Inspirational Fitness Guru Mireille Ryan

Parent Profile 01-Mar-2011 by Belinda Hopper

Inspirational Fitness Guru Mireille Ryan inspires thousands of mums, but believes we all have the power to inspire.

She says she lives by two mottos – “Thoughts become your words and words become your actions” and “if you can dream it, you can do it”. And when you learn Mireille Ryan is Australia’s leading fitness expert for mums who runs not one, but two businesses from home, you realise she means it—she actually does live by them!

Mireille was named 2010 Australian Exercise Professional of the Year representing Queensland. She owns Health Guru Boot Camp and co-founded The Busy Mums Fitness Club, a free online fitness club for mums. She has been in the fitness industry for 10 years and gave regular fitness tips to 30,000 listeners as the 107.3FM Life FM Fitness Guru. Despite all of her professional achievements,
Mireille says, “Being a mother is my biggest achievement in life.”

Where do you live and why? I live on The Gold Coast. We choose to live here because of the lifestyle. I always want to feel like I’m on holidays.

Can you give our readers a little snapshot of your family? I’ve been married to my best friend and husband, Shannon, for almost 14 years.
We have three beautiful kids; Harrison, 11, Taylor, 8, and Cierra, 5. We all love to get outside and go to the beach together. We keep very active.

Is the journey of motherhood what you expected? I love being a mum. Every day brings some special moment. What I never realised was how tired you feel as a mum. I also didn’t appreciate all the spare time I had before kids!

How has motherhood changed you? Motherhood has taught me patience. It’s also taught me to appreciate the simple things in life. Motherhood definitely changes your priorities.

What qualities do you most admire in each of your children? My son, Harrison, is friends with everyone. He’s so easy to be around and is inclusive of everyone. With my daughter Taylor, it’s her determination I admire most. She wants to be the best at everything she does and works to achieve that. And with Cierra, I admire her unconditional love and kindness for everyone, including animals.

What are your biggest parenting frustrations? I guess my biggest frustrations are when my kids disagree. I don’t enjoy being the referee.

What delights you most about motherhood? I love talking with my kids, I love swimming at the beach with them and seeing their laughter and happiness. I also enjoy the cuddles and kisses.

Who do you find inspiring? I’m inspired by people who dream big and follow their passions. I love reading biographies – like Nelson Mandela, Oprah Winfrey,
Li Cuxin. Each of us has the power to inspire others.

What advice has had the biggest impact on you? Never give up! The only time you fail is when you give up. If I do something and it doesn’t work, I look at what I can learn from that experience and move forward. I know I will always reach my goal if I never give up and move forward step by step.

What does a typical day look like at your place? It’s a day of organisation and routine. I find life gets easier when you’re organised. The kids have their routine before school, I drop the kids at school and hubby rides his bike to work, then I see clients, or work from my office, pick the kids up from school and go to after school sport. We come home and eat dinner together with my husband, read stories to the kids, they go to bed and my husband and I generally talk or plan and then go to bed by 9:30pm.

What would be an ideal day for you? Get up early and exercise, work until lunch, catch up with friends, then pick up the kids and do something with them and then spend the evening with my husband.

How do you balance family and work demands? Running two businesses from home makes setting boundaries really important. I work from 9am to 3pm and then finish for the day. I used to be always answering calls after hours and checking emails. It never truly allowed me to switch off. So I made some changes. I find planning and organisation are the key. I plan each day out so I can be realistic about what I can achieve. I only look at my email twice a day. We have a second telephone line, so if the phone rings I know whether it’s a work or personal call. After hours and weekends is family time. I also take a half-day off on Friday for some “me” time.

If you have any spare time, what do you like to do with it? I love to read. I devour biographies of people who inspire me.

Where do you see yourself in five years – personally and professionally? I want to travel with my family and cherish our time together because my kids are getting older and I want to make the most of our time together before they move out. Professionally, I will have even more success with my two businesses, have written a successful book, have my own TV show and help over 100,000 mums to reclaim their yummy mummy bodies.