Jack Mize interviews Kim and Tosh, founders of The Dumbbell Divas, an online company focused on empowering women through fitness and nutrition.
Teaching women how to love their body and themselves, even as they seek to improve their health with weight loss, toning and better nutrition allows their clients to look like a diva and eat like a dude.
Jack:And we are back with Influencers Radio. And today, I’ve actually been looking forward to today because I get to have double the fun and double the information because today we have the Dumbbell Divas. That’s tough for me to say.
The Dumbbell Divas. I like that. I feel like, oh, did I say that? No, that’s it. Dumbbell Divas. I love that.
Kim and Tosh, you know, these folks, they own an online fitness and nutrition company that goes far beyond that – online fitness and nutrition.
They go into really changing the way women think about themselves, think about their health, think about the way that they look. And they help women improve all of that, but not in the way that you may think, that you typically think when you hear about fitness and nutrition and health and working out.
So, Dumbbell Divas, Kim and Tosh, welcome to Influencers Radio. I am looking forward to this.
Divas:Hi, Jack. Thank you so much for having us.
Divas:Hey, there.
Jack:Well, man, you’re already sounding happy. I like that.
Divas:That’s right. We are.
Divas:We are happy.
Jack:All right. So let’s talk about this. So, online fitness and nutrition. It seems like we’re just bombarded daily, you know? I was forced to sit through four hours of infomercial after infomercial on all these different types of weight loss systems. Whether it’s the P90 or the Insanity or the crazy or the Richard Simmons sweating. Can you imagine that?
Divas:(laughter)
Jack:Four straight hours of having to watch this stuff. It was torture. And it was mainly because the remote was on the other side of the living room. I finally.
Divas:(laughter)
Jack:There are so many answers and everybody has the way.
Divas:Right.
Jack:And I’ve always thought if anybody says that their way is the way, then it’s probably time to walk the other way.
Divas:No, our way is the way. No, I’m just kidding. (laughter)
Jack:It might just be. But I understand that that’s kind of where the diet and nutrition industry is. Everybody has the way. and you have to because, let’s face it, we all know deep inside it’s, nobody’s going to buy the book, Hey, Fatty, Do A Situp, right?
Divas:(laughter) Right.
Divas:I don’t know. I might.
Jack:But it really does come down to, because weight loss and nutrition and health are things that we kind of know instinctively what’s right and wrong. But we continue to do that. And that’s what I really want to get into with you, because it’s beyond the exercise. It’s beyond the mechanics.
You get right into the head of your clients. Right into the heads of these women that are looking for something, that want to improve the way they look. Want to improve their health. And you start where I guess the biggest obstacle is, right? And that’s in their head.
That’s what I want to hear about first is how you hit that angle, that problem, to solve that, as you go into the actual mechanics of the exercise and the nutrition.
Divas:Yeah, well definitely. I mean, for women, who is our target audience, it’s really an emotional thing for women. Our weight, our food choices, how we look that day, really affects how we feel about ourselves throughout the day. And so we really try to talk to our clients on a more emotional level to say, how can we help you continue or not continue to focus on all the things that you don’t love about yourself, but let’s start focusing on the things that you do.
And then we can also help you work on the areas that you’re not loving. But it’s definitely really a mindset, more than anything. It’s mind over matter, for sure, with our clients.
Jack:It is. Now, I’ve been married for seventeen years.
Divas:Wow! Congratulations.
Jack:Well, absolutely. And what you just said that women what? They get concerned. Did you get concerned or consumed with the?
Divas:A little bit of both.
Jack:With the way they look and the way, really, I hadn’t heard. No, I know. Exactly. And you know, that’s the one thing that I think, and believe me, people may not realize it, but I’m not the slave to nutrition that I should be. Well, you know, it’s. People look at me and I say, well, I’m one of the lucky ones. I eat whatever I want, I stay like this, right?
Divas:(laughter) You’re one of the lucky people, Jack.
Jack:Yeah. Call it genetics, I don’t know.
Divas:(laughter)
Jack:But what, what I really think about is I see women that, you know, in my mind are strikingly beautiful, but they may be carrying ten pounds. And I think a lot of times, if they can get to that point where they realize that where they are isn’t the worst that they can be. That they’re in a pretty good place and they can, actually, get that better.
I think that’s a great way that you help these women getting their mind around that. That there’s not necessarily anything wrong right now, but there’s always a way that we can improve and get better. And make, I think the way you target it is the best you that you can be, not necessarily the best, you know, look like this magazine picture or look like what people or the press or media makes you think that the perfect woman looks like, right?
And how many women come to you with that what they think that they’re trying to achieve this thing that really isn’t realistic, but it’s what they’ve seen on TV or the media or reality shows. And they think that’s the ideal image that they need to target. How do you address that?
Divas:Well, we, one of my favorite, there’s like a little funnygram that says I wish I was as fat as I was ten pounds ago. You know? It’s always about, you always want to be where you were or where you think you could be or where the next lady is or where someone from a reality show that just lost a hundred pounds. Well, if I only could get there, then I’d be happy.
But it really starts from a much deeper and deeper place with our clients.
Divas:Also, you’ll find that some of our clients come to us and they’ll say my ultimate goal is to lose ten pounds and then it’ll make me so happy. And so we’ll get them to their ten pound weight loss, but was it truly about losing that ten pounds, what makes them happy?
I would say no. It’s them realizing like wow, I can do this and I can believe in myself and look at what I’ve accomplished. It’s that that makes them happy and getting to like that inner peace with yourself.
Jack:You know, that is, that’s so powerful. And we see this as evidenced by the wildly popular shows, like The Biggest Loser. And I’ve got to admit, I’ll sit and watch The Biggest Loser and it’s almost double damaging to me, because of the stuff that I will eat while I’m watching The Biggest Loser.
Divas:While you’re watching it, yes. Oh, my gosh! Yes. I think that’s a very common thing.
Divas:I do, too.
Jack:Is it? Because you know what happens when they put those challenges where they have to go into the big room with all the pies and shakes? It’s like, oh, like, man, I’m getting hungry.
Divas:You want a piece of pie.
Jack:But I’ll tell you, something that came up on the season where the lady, and I don’t know her name, but she lost just like, it seemed like a dangerous level of weight. And I know there was a lot of debate over whether there was a dangerous level or not.
But I think it really brought to the spot, put a spotlight on the fact that maybe people’s image or their self image may be a little bit different than what others are saying. What would you say to a woman that says I want to have those results that I saw this lady on The Biggest Loser have?
Divas:Right. Well, first and foremost, we feel like The Biggest Loser, and any of those shows, they truly do inspire a lot of people. And I think the intention of those shows is amazing. It really does dissect the psychology of why they are making the choices that they’re making.
But what people have to realize is that this is done in a very short timeframe for a competition. And although there has been a lot of success and a lot of sustainability, there have also been a lot of people not sustaining that type of weight loss, because they’re doing it for the wrong reasons. They’re doing it to win the top prize or they don’t want to get kicked off the show or whatever it is.
And it really falls in line with even our clients. I want to get ready for a wedding. Or I want to get ready for this. If you’re setting a time-constrained goal for yourself, it’s very likely that you’re not going to keep those results, because it’s not for the right reasons. It’s not for a lifestyle change. You’re doing it for a specific goal in mind.
Divas:I think a lot of people don’t understand either that on The Biggest Loser, it is such a short period of time, that those people are working out like hours a day. Six to eight hours a day. And they’re eating very low calories to try and get the weight off as quickly as possible to win the ultimate prize.
Well, in the real world, who has six to eight hours in a day to train like that. I mean, yeah, these people are getting awesome results, but Tosh and I have always had this approach that you don’t need to go to extremes to reach your goals. Slow and steady always wins the race. And when you do it slow and steady and when you do it the right way, you’re going to find that it’s much more easy to keep it off.
Divas:Exactly.
Jack:And you know, you’re absolutely right. The fact, and we live in a microwave society, right?
Divas:Right.
Jack:People want it now. And just like you said, the people that want to lose weight for the upcoming event, the wedding, the reunion, all of that stuff, that’s clearly, it’s almost like they’re setting themselves up. And after that’s over, then I can go back to the trough and not worry about it.
And so The Biggest Loser. I remember the first time I saw The Biggest Loser. I came in like mid-season. I didn’t even know what it was or was paying attention. And it took me a while to realize that these people were there voluntarily. I thought they had like captured these people.
Divas:(laughter)
Jack:And were making them do this stuff. Because that does look like a lot of, it looks like torture, some of the stuff that they’re doing, right?
Divas:Right.
Jack:But that’s the same thing when I hear people that say, you know, I want to lose this many pounds a week. And it’s like, gosh, it just really seems like you’re setting yourself up, cause so many people do.
Divas:Right.
Jack:They do end up gaining that weight back because it’s not sustaining. I think about, and believe me, I’ve gone through my share of diets. I’ve tried all kind of crazy things, because you see the next great thing.
I remember, way back from, what was it? The Slimfast shakes that they, I guess they still have them, right?
Divas:Yeah, they do.
Jack:And those, I liked them. They were really good. Especially if you put a little ice cream in them, they’re pretty good.
Divas:(laughter)
Jack:But what was their saying? A shake for breakfast, a shake for lunch and then a sensible dinner or something like that?
Divas:Yeah.
Jack:You know, after not having anything to eat, except for two glasses of chocolate gunk, to me a bucket of fried chicken made a lot of sense at night. And it didn’t work.
But when I see these things on TV like, you know, I don’t want to name any names, but you know what we’re talking about. The packaged meals of do you want to lose weight fast and not even have to exercise? You know what I’m talking about. I won’t, I’ll say their initials, Jenny Craig.
Divas:(laughter)
Jack:Oops. Did I say that? But when you see that, if you even see their spokespeople that lose the weight and then all of a sudden, six months later, they seem to have crept back up, right?
Divas:Right.
Jack:And so what do you think about those kind of things, where people follow this packaged, just eat this and just eat this, and then you won’t even have to exercise and the weight will just melt off.
Divas:Well, the weight’s obviously melting off, because have you seen those portions? It’s like, oh, my gosh. It’s like half the size of my smallest meal in the day.
Divas:Yeah.
Divas:I mean, let’s preface this. We are not trying to get into a debate with a large company like Jenny Craig. There obviously are some benefits for people from it, but it definitely is contradictory to what we are trying to teach our clients. Which is this is not a diet. And this is not something that you’re going to want to shoot yourself at the end of the day because you’re full of sodium or processed foods or whatever it is.
We’re teaching our clients to incorporate foods that they actually enjoy, that are good for them and that are healthy, but also, a pizza here and there. And hamburger here and there. An ice cream here and there.
But learning how to balance it throughout the day and have a life and make this a lifestyle. And I think that term is extremely overused to the point now, where it’s like, oh, yeah, sure, it’s a lifestyle. But really, that’s the only way you’re going to achieve long-term, sustainable goals. And you’re not going to do Jenny Craig forever. You’re not going to do the Nutrisystem. You’re not going to do those forever. Most people won’t.
So then it does become a fad kind of diet. Something that was a short term thing to get you where you wanted to go. And we want to teach you and educate you on how to do this yourself forever, for the term of your life and adjust it how you need to as each day arises.
Jack:Now, you said something there that really won me over. You said that the portions were small in those things.
Divas:Right. Yeah.
Divas:Well, here’s the thing. I think one of the biggest misconceptions, especially among women, is that in order to lose weight, you really have to eat like a bird. So many clients come to us and we’ll send them a guide to what to eat during the day. A lot of them eat six times a day and they’ll , they have so much worry that, oh, my gosh, am I going to gain weight from eating so much.
And that is definitely the biggest misconception. It’s huge. People think you have to do hours of cardio and eat next to nothing to lose weight, when it’s really the exact opposite.
Jack:So you said the exact opposite. So let’s think about this. If I was just to say, if someone said, look, what do you think? What’s the conventional wisdom on losing weight, I would say, well, low fat. Eat your vegetables and fruits. And go, because I go to a gym. I do belong to a gym. And I go there and I see the people that are just killing themselves for like two hours on these stair climbers and the treadmills and the things like that.
And I tried one once and man, it just killed me. And I requested they put in the Escalator Master because I think I could do that for an hour. But they think that that’s what it is, that you have to just kill yourself for like an hour. You want to talk about interrupting your lifestyle.
Well, you have to get on a treadmill or these Stairmaster things for an hour in order to lose, what do they say? I’ve heard people, oh, no, I’m on here for an hour and I lose, I’ll burn whatever, eight-hundred calories.
Oftentimes, I think, well, wait a minute. That’s eight-hundred calories. How many calories would you burn if you just sat on the couch? Let’s do the delta there before we start talking about what works.
So you’re saying that spending a lot of time, which I think is a big obstacle and what keeps people from taking on a challenge, is they think all this time I have to spend doing this cardio. And you’re saying that that’s not necessary in order to achieve these types of goals?
Divas:Well, we definitely are not promoting doing hours of cardio on a treadmill or any machines. I mean, our whole thing is get your heart rate up. You want to have an intense workout. I mean, the really popular thing right now is the HIT training, the high intensity interval training. And that’s so much more effective. It’s been proven over and over again that you can do a twenty minute, fifteen-twenty minute workout, you know, jump roping, where you jump rope for thirty seconds as hard as you can. Take a minute off. You actually burn more calories doing that than spending an hour on the treadmill.
Divas:So what would you rather do? Be on a treadmill for an hour or jump rope for ten, fifteen minutes?
Divas:And another thing for us is we’re really big on promoting women in the weight room. Although we don’t feel the gym is the only place that helps you lose weight, it definitely is a great place to start. Not only does it help you lose weight, but it helps build your confidence.
Most women avoid the weight room like the plague because “all these guys are staring at me. I don’t know what to do.” And we want to teach them how to take control. And that’s part of our tag line is leave the heavy lifting to the ladies.
Like let us, we want them to walk in with confidence, grab the dumbbells. Throw up a twenty pound shoulder crunch and feel confident about it and now that they’re actually burning more calories by doing that, than being the girl that’s spending an hour walking on the treadmill or running or killing yourself over there. And you got your workout in in thirty minutes of forty-five minutes.
Not only that, but you really can’t make changes to the shape of your body by doing cardio. Cardio is just to help slim you down, but weight training is the best because it’s going to help you create the curves in your body. It’s going to help you get the booty that you want.
And we’re all about the booty. Let’s just say that.
Divas:It’s all about the diva derrierre.
Jack:What a coincidence.
Divas:(laughter)
Jack:Hey, I didn’t say that. So, here’s what I really want. Because I know people are listening to this and it’s the same thing when I see like Arnold Schwarzenegger. I see these guys that are really fit, talking about how to get fit. And then I say, well, what did you look like when you were, you know, what were your before pictures? And their before pictures, they’re more ripped than anybody I see. It’s like they have this natural genetics.
I want to know from you what did you, were you born with these? I mean, I see your pictures on your website. And I’m thinking, well, maybe they put a little effort into this, because it’s just remarkable. Now, did that come easy to you or are you folks that had these struggles? Have you dealt with the struggles of what you’re eating or eating when you know you shouldn’t be eating things and that mindset stuff?
Because I’m always interested and the most influential people that I come across are those that have been there and they bring back a map.
Divas:Right.
Jack:Right? So I want to know a little about your story that what got you to where you are and what you overcame, because you clearly are influencing others to make some really dramatic differences in their lives. So how did you get there?
Divas:Well, this is Tosh. For myself personally, I was always athletic as a kid, but I definitely, when I got into my twenties, realized that I was struggling. I was having some emotional challenges which were directly affecting my weight. I had probably put on twenty pounds and for me that was a lot on my body.
And if was affecting everything – my skin, my hair, my attitude towards everything in life. And I didn’t realize how much, how unhappy I was and how that was affecting everything in my life.
And so it wasn’t until I was willing to really sit and evaluate myself and I realized that there’s something much deeper going on here. It’s obviously not that I love to eat ice cream while I watch The Biggest Loser. There’s something much deeper.
So once I really was able to evaluate what was going on for myself and kind of self-sooth or start to make changes for myself, that’s when my body. Now, I’m thirty-five and my body is a million times better than it was at twenty-five. So for me, it definitely has been, there was definitely a ten-year period where I struggled significantly with my weight and my food choices. And I know Kim’s the same.
Divas:I think it’s crazy, too, because we’re both obviously older. We’re not in sports like we used to. But for me, this is Kim. I played soccer, volley ball and collegiate rowing. I’m like, man, if I just knew half of what I know now I would have been such a better athlete because so much of being good in your athleticism is what you eat.
And for me, personally, I grew up with two older brothers. So I’m definitely going to blame them for having a terrible diet growing up. I struggled with my weight through high school. I went to a school in Orange County so, you know, Orange County, very prestigious, a lot of pressure to look good. So just really learning more about food.
Us women, of all the women I’ve met I would say we all have some food issues. I mean, look at when a group of girls get together. What happens? I don’t know. We all get some ice cream and cookies and some candies. So it’s just kind of something we like to surround ourselves by, but.
Jack:I don’t get invited to those parties.
Divas:(laughter) And we have pillow fights, all the normal stuff. All the normal girl stuff. But definitely just learning more about myself as I’ve gotten older and just wanting to, obviously, you get out of doing college and high school sports and you realize, holy moly, I just put on ten pounds. Where did that come from?
You really just start to learn more, especially with age. Your metabolism starts to slow like they say. So if it’s just, man. You really just have to find what works for you.
Jack:So it’s not uncommon. You’ve been there. You’ve overcome it and I think that’s what really makes you influencers, is that you’ve brought back that map. You’ve figured out how to flip that switch because I think it’s just indisputable when you see the results that I’ve seen, the folks that work with you. And even people that are, lead very busy lives and do things that people often use as an excuse. I don’t have time. It doesn’t fit. It doesn’t do that.
So that, I think, truly makes you influencers. And what I like to find is what influences the influencers? What is it that influences and inspires you to do what you do and keep going like you do?
Divas:Well, I think we’re obviously, there are tons of people that are motivated by the fitness industry that we look up to. But I think, just on a more personal level, we are all about empowering women from the inside out. And someone who I think does that very well is Kim Kiyosaki.
I just re-read her book, Rich Woman, and she’s just all about teaching women about how to take control of their finances and their life and not be dependent on anyone else. And really, that’s really in line with what we do as well. Just on taking control of your life. So she’s been a huge influencer for us.
And we work with Keri Murphy with Inspired Living and she’s all about, again, regardless of whether it’s men or women, but she’s all about taking control of your life and doing what best serves you and what you want to do. Instead of what you feel you have to do and what you’re being told to do. You know, what’s the right? Here’s your forty-hour week job you have for the rest of your life.
So I think anybody who really is willing to think outside the box and empower others and service others is really the type of people that we look up to and we aspire to be like.
Jack:No, those are great influences. Because Keri is wonderful, just really incredible. The stuff that she teaches and the stuff that she shares is truly inspirational. And I can see how that, that’s what I love about influencers. They influence others to influence others. And it keeps on going.
And I know that the people that you’ve helped, the people that you’ve transformed, both mentally and physically, I’m sure have shared that with others. So it does keep getting paid forwards. So that’s what I truly love about this.
What can people do, what can women do that are in this situation, that are doing things they know they shouldn’t be doing, but they don’t know how to not do them, not eat what they’re eating, to understand the right way. They’re being bombarded with eat this, don’t eat this. Do this exercise. Don’t do this exercise.
How can they find out more about what you’re doing and this, one, what I call realistic and achievable system that they can finally get off that treadmill? Hooo. There’s a good. Uh, that’s good.
Divas:Yeah. Going full circle. I like it. I think the best place to go is to our website. We have a lot of information out there. We do have a lot of free information, as well.
Our website is dumbbell-divas.com. We do blogs and posts and videos and we also obviously have programs. But that’s a great source, a resource for information. And then just to learn a little bit more about us.
And we also have retreats that we put on throughout the year to really help the woman who just needs a break from it all. A very well-deserved and earned break, but just needs one to get out for a few days. Fun in the sun and have some mind, body, soul type of energy. And they go to beadivaretreat.com for more information on those.
Divas:And you don’t want to miss us, because Tosh and I will be doing some awesome karaoke and you’re just starting to know how talented we are. So if you want to listen to us sing some Journey or some Wilson Phillips, that’s where you need to go.
Jack:I’m in. I’m in. You can’t beat that. All right. Kim. Tosh. I want to thank you so much for coming on here today and sharing this. You truly are influencers and I think you probably changed the minds of a lot of folks that were thinking that it just couldn’t be done and they had to do it a way that shouldn’t be done. So thank you very much.
Divas:Thank you so much for having us. I mean, any opportunity we get to help and serve others, that’s really what we want to do. So we are so very grateful for the opportunity to be able to speak with you. Thank you.
Jack:Oh, fantastic. So folks, there it is. Go check out the Dumbbell Divas. And not just women. Guys, if you, if you are in the unique position of having a woman in your life that has these types of characteristics, go check it out. Send her there, too. Because believe me, you’ll be happy that you did.
So we will see you next time and remember you are really the only real game changer. We’ll see you next show.
