Meet Brandi Harris of No Excuses Nutrition

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandi Harris.

Hi Brandi, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Fourteen years ago, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy. It shook me. Three years later, I finally decided to take my health back into my own hands — I started looking at food differently, like everything on my plate could be working against me. I started small, cutting out chicken, which led me to eliminate all meat except seafood, and I added a simple fruit smoothie every morning as a non-negotiable ritual. Within that first year, I felt amazing and the weight started coming off.

A few months in, I started walking every day to deal with anxiety I’d been struggling with — I wanted to find my own way through it instead of relying on medication. On those walks I kept seeing runners go by, and something lit up in me. I started jogging, fell in love with it, and within a year and a half — between the diet changes and the running — I’d lost over 40 pounds.

Around that same time, I was a full-time student at Long Beach City College, then transferred to Cal State Dominguez Hills, where I earned my bachelor’s in Sociology with a minor in Kinesiology. On campus, a coach handed me a flyer for a group workout. I had no idea what group fitness even was — I was strictly a runner. I went anyway, got challenged to a 45-day fitness program, lost another 25 pounds, and fell completely in love with the workout community.

That coach turned out to be an Herbalife distributor, and he invited me to a business opportunity meeting. It clicked immediately — I was a struggling single mom of four (now a grandma of two) always looking for extra income, but more than that, I didn’t want to keep missing time with my kids. This gave me a way to earn while still being present. Eight years later, I’m still an Herbalife distributor and coach, and along the way that path grew into something even more personal: my protein bakery. I’ve always loved baking, and what started as meal prep on the side turned into my baby — proof that healthy food doesn’t have to be bland. You can enjoy something that tastes amazing without wrecking your cholesterol, your blood sugar, or your waistline.

That’s the lifestyle I get to share now, and I don’t take a single day of it for granted.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Has it been a smooth road?

Absolutely not. I faced nearly every obstacle you can think of — commuting from Koreatown to deep in Long Beach with no car, scrambling for childcare more times than I can count. I was fortunate that my campus had a preschool, so my youngest started “school” at three years old right alongside me. On top of that, I was raising teenagers through this entire process — which alone is a full-time job. There were plenty of times I didn’t have the means to cover a bill — a phone bill, a light bill — and any early opportunity to earn extra income went straight to keeping the lights on.

None of it was easy, including the weight loss. Learning to manage it all is what’s gotten me to a better place in life — it’s been consistency and determination that kept me driven and focused the whole way through.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
My most recent venture, the protein bakery, actually started in 2020, right in the peak of the pandemic. It was another way to earn extra income during a time when everyone was stuck at home but still wanted to eat well. Herbalife, being the number one nutrition company in the world, was considered essential — so I was able to keep growing that business while also launching the bakery. My specialty is doughnuts, along with my signature protein cream cheese, which — according to the reviews — people genuinely love.
What sets me apart is that I’m a people person and a go-getter. If I see an opportunity, I take it — opportunities don’t stay on the table long, and once you miss one, it’s gone. I care deeply about the people I work with, and I believe the amount of love and care I put into each individual is what separates me from the average trainer. I’m focused on the value I can bring to someone’s life, not just what I can make from them.
I’m most proud of my resilience — my ability to overcome so much over these past eleven years, learning everything from scratch with no blueprint in my family to follow. I’m the first in my family to earn a bachelor’s degree, the first to open a business like this, the only one who’s actually fit and healthy. I’m setting the tone for the people coming after me, and that means everything to me.
What I want readers to know about my brand is that it’s a people’s brand. I value input, I value people’s opinions on how I can improve, and I apply that feedback whenever I can. I love being of service — showing people they’re loved and cared for, and one of the biggest ways I do that is by feeding them. Food is love. I want to put that love into the world through what I make, because I want people to live long enough to love and appreciate their families just one more day.

Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I’d call myself a risk taker. I’m willing to put things on the line if it means I can grow from it — without risk, you don’t learn, you don’t experience, and you definitely don’t reach new levels of success. Scared money doesn’t make money. You have to invest in yourself, and sometimes that means taking the leap.
Right now I’m in the biggest risk-taking moment of my life — opening my own gym with six other business partners. Building something alone is one thing; building something with seven brains in the room is completely different. You have to collaborate, find common ground, and get everyone on the same page for most of the decisions. It’s the largest single investment I’ve ever made. Every step of it is a growth opportunity, and I believe it’ll make me a better leader, a better business owner, and a better person overall — someone who can take that same discipline and dominate any other area of life. I started several businesses back in college and wasn’t scared of any of them. This one terrifies me, honestly — I think because there are so many lives this one building can impact, and that comes with a different level of responsibility.
But I’m grateful for the risk. I believe everyone should take at least one real risk on themselves in their lifetime — so they can at least say they tried, instead of wondering what would’ve happened if they never did.

Pricing:

• $250 Monthy Nutrition Program
• $500 Monthly Personal Training
• $40 Dozen Donuts

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Fitgrandma_53