Hi guys! Welcome to Episode 653 of the wildly successful lifestyle podcast! I’m Heidi and I’m happy to be here with you on your walk, or while you are doing whatever it is you do while you listen to podcasts. I’m happy you’re here.
So I recently talked about taking that one thing and running with it. Episode 652 I think. I have a confession….I have definitely taken my one thing and I’ve run with it, but in doing that, as a lot of us listening to this podcast are, we tend to be achievers, some over achievers too, I realized I got a bit over zealous and started noticing some tiredness and cravings I didn’t have before. My one thing is the 4/4 hiit training. One the days I do it, I feel amazing with a capital a. But the next day I am in the tank. My hrv if you measure that has taken a nose dive since I started this, which wouldn’t alarm me too bad because I know it levels out but I was feeling really zonked the following day, even hot yoga was hard for me to do.
At first I didn’t equate it with me adding this new workout because the day of doing it I had all these endorphins and just felt so good! I didn’t equate it with the low energy, carb craving events the next day until one morning my whoop coach, yes I have an AI whoop coach who I normally pay no attention to but a note popped up and I saw it that said you’re overtraining and its tanking your hrv and recovery. That really tracked with how I was feeling so I basically told the AI coach to tell me more which led to an in depth conversation with everything I’ve been doing and feeling the last couple weeks.
Hot yoga where I normally feel strong has been really hard, I felt like I was taking two steps back and I didn’t know why. I also was hungrier than normal and I really beat myself up there because I basically had no energy before one of my yoga classes and I was early so I grabbed a scone from a cafe next door just to get through the class. I never eat scones anymore. What in the world was going on??? Well as it turns out. More, more more, harder training, more strain is not necessarily moving you forward. It can actually set you back a bit if you’re not listening to what your body has to say.
I had been so confused because my hard hiit training felt so good but everything else felt off. And then I got that message that rang so true that I couldn’t avoid it. In the conversation with my whoop coach, they basically explained in detail what was happening and I haven’t felt that seen in a while. I had jumped into doing three hiit trainings a week and on the same day as the hiit right after I was lifting for 30 min. Which felt amazing but the next day my body just wanted to recover so my energy was in the tank, which caused me to want carbs so that I would have enough fuel just to get through hot yoga. Short term it felt good but long term I was overdoing it and now I knew it.
So based on my hrv and the way I feel. I am now doing hiit only 2 days a week and my lift days are on the days when I do a light zone 2 training instead of my hard 4/4 training. I can already feel my body thanking me for hearing that message, not only hearing but following through.
This had me thinking about how often our body sends us messages that we ignore, thinking we are just being lazy or talking ourselves out of doing good work, or thinking more, more, more is better when what if it’s not?
The interesting thing was my brain was trying to beat me up for wanting that scone when realistically it was my body’s way of trying to make it through. In my mind I told myself this is how people get diabetes, my mom had type 2 diabetes and I’m hyper aware of that and it has me wanting to go in the extreme opposite of that. But extreme is not the answer. Balance is.
And man, saying that out loud even now feels like a deep breath I didn’t know I was holding.
It’s funny how we can be so tuned in to everything else—our calendars, our goals, our kids’ schedules, our work deadlines—but somehow tune out the one thing that’s been with us every single second of our lives: this body of ours. It’s not dramatic or flashy. It doesn’t send a push notification with a siren sound. It just whispers. A little drag in your step. That random craving that feels “off-brand” for you. The way your sleep feels heavy even when you went to bed on time. Or that quiet thought in the middle of a workout that says, “Hey… maybe ease up today.”
We’ve all been there, right? I know I’m not the only one listening who’s ignored that whisper because the louder voice in our head—the achiever voice—says, “Come on, just one more rep, one more day, one more level of hustle. That’s how you win.” And listen, I love that voice. It’s gotten me through some really big chapters. But what I’m learning, especially right now, is that the achiever voice and the body voice? They’re supposed to be in conversation, not in a wrestling match where one always has to pin the other.
When I finally slowed down enough to actually hear what my body was saying—after that Whoop message, after the scone moment, after the hot yoga that felt like I was swimming through molasses—I realized something that hit me right in the chest. Deep down, way under all the shoulds and the tracking and the “I’m supposed to be crushing it,” I already knew. I knew three HIIT sessions a week was too much right now. I knew my energy tank was empty before I even stepped into the studio. I knew the scone wasn’t a failure; it was fuel my body was politely asking for because I’d been running on fumes. I just didn’t want to admit it because admitting it felt like quitting. But here’s the plot twist nobody talks about on the highlight reels: listening isn’t quitting. It’s the most wildly successful move you can make.
Because here’s what I’m seeing now that I’ve given my body what it was asking for. Those two HIIT days instead of three? I show up to them fully charged. The endorphins still hit, but they don’t come with a two-day hangover. My lifts on the lighter zone-two days feel strong and fun instead of like I’m dragging a tractor. Hot yoga? I’m back to flowing through it, not white-knuckling every pose. And the best part—the part that actually made me tear up in my car the other day—is that my brain has stopped yelling at me. The constant low-level background noise of “You’re not doing enough” has gotten quieter. Not because I’m doing less, but because I’m finally doing it in partnership with the only system that actually knows what sustainable feels like for me.
I think we forget that our bodies aren’t machines we program. They’re living, breathing, incredibly intelligent partners who’ve been keeping us alive through every season of life. They remember the stress from last year. They remember the joy from that vacation. They remember what real rest feels like versus the “I’ll just power through” kind. And yeah, sometimes what they ask for looks messy on paper—like a scone at 9 a.m. or skipping a workout that’s already on the calendar. But when you actually give it to them? They pay you back in the kind of energy you can’t buy, track, or force.
I’ve been thinking a lot about how we got here as a culture. We celebrate the all-nighters, the “no days off” mentality, the before-and-after photos that make it look like transformation happens in a straight line if you just want it badly enough. And I’m not knocking ambition—I mean, hello, you’re listening to a podcast called Wildly Successful Lifestyle. But I’m starting to believe the real success, the kind that lasts decades instead of burning out in eighteen months, is the one where you’re still in love with your body at the end of it. Not tolerating it. Not bargaining with it. But genuinely in love with it the way you are with your best friend who knows all your secrets and still shows up for you every day.
So lately, instead of overriding the signals, I’ve been practicing something that feels almost rebellious in its simplicity. I pause. Just for a second. When that tiredness creeps in or that craving shows up or my HRV looks like it took a nosedive, I ask—out loud sometimes, because why not—“What do you need right now?” Not what should I do to fix this. Not what does the plan say. Just… what do you need? And the craziest part? The answer is almost always there, waiting patiently like it’s been trying to get my attention for days. Sometimes it’s a nap. Sometimes it’s extra protein. Sometimes it’s literally just saying no to the third workout and going for a slow walk instead. And every single time I listen, I feel this little spark of trust light up between me and my body. Like we’re on the same team again.
I don’t know where you are right now as you’re listening—maybe you’re on mile three of your walk and your legs feel heavy, or you’re folding laundry and your shoulders are screaming from yesterday’s workout, or maybe you’re just sitting in your car in the pickup line wondering why you feel so wiped even though your life looks “fine” on paper. Whatever it is, I just want you to know you’re not broken. You’re not failing at discipline. You’re not behind. Your body is talking to you, and it’s been talking to you the whole time because it loves you and it wants this life you’re building to feel good for the long haul. Not just impressive on the outside, but alive and vibrant on the inside.
That is my wildly successful right now. Where I get to keep showing up—not because I’m forcing it, but because I’m fueled by it. The one where I trust that I already know what I need if I’ll just get quiet enough to hear it. And the beautiful thing? You already know too. You’ve known all along.
So here’s to us—the achievers who are learning that the real flex is the gentle yes to what our bodies are asking for. And here’s to the kind of success that doesn’t require us to run ourselves into the ground to prove we’re worthy of it.
Thanks for letting me run through this today, it really was an aha moment this week…..
These moments remind us we’re human, not machines.
So keep listening, not just to the podcast, do that of course, but listen to the messages your body sends you so that you can keep supporting it and it can keep supporting you, because it’s the only one you got. Let’s love it.
Share this with 3 people (maybe overachievers) who may need a gently nudge to tune into the only body they have, I love you guys, I’ll talk to you in a few days!
