A Career Born from a Desire to Help
The world shut down in 2020 due to COVID19, and, like many people, Kali Butler thought it might be a good time to pivot careers.
For the long-time athlete and former ski racer from Kelowna, British Columbia, this meant signing up for an online nutrition mentoring program to explore becoming a nutrition coach.
She didn’t know it at the time, but it was the start of a career that would eventually become her full-time job, and biggest passion.
Coach Butler finished the program and began working as a nutrition coach, coaching mostly members of the gym where she worked as a part-time coach.
Along the way, she made a connection with CBG Coach Paige Allert. The two worked at Lululemon together in Vernon, British Columbia, and also went to the same gym for a while.
“We went for coffee and some hikes together and she thought CBG would be a really good fit for me,” Coach Butler said.
Coach Butler looked into what CBG was all about and couldn’t agree more with the CBG approach to nutrition. It seemed like the perfect place for her.
In November 2023, Coach Butler joined the CBG team.
Coach Butler’s Life Today
Two years later, Coach Butler couldn’t be happier with her career with CBG, and ultimately her life.
Not only does CBG provide her with a full-time career she loves, but it also gives her the freedom and flexibility she needs as a competitive athlete.
Right now Coach Butler is training for Wodapalooza in Miami, Florida, next spring, and so she trains twice a day, once in the morning, and a shorter session in the afternoon. After her first session, she takes calls with clients and does other administrative work. When she needs to, she books more calls with clients in the evenings after her second training session.
“Being an athlete, I have a little bit more control over my schedule and I can fit in my training when I want,” she said of the lifestyle she has as a CBG coach.
Best of all, though, the CBG methodology provides Coach Butler with the structure, tools, and resources to maximize her ability to help her clients.
“The way the program is delivered and structured allows me to be the best coach I possibly can be,” Coach Butler said.
Coach Butler currently works with anywhere between 40 to 50 clients at any given time, so she has learned that organization matters.
This is where CBG’s systems have been a big help, she explained. Each week, she knows exactly what she will receive from each client. This includes weekly body measurements, food pictures, and exactly what the client expects her to give them in return. This provides much needed clarity for both the client and coach.
That being said, Coach Butler also appreciates that CBG gives its coaches space to be intuitive. And sometimes this means straying from the blueprint.
Some clients, for example, come in with this pressure of finishing everything on their plate.
“But if you’re not hungry don’t force it,” Coach Butler said of how she gives her clients “permission to listen to their bodies” rather than pushing them to hit a certain number.
On the other hand, sometimes her advice is to tell the client to add an additional serving of carbohydrates if they feel like their body needs it.
The point is, while the CBG program offers structure - what to eat, when to eat and roughly how much - there’s room for real life.
“They’re given a template of what your ideal day should look like, but without the pressure of having to be perfect,” Coach Butler said.
Coach Butler has learned that finding success comes down to reshaping the client’s mindset, an area of coaching she has come to embrace, as she knows mindset is where the real progress happens.
And it’s in this space - talking about mindset during their one-on-one Facetime check-ins - where Coach Butler is able to forge a true connection with her clients.
“When you’re in a gym and coming from being a class coach, you hear about people changing. But [it’s exciting] when you get to watch that a little closer as a nutrition coach and you have people share with you how much their mindset and mentality around nutrition has changed,” she said.
She continued: “Or they tell you how much freedom this has given them in their lives; or how much more confidence that they have in their body. Or that they’re not afraid to eat carbs anymore…In the end, watching their lives transform is the best part of this job.”
And ultimately, that’s why she became a nutrition coach in the first place: to help people get results long-term.
“Whether someone stays with us for 16 weeks, or they stay on for a year or more, our goal is always to help find something they can do for life,” she added.