Unraveling the Truth: How Female Business Owners & Execs Get Their Body Lean, Healthy & Thriving!

 It was early Saturday morning

No one was up yet and the house was dead silent

"Jennifer" eased out of the bed and tip toed to the bathroom so as not to wake up her husband and 4 year old who had somehow ended up in between them during the night 

Her feet hit the cold marble floor of the bathroom and she quietly shut the door behind her

She reached for her toothbrush and bent down to grab the scales from under the sink

She hadn’t weighed herself for a week but had been doing everything "right" for the last 7 days…. 

Or that was the plan…

Eating less

Going to the gym…5am before her day even started 

She’d even cut out all alcohol 

Jennifer stepped on the scales

Held her breath….

Looked down at the number….

WHAT?!!

Not only had she not lost weight, she had gained weight?!!

2kgs…

Jesus Christ….

She clenched her jaw so she wouldn’t curse out loud and wake the others and reached for her towel 

What the hell?!!

She was doing the best she could and even that was proving useless.

Now what?!!

Here’s the thing….

It’s infuriating and incredibly frustrating when you’re genuinely trying.

You feel demotivated, lost, and frankly, confused.

It’s not that you don’t want to…

I mean…

You really want to get a grip on your health habits and your physique. 

And look…

You genuinely value health and fitness.

You know that you don’t just feel better in yourself, but the effects spill over to ALL aspects of your life…

You know that you’re also a better leader, mentally sharper, clearer, more alert, more energized and more resilient. 

It’s just that business is chaotic, full on, and even overwhelming at times.

Here’s the truth…

We get it. 

But few people do. 

Few people understand what it’s like to own and run a business when everything rests on your shoulders.

Even fewer people understand what that’s like when you’ve grown large enough to have a team to manage, payroll to meet, increased overheads, and more plates to spin.

You’re time poor and demands on you exceed what is viable, reasonable, and even realistic

But you’ve been going round in circles with your health and fitness attempts for so long now that you’re becoming more and more disappointed in yourself

You’re becoming less confident and even more self-conscious.

You’re gaining weight, and you’re starting to worry

You don’t understand…

“What’s wrong with me? You think…

Why can’t I get a grip on my body and food issues?!” 

The good news is, there’s nothing wrong with you

You don’t need to quit, downsize, slow down, or settle for less in order to be in the best shape of your life.

You simply have a very unique situation that is tripping you up, and making the whole process exponentially harder and more complicated than it needs to be.

How so?

Let’s dig in deeper and find out exactly what is going on, how the big picture all fits together, and what you REALLY need to address…- things nobody has ever told you before - if you want to get into amazing shape and enhance your mental focus, endurance, and resilience… all WITHOUT having to slow down, settle, or compromise your business growth or ambition.

Ready? 

Here we go…

 1. Face & Acknowledge Reality - It is not your fault but it is now your responsibility. 

The first step is to have the courage and humility to face the problem dead in the face - without any self judgment…. Simply acknowledge the current state of affairs and take extreme ownership. 

Face and acknowledge the reality. It’s not your fault that you got here, but it is your responsibility to get yourself to a better place. 

And look…

You’re exhausted…both physically and emotionally. 

But it should come as no surprise when the past few months, years or even decades have been spent eating poor quality food…(even if you have been dieting hard)

And exercise? 

Your daily movement is through the floor…

You’re mentally overloaded and stressed…

Your hormonal profile is haywire….

You’re overweight, which likely means you have poor blood sugar management… 

Which in turn means that not only is your energy tanked but your brain health and cognitive function will be grossly impaired - even if you don’t notice it…. because this has become your normal…

You’ve been telling yourself, “I’ll start when… I’ll start after… I just need to (make more money, hire my next member of staff, build the extension on my house)!”

This, of course never happens, can never happen, because if you can’t value or prioritise health now, what makes you think you’ll sustain it the next time an urgent deadline, setback, or crisis comes knocking?!

You can’t! You won’t…

Furthermore…?

It’s affecting your confidence and self esteem.

You’re not dating because you don’t feel good enough or it isn’t the right time yet…

Or else your relationship is suffering, your sex life is non-existent, and you’re essentially ships passing in the night…

You cancel plans with friends because you’re exhausted, or you don’t want to ruin your diet…even though you stay at home and end up binge eating or having a bottle of wine anyway…or  you’re too self conscious…

Or perhaps you do see your friends because they help to distract you, they’re in the same place you are, and you get to enable each other as you numb yourselves and escape the overwhelming stress of the week with sugar, carbs and alcohol - telling yourselves that “it’s normal, life’s for living, everybody does it, diet starts on Monday!” 

2.  You’ve Been Lied To. You’re chasing the wrong rabbit down the wrong hole. 

Part of the problem is that you’ve been sold a lie about how to get fit & healthy.

There’s no conspiracy. 

Nobody is maliciously trying to sabotage you. But it is the blind leading the blind. 

You’ve been sold diet and fitness advice by 25 year olds… for 25 year olds - people with no responsibilities, no team, no payroll, no overheads, no kids, no stress, and nothing to do but eat, sleep, train, count grains of rice into tupperware and do hours of cardio, and spend hours getting the right angle for their next, heavily filtered selfie.

This, isn’t you.

Not to mention…

You’ve been taught to do hours of cardio…

Or 6 training sessions per week…

Or to eat “fitness desserts” like yoghurt with protein powder…which has terrible nutritional value, and horrendously low satiety and satiation… 

Or to keep hunger at bay with “healthy snacks” …. Which, in turn, are ironically dramatically inferior at regulating hunger, energy and cravings…

You’ve been encouraged to eat plant based…

Or keto…

None of which are optimal for health for a 25 year old, let alone for a 35+ year old, high performing entrepreneur who is at or approaching perimenopause.

We need to get the basics in place:

• Adequate protein intake and protein quality at every meal 
• Lift weights 3 times a week
• A minimum of 10K steps per day (not running!)
• Stress management that actually works - which means learning emotional fitness, instead of using temporary coping mechanisms.

I’m not going to go into any more detail on surface level strategy at this stage because… that’s not the real problem! 

The problem is…

 People love to obsess over diet, nutrition, and fitness. 

But the real issue is the subconscious patterns that control your habitual emotional states and your habitual behaviours… which in turn are the cause of both unnecessary stress and overwhelm in your business AND self sabotage behaviours with your health.

Which brings us onto… the things you need to know that no one has told you. 

 #1: Health Optimisation Is An Emotional Problem

This is a vital principle we constantly have to remind people about.

Why?

It’s a complete blindspot for the majority of people we encounter.

Most people obsess over diet, nutrition, and exercise… calories, macros, IIFYM, keto, paleo, plant based, carnivore, intermittent fasting, cardio, weight training, HIIT training… and yet still they struggle.

But what is the NUMBER 1 reason why people struggle to get results with their health, fitness, or weight loss efforts?

It's all of the “F**K IT!” moments!

• “It’s a bad day so I might as well write it off and start again tomorrow”

• “You know you’re going to binge eventually so you might as well do it now”

• “Work is simply too crazy right now, I’ll get back on track after this deadline”

• “I’ll just feel so much better if I have a taste”

• “I promise this is the last time”

• “Just this once”

• “I don’t want to justify my diet choices to my mum/friends/colleagues so I’ll just do what they’re doing”

• “I can’t be bothered to shop/cook/train tonight, I’m too tired, I deserve a break, I’ve been working really hard”

Everybody's telling you what to change in your diet plan or training plan.

But none of these “f**k it” moments have anything to do with nutritional strategy or fitness programmes!

Fat loss & health are first and foremost an emotional problem.

You’ve conditioned yourself to depend on food to escape feelings of boredom, or frustration, or stress, or overwhelm, or inadequacy.

Yes, food and exercise guidelines matter, and we need to make sure that your approach is healthy, simple and sustainable…

… but we have to stop thinking that the solution to your problems is to find the dieting holy grail that will magically eliminate all of your “f**k it!” moments!

Unless you address your subconscious programming, you will struggle forever.

However… when you commit to emotional fitness with the same degree of passion as you do physical fitness you will finally have the foundations on which you can build LASTING results.

Otherwise put?

Change the inside to change the outside.

 #2: “All In” -vs- “All Or Nothing”

A very addictive, and very common blindspot amongst entrepreneurs is what we call the “campaign lifestyle”. 

Here’s how it plays out:

You set yourself a project and you go all in. 

You’re hyper focused and relentless.

You don’t let go of a problem or a task until it’s resolved and completed.  

You work in long blocks of time, you have a quick recharge with some caffeine and then go again.

You figure out the solutions, close the deals, get the agreements, and complete the tasks one after the other, until you lie exhausted but victorious on the battlefield!

Sounds awesome right!? 

You gain more and more evidence of your capabilities to overcome adversity against all odds, to back yourself and make things happen! 

You’re an action taker, and a go getter.

And despite the stress, there’s a rush, even a high to working in this way.

Now… once you complete that project and finally get a bit of breathing space back, what happens?

You feel some celebration and recharging is in order. 

Your mind is frazzled, your body is tired, and at the same time you need to blow off some steam. 

So you go into holiday mode or party mode.

You disappear off grid and do whatever the hell you want. Relaxing in the sun, drinking, partying, whatever feels indulgent and hedonistic. You deserve it. You’ve worked hard for this.

Then you get back and realise your body is in an unacceptable state…

Right! Time to finally sort out your health, fitness and physique once and for all. 

Work is quiet right now so you’ve got time to make it a priority.

And then what happens? 

The next project, deadline, or crisis interrupts your progress. Often at the most frustrating, inconvenient time…

Just when you feel like you’re making progress in your fitness, or perhaps right in the middle of your time off when you’ve fully switched off, and now you’ve got to drag yourself back into high energy and productivity mode again.

We call this the campaign style lifestyle. 

This is what happens when you believe that the ONLY way you can be successful, creative, productive, or to solve problems is to be all or nothing.

In other words…

You go on a work campaign to launch the business, finish the project, meet the deadline…

Then you go on a recovery / holiday / party campaign…

Then you go on a fitness and health campaign…

And round and round the merry go round you go.

And it works great for a while.

Your business grows, you prove yourself, you gain status, build a reputation and make money.

But slowly, silently, insidiously, the rest of your life is falling apart.

With each cycle your health is getting worse, you’re gaining more weight and getting more and more out of shape.

With each cycle you feel more and more burnt out and fed up. It’s starting to feel like groundhog day… here we go again!

And the thrill that your business once gave you is getting less and less…

It feels more and more stressful, more and more like an obligation, and perhaps even like a set of golden handcuffs. 

Here’s the thing…

People who live the campaign lifestyle often pride themselves on being strategic thinkers in their career. 

They can see the big picture and how all the moving parts work together and make smart decisions accordingly…

But the truth is they’re NOT strategic thinkers, certainly not when it comes to their life. 

And fundamentally…. Your life is like a business. 

A business has different departments - sales, marketing, finance, operations, customer support, HR, etc. 

Equally…

In the same way, your life has different departments - career, finance, health/fitness/wellbeing, romantic relationship, family, friends, recreation, mindset/spiritual, etc.

Let’s put it like this…

You wouldn’t expect a business to function if you only prioritised one department at a time, to the complete neglect of all the others right?

No, they all work synergistically together.

A critical distinction is that… 

There’s a huge difference between being all in vs being all or nothing. 

Campaign thinkers think, “right, I’m all in and I’m fully committed to (insert current obsession - getting in shape once and for all / launching this business). I’m going to leave no stone unturned and do everything and anything - whatever it takes to make this happen!”

Which sounds and looks awesome until you zoom out and notice the train wrecks occuring in every other area of their lives through complete, sheer, and utter neglect. 

Being "all in" means doing whatever it takes to make this sustainable long term…

Neglecting key areas of your life whilst you obsess over one isn’t sustainable, smart or strategic. 

Is it REALLY true that you can’t complete this project without ditching your workout schedule, skipping meals and neglecting your spouse and kids?!

Of course not! 

Does it require more mental discipline, better emotional fitness and better state management? 

Yes! 

Does it require being able to disconnect at will so that you can return to solving the problem or building the empire fully refreshed AND with new insights, new clarity and new resourcefulness? 

Yes!

Does it require knowing your personal standards, values and non negotiables? 

Yes!

Does it require being a strategic thinker?!

Yes!!

The trouble is…

You’re addicted to the hustle, addicted to the buzz, addicted to the ILLUSION of certainty and control that the campaign lifestyle gives you.

When you finally realise that it’s not working and is slowly undermining your health, your physique, your personal life, your happiness AND your success, THEN you can commit to learning to manage yourself, your mindset and your life in a much smarter, easier, and - over the long term - much more productive and successful manner.

We specialise in mentoring female entrepreneurs & senior leaders. Our methods are tried, tested, proven and we are 100% results driven. Start your journey with us today!