"Marja is the best! I love Marja, she has helped me lose weight, build my confidence and feel good about myself during this keto journey. She is really sweet and very knowledgeable. She can relate to you and helps you through this journey with a lot of passion and heart. I totally recommend her 100 times!"
Hi, I'm Marja
I'm a Registered Holistic Nutritionist (RHN), Functional Diagnostic Practitioner (FDN-P), a Personal Trainer, and a CRAZY Dog Lover!
I grew up playing every sport imaginable, with an emphasis in soccer. Playing sports created my identity, passion and competitive drive!
At age 13 I noticed I was gaining weight, so I started going to the gym and lifting weights. Although I loved exercising, I slowly became obsessed with my weight and everything I ate.
I began excessively calorie counting, diet pills, and taking extreme measures to weigh a certain number on the scale.
This behaviour lead to having an eating disorder and disordered eating throughout my entire adolescence into my early 20's.
My Story
In my 20's I started creating a healthier relationship with food and exercise through education and working with different mentors and coaches.
My original career choice was to become a high school gym teacher since physical activity had been one of my biggest passions growing up. I began working towards a Bachelors degree in Physical Education and Coaching. Throughout my program I naturally became a personal trainer.
From all the years of crash dieting and restrictive eating I faced a lot of digestive problems and hormonal issues that I wanted to find answers to. I was tired of doctors telling me to just "cook my vegetables and take a pill" without explaining the WHY and uncovering the real imbalance.
The nutrition courses I took in college and university looked at food as energy and numbers, not as medicine. I wanted to learn more about nutritional therapy, so that I could heal and support my OWN body from within.
I very soon discovered my real PASSION was on holistic health and nutrition. I was fascinated how food could change the body on a cellular level and the complexity of the digestive system. So I changed career paths and became a Registered Holistic Nutritionist in 2012.
Body Building
In 2014 I entered my first fitness competition, in the bikini category. I was attracted to the hard work and discipline that came along with the sport and to be completely honest, I wanted to see how ripped I could get by following a specific protocol.
I have competed in 5 federations such as the INBF, IDFA, NPAA, BCABBA and FMF. I received my pro card in the IDFA –International Drug Free Association in the bikini category in November 2015.
Although I LOVED the training and seeing my body transform, the sport triggered my past disordered eating to come back, not to mention body dysmorphia.
I reverted back to extreme calorie counting, tracking every ounce of food I ate (like a psycho) weighing food, and once again I became obsessed with the number on the scale and my physical appearance.
I was so caught up in the industry I didn’t realized how it was affecting my mental health. I ultimately came to the realization that fitness competitions where too taxing on my soul that I needed to give up the sport.
The Breakdown that lead to the Breakthrough
From 2014- 2016 (post bodybuilding competitions) my weight was constantly fluctuating and I was really struggling with my body image. My mental and emotional well-being was at all time low. Food was controlling my entire life (yet again).
I was hoping from diet to diet trying find anything that would work.
I felt lost, frustration and had a lot of shame and guilt on how I couldn't change my behaviour and get my relationship with food under control (especially as nutritionist).
In the fall of 2016 I realized I couldn't continue living my life on this dieting rollercoaster. As a last resort I attempted to do a ketogenic diet (since I had done everything else). I had been terrified of eating fat for my entire life, so this wasn't an easy decision to make.
I had so many limiting beliefs around the ketogenic diet, especially coming from the bodybuilding space. You are told you "need" to eat carbs!
Even in university and studying to be a holistic nutritionist, you are taught that a "healthy diet" is high in carbs.
So, I was ultimately going against everything I studied in school and what I practiced myself.
But I knew intuitively I had to make a real change, one that would hopefully last so that I could break this toxic pattern.
So I took the plunge and dove head first into the high fat world.
My Purpose
Beginning my Ketogenic journey in 2016 was a shockingly beautiful experience.
Full disclosure it took 6 months for me to figure out what worked for my body and design my version of keto.
In time eating high fat kept me feeling full and provided this new (better) type of energy.
From body building competitions and crash dieting I had lost my period (amenorrhea). So eating keto I was able to get my period back.
I was able to reset my hunger hormones, and regulate my appetite, so food wasn't constantly on our mind.
The most beautiful discovery was I was finally able to stabilize my weight and create a healthy relationship with food and myself for the first time in my entire life.
That is when realized, that SO many women struggle with this exact same problem.
I starting looking for ways that I could take what I learned, what I knew worked, and what I thought could be improved to create a program that could specifically help WOMEN benefit from this style of eating.
I set out to design a program that embodied all aspect of health nutrition, mindset, movement and spirituality.
To prevent women from both making the same painful mistakes I made throughout my own journey and to get results, but ones that actually last.
And that is why the Fat Fuelled Female Method was created!
The Power of Functional Labs
Nutrition is Powerful AF.
Yet, my healing journey didn't stop there. Sorting out my gut issues, digestion, hormones, mineral status and more...
I needed to see what the heck, was going on INSIDE my body, and that is where functional labs SHINE.
If I had known about functional lab testing earlier – it could have spared me sleepless nights and moments of discomfort and uncertainty.
My journey wasn't just about nutrition; it was about embracing nutrition and functional lab testing to provide me with a comprehensive plan based on my Biology!
These tests weren't just revelations; they were the key to productivity and FINALLY getting answers to symptoms and why I felt the way I did!
With this knowledge, I crafted my signature program LabFit Nutrition.
Were we stop relying on symptoms alone and get to the root cause!
Let's TEST and not GUESS, and see exactly what is going on in your unique body!
Book a Call!Education & Certifications
- Sports Science Diploma
- Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner (FDN-P)
- Registered Holistic Nutritionist (RHN)
- Yoga Instructor (200h)
- Yin Yoga (70h)
- Registered Personal Trainer (BCRPA)
- Certified Pre/Post Natal
- Certified Sports Nutritional Advisor
- Certified Twist Conditioning
- NCCP Certificate Olympic Weightlifting
- Certified First Aid/CPR
- Crossfit Level 1
- Bachelors Health Science (4th Year)
- Group Fitness (Canfit Pro)
