We recently connected with Marla Hannig and have shared our conversation below.
Marla, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
There are a million nutrition coaches out there–literally. I decided to make it a million and one when I hit the age of 50. Yup, fifty. I decided to combine professional certifications with my thirty years of experience to help women understand the truth about weight loss, exercise and good health. I created a workbook so clients could leave the coaching experience with the knowledge, tips and experience they needed to be able to go do this on their own when our time came to an end. I created a system to work with clients and then started to advertise through social media because it’s free marketing. That’s when it hit me–that ugly feeling inside that says you aren’t good enough, you don’t know what you are doing, there are others doing it better than you, you aren’t anything special. I didn’t like that feeling! I realized what it was and I realized I hated it! I had to take my own advice and “stay in my own lane.” Anytime I would feel less than, not good enough or anxious about my social media presence, I would put my blinders on and focus on my purpose, my goodness, and I would remind myself of the starfish story. I heard this story several years ago and it’s kinda become my life motto. There was a young woman walking on the beach after a storm that had sent several starfish to the beach and they weren’t able to get back out in the ocean before the tide went out. This young woman was picking up a starfish one at a time and throwing it back into the ocean, literally saving its life. An older man walked up to her and asked her what she was doing. She replied she was saving the starfish. He responded back, “but there are so many, you can’t make a difference.” She picked up a starfish, threw it into the ocean and responded back, “”I just made a difference to this one.” As I started to focus on the “one,” I was better able to ward off that anxious imposter syndrome feeling. It would still pop up, but I recognized it for what it was. I would literally think, “oh hello there–I see you you sneaky little imposter syndrome. You can take a hike now!” As part of a course I took on writing website copy, I went back and interviewed previous clients. This helped me to see that I truly had focused on the one and that I had provided a life changing experience for the clients that I worked with. As I could see the difference this was making in women’s lives, I was better able to stay in my own lane, validate my own worth as a coach and remember the value of what I was doing.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Every time I would see a woman post on social media that she was starting a new diet I would literally feel like I was dying inside. You see, I’ve watched so many lose the weight and have great success with the “diet,” but then they don’t know what to do when it is over. The odds of gaining weight back after losing it is staggering. It doesn’t have to be that way! My heart sinks as I think about all the women out there who feel like failures. The truth is they did it! They did the diet. The diet failed them. Because it’s really not about the diet and losing the weight. It’s about creating habits that put you in alignment with your goals. If women understand how to maintain their weight, then they can lose the weight for good. I meet women right where they are at and help them take baby steps that will eventually lead them to the goals they have. The most successful weight loss stories occur AFTER a woman learns how to eat without gaining. Once she has mastered this, all she has to do is eat less of what she was already eating. Then the magic starts to happen. And when the fat loss phase is over, she already knows how to go back to maintenance and manage her weight in a way that feels really good. One of the main reasons weight gain feels icky is because our behaviors and our goals aren’t in alignment. Creating alignment with behavior and goals doesn’t occur just by learning about food, macros, exercise or nutrition. These are important things to understand, but the piece that brings it all together is understanding the brain and mindset. This is an important aspect of the coaching experience I provide for clients. And the super cool thing is–the information can be applied to all aspects of life. This is why clients leave saying the experience was truly “transformational,” and “life changing.” Part of my mission as a coach is to educate women. Let’s be honest, the marketing thrown at women about their bodies is disgusting. As women, it’s so hard to navigate what is true and what is simply a pitch to make money. Women are told to eat this, don’t eat that, do this exercise, don’t do that exercise. It can be so confusing! And yet when you really understand the human body and how it works, it’s not too complicated at all. I’ve recently started a bi-weekly newsletter where I help women understand the truth about fat loss, weight management, building muscle and aging strong. This newsletter also contains a recipe reshare. I take a recipe from a blog and show women how to make just a couple of changes to make the recipe “macro friendly.” The link to sing up is on my website. I am also currently taking 1:1 and 2:1 clients. All information is on the website.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I am passionate about learning. I devour non-fiction books. I am curious and I will dig until I find real clarity around the topic at hand. As a young mom, I asked “how do I take care of my body,” “what is best to eat,” and “how do I stay healthy and thin?” I was swayed to believe cardio was how I would stay thin, using weights in my cardio workouts would build long, lean muscles and give me that toned look, and I should have rules around food. In the last ten to fifteen years, I’ve realized those are all lies. Cardio is to keep your heart strong. Doing progressive overload and lifting heavy will give me that toned look I’m going for. It’s by building muscle! And having rules and restrictions around food causes binging. So now I strength train, eat as much as possible to grow my muscles without gaining unwanted fat, and live with boundaries around food instead of restrictions. My passion for learning and my curiosity drove me until I found the truth. Then I used that same passion and curiosity to take the professional steps to be able to help other women find this truth. The thing is, though, knowledge doesn’t make you wise. Applying knowledge, being willing to look at feedback, having a heart space for growth is where wisdom is cultivated. My daily desire is to be humble enough to see where I can continue to grow, learn and change. Change is very uncomfortable. I have become well acquainted with the physical feeling of being uncomfortable. I now recognize it as growth. No matter where you are in your journey, a good dose of humility and living outside your comfort zone will serve you well.
Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
At the age of 23, I became a mom for the first time. A few years later, I became a mom to another little girl, then three years later another. In my mid-thirties we tried for a boy and we got one! As a mom to four kids, I was busy, tired and absolutely in love with my little people. I thought having small children was the tough part and as they aged, it would just be great. Wrong. My teen-age and adult kids have taught me a lot. Helping them get through the drama of high school, dealing with anxiety and depression and helping them understand their own unique strengths and weaknesses stretched me in ways I couldn’t imagine. Because I was so in love with them, I dived deep, researching, learning and stretching myself to help them the best I could. Right before I turned 41, we added to our family one more time; this time through adoption. When our daughter was 2 1/2 she started waking up in the night with absolute terror and rage. So once again, I put my head down and went to work figuring out what I could do to help her. Over the last ten years, I have taken classes, attended workshops and dived into the world of neuropsychology and neurobiology and have become trauma informed. When I felt the calling to be a nutrition coach, I realized I had the experience to really help women change. I had the missing piece most coaching experiences were lacking–the mindset piece. Years of learning, growing and expanding my knowledge of the brain and the power of mindset made such a difference in my life and the lives of my children. Changing the body is about changing behavior. Permanently. Understanding the brain makes this process exponentially easier. Looking at my calling as a mother as a sacred responsibility and professional endeavor has prepared me to help women make changes in their lives. Changes that are lasting.
Contact Info:
- Website: marlahannig.com
- Instagram: @marlahannig
Image Credits
Photo credit @kayphotosss
