Podcast | Habits
Episode 5| April 10, 2023

Women in Wellness (Part 2) w/ Hollis Tuttle

She Left a Painful Marriage at 40 and Rebuilt From Nothing. Now She Runs 100-Mile Races.

Hollis Tuttle was a shell of herself when she left.

An unhealthy marriage in her thirties, three years of IVF kept private, a life she had lost herself inside of. She fought hard for her divorce and recreated herself, alone, at 40, in New York City.

Six years later, she is a Lululemon Studio instructor training for a hundred-mile trail race.

Her superpower, she says, is tenacity.

In this episode of the Happy Healthy Hustle Podcast, endurance athlete and fitness instructor Hollis Tuttle shares how tenacity carried her through the hardest chapter of her life, the grandmother who taught her to stand on her own, and her grounded, no-guilt approach to food and movement.

You are never too old to recreate your life.

This is an honest conversation about resilience, wellness, and starting over.

Listen on:

Share With a Friend

“You are never too old to recreate your life.”

– Hollis Tuttle

Fast Skim & Timestamps

0:00 Meet Hollis: Triathlete Turned Lululemon Instructor
3:16 Her Superpower: Tenacity
5:41 Fighting for Her Divorce
9:19 The Years of IVF She Kept Private
11:42 Gram Fran and the Women Who Shaped Her
21:23 Consistency Over Motivation
24:00 Control What You Can Control
27:20 Train Your Gut Like a Muscle

Key Takeaways

Tenacity built through endurance sport transfers to every hard thing in life.
You are never too old to recreate your life. Hollis started over at 40.
Sharing what you have endured, even privately carried pain, is part of healing.
Consistency beats motivation. A simple planner can anchor you.
Control what you can control: how you stock your kitchen sets you up for success.
Train your gut like a muscle. Add fiber gradually and crowd out, do not restrict.

Three Petite Practice® Questions

1. What hard thing have I already survived that proves I can handle what is in front of me?

2. Where have I told myself it is too late to change?

3. What is one healthy thing I could add, rather than restrict, this week?

Transcript Chapters

0:00 Meet Hollis: Triathlete Turned Lululemon Instructor

[00:00:40] Dr. Christiane Schroeter: Hollis Tuttle is a popular instructor with Lululemon Studio. She grew up in Northern California playing soccer and volleyball and became a college triathlete while studying nutritional sciences at Cal Poly. You can feel her long-lived passion for movement in her classes. [00:01:40] Hollis Tuttle: When I realized you were at Cal Poly, it was meant to be. I miss that area so much, running Avila and Madonna Mountain, and long rides with the triathlon team out into the hills.

3:16 Her Superpower: Tenacity

[00:03:16] Hollis Tuttle: My superpower is tenacity. My dad would say stubbornness. When I set my mind to something, I bulldoze toward it. As an endurance athlete, you have to have the tenacity to push through the lows, because no matter how trained you are, you will have lows, and you push through knowing there is a high on the other side. That transferred to my professional life. After 100 miles on the bike, whatever hard task I faced at work was never as hard as what I had been through.

5:41 Fighting for Her Divorce

[00:05:41] Hollis Tuttle: The challenge with the biggest, longest-lasting impact was fighting for my divorce. I was in a very unhealthy marriage in my thirties, and I had to fight hard to establish my independence again, here in New York City. I had lost myself, and when I got out I was a shell of a human. Being single and alone on the East Coast gave me the freedom to learn who I truly am. The past six years have been that journey, and I truly love my life and who I am now. [00:08:24] Hollis Tuttle: I was 40 when I got divorced, recreating a whole new life. I would hate for someone to think they are too old. You are never too old, and it is worth the step.

9:19 The Years of IVF She Kept Private

[00:09:19] Hollis Tuttle: I also went through three years of in vitro fertilization, and it was not really talked about. My ex-husband did not want people to know, because he saw it as a failure. I think it is important to talk about, because it was the first time I really experienced adversity. As a goal-oriented person, I kept asking what I was doing wrong, and as women we tend to blame ourselves. Now I count my lucky stars it did not come to fruition, because there was a better plan for me.

11:42 Gram Fran and the Women Who Shaped Her

[00:11:42] Hollis Tuttle: I wish you could all meet my grandmother, Frances, my mom’s mom, who we called Gram Fran. She was incredibly intelligent, strong, and driven, and she did not take any nonsense, but she always remained graceful. She had her own independent life, which was rare in the forties and fifties, and she always told me, have your own finances, make sure you can support yourself. I also have an amazing mother, and here in New York City I am blessed with an incredible group of female friends who are each a force to be reckoned with.

21:23 Consistency Over Motivation

[00:21:23] Hollis Tuttle: Motivation ebbs and flows, so I focus on consistency. I keep a paper day planner, color-coded with my work schedule, clients, workouts, and even rest days. When I finish something, I physically draw a line through it, and that sense of satisfaction is excellent motivation. I do well with regimen, and it keeps me calm. I want to step up to the line of a race knowing I have done everything I could to prepare.

24:00 Control What You Can Control

[00:24:00] Hollis Tuttle: To make healthy eating easier, control what you can control. How you stock your cabinets and fridge sets you up for success, and keep prepped foods front and center so they are easy to grab. Mindset matters too. Instead of I can’t eat that chocolate cake, say I am choosing to eat the raspberries, so you empower yourself. I hate to label food as good or bad. Food is fuel. And remember little people are sponges who hear our self-talk.

27:20 Train Your Gut Like a Muscle

[00:27:20] Hollis Tuttle: When you shift your diet and add more fiber, salads, or beans, a lot of people say it does not agree with them. But just like you cannot walk into the gym and pick up a five-hundred-pound dumbbell, you have to train your gut microbiome. Introduce fibrous foods like cauliflower, beans, and broccoli sparingly and build up. Then you start to crowd out the unhealthy foods. I love Atomic Habits and Fiber Fueled by Dr. B for exactly this. [00:33:36] Dr. Christiane Schroeter: Thank you so much for joining us, Hollis.

Meet My Guest

Hollis Tuttle

Lululemon Studio Instructor & Endurance Athlete

Hollis Tuttle is a Lululemon Studio instructor and endurance athlete who grew up in Northern California and studied nutritional sciences at Cal Poly. A former college triathlete, she now trains for ultra-distance trail races while teaching warm, high-energy fitness classes.

She brings a grounded, no-guilt philosophy to food and movement, built on consistency, self-compassion, and hard-won resilience.

Meet Your Host

Dr. Christiane Schroeter

TEDx Speaker & Leadership Strategist

I’m Dr. Christiane Schroeter, TEDx speaker, leadership strategist, and host of the Top 1% ranked Happy Healthy Hustle Podcast. I help leaders think clearly, speak with conviction, and take the next step during change.

About Dr. Christiane

Subscribe on YouTube

Want the short, practical version of these conversations, plus behind-the-scenes clips and new videos each week?

Related Episodes

Show All Episodes