Why does a single number have the power to change your entire mood?

In this episode of The Psyche Behind the Physique, we’re unpacking the psychology of the scale — and why weight is rarely just about weight.

If you’ve ever stepped on the scale and felt your stomach drop… If you’ve ever felt proud of yourself until a number told you otherwise… If you’ve ever let a reading determine what kind of day you were allowed to have…

This episode is for you.

Today, we’re diving into why certain “trigger numbers” feel emotionally loaded, how control becomes wired to safety, and why so many high-achieving women unknowingly outsource their confidence to a device sitting in their bathroom.

We’ll talk about:

• Why weight fluctuations feel personal • How identity gets attached to body size • The nervous system response behind scale anxiety • Why chasing a lower number can become addictive • The biological reality of daily weight changes (water, hormones, stress, digestion) • How to know when the scale has stopped being a tool and started being an authority • And how to reclaim internal authority without abandoning your physique goals

This conversation isn’t about giving up on excellence. It’s about learning to pursue strength, health, and ambition without self-punishment.

Because the scale measures your body’s response to external stimuli — not your worth, not your discipline, and not your identity.

🎙️ If this episode resonated with you and you’re ready to build a healthier relationship with your body, your hormones, and your goals, my team and I would love to support you.

🎯 Join MPowered Coaching Collective for lifestyle & contest prep — where physique goals meet functional health and community.

📲 DM @madsmichiefitness with your biggest takeaway or topic requests

When life tells you “not yet,” how do you respond?

In this powerful episode of The Psyche Behind the Physique, Maddy sits down with Christian to talk about capacity, burnout, emotional resilience, and what it really means to rebuild yourself when life forces you to slow down.

This conversation goes far beyond fitness.

We dive into:

✨ How to recognize when you’re operating beyond your capacity

✨ The hidden signs of burnout and emotional exhaustion

✨ Why “not yet” seasons are often necessary for growth

✨ Rebuilding confidence after feeling stuck or overwhelmed

✨ Letting go of hustle culture and learning to honor your nervous system

✨ How identity, mindset, and self-worth impact your physical health

✨ Creating sustainable strength — mentally, emotionally, and physically

If you’ve ever felt:

• Burnt out

• Overwhelmed

• Behind in life

• Disconnected from your body

• Like you’re “failing” because things aren’t moving fast enough

…this episode is for you.

This is a real, raw conversation about learning to trust timing, rebuild your foundation, and step into your next season with clarity and strength.

🎙️ Whether you’re an athlete, high-achiever, busy woman, or someone navigating change — this episode will remind you that slowing down is not quitting. It’s preparing.

🎯 Join MPowered Coaching Collective for lifestyle & contest prep — where physique goals meet functional health and community.

📲 DM @madsmichiefitness with your biggest takeaway or topic requests & Connect with Christian here!

What happens when the smallest version of you isn’t the strongest — or the happiest?

In this episode of The Psyche Behind the Physique, Maddy sits down with Halle, a lifelong athlete and coach, to unpack what it really means to be strong in a world that rewards shrinking, over-training, and constant intensity.

Halle grew up in organized sport — swimming, gymnastics, track — and swam competitively in college. Like many former athletes, the transition after sport left her searching for identity, structure, and purpose in fitness. What began as lifting to stay active eventually evolved into a coaching career — and a deeper philosophy around performance, health, and sustainability.

Together, we explore:

• Why the smallest body is often not the healthiest or strongest
• The psychological impact of leaving organized sport
• Fitness as a mental and emotional tool — not just an aesthetic pursuit
• How chronic high-intensity training can quietly lead to burnout
• The difference between pushing your limits and punishing your body
• Why routines matter more than trends
• How to redefine progress beyond the scale

This conversation is for the woman who loves training — but is ready to stop letting fitness control her life.

🎧 If you’ve ever felt torn between wanting to be strong and feeling pressured to be smaller, this episode will meet you exactly where you are.

🎯 Join MPowered Coaching Collective for lifestyle & contest prep — where physique goals meet functional health and community.

📲 DM @madsmichiefitness with your biggest takeaway or topic requests & Connect with Halle here!

In this reflective and empowering solo episode, Maddy shares a conversation she didn’t plan — but felt deeply called to record.

What started as a last-minute pivot turned into an opportunity to speak on something that has quietly changed the lives of her clients, friends, and herself for years: how we approach change at the start of a new year.

In a wellness culture that often mocks New Year’s resolutions — or frames growth as either “do nothing” or “reinvent everything” — Maddy offers a more grounded, compassionate framework for real transformation.

She introduces the Keep / Change / Flip method: a practical, nervous-system-aware way to reflect on the past year without shame, set intentions without burnout, and move forward without erasing who you already are.

Maddy also shares a personal ritual she’s practiced since childhood — creating a “treasure map” (often called a vision board) — and explains why physically engaging with your goals, seeing them daily, and being intentional with language can quietly shape the actions you take all year long.

This episode is not about becoming a “new you.” It’s about honoring what worked, releasing what didn’t, and courageously flipping what once served you — but no longer aligns with who you’re becoming.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why the New Year can be a powerful motivator — without requiring a complete reset
• The difference between behaviors you should keep, change, and flip
• Why starting goal-setting from pride (not self-criticism) leads to better follow-through
• How “flips” often require support — not because you failed, but because your life evolved
• Why macro tracking, rigid routines, or extreme saving may need to shift as goals change
• How physical vision boards (treasure maps) influence daily decisions and manifestation
• The importance of language, intention, and nervous system safety when setting goals
• Why real growth happens through alignment — not control

This episode is for the woman who:

• Feels motivated by a fresh start but doesn’t want to burn herself out
• Is tired of “all or nothing” thinking around goals
• Knows some habits worked — but senses others need to evolve
• Feels stuck between structure and freedom
• Wants growth that feels intentional, grounded, and sustainable

If you’ve ever felt conflicted about New Year’s resolutions — or unsure how to move forward without undoing your progress — this conversation will help you reframe change as something supportive, not punishing.

Growth doesn’t require erasing yourself. It requires clarity, compassion, and the courage to evolve.

🎧 Listen now to reflect on your year, reconnect with what matters, and create a path forward that actually fits your life.

🎯 Join MPowered Coaching Collective for lifestyle & contest prep — where physique goals meet functional health and community.

📲 DM @madsmichiefitness with your biggest takeaway or topic requests

In this deeply honest and grounding episode, Maddy sits down with podiatrist, practice owner, HYROX athlete, and longtime client Taylor Staudt to unpack a truth that’s rarely talked about in the health and fitness space:

Coaching isn’t just for weight loss — it’s support infrastructure for change.

Taylor shares her full journey: from rapid weight gain during a season of intense life stress, long-distance marriage, and business ownership… to years of binge eating that felt like part of her identity… to finally breaking the cycle — not through stricter plans, discipline, or “starting over,” but through sustained support, nervous system safety, and a shift away from aesthetics as the primary goal.

Together, Maddy and Taylor explore how binge eating is often a stress response, not a character flaw — and why so many women relapse not because the work didn’t work, but because support is removed during moments of transition.

This episode covers:

• Why most women enter coaching for weight loss — and why that’s rarely the real issue
• How binge eating, restriction, and food anxiety are often rooted in change and nervous system dysregulation
• What actually allowed Taylor to go 5+ months binge-free for the first time in a decade
• Why relapse doesn’t mean failure — it points to unmet needs during life transitions
• The difference between using a coach for approval vs support
• How performance-based training (HYROX / hybrid training) reshaped Taylor’s relationship with food and her body
• Why fueling more, eating consistently, and releasing rigid structure created better physique results
• How shifting the goal from “weight loss” to quality of life, fertility, and long-term health changed everything

This conversation is for the woman who:

• Feels stuck in cycles of dieting, bingeing, and restarting
• Thinks she “just needs more discipline”
• Panics when structure disappears
• Or wonders why progress falls apart during vacations, relationship changes, or big life shifts

If you’ve ever felt ashamed for needing support — or frustrated that weight loss never seems to stick — this episode will help you see that the issue was never you.

Healing doesn’t happen through control. It happens through safety, support, and staying resourced through change.

🎧 Listen now for a powerful reminder that health coaching isn’t about fixing you — it’s about walking with you while your life evolves.

🎯 Join MPowered Coaching Collective for lifestyle & contest prep — where physique goals meet functional health and community.

📲 DM @madsmichiefitness with your biggest takeaway or topic requests

In this episode of The Psyche Behind the Physique, Maddy sits down with St. Pete–based PA, fertility specialist, and functional women’s health practitioner Hannah Newman to unpack one of the most misunderstood topics in women’s health: the quiet, chronic inflammation that can quietly sabotage ovulation, hormones, and your ability to conceive—even when you’re “healthy” on paper.

Together, they zoom out on allostatic load—your body’s cumulative stress bucket—and break down how under-fueling, perfectionism, overtraining, gut issues, autoimmunity, blood sugar swings, and even your water bottle and cookware can add up to a body that doesn’t feel safe enough to reproduce. From Hashimoto’s and PCOS, to birth control, GLP-1s, and the vaginal microbiome, this conversation bridges conventional medicine, functional testing, and real-life lifestyle shifts that actually move the needle for fertility.

You’ll hear practical strategies for:

• Understanding allostatic load and why stress is more than just your job or workouts
• Spotting subtle signs of low-grade inflammation in your gut, skin, cycle, and immune system
• Using labs smarter (thyroid beyond TSH, glucose + insulin + A1C, hormones with correct cycle timing, BBT, HRV)
• Nourishing fertility with enough carbs and fats instead of hiding behind “high protein” and volumetric eating
• Knowing when HIIT, long deficit phases, and being “too lean” start to work against your hormones and ovulation
• Supporting autoimmune conditions (like Hashimoto’s, IBD, rheumatoid arthritis) in a fertility-conscious way
• Building a supplement toolkit that actually serves you: magnesium, omegas, antioxidants, vaginal probiotics, inositol—and when to test before you take
• Navigating birth control and GLP-1s without tanking your hormones, gut, or chances of conceiving
• Reducing environmental toxins (plastics, fragrances, water, air) without driving yourself crazy
• Using strength training and reverse dieting to rebuild a more resilient, fertile metabolism

🎧 If you’re a high-performing, Type-A woman who “does everything right” but is battling irregular cycles, unexplained infertility, hormone chaos, or burnout from chronic dieting and training—this episode will change how you see your body, your stress, and your fertility.

🎯 Join MPowered Coaching Collective for lifestyle & contest prep — where physique goals meet functional health and community.

📲 DM @madsmichiefitness with your biggest takeaway or topic requests. Connect with Hannah here.

In this episode of The Psyche Behind the Physique, Maddy sits down with St. Pete performance coach and HYROX specialist, Coach Caleb, to unpack the mental side of going hard in the gym, on the road, and on the race course. Fresh off her HYROX Chicago race, Maddie shares how a former ballet dancer and wakeboarder discovered she’s actually “kind of good” at sport—and how much of that breakthrough came down to mindset, not genetics.

Together, they break down why your brain taps out before your body, what the central governor theory actually means for your training, and how to know when to keep pushing vs. when to back off to protect your joints, hormones, and long-term progress. From redlining in group fitness, to building true endurance, to recognizing the subtle “whispers” of burnout and adrenal fatigue, this episode is a masterclass in mental toughness with boundaries.

You’ll hear practical strategies for:

• Rewriting what “hard” actually looks like in your training
• Using breathwork and micro-goals to get through mental walls
• Training at lactate threshold without frying your nervous system
• Pushing to failure safely for strength, hypertrophy, and performance gains
• Navigating fear of looking stupid, being “the slow one,” or doing it wrong in class

🎧 If you’re a runner, hybrid athlete, group fitness regular, or lifter who knows you’ve got more in the tank—but your mind keeps hitting the brakes—this one will change the way you show up for your workouts.

🎯 Join MPowered Coaching Collective for lifestyle & contest prep — where physique goals meet functional health and community.

📲 DM @madsmichiefitness with your biggest takeaway or topic requests. Connect with Caleb here

In this episode of The Psyche Behind the Physique, Maddy sits down with friend and fellow athlete Rosie—a semi-pro soccer player and recent half-marathoner—to unpack the quiet crisis of female athletes: training like a pro while fueling like a hobbyist. Together they explore the identity shift from perfection to performance, how to spot under-fueling (hint: your brain knows first), and why carbs and fats are the unsung heroes in a protein-obsessed culture.

You’ll hear real talk on nervous-system regulation as the new pre-workout, the tightrope between discipline and obsession, and how “optimal” becomes unsustainable when it ignores your actual life. If you’ve ever hit your numbers and still felt foggy, flat, or fried—this one’s your permission slip to eat for clarity, capacity, and consistency.

You’ll learn:

• Fueling as mindset (not math) and using hunger as data—not danger
• Why cognitive fatigue shows up before physical fatigue
• The role of carbs + fats in hormones, thyroid, recovery, and mood
• Red flags that “discipline” has slid into obsession
• How 80% consistency beats 100% control for long-term performance

🎧 If this helped, share it with the teammate who’s learning to soften without slowing down.

🎯 Join MPowered Coaching Collective for lifestyle & contest prep — where physique goals meet functional health and community.

📲 DM @madsmichiefitness with your biggest takeaway or topic requests. Connect with Rosie here

In this episode of The Psyche Behind the Physique, Maddy sits down with friend and fellow athlete Paige Michael, RN, to talk about what really happens when you outgrow the bodybuilding identity and step into a life rooted in balance, strength, and longevity.

Both former competitors, Maddy and Paige open up about the years spent chasing perfection—rigid macros, two-a-day training, and the illusion that more discipline always equals more results. They share how stepping away from extremes became the gateway to real health, deeper self-trust, and performance that actually lasts.

From rebuilding hormones and metabolism to finding joy in hybrid training, community, and rest, this conversation is for the women who’ve done it “right” on paper but still feel burnt out. You’ll hear about:

• The identity shift that comes after the stage
• Relearning how to fuel for performance, not punishment
• Why nervous system regulation is the new pre-workout
• How community and simplicity can make fitness fun again

This episode is your permission slip to let go of the death grip, redefine what “fit” really means, and start building a body—and life—you can sustain.

🎧 Tune in, take notes, and share this with the friend who’s learning to soften without slowing down.

🎯 Join MPowered Coaching Collective for lifestyle & contest prep — where physique goals meet functional health and community.

📲 DM @madsmichiefitness with your biggest takeaway or topic requests. Connect with Paige here

What do red-eye flights and bikini preps have in common? More than you think. In this episode of The Psyche Behind the Physique, host Maddy Michielssen (IFBB Bikini Pro & Founder of MPowered Coaching Collective) sits down with her client Kait — an airline pilot, athlete, and just days from her first OCB bikini show — to unpack how preparation and adaptability outrun even the busiest schedule.

From living on reserve and landing red-eyes from Hawaii, to food going bad in hotel fridges, rolled ankles, and even catching COVID in single-digits out — Kait's story shows why “If it’s predictable, it’s preventable” and “Fail to plan, plan to fail” aren’t clichés…they’re survival skills. You’ll hear the exact systems she uses: single-macro meals, pre-logging in MyFitnessPal, vacuum-sealing and cooler hacks, a plug-in lunch warmer, Instacart contingencies, and how to pivot workouts when the only option is a hotel treadmill.

Together, Maddy and Kait draw parallels between aviation and coaching — why cockpit-level communication and weekly micro-adjustments keep a prep on course — and how real discipline includes knowing when to rest. The big takeaway: busyness isn’t an excuse; it’s a variable you can plan for.

Whether you’re a mom, a traveler, or a high-stress professional, this episode will help you build non-negotiables (sleep, water, movement, protein), ditch perfection, and respond to life without losing momentum.

🎧 Tune in for practical systems, mindset shifts, and the reminder that you don’t need a perfect routine to achieve elite results — just a plan for what you can control and flexibility for what you can’t.

👉 If you enjoy this episode, subscribe to The Psyche Behind the Physique, leave a review, and share it with a friend who’s “too busy” for their goals.

🎯 Join MPowered Coaching Collective for lifestyle & contest prep — where physique goals meet functional health and community.

📲 DM @madsmichiefitness with your biggest takeaway or topic requests.

✈️ Connect with Kait here