Haley’s Journey to Healthier Habits with Sunnyside w/ Hailey Roos
Hey everyone and welcome back to Journey to the Sunnyside. I'm Mike Hardinbrook and today we have Hailey Bruce. Hailey is a certified fat loss coach and founder of Redefined Mama where she's made it her mission to help busy moms create sustainable habits, prioritize their health, and feel confident in their bodies. She's also a dedicated Sunnyside member using the app as part of her own journey towards mindful drinking. In this segment, we'll talk about her experience with Sunnyside, the changes and outcomes she's seen, and how she's inspiring others to do the same.
Speaker 1:Okay. Today, we have Haley Russe. Haley, thanks for coming on the show today.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me, Mike. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Well, in this episode, we're gonna get into your experience both in reducing and redefining your relationship with alcohol and also specifically how Sunnyside has played a part in that. And so let's start out with a little bit of background information. And can you share with us maybe your journey, where your life was at when you decided to make some changes in your relationship around alcohol?
Speaker 2:Okay. So obviously, I'm a mom, and I'm a mom of three. I was a mom of three three and under. They're now five, three, and two. So my life is, like, very chaotic and very busy, obviously.
Speaker 2:And so I've always thought of alcohol as being a solution to that chaos and that stress. And it wasn't until recently that I've realized that instead of a solution, it's part of the problem, and it's actually was making things worse. And I know I'm speaking for, like, a lot of moms, my age that when the kids go down or it's 05:00, we pour ourselves a glass of wine. Like, that is what we do to kind of, you know, separate ourselves from being a mom and being in it. And and, you know, I think even to go back further, like, alcohol for me has always been a part of my life.
Speaker 2:Like, I was born and raised in Georgia. I'm in the South. I think it's part of our culture. I mean, I could probably say that for, like, anywhere, in the world, but it is a big part of southern culture. My parents have always drank.
Speaker 2:My family, you know, every football game. It started out kind of in middle school. That's when I first started drinking alcohol, and, then it became drinking on the weekends in high school, and then it was most nights in college. And it wasn't just like, let's go have a glass of wine or let's have a beer. It was let's get obliterated.
Speaker 2:Like, let's see how drunk we can get. And I have a, like, funny memory of, like, one of the first times I was drinking in high school. You know, no one knows how to drink. And so I was I remember we had this, like, Jim Beam bottle that someone stole from their parents, and we were just taking pulls of it before we went to, like, you know, homecoming or whatever dance it was. And, you know, we all stumbled in there just, like, disgusting.
Speaker 2:And I'm sure it just it felt so normal. Like, this is what everyone was doing. And now looking back, it's just like I couldn't I couldn't even imagine if that's what my kids were getting into these days. But as I got older, I kind of realized that my, like, relationship wasn't as healthy as I thought it was or as normal. So I started, you know, trying to cut back, and I've, like I've always been into health and fitness.
Speaker 2:Always. And so I realized that the more I drank, the more calories I consumed, and the worse it was for kind of weight loss. So I would, like, cut back during the weeks. And then on the weekends, I would let it, you know, binge drink, all go. And then on Monday, I would recommit, and it was just like wash away, beat.
Speaker 2:So I've kind of always had an interesting relationship with alcohol. I would say I never had a problem. I felt like there were people that had problems that were alcoholics, and then there was everyone else. And I was kind of in the everyone else category. So I never really decided that it was important for me to, like, address my relationship with alcohol.
Speaker 1:Yeah. To be honest, your story sounds so similar in the way that it got started in that, you know, you start in middle school or early in high school, weekends during high school for me, and then almost every night during college. And I remember, yeah, it wasn't just go out, have a couple beers with your roommates. It was more like, let's go find the cheapest beer for 25¢ beers, and let's order as many as we can and stack them on the tables before the time slot on that special ended. And then it then once you get into adulthood, there's a little bit of, this doesn't really fit in the way that it does in college life.
Speaker 1:And it can either continue to progress or you can start to make changes. And sometimes those changes take a long time for me. It took a really long time, many years for me to finally get it to where I wanted, and a lot of that had to do with I just felt like there were no real options out there. When yeah. So when you got to and and one more point before we move back into your story is that we never really learn how to drink.
Speaker 1:I think people are starting to with mind mindful drinking. People are starting to understand this concept, but no one actually sits down and like, you were pull pulling from a whiskey bottle. I remember I didn't even know, like, that alcohol takes a little bit for it to set in. So when you're drinking tequila, take a shot, oh, I don't feel anything. Take another shot, I don't feel anything.
Speaker 1:And then all of a sudden
Speaker 2:You're puking.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Exactly. So it's really not realizing that, you know, I think in our most of the generations that are adults now, we just it was get out behind closed doors or in a sneaky way, drink as much as possible in the shortest amount of time because nobody really told us any other way any way otherwise.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Very true.
Speaker 1:So things are getting a little more difficult. You have more responsibilities. You're growing up. Mhmm. And what was it that made you start to really reevaluate?
Speaker 1:Was there a time that you can recall that you thought to yourself, And what did that look like? You know, where did you wanna go?
Speaker 2:So I think there were multiple, obviously, times when I thought, you know, that alcohol was a problem, like my hangovers or the decisions I would make drinking at night. But I think, like, as I got older, you know, and got married, it became something that I was a little more focused on my health. It became like a weight loss tool. But then once I had kids, honestly, drinking kind of lost its, like, luster on me. And I think that was due to a couple things, but mainly, like, the hangover, I could not handle with children.
Speaker 2:Like, you know, and I would do it again and again and again, and I would and I would be miserable the next day and, you know, being just like a shell of a mom and a human and, like, thinking, well, this is just how the weekends are. Like you know? And I think, like, not only what did I feel guilty as a mom being hungover, but, like, our my marriage began to suffer. Like, every night that we would drink together, there would be arguments, and it just there was just so many things piling up against alcohol, but I kept choosing to ignore it. And then, I don't know, somewhere along my postpartum journey, like, my anxiety just kept getting worse.
Speaker 2:And so then when I would start drinking, it wouldn't just be a hangover. It would be that, you know, anxiety hangover. And it, you know, it got to a point where it became debilitating for me, and that's when I had my insomnia. But, you know, it it almost took all of these things stacked against it for me to actually start confronting it.
Speaker 1:Makes sense. And so I know that from, you know, your story that Sunnyside played a part in that. Mhmm. But walk me through, like, what you tried. Where did that fit in?
Speaker 1:What what maybe worked for you a little bit? What goals did you have? And then we can probably talk about how Sunnyside supported DietCole.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, I feel like I was always interested in, like, the sober curious movement or, you know, like, I would participate here and there in dry January. And did I ever make it thirty days? No. But, you know, like, I loved the idea of, like, definitely, it was easy for me to kind of stop drinking Monday through Thursday.
Speaker 2:And so that those kind of things worked where I felt like, hey. If I took four days off, then I was free to do whatever I wanted on the weekends. And that, you know, because of taking those four days off, I deserved to get drunk on the weekends. You know? Like, I with withheld, withstaying alcohol, so now I get to do the thing.
Speaker 2:And so I I don't think anything was working because I had this all or nothing mindset that, like, you know, I if I'm gonna go I'm not gonna have alcohol, it's gonna be none. And then if I'm gonna have it, it's gonna be I'm gonna get drunk. And I just was living in this all or nothing, and I think that wasn't working. And it wasn't until I heard about Sunnyside through my friend Katie, who runs Soberish Mom. And the concept, which is it's so silly to say, but, like, the concept that you don't have to give it up completely in order to make your relationship better with it, was just, like, so profound and, like, new to me, that I could actually just cut back on it.
Speaker 2:Like, even on the weekends, like, I didn't have to go to the extreme every single weekend. Like, I could cut my weekends in half. And so I think that's where Sunnyside played such a huge role in me actually being able to change my habit.
Speaker 1:Yes. And I can also identify it's this yo yo effect. You know? Everybody did wear of yo yo restrictive diets where it's all or nothing, and then whenever you either fall off because you can't do it anymore or maybe it's coming to an end, you just swing back to the other side of everything. And so it's, like, so common, and that's what used to not only get in my way when I'd make a changes because it was so hard to stick to these commitments.
Speaker 1:But then let's say I wouldn't drink during the week, and I'd say drink during the weekend. Well, I'm not gonna drink Monday or I'm not gonna drink Sunday, so I might as well get it all in. And it just has these this effect that just has you just over and over again in this perpetual, you know, loop that keeps going.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And I think it that applies to, like, so many thing healthy habits. It's you know, and I tell my clients that all the time. Like, if you don't drop your all or nothing mindset, you are not gonna be successful because nobody's perfect. You you are gonna mess up.
Speaker 2:You're gonna have the cake. You're gonna have the second drink. And if you can't, you know, make the next best healthiest decision after that, then you're just going to keep in that loop.
Speaker 1:A %. I couldn't agree more. And I actually wanna know somehow, how did you feel when you would do those thirty day challenges and you wouldn't make them through it?
Speaker 2:I mean, like a failure, basically. Like Yeah. You know? But then I would excuse it like, oh, I'm I made it this many days, and I have never done it that many days. So, you know, I would find ways to, like, make it twist it so it was a good thing.
Speaker 2:But, yeah, I think I never really stuck to it because I again, I go back to me thinking, like, I don't have a problem with it. You know? Like, I can I can cut it out for two weeks and not have a not even think about it?
Speaker 1:Yeah. Those internal conversations, they they'll I mean, it is good to at least get pat yourself on the back to say, hey. I made it this far versus just saying I'm straight up failure, and I might as well just go off the rails and do whatever I want. But it's just to draw that parallel again to diet. I mean, everybody or or health and fitness as you know.
Speaker 1:I mean, the gyms are full in January for the first couple weeks. Oh, yeah. And then the rest of the year, for a lot of the people that go to the gym regularly, you're like, alright. January's gonna be packed. And then by February, we can get back to normal as far as crowds go.
Speaker 1:Because it's just so hard for people to to just go from zero to a hundred or a hundred to zero. And Yep. So so you found this so you found this thing called Sony side. Yep. And you you told us a little bit about what drew you in.
Speaker 1:Why don't you share maybe a little bit initial experience and, maybe some results as you started using it or what you liked about it?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, I honestly, the platform of what Sunnyside has going is, I think, just gonna change the game because it is the accountability that you need, and not just accountability, but daily accountability that's going to keep you successful. And I'd you know, I tell my clients that all the time. That's why I do daily nutrition checks because with Sunnyside, getting a text to your phone where you don't have to go log in to an app, you don't have to do an an extra step. Like, having someone check-in and say, hey.
Speaker 2:You said you were gonna drink zero drinks today. You know, just make sure that's what you promised yourself. And then in the morning going, hey. You said you were gonna drink zero. How did it shape out?
Speaker 2:Like, that two reminders have been what's kept me accountable. You know? And I I think it's so great too that it's it's not enough that promotes complete sobriety. You know? It's like, hey.
Speaker 2:Let's set your drink limit for the week, and you can you know, looking ahead, that you're setting a plan and that you're gonna you're more likely to stick to a plan when you have a plan.
Speaker 1:So give me an idea about where you were be before the app and where you ended up maybe along the way. And it seems like there's gonna be always growth and progression in anything. Mhmm. But did you have a couple milestones where you're like, hey. This is working.
Speaker 1:I'm reaching my goal.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Definitely. I think before a couple things. Like, I think before, I I wasn't tracking. And I always tell, like, my clients that it if you are trying to make a change without tracking, that's like going somewhere without somewhere you don't know without navigation.
Speaker 2:Like, you have to have some sort of concept of how much you're consuming. So when I first joined Sunnyside, I was a little shocked at, like, how much like, I knew that I wasn't drinking during the week because I had kind of started forming that habit. But on the weekends, like Saturdays, you know, me and my husband's, like, kind of thing is we'll we'll go to a brewery at lunch and, like, have a beer there, and then kind of the day escalates. And it's like tracking that and knowing, oh my god. I had seven drinks throughout the whole day in on Saturday.
Speaker 2:That's substantial. Whereas, you know, before I was tracking, I was thinking, oh, I had I have a couple drinks on the weekends. And it's like, no. You were having seven. And so now just being able to even, like, see that through the progression of Sunnyside, I've been able to cut that in half on a Saturday, and now I'm only having four drinks or, you know, I I try to keep that two as my real limit.
Speaker 2:But, like, you know, on the on the days that we are having, like, some kind of social gathering or whatever, like, it's just nice to see that number go down.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I mean, it's funny because so many people even if you are a person that tracks, the idea of tracking the alcohol is a little bit foreign. You know? You've probably never seen it, and it does take effort, like, on the diet and tracking what you eat. And I think people are always surprised by that.
Speaker 1:And like you said, you might be surprised on that. I also think that it's important to track the things that you might overlook. Like, you said you were already not drinking during the week, and your mind will probably go back a couple weeks or a couple months and say a couple months, but not really acknowledge the fact that, like, maybe over time, that could be, like, hundreds of days. You know? And Right.
Speaker 1:So even tracking the things that you're just like, that's just what I do. There are moments when you can reflect and look at that. Give me an example of maybe when you were using semi side where maybe you didn't hit your goal or you went a little off track? How did you use the app maybe to refocus where you're going or maybe make up days? Were there instances of that where it helped you keep on track?
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah. So, you know, I'll have, like, any busy mom, like, my week is planned the best I can, but sometimes things come up and, you know, I'll have, like I remember a couple weeks ago, I had a babysitter text me that wanted some hours. So we put in a date night last minute. And, like, I had had zero drinks planned for that day, but we ended up having you know, I had two drinks that night. And in, like, the weekend, I had planned those two drinks.
Speaker 2:So on that Friday or Saturday, I did not have those drinks. So it it it's like, I I'm a goal girl, and, like, I love seeing me hit the numbers. So even though it was not on the days I had planned, I still hit the number of drinks, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Totally. So you coach busy moms, and I'd love to know how well received or first of all, how common is it that with the people that you work with were probably in a situation that you found yourself in or some variation of that? How often does that happen, when you're working with clients? Often.
Speaker 2:I will say, like, that's why you think that your behavior is normal because it's common. But, you know, the there's a difference between normal and common. And, I I will say, like, it took me a long time to realize that you're if you are trying to lose weight, you cannot have a bottle of wine every week. Like, that is not going to help you with your weight loss goals, and your body will prioritize alcohol first for up to twenty four hours before it starts metabolizing your fat. So you what you think is just a night of a couple extra calories and drinks can actually be, like, three or four days of hindering your body from losing you know?
Speaker 2:So I I try to, like, tell my clients first of all, try to tell them about Sunnyside and how they can even be held accountable daily with their alcohol intake. But also just to, like, watch it and see how it adds up to on your macros, when you include alcohol in your diet. Like, it just it's empty calories. It's not going towards any one of your macronutrients, and it's gonna be harder to hit your macros with alcohol. So
Speaker 1:Yeah. That's a great insight, and I'm always blown away and still learning even more information as I come across it. But I think the biggest thing early on that I was surprised by was the fact that it's not just when you're drinking. It affects all these different things. And I actually didn't know that about the fat burning, but not surprised by it.
Speaker 1:But, I mean, definitely, I've talked about it before, how it affects sleep multiple days or even weeks or months depending on your intake in a multitude of things related I mean, metabolic health, of course. And so, yeah, really interesting, take on that. And so what I really like to know also is I actually wanna I wanna lean into that comment that you made on the difference between, was it common and Normal. Normal. Can so can you explain the difference between your view, the difference between common and normal?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I guess so, I mean, this applies to a lot of things, including, like, any post partum anxiety and depression. It's like, just because a lot of people are suffering from a similar thing or have similar experiences with alcohol or what it may whatever it may be, doesn't make it a normal or I guess another word would be, like, acceptable or, like, something that you should accept, you know, just because everyone else is doing it thing. So, yeah, I think that's what common is, where it's like people are doing this group sync, and then, you know, I think normal is kind of, like, not the exact word that I should be using, but, like, whether it's, like, the right thing like, acceptable for your body, your health, the the good thing, the right thing. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think those two are just different.
Speaker 1:No. I love that. I mean, I totally agree with you. But I I and I I understood what you said and started to make my own definition in my head, but I thought it was a great insight, so I wanted to highlight it here. Well, if if, if you could leave some parting advice to somebody, I think you probably give this advice to anyone.
Speaker 1:If they're in a place as far as alcohol goes that maybe what they thought were the only options, which is to give it up, you know, what would you suggest to those people as options? And and fill us in on, like, what's the big benefit that you along this journey that you've taken that maybe they could experience themselves?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I think, again, it's it's going back to that dropping the all or nothing mindset that you don't have to give it up completely in order to reach your goals. But I also think you need to look past just the aesthetics or the weight loss or the fat loss and and ask yourself how it's affecting your mental health, or how it's affecting your job as a mom. You know, and is it is it causing your anxiety, or is it helping? And I think that's just something you have to, like, sit down and really, you know, go inside and internalize because it's most likely not helping you.
Speaker 2:And there are there are other ways to get the stress relief without, alcohol.
Speaker 1:I love it. So if anybody's listening here, I know you do coaching with moms. Why don't I give you the the spotlight a little bit to talk about what you do or any projects that you're excited about before we get going today?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Sure. So I run an account called redefine mama, and I kind of started it, while I was still pregnant with my third when I started it. And it was more about the idea of not being silent on, you know, struggles, with motherhood. And so it was kind of taking on this, like, real motherhood front.
Speaker 2:And then I, you know, realized how important health and fitness were for me and how much better of a mom it made me. So I've kind of switched it into more of a health platform. And I, you know, I I health coach about 40 women right now through a program called TRiM. And then my goal for 2025 is, to start my own, program called the redefined routine, where I hope to just show moms that there are sustainable and maintainable habits that you can incorporate in your journey through motherhood, to optimize your health.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It sounds like a great program, and you're definitely behind it through your experiences and wanting to make an impact with other moms. So I love you and commend you for that. And also wanna thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience here and your insights. So thanks so much, Hailey.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Thank you.
Speaker 1:And that wraps up today's episode of Journey to the Sunnyside. Big thanks to Haley Roos for sharing her experience with Sunnyside and how it's become a tool in her own journey towards mindful health. It's inspiring to hear how small intentional changes can create such a big impact. But stay with us as we head into part two with Haley, where we'll dive deeper into her personal story. We'll talk about her postpartum challenges, redefining her health as a mom and break breaking down stigmas around alcohol.
Speaker 1:So you don't want to miss that one. For those of you listening, if you're curious about Sunnyside and how it can support your own health goals, head on over to sunnyside.co to get your free fifteen day trial. And until then, cheers to your mindful drinking journey.
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