Physical Health: Resetting Our Relationship with Our Bodies

What if the thing you keep putting off is the foundation everything else stands on?

In this episode, George and Liz tackle one of the most uncomfortable topics for growth-minded people: physical health. George shares his journey from 311 pounds in the hospital to where he is now, not by focusing on weight loss but by focusing on something far more primal. Liz opens up about going months without health insurance and what that taught her about prioritization. Together, they make the case that your body isn't just along for the ride. It's the vehicle that makes the ride possible.

Who Am I to Talk About This?

George starts the episode with radical honesty about his own internal battle.

"As I sat down to prep for this episode, I really was hit with who the heck am I to talk about this? I'm gonna get on the mic. I weigh 274 pounds. That is not the gleaming example of 1% body fat, running 5k marathons, you know, whatever the nutritional value of whatever."

He had to fight through fear, limiting beliefs, and the crazy narratives in his own brain just to show up for this conversation.

"I immediately go, I love advice, maybe, sometimes. Like, the value is in some of the advice that you can give, but people need to take the advice that actually fits for them. And heck, many times I'm giving advice to the listeners, but honestly, sometimes I'm giving advice to myself all at once."

The Great Equalizer

George calls physical health the great equalizer in the superhuman framework. But what does that actually mean?

"Physical and mental health are the foundation upon which all other elements of the superhuman framework stand. Because as humans, without a solid base of health, it becomes challenging to sustain energy, challenging to have the resilience that we're gonna need, the consistency that we're gonna need."

He breaks down how health impacts every other element of the framework:

Happiness. A healthy body and mind naturally foster a positive mindset and the ability to appreciate life's moments, both big and small. Without health, you're shrouded. Your eyes have physical and mental cataracts.

Hunger or Healthy Hustle. Good health provides the stamina and energy needed for continuous learning and reaching your full potential.

Helpfulness. When you're healthy, you have the physical and mental capacity to go the extra mile for other humans.

Humility. Health enables clear thinking and emotional balance, which allows you to interact with humility and grace.

Humor. A healthy lifestyle reduces stress and enhances your mood, making it easier to see the humor in life and connect through laughter.

Honesty. Mental clarity, which is a byproduct of good physical health, supports clear communication and the ability to uphold integrity in relationships.

Humanity. Good health allows you to connect deeply with others, showing both strengths and weaknesses without the burden of physical or mental strain.

Holiness. Physical and mental health both support your spiritual journey by providing the energy and focus needed to pursue deeper connection with your beliefs.

"Without prioritizing physical and mental health, it's like trying to build a house on an unstable foundation. There might be a book that talks about building your foundation on sand."

This Time Is Different

George has been down the health journey before. This isn't his first hospital stay. But something shifted.

"Unfortunately, this isn't my first health scare. But here's the thing. That time, I went on this journey, and it was like right around the time of COVID, and everybody was like, ah, we're gaining weight. And I managed to lose 79 pounds in 7 months with a focus on weight loss. I was focused on weight loss. But this time, my goal shifted to something more vital."

The shift: He's not focused on weight loss anymore. He's focused on living without pain.

"It's not about proving to myself or to others that I can lose weight. Right now, it's about waking up in the morning and walking around through the day and not being in pain."

George has rheumatoid arthritis. He's dealt with inflammation in his colon, around his heart and lungs. His body was attacking itself.

"Literally just being able to walk around through the day, wake up without being in pain or as much pain."

The Changes

To achieve that goal, George made significant changes to his diet. He stopped eating breads, pastas, sugars, processed meats, and other unhealthy foods and beverages.

"Instead, I'm focusing on more greens, beans, fermented foods, and paying attention to gut health, which is something that I never nerded out on before. But now it's like my YouTube shorts, the amount of doctors that are talking to me about gut health now, I'm like, oh crap. I ruined my feed, but at least let me listen to this information."

He also ramped up his physical activity. He's been walking anywhere from 10,000 to 33,000 steps a day on his treadmill.

The results: He went from 311 pounds in the hospital to 274 pounds. But more importantly, the pain has diminished significantly.

"I used to hurt when it rained. Like, I could tell my wife about 10 to 15 minutes before it was gonna rain, and she'd literally be like, there's no rain on the weather channel today. I'm like, it's gonna rain in about 10 or 15 minutes. And sure as all get out, there'd be rain because I could feel it in my body, in the inflammation in the joints."

Since making these changes, the weather has dramatically decreased in the amount it impacts his body.

"We had 2 rainy days in the last week, and I was amazed at how it wasn't impacting me, how much less I hurt based on the weather."

Dietary Changes, Not a Diet

George is careful about language here.

"I want everybody to realize, because I did use the word diet earlier, that it's dietary changes. It's not that I'm on a diet, because diets never worked for me. It's just a change of life based on wanting to not have pain."

He even shared a story about treating himself to orange soda for the first time since his hospital stay.

"I poured a glass and I drank it. And you know what? It didn't impact me. It tasted good. Here's the funny thing. I drank half of it and poured half of it out because half was enough. I was like, no. I'm done. I got my fix, and now let's just move on."

The Non-Physical Consequences

Liz asks what happens when you don't prioritize your physical health beyond the physical stuff.

George identifies five areas that suffer:

Mental Health. Lack of exercise and poor diet can lead to increased levels of stress, anxiety, and even depression. Our bodies release endorphins during physical activity. Without those endorphins kicking in, moods plummet and stress takes over.

Jim Rohn said: "Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live."

George's confession: "For so many years, I drove my body like it was a rental car. Like, if you've ever watched that movie with Tom Cruise, Days of Thunder, and they're racing in rent-a-cars, that's how I was treating my body for so many years."

Cognitive Function. When we don't move our bodies or feed them proper nutrients, our brains suffer. Physical activity boosts blood flow and oxygen to the brain.

"Without regular exercise, you might find it hard to concentrate, make decisions, or even remember things. The older I get, the more it has been difficult to remember things. Sometimes I even went up, why did I walk in this room? But I find that the more I exercise, the more I hit that treadmill, the less I've actually had those moments over the last 3 or so months."

John F. Kennedy said: "Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity."

Emotional Stability. When we neglect our physical health, we easily fall into a cycle of negative thinking and poor self-esteem.

"Feeling good about yourself is harder when you don't care for your body. This isn't about vanity. It's about self-respect. It's about gratitude for the vessel that we've been given."

Spiritual Health. Taking care of our bodies is an act of stewardship.

"When we neglect our physical health, we're not just harming ourselves. We're failing to honor the life and the body that we've been entrusted with."

Social Connections. Poor physical health can limit your ability to engage in social activities vital for mental and emotional health. Whether playing with your kids, hiking with friends, or simply enjoying a walk in the park.

"We're social beings. We need to be out amongst and interacting with humans. With good health, we can experience these enriching experiences that we're supposed to have."

Why Growth-Minded People Struggle

Liz poses the question directly: Why do growth-oriented people, the ones focused on optimizing and peak performance in every other way, act like squirrely little buttheads when it comes to their physical health?

George identifies several reasons:

Time, or our perception of time. We're all juggling responsibilities. Carving out time for exercise or preparing healthy meals can seem impossible. We think, I'll get to that later. But later never comes.

"This is really less of a time issue and more, if we're being honest with ourselves, more of a priority issue. Because we make time for what is important in our lives."

Habits. Many of us are stuck in routines that don't include healthy behaviors. Breaking old habits and creating new ones requires effort. And sometimes we're too tired or overwhelmed to make the change.

"Guess why we're too tired or overwhelmed to make the change? Because we're not getting the benefits of the actual energy that comes from fitting in the physical exercise."

Romans 12:2 says: "Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."

George's translation: "Quit conforming to your crappy patterns of your day and reboot or reset or form your mind into the way that it needs to be."

Perceived effort. The thought of starting a new exercise routine or changing our diet can be daunting. We picture long hours at the gym, bland tasteless meals, and that perception alone can be enough to deter us from even starting.

Benjamin Franklin said: "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Mental and emotional barriers. Stress, anxiety, depression can make it incredibly challenging to prioritize physical health. When we're feeling low, the motivation to exercise or eat well becomes elusive.

Lack of immediate consequences. Unlike other choices, poor health choices often don't show their impact until much later. This delay can lull us into a false sense of security.

"If someone was standing in front of me and said, every time I shove a donut in my mouth, high blood pressure, rheumatoid arthritis, I would have made some different decisions along the way. But I couldn't see 3 and a half days in the hospital with high blood pressure. I couldn't see 3 and a half days in the hospital with inflammation. Couldn't see it. Nobody was standing there smacking me in the face with a 2 by 4."

The Curse of Non-Closed Loops

George introduces a concept that resonates with growth-minded people.

"I call it the curse of non-closed loops. And if I leave a bunch of loops open, oh, I should pay that bill, oh, I should go to that appointment, oh, I should do this thing, but I don't close the loop, then all of a sudden I have these 12 or 24 loops, and because they're not closed, they're sitting there spinning, unclosed in my brain, and it just becomes this curse of overload."

Health becomes one of those open loops. You know you should go to the doctor. You know you should change your diet. You know you should move more. But you don't close those loops, and they spin in the background, draining mental energy.

How George Stays Motivated

Liz asks how George keeps this from slipping, especially when his life hasn't gotten any less busy or stressful.

His answer starts with why.

"I feel called to do the things that I'm doing. I feel called to be on stage as a speaker and an emcee and to impact individuals' lives in person. I feel called to create an agency culture that isn't a toxic waste dump. I feel called to create Beyond Your Default because, a little behind the scenes and I've never said this out loud, Beyond Your Default, the podcast, the book, the community, it's my ability to create the church that you'll never walk into or the therapy couch you'll never lay on."

Then he gets to the heart of it.

"The only way that I can fulfill these callings is to stay on this freaking planet. And the only way that I'm gonna stay on this planet long enough to achieve what I feel I'm called to do is by making sure I get this engine from a 3 cylinder to an 8 cylinder, that I'm checking the oil, that I'm getting the tires rotated."

Practical Strategies

For listeners who haven't been in the hospital twice, George offers more universal advice:

Connect with your why. Whether it's to be more energetic for your kids, to live a longer life, or to feel better in your own skin, keep your why front and center.

Schedule your workouts like any other important meeting. Block out time in your calendar and treat it as non-negotiable. Consistency is the key.

Start with small, manageable changes. A 10-minute walk during your lunch break. A healthy snack instead of something sugary. Small steps build momentum.

Integrate physical activity into your daily routine. Park away from the entrance. Take the stairs. Stretch during breaks. These small activities add up.

Gamify your health journey. Use fitness apps that track your progress. Set challenges. Earn rewards. Compete with friends or join online communities.

George admits: "I just like looking at my health app and seeing if I can beat the steps from the day before. That for me is a way that I'm gamifying it."

Find activities you love. Whether it's dancing, hiking, swimming, or playing a sport, make physical movement something you look forward to rather than a chore.

Tap into your resilient stubbornness. Find that switch in your brain that lets you push through mental barriers. This inner strength can help you stay committed.

"I have said I'm hard-headed, I'm stubborn, and I will use this resilient stubbornness to keep the toxic thoughts in my brain away."

Liz's Perspective

Liz shares her own journey. She's down about 65 pounds from where she was a year ago.

"The big change was for me, I stopped thinking about numbers. Our bodies don't listen and they don't function the way we think they do. I do a lot of strength training and lifting. So I'm losing a lot of weight, but I'm putting on muscle mass. And muscle mass weighs more than fat even though I look leaner, even though I'm healthier."

Her approach: "I said, well, I'm focused more on building a new lifestyle. And I'm gonna live that lifestyle, and my body is going to catch up."

Her breakthrough came from simplicity.

"I don't care what you do for 35 minutes, cupcake. You just, you could stare and doodle on a counter at the gym for 35 minutes. But you're gonna go to the gym for 35 minutes, or you're gonna do something."

The mindset shift: "Girl, your lifestyle has to change. Like, you just need to become someone who moves, where activity is part of your daily whatever."

Quotable Moments

"Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live." — Jim Rohn

"Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity." — John F. Kennedy

"For so many years, I drove my body like it was a rental car."

"Feeling good about yourself is harder when you don't care for your body. This isn't about vanity. It's about self-respect."

"It's not about proving to myself or to others that I can lose weight. Right now, it's about waking up in the morning and walking around through the day and not being in pain."

"The only way that I can fulfill these callings is to stay on this freaking planet."

"This is really less of a time issue and more, if we're being honest with ourselves, more of a priority issue."

"Small, consistent changes over time lead to big results over time."

Your One Thing

George's takeaway: When he shifted his mindset from losing weight to reducing pain and enhancing quality of life, everything started to fall into place. It's not about shedding pounds. It's about creating a lifestyle that supports overall well-being. If this podcast can be your wake-up call, just know it's never too late to reset your relationship with your health. Figure out what your big why is and make small, consistent changes.

Liz's takeaway: If you're not minding the shop when it comes to your own health, you're not gonna be able to do anything. Your body has a funny way of reminding you who's in charge. Stop thinking about numbers. Focus on building a lifestyle. Your body will catch up.

Reflection Questions

1. Are you grateful for the life you're living and the person you're able to become? If that question stings, sit with why.
2. What are the non-closed loops around your health that are spinning in the background of your brain, draining your mental energy?
3. If you're being honest, is your struggle with physical health really about time, or is it about priority?
4. What's your why for wanting to be a healthier you? Is it strong enough to push through the moments of resistance?
5. What would change in your life if you approached physical health as an act of self-respect and gratitude rather than a punishment or obligation?

Ready to go deeper? Press play above and hear George share what happened during his hospital stay and why this time feels different. If you've been putting your physical health in the trunk of your life, this episode might be the wake-up call you didn't know you needed.