Picture a woman standing in the rain for 30 minutes before breakfast, soaking wet and shivering, because she believes she needs to “earn” her buttermilk biscuit and grits. This isn’t a scene from a dystopian novel about punishment rituals. It’s a text message from a friend, sent in 2024, proof that decades of cultural conditioning about food, bodies, and worthiness haven’t loosened their grip. When life coach and author Susan Hyatt received that message from her traveling friend, she didn’t congratulate her on the dedication. She informed her, “you don’t have to run in the rain to earn your food.”
This moment captures the persistent, exhausting reality of diet culture, a system of written and unwritten rules designed to keep women small, obedient, and perpetually focused on their bodies instead of their broader contributions to the world. For women navigating the relentless messages about how they should look, eat, exercise, and age, the question isn’t just about personal freedom. It’s about reclaiming capacity for the things that actually matter.
This conversation matters if you’ve ever found yourself calculating whether you’ve “earned” your lunch, if you’re drowning in conflicting wellness advice, or if you’re wondering whether speaking up about these issues is worth the inevitable criticism. Through Hyatt’s experience writing and publishing her book “Bear” and navigating the backlash that followed, we can examine what it takes to challenge systems that profit from women’s insecurity, and whether the personal cost of visibility is worth the potential impact.
In 2017, after coaching hundreds of women on food and body issues, Hyatt noticed a pattern. When her clients stopped dieting and instead focused on self-care from a place of love rather than fear and deprivation, they experienced unprecedented freedom. That realization became the foundation for “Bare,” but getting the book published would require navigating rejection, reinvention, and the courage to stand by a message that directly challenges billion-dollar industries.
When No One Wants Your Message
The publishing journey for “Bear” reads like a masterclass in persistence through rejection. After Hyatt assembled her book proposal in 2017, pitching it to literary agents seemed like the logical next step. She had warm introductions from published author friends, a coaching practice full of success stories, and what she believed was a compelling concept. Instead, she got nowhere.
“Everybody, people just didn’t get it,” Hyatt said. “They were like, well, can we just squeeze a chapter in on how to stop eating sugar? And I’m like, no, no, you don’t get it.”
The agents wanted to fit her work into existing diet culture frameworks, the very systems she was trying to dismantle. They couldn’t see past the conventional weight loss narrative to understand her actual message about freedom from those narratives. After seeking help from Betsy Rapoport, who mentors authors in the memoir space, Hyatt completely redesigned her proposal to showcase her personality and approach more vividly. The breakthrough came not from her network of warm connections but from a cold pitch to agent Katie Kochman, who initially said no before eventually agreeing to represent her.
Landing an agent felt like validation, but Hyatt admits she was “very naive” about what came next. “I thought, oh, I have a real agent now. We’re going to have a bidding war,” she said. “And let me tell you how no one wanted this book.”
She had planned a trip to New York City for her 10-year business anniversary and asked her agent to line up publisher meetings. The response was lukewarm at best, with her agent pointing out logistical challenges like scheduling conflicts. Hyatt went to New York anyway, rented a beautiful Airbnb loft with a videographer, and when no publishers responded, she made a decision that would prove crucial: instead of waiting for someone to give her permission and an advance, she created her own platform by filming “Bear” as a digital program.
“I essentially created my own book advance,” Hyatt said. Eventually a publisher did take notice and offered her a deal, but only after she had already proven the concept’s viability on her own terms.
The Motivation to Keep Going When Everyone Says No
What keeps someone pitching a book that multiple agents and publishers have rejected? For Hyatt, the answer wasn’t about ego or proving doubters wrong. It was about the hundreds of women she had coached who had experienced genuine freedom from the rules that had previously governed their eating, movement, and self-worth.
“I knew that what I was teaching was important,” Hyatt said. “And I knew how many women, including myself, that were freer than they had ever been around food and body issues.”
She frames diet culture, beauty culture, and the emerging menopause culture as systems of control rather than health initiatives. “Diet culture is a system and a culture of rules designed to keep women obedient,” Hyatt explained. These rules come through family of origin, religion, media, books, and billboards, creating an omnipresent set of expectations about how to be a “good girl or woman.” The directive within diet culture is simple: “Be as small, be as thin as possible, be as little as possible.”
But Hyatt sees the implications extending far beyond physical size. “The more we’re consumed with that kind of crap, the less money we’re earning, the less impact we’re having,” she said. “So I’m always saying, let’s focus on wage gap, not thigh gap.”
This reframing transforms the conversation from personal aesthetics to collective capacity. When women spend mental energy calculating whether they’ve exercised enough to deserve breakfast, they aren’t spending that energy on salary negotiations, creative projects, or systemic change. The cultural obsession with women’s bodies isn’t just annoying or harmful to individual self-esteem. It’s a mechanism that “keeps our capacity shrunk.”
Understanding this bigger picture gave Hyatt the determination to keep going through rejection. The message wasn’t just important to her personally. It had implications for how women show up in their work, relationships, and communities.
The Cost of Being Visible with Your Story
Publishing a book that challenges deeply entrenched cultural beliefs means accepting that criticism will come from multiple directions. Hyatt knew this going in, but anticipating backlash and experiencing it are different things.
“I knew that there would be blowback,” Hyatt said. “I knew that there would be people, you know, especially the diet and beauty cultures are very big, big billion dollar industries.”
The criticism came from predictable sources, the industries profiting from women’s insecurity, but also from unexpected places. Some pushback came from within the anti-diet movement itself, with critics pointing out Hyatt’s identities as a white, small-bodied woman and questioning whether she had the right platform to discuss these issues.
“I’m a white woman and I have enormous privileges. I’ve been given a platform and I steward that platform responsibly,” Hyatt said. But she also recognized that her personal experience of starting diets at age eight, after being told she had a “Buddha belly,” gave her a story worth sharing. “It would be a disservice not to share my perspective and how I’ve moved through the world.”
The decision to be visible despite criticism requires weighing the potential impact against the personal cost. For Hyatt, that calculation involved recognizing that her story might help women who share similar experiences, even if it makes her a target for “keyboard warriors” who attack from behind anonymous profiles.
She acknowledges the emotional toll. “There’s a cost associated with being seen,” Hyatt said. But she also sees it as necessary. Representation matters, and sometimes being visible means accepting that not everyone will appreciate your presence in the conversation.
Navigating New Cultural Rules in Different Packaging
Just as women become more aware of diet and beauty culture messaging, new variations emerge with fresh packaging. Hyatt identifies what she calls “meno culture,” the emerging menopause influencer phenomenon that often replicates the same fear-based, prescriptive approach that characterizes diet and beauty culture.
“I’m seeing so much prescriptive content with respect to perimenopause and menopause,” Hyatt said. The messaging has shifted from “eat this many calories” to “eat this much protein,” from “do this to look younger” to “do this to avoid cognitive decline.” The language changes but the underlying dynamic remains: women should follow external rules rather than trusting their own intuition and experience.
Hyatt’s experience with perimenopause involved significant confusion about symptoms and difficulty finding reliable medical support. “The problem with perimenopause is I had no idea I had entered perimenopause until my doctor helped me figure it out,” she said. The medical establishment has historically treated menopause as something women shouldn’t discuss openly, another form of cultural messaging that keeps women isolated and uninformed.
When Hyatt did start seeking information, she encountered the familiar landscape of conflicting advice, fear-mongering, and prescriptive mandates. Rather than simply replacing one set of rules with another, she advocates for what she calls listening to your “body compass,” your own intuition about what serves you.
This doesn’t mean rejecting all information or medical advice. Hyatt still shares resources and creates programs like Own the Iron, an anti-diet strength training program for women in perimenopause and menopause. But there’s a crucial difference in approach. “I’m interested in empowering people,” Hyatt said, distinguishing between evidence-based support and fear-based mandates that insist everyone must follow identical protocols.
The question she poses cuts through the noise: “What do you want your quality of life to be? Not what does somebody out there say biohacking bro thinks your life should look like.” It’s a return to the central theme of choosing impact over conformity, of reclaiming the capacity that gets consumed by trying to follow every expert’s contradictory advice.
Building Community in the Midst of Criticism
Sustaining challenging work requires more than individual determination. It requires community, both the people who will cheer you on and the people who need what you’re offering. For Hyatt, that community exists both online through her Big Yes Energy membership and in person through international retreats and her local book club.
She’s realistic about the limitations of online community. “My biggest piece of advice is connect offline,” Hyatt said. While social media can help spread ideas and connect people across distances, the depth of relationship that sustains difficult work often requires face-to-face interaction.
For anyone considering sharing their own story or challenging cultural norms publicly, Hyatt offers straightforward guidance: expect a mix of feedback, including negative reactions. “There’s going to be keyboard warriors, I guarantee it,” she said. But she also emphasizes the importance of starting with truth and connecting with people who share your values.
The work of challenging diet culture, beauty culture, and similar systems isn’t finished. Years after publishing “Bear” and building multiple programs and communities around these principles, Hyatt still receives messages from friends who believe they need to earn their breakfast through exercise. The cultural conditioning runs deep, reinforced by billion-dollar industries that profit from women’s insecurity.
But each person who questions these rules, who chooses to focus on wage gap instead of thigh gap, who decides their capacity matters more than their pant size, creates small fractures in systems that depend on women’s compliance. And sometimes, it takes someone willing to write the book that nobody initially wanted, to stand visible despite criticism, to keep having these conversations until they become impossible to ignore.
This article was inspired by an interview with Susan Hyatt and Amy Stone on The Art of Imperfect Adulting podcast. https://imperfect-adulting.captivate.fm/listen https://www.youtube.com/@imperfectadulting To hear more compelling conversations like this one and receive special offers from our guests directly to your inbox, join our email community today.
Menopause and Diet Culture: Interview Transcript Susan Hyatt with Amy Stone | The Art of Imperfect Adulting | February 2026
Amy Stone [00:00:04]:
Susan Hyatt, welcome to the art of imperfect adulting. I’m so happy you’re here. Are you ready for a fun chat.
Susan Hyatt [00:00:09]:
With me today, Amy Stone? If it’s not fun, I’m out. So I am geared up for fun.
Amy Stone [00:00:16]:
Let’s do it. Let’s do it. I know the answer to this question already because you and I know each other. But I always ask people, what part of the world are you in?
Susan Hyatt [00:00:23]:
I am in the great Midwest. Indiana.
Amy Stone [00:00:27]:
Love it. All right, next warm up question. And I gave you a hint about what this was about. This is going to come out in the deep, deep, deep part of winter. How do you feel about cold, gray winter weather? Do you love it? Do you hate it? A little bit of both.
Susan Hyatt [00:00:43]:
I actually love any extreme weather. So I grew up in the south and, and have lived in the Northeast and the Midwest my whole adult life. And I am the weirdo who gets excited about cold and snow. So I love every season, if I’m being honest. But bring me all the winter.
Amy Stone [00:01:05]:
I love it. I love that I have very little winter exposure in my adult life because I moved to the almost tropics. But I, you know, I’m learning to love it with good winter clothes. All right, so in this conversation, you and I are going to talk about choosing to write a book chat. Choosing to write a book about diet culture, beauty culture, the new Menno culture, which maybe is not even a thing. How does that sound?
Susan Hyatt [00:01:29]:
Today I am excited to dive into this. Of course, I love it.
Amy Stone [00:01:35]:
I actually, you are on a short list of guests because most of the people come to the show, they pitch me and they have an idea. But I actually reached out to you. Cause I know you. And I was like, I have an idea. And the person I want to talk to about this is Susan. So let’s start here. I know that you’ve told this story a bunch of times, but some people listening may not have heard it. I looked it up. You published the book Bear in, I think, March of 2019. Does that sound right?
Susan Hyatt [00:01:59]:
That’s right.
Amy Stone [00:02:00]:
Okay, thinking back, when did you first have the idea for the book?
Susan Hyatt [00:02:06]:
Oh, the idea for the book came a few years prior to that, in 2017. And it came as a result of coaching hundreds of women on food and body issues. And what I really realized was that I really had something with the homework assignments that I assigned and the approach that I took, which was like, let’s stop dieting and see what happens if you take really great care of yourself from a place of Love and support and care versus fear and deprivation. And so I started assembling the philosophy for bear and decided to pitch it as a book.
Amy Stone [00:02:51]:
All right, so. And I have read the book, I have gone through the curriculum, I’m familiar with it, those kind of things. I want to ask you about your publishing experience because. And motivation and intention, but a huge number of adults want to publish books.
Susan Hyatt [00:03:07]:
Yeah.
Amy Stone [00:03:08]:
And the way we publish books and write books has really shifted in our lifetime. But so tell, tell us a little bit about your publishing experience and how it worked for you. You had an idea, you had something that you had become a, you know, philosophy, a curriculum. How did you go to publish the book? How did that happen?
Susan Hyatt [00:03:29]:
Well, I have always wanted to write a book like a lot of people. Right. And I think the stats are only 2% of people who start writing like that finished. But I always wanted to be a published author. I love writing. And I researched how to put together a book proposal and I hired somebody to help me and I put this book proposal together to first pitch agents. So I wanted to go the traditional publishing route. I had also self published a book. Well, it was really a step above, just one notch above self publishing. My first book was called called create your own luck. And so I knew how to self publish, essentially, and I really wanted the distribution that traditional publishers offer. And so I needed an agent. And so I started pitching agents and I was really getting nowhere. All I had tons of friends who were published authors that gave warm introductions to literary agents and everybody, like people just didn’t get it. They were like, well, can we just squeeze a chapter in on how to stop eating sugar? And I’m like, no, no, you don’t get it. And so I went to somebody who a woman named Betsy Rapoport, who’s also a trained coach and mentors authors more in the memoir niche. But I asked her if she would take a look at my book proposal and help me. And I remember she looked at it and she was like, okay, you need to show these agents and publishers, like, who you really are. And she encouraged me to lay out my pitch like a magazine and use a lot of my personality and photos and things like that to grab attention. So at any rate, she helped me change my proposal. That wasn’t working. My original proposal was not getting me any agent attention. And lo and behold, the agent who stood up and took notice was someone I cold pitched. So I went through and researched agents who worked in the nonfiction space. And I just started sending query letters and someone said, her name is Katie Kochman. She said, I’ll take a look. And she told me no initially. And then I said, I’m going to go and prove this and come back. And I did. And she said, okay, I would love to represent you. That was like hurdle number one. Then it was pitching publishers, which I was very naive. I thought, oh, I have a real agent now. We’re going to have a bidding war. And let me tell you how no one wanted this book. She. I had a trip planned to New York City and she was pitching publishers, and I was like, listen, I’m going to be in the city on these dates, lineup meetings. And she was like, I don’t know if you’re aware how these things work, but, you know, that’s a Jewish holiday. And a lot of publishing, you know, like a lot of these people aren’t even going to be in the office. But I was just convinced that I was gonna get a deal. And so I went to New York. It was my 10 year business anniversary. I was having an event and no one responded to her. Literally nobody. And I decided in that moment that I would create. I had this beautiful Airbnb loft that I had rented and I had a videographer that was there for different purposes. And I decided to video bear as a digital program and create my own book advance. Essentially, since I was, instead of moping around that nobody wanted me, I essentially created my own platform, if you will. And then eventually a publisher did get it and decided to take me on.
Amy Stone [00:08:04]:
And I’ve known you enough to see you do this and sort of create your own space and step into it in a bunch of different ways. And I’d heard the story about how you published the book, so I knew that. But I wanted to give you a. A chance to redo it and remember all of those things as we talked about that, because I want to have you back in that space of like, intention and motivation and how you made these decisions. Because I think that there’s layers of this, but I think it’s kind of scary on a bunch of different layers. So when you think back to that point as you were going through this process, do you remember still? And this is a hard thing to do, to look back and remember intention and motivation accurately, but let’s do it anyway. So. So the. What was the motivation and intention that was pushing you through getting over these hurdles at that time?
Susan Hyatt [00:08:51]:
Well, I knew that what I was teaching was important. And I knew how many women, including myself, that were freer than they had ever been. Around food and body issues. And so I really felt like as someone who had struggled with being on all kinds of crazy diets and doing all sorts of things to conform to, you know, culture at large beauty standards, I was really devoted to that message. I still am. And, you know, I actually just had a friend right before we jumped on this podcast. She’s traveling and she’s in the south where I’m from. And she took a picture of her breakfast plate, and it was like a buttermilk biscuit, grits with butter, bacon. And she said, I went power walking for 30 minutes in the rain to earn this plate. And the way I read her for filth, I was like, you don’t have to run in the rain to be a. To earn your food right. And so there’s so much work yet to be done still. Still, because it’s so permeated in our culture. So the way I kept going it, like, you can see how hopped up I get about it. Like, I just want women to be free of these ridiculous rules that keep our capacity shrunk. So I’m always saying, like, let’s focus on wage gap, not thigh gap, because that’s like, the more we’re consumed with that kind of crap, the less money we’re earning, the less impact we’re having. So I just kept connected to that, and that kept me going.
Amy Stone [00:10:43]:
I see it. I do see it. All right, so before we go deeper, I want to, like, rewind just a teeny tiny bit and give you a chance to kind of define or explain this word that we’re using. These words that we’re using, like diet culture, beauty culture, menno culture, share a little bit in your opinion. Like, I like, I’m not going to hold you to it, like, looking it up in the dictionary, but give people a concept of what we mean when we sort of talk about those things.
Susan Hyatt [00:11:07]:
So diet culture is a system and a culture of rules designed to keep women obedient. So diet culture is when we talk about culture at large, we’re talking about everything that’s coming at you through all of your senses. Rules that you were taught through family of origin, through your religion, through, through the media and in books, in billboards. It’s everywhere. And it’s basically this system and attitude of rules that this is how you are a good girl or woman. And diet culture’s rules include things like, be as small, be as thin as possible, be as little as possible. Minnow culture is a little different, but it’s along the same premise. It’s written and unwritten rules that we adhere to subconsciously and consciously.
Amy Stone [00:12:10]:
I get it. I do. All right, so what was it? Before we move off of intention, I’m going to ask you, like, a kind of a funny question. What was in your mind, like, in the back of your mind, like, what was it about you that you needed to be the person that wrote the book? Like, how did you get the courage to be, like, I’m going to put myself out in the public with my ideas?
Susan Hyatt [00:12:30]:
Hmm. Well, I mean, I’m just a firm believer that our, each and every one of us, our stories matter. And my story was, you know, someone who at the age of 12, started dieting because I was told that my thighs were too big in a Polaroid picture. Right. And so it set off this chain reaction that lasted for the next 30 years, or, I’m sorry, 20 something years, where, where, you know, I was someone who was trapped in a cycle of deprivation and binging. And I, I, I wasn’t someone who thought, like, I must be the one, but I was someone who thought like, this story deserves to be told, and I know I can help people with not only my story, but that I’ve had the honor of witnessing.
Amy Stone [00:13:34]:
I love that answer. One of the reasons I ask that is because in my experience, you can’t hang out in too many rooms full of women before you hear, especially women who are working on self development, improvement, empowerment, before you run into the conversation about the challenges of being visible and being seen. And so I think it kind of connects and I wanted to lead into that. So you published this book, and in 2019, the world has sort of sped up and gone more online since that time, and you actually have a pretty visible profile out there on the Internet streets. When you published a book about diet culture and those kind of things, that is, that can be a very hot topic opinion. People have lots of different things to say about that. When you put something like that in public, you accidentally or intentionally. Did you know that you were stepping into a place where people were going to push back a little bit and have feedback and criticisms and ideas about the world? The ideas that you put in the world. Were you ready for that?
Susan Hyatt [00:14:37]:
Yes and yes. I had already been experiencing it because it wasn’t like when the book was published, that was the first time I was talking about it. I had been talking about it for a decade. And so I had already received a lot of pushback. I also, honestly, I expected more pushback than I received, and I received plenty. And I continued to receive plenty. But I knew that, for example, there is a very well known published author in the diet culture space who my publisher also published her book. And so before my book came out, I reached out to her to see if she would read an advanced copy and maybe give me a blurb because, hey, we’re on the same team and we have the same publisher. And the way she sent me the most scathing email, she didn’t like much about me. And, and so there were some shocking reactions from people who didn’t think I was feminist enough and then other folks who thought, you know, you’re just crazy, you know, so I sort of, I don’t ever consider myself in the middle way or middle of the road kind of thing. But in the diet culture space, there were plenty of people were like, well, who do you think you are? You look like the cultural. Not ideal, but like you’re, you’re a small person, you’re blond haired, you’re blue eyed, like, who do you think you are talking about this? And so there. And continue to be plenty of people who think they don’t want to listen to somebody who looks like I do.
Amy Stone [00:16:30]:
Yeah, no, you, you jumped forward to one of the things that I wanted to call out, like, call bring the elephant out into the room. This is something I’ve learned actually a lot about from you in different ways, how to step into this space. But you and I are not melanated people. We are two white women living in small bodies and we speak English. We are middle age. All of these things do you get. I mean, I assume that you do get pushback. You said you did. Where people are like, who, who are you to talk about these challenges? When, when I look at you, you don’t represent that. So how did you, how do you, how do you move through that space and navigate that? When people challenge you on your ideas, which people do on social media, on all platforms, and oranges are not pineapples. I mean, there’s no right or wrong, no reason about these things. But how do you navigate that?
Susan Hyatt [00:17:19]:
Yeah, listen, I mean, you’re just being a woman online, you are going to get pushback. And so just understanding that. So I just have always said like, hey, I, you, you’re correct in that I enjoy a certain number of privileges and I’m very passionate about using that privilege to open doors that only I could. Right. And so I want to use all this privilege in a way that helps people who are more oppressed than I am. And so it’s like I’m not gonna shut up because I have big boobs and blonde hair and blue eyes. You know, like. Like, that’s ridiculous. And also, like, oh, so the only people who get to speak out about this are the most oppressed, or is this the oppression Olympics? And that’s what the online space can sometimes feel like. And so it’s like, yes, I can say I am in a small body. I am white, I am wealthy. I am. I have had a million privileges. And also, I still have experienced these things over here. And there are a lot of women who benefit from me speaking up and telling my story.
Amy Stone [00:18:38]:
Yeah. I think that you are an example of a way to do that. And that’s. I appreciate you walking us through that, because it can be hard to figure it out for exactly many of those reasons. It doesn’t almost matter how you show up online. People will come back and say, oh, no, not that. You know, red is bad, green is good. You know, and everybody has an opinion. And it can be really hard to figure out what is going on online in my own experience. All right, so it’s been several years since you published the book. A lot of diet culture is also enmeshed in ideas with, like, youth and beauty, so on and so forth. Let’s shift a little bit and talk about, you know, we are now aging up. It’s like a. It’s like some sort of algorithmic thing. The minute you turn, like, 48, they begin to feed you, like, perimenopause things. Like, now it’s time to eat 100 grams of protein a day. You know, get your weight advanced here, your product lines. Do you. I didn’t come up with this myself, actually. I was listening to somebody else talk about it, and they were like, oh, there are parallels between diet beauty culture and menopause influencers.
Susan Hyatt [00:19:42]:
Had.
Amy Stone [00:19:42]:
Have you noticed that? Like, what do you think about that?
Susan Hyatt [00:19:46]:
Yes, ma’.
Amy Stone [00:19:47]:
Am.
Susan Hyatt [00:19:47]:
Have I noticed it? So. So it. It’s sort of like it’s diet culture in a new wig, right? So, yes, diet culture and beauty culture, it’s like, oh, so as you start to age, right? Not only is. Is culture always trying to feed us that we need to be as small as possible, but we also need to be as young as possible. And women who are aging are feared, right? Because when we are no longer beholden to the male gaze, we’re no longer of reproduction age. We’re no longer. A lot of the things that sort of held us back are we’re free from it. And then all of a sudden, it’s like, oh, oh, this is dangerous. Okay. And so aging and menopause becomes something you fix instead of something that is supported. And so I did start to notice and like, oh my God, I fell for it. Like, yes, no, me too.
Amy Stone [00:20:59]:
I had somebody pointed out because. And this is where it gets nuanced. I totally interrupted you as a terrible host.
Susan Hyatt [00:21:05]:
That’s okay. That was okay.
Amy Stone [00:21:06]:
But even if you’re on the lookout for it, one of the things that I think is really interesting in my own experience is that. And I’ll. You can go from this. There’s so little actual information and support around menopause that I was like, of course we’re leading into the influencers. Like, this is the way you fix it, this is the way you do it. Right? And that’s why I think when somebody pointed out the similarities, I was like, oh my God, how could I fall for that?
Susan Hyatt [00:21:33]:
How did I catch it? You know, it’s a good point you bring up in that women’s health has been so poorly researched that it’s like we’re like, what? And we’re finding out things that, you know, maybe our mothers didn’t know. And we’re talking about perimenopause and menopause in a way that’s never been talked about before. Those things are great. But it this, I fell for the protein. The protein pan is what I’m calling it. And it took an anti diet nutritionist who’s in my space to say, I interviewed her and it was so funny because she was like, okay, so you’re going to have 150 grams of protein a day. Do you think it goes directly to your bicep? And I was like, what do you mean? Right? And then I sort of noticed, like, it’s like new. It’s like food rules. Just repack. Yes, you must have this much protein, you must do this, you must do that. And it’s just this wellness industrial complex that is all about fixing and fear mongering. And when what you were describing is like, okay, let’s get educated. And so there are, there is research out there becoming available, there is information becoming available from people who aren’t fear mongering and who aren’t going to tell you you need to be a million supplements and to. To think about menopause as something to be celebrated and supported. Right? Just like when I talk about food and body stuff like move with love and eat like you love yourself, menopause, instead of being like, oh my God, belly, you know, it’s like, no, like what kind of support do I need to thrive? And that completely changes the lens in which you look at this transition. Yeah.
Amy Stone [00:23:35]:
And I mean, which I will say it is validating and supportive to open up your favorite ad, your favorite app and see somebody representing, you know, the experience you’re having. So it does feel good when you open up the app and see what is her name? The we do not care club. Like, that’s hilarious.
Susan Hyatt [00:23:56]:
She is hilarious, right?
Amy Stone [00:23:59]:
And it is so funny. It’s like, oh, we do not care about, you know, if you don’t want to do your part in this, we’re checking out. And with all the glasses and all the places, I mean, she’s really good. So it does feel good to find people and be supported. But similarly, like, so I, when I used to do the ultra endurance events I would in peak season, I had to work and it’s, it’s hard to take in 100 grams, 150 grams of protein. That’s all you think about. And I didn’t know whether or not it was right or not, but I was like, that seems, Did I suddenly become a bodybuilder like when I turned 50? Is that what has happened? But, and that’s not to say that if people are out there listening and they feel better when they do that, you know, go for it. Right. That’s the, I’m not, I’m not the protein police, I know in any way, shape or form.
Susan Hyatt [00:24:46]:
But like protein, listen, protein is good. Just understanding that a lot of the fear mongering is unnecessary.
Amy Stone [00:24:56]:
And I think also the thing that I’ve become very jaded about, for better or worse, is the guarantee, the magical guarantees, you know, if I, oh, so if I walk with a weighted vest and take it, 100 grams of protein, my. All of the things wrong in my life will magically be fixed. 3, 2, 1. Let’s go. You know that that has become to me something that I watch for that I’m like, how sure are we about this? So, and that leads me into this thing. Like as somebody who’s out there, you’re out there. You do create people who follow you online. You, you do share your opinions. You’re out there doing big things in this space, talking about women and doing these things. What, what guideline do you have or what thoughts do you have as someone who is out there doing this about where you draw the line in like what responsibility you have about giving quality information, you know, all kinds of stuff like that when you’re showing up online.
Susan Hyatt [00:25:51]:
So I do take it very seriously. And I’m also clear that like your, the, the core thing that I teach is that your body compass is the barometer. Right. I’m always bringing a woman back to her own intuition and her own truth. So. Right. Just like we were just talking about protein. If you know that eating a hundred grams of protein makes you feel fantastic, that’s your guidance system telling you that as opposed to some expert saying, no, no, no, you need 20 more. Right. And so when I’m sharing resources and information that I get, I’m always doing it through the attitude of like, take what resonates with you and ditch the rest. And also I’m not specifically. So a program that I created called Own the Iron is about lifting heavy weights for women in midlife, which is important and is documented by science and research that what happens in our bodies as we age, how important it is that we maintain muscle mass so that we can live the lifestyle that we want to live. Right. So the approach isn’t you must be doing these things. The approach is think about the kind of lifestyle you want to live. And if it involves lifting grandchildren, carrying luggage. Right. Being able to be self reliant, then here are some things that you want to back up and start doing now so that you maintain your strength, which is really different from gym culture that wants to just repackage diet culture stuff and get you hooked on like bulking and cutting, doing all that gym stuff.
Amy Stone [00:27:50]:
Yeah. And you love the gym and you love lifting heavy. It’s a huge part of your personality. Before that you, or maybe still you were like a massive peloton fan.
Susan Hyatt [00:28:00]:
Like that you, you know, do you still do it? I have, I still own my bike and my treadmill and I imagine I might hop on the tread during some of the winter early mornings. But I haven’t been on my peloton in forever. I’m still a runner, but I, and, but I have traded heavy weightlifting for the time I used to spend on the peloton.
Amy Stone [00:28:24]:
Yeah. So that, so that’s. And what we. The words that my trainers have used over the past few, they call it like functional strength. And they’re like, you know, it’s getting ready to do like you mentioned things. Unless for people who are listening and watching. If you have people in your life that are in their late 80s and 90s, right. It’s like, you know, reaching over your head to get a bowl out of a cabinet, reaching into the washing machine to pull stuff out can be a thing. And then the Big ones showering, standing up, carrying grandchildren and stepping off a curb. Like, having the strength to do that, that’s like a really common thing. And being. Having the balance and the strength to hopefully do that. Which lends us into this thing, which is this other thing that we’ve got. We’ve got meadow culture, and then we’ve also got these influence out there that are talking about longevity. And here’s how you want to live to be a million years old. And I gotta say, I gotta say I’m not sure how I want to do that, because it doesn’t look like fun to me, to tell you the truth. But, yeah, well.
Susan Hyatt [00:29:20]:
And I do think, right, So I do think it’s interesting, right, to look at, like, biohacking and all the longevity stuff and to think about, like, okay, if you want to live a long life, then what quality of life, though, do you want to have in those years? And so I think those questions are important because it’s like, is the goal to just live as long as possible or is the goal, right, like, what kind of quality of life do you want to have? And I find a lot of the longevity stuff to be pushed by men, and it has a competitive undertone to it, like, live as long as possible. When I’m like, I mean, I think 95 sounds great, right? As long as there’s certain things that I want to be able to do, right?
Amy Stone [00:30:18]:
I always think of that picture at the front of the beginning of the Willy Wonka movie where they’re all lying in bed and they haven’t gotten these. Oh, they haven’t gotten out of bed for years and years and years. And then he jumps up and goes on the adventure. But yeah, it’s like if. If life is sitting in a chair or, you know, you know, really restricted to a small room with nothing but ailments. I do think. I think thinking about the quality of life that you want is a helpful thing. And also, you know, I don’t know, like, I’m not there yet. Talk to me when I’m 95. But hanging out with people who are going through the challenges of that does not. It’s not the sales pitch you’d think that it would be, you know, based on. Based on social media, Live forever. And it does come back to that because some of those biohacking things, they might be great. And I’m all for innovation and all those things, like you are, but sometimes people describe things. I’m like, I don’t know. I don’t know if I Want to eat cottage cheese for three meals a day? You know, like, just like, I’m always.
Susan Hyatt [00:31:13]:
Laughing, like, is this what we’re doing now?
Amy Stone [00:31:16]:
Right?
Susan Hyatt [00:31:16]:
I’m looking at like, okay, so now we’re wearing these and I’m not, but like these infrared masks and we’re in. It’s crazy. Making to me, I’m like making conditions for thriving. A part time job is ridiculous. And so I, I’m always wanting to be this loving voice of reason that’s like, you don’t have to do this. Like, come over here and like, here’s some supportive things that you can do for yourself that are actually going to matter versus this busy work to stay compliant. Really compliant.
Amy Stone [00:31:58]:
That’s a really important word. That’s a good word choice there because that is what it feels like and it’s balanced by the side. And I don’t know that you’ve talked a lot, at least some publicly about your, your perimenopause experience.
Susan Hyatt [00:32:10]:
It’s tricky.
Amy Stone [00:32:11]:
Like you like, stuff starts happening and you don’t know that it’s happening to you until somebody tells you. And there’s similarities. So like, you know, life doesn’t stop. It’s not like you get a postcard in the mail that’s like, hey, this thing that’s happening to you is not just stress, it’s perimenopause. It’s like, it’s like, you know, so in my case, I was like, oh gosh, I’m not sleeping about it very well. It must be any of these other things. And then when somebody said it could be perimenopause, I was like, what? Say who? Excuse me?
Susan Hyatt [00:32:39]:
Like, it’s shocking. And I think I was in denial for a long time because I thought I was too young to be experiencing perimenopause, which, Right. Women’s health research has been so lacking that it’s like, oh, oh yeah. I actually check every one of these symptom boxes. Let me, let me explore this. But then when you start, start exploring it, it’s confusing. Most ob gyns and general practitioners don’t have any training on this. And so you get conflicting information from people who up until that point write your general practitioner. I love my general practitioner. She’s a great person to go to if you have the flu or you, you know, you go for your annual checkup. But her advice on hormones was trash and she didn’t know what she was talking about. And, and so I think that a key message here is that if something doesn’t Feel right. If you don’t feel like yourself, you must advocate for yourself and figure and find, figure it out so that you can support your system in a way that’s helpful.
Amy Stone [00:33:53]:
So now here’s a question that may be ridiculous, but because you did grow up in, in the south, and if people are listening, you still have a little bit of a Southern twang every once in a while, which is like a, a clue. Did you get some of that old school, nice girl messaging that was like, hey, you’re not supposed to talk about stuff like this. This is private.
Susan Hyatt [00:34:16]:
Oh, for sure. I will say so. I grew up going to an all girls Catholic school. You know, don’t make a scene, don’t ruffle any feathers. And of course I’ve, I’ve pretty much always been pretty mouthy. However, it’s just as I’ve aged. And hey, thank you, menopause. I mean, right, Once you get low estrogen, then it’s really a whole new ball game. But. But yeah, my, I will credit my mom though. She went on hormone replacement therapy way back in the day and she was someone who kept saying, you need to get this checked out, you need to get on, oh, that’s good replacement therapy. Which I do think is unusual given the fact that all of the other programming I had received was like, she certainly doesn’t think I should maybe be on the Internet streets talking about everything. Right. But, right, like this is it, this is private and you know, you can’t talk about these things. It was certainly part of my upbringing.
Amy Stone [00:35:20]:
Yeah, I think, I mean, and it is a little bit weird. So. So I actually had a male GP and a male ob and I remember sitting, having this conversation and we were talking about this and I was like, listen, there is abs. You’re a very smart guy, but there’s no way that you could ever have experienced this. Like, you just can’t ever know. Like, it’s impossible. You could never have known. It’s like, I need to be in a room with more women. And the nurses in the back of the room were just sort of like scratching their head. They’re like, we’ll talk about, you know, we’ll talk to you off to the side once he leaves the room kind of thing. I think it’s a weird, I think it can be a weird dynamic and very, very interesting. All right, so the, so what, what impact does it have for people? Like, as we unpack all these different culture things, an interesting thing came out this week regarding, like a social media platform that’s not like LinkedIn there saying, now the algorithm favors men, just, it just gendered. Which is an interesting. I don’t know if that’s true or how people would figure that out. I just read the headline. But when we talk about all of these sort of society things and so much of the information that we get is through these platforms, that’s how we get our information these days. There’s no, there’s no other option. So how do you, like, how do you sort of walk the street and figure out for yourself and help people figure out? Like, this is how we figure out what’s good. This is how we figure out what’s bad. This is how we deal with when information changes, changes. Because like the hormone replacement therapy, that was like, avoid it, it’ll kill you. And now it’s like, go, everybody get it. It’s like, this stuff doesn’t stay the same all the time.
Susan Hyatt [00:36:55]:
I know. I think the thing that I would recommend is that everybody get as educated as possible. Read the books, check out and, and pay attention to how your body responds to what you’re hearing. And if it sounds too good to be true, like you were talking about, like the promises that like, hey, you take this, you eat this amount of protein and it’s going to, it’s going to take away all these symptoms. I think it’s like thinking for yourself, like, there, this isn’t something to be fixed, it is something to be supported. And that can change the way that you educate yourself, the way that you talk about it. And the kind of messaging, like if the messaging is insulting, if the messaging is to, to like that you have to have too much discipline or you have to restrict or you have to, you know, I want you to pay attention to those kinds of messages. And something that I’m always thinking when I’m exploring like that I, I’m always like, I might not know what I need to know. So something my dad said, he passed away last year. And something he used to always say, that cracked me up, he loved gossip. Okay. And he would say, if you got on the phone with him, he would say, what do you know that I don’t know? And I’m always thinking that when I am listening to someone talk about a topic that’s meaningful for me, it’s like, what do they know that I don’t know? And sometimes I’m like, they don’t know. Right. But I’m at least open to hearing about it. I think being in sort of these absolute camps can really block us from information that we need. So I would say get educated, pay attention to how your body responds to it and stay away from anything that sounds too self policing, too disciplined, too restrictive.
Amy Stone [00:38:58]:
And one of the things that I think I hear you saying, but correct me if I’m reading it the wrong way, is that sometimes we have to try these things.
Susan Hyatt [00:39:07]:
Yeah.
Amy Stone [00:39:07]:
For ourselves. That we don’t necessarily know what it’s going to be. And I. And it can be different for different people. One of the things. So would you describe yourself as a competitive person?
Susan Hyatt [00:39:17]:
I actually am not.
Amy Stone [00:39:19]:
Okay, that’s really interesting. So how about. So because you, you, you are interested in weightlifting and you’re setting new goals for yourself and then, and so then do people often like, do. I made, I made a snap judgment there. I totally missed misjudged you and thought that you would be a competitive person, but you’re not. So do you, how do you deal with like when people expect you? So since you’re in there, you’re lifting weights, you’re talking about it, you post videos of like workouts and things like that. Do people come at you and say, you know, oh, you should do 75 hard or you should get into this huge challenge and they think you’re going to be there and you’re like, no, that’s not, that’s not how I do this. How do you, how do you sort of reconcile that with your integrity?
Susan Hyatt [00:39:59]:
I think people are often surprised that I am consistent, but I’m not competitive. So I like to challenge myself, but I like to challenge myself incrementally. I will take big, bold risks, but it’s not in a competitive way. It’s more in a let me see what I can do way. And so when people come at me with that kind of stuff, I get DMS almost daily on my weightlifting videos. They’re like people who have no idea what kind of training program I’m doing or any idea what my actual goals are. And it’s mostly men will say like, oh, you’re moving that bar so fast, you can put more on that bar. And it’s like, this was actually my warm up. I’m just showing people that I’m here. Right. Or I was doing four sets of what, like you don’t even know what my training program is. Shut up. So I’m really interested in showing up consistently, but in a sustainable way. So a lot of that, whatever, 75 hard stuff, that is not for me.
Amy Stone [00:41:10]:
That is so, that is. And so we do live in like a time of like instant feedback Which I was thinking about it because I watched, I watched like Oprah has re, sort of redone her talk show, so now it’s podcast. I don’t know if you’ve seen that. Right?
Susan Hyatt [00:41:25]:
Yeah.
Amy Stone [00:41:25]:
And I was thinking about the fact that back in the 80s when she had like her afternoon talk show, there was no way to give her instant feedback on. Right. But now, you know, you release something and immediately people are like, well, not like necessarily for me, but for somebody who has a big profile. People can come directly to you and be like, I don’t agree and you’re wrong. And here’s how you’re wrong. And like, you know all of those things. It’s a wild time to be alive.
Susan Hyatt [00:41:56]:
It is.
Amy Stone [00:41:58]:
It’s a wild time to be alive. And, and so then the thing is, how do you, for people who are out there who want to share their message or start the conversation with their friends or so on and so forth, do you think everybody needs to like go online and do tick tock videos about their experiences or how do you, how do you offer for people to like, like, begin to get support and community for themselves if they want it?
Susan Hyatt [00:42:22]:
Ask me that again.
Amy Stone [00:42:23]:
So like, yeah, you’ve got this very public profile. You get this instant feedback and you’ve built up very thick skin, obviously like you. But many people may not want to do that. Like, and so we live in this online culture where there’s no, I don’t think there’s any way to stop it. Like, if you’re gonna put something online, people are gonna come at you and be like, I don’t like peaches. You know, like, you’re wrong to think it just, it doesn’t even matter. But so then for people who are listening to this, because this, are listening to this and watching it and they’re thinking, no, I do want to talk to people about like diet culture. I do want to talk to people about, you know, living my best life in my midlife. How, what are some of the other ways people can find community in this very online time, 2026, do you think?
Susan Hyatt [00:43:04]:
Well, so the first thing I would say is I want to encourage people to have connection offline. So I think it’s with the loneliness epidemic the way that it is, and people feeling disconnected, I want to encourage people to go old school a little bit and find in person community where you can talk to people about things. Now, if you want to be online and it’s not that I think your question is rooted in that. People who want to use their platforms to talk about it. I would say the more you express what you actually think and tell the truth sooner, the faster you will attract people who are like minded that you can be in community with. So. Right. I get all kinds of pushback, but the overwhelming response I get from people, you know, for every bro that wants to tell me my form is bad or I should be lifting more or whatever, there are nine women saying like, this was inspiring to me. You know, thank you for posting these things. So, yeah, so, because I think it’s.
Amy Stone [00:44:13]:
Two sides to the point. I’ve interviewed several people who in the last several years they’ve done like sort of TikTok diagnoses. Like they find like, especially like adult ADHD, like that kind of thing. And they always, without exception, they share their, like, people tell us not to do this, they’re like, don’t get your diagnosis on TikTok. And then at the same time they were like, yeah, but that is how I actually discovered this. And so then I feel this sort of like duality that’s like people feel like they almost need to create a platform sometimes online, but then I watch it play out kind of in real time where it’s like they’re surprised when people come out of the woodwork and they’re like, we don’t agree.
Susan Hyatt [00:44:53]:
Well, I know, it’s so funny. It’s just like my husband for example, is constantly posting political stuff and, and I am very political. You know, I do know I talk about politics all the time. And the difference in our feedback on that is hilarious because He’s a white 61 year old man in Evansville, Indiana and most of his audience are car guys and real estate guys who want none of it. Right. They just want to argue. And so. And he keeps showing up and saying what he actually thinks, but I find it wild to watch it happen to other people that I love. And so I just think, you know, if you feel inspired to share your story online, you must stay connected to why you’re doing it and just understand that keyboard warriors are going to have something to say. And that’s just the entry ticket to Impact.
Amy Stone [00:46:02]:
Yeah, so that question, that series of questions definitely inspired because there was this guest on a very high profile show and actually I went to TikTok to find her to see. I was looking for the peanut gallery. I was like, I was, oh, I’m here for the comments. And by the time I got there, she had taken her profile down because it had gone. So. So it’s not, it’s a Very real thing like to be beaten up on online. It does not feel good. Does not feel good. And so sensitive to that. But you do have a high profile and I know that you do sometimes share. Actually people who can follow you will see that you do sometimes share some of the crazy things that people share with you. So I thought that would be a fun line of discussion. All right, so you are constantly creating fun programs. We’ve talked about beauty culture, diet culture, menno culture, the courage to publish a book and to do it in a non traditional. You are constantly creating fun programs. We haven’t really let you talk about what you do, but go ahead and tell people what you kind of do. And if you have any fun things that are coming out in the spring that you want to shout out, go ahead and do that.
Susan Hyatt [00:47:09]:
Sure. I mean, yes, I have so many things. So I’m a life coach and an author and I help my clients through a variety of ways. I do tons of international retreats for women. I have a membership community called Big Yes Energy that every Monday I give a pep talk. We have events quarterly. It’s a great group of women who cheer each other on. So that is something that if you’re listening to this and you want to plug into a community where you will be supported, I think that’s a great option. If you want to lift heavy weights. If you are in perimenopause or menopause and you want to be in an anti diet space with a life coach who’s going to encourage you and challenge you. I do have a program called Own the Iron that I’m very proud of owntheiron.com and it’s an app where you can get heavy weight lifting workouts delivered to you daily.
Amy Stone [00:48:10]:
Love it, love it, love it, love it. All right. That is very, very cool. All right, Susan Hyatt, are you ready to wrap this up with my rapid fire questions?
Susan Hyatt [00:48:20]:
Let’s do it.
Amy Stone [00:48:22]:
These are like, I just put these out there for fun. Okay, here we go. I know that you’re actually a big reader of books. See, I cheated on you this with you because I know more about you than I know about most of my guests. So I cheated a little bit. And I know what to ask you. But you are a big reader of books. Do you want to share a book that you’re reading now or you have read or listened to recently that you think that I or anybody watching or listening should read?
Susan Hyatt [00:48:41]:
Yes. Oh my God. And as soon as you ask me, I am reading the best book Right now. Can you hold for five seconds?
Amy Stone [00:48:49]:
You’re gonna go get it.
Susan Hyatt [00:48:50]:
I’ve gotta get it. I’ve gotta get it.
Amy Stone [00:48:52]:
Go get it. You go get stuff. She’s running up.
Susan Hyatt [00:48:58]:
I knew. And now all my dogs are yelling because it’s sprinting.
Amy Stone [00:49:04]:
Yes.
Susan Hyatt [00:49:04]:
This is called the Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie. And I have a local book book club, and this is what we’re reading right now. I am obsessed with this book. Listen, book club is in four days, and I just started.
Amy Stone [00:49:21]:
That happens.
Susan Hyatt [00:49:23]:
I’m gonna finish. That book is amazing. So I highly recommend any woman read this book. It’s entertaining. It speaks to all the issues that we’re talking about here right now.
Amy Stone [00:49:37]:
So my bookshelf is full of. I have Susan’s book Bear, and I also have many books that she’s assigned to me to read or recommended over the years. So I will. I will put that into my shopping cart. Okay, next question. I know that you love to travel. I think that you’ve already done so many spectacular, like, bucket list type trips. But do you have in your own, like, travel checklist, do you have any other, like, sort of big destinations that are still on your list of things that you want to do?
Susan Hyatt [00:50:04]:
I do. And I’m going this September to Greece. I have never been to Greece. I’m gonna have my mamma Mia Moment. Okay, so Greece is. Is up there. Japan, okay. There. I’ve not been to Japan, and one day I would love to go to Russia if it’s ever cool to do so.
Amy Stone [00:50:27]:
So that’s it. Right. That would be a tough. I don’t even have any idea what the restrictions are right now, but I think. Yeah, no, generally speaking, I avoid going to countries that are actively engaged in military conflict. That’s sort of just one of my checklists.
Susan Hyatt [00:50:38]:
Right, Correct.
Amy Stone [00:50:40]:
Not without any judgment. Political statement just, you know, doesn’t make a fun vacation theme, so. All right, sticking on the travel theme. On a long flight, what do you do to keep yourself entertained? Are you listening to a podcast? Are you watching in flight movies and TV shows? Do you read an old school book or audiobook? Do you talk to the people around you? What is it that you do on a long flight?
Susan Hyatt [00:51:04]:
I listen to music or I download movies or a show in advance to watch on the flight. So it’s a tie between time. Yeah.
Amy Stone [00:51:19]:
There you go. That’s it. Susan Hyatt, thank you so much for being a spectacular guest today on the show.
Susan Hyatt [00:51:24]:
Thank you. Amy Stone. This was delightful. I can’t wait for this to air.