Camera Confident with Shirlee Engel

Hit Record Even When Body Image Gets You Down with Athena Concannon

• Shirlee Engel • Season 1 • Episode 17

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Certified personal trainer and nutrition coach, Athena Concannon, gets real about her personal struggles with body image while being on video. Shirlee and Athena explore the complex relationship between body image and camera confidence. Specializing in fitness and nutrition for women over 35, Athena shares her journey through postpartum body changes and the mindset shifts that helped her overcome self-doubt and show up confidently on screen. This conversation is full of powerful insights and practical advice for anyone grappling with their appearance in front of the camera.

Keywords:
body image, confidence, fitness, nutrition, postpartum, women over 35, self-care, body positivity, strength training, hormonal changes

Key Takeaways:

•The Reality of Postpartum Body Changes: Athena opens up about the differences between her first and second pregnancies and how her body image was affected.

•How to Show Up Confidently on Camera, Even When You Don’t Love What You See in the Mirror: Learn the mindset shifts and strategies Athena used to tackle imposter syndrome and negative self-talk.

•The Power of Body Neutrality: Athena explains how focusing on body neutrality, rather than body positivity, can be a more realistic and empowering approach for many women.

•Practical Fitness Tips: From strength training to habit stacking, Athena shares accessible tips for women juggling careers, motherhood, and fitness.

•How to Navigate Hormonal Changes in Midlife: Learn how to work with your body, not against it, to feel stronger and more confident as you age.

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, thought leader, or service-based business owner who struggles with body image, this episode is packed with actionable advice on how to show up authentically on camera—without waiting for “perfection.”

Connect with Athena:

•Instagram: @AthenaConcannon

Shirlee Engel (00:21.788)
Hello and welcome to the Camera Confident podcast. I am so excited about this episode because I'm gonna be speaking to my friend, fitness and nutrition coach, Athena Concanon. And Athena has such an amazing story for us today, which is really about body image and how we balance body image with the need to be on camera even when we're not too keen about doing it. Because Athena, let's just say, they say the camera adds 10 pounds.

And a lot of my clients and I, like, we're thinking it's a bit more than that, perhaps.

Athena Concannon (00:55.118)
Yeah, it could be. It could be.

Shirlee Engel (00:57.764)
Yeah, so before we get started, we always start the Camera Confident podcast with your elevator pitch. So tell us who are you and what you do.

Athena Concannon (01:04.045)
My name is Athena Concanon. I'm a certified personal trainer and nutrition coach. I have specializations in pregnancy and postpartum exercise as well as female metabolism. And I work with the over 35 age group to lose weight, build muscle and do it in a way that doesn't require a life overhaul. Because what is the point of doing all of that if we can't sustain the changes for the long haul?

Shirlee Engel (02:54.064)
I love that. I love that because that is one of the biggest struggles, right? Being on that constant roller coaster of having this love -hate relationship with your body and when you finally get results, you can't keep them because you're gonna pass out.

Athena Concannon (02:57.632)
Yeah.

Athena Concannon (03:07.498)
Yeah, exactly, exactly. And I think too, what I love working about, what I love about working with this over 35 age group is that society really has a lot of things to say about what's possible for our bodies after we babies, after we hit perimenopause, menopause, how we should look. And I really don't believe in that we have to just be doomed to a certain stage of life and a certain.

just because we've gone through certain life transitions.

Shirlee Engel (03:39.452)
Absolutely. And one of the reasons I was really excited to talk to you, Athena, is because obviously real life situations are one thing when it comes to body image. Being on camera is a whole other ballgame. And especially for a lot of our listeners and viewers, they're entrepreneurs, they're thought leaders, they're service -based businesses, they're people who are coming on and they're looking to connect with clients, connect with people to boost their revenue, boost their sales.

Some of them don't really wanna be on camera that much, but it comes with the territory. So I'd love to hear from your perspective because you yourself have gone through a bit of a transformation in this regard. How do you show up confidently on camera when you hate what you see in the mirror?

Athena Concannon (04:25.33)
Yeah, and I'll give a little context to this. So my son was born about two years ago now. And after my second pregnancy and postpartum, which had a lot of different complications than my first, my first, was like, definitely more of that snap back, bounce back situation in my own body. But after I had my son, I just had a lot more rehab to do and a lot, I did not have that trip, like snap back that

you hear about or that I did have with my first. So that I really got down on myself about it. And as a fitness entrepreneur, I do have to show up on camera demonstrating exercises as entrepreneur for we go on camera to be marketing and selling have my content.

you know, podcast episodes, all that, but also for my own clients, I film a lot of things. And I was going through this inner monologue of imposter syndrome and who am I to be doing this when I can't even, say, rehab my diastasis, when I'm a postpartum specializing coach. I would have these feelings of, I just don't want to be on camera today because I'm not happy with.

how I look and just as again, someone that works in this field where I help women achieve body change, that was just this very weird middle place to be. That was weird. Yeah.

Shirlee Engel (05:59.866)
Yeah. So I'd love to hear more about that. How did you navigate that? Because like you said, that is what you do. And part of appealing to your ideal client is embodying the transformation that you are promising them, right? So how did you navigate that?

Athena Concannon (06:21.123)
Yeah, you know, a lot of it is inner monologue work. A lot of it is mindset. I really believe that, I do believe that people can be fit and healthy in various size bodies. And I had to take that belief and apply it to my own situation now. I would have to say to myself, people don't want perfection.

I believe that to be true as well. People wanna see the messy. They wanna be able to relate. I think that if somebody sees somebody that's almost like too perfect in some ways, can deter and be like, that's not for me. I don't see myself in them. So there was a lot of work with that. A lot of times just before...

Filming videos, I would go through and just say to myself, this is my body today. This is my six month postpartum body right now. And take away kind of that negative talk about, I'm so gross and I'm the, and I would have to really flip the script.

Shirlee Engel (07:41.612)
That's so powerful because if you think about it, we are so mean to ourselves I mean, I can't even count the number of times that I'll do something and there's this voice in my head That's like this looks terrible. Your hair looks so bad. You look so tired today You need more makeup. You look a little heavier than you did yet Whatever it is and can you imagine if that was an actual person saying that to you? That would be an abusive relationship We're almost our own

Athena Concannon (08:07.725)
Absolutely.

Shirlee Engel (08:10.448)
We abuse ourselves in our own heads, especially when it comes to our appearance, but there is nothing more confronting from an appearance perspective than having to be on camera. So I love that authenticity and I love that honesty, Athena, because I agree with you. I think that people are, when they see a woman who, as you said, snaps back, I don't know anybody like that, that wasn't me either.

snaps back from pregnancy and just looks like a million bucks overnight, you're right, it's not relatable. And at the end of the day, when you're trying to appeal to an ideal client, they wanna be able to see what's possible for them. if that, if there is such a big disconnect between what you're presenting and where they feel they're at, then it's gonna be really hard to bridge that massive gap that.

they're just not gonna be able to see how that happens. it sounds like what you did is you took that and almost made it a superpower. You took it and turned it into a positive thing. Can you talk a little bit about what was the response like from your community, from your followers, from the people consuming your video? Did anybody say anything?

Athena Concannon (09:24.521)
Yeah, actually, you know, the authenticity piece, I really got a lot of thank yous for it because I also, like you said, turned it into my superpower. First of all, I just want to clarify that did not happen overnight for me. Like I definitely was more of a process. I really had to say to show up with the conviction and belief in myself that I still have something to bring to the table here. I have it would be a disservice to actually not show up on video.

I'm thinking of a client in particular who said to me it almost made the things that I say more real because I was living it and showing it and walking the walk as I was going through it. And I've had other people, clients, followers on Instagram, people that have heard my story just say like, thank you so much. It's just refreshing to have somebody that is imperfect.

navigating and that we're looking to and living this in real time. So I did have a positive response about that. And then that helps build the momentum to keep going and keep sharing and just showing like, okay, it doesn't have to be this overnight transformation. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. You can still be taking steps. I think a lot of times people are so focused on that outcome that they want. Of course we all are, we're all human. We want the desired outcome.

but we lose sight of the journey and the small steps and the winds along the way.

Shirlee Engel (10:59.58)
and building sustainable habits, right? I think that is such an underrated thing is just that getting 1 % better every day or being able to find two things you can connect together. And this is not my term habit stack from atomic habits, just kind of putting those different habits together and then it becomes ingrained and it becomes a part of your day. So do you have any rituals that you do, things that...

Athena Concannon (11:01.673)
you

Shirlee Engel (11:27.054)
you developed during that time that help you show up more confidently on camera now. And talk to us a little bit about where are you at now with all of this?

Athena Concannon (11:37.574)
Yeah, okay, so with the rituals and routines, I love that you brought up habit stacking, because I think that's so important for the sustainability piece of changes. But for me, it's important to start my day. And let me clarify too, my day does not start at 5am. I have two kids that are four and under. I have two year old and a four year old. So the whole morning routine, like this is a messy morning routine.

Shirlee Engel (12:06.364)
Do a messy, it's okay.

Athena Concannon (12:08.829)
But I like to start my day after my kids are out and off to daycare with a walk. I like to say of any length, distance, duration, time, because then it becomes like, is that a good enough walk? So I really, I like to just clear my head, get in that mode, come back, have my breakfast, my coffee, and kind of just journal a little bit on whatever's coming up for me. That.

All of that could take 15 minutes if I do a five minute walk and a five minute journaling or I have my breakfast ready to go. So it doesn't have to be this long drawn out thing. I also, for me, this is not so much daily, but I do strength train. I aim for three days a week and that in and of itself makes me feel more confident. I see progress over time.

And that just helps me show up better on camera, off camera, in my relationships, in my jobs, all of it. So that would be another thing. And then I think as far as the camera specific question, anything I do like before I get on camera, I just make sure that I am wearing something that I feel good in and that I don't feel like I have to be like tugging at, especially since a lot of my videos.

A lot of my videos are going to be on like a full body mode, demonstrating things. And it doesn't have to be what everybody else is wearing. It doesn't have to be one certain way. I really believe that you have your own personal brand and mine is not a fancy brand. Like that would be very off brand for me. Being able to show up ahead of time and just something casual, comfortable, that is me.

Shirlee Engel (13:37.414)
Mm -hmm.

Shirlee Engel (13:53.648)
Mm -hmm.

Shirlee Engel (14:00.668)
I love that you brought up brand and it's something I like to call the vibe vocab that clients and I work on. Like what's your vibe vocab? So Athena, what is your vibe vocab? Have you spent time thinking about and being deliberate about the vibe that you're putting out? Because a lot of times that brand may come off as sort of like, she just threw that on. But sometimes that's also a very deliberate thing, particularly in the fitness space where

Athena Concannon (14:16.834)
Thank

Shirlee Engel (14:27.718)
Perhaps there's partnerships or affiliates or brands that like being affiliated with a very authentic fitness brand, for instance. So how deliberate are you about the vibe? I'm curious.

Athena Concannon (14:39.662)
wouldn't say totally deliberate, but for me, I just want my vibe to always be relatable, authentic, down to earth. I'm not one that's gonna be selling all these nonsense fitness and nutrition things. So I would say that those are the main things, relatable, down to earth, casual, like let's just get it done, imperfect, really.

Shirlee Engel (15:04.412)
I love that, I love that. And that sounds so relatable. One thing that is coming through in what you're saying and what you and I have chatted about is this whole idea of a lot of entrepreneurs these days, a lot of women listening, women, are over 40, right? You said you particularly focus in the over 35 demographic, but particularly that sort of even pre -menopause, but just that age where, look, things just don't fit the way they used to fit.

You know, there's changes going on in your body. Sorry, let me just mute the phone, because that just.

Shirlee Engel (15:43.433)
You know there's changes going on in your body and you are at a point in your life where there's a lot of change happening internally and that is both physical in terms of weight gain, your body's looking different but also hormonal in terms of not feeling great perhaps. There's certain times of the month where you're more irritable and you don't feel like you can show up and be as you know.

happy or peppy or confident or whatever it is that you usually feel is you. So can you talk a little bit about how you navigate some of those challenges and how you would recommend that women particularly in that sort of mid -life to, know, as you get into your 50s, 60s, how do you maintain that positive body image when there's so much rapid change going on?

Athena Concannon (16:33.045)
Yeah, and I mean, it is a reality that there are hormonal changes that are going on. So you have to learn to work with them and work with your body rather than continue to fight against your body. That is going to be huge. When it comes to this particular age bracket, I mentioned that my own habits around strength training, everyone is always trying to find these anti -aging hacks, tricks, things, right? Nothing wrong with that.

However, having muscle on your body is probably the best thing that you can do for an anti -aging, I'm gonna use quotes, hack. The more muscle that you have on your body, better you're going to be able to navigate the very real hormonal changes that happen during perimenopause, menopause and beyond. Nevermind, then you again, feel more confident.

you are able to move well and independently and keep up and do the things that you want to do. You're on camera and you catch a glimpse of your muscle on the zoom screen and you're like, look at that. So I do believe that making sure that you are lifting in a way that is going to elicit the changes to have muscle on your body. And it's never too late to start is probably the most important thing that someone can do.

And then you also mentioned times of the month that you might not be feeling as on or vibrant as other times. And I think it's important to, just like I said, work with your body for, I'm gonna start that again. Just like I think that it's important to work with your body with the bigger picture, hormonal changes, it's also important to work with your body on

micro level day to day, week to week, month to month. If you're having uncomfortable cycles and you know that for the couple days prior to your cycle you feel bloated, you feel low energy, you are just not up for it, you don't feel like yourself, plan for that. Don't try and schedule your filming on those days. Put that during ovulation. Work with, work with.

Shirlee Engel (18:56.656)
Sorry guys.

Athena Concannon (18:59.7)
So having that, then it makes you just feel more in control instead of having your cycle or your body feel like it's running you.

Shirlee Engel (19:13.168)
I love that. love that and obviously batching is such an important part of a sustainable content creation schedule that's going to not knock you off if you're feeling terrible or force you to shoot something really important when you're not feeling your best. So I really love that, you know, combining that you should be batching your video anyway with, and by the way, what are the days that you're planning to film those videos?

And are there certain times of the month, of the year, perhaps during the winter there's periods where you get really, really affected by darkness? Things like that, right? Like maybe you front load your video production in January or something, or December, and then you've got content for two months. So there's lots of ways around that not feeling your best. And particularly in your case, like a lot of people...

are doing their videos from here up. So they don't have to worry if they're feeling bloated or if, you know, this is not a great day. But in the fitness space or for a lot of business owners and people who are on camera who have to show their whole body in a lot of different types of contexts, like physiotherapists, other health practitioners and people who are demonstrating things, people in different industries where it's really about you doing those actions. I love that you brought that up.

Another thing that you and I have talked about off camera that I think is so so important is I love your thoughts on the whole body positivity movement because you know there was that whole era of you know the be this stick thin and then we went a little bit over to the other side which is like anything goes. What is your take on the whole body positivity movement and what do you suggest people focus on in that regard?

Athena Concannon (21:05.039)
Yeah, this is definitely controversial. And I do think that we've swung a little bit too much to the body positive side. Now I have a caveat with that. I think that what happens is we hear all the messages about body positivity. And I love the concept of being positive about your body. I love operating from a place of self -worth.

regardless of where you are. I love the concept of having respect for your body, regardless of where you are right now. What I think can be a downside of the body positivity movement is that then when we do have a desire to make a change to our physique, then we almost feel bad about wanting to make that change. It makes us feel like we shouldn't wanna make that change because I just.

I should love my body as it is, right? And so that's what I hear from a lot of my clients when they first start working with me. It's almost like they're embarrassed or ashamed to admit that they want to make changes to their body because they've heard I should just love myself the way I am. So the way that I work around that is that it doesn't have to be an either or. There can be duality. There's so much duality in so many different areas of life and you can...

want to make a change to your body and not hate it at the same time. And that takes work. That takes a lot of that inner work that I was talking about before.

Shirlee Engel (22:43.58)
Wow, so that's really, you said body neutrality, not body positivity. So tell me a little bit more about what that looks like on a day -to -day basis. If you're not necessarily body positive, you're not down on your body image, you have a neutrality about it, what does that mean exactly?

Athena Concannon (23:01.294)
Yeah, so maybe let's just use someone who hates their thighs. Probably relatable for many people. You're looking in the mirror, you're trying on your jeans, and you're like, ugh, I am disgusting. My thighs are huge. That is a very negative way to speak to yourself when you're looking in the mirror.

But to go from that to, love the cellulite on my thighs is so unbelievable. It's like, that doesn't make sense. It doesn't feel like an approachable place. So taking this kind of stepping stone, staircase one small step at a time, how can we make that initial thought of, I'm so gross, just a little bit less negative?

Maybe it's just, these are my thighs today. And that's it. We don't have to make it anything else, but that's a little bit more neutral.

Shirlee Engel (24:03.056)
Hmm, and that's such a simple shift, but you also have to believe that so Do you have any resources or recommendations for people who are watching or listening or like okay? That that sounds easy, but like then I look in the mirror, and I'm like no I still hate them. I still hate them right now

Athena Concannon (24:21.58)
yeah it's a little bit of a of a process you're gonna feel a little uncomfortable with it at first it's gonna feel a little disingenuine at first but it like anything the more that you practice it then the more you do believe it it does become more of a habit you could change the statement from i hate my thighs to i don't love my thighs today because i'm uncomfortable in these pants and that's that is more believable

Because that is true, right? So you're not making up this untrue statement. Eventually the goal is to get to a point where it doesn't, the goal doesn't even have to be to ever get to that completely positive point, but it could get, my goal for my clients is to get them to a place where they can acknowledge where they're at and also appreciate something about that body part at the same time. These guys allow me to participate in this activity, for example.

Shirlee Engel (25:19.438)
Mm -hmm. So for those who are you know thinking about this and saying okay strength training Athena I've got it. How on earth do I do that? Right, it's not everybody has time to get to a gym and as business owners particularly those of us who are moms Who have zero time to begin with and then on top of that we have to be like, okay now I have to do strength training What's your advice?

Athena Concannon (25:43.956)
Yeah, my advice is to make it work within the confines of your life. So I think so often people hear about whatever fitness routine it is that they want to start and they think, okay, that means five days a week. That means hour long workouts. means I have to get strength training. I have to get to the gym and do it with a barbell. No, that's actually not true. So how many days do you actually think realistically you could dedicate to a strength training routine?

And on those days, what are the time? What time? Is it twice a week for 30 minutes? That's where we start. And that and we have to let it be enough. And it is enough because it's more than nothing.

And also strength training, you we hear so much that you have to be lifting heavy and that is true. And heavy is also relative. So heavy for someone might be start who's just starting out with strength training might be 10 pounds. Heavy for someone else might be 40 pounds heavy. You know, it just depends on where you're at. So you almost have to put your blinders on.

to what you're seeing, hearing, all the things and just look at what you have to work with. Do you have dumbbells at home? Do you have twice a week, 30 minutes? Great, you can do my Strength Jumpstart program.

Shirlee Engel (27:14.32)
That is amazing. Athena, this has been such a great conversation. Is there anything else you want to leave people with? Any other tips or advice for those who are, you know, either having some really bad negative self -talk from a body image perspective or like how on earth do I fit this whole thing in amongst all the other things? What are some parting thoughts?

Athena Concannon (27:37.767)
Yeah, I think that just remembering that a body in motion stays in motion and just start. Anything that you do to start, whether it's a 10 minute walk, whether it is one workout, whether it's drinking your water in the morning tomorrow, then you've started. You're on the way. You will stay in momentum. when you're doing that, when you are taking care of yourself,

you do just feel better, you have more energy. Even if the scale's not going down right then, that's not the only marker for things, you feel better about yourself. You show up more confidently about yourself because you're taking care of yourself, because you've made that commitment to yourself. So I guess that was kind of a two -part answer. Just start with where you are and get into motion and then remembering that

every time you make that choice to take care of yourself, that starts that cycle of feeling better about your body in general.

Shirlee Engel (28:44.732)
that will come through on camera as well. Athena, thank you so much for your time. If people want to connect with you, how should they get in touch?

Athena Concannon (28:46.566)
Absolutely.

Athena Concannon (28:53.21)
Yeah, the place that I hang out most often is on Instagram. It's just my full name at AthenaCon Canon. And I also right now have a website at shewithathena .com. It's going through a big redesign. So you can find me there, but maybe check it out in November.

Shirlee Engel (29:14.068)
Well, maybe people are watching or listening to this after so that's amazing We'll link all of that in the show notes as well and keep it updated Athena. Thank you so much for your time today I love your honesty and just hearing that someone who actually teaches this stuff went through it herself It just makes you all the more authentic and it really makes you connect on camera if I might say so myself

Athena Concannon (29:35.184)
Thank you. Thank you so much.

Shirlee Engel (29:38.606)
It was our pleasure. Awesome. Okay.


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