How Tonal Saved Nick's Life!

How Tonal Saved Nick’s Life!

Last Updated: August 24, 2023By Crystal OKeefe (#ClipOutCrystal)Tags: Crash Diet, Drug Addiction, Food Industry, Strength Scores, Trauma Break, weight loss

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Don’t forget about the Tonal referral program.
Have you checked out custom workouts yet?
Don’t forget to update your Tonal app! (Or get one if you haven’t.)
New Content! Custom By Tonal – Extreme Accumulation, Sculpted Abs & Glutes, & more!
Does lifting heavy make women bulky?

All this plus our interview with Nick Wake!

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Watch the episode here

Listen to the podcast here

How Tonal Saved Nick’s Life!

Welcome to episode 56.

We are doing this episode and we sound weird. I dropped my son off at college, put him on a plane, and send him to college in twelve hours.

We’re not doing well with it. I feel like the worst parent ever because other parents who are at this very small school mean well. I know that. They are reaching out to me like, “When are you going to be here?” I’m not.

The school sent us a list of all the things that they were doing. They’re keeping those kids going nonstop. There is not a sliver of time for parents in there, which is fine. We thought, “What’s the point of us going?” We were like, “We’ll put him on a plane.” It’s the first time he’s ever flown by himself. We’ll let him have that experience so he’s more prepared to come home in the holidays by himself. We will then go up the following week. We’re going to see him very early but we thought, “Let him get that first week under his belt.”

That way, if he doesn’t have everything he needs, we can get him settled, take him to the store, and do all the other things.

We should also point out where he’s going to school. It’s a fifteen-hour drive from here.

If this was going to be two hours away, we’d hop in the car. We’re not jerks.

That’s easy but there’s no way for us to realistically get there without taking a plane or four days in transit each round trip.

I know it’s parental mom guilt but it is so strong with all the emotions of him leaving. We keep realizing it is the last of this and that.

It’s the last time we put the trash out and walked the dog.

He may never live here again. The whole point of this school is that they go for two years and they’re in the workforce.

It’s like, “This could be it.” If all goes according to plan, he won’t be back. If we sound a little teary, that’s why. On the Tonal. First off, I want to start by saying that we have a survey that we would love for you to take. If you follow the show, first off, thank you. We’d love to get some feedback from you about the show. Answer some questions about the show, your thoughts on the show, what you like, what you don’t like, and where you get that stuff.

We would love to get that information because it will help us potentially make the show better for you. Here’s the best part. It’s not just a favor that you’ll be doing for us. We will sweeten the pot. Tonal has said that anyone who fills out the survey will be entered to win a free month of Tonal membership. It can also save you some money there too.

Speaking of saving money, if you are reading this show and you haven’t bought a Tonal, we can also offer you a discount by putting THECLIPOUT in the discount code when you’re checking out.

There are some things that could help you and us out. We’d greatly appreciate it. Who are we talking to in this episode? What do we have in store for them?

We have an exciting guest, Nick Wake. He has been using his Tonal for a year. He credits Tonal with saving his life.

The amount of progress he’s had in that year is crazy town.

It’s astonishing and inspiring. You guys are going to want to know the story and why he specifically says Tonal saved his life.

What else we will be discussing in this episode?

We’re going to talk about some features and custom workouts. There’s a whole bunch of new content coming and we’re going to talk about that. Also, all of those good things in case you missed those items as well.

Before we get to all that shameless plugs, don’t forget we’re available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, iHeart, and TuneIn. Wherever you find a podcast, you can find us. While you’re there, be sure to follow us so you never miss an episode. Maybe leave us a review. It’s super helpful and greatly appreciated. You can find us on Facebook at Facebook.com/SupersetPodcast. While you’re there, like the page and join the group. Don’t forget that you can watch these episodes on our YouTube channel at YouTube.com/TheClipOut, the name of our other show but this show lives there as well. You can see our conversations if that intrigues you.

I’ll do my best not to shed any tears.

There’s all that. Let’s dig in, shall we?

We shall.

I wanted to take a moment before we dig into all the new features to also remind people that the Tonal referral program is going on, which is a feature of a sort. You can refer friends and family or maybe people who aren’t friends but you still want to help because you’re a good person and you want to get a free month of membership.

They’ll get $125 off their Tonal purchase and you get a month of free membership.

You could do that up to ten times a year. It’s almost a free year if you can get enough people to sign up.

That’s a good deal.

It’s pretty easy to do. You go to the Tonal app, click on settings, go to Refer Tonal, select Referral Program, and then share the link. They get a special link so you get full credit for it. It’s that simple.

They make it easy. Speaking of how easy it is to share things, have you seen the custom workouts and how easy it is to share those?

I have not because I haven’t made any.

I need to send you one of mine that I’ve made. It’s super easy. You do the same thing as you do for your referrals. You go to the Custom tab in your app and click Share in the upper right-hand corner. You take your personalized link and send it through text, email, airdrop, social media app, or however you want to. As soon as they open it up, it’s going to go straight into their library. I also think, Tom, that we should talk about the custom workout feature.

It allows people to not only create but then share it. This is particularly great if you’re like, “I made this new move.” You can make new moves. I know that sounds weird because Tonal has their library. Let’s say you’ve got an incline bench and you decided you wanted to do something with incline benches with the preacher curls. You can put that into the system and then send that to your friends. It’s pretty cool.

That’s great because I know there are a lot of people that have been lifting weights for years and are like, “I don’t need that,” which is silly because they’re great and there are always things you can learn but there are certainly people out there that have experience. They don’t feel like they’re as necessary for them and they want to do their hyper-specific workouts.

That’s the cool thing. Those people that have that expertise can make some custom workouts and share them with all their friends. It’s a great way to show off how much you know. It’s pretty cool.

People like showing off.

I made my own Stacy Sims workouts. That’s what I call them. It’s not like Stacy Sims logged in but it’s based on her concepts.

It’s things that you’ve read that she’s like, “You should do these sorts of things.” You’ve compiled them into one workout that you can go to at a moment’s notice. Tonal also has the custom stuff that they create, Custom By Tonal.

You did one of those, didn’t you?

I did Extreme Accumulation. Do I look extremely accumulated to you?

You do. If I do say so myself.

There was a lot of stuff going on in there. It snuck up on me. At first, reading what they were going to have me do, I was like, “This seems like no big deal.” By the end, I was like, “That was a lot more than I thought.”

Was it extreme?

I guess you could say it accumulated. I was like, “This isn’t going to be that big of a deal.” By the end, I’m like, “Sweet baby snow piece, it’s kicking my ass.”

That’s the idea of it. It’s going to pack in all those reps and that is going to therefore build the muscle. That’s the point. It’s one of those things. It’s very simple but it’s not easy. You do a lot of reps and you will get the results that you want.

They say it’s a more classic muscle-building program.

It’s that five-day bodybuilding split. When you were doing this, was it one body part a day or is it groups of body parts? That’s how I picture it.

I pay so little attention. I just do what it tells me to do and I don’t think about it again. I’m not the best person to ask. I swear to God I did it. You can look it up on the app.

I heard a statistic from Tonal which I found fascinating that members are lifting 25% more on Extreme Accumulation on average compared to the classic high-volume series, Go Big or Go Home. That is saying a lot.

I would believe it because I almost hit 20,000 pounds in a workout for the first time.

You missed it the way that much.

A couple of times, I got real in the 19,000 and that’s the most I’ve ever lifted. I almost crested twenty on multiple workouts so I’m getting there.

You are. You’re so close. There are tons of new programs and workouts.

There are lots of stuff to do on the machine thing.

I’m excited about Sculpted Abs & Glutes. You focus a lot on building muscle and I focus a lot on getting lean or improving performance. I like to go back and forth between improving fitness and getting lean because that works well with my running and that’s my primary goal. I’m excited about this one because it’s advanced but it’s get lean. It’s 4 times for 2 weeks. I like that because it allows you to focus on something for two weeks and then you can switch it up.

The cool part is it’s got compound lifts and high-intensity efforts and they’re together. You spend 2 days a week lifting heavy to sculpt lean muscle but then you spend 2 days torching calories with fast accessory exercises and explosive plyometrics. That’s great. I love it. You’re going to end every session with a double Tabata block, which is no joke.

That sounds awful. I don’t like cardio.

I know you don’t. I don’t like doing it but I like the results of it because that’s the type of thing that you do on your off days away from running. I’m focusing so much on building my base but then it’s great to go in and get these Tabatas because that’s what builds up the speed and you’re getting lean right from those days. Your body gets super efficient at the same pace all the time.

They also have Strength & HIIT Remix.

This is a one session-workout. This is also power and speed but it’s going to be heavy drop sets. These are going to have compound movements as well. You’re going to crank up the cardio at the end of this one and torture your core. You’re going to get some burnout mode. This is with Coach Ackeem so it’s going to be a fun one.

More cardio. Let’s try the next one. One Stop Body shock.

This is more of a you exercise workout. When your time is tight so you’re busy and you can only get a couple of sessions in, this is the workout you want to do. It’s a full-body push workout so it’s got squats, lunges, upper body, core, and accessory work but it’s all hypertrophy. It’s doing all the things. This is with Joe Rodonis.

They also have another 20-in-20 of the Functional Five.

I love these. This is another one I’m excited to try. This is with Coach Tanysha. It’s all about getting good at supercharging your chin up. There are a lot of single-arm exercises. You know how I feel about upper body strength.

Whenever we watch an action movie, there’s always at least one scene where you’re like, “If that person didn’t have upper body strength, they would be dead. You’re going to be dead, Ethan.”

This is exactly right because these single-arm exercises work on the pulling patterns that you need to hoist yourself up. They also have core extension exercises that work on the stability that help you stay stable as you’re trying to pull yourself up. This is the workout you need to do if you’re trying to get a chin up.

Who’s doing this one?

This is Coach Tanysha.

Up next, we have the Quick Fit Express Chest. That’s harder to say than you might think.

Whenever they say chest, you’re thinking it’s all about the pecs but it has shoulders and triceps. You’re going to hit all 3 and do it all in 10 minutes.

That is Quick Fit.

That is Coach Ackeem.

Soothe Your Stiff Neck On The Go.

I am all about mobility and stretches so this is great for somebody who woke up and are having a stiff neck. It’s going to gently release lingering stiffness in your neck. You’re going to work through very small ranges of motion, focus on your breath, and that’s how you’re going to get the mobility back into the area. That is with Coach Tim.

That’s a good one to have on the go because you’re maybe traveling for work and the hotel pillows aren’t so great.

They’re always so puffy. How are you supposed to sleep well on those? I never do.

They like the idea of, “Aren’t these soft and luxurious?” You sink into it and you feel like they’re about to smother you as they wrap up around your head. In the On The Go series, they have Release the Core.

This is great whenever you worked your core so hard that every movement and breath makes it hurt. This is the one you need to do. Look for that. Release the Core is less than fifteen minutes and you’re going to feel a lot better. That’s also Coach Tim.

That’s good if they had you do a lot of pullover crunches.

Also, the bird dogs with rows. It gets me every time. I love them.

I wanted to talk about something that we saw on the Tonal blog, which is a myth that needs to be debunked.

We can’t say this enough.

It’s something you see from women frequently, which is, “I don’t want to strength train because I’m going to get bulky,” as if it were that easy. If it were that easy, I’d already look like Joe Rodonis.

Man or woman, you have to optimize your training and protein intake to get the tiniest bit of muscle. Women forget about it when it’s a hormone, perimenopause, or menopause.

You’re not going to accidentally end up looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger. That’s not a thing.

This is something that Stacy Sims talks about all the time. Estrogen plays a role in women’s bodies but it’s less effective in muscle building because our estrogen levels as women fluctuate throughout the menstrual cycle. Testosterone levels in men are there all the time, steady state. For women, it’s a different thing. There are things that you should know about lifting heavy. While heavy lifting will not make you bulky, it will promote healthy bone density. That is super important as you age and it also increases your metabolism. What’s also very important is perimenopause and on. Who doesn’t want to burn more fat? Who are these people?

I’m sure they’re out there but they’re not us.

Besides burning off the fat, you also are going to increase your lean muscle mass and reduce the amount of visceral fat. That’s the stuff that surrounds your organs and links to heart disease and high cholesterol. We want to get rid of that and get all that out of there.

It also is going to strengthen your tendons and ligament.

It is super important because if you’re a person and you can lift heavy with your bicep but you’re going to sprain your wrist trying to do something, that’s not good. You wouldn’t be strong all over. That’s another thing that Tonal is good at. The flex mode that it does is good at strengthening your tendons. Diet is going to play a big role here as well. If you’re looking to increase your lean muscle gains, not to get necessarily bulky, women, you got to eat enough protein. We’re looking for 20 to 30 grams of protein post-workout. It’s not as hard to do as you might think. By simply eating a piece of Ezekiel bread with some peanut butter on it, you did it.

If you’re that concerned about it too, mix in some cardio and HIIT workouts. That’s going to help offset it. You’re probably doing that anyway because cardio is typically what people enjoy more than strength training. Chances are you’re already doing some of the things you need to do to minimize the likelihood of you looking bulky.

Did you know that the best Tonal program for building that lean muscle is Shaped and Shredded: Maximum Burn with Coach Ash?

That’s good to know. If you want to read the full blog post, it’s over on the Tonal blog. They walk you through all the points, hitting some of the same things we did.

Also, more in-depth.

It has probably links and stuff to people who know for sure what they’re talking about so you can have actual scientific proof that you’re going to be okay. Don’t let it scare you.

Go get it, ladies.

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Joining us is Nick Wake. Nick, how’s it going?

How are you?

We’re good. How are you doing?

I’m doing well.

I am curious how you originally decided Tonal was a good product for you.

I have a busy life. I have five kids. My wife and I also own a restaurant. I don’t get a lot of free time. I happened to come across the ad. I saw the Tonal gym, the whole system, and I was like, “I don’t have a lot of space and time.” This seems to fit the profile for all of that. I pulled the trigger and ordered it. It was a time in my life when I had to make a lot of changes in my health. Not just because I want to but because I have to. The Tonal system seemed to be the right fit right away. I ordered it and it’s been almost one year that I’ve been using the system consistently.

I am curious. You said you had to make a lot of changes. Can you describe what made you feel you needed to make those changes and what changes you ended up making?

I’ve always been in the food industry. I’ve always been around food and always ate food a lot. Being big was not necessarily something unique or something that happened overnight but I had reached almost 290 pounds. In 2019, I slipped and fell. I broke my ankle like a trauma break where they can’t put a cast on it and send you on your way. They had to do surgery. There were several plates and almost a dozen pins put in my ankle and leg. I was in bed for three months. It took a severe toll. Not just on me physically but mentally. I was beaten to death.

I was ready to give up on everything. I didn’t know what was next. Once I got out of that season. I remember when they took the cast and boot off. The doctor said, “I don’t want you to be shocked but you may not be able to move your leg.” In my mind, I’m like, “I can wiggle my toes. I can feel it.” What they explained is, “When we remove this cast, it’s been so long that the muscle memory may be disconnected and you’re probably going to have to learn how to use your foot again.”

They took the cast off and sure enough, it felt like I was moving my toes. Everything was normal but my toes were not moving. It freaked me out. I had to relearn everything about how to move my foot up and down from side to side and in a circle, how to balance on it, and how to stand on it. Already being extremely overweight and mentally beat up, I was at a place where I was like, “What am I going to do?”

You sit back and you have this handful of kids running around. I have young kids and grown kids. I have the whole spectrum. On a Monday morning, for me, I drop kids off at daycare, elementary school, middle school, and high school. I make sure the one in college is doing his thing. Plus my wife and I have been married for many years. We own a business. There are all these things going on and I’m like, “I can’t give up.”

The Tonal system allows you to get one-on-one with a coach without necessarily even being one-on-one with them. Click To Tweet

I remember going to the doctor and sitting in the doctor. This was what forced my hand to change. The doctor said, “Nick, your blood pressure is extremely high. You live in what we would consider a stroke range. Your average blood pressure from the last several visits is 200 over 100. You’re going to die if you don’t do something. We need you to go to the hospital now because we feel like you may be having a mini-stroke.”

I was showing all the symptoms. I was struggling to talk and communicate. This is in the doctor’s office. I was like, “I don’t want to go to the doctor.” I was in such denial. I didn’t want to do anything. They called my wife and they were like, “We’re going to call the ambulance on him if he refuses to go because he has to go. He’s not okay.” I remember going to the hospital that day and sitting there like, “What am I going to do?” It wasn’t about a handful of months later that I ended up purchasing the Tonal system.

I’ve been familiar with weights in the gym but I wasn’t a gym person. I had no knowledge of physical fitness or anything like that. I was like, “I have to do something.” That’s what was extremely attractive about Tonal. You can get the system set up, have no idea what you’re doing, and it will walk you through everything you need to know in every aspect of your physical being to get better. That’s what I did. I plugged it in.

I remember picking my first program. It was Tony Horton’s 20-in-20. I went at it. August 19th, 2023 will be one year. I weighed in at 215 at one point and I felt skinny like small. I was enjoying adding muscles on because that’s what was great about Tonal. It wasn’t just about burning fat and losing weight. I was becoming toned. I started to pack a little bit more muscle. I feel like I’m in this range where I’m critiquing and fine-tuning what I want to look like, which is a cool thing that you can do with the Tonal system.

That’s a lot of progress for just a year.

Depending on the program, I’m in the gym about five days a week. I spend anywhere between 30 minutes to maybe 1.5 hours if it’s a long program or something like that. I’m on extreme accumulation with the program they released.

Same. I’m doing that too.

It’s a fantastic program. I was on day 7 and I did 22,000 pounds or something like that. I’m getting ready to cross the three million mark.

When you say you do it based on a program, how are you picking your program since you’re focused on building muscle? I’m assuming you’re building strength or hypotrophy.

In the beginning, because I was so out of shape, I had to pick something that I could do and manage. I was struggling to tie my shoes. I’m not going to jump in there with Coach Jackson and be like, “Go big or go home,” because you have no idea how fast I’ll go home. As soon as you’re like, “You can go,” I’m out.

In all fairness, that would probably be dangerous.

I couldn’t take supplements or a pre-workout because my blood pressure was already out of control. I couldn’t take anything to get me motivated or give me an advantage. I remember days going to the gym and picking a program. My very first one was Tony Horton’s 20-in-20. It was maybe two sets and a couple of reps. It wasn’t a crazy massive program. It was a beginner’s program.

I remember some days going up there into the gym, sitting on the Tonal bench, and looking at the walls. I was like, “I’m never going to be able to do this. There’s no way.” In my mind, it was one of those things where if I didn’t go up that day, even if I didn’t work out, I’ll probably wouldn’t go up the next day. I would go up there sometimes, sit next to the Tonal system, and stare at the screen. I wouldn’t work out some days but I forced myself to at least go up the steps and get to the Tonal.

For me, in the beginning, it was picking something that I could do and that was manageable for me to do. That’s the beautiful thing again about the Tonal system. You get that one-on-one almost with your coach without necessarily even being one-on-one. Honestly, to be upfront, it was embarrassing the way I felt. No one said anything bad about me. My wife loved me the way I was.

There wasn’t anything wrong but I knew I wasn’t okay. After mentally being beaten up by laying in bed for so long, I didn’t want to talk to anyone or tell them how I felt. I didn’t want to say what muscle group I wanted to work out on. Picking the program, I knew those things like, “I want to lose weight and be able to tie my shoes without passing out.”

Picking the programs in the beginning, it was finding something I was comfortable doing. As it progressed, I started to see results. The pounds are starting to leave but I don’t want to be skinny fat because I was big. I didn’t want to have all this extra skin and body. I was like, “I have to pack some muscle under here so I’m not out of shape while being in shape.”

You don’t want to look like you just deflated.

On top of that, I’m rehabbing my leg. I don’t want a giant upper body and tiny legs. That is the beautiful thing about Tonal. It let me pick and choose what I needed and what I wanted to do, when and how I could do it. That’s how I picked my programs. I was like, “I wanted to lose weight in the beginning so I did that.” I would do several cardio programs, boxing programs, or whatever it was to keep my heart rate up if I was sore from the gym because I was sore for the first several months.

It got to a place where I was like, “I’m comfortable with the weight I am but I still want to start.” It’s not necessarily I want to lose weight because you get to that point where you don’t want to just lose weight but you want to lose body fat percentage. It wasn’t even in my dictionary or vocabulary before but those are things that you begin to look at as you’re progressing through the system. I would have never thought that had it not been for the Tonal program.

The body composition shifting is what you did. That’s amazing.

Did you do any special workouts or make any modifications because of your ankle?

I did. It’s such a smart piece of technology. I would go in and substitute the things I was uncomfortable doing. For instance, lunge and things like that I struggled with. I would change into a body weight versus a weighted lunge or something like that. I would make adjustments based on what I was comfortable doing but it still kept me active. It’s still targeted at that muscle group and allowed me to build where I needed to build.

It is a misconception that going on a diet gets easier. You only become more disciplined and stronger, but saying no to delicious food is still difficult. Click To Tweet

That’s certainly smart. People need to do that. I’m curious, though. Did you ever feel like you were cheating? Sometimes, when I make modifications, I feel like I’m lesser than for having done it. Did you struggle with that at all?

Yes, especially where you feel like you’re a lot stronger. This is what I struggled with. I am very competitive. I see my strength score as 1,144 and it’s leg day. I can’t do on my legs what I can do with my core and upper body. I’m like, “My strength scores are going to take a hit.” You think about those things but at the end of the day, the reason why we’re doing what we’re doing has to be so much bigger than ourselves.

When we are inwardly focused on, “I want to get healthier and do better. I want my strength score higher. I don’t want to look like a chump,” whatever it may be, our why has to be bigger. It was about my children and being here for the next generation. Also, being able to give back to my kids and community in different areas.

I struggled not just with my health but with drug addiction for many years. I’ve been clean for many years. No drugs and alcohol. I was in such a terrible place before. Now, I have an opportunity to do things with my family and kids. If my strength score goes down two points because I couldn’t do my squats right, I’ll be okay.

At the end of the day, it’s an arbitrary number. It’s some sort of metric but that’s not what you’re striving for.

There are times when I do feel like I’m cheating a little bit and stuff but it is a mental game. Next to the Tonal, I took a big marker one day when I was ready to give up. I wrote on my walls, “If you quit, so will your kids.” Every day when I’m working out, I look at that. It’s like one of those things where I want to give up on that last set and skip through it. I’m like, “I’ve come this far. I’m going to keep going.”

It was funny when I first started. I didn’t start working out until I was almost 50. I always hated exercise, sports, and anything of that stuff. It’s very alien to me. I can’t tell you how many times, especially at the beginning, where I would be on that last set and was like, “I’m going to skip the last set when I get there,” but then by the time I get there, I’d be like, “It’s only one more set.” I get myself there by telling myself I wasn’t going to make myself do it but then when I got there, I’d still end up making myself do it.

It’s overcoming the battle mentally.

I’m curious how your life has changed. What things you’ve noticed? You can tie your shoes now but how does it tie into your every day? Do you see how you live your life? Is it very different than before?

The biggest change for me is I have a lot more energy and I’m able to do a lot more for the kids. That has translated not just physically but also mentally and emotionally. There would be times when I would be laying on the couch exhausted before and the kids would want to do something. I would get up because I wanted to do them but I was so out of shape. I would be miserable doing it and then I would have a bad attitude while I was doing it. No one was happy doing it.

The kids would be like, “I’m not going to ask that. I’ll ask Mom because he’s going to get angry about it.” I see myself, even when we went to Baltimore, the Harbor, and the aquarium, I can make those all-day trips and walk around all day. I don’t feel like I’m about to die as I get back to the car, which physically before that was real life for me.

We got back from Disney and that’s a lot of walking. One day, we did 12 miles. I would get home and I’d be tired but certainly, not like I was tired when we had gone back in 2019 before I started working out. It was different from the way I reacted to all that walking. It’s fascinating.

That was something that’s significant to me as I look back at those pictures as I’m getting ready to celebrate one year. I didn’t think I was that out of shape or I was in that battle of a place. I knew I was but you don’t know you can feel this much better.

At the risk of committing a HIPAA violation, how’s the blood pressure?

My blood pressure is in the normal range. The first time, it was 120 something over, 70 or 60-ish, or something like that. I went to the doctor. This is the first time in my adult life that I went to the doctor and my blood pressure was in the normal range. They were like, “This is outstanding and amazing.” I made changes in what I was eating and how I was eating. It isn’t a super complicated process to lose weight if you stick to the basics.

You eat less than you burn, in a sense. I still enjoy the chocolate here and there. It wasn’t like I went on this crazy crash diet or anything because I didn’t want to get to a place where I was going to gain it back after I burned it all off. I’ve worked with food my whole life. I love food. I love to eat and it’s something I enjoy. I didn’t want to hate all that stuff. I had to find the balance between eating what was right, healthy calories, what I could cheat on, how, and when. I learned all those things and I put them into practice.

It probably had to be something of a culture shock to own a restaurant where you’re making food for people all the time but yet, you didn’t know how to eat. It’s that has to be a mind F.

It was hard some days because I grew up in Baltimore. The food that I cook, we do big cheese steaks and big burgers so it’s not like I’m in here selling three different types of salads or ten different grilled chicken wraps. We’re selling foods that if you eat, you’re probably going to want to take a nap afterward. That’s part of the Spanish culture as well. There’s a lot of carbohydrates. There’s a lot of salt, seasoning, and things going on in their food, sauces, and spices.

It was learning how to manage what I was eating, when I was eating, and how I was eating. When you have a big family and you have a busy life, you tend to run all day. The next thing you know, it’s 10:30 at night and you’re smashing a pound of cheeseburger, French fries, and a soda. It was learning how to do the right things and sticking to that. I tell people that it’s a misconception that it gets easier. It doesn’t necessarily get easier.

You become more disciplined and you get stronger. You see the benefits because it’s not easy for me to say, “No, I don’t want that cheese steak or a double cheeseburger.” I still want it. I just got healthier. I’m like, “I don’t want cheeseburgers anymore.” I love cheeseburgers and I’ll eat them every single day if I could. It’s not necessarily that it gets easier but you become more disciplined. You feel better now than you ever have. It’s not worth taking that trip down memory lane for that moment. For me, it’s been a great journey.

As someone who’s made similar changes to how they eat, when you do have that cheeseburger, it tastes a lot better because you know it’s a treat as opposed to eating one every day.

My daughter likes to bake. I can eat fatty foods and it doesn’t necessarily impact me the way that sugar does. I stay away from sugar as much as I can. My daughter made these cookies. They were warm and looked great. I’m like, “I’m going to eat these cookies.” I ate one and I expected it to be a super sugar shock. It was a good recipe and it tasted good. It’s one of those things that you begin to learn to appreciate the cheat meals, cheat moments, or whatever they are. Instead of living off of them, you enjoy them.

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Your story is very inspiring.

It’s because of your attitude.

I appreciate you sharing your whole story. It’s nice to see somebody go through an entire transformation but also, it’s amazing to see your transformation in such a short time. I know a year feels like a long time but it’s a very short time.

That’s why I said when I look back at the photos. I was sending photos to one of my friends. I’m like, “Why did you not tell me? What in the world? You guys let me walk around like this?” They’re like, “We love you that way.” I was like, “I was going to die. I know you love me.” I’ve been in the food industry for almost 26 years or something like that.

I’ve been very good friends with someone who, early in my career, took me under his wing and mentored me. He was one of the people that was like, “Nick, if you do not make some changes, you’re going to die.” It’s crazy to hear that but talking about my story a little bit. I was a drug addict for a very long time. I started doing heavy drugs in my early teen years, 13 or 14. I had moved out on my own at seventeen years old and was already living on my own.

You’re doing these bad things and you’re going to die with what the world or what people have deemed as something bad, say drugs or alcohol. You can watch someone you love eat themselves to death and that’s what the people around me were doing. It’s not that they were malicious or they didn’t love me. It just happens and that was what was happening in my life.

At 290 pounds, my blood pressure and stroke range every day. Someone did have the courage enough to say, “You’re not okay and it’s not okay what you’re doing. You’re going to leave your wife in your children with all this stuff if you don’t make some changes.” He challenged me. This gentleman owns multiple franchisees and has been in the food industry for a long time. He’s a mentor of mine.

He said, “I know you’ll do anything for your kids.” This was in April of 2022. He said, “If you hit these target goals for Christmas, I’ll send you and your family to Disney.” That was the motivation, along with knowing I had to make the decision. He gave me some tangible goals and real motivation. Sure enough, we spent Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Year’s in Disneyland.

It has been such a short time but there’s been so much change that I could talk about it for days because it is exciting. That’s why my attitude is the way it is and why I say Tonal was a part of saving my life. I would have never done it. I wouldn’t have known how. I wouldn’t have had the equipment or the ability to or even the courage to reach out to some stranger, personal trainer, or the finances.

The Tonal equipment itself, you can look at the price and say it’s expensive but when you’re talking about being in bad shape or needing to change for your health, personal trainers can be hundreds of dollars a session. You’re getting that with Tonal every single day at your disposal with anything you want. You can wake up and say, “I want to kickbox today. I’m feeling froggy. I want those hands.” Pick a program, go in there, start kickboxing or whatever it may be. “I want to stretch, do yoga, lift heavy, or lift light.” There are so many options and that has been everything to me.

Also, figure out the monthly cost of Tonal and then figure out the monthly cost of blood pressure medicine. Do you have any advice for people who are just getting a Tonal?

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It’s like anything in life. Whatever you put into it is what you’re going to get out of it. Honestly, I got the Tonal system in December of 2021. I used it as a coat rack until April of 2022, more or less. I used it for about a month and a half after I got it. It hung around but it was one of those things where I was like, “I had to make a change.”

If anyone’s trying to make a decision or any advice, you’re going to get out what you put into it. It will change your life if you allow it to. It is a tool and a process that is tried and proven throughout my life with all of the changes that have happened. I’ve been to a traditional gym maybe three times in 2022. Everything that I’ve done and everything that my body’s been through and changed has been through the Tonal system and changing the way I eat. Those are the only things. It’s not like I went and found another trainer and used Tonal on the side or mixed anything. I use the Tonal system and that’s what brought the changes in my life.

Nick, thank you so much for taking time out of your day to join us. This has been a lot of fun. Before we let you go, let everybody know where they can find you on social media if you would like to be found or if they want to check out your restaurant in the Baltimore area.

You can find me on Facebook, Nick Wake. I’m very active on Facebook and Instagram. My wife and I own a restaurant. We’re on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. I left Baltimore when I graduated. I went to see it and never went back home. I met a friend who lived on the Eastern Shore. I ended up hanging out here for a couple of weeks and then I called my dad. I was like, “I’m going to stay here,” and I have never been home.

My wife and I own a restaurant on the Eastern Shore in a little town called Greensboro. The name of our restaurant is Tenchi Spanish American Kitchen. We have a very active Facebook page as well if you’d like to check that out and look at the food. You can look at all the foods that I don’t always get the eat. We have a food truck as well and any of those things. I’m here to give back my experience and hopefully, encourage somebody else to make those same changes because it’s worth it.

It’s very inspiring. A huge congratulations to you for all of your hard work. It’s paid off and that’s awesome.

Thank you for having me.

Thank you.

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That brings this episode to a close. Where can people find you?

People can find me on Facebook at Facebook.com/CrystalDOKeefe. They can also find me on Instagram, Threads, Twitter, and the Tonal leaderboard, @ClipOutCrystal.

You can find me on Twitter @RogerQBert or Facebook at Facebook.com/TomOKeefe. You can find the show online at Facebook.com/SupersetPodcast. Don’t forget, you can watch these over on our YouTube Channel at YouTube.com/TheClipOut.

One more thing. If you haven’t gotten your Tonal yet and you are looking to get it, don’t forget to put in the discount code THECLIPOUT at checkout.

There’s all that. Thanks for reading. Until next time. Keep lifting.