Episode #13: Why Your Clothes and Your Health Have More in Common Than You Think — with Alena LeBlanc
When a personal stylist and two health coaches get on a call together, magic happens!
“You don’t have to wait to feel worthy. Your clothes are something that can support you on that journey.” — Alena LeBlanc, Personal Stylist & Founder of LeBlanc Label
We didn’t plan for this episode to be a mic-drop moment. But honestly? It kind of was.
Gwen met Alena LeBlanc through a networking group after moving to California in 2020, and from the jump, it was clear they were cut from the same cloth (pun absolutely intended). Alena is a personal stylist for female founders and entrepreneurs, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, who helps women build an intentional, authentic, and aligned style. And the moment we started talking, Sheena and Gwen couldn’t stop noticing the parallels.
Same philosophy. Different industry. Same woman in the mirror at the end.
This one’s for every woman who has ever stood in front of a closet full of clothes, or a fridge full of food, and felt completely lost.
Style Has Rules. So Does Diet Culture. And They’re Both Lying to You.
Alena’s approach to personal styling sounds almost word-for-word like what we preach about nutrition and fitness: fewer rules, more personalization. She watched client after client try to replicate someone else’s style — following trends, copying looks, dressing for who they thought they should be — and it just wasn’t working. Sound familiar?
We see the exact same thing with diets. Women come to us having followed every program, counted every macro, tried every approach. They’re doing “everything right” and still feeling terrible — because they’re following someone else’s blueprint for a body that isn’t theirs.
Alena’s first question to a new client isn’t “what’s your budget?” or “what’s your aesthetic?” It’s: how do you want to feel? What does your lifestyle actually look like?
That’s our first question too. Because a plan that doesn’t fit your real life isn’t a plan — it’s just another thing to fail at.
Mindset First. Always.
Before Alena ever sets foot in a client’s closet, she does a mindset shift. She goes deep — asking about lifestyle, goals, how they want to show up in the world. She even journals a daily outfit intention: how do I want to feel today?
We do the same thing before we ever talk macros or workouts. The mental landscape matters. You can hand someone the perfect meal plan and the perfect training program, and if they haven’t addressed the story they’re telling themselves about their body, it won’t stick.
Alena said it plainly: most people haven’t had the opportunity to explore what actually works for them. They’ve been told what to do — by trends, by magazines, by the culture they grew up in. Breaking that conditioning is the real work. And it starts in the mind, not the closet.
The Number on the Tag Is Not the Point. Neither Is the One on the Scale.
This is where the parallels got almost eerie.
Alena talked about clients who are completely fixated on the size tag — women who will squeeze into a smaller size even when it doesn’t fit because the number feels like a verdict. She works to de-emphasize the tag entirely, redirecting the focus to how something fits, how it feels, and how it supports the body they’re in right now.
We do this every single day with the scale.
Gwen said it out loud in the episode: “For you it’s the number on the tag. For us, it’s the number on the scale.” Women get hyper-fixated on a specific number and miss everything else — the muscle they’re building, the clothes fitting differently, the energy shifting. One of Sheena’s clients had gone up a size because she’d gained muscle, and she was upset about it — even though she also said, “I had bones sticking out. I didn’t want that.”
The fixation on the number keeps women from feeling what’s actually happening. In fashion and in health, the work is the same: help her stop chasing a number and start chasing a feeling.
Dressing for the Body You Have. Eating for the Life You Live.
One of the most powerful things Alena said was about a client who’d lost over 60 pounds and was still trying to make her old clothes work — throwing a belt on things that were five sizes too big. Alena’s response was essentially: but do you want to wear it?
She wasn’t trying to force the client to let go. She was gently asking her to look at why she was holding on. Was it practical? Was it sentimental? Or was it a safety net — a hedge against the possibility that this new version of herself might not last?
We hear that same thing in fitness. Women hold onto old habits, old rules, old ways of eating that don’t fit who they’re becoming — because change feels risky. Letting go of “the way I’ve always done it” requires trusting that the new version is real and worth investing in.
Alena’s philosophy: dress for the body you have now, not the one you used to have or the one you’re trying to get. Our philosophy: eat and train for the life you’re actually living, not the fantasy version where everything is perfect and you have two extra hours a day.
You’re Not Supposed to Look Like Her. You’re Supposed to Look Like You.
Alena was clear that her job isn’t to turn her clients into a version of herself — even though she has undeniable style (vintage pink metallic Versace blazer, anyone?). Her job is to excavate who the client already is and help that person show up on the outside.
This tracks so deeply with how we work. We’re not here to turn you into us. We’re not here to hand you our meal plan or our training split and tell you to make it work. We’re here to figure out what works for your hormones, your schedule, your history with food and movement.
The goal is never sameness. It’s alignment — between who you are and how you’re living.
What This Means for You
If you’re nodding along to this episode thinking oh my god, this is me, here’s what we want you to walk away with:
You don’t have to wait to feel good in your body to start treating it well. You don’t have to wait to hit a goal weight to eat food you enjoy, move in ways that feel strong, or wear something that actually fits. The work isn’t about shrinking yourself into someone else’s idea of acceptable — it’s about building a life that actually feels like yours.
Alena puts it this way: clarity on who you are, what you love, and how you want to feel is what makes every decision easier — whether that decision is about what to wear or what to eat.
We couldn’t agree more.
Follow Alena:
IG: @Lablanc_Label
www.leblanclabel.com