321: The 3 Keys To Build Self-Integrity with Heidi Powell

Introduction 

You're listening to Biceps After Babies Radio Episode 321.

Hello and welcome to Biceps After Babies Radio. A podcast for ladies who know that fitness is about so much more than pounds lost or PR's. It's about feeling confident in your skin and empowered in your life. I'm your host Amber Brueseke, a registered nurse, personal trainer, wife and mom of four. Each week my guests and I will excite and motivate you to take action in your own personal fitness as we talk about nutrition, exercise, mindset, personal development and executing life with conscious intention. If your goal is to look, feel and be strong and experience transformation from the inside out, you my friend are in the right place. Thank you for tuning in. Now, let's jump into today's episode.

Hey, hey, hey! Welcome back to another episode of Biceps After Babies Radio. I'm your host Amber Brueseke. And today on the podcast, I have Heidi Powell. And it was such a joy to interview her, I say it on the podcast, but I'll say here in the introduction as well that what I got from Heidi was just this, like, embodied wisdom. Girlfriend has been through a lot. She has a lot of experience and she's been able to take those learnings and really, you know, experience it and live through it and then share from a place of lived experience, I think sometimes we know well-intentioned people share from this place of theory or that sounds great and Heidi really has experienced and gone through a lot of the things that she shares on this podcast. So we dive into some really great topics, including how to build integrity with yourself. We talk a lot about self-love and what she's learned about that throughout the years about how to balance things when you have a busy life with motherhood and business and health and fitness. And Heidi shares some really valuable takeaways that I think are going to really start to shift. Maybe the way that you're thinking about yourself and about your journey, so without further ado, let's dive into the interview with Heidi Powell.  

Amber B 01:53 

I am thrilled to be able to welcome to the podcast the one and only Heidi Powell. Heidi. Thanks so much for coming on the podcast.  

Heidi Powell 02:01 

Oh my gosh, thank you for having me, I'm so excited to be here. 

Amber B 02:04 

We were just talking ahead of time about how she said she hasn't done a whole lot of interviews on podcast, she has her own podcast, so I'm just really grateful that you're willing to come on the podcast and share your wisdom with my audience. 

Heidi Powell 02:16 

Oh, thank you. Yeah, it's I think in this season of shifting my priorities a little bit, you know, I just there's not as much business and I I was what I was telling you is usually podcasting is connected to promoting. Yeah, it's something you've got going on for almost everyone who's podcasting and this was like I've said no to so many of them and for some reason when yours came through, I'm like, yeah, let's do it. Why not like let’s go have fun. 

Amber B 02:40 

Let’s have fun. 

Heidi Powell 02:42 

Yeah. I just want to have a conversation with someone amazing. 

Amber B 02:44 

Yeah. Awesome. And we're definitely going to get into that shift of priorities. That's definitely something I want to bring back up, you know, throughout the podcast so we'll we'll put a pin in that and we'll get into that for sure. 

Heidi Powell 02:55

OK.

Amber B 02:56 

But if somebody has maybe been living under a rock and doesn't know who you are, can you just share a little bit of who you are, a little bit of your story and specifically maybe that transition of like what drew you into the health and wellness space. 

Heidi Powell 03:09 

OK, so yeah, I my name is Heidi Powell. I am first a mother of four and and really that's the most important thing of my life right now and always. I think what most people know me for. Maybe I should start there because anyone watching who doesn't know who I am, which there's probably a lot of you do. You don't know who I am. Most people know me from, I would say. A TV show that I co-hosted with my ex-husband Chris Powell called Extreme Weight Loss on ABC, where we spent six years helping people lose half their body weight over the course of a year. So we helped, I think was 72 people and it was really awesome because in that you would think it's diet and exercise and diet and exercise does matter in a sense. 

Amber B 04:00 

Sure. Yeah. 

Heidi Powell 04:01 

but it really is mental emotional change. And Chris and I were such a great tag team because he was very scientific. He still is. He's very scientific. He's so good. He taught me everything I know about diet, exercise, nutrition. He really did. And I am very part like I maybe the best way to say it is I had more problems that I had to work through I have a more.  

Amber B 04:25 

Sure. Yeah. 

Heidi Powell 04:26 

I have a much rockier past. I had more issues and I truly I believe that with the things that I dealt with from my eating disorder growing up, I mean it was like a 10 to 15 year battle with anorexia and severe bulimia. And body just morphia that went beyond that. It was something that I was so ashamed of for so long until I started working on that show and suddenly something that had such a grip on me was something I was grateful I had been through because I could now help people and relate to them on a on a level that I never could have if I didn't have other issues, right. And so that for me was my first paradigm shift of Oh my gosh. OK, just because I have. I've battled major demons or even battling demons, that doesn't make me bad or wrong. That actually makes me human. And sometimes in the middle of that battle you don't know why you're going through it until you can help someone else down the road who's also going through it. So I would say I am the most imperfect human and I believe that that is what makes us perfect. I feel like I had a lot of things happen to me, made a lot of mistakes and they are things that I believe give me strength and character and lessons. I've had people die in my life. I've, you know, it's just it's been a lot. And so I how did I get into health and fitness? Actually, I was just. I was. I was doing a podcast yesterday that will come out in a couple weeks from my own podcast and I was kind of telling my story and I was a kid who was so I had everything growing up like my parents were fit. They looked like Mr. Clean and Barbie. Truly so fit that all of the kids in high school. They didn't really come over for me and my brother. They came over for my mom and my dad. 

Amber B 06:21 

I love it. 

Heidi Powell 06:22 

Because my mom was beautiful. And what's interesting is they were so good to me, and they were so kind. And they provided in all of the ways, but me being the one girl of there were three boys, three boys, one girl. I felt like I never measured up to my mom. Right. And they were doing the best that they could. They always wanted us to do no sugar, no chips, no candy, no anything. Right. And in my mind, what I heard when they were taking me to the gym at 5:00 AM was. Oh, something's wrong with me, like, oh, my gosh. And as I started to go through puberty, I was a little bit bigger than my mom, which was this crazy thing in my head that told me I wasn't enough. And it landed me in an eating disorder. So those that had some really hard years where I did not believe in myself. I went from being a straight A student in high school to D's and F's. When I went to ASU because I just went into a severe it it's it's like a drug addiction. It truly anorexia. But my days revolved around where I was going to drive, what drives where I was going to hit and where I was going to purge the food that I, I mean it just was this crazy thing and it was binge, restrict, binge, restrict all day long. And and it actually it it left me feeling like I I my first job was as a I was a Hostess at a pizza joint. And I remember watching the waitresses. And being like, Oh my gosh. Like I could never do that. They must have to get some certificate. I wouldn't even know where to start. I'm not good enough. I'm not smart enough. I'm not athletic enough. Whatever it is, all of these negative thoughts that go in your head that truly plague you when you're insight of any addiction. That was my, my world. That was my reality and you know your next job at a call center at Bank One and I would go look at the tellers at Bank one and be like I'll never be able to do that. I had this fixed mindset that told me I was either worthy of greatness or I'm not. And I believed I was not worthy of greatness. I believed my parents had it wrong and everyone who believed in me had it completely wrong. They didn't know the fraud that I really was inside, and so I just kept shrinking and shrinking until I found one person who believed in me. I had, you know, left home and in college, and I was. Yeah, I I I was actually engaged to be married to my first husband. And this one woman was awesome. She kind of she. I was just her assistant at first and then I grew into a loan processor and then I was doing my own loans. And then over time I had, I was doing my like I was doing fix and flips. So I would go sit at the courthouse steps and buy home. So I was in real estate before Wellness and I did really well in real estate. So I did that until I was about 26, 27. And then I met Chris after my divorce and he is the one who got me back into Wellness and it was only because so at that point, I was realizing I could do anything I wanted to. I'm like, oh, I can make great money. I can help people get into homes. I can fix their credit. I can do their. I loved it. I loved what I did and my business mind I, my families in real estate. So I just, I have a business mind more than anything else. And Chris, when he and I met. I'm a fixer. He was living out of his car and so I'm like, oh, OK, you haven't filed your taxes in four years. Let me fix you. Let me help you. 

Amber B 09:51 

Let me fix you.  Yeah. 

Heidi Powell 09:53 

And so I I helped him get on his feet and I just really, I I in between my fix and flips in my loan. So I would like help him with his company clean up a bunch of stuff and. And then he's like, hey, we would work out together and we were just friends. But he's like you. You're really great form. Do you want to do some videos with me? I'm like, sure. And so it kind of started that way. And then I became, actually, I was his manager. So I managed his business as we were married. And yeah, I did videos to them for fitness, but I was not back into training. I had trained for a bit right outside of high school, but I wasn't back into training until the show started because we created the show and he had only done one massive transformation and then suddenly the show started and we had eight at one time.

Amber B 10:44 

Booyah! 

Heidi Powell 10:45 

And then six months, yeah, we we shot over the course of a year. And what happened with season one is we were six months in and the results were so good. That they picked up season 2. And they put more people so we then had. So there were so many people and Chris was busy traveling around, doing media and also shooting a show which did not leave a lot of time for train for really helping this many people with these many like this.. 

Amber B 11:12 

Issues? 

Heidi Powell 11:12 

Yes, yes. And so I'm a fixer. So what did I do? I jumped in. But I did and it went by, I would say about six months in, I was fully I mean when Season 2 was picked up, I was fully invested and I had people. The ones who are not losing weight would come and stay with me and my kids. I was pregnant at the time and I would cook their chicken and cut, you know, measure their food and train them and hike them and all the different things that you we we would do love them. I I will always say a transformation specialist is not. It's not a trainer. It's not like that's one of 7000 hats that a transformation specialist wears. But I'm a friend. Chris and I both were, you know, a friend, a hairdresser, a therapist. Like whatever. You need a ride like anything at all is what we were to the people. They were the people who really showed them what true unconditional love was and. 

Amber B 12:15 

Yeah, it sounds like you took care of like the person, like the person in front of you. 

Heidi Powell 12:18 

That's what it that's all that matters. Yeah, once you, we were able to show people that they were lovable, like worthy of love, then they would start to believe it and maybe love themselves. And obviously there were tools and techniques, but truly, the diet and exercise did not matter. So yes, my certifications are all in that stuff, but that stuff doesn't even matter. It's just so it's there. What matters is teaching people how to love who they are and that's what we really got to do on the show. So that's who I am. That's my story. That's how I got to where I am. 

Amber B 12:58 

OK, that's so powerful. I I had no idea that I I did not know you were in real estate before you came in to extreme weight loss like that. It's crazy to me. You mentioned the imposter syndrome. Did you like when you're hopping into you know, two seasons of extreme weight loss and like helping these people with the background, maybe that is, you know, not as strong as Chris's. Did that imposter syndrome flare up for you? Like, can I even help these people? 

Heidi Powell 13:21 

I knew I could help them because I knew that it wasn't what everyone thought it was right, like I knew as well as Chris that it's really what's happening in your heart and your mind like I but to the world, like luckily, I've never really paid much attention to what the world says. I'm sure there was a lot of talk, right? A lot of. But I also knew I was probably one of the most qualified people to help someone love themselves through eating disorder, because I've been there. I was one of the most qualified people to say, Oh my gosh, you're in this dark space. Like you can get here. And here's how. Because I I mean, we had therapists on the show and nutritionist and all that. So they were well supported, but I don't think there is another person more qualified to love someone through something than me and Chris. So now. I didn't ever ask to be on the show. That was never a thing. I just did what I was doing and every season they want something new, right? And new was like, Oh my gosh, look what's really happening behind the scenes. Because pretty soon I would have, you know, we would do boot camp where I had a house in Arizona. We rented one. When we cycle them through. And so it was just a 24/7 job for me and they would want me in certain scenes. And then it by season four, it was a complete co-host partnership and so yeah that I. That when they really wanted me to do that. Maybe it is called, maybe it is imposter syndrome. What it was, though, is I just didn't feel comfortable in front of camera, like at all. I didn't like camera. I never could have done this back then. You put a camera on me even to do some squats, and I was. I would freeze up. And so I actually remember I would tell Chris and the producers all the time like. Can you please like just catch me in my natural element like when I'm actually training the people I'm actually talking to them instead of asking like when you would sit me down for an interview back then. I mean the whole show. My interviews were so bad because I just. I didn't like feeling like it was a TV show. Right. It's like I really loved to remember, and Chris and I would always say transformation first and then they can shoot a show around us, but if we try and shoot a show first, we'll lose the transformation and so I really, really, really tried to focus on that. And also I had four. I was popping out babies as the show was happening. So I was so busy. I don't know. I really let any of that other stuff get to me. But yes, I I didn't feel. I mean, TV is a weird. It's a weird thing. 

Amber B 16:02 

Amen. Yeah. Well, let's talk a little bit about you know, we you mentioned prioritization at the beginning of the episode because you do you run a business, you have kids and you know, like many of us, you have a very busy life and you know, I don't love the word balance. It's it's not a great word, but it's very loaded. But how are how do you make life with work for you and maybe even more importantly, what does that shift been like over time like you talked about reprioritization like, what are you realizing as you get older, as your kids get older, that maybe we'll give some advice to someone who's maybe a little bit earlier on in their childbearing years. 

Heidi Powell 16:39 

But what I'm going to say to anyone who's earlier on than I am is like it's all going to work out the way it's supposed to and and truly that I think that the fact is that there's not a thing I could say that would really fix or make perfect anything for anyone. Sometimes we just have to go through it like someone could have given me all of the advice when I was 30 that I would give myself. You know, I would say now and I still needed to go through it and and it made it really hard. But those hard things that we go through or the choices we make that maybe we have some regret in are the things that shape and mold who we are today. So for me, what I will say is I spent so much of my life, probably until the past handful of years, couple years, three years. Not really. Yeah. Always growing and becoming better and loving myself more and more. Right. But like, still believing that maybe in order to be enough or to be worthy. I had to be someone I had to be accomplished. I had to do enough. I had to, you know. So as the show happened, which was super uncomfortable for me to be on camera, it was like a OK, this is the level of success I have to achieve now to always be enough, right. So then I was like oh my gosh, so it wasn't necessary. It was just. And I loved what I got to do, and also there was a lot of pressure. Right. And so I think I spent like after. The show was very tiring for me and Chris. It was so much work and it was so awesome and the hardest things are usually the best things with the most memories and also the day that show ended. I was so grateful because it actually gave us room to breathe. I got to, you know, if I was sick it like having our babies, they didn't have to, like, go film the next day, right and. So it was but sure. I I I guess it was about 5. We we went straight into building an app in a supplement company. So it was still pretty excruciating. I think what really when you're in a marriage though, you kind of you sometimes, at least for me, I'll speak for me in a marriage with Chris. I don't think I was aware of my insecurities as much as when the marriage ended.  

Amber B 19:02 

Interesting. Yeah 

Heidi Powell 19:03 

When the marriage ended, it was like a ohh crap. Like I am on my own. I don't have the partner that I did the show with. I don't have the partner that I did the app with. I don't have the partner. I did the supplement company with. We still have those things, not the show, but still like. This is now I'm going to have like, we're separating. I'm actually an individual and I need to figure out who I am on my own. And that was super scary and for me, that moment. So the divorce with me and Chris was a huge like, OK, why did I put so much time and effort into so many other people when my kids need me more than anyone? And so I did the post divorce, went through a phase where I did not. I kind of went away from all work we prioritized and spent more time with the family and then it was like the oh crap moment I actually have to provide, so a year later. I had met Dave Hollis, who I dated for a while, two and a half years. And so I I had, I started up some fitness challenges and some different educational courses and events and I was busier with those things than I ever had been and I think there was more of even a desperate like, Oh my gosh, I really have to make sure I stay afloat. And so I kind of went back into the all consuming. I remember telling Dave when he's like, let's just do a challenge. And I said, Dave, you don't know me like. I can't have to do anything. I don't know how, like I'm either all out or all in. And then what happened over time is it did it became all-encompassing where I I in in, in those times I don't feel like I'm the best mom. I don't feel like I'm the most patient mom. And and so and and it got to a point for me in 2022, where I felt like I was going to break. So, August 2022 I ended up having a panic attack that landed me in the hospital, but I mean, it was not great. Paramedics one night next morning, did it again, went to the hospital because I thought they misdiagnosed me. And it just turns out it's anxiety and that that actually was followed by a couple months of depression. Bad, bad like a full week. I couldn't even get on a work phone call. Like I remember getting on leading my team. I would get on a call and I hung up the first time. The first second I heard someone’s voice, I hung up and they all had to fend for themselves for a week. But yeah, it was really hard and really painful, and that was kind of a OK. I'm not happy like me falsely believing that, and I knew it was false that I have to work to a certain level to be enough. Like I have more than I've ever had. And you know my more business than I thought. Whatever. And I was more miserable than I'd ever been like. I when I first got divorced, we lived in a tiny rental where all of us were like piled in. Like 1400 square feet and I was so happy I had nothing and I had everything. And here we, you know, accumulated things. And the business was growing. And I was so miserable. So that was a a wake up call for me and like, and I actually, I had a life coach. I had a therapist at the time and that was a big like, OK is, are the decisions I'm making? In line with the vision that I have for my life and I've never really taken the time to envision not the business that I want. But the life that I want. I've only ever thought of. OK. What? What will, what business? What? How can I help people? All of that like, how if they say I'm enough, then I'm enough. So like. How can I make them not, you know? Whatever it is and so that for me was huge and the answer was. No, like I did create a vision for what I wanted in my life. And interestingly, it was during a breath work session, none of it had anything to do with anything work related. It was a picture of me with my kids in a home that felt warm and that for me was like hey, that's what matters the most. I spend so much time working for them. Yet the more I work for them, the less we actually see them and have connection with them. And so I did spend the second-half of that year figuring out how to dismantle everything. And I would just try and dismantle it, and then I'd be pulled back in because I'd be scared I'd be on the cusp of doing it again. OK, wait, let's do one more challenge. OK, now it's time to shut everything that I just. There was so much fear of ending it. And and this there was this quote that kept coming to mind, I read it. And I thought about. It but it says the universe will continue to remove the things from your life which you place your value in until you realize it's not there. And I felt like little by little the universe or God was stripping things from me, right, or even at least my ability to manage them. Like I couldn't manage the business the way with, you know, social media changing into and me managing these things. And it was just too much. And so I was being destroyed. As things were growing and then Dave passed. And in in the middle of a whole challenge that I was doing with all these courses that I was not supposed to do, that I decided to do because I was scared to do what I knew God wanted me to do. I really believe God wanted me to stay home with my kids for a bit and be with them and focus on them and get my life in order. And I didn't listen. And then in the middle of all of that, Dave passed and that was a huge like, OK. There's my answer like that is a nail in the coffin of my old life. Another thing that I placed a lot of my value in was who he and I were like I he was my best, best, best friend and he had his things and we all have our things right. But he truly was my best friend. And so to lose the person, to lose the person who I was the closest with. And to be reminded that life is so temporary, like we're all going to die. I I I still am like like a year later. I this this reality, this was my biggest perspective shift. We were all going our days are numbered. Every one of us. It's not a matter of if, but it's when. And I think the only like if. Is how it's going to happen. Like is it going to be 3 months? Is it going to be 3 years? Is it going to be 30 years? Is it going to be 60 years? You know, so we don't know and that it was like, OK, if I died today, would I be happy with the way that I'm living my life? And OK, what things would I want to change? What relationships do I want stronger? What things are non negotiables? OK and with those questions and the real. The reality that, like Dave, was gone like that, he didn't have a chance to, you know, remedy anything or make those whatever it was, I I am afforded the gift of at least another year past him, you know, and a year for me to finally, be OK with understanding my core values. And create the standard that I have for my life like work will never take over my kids again. Never will my family or me like never. And then allowing the boundaries to set themselves. Because when you understand your standards, people can either meet you at those standards or they don't. And so the boundaries and people set themselves, which is. Part of why I don't do any podcasts anymore because I'm like, I don't need to prove anything to anyone. I'm enough for me and I'm enough for God and I'm enough for my kids, and that's all that matters, you know. And then the right podcast will find me. This is one. 

Amber B 27:17 

Amazing. I mean, there's so many nuggets of, like, just such lived wisdom, you know, and I think it's one thing to say, trite quotes and double tap something on Instagram and it's another thing to experience them and embody them. And that's what I really get from you is like. It's this embodied wisdom of, like living through it that is coming on the other side, and I just know that the women who are listening to this episode are going to relate and maybe they can learn the lesson a little quicker and maybe they won't have to go through as much, you know, to, like, get to where you are. 

Heidi Powell 27:52 

I I hope so. That is like there are. I have so many times now where I'm like because I'm really. I'm not really focused on business, but I do love when and and there are times now when like I don't know that what I have to say really matters right now. Right because. I'm not. And and what's interesting is in this space, I think there is more of a response from people saying you don't need to be or do anything, just sharing your story helps me and so knowing, hearing people say that is the only reason. Truly, the only reason I show up online these days, no other reason not because I want to, not because I need to it's because I feel like maybe this is where I'm supposed to be. And this is how I'm supposed to help, even though sometimes I don't see how it's helping, you know. 

Amber B 28:45 

Sure. Yeah, yeah, it can be hard when you're on one side of the screen and everyone's on the other side of the screen. Yeah. One of the things that I would love to hear, you talk a little about about cause I I know you talk a lot about building integrity with yourself. And can you speak a little bit to like why do so many of us struggle so much with following through like saying we're gonna do something and following through. And what do you suggest women do to build their strength in this area of of integrity with themselves? 

Heidi Powell 29:11 

Yeah, yeah. This is such a good question and this thing so I have an entire podcast on this that came out, I don't know. February end of January, February. It's really good. So if anyone wants to hear more, it's like over an hour and it it's like. 

Amber B 29:27 

We're not gonna get it all here, so yeah. 

Heidi Powell 29:28 

Yeah. 

Amber B 29:29 

We'll link it in the show notes and you can listen to the whole thing. 

Heidi Powell 29:30 

If if you want more. Yes, but integrity is the foundation of how we transform life. So when I had said to diet and exercise was so minimal and minuscule compared to what's happening here and here. We actually the very first concept we teach and the only thing that really matters is someone's personal integrity and integrity. Everyone has kind of a different interpretation or definition of integrity. Mine is doing what you say you're going to do when you say you're going to do it not just with everybody else, but most importantly with you, because you are the most important person in the world, and when we actually would sit down with the people on our show when they would get chosen. We get them in a room. We have 4 hours with them and we would say, OK, I'm sure you guys are all first time we met them, call them by name, hug them, whatever. And then we sit down. Then they thought, you know, surely they're going to give us the magic diet. Surely they're going to tell us how to work out whatever it is. And we'd say that's going to take. Yeah, that'll take you to 20 minutes to talk through. But let's talk about something else. The reason why you all are here is not because you love food. It's because you have no integrity. And it it would upset some people, have burst, but then the reality is the only reason why I feel comfortable and Chris ever felt comfortable saying that is because we understand this too and there are times today, you know we're we are out of integrity and explaining that in like how many times like integrity doing what you say going to do when you say you going to do it not just everyone else but to yourself, how many times have you said diet starts Monday? Right. You said diet starts Monday. How many times have you said 2010? That's my year, 2011. That's my year. 2012. Like you will, most people will do anything for everyone else. Like if we commit to doing something for our friend or our neighbor or our boss or a work associate. We're going to do it. We're going to follow through. We have the utmost integrity with everybody else because we wrongly believe that if they validate us, then we're enough. All the while we're telling ourselves we're making promises to ourselves that we are breaking over and over and over and over and integrity leads to dignity. So when you have integrity you then it equates to dignity which is self love. It is the path to self love. When you have a lack of integrity or a break in your integrity. When you told yourself you're going to do something and you don't, right, like diet starts Monday, and by Wednesday you're housing a pizza. And then? Then every single, no matter how big or how small, that integrity break is, you tell your kid you're going to read them a book, and then there's a reason or an excuse why you can't. That is a break in your integrity. Like you go to church from 11:00 to 12:00. But I was this person I'd always sitting back in it at 11:45. I would walk out that door. That's a break in integrity. It's not doing something that you committed to and it's whole and completeness in its entirety, and that concept was it it, when you actually grasp this, it's huge. Now the key to it is not making overblown promises. It means you need to learn how to say no like every yes you say to someone else, is it no you are saying to yourself so when someone’s asking us hey, can you do this for me? And we're too scared to say no. We're saying yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. We're actually saying no to ourselves. We're we're putting on if we aren't scheduled or made a priority, our commitments to ourselves, we're setting ourselves up for failure. Also, most women, most humans. The reason we fail at our New Year's resolutions by I think the day is January 12th is like Quitters Day. It isn't because we're not capable of meeting our goal. It's because we have taken on way too many promises at a time. Way too many commitments. These overblown commitments that are not realistic, like if we want to lose weight. Instead of doing it in a realistic way that teaches us how to call ourselves, we set ourselves up for failure from day one by saying, OK, I need to hit an hour a day at the gym. I need to cut all sugar. I'm going to cut white flour. I'm going to drink a gallon of water. I'm going to all these things. And we might be able to stick to it for 12 days. Quitter’s day comes and truly it is like 9 out of 10 people fail on a day within the first two weeks and This is why it's because you can't actually stick to what you've done and all of those commitments, all 10 to 20 things that you've committed to, even if you've got nine of them done. Just knowing that you didn't get that 10th one done. How's you feeling like a failure. Right. So what we do in transformation and really in life, this is not just transformation. It's in life as we shrink it down. And so we've always thought about power promises. A power promise is something so stupidly simple. You know you can do it every single day. It is how we have gotten people, every, every group I've ever run, every everything. I always teach them about integrity. We always teach about power promises and it's about starting so small. Like maybe your power promises to walk 5 minutes a day. Maybe it's to brush your teeth. I know that sounds crazy, but like even make your bed if you can start your day knowing that every day that you were checking off a win everything else is icing on the cake and then over time you can add, right. I also like within it's understanding that it's not about going from A-Z and that's what we think we think. Oh my gosh, I failed so many times. There's. And every time I fail I get deeper and deeper into that rut. So next time I try I need to try to do more right, so instead of doing less, we're actually doing more. Like, it's so crazy. 

Amber B 35:34 

Yeah, like backwards. 

Heidi Powell 35:35 

Yes. But actually, if we trust our bodies and we trust ourselves and we go, it's A to B, B to C, C to D, it's little baby steps at a time really do equate to big change and integrity is everything. 

Amber B 35:50 

So, good, so good. We'll definitely linkup that podcast episode, so if you want to hear more, you can go and listen to that episode. So I I have a a question that I I really want to get your perspective on it, especially when you talked about you know back at the beginning of the episode how you grew up with a mom who had an aesthetic that was beautiful and everybody wanted to be around her. And you know there was that comparison that you had with her. And your mom of boys and girls. And we're in a culture that is obsessed with appearance and aesthetics. So how do you navigate those topics with your children, especially being in the in the fitness industry? 

Heidi Powell 36:27 

That's such a good question. And here's the reality. Like we are all doing the best we can. And really it's a big social experiment right now. 

Amber B 36:35 

Totally. 

Heidi Powell 36:36 

I wouldn't listen to me and say this is the right way to do it because we don't know till my kids get older and the reality is too. When I was growing up, my parents did nothing wrong. 

Amber B 36:47 

Right. 

Heidi Powell 36:47 

They could have had four girls, 2 girls. Let's say two. We both could have been raised the exact same way, and our brains perceived like through like we have our own glasses on, right. Like I have my pair of glasses. My sister would have had hers. And how we view life is completely different. I could have been like, Oh my God. 

Amber B 37:05 

Gosh, isn't that like, what's so hard about parenting? Like, gosh, so hard. 

Heidi Powell 37:11 

Yes. I like I we're not in this phase anymore, but like I would treat all my kids equally. And I had one of my kids who always was like I can't believe you just wrote this on my note, they would you hate me. And I'm like what I. I wrote notes for my kids to be nice. One time. Yeah. And one of my kids. And I'm going to say, which one was so sad one day. And I'm like, what's wrong? Well, I looked at this person's note, this person’s note and my note. And you didn't say this on mine, but you said this on there and I'm like what I should this on yours and should? But it's just, you know, lens, lens and and and also. Yeah. So it doesn't. Sometimes it doesn't matter how hard we try, our kids are going to do and be and go through what they need to go through. I will say though, I do not back in the day when I was growing up, skinny was all over the place, like skinny was all over the magazines and it's not anymore. And it's so cool to me. I know some people don't like it because it's like. Ohh. Teens these days aren't fit. I love how comfortable my daughter, my 17 year old. And her friends feel. Mm-hmm. At any I love it because. Because I never felt comfortable no matter what size I was, and so to see these girls like embracing, curve is actually awesome. So I think, you know, I I'm very lucky as a parent that my girls are growing up in this day and age where body image is not as big of a deal as it was when we were younger, but I do not talk about skinny, I do not talk about my body and for my I do not. Do not do not. Now. When I competed, that was different, but we talked about it as a goal, right? So they saw me and I loved that in my transformation, it was about growing, getting bigger, eating more. It wasn't about I lose skinny I need to be. No, it was like, Oh my gosh, I have to get 2500 to 3000 calories and look how many waffles and peanut butter and syrup that I'm eating. So my kids have only really ever seen me eating a lot. My two older kids may have seen me eating less before I, you know, was kind of out of that, but that was they were so little. I I've been in this phase of really understanding my body and understanding bodies in general that we need fuel to grow muscle like we can't increase our metabolism with no food. We have to increase metabolism by eating a lot. And so it's been awesome for me to have gone through my journey so that now my kids know like food is power right and Chris is really great at that too, and it's it's more about like how strong you are and how good you feel, but also like I'm. Yeah, I can see in one of my daughters. You know, Ruby is more perspective, perceptive and Ruby does sometimes say like very she's very wise and sometimes the thing she says it checks me big time like. She will say to me because I I my I always say everyone, you guys are perfect exactly the way you are and she'll be like. But mom, nothing's perfect. And I said no, it's not. Nothing is perfect. And that's what makes us perfect. OK, well, Mom, if you're perfect the way you are, why do you bleach your hair? If you're perfect the way you are. Why do you put makeup on? I mean like just and so  I can see her at 10 going through this. Almost what happened moment where she's realizing that, OK, everyone's saying that we're perfect as we are. Yet we're still putting makeup on. And so maybe I'm not perfect as I am. And so there it is, kind of at a point with her where I'm like, OK, this is the age. Where I just need to keep you know. and I I think that is. A tough thing. 

Amber B 41:09 

Yeah. 

Heidi Powell 41:09 

Because it's like perfect as you are. So why do you need muscle? So why do we need to do this? You know well. And so one of the things I've been practicing and saying is I, because I do love my body. However, my body is. I really do. I appreciate what it does and how it is and also it's OK to have preferences like it's OK to have and my preference right now is to have my hair this color and my preference next month might be to have it brown, you know. It's kind of. Like picking an outfit for the day so but but it is a tough day and age to raise girl. It's just I should say girls are harder to raise and and while maybe body dysmorphia isn't as big of a thing, at least in our area, social media. I can't imagine growing up with that and that's where I really worry because that's the comparison space. You know, all of that looks really photoshopping everything. It is really difficult. 

Amber B 42:09 

Yeah, absolutely. That's really good. What we're going to kind of wrap this up, I just have one last question for you and I want to know. What are some of your current goals, especially with this kind of new found perspective and newfound priorities, like what? What are you focused on? Like what are your goals right now? 

Heidi Powell 42:25 

I wish I had my phone. I was going to show you my phone, Sunday 11 AM. I am I'm doing a goal. brainstorming session with one of my friends.

Amber B 42:32 

Love it. 

Heidi Powell 42:33 

Because you you're we're doing this right in the middle of. So you're used to having 20 things going on. And so right now with me only having a few. Which I'll say so. I feel like I have nothing going on like. I'm like, what are my goals? However, I do have an app right now and the app is doing well, so we are working on growing that fitness app so more people can be a part of that. I I have a coaching company and we're actually in the middle of revamping the coaching company and launching it, relaunching it within the next month. It's never been launched to the public, only inside of my smaller groups. So those are things happening. I I'm still in working with. I have my supplement company transform, which is really great. My podcasts, I've done that every single week. Heidi's Lane, which is fun, just as like a passion project. Truly, my biggest and only goals right now, and I feel like I need to set a goal outside of it, that's why. That is to be the best mom like I have truly for the last month or not month, year since everything had happened. I'm like, no, they I I'm not getting any help with my kids for literally anything. I'm driving them everywhere and so it's been it's been awesome. It's been awesome for me to give myself the break of I guess permission to not have it all figured out right now and it's been a year, so I'm like, OK, I you know these other things kind of run themselves. I really feel like I need some another goal outside of that. So that's what I'm trying to figure out and I actually think I'm considering because I have decades of business experience. I actually think one of the things I'm I'm super passionate about is helping entrepreneurs start their things, giving them advice. And So what I do next might be along those lines. I think sometimes when we have so many decades in in so many different areas, we forget how valuable that is. 

Amber B 44:41 

Sure. Yeah, yeah. 

Heidi Powell 44:42 

And so yeah, there's a part of me that's like, huh, maybe I want to help our entrepreneurs next, you know? Or. Yeah, I I will say I don't love. I don't love public that much, I appreciate public. I don't love it, you know? And so I think to build a business where I can be sustained, in my family can be sustained without my face guiding it is the goal, so that's kind of next, yeah. 

Amber B 45:11 

Awesome. That's so great. So if people are wanting to connect with you or find you, where can they find you? 

Heidi Powell 45:16 

OK, so on Instagram I am at Real Heidi Powell. You can go to my app. It's showupfit.app and then my podcast Heidi's Lane anywhere you can listen to podcast. 

Amber B 45:30 

Awesome. And we'll link all of those things up in the show notes. We'll link the app, we'll link Instagram and all the, all your podcast. We'll put it all in the show notes too, so that'll be an easy way to go and get all of those links. 

Heidi Powell 45:40 

Thank you. 

Amber B 45:41 

Yeah, of course. Thank you for coming on. This has been amazing. You have, like I said, I, I I what I get from you is just this feeling of embodied wisdom. It's less about talking about something you haven't experienced and more about talking from the place of experience. And that comes off as real and honest and and just like giving, like this giving energy. So thank you so much for coming on. 

Heidi Powell 46:02 

Thank you, Amber. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. You're an awesome interviewer, so thank you. 

Amber B 46:09 

Such a good episode, right? And hopefully you had some aha moments, maybe some takeaways that some little nuggets that you could take away from that podcast episode that were really meant for you, that you can really start to apply and embody in your life as well. That wraps up this episode of Biceps After Babies Radio. I'm Amber, now go out and be strong because remember my friend, you can do anything.  

Outro

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