This week, I chat with Missy Propper from Authentic Wellness located in West Bend, Wisconsin. Missy shares her transformative health journey, how she pivoted into entrepreneurship, and offers practical advice on feeling your best every day.

During our conversation, Missy talks about shedding 100 pounds and maintaining that success through a balanced lifestyle. She turned her personal challenges into a thriving business, providing services like food sensitivity testing and holistic treatments such as reflexology and Reiki. Her focus is on sustainable, personalized wellness plans that genuinely cater to the individual needs of her clients.

We also dive into how she adapts her services to the unique wellness paths of her clients, whether through personal coaching or her corporate wellness initiatives, hoping to make an impact on those right here in our community (and beyond).

Mentioned in this episode:

• Authentic Wellness - Instagram
• Authentic Wellness - Facebook
• Authentic Wellness

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This week, Missy Propper of Authentic Wellness on North Main Street in downtown West Bend joins me to talk about her amazing health and wellness journey, taking the leap into becoming an entrepreneur, and how you can take steps to make yourself feel great in your body since you have to live there every single day.

With that, here are 15 minutes on authentic wellness with Missy Proper on Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.

Missy, thank you so much for joining me and coming into the studio today. It's good to see you.

I was the director of operations for a manufacturing facility. Really everything was career path wise. It was on point. But physically and kind of personally, I was very unhealthy. I was extremely overweight. I was tired all of the time, and I was diagnosed that I had pre diabetes. So I really needed to think about making some changes, some significant changes.

So I started out, I did what everybody does, and I joined a gym, and it was great. And I started losing weight, and I started, you know, meeting people and feeling really awesome. And then it kind of plateaued, like I was going and I was working out really hard, but I wasn't really seeing results and my body wasn't changing.

So I went to the doctor and I said, this is what I'm doing and I'm stuck. And the advice I was given was eat more vegetables and cut your calories. I've heard that before. It did not work, right? It was just, it wasn't enough. And so I was kind of frustrated, and I thought, I'm going to figure this out. And so I just dove into it, and I just started immersing myself in understanding what, what was, what I was putting in my body, how was that impacting how my body was showing up for me?

What did I need to understand about gut health? What did I need to understand about nutrition? What did I need to understand about all of the missing pieces to kind of put everything in sync? And so in doing this, I was able to lose 100 pounds, which I have kept off for 10 years. I'm very proud of that.

But as I was going through it, I would frequently say, I really wish I had someone that could walk this with me. I wish I had someone that already knew the answers. You know, explain to me what gut health is. Explain to me how nutrition really is impacting my body. And what am I supposed to eat? And you know, somebody that on the days I wanted to throw in the towel would be like, no, Missy, keep going.

You've got this, right? So as I was going through the process, I frequently said, I wish I had somebody helping me. I had always wanted to own my own business. I had always wanted to work for myself. And so I saw this as an opportunity. And so I went back to school and I formally learned how to Nutrition was impacting my body from, you know, I already knew from experience, but I was formally understanding and filling in all the details.

Okay. I do online coaching as well. So I have worked with people as far as Texas, Chicago, into Minnesota. I had a client in North Carolina. So I have worked with people outside of West Bend, but primarily, yeah.

How, you know, what kind of philosophies are you bringing to people?

And so for me, It's a lifestyle. It's about balance. It's about, I say, the 80/20 rule, right? So 80 percent of the time, you're making awesome, spot on, amazing choices for yourself, and you're allowing yourself that 20 percent of the time to really enjoy life and the things that you enjoy. And that, for me, is a sustainable approach because a lifestyle is something that we want to sustain, right?

And so, for me, that's the first thing, I think, is that it's a lifestyle. The second thing is Everybody's at a different place. Sure. And so meeting everybody where they are at, you know, I might have, you know, a goal for myself, but that's not necessarily the other person's goal, right? So, so really meeting people where they're at, understanding and listening, you know, what is it that they want to accomplish?

Maybe it's just that they just want to get up and get moving and get walking and they have some joint pain or they don't have a lot of energy and they just really want to. Oh, I really want this, go ahead. Okay. So for me, to be an effective coach, I need to meet people where they're at and really be their advocate to help them accomplish their goals.

I am a goals person. I like little mini goals because I feel like the more we have goals and we accomplish them, that's how you get momentum. That's how you feel like you're continuing to move forward. And those goals are going to come from that person, right? So it's going to help me to start seeing where's their mindset at?

What are the things that they want to accomplish? So we, we start with goals. So we sit down and we review their goals, and then based on their goals, that determines our program, right? So whatever it is that they want to achieve, we're going to look at nutrition, we're going to look at movement, and we're going to look at how they're managing stress, anxiety, all of the other pieces of their life, because that's all part of it too.

It is fabulous. They raved about it, by the way. They did. Well, they're pretty great. So, um, I know who So, we know who we're talking about. Okay. I won't out them on here. Yes. Yes. They're great. So the, the food sensitivity and intolerance test, we take a little hair sample, so we don't have to draw blood.

We just take a little hair sample. And what that tells us is each person's unique body, tolerances, right? So it's going to show up, it's going to give us a report and it's going to say, these are all of the things that you're exposing your body to or putting in your body that are causing not work properly or have some kind of results, right?

So it could be bloating. It could be poor digestion. It could be eczema. It could be a skin rash. It could be migraines. It could be all different kinds of things. But it's, it's a test that's going to tell us what are those things that are not working for you? And Oh my gosh, when you have that information, that's so empowering, right, because if you're trying to make changes in your body and you get a list that says, these are the things that don't put these in your body or don't expose yourself to these, you're, you're, you're empowered with tools and knowledge to make steps forward, right?

The thing that oftentimes I think catches people off guard, actually, there's two things with the test. So the first thing is. Oftentimes, it's a healthy food, right? So, so for me, I, when I took the test first, cause I do everything myself first, I'm always my own guinea pig. One of the things that showed up for me was salmon.

And I eat salmon like other people eat chicken, right? So I love salmon and I had had headaches. For years, like terrible, terrible headaches, never, ever, ever would have made the connection. But I had this test done, took salmon out of my diet for 30 days. My headaches within three days were gone. And then on day 31, I was missing my salmon.

So I reintroduced it. Within 20 minutes, I had the worst headache. And so I never in a million years, and I have so many people that have that experience where they'll say, Oh my gosh, it could be pepper. It could be. I mean, who knows? Lots of different things, but it's an incredible tool. It tests for not only food.

It also tests for environmental toxins. Chemicals, additives, preservatives, heavy metals, uh, animals.

Because you know, the things specifically for that person that are causing them to struggle, and then, you know, we put together a great coaching program and we focus on solid, awesome nutrition. It's unstoppable. It's unstoppable.

Yeah, so one of the things I learned when I started health coaching was I would, I would have people come in and they'd say, Missy, I am a stress eater. I am an emotional eater. And I wanted to be able to offer some services that would help people manage stress differently. or do something different to help their body kind of rest and reset.

So, I got three certifications. The first one was reflexology. So reflexology is based on the premise that you have pressure points in your hands and your feet. And when you apply pressure to those pressure points, it sends increased circulation through your central nervous system that's mapped all the way to different areas in your body.

So with reflexology, it's a 50 minute, it feels like an amazing foot massage, but actually what we're doing is we're sending increased circulation throughout all of our All of different areas of your body, and we're releasing and letting go of some of the places where you might be holding on to tension or you might just have different things in your body that you need to reset or let go.

Sure, OK,

guided meditation, right? So we start with that and we get people in a nice, soothing, meditative state where you're just relaxed and you're kind of letting yourself go and you're letting yourself just naturally breathe. And then with Reiki, you hold your hands. There are seven different places where I hold my hands that are connected with those energy centers in the body.

And what that does is just kind of opens up that energy and helps people release and let go. I started offering Reiki, I had a good friend of mine that was diagnosed with breast cancer. And so when she would go through her chemotherapy treatments, Um, she would be, you know, really tense and not feeling so great, so I would go to her house and I would give her Reiki sessions.

And it was, it's very healing, it's very calming, and it just helps people kind of rest and reset. Sure.

Because for me, my goal in a one on one coaching program is I want people to see that health really is holistic and there are a lot of different tools and different things that you can do to incorporate into your own habits to create this balance.

Is it better than this podcast?

So my podcast is really focused primarily for women between the ages of kind of early 40s through about mid 50s and we talk about Perimenopause into menopause and that life transition and how that impacts our body and how that impacts our health and our hormones. And really, I use myself as an example often because I don't want for people to ever feel like they're alone.

And I interview local practitioners and people that offer different services and things that can help women. So it's really just a Focused on helping women gracefully go through and enter that next season of life.

Is that a thing now? It is a thing, everything, oh my goodness. So it's, it's really, I think, helping people understand that there's no quick fix, that it's really a lifestyle and it's lifestyle choices and all of these. you know, promises for in three days you're gonna, you know, change completely and all of it.

No, no, you're not. And, and you don't want that for yourself, right? What you really want is you want to invest in your own well being and you really want to have a healthy, sustainable lifestyle.

I went, I was able to go to the park and play with my kids and not be winded and not have to sit. I was able to, you know, my bloating's down. I can actually fit in this dress. And I went to this event this weekend with my husband and I felt beautiful. I have All of these, I mean, just every day is just so great.

So, I don't know if I have one in particular,

And so I am really enjoying that. It has been a wonderful. I'm really excited about the partnership between myself and different corporations where I'm able to come in and offer lunch and learns and kind of interactive workshops that are a little, a little snapshot in time, right? But it's a great way for employers to offer their employees something to invest in their health and well being.

It promotes great culture. It promotes great employee well being, right? And happy employees. And for me, it's fun because I'm able to reach even more people and impact my community.

Oh, absolutely.

I start with consultations. So you can book a consultation right there. I'm also, obviously, an online coach. All the social media platforms. And so you can find me on Facebook and Instagram, LinkedIn. Um, I'm not a TikToker. I really want to be. I'm not, I'm really terrible at reels. I don't, um, and just, you know, schedule, schedule a time to chat.

And I just love to talk with people and see if there's a way that I can support them in their journey.

It's always amazing to hear stories like hers. And if you have a story that you think would be amazing for me to hear, And share? I would love for you to tell me about it. Send me an email. Let's make it happen. FifteenWithFuzz at gmail. com. Spell out the word fifteen. FifteenWithFuzz at gmail. com. Or go to fuzz. cc slash guest. That is fuzz. cc slash guest. If you enjoyed the show, follow it. If you listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Or any other podcast player, hit the follow or subscribe button. You can also listen at fifteenwithfuzz com. New episodes come out on Tuesdays. Next week, we talk with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Washington County.

And with that, I will talk to you next time, right here on Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.