Today on the podcast, I am bringing on a very special guest, someone that is so important to me, my husband, Brad Koons.

We're going to talk about his experience on a GLP-1.

We're going to talk about some behind the scenes of some things I shared on Instagram, and we're going to finish off the episode talking all things money and relationship and how our marriage completely changed when we finally healed our relationship with money.

So stay tuned.

Welcome to the Money Mom podcast, the show where we empower moms to take control of their finances, break free from money stress and build a life of freedom, confidence and abundance for their families.

I'm your host, rachel Koons, mom money mentor and your personal cheerleader on this journey.

Whether you're here to save money, pay off debt or dream bigger for your family's future, you're in the right place here.

We believe that being a mom is already a full-time job, but your role in shaping your family's financial success is just as important.

And the best part, you don't need to sacrifice everything to start winning with money.

Let's get started.

This is the Money Mom.

Podcast.

Hello and welcome to the Money Mom Podcast.

I'm your host, Rachel Koons, and if you're watching us on YouTube, you'll see that I have a very special guest here with me today and I brought my husband, Brad Koons of 14 years.

We just celebrated our 14-year anniversary and I've honestly been wanting to bring him on the podcast since I started it like a year and a half ago, and we finally made it happen.

I am currently struggling with my voice.

I had a cold earlier in the week and am getting my voice back.

But, Brad, welcome to the podcast.

Thank you.

So tell us a little bit about yourself.

Oh, that's a big question.

Well we have to do like an introduction, like yeah, yeah, yeah, this is who I am.

I guess like I'm a husband, I'm a father, a father, I'm a dentist and, like, those are the major portions of my life.

So, yeah, I mean I, I see patients treating comprehensive dental dental problems if you're watching.

I'm the fulsome dentist.

I'm the fulsome dentist here.

If you need a dentist in Sacramento, he's your guy.

Number one rated dental practice.

Yeah, three years in a row, yep.

And so I spend Monday through Wednesday focused on caring for patients and, you know, mixed in there, I really love exercising and training.

Crossfit's kind of been my modality for the last several years.

I enjoy the community and the exercise.

Um, I really like the human body and I and I like people and if I'm not exercising, I'm not fixing teeth, then I'm boating yes, so that's waiting for that surfing, wakeboarding, wake surfing, wakeboarding, facebook Marketplace and picking up new wakeboards has become a new hobby.

I only can ride one at a time, so I don't know why you need three, but that's why I buy them on Marketplace, so I can buy it and sell it for the same price.

Brad's a pretty good.

There's no loss there.

We haven't lost a bunch of money on wakeboardsboards.

So that's good, but brad brad has always loved boatingi would say, the number one thing about brad is he loves to boat I was building a boat in the office the other day in between patients I don't need a boat I just like looking at them.

One of the reasons we moved to the town.

I like cars too, oh but one of the reasons we moved to the town that we moved to is because there's a boat or a massive lake like six minutes from our house yeah, it's good times.

So we kind of handpicked where we live based off of Brad's hobbies.

Okay, so one of the reasons I wanted to bring you on.

So we're going to talk a lot of tea today with Brad here, because Brad sees the ins and outs of the things that I post.

But I wanted Brad, so I recently shared an episode about our experience on a GLP-1.

We started taking it together back in December and I've gotten really good feedback from that episode.

But Brad didn't get to share his experience and his side of the story.

So I kind of wanted to bring him in as a follow-up to that episode so he can share his own thoughts and feelings about it.

So, brad, take it away.

About which portion?

Well, just how the whole experience has gone for you.

Okay, and you'll have to forgive me.

Is this YouTube right here?

We're recording the podcast, but we also record it for YouTube, so it's both yeah.

So you have to forgive me.

I'm looking at a video of myself and this is not my zone of genius.

Here Rachel's amazing behind the camera and stuff, so if I look like I'm not paying much attention in the video version, I'm.

Your question was.

About GLP-1, your experience taking terzapatide.

Well, I generally am like a cautious, risk-adverse person, and so I want, before I make decisions, I want to have as much data and knowledge as I can, to feel like I'm making an informed decision.

Looking at, you know pros and cons, and so trying to understand the science behind terzapatide and gop1s and how, how does this work?

You know, how does it work, how is this efficacy, how is it safety?

Um, and as I've continued on this journey, like it's a, it's a pretty, um, miraculous medication as far as, as far as we now.

Who knows what the future will hold, but I started like a few months back how long was, I guess December?

Yeah, there was.

You know, I've always exercised, I've always been into weight training.

I wasn't, I was an obese child and you know and a lot of my core stories and memories are around being bullied as a child, how I felt about myself, how I looked, and so I always have had a nice, you know, thickness layer, lots of husky shopping in seventh grade.

And so in ninth grade, I learned about weightlifting, exercising, and so I.

So I learned about how weight training and exercising and being aware of nutrition can change your body, and so I worked through high school to try to change my body, and it was great.

I lost lots of weight, gained muscle, and I always enjoyed exercising, and so that's been true from from then until now.

So I've always consistently trained and exercised.

But I listened to a book called Outlive by Peter Attia.

You know, peter Attia, I recommend it to everyone Because as a dentist I do try to help people look at their overall wellness and not just their teeth.

And specifically we talk about periodontal disease and the relationship between gum disease and heart health and body health.

And so I was kind of on a search for a journey to understand the whole body implications of periodontal disease, which led me across a book called Beat the Heart Attack.

Gene by Dr Bale and Donine, which was really great.

You read these before.

This was prior to oh yeah, this was like a year or two ago, yeah okay, so before we took the GLP-1, you had kind of dove into this whole world.

Especially since Brad has his dad has had a couple heart attacks.

Right, and that's where I was going with this was.

I was just thinking about health and longevity.

It's not necessarily how long we live, but how many years do we live with health.

We'd call that health span, not just lifespan.

And so I really got interested in this idea of living as healthy as you can for as many years as possible, which is all about quality of life.

And so, as I learned about from Peter Atiyah in the book Outlive, he talks about the four horsemen, which is cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and brain disorders, cancer and metabolic disease or diabetes.

Essentially he says those are the four horsemen.

That's what's going to get us all in the end.

And as he talked in that book and talked about these risk factors, I kind of started identifying specifically with metabolic disease.

It was like if you're a male and you snore, if you're a male and you have a waist that's over 40 inches.

And then Rachel had mentioned, you know, my dad had a heart attack at 58.

His grandfather died of a heart attack at 58.

And I also recognize I probably have these cardiovascular risk factors and so I went and got a in-depth blood panel, yeah, and I shared that earlier yeah.

Which kind of gave me like metrics to go off of.

So I was like, okay, I have excess weight.

You know, I'm a 36 year old male at 5'11", 220 pounds.

I was the heaviest I've ever been, just, I've just slowly been gaining since we got married or college.

And I was like, hey, I am on track to put my health span at risk.

Then when I got the blood panel, I saw some health problems high fasting blood glucose, some inflammatory markers, also an increased HbA1c, these other indications of metabolic disease.

And so that was like, okay, I need to change something in my life.

And so I always trained and I've been going to CrossFit three days a week for several years, four years.

And then it was like, you know, I need some help to drop some weight because, again, the weight weight matters in disease and fat body percent.

So tell us what's happened since you've gotten on the drug.

Yeah, and so and I and I was meeting with like an online coach in regards to following this blood work and making lifestyle changes.

So, like I was focused on lifestyle changes first and I think the story around GLP-1 is that that is critical, no matter what.

That is critical, no matter what.

And Peter Attia I was just listening to his podcast talking about all this updates with GLP-1s and things is that two-thirds of people who go on GLP-1s gain the weight back, Right.

So if you go back to those years when we were young South Beach Diet, low-carb fad diet, Atkins Diet, all that stuff if you just jump on a GLP-1 and treat it like a fad diet, you're going to be part of the two-thirds that just gain it all back, and even more sometimes, Except that the one-third that was successful in keeping the weight off were those who exercised.

And specific weight training correct.

Yeah, weight training is important, yeah.

Well, weight training is important for any weight loss phase to maintain your lean muscle mass, which is contributes to health span.

So I mean, I I jumped on it, tried it and I don't know like it was.

It's been one of the best things I've ever done in my life.

Um, I don't know how this is going to go as far as long time, long-term risk and health, but as I dropped the weight and I kept getting my blood panels every few months, my biomarkers improved and so, in the immediate term I was getting, I'm getting healthier.

I'm healthier now and the main thing that it does is just allow has allowed me to stay in a calorie deficit for an extended period of time to actually lose the weight, like I think I always was like committed and I'd fall back.

I'd committed and I'd fall back, so I never could lose weight by by sticking to it.

Yeah, as far as experience on the glp1 people talk about it all the time it just like eliminates food noise.

So, like I wasn't thinking about food, like I used to think about food, you know, I'd see a plate of cookies and I go, oh, I would really like one of those, and so I would grab one.

And then I would walk by the plate of cookies and I'd grab a second one and and so it's just really decreased that that noise thinking about food and wanting food.

And then when I do eat, part of me just kind of feels like this is what normal, like people who don't struggle with weight.

I was like is this how like normal people feel?

like when their hormones and their chemicals and their and their body is functioning properly.

Because the glp is, you know, it's a synthetic version of a natural hormone hormone protein found in the body and so, like people who have regular functioning bodies, I'm like because this is how they actually feel, because I always knew when I was full, but my brain sage id wasn't there yeah, my brain didn't line up with the fullness of my stomach, yeah, and so I was always a overeater in volume, even if I was trying to make better food choices, um.

and so now, like when I got that first hunger cue in the past, like hey, brad, you're full, stop eating.

Now I can just honor that because I feel full and my brain feels satisfied, and so it's just been really kind of like freeing to have that feeling and experience, and I'm super curious to see what happens.

I'm tapering down right now to come off of it.

I'm interested to see how that will change, as I'm not on it anymore.

Yeah, and I shared in the GOP one episode about my experience and I I shared that I I I mean I've had like overweight times in my life but I've never seriously struggled with overweight or having a ton of extra fat on me, and so I feel like your experience is different from mine but like we also have had very positive experiences with teresapotide, the whole experience has been net, very positive.

Yeah, and super minimal side effects, close to zero.

Yeah, yeah.

So, yeah, that's a little bit about Brad's story and his experience.

Like I said, I mean I shared a lot of both of us in our episode, but I wanted Brad to share his personal experience, because I do think he has.

He has really good insights to share as well.

Another thing that I shared recently and I also wanted Brad to come on and share his side Um, and we don't have to go too into detail about this, but I shared our story on Instagram and I've never gotten so many responses from people of like that was the most entertaining story sequence I've ever watched or listened to and I shared.

You know, I moved in to Brad's hometown when I was 14 years old.

We met, we were really good friends in high school and then kind of our journey to how we fell in love and getting married.

It was the craziest experience ever and I'll put I'll make a story highlight on my Instagram so you can go watch the story highlights.

But Brad, after he watched the story, was like wait, rachel, you didn't even share like part of the crazy, the some of the crazy things that happened in that story.

And so, brad, do you have like anywhere you want to fill in the gaps with the story Because people I'm sure people who are listening to this have watched the story sequence on Instagram.

I mean I would not approve of my child doing what we did.

Oh my gosh, but you know it is and was the right thing.

Yeah, yeah.

So I think, I don't know.

I think sometimes the takeaway there is like, with wisdom and caution, to like move forward in the right direction, that your intuition is driving you towards.

Yeah.

Like we, we knew we were right for each other.

I didn't share this on the Instagram post, but I had like a very distinct impression.

We were, we went to the same church and we were in the same church congregation and when I was like 15 or 16 years old, I and Brad was like up at the front he was doing something with the boys his age and I remember looking up at him and having this like really strong thought impression, spiritual prompting, whatever you want to call it.

That was like that's your future husband and I remember being like that's so fricking weird.

That's Brad, it's like my friend.

That's never going to happen.

Um, but that feeling like kind of always sat with me and even when we went through all the turmoil we went through in high school, of like I liked him, he didn't like me back, and like the rollercoaster of emotions I always was like what was that feeling?

I know I had that feeling and I kind of like always sat with that, of like I think I know that Brad and I are supposed to be together.

It's supposed to happen, and so I don't know if you, I don't know if I knew you really had that experience and how would you say that's different?

Like, don't you think every teenage girl yeah, I totally, totally tells themselves that as like a fairy tale?

yes, yes, and and like that was where that was, that would like mind games with myself of like is that true, is that not?

Am I just like kind of like him and want that to happen?

so you had that thought.

You said I was with like doing church things with all the guys and you had that thought yeah, you were preparing the sacrament table.

She kissed everyone else at church before we got married by the end did not kiss them, they all kissed me so I was the last we had a small group of friends.

Okay, all the friends, you know I had to kiss all the boys.

They said they all just wanted to be my eskimo brothers.

They wanted a connection.

Oh, that's what it was, and now you're connected to them forever.

Well, I've kissed you a lot more than I've kissed them in our lifetime, so yeah, I mean just anyways, it was, that was fun, and so if you haven't watched that, you can go watch that and get to know Brad a little bit better in that story as well.

Okay, but the real reason I wanted to bring him on this episode is to talk about how our money relationship well, our relationship in general, and then how we really started to look at money differently a couple of years ago and how that really has changed everything for us.

And it kind of started with, like me, I started to do some work and then I, like you know, speaking for Brad, kind of put Brad onto the work as well.

And anyways, do you want to share the story?

of what happened.

Yeah, and this is a life changing experience for me.

So, like the depth and the impact.

And then also, I don't know, I think it's a good long story, yeah, and you don't want to go long.

I don't want to go.

Think it's a good long story, yeah, and you don't want to go along.

I don't want to go along Well too long.

This might be a part two.

Oh, we might need to do a part two.

Okay, we can do a part two, that'd be fun.

So, we'll see what we can get through in this episode.

I I always like, I think backstory is important to recognize impact of the current moment or the experience, and so I was born and raised in the East Bay area and a wealthy area.

East Bay, California.

Yeah, san Francisco area, yeah, the San Francisco East Bay.

And you know, my friends' dads were like the CEO of Ross Stores and stock brokers in San Francisco and traders and businessmen, and very successful people Highly successful.

Yeah doctors, lawyers, very successful, wealthy people, really good people, the best people I've ever met in my life.

So I was raised in a really great environment and I think I always felt like the kid who doesn't didn't have as much as they did.

You know, I, looking back now again, tremendously blessed life and very successful parents that I have of my own.

But as a teenager, when you can, when you compare and contrast, you know it was 2008,.

I was driving a 1987 Ford Taurus and, like some of my good friends were driving BMW M3s and Lotus Elise, like just, I always felt like, you know, I was in the lower socioeconomic class of the area, which I don't really think is true.

I think my parents raised seven kids and we're also just about smart, teaching us good principles.

Right, right.

And so that is part of my story, my story and my background, where I came from.

And then and then there was school and dental school, and, like we had no money, I mean we were students for so many years.

Like I, I didn't make more than $10 per hour until the age of 28 years old, and this is in 2018.

And so you know, we lived many years of you and I yeah together like of living within our means and and making it work.

You know, and and again, our parents taught us good principles.

We never got ourselves in financial strains or anything, cause we always, you know, chose to be frugal.

But I found myself as I, as I became a dentist.

I then was asking people to spend 1,000, 2,000, $6,000 to fix their teeth and in the back of my mind I'm like I would never do that.

I don't have that kind of money.

Like $1,000 is so expensive.

And then, you know, I got a job outside of Sacramento where we moved to in a higher socioeconomic neighborhood, and I honestly would like look at people coming into the office and they had Chanel bags and Louis Vuitton belts and huge old diamonds on their fingers and all these designer clothes and they would drive these nice cars and like I would judge them, I judged people who had money.

I think, because I came from my background, that I was inferior because I didn't have as much of that as them and and I remember at that time talking to friends, you know about how how much this like luxury living lifestyle, that observing other people, how much it bothered me and I kind of always thought, you know, rich people are snobby, they're not good money makes you bad, and and again.

It's kind of a money story.

I I grew up with and and then I um ended up buying my own dental practice in 2021.

And then you jump on an entrepreneurial journey, which is, which is, a self exploration adventure.

Oh, a hundred percent Beyond business beyond business, that you learn more about yourself than than anything.

Um, and then there became a point where the you know business business always been good, but it became very stressful and also I had some, some physical pain, some back pain that limited my sleeping, and so then I had chronic pain that's limited my sleeping.

So then my mental health started struggling and I found myself like having anxiety and depression and you know, thoughts and feelings that I've never had before and I'm like who is this guy?

Like this is not Brad Coons, like this is not me.

Um, and well and I will say, like because I knew him, I've known him for a lot of our lives Like I knew the Brad that was carefree and young and high school and we do crazy things like jumping hostess dumpsters together.

I knew him as the student and dental school who was you know school.

But I had never seen this iteration of brad before who was just like honestly angry, like it was like, yeah, it was like where did my, where did my fun carefree brad go, you know?

yeah, I just think super stressed and like burnt out yeah, on both ends.

Yeah, well, you had worked so hard for so long.

Yeah, it was like you're still grinding yeah, and I don't know if I could even take that much credit for that.

Like I think there's many people who work harder than I do.

Yeah, yeah.

Um, but I found myself like in a really bad place and because Rachel started doing some money mindset work herself, I think while she was going through that experience, something clicked for her and she was like again because she knows me better than anyone else, she sees me behind closed doors and things like that and we were just on a walk one night.

She's like, hey, I'm doing this money mindset work and like I think you need this.

And so I embarked on participating in that money mindset course and it changed my life.

Yeah, um, and.

And from that moment it changed everything.

Um, as I went through it.

And and Rachel, you have money mindset materials and courses and opportunities within your money mom club right Membership and I mean that we did that years ago, before you even know you you'd be doing the money, mom club or even offering mindset, training and coaching and changing people's lives.

Um, but that was like a pivotal moment, like when you talk about a shift in life was going through that money mindset, learning about my money story, and I had identified that the reason I think I was so anxious and depressed and fearful is because I gave all my power to money, like money ruled over me.

Okay, that concludes part one of this episode.

We have so many things that we wanted to talk about, and so I decided to break it up into two parts this week and next week.

Next week, we're going to dive deeper into what it looked like and how Brad was able to change his relationship with money I was able to fix mine, and how it really made a difference for us and in our marriage.

So stick around.

Part two is coming out next week.

Welcome to the Money Mom Podcast, the show where we empower moms to take control of their finances, break free from money stress and build a life of freedom, confidence and abundance for their families.

I'm your host, rachel Koons, mom, money mentor and your personal cheerleader on this journey.

Whether you're here to save money, pay off debt or dream bigger for your family's future, you're in the right place here.

We believe that being a mom is already a full-time job, but your role in shaping your family's financial success is just as important.

And the best part, you don't need to sacrifice everything to start winning with money.

Let's get started.

This is the Money Mom Podcast.

Welcome to the Money Mom Podcast, the show where we empower moms to take control of their finances, break free from money stress and build a life of freedom, confidence and abundance for their families.

I'm your host, Rachel Koons, mom, money mentor and your personal cheerleader on this journey.

Whether you're here to save money, pay off debt or dream bigger for your family's future, you're in the right place here.

We believe that being a mom is already a full-time job, but your role in shaping your family's financial success is just as important.

And, the best part, you don't need to sacrifice everything to start winning with money.

Let's get started.

This is the Money Mom Podcast.