The Bite Size Podcast with Lorayne Michaels
A podcast for anyone wanting to become a better human! We'll discuss everything from faith, to life, to business, mental health and healing. Everyone has a story and a journey. I have created this space for you to come and learn. Hear from other amazing humans and how their mess became their message! We all go through trials and tests but only some surrender and let it be their TESTimony! Welcome to the BITE SIZE Podcast Friends!
The Bite Size Podcast with Lorayne Michaels
Transforming Health and Wellness: Relle’s Journey to Empowerment and Purpose
Discover the transformative journey of Relle, a dynamic woman whose dedication to fitness and wellness has sparked a revolution not just in her own life, but also in the lives of countless others. Relle navigated the challenging landscape of autoimmune disorders and a complex relationship with food, ultimately finding empowerment and purpose through her work as a certified fitness and nutrition coach with the Faster Way program. Her story is a testament to the power of embracing change and overcoming adversity, offering a beacon of hope and inspiration for women seeking to redefine their health and well-being.
Dive into the empowering world of wellness coaching and uncover the myriad opportunities it provides for personal and professional growth. Relle's new Wellness Reset program is a game-changer, emphasizing sustainable habits and a holistic approach to health that moves beyond temporary fixes. As we explore how this program helps reshape participants' mindsets and their relationship with nutrition and fitness, we learn about the profound impact coaching can have on self-belief and confidence, especially for those stepping away from traditional career paths. From mindset shifts to the development of lasting healthy habits, the potential for women to become ambassadors and leaders in wellness is immense.
Finally, hear inspiring success stories of women who have overcome personal and professional obstacles with Relle's guidance, like the client who managed hormone imbalances and another who reduced her diabetes medication reliance. Relle's commitment to adaptability and individualized plans underscores the importance of meeting unique needs and preferences in fitness and nutrition. Connect with Relle on Instagram (@bewellwith_relle) and Facebook (Relle Dixon) to explore her transformative wellness programs and become part of a community dedicated to fostering healthier lifestyles. Share this episode with friends who may find inspiration in Relle's journey and the divine purpose inherent in every individual.
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Email Me: LorayneMichaels22@gmail.com
Welcome to the Bite Size Podcast. I'm your host, lorraine Michaels, former EMT and nursing assistant, now business owner and wild entrepreneur. I walked away from over 15 years in medicine to pursue my passion and my God-given talents. Now I get the honor of helping other women discover their passions and purpose. If you're feeling stuck in life, unsure where to go or what to do, welcome. If you're exactly where you want to be great, you're welcome here too. If you have faced any kind of hardship or setback, you have found a safe place here. In other words, no matter who you are or what you've been through or what you're going through, this is the space for you. On the Bite Size podcast, we'll discuss life, business and faith. There's something for everyone. So grab a cup of coffee and something to take notes with, because there will definitely be things you won't want to forget. Definitely be things you won't want to forget.
Speaker 1:I have a phenomenal episode waiting for you here. I am so excited for you to join me as I sit down and speak with Rel. She is a powerhouse of a woman that I met through Lindsay Schwartz's group and I'll mention that later on in the podcast, but Rel is the most amazing woman and she is a multi passionate woman. That's why I absolutely love her so much, because we share that in common. But she's a faith filled wife, mom, wild, entrepreneur who loves fitness, and she is so excited to bring to the world her love of fitness. And if you are looking to change your relationship with food or health, or you just are needing to get into a better lifestyle, a healthy lifestyle, then Rel is the gal for you. So stay tuned and I can't wait for you to dive into this episode. Rel, thank you so much for being here. I'm so excited to dive into all the things fitness goals, business, all the things. Welcome, I'm so glad you're here.
Speaker 1:Thank you, I'm so excited to be here For those of you joining, listening or even watching. I met Rel through Lindsay Schwartz's program, the Six Figure School. Highly recommend it. If you've heard of it or haven't heard of it, go follow Lindsay Schwartz and Powerhouse Women. That community is awesome. It literally is a bunch of powerhouse women. I've met so many incredible women there, of powerhouse women. I've met so many incredible women there, rel being one of them, and I'm so excited to dive in. Rel, give us a little snapshot of what it is that you do. How do you show up in the world your powerhouse moment, as Lindsay says? How are you showing up? How are you making a difference?
Speaker 2:So I, just a little over a year ago, became a certified fitness and nutrition coach through the faster way, which was never, ever on my radar, to to become a fitness and nutrition coach, even though wellness had always been a big part of my story. But, um, I just had this like knowing in my heart that I was meant to do more and to share more of my story, meant to do more and to share more of my story. And I I ended up being in this program about three years ago, just searching for some some serious guidance and help, because I was struggling so much with symptoms of my autoimmune disorders and felt like I was so alone and nobody understood me, and I kept being passed from physician to physician and and I just I knew that if there wasn't a medication that could help me, that food was the answer. And and I had always, you know, lived what I thought to be a healthy lifestyle. I was always active with exercise and choosing, you know, healthy foods. But what I found for this program was that I was never eating enough to support my bodily function for one. But all the things that I had been doing almost my whole, almost my whole life, I mean since I was 15, the restriction, the overexercising, the cutting of carbs, you know, avoiding high calorie foods, all of that stuff. It had taken such a toll on me physically and and mentally. I mean, that's really, really where I was at when I finally decided to sign up for the program and decide that I was worth it to invest a little bit of money into myself to see if it could help me feel better.
Speaker 2:As time went on and I started implementing more and more of their strategies, I'm telling you I found myself again. I had gotten to a point where I didn't. I didn't know who I was anymore, and I wasn't. I was. I was asking for forgiveness every single night that because I was teaching, I was treating my blessings like burdens and I I was something that I had to try to switch for myself. I mean constantly apologizing to my husband and my kids for snapping at them and to just just showing up as just this shell of myself. And and I got to a point where I was like I'm I'm done being here and I'm not coming back, and so I felt like it was important for me to to share that with other women and to coach them through the program that brought me so much healing, and it was never about losing weight or fat loss.
Speaker 2:For me, it truly was about how to feel like my most confident, healthy version and to find like inadvertently through doing that, I feel like I've been able to step into this purpose that I didn't even see coming. I had always felt so much value in my job as a hygienist, but having these women go through my program and coaching them through it and getting the feedback from them of how their lives have changed, that's, that's where it's at for me. That was not short.
Speaker 1:That's okay, how did you, how did someone find you, or did you find it? You? How did someone find you, or did you find it?
Speaker 2:I found I had you know, so I knew my um, like autoimmune disorders, that there were triggers that would cause those to be worse. And so, um, and I knew there was, you know, I don't know if it this would have been like post COVID lockdown, where there was just so much at home stuff happening and I think that I had started following somebody for some home workouts and that person had ended up becoming a coach and she, I just related a lot to her like stage of life and and she, she started sharing more about the nutrition aspect of it, and so I kind of like started diving down deeper you know rabbit holes about that and I watched her for a really long time before I decided to to finally sign up. I can't even remember what the what the thing was that got me, but, um, it really just came down to like I had been following a few coaches and and finally I was like this is it, this is the month I'm gonna.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So you joined because you were in a desperate place and you stuck around for how it changed you. It wasn't like you said, it wasn't even the weight loss or the fitness of it. It was just what it did for you, that's incredible.
Speaker 1:And I find that to be a common thread right With things that we find in our life that we stumble upon. We're not even looking for it, but then we end up finding, like, a solution to a problem that we weren't even really looking to solve, which is, I think, is such an incredible blessing how God like drops that in our lives. I don't know. I'm just kind of like how I've connected with you. Yeah, we found each other in this group that it was so incredible. But then, like, through just the connection piece, after the meetings or whatever, and then we've just made this connection and this bond that we connect on on so many different levels. Talk to me about the community that you have with it, the roles that you coach, like how does that help?
Speaker 2:There's like communities within communities with communities, which is another another reason why it just lights, lights my fire, because I didn't know the connection was so important to me until I became part of the coaching communities. You know, not only um is the coaching community where they're. You know all the other coaches are connecting and like we're all serving the same purpose, whereas we're trying to make a difference in these women's lives and men.
Speaker 2:I mean, there's a men's program too. I just don't have as many male clients, obviously. So connecting with those women who are also, like, driven to grow their business but also just make a legitimate impact in other women's lives, like that connection is amazing. Um, so when we go to conference, like you know, of course, it just levels up. It's very similar to like powerhouse women conference, where you're just like lit on fire again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, creating my own community of of clients and my membership and you know, being the person that they all look towards for guidance and humility, honestly, like they and one of their, one of the most common things that I get is like we just love how real you are with us and that you share that you're human too, and that you know my nutrition and my fitness is not perfect all the time, and that's what we really focus on is progress instead of perfection, and that you don't have to. You don't have to be perfect every single day. You don't have to nail you know your macro targets, because we track macros as part of the program every single day, and you don't have to get that workout on every single day, but it's what you're doing most days that matter and you know I'll come to them in vulnerable times too and just be like listen guys like I need you to pick me up here and I need, I need this community to really rally so that we can get through these next couple of hard weeks.
Speaker 2:Like, right now we're doing that through the holidays, we're doing like a 12 day glow up deal and so many people needed that, because we would have a lot of them would have just thrown in the towel and just given up for December and then had to start all the way over in January. But instead, you know, we're all checking in every day on each other and we're and we're saying like, hey, I got my walk in today or I did my water today. You know like we're giving the celebrations for the things that we did get done and we're not focused on the four or five things that we didn't do. That, you know, maybe we would have done two months ago when things weren't quite so crazy.
Speaker 2:And that's just been so cool to have women who believe in me and trust me as their leader.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And for them to tell other people about me too, like that's another level of like healing, almost that I wasn't expecting. You know, I've never. I've never built something like this on my own before and obviously I have a ton of help through the faster way because they, they, they, they give you so many resources as a coach that it's just a total blessing. But that community aspect of it has been, I mean, kind of life-changing for me, honestly, at this stage of my life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So many women like I was saying that they join for one reason and then they find a million others to stay and grow, and it's a business opportunity also, correct? Yes they can build their own business in it yeah, yeah, so they can.
Speaker 2:Clients can be what we call like ambassadors, so any of my clients can be an ambassador for me if they decide they want to send their sister or their mom or their friend, or you know all of their. If they have a following on social media, they can tell you know all of their. If they have a following on social media, they can tell you know whoever about it, and then they make a commission for every everybody they send to me as their coach, which has been like very, very huge for a lot of people who are ambassadors. And then, of course, there's the opportunity to become a coach, like I did as well. Yeah, and start your own business that way. So there's a couple of different ways that you could, you know, have ways to monetize it as a client even, which is super cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that. So we're in December right now. This will air January and you're going to be doing a new program.
Speaker 2:Is that correct? Yeah, I'm going to all start. My next new client Wellness Reset will be on January 6th. So I am really picky with how, how I say that I I've I've called it a new client experience for so long, but I've kind of tapped more into calling it a wellness reset because it's not a challenge and it's not a bootcamp. I don't want what I, what I want people to take away from our first six weeks together is tangible, sustainable habits that they can apply to their real life forever. Like that don't need to end, so I don't like to call it. You know, oh, join me for this boot camp and we'll, you know, whip you into shape for six weeks, because then people look forward to an end date and then they drop all of those you know habits that maybe they had picked up, and then something like that.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, a lot of us used to be very into restriction mode, where it's like oh, I'm going to cut these calories for four weeks so I can get into that bikini and feel good. And it's not like that. So I call it a wellness reset so we can kind of reset your mindset, reset your relationship with exercise, reset your relationship with food, reset your you know, just your your thought cycle around nutrition and fitness in general.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and, and we kind of just take it one week at a time when I implement new strategies each week. So awesome.
Speaker 1:So it's not just nutrition and exercise. You kind of hit on all the key aspects and what it takes to not only have this transformation but maintain it so that it's not restrictive. But you know you're working on different mindsets and how you're viewing things, which was I wish I would have found this years ago, like when I competed, because after I competed I had a horrible relationship with food, even with fitness. I canceled my gym membership, I refused to go to the gym just because I hated it, because it was a punishment and it was so, so restrictive and I wrecked my body. I know I wrecked my body, wrecked my metabolism and it took me a while to get back into it and the whole mindset piece of it, because just everything was all jacked up.
Speaker 2:Yeah that's what it was too.
Speaker 1:So it's something that's really needed. I mean the community, the mindset, like the habits, all the things. That's exciting. I can't wait to see where this is going to go and how this is going to keep unfolding and growing. For you, what has been like your biggest not transformation for you personally, but your transformation like the biggest impact it has made on you as being a coach? What has that done for you?
Speaker 2:Honestly, I think it's just given me a level of confidence that I've never had before, that I, that I can do something that I've never seen done in my as far as like my family and my close friends, you know. I mean I think my whole life growing up I never I never felt like I was smart enough to do anything and I never. I mean I didn't like I never felt confident in my academics in high school or anything like that. It was more just like I could do this to get by. And then so like well, my mom's a nurse and my sister was was going to pharmacy school and my other sister was in nursing school, I was like, well, I could never do that. Um, so I had in my mind that I couldn't do that. And then I did eventually become a dental hygienist and these things.
Speaker 2:But like this aspect of of starting my own business and just really removing some limiting beliefs I think has just been the biggest thing for me, where you know I am growing and and I do have women that are sticking around in this membership because there's an opportunity to move into membership after you do the six weeks.
Speaker 2:But people are coming to me, you know, even people that don't know me personally, because they believe in me, and I think that's that's a huge deal. For me is like I'm kind of going down a path that I've never seen done before, right in front of me and just figuring out as I go, and that's something I'm really proud of that I've been able to work through those obstacles and get out of my comfort zone and connect with people, like doing six figure school, I mean connecting with women like that. Like four years ago, me who was struggling big time would have never, ever done that. I would have been, I would have had anxiety over that for for days and months and months. You know, like I could have never pushed myself to do that. So that's probably just been the biggest like growth aspect of it for me.
Speaker 1:I love that. What about for your clients? What has been your?
Speaker 2:some top wins.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, I love to brag on my clients, but that's easy to talk about. So I have one gal who had a similar story as me. She was really finding some hormone imbalance and autoimmune autoimmune problems and she came to me, you know, like again, not obese, tall and natural, like thin build, but she just was the biggest she'd ever been. She felt very frumpy, she had belly fat that she, you know, had never had her whole life and she was swollen and her joints hurt and she was just in pain. But like, when you look at her, you know she, she looked healthy, Like most people would would die to have her body.
Speaker 2:She she has worked so hard at overcoming this mindset with food that she had that was restricted, like mine, and over exercising, and she's really dialed that back. But in her first six weeks, you know, she didn't feel like. You know she was necessarily like seeing progress on the scale or anything. She felt so much better, like her joint pain was gone, she could see like her clothes were playing differently. She only lost six pounds, but she lost like like 15 inches or something crazy like that. And then she she's like it didn't hit me until I took my before and after photos and her before and after photos just two different bodies and just six weeks is crazy. And then since, like so since time has carried on, she's I don't know, she's probably eight months in the program and she's lost like 25 pounds. You know back to her, you know size and her genes that she wanted before all of that. And then she's got her hormones balanced and back into control. That was also with some help from her physician, because she truly had some underlying issues going on, but because she's been able to improve her fitness and nutrition, she had some healing there.
Speaker 2:And then I had another lady that came to me earlier this summer and she's always lived a healthy life as well, but she's been diabetic. She's always lived a healthy life as well, but she's she's been diabetic. She's type two diabetes. She's actually my oldest client, she's 72. And she's like I, I don't want to be on my metformin anymore and I I'd really like to get off my blood pressure medication. I think you can help me get there. And so you know, we got her her customized macronutrient plan and she followed that. I'm not even going to say to a T, because girl still eats her cookies and she bakes and she, you know she does, she, she follows it and she doesn't like, but she doesn't go without, she doesn't restrict herself, you know. And she followed the workout plan and everything. And four months into the program she messaged me and she was just elated because her A1C was down and her doctor gave her the okay to go off of her metformin. And she was just elated because her a1c was down and her doctor gave her the okay to go off of her metformin and she was already down to the lowest dose of blood pressure medication and they gave her the okay to go ahead and get off of that. And she was like we did it, we did it and I was like that.
Speaker 2:That is why I do this, because I, my family, is just plagued with chronic disease and cancer and I'm not going there. I don't't, I don't want to go there and I truly feel like the things that I'm putting in my body and doing for my body now are going to prevent me from having that in 25 years, and that's for me. It's about giving people a long quality life, like I want to. I want to teach you these habits that you can stick with, that are realistic, to do every single day during every season of life, that don't have to be perfect, but that can significantly reduce your risk for chronic illness, and that's like those. So those, those ones are just the best ones for me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that, and so the workouts is. Is that something? That is? Just that? I don't want to say the same across the board, but generalized, and then you as the individual can tailor it to your needs. You can go level up if you will, or level down if need be, and you can do it at home or in the gym.
Speaker 2:Yes, they're at home or in the gym and they're all trainer led workouts. So there are workouts new every day that always have a person modifying. So if we need to do, you know, if you lack range of motion or you know you need a modification, like for not getting on the floor, or you need a chair, or or whichever there's always a modification in that that video you can always level up by adding more weights. They'll you know some more challenging moves, sometimes as well. They're always 30 minutes or less, which I love. And then, on top of that, they're also offering a low impact version of some of the weight training videos, which is cool.
Speaker 2:And then, once you're a membership, there's a whole library that opens up. So, like, if you don't want to do like, for example, a lot of us do not enjoy Tabata and they do Tabata every Tuesday. So sometimes I'll go to the library and I'll do a kettlebell workout or, you know, I'll choose a different strength training workout for that day If I'm not feeling like doing the HIIT workout. They have cycle videos, they have walking meditations there's, you know, guided running if you're training for a race, all of those different things in the library, which I think is so cool and I'll tell you, our pro trainers are truly just the best and they're they're eager to help you.
Speaker 1:You can send them a video of your form and they will give you feedback and like personal feedback. It is so cool, so that is so cool. So what? What makes it different Like your, this business, your program? What makes it different than all the other things? Cause I'll, I mean, I'll be honest, I did um what's it called Beach body. I did that little membership for a year or whatever what makes, what makes yours different?
Speaker 2:So, the difference.
Speaker 2:I mean, and I'll kind of compare it to beach body I don't know a ton about beach body, this is kind of the comparison that I've heard others speak up but the pairing, the nutrition with the workouts is huge. You know, we, we try to do specific workouts on specific days for your macro cycle, but it is truly it's the tracking of macronutrients that makes all the difference. And it's not just, you know, shakes and pills and, and you know, eat this salad. It truly is about learning to create optimized energy for yourself.
Speaker 2:The intermittent fasting plays a huge, huge part of it. So, adding intermittent fasting and really like diving into autophagy, where you're getting your body to burn, you know, be more in that burning zone and get into that level of cellular repair, versus just it's not just workout based, you know what I mean. Like that's, that's the difference. And then I'll tell you the community is a game changer to the daily check-ins no-transcript Out of all those you know, out of those five fundamentals that we, that we teach you. It's those carb cycling, intermittent fasting, pairing the workouts with the macro cycle, customized macro nutrient tracking, and then, of course, did I already say fasting? I can't think of my brain.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Anyway, my brain is not with me right now but I started, oh, carb cycling. Okay.
Speaker 2:So I didn't do all of those at once and I even in the six weeks. I teach them all in that first six weeks. But I really just focused on the nutrition the first six weeks. I teach them all in that first six weeks. But I really just focused on the nutrition the first six weeks and just really focused on hitting my macro targets and then later I added intermittent fasting and then later I backed off of my daily running and just focused on their workouts and some walking and then later I really honed in on the carb cycling. So I was still seeing results all of that time but mentally I wasn't in a place that I could do everything at once.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I just did it at my own pace. That's awesome. That's really good to know. I'm glad you said that because I feel like a lot of people, their hesitancy of programs that offer so much, it's so robust, it feels so overwhelming it feels so overwhelming and I mean I don't want to speak for everyone, but with working with clients. Sometimes, by the time they come to you, they are so overwhelmed and overloaded with all the things that they see, hear, theysized pieces as they can. What do you call it?
Speaker 1:Like absorb it, you know, learn it and do it. That makes all the difference in the world, because then you're able to see the results and then you're able to find the thing that works for you and stick with it right Right. And then slowly kind of like implement other things and then you realize, oh, that didn't work, that's not for me.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Best leave the rest type of deal Right? Yes, exactly, exactly. That's awesome. I love that. What about so like the community aspect of it?
Speaker 2:is it if they join and you're their coach, then that's the community, or is it like okay, well, it's both really Um, if you, if I'm your coach, then you go into my like smaller vip group where you know we've got our membership community and I do a lot of like smaller, more intricate challenges within my own group but faster way as a whole has a vip community like that you are a part of, obviously, just like being in it, and then they have their own like private page for for all vip members. Some people join that, some people don't, because some people get overwhelmed by being in a much larger group. I mean, I think there's like 60,000 active VIP members or something like that. It's wild. So you know there's that part of it. And then all the programming is for like community-wide VIP. So they provide the programming, of course, and then I'm just kind of we're implementing it in our smaller community just at a more like intimate level between just me and my clients.
Speaker 1:I love it. So this is starting. You're launching it January 6th Yep.
Speaker 2:That's my next start date, and so you actually get app access as soon as you join. So, since I didn't run a December round, anybody who signs up, you know, from now until then gets access early and they can start doing like using the tracking features. I'm offering complimentary one-on-one coaching calls if they're signed up before Christmas, and then they have access to the workouts as well. Obviously, that's super cool to be able to utilize that for an extra few weeks. Not a lot of people get the opportunity just because usually I'm running around every month, but I didn't do one this month. It's.
Speaker 1:Christmas. Yeah, you know it's a lot. I love that. Okay, so we will make sure we have all of that in the show notes how they can contact you. Yes, of course. Where's the best way to find you? Like, if they, what? If they wanted like a little sampler to see, like what it would be like working with you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, when they can find me. I'm. I'm most active on Instagram at be well, be well, with underscore rel, and then rel Dixon on Facebook. I do have a few guides that have some sample workouts and things like that in there If people want to see, like, what the meals look like, cause there's a whole meal guide, provided that is optional to follow. It's just there for inspiration. So we have, you know, meal guide options for people to check out, and then I have some sample workouts too.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I'd be, happy to send that over if somebody is interested.
Speaker 1:Amazing. I love that. I will definitely put that in the show notes Rel. I'm so excited for you. Thank you so much for sharing this, what you're doing and how it's transformed your life, and I love how you're showing up and transforming other women's lives as well. You are a beautiful woman and you have made a gigantic impact on so many people, myself included. I'm thankful for you and I'm thankful for what you're doing, and I can't wait for this to air and for more people to learn about REL. Thank you for being here.
Speaker 2:Thank you, I'm so excited, wonderful Guys.
Speaker 1:Make sure to check out the show notes. We will have all of rel's information in there for program how to contact her. Um, as always, if this episode has made an impact on you or you know someone that needs to hear it, please share it, pass it along, tag us and we'd love to connect with you on the socials. Always remember, guys, you were divinely created for a divine purpose and there was no mistake in you.