Podcast Transcription: How a 44-Year-Old Attorney Lost 25 Pounds, Beat Knee Pain, and Felt 10 Years Younger

Ted Ryce: John Custis, thanks so much for joining me today. It's been an absolute pleasure working with you, seeing your progress and really excited to hear how you describe your journey. 

John: I'm excited to, it’s been a blast.  

Ted Ryce: Yeah. And, just to get started, can you briefly introduce yourself? What you feel like people should know about you.  

John: Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate it. You know, I'd probably say my pride and joy is my family. So, I'll start there first, married, with three little guys. 

I'm a local attorney here and I'm on the eastern shore of Virginia, which is located on the Delmarva Peninsula. So live here with them and, entrepreneur at heart... 

I'd say I'm family guy first, entrepreneur second and lawyer third. But, but yeah, it's just, one of those that worked really hard for a long time and lost myself, which is how I found you. 

Ted Ryce: Can you just share the results that you've gotten? How long you've been in the program, the results that you've gotten, and then we'll rewind and talk about how you got there and what the process was.  

John: I'm pretty excited to be talking to you today because my last weigh in, was my personal best in the program with you. Five and a half months in, and I'm down 25 pounds on the dots. Went from 198 to 173, over that period of time.  

Ted Ryce: Just incredible progress. How did you find me? What made you resonate with what I was saying versus the other options out there? Because there's a lot of options.  

John: There's a lot of options, a funny story for me. I was brand new to Twitter. I was just scrolling through and, their algorithm algorithms are fantastic.  

So I read one of your posts that said, are you over 40, an entrepreneur, hardworking, need to lose 25, just I kept checking the box. And I was sitting with my wife, probably with a glass of wine in my hand, I said, Holy shit. I, this is, he's talking to me, she's like rolling her eyes. And she said, why don't you DM him?  

So I literally, that's how it happened in June of this year. I just, I shot you a private message. You responded back quick and we had our call. And, for me, Ted, it was, the clarity of the program, you don't have to kill yourself to do this, it really is a, you need to reflect on who you are, you need to make time schedule it, but it doesn't take, living in the gym. It doesn't take major, major changes. It's tweaks, right? And it's consistency in those tweaks that I have found over the last, five, six months that really are amazing.  

And you build habits. After two to three weeks of being in the program with you, you start to see the, you felt bad after eating some bad meal. I didn't want to do it anymore. And then I got to the point where I really appreciated not having alcohol several nights in a row.  

And then I'd started to go a few weeks in a row I saw benefits with the family. I saw benefits all the way around. So it was your marketing that got me, but it was then the digging deep and, the theory, it just spoke to me and, it is tried and true since I've joined. It's been awesome.  

Ted Ryce: Yeah. Thanks so much. It's always great to hear that.  

So right now, John, you've been through phase one, you're in phase two, you've lost a total of 25 pounds as of the last, weigh in five months into the program. What would you say, what would you say was been the, like the biggest Aha, the biggest lesson, through this whole process,  

John: The biggest Aha for me, Ted has been, it's that realization of, , a commitment to consistency which you guys preach all the time. For me, it was, I just always thought in the back of my mind, that I had to be in the gym and be a gym rat and lift the, the maximum that I could possibly lift, and I had to eat nothing or just vegetables to have results.  

When we had our first call, I was like, man, if I could lose 15 pounds, that'd be awesome. That'd be like, I would, be the greatest thing ever. And I blew through that with, and you called me out. It was like, you're not done, man. You're not, you got a long way to go. And so for me, it was that aha.  

Holy shit, man. I can really do this. I now schedule, right? I've got a crazy schedule like a lot of us in our world and I'm scheduling myself for 30 minutes or an hour every now and then just to reflect or to do my workout or whatever, which in the past, it was always, if I had time now, it's one of the most important things that I do.  

So now I think it's. Again, to get back, the Aha for me was just commitment to consistency. And it is just a realization that I'm getting a tool belt now of things that I don't have to use all the time. I get to use them every now and then, but I can pull them out. And it helps me get through these times to maintain where I am.  

I'm excited to stay where I am and excited to get even more lean as you say, that I never thought I could, I'm excited to continue down the pathway.  

Ted Ryce: I love that. I love that. And yeah, thanks for sharing that but I'm curious though, what made you feel like that was not even possible for you?  

John: Being taught my entire life that I had cards in the stack against me. I've got a family history cardiac issues. My entire family basically has had heart problems.  

I had a calcium score back in, around 2020 , at the age of 40 went and got a professional physical because I had so many people worried about me, which is, was that slap in the face. I'll never forget the scene. I was in the hotel room. I had my family sitting right on the other side of the, laptop. And that picture came up and I guess I went white cause I was just like, holy shit, this is real.  

I'm now, I'm a 10 years now. I might not be here because of what I'm doing. Like I need to do something. .  

At that time you're 225 pounds, you've been told your entire life, you're going to have heart issues because everybody else has had heart issues, you just adopt that mentality, right? And so I cruised through life, working my tail off, trying to become what I became from a professional standpoint and just accepted the fact that I was going to be big and bald and, it was what it was.  

 I was so excited to get myself under 200 pounds. When I had my first call with you, I was at 198. and I remember being like, Oh man, if I got the 180, holy cow, I was like 178 in college, I married my wife five years later, she never seen me this lean.  

So, for me to say, hey, 180, man, get me back to my wedding weight, man, that'll be amazing. And then when you blow through it and you're like, that was, yeah, that was, it was difficult, right? it was, it was a lifestyle change and I had my ups and down days. They weren't all fantastic.  

 I wasn't perfect in your program, but that commitment to consistency got me to 180 in record time in my mind. And then all of a sudden that, you had ton child and you were like, man, we can get you to 10 to 15 percent body fat, which puts me at 165. And I'm like 180. I'm like, there's no way. And here I am at 173 and I'm like, I'm going to continue to do this, man. I can continue to roll.  

And so now I'm like, all right, I can do this on the health side, it's opened my mind as to what else I can achieve in life.  

And it's a really cool spot to be in at my age.  

 Even the kids told me at some point along the last few weeks, it's just they're like, dad, you're looking good, man.  

For me, the really cool thing about it is not only the physical feeling, the compliments that you get, which is why we're not doing it, but it's still nice, right? It's also that mental just acceptance of man, you don't have to accept what everybody's told you your entire life.  

You can make changes. It's not all genetic, right? You gotta get out there and just work at it and be consistent.  

Ted Ryce: Thanks so much for sharing that. It's one of the most powerful testimonials. Do you feel like you needed to be in a certain place to do coaching because it wouldn't have been right for you? How do you view, like, when was the right moment? Why was it the right moment? And would it have been right before?  

John: I think the more important question to ask is, were you at the right spot or was there a trigger point mentally? I was, for me, it was definitely the right time. I was accepting of the fact that something had to change.  

And I think you just hit me at a time, or our interactions came at a time when it was right for me.  

And so I was mentally at a point where I knew my life needed to change for myself. Looking in the mirror. And it wasn't that I wasn't happy with who I was. I'm a pretty spiritual guy. I'm a pretty self-confident guy, but I knew that there was just something that really needed to change.  

 It was like, you know what? I don't have to accept where I am from what everybody's told me throughout my life. I can do this.  

And I think it was when that clicked, I really started searching for the right program and so for your stuff, I got to, I got to see it and dig and realize, no, this is, I can do this. I can commit myself because you guys, you and your team are amazing at providing the support. But at the end of the day, you got to dig deep and it's got to be me that shows up, right? It's got to be me that gets out of bed every day and wants it.  

Yeah, I was mentally ready for it. And that might have been, that might be somebody at the age of 40, it might be somebody at the age of 60, they just got to be ready to mentally accept and to dedicate and to be and again, commitment to consistency is what it's all about. We're all busy. We all don't have time.  

We can all make excuses, but you gotta be ready to personally sacrifice a little bit of work or a little bit of family time and look in the mirror and realize that none of that matters if you're not here. And for me, that's where I was.  

Ted Ryce: Yeah, John, I don't want to keep you too much longer here. It's just an incredible interview. I know you've inspired a lot of people. Would there be anything else that you would say to someone listening right now who's on the fence? They feel like, oh, the program. Yeah, that sounds really interesting. This guy had great results and I've heard a few other people say they've had great results, but I'm not sure. What would you say to that person?  

John: Yeah, I think two things. Number one is, I'll joke a little bit. It's kind of like you get married early and it's like, all right, when are we going to have kids?  

There's never really a right time. You're always going to be able to make excuses. I'd say the same about this. If it's on your mind and you've made the decision that you got to make a change. There's never going to be a right time to do it. You just got to do it. 

I lost six pounds in the first two weeks in phase one, never having dreamed that I'd be able to have results like that. And then it's just been a consistent downhill since then.  

So, for me, I would tell you, you've got to just make the plunge, man, but you got to be ready for it. It's an investment in yourself, and that's the way that I look at it is, would I go and spend some money on some really nice trips or would I go blow some money on a nice boat park for my boat or something like that?  

Absolutely. So why aren't I spending it on the, on the body that I've got? And, I go back to, I think it was Warren Buffett that said, told a bunch of high school students, you get one car in your life when you take care of it. And the, and all of them were like, Oh, absolutely.  

And it's like, all right, you got one body, take care of it. And all of them looked and I always think about that one. And yeah, I would say there's never a perfect time if you're even thinking about it, it's totally worth a call.  

Ted Ryce: John, thanks so much. powerful testimonial today. Powerful story. Thanks so much for sharing this and. man, just blown away and can't wait to see. Can't wait to see what we end up doing with you, what the final product, we'll have to have you come back on and share that journey.  

John: Yeah, I appreciate it, man. And Ted, thank you for everything you and your team do for all of  

Ted Ryce: Oh, thanks so much. My pleasure.