Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Michael Phoutrides. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Michael, appreciate you joining us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

How many times have you wanted to better yourself but didn’t know where to turn for help?

Growing up in a home full of Greeks and Italians who ate like it was a professional sport, husky was a word often used to describe me.

Husky, was such a loathsome word back then..

Being overweight held me back most of my childhood. Imagine being a kid who had the drive to do great things but was confined to a body that was unmanageable.

This problem followed me through high school and even into the military. It seems like there’s a lot of people, perhaps some reading this, that seem to be just as active as others with similar diets but carry more weight on their frame.

There was a time when trying out various diets and following a bunch of gurus was my strategy to the weight problem. I fell for all kinds of tricks and gimmicks that wasted my time and money. Certainly there are plenty who can relate.

These dead ends only ever got me so far but never got me to where I wanted to go. They never got me to the point where I was comfortable in front of others without a shirt on. It was frustrating and demoralizing at best.

One day I was in the gym and I got to talking to a great lady who was a professional at helping others lose weight, for good.

After talking, she began to take me under her wing.

She taught me that there are no off limits foods. In fact, labeling some foods as bad and others as good can get you into a lot of psychological trouble, and that certainly was the case for me.

It was about three months in to her mentoring and I was lighter than I ever had been in my life. Additionally, she was teaching me a method that anyone could use.

One of the biggest lessons I was learning was why so many people fail at weight loss. With the huge amount of information out there, most of it is false. In fact, much of it is purposely misleading for the sake of making profit. The point of some of these gurus is to get you to almost get to your goal, but never quite make it. The next bit of secret weight loss information is the carrot they dangle in front of you in exchange for more of your time, effort, and money.

This was disgusting in my opinion.

As my mentor and I were finishing my program and she was giving me the reigns back to me to handle my weight on my own, I began asking her a question.

Would it step on your toes if I took what I learned from you and taught it to others?

Her answer was amazing.

She said she has no patent on how biology works, so it’s not hers to give me.

We are still friends to this day and she sees all the people who taking control of how they look by better understanding how food affects their bodies in a common sense way.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Cornerstone Weight Loss helps you better understand how food affects your body in a common sense way that will put you in control of how you look.

Aside from a three year career in natural bodybuilding after learning weight loss principles from a great mentor, formal training is also a tool used to help those seeking weight loss.

An education from Colorado University at Boulder in Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology helps with the confidence in the information you receive when working with Cornerstone Weight Loss. Everything that is suggested to you to achieve your weight loss goals is backed by science. You can go as deep or as simple in knowledge as you desire to go. If you would like to see the peer reviewed scientific studies behind what you’re doing, you can because you deserve it.

This is not for first time dieters. It’s going to sound odd, but Cornerstone Weight Loss is for those who have been jaded by the weight loss industry. It’s for those who actually want results and want to take control of how they look. This isn’t flashy, it’s not sexy, and there aren’t any cute catch phrases. But this is effective and will get you results.

If you’ve tried a bunch of diets and guru protocols and have come up short. If you’re almost at your wits end, there’s a solution. You can take control of how you look forever, let Cornerstone Weight Loss be your guide and let’s achieve this together.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

Other than training/knowledge, the most helpful thing for succeeding in helping you better understand how food affects your body in a common sense way that will put you in control of how you look is great communication skills.

There’s really no way around it. It seems like when you’re terrible at connecting with others, you seem to lack empathy.

When you lack empathy, it’s nearly impossible to listen because all you do is think about yourself. If you only thing about yourself, you talk about yourself too much.

If you don’t develop the skill of listening through empathy, how are you going to understand someone enough to help them lose weight?

How can you help them with anything?

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

When Cornerstone Weight Loss started I had horrible sales and communication skills. So horrible, in fact, I had to pivot out of my comfortable engineering job into an entry level sales position.

The pivot was for this business!

I took a massive pay cut. The learning curve was steep. I lost a lot of sleep. But, it was worth it.

Learning sales in a trial-by-fire way accelerated my learning and helped me learn sales skills I need -and still use today- to succeed in business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.cornerstoneweightloss.com
• Instagram: @cornerstone_weight_loss
• Facebook: @CornerstoneWeightLoss
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-phoutrides-265651a8
• Twitter: @cornerstone_WL

Image Credits
Cornerstone Weight Loss Michael Phoutrides