In this powerful personal story, Andrew Forsyth shares how he went from feeling low on energy, overweight, and worried that his best days were behind him, to absolutely transforming his health, vitality and athletic performance in just 90 days.
He explains the key insights that inspired him to commit to change, including the “90 day” rule to rewire habits that he learned from Vanessa McCamley’s book “Rewire for Success”, and the importance of quality sleep which he discovered from Matthew Walker’s book “Why We Sleep”.
By implementing a combination of intermittent fasting, earlier bedtimes, cutting out alcohol, regular morning sunlight, and more, Andrew experienced a total shift – waking up bursting with energy, losing fat, gaining strength and flexibility, and feeling simultaneously energized yet calm throughout the day.
He discusses how the key to success was getting clear on his motivation and the results he wanted, which then made it easier to stick with the positive changes. Andrew also shares tips like making a public commitment for accountability.
If you have changes you want to make in your own health and performance but have struggled to find the willpower, this video will provide the inspiration and practical steps you need. It’s never too late to optimize your well-being and get back to peak performance, no matter your age. For more, check out “Rewire for Success” by Vanessa McCamley, as Andrew highly recommends it.
Video transcript
I found I was just low on energy all the time and constantly finding ways to try to pep myself up, whether it’s food, whether it’s glass of wine, whether it’s diet coke, whatever it is, I’m just constantly trying to pep myself up, um, so that I’ve got energy to do my work or, you know, my, my latest craze of foiling, whether it’s with a sail or whether it’s with a paddle, uh, it’s absolutely exhilarating. And, um, I just had this nagging fear that in my early fifties, you know, my best days have passed me.
And, and then I’m watching all these other guys in their mid fifties and even early sixties who are absolutely cut super athletic, just doing circles around me while I’m wobbling around out there, fat and unstable with a sore ankle and falling in and getting injured and getting the odd good wave and going, yeah, but just not really performing, you know, not absolutely pushing it and flying and, uh, that’s what I want to do. So I needed more energy.
And that’s weird for me because I was born with the extra energy molecule. You know, my father always used to call me a bull at a gate, you know, you just couldn’t hold me back. And I’m still like that. It’s just that I’m pushing hard the whole time, trying to do all kinds of interesting things in work and in action sports, and to keep myself energized. I eat and eat and eat.
I tried many, many times over 18 months or two years to reduce the amount of food, reduce the Coke zero, reduce the alcohol, try to go to bed earlier. I tried all these things, but you know, a week later or two weeks later, you know, ah, screw it, you know, and pizza and wine, you know, which is all good. It’s great. But, um, it would, it would, you know, just spiral back into old habits.
And so it was, it was reading Vanessa McCamley’s book, rewire for Success with its, uh, little Pearl of Wisdom, about 90 days being the length of time that it takes to change a habit. And it was just like a bell went off in my head. I just went, that’s it. It’s 90 days. And I, I heard this, uh, this podcast with Matthew Walker about his book, Why We Sleep.
And four hours later I was like, right, I have to get some sleep, serious sleep. And to do that, I had to cut back the alcohol and in fact, cut it out pretty much. Um, plus a bunch of other things, intermittent fasting, uh, sunlight in the eyes for five to 10 minutes in the early morning, regular sleep patterns, no social media before bed, you know, predictable, wind down, getting really good sleep on zero alcohol and fasted. I was just waking up on like, just completely wired, like I was just, I felt like a teenager and it would last all day. The interesting thing.
So being able to apply that level of energy while feeling calm, while feeling Less anxious, that was the thing that I started to realize I had to have. So I’ve actually used this 90 day Pearl of Wisdom from this book to implement a whole lot of changes simultaneously, all the, all the things that you should do. And the reason why you should do them is ’cause they actually do work!
I’ve definitely lost some weight. I’m building my strength and flexibility, which is great for performance on the water. My energy levels are much higher and more consistent throughout the day. So even through till seven or eight o’clock at night, I feel quite energized and quite calm, you know, so there’s this simultaneous increase in energy and decrease in stress at the same time.
Key insights from the 90 days are that, I think a lot depends on your motivation. If you have sufficient motivation to make a change, and there’s a reason and a purpose then, and you’re committed to it, then it’s actually not as difficult as you think to change any, any habit. I think, uh, if you don’t have the motivation, if the motivation waxes and wanes, if one minute you want it and the next minute you don’t really care and it’s like, ah, you know, stuff, it, then you won’t succeed.
But if you are motivated for something, you really want something, then you can make it happen. You know, we have this inner battle constantly within ourselves. Will I have that pizza? Will I have that wine? F**k it. Yes, I will. You know what I mean? So that’s the problem. We have this internal conflict, uh, and I could recognize that within myself.
So I just decided that my rational brain was gonna have the upper hand for this period of time. And all emotional attempts to just say to myself, oh, I’ll just have one night. You know, I’ll just have a drink tonight, or I’ll just have pizza tonight. All of those are just out the window for 90 days. See what happens, and you fine.
You get to a point where suddenly that second voice is just gone. It’s not there anymore because now these new habits have become automatic, and that’s a platform on which you can now build a whole lot of other stuff. Uh, first couple of weeks it’s new and different, but once you’re into it, um, it’s actually not so difficult. So, and you’re starting to notice the benefits every single day. So it makes it easy to continue.
One of the things that helped me get there was making a public commitment to it so that you’re accountable, you know, to your friends and family. For anyone who’s struggling to find the resolve to do it, you need to know why. What’s at stake? What’s the purpose? You know, what are you gonna get out of it? And if you’re motivated enough and you Care enough about that, then it’s actually not as hard as you think, and you can get that thing that you want.
For me, it’s, I want youth and athleticism, and if you really want it, then there’s a pretty straightforward recipe for getting there. Um, I would encourage anyone to have a look at Vannessa’s book, Rewire for Success and commit to it.