Barely Balanced
Barely Balanced is the raw, real-life podcast of a mom of four just trying to keep it together-most days. Join me as I talk candidly about the chaos of motherhood, the highs and lows of running a business, being a published author, navigating debilitating anxiety, Being a foster mama, recovering from an eating disorder and the journey of my life. This isn't a perfectly polished highlight reel, Its unfiltered girl talk, real conversations with friends, and honest reflections on what it means to show up for yourself, even when life feels barely balanced.
Barely Balanced
The Raw truth: why you're not seeing results.
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
On this episode, I sit down with an incredibly inspiring online coach and nutritionist who's helping women create sustainable lifestyle results without the fad diet nonsense. She's raw, real and refreshingly honest as we dive into the biggest misconceptions around fad diets, nutrition and what actually works.
This episode is as real as it gets, there is definitely some bloopers and real talk as we gathered our thoughts, but we all know how honest I like to be haha!
Hey guys, welcome to Barely Balanced for moms, misfits, and multitaskers just out here trying to survive the chaos. I'm a mama four, business owner, published author, fitness lover, and yes, I haven't dyed. We all know this. I have a past with eating disorders and a childhood that could literally fill the entire season of methods. This podcast is all unfiltered and probably a little bit of over-sharing, but it's everything you didn't know you needed. So grab a glass of wine and let's get honest. Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Barely Balanced. Today I am super excited because I'm sitting here with Madison Hacker. She is a nutritionist and she's a one-on-one fitness coach. Helps women build healthy relationships with food and teaches ladies how to create sustainable habits. Which, as women, we all know we struggle with that, right? Um, we all think that, you know, if we don't eat, we're gonna lose weight, right? And she's here today and she's gonna let us know a little behind the scenes, a little real info letting us know that that's actually not what you do. And in my previous episodes, I tell you guys all the time how I've been struggling with my eating for quite some time. Um, I just turned 40 in January. Um, I've been struggling with food, I want to say, since I've been 13. Um, I did the same thing. I didn't eat thinking that I would lose weight, and then my body would get so hungry that I would go to like the local deli or whatnot and grab all the tasty cakes and all the things, and I would literally secretly sit in my room and eat them, and then I would throw up because I had bulimia along with um anorexia and all the things. So to have her on the show today is super important to me just because I hold it close to my heart because I know that I'm not the only one that has these issues, and a lot of people are ashamed to talk about it. Um, and like I said prior, um, eating disorders and things like that, it doesn't discriminate. You can be a child. I just had my eight-year-old the other day tell me she thought she looked fat, and I almost fell out of my seat because that's something I definitely don't want for my child.
SPEAKER_02Um I would have it. Okay, talk about how you can keep it right. Okay, um how they hopefully someone can relate, and then that'll be it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um so hopefully with this episode, um, we have some we hopefully someone on the episode can relate. And that's like I told you guys before on other episodes. This is the main reason why I make the podcast, is I try to reach as many people as I possibly can. Um, just so we can, you know, help people and we can stick together and understand that you're not alone and a lot of people go through the same thing that you're going through. And um with that, I am going to um let Madison just talk for a little bit about um her why and why she started um creating this amazing community that she has created and um you know her passions and things like that. So I'm gonna hand over the mic to her and let her just give you guys a little, you know, thing about her.
SPEAKER_02Hello, my loves. My name's Madison, and I'm a certified personal trainer, nutritionist, and fitness coach, and I'm just so happy to share my journey with you guys today. First off, thank you, Kim, for having me here. I'm so excited to do this with you. Um, but okay, so my journey started when I was 17 years old. I got my driver's license and immediately I was driving myself to the gym. Um, I was in high school, so I was not really eating throughout the day. I was going to the gym in a hoodie, sweatpants, and um I was over 200 pounds. I didn't know what I was doing. I just wanted to lose weight. So I started off going into the gym, um, going on the stair machine for 60 minutes to 75 minutes, you know. I thought I used to do the same thing. Really? Yeah, and not eat it. And um, I lost weight. I did. I went from 200 over 200 pounds to 130 pounds, and um, I was being in I was a nanny at the time, so I would go to go to nanny when I was done my cardio, and then I would go back to the gym and do more cardio and still not eat. So, but all altogether I realized that I was just ruining my metabolism. Um, fast forward to 2015, fast forward to um college. Um, I originally started off as a nursing major at Widener and I was horrible at it. I hated being a nurse. It was not for me. I was not studying, I wasn't doing anything, um, whatever, blah blah blah. So then I ended up having to switch schools because my stepmom um forced me to go to school for nutrition because I was so I I was so um what's the word I'm looking for? Um fast forward, my stepmom okay, so fast forward, my stepmom made me go to um to college to she made me switch schools to Rowan University where they offered health and exercise science where I would get my bachelor's in nutrition. Um, because I was so passionate about it, she saw me losing weight all throughout high school and thought that this would be a better um opportunity for me to succeed in with life. So um at first I was totally against it. Um we fought about it. I hated her, I was miserable. Um, but then I started going to classes and I started studying the importance of food and nutrition and all of that, and I've learned how important it is to fuel our bodies and actually eat real food. So um fast forward to this was now my junior, my junior year of college, I started eating better, I started strength training, I started lifting weights, um, I started not lifting heavy, just like 10 to 12 rep ranges. Um, I started studying about this and I was in kinesiology and anatomy and physiology, and I learned the importance of having to um get the my muscle connection, learn how to learn how to um keep our muscles um like time under tension and stuff like that so that we're able to maximize our muscle growth while we're lifting. Um, but on the other end of that, I would I would um but on the other end of that I would emphasize the importance of nutrition because you can out I always say that you can't outwork a bad diet. So you could work out every single day of the week, but if you're going home and you're eating Popeyes, Chick-fil-A, your iced coffees, and you're not focusing on your whole foods and you're not fueling your body around your workouts, this is about post and pre-workout, um, with your carb sources, um, you're not gonna see results. And that's why I'm here today because I want to explain the importance of nutrition and how important it is for uh to fuel our bodies with food.
SPEAKER_00With real food, right? Real food.
SPEAKER_01So for it's funny because so as we're talking about real food, um, as I just said prior, I have a very, very unhealthy relationship with food, and it's 417 right now, and I did work out today, and I'm gonna kill her. And as she came in, I was like showing her what I was going to eat, and it's one of those perfect bars, you know, the ones you keep in the refrigerator, and it says on there 15 grams of protein, suit 20 plus superfoods, and I was like pumped to be like, yeah, this is what I'm eating, and she was like, No, like no, no, why aren't these good? Because like for me, like, I don't like we're gonna read a nutrition label together.
SPEAKER_02All right. So, um because I didn't eat nothing, so it is 330 calories and 20 grams of fat.
SPEAKER_03So, yeah. See what I mean? I don't know about nothing.
SPEAKER_02So the most important thing with nutrition is always read a nutrition label because you want to stay, even with protein bars or protein powders, protein shakes, all that, you want to keep it as lean as possible, right? Why would we want to eat a protein bar that has 20 grams of fat in it? Yeah, yes, this protein bar specifically is um it has peanut butter in it.
SPEAKER_01Like that's it considered like better for you though, out of all the bars, or like no?
SPEAKER_02No, because so the percentage of calories. Like, suppose a protein bar has 20 grams of protein and 200 calories, you want your protein calories to be four times the over the total amount of calories times 100, right? So if your protein calories are 20 times four, that's 80 calories from protein. So you want that protein bar to be at like 30 to 50 percent to be considered excellent. And this is 330 calories, only 15 grams of protein. So that's not even close.
SPEAKER_01So do you recommend any bars at all? Like I mean, like, and you know, I mean, we don't gotta like say them all, but like, so for me, like a non-eater, right? So like I'm I'm a non-eater. Listen, I would literally never eat if I didn't need it to live. And I don't it's an issue. I know it is, guys. It's crazy. We all know I talk about it all the time. It's just like a thing, like I never get hungry, and I know that's probably because I don't eat enough. My metabolism fucking sucks. Your metabolism's slow, fucking sucks. And um that's what we should talk about next, metabolism. Yeah, and I definitely because the the thing with metabolism is, and I've learned the hard way was now I like I'll get off topic and blab, and we all know this if you guys listen to the podcast. But um the whole thing with the bars is that's what I'll do. I'm that type of girl that I won't eat all morning. I'll work out, I'll feel like I'm gonna throw up, I'll get dizzy, and then I'll eat a bar that I thought was good for me and clearly it isn't. And I'll probably still eat it though because I am hungry. I'm hungry now because it's 421 and I wouldn't.
SPEAKER_02But like this should be a meal, not a protein bar right now. You haven't eaten all day. No. You have no food. Like you should have brown beef, there's zero food in the air in there or something.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's what I'm I told her I meal prep for my 18-year-old son, but I won't meal prep for myself, which is actually funny. Um, it's like whatever. But um, so I fought I found that very funny because as she was coming in, I was like so excited thinking I had like this healthy ball. And I was wrong.
SPEAKER_02Um, but And let me add there's 20 grams of sugar in it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but uh so if I but like you just said, so because I didn't eat though, like I should eat it. It's better than not eating.
SPEAKER_02I mean you wouldn't recommend it to people, but like you're better off going and getting um like chicken and rice from somewhere.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and that's another misconception rather than eating that. And that's another misconception I want to talk about real quick is carbs. So for me, like people that have read my book or haven't read my book, it'll say in there how I never eat carbs, right? I'm a person that won't eat the carbs. I'm like, um no, I'll live off ground beef for like fucking three weeks because um I'm not gonna eat the carbs, I'm not gonna eat the rice, I'm not gonna eat these things because they're bad. They're carbs, they're this, they're that. But then I have no fucking energy to work out, and then I'm in class and I suck at class because I have no energy.
SPEAKER_02Well, so you your body has you have your complex carbs and your simple carbs.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So like your complex carbs are like carbs that like are less processed, containing higher fiber, like your oats, your rice, quinoa, beans, fruits are great. Like, I eat a lot of berries throughout the day. Like, one of my go-to meals is literally egg whites, berries, or like pineapple, some type of fruit, um, and then maybe like sweet potatoes or regular potatoes. So your body needs good carbs. I'm not telling you to go eat like a fried chicken sandwich for breakfast or whatever, but like I'm saying like eat a whole balanced meal for breakfast with good carb sources.
SPEAKER_01And it's funny that you say that because like like I swear, most people that I meet, I swear to god, everybody's on a different diet. Like a and and like we like to talk about life lifestyle, right? Lifestyle, not diet. Because it's like, and like when like I've said, I tried every single diet. I've tried South Beach, I've tried Slim Fast diet, I've tried um the keto diet, I've tried the bone broth diet, I've tried the grapefruit fucking diet, guys, where I only have to be like normal. I don't know because I can't, it's like a thing for me. I'm like, if I have to, like the I have such like I just grew up in an unhealthy like my house was kind of unhealthy with food, so like like my mom had an eating disorder, my dad like overused the like uh exercise, and we grew up in a house where I wasn't allowed to have any sweets, really. So like I'd actually really so my mom would make me count my potato chips. Oh my god. Sorry, I know like I'm saying. I don't talk to my parents really that much anymore, but like yeah, I mean, and I and I'm like it and you know, you're like sorry, and you know what? She probably didn't even know that she was doing anything wrong because it was she's trying to teach me right and brutality, it kind of can create, and I try to do it with my kids now, like they want the Doritos and their lunch, and I'm like, how about some strawberries, or how about this? And it's funny because our brains are programmed to think that I I've heard like fruit's bad for you, like too much sugar. Like, why are you eating that? Like, and there's too much sugar, and I'm like, it's fucking fruit.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, like it's fruit. Well, with fruit, there's different amounts of carbs in each fruit, like what's the best fruit for you to eat? Because berries are handsome.
SPEAKER_01Like strawberries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, um, all that. But what about bananas?
SPEAKER_02Bananas are higher carb, right? But they're not awful to eat, they're not awful to eat, but like you gotta be mindful because if you're eating a banana that's like medium size, it's probably about 40 grams of carbs. And if you're trying to cut weight, like that half a banana can actually make or break a difference. That's why sometimes girls will like they'll be like, Oh, I'm like, well, what did you add in like for your snack for the day? And I'll be they'll be like a banana, but like they don't in their head they don't think it's much, right? But like, you know, it could be that extra make or break situation for your weight loss, right?
SPEAKER_01So and I and I think that that's important for a lot of people because we like for me, I don't I won't even eat a fucking banana because I know there's carbs in the city. Yeah, but it's a good carb. I know, and that's my problem because I'm like, um, okay, so what do I eat? I'll just sit home and be like, rice cakes. Rice cakes are great. I do love rice cakes, yeah. Um, and then I do drink, which are probably bad for you. Be ready. Um, the it's like a core power, the elite protein, the 42 grams of oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02Are they alright? They're okay, but they're processed protein. Oh my god! You're eating that at you're drinking that at home?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like stove in a microwave. No, like I'll drink them.
SPEAKER_02Like I drink a meal instead of drinking a protein. She got it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I won't. I won't.
SPEAKER_01I'm learning, I'm learning. She's here to help me too.
SPEAKER_02Should be like added. I mean, they're good, like they're called supplements for a reason. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01I'm doing everything wrong, guys. That's probably why I've been so I've been stuck. So I was stuck like at a standstill for a really long time. And then I started being consistent, taking classes here, and then um taking classes um just with Brittany, one of my instructors. And then yeah, like her classes just kicked my ass.
SPEAKER_02That's why I'm here tonight.
SPEAKER_01But I was yeah, for her class, yeah. I was super consistent. I did drop a whole pant size, which I was super fucking pumped. I was like, it's gonna be out of fucking time. Yeah, but I all day, and then but I noticed when I started dropping weight finally, I um was eating more. And to me, that's like a foreign fucking concept. I'm like, what the fuck? Because when I was younger, after I had my son, I got down to like a hundred pounds, and I was 21, so whatever. But then I had my daughter at 25, I got back down to a hundred pounds, which I'm five's six, so like let's be real. I looked disgusting. I was like, I was like a size zero, they were falling off me. Like it wasn't like a thing. Then after I had my daughter Kinsley, she I got down to like 113. And then after I had my fourth daughter, Blake, I got stuck. And I realized I was like, I'm not, there's something happening with my body here. Like, what is going on? My doctors just kept saying, But your doctors always just kind of like whatever. They're like, eh, you're fine. Your hormone levels are good, your panels are good, you're good. And I'm like, Well, what the fuck am I doing different? I was I'm not eating, I'm not fueling my body. No, I did go through a phase where I was eating out of these containers that I got off of a company that I won't say the company on here, I don't know what is allowed and what's not allowed, but um like the green container was veggies, and then the purple container was fruit, and then the yellow container was um carbs, and you were able to eat like let's say for my weight. I was able to eat like four greens a day, two purples, and I was losing weight that way because I was getting all the proper carbs and fruits and sugars that I needed. And that was where then I started seeing transformation, but then I stopped because I get annoyed with the food. It's like I don't even like like food, it's super weird. But um, I'm gonna work on it and I'm glad to have you here to help me with that because we all as women, even men, not only go through periods of life where obviously we get stressed and things like that, where we maybe don't eat enough or we overeat, and also another thing is like you want to enjoy life as well. Right, and that's a huge issue for people, right? That's having right, and that's a huge thing, right? For people because they'll work out.
SPEAKER_02Right. Well, I like the 80-20 rule because I am a foodie, I eat pizza, I eat wings, I eat photos, and I love that, and that makes me happy that you do that. Yeah, you have to because I drink my Dunkin' Iced coffees, but I limit it to once, maybe twice per week. But like that's it, and you know, and then with my food and stuff, like a cheap meal doesn't have to be a cheat day, right?
SPEAKER_01Like that's something you don't have to sabotage your whole day.
SPEAKER_02Yes, no, like so you don't also don't have to starve yourself all day because you can um eat your regular meals. Like, if I if usually Saturdays are like my cheat days or Sundays, right? So Saturdays I'll like work out in the morning, and then if I know I'm having a cheat meal, um I will um I'll still go home after my workout, make my regular meals, like eat my eggs, whatever, or my oatmeal. Um they egg whites or they eggs. Yeah, either I I eat mainly egg whites because I like especially if I'm having a cheat meal, it's better to at least keep the fats down.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02So if you're gonna keep any macro down, keep it the fats. Okay. You you want your carbs and protein. Your your body needs carbon.
SPEAKER_01So the carbs are a th they're a thing.
SPEAKER_02Yes, guys.
SPEAKER_01Carbs are a thing. Everybody stop with the keto.
SPEAKER_02Potatoes. Yeah, stop the keto diet.
SPEAKER_01Literally.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's not good.
SPEAKER_01And like my my ex-husband actually went on the keto diet and he was fucking eating like pounds of fucking bacon. Yeah, like that's not good. And guess what? His triglycerides were through. Because it's not like I got generally, yeah, I got like generally concerned. I was like, your triglycerides are like I was like, you need to go to the ER or something. Like, what the fuck? Well, because you can't you can't eat pounds of bacon a long time. Yeah, that and that's and that's another misconception. People think that all these fad diets, which I am one of them, like for example, I am going on a cruise April 25th, and I'm trying to maybe not drop a whole size, because I don't really need to do that, but like just want to tighten and tone. And I want to feel comfortable on my fucking skin. Right. My goal is to walk around in my bikini without my long sarong. Anyone that knows me that's listening, they know I wear this long sarong. I don't need to. Yeah, I look fine, but in my mind, I'm like a fucking lunatic, and I'm like, mm-hmm, no, like I'm not, I'll wear it in the water and everything. It'll be like floating behind me. It'll be floating behind me because I'm an idiot.
SPEAKER_02Like, and that's no, you don't need to be doing it. And like, so you know Well, starting today, since we only have what one month till your cruise. Yeah, one month. I'm coaching her for five weeks.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and hopefully, yeah, tell me what foods I want to do. Teach her how to eat. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Because, you know, you gotta just wake up, fuel your body, eat potatoes, um, bananas are fine in the morning. You can do overnight oats, you can do like English muffins. I love that.
SPEAKER_01And do they have to no? I love that. But do the English muffins have to be whole wheat? No. Because then you're hearing that you some people think you need to go gluten-free.
SPEAKER_02No, you don't need to.
SPEAKER_01I mean, unless you're saying unless you have like unless you have to, that's what I thought. Because then a lot of people too are like, there's gluten in that. Uh, you shouldn't be eating that. And I'm like, oh my god, like what am I actually supposed to be doing?
SPEAKER_02And then when it comes down to like fat loss, it's all about calories in versus calories out. Right. So, like, if you're burning more calories than you're eating, you're gonna be losing fat.
SPEAKER_01And what's and what's your take on fasting now?
SPEAKER_02No, fuck fast. And a lot of people fast. Those that know me, know me that know that I hate fasting because it actually slows your metabolism down. So Does it? Yeah, see?
SPEAKER_01I don't know shit. When you wake up and you I'll work out all day, but I don't know shit about nutrition.
SPEAKER_02See, I'm one of those girls that obviously cannot eat like before a workout. Like I also work out semi-early, like 9 a.m. after my morning clients, and like usually between the hours of like 7 to 9 a.m. since I'm up so early, I will drink coffee, but I'll also like it on an empty stomach though? Well, no, so that's a misconception. No, no, no, no. Can you drink it on an empty stomach? I I drink coffee like as soon as I wake up before the stuff. No, so yes, okay.
SPEAKER_01But I wake up, my eyes aren't even open yet. And I'm like, I need coffee. I need it, yeah.
SPEAKER_02So, but no, I pair it with like a carb source. I'll do like an English muffin or protein pancakes or protein waffles or banana, but like, yeah, you gotta pair it with something.
SPEAKER_01Now, what your protein waffles or pancakes will you add a protein powder?
SPEAKER_02Yes. Okay. Okay, because I do like that. I make them with protein powder.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Okay. I was gonna say, hence the protein part. But I also I also heard like, well, you know, I don't like I also heard like a different like um thing where you shouldn't drink coffee on an empty stomach. And I'm like, but I fucking But you can have coffee with something because I'm like, I like coffee. I have y'all know I got five kids. When I wake up in the morning, from the second my feet hit the ground, I need my coffee. It's the first thing I fucking do. Yes, you do. So I'm like, oh my god, I'm wrecking my stomach because I'm drinking the coffee. And all day I'm just stressed about it. So it's like so. It's so annoying. But um so alright.
SPEAKER_02So I think here's there.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say, so I was gonna say So we're gonna sign off, but I did want to ask one more question, and this is just for people like me that, like I said, have an issue with food. So if I'm rushing in the morning and I wake up and I literally don't have time and I have to make the quickest thing, what would be your recommendation for me? Because I know not eating is not is it's not an option.
SPEAKER_02Overnight oats, because overnight oats can stay good in the fridge for four or even five days.
SPEAKER_01Now, do I have to make my own or can I buy the ones from the store?
SPEAKER_02Whichever. I don't know. I don't know. The ones from the store alright? Yeah, but you're better off just making your own because it's cheaper. I actually used to be more cost-effective to buy a big thing of oats and it's like I don't even know how much that's.
SPEAKER_01I actually used to make my own oats and I do enjoy them. Yeah. And I used to put a little protein powder in there with the oats and the almond milk. Yeah, that's what you can do, and add some fruit.
SPEAKER_02You can even add peanut butter. But at least that's healthier than even buying like the processed, whatever pre-made foods there are too.
SPEAKER_01Okay. So basically, long story short, you have to eat to see changes. Yeah, food has fuel to you have to eat to change your body. If you're just working out, working out, working out, and your body and there's nothing in there, your body's running on nothing.
SPEAKER_02Oh, which means so carbs are your main fuel source of energy, right? So they're not your enemy.
SPEAKER_01Carbs are not your enemy. That is the message we're sending out today. And also, Madison and I are super excited because we are collabing together to help women learn how to add nutrition into their workout routines and learn how to keep a sustainable lifestyle because we don't diet, right? It's all about lifestyle. And yes, I did just say she's gonna help me um for my trip. But after that, but we can do that sometimes. It's not like a thing, you know, we do that. It's like that's just like a thing. But to learn how to do a lifestyle, I'll probably be doing it the entire time because I actually do need to get a better relationship with food. So keep a lookout for our little collab.
SPEAKER_02Coming out with an awesome collab to help you guys.
SPEAKER_01Yes, because I hear it all the time. People struggle with their nutrition, they'll go out too much, they're drinking too much, and like she said, we can still enjoy life, we can still go out, we can still have the pizza, we can still have the martinis, but you also need to do your workouts properly. Learn how to structure your meals and learn how to create it as a lifestyle, not a diet, not a punishment for your body. It's it's a lifestyle. Yes. So look out for our collab. Um, it's gonna be great, it's gonna help so many people. It's gonna give you all the tips and tricks that you need to know to succeed and to create your healthy mind and body. Um, and if you want to give her a follow on Instagram, her Instagram is MadisonHFit23. So go follow her on there if you did not follow her, if you do not follow her already. Um, her content is great. You'll learn a lot of stuff just by looking at that. And um, she actually has to run off because she is at she is at the studio to take a clip. So um thank you so much, Madison, for joining me on the podcast. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, and thank you for letting us in on all the misconceptions of dieting, especially me. But she did let me eat the bar because I didn't eat it all day. Because I didn't know what I am eating the bar and I am better than nothing, and I am enjoying it. But thank you so much. And um, wait, you know, when our collab comes out, we'll let you guys know. Absolutely. And um, thanks for listening. I hope you guys have an amazing day. Bye.