through the vehicle of nutrition coaching.
0:38:19.3 Jason Phillips: And it's not change Jason's life financially. It's not give Jason lots of peace of mind. It is 1 billion lives and so whatever we do, we do it in that vein and that requires a lot of sacrifice of me as a person. So to say that I'm balanced today would be a lie. To say that I'm working towards balance would absolutely be the truth. And so, I've openly talked about 2022 was the year of yes. I did a lot of fun things. 2023 is the year of no, I'm turning down as many things as I possibly can. To give you a really good example, I just came back from the event in San Francisco. I was supposed to turn around... Today is Tuesday, I think? I was supposed to turn around tomorrow and go to Nashville. I've shut that down.
0:39:06.3 Jason Phillips: I have a trip in two weeks to go out to the Super Bowl. I am doing that, but I was invited to a trip shortly after that, I shut that down. And these are opportunities I probably would've taken last year. But I also look at that and most people are like, wow, that's a ridiculous schedule. And I said, yeah, but I also have ridiculous outcomes that most people also desire. And so you don't get the outcomes without the inputs. And so I don't get to say I want things without being willing to do the work. And that's one of the things that my dad instilled in me really early is you don't get to say you want anything unless you're willing to do the work to get it. He said, don't bother saying you want it if you're not willing to do the work to get it, and early in life, I was somebody that just, I want this, I want this, I want this.
0:39:51.3 Jason Phillips: And like, my dad's like, "Go fucking work for it." And that's how I've honestly viewed everything in my life is I don't wanna be average. I don't wanna be normal. And I had a good friend, he played football at Boston College. He wrestled in the WWE for a while. And I remember he said to me one day, he's like, "If I'm ever average, I'm done." And he said, "I don't care how that ends up," he's like, "I just don't wanna be average and I don't wanna be normal." And he's like, "I don't wanna wake up and go to the office. I don't want the five o'clock schedule." Just, he's like, "I don't wanna fucking be normal." And I was at a place in my life where that didn't resonate with me at all at the moment.
0:40:27.4 Jason Phillips: I'm like, "yeah, whatever. I'm like, cool dude." He was a partier, but I'm like, "go fucking party some more" except as I got older. I'm like, "Yo, he was right." And so I always think back to that time, I'm like, I get it. I understand where he was at in life. And so I just think I have a commitment, man. I think not to say... How does this not come off douchey? I think I was given a gift. I genuinely do. And I was put through hell to test the receipt of that gift and I passed. And so I think I was given a gift, and I think I was given an opportunity, and the gift and the opportunity is to change lives through this vehicle.
0:41:10.5 Jason Phillips: Initially, for me it was nutritional knowledge and kind of changing a paradigm thought in the industry. Obviously, I always joked, 2012 as I was the most hated nutritionist in the CrossFit industry and in the performance industry. In 2013, I was the most loved. And it's because I brought radical ideas to the space that I had to prove would become successful. And I did so. In 2016, 2017, I was not one of the most well liked business people. And today, whether you love me or you hate me, you gotta respect what we've built. And so it's one of those things where I've been given this opportunity and this platform, and I don't wanna waste it. I just don't. Not to say there hasn't been times that are great and times that aren't so great.
0:41:51.0 Jason Phillips: There are absolutely times where you experience burnout. And I'm very cautious of that today, but more often than not, men, I will sacrifice myself. I will sacrifice my own personal desires to give. Now, the flip side of that is the aesthetic side that you asked. That's where my superpower of being a former anorexic comes in, man. I think that anyone that's been eating disordered is very hyper aware of the effect of food. And I think you just become really good at managing it. Dude, I haven't counted a macro in years. I will tell you that if you put a gun to my head, you said, do you overeat, undereat or eat on target? I guarantee you, I undereat 90% of the time. But I am also massively... And I apologize for the glare here. I'm trying to move.
0:42:39.0 Jared Hamilton: No, you're good.
0:42:40.1 Jason Phillips: I'm also massively in tune with my body's biofeedback. Meaning I can wake up in the morning and I can tell you physiologically how I feel, what I need to eat to offset any damage. And that's a skill that I think every coach should be trying to help their clients acquire. Because this is something you're so good at is that, when somebody leaves your program, it's not because they left. It's because they graduated and they graduated into real life. And they've not only gotten to where they wanna be, but they've developed the skills, tools, and resources and they can take that into the real world and apply it and continue to see success. And I always say the determinant of a good nutrition coach is not what happens in 10 weeks, but more so 10 years. And I think that that's the skillset that I think keeps me going at a high level. It allows me to... Allows me some days to eat lower carbs, some days to eat higher carbs, some days to eat everything in sight and some days to eat very little, because I genuinely am in touch with what's going on physiologically. And I think that's just something I've worked hard to achieve.
0:43:48.4 Jared Hamilton: Sure. Well, and something that I've noticed too for those listening from spending so much time together and things that I've observed about you with this stuff, like if someone says, Jared, you spend a lot of time with Jason Phillips. How do you think he balances and manages it all? Is you're still very intentional about about your, what I would call your big rocks. Like, we'll be doing an event and while me and my friends are going to lunch, you go get a training session in or like, we've been in Vegas and it's like 9:30, get the fuck out of my hotel room. I'm going to bed. You're not staying out until like 3:00 in the morning popping bottles, things like that. Every time we're eating, you're still making better choices.
0:44:29.0 Jared Hamilton: Even though you do live this amazing full life. And I'm very grateful for when we can share that together. It's one of those things that I've noticed, you're still so in control and you're still very, very... What word am I looking for? You're still very in charge of what you're choosing to do versus I think a lot of people who don't balance, that's when they whip out the all or nothing card. They whip out the, "Fuck it, I don't care. I'll start over when I get back." So they binge eat for the next four fucking days. Don't get training sessions in, don't go to bed on time. Things like that.
0:44:58.2 Jason Phillips: That's good, man. I've honestly never thought of it that way, but that's a great awareness piece. I think that I definitely always feel in control. It might be the control freak in me, but... Yeah, I guess I'll never find myself in a position where I'm like, "Oh, well, I'm out of control, so fuck it." You know what I mean? And I'm headstrong enough to... We could be somewhere and the menu could be all shitty food. And I'm like, come on. I know you got something in the back, [laughter] or I'm like, "Fuck it, I'm going somewhere else."
0:45:28.0 Jared Hamilton: Sure.
0:45:29.6 Jason Phillips: But yeah, I think, I love the notion of big rocks because for me sleep is a big one. You'll rarely... And I think people hear busy schedule and they immediately think, lack of sleep. You'll rarely find me on a morning where I didn't get at least seven to seven and a half hours. But I aim for eight every night. And I know for me that sleep is huge. I am a dickhead if I don't get 8 hours or more for a couple of nights. And I sense it in myself, man. It was funny. During the pandemic, I got really in tune with some of that stuff and I was actually living at my parents house just 'cause why not? Save some money and it kind of sounds so bad. Like eight figure business owner, save some money, but my dad was sick and I wanted to be there and yeah, like, I didn't need to be anywhere, so why not just hang with my parents and take care of them?
0:46:27.0 Jason Phillips: But I remember some days I would wake up and I'm like, "Man, I'm in a bad mood." And nobody would be able to tell 'cause I'm not gonna take it out on them. Oh, my God. And so I would just lay in bed and I would do nothing. And my parents live in like a super small house and there really ain't shit to do in fucking death's waiting room, South Carolina. And I say that 'cause it's like a 55 and up retirement community, so I always joked with them, that it's death's waiting room because everybody in there looks like they're just done, but it's... There's nothing to do. So I'm like, fuck, I'm just gonna lay in bed and watch some TV. And I remember I'd wake up the next day and I was happy as can be.
0:47:01.5 Jason Phillips: And I built this correlation. I'm like, man, I just... I need to sleep and I need my recovery. And so, yeah, it's very foundational. I also need to get... I need calories. I'm not as hyper obsessive about macros because I think that as a nutrition coach, we always emphasize protein. And so as long as I get in protein and calories, I feel pretty good about me or my team. So my preferred way of getting in calories, I love food. I'm a foodie at heart. I love good food. And my preferred way of doing it is under-eating throughout the day and then just back loading and going on to an epic dinner and not caring at all what is on the table and just getting into it, right?
0:47:47.6 Jason Phillips: And so I look at it that way and I set my day up. I have a reel that I'm gonna put out in the next couple of days that says, "Lunch is making you fat." And it was a joke that I said to my team one day 'cause we got on a team call and three people were eating lunch and I'm like, "What the fuck are you doing?" I'm like, "Stop." I'm like, "Lunch's making you fat." It's making you dumb. And me and Alex Hormozi always have this conversation that lunch has no utility. It just slows down your progress. And inevitably the insulin spike, even if it's small, inevitably slows down your ability to think. And so that's just been a running joke with me and Alex, so.
0:48:21.3 Jared Hamilton: That's funny. That's hilarious.
0:48:24.7 Jason Phillips: But yeah, I mean, I just... I found ways. And I think that more importantly, I think that more than finding out how I do it, I would encourage people, if you're trying to function at a high level and do a lot of things, I would just encourage you to do it your way. You know, man. You know Joe Harris, right? KLD?
0:48:43.9 Jared Hamilton: I think...
0:48:44.2 Jason Phillips: Keto Lifestyle Diet.
0:48:45.2 Jared Hamilton: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:48:47.5 Jason Phillips: So Joe works at like 2:00 in the morning and I'm like, "Bro, go to sleep." And he's like, "I can't." He's like, "I work until 3:00 in the morning." He's like, "And then I sleep till 10:00." And I'm like, "Dude, I'm done by 10:00." Like, "I started at 5:00." And he's like, "Yeah, it's just... " But props to him because he's like, "I own it, if I do it." And I think that that's beautiful. And I think that's the real magic 'cause I think so many people see... I remember on Instagram it was a trend, everybody would say "@hormozi time", 'cause Alex wakes up at like 4:00 in the morning. And everybody would tag in and be like, "I'm up at Alex's time and I'm grinding." And I'm like, "Dude, I did that back in the day." I remember when Eric Thomas put out like these success videos of, "You gotta be up at 3:45. You know who's up at 4:00? Donald Trump's up at 4:00. And if you wanna be more successful than Donald Trump you gotta be up before him. You gotta be reading shit. You gotta be doing shit." And so I remember I was all hype and I set my alarm at 3:45 and I woke up and I like walk to the living room and I'm like, "Great. What now?"
0:49:45.7 Jared Hamilton: Yeah, I feel that.
0:49:47.0 Jason Phillips: And I'm like, It's 3:45. I'm awake. Where's all the money? It's not raining cash. And I'm like, I have no idea what the fuck to do. So I just went back to bed. I started realizing it wasn't being up at 3:45, it was having something to do at 3:45. And so don't buy into the hype of there are certain times. Like, Get your shit, man.
0:50:07.0 Jared Hamilton: I love that. Fuck man, this has been so good. I really, really appreciate you coming on. So last question. So what's next for Jason Phillips? What's... I know this is the year of no, but like what's some stuff you're really excited about right now?
0:50:20.2 Jason Phillips: Yeah. Well, I haven't talked about it publicly, but I'll say it on here. I turned down the sale of NCI last year. I had a very significant opportunity on the table. I walked away from it. So it means taking NCI to the next level. I have several ideas. For me today, is trying to organize the order in which I need to pursue them. And I have a very clear target as to where I want our company to get to for a potential exit long term. I've always said from day one, I'm building NCI to sell, and so I certainly will achieve that, I believe. But I have some really cool ideas that I think are very innovative. But I think that for me as a person, it's doing more things I want to do and not distinguishing that from success. I think that in my early professional career, I looked at success as doing the things that needed to be done, and then whenever I did the things that I wanted to do, I looked at those independent from success. And I actually believe that there's... I won't say that they... You need them to mix, 'cause I don't think you need to mix them. But I think that they can definitely happen together. They can co-exist. And so I think it's that, man. It's slowing down. I'm in my new house and I'm trying to love that and I think it's connecting with me and slowing the fuck down and not needing to do everything, but still achieving everything. And that's probably really vague, but that's where my head goes.
0:52:05.3 Jared Hamilton: I love it. I love it, man. Final thing, where can people find you to learn more about you, follow you and all that stuff, and then we'll put it in the show notes. Where is the best spot for people to kind of follow your journey at?
0:52:15.6 Jason Phillips: Yeah. I think best thing is Instagram, and then send me a message. I run my own Instagram. I check all the DMs, and so if you have questions I'm happy obviously to answer them or point you in the right direction or do whatever I can. So it's @NCI_CEO_Jason. So my old one, too many fucking people imitating me. [laughter]
0:52:35.5 Jared Hamilton: It's ridiculous, bro.
0:52:37.0 Jason Phillips: And then reporting me saying I was imitating them, which is a whole nother issue. So, NCI_CEO_Jason, just hit me up. I'm happy to give you discounts on our courses. Happy to steer you in the right direction. Happy to give you business advice, life advice, whatever I can do. You can tell me, fuck you, you suck. That's cool too. I respect everyone's opinions and at the end of the day I want everyone to be successful. I think that's the coolest place of where I've gotten to, man. If you'd have met me 18 months ago, I had a massive chip on my shoulder and I wanted to prove to the world that I was better than everybody. And I think today I just want to prove that there's impact to be had in this world. And if I could be just the smallest piece in it, that's super cool. There's over 8 billion people on this planet now. And to impact 1/8 of that would be amazing, to build a movement that ultimately, I believe far after my generation will happen, to look back at our time and to say, "Man, we were the catalyst of this." I mean, if you think about it, dude, nutrition coaching is like less than 20 years old.
0:53:35.0 Jared Hamilton: It's a baby. [laughter],
0:53:37.2 Jason Phillips: Less than 20 years old.
0:53:37.8 Jared Hamilton: Yeah, man.
0:53:38.4 Jason Phillips: That's like, "Here we are, we're like the pioneers." And I think it's so fucking cool that we get to be such an integral part of this movement. And so I'm just forever thankful for it, man. I think that not enough people really take the time to understand what they truly have. And at the forefront of that is being healthy and having a clear mind and having amazing people around you and amazing opportunities. And this is one of them, man. Obviously, what you do amazing. And I'm fortunate, I'm extremely fortunate to be just the smallest part around it. And I'm so grateful to watch your journey to helping so many people, man. So I always do it when I'm a guest on the podcast, but I just want to extend an appreciation to you for taking time out of your day to put content like this together because this is going to reach people and they are getting value from it every single day. And you are a catalyst to them completely changing their life. So props to you, man, for doing what you're doing.
0:54:35.2 Jared Hamilton: Thanks, man. I appreciate that. And it's crazy, like then it all started back when those Instagram DMs, it's where you and my journey started. So I love it, man. Well, I appreciate you taking time out of your busy ass fucking day [laughter] to do this. And I'll put all that stuff in the show notes. So I appreciate you, man.
0:54:50.7 Jason Phillips: Always, brother, I appreciate you dude.
0:54:53.3 Jared Hamilton: And we are back. Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode of Dieting from the Inside Out. It means a ton to me if you're watching this. It means you made it through the whole thing. I know it's a longer one, but thank you so much for being here. I do not take it lightly that you take this much time out of your day and give me some of your time and attention. It means more than you know. So thank you for that. Now, a few thanks for you, depending on if this is your first time listening or you've been here for a long time, you'll want to check out all the goods I have for you in the description. So number one, definitely go check out our actual podcast website, dietingfromtheinsideout.com, because you're gonna find some cool shit.
0:55:25.9 Jared Hamilton: Number one, you're going to have all the links to all the episodes. You're going have... Get to see all the actual interviews if you like to watch them. We have all the actual interviews there. We have all the show notes, we have all the specials, we have all the goods that you're gonna want to see and have access to. It's all right there on the podcast site. But then also we have the transcription of each episode. So if you don't either have the time or you're in a place you can't listen to a show, or you want to go back and have some notes and things like that, we have all episodes transcripted in like blog style posts on the show. So if you really resonate with an episode you'd like to listen to or to read it more, get some quotes, get some... Just be able to read through it that kind of way, we have that here for you.
0:56:06.9 Jared Hamilton: And I'm so fucking pumped. So people, I've been getting a lot of great, excuse me, I've been getting a lot of great feedback from that. So if you're into that, you'll want to check it that out. And that's at dietingfromtheinsideout.com. Now, depending if this is like your first or first time listening or you've been around for a while, you're gonna want to go to the description for all the other good stuff I have. Number one is, we have a Jason stuff all down there, so if you want to connect with him, reach out to him. I would highly encourage you to do so. But then we also have a few things. If you're listening to this and you aren't quite sure like where to get started with losing weight the right way without like diet, culture BS and you are not sure how to go about actually getting results in a sustainable way where your life doesn't suck, go through my free course, it's called the Fat Loss Check-list. There's a link down there.
0:56:47.4 Jared Hamilton: If you don't have a home base, was what I like to put it as in, if you don't have a place you can go to, to get loved on, to get support, to get your problem solved completely for free, to get your questions answered, and to be part of a community of people where you're not alone anymore. You'll want to go join my Facebook group called Fat Loss Simplified. There's a link down there, I'll make sure you get let in. Because I think everyone needs a spot to go to because community changes lives. I know when you're trying to do this the right way, you can feel alone. Your partner may not get it, your friends may not get it.
0:57:18.9 Jared Hamilton: Some friends may be passive aggressively jabbing at you for trying to change your life. Well, that's not okay. You need to be around people who are like-minded, and from someone who's leading the way. So I lead that group. I put so much content in there and I just want to help you. So if you aren't part of that, be sure and join. It's called Fat Loss Simplified. Link is down there as well. Be sure to follow me on all my other socials. Sorry, I'm just going through the list in my head. Be sure and follow my other socials if you like this kind of content in your regular feed on like Instagram and TikTok. Those links are down there. And then as always, if you need help and if you're like, "I just don't know where to get started and I need a higher level of accountability, I need some one-on-one time, I need some attention from someone just showing me exactly what to do because I don't wanna have to think about it."
0:58:00.8 Jared Hamilton: You can always apply for coaching. And because I have a special place in my heart for my podcast listeners, basically if you applied it for coaching and get accepted, I'm giving away about $4000 worth of free shit, which is pretty dope. But then you'll also go to the top of the list from our application side because you can get right on the calendar from the link that's in the description to apply for coaching. Otherwise, that is it for today's episode. Be sure and subscribe if you haven't already. I love you. We will talk to you next time.
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About Jason:
In Jason's eyes, he hasn’t completely recovered from his eating disorder. He was very much on the extreme end of anorexia—just 48 hours from clinical intervention.
During that time Jason weighed around 118 lbs, he was doing upwards of 60 minutes of cardio a day, weight training every day—anything he thought would get fat off his body. He would wake up in the mornings with a little energy, but by 2 pm every day, he was out.
Today Jason doesn’t have those struggles, but he does still deal with insecurities. He is still prevented from doing things he knows would be more “correct” in his life and he still has body image issues, but he likes to be open about it.
For Jason, overcoming anorexia and truly learning about health and fitness created an opportunity in his life and he wanted to use that as a vehicle to help others.
Jason believes that anorexia was put in his life because he was strong enough to get through it and would be able to help others because of that experience.
Overcoming anorexia and dealing with body image issues has helped Jason connect with clients on a level that not every coach can and creates a level of empathy for clients who have body image issues that can not be replaced.
Jared has also experienced this in his coaching. He was heavy growing up and experienced the same embarrassments—like not wanting to take his shirt off at a pool party or being too uncomfortable to sit down—that many of his clients and followers feel.
Being able to say, “I’ve been there,” creates a connection for him and his clients/followers.
Jason finds that many clients come into coaching with the assumption that staying fit is easy for their coach, when in reality that is typically not the case. He believes it’s important to make people aware that being “fit” isn’t effortless for anybody.
His family doesn’t have great genetics or food relationships and his influences surrounding health and fitness growing up were poor.
How Jason Handles Bad Days:
Jason had to create 2 levels of trust with food. The first was that food is not evil.
People struggling with anorexia believe that all food will make them fat.
An example from Jason’s life is when he saw a dietitian who suggested he have cheese and crackers as a snack. Jason had read bodybuilding articles that talked about carbs and fats and he knew there was a lot of fat in cheese. On his way to work one day after having cheese and crackers, he was pinching the skin on his stomach and berating himself for eating a meal so high in fat.
He had a horrible relationship with food, but, working with a nutritionist, eventually got his calories up to 4,000 a day—without getting fat. This showed him that food wasn’t actually so bad.
After that, he had to learn to be comfortable with less control—the level 2 trust.
Jason was young when he had his eating disorder, so by the time he was 21 and in college, he didn’t want to be “the weird one,” so he did the things his friend did—get some drinks, eat food late at night after being out, etc.
He would always think he was going to “wake up fat,” but over many instances of this, he never woke up fat the next day. This led him to realize that having less control sometimes was okay.
Jason has found that people who struggle with anorexia are often hyper-aware of what certain foods do to their bodies and how they make them feel. An example of this is that Jason knows that 99% of the time he can eat whatever he wants and will wake up in the morning looking completely normal. However, if he goes to the Cheesecake Factory and eats a piece of cheesecake, the next day he is guaranteed to look “watery”—like he put on a couple of pounds. He knows this subsides after 2 to 3 days, but it is something he had to learn over time.
To Jason, he isn’t “better,” but he is more aware. He still has issues, but he has built enough knowledge that he has faith in the long game.
Jason believes he has made some of the most progress in the past year. After overcoming anorexia he had almost moved into “bigorexia.”
He has spent nearly the last 18 years of his life trying to get bigger and have a certain image, but recently has wanted to pursue professional golf—and he had to learn a give and take.
Jason wanted to be more functional for golf, not just very muscular. Initially, he would focus on being more functional, lose a few pounds, and think it was horrible. Over the past year, however, he has reached a point where he is committed to being functional, feeling good, and not caring what anyone else thinks.
Jason believes that many people develop issues with food because of insecurity around the perception of others. It’s not the only reason, but people want to be well-liked and want to like themselves.
How to Change Your Perspective:
Jason believes that, first, you come to realize that other people hardly think about you at all. Then, you realize that you’re going to die one day and, eventually, no one will think about you anymore.
He goes on to use the example of Betty White, who passed away at the end of 2021. At the time, her death was a big deal—but if you asked someone today to name a famous person who died recently, most people would not say Betty White.
While Jason is under no illusion that he has had the impact that Betty White had, he points out that when he passes away, no one will talk about what his abs looked like, the assets he had, or any jealousy they may have surrounding those things. People will talk about the impact he had on this world—which is his mission—because that is something that can endure after death.
Jason lost his dad last year, which put a lot of things into perspective for him.
His dad was selfless and gave a lot. Despite not having sent out any invitations, he had hundreds of people from his community come to his funeral.
His dad was overweight, but he was happy, and while he was not going to intentionally hurt himself, he also wasn’t going to change who he was because he was happy with himself.
Social media, Jason finds, has created a heightened awareness of what other people have and are doing than ever before—but it's a double-edged sword because, while some people are inspired, others are intimidated.
Jared had a similar experience in realizing that people will move on after you die and that you can’t let what others think dictate how you live—or how happy you are.
Jason hasn’t figured out how to let go of those body image perceptions yet, but he has been able to let go of what others think about his speaking and in business—which has contributed greatly to his success.
Jason believes the things that hold you back in one area also drive you forward in other areas of your life.
Anorexia—while terrible and something he would not wish on anyone—was one of the best things that happened to him because it taught him discipline. After overcoming anorexia, he applied that discipline in other areas of his life.
Jared has found that many people spend too much time being stuck, defending themselves, and focusing on the things holding them back instead of actively trying to push forward.
Jason believes it is a conscious choice to focus on those things and he does not make space for it.
Perhaps surprisingly, Jason didn’t realize he was anorexic until after he had overcome it.
He was two days away from his mom and the doctor clinically intervening when he saw a bodybuilder at the gym.
He said that he wanted to look like him and a trainer told him to start eating 4,000 calories a day—so Jason got some books, created his own meal plan, and started eating more.
Later on, he took a class in nutrition and the teacher talked about eating disorders—only when he started to talk about the signs of anorexia did he realize that he was anorexic.
How Jason Balances His Life:
Jason does not live a balanced life. He may be working towards it, but “you don’t get the outcomes without the inputs.” If you want an extraordinary life, you have to put forth extraordinary effort.
He does have areas of his life that he will not compromise, however.
For example, he has his daughter every other week, and during those weeks he will not travel. His time with his daughter is a priority he won’t budge on.
The mission of his company is to change one billion lives through nutrition coaching—and that requires a lot of personal sacrifices.
He refers to 2022 as the “year of ‘yes’”. He said yes to as many things as he possibly could, but in 2023—the year of ‘no’—he is turning down as many things as he can.
His schedule is often ridiculous, but he has ridiculous outcomes. He knows that he cannot have those outcomes without putting in the work.
Jason has had times that have been great, not so great, and where he has experienced burnout—but he is willing to sacrifice things to achieve his greater goals.
When it comes to the aesthetic side and staying in shape, he is hyper-aware of what food does to his body because of the eating disorder he had.
He wakes up and knows what his body needs. He believes coaches need to help their clients develop the skills and tools to adjust to what their body needs on a daily basis—which is something he compliments Jared on doing extremely well in his coaching program.
Jared has been able to observe the level of control Jason has over his choices. When he is out, he still chooses foods that are better; he doesn’t go out late; he makes sure he gets at least 7 hours of sleep.
Jason is very aware of what sleep, recovery, and food do for him, and he encourages others to find the way that they need to do things personally in order to operate at their highest level.
What’s Next For Jason:
Jason is working on taking NCI to the next level. He believes there are still a number of areas in which he can grow and things he can accomplish before he exits it, in the long term.
He is trying to slow down and connect with himself and is working on not needing to do everything, while still achieving everything.
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