Crowns to Kettlebells: Angela Beyers Journey of Resilience and Power

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Welcome to the CJ Moneyway Show podcast, the podcast show where we unlock potential one dream at a time. Today we have another guest whose journey is truly worth hearing. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the Moneyway experience.

Welcome, my good people, to the CJ Moneyway Show, the podcast that brings you stories behind its success. Today we have on the show banker, competition bodybuilder, and former Miss Florida, Miss USA, and Miss Universe, Angela Bryants. How you doing today, Angela?

I'm doing well, thank you for asking.

Yeah, I appreciate you coming on the show today, taking time out today and coming on the Moneyway Johnson Show. Appreciate it.

Oh, I'm happy to be here.

So Angela, tell us a little bit about yourself and a little bit about your background.

Yeah. Um, I'm a health coach and personal trainer, and that was actually always my passion, but I didn't start out with doing that. I was, or I had a finance degree and I was a banker and yeah, back in the days, my early 20s, that's when I started after college. And, uh, what happened was I think what happens to almost everybody, if after school, you've always been very active during school time. And then, yeah, when you start being in the workforce, you just are not as active and then you gain the weight and you're unhappy. So what I did was what everybody else does. I looked for a quick fix, went through, I don't know how many painful diets and failed. I just wanted always to represent this perfect picture. What everybody's thinking of how you should look like, what you should perform, how your relationship should be. And I wasn't honest to myself and I wasn't living an authentic life. And what I learned the hard way was that you can't maintain that for a very long time. So I ended up with major health issues and yeah, in the hospital, not knowing where to go. And I had major depression, anxiety, lost all my muscle, lost all the connections what I had just by being very focused on a certain look. And like I said, presenting a certain image. And after that, I decided I need to do a hard stop and turn my life around. Otherwise I won't get very old. So What I did actually first, I got a nutrition degree just to learn how this body, how this whole system works, this chemistry factory. And that's where I dove deep into nutrition. Problems didn't solve itself though. So what I did, very extreme, I quit my job, I broke up with my boyfriend, and I went to the United States to learn English. It's always has been my dream. So that's what I did. I signed up English as a Second Language at the school and I fell in love with this country and all I wanted was to be able to stay. So after the, after the school, I got an internship at a bank because that's what I knew. That's where I had my degree on. That was my comfort zone. So that's what I did. So I ended up in a bank doing a little internship and again, question came up. Yeah. How do I stay? And, um, my immigration lawyer at the time said to me, there's no way I can stay as a banker. No way. You've got to go back to Germany. So I said, there has to be a way. There's always a way. And she said, well, you can stay if you have any special skills, what somebody in the United States cannot do. You can do, then you get a green card. And I said to her, the only thing I can do very well is I can lift things up and put them down. I'm very good at bodybuilding. And she's like, okay, if you can get a world champion title for the United States, then you can get a green card. And I thought she was joking.

Mm-hmm.

What is she saying? But But then I'm like, okay, if this is what it takes, I can only try. So I cleaned up my diet. I was very focused at the gym, prepped myself for the Miss Florida show in natural bodybuilding. And I competed in the physique class. So the different categories, I picked physique and yeah, I was able to win Miss Florida, got qualified for Team USA. Then I went to Los Angeles, competed at the Miss USA, won Miss USA, got qualified for Miss Universe, and then I was able to represent the United States at the Miss Universe show, which was super exciting. And at that time, my goal was to actually just end up in the finals. I wanted to be in the finals. I had a really good day that day, and I was able to win Miss Universe. And that's how I got my green card.

Yeah. So, Angela, with that being said, winning Miss USA, winning Miss Universe, and Miss Florida, I guess my question is, as you said, you was excited. What was the feeling actually like to actually win these competitions? And as you alluded to, for somebody that's not even from here?

Very good question. Oh my God. To be honest with you, people ask me a lot, was that the happiest moment in your life? And to be honest with you, CJ, I felt relieved in that moment. It was a huge relief. The happiest time was the prepping, the journey, but that moment, relief. Yeah. That's what I, what I felt. And, um, of course you're excited, but this, I did it. That was my first feeling.

You know, just listening to you, listening to your story and your journey, and you say relief. The dedication that you put in to be here, to be able to stay here, and the things that you put yourself through to get to that point. So I kind of get what you're saying when you say it was relief, like, okay, I went on a mission, now I've accomplished what I set out to accomplish, and now Here it is. I get my green card. I get to stay where I want to stay, what I've always dreamed to do. And I commend you for that. I really do.

Oh, thank you. Yeah, it was quite a thing. And afterwards it was clear to me that banking is not the field where I was supposed to be. So that's when I started personal training and I just enjoy helping others. To achieve their goals. And to be honest with you, when I started first for myself competing and then training others, it was literally for the look, create a certain look. And, um, that's my form of art. Other people paint pictures, I sculpt your bodies. That's what I like to do. And that's where I'm, when I'm really good at it, but it shifted over the years. It's not only about the look, the look became secondary and the health aspect and the health results you're getting out of certain changes and picking the right things in your food and doing the exercises. And like I said, paying attention to your stress or to your sleep, like all those little things where you think it's not worth it, they are worth it. And we look at it at the big picture. Those make a big difference in your health and in your look. You change, you know, your body composition changes. But now it's more for health reasons.

Okay. Yeah, because as you know, I'm pretty sure you know as well as more than I do how big a health issue is right now just in the States and worldwide, period. You know, the health thing. So Angela, going to another question. So what were some of the biggest obstacles have you had to overcome and how did you overcome them?

Oh my gosh. Another good question. Um, the funny thing about the whole transition was in Germany, I was in management in, in the finance world and I had a lot of responsibility and I was always a very good speaker and I was very clever of using words. And then when I came to the States, this one skill, was taken away from me. And it is so funny how people treat you when you're not a good communicator. And it was very eye-opening to me how you get put in a, like, category, or if they treat you— they treated you differently because you weren't able to express yourself the way you wanted to. And that was an obstacle by itself where I'm like, oh my gosh, this is bizarre. Like, I know exactly how this is done, but I cannot tell people what I want to do or how to do it. It was interesting. So that was one thing, but just by living and practicing again over and over and over again, you get better. Another obstacle was just think about it. I came in 2007. Of all times, I came to the United States when the crisis was going on with real estate and the banking market. And I was in a bank. And I remember, it's so bizarre. I was sitting there every Friday and everybody was scared if they're going to close the bank. It was a smaller private bank. And going through that stress, not knowing if you have a job the next week was very stressful. And then the other thing, of course, I didn't make any money. I mean, what can I say? I did an internship, I made $400 a month. Uh-huh. And you get very, very creative and you figure the way out how to survive that and find your happiness in the little things and on the day-to-day base where you say, okay, I'm just happy to be here and to do this. And I make the best out of it. And I took it literally day by day in that moment. So whatever problem I had, I just focused to get through that day. And I think about weeks, months, or years ahead. I didn't. I just took it day by day, very small steps.

Yeah, yeah. He who can prosper over little, he'll give much. Like you explaining, you know, where you came from, $400 a month. And where was you at, Florida or California? Florida.

At the time?

Florida. And we know how expensive it is in Florida. And so to be able to endure that And have the joy and the mentality that you said, Jack, just take it one day at a time. Be happy to be here and thankful to be here. And so now you probably can look back at your past and like, "Ooh boy, thank you. Look where I came from." You know, come from humble beginnings to where I am now, what a big difference. So like I say, I commend you on the mental aspect and the strength that you had to even endure those type of things. A lot of people would have gave up and probably went back to wherever they came from, you know? So yeah, so I commend you on that. So Angela, tell me, we talked about the bodybuilding competition. Tell me, or tell us, what type of work does one actually have to put in for that type of competition?

Yeah, I mean, this is not what I do with my clients who want to be healthy. If it comes to competition, You have to level it up. That's a different ball game. The consistency is on a, I would say, 2.0. You cannot miss a workout. You cannot skip a meal. You cannot add cheat meals if you feel like it. It has to be to the point. I mean, I remember one time my food scale didn't work. The battery went off and I had almost like a little panic attack because I wasn't able to measure my food in the morning. And I thought my whole day is screwed up. So I went to a store to get a battery and get my food scale going again in order to measure my food. That's how serious I was about this. Like very to the grams, not ounce, to the grams I measured my food. And with the working out, it was just, way more intense. You go to the limits and you don't have a lot of calories available. So you get, you get to know how far you can push it. You, you get to see the limits. And again, just seeing the transformation and being able to see how week by week your body gets better and better and better is so encouraging. And you get the strength. You just do it. Was I always in the morning happy to get up and do my cardio? No, I wasn't, but I did it anyway. So there is some— how can I say? You can't put a lot of emotions in it. It's almost like brushing your teeth. I mean, you're not emotional about brushing your teeth. You just do it and you do it every day. You never skip. That's what you do. And this is how the workouts become. It's not a thing where do you feel like doing it or no, it's just a thing you do and you do the best and you, you're going to be better the next day than you were the day before. You always progress. So I don't put a lot of emotions in it. That's just one thing off the list, like brushing your teeth.

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Mm, that sounds very stressful, more than what I can do. I see your physique. I see that you're well in shape and everything. So, but that's pretty cool though. That's pretty cool that you can actually endure that, get through that, and then with other accolades that you've added onto that. That just says a lot about your character and your integrity and just the type of person that you are, just listening to what you're saying, because it takes a lot of fortitude to get through these regiments and things of that nature. So hey, more power to you, Angela. All right, more power to you, because it couldn't have been the kid. So let's change courses a little bit. So Angela, tell us about the business that you founded. House of Shake, what is this business about?

House of Shape welcomes every person in any shape or form, and I get you in shape. So I'm focused on people who are interested in a healthy lifestyle, building habits, building routines, getting people started, making people comfortable with being uncomfortable, challenging their eating habits and getting the diet straight and doing body transformations. Yes, that's what House of Shape is. It's a community, community of people who are interested in health.

Okay. So how long have you had this business? When was it founded?

I founded it 2017.

Yeah.

Okay. 10 years after you got here.

That's right.

Yeah, that's right. Wow.

I didn't even know that. Yes.

Yes. Pretty cool. Pretty cool. So, so tell us, Angela, tell us about your health and fitness book.

Yeah. So I wrote a book that is actually a workbook for 52 weeks where every week you have one thing you are going to implement in your life. It's one is exercise, one is diet, one is lifestyle. These are tiny little changes, tiny little things, what will help you. And we're creating, like I said, routine structure and habits, what are going to help you to have a healthier, better life, uh, what gives you food freedom, what gives you, uh, just more, uh, robustness to manage life. And, um, it's a fun book, and it's like little things where you don't even think of, but when you practice them and when you incorporate them in your life, they make a change.

Mm, okay. So where can we find this book at?

Actually, it is on my website, but right now it is sold out. So it will be reprinted though. Yep.

That's a good thing, you know, sold out. That means ching ching. That means ching ching. So Angela, why is healthy muscle the key to longevity?

Yeah, very good question. The thing is, right now in the United States, what I see is that people are so focused on body fat and on the scale and how much you weigh. And we misunderstand that changing your body composition or addressing health issues comes from a different perspective. You have to look at the muscle. Why is that? Let's get a little scientific here, but just let me explain. So The muscle has a ton of cells. That's what it is. It's a ton of cells. And if we don't use it, we lose them or they are not as capable of working. They are compromised. They're not fully functioning. So an example, when we eat carbs, we digest them, they get turned into glucose and they end up in our bloodstream. So we have high blood sugar, right? The body wants to get the blood sugar out of our system. Usually the blood sugar gets stored in the muscle and in the liver, and the muscle is the biggest glucose disposal in our body. Think about it, how important that is. So that's where the blood sugar goes. What if you don't have enough of it or if it's damaged? So we have high blood sugar, Insulin gets produced by the pancreas. Insulin is the key, what opens the cells to get the blood sugar out of the bloodstream. Has to happen. Body cannot maintain with a high blood sugar level. So now there are no cells or damaged cells and the insulin cannot open anything. So that's the beginning of a big problem. That's called insulin resistance. So the blood sugar stays in the bloodstream and it goes back to the liver, spills over in the liver, and we create visceral fat. That's the belly fat, what some people have, and that causes inflammation and all kinds of like cardiovascular disease and so on and so on. So this is super dangerous body fat, which we want to avoid at any circumstances. Now, that's a metabolic problem. When we continue having this, we end up with pre-diabetic, diabetic, cardiovascular disease, hormone imbalance. It's like if one system fails in the body, all the other systems starting to fail. So this is a huge problem. Very easy to fix. You don't need medication. Just get healthy muscle, get that going and create a flux in the cell so the blood sugar the disposal can happen. There is an exchange, very important for your metabolism. If this is— this is just one thing. The other thing too, I just said it, um, when you work the muscle, you balance your hormone system. Um, that's not only the pancreas, it's also the thyroid and the sex hormones. So huge if it comes to testosterone, estrogen, progesterone. And especially for women in menopause, when they have issues by dropping, the muscle is going to help them to go through that time. Men are more lucky. They taper out more in a linear way. Women just drop and go and drop and go. So it's a little bit different. Another thing too, healthy muscle is heavy, and to carry healthy muscle, you need healthy bones. So it prevents osteoporosis. Huge. Again, women in menopause, they lose a third of their bone density just by hormonal changes, which is huge. Men do lose it too, but just slower. It's how much muscle you have, the better the bones are.

They—

it works together. You need strong bones to carry a lot of muscle. Now I'm not talking about being bulky. I'm talking about good quality muscle. And trust me, you have to lift a lot of weight to being bulky. So there is this misconception, oh my gosh, if I take 5-pound dumbbells and I start working out, I bulk up. You really don't. So that's another thing. So a huge part too is Cognitive function, same thing. If you have healthy muscle, better cognitive function, healthy muscle. I mean, that also helps with self-esteem, interestingly, because it changes your hormones as well. So there are so many benefits by just having healthy muscle that, um, yeah, it's actually a non-negotiable. Everybody needs to work out and have healthy muscle.

So with the healthy muscle and you say workout, if you can tell us 1 or 2 exercises that we can do daily that will help us build muscle, what would it be?

Okay, if you don't even have equipment and you are at home, the good old pushup. And if you start out with wall pushups, just pushing yourself off a wall and working your way down is huge. And then, of course, a squat. And if you're not able to do a squat, just sit down on a chair and stand up and do this 10 times, 15, 20 times. Take a break, do 3, 4 rounds. Whatever you can do, what gives your body a resistance is good. I mean, you can even just take a backpack and fill it up, make it heavy, and do squats with that. You know what I'm saying? Like, there's so many opportunities to get just resistance going and challenge your body. And it doesn't have to be a fancy gym and it doesn't have to be hours and hours and hours. Quick, short, and convenient so you can actually do it is major. Yeah. I train early in the morning to get it out of my way, check it off. Like I said, I don't want to think about it that much. So, um, It's a good start for me of the day and I'm done.

Yeah. Okay. That's a good one. I like that. You say just do like sit up, push up like this if I'm sitting down and just— Okay.

Yeah.

So what area does that help? Does that help my arm areas? Do that help my leg areas?

So a squat is actually the legs.

Yeah.

Legs and core.

Okay. So, Angela, so how can one achieve manageable weight loss?

Mm-hmm.

Like I said, I think you will need to take small steps and it has to be maintainable. If you don't enjoy your food and you don't have fun with it, you won't do it. So small changes, but consistency, always improving every time and doing something, incorporating something healthy and getting used to it and give it time. You know, it's not a quick fix. And if I talk about nutrition, I would always look at your protein intake first. People underestimate the importance of protein and you need to take a robust amount of protein in a meal. So grazing during the day, small meals, and oh, God knows only what kind of diets are out there, way too complicated and it doesn't do the trick. You wanna trigger muscle protein synthesis and you can only do that with a robust amount of protein for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Very simple, very easy. And that's a good thing. So you start with your protein first. And you have a good amount of it. And that's like a very important thing if it comes to health.

So when you say protein, so I guess one of my questions is, so would you be talking about like the protein shakes and things of that nature? Is that something good to use for this?

Mm-hmm. So protein shakes is a supplement. So if you are not able to do it through food, a supplement like a protein shake is ideal because it's quick and easy and it does the trick. And there are very good brands out there. I prefer food first, but to be honest with you, in the morning I don't have enough time. So I do have a protein shake in the morning mixed with some greens in it. But I talk about a good steak, chicken, turkey, eggs, dairy products, could be beans, could be— yeah, all this. Like, you have so many choices. Fish, seafood, all protein.

Oh yeah.

Now, some of those I like. Steak, I like. Seafood, I like a lot. So I'm going to take heed to that. Fish, matter of fact, just got through eating some of that yesterday. So, Angela, I appreciate you coming on. I got one more question for you before I let you go. And then, uh, I guess I appreciate you coming on today and answering these questions for us. So Angela, being on the COVID of magazines, training celebrities, and all the accolades that have came your way, how do you, or how have you handled success?

Oh boy. For me, to be honest with you, I don't even see it like these were wonderful times, but for me, the success is if I see my clients flourish and get in the right direction. And if I see lives changing, bodies changing, that's more rewarding to me. Of course, I enjoy all those times and they created great memories, but the daily work, again, working with people and helping them and seeing them improving, that's way more rewarding to me.

Yeah, you're humble. You're very humble. So you don't want to toot your own horn. And I get it, you know, because like you say, helping others has been— the other things that you've done, as I'm hearing, is that it just opened the door. It opened the doors to actually do the things that you're doing now, which was one of the most important things that you wanted to do, was to help others and help others transform. Or have a transformation through their bodies. And, you know, that's pretty cool. But I get it, Angela, to be Miss America, Miss Universe, Miss Florida, and dealing with celebrities and being on the COVID of magazines, and to say that the most important thing is to help others, that's a very humble woman right there. So Angela, where can we find you on social media? Are you on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok? YouTube, where can we find you at?

Yeah, you can find me on social media under Health Coach Angela, and my website is houseofshape.com.

Okay, so houseofshape.com. Check out her book whenever it gets republished again, or get some more copies in. Check out her book. Hey, you have been talking to Miss USA, Miss Universe, Miss Florida, Angela B. I thank you for coming on the show today, Angela. And so is there anything else you would like to say before we leave the air?

I just hope that I inspired people to get started, and I hope they start today.

Start today. You heard it here first from Angela B. You have been listening to the CJ Moneyway Johnson Show, the podcast that brings stories behind the success. Hey, This your boy CJ Moneyway. We outta here.

Peace.

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