Time To Grow Up

On today's podcast episode, I have none other than Newton Cheng on the show. While this could have turned into a podcast about powerlifting and work, Newton and his family received some dire news during the 2024 holiday season with one of his daughters being diagnosed with Leukemia. Since then, this is the first time he has spoken publicly about his experience in an interview/podcast setting.

For those who know Newton, outside of his strength accolades, he is also a big advocate for speaking out about mental health, rightfully so; he also works as the director of health and performance at Google.

This is a situation that I do not wish upon anyone; however,r being able to speak to Newton was eye-opening for me to at least get a glimpse of how one navigates through a situation that he would not have imagined would have happened, yet it did. Again,I cannot thank Newton enough for taking the time out to speak to me and giving me some very insightful ways to look at life and how to play the cards you are dealt with.

You can find Newton here

https://www.instagram.com/newtoncheng

https://www.newtoncheng.com/

And myself below My 28-day free nutrition coaching series: https://sendfox.com/choong

My 150 free recipes https://sendfox.com/lp/1d8qdj

My IG https://www.instagram.com/i_am_choong/

Woohoo! I'm unsure where we stand regarding whether Marcus is here. However, my chat with Mickey highlighted some things for me. As someone who likes the idea of being as competitive as possible as an athlete (if you consider powerlifting a sport, lol), I've started to adopt a mindset shift. I try to view parenting itself as a bit of a competition, and, as corny as it sounds, I aim to compete with myself daily to be the best parent I can be. Another significant takeaway was the idea of being fit and healthy for your kids. I say this repeatedly: Before having kids, you might have an excuse, but after having kids, if you're not healthy, your kids will end up the same or worse because they will follow your lead.

You can find Mickey on his Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/thedadbodchronicles/

And myself below My 28-day free nutrition coaching series: https://sendfox.com/choong

My 150 free recipes https://sendfox.com/lp/1d8qdj

My IG https://www.instagram.com/i_am_choong/

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In today's episode, I had the pleasure to speak to Mickey, who is deep into the thick of things when wrangling not just an 8-month-old but two other older children. Despite all of the craziness AND being a teacher and a coach himself, he still is able to be the 'fit dad' around his little outcove of homes and strives to show up as the best version of himself as he can be. We covered topics like why is it important to stay healthy as a father, how can we transition from having a competitive mindset in sport to being a parent that shows up for the family first and much more.

You can find Mickey on his Instagram here

https://www.instagram.com/thedadbodchronicles/

And myself below My 28-day free nutrition coaching series: https://sendfox.com/choong

My 150 free recipes https://sendfox.com/lp/1d8qdj

My IG https://www.instagram.com/i_am_choong/

Man, when I realize this, I am not sure where life is at the moment but the chat with Lily did help me to put things into perspective as Clare and I gear up to welcome our second kid into the world (her mostly, I just hang around lol). But for those who tuned in to the previous podcast as well as if you spoke to me over the last two months, the primary mental hurdle I started to develop since December was that I do not want my child to be at risk of anything, especially before he can experience the world. I also reflected on the potential ‘rite of passage’ for a mom at the start of this episode (don't kill me here; I would love to hear your thoughts, mums out there) and many more.

You can follow Lily on IG here https://www.instagram.com/lil_fit_mumma/

And myself below My 28-day free nutrition coaching series https://sendfox.com/choong

My 150 free recipes https://sendfox.com/lp/1d8qdj

My IG https://www.instagram.com/i_am_choong/

What a great chat with Lily, and it certainly sets abit of a tone for me in addressing some concerns we have with having a generally smaller baby. We discussed how quickly Lily could rebound back, but more importantly, on the mental side of being put under GA due to complications and how she is still trying to work through things mentally. Despite all of the challenges as well Lily can pivot to help other mothers coming out of post-partum as well as build a community to support one another because no one can truly prepare you for what happens when you become a mom, so she wanted to create something special for the community and support anyone who needs help.

You can follow Lily on IG here https://www.instagram.com/lil_fit_mumma

And myself below My 28-day free nutrition coaching series https://sendfox.com/choong

My 150 free recipes https://sendfox.com/lp/1d8qdj

My IG https://www.instagram.com/i_am_choong/

Woohoo, that is another episode, which means it is another week closer to Marcus being born. This week I had some time to reflect on the conversation I had with Kelly, and it was not a conversation I initially thought would go down, but it was a conversation that I value a lot in hindsight. From the safety of kids to understanding the mindset and some challenges around being the stepmom in the kid(s) life, it gave me a whole new perspective on things, and there were, while controversial, some things that I will personally take on board especially when two kids are coming along!

You can follow Kelly's journey into her strongwoman journey https://www.instagram.com/nzkdrummond/

And myself below My 28-day free nutrition coaching series https://sendfox.com/choong

My 150 free recipes https://sendfox.com/lp/1d8qdj

My IG https://www.instagram.com/i_am_choong/

This was a great episode with Kelly Drummond, powerlifter turned strongwoman and a mother of two. There were some great takeaways from the chat about how to build a bond between your kids being a step-parent and have them accept her as part of the family. We also talked about some of her hot takes on parenting and controversial stances that everyone should at least be open to the idea that there is no right way to parent children.

You can follow Kelly's journey here into her strongwoman journey here https://www.instagram.com/nzkdrummond/

And myself below My 28-day free nutrition coaching series https://sendfox.com/choong

My 150 free recipes https://sendfox.com/lp/1d8qdj

My IG https://www.instagram.com/i_am_choong/

Dang, what an incredible episode. Honestly, I approached this conversation with an open mind, as I had no idea how it would go. But Julliane is such a fantastic person and a fantastic parent. She gave me what I felt was like a 1:1 coaching call on how to be a parent, lol.

She opened up my eyes to the fact that, despite how the family household came to be, parenting has some similarities at the end of the day! While all kids are different, it opened my eyes to the fact that it's not about how the kids come about but about how you love them as a parent.

You can find Julianne on the links below and how she can help you, especially if you have Rheumatoid Arthritis. Her area of research is https://www.instagram.com/julianne.taylor/

https://juliannetaylornutrition.com/ And myself below

My 28-day free nutrition coaching series https://sendfox.com/choong

My 150 free recipes https://sendfox.com/lp/1d8qdj My IG https://www.instagram.com/i_am_choong/

This was an incredible insight into adoption. Julianne was graciously open to sharing some of her insights with me on how she and her husband ended up with two wonderful adopted kids and some of the considerations they had to consider when it comes to adoption.

While not too dissimilar to regular parenting, it opened my eyes to how the adoption process works and what happens in the family post-adoption, such as teaching the children a new language and ultimately fostering them into awesome adults, as Julianne and her husband did.

You can find Julianne on the links below and how she is able to help you especially if you are someone with Rheumatoid Arthritis, her area of research

https://www.instagram.com/julianne.taylor/

https://juliannetaylornutrition.com/

And myself below

My 28-day free nutrition coaching series

https://sendfox.com/choong

My 150 free recipes https://sendfox.com/lp/1d8qdj

My IG https://www.instagram.com/i_am_choong/

This was a great chat with someone who was very far along the parenting journey, and while it would seem on paper Elaine is old, one thing that stuck with me was that she is very youthful at heart. Upon reflection, I think most parents would want to strive to be like Elaine, be active, and still be able to go toe-to-toe with their kids and grandkids. But something she also mentioned, which stuck, was the fact that, at times you just gotta suck it up. There is no easy way in life at times; you just have to grit through it, and this conversation holds many lessons for me to take on board for the future parent in me.

You can find Elaine at https://www.instagram.com/jiujitsu_grandma/

My 28-day free nutrition coaching series https://sendfox.com/choong

My IG https://www.instagram.com/i_am_choong/