“I’m a 50 year old Crossfit athlete. And I lived with an eating disorder for 35 years. After I got into recovery with my ED, I realized that my challenging relationship with food was not helping me fuel properly for my workouts and definitely not fueling my body’s recovery afterward. I tentatively attended a workshop that Amy gave at my Crossfit affiliate, and after hearing her speak about the very simple basics of fueling your body, I knew I could learn comfortably from her. Amy listened to my needs and listened attentively to my concerns. She and I worked TOGETHER to create small goals that I could work on at my own pace. She gathered feedback at every meeting and adjusted my plan accordingly. She helped me re-learn about what my body NEEDS to perform in my daily life and during my workouts. She made sure that I understood what she was teaching and how to apply it. And through all of it, she was incredibly supportive and always available for questions or even a pep talk if needed. Amy is very knowledgeable, realistic and easy to work with and I would HIGHLY recommend her for ANY type of nutrition assistance you are looking for. She is highly capable of meeting the needs whether you are a beginner, a weekend athlete, a competitor, or a 50 year old who needed to re-learn the basics. ”
“Amy has provided a way for my husband and I to value making quality food, but not spend the whole weekend doing it. We receive weekly emails of nutritious meal plans which include nutrition information that informs how he plans his macros. This is a huge bonus and a great time saver! I appreciate that Amy makes sure our meals are in season and we can pronounce each ingredient :) Thanks for fueling our bodies and saving us time Amy!”
“I came to Amy because I noticed I was fatiguing quickly in my workouts. I was in the best shape I had been in in a long time, but I was having trouble improving my fitness and knew that I needed to adjust my diet if I wanted to see any further progress. Amy was able to structure a meal plan for me that was both manageable and attainable, and since working with her I have felt a better balance in energy throughout the day and during my workouts. She also gave me great options for healthier snacks that are both easy to make and delicious!
I also mentioned to Amy that I had a HUGE sweet tooth that wasn’t likely to go away and wanted to find healthier alternatives to the sweets I had been eating. She said we were going work on resolving my sweet cravings entirely, to which I laughed and said “good luck.” Less than a week later, my cravings were completely gone. I still find it hard to believe at times, but it’s been over a month and I continue to feel like I have complete control over my diet.
I feel like it can be a little intimidating to have someone analyze your diet and tell you what you should or shouldn’t be doing, but Amy was approachable and never once made me feel uncomfortable. She is incredibly knowledgeable and an absolute delight to work with!”
Hi there. I'm Don, a 60-year-old marathon runner. Now faster & fitter, thanks to Amy. She's good! I highly recommend her.
OK, let me back up a bit.
I was a serious runner in my 20's, having run track and cross country in high school. Average to good, no great talent, but not bad. At age 30, I ran my 8th marathon, finishing in 3:14, my fastest time. Mind you, it took 6 years--and marathons--to improve that much. My first 26.2 was a disaster: insufficiently trained, went out too fast, hot day, didn't drink enough…you know the rest. Marathon #2, a year later, was a respectable--and fun-- 3:32. Therefore, 6 more tries to finish 18 minutes faster, a respectable gain.
But life got in the way (as they say) and I stopped running. Then, somehow--LOTS of water under the bridge--I looked ahead and could see the Big Six-Oh, still a year away, but looking dangerously close. I headed out the door on my 59th birthday and 6 months later ran the Portland marathon again, a momentous occasion, after half a lifetime. (Portland lets you customize your racing bib; mine said "#9 at 59.") The weather alone was memorable: a pouring rain for 26.2 miles and, adding further insult, a goof-up at the start of the race meant that most of us ran an extra half-mile, making it the Portland "Ultra."
Thanks for indulging me on Memory Lane. Here's where Amy enters the picture and things get interesting.
On October 29th, 2017, I finished my 11th marathon, improving a full 23 minutes from #10, only 5 months and change earlier. Thanks, Amy!
Oh, you want details?
I ran into Amy (so to speak) in the protein bar aisle at Rosauers, a couple of weeks or so before the Windermere marathon, a little jaunt from Liberty Lake to downtown Spokane. We talked running for a bit, she gave me her card, and we went our separate ways. The run went OK, although heat was a bit of a factor, and I did improve from Portland…but I was still a bit disappointed. I thought I could do better!
That's when I looked over Amy's services and signed up for 6 sessions with her. If you're considering her, you know what she offers, and I won't go into it.
Let me give you my take on what she did for me.
The nutritional counseling was good, but my diet was already mostly there. As Amy told me, "You have a very un-American diet, Don." Still, the tweaks she gave me were worthwhile, particularly in regards to upping my protein intake.
But the 15-week training program she prepared for me (the time I had to get ready for Boise), aah, now THAT was a big deal. I thought I pretty much knew what I was doing, having had coaches in high school and all, but there isn't a snowball's chance that I would have come up with what she gave me. Two rest days, Wednesday and Sunday. Left to my own devices, I would have run 6, maybe even 7. I credit her hill and track workouts, most of all, for my improvement. The variations she gave me, in speed, distance, etc., were nothing that I ever would have come up with on my own. And I wouldn't have done so many long runs. I would have trained hard, maybe even too hard, but not nearly so smart.
Most of all, though, I give her credit for her encouragement, her enthusiasm, her prompt replies to my weekly training updates and whatnot, and her willingness to tweak the program. "I think it's a great idea to race the Sandpoint Scenic Half, Don!" Plus meeting with her to go over form on strength exercises, checking on how I was holding up, and making a plan for Boise. I'm hardly fast anymore; we decided that 4:45 was a reasonable goal to shoot for.
It worked. I managed to squeeze an extra minute and a half out of my legs during miles 25 & 26 and finished in exactly 4:45. Goal achieved! I even won my age group, finishing abut 8 minutes ahead of the 2nd place old guy. In only 15 weeks, no less, and I'm already looking ahead to #12 next spring. And I'm eyeing next summer's Iron Man 70.3, most likely with Amy's help, once again. While that remains to be seen--I haven't even been in a pool in decades--it's nice to think that I can probably still shave more time off of my 26.2 milers. It appears that, with the right help, old dogs can indeed learn new tricks. I wholeheartedly recommend Amy to help you get the best out of your bod, whoever you are, and however old you are.
It's probably unnecessary to mention, but I'm not, say, Amy's uncle or business associate or whatever. And neither did she ask for this endorsement; I brought it up myself.
— Don C
“I always knew that I needed to eat better: that my diet was affecting how I felt, my productivity, as well as my long term health. I had several decent attempts at changing my fast-food scarfing habits, but none of them ever took. I reached out to Amy and after just our first session, I felt armed and prepared to finally execute and embrace lasting change in my diet. Her approachability, knowledge, and clarity of instruction were all instrumental in me making positive changes to my diet. I didn’t know I could feel as good while training harder than I ever have in the gym. Meeting with and listening to Amy was the turning point in my journey to lasting positive change in my nutrition.”
“I loved working with Amy to improve my eating habits. She is extremely knowledgeable, and she truly cares about her clients. She takes the time to evaluate a person’s diet down to the tiniest of nutrients, and then she suggests way to improve from there. She listened to my goals and provided tools that I use every day. She has a very wholistic approach to food, and she wants her clients to thrive. Thanks, Amy!
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