We were like in it to win it. We were having so much fun. What year is this? This is 2014. yeah and the market now is just on fire in manhattan.

Yes and we were having an issue as a new brand in manhattan, yep, attracting top talent. Sure, of course, and - and i will say 2014 and 2015 were my heaviest years. I was at my biggest weight and i started to just have this vision, because my job was to go, get the star agent to start at the company and like take us to the top, and i started to get a vision. I was like what, if that was me, i was like because i don't feel right as a manager like i'm, not passionate about it.

It's not what i was put on this planet to do. Um i was like i want to be a star agent. I was like i just can't do it looking like this and um, and that was always in the back of my head sure i always in the back of my head in 2015, i was at a fish concert and i was uh out of my mind. A little bit with a friend and you haven't seen the documentary by the way, have you seen the documentary? No, not yet.

Oh my god. It's insane! Yes, yeah! Sorry keep going so uh. So anyway, i was there with the same friend who got me into real estate, the guy of a craigslist and uh. We were dancing, and i uh came so close to fainting, like it was the first time that it ever happened to me and i had to like sit down and now i can think of many reasons why you would have been fainting at a fish concert.

It was just because i was like dehydrated and overweight and like trying to dance, it could not keep up yeah and uh, and it was definitely my weight. It was and uh - and i just started sobbing in the middle of this concert, and we were all in this big outdoor arena and david sat down next to me, i remember looking at him. I was like as soon as i get back to the city. I was like i'm making an appointment, i'm getting weight loss surgery.

I was like i'm gon na take over the world and uh and he was like all right he's like do it, and i did. I went back. It was literally like the next day. I had an appointment with my doctor.

Two months later, i had weight loss, surgery, um, which was december of 2015 um and then by august of the next year i was down 200 pounds and i would say so. This was where my real estate group, you know, yeah, but i'm going to dig in on this first before because i know i know i know what i mean. I know you know that story i know, but i want them to know yeah. You know there uh, there's been uh a lot of positive and a lot of controversy around that surgery.

Of course, right and like you know, you get people that say i was liberated and you get some. You know some haters out there. That say, you know you're gon na put a note back on you. You need the discipline and, like so like to walk us through that like because now today you put it on like a badge of arnor, you know armor and you tell thousands of millions of people on television like i did this totally right, yeah and i love That thank you, love and respect the fact that you've done that i i get mixed feedback and i was expect.

I was expecting that going into it. Of course um you know so. My my mother allows me to tell this story. Don't worry but uh.

She had a lap band, probably like 15 years ago, yeah uh lost a ton of weight, uh ended up having a ton of complications had to have it removed, and in that moment i remember i was like i'll, never have weight loss surgery and i was like It's not for sure, and i was like it's not gon na happen. It doesn't work, it doesn't work and it almost killed. My mother and hello, negative right and then, like four years after she had that done. She switched and had the sleeve done, and i was so mad because i was like.

Why are you doing this again? I was like you're. I was like we've already seen this and um she switched to the sleeve and then like two. She looked amazing and, like two years went by and then like four years went by, she still looked amazing and i was like well. I was like.

Maybe i think maybe i want to try that and so um, but that's such a vulnerable thing, i mean you know, look people talk about vanity and uh and look there's, there's no doubt that that has you know, ruled part of the world for as long as We've existed, um did you think you could have done it without it? I i had failed at it enough times to know that uh, you know people don't really look at food as the addiction that it is yeah and like when people really don't understand it. I'm like do you know somebody who's, an alcoholic or a drug addict who's like in your face. I was like if there was a procedure that they could have, that would cure them or greatly increase their chances of curing them. I was like: would you be open to them? Trying it, but because food is socially acceptable, because we can still show up to work, we can still get our jobs done.

People just don't think about it. The same and probably the most, the largest population of addiction probably goes to food. I don't know that for sure. But theoretically, that makes, if you look at the numbers in the us of people that are overweight and then over people that are obese and the number of young like teenagers that are obese.

One could make the argument that that that's that's where i'm deducing and i'm just like i haven't - run the numbers yeah but yeah. You know we can google that i mean it's right. You know it's yeah. I started.

I have a couple friends like that is their. That's their calling that's what they spend their contribution time on. So so so, let's go back, you do the surgery and, and it doesn't you don't transform overnight, but what started to transform after the surgery. So it's it's.

You lose a lot of weight really fast. The first two or three months so um i lost literally like a hundred pounds, the first three months, and so it was insane you just like tristan right. I think tristan weighs a hundred pounds yet, but the crazy part is firstly while um when you're that overweight yeah, when you i remember, i had lost like 80 pounds, and that was just when people started to notice. That's how overweight that was because people were like you're like you'll, also wait like what 20 pounds probably right and i was like you are dead to me: you're, like we're 80., i'm like coming up on 100 actually, but thank you, and so the hard part is, Is right after i lost it, can't the weight loss came to a screeching halt and i went from losing a couple pounds a day.

Sometimes too it was like a month and nothing had changed yeah and i was like, but i'm still 100 pounds overweight. Like i said so, i still have yes a journey ahead of me and so then now the work begins right. Exactly yeah and i didn't know it, it was like it was like my higher power came down and was like. I got you we're gon na.

Do something special right now and um, and i remember i was going to bed one night and i was like i need to start exercising. I was like i just need to get to the gym. I had always been so afraid and so embarrassed to go to the gym and i was like - and i know the only way i'm going to do. It is if i'm very public about this on social media.

I was like, and you know what i was like. I want to document my weight loss on social media, and so i was like i'm gon na do 90 workouts. I was like fitness classes. That was the commitment i was like.

I'm gon na do 90 and 90 days and i was like every time i go. Take a class i was like i'll, take a gym, selfie and post it yeah, and i was like and that's what i did and i i remember those 90 day they were maybe the most magical 90 days of my life because uh it started the first 30 Days i was really insecure because i think on day 5 i was like what did i just agree to do. I was like and i can't publicly fail. I was like i'm posting online and i was like, but there's no way, i'm going to get through this.

I know myself after 30 days. I started to feel normal, but then the second 30 days, my my spear, was like you're, so obnoxious, you're constantly i wasn't getting support. I was getting a lot of like like you're, so annoying you've like become so full of yourself. You're constantly posting like these gym selfies, and so then i was like well, maybe maybe now i quit cause like yeah.

That's the last thing i want for like people not to like me, i'm trying to make people love me right now and then the la, but i, but i persevered i was like i can't quit. Why did you keep going? Because i was, i had a nut, there were only like two or three real supporters at that point, but i really felt like i couldn't let them down yeah and i was just like i was like okay, i was like i'm gon na, do it for them And i was feeling incredible: the weight loss had started to pick back up again and i was starting to see results and i was like i don't. Actually those middle 30 days were very tough for me, like very, very tough. What were you saying to yourself? What did you like? We were just thinking about like our time with todd herman recently right so like yeah, you know what were you saying to yourself, the six inches between your ears, to keep yourself going when your friends are telling you this is getting annoying you're.

Your own self-conscious, you know, oh my god, i'm doing this and got it like. What did you say? What did you do? What was the trigger? What was the anchor that kept you going? I don't know if this is the healthiest, but i do remember what it was, which was. I can't be the guy who failed at it naturally and surgically like i just yeah i was like i was like, then what i was like i was like. Then it just feels like i'm just walking towards death.

I was like i was like if even this can't fix me, yeah, um, and so, and that worked for me, but that's it. It was a true fear, though yeah it was like. I was like the third option is i just i was like. I can't choose a life of obesity i was like, and this has to work yeah um.

The last 30 days were insane i, and at this point i had like 300 followers on instagram. I don't have like a big audience. I wasn't on tv right. This wasn't like yeah yeah.

Also, things have changed, things have changed and um anyway, the last 30 days everything changed, everybody who was not supporting me was like okay, they're, like now, i'm going to the gym because of you one of my friend like, and it was just like all of a Sudden i was like yes, i was like this is awesome and the coolest part was. I have a friend uh, who is a very successful modeling agent in the city, and he came up to me one day and i don't know why this one just like really got me. But it's really just that thing of, like you, never know who's watching yeah and he was like he's like. So he was like everybody in our agency and he's like one of the top agents in the city who was like has been talking about how they need to get to go to the gym more and he's like.

So i told him to start following you and he's like now. Everybody follows you, and so we created an office challenge around you and he's like everybody failed after 10 days he's like so now. Everybody in my office thinks that you're a hero he's like you're the most talked about person at my office, and i was just like you know here. I am just like walking through life with like 300 followers on instagram, and i'm like oh this modeling agency.

This huge modeling agency is following me and doing a competition about me trying to keep up with me and, like you don't know, this is going on no idea and um, and then i went into the gym that i go to mark fisher fitness who i love, That man has changed my life and uh and the front desk woman who had never spoken to me. She's, like i, have to tell you a story. She was like my sister just had the same weight loss surgery that you did and she's been following you on instagram and just realized that you've been posting at my gym and reached out to me today and was like. Do you know this tyler whitman kid? She was like, i go to the gym because of him, and it was all of these things just started happening almost every day and i was like i was like.

Oh, i really learned the power of consistency just persevering through all of the things like through the self-doubt and then through the group doubt and then to get on all the other side of that and just have like nothing but support. And of course, like a few people faded out of my life, of course, and - and i was like thank god right like like - if people aren't on like the journey with me, then that's fine good job, you know go, go find your own you're, a supporter of Your friends right and you know close friends and - and you know farther acquaintances because that's who we are, but if they're not going to support you yeah, it's not the end of the world. People yeah right, it's not the end of the world, and so my uh, the last post that i um and so every single post had a formula was day. This work out this cause.

Sometimes i did take a day off and then i would do two on another day: yeah um and so the and it always had like some big explanation. It was like some huge paragraph, yeah and um and a ton of hashtags like a gazillion hashtags. I was trying to build my following yeah yeah and so on the very last day i was like day 90 workout 90 and then i was like what am i going to post and i just put hashtag worth it, and that was the whole post. It was just simple: it was like those four words um and it got share.

I ended up the next morning. I woke up with, like 7 000 followers on instagram. It was on the explore page - and i had like this epic before and after picture that i was so proud of. I remember when i saw that before and after that was like the first time i was like.

Oh, i was like because they, when you wait old before, like pre-surgery before surgery like falling down at the fish concert like 400 pounds before wow, and at this point i saw that photo. But i want people to get like i mean you were just saying 90 days before yeah yeah. No, no. This was this was like the before before, and that was the first time i had ever done a side by side comparison, and i didn't realize just how much i had changed until that moment, um and then everything changed.

I feel like that post. That picture changed. My life forever, it changed my identity. All of a sudden, i was a warrior.

I was a successful person. I was all the things i had dreamed about being and people started busting down my doors to do business with me yeah. It was like i had created this army of people who were like he's a rock star. I want to buy homes from him.

I want to sell homes from him, and so are we still in, like 2015 is 216. 2016. yeah, and i went to phil and david who started triple met and we're like. I want to stay at the company.

I was like i'm not leaving yeah. I was like, but i'm going back to selling i was like. I just want to be an agent yeah. I don't want to be on the on the executive team at the company.

It's like! That's not what i want and i thought it was going to be a difficult conversation. They were like go be our star yeah and i was like yeah go, make it happen, and so immediately my first step was like i'm going to start a team. I was like i don't have enough business for a team. I was like i'm not doing an insane amount of sales i was like, but i know i want to be one of those guys with an awesome team yeah, and so i picked the two as i was stepping down as manager, but i picked the two favorite Agents that i had been managing ashley and josh were still on my team today, yeah and uh, and i was like you guys - want to start the whitman team and they were like sure they were.

They were just like. So just like do we have to work out every day? Well, i actually met ashley at the gym so like, of course, we were already in that and um and i felt so guilty because 2017 there was not enough money to go around yeah. You know they really believed in me uh that we were going to build something and uh and then 2018 we had a pretty great year and at the end of yeah back up, though okay so 2017 now you're, like i'm a stud, i'm feeling good. I got my swag, i got my team and we suck yeah.

How did you get through that? Don't gloss over that one man, you know i think i was. I was riding such a high and at that time i had uh. I had started this 2016. I had started with a life coach 2017 i'd started coaching with you guys, and so i had two great coaches from like two different categories: um really kind of like guiding me through it.

In my mindset i was genuinely so proud of myself that it was. It was really hard to get me down. My team was, you know it's hard to say they weren't disappointed financially, because i think we were all kind of expecting, like oh, my god, we're gon na have like this huge thing. We're gon na be stars and it didn't happen yeah you know and um, but we didn't give up.

I think that's all i can really say is that we still showed up. We were like we're going to make this happen and towards the end of 2017. We just started uh, as my original coach vonda would say. Mr mo came to town and mr momentum, and it was, it was like all of a sudden we're like wait so something's starting to happen.

This doesn't feel like um uh. You know this doesn't feel. Like coincidence, yeah and then in 2018, we had a really big year. We had a really nice year in 2018., there's a lot of there's a lot of agents and sales people and like so what does that mean like? What's a big year uh for me, there's some numbers so uh 2017 gci and keep in mind.

I was paying an assistant and i had the two agents under me because i think most people hear this gci. But that wasn't a bad year. But i think we did like 450 000 for all that year, which means that they made like 40 or 50 grand each, probably that first year, which in new york is nearly impossible to live on um. I think i barely made a hundred grand that year, um and so uh and you're like they're like go, be a star.

I know and i was like i was like well. I was like gon na eat chinese again so uh and then 2018. Our gci was like 1.6 million uh, so it was. We basically had like tripled.

Mr mr moe came out. Oh yeah, yeah momentum is here and we didn't change our team at all in 2010. In 2018 it was still the same size um, and so we were really excited. We were feeling good.

All of us were making money and um, and what was the difference? It was we from a practical standpoint. It was the difference, it was the longer version of my 90 day. Fitness challenge, bingo, that's exactly what it was. I remember i always came back to that and both of my coaches were constantly like, like remember when you thought it wasn't gon na happen and then and then everything around you felt like it wasn't gon na happen and then all of a sudden it happened in The craziest way you ever expected yeah and that's exactly what like that was the lesson of 2018.

For me, i was like you're going to go through uncomfortable things and just keep pushing it's going to be uncomfortable every single time. Something great is about to happen. It's going to be really uncomfortable first, and that still happens to me december was this most recent last month was awful. For me, it was just like business personal life.

I had so many bad things happen um and it was just like almost i was like okay. I was like that has to be the last one right. I was like that. I was like i can't do another i was like.

I just can't, and uh january has been the most magical month of my entire life, and it was just. It was just another lesson again. I was like, oh and now, i'm like getting to a point where i'm like. I can't wait to be uncomfortable again, like i like.

That's become like the shift to me because i'm like that means that something insane is about to happen, bring on the pain right, yeah bring on the pain like that's like that's the story of your this. This whole journey yeah. Take the pain right. Take the pain, keep going, keep going,.