Sober and Strong - Sober Club Trained Coach Nia ThomasSober and Strong - Sober Club Trained Coach Nia Thomas
Alcohol Free Life - Janey Lee Grace
Host Janey Lee Grace talks with coach Nia Thomas about how quitting alcohol transformed Nia’s confidence, fitness and sense of self. Their discussion focuses on grey area drinking, stalled gym progress and the new purpose Nia found in supporting other women through sober coaching.
47:33•18 Sept 2026
From Cloudy to Clarity: Fitness, Sobriety and Finding Real Strength
Episode Overview
- Alcohol can quietly erode confidence and self-worth even without a dramatic rock bottom.
- Regular workouts and healthy eating are often undermined by drinking, empty calories and poor sleep.
- Quitting alcohol can dramatically reduce anxiety and increase energy, making fitness gains finally possible.
- Lived experience support from sober coaches and communities helps break the belief that "it’s just me".
- Midlife can be a powerful time to reshape life, health and purpose by removing alcohol.
“"This version, I don’t think she’s ever existed. It’s really exciting because I genuinely feel like this is who I should be."”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This conversation between host Janey Lee Grace and Sober Club trained coach Nia Thomas shows exactly that, with a big focus on both emotional and physical strength. Janey kicks off by speaking directly to anyone who has quit drinking, is on day one, or is simply fed up of "drinking more than they want to".
She shares recent media stories around alcohol, including Anne Robinson’s admission of an "appalling drink problem" and the heavy shame that came with it, using these examples to underline how normalised drinking still is – and how damaging that message can be. Nia then steps in with her story, under the name Cloudy to Clarity.
She talks about growing up in a glamorous, drink‑fuelled RAF social scene, starting alcohol at 13, and using it as a confidence tool through university, corporate banking lunches and motherhood. On the outside she was "the healthy one" – gym‑going, water‑drinking, into wellness – but inside she battled anxiety, harsh self‑talk and secret shame about her drinking.
A key turning point came during lockdown when she had seven months alcohol‑free and later read Janey’s book *Happy Healthy Sober*: "It was the title… happy, healthy, sober. I’m like, yes, that’s who I want to be." She describes realising that her rock bottom wasn’t a dramatic event, but the way she spoke to herself and how tiny her world had become.
Now, in her 50s, Nia says she is the fittest she has ever been and feels "this version… is who I should be." She works with fitness‑focused women who work out hard but keep hitting a wall because of their drinking, and she’s passionate about naming the "bloody great elephant in the room" between alcohol and stalled progress.
If you’re stuck in that loop of gym, wine, guilt and repeat, this chat might be the nudge that makes you ask: what could your strength look like alcohol‑free?
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