Zach Fagerberg – Mastering the Four Pillars and Achieving Lasting Lifestyle Changes

Hi and welcome to the You World Order Showcase podcast. Today we are speaking with Zach Fagerberg. He helps passion driven people build a solid foundation of health and uplevel their performance. I am so excited to talk to Zach today. He has a really kind of unique perspective on.

The health.

Health coaching.

In general, we'll just put it that.

Way so welcome, Zach.

Thank you, Jill.

Excited to hear.

All about you.

Thank you, Jill. It's so great to be here today. And yeah, I just always am honored when I get the opportunity to, as you said, kind of break some of those stigmas that are so normal out there. When people are looking for guidance in these areas and helping them get a better understanding of how they can set themselves up for success.

We were talking a little bit before you got before we start recording about your ideas about.

I think some people, when they think about health.

Coaches, they think weight loss because that's like you know.

That's top of the.

Mind or are getting their nutrition in order or just like?

What were your thoughts on that because.

So you're right, Jill, it's the most common thing that I see when people reach out to me and are looking for someone to assist is there's usually a fitness level goal or a body weight or body composition goal. And I really do before we jump in.

Coaching try to help them break through to a slightly different reframe and mindset around doing this work with the four pillars that I coach people on so I break Wellness into physical activity, nutrition, rest, and mindset.

And really try to encourage those that I work with as clients to let go of the primary focus being on these data-driven or numbers based results.

From the perspective that there's simply a destination.

And if you're just focused on the destination, I think that really takes away from the reason you're involved in the process.

And where people really get the most out of a lifestyle of health and Wellness is when it's executable over a long period of time.

And so by getting people to shift the mindset into.

The four pillars and enjoying being in process of building progress in those four pillars.

Man, once they get that momentum of enjoying the progressions they're feeling now, we know that the results in terms of the data and number side of things are going to start to come naturally because they're so engrossed and intentional about how they're showing up in their in their Wellness work.

I found recently I have embraced sobriety, which is a little different than.

Quitting drinking.

There's an empowering feeling when you embrace something when it's a choice that you're making and you're choosing to have an activity or to live in a certain style rather than having to deny yourself and so often.

And find when we talk to people about, you know, getting in shape or losing weight or fitness goals or trying to achieve these dated points that you know, we're told that we're supposed to hit it's all about denial rather than.

Empowering. What are your thoughts on that?

You know, I think you're hitting something so important here, Jill. From the perspective that that focus on the results and the numbers from my experience as a professional usually brings with it some very negative connotations.

Right. And almost this this is need to get their mindset from the pressures that are coming externally.

And you alluded to it with the choice of sobriety, what I think is the real crux of the biscuit with Wellness, that allows people to unlock, bringing their best to whatever their they're passionate about.

Is the internal story.

Of efficacy and pride in the lifestyle that they're choosing to live, not just saying I checked a box number wise that's externally pushed on to me. So yes, I.

I think that any time that people can step into the power of doing it for themselves 1st and chasing the internal approval that you get from making those types of lifestyle decisions again, much more supportive of the longevity based success that really changes.

People's lives.

Yeah. Yeah, it's just.

Being able to.

Have the shift in how you're thinking about what you're doing rather than just feeling like you.

Have to do.

Something when you're.

It's just like you.

Have to eat your vegetables and you hate.

Vegetables just like.

It's always going to be awful for you unless you can reframe it in such a way that.

You convince yourself that you really do like vegetables, and eventually you might find that you, too, like vegetables. It doesn't become such a.

Such a denial aspect to it, and I love that you've broken it into four parts because it is really about healing. And I'll go a little bit further it from my perspective.

Carrying extra weight is more of a symptom rather than.

The problem the problem is often you know.

Bad choices and those are driven by poor mindset.

Not good exercise habits.

Very poor rest. So I think your 4.

Pillars are amazing.

Thank you, Joe. I think it's one of those important pieces where some people almost get intimidated and they're like, wait, am I going to be trying to?

Work on all.

Of this at once because that there's a lot going on in those four pillars and it's really much more when I start working with someone.

About triage, right. And I think that's where you said it so well, that healing starts to take place.

If your mindset is the foundational thing, that's not setting every other pillar up for success, that's where we need to.

Start and one of the things I absolutely love to do with clients that I actually provide all my one-on-one clients with is all my one-on-one clients get a individualized motivational track every week from me, right? That's geared towards what they're working on and Wellness and how it ties into the things that they're trying to do.

Well, in life.

Because we all go through those periods where.

Want to be somewhere else, but we sometimes need a little bit of extra support externally to continue to reinforce that we.

Can make that transition.

Right. So the four pillars are definitely important, but no pressure to do it all at once from the perspective of again, I think that's people up for short term burnout.

Yeah, and burnout's really important in terms of sustainability when you're undertaking these sorts of things and it's not.

Not like you can have all the tools and you're suddenly going to get on the path and it's all going to be, you know, sunshine and.

Rainbows. There's the ups and downs that happen.

Absolutely, absolutely.

And I think that's a piece of mindset that I really try to focus on with those that I work with is, let's get this straight from the beginning, right? Just because we just committed to 6 or 12 months of work together doesn't mean that we're all of a sudden just on this upward trajectory. They're we're already in anticipation that there's going to be hard weeks. There's going to be curveballs that.

That life throws our way, that we have to learn how to navigate. And while we're learning how to navigate, maybe that negatively impacts your progress in one of the pillars.

But coming back to the efficacy conversation, I think that's where again people build the real efficacy that creates the life change because it doesn't just happen overnight and you didn't just say lose X amount of pounds in 30 days or 60 days. And now what you really feel confident about the work you've put in because it took so much time.

And because you worked through those challenging down parts of the process.

Yeah, that is so important that.

You know you there's forward momentum, there's.

Plateaus there's backwards things sometimes happen. It's just like it's a journey and being able to enjoy the journey in the process and having a coach along with you that says, hey, that's normal.

Or don't be so hard on yourself. Tomorrow's another day. We'll start again. That that's really helpful for most people and.

So how do?

You actually work with people in your programs.

That's a that's a great question, Jill. So I have, you know, like I just referenced 6 or 12 month coaching programs that I work with. one-on-one clients.

And really the only variable factor is frequency of coaching calls. They can either set up biweekly zoom coaching calls or weekly zoom coaching calls from there, no matter what frequency of calls they choose, everyone gets the same so they get Monday through Friday messaging access with me from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM.

That's one of my favorite tools that I think is so.

Valuable if people are willing to use it. Really like, hey, you start the morning off to a rough start message me. Tell me you're having a rough day, right. And we can work through finding a baby step to take forwards together instead of messaging me at the end of the week and saying man Tuesday was a rough day and it just.

Kind of unraveled into the rest of the week.

Now here I am on Friday, feeling like this week didn't go right. That's definitely one of my favorite aspects of support. The other piece that I mentioned is the weekly motivational and mindset tracks that I send.

Clients, those come in every Monday morning to help them jump start the week and then certainly it's more specific to the nutrition and physical activity pillars, but I create individualized plans for those clients that that's appropriate for if we're working in those areas, I certainly want to give you a game plan that.

You feel confident?

Executing on so that's kind of the full kit and caboodle that people get.

When they sign up for coaching.

So do you, when it comes to nutrition, do.

You work with.

Calories macros. How does that kind of look?

That's a great question, Jill. It's not my first line of defense. In fact, very, very, very far down the line. That's another place that a lot of people will come to me and say, hey, I'm ready to.

Do this. I've done this in the past.

And my first question is, well, if you've done it in the past and we're about to start working together, it doesn't seem like.

It's been very effective.

Really, I try to encourage people and teach people.

That there are.

Basic understandings of nutrition when it comes to macro nutrients that if you can understand these pieces of what those macro nutrients are providing your system.

And then tune into the natural feedback loops that your body already has wired into it to tell you how to make adjustments to the amounts that you're in taking and the times that you're in taking it. That's the real key to me from the perspective that if you have those understandings.

No matter what period of life you're in, no matter what your goals are, you have the keys to the Cadillac in understanding how to continue making adjustments that support you. I feel like nutrition coaches that just say, here's your numbers. Go execute.

OK, so they reach their goal in three months, and then they're off on their own. Well, now what if they have a totally different goal or life thrown a different stressor their way that impacts how their system is operating from day-to-day and they don't have any different numbers than the one you gave them for that specific goal. Now they're kind of left.

Out in right field saying. Now what do I do and how does this work? So I'm much more geared towards giving people the tools so that they can continue to be their own coach as they work through the rest of.

Life after coaching programs.

Yeah, that's really important. I think for people to understand how to make decisions around food.

We have, we.

Don't really get taught that and I think it's unfortunate and I.

I think it actually impacts generations of human beings coming on board because they're not getting the information about how to nourish their bodies in a way that their body wants to be nursed. It's recognizing, I think what you're saying is that you help people recognize the signals.

That your own body is telling you about around food and what it wants in order to nourish itself. I think people often forget that whatever we take into our bodies, that is what.

Is going to.

Our body.

Absolutely, absolutely. And sometimes I'll even use the fun little, you know, metaphor with clients that I'm working with. They're like, hey, what's your, what's your dream car?

Like if you could go get any little fun, speedy thing or fun a fun car to drive around.

What would you get?

And now would you go put 85 unleaded in that thing, or would you put the premium of the premium fuel in it so that it operates as the high caliber machine that it is, right? Not to say that humans are machines we're not, but the fuel.

If we are on some level.

Yes. And the fuel that we put in totally plays into how well.

We're going to take that performance into the other areas of life.

And when you really when that clicks in your brain, you have a different perspective. When you start to eat things. It's like if you start to look at the chemicals that are in there because the chemicals really do impact the chemicals that are in your body and they cause your body to have different chemical reactions.

It's basic science is what it is. We don't think of that. We just think my screen but.

It's really unfortunate that we have a society that's, I think one of the root causes I see is that we're so busy focused that food slash fuel is kind of the after thought of.

Like, well, I'll just grab whatever I need to keep going through the day and, you know, many of the fast, easy options in our society are not supportive of taking in quality fuel.

But it's also difficult because they're so well built from a scientific perspective that they start to really build a habit.

You will relationship very quickly, you know and.

You become addicted.

I think that's about.

Yes, and people really are so tuned out to feeling that because it's just on autopilot. And so once we start to instigate the awareness of it and making adjustments, that's where they gain a little bit more light.

On the picture of like Ohh.

That, like feeling that I felt of struggle of like, why do I have to fight so hard to do stuff all the time? Wasn't just like me. It was actually the food I was putting in and on these days, where I take in other.

Stuff that seems to be removed because it's just easier to do the high energy. It's easier to do the high performance, so that's definitely a key. Yeah, not giving people lists of food and numbers to stick to, but teaching them how to, as you said so well, make the decisions for themselves.

Yeah, and.

And the Food and Drug Administration, they're tightly related and they started out as the Department of Chemistry. When you start to recognize they're in league together.

Yeah, yeah.

Yes, it's important to understand the full picture for sure.

I think that.

That can get tricky these days, and that's again why sometimes it's just really beneficial to have someone who has the experience to know how to decipher all that information and spit it back to you in a little bit more understandable and actionable terms, you know.

I have two other questions. One is, do you help them with recipes and you?

Know food combination ideas.

Because I know some people struggle with that.

It's one of those things where I really have gone through the gambit of helping others and working myself on finding nutritional meals and foods that are both supplying the fuel I'm looking for, but also easy to work with and not super time consuming because those are pieces that start to.

Make it harder to stay consistent with nutrition overtime, so I'm always happy to support throwing ideas around and building recipes, but I do try to stay just on the line of.

Well, here's some food options. What? What do you think you can make with that and continuing to spur the generating of one's own thoughts and building that confidence? Like, wait a second.

I can come up with recipes right? I don't need to depend on others to figure out what works for me.

So let's switch.

Switch gears a little bit and talk about.

Movement exercise.

What does that look?

Like in your world.

That's a great question and I really do intentionally use the term physical activity over things like exercise or working out from the perspective that when I provide an individualized physical activity.

There may be some gym workouts in there or some resistance training sessions, but there's also going to be plans for your active rest days. There's going to be mobility work involved in that active rest in in that has good activity plan. There are so many ways that we can move our body to benefit our system overall.

And I really think that's another place that people just, they have these fitness thoughts or these workout thoughts and they say I have to be at the gym in order to create success here. When in reality there's so many tools and there's so many ways that you could go about it that it's important to find the route that you like.

Because that's going to play a huge route role in the consistency of execution.

If we're pulling teeth to get you to the gym every day, we probably shouldn't put a whole lot of gym days, if any.

In your physical.

Activity plan. There's so many other options. You don't need to put yourself in that box of.

I have to do something I don't.

There's so many options and just in your everyday life as.

You know a person who I live in a town my.

Grocery store is.

Close I have a wagon and I like to drive my wagon to the store. I don't have to get in my car and it's nice. And it it's a little bit outside.

And I know most of the people in the store, so.

It's kind of a fun outing, but just little things like that or.

Even if you do take your car to the store parking way out, so you're going to walk in.

Grab a few cards.

Increases your cardio.

And help.

Absolutely. I mean, they're those are so such great examples of how easy it is Jill to, to take physical activity and break it into bite size pieces.

Right. That's the other thing that you know, a lot of people come to me and like, well, I don't really have a physical activity routine or plan right now and OK, we're not trying.

To go from.

Zero days a week to.

Five or six, you know, again, that's going to set up short term burnout and I know you might want to do that from the feeling that it will make you feel better right now.

To the process of building it. I think that so often many people try to make up for consistency with intensity.

And that's what supports the cycle of burnout taking place when in reality, intensity is kind of an earned variable on the foundation of being consistent over a long period of time.

Yeah, we walk a couple miles every day. I have a new puppy.

I love it.

And I have to take him out for a walk. Otherwise I'm old and he'll drive me crazy.

All day.

Yes, I'm sure he lets you know for sure.

But we didn't start out walking a couple miles with him first. We had to carry him quite a bit of the distance because, you know, he's little.

But as he's gotten bigger, he's been able to walk more and more of the of the distance, and the same goes for people. You know, when you start out just walking around the.

Block for a while.

And then two blocks and then you know you're walking a mile and then you're walking a couple miles.

And then you add in you know.

The Walking around that you, you're going to do in life and those steps will add up and it.

It doesn't feel like you're exercising.

Yes. And that's such a great real world example, Jill. It it's.

It really does to support mindset, staying in a place of self support. I see a lot of people come out of the gate and let's say they haven't really done a whole lot of walking.

And say I'm gonna walk 10 miles this week, right?

And they only end up walking four.

And all of a sudden, they've done more miles this week than they've done in the last month combined, but because they put the frame on it, of 10 being the goal, they're in a negative headspace about it, when in reality you should be cheering yourself on that you did 4 miles this week. Look at you.

No, and if you can take that reframe, then you're going to enjoy that positive feeling you're getting from the reward of self and say, oh, what if I did 5 next week just.

Like you alluded to.

It. Yeah, it's.

Little incremental increases in in your activity that you know?

Even simple things like practicing bending over.

A few times a day.

I have to do that a lot because I have a puppy and he likes to chew on.

Everything and so.

There's little bits of stuff everywhere, but it's just a stretching exercise to bend from the waist and try to keep your legs as straight as possible. And if there's just little things that you can incorporate into your life that are.

They're simple. They're not.

Like I have to go to the gym or.

Man, I should do that yoga workout. I just.

This is not happening. OK.

And you make another great point, Jill. In terms of physical activity, it's important that it's geared towards supporting you in what you actually see day-to-day, right? If you are going to the gym because you think you should be going to the gym, but you're doing stuff that doesn't necessarily translate to what your system sees on a day in, day out basis.

It's really not super functional, and again that starts to not compute quite right in your brain because your brain, after a little while starts to say what?

Doing this at the gym, when we do totally different things with our body, the.

Rest of the.

Day that doesn't seem.

To make sense. So setting yourself up for doing.

Pieces of physical activity.

That support what you're regularly getting into with your body, I think is really, really important.

Yeah, and not everybody doesn't do the same physical activities like I know my husband. He loves to go to the gym. He's a gym, right? He always has been. He likes to go three times a week and he lifts weights and he's really physically fit.

For an old fart.

And he loves it. But I don't. It's just not me. I never have. I just like I used to try, but.

It just didn't feel right and.

But I I'm pretty.

Physically fit, I do a lot of stuff. I work in the yard. I, you know, have the puppy.

Now, but we've been walking for a long time.

You know several years.

That we walk pretty consistently and it's.

Everybody needs to be able to find that thing that works for them and helps them so that they can do it on a sustainable basis. And I think that's where you're the value that you provide. Zach is so important for people to be able to recognize the things that.

Will work for them and they can incorporate into their life long term and it doesn't.

Feel like it's exercise.

Thank you, Joe. Yes, I it's one of those things where I even ran myself into that corner. You know, I was a gym rat for many, many years and to the point that I was so focused on what I was doing with the weights, I said a hike. That's just extra calories.

Burned. Why would I go do that?

And in reality, now the last few years.

That's been such an important and valuable piece of my physical activity routine to get outside and be in nature and so.

Of the sun and for so many years I robbed myself of that. Just from saying the gym was the only route to physical activity and health, you know? So yes. Find finding all the pieces that support you and be.

In your best.

And you live.

In Colorado, so you have some beautiful places to walk.

Yes, it does very much make it easier to.

Get out there for sure.

Yeah. So we've hit on nutrition. We've hit on exercise slash physical activity and the other two and we hit on mindset. So let's talk about rest for a minute.

This is another one that I use the word rest very specifically, many people that.

I, you know, jump.

On a connection call with or get to know when they're seeking coaching. They say you mean sleep? I sleep, I sleep alright.

And hold up. Wait a minute. There's so much more to the pillar of rest and than just your overnight sleep. And certainly it's a very important aspect of the pillar of rest. And if it's one of the pieces that we need to triage, we will.

But I think to me, rest also plays in in.

The routines that you use in the day to set up overnight sleep right, what does your morning look like? What does the last hour or two of your day look like and how are those pieces supporting a strong natural circadian rhythm right? If your circadian rhythm is thrown for a loop on a regular basis, it's going to make it really hard to get quality overnight.

I think also in the Rex pillar, I really think of mental rest.

And part of the way that I see so many people struggle in this pillar is there's never.

Space given right, it's straight from waking up and rushing to get ready to work all day to whatever comes after work, and there's never gaps because our world just promotes the go. Go, go, go.

And so one of my favorite examples that I actually have worked with a lot of people on is the disconnect at the end of a work day.

Right. Encouraging them to find 10 or 15 minutes in a quiet space where they get to finish thinking about the work day. Let all those thoughts run and then say, OK, I'm leaving, leaving it here at the end of those 10 or 15 minutes, so that when you step into whatever's.

Next in the day.

There's not still these overriding thoughts of, well, I forgot that thing or I should have done this today, or I need to do that tomorrow because that's making our brain work so much.

Harder and really does impact our feelings of energy levels and our ability to stay focused. So rest is probably one of the more intricate pillars, but it has so many important facets that again.

So reason it's one of the four for sure. It plays such big roles in setting up the others for success.

And I think of rest.

I think of being present.

Allowing yourself to be present and just to experience.

Existence rather than.

The activity that happens in our heads like because we are so busy and there's always something that we need to be thinking about that practicing being present allows you to rest in the moment.

And it gives you space.

To enjoy whatever you're doing.

You know you can rest while you're preparing food, for example.

If you're just focused on the process that you're going through it, it's a kind of meditation in that, you know, meditation just allows you to focus on being present.

To me.

Yes, I love that you tied it into presence, Jill. I think that that really is so well said because it is, you can't possibly be resting if you're not present because of all the extra work that the brain is doing to compute wherever you're at. That's not right here. And right now, I think another big, big example I love to work with people.

And is just stepping outside with bare feet.

And grounding right. I think that whether it's grass, whether it's sand, whatever you have available to you as hopefully it's not rocks, but connecting right and feeling what's going on underneath your feet is such a great way to experience that presence. I mean, there's many ways to do it. As you said, meditation is.

A great one.

But yes, whatever, and again similar to what we said in the other pillar.

There is so many ways to do that being present activity.

It's about finding.

The one that you resonate with and that you feel really sets you up to succeed at finding presence, not necessarily sit there for a week or two and spin your wheels and say, oh, I just don't seem to be getting this presence feeling that everyone's talking about. Like try the other options.

Right. There are many of them.

Exactly. And that I think that's the beauty of having a coach that can kind of walk you through the experiences and help you identify how this works for you because everyone is different and what works for one person isn't necessarily going to work.

The same way for another person.

You have an offer that you give people in in terms of a newsletter I'd like.

You to talk.

About that a little bit. And don't you have like a way for people to contact you and just?

Have like a one-on-one session that's just focused on getting them started.

Absolutely, Jill. So the newsletter piece is just a freebie that I love to share with people every Monday again setting people up for success in the week, and I really usually take on the cadence of a pillar a week and we go through the rotation every month to support those that tune into the newsletter. And just some little check-ins and action items that you can take in that.

Miller for the week that continue to help you.

Progress and people can definitely sign up for that newsletter for free on my.

Website they'll just.

Go throw their name and e-mail in and they'll also when they subscribe to the newsletter, get a little freebie that I love to give people, which is a little nutrition basics guide. Some of the pieces we talked about with nutrition today. I'll help walk them through some of the entry level stuff with timing and macro nutrient.

Understanding so that they can start to get a better understanding of.

How to make decisions?

For themselves and then also if they're on the website, then they'll also see an option to schedule a free coaching.

With me and this is one of those things that I've actually had other coaches say. What the heck are you doing? A 60 minute free call like that seems a little outrageous.

I'm not the one to withhold information, right? If someone goes to take advantage.

Of that call.

They'll give me a little information in terms of some background on their Wellness and what the four pillars look like right now. And I'm going to come to that call with a game plan just like we were starting work together and I'm going to give you those beginning action steps whether we decide to do something after that call or not. So that you can take those action steps and move forward.

I don't think that Wellness should be reserved for those who say yes, I'm in a position where I want to take on coaching.

Right. If you feel like you can take a few tidbits from our call and go to work.

Awesome. Go for it. I'm cheering you on.

So that's what they'll.

At if they choose to schedule that free 60 minute coaching call and I absolutely love to do those because like I just said, everyone should feel their best and their most well be.

I love that so much, Zach.

It just it resonates so much with me because I feel the same way.

When I talk to coaches.

Out there. It's. I want you to walk away from a call with me. Feeling like. Hey, I can go put that into action. Whether you work with me long term or you don't. It doesn't matter to me what really matters to me is.

Other people's success.

And I just. I love what you're doing.

I really think it helps people.

So what's the one thing?

You want to leave the audience with today.

So I love this question and I'm not sure. Jill, are you familiar with Simon Sinek at all?

The name is familiar.

I don't know.

He does work in like the leadership and business space, but he has a very frequent talk that he gives about playing.

Oh gosh, just infinite games and finite games, right? And he talks about the finite games are kind of what we referenced today with I just do it for the data or to get a number to a certain mark and the infinite games are more the enjoying of the process and the journey.

That's my big encouragement to people.

No matter how much pressure you feel from the way our society speaks about health and Wellness right now, play the infinite games when it comes to your Wellness, and I promise you, you're.

Setting yourself up for success.

Love that because it I.

It just feels like the right.

Way to do it, it's just like.

It's so easy to just get sucked into.

Ohh I've got to.

Do this and this, and then I'm going to get this result the end.

Of four days.

It never happens.

Whereas if you could just embrace the journey and see what you.

Can love about.

The experience your results are going to be infinitely better.

I couldn't have said it better myself, Bill.

So thank you so much for joining me today. Zach, I really appreciate your taking the time.

Absolutely, Jill. It was an honor. And it's such a privilege to get to share great conversation with you in the audience.