How Strong Women Lead Differently with Relle Dixon

As a high-achieving woman, you probably don't need more discipline. In this episode, Relle Dixon explains how better nutrition will build your leadership, your voice, and your authority. Your body is your greatest business asset. 

But here's what I hear from so many established founders, podcasters, speakers, and authors in my world: I'm doing everything right, but I'm running on empty.

In our conversation, we go beyond the surface-level habits and explore the deeper layer: how your relationship with your body impacts your capacity, your focus, and your ability to lead in a way that feels good, aligned, and sustainable.

In This Episode, You'll Discover:

• The surprising connection between how you fuel your body and the authority you bring to every room you walk into
• Why discipline and willpower aren't your problem (and what actually moves the needle when it comes to energy, clarity, and decision-making)
• How strength training, proper nutrition, and rest don't take away from your ambition (hint: they're the infrastructure that sustains it)
• The three foundational shifts that create the fastest return in energy and focus (spoiler: they're simpler than you think)
• What "sustainable success" actually looks like when you start building for longevity
• The honest conversation about visibility, vulnerability, and why sharing the real, messy parts of your journey is what actually builds community

Related Episodes:
- Natural Energy Boosts For Better Focus with Allison Jordan
- Threads Is The Most Underrated Platform for Authentic Marketing Right Now

Connect with our guest:
Relle Dixon is a fitness and nutrition coach, keynote speaker, and entrepreneur who helps high-performing women understand that their body is their greatest business asset. She teaches practical strategies around nutrition, strength training, and metabolic health so ambitious women can build energy, resilience, and sustainable success in both life and business. 

Connect with her on Instagram. Threads, and LinkedIn.

*Note: This may contain affiliate links, which means if you click and buy, I'll earn a commission at no extra cost to you. I never recommend things I don't love or haven't used. 🫶

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Transcript

your business can only grow to the level your body can support. And most women

were never taught that if you're leading, building, holding a lot, but is

your body actually being supported to sustain all of that? How are you scaling

your energy alongside of your scaling business? So, today we're talking about

what it actually looks like to treat your body as your greatest business

asset. Because it is, right? What can we do without it? I'm joined by Re Dixon,

who is a fitness and nutrition coach, keynote speaker, and entrepreneur. Her

work is centered around helping high-erforming women understand the

direct connection between how they fuel and support their body and how they show

up in their leadership, their decision-making and their long-term

success. And I love that we are going beyond the quick fixes, beyond the

surface level habits and really the depth like exploring the deeper layer.

how your relationship with your body impacts your capacity, your focus, your

ability to lead in a way that feels good and aligned and sustainable.

So, I'm so excited to dig into this. We were just having a great little pre chat

before we hit record here. So, let's meet people where they're at of like why

do we disconnect from our bodies? I know so many people come to me for

copywriting like overthinking stuck in their head and like I want to shift them

back into their body. We tend to push through and I know for me as a a former

competitive athlete, you know, you just put your head down and push through

harder and run the race. So, what do you see that looking like um in women? So I

think that because for so many high achieving women, we're used to being

rewarded for output

>> and not for just being aware of our surroundings or how things are feeling.

We learned early on that producing more, pushing harder and just ignoring your

fatigue or, you know, your lack of sleep, that's what gets you the

promotion or the praise or the results. And so your body just becomes something

to manage, just aside, something to check off. Um, and not something that

you really partner with to get to that next level. So the disconnect looks like

skipping meals because you're too busy or using caffeine to override your

exhaustion in the afternoon when you're crashing or treating hunger like a

weakness like, "Oh gosh, now I have to eat." um and viewing rest and taking

time for yourself as laziness because you think that you can't be productive

2:49

if you're not working. And so it's not so much that the disconnect is a flaw,

but it's just it's a survival strategy. And somewhere along the line, it really

stops serving us. Honestly, it just is um it's not the answer. Ignoring

3:05

ignoring your body.

3:06

>> Yeah, totally. I feel like the examples you gave are just calling out so many so

3:11

many of us here. It's so real and it's so easy to

3:16

default to those things for the exact reasons you said. I think you totally

3:20

hit the nail on the head there. So, what are the identity shifts that need to

3:25

happen for us to truly prioritize our bodies without feeling like we're

3:31

sacrificing our ambition or stepping away from our goals?

3:35

>> Okay. So the shift that has to happen is not that my body is what carries me

3:40

through my workday. It's that your body is quite literally in the engine of your

3:44

work. Like it cannot you cannot build a big life on burnout. You if you stop

3:50

seeing fueling your body and strengthening it as self-care and just

3:55

something extra, but you start seeing it as like the infrastructure of how your

4:00

business is going to get to the next level, knowing that that is quite

4:03

literally what takes you there. The woman who eats a eats real protein three

4:09

times a day and is lifting heavy in the gym three times a week intentionally and

4:13

she is protecting her sleep. She's not stepping away from her ambition or her

4:18

goals. It's she's the only version of herself that's capable of actually

4:22

sustaining it and getting herself there. So, the shift is really just in in

4:26

changing the mindset around how you're taking care of your body and how your

4:31

body truly is what's going to take you to the next level. Mhm. Oh, that's so

4:35

good. Yeah, because I know when I am or the days that I don't prioritize my

4:41

protein, my workout, all the things, I'm just like

4:45

sluggish, right?

4:46

>> Not my best self.

4:48

>> Yeah.

4:48

>> It's not who I want to be. It's like, yeah, like you're saying, like it's an

4:52

essential. It's a need. It's not It's not a want to have or a nice to have.

4:55

It's a need to have

4:57

>> to prioritize your body. How have you seen women's decision-m or

5:04

confidence change when they begin like finally supporting their body?

5:09

>> When women start taking care of their body, first they have to they have to

5:14

make the right small changes first, right? So, when you start feeling

5:18

correctly and you're building strength, the first thing that I see isn't

5:21

necessarily, you know, results on the scale. Of course, that happens with a

5:25

lot of women, but it's their voice. Honestly, it's their confidence

5:29

>> because then they are negotiating harder. They stop apologizing in their

5:33

emails. They're showing up more confident and proud on their calls. They

5:37

take up more space on stage. The strength in their body translate

5:42

directly to authority in whatever room they're in. But in order to get there,

5:47

they've really got to start making better decisions for how they're fueling

5:50

their body, making sure that they are eating the balanced meals, making sure

5:53

they're keeping in mind what their blood sugar is like. When when your body is on

5:59

a glucose roller coaster, you might feel sharp first thing in the morning, but

6:03

then you're foggy early to mid-afternoon. And it really is not a

6:08

willpower problem like most people think that they need to just be more

6:10

disciplined with their food. It's that they're not fueling enough. And when you

6:15

start to get the hang of, you know, really prioritizing the food and the

6:20

level of fitness that you need to challenge your body, then you have a

6:24

steadier emotional regulation. You have the bandwidth to lead people at a higher

6:29

level. And it really truly is about that physiological change before, you know,

6:33

the confidence factor can kick in.

6:36

>> This is so good because I think it's so easy to be like, I just need to be more

6:40

disciplined. I just need to have more willpower. I just need to this that. And

6:45

we're like trying harder. And it's actually just being smarter about

6:49

fueling our bodies and taking care of ourselves that would like resolve like

6:53

make everything else so much easier. You don't have to like fight to like be

6:57

emotionally regulated. You just more naturally will be as you take care of

7:02

yourself.

7:03

>> Absolutely.

7:05

>> Oh, that's so good. I feel like it's I don't know. It's like we know, but also

7:08

it's the reminder that we need to hear because are we consistently and

7:13

regularly doing it? Got check,

7:15

>> right? It's it's never that um women don't know what they need to do. It's

7:20

just that they don't do it and there's no accountability. They're not thinking

7:24

of the long term. You know what I mean? They're not thinking of the endgame of

7:27

like what happens if I don't do this? Where's my body going to be in five

7:31

years if I don't start doing this now?

7:34

>> Right. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Totally. Totally. is a longterm game too. It's not just

7:38

how do I feel today,

7:40

>> but how's this impacting my longevity and

7:43

>> and things like that as well.

7:46

>> Absolutely.

7:47

>> Okay. So, what are the most impactful shifts whether in terms of nutrition or

7:53

strength or lifestyle that create the biggest return in energy and focus? Like

7:58

where should we be starting with all of this? because I know there's so many

8:03

things that we can do, but like what's the one or two things that we really

8:06

need to like focus on first? So following a customized macronutrient

8:11

plan is where like I that's the highest leverage of change that I'll see because

8:16

when you know what your output is, what your like what your body is actually

8:20

using for energy and you know how to fuel to sustain that and allow your body

8:26

to function at an optimal level and then also be protecting your muscle on top of

8:31

that, then that is the biggest the biggest factor. nutrition is always

8:35

going to move the needle the fastest when it comes to getting rid of some of

8:39

those symptoms or red flags that people are ignoring for their body and also

8:43

just making that overall improvement in your energy and your mental clarity to

8:47

be honest like that's such a big one. People don't realize how much they're

8:50

bogging down their mental clarity just by lack of food. So definitely you know

8:54

most women are undereating protein. Um they are overrelying on convenience

8:59

foods and carbs and um when you fix the fuel then that that the fog lifts the

9:04

fastest. So I definitely think if there's one thing it's finding out what

9:08

your customized macros are, how much protein, how much carbs, how much fat

9:12

your body needs. And then really the the next two that I recommend are even just

9:18

easily as as basic. It's getting your water in and not ignoring the water. The

9:23

fact that your body needs water.

9:25

>> Um half your body weight in ounces is what I usually recommend starting with

9:28

and then adding in that strength training at least three days a week.

9:31

Those are the three most important things

9:33

>> and they're the they're so easy and they're not it's not new information,

9:37

but they're not being

9:40

>> Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Why are we not

9:43

>> doing this? We like to carry around our acute emotional support water bottles,

9:46

but

9:47

>> but they're so for Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, I want to go back

9:52

to the first thing you said is following a customized macronutrient plan. I'm

9:56

like, "Wow, that sounds great, but like I have no idea what that is or looks

10:01

like or means.

10:03

>> Yeah.

10:03

>> Why? How do you customize it? What does that depend on? What tangibly does that

10:09

look like?"

10:10

>> So, we're taking a lot of things in consideration. Um, first of all, of

10:14

course, your age, weight, height, those are important factors. your your

10:19

activity level. We I want to know a lot of times uh what your current eating

10:23

habits are like. I want to know um any metabolic disorders that you might have.

10:27

I go over like a little bit of medical history, all of those things. And then I

10:32

want to know what your day looks like because if you're somebody who's walking

10:35

7,000 steps in the morning before 8 a.m., but then you're sitting still for

10:38

the next eight hours and then maybe you get, you know, a little bit of movement

10:41

in the evening, uh that matters, too. And how how we create that macronutrient

10:45

plan. So macronutrients are not always a one-sizefits-all. I mean, there are, you

10:50

know, of course, macronutrient calculators and apps all over for free

10:53

on the internet, but they're not taking that deep dive in what your what your

10:57

personal needs are. And so I think that's something that in order to truly

11:01

find what's going to work best for for you as an individual and and really

11:06

start to see some change is is to meet with somebody and take that deeper dive

11:10

and and really talk through it because um it also matters where your starting

11:15

point is too. I have a lot of people who come in with in to work with me and they

11:19

are maybe consuming 40 grams of protein a day which is I consume that in my

11:24

breakfast you know after that. So, um, it it's a big deal

11:30

to really figure out what your personal needs are. And I will tell you, it

11:35

doesn't take long to feel the difference. That's the most like

11:39

shocking thing to me like that when I first started doing it where I was like,

11:43

"Wow, I can't believe how good I feel. This must not be right." And then, but

11:47

like you hear the feedback from other people, it doesn't take long at all to

11:50

to really notice the change. It's pretty cool.

11:53

>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I made some changes recently as well. Sounds like

11:57

really within a couple of days you're just like, "Oh, like that's all I needed

12:01

to do to like start feeling so much better."

12:05

>> Yeah. And people always shock to find that more food is the answer this whole

12:09

time.

12:11

>> Yes. Yes. We're conditioned to like eat less, eat less. But

12:16

>> really, yeah, I can cosign that. I eat a 10 and Yeah, it it does make me feel so

12:22

much better.

12:23

>> Yeah.

12:24

>> Um Okay. So, I love that there are these like kind of quick wins we can get of

12:30

like really knowing your specific macronutrient plan

12:35

can like you can start to feel better pretty quickly. Um, but that your your

12:41

plan, your goals here really it's really this is sustainable success in your body

12:48

over years. Like it's not just days or weeks or months.

12:52

So, what does that look like for the long term? How are we looking for or

13:00

measuring success beyond just the aesthetics or those short-term results?

13:05

>> Yep. So, sustainable success over the years looks like like for me, I tell

13:10

everybody I don't I don't work out to have the nicest abs or legs like Carrie

13:15

Underwood. I work out because I want to live a long quality life making memories

13:18

with my family. That's my end goal. and I'm trying really hard to stay out of a

13:22

nursing home. So I, you know, for the woman in her 40s, 50s, and 60s, it's

13:27

gaining strength and not losing it. It's protecting her muscle at all, all all

13:30

costs. The women who have muscle and energy and clarity, like to keep

13:35

building. And it's not because, you know, she's just grinding it out every

13:39

day. It's because she has genuinely created that consistently. And her

13:44

sustainable success means she's not trading her future health for today's

13:48

results. She's thinking of it in the long game. And so it's, you know, every

13:54

time you are, you know, choosing to deplete your body instead of fuel it,

14:00

that matters in the long run. And every time you decide to skip the workout that

14:05

you had planned in your calendar that was supposed to be for you, that's, you

14:10

know, again, it's future you that's paying the price. It's not you today

14:13

that's paying the price. So beyond aesthetics, measuring what that looks

14:17

like, that success, you know, beyond aesthetics and beyond, you know, of

14:21

course, just longevity, it's having energy at 3 p.m. in the afternoon and

14:25

not feeling like you need a nap. It's getting stronger in the gym every time

14:29

you go. It's your sleep getting deeper and longer and sleeping through the

14:34

night and not having to wake up and toss and turn because you have a million

14:37

things going on in your mind. It's your mood getting steadier and you're not

14:41

snapping at your kids or your husband for no reason just because they spilled

14:44

the salt. It's it's the way you show up for the people that matter honestly. And

14:49

of course, you know, aesthetics come along for the ride naturally. They just

14:53

do. But it's it's everything else that that matters honestly.

15:00

>> Yeah. I feel like aesthetics have to be just like a natural byproduct, but not

15:04

necessarily the main goal.

15:06

>> And it can't be the driver. It really just can't.

15:09

>> Yeah. Yeah. To stay consistent there.

15:12

>> Good. Okay. So, I want to hear more about what has this looked like for you

15:21

in your business and in your marketing? I don't know, even over the years, how

15:26

has it evolved to what does it look like today?

15:30

So, as far as like how I shifted on taking care of my body, when I got out

15:34

of that mindset of chasing skinny and chasing a size or a number on the scale

15:39

and I really started to take care of my body, I I had ended up being diagnosed

15:44

with a couple of autoimmune disorders um about six years ago and I was just at a

15:50

place where I was like doing everything. I was eating healthy and I was running

15:54

every day and I was working out and I was, you know, waking up early to do all

15:57

of my mindset work and do my devotion and have my me time and and I felt

16:01

terrible. It was awful. And so when I really started to shift that into like,

16:05

okay, how can I really take care of my body and manage these these diseases

16:09

that I have acquired from apparently not taking good care of myself. Um, and

16:14

really had to undo everything that toxic diet culture taught me through the 90s.

16:18

So I had to I had to undo all that and it started with the food. And once I

16:22

started eating enough, it was like my energy started to come back. My

16:25

confidence started to come back. But then I started to have this healing with

16:28

my relationship with food and exercise that I didn't even know was broken. And

16:31

it started to give me the confidence to think, you know what, like I could teach

16:35

this to other women, too. There are other women like me who, you know, think

16:40

that they're doing everything right, but that they're supposed to just always

16:44

feel tired and and depleted. And that's just not the case. And there are women

16:47

who are suffering in silence and really struggling with their mental health that

16:50

think that um that there's nowhere to go from here and that. So I was like, you

16:56

know, I'm going to end this sooner for them because it took me a long time to

16:59

figure this out.

17:00

>> And um so I I started coaching the women through that. And from a a marketing

17:06

standpoint, I just really started to share my journey and talk about it. And

17:09

that's, you know, I don't have anything figured out as far as like, you know,

17:13

getting a ton of leads at one time or, you know, I don't have all of those like

17:18

fancy funnels figured out and everything. I truly just kind of like

17:21

hop on and show my real life. And as much as I try to follow a marketing plan

17:26

if it's given to me, now I just overthink it and I think that it's not

17:30

good enough and I end up just, you know, doing what feels right in the moment.

17:35

And so far, it's worked out okay with me. Like I'm I'm building you know, a

17:39

nice like it's a small community, but it's a it's a committed community and

17:42

it's a loyal community. And um that's that's kind of how that's looked like

17:46

for me, you know, so so far through the years that I've been in business.

17:50

>> Yeah. You know, it's so funny because as someone in marketing who does

17:55

copywriting and people come to me with all these

17:58

fancy strategies and plans and hopes and dreams and things that they want to do

18:02

in their marketing and I feel like it always comes back to

18:07

well, how can we share your journey in a way like that you're you feel

18:11

comfortable with sharing on the internet or I mean some of it makes you

18:15

uncomfortable sharing but like what is appropriate to share about your real

18:20

And it's like that is always what connects people to you and makes people

18:24

want to follow you and to yeah hear more about what you have to say. And like

18:31

that is always the fundamental piece that if and when you ever do build like

18:38

the fancy, you know, email marketing funnels and automations and all of the

18:41

other things, that's the foundation that it's that it's built on,

18:45

>> right?

18:46

>> Yeah.

18:47

>> I love that.

18:47

>> Good. Okay. I love that. So, let's jump into our lightning round and

18:55

have three questions for you.

18:57

>> Sure.

18:57

>> So, since we were talking about copyrightiting marketing, what is your

19:00

favorite part about copywriting?

19:03

>> Um, I think it's just talking about like where I'm at right now. You know, I I

19:09

think that's my favorite thing is to be able to share like all the versions of

19:11

me that I've kind of like grown up and through. Like there's occasionally, you

19:16

know, where I'm I might mention a story from when I was younger or when I was,

19:20

you know, a young mom, things like that. But I think so much of like my favorite

19:25

part of copyrightiting is talking about the vulnerable parts of my story and

19:29

just

19:30

>> letting people see that because

19:32

>> I think so much of how I show up in stories and online is is I mean it's

19:36

authentic but um people will look at me and just they think that I'm just this

19:41

confident successful person but I I don't know how I come off that way

19:46

because there's a lot of insecurity that goes on and I I do find that um a lot of

19:51

people are are engaged and responsive when I'm talking about the vulnerable

19:55

parts of me, vulnerable parts of me that people don't see when they look at me,

19:59

if that makes sense.

20:03

>> What I'm going to ask a follow-up question. I usually don't for these, but

20:06

I know that so many of the people in my world and likely many of the people

20:10

listening right now struggle with sharing those vulnerable parts of them.

20:16

Mhm.

20:16

>> It either doesn't feel safe or they're not sure what's too much versus what is

20:23

appropriate.

20:25

>> How do you kind of walk that line?

20:28

>> I just don't care what other people think.

20:31

>> Yeah.

20:32

>> Honestly, I mean, and I mean, I do to an extent because I think everybody does,

20:35

but at the end of the day, I'm like, you know what? I felt like this was put on

20:40

my heart to share for a reason. And I I mean I'll read through it, you know, 50

20:45

times before I ever push share. And I think what always like kind of gives me

20:52

that piece of like, you know, oh, should I have shared that? Here's the deal.

20:57

There's only a handful of people that are probably going to, you know, see it

21:00

and really read it and then it's really going to speak to you. It's not like I'm

21:02

going to share something and, you know, it's going to move thousands of people.

21:05

I that's not my that's not my platform. That's not my story. like that's just

21:10

not how my my content lands. Um, but I will say especially when I'm sharing

21:16

from the heart and and I do get some feedback on it, it mattered to somebody

21:19

that I shared that part of my story. And I think that it if I had that nudge, it

21:24

was for a reason and I was meant to help someone else through something through

21:27

my story. So that's that's how I get over it where I'm like, should I share

21:31

this or not? Well, tomorrow I'll be over it and I'll be on to sharing something

21:36

else. So whatever.

21:37

>> Yeah. Yeah. I love that perspective shift because I think so often we get

21:41

stuck in, well, what are the haters gonna say? What are the trolls gonna

21:45

say? What is that one random person from high school 20 years ago gonna say? You

21:49

know, it's like, who cares? Focus on the people that

21:53

>> are actually you're actually going to help. Focus on the people who

21:57

>> Yeah. who do need to hear your story and what you've overcome and like instill

22:01

that hope and possibility back in them.

22:05

>> Yeah, that's such a good such a good shift.

22:08

Um, okay. Next question is, what is something about copyrightiting you wish

22:13

was easier? Um, I wish that it was easier to know

22:21

like I I wish that creating a plan was

22:24

easier. Like I wish that creating the like marketing plan was easier to be

22:28

honest.

22:29

>> When it comes to that, it's like okay, I just that's not where my creative brain

22:34

goes. You know what I mean? So, I just have to be like, what is the end goal

22:38

for this month? I kind of like try to reverse engineer it, right? And then

22:42

once I feel like I have a plan, I I just never I never even end up executing the

22:48

whole thing, to be honest. So, I wish that I wish the planning part of it was

22:51

was easier, honestly.

22:54

>> Yeah, that's so relatable. I just I wish I just knew what what

23:01

I needed to say and where it was going to land, you know?

23:06

>> Yeah. If only we had that crystal ball of like

23:10

how is this going to land?

23:13

>> Good. And then what is a small joy outside of business that is fueling you

23:17

right now?

23:18

>> Oh man, it's baseball with the boys. Honestly, I and

23:23

>> we are like in the thick of baseball season and all the tournaments and um I

23:28

just have so much fun watching them be cool humans that I'm like, you know, I'm

23:35

always always thinking, you know, there's always that like, oh,

23:38

make sure you say thank you. Like I'm always the mom is like, "Did you say

23:41

thank you when you said trickor treat?" And you know, whatever. But like when

23:44

you get to just like be a spectator and go watch them interact with other

23:48

players and the umpires and the other coaches and

23:52

just be cool humans and you're like, "Okay, maybe I don't suck at being a

23:56

mom." That's right now.

23:59

>> Yeah. Oh, that's the best. That is the absolute best. Um

24:05

Yeah. I I can't wait for that. That too. I have boys as well, so

24:10

>> that is the coolest thing. And then they'll come home and fight.

24:13

>> Yes.

24:15

>> Right. Yeah. Naturally. Good. Keeping it real.

24:19

>> That's right.

24:21

>> Awesome. And I know our listeners would love to connect more with you, so please

24:24

share how they can do that.

24:26

>> Yes. So I'm on Instagram with Bwell with_.

24:31

And then that's also I just got on threads, so that's also my threads. And

24:35

then LinkedIn at real Dixon.

24:38

>> Perfect. and I'll have those linked in the show notes as well. I'm so glad

24:42

you're on threads. It's one of my favorite and most underrated platforms.

24:46

Um, it's a great spot.

24:47

>> Yeah, I just got there and I'm like, "Oh, how do this I I guess get caught up

24:52

in reading everything." I'm like, "I need to edit a post, but I don't know

24:54

what to say. I don't know how to do this."

24:57

>> It's awesome.

24:58

>> Yeah, we have a whole episode about it. So, I'll share that with you.

25:01

>> Oh, good. Yes. Do I I can't find it when I was when I was looking through all of

25:06

your episodes. Perfect. All right. Well, thank you so

25:10

much for joining us today. Thank you for the realness, the shares on being

25:15

vulnerable, and how we can just like truly take care of ourselves, why that

25:20

matters, why we need to prioritize that, and how that's going to help us

25:25

ultimately reach our goals, our ambitions, and make the impact that we

25:30

are meant to make.

25:33

>> Of course. Thank you so much for having me.