ERS Walk & Talk Podcast
ERS Walk & Talk Podcast
Empowerment Through Wellness: One Trooper's Journey to Support Employee Wellness
In this episode Lacy chats with Corporal Harold Estep, a State Trooper from the Texas Department of Public Safety. Corporal Estep shares his inspiring story about how he lost 50 pounds and kept it off for over 10 years. He talks about his passion for health and fitness and gives practical tips on how to stay in shape.
Key Takeaways:
- Harold’s Journey: Learn how and why Harold became a state trooper
- Harold's Health Transformation: lost 50 pounds and the steps he took to maintain his weight loss.
- Staying Motivated: Discover Harold’s strategies for staying motivated
- Coaching: Find out how coaching works and how you can support those around you with this process.
- Discover how Harold's Used Identity Reinforced his Habits: Harold shares how he started seeing himself as a fitness professional and that kept him on track. He wanted to be authentic!
Resources:
Now that I look back, I realize I wasn't looking for him to tell me what to do. I was looking for him to listen to me. I was looking for someone to be that ear.
Speaker 2:And to care.
Speaker 1:To care.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And he cared enough to respond back to me and that got me more motivated than anything. Empathy and being humble and being vulnerable are all key parts to coaching someone to make them better are all key parts to coaching someone to make them better.
Speaker 2:Hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of the ERS Walk Talk podcast. I'm your host, lacey Wolfe, statewide well-being coordinator at ERS. Today we have another inspiring guest joining us, corporal Harold Estep from the Texas Department of Public Safety. Harold is not only a dedicated state trooper, he also serves in a very specialized role as a regional fitness and wellness monitor liaison for the Central Texas region. In his role, harold is on a mission to help both commissioned and non-commissioned DPS employees embrace a healthier and fitter lifestyle.
Speaker 2:In this episode, harold shares his incredible personal story of overcoming health challenges, losing 50 pounds and maintaining that weight loss for over 10 years. His journey is a testament to the power of determination and resilience. But that's not all. Harold is also an amazing coach and a mentor who is helping others do the same thing. You'll hear Harold's passion for fitness, his strategies that he uses to motivate and support his colleagues and some inspiring success stories from his work at DPS. So whether you're looking for some motivation to start your own fitness journey or some tips to stay on track, this episode is packed with some valuable insights. All right, without further ado, here's my conversation with Corporal Harold Estep. Welcome to ERS, harold, it's so good to see you and thank you for being willing to be a guest on the ERS Walk Talk podcast.
Speaker 1:Of course. Thank you for having me. I appreciate the opportunity to do this for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm looking forward to getting your story out. I've known you for many years and I was really excited when I ran into you recently and hearing all the great things you're doing, and I think you've got great stories to share for our listeners.
Speaker 1:So I want to just start out.
Speaker 2:Have you kind of introduce yourself to everyone? Talk a little bit about where you're from, what you do and how long you've been working for the state.
Speaker 1:Well, my name is Harold E Stepp. I've been with DPS since 2004, so this October will be 20 years. In that time, I've been able to do quite a few things. My first duty station was up in Amarillo, 45 miles north of Amarillo, actually up in Dumas, texas so I spent a year there and then I transferred to Floresville in 2006. And I spent almost 14 years there before transferring to San Antonio in 2017. And I've been in San Antonio ever since.
Speaker 2:Wow, so you've gotten to see Panhandle and South Texas.
Speaker 1:Yes, I've seen a lot of South Texas.
Speaker 2:I bet you have with all the deployments. Deployments? Absolutely. Can you talk a little bit about why you decided to come to Texas to become a trooper in the first place?
Speaker 1:Wow, that's a really good question, because that's going to go back quite a few years.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:So I was born in Kentucky, a small town in Kentucky, and my father was a coal miner and when I was growing up he would always tell me that he didn't want me working in the coal mine. And he always told me that he didn't want me working in the coal mine and he told me, he always told me that that wasn't the life he wanted me to have. He told me if I ever got the opportunity to get out and get away to do so. 1997, I joined the army while in kentucky my cousin, my dad's brother, uh, his son was a kentucky state troop and I would see him come up in his patrol car and he had a dog, he was a canine officer and I was like, oh, that's the coolest thing in the world and he gave me a uniform and a pair of shoes that he wore, and I kept him for a while, you know, and I was like man, I really want to be a state trooper.
Speaker 1:So my goal when I got out of army was to move back to Kentucky and become a state trooper. I met a woman.
Speaker 2:A Texan. A Texas girl she said I'm not leaving Texas.
Speaker 1:Yes, I always say this and she hates it, but I always like to tell her. I tell people that I found a girl that had all of her teeth.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And she still has all of her teeth and I married her. That's great, so that's why I stayed in Texas.
Speaker 2:Good, probably probably, and I know you're still happily married. All these, years later.
Speaker 1:Yes, I've been married 23 years.
Speaker 2:Wow, congratulations. So you just moved straight down from Fort Hood, came to the Academy.
Speaker 1:Yes, so in August of 2004, right after a deployment, two-year deployment while I was in, I was in the ROTC at UTSA when September 11th happened.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow.
Speaker 1:So I decided I wanted to be an enlist. I couldn't go to school and miss Everybody that I knew was going to fight a war, so I re-enlisted and I spent two more years in the Army and I got out in 2004, August 2004.
Speaker 2:And I started the academy in October well, you are in a very specialized role at DPS. There's only two people that do what you do, so I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about what your mission is and your role in your specific position there well, I am the.
Speaker 1:it's a long title. I guess we like to use long titles in DPS we do so. I'm a regional fitness and wellness monitor liaison for the Central Texas region.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:So all that really means is I oversee the fitness testing, command, presence, everything like that for our department in the Central Texas area, which is from Waco all the way to Port Lavaca. Okay, I like to say that we not only do we do commissioned personnel, but we also do non-commissioned personnel as well, okay, so anyone that is that wants to come and see me for anything, I will assist them. Just, it's really it's really easy to contact us and get those things done.
Speaker 2:How does that work?
Speaker 1:Can you talk a little bit about kind of day-to-day? So for the most part my day-to-day operations are people that are not in compliance.
Speaker 1:So if they're not in compliance with either their PT test or their PFT, as we call it, or their command presence, then I set appointments with them and we either do workouts together or we do them remotely, because it's very hard for troopers that are in the field to break away and come and meet me at the regional office in san antonio, if they're stationed, say, in bernie or wherever that may be, because of their crash commitments they can't break away because there's not someone else to cover for them.
Speaker 2:Got it Okay, so you will go to the people.
Speaker 1:I will go to them, go to them, I have gone to them. That's amazing. Many times Wow.
Speaker 2:For our listeners. A lot of people may not know that I came from DPS. I spent many years working as a part of the fitness and wellness unit and it's interesting to see how it's grown. I'm so happy that there's people in the field that are doing and that there's a dedicated person doing what you do, because it's so important. You're helping employees that need to and want to improve their health. Most state agencies don't have a fitness standard, so a lot of people aren't familiar with that. Can you just share with people what is the standard that people are required to meet to be in uniform as a state trooper?
Speaker 1:They have to pass a PT test annually. If they pass the PFT at 80% or higher and they pass command presence and I'll get to command presence in a second then they are exempt in the spring psych. Okay, so if they don't get 80% or higher, they have to take a PT test twice a year. Command presence is a waist measurement we use, which is 40 inches for males, 35 inches for females. However, we have a 2% buffer, okay so, which allows 41 and 36.
Speaker 2:Can you explain what is command presence to people that don't know what that means?
Speaker 1:Yeah, command presence is how you look when you get out of your patrol car or you just out in the public. In general, people look at you. They're always assessing a police officer. They're always looking Can I run from this guy, would I fight this guy? Or whatever. So it's how you look in uniform and how you present yourself when you make that contact with the public to maybe persuade them not to try to attack you.
Speaker 2:So it's really helping to. If you have command presence, it can help to decrease use of force.
Speaker 1:Yeah it's like a de-escalation tool. It's like I said, as soon as that person sees you, if they have malice, if they have some bad intent, they're going to see whether or not they can be like you know what I think I can take this person.
Speaker 2:And it's a lot of it, because I've seen videos of folks that did attack police officers talking about how in the back of their mind and it's that state of fight or flight, right like if you're in a state where you feel like I'm being attacked or I'm going to go to jail it's sometimes just a response and not and if your brain subconsciously you think, oh, I could, I could take this person. So it's all very interesting and I really like what y'all are doing to support people that are trying to get into compliance as well with that.
Speaker 1:We are the only agency in the United States I can think of that uses command person. A lot of them, of course, use fitness testing, but we're the only one that does any kind of weight measurement, waist measurement, body circumference, anything.
Speaker 2:Wow, who was behind that? How did it get?
Speaker 1:Well, I think it all started with Greg Davis. You know, greg I do know Greg. As a matter of fact, let me brag on. Lacey was one of my instructors when I went to the Fitness Institute. So that's how we, that's how I. On. Lacey was one of my instructors when I went to the Institute.
Speaker 2:So that's how we yeah.
Speaker 1:Getting back to that, I think Greg had a lot to do with that, a lot and it was his leadership that, and the way he talked about that, was able to get people in BPS finally on board, and his relationship that he had with the executive leadership is how this all came to be, I believe.
Speaker 2:Yeah, cutting edge. I mean, no one else is doing what you're doing, and it's interesting because now at ERS I can see health claims data and you can see that our commissioned officers are significantly healthier and have less chronic health conditions than a lot of populations that we see chronic health conditions in a lot of populations that we see. So, and there's there's a lot of things, obviously that go into that, but I think having a fitness standard and the things that you're doing, making exercise and physical fitness a part of every day, and it's something that troopers can exercise as part of the workday correct.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we're. We're allowed right now 30 minutes a day.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, three times a week. That's good. In your role, you talked about how you coach employees, as well as troopers, that are looking to improve their health. Some people it's mandated because they're not passing a standard, and then some people they just want to be better and improve their health and nutrition. Can you talk about that process? How do you go through like a coaching process?
Speaker 1:yeah, do you want me to talk about the process of a commission person, someone who just wants to or someone that has to?
Speaker 2:let's start with someone who has to.
Speaker 1:Usually when you start, when we talk about someone that has to, that automatically them seeing that they have to makes them not want to, so it's really it can be challenging to get that person to do stuff because they don't want to be told what to do they do not want to be told.
Speaker 1:They don't want to be told what to do. They don't want to have a look. A lot of people think that by having this uh standard, that we're telling them how to look. We're not necessarily telling them how to look, we're just wanting to be healthy, right?
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So they come to you, they come to me or they could come to any fitness institute graduate in the state. So, as one of the things about the position I'm in is, I will get those, those personnel from headquarters in Austin and I will distribute them to the, to the instructor we have in the field, Okay. That's part of my duties, but right now I currently just have about nine people that you're counseling that I?
Speaker 1:oversee. Okay, coaching them, why not to get them through this? So they are, I'm notified, they're on this um, on this list of speak, and then I will contact them and set up an initial meeting. And the initial meeting usually is about an hour and a half to two hours because we go over, we have a laundry list of things that we have to go over, of course, and then I want them to feel comfortable with whoever it is they're meeting, because if someone isn't comfortable with you, they're not going to work with you. Right, I've found that out.
Speaker 2:So you got to establish that rapport.
Speaker 1:You have to establish rapport, you have to establish from the poor. You have to humble yourself to accept that they're not where you are at. Yeah, and they can't do what you do you know I'm going to work out, no matter what I'm going to get. My workout in. Their priority list is way different than mine. I've got to try and get that moved up on their priority list so they become the last coach why do you think people don't put fitness on the priority list?
Speaker 2:what? What is happening there?
Speaker 1:I think over time it just becomes something that they're, they feel like they don't necessarily need to do, or they've got comfortable with the way they are and they know that if they work out it's going to hurt. Right, you have aches and pains. So once they get those aches and pains just just like when you, everybody goes to the gym in January right, about a few days in everybody's hurting or they're feeling pain and then the memberships drop off.
Speaker 2:Right and you have been through that.
Speaker 1:I've been through that I mean, and I have been through that I've been the person who it's.
Speaker 2:It's hard to get the workout in it's. I mean, I think that is part of the human condition, right? So could you talk a little bit?
Speaker 1:about how you may share your personal story. Sure, I don't have a problem with sharing my story at all. I usually tell the people that I have that I counsel with. I usually always lead with that, so that they were like, oh wait a minute, this guy's not just talking, he actually knows what's going on here. So in 2010, I was in a car crash on duty and I was lucky I was able to walk away. There was a lot of damage and I had some injuries, but about six to eight months after the crash, I realized that I was having some pains that I've never had before. So I went to my doctor, of course, and told him about it, and he sent me up for an MRI and the.
Speaker 1:MRI came back, I had two discs that were deteriorated in my back in my neck it was c4 and c5. After a few months of some more tests whatnot I had them removed. I had them replaced. So I currently have a four inch plate, titanium plate and four screws that connect my neck and my spine.
Speaker 2:Wow, does it bother you still?
Speaker 1:it does not bother me okay and the reason I want to say that it doesn't bother me is because when I had my surgery done, this doctor was was really, really good and he gave me a directives after the surgery. He said you need to do this. You do this and take it easy and do this. Go to physical therapy. You know, wear this bone, magnetic bone thing. I had to wear a stimulator.
Speaker 2:I had to wear around my neck.
Speaker 1:So I did all the things he told me to do and I healed in 90 days and I was back to work in 90 days only because I listened to what he said. But in that time, from the surgery to that 90 days, I gained a lot of weight because I worked out before that but I didn't have the passion for it that I do now and I think this is what sparked my passion Right. So after that 90 days I was just eating. You know cause I eating and sleeping was the only thing I was doing. I was an exercise, so I wasn't, I didn't have any activity and my movement was limited.
Speaker 1:I was probably. I would be lucky if I had 500 steps a day. Cause you know you just walk to the kitchen, or you walk to the restroom, bedroom, living room.
Speaker 2:You know you don walk to the kitchen or you walk to the restaurant, bedroom, living room.
Speaker 1:You know you don't have much activity. So I gained. I weighed about 190 before the surgery. After the surgery, I was up around 235 to 4. When you look in the mirror and you don't like what you see, you always hear the phrase I don't like the skin I'm in. So I remember that and I was like, oh, this is not me, this is not working. So I started working out and I decided that I was going to run a half marathon one year to the date after the surgery, and I did so you set a goal, I set a goal, it's awesome and that's one thing that a person has to do when they start something like this is they have to have a goal right.
Speaker 1:So my goal then was to run a half marathon, so I did. I ran the. I ran the alamo half, which started in front of the alamo santonio and in front of the alamo and San Antonio, and ended in front of the Alamo and San Antonio. I got a really cool picture of me crossing the finish line in front of the Alamo at some point. What I'm getting at with this is I ran a lot and I was doing all these other things, but I wasn't watching what I was eating, so I wasn't really losing any weight.
Speaker 2:So you were just running, I was just running, still eating, I was yeah to eat what I wanted to right I was working out, so I could eat whatever I wanted and what did that include here?
Speaker 1:well, you know, I drank a lot of soda, uh-huh you know or tea, and every morning before I went to work oh, this is so bad I had a banana and a pop tart wow, yeah and you know so my sugar is.
Speaker 2:It's through the roof, right right that's those two things but you didn't know what you know now, no idea so I was just getting something that I could eat in my patrol car so I go to work right, something easy, grab and go, and then that soda is probably keeping you awake during the day or the night, depending on when you're working.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I was like what, what's wrong here I'm, I'm, I'm missing something, I'm not running, I'm not losing your weight. So then I discovered crossfit or you know wasn't really crossfit, so it's because I didn't join a crossfit gym, but I discovered crossfit and I used it in my own way you know, at the gym I was going to and I did a lot of high intensity workouts and then, I started.
Speaker 1:I've got to do something different here. I'm still not really losing any weight, so I contacted, at the time, Sergeant Greg Davis in 2013.
Speaker 2:Really and.
Speaker 1:I told him that I had a neck surgery and I needed encouragement to work out. I still have the email I sent Greg and he responds to me with I'm glad you reached out to me. You can try some of these Tabata style workouts and you can get going with these and contact me if you have any more information. Well, I wasn't really looking. Now that I look back, I realized I wasn't looking for him to tell me what to do. I was looking for him to listen to me. I was looking for someone to be that ear.
Speaker 1:And to care, to care Right, and he cared enough to respond back to me, and that got me more motivated than anything and I was able to continue it from there.
Speaker 2:Wow, powerful.
Speaker 1:And then over the course of the next year I realized oh, if I change my diet and I do these things like I'm supposed to, then it will work. So this took a course of about a year and a half two years. I lost six pounds. That's amazing, I was 185 when I started the fitness institute.
Speaker 2:So, for people who don't know what the fitness institute is, I want to share just a little bit and I'm going to let you talk about it. I came to DPS in 2014 and was able to help build that program, and you came through in class too, and it was so wonderful because it basically we were together for six weeks and it was broken up one week and then two weeks, two weeks and then one week, and y'all were so fit I mean by the time you finished that Institute because every day you were doing those workouts with Greg and then it was just complete immersion in health and wellness. Right, you came in fit. That gave you something to train for.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I was training for it. I was also training for Spartans.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that was a big goal of mine was to complete the three Spartans in a year. I did the sprint, the super and the beast all in one year, which the sprint was three to five miles with 20 obstacles, we'll say, and then you've got the super, which is 10, up to 10 miles with 20 to 30 obstacles, and the beast is like 14 to 15 miles.
Speaker 2:Okay, so tell when, when you set these goals, obviously that is very helpful. And then when you sit down to talk to somebody who wants to change, improve their life, sharing how you did it, I'm guessing, is very, very helpful, very helpful yeah.
Speaker 1:Because they begin to realize that they can set goals and they know that they don't have to do it overnight. Right, because I explained to them you know, this is this is never going to happen overnight. You're not going to walk into the gym and work out for a week and come back out and see any kind of difference at all. So I always tell them it's going to take time, believe in what I'm telling you and believe in the process and it will pay off in the long run.
Speaker 2:That's great. Well, and when we think about lifestyle changes, it's very difficult. I mean it's definitely an up and down and around process to create sustainable long-term change, and it seems like you've lost 50 pounds and you've maintained it for 10 years, which is almost unheard of Most people when they lose weight it's because of a drastic change in lifestyle, like going on a diet for a while, lose 30, 40 pounds and then revert back. I mean, we see it all the time. How did you maintain that level of commitment to your health.
Speaker 1:It's really hard, but when I got back from the Institute I was labeled as the fitness guy.
Speaker 2:Oh, interesting.
Speaker 1:So when you, when you have all the cause, because I mean you learn a lot in the fitness institute. Not only do you learn how to work out, but you learn science behind it. You learn dps, policies and procedures, so everyone looks to you as that subject matter and the nutrition yeah, everything everything, yeah so when you come out as that subject matter expert, everybody's like what's the policy on this, what's the policy on that?
Speaker 1:So I could quote it to them without going and looking in the manual. So I was labeled as the fitness guy. I was also able to. This is really interesting for folks, in my opinion. I was able to go. There was a building in San Antonio at our regional office that was a CID storage building and it was full of just stuff. There was a car lift in there back in the 80s and 90s when they used to search cars and things like that Just a bunch of junk.
Speaker 2:Just a bunch of junk.
Speaker 1:That was never used. It's a two-car garage type building with an office. So I went to the CID captain in San Antonio I said hey, I just got back from the institute and fitness is never going to go away. We've started this program. It's not going. It's never going to revert, we're going to just keep going forward.
Speaker 2:Okay, I said so we this might be beneficial. Although some people might want it to go away, it's here to stay.
Speaker 1:I said we need, if we're going to require employees to work out by policy, you know, if they're not in compliance, by not offering them a place to do that is it's not beneficial to the employee. I said let me turn that old storage building into a fitness center.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay.
Speaker 1:And they were like well, how are you going to do that? So I laid down how I thought I could do it. I contacted Greg again and said where do I get equipment? And they gave me half of the building. After about a year the gym was getting used so much we couldn't have enough space. So I went back to him I said can I have the rest? They said if you can get that car lift removed, you can have the rest of the building. So I diligently worked and got all the junk that was down there.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 1:I got rid of it, either by, you know, relocating it somewhere or just trash whatever it was. And then I contacted a company that does that and they came and got the car lift and they took the car lift to another facility and the troopers now use that car lift to search cars or whatnot, instead of having to use on the side of the road oh, it's a win-win.
Speaker 1:It's a win-win, right yeah then I got the rest of the gym and then, uh, the office that was there on recently. I just knocked that wall down. About a year ago I knocked that wall down in between the two buildings. Now it's wide open and I had air conditioning installed because one of the complaints I got was it was too hot in there all the time.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So I had AC installed and now we've got a fully functional fitness center with a changing room.
Speaker 2:That's amazing, and you were doing all this while you were doing your job as a trooper. Like you weren't even in this dedicated job yet.
Speaker 1:So at that point I was still stopping cars, taking people to jail and working crashes, all my requirements that were still required of me as a trooper, and all of the divisions pitched in to buy the equipment, which is really cool. So we had the Rangers, cid and Highway Patrol all pitching in to buy the equipment for the facility.
Speaker 2:So you had a lot of support, a lot in to buy the equipment for the facility.
Speaker 1:So you had a lot of support, a lot. That's amazing, and that's leadership too, right Well?
Speaker 2:at the time, the original director was Freeman Martin. Oh yeah, okay, Well, that makes sense. Yeah, good support as well as pulling together that funding. That is amazing, so much passion to make all of that happen. I know they probably have a great deal of appreciation for all you've done to make to make that facility and that'll live on beyond you, right.
Speaker 1:When I went to the board for the position that I have, it's one of the things I said was I've been able to create this place out here and this will be my legacy.
Speaker 2:Wow. So I love what you said Going back to everybody saw you as the fitness guy, because I think it really connects some. I don't know if you've read the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. He talks about having identity-based habits. How we see ourselves will often determine our behavior, and I think that's so powerful and I think a lot about. If you're in a role where people are looking to you for advice or support, then you have to step up and be that person. It makes you feel.
Speaker 1:I think that's one of the when you ask me about how I do that, I think that's one of the things I have to check the balance. You know, if I don't look like a fitness guy, I'm not going to be a fitness guy.
Speaker 2:Right, you're going to feel like you're not authentically, yeah, and that disconnect between the behavior and not feeling authentic is not a good place to be. It makes so much sense. So we talked about how hard it is to change behavior. You have changed and have maintained this for 10 years, and I know that you're helping other people do the same. Can you share any success stories you have, maybe from without sharing anyone's name? Or personally identifiable information.
Speaker 1:So I've contacted a few of my previous. We call them FIPS. That's the Department. It's a fitness improvement plan. So, yes, I've contacted a couple of my FIPS and I was able to. I talked to him and he's like I would be honored if you share my story because it helped you. You know, you've helped me a lot. He was almost 400 pounds. His waist was closer to 50 than it was 40. Ok, you know. So he was struggling but he was willing to change and I think that is so important. Right, it's almost a first step, in my opinion is you have to.
Speaker 1:If you're not willing to change, you're not going to change. But he was willing to change for his job.
Speaker 2:Right, he wanted a better life, his life, his job he knew all around.
Speaker 1:if you change, everything would be better.
Speaker 2:So how do you do it?
Speaker 1:It's interesting. Okay, so he was in a place where we couldn't meet a lot but man, we blew each other's phone up. He would send me videos, he'd send me pictures, whatever he was doing workouts. I would share workouts with him and I would check on him constantly and then I would measure him his weight. I'll do his waist measurement every other month, take his weight every other month, you know, ask him about nutrition. And after about six or seven months the phone calls and all this stuff were not as frequent as they were because he already figured out how to do it.
Speaker 2:So he didn't need you.
Speaker 1:Well, I don't know, he didn't as much, he didn't need me as much. He still called me and told me, like I'll never forget, he called me and said hey, this is really working. You know, I really appreciate, uh, everything that we've been able to do, but I think I'm plateauing a little bit. What do you think about orange theory? So he was taking me upon himself to figure out. How can I change this?
Speaker 2:wow, how can I do better? Yeah?
Speaker 1:so I said, hey, I think orange stew is a great idea. I said you're in, you're out, you're high intensity for 30 to 45 minutes. Go back home right. A few months later he called me and said hey, have you heard about this meal prepping place over in san antonio? They make meals. You know I go over there. I was like, no, I haven't, it wasn't. He sent me the website for him. I was like, hey, I think that's great if that's how you. And he sent me the website for him. I was like, hey, I think that's great. If that's how you want to spend your day, meal prepping is a great thing to do. So after all of this workout, meal prepping, he changed his lifestyle, changed his diet, everything. He ended up losing 202 pounds. He's just amazing. I can't say enough about him. His pictures from when he started until now. It's just so, so cool to see.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And then one of the last things he did, I'll never forget this he sent me a video one day. He has a home garage gym. Also, he put 202 pounds on a bar well, a bar and weight 202 pounds. And he walked the block of his neighborhood and he sent me that video and said I wanted to know what it felt like to carry this much weight around.
Speaker 2:Wow, wow.
Speaker 1:And I was like man. That's one of the coolest things I've ever seen.
Speaker 2:Cold chills. Yeah, I mean, he did that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I didn't have. I hate to say I didn't have anything to do with that, but I influenced him in such a way that he wanted to do those things.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And to me that is my reward.
Speaker 2:This whole coaching relationship. I think it's so important and we know it works right when people can, and it doesn't always work. I mean there's, like you said, you have to be willing and want to change, but when you have somebody who cares about you and cares about your success and that is supporting you and asking the right questions, that's really where the magic happens, Right? So and I think that was one of the things that in the Institute that I always wanted to impart upon folks is the empathy. Put yourself in someone else's shoes.
Speaker 2:Right, yes, and I think you're you nail that I mean, and that's the, that's the secret sauce is it is empathy and being humble and being vulnerable are all key parts to coaching someone to make them better.
Speaker 1:If you, I can't say enough about it, but you know I love his story and every chance I get to tell it I do.
Speaker 2:Thank you for sharing that story. It's very powerful. Before going through all of this and learning how to coach and how to support people, Would you have shared you know these parts of yourself, or would you have been embarrassed or ashamed to share?
Speaker 1:I would probably tell it to someone trying to make myself look good right I don't think I would tell it as a way to connect with someone.
Speaker 2:It's interesting, that makes sense yeah, yeah, like I did this, I overcame this. But instead of that being the the the way that you're sharing're saying I've been where you are. I know how you know, or I can understand how that must feel it's all about yeah, it's all about your presentation I had to talk to someone about it, for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I could sit in there and say, hey, I did this, this is the way I did it and this is how you need to do it. It's not going to work for that person.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And I you've got. This is how you need to do it, it's not going to work for that person right, and I understand that I can say look at my wall, here I've got all these certifications. That doesn't mean anything to that, so it's not about all that.
Speaker 2:It's about how I can empathize with them and send them on the right path that's great and the ones that have listened so far been very successful so if you were talking out to podcast land to folks that you don't know, that may never get to meet you in person, and there's somebody out there who may want to change their life and don't have access to you or you know the resources available, what would you tell somebody? Where to go, what books to read, where to start to actually create a long-term, sustainable lifestyle change?
Speaker 1:yeah, there's so many, so many books, you know there's. I mean to me, once you, once you start this lifestyle change, then you can start reading books. I think I don't think that the books are going to get you going necessarily. At first, I think you have to meet someone. I think you have to talk to someone to see how they were able to do it, or or just share the stories like support. You need support from someone to to really get going. I think okay then.
Speaker 1:Okay, then, once you like me, once I started getting into it, then I started like I was like a sponge. I wanted to learn everything I could, all about it, not just one thing.
Speaker 2:Because it is. It's all the aspects of health, they're all interconnected.
Speaker 1:It's like a big wheel, yeah, with several spokes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, even when you think about financial health, mental health, I mean, they're all interconnected. What are your thoughts on how we're, how are we addressing mental health, and do you think there's enough being done around that space, in that space?
Speaker 1:It's interesting that you bring that up. We had a mike harper. He has uh, we have these meetings, these uh teams meetings, um, every other week, and one of the ones we had a few weeks ago was on mental health and uh, that's why we've read, that's why I think that's one of the reasons they wanted to rename um pt with the trainees. Now it's now mpc mental physical conditioning. So, um, I think that's a huge thing. I think it's just as huge as physical conditioning is. Uh, I really can't speak a lot on it. You know I don't have that much knowledge on it, but I will say that we have programs in DPS that can help you if you're ever going through anything that you need to. And the reason I say that you can meet them and you have to get up to six sessions with them I think it is before you have to go see a higher level right, it's because I know, because I've had those six sessions.
Speaker 2:Right and it helped you and it helped me.
Speaker 1:There's nothing wrong with admitting that you need help and then but that's the first step and that's what for me. I had to realize I needed to do that and the support my wife was able to get that accomplished and I came out on the other end a better person for doing that. But there's nothing wrong with asking for help or seeking counsel.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I do think it's so. I mean, we work so hard to de-stigmatize but there is still, unfortunately, a stigma around getting help for mental health. But you sharing the fitness guy got help for mental health, like in the end all the things that you're exposed to correct it's completely normal that you should need somebody to help you.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of things over the years that I saw and then there's certain things that triggered that. There's one thing in particular that triggered that, so I seeked help and it really did help me a lot.
Speaker 2:That's great that's great and there's so much that can be done. The earlier you know, the earlier we address things. And I just say that because this bi-directionality of health like if you're hurting mentally you're not going to want to go work out right or eat well it can lead to anxiety and depression and I just want to distance myself, avoid these feelings and drink alcohol and sleep and watch Netflix right, distance myself avoid these feelings and drink alcohol and sleep and watch Netflix Right.
Speaker 1:It's interesting that you bring that up and it brings me to bring something to my mind that I listened to a podcast myself, and it was a military podcast that was sent out to us again by Mike Harper, but it was about holistic health and how the military uses holistic health. I listened to that and I still listen to it because I think what they're doing is it works.
Speaker 2:Right, right, it does. Yes. Well, I really really appreciate you being willing to share your story, your journey and just the passion that you have for helping people. It's contagious, and I know that people are going to hear your story and want to get out there and do something for somebody else All right.
Speaker 1:Thank you, lacey, appreciate it.
Speaker 2:All right. Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of the ERS Walk Talk podcast. It's been an absolute pleasure having Corporal Harold Estep with us today. Harold's journey and his dedication to promoting health and wellness within the Texas Department of Public Safety is truly inspiring. Harold, thank you for sharing your story and the amazing work you're doing to help others achieve their goals. Your passion and commitment are making a significant impact and we appreciate all that you do To our listeners.
Speaker 2:We hope Harold's story has motivated you to take steps toward your own health and fitness goals. Remember it's never too late to start, and small changes can lead to significant improvements in your overall well-being. If you work at DPS, you have access to great folks like Harold who can help you directly on your wellness journey, and anyone who works for the state has access to amazing well-being benefits that can support you in living a healthier and happier life. I'll include more details about these benefits in the show notes. If you enjoyed this episode, please make sure you subscribe to our podcast and share it with others that might benefit from these amazing people and stories. Stay tuned for more episodes featuring guests who are making a difference in the world of health and wellness in the state of Texas. Until next time, keep walking, keep talking and keep striving for a healthier you. I'm Lacey Wolfe, and this is the ERS Walk Talk podcast. Take care.