Ep #1 - Your Health is Your Wealth
Welcome to the balanced business woman podcast.
I am your host, Hannah Hutson, a functional fitness, balanced nutrition, and mindset coach.
And I am going to help you hit new levels in your business by building wellness and balance into your life. Listen, along as I teach you how to get rid of brain fog, balance your hormones, improve your energy levels, lower your stress and become the CEO of your health.
Because we all know if you don't take care of yourself, you won't be able to take care of your business.
Hello, everyone. And again, welcome to the balanced business woman podcast.
I'm so excited to be here with you guys today, for my first episode!
This has been something that I've been thinking about for a really long time, and I've just been putting it on the back burner.
So I'm finally excited to say that I'm here and I'm making this happen and I want to help you guys out. So today in this first episode, I really just want to talk about my history, why I wanted to create this podcast, how I became a balanced business woman and how I can help you in your careers and your businesses to build high-performing businesses and level up your business.
So a little bit about me and my history when it comes to health and wellness, I grew up playing sports my whole life. I was really always into physical activity. I did gymnastics for years. Then I got into team sports with soccer and basketball. So I never really had issues with movement when I grew up. It was always something that I love to doing, and it was so important for my mental health as well.
When I went to college, I did have the option to play basketball, but I decided that I didn't want to, and I wanted to really enjoy my college experience. And so what happens is, I mean, just kind of like everyone you take for granted your metabolism when you're younger and the fact that you can kind of eat whatever you want and not gain weight.
But for me, when I went into college, I didn't even think that I would gain weight. I was just like, you know, whatever, I've, you know, never gained weight my whole life. I've never had to worry about body image issues. Um, so I didn't really know that that was going to be an issue for me until I started not being able to fit into my pants.
Then I got a lot of anxiety about it. So, this was the first time that I noticed that I had body image issues. And it was also the first time that I had started contemplating doing different diets, like fad diets, macro counting, calorie, counting, um, paleo whole 30. Those were really the diets that I was looking into.
Um, and that's a topic for another time, but that was just the first time that I really was introduced into diets and losing weight, because I believed that your, how your body looked was, you know, related to your health, which we'll talk about that a little bit later, because I don't believe that your health, um, should be determined by your size.
So at this time I started working out again and because I miss that competitiveness of sports, I found CrossFit and it was a great way for me to be competitive with the others while also focusing on my physical health. When I graduated from college, I ended up coming back home. I live in Seattle and I found a CrossFit gym, and then I started doing local competitions.
And at first, this was super fun. It was amazing to, you know, test out my physical abilities and push myself to the limits. Like my back squat PR was like 2/85. I could do like 15 pull-ups in a row. I thought I was a total badass. Until I wasn't. And what happened was I fractured my back and I also got a bulging disc.
A lot of this came from the fact that I was working out two times a day. I was working out probably four hours a day. I definitely had created a disordered approach to fitness. And I didn't know it at the time, but I definitely was just overexercising to maintain my body, um, and also avoid situations in my own personal life.
So at this time when I fractured my back, I went to the doctor and he told me I should never lift over 30 pounds. And this is coming from someone who just told you she lifted 285 pounds for a back squat. I went home and I cried and then I decided, you know, not every doctor knows what they're talking about.
Doctors are very smart, but I wanted to test this out for myself. So I made it a priority to learn form really well, understand my body, understand how to move correctly, and that's when I found my love for kettlebells. And during this time I actually purchased a gym which was kettlebell specific, but we also did strength and conditioning and other areas as well.
So this is what kind of made me the coach I am today. In terms of wanting people to lift correctly. I think women can be afraid of lifting and if you're doing it properly and you understand the movement patterns, you're going to be fine and you can lift without getting injured. And so that was kind of my first shift into, um, who I wanted to be as a coach when I got my new gym.
So at the time I own the gym. I still was dealing with my body image issues. And this is actually when I really started focusing on nutrition in the sense of actual macro counting. So I counted macros for about four years. It was a huge part of my life, but it was also a huge issue during this time while I was counting macros, I definitely had developed, uh, disordered eating and I did not realize it at the time.
So we're going to come back to that. I was obsessed with constantly being thin and I allowed my food choices and macros to dictate. If I was happy or sad. After four years of owning the gym, I decided to sell it and go all online with my business. This was one of the scariest moments of my life. I'm not going to lie going from something that was stable.
And I knew I was making X amount of money each month to being like, well, now it's all on you. If you don't have any clients, you don't make any money. So what happened during this time was I kind of shifted this mindset into hustle mode. And this is the first time I really. like the hustle mode mentality, where it was kind of like all or nothing.
And this really affected my health. So I started working 12 hours a day. I wasn't setting any boundaries for myself. I would respond to clients or DMs in my Instagram at any hours of the day. So I really like, I never turned it off. And I noticed that my heart rate was elevated all the time. I started having severe anxiety.
I actually did have a few anxiety attacks in the beginning of this where I like completely, like my husband was like, oh my gosh, this is not good. You are, I can't even calm you down. So it got really bad. And, I started having insomnia. So I couldn't sleep because my anxiety was so bad, which obviously affected how I showed up in the day because I was exhausted and I didn't have any energy.
And it led to port workouts either. I was so anxious that I couldn't focus on a workout or when I was doing my workouts, I was so exhausted that I wasn't performing my workouts to the best of my, what I knew was the best of my. So what happened here was that I was so focused on making money, which obviously money is important.
We all need money to survive, but I became so focused on making money and getting that next client that I was putting my health on the back burner. And the funny thing is about what happened here was three months into this new online journey. Obviously I was in school. But I was doing 20 to $30,000 months.
That is a lot of money. That was the first time I've ever seen that type of money before. But for some reason, in my mind, it wasn't enough. And I still felt like I wasn't good enough and I needed more clients to prove to myself. So I never even took the time to appreciate where I was at and how far I'd gotten in this journey.
So. So now let me pull you back to the disordered eating. Um, at the time I was still struggling with disordered eating and I was still counting macros in the beginning of 2020. This was kind of like the beginning of my new business as well. Um, this is when I realized that my relationship with food and my body was really bad and really bad.
And I noticed that it didn't matter how thin I had gotten. I had a rip six pack guys, like I was shredded and I would still walk more. I wasn't leaning enough. I wanted to be leaner. I wanted to get rid of cellulite, fun facts. You're not going to get rid of cellulite. It's going to be there for the long haul.
So you might as well get used to it and start to embrace it. And so this was actually the moment that I realized that my health. And the way I viewed myself and my body was actually starting to affect my personal business. And this is also when I realized that, and I started reading other books and articles about, about your, your weight and your size, but your thinness is not an indication that you're necessarily a healthier individual.
So my body. Having a six pack that was ripped did not mean that I was healthy. And I'm actually now a little bit bigger, um, from back then, but I'm way healthier now in a slightly larger body. So going back to that time, when I started realizing this, I started realizing that the clients I was working with also were having body image.
On top of that, they were solely obsessed with weight loss, weight loss, only, not just health, because health is not weight loss. Health is your emotional, your physical, your mental health, you know, your energy levels, how you're sleeping. Are you hydrating? What your relationships are like? So there's so many aspects of health that aren't even related to what your body looks like.
And I knew that. But I couldn't understand why my clients were so obsessed with the scale. And this is when I realized that I was projecting my own issues onto my clients. Yes, yes. This is when I knew that something had to change. I was having so much anxiety around my clients because they weren't losing weight fast.
And in my mind, I knew that weight loss fast can't happen and it's not sustainable, but they were so obsessed. And I realized that it was me. It was me all along who was causing the issues. So during this time I had to actually take a major step back in my business to not only focus on my health, but also to shift the way that I help in coach my clients, hiring a coach for me.
Was really important because I could tell that my mindset, I definitely lived in that scarcity mindset. I lived with fear of the future. I had a lot of limiting beliefs and it took months for me to work on them. And I'm still working on to this day. We're never going to be fixed. It's all about the journey and we're going to have ups and downs, but definitely I'm much better mentally now than I was back in.
And this is when I could, I was able to finally start working on my business again and bring it to a place that I was actually happy with. Um, and, and work with the clients in a way that I could help that. What I realized during this was that this burnout that I was experiencing, I wasn't alone. And I know that so many people, especially in the society we live in, where we are pushed to constantly work more and do more.
And our worth is determined by our careers and our success. I realized that I was the only one in this boat. And that there is a lot of other women out there who are trying to level up their businesses or level up their careers that are struggling with this exact thing. But they can't find that balance in their lives because either they're not making it a priority or they don't know how, because they want to succeed.
And they think, well, you know what, I'll focus on my health. I'll focus on my health. When I retire, I'll focus on my health when I have enough time. And I want to explain why this is a bad idea and why you need to focus on your health. Now, if you want your business and your career to be high-performing.
So life is all about balance. That's why this is called the balanced business woman, because we have to find balance in our life. Too much of anything is not good. If you're exercising too much, you're going to burn out. You're going to get fatigued. You're going to get injured. And so we have to balance exercise with rest and recovery.
That is going to be key to success. When it comes to your physical activity, the same thing goes for our nutrition, finding balance and nutrition is going to be key. So if we are. Wanting to lose weight or wanting to better our nutrition. And the first thing we go to is, okay, I need to restrict a bunch of calories.
I need to cut out all the sugar and carbs in my pantry. I'm going to throw everything away. I'm going to go super restrictive and I'm going to really focus and dial in on having control. We always want to be in control, having control, taking control of my health and my nutrition. You know what this does, this leads to binge eating.
When we take away the things that we actually enjoy. And when we have that mental restriction, along with physical, it leads to binge eating. And the binge eating cycle is not a fun one to be in. I've been in the cycle and I know many other women have been in the cycle. The only way to get out of that binge eating cycle is to find balance.
You can eat the cookie, you can drink the wine. However you need to mentally and physically allow yourself to have it. Otherwise you're going to feel shame and guilt, and then you're going to be stuck in that cycle again of, well, I have shame and guilt. I'm a terrible person. I'm not worthy. I need to go back on a diet.
So with nutrition, you have to find balance. Food is not good. It's not bad. It just is. And so mixing fun foods with more nutrient dense foods is going to be the. And then when we come to our workplace, if you are working all day, you're likely sacrificing a lot of other things in your life. You're sacrificing your sleep.
You're sacrificing your nutrition, you're sacrificing your movement, you're sacrificing your relationships. And we need to understand that we can't be sacrificing these things. We need to make sure that we're creating balance and we are actually making it a priority in. And while we might feel like we're getting a lot done within our business or our careers at the time, by putting all of our energy into this, eventually it's going to catch up to us your ability to stay mentally, physically, emotionally healthy is key to your success in building a top notch business when we aren't healthy in our business.
And I'm just going to spew these out right here. We run the risk at burnout brain fog, chronic stress, depression, anxiety, insomnia, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease. So. These health issues. Once they start affecting you, it might not feel like, oh, this is affecting me really bad right now. You know, a little bit of stress, a little bit of stress is okay, but when it becomes chronic stress, that's when it becomes not.
Okay. And at first you might think I can get through this. I'm a strong human, but eventually if you end up with adrenal fatigue, you're going to be forced to rest. If you end up with diabetes, heart disease, you have a stroke. Something bad happens. Your health, you are going to be forced to rest. And guess what?
That means that your business is going to take a hit. And that's why we need to focus on balance now and not in the long run when it's too late to get even deeper into these habits that we've created. I want you to understand that bad habits don't just happen random. Bad habits are created in a way for us to cope with anxiety, with stress, with trauma, with different experiences that we have in our life.
And you shouldn't feel bad about, those things that you've created in your life to cope. However, These bad habits, like maybe it's alcohol, maybe it's emotional eating. They are going to feel like they're giving you relief in the short term, but then the long-term they're obviously going to be negatively impacting your health.
So on this podcast, what I want to help you guys do. I understand that your health is important in order for you to succeed in your business, but also give you different coping tools, help you understand how to create healthy habits, understand how to add in daily actions in order to get you where you want to go in terms of your health, to help your business grow, because we all know that your health is your wealth.
If you aren't helping, you aren't going to be able to show up how you want to in your business. And you know, your health might not be suffering terribly right now, but again, it's going to catch up to you and then you are going to be forced to read. And your business is going to be put on the back burner.
Just like me. That's what happened. I had to put my business on the back burner in order for me to get my mental, physical, and emotional health back up to speed where it needed to be before I was able to start my business again. And now it's. And it's going amazing. And I want to help you guys get to that point, too.
So if you are ready to become empowered, build wellness into your life, learn how to find that balance so that you can take control of your health and level up your business. Please continue listening. I am so excited to have you. Here. And I'm so excited for this new podcast and this new journey with all of you.
If you guys have any questions, if you're struggling with anything, please reach out on my Instagram, get up with Hannah. And I'm more than happy to talk about what other, what other, whatever topics you guys have. I want to talk about those. So let me know what you need help with in terms of your health and your wellness, as it's affecting your ability to work, um, and level up your business.
Because I want to be here for you. I want to have the hard conversations I want to help you through these tough times. All right guys, that's all for today. I will see you next week.
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