Latest / Her Working Life / Balancing a Dietitian Career and Motherhood | Ep. 5

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Balancing a Dietitian Career and Motherhood | Ep. 5 · Her Working Life

• Courtnie Cotterell: Welcome back to Her Working Life, where we are talking to real women and having real conversations about what life looks like as a working mom, a mom who likes to work out, or just, a regular mom who's just trying to go day to day and get all of the things done. And today we are joined by my dear friend Mickey Eberhart. Mickey is an incredible mom. I know her in the fitness world, I know her in the working world, and she is a registered dietitian. She has a ton of accolades and great things that she's done. done in her working career as well as as a mom to three. And so Mickey, thank you so much for joining us today. We are so glad. Miki Eberhardt: Thanks for having me. Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah, and I need to mention Jordan's on the call too. Sorry Jordan I left you out. Jordyn Fullmer: You're good, you're good to be here. Miki Eberhardt: Nice to meet you, Jordan. Jordyn Fullmer: Nice to meet too, Mickey. We're excited to have you. Well, I I wanna know, like, just from you. Tell us tell us your story. Tell us, yeah, just tell us a little bit about yourself. We're excited to deep dive into your life and and learn from you, so Miki Eberhardt: Okay, well, I am married and I have three kids. I used to say that I have three teenagers, but my oldest turned 20 a couple weeks ago, so I can't say that anymore. I'm a registered dietitian. I have over two decades of experience across a few different areas. I started with clinical dietetics and then I worked moved into corporate wellness and Then the last little while I've been doing performance nutrition with sports and athletes. And that's I've always had a little side gig where I've had my own coaching business. And two years ago I decided to really specialize in sports, and I am just almost finished with the International Olympic Committee's sports nutrition diploma. It's a two-year program, and my last final's in November, so I'm thrilled about that. I do a little bit of media work for a local news and lifestyle show here. I'm their health contributor and get to kind of dissect studies and science into easy takeaway tidbits and I really enjoy doing that as well. And I'd say that I I champion body confidence and making peace with food and finding those ways to have sustainable longevity. with both nutrition and fitness. So personally I love logging miles on a hiking trail and I like cheering my athletes, my teen athletes on the sidelines, and I haven't met a group fitness class that I don't love. So little about me. Courtnie Cotterell: now I truth be told, I met Mickey because I actually hired her back when I was having all of my kids. I had five kids in under eight years, and it was a wild time for my body. And I needed help because, man, by that fourth baby, the body like all of that baby weight was not coming off, and I felt Desperate Mickey and I don't even remember exactly how I got your name, but Mickey came and I will say she flat out changed my life, saved my life, all of the things that she could do because she helped me reframe the way that I thought of food and the way that I thought of just how I want to move my body and live my life. And then the crazy thing is, is you all probably know that I'm a fitness instructor and I blame Mickey for that because she got me hooked. Jordyn Fullmer: That's awesome. Miki Eberhardt: don't blame we think. Your family may blame me, but Courtnie Cotterell: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. No, but Mickey, I know from our personal interactions, I've even been Mickey's employee at one part. I worked with the corporate wellness side of things with Mickey for a bit. And Mickey, I know that you started, you did like tell us kind of about your journey through this this just your your How you've shifted and changed as a registered dietitian throughout the years. Kind of take us on a long journey of what that has looked like for you. Miki Eberhardt: Okay, I was gonna say that's the the the best part of my job over the years, I had somebody say to me is like Mickey, you collect the best people. And I feel like that's true. So I'm I'm really grateful that I was able to collect Courtney along the way there and that we moved Courtnie Cotterell: thank you. Miki Eberhardt: from client to to really good friend. And I this is interesting. So every every year I go down to my alma mater BYU and I teach one class called the Intro to Dietetics class there. And I have a presentation I just go through what I do as a dietitian and what I've done. And it's been funny because I've done it for probably 10 years. And it just every year it changes a little bit because that's what my job it's just kind of been evolving over the years, which is really fun. And I I added a slide this time to the presentation because it just really rang true to me that what I want to say to those students is two things. Like one, wherever you're at, and I think this goes for your listeners, like wherever you're at in your life, your work, your business, whatever, be brave and say yes to things that might scare you, that maybe don't feel super comfortable. And number two is you view every opportunity as a way to meet new people, not to take advantage of them, but to s to learn more about them. And the reason why I say that is you know, my dad had this he didn't have this saying, but he lived this way, which was he he said it one time, but it was just the way that he always lived, which was the difference between a stranger and a friend is a five minute conversation. And he taught me that in life, any interaction he would have with people just randomly through his day, he would engage and learn more about them. And the reason why I say that to your question, I'm getting there, is as I was looking through this presentation of my career arc, is every single shift and job that I've had over this last two decades is because I knew somebody and I had a relationship somewhere. Or somebody referred me here or asked me this. Really none of my jobs from other than like when I very first started was like I applied and submitted an application and got a job. So I started out in California. I did my dietetic internship at a clinical hospital there through UCLA. And I've always loved health and fitness. Like I asked for gym memberships when I was a teenager because I thought it looked so fun. And always like I had I don't know if anybody would even know what this is, but I had the firm workout videos, which if you look them up, they were old school back then. And now when you see them the ladies and leotards and just killer workout, I need to probably try it and see if it's still as hard, but Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Miki Eberhardt: I just I loved that. And so when I was doing my internship, my dietetic internship to become an RD, I also became a personal trainer at that same time. And so when I Finished my internship. They had just opened an employee gym at the hospital. And so I got hired to be a dietitian and to run the employee gym. And that was really fun because I got the best of both worlds. I learned really quickly that I didn't love clinical nutrition because I didn't like going in and saying, Okay, well, now that you've had a heart attack, would you like to learn how to eat better? Or, you know, now that you have diabetes, Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah. Miki Eberhardt: you want to I learned very quickly that the hospital wasn't a great education. Center for learning and I really did enjoy coaching and teaching. And so I took that little in I guess foundation and I took that and just I paired up with a gal that I had gone to school with that lived in that same area. Again, we reconnected and we started just a in-home nutrition and fitness wellness business. We call it neighborhood nutrition back then. And I also got a job working at a really high-end health club in Valencia, California. And this still cracks me up is it had valet parking, you know, like, could you park my car so I could go get on the treadmill? It was like, what are we doing here? This is so weird. Anyway, so I Courtnie Cotterell: Ha ha ha. Miki Eberhardt: did that. I did coaching and nutrition until I had my first baby. I probably did that for a few years, and then we moved back to Utah where I am. And I had through through babies, I've had a few different jobs in there. So I still had my side neighborhood nutrition. My business partner had to move with her husband back east, and so she was like, you know, you can take it, it's fine. Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Miki Eberhardt: And so I kept coaching people at night when my husband would get home with the kids. That was all just word of mouth. Like, you know, an uncle that wanted to. improve his marathon time and then he had a friend and they had their friend. I just I I stayed pretty busy just word of mouth. And I worked a lot with couples, husbands and wives, which I think was a a fun, unique niche that was not really, women were going to Weight Watchers and what were the guys doing. So it was nice to work together and and improve the health of families in that space. When I moved back where I am the closest gym was Lifetime Fitness, which now is hilarious because we're getting one right in our town. But at the time that was 20 minutes away. And I went there and looked at the gym and and it was just beautiful and knew that I needed to work out there and also I didn't want to pay to work out there. And so I'm like, how do I work here? And when I was doing a tour with the sales guy, I saw that they had a nutrition coach and it was a friend that was a year ahead of me in school. And I'm like, this is so great. So, this was this social media was maybe barely starting. So it's like I had to find her email address and emailed her. I might have found tracked her phone number down and just said I was like, Hey, I would love to hear more about what you do. And she was like, my gosh, great timing. Do you want to work? Like, yes. So we Courtnie Cotterell: Ha ha ha. Miki Eberhardt: job shared because she was she could only work two days and was getting too busy. So we started job sharing, and I did that. And and worked again in the help in the gym space. And then I taught which be through Eliza. That was my friend Eliza. Through Eliza, she started teaching at what was Ameritech College, which was a nursing school at the time. And then she had to go on maternity leave. So she's like, Do you want my job? So then I started doing that. And each time, then I'd have a baby and I'd stop for a minute and then go back. But I always had my side thing. And then after my third baby was born, I had found CrossFit. And I really loved CrossFit and the friends that I'd made there. And at the time, CrossFit was really big into paleo, the paleo diet. And that drove me crazy because just this the science behind it and what CrossFit was, and it was, you know, people were like dreaming about having oatmeal because you weren't allowed to have carbs. It just is an interesting thing. And so I created like a six-week nutrition series for CrossFit, which I called Nutrafit, and would go into the the the CrossFit gym that I was at and would teach it, you know, once a week for six weeks at night. And I had about, you know, 40 or people, whatever, show up and take that class. And then I had a cousin that owned a CrossFit gym. And he's like, hey, will you come teach that at my gym? And so I was sure, let me go teach that at your gym. And so I started doing that. And in his group of People that were attending my class, there was somebody that worked in corporate for Ken Garf. And she was like, Hey, could you come teach this to like our like Ken Garf Corporate downtown? And I was like, sure, that sounds fun. And so I went down and started teaching it to their group. And at the time, Ken Garf was really innovative. They already had a worksite wellness program. And this was before really anybody did. now a lot of people have health programs in their work. But really they were a a pioneer when it came to corporate wellness, at least where I am. And so in talking to them more, I was like, don't you so you have a worksite wellness program, but you're hiring me to come in and teach this class. Like what what is your corporate well, what is your program doing? And so they talked me through it and showed me things. And it it became very clear that at that time the corporate wellness space was just very vanilla. it was just like what we all know, eat fruits and vegetables, move more. And they wanted more of the specifics, which is what I was offering in my classes. And so that just kind of got my wheels turning. Like there's kind of a need here that I think would be interesting. And then another Kengarf. location pick me up and I would go down there and teach that. And at this time I just started thinking I think I think we could I think there could be a business here where we actually do more of the the guts with corporate wellness instead of just saying move more, eat better, we could be like, here's how you do it when you work 40 hours a week and you have a family and all these other things. How do you actually do that? And so I partnered with my cousin that had the CrossFit gym. He had the fitness background. I wasn't training anymore. And so it, I had more of the nutrition side. And yeah, we formed a business called Axim, corporate help. And we we just jumped right in. We and and I did that for probably a decade. We had we did, you know, employee screenings and taught classes and lunch and learns and did food demonstrations and Coach one on one and just it was a really great opportunity and I really, really enjoyed it. I loved all the parts about it that are innate to being a dietitian. I love teaching, I love coaching, I love seeing people's lives change, I loved helping them try new foods and change their break room so they could eat better. And I didn't love the like red tape and the bureaucracy and the insurance company stuff and all of that. And, when you own a business, that tends to be that you do a lot more of that than the other stuff. And so when COVID hit, COVID just rocked our business. And all the things that we had been doing and had on the schedule, like you know, every vinyl metric screening, which was what Courtney used to help me with, like those all came to an end. And a lot of the companies, you know, when you're nervous about your money, your finances, you're gonna cut things that are extra and Corporate wellness is an extra for a lot of companies. And so someone would say, you know what, we can you work for half the price? And you know, we're not going back, we're just gonna stay home. And so we just our our clientele kind of was reduced. And at the time, as a busy working mom, it got to a place where I my workload was a lot, and I felt like because it was my business partner's. main source of income and it was gravy for me. I never felt like I could be like, could we could we not be as busy? Could we scale back? Cause he just was, I mean, he was moving shaken. He is probably the reason we were as successful as we were, just because he was really great at pounding the pavement, finding the clients. And I would just be like, okay, okay, I gotta find a babysitter. Okay, I got to do this. And just the juggle of it all. And So when COVID happened and everything came to a pause, it was a forced pause, it was really nice for me. And it gave me a minute to just pause and reflect and realize, yeah, I've been too busy. And I felt like my family had taken the brunt of it. And I remember saying to my husband about two weeks into lockdown, like, do you notice that I haven't raised my voice or yelled at anybody in two weeks? Which is honestly it's embarrassing to say because I can't think of the last time that I yelled at anybody. But at that time in my life I was just spread so thin that, you know, my kids needing stuff or not doing what they what they said right away. I just had such a short fuse. And it makes me emotional thinking about it, to be honest, because it was the good aha that I needed, but it was it was too much at that time. And so COVID was a a blessing in some ways for me. It was really hard for my business partner, obviously, that this was his income for his family. And so we worked with the clients that we had that we could still work with. And he eventually ended up going to work kind of with one of the insurance brokers doing some things with them. And that was a better consistent, you know, income for him than where we were at with it still being so many unknowns and shaky. And so We kept running with what we had for, you know, a few more years, just unless we weren't building anymore. It was just it was nice. I always say like it was just the right amount of work for me. But as things kind of started wrapping up and came to a close, I found myself, you know, mid-40s and like, okay, what do I want to do now? Like what do I want? What's my next Courtnie Cotterell: Mm-hmm. Miki Eberhardt: thing? And that is when I just realized I I love sports. I love sports probably then the average, like my husband always jokes that I like sports more than him. I watch probably more football than he does. And and he loves sports. I mean he played football. So it's kind of a funny, a funny thing. He loves to tell everybody like it's this brag, you know. But I I loved coaching. I had at, you know, my my kids were then teenagers. They were involved in competitive sports. I grew up a dancer and and just had already been working with dancers and dance teams. And so it was just this natural thing, like, I really love sports. I love athletes. To be honest, I the the past few years I have felt like science has been under attack and and you can't fake science with sports. Like you the nutrition, you have to have it to get the outcomes and the performance. And So it just was this nice thing. I thought, you know what? I think I'm going to work towards getting what's called my CSSD, which is a certified specialist in sports dietetics. It's an additional credential with being a registered dietitian. And so I looked up what it took to get that. And it's like 2,000 hours of working with athletes and you have to take a test. And one of the things that could contribute hours to it was this IOC sports diploma. And so I was like, ooh, that sounds fun. Let me see what that is. And so I looked it up. And it did sound really fun and interesting. And this was December, and the application was due January 16th. And I was like, huh, okay, let me see what I can do. And and got my trap my transcripts from 20 years before and realized that I really struggled my freshman year in college, had to take organic chemistry twice. Anyway. And so I submitted them. I just the initial stuff and sent it off. And I got an email back, and they were like, This you look to be like a great candidate. We need to get two letters of recommendation and we'll need And it was literally we'll need in three days because I was so late submitting. And I was like, there's no way, professionally, that I could ask somebody to be like, Could you write a letter of recommendation today? it just went against everything that I'm like organized and by plan. And I was like, And so I emailed back and said, know, is there another opportunity I could join mid-year? I just really feel like that's too tight of a timeline for me professionally to ask somebody. And they're like, Well, we'll give you an extra week if that would help. And I'm like, all right, I'll So I I asked this professor that I go and speak for her every year down at BYU, bless her. And my boss at that I do the TV stuff for at KSL and They both were just very kind and generous and did that for me. And so I started that program last February. It has kicked my butt. It has been really I've had to rework muscles in my brain that I have not worked since I don't even know I worked in this hard as a college student, to be honest with you. But I have just enjoyed it. I have I really have, I've really scaled back from work the first year because I wasn't sure how much time it was going to be and then This second year I've been able to take on more clients and manage my time now that I've known what it is. And I had this major, my kids have been great through it all. And I had this crazy 28-page research paper that was due a few weeks ago. And my daughter was telling her friend about it. And she was like, Yeah, my mom turned in this paper today and she's literally been a ghost at our house. And I'm like, It's true because Jordyn Fullmer: Ha Miki Eberhardt: I sat here on my computer and I'm, you know, like my This is like my my kitchen family area. I just sit here and I can navigate things from here. And my kids would come be like, Mom, can you mom? And I'd be like, Can't don't talk to me. Don't talk to me. You got figured out. Find your dad. just Courtnie Cotterell: Ha ha ha. Miki Eberhardt: I am a ghost. That is right. I am not here. So the fun part of all of that is, and the thing that was really interesting for me is shifting into this sports space more. I really was like, Okay, now I gotta. Now what job am I gonna have now? And I started applying for the first time in my life with different jobs. And you know, turns out when you're an old lady, it's hard to get a job. And I applied, Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah. Courtnie Cotterell: Okay. Miki Eberhardt: you know, to be a sports psychician at a university, and I applied to work with the US ski and snowboard team, and I applied like these different things. It's like I am like I can teach and coach, like I am so confident in those. spaces. in fact, that's like nourished is my side business, which will now be my main business. But it was like I say, I do three things. I do sports, I speak, and I do media. And so it's like I know how to coach, I know how to teach, but I didn't have like this long list of working with, you know, D1 athletes and professional teams. And I mean, haven't applied to be like the Denver's Broncos intern on the sideline for summer camp. Like, I'm not even getting like a callback. not even like a hey, thanks for applying. Nice try. You know, I just was like, my gosh. And my husband's trying to be like super supportive. You know, he's like, for a lot of those things, they already know who they're gonna hire anyway. They just have to like put the job. I was like, Thank you for making me feel better. That's not true at all, but and I so I kind of was just I one thing that I did is that when I very first started, like last year, last May. I reached out to the BYU sports dietitians, what and the reason why. the girl that is the director that's been there since the inception of sports dietetics at BYU, she was a year ahead of me in school. And I pulled up the picture, I was like, I know her. Red hair, I totally remember you, and sent her an email. I was like, Hi, you probably don't remember me, but like, could I come just shadow you for the day? Could I come just see what you do? And you know, just trying to kind of Are you hiring? Is there anything? But she set me up with her associate dietitian, Lisa, and I went and just shadowed her for the day. And it was really fun. Again, I connected with her. She grew up a dancer and we had lunch together and she just showed me all these different things, answered all my questions. It was really fun. And over the next year, we kind of kept in touch with some different things. I was helping with my kids' mountain biking race nutrition stuff, and she wanted something about that. And What are you doing for CEUs? And just we we kept in touch enough, not super regularly, but a few emails over the year. And the job that I got, which is being the sports dietitian at a performance gym here that's for elite high school athletes, was because of Lisa. And she reached out to me and said, Hey, it's the strength and conditioning coach for BYU's basketball team. He's starting this gym. And he came to me, came on to me because she's a BYU dietitian, hey, would you be interested? And she's like, Well, I have a job, but she's Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Miki Eberhardt: like, Let me see if somebody else might be. And so she still is a part of it, but she reached out to me and was like, Hey, is this something that would be interest interesting to you? I was like, Yes, it is. And so that's where I might say I got this job with it's called Wiz Performance, Wiz Sports Performance. And Wiz is the coach for BYU basketball. But I got it because of Lisa and just because I, you know, put myself out there and and got to know her. But it's a great setup. He's he Wiz was the strain and condition coach for the Milwaukee Bucks. if anybody's familiar with Giannis, I mean he created Courtnie Cotterell: Well. Miki Eberhardt: that body and so he's really well known. And then he worked with Craig Manning, who is like a mental performance coach who is just elite and he's you can't work with him, but because he loves Wiz, they're he's a part of this gym. And then he has physical therapy and trainers. It's just like it's the multidiscipline approach, which you'd love to see in a hospital setting, but it's for athletes. And so I'm thrilled that I get to be the sports nutrition piece of that and work with these amazing young high school collegiate athletes. So That's the long story of my arc of and so that's why dietetics is the best. You can do so many things with it. Jordyn Fullmer: That is amazing. I I I enjoyed every second of that. I love how you have like your journey has been so many different things and just like adapting to different times of your life and just take like I think what stuck out to me most is you talking about doing things that scare you or maybe right because like this opportunity wouldn't be where you're at today wouldn't be a thing if you hadn't done all of these things that you did in the past. And I love that. Miki Eberhardt: And one of the things that scared me the most, Jordan, was when I did the first time I got asked to go be on TV and to speak, talk about this thing. And I agreed to it. And I remember sitting there, sweating out of my shirt, Taco Pit City, and just Courtnie Cotterell: Let's be honest. Miki Eberhardt: thinking What the heck am I doing? And so nervous and I do my spiel and then I get in the car and you think rethink of I'm like so stupid I said that I can't believe that was so dumb. Courtnie Cotterell: Okay. Miki Eberhardt: just felt so the and then Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah, for sure. Miki Eberhardt: three months would go by and they'd be like, Do you want to do it again? I'd be like, Yeah. And then, and then leading up to be like, Why did I say yes? That's the worst. Why did I So Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah. Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Miki Eberhardt: it was like it scared the crap out of me, but I just kept doing it because Jordyn Fullmer: man. Miki Eberhardt: it was like, I guess I need something that is just really pushes me. And now I can sit my stuff a couple days ahead, I go over it on my drive down and I go. But so many things wouldn't Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah. Much more comfortable. Miki Eberhardt: have happened if to your point I just didn't like, I'm gonna try. I'm gonna try. I might crash and burn, but I'll try. And then I learned nobody cares is really what I learned. Jordyn Fullmer: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Miki Eberhardt: you go to a segment, does anybody think about what that person said? No, nobody cares. So that helped. Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah, yeah. I love that. Courtnie Cotterell: Well and Jordan, Mickey and I, we are on Mar Marco Polo and I remember the day, Mickey, because my mom has a history career in news and she was asking me some questions just based off what I've, you know, noticed from my mom or whatnot. And I remember you saying the taco sweat and I was like, Do you know what? You get Jordyn Fullmer: Hehehehe Courtnie Cotterell: under those lights, it's hot, it's fine, like no one noticed. But Miki Eberhardt: I still I was wearing like red silk. I mean it couldn't have been worse. Like I was like trying to like put even putting them down, I'm like, I swear you can see through. Anyway, yeah. I've learned what not to wear, what fabrics not to wear. Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah. Courtnie Cotterell: That's awesome. Well, and Mickey, the the one thing, Jordan, that Mickey did not touch on is the fact that she two things, I guess. One is that she is a super talented dancer. She was on the cougarets, which, if you are in the dance world, collegiate dance world, you know that the cougarets, they are like national champion, top of the top. And Mickey did that. So so cool. Jordyn Fullmer: That's so cool. Yeah. Wow. Courtnie Cotterell: And then the other thing about Mickey is that she's totally an adventure seeker. Mickey, tell us about how you this last trip you just went on with your husband. Miki Eberhardt: We went and hiked the Alcavia one, which is in the Dolomites in Italy and like hut to hut. I we've done the tour Mount Blanc as well. Like if you love to hike, Europe is amazing 'cause you just can pack your clothes and then they're like, Welcome to our hut. Here's a delicious warm Italian pasta dinner and a shower and a bed and you're like, Thank you so much. This is how I like to hike. So anyway, it's super Jordyn Fullmer: Wow. That's insane. Miki Eberhardt: fun. Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: I'm gonna need to do that. I love hiking. Courtney, do you like hiking? Miki Eberhardt: Yes. Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah, I do. I'm not I'm I'm not like one who I mean, I'm at the gym all the time I feel like, but I do like hiking. I think hiking Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah. Courtnie Cotterell: the Dolphite sounds awesome. Jordyn Fullmer: I feel like I would totally do that. I need to do that. I'm gonna have to get some tips from you, Mickey, on that, 'cause that sounds like a crazy cool adventure. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, Miki Eberhardt: The stair the stair separate, the gym, you know, lunges, they all got me ready for it. Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: for sure. Courtnie Cotterell: Well and don't forget your sign modeling. I told Jordan about that. Miki Eberhardt: Yes, I do have a weird quirk Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah, tell us about that. Miki Eberhardt: that has just become my shtick and it Jordyn Fullmer: Mm. Miki Eberhardt: is sign modeling, which is anywhere you go, there's funny signs of anything. You know, sometimes it's like danger and you have like the stick figure falling off the cliff, or Courtnie Cotterell: Ha ha Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah. Courtnie Cotterell: ha. Miki Eberhardt: you know, it's like I mean they're it when you look for they're everywhere. And and so then We model them. So you try and be the person in the sign and then you take a picture with the sign behind you. And I've done this for so many years and shared them that now people send them to me or tag me in their sign modeling. And, it might be what I'm known for when I die. And part of that really makes me happy. So Jordyn Fullmer: That's incredible. I'm totally gonna start noticing that now. That's amazing. Courtnie Cotterell: Okay. Miki Eberhardt: Send me, send or what people will send is like a funny sign. And then like, where is the sign modeling? What are you doing? What am I supposed to do with this sign? I can't do anything with it. You failed me. Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah. You gotta model the sign. Courtnie Cotterell: You just have the sign. Jordyn Fullmer: That's incredible. I love that. Did you always want to like work? Was that always the goal, you know, when were younger and and graduating things? I mean obviously you got your degree. Was it your long term goal to do all of this? Miki Eberhardt: So it is a great question. I I kind of had some internal struggles with that vibe kind of filling the culture that I grew up in and that I did really want to work. Not necessarily like I didn't go into it all like I I hope I work. I it wasn't more of that, but it was I I've always loved health and wellness like I talked about. And so when I got my degree in dietetics, of course I'm gonna work. This is so fun. This is what I love. And and so the first few years before I had kids, you know, that was n like, yes, I'm working, working all time. And then once I had my first baby and I still had my own business, which was nice because, you know, I could I could work, I could I could make it work, I guess is the thing, right? I could create my own hours of when I wanted to do it. And I think as things got a little bit busier, once I moved back to Utah and I got busier even and that became just a conversation that that I had to have with my husband. and he wasn't against me working. He just really couldn't wrap his head around it because he didn't love his job. I mean he's he Courtnie Cotterell: Mm. Miki Eberhardt: is really He's been an amazing provider for our family and he he loves the outdoors, right? We're doing these hiking together. He his aptitude test said he should be a forest ranger and he sits behind a computer all day. So, you know, it really isn't speaking to his love. And so I think that he initially thought like he kind of felt like, Do you not think I make enough money? Or do you know I was like, dude, I went to school. For five years. I love this. This has nothing to do with money at all. This is just like, it's so fulfilling to me. And I love being a mom, but especially when my kids were little, it's not like your kids are like, hey mom, you're real good at being a mom. You know, you're just like, And I would like, I know I'm good at my job. Like, I know I help people. I, you know, I I'm great at coaching and helping people reach goals and change their lives. And it's rewarding to me. And so We did have to do this little dance of like this isn't about you, it's not about me, but but I would like to do this, so how can we make this work? And to my husband's credit, he really has been so supportive. And at times, like I mentioned with with what happened with COVID, like at times they took the brunt of my increase in work. And so it's been something I have loved and I've worked more and less at different times throughout my life, but Just because I got into what I wanted to do, it I've I've never felt like it's work, I guess is what I'll say. It's just Jordyn Fullmer: Sure. Miki Eberhardt: it's been fun where I collect people. Jordyn Fullmer: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I love that. Courtnie Cotterell: That's awesome. Well, Mickey, I actually really appreciate your vulnerability in sharing how tricky it is because I do feel like especially as moms, I don't know, maybe I'm just speaking for myself, but it's so easy to kind of feel guilty about like things that we've done in the past, maybe, when we did feel like things got a little out of balance or we were prioritizing something and maybe we weren't responding the proper way or the way that we would hope to with our families. So I really appreciate that. But is there s a piece of advice that you could give someone who is really kind of struggling with that? Jordan and I d have talked about this before, but just, you know, I feel like even when we were growing up, it was like if your mom worked, you were in daycare, like there was no balance between being able to do all of the things where I feel like this day and age there's a lot more flexibility. So do you have a piece of advice to someone who's kind of struggling with maybe the push and pull of what that could look like? Miki Eberhardt: I think that's really interesting. And it it is interesting to see how at home work and you know that we've so many options have expanded over the years. And I will say, like I had I had a mom that was really innovative in in needing to make money. she she she was very like she was at the forefront of being a stay-at-home mom, but also working. She created a preschool in our home. She be she's an amazing cook. She was a caterer that she would do. she did all these things and was a mom. So I think the juggle was always patterned for me. my mom's busy, but also she can be to my school thing and she's I need to help her with this, but also she's there for me for that. And so the advice that I would give, because I always say the juggle is real, right? Where you're trying to figure out either child care if I need something to be quiet and without kids around, or making sure that. You don't have a moment like I did where you're you're taking it out on your family. But the advice I would give is find ways to buy back time. If you can make enough money, that was one of the best things. I was like, okay, I don't if I can pay somebody to clean my house, that's gonna save me that many hours. And if I'm making enough that I can do that, that's something I feel fine giving to somebody else. Like those things that That somebody else can do really well if you can get yourself to a place that you can buy back your own time. I would even, when I got to that place, I would, I would have the cleaning people come and I'd go take my kids and do something fun, Or I still remember, this this will tell you the juggle. I remember when I worked at Lifetime, they have amazing childcare there. they have a great spot for infants and tellers, but you get two hours every day in your membership. And there were days that I would. I wouldn't be working there, but I would go put my kids in there for two hours and I'd sit in their cafe and I'd work. And because that was free childcare and I had to get this done, and somebody was at my house cleaning too. So it was like this thing that it was just the juggle. And sometimes that can feel overwhelming, but sometimes I I never felt like it wasn't worth it. And I also never felt like my kids weren't getting the best of me until that moment of truth really probably twenty eighteen to twenty twenty, I was I was spread pretty thin. Jordyn Fullmer: That's amazing. I love hearing you talk about this because I feel like I'm you know, I had my four kids and I have been working the last two and a half years and so I just love I just love like seeing your journey and and kind of putting myself in your shoes and learning from you because it's just inspiring. It's inspiring to see to hear you say that you've never regretted it, but also to hear about the things that you've you've learned, you know, throughout your journey. So it's amazing. Miki Eberhardt: Thank you. I think that we all we all have our own journey to your point. And I think that everybody kind of has that internal voice that is is saying one thing or another. And my internal voice was never saying you really shouldn't work. Even though culturally I felt that for a while, like when I very first started, I'm I feel bad. I would downplay how much I worked when I would talk in other circles because I felt like I was doing something wrong. And but Courtnie Cotterell: Mm. Yeah. Miki Eberhardt: I ne but that internal voice never was like, you should stop working. The internal voice was just always like making sure I could still give attention where attention needed to go. And so yeah, there were times when you know I I would have a baby and I would scale back and things would be. I would just be home and I would be a mom for six months and then I'd be like, Okay, what's the next thing? I gotta get out. I gotta, I gotta, I gotta have that too. And I will say, and I still stand by this, I feel like I when my kids were little, I felt like I was a better mom because I also worked. And some people may roll their eyes at that, but I know for me personally. When I got home from work or when my kids were little, my husband was the one that really was would stay home and he'd get home from work and then I'd leave because we would do the trade-off. And so he really was the hero in that story because he'd work all day at a job he didn't love, and then his wife would leave and I'd go work. But in the whole scheme of things, I do feel like I could give more time and attention and really show up for my kids and enjoy that time because I also had my job. Courtnie Cotterell: No, that's awesome, Mickey. You're you're just such an inspiration. You're so inspiring. I love having you in my circle of people because I feel like if I ever need a voice of reason, I feel like everyone needs someone like this. If I ever need a voice of reason, I know that Mickey will either support me or she'll Miki Eberhardt: Ha ha Courtnie Cotterell: be honest with me and tell me like Courtney, really, like think about it this way. And we have kids similar ages, so it's been great to kind of be able to play things off of each other, but I do have to share one Mickey moment. Mickey, you may not even remember this. When I first hired Mickey, that's how our friendship started was all through I hired my friends. I hired Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah. Courtnie Cotterell: Mickey and had her come over to my house and my husband and I were doing the whole like what you talked about before with nutrition as well as fitness. It was before I was working out at a gym and we're just trying to switch things up and help our body composition, make sure we're eating the right food. And Mickey was pregnant with her third child. And she was about ready to have this baby. And she was showing us fitness, like different exercises to do. And we brought up an exercise ball. Mickey, I don't know if you remember this. And she got on a plank with her feet on that fitness ball, like eight and a half months pregnant. And she starts piking like Up no shaking, nothing happening. And she just is like piking with this belly and down and pike and using Jordyn Fullmer: Ha ha Courtnie Cotterell: her core. And I just remember and I remember you turned and you said, Miki Eberhardt: Well. Courtnie Cotterell: So do you wanna try it? And I was like, my gosh, you think I can do that? And you just did that with like a nine pound belly or whatever, you know, like hanging in front of you. Anyway, just so funny, Mickey, you're like strong. You're amazing. Jordyn Fullmer: That's amazing. Miki Eberhardt: Do want to hear a funny a funny pregnant fitness story? Was I I had done CrossFit, you know, after my second baby, found it, loved it until it made me hurt everywhere. Then I found yoga, so that was a good thing. But my when I was pregnant with Ethan, same time, and you know, I learned how to do pull-ups. And so somebody I it probably was the the gym coach or whatever, like film me doing a pull up and I did. I had this big belly and there like the people around me were like twenty-six, twenty-seven, Courtnie Cotterell: Ha. Miki Eberhardt: and I literally probably did two, is it? And I Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah. Miki Eberhardt: still have people like this happened a month ago that like come up and they're like, I still remember like you did like twenty five I saw that video, you could do like twenty Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah. Miki Eberhardt: five pull ups when you were pregnant. And I was like, no I got it. Courtnie Cotterell: Ha ha ha. Jordyn Fullmer: That's amazing. Miki Eberhardt: my gosh, I'm I'm just faking everybody out because that was not true. Courtnie Cotterell: Couldn't surprise me if you could though. You're so strong. Jordyn Fullmer: Dude, that's awesome. Just own it. Yeah, I did that. I tried to do a push up when I was pregnant. this is this is gonna really tell you my physique when I was pregnant during one of my pregnancies. I literally tried to do one push up and I I couldn't do it. I was like, This is crazy. I was I was like nine months pregnant, you know. I was right there at the end. But I was like, I can't do it. Miki Eberhardt: I do I I need to say I have the easiest pregnancies. Like I surrogacy wasn't a thing when I was pregnant, but like I'm like I actually would be a great surrogate for somebody back in the day because pregnancy was easy for me. And so I don't ever like think, you're such a you don't you don't work out when you're pregnant. Like most people feel horrible. So I will just give that as a caveat. Like I felt great. So Jordyn Fullmer: Sure, sure. That's fair. That's fair, that's fair. That's awesome. Courtnie Cotterell: that's Jordyn Fullmer: so Mickey, walk us through going from having young kids to teenagers and you said now you have a twenty year old. what does that journey look like throughout your life? Miki Eberhardt: I think it's always humbling. what's funny is I felt I felt like a lot more confident as a mom when my kids were younger. And I think just because they do it you say, you know, and then they have their own brains and start to have opinions and not that little kids don't. I don't want to act like having little kids is easy. It's not at all. But I learned the the tricks of like Do you want wear the red shirt or blue shirt? Because these are your two choices, but you can choose where then they become these teenagers. And it's I love it that they're these amazing, funny, hilarious people. And also it stresses me out all the time. But Courtnie Cotterell: It's hard. Miki Eberhardt: yes, I will say I think it's important to when you're a mom and your kids are little. you naturally can engage with other adults simply because we're gonna go to the zoo together, we're gonna have the park date, we're gonna you naturally have these relationships with other women because you'll find kids that are on doing the same thing or you're on the same teams or whatever it may be. And then as they go older, that goes away. And so you have to be purposeful. It takes more effort, especially when you're working and don't have boatloads of free time that you have to be purposeful in creating those opportunities for connection. And I will say that having different friend groups in different places has been such a gift to me, both like when I need advice, like I have dear friends that are one stage ahead of me in parenting. And that has been so great as my kids have gone through things and I would be nervous and freaking out and they'd be like, it's okay. this is this, this is normal. This is so having connections where you kind of have other moms as mentors is so great. I feel like the fitness community naturally lends itself to opportunities to connect with other women and to not view it as a competitive space, but to view it as a connection, an opportunity to get to know another person and hear their story and And be accountable to each other. Are you going tomorrow at 5 a.m.? Okay, I'll see you then. Courtnie Cotterell: Mm-hmm. Miki Eberhardt: and then just neighbors and friends, like so many times when my kids were little, I would something would come up last minute. And you know, my my parents don't live close. I mean, they're a half hour away, but if I need something quick, it I always had people that be like, Could you watch my kid for an hour? I'm so sorry, you know, and then we would trade and do different things like that. So I feel like as getting with kids getting older, They are the best, they're also the worst. And it's really important to still find ways to have an outlet for yourself, not to have everything. I think that is that is a gift for those of us that know that we have something else that fulfills us. Motherhood fulfills me. I love fitness and hiking and these things. And my work fulfills me. And I feel like sometimes when everything is all wrapped into motherhood, it gets really scary. as kids get older, now what am I gonna do? And for me it's just been great. are you leaving yet? I'm just kidding. I really don't think that of my kids. But the thing I will say the Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah. Miki Eberhardt: other thing that's really interesting is how my job has evolved with my kids, meaning, you know, how I've utilized my own profession within my own family and how my views have changed over the years. Like when I was a new dietitian with new kids. I was like super strict and super we're not eating that. We don't do that. I had these really strict rules because I thought that's what a good dietitian would. And there was this, there was always this like underlying joke in the dietetics world that our kids were all gonna need therapy when they got older because they all had dietitians as moms and you know, they had all these things. And and I started to actually like think about that, like, what what am I doing that might be problematic. And when my oldest was five, six, I found her in the pantry with the door closed, shoving her face full of marshmallows. Like, you know, and I opened the pantry, she's like, and I'm like, I have created this. Like I have made you feel like you have to eat food in secret and and be sneaky about it. And that was a good aha for me. And so then I shifted. And that's when I found more intuitive eating and allowing my kids not, you know, losing the morality with food. This is good, this is bad. And I totally shifted and watched how that changed my other children as they got older, their relationship with food. And we it became like, hey, we can make everything fit in how we do that here. And then as they've grown and become teenagers, it's been such a blessing to be involved in their teams as their sports nutrition coach for the mountain bike team, the volleyball team, and and and have them, I mean, it the the the one thing that's cool, I guess, I just went and spoke to my son's mountain biking team and he's fifteen and everybody was, you know, coming up after and talking to me and asking me all these things and people are like, You're so lucky that's your mom and he kinda was like Jordyn Fullmer: The one compliment from a kid. Miki Eberhardt: All right, she's cool, I guess, All right, I'll listen to what you say. Cause they're usually the last ones. I'm like, you need to have this, you know, sports Courtnie Cotterell: Okay. Miki Eberhardt: is different. Sports is science. Like you, if you're gonna ride your bike that fast for that long, dude, more carbs. So he's funny, like, Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah. Miki Eberhardt: all right, I'll listen to what you're gonna say. So it's been fun Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah, yeah. Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Miki Eberhardt: to have to include my kids in it and to kind of have them be part of my learning curve as well. And they probably will still need therapy, but that's for lots of reasons. Jordyn Fullmer: That's amazing. Courtnie Cotterell: It's okay. We're all saving we have a little therapy fund, right, for all of our kids. Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah. Miki Eberhardt: I did the best I could with what I had. You work everything else out with your therapist. Thank you. Courtnie Cotterell: Exactly. You know better, you do better, it's fine. Okay, Mickey, so if people want to get in contact with you or find out more about what you do, how can they reach out to you? Miki Eberhardt: So I am on Instagram at nutrition by Mickey I K I or I'm if sports performance, if you've got athletes that wanna train with the best, I'm part of their team as well. Courtnie Cotterell: Awesome. Jordyn Fullmer: That's amazing. Well, thank you so much, Mickey, for sharing everything. your journey with us. Honestly, it's been so inspiring and I learned so much from you just just through this chat. You're an inspiration to us all as a mother, as a wife, as a working woman. And it's it's just been cool to get to know you. So we we appreciate you for coming on. we next week we'll have another episode out. we're gonna do a 180 and actually hear from a stylist, and so that will be a really cool one as well. So thanks for joining us today, everybody. We'll see you guys on the next one.