Exploring Life & Business with Diana Chaloux – Lacerte of Hitch Fit LLC / SoulFIT Retreats LLC

Today we’d like to introduce you to Diana Chaloux – Lacerte

Hi Diana, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My name is Diana Chaloux-LaCerte and I am the co-CEO of Hitch Fit Online Personal Training, Hitch Fit Gym and SoulFIT Retreats. I’ve spent the past two decades of my life helping other people transform their bodies and lives, and I am just as passionate about this work today as I was twenty years ago!

My deep desire to help others transform their health, mindsets, and lifestyles began when I underwent my own personal transformation. I was in an unhealthy place, using food as a coping mechanism, and I was engaging in destructive, compulsive overeating behaviors. I was wreaking havoc on my body and my health. I finally had enough and decided to turn my life around on what I call my “Independence Day”. I worked on developing healthy mindsets, navigating the healing process of past trauma, and developing healthy eating and exercise habits that transformed me from the inside out.

I went on to become a two-time World Champion fitness athlete had the chance to be featured in many national fitness magazines, including “Oxygen” and “Muscle & Fitness Hers”, and through the fitness industry, I met my husband Micah, and we started Hitch Fit online as well as our gyms in Kansas City together!

Since then we have aided clients globally in 82 countries shed over 700,000 pounds of fat. We wanted to continue to help people at even deeper levels, which is why we began our faith and fitness retreat business SoulFIT. The retreats are incredibly powerful, as we create safe spaces where love thrives and wounds are healed.

I am a five time published author, and I’m working on my 6th book now, which is my husband Micah’s personal story. Sharing this is going to begin an entirely new mission and ministry for us as we continue to do the work to help people build healthier lives, overcome past trauma and become the best version of themselves.

It’s been a beautiful journey so far, and I believe the best and most impactful work God has in store for me is still to come!

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Life as an entrepreneur isn’t a smooth road! I could write an entire book about the challenges that have come up along the way! But with every challenge, valuable lessons have been learned that provided strength and insight for what was to come. In business, we’ve made many mistakes.

We (my husband Micah and I) hired trainers for the gyms who may have had the look and the credentials but weren’t right for our culture and mission. We’ve placed people in leadership positions who didn’t possess the right attitude or skills, and we’ve held onto people too long when we knew it was time for them to move on, which led to toxicity in our workplace.

As a trainer, many years ago, when I began, one big challenge that I didn’t even realize I had was not understanding how important it was to be able to help people navigate through past trauma and toxic stress to make true lifestyle changes. I didn’t realize then that behavior modification was only temporary if there wasn’t a true heart transformation. Becoming a trauma-informed coach and teaching that in the Hitch Fit environment has been a true game changer to the work we can do in our gym space, and with online clients.

We had to navigate the shutdown of our gyms during COVID-19 and all the challenges that came when we were able to open them again!

In our retreat business, one of the greatest and most heartbreaking challenges was the sudden death of our business partner, who was also a close friend. We had to navigate the transition of the business as we took over the entire thing ourselves, we had to hold the grief of so many of the ones who loved him, and we chose to take over all the legal and financial responsibilities that the business had in place before his death.

Those are just a few. There have been so many challenges to face in order to build the strength, resilience, and resolve that I possess today. And I’m sure there will be many new challenges to face ahead!

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Hitch Fit LLC / SoulFIT Retreats LLC?
I am co-CEO of Hitch Fit & SoulFIT Retreats.

Hitch Fit is comprised of a one-on-one personal training gym in Kansas City, Missouri, and Online Personal Training available globally.

At Hitch Fit we specialize in transformation. Since 2009, we have aided clients globally in 82 countries and shed over 700,000 pounds of fat. At our gyms we are one of the leading transformation training gyms in the country. We specialize in the one on one experience, we don’t offer memberships or classes, we are focused on helping each individual on a person to person basis. We believe that is most effective for true transformation to take place!

What sets Hitch Fit apart is our dedication to the individual. Our online business is still completely customized and personalized, even in a landscape of online personal training where so much is automated or done through AI. We believe that our clients achieve such great success, not just because of the balanced eating style and fitness programming customization, but because of the connection they feel. When they know it is a real person who is putting together their plan and a real person who cares about their success, they feel free to share deeply rooted things, which means together, we can do deeper work.

My husband Micah and I still do our online training entirely. Every client works directly with one of us. Yes, it has been more work for us, but it has also brought us so much more connection and the ability to see incredible changes happen, not just physically but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually as well.

Our business, SoulFIT Retreats, holds faith and fitness-infused, life-changing retreat experiences. The retreats are incredibly powerful times of community, a place for even deeper connection and for each person to feel seen and heard. We have a lot of FUN, whether on our signature Mexico retreats or our Adventure trips! But people find it hard to explain what they truly experience because it is unlike anything they have been a part of. I like to say that SoulFIT creates safe spaces where LOVE thrives and wounds are healed. It is truly beautiful to see what each retreat becomes, and over the last two years, we have seen so much community building and filling that desperate need for connection within the human soul!

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I grew up in a small town in the beautiful state of Vermont. I’m a middle child, with one older sister and one younger. I was an extremely shy kid. I was a hard worker, but I was afraid to speak up and let my voice be heard. People who know me now find that a little shocking!

I started strength training when I was 14 when a friend asked me if I wanted to meet up at the gym in the mornings before school. I said yes, and I’m so glad I did. I found strength in the gym, even though I had no idea what I was doing! That strength carried over into greater self-confidence and helped me find my voice. Sports helped me tremendously. I loved playing, but I loved the community that presented itself through each team. I played basketball and field hockey in high school and went on to play basketball throughout my college years, too.

My family did not have much money, so I learned from a young age that if I worked hard, I could make money and buy myself extras that I wanted, and I could buy gifts for the people I loved. I started babysitting and doing a paper route at age 9, and I had the nickname of “money bags” when I was a kid because I loved working and making my own money. It gave me a sense of empowerment at a young age, and I’m grateful for it because it built a sense of autonomy in me and instilled in me the belief that I could take care of myself.

I’ve always been an avid reader and writer, and I still am to this day. My love for the outdoors, especially being in the mountains, has continued to grow as I’ve gotten older. I’m grateful for my small-town roots!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.HitchFit.com / www.SoulFITRetreats.com
• Instagram: @dianachaloux @soulfitretreats @hitchfit
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DianaChaloux/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/hitchfit
• Other: https://www.HitchFitGym.com