Hello! Welcome to YQL Nutrition!

Our mission is to help every single person who works with us achieve “Your Quality Life”, through nutrition and lifestyle coaching, by empowering you to revolutionize your habits, feel confident with your body, and finally find food freedom!

Here’s how and why I fell in love with nutrition coaching:

I have ALWAYS been intrigued about health, nutrition, and fitness; but was truly an uncoordinated and unathletic girl who desperately wanted to be athletic but had no idea how. I spent a lot of time spinning my wheels, trying fad diets, dietary restriction, excessive exercising … nothing seemed to work. I always looked skinny but fluffy, and NOT at all the fit and toned look that I was aspiring to achieve.

SO, in pursuit of this goal,  I decided to go the most extreme route possible and sign up for a bikini competition!
The bikini competition was an amazing experience … it really was. I learned a lot about myself, I proved to myself that I had the discipline and drive to look at a goal and achieve it head-on! After that experience, I was HOOKED on pursuing health and fitness as a lifestyle. BUT I also learned that the bikini competitor lifestyle just wasn’t the road that I wanted to take, as I realized how extremes in diet and exercise weren’t conducive to the lifestyle that I wanted to lead.

Post bikini competition, I  encountered a number of uncomfortable GI issues that I needed to address before attacking any more aesthetic goals. However, I had no idea where to start and knew I needed to turn to someone for help!

Nutrition Coaching Changed My Life

At this point, my husband encouraged me to join a CrossFit class … I was skeptical… but after day one I was hooked – THIS was it! This supportive, fun, and challenging atmosphere was what I yearned for, I was elated to find something my husband and I could do together… but I was still plagued by the desire to FEEL better. I was spending my evenings on the couch in a significant amount of GI distress. SO I decided to take a leap of faith and work one on one with a nutrition coach – this experience literally CHANGED MY LIFE!
During this process I learned:

• Nutrition is NOT just about aesthetics – mindset, GI health, hormone health, stress all play a role
• Feeling better and being healthy is more important than looking lean and feeling exhausted
• Abs are not the pinnacle of health if you feel terrible all the time
• Accountability is a HUGE factor for success.
• Success is WAY MORE than the number on the scale
• You can eat the foods you love and still reach your goals
• A nutrition plan should comprise of habits you intend to adopt as a part of your LIFESTYLE, rather than a short-term approach that you start/stop

Since then I have immersed myself in learning about all things nutrition, I have taken multiple certifications, worked with nutrition and business mentors, and have been working with my own clients for years.
I am now living my quality life, with my husband and our two beautiful sons. We now own a CrossFit gym, and are teaching others to live a life of happiness, fitness, and healthy lifestyle habits.
I feel so grateful to be helping others achieve their health and fitness goals, and I am so excited to help YOU live “Your Quality Life”

Here’s how and why I fell in love with nutrition coaching:

The woman I am now is living a balanced life practicing moderation. However, this was not where I started. I always wanted to be healthy as a teenager and young adult, but, I never knew quite what to do. With so much information out there, I felt overwhelmed, which put me off to committing to any goals. I played sports all of my life- competitive rugby, swimming, and soccer. When I entered nursing school and quit playing high school sports, I found my body changing as I didn’t know how to stay athletic without sports.

Then I lost my dad, and I did nothing for my body, if anything, I took out my emotions on it- I drowned my grief in endless bottles of wine and pizza. I did not exercise; I simply didn’t have the energy or motivation to. So, I turned to what I had read online, or in magazines. Enter endless hours of cardio and eating 1100-1200 calories/day. I, like many women, thought this was the answer. I felt like I couldn’t eat fun foods unless I “earned it”. Yet the scale said what j thought I always wanted it to. I was 110 lbs. Surely I was skinny enough, right? Yet, I did not have the “toned look” I was aiming for. I could barely open a door. I was tired, cranky, and wondering why I wasn’t getting the results I wanted.

Nutrition Coaching Changed My Life

So, I hired a nutrition coach to help guide me, and I began to set goals that were much deeper than achieving a scale weight. I began to reflect on my why, my purpose, and what a balanced lifestyle meant to ME. What I believe and preach now as a coach:

You can work out to see what your body can do, not how many calories it can burn Being healthy is about balance and creating space for more in life than dieting and striving for a number on a scale Being active is not just about physique changes, it can allow you to: dance with your fiancé, comfortably squat down to provide care for a labouring mom, chase after your dogs, play drop-in sports.

Habit formation and lifestyle change will do wonders for you, even if it isn’t “in trend”. It is my character, my confidence, and my energy that will impact others, not my physical appearance. I show up as the best version of myself when I am properly fueled by nutritious foods.

This came with education- with hiring a coach and asking for help, and then completing nutrition certifications so that I can help others. I am now living my quality life, which is rooted in balance, moderation, and longevity. This is the reason I am so passionate about nutrition coaching, as I see so many individuals at some stage in their own journey- we each have one!

I, like Robyn, am so grateful for the opportunity to help others achieve their health and lifestyle goals, and would love to hear how I can help YOU achieve “your quality life”!