WAUKESHA — She’s beautiful, brainy and buff. Competing in the Ms. Health & Fitness competition, Britney Baertschy of Waukesha has the chance to be on the cover of Hers magazine and win $20,000.
A worldwide competition, the Ms. Health & Fitness contest field narrows this week to the top person in each group based on votes from the Facebook community. Every vote supports the Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation, which aids families affected by cancer.
“This isn’t just about competition — it’s about impact. My participation helps fuel that mission and create real change beyond the spotlight,” she said.
But she isn’t doing it just for the glory — or even the gym equipment (though that would be nice).
She’s doing it for her daughter, Mila, 5.
“I like to set a good example for my daughter. My goal is to show her how to eat and feel and be strong. Growing up, everyone wanted to be smaller and fit into a certain size. They were yo-yo dieting as teenagers. I’d really love to work on preventing that for my daughter,” Baertschy said.
The dental hygienist’s passion for fitness has been lifelong.
“I was in sports in high school, and I kind of teetered on and off after high school, dabbling in a little bit of different things. And then I would say, probably when I moved out to the Waukesha area, we moved here in 2015, I started finding more online fitness challenges in groups to do stuff through,” she said.
Like many, she found herself feeling uncomfortable in her own skin as she got older. She discovered IdealFit, an online fitness community with challenges that pushed her limits — and she loved it. After attending a retreat with the group, she met other fitness enthusiasts, which inspired her to try CrossFit.
“After that, I ended up finding a CrossFit gym here in Waukesha, and really loved the kind of competition aspect of it. I’m a very competitive person, so that was a lot of fun, and I was there for like seven or eight years or so, but it became a little more challenging when I had kids,” she said.
Baertschy and her husband, Nick, are parents to Mila and Liam, 2.
“That is a schedule-based system, and it didn’t always fit. In 2020, when COVID shut down everything, I ended up investing in myself and getting a little bit of a home gym set up in the garage with normal equipment. That has kind of been my go-to area of working out at home during nap time,” Baertschy said.
Working out at home has become part of her daily routine, and now she can’t imagine skipping a session.
“It’s been really fun to have my daughter join in. She comes out here and mimics doing some of those things,” she said.
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The mom even shared a photo of Mila lifting a very light set of weights while Britney tackled the heavy ones.
How she got shredded
CrossFit helped Britney build intense arm muscle definition. Pairing that with learning how to count macros — the essential nutrients: carbohydrates, proteins, and fats — transformed her fitness.
“Learning to count macros and understanding the value of nutrition with it really made a difference for me. I feel like growing up, you think healthy granola bars or peanut butter toast in the morning is good for you. Then learning more about nutrition as I went through some of these challenges that talked about macros and diving into that,” Baertschy said.
Apps like MyFitnessPal helped her track progress.
“Prior to having kids, and for the last couple of years, I kind of ate intuitively and didn’t pay as much attention, but in the last couple months, I’ve really been trying to hone in on it again now that my 2-year-old is not a baby,” she said.
She typically works out an hour a day, five days a week, though life sometimes gets in the way.
“It’s sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on what life throws at me. That’s kind of what I aim for,” she said.
The payoff ? More energy for her little ones.
“I feel like it’s hard to do it on your own, to come up with a plan by yourself … start small, because once you start to get involved in it, your passion grows for it. You see little changes,” she said.
Nick has recently started his own fitness journey, working out alongside a buddy in the garage.
“Finding someone to do it with you makes it a little easier, or having an online community, somebody to help keep you accountable. I think that’s a big part of fitness,” Baertschy said.
To vote for Baertschy visit https://bit.ly/votebaertschy.
