Meet Bethany Shields

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Bethany Shields a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Bethany, so good to have you with us today. We’ve got so much planned, so let’s jump right into it. We live in such a diverse world, and in many ways the world is getting better and more understanding but it’s far from perfect. There are so many times where folks find themselves in rooms or situations where they are the only ones that look like them – that might mean being the only woman of color in the room or the only person who grew up in a certain environment etc. Can you talk to us about how you’ve managed to thrive even in situations where you were the only one in the room?

As a nationally-board certified health and wellness coach and a large-bodied endurance athlete, I’ve navigated a unique path in the health and fitness space. I’m not the only one in the room that looks like me, but when I started out, I often felt that way. It’s important for all athletes and anyone working in the health and fitness industry to understand that they should not feel pressured to change their bodies based on outdated beliefs about what an ideal or typical body of a health or fitness professional or an athlete should look like. The more diverse bodies that choose to show up, participate, instruct, or coach within the health and fitness space, the more we can create greater representation for everyone and demonstrate that there is room for all bodies wherever they choose to move.

As I made changes to my own health, I pivoted careers from being a music professional and educator to becoming a health and wellness coach. Early in my career, I experienced a lot of imposter syndrome because I existed in a body that has gained and lost large amounts of weight multiple times. It was challenging to feel like I belonged in a room where the stereotypical image of a health and fitness professional didn’t match my own.

Understanding body diversity and recognizing that athletes and clients come in all body sizes, each working on their health and wellness goals, helped me realize that my body is NOT my business card. My value as a coach is defined by my experiences, empathy, and ability to empower others. This perspective is my superpower and makes me an impactful coach.

Having lived in various body sizes, I deeply relate to the challenges and triumphs of my clients. I empower women to ditch diets and improve health behaviors sustainably for life, embracing self-compassion, self-trust, and self-care so they can heal their relationships with food and fitness and crush their goals on their own terms. My evolution to heal my relationship with food and fitness has become the cornerstone of my coaching philosophy.

Your weight or the size of your body is not the sole determinant of your health, and no matter what your physical body looks like, it does not determine your worth or belief in your own abilities. All bodies deserve to move freely as they wish, without judgment.

I belong in the health and fitness space, as does anyone who chooses to. By sharing my experiences and fostering a supportive community, I aim to empower women to break free from societal standards and focus on their health and wellness holistically. This approach not only enhances my effectiveness as a coach but also helps create lasting, meaningful change for those I work with.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I began my health journey in 2016. At the time, I had PCOS and pre-diabetes. I spent over three decades dieting, losing weight, and gaining it back again. I was lonely, depressed, and hated my body. I started my health journey from a place of restriction that was not sustainable long term and beat myself up about it repeatedly. I began running and weightlifting, but had a hate-hate relationship with it initially, as I used it as a method to shrink myself into a smaller body.
 
I finally figured out that I wasn’t failing; rather, diet culture failed me and shamed me into disliking myself. A former musician and educator, I completed a variety of certifications in nutrition coaching, nutrition for athletes, and behavior change psychology. I’m now a nationally board-certified health and wellness coach and long-distance runner and cyclist who understands the mental and physical challenges of unlearning a lifetime of chronic dieting and beginning to sustainably nourish yourself for life and movement as a form of self-care. 

Like my clients, I’m a work in progress and am walking the road right alongside them. What started out as a journey to figure out my relationship with food turned in to a self-compassion and mindset focused approach to nutrition and movement. My signature NOURISH 1:1 coaching program has helped my clients heal their relationships with food, their minds, and their bodies, enabling them to confidently show up in their lives and achieve things they never dreamed possible.

I offer a small group coaching program, FUEL, for women endurance athletes and exercisers of every size, focusing on fueling for life and movement. FUEL is a 3-month program designed to improve your daily nutrition, fueling, and hydration for endurance.

I also work with women athletes inside THE BONFIRE Health and Wellness Community where you’ll heal your relationship with food, fitness, and yourself through self-trust, self-compassion, and self-care, improving your sustainable health behaviors for training and life, on your own terms.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

The three qualities that were most impactful in my journey were embracing self-compassion, learning to trust myself, and realizing that I got to choose me. For women who may just be getting started with wanting to change their health behaviors, learning to be kind to myself was super challenging. After all, as a Gen X-er in academia and a classical musician who was up to my face in diet culture and suppressing emotions, embracing self-compassion and leaning into self-trust were completely foreign concepts. Everything had rules. I believed that my worth was based on my ability to play by those rules and perform the best, sing the best, play the best, write the best, teach the best, give the most talks, and publish the most.

Learning to know who I am as a person—understanding my identity, values, and beliefs—and being kind and trusting my choices to prioritize myself, because no one else will, has fundamentally changed my life. This alignment allows me to prioritize what’s important to me: helping others and myself achieve our health and fitness goals, all while being a fully-faceted human with diverse talents and interests.

If you want to change your health behaviors, the best advice I have is: really get to know yourself, be kind to yourself, trust yourself, and repeatedly choose yourself. This will transform you from the inside out.

The process of change is like an ultramarathon. You can take the same loop over and over and the more you repeat it, the more you discover about yourself along the way. It gets hard. It gets ugly. And it never feels complete. Because change is the one thing that is constant.

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?

I continue to be a work in progress and I truly believe that change takes a village (or at the very least, a community) and the perspectives of people who inspire you.

I’ve been able to continue to work on my own challenges with improving my mental resilience, health behaviors, and growing my business with the help of many professionals, coaches, my medical team, fitness professionals, therapists, and through the support of peers and communities dedicated to sports, coaching, and entrepreneurship over the years. A special shout out to family, friends, and my husband—because these are the people who might not “get” all the ins and outs of changes you’re going through, or the tech challenges of running an online business…but they’ll listen and support you through it!

I’ve been able to get where I am through collaboration with others. The feedback of professionals and peers has facilitated my continued growth, learning, changing, flexing, and adapting along the way. While being a coach and entrepreneur may feel isolating at times, the more you surround yourself with others moving towards similar goals and put yourself in the rooms where things happen, the more the opportunities open up for your success. Being a leader isn’t easy, but it is a path paved with meeting many people who inspire your creative growth.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bebetterwithbethany.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bebetterwithbethany
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bebetterwithbethany