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January 10, 2024 50 mins
This episode of Stronger U Radio brings you a special guest interview with Dr. Julie Beegle, a Stronger U Coach who has a formal education in stem cell biology and clinical research. Like many of our coaches, she’s been coached and has gone through the process of change herself. During her conversation with our Manager of Nutrition Education and Innovation Gianna Masi RDN, CISSN, Dr. Beegle shares her personal story of transformation and path to nutrition coaching.

She candidly reflects on her relationship with food growing up, her experience of using food as a coping mechanism, and how her approach to nutrition was a symptom revealing deeper issues in her life.
Her inspiring journey transitions from a period of struggle with personal nutrition to dedicating decades to education, making her a nutrition coaching leader. Dr. Beegle has fostered a genuine connection with members, evident through their testimonials. In this episode, she offers a glimpse into why her approach resonates so strongly with those she guides.

Tune in to learn about how she transformed her mindset and set herself on a path to growth.

Head to the Stronger U Community to share your thoughts.    
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Episode Transcript

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(00:01):
Hi, everyone, Welcome to theStronger You Radio today. I am so
excited to introduce doctor Julie Beegle toyou all. She is one of our
amazing nutrition coaches here at Stronger You. With a formal education in stem cell
biology and clinical research. She istruly one of a kind. Welcome to
the Stronger You Radio. Stronger YouRadio brings insightful conversations with top nutrition,

(00:28):
health and fitness experts posted by StrongerYou dieticians and nationally certified coaches skilled at
simplifying nutrition science into actionable advice.Get inspired with evidence based practical tips to
optimize your potential and crush your bodycomposition, health and performance goals. This

(00:50):
is your time to level up andbecome a stronger You. In this episode,
we dive into doctor Beagle's personal storyof transforming and nutrition coaching. We
talk about it all. We talkabout using food to cope, how she
approached nutrition, and how nutrition wasreally a symptom of some things going on

(01:11):
in her life, and how sheapproached that, What nutrition meant to her
growing up, what it means toher now, having the perspective of being
someone who was coached to now beingsomeone who is a leader and a coach
herself, so her members love herand you'll see why in this episode.
A highlight for me was also listeningto how this type of exercise transformed her

(01:34):
mindset and growth. Welcome Julie tothe Stronger You Radio. Let's go well.
Thank you with all of your crazinessgoing to the vet this morning.
Thank you for being on the podcast, Julie. So I'm here with Julie
Beegle. She is an amazing andnutrition coach at Stronger You and someone I

(01:55):
learned a lot from all the time. So thank you so much for being
here. Thanks for having been meetI'm exciting, excited to chat. If
you follow Julie on Instagram or socialmedia, you will know that she's an
avid gardener. And I'm curious ofwhat's going on with the garden right now
because we're in this change of season. Yes, it's actually pretty boring right

(02:15):
now. The fall winter garden sceneis much less eventful than the summer.
You kind of plant it broccoli andthen walk away for three months and hope
for the best. Nice cool,and you have a pretty massive garden.
Actually I think it's small, butmost people probably would disagree with me.
Well, I disagree because I don'thave a garden, and so I'm like,

(02:36):
any garden looks massive. There's justnever enough garden space. Yeah.
I enjoy watching you, and that'sit's really healthy to connect with food in
that way too, which is kindof interesting. And we've seen that.
Yeah, and I mean I've noticed. I know this. This last year,
I planted lettuce in my garden forthe first time, because before I
was like, yeah, let uswhatever, I don't really care. But

(02:58):
because I had it, we havehad so many more salads and had so
much more fun with salads. Iusually don't eat salad in the winter because
it's cold and it doesn't seem thatinteresting. But when it came from my
yard and I went and picked itmyself, it was so much better and
so much more fun. Yeah,more interesting. And you have a daughter,
yes, how old is she?She is four, about to be

(03:19):
five. Oh my gosh. Herbirthday's coming up, yes, in December,
Oh my gosh. Okay, Sodoes she get into the gardening with
you if you count digging holes andfinding rocks this gardening? Yeah, okay,
perfect. Well I love that andshe sees you doing that, so
that's pretty cool. Yeah, hopefullyone day she'll be more interested in actually
planting things instead of unplanting things.But fully, yeah, you're like,

(03:45):
please just pull out the weeds andnot the actual vegetable. Like, yeah,
you can go play over there.Never mind, that's funny. So
what do you love about working atStronger You and being a nutrition coach?
Lot of things. I think thething I like the most is connecting with
people about the deeper why for awhile, why they're here. A lot

(04:10):
of people when they first start,it's the excitement of new goals and learning
how to track and learning all thetools we have, and then over time
we can get into the why you'rehere, why things have been hard for
so long because most people are notcoming here and it's their you know,
first dieting experience or first experience.Working with a coach and looking at those

(04:34):
deeper issues is much more interesting.It's a better way to connect with people
and much more rewarding. Then here'syour numbers, go for it totally.
Yeah, I agree, and Ithink everyone should or like has evolved from
just looking at numbers, Like Ithink, just collectively, this industry has

(04:56):
realized, Okay, we need tobe more than numbers. Numbers can provide
some insight and information, but thenthere's all these other inputs and outputs that
we need to be considering. So, yeah, what are some of the
things that you're working on or lookingat with your clients and members. I
work with a lot of so I'dsay a lot of people are just really
busy. It's a lot of peoplesaying I'm busy, I'm tired, I

(05:19):
don't know how to make this workin my schedule. I don't have time
to give and energy to give totracking and measuring all this stuff. And
it's figuring out how to make thisstructure that we know is really helpful and
can make things easier, and tryingto fit that in with everybody's unique needs

(05:39):
and stage of life and what theyneed. And that's really that's the coaching
part, right because you can getthose numbers anywhere, but having somebody say,
you know, try this thing withthose numbers that you got, and
that might make a world of differencefor you being able to actually do the
plan or do the thing that movesyou closer to your goal. Yeah,

(06:00):
yeah, definitely. And so didnutrition always come easily to you? What
was that like? For you growingup with nutrition or around you know,
fitness, nutrition, all of thosethings. Nutrition definitely did not come easily
to me. It was something thatI didn't really think much about in a
positive way until much later. SoI was never an athletic kid. I

(06:25):
never liked exercise or running around.I was the kid in class who desperately
avoided running the mile. I didenjoy when we did a dance unit in
Pe, I remember that, Buteverything else so not me. I was
always really uncomfortable in my body andmy family life. Never really nutrition wasn't
a conversation in any capacity, andso it wasn't something that I really understood

(06:49):
as something other than a way tochange the way your body looks, and
only in a way to get smaller. So when I was younger, there
was never conversations of this food givesyou energy, this food keeps you full,
this food will help you from havinga hangary meltdown. That thing that

(07:09):
did not enter my awareness until laterin my twenties, when I kind of
had my own awakening and had toconfront that complicated relationship with my body and
food and all of that. Andthat's when everything kind of blew up for
me in a good way, ina good way, Okay, Yeah,
can you tell us more, Like, let's go back. So you mentioned

(07:30):
like your twenties for example, Likewhat was going on for you at that
time before the awakening as you calledit. Yeah, I was in grad
school then, and I just foundmyself really struggling. I was really struggling
with my studies and to show upfor these things that I really loved.

(07:51):
But I was just I just feltreally stuck. And I kind of got
to a point where I had todo something about it because it was affecting
my school and my relationships and prettymuch everything in my life. So I
got interested in approaching nutrition from adieting perspective. So I started off being
like, I'm going to lose abunch of weight and everything's going to be

(08:13):
fixed and I'll be all better.Spoiler alert, That's not how it works.
Learning more about the role that foodplayed for me, both in a
fueling capacity and an emotional capacity wasreally the key and turning point for totally
transforming my relationship with food. Andthen as I continued to go down that

(08:35):
path, I started to do moreexercise, and again I started off with
the intention of I'm going to dothese things so that I'll lose a bunch
of weight, even though I hateit. I absolutely hated going to the
gym. It was never a funexperience for me. But I just kept
trying new things because I felt likeI thought everybody works out just because they

(08:56):
have to. I always say,it's like I used to think it was
like brushing your teeth. People doit just just because it's what you do.
And it took a really long timefor me to find something that felt
like joy and felt like celebrating capabilityand not just this slog thing you do
to get smaller. So the combinationof understanding my relationship with food and then

(09:20):
also finding a form of movement thatfelt good and celebratory to me was that
explosion. Was that total change inhow I viewed nutrition and how I viewed
it for myself. So when you'resaying, Okay, I love everything you
just said about the exercise and finding, I totally relate to how people would

(09:45):
just think, like, oh,exercises because you have to, not because
you enjoy it. So what doyou enjoy? Now? What did you
find? I love lifting weights,so I go to a local strength and
conditioning gym and I love group fitness. I do a lot of classes because
that accountability makes all the difference forme. And my favorite part is just

(10:07):
lifting as heavy as I can andsurprising myself when I can lift heavier than
I thought or in a different waythan I thought. I still am not
a huge fan of any kind ofcardio, but that's also why I go
to those classes, because it's importantfor health and it also feels good when
it's done. So sometimes you haveto do things you don't love and either

(10:28):
learn to love them or just getit done when you can. Yeah.
I know we've joked about you wouldnever do a marathon, which is totally
fine, never ever, but wehad a good laugh about that. Have
got five k coming up. I'mlike, yeah, I'll walk it.
I'll walk it. Yeah, Iknow. That's like when I go to
Orange Theory, I'm one of thepower walkers. Sometimes I don't run.

(10:50):
I'm like, no, we're good. It's took my heart rate up.
Yeah. I enjoy that well,and I want to go back again.
Because you were saying, like thisawakening and you mentioned emotionally what you needed.
What were some of the findings thatare conclusions that you had about your
emotions and food and regulation, becausethat's a huge topic. It is one

(11:15):
of the biggest things I did formyself that was the most helpful. As
I started going to therapy and Iwas talking to people about peripheral things that
were difficult for me, like theissues with my schooling and in my relationships,
and everything I was talking about tendedto come back to the same place
and that I was using food ina way to cope with those things,

(11:37):
and I had to address those things. So one of the biggest things I
learned is that the things I understoodabout nutrition in the way that I approached
food was kind of a symptom ofthese other issues and not the problem in
and of itself. Yes, therewas a lot of things I had to
learn, but in therapy is whereI learned how to develop the coping skills.

(11:58):
And the other issue is to becomemore aware so that I could use
what I learned about nutrition to actuallyhelp me, rather than you know,
pushing things away or just not dealingwith the actual issues. Yeah, and
I think people often what I hearis like they think, okay, emotional
eating bad. If I just couldstop emotionally eating, and I think that

(12:24):
the frame there is a little bitdifferent. It's really okay, what emotional
eating is not helping me? Andwhat's you know, like problematic and what's
not. Because I remember Lisa Lewis. I think when she came and we
did that big workshop on behavior change, we were talking about how food and
nutrition is the easiest way to changeour current state. And I know you

(12:48):
and I have chatted about this inother forums. It's like, if food
is that easy way, then itmakes sense why all of us or some
of us, the majority of usare all doing this in some way,
and whether we're aware of it ornot. And I think some of it's
okay. And then knowing like yousaid, like you were working through like
okay, maybe this is pushing anotheremotion, another thing away or trying to

(13:13):
combat that. Does that make sense? Yeah. I actually tell this story
to my members all the time becauseI remember very distinctly, just like blowing
my mind, when my therapist talkedabout my emotional eating as a tool in
my box to take care of myself. So she totally reframed that idea that

(13:35):
eating for comfort or joy or anythingother than fuel is always a no and
always a bad thing, and shewas saying no, no, no,
Those things are a part of nutritionand your food experience as well, including
comfort eating. Not saying that's goingto solve your problems or ultimately make things

(13:56):
better, but it is a toolin your box. And the idea that
that was anything other than negative justit took me a while to really agree
with that, and now I agreewith it wholeheartedly. I share that all
the time. I just had amember telling me yesterday yesterday that she's having
a really hard time in her lifeand that she's emotionally eating a lot,

(14:18):
and she set one of her goalsas self care, and so I kind
of challenge her that, well,is that emotional eating part of your self
care right now? Because if itis, that might be something that's serving
you, and it might be somethingthat we want to not be so down
about, especially if you're really feelingguilty about it. But hold on to

(14:41):
that while we work on some otherskills that help you more in the long
term. So smart, Yeah,And it's really I love that your therapist
said that it is a tool.We're all protecting ourselves and trying to provide
safety for ourselves in the ways thatwe know how and the pattern and those

(15:01):
patterns start really young, right Like, so if we're turning to one thing
or the other, it just itkind of transcends from there. And I
don't say that to like put pressureon us, but it's just it starts
without us even being aware of it. So I get that. Yeah,
And I mean, what can youdo when you're a little kid. You're
just soaking everything up and you figureit out later. Yeah, exactly.

(15:24):
And so you were in grad schoolstart doing this work. I don't know
if you want to comment on maybea particular hike, like I know that
was a big thing or everything,Like I have written about that a lot.
If it was a prominent moment rightin the beginning, when I kind
of made this decision to make achange, I went to my friend who
was an avid hiker, and Isaid, I want to go hiking with

(15:46):
you. I want to get intothis. I want to be more active,
and I felt like maybe walking outsidewould be a good starting point for
me. So she took me onthis hike that was supposed to be moderate
intensity, and for me, itwas not moderate. And I remember being
on the top of one of thea sents, and just sitting down and

(16:07):
wondering if I could do it,if I would even be able to get
back down. I legitimately wondered ifI would have to be airlifted off of
this mountain, And of course thatfelt very embarrassing, given that you know,
their kids running past me up anddown these mountains. My friend was
doing fine. She was so patientwith me, and she knows this,
she knows I'm so grateful for her. But that was that was a complicated

(16:30):
moment for me, because I feltso much shame about being so out of
shape for this experience that was supposedto be pretty mild, but also inspired
to be better. So I thinkthat there's that complicated situation for most people
who are going through these kinds ofthings, and that it really helps to
acknowledge that and say, like it'sokay to feel both ways at the same

(16:53):
time. Yeah, it's so important. I almost wondered too, like if
your friend had said this is thehardest hike, and you had this expectation
setting of like this is going tobe terrible, if that would have made
you feel less shame. But Ithink, I mean, we don't know,
but I always think about that Sotprobably wuldn't have be hon if she
had said that, Well, that'syour too, right exactly. So it's

(17:15):
like, I think, for somebodythat's maybe listening, that's curious about first
steps, what would your advice belike emotionally and practically, I would say
to really give yourself a lot ofgrace and patience and keep trying. I
think that especially for women, wetend to veer more towards cardio. We

(17:38):
do a lot of running and treadmilland elliptical and met cons and all of
that. And if you hate that, it's okay, do something else.
I remember taking a ton of spinclasses because that was a class that was
available to me, and you know, it felt good when it was over,
but it was just such a slogto get myself to go to class
because I hated it. So Istarted trying other things. So give yourself

(18:02):
grace if you do something that youhate or just makes you feel really awful
in your body, and keep trying. If you need to try new things,
go other places. Talk to yourfriends, see what they like,
See what environments you really like.I found out during the pandemic that I
hate working out at home. Atthat point in time, I was a
very consistent gym goer and I reallyloved it, and I thought, when

(18:22):
I go home and work out inmy garage, it'll be just fine.
It wasn't. I hated it.I wouldn't do it. So that environment
can play a huge role too,And that's okay. Just keep looking for
something that works best for you.Yeah, I agree. Some people are
really good at working out at homeand other people need to get out of
the house, or some people likea hybrid. But I think that's great
advice and good knowing of what youneed. And yeah, I'm just thinking

(18:48):
about weightlifting for you. So connectme from the hike where you have this
really complicated experience to weightlifting. Wasit a long time before you found it?
Was it right away? I wouldsay it was probably over a year
or two. So I was stillin school at that time of that specific

(19:08):
hike, so I was kind ofdoing classes at the college gym and all
of that and trying out different things. They didn't have a lot of lifting
that wasn't you know, ten millionreps of this little ball which is legit
as well, that will humble youreal fast, but it wasn't what I
liked, and so my friend hada group on, which I don't even

(19:29):
know if groupon is still a thing, but she had a group on for
this local gym, and she askedme to go with her. And I
was terrified, as you are wheneveryou try something new, and I went
and it was really hard. Iwas definitely the least fit person there.
She still comments sometimes that I wasnot able to do jump rope on that
time, and now I can jumprope just fine. That was probably seven

(19:52):
or eight years ago, and I'mstill going to that gym because I felt
really supported there. I felt reallychallenged at the same time time, I
had my friend there to have accountabilityand keep showing up, and I just
kept showing up. And something aboutlifting heavier and proving that I was stronger
and more capable than I thought connectedwith me in a way that nothing else

(20:15):
ever has. And I'm still going. I'm still doing it. I love
that. I'm so glad you founda place. So I don't want to
say quickly, but like that youconnected with that and it worked for you,
because I think that's another thing Iwant people to take away, is
that that may not be your experience. You may need to kind of trial
out a couple different spots or seethe environments like maybe one feels a little

(20:38):
more supportive to you or a littlebit more in alignment if that makes sense
with your your style for sure.And like I said that community and accountability
of classes having to be there ata certain time and people knowing if I
show up or don't, I don'tthink they actually care in a other than

(20:59):
you know, not wanting to seeme and making sure I'm okay. But
knowing that people know that I'm notthere is another piece that gets me out
of bed and gets me in thegym, and I never regret it now
that I've found something that I reallydo, like, yeah, totally.
It's like seeing that you need toconnect with your coach whatever, like for
a check in or when they askyou a question and you're like, oh,

(21:21):
I'm not there, They're going toknow, right, So it makes
sense. Were you surprised, Like, what's something you were surprised by with
nutrition or training as you were goingto make these changes. I think the
biggest surprise for me was again goingback to that idea that eating for anything

(21:42):
other than fuel is still great It'san important part of our experience and something
that we need to have, andthat's just not really talked about as much.
You know, we talk about nutritionas as health, you know,
meeting your basic physiological needs. Wetalk about it as fuel for whatever your

(22:03):
goal is, but we don't oftentalk about the components of nutrition that you
know, feed your soul, eatingwith your family, celebrating meals, having
birthday cake, sitting on the couchand having some popcorn while you watch a
show. You know, there's timeand place for that too, and learning
to use that in a way thatwasn't ultimately hurtful was the biggest thing for

(22:27):
me. Yeah, I love that. I think it's a huge It's almost
like the mecha of nutrition, wherelike I would love for everyone to feel
that they can do that with alittle more ease. Like that word comes
to mind when I think about becauseI understand from my own experiences I was
not able to do that either.I was very far away from that.

(22:49):
I was like, no, thisis something that cannot happen. Like sitting
on the couch eating popcorn like thatfelt so far away, And so if
it feels far away for somebody listeningthat's still something you can attain and get
to. And I think that that'sthe beautiful part of working with someone and

(23:10):
sort of all these relational elements thatwe're talking about. I just wanted to
say that it takes a lot oftime, and it takes a lot of
patience, and I tell my membersall the time that it also takes a
lot of figuring out what doesn't workfor you. So having that failure of
tolerance and having somebody to bounce ideasoff of can really make the difference so
that you don't feel like you're aloneon this island and just failing at everything

(23:34):
you try. So then you quittrying, having somebody there to remind you
like, Okay, well that wasn'tit for you right now, Let's try
this other thing. Keeps you going, keeps you moving forward even when it
feels like you're taking steps backwards.Yeah, And so like you obviously had
a great friend. It sounds likein some awesome support systems. So who

(23:56):
are the biggest supporters in your lifeat the time, Like it sounds a
good therapist, you had a friendto go to the gym with, Like
anything else come to mind with thatwith the support definitely my now husband was.
He was just my partner at thetime. He's always been just very
supportive of me in everything and kindof a kind of a quiet kind of

(24:18):
support, just that I know,no matter what I say, he's going
to be like, yeah, let'sdo it. You want to go on
a hike, you want to getfit, Okay, let's do it.
It's just like not a big dealfor him to just be all in on
whatever idea I have. And Ithink that's kind of an undervalued type of
support. It's not the hype person. They're not cheering you on, but
they're just there. They're just yourfoundation and you know that you can rely

(24:40):
on them to be to be infor you all the time. He probably
doesn't get enough credit. I hopehe'll listen to this and he can hear
that from me since I probably haven'tsaid that to him. Shout out to
Nick, Yeah, that's really nice. Yeah, I like that. I'm
also curious about maybe the and maybehopefully you didn't have this, but I
think about the naysayers or like anypeople in your life that you were like,

(25:04):
this sucks because they don't support me. I was pretty quiet about it,
especially in the beginning. I thinkit's pretty common for people to feel
reserved about wanting to say I'm goingto make this huge change and change my
whole life, especially when you startdigging into the deeper wise and the things
I was talking about in therapy,I wouldn't say I had naysayers, but

(25:26):
confronting some of those really difficult thingsis hard and it's heavy, and going
through that piece is important but reallyreally hard. And so that's where having
your support and having people who arejust with you when you feel really bad,
because you have to feel bad sometimes, that's really important. I don't

(25:48):
think I ever had anybody who said, you know, you can't do this,
or you're wasting your time, oryou're doing it wrong. But I
did have to confront some of thosemore challenging things and reasons why I was
struggling for place. Yeah, definitely. And I think also what's coming to
mind for me right now is likewhen we think of naysayers too, it's
like it may not be somebody inyour life that's kind of obviously it's really

(26:12):
rude and unsupportive and that shouldn't happen. But I also live in the real
world. But I'm also thinking thatnaysayers could be things that are in conflict
with what you're doing, So thatcould be social media. Back in the
day, it was magazines for me, where it's like creating confusion, and
I remember being so impressionable and likeI'd read one article telling me to eat

(26:37):
low carb and another article telling meto eat high carb, and so then
there's it's almost like the naysayer isthe confusion it creates. So I don't
know, I'm curious about that foryou, Like if you were like not
so worried about certain things, youwere like, I'm just doing this and
that's good enough, which it is, But I'm just curious a little bit
more about that. I was comingout of kind of a lifetime of all

(27:02):
this low carb and all these veryextreme rules that when you're young and you
don't know any better, you're like, oh, Okay, this is it.
This is the thing that I've beenmissing. No, that wasn't it.
Let's try this approach, this carnivorewhatever whatever you're approaching that feels new.
I was coming out of all ofthat, having tried all of that
and just not getting anywhere except maybeeven worse in my relationship with food and

(27:26):
in my body. And at thetime, I guess I was really lucky
to stumble upon this other company thatwas doing macro counting and general nutrition coaching
and I hopped in with them.I will say a part of my journey
was getting a little too into that, a little too obsessive about counting and
tracking and being overly rigid with thesethings that were working really well and helping

(27:49):
me feel good and kind of overcorrecting from where it was before. And
you know, I think for alot of people that's part of the journey,
and that's you know, sometimes youhave to learn that direction as well.
Yeah. Absolutely, I think theovercorrecting is really speaking to me too.
And we've had chats about this.Like absolutely, doing things, you

(28:10):
either go one way or the other, and then the recalibration is the hardest
part. And that leads me tolike the messy middle as you like to
call it as well, and sortof like that's where it is probably the
most challenging, because the rules aren'tthere, like the rigidity, the black
and white. It's like, thisis the blueprint. When you are being

(28:34):
either super loose or really tight,there's a blueprint. There's an expectation there,
but when you have a little bitmore freedom, that's where it can
be more challenging. Sure, Yeah, those gray areas are so much less
defined, and it can feel kindof like you're lost in between where you
know where there's guide rails, butyou're just kind of floating in between them,

(28:57):
and that can be really confusing.Yeah, And something that you made
I think is like that visual onlike a spectrum of tracking change or not
tracking right. So yeah, Iwant to hear a little bit more about
what this messy middle is for youand maybe for your members that you work
with. Yeah, So how Ithink about the messy middle is, you

(29:21):
know, we see a lot ofthese before and after these transformations. That's
often the visual way that people showtheir progress and their change. And one
of the limitations of those is thatyou really don't know what happened between that
before and that after. So Iused to post mine all the time because
it's a very big difference. Butan important piece is there was like seven

(29:47):
years between those two. There's therapy, there was graduation from a PhD program,
Like, there's a whole lot oflife that happens between those two pictures,
and when you narrow it down tojust one image and another image.
It's really inspiring to see that,but it can also be really misleading about
what it takes and what went downto make that person become that person.

(30:14):
Yeah, and also thinking about iton the other side of the after is
like there's more messy middle quote unquote, like what happens after this after photo?
Like you said, like are youkeeping some of these habits or are
we changing it? What's going onafter the after also is an important part,
right, And I think about thatin the context of a lot of

(30:38):
kind of chapters of my life orphases of being change because it's not like
after that that after picture, that'sit, that's the end. You're that
way forever. Life keeps moving,things keep changing, and you're going to
keep changing too. And I finda lot of our members and myself,
if I'm being totally honest, tendto look at that one snapshot for their

(31:02):
own after and that's their goalpost forever. When a lot of times things happen
and that goalpost is no longer realistic, It might not even be healthy,
and it might not actually be somethingyou want anymore. But it's just so
hard to move on from that.So if I was somebody that's like,

(31:22):
no, no, I want tolook like this and it's ten years ago,
what are some of the conversations wewould have. I would be talking
about how does your life look differenttoday than it did ten years ago?
Because I bet it's a lot different. And for a lot of people it's,
oh, well, I have kids, now, that's a big deal.
Life has changed. Of course youare going to look and behave in

(31:47):
your whole life. Everything you doevery day is totally different than it did
before you had kids ten years ago. And those are important things to keep
in mind to have realistic expectations ofyourself or you're just going to see feel
frustrated and like you're failing all thetime when it's just it's just not possible
now. Yeah, and I eventhink, like, yes, the kids

(32:09):
one is huge, or if you'resomeone without kids, like even phases or
these chapters that you're referring to,Like if somebody retires, you know,
their movement and energy expenditure can goway up or way down. Thing a
lot of people will go down ifthey had a really active job, let's
say, or something that cut themup and moving. So yeah, I

(32:31):
like looking at okay, well what'sdifferent now, what's happening, and getting
a little bit more realistic. Westill don't have to like it, right
that totally. You can be madyou've frustrated all day long, and then
also accept reality. Yeah, andthe acceptance piece is probably a big part
of this dialogue that we're having.Yep, for sure. Yeah, is

(32:57):
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(33:39):
at stronger you dot com with codeSU Radio fifty. That's SU Radio fifty.
This is where a Stronger You begins. Let's do this. So,
what's something that you think is reallyhelpful that not a lot of people do,
and it can be I guess regardsto the messy middle or just in

(34:00):
general, like what's something that youthink that we're missing, like some people
just aren't doing it. I thinkit's just goes along with the lines of
everything we've been talking about, justreally taking stock of your life and what's
possible, what's reasonable, what challengesyou in a reasonable way, and what

(34:22):
you're willing to change. I thinka lot of people want that after but
because they're not thinking about the middle, they're not thinking about what they're willing
to give up in order to makethat change happen. You know, we
say all the time nothing changes ifnothing changes, And that's a lot bigger
statement than it sounds if you reallythink about it. Yeah, can you

(34:44):
say more about that? Yeah,So like explain it to me. What
does that mean? That means thatIt means what you say, Like,
if you keep living the way you'reliving, you're going to keep living the
way you're living. So if you'renot willing to change anything, give anything
up, add anything, then thosechanges just aren't going to happen. So

(35:06):
if we just think about it fromjust the adaptations that have to happen.
In order for your body, orfor your lifestyle, or for any change
to happen, you have to dosomething to enable that, and often that
means sacrificing some of the things thathave gotten you where you are and that

(35:27):
you're really comfortable with. We talkedabout emotional eating as not always a negative
thing, but confronting that and figuringout how it is serving you and how
it is not serving you is abig piece of that puzzle for a lot
of people. Because you have everyright to say I don't want to give
that up. I like it,I like my glass of wine before bed.

(35:47):
Nothing's going to change if I don'tgive that up, then that's okay.
So having people really think about whatthat change looks like and whether they're
willing to change it. Knowing thatknow is an okay answer is something that
I think I can do better toencourage people to do, and that everybody
can do doing more of Yeah,that makes sense. Yeah, I feel

(36:09):
like and for you and for everybodythat's a coach, hopefully like they've assessed
what they've changed, what they've hadto overcome, And so with what you've
shared today and like having to overcomewhat do you wish that people would accept
more of? Or like, I'mcurious like this you kind of just mentioned

(36:30):
it with like what are the tradeoffs? Right? But I'm curious,
like what what do you wish thatyour clients knew more of. I'll use
myself as an example, and I'lltalk about becoming a parent, because that
was a big transition for me,as it is for anybody. And my
daughter's almost five and I still haveto kind of come to terms with a

(36:53):
lot of the things about my preparenthood life that are gone. And obviously
I would never change my daughter ormy life with her, but I do
miss you know, I had alot of time to go for walks,
I had a lot more time.I could go to the gym in the
middle of the day. Now Ihave to go at six am. So

(37:13):
that's sacrificing sleep, that's sacrificing recovery. That really changes things. That changes
the way that I'm able to approacha lot of things. And again it's
hard to accept because it felt reallygood to be able to do what I
wanted to do and go for walksall the time and have time to prepare
fun meals all the time, andit's just different now and that's the way

(37:36):
it is. And I can appreciatethe things that I have now that I
didn't have then, while also acknowledgingthat there are some things that, you
know, I wish I still hadand that I'm looking forward to someday when
they become more in my routine again. Yeah. Yeah, I love that.
It's important to hear. It's alwaysa push and a pull in life,
that's for sure. It is what'sthe best compliment and could give you

(38:00):
as your member, Like, what'sthe nicest thing they could say about your
coaching? I think for someone tosay that they felt heard and support it
is something that really reaches me righthere. You know, a lot of
people make really amazing changes in theirlife, in their fitness and their health,

(38:21):
and that's wonderful. But to knowthat you have touched somebody and connected
with them in that way to reallymake meaningful change in their life is what
we're here for. That's what wedo. That's why we turn on the
laptop and send all these messages everyday to try to do that over and
over. Yeah, definitely, Ithink about people I see in the gym

(38:42):
sometimes like years ago, and Iwould laugh and be like, oh,
this this trainer and this client.They're not like doing much together, but
they're chatting all the time. Andlike I'm not saying that that's like a
good outcome, like obviously you needto still a train, but the fact
that they had this really connect thingrelationship, this powerful connection with one another,
Like that relationship is why people worktogether. It's not always just the

(39:07):
results. And so when you canhave both, I mean, that's the
most amazing partnership that you can have. So I definitely hear you on that.
Yeah, I mean, imagine ifyou were really good friends with your
trainer at the gym, Imagine howmuch more fun you would have there,
how much more often you'd want togo. If when you're friends with your
coach or on a really you cantalk about things that aren't just what you

(39:30):
need to do and what you needto change and the logistics of things,
you're going to reach out more often. You're going to be more connected with
them, and they're also going tobe able to help you more because they're
connected with you too. Yeah,And they're a part of your life and
your day to day. I lovethat all right, So tell me what
tattoo you just got? All right, Well, I've been thinking about this

(39:52):
concept for ever, probably connected toeverything we've talked about today. There's a
local tattoo artist whose artwork in general, I have just really loved. She
does a lot of colors, andeverything she does is really beautiful, and
she posts stories often about her clientsand the artwork that they did. So
I went to her and I toldher I had this idea of transformative growth,

(40:15):
but not the beginning or the end, but the middle. Really emphasizing
that middle part where it's scary andundefined and hopeful and all of these things
that we don't see when we thinkabout transformation. And so we always use
caterpillar to a butterfly. It's avery common metaphor for change, but I

(40:36):
don't often hear people talking about howthat happens or exactly what had to happen
in the middle. And when Iwas doing some research for my idea,
I actually found out that when acaterpillar goes into its cocoon, it's not
like it just sprouts wings and comesout. That caterpillar has to completely dissolve
into this soup of cells and it'sjust nothing. It's entire body dissolves and

(41:02):
then the pieces come back together tocreate the butterfly that eventually emerges. So
that idea of yourself completely dissolving,or components of yourself dissolving in order to
grow and become something new really resonatedwith me in when I was thinking about,
you know, the beginnings of myawakening in health and fitness and joy

(41:27):
in my body, and then alsoin a transition to parenthood. So all
these times that I have felt thesereally transformative experiences, it resonated with me
to be thinking about what had todissolve in order to become something else.
I mean, okay, that waslike poetry. I can imagine that lady

(41:47):
reading my description and having to comeup with some kind of artwork for it.
I mean I would love that.I mean, I think I'd be
pumped for that. And it waslong. That sounds beautiful all said.
And also the goo, though notnot really into the goo. But that's
okay, No, that's so youknow that, like have you ever heard

(42:07):
that before? I have not,And I love like thinking about metamorphosis and
all of that stuff, So I'mlike, wow, No, they skipped
over that, so I think we'remissing the mark with our elementary school teachings
on this concept. So yes,and it totally struck with all the things
that I have felt are missing whenwe talk about transformation, the same thing.

(42:28):
Nobody explains that this insane process hasto happen for that change to exist.
We just focus on the caterpillar andthe butterfly. I have so many
questions about it too. I'm like, I'm like, is it hard for
them? Do they work hard?Like? What's happening? This is fascinating?
So you can call down a prettydeep Google rabbit hole, looking I

(42:50):
might have to Yeah, yeah,I might have to do that. Also,
Yeah, lots of thoughts. I'mbeing de realed. Okay, So
that's amazing. Thank you for sharingthat too, because I think that is
really helpful for us to hear becausewe often talk about like you know,
it's like the cost, It's likewhat do we have to give up?
But I really think I like theidea of or like the visual it brings

(43:12):
to me of dissolving or maybe kindof It's not like it's completely gone either,
I could still there could still beparts. I think that we think
of like parts work it's like it'sstill here, or like maybe this one
we have to work on a littlebit more. So I like that.
Yeah, And I thought about itwhen, you know, when I was
first going to therapy, and Ifelt like I would just fall apart in

(43:36):
that office every time I went,and then slowly, over time put those
pieces back together in a different wayto achieve that transformative change. Another great
analogy. For sure, it's allthe same, right, It's all the
same of something having to fall apartin order to come back together. Yeah.
And so if you're thinking, likeI'm curious your thoughts on this too,

(43:59):
I want to ask you about therapyand nutrition coaching. Like I think
some people might think, well,I only need one or the other.
What would your take on that be. I don't think it's a one or
the other necessarily. I think ifyour goal is nutrition related, having both
is fantastic. It kind of dependson the person and where they're coming from

(44:22):
and what they're wrestling with. Ithink for a lot of people, I
definitely refer members to speak with atherapist all the time. I think anybody
can benefit from therapy, but weget into a lot of conversations where it
becomes this is more than me supportingand guiding you. This is somebody that
could really use more support and amore credentialed person to guide them through these

(44:46):
other issues that are impacting the waythey approach nutrition and how they feel about
their body. But aren't nutrition,They're not you know, facts that I
can spew or things that I cansay in words of comfort. There are
things that you need other tools forthat are outside of my realm and scope.
Yeah that makes sense, well said. All right, So I ask

(45:08):
everybody who's on the podcast now,how do you live a stronger you?
So? What helps you set yourselfup for success? Maybe what makes your
week a little easier? How doyou live a stronger you? I'm going
to go with something really practical andboring, meal prep. This is it's
silly and it sounds like something like, yeah, whatever, but not silly.

(45:32):
Something so simple changes my life ina huge way every week. I'm
going to keep bringing up that I'ma parent and I'm tired and I'm busy.
Spending a couple of hours making myfood for the week or planning out
what we're going to have for dinnermakes the rest of the week so much

(45:52):
easier. There's so there's fewer decisionsI have to make, less time I
have to spend in the kitchen,less dishes to do, fewer things to
get grumpy about and yell at mypartner about and become a grumpy mom for
So, it's not just about,you know, meeting nutrition goals. I'm
not macro counting right now. I'mnot really paying attention to the numbers,

(46:15):
so I'm not weighing things. Butjust having regular meals available of food that
I like throughout the week that Idon't have to work for makes my whole
day better and makes my families daybetter because I'm nicer. I love that.
A nice Julie, we love that. Got to eat? Yeah,
exactly. So when you're talking aboutlike, of course, like you're not

(46:36):
tracking right now and doing that,it's great you've come to this place,
So are you doing anything to kindof like like are you building your I
don't know, containers a certain wayor like how do you approach that?
I'm just curious. I think alot of people who've been meal prepping for
a long time will probably tell youthat they come up with a handful of
meals that they make all the time. For me, it tends to be

(46:59):
a pretty similar structure. Some kindof protein, always a vegetable, and
some kind of carb. The fatsfind their way in there just based on
whatever meal I'm making. I doa lot of like stir fry or burrito
bowls, and those are easy thingsthat fats just come in and that also
lend themselves well to protein carb vegetablein a way that tastes really good.

(47:23):
Breakfasts are a little bit more somethingthat I'm exploring more because I didn't used
to do that because my mornings wereless chaotic. But again, now that
I'm a mom and I got preschooldrop offs in early gym time, I
don't have time in the morning tosit down at the table and eat scrambled
eggs and toasts or whatever. Soright now I would say I am exploring

(47:45):
having more vegetables at breakfast and preppingthem ahead of time, because there is
not time to saute spinach when you'regetting ready for preschool. Yeah, that
makes sense completely, all right.So are there any questions that you had
hoped I would ask you, oranything like one question you wish I'd asked

(48:06):
you about. I really loved allthis talk about. You know, pretty
much everything we talked about seemed separate, but it all came to the same
conclusion of that messy middle and howyou achieve change in complicated ways. And
I feel really good about that.Guys talk about that in all these different

(48:28):
facets. Yeah, me too.I was excited for this chat and it
was It was great. So wherecan the people find you? What's your
handle online? The people can findme mostly on Instagram Julie b PhD b
ee. I am kind of onTikTok but not really, so you can

(48:50):
find me their same handle. Otherwiseon Facebook just Julie Beagle and yeah,
you're finding inventing. Ye. Yes, I love to chat with people on
socials. Just send me a message, ask questions. I think people get
afraid that they're going to if theysend a message to somebody, they're going
to get sucked into a sales pitchor something like that. And you know,

(49:13):
I just really want like to chatwith people. If you have questions
to me message, yeah, canconfirm. Yeah. Julie will not try
to like cold call you or tosell you something. I might talk your
ear off. She's like, lookat my garden. Yes, let's do
it. Here's a garden tour.I love that I follow for the garden
and for for all the fun stuff. Julie actually has a PhD in memes,

(49:37):
so that's the joke around here.She's very very funny on Instagram with
her memes. And yeah, I'mexcited to see more of what you post,
so hopefully we'll bee think prod.It's credential. Yes, actually I
didn't have you introduced. So yourPhD is actually in what it's actually in
cell biology and I along with nutritioncoaching, I also work in a stun

(50:00):
cell lab working on some pre clinicaltherapy work, which is cool and exciting
too. Yeah, no big deal. So she's got the brains and the
humor, so we love both.So thank you, Julie, thanks so
much, Winning combination. Yes,thank you so much for your time.
Thank you, right, all right, thank you for listening to Stronger You

(50:24):
Radio. For more information about howyou can get started with a stronger You
coach, visit stronger you dot comor click the link in the episode description.
As a special thank you for listening, we have a Stronger You discount
code just for our listeners. Usethe code Radio fifty at checkout for fifty

(50:44):
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