Hannah Before and After HLB Lifestyle

The Whole Story

I, Coach Hannah, the owner and founder of HLB lifestyle, LLC and the face behind @havingandeatingcake am here to tell you MY story. Let’s start with this… I am just like YOU… a regular person.

I am a midwestern girl from Ohio. I have an older brother whom I have always looked up to (for the love of god, do NOT tell him I said that), two parents that are more supportive than a good bra, and a husband who tells me that because he loves me, he would NOT vote for me if I was on a singing show… what the hell?!?

I digress…

I earned my…

• Bachelor’s in applied health sciences with an entrepreneurship minor from Bowling Green State University on a full-ride academic scholarship in 2010 (go Falcons!).
• Doctoral degree in physical therapy from Ohio University (go Bobcats!) and practiced as a full-time outpatient orthopedic physical therapist from 2013-2019 until I had to step away from patient care to keep up with the demands of my HLB lifestyle coaching business as my full-time career ever since (a good problem to have).
• NASM personal training certification in 2018.
• Professional nutrition certificate from San Diego State University in 2018.
• Title as an Integrative and Functional Nutrition Therapy Practitioner from the IFN Academy in 2022.

Oh, and I LOVE harry potter, oatmeal, the OSU buckeyes, sarcasm, a good pun, and think ice cream is the answer to just about everything.

Now…. WHY YOU REALLY STARTED TO READ THIS…

MY “former fat kid” story…

I remember being overweight since my earliest memories. I got made fun of a little but was never tortured at school, I did that all by myself. The whole picking yourself apart in the mirror, DREADING back to school clothes shopping since you know most of the stuff from last year is going to be tight, just knowing your outward appearance wasn’t a reflection of the real you… that was me. For a LONG time. As you read this, I am no longer that girl. I am an educated, healthy woman who lost over 60 lbs, learned how to keep it off, and now have the privilege of helping amazing women all over the world lose the weight she never thought possible through online personal training.

Let’s dive into the juicy stuff, shall we?….

The Juicy Stuff

How many people say to you, “I know how you feel,” and you want nothing more than to slug that individual? 

You don’t know how I feel is what I wanted to snap back when I was struggling with my weight. 

I don’t remember a stage of my life, elementary through post-graduate school where I was comfortable with my body and didn’t want to lose a significant amount of weight.  Soooo when one of my friends wanted to “lose 3 pounds” (Mean Girls anyone?) before spring break and all of a sudden “knew how I felt,” I was less than sympathetic.

I remember the girls that would “forgo dessert” at lunch the week of prom… you have GOT to be kidding me.  I had been “forgoing dessert” before it was cool… and NOTHING was working.  Okay… looking back there is a solid chance my restrictive approach to eating health only to binge in the kitchen after everyone went to sleep on Cheese-Its and drinking in college (like a champ I might add) maaaay have had something to do with my weight problem, but hey, this is about you not me!  Wait… this is the “about me” section I guess, so let’s keep going…

I still remember as an adolescent, sitting in the cold doctor’s office where he showed me a graph of my weight gain over a few years and pointed out how fast the line was going up which showed how heavy I would be if I didn’t lose weight.  It was the “Hannah get your shit together or you’re going to be obese” talk… okay, I may have ad-libbed there a little bit.  Want to know the funniest part of that whole conversation?  I had truly been wanting and trying to lose weight all those years my weight kept climbing. 

I played sports; volleyball, lacrosse, and snowboarding are my favorites. …We learned quickly diving was a no go when I never could do a flip off the diving board without crying and synchronized swimming isn’t ideal for those who are not the most graceful in the water. 

Work Hard

I refused to let ONE bad egg along my journey to Hot Ass Hannah get in my way, so I found a different coach and I worked HARD.

• I scraped snow off my car in the dark to exercise before work, NO MATTER WHAT.
• I counted calories and I learned about “macro tracking.” (Email me using the link at the bottom of the page if you want more details around macros.)
• I moved losing weight to the TOP of my to-do list and worked at it every single day… if I wasn’t going to get this done, who was?

Fast forward through countless gym sessions in old sweaty t-shirts (no I never exercise in the cute stuff…), grocery shopping trips filled with veggies, protein, AND SOME TREATS, lots of water, and OVER A YEAR of unrelenting passion for ME…. I did it.

I could zip up a pair of shorts, throw on a tank top, and walk out the door…if you’ve never had a weight problem you don’t know how big of a deal that is.  If you DO, you know.  The ability to grab whatever you felt like wearing out of your closet that day was SO FREAKING COOL, as compared to grabbing what you hope fit or made you look “less fat.”

It wasn’t always easy.  It wasn’t a linear drop in weight.  It wasn’t fast.  It wasn’t glamorous.

But it worked.

I’ve kept it off and have truly transformed my life into one where I am more comfortable in my skin than ever before, even when I am not at my most lean, I have no off limit foods, and I am truly happy.

Nothing brings me more joy than helping women follow in my footsteps and coaching her along the way to a body in which she feels is her own and that makes her say “dayyyyyum” every time she passes by a mirror.

I help badass women like YOU, lose weight and transform your body into one you can’t wait to show off in your favorite jeans, or that tank top that’s never fit quite right. Let’s get you feeling sexy with straight forward weight loss coaching, all WITHOUT you having to give up food, drinks, and life as you know it…

Head on over to my “What is Online Personal Training and the HLB4me method” section to learn more about what online personal training is AND how my 3-phase method sets you up for long term success.

I hope you enjoyed my story.  I didn’t do everything right every single day, I made plenty of mistakes, but I never quit… and that’s why I am here to help you, as a REAL person who gets it.  You CAN do this.  I KNOW you can.  I believe in YOU.

Yours in fitness & health,
Coach Hannah
Dr. Hannah Brandt, PT, DPT, CPT, IFNCP