Exploring Emotional Eating, Fitness, and the Power of Why with Nabat Sherif
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Young Women in Business Toronto (YWiB) aims to provide our diverse community of young, self-identified women with genuine career advice, encouragement, and examples of local role models. That's why, for the next few months, we’ll be interviewing both career professionals and entrepreneurs our community can be inspired by and learn from.
Nabat Sherif, Founder of Fit Foundations
Nabat, tell us a bit about yourself!
I'm a certified personal trainer and online fitness coach, based in Toronto. My own personal fitness journey inspired my career as a coach. I'm passionate about making the fitness space accessible for Muslim women and women of colour.
I'm also an entrepreneur and have my own personal training and coaching business where I offer in-person training, virtual training, and online coaching.
Last year you launched Fit Foundations, your online coaching program. What have you learned so far about yourself and owning your own business?
Prior to launching my online coaching program, I was a freelance personal trainer for four years. The travelling from client to client, gym to gym, and having to turn clients away became less than desirable so I decided to try online coaching. In my first year I learned a few major lessons about owning my own business:
1. Invest in Your Business
Since this was a new arena for me I decided to hire a business coach. I spent 3 months working with Morgan McNinch in her Wifi Warrior business coaching program. This was the best business decision because Wifi Warriors and Morgan's coaching taught me everything I needed to know to build, market, and launch my service. Initially feeling like an expense, I realized it was a massive investment in myself and my business.
2. Build a Team
I also learned that launching a business takes a lot of time and effort. Fit Foundations was a passion project for me, but after a year of doing everything myself I realized I needed help. So I hired a virtual assistant. Setting up systems and processes was a huge help with this transition. In hiring a virtual assistant I decided to work with a client of mine that showed great potential and understood how I worked and what my needs were. There are several VA services out there, I'd suggest working with someone you trust and understands and aligns with you business' core values.
3. Set Boundaries
Boundary setting is something I learned is really important and is something I still work on daily. Without boundaries for myself and my business I end up working insane hours and never really get time off. Setting business hours and scheduling time off has helped immensely.
4. Stay in Your Lane
It's easy to get caught up in what others are doing in their business, which can make you feel like you're falling behind or not doing enough. Put your blinders up and focus on what your unique clients are looking for. Your clients and audience are there for a reason. They are following you and working with you because they connect with you as a person.
Continue to be authentic and show up for your community as you with no pressure of being someone you're not.
What makes your approach to fitness coaching unique?
My approach to fitness is unique because I focus on functional training and sustainable habits. I work with my clients to help improve their mobility, increase their strength, reduce risk of injury, and help them feel confident in their bodies. I educate my clients on how to make healthy food choices based on the foods they have access to and enjoy eating. I don't believe in diets or meal plans. My goal with all my clients is that they develop the tools they need to live a sustainable and healthy lifestyle.
In an interview for Women’s Health Magazine earlier this year, you spoke about your personal struggle with emotional eating—something that is more common than we think. How did this issue impact your personal and professional life? How did you overcome/are you working to overcome emotional eating?
Emotional eating for me has always been something I've struggled with. It's usually the primary reason for my weight fluctuations. Being faced with this struggle helps me relate to my audience and clients. I use everything I've learned from my experience in my coaching.
I've realized since Covid-19 many of us have found ourselves eating emotionally. Some strategies to use to overcome this struggle are:
Identifying triggers - being aware of triggers helps with staying in control.
Working through it - evaluating the reasons for the emotions and working on resolving the issue. Working with a coach, therapist or other professional helps with this.
Having a different outlet - replacing non-essential eating with a more productive activity, e.g., exercise, journaling, meditation, therapy/talking with someone you trust.
Healthy swaps - replacing unhealthy foods with healthier alternatives.
Thank you for sharing that important advice, especially as we go through the pandemic! On social media, Instagram especially, we are often inundated with content about how to tune our appearance, diet, and lose weight. Over time, ‘fitspo culture’ may make many of us feel discouraged and less confident about our bodies. What is your approach to helping clients think about health, fitness, and caring for their bodies?
I'll be honest, on occasion I fall victim to this as well. My approach to helping myself and my clients is by reminding and reinforcing the belief that everybody is unique and that being grateful for being healthy is far more important than achieving an "ideal" body.
I work with clients to help them discover the best version of themselves, not what society says they should look like.
Given the ups and downs of life during a pandemic, do you have any tips for prioritizing exercise and nutrition?
My biggest tip is to be kind to yourself. This means not putting too much pressure on yourself and focusing on things that make you feel good. You can do this by incorporating daily movement for 30 min, e.g., walking outdoors, yoga/stretching, bodyweight strength training, etc.
Also, give yourself time and space to adjust to life as it is. Many of us are now working from home which has drastically reduced the amount of movement we engage in and has also disrupted our routines. Reestablish your work/life routine and you'll be able to find time for movement.
As for nutrition, an easy way to stay healthy is to incorporate more greens in your meals and drink more water. It's simple but these small changes can make a huge difference over time.
Read more on Nutrition! YWiB Role Model Interviews: Keren Chen on standing out and staying healthy
In addition to fitness and nutrition, it’s important for us to check in with your mental health. The events of this year have really taken a toll on us mentally and emotionally, often leaving us feeling drained. Prioritizing mental health and self-care is an important way for us to not only navigate the trials of this year, but take better care of our overall health and make us more resilient.
Connect with Nabat: Instagram Online Coaching Program
My name is Nabat Sherif, I am a certified personal trainer and online fitness coach. I developed a passion for health and fitness through my own journey.I now share that passion by helping women reclaim their health and become fit in a sustainable way. As a hijabi fitness professional I’m a huge advocate for making the fitness space accessible and comfortable for muslim women and women of colour. I believe all women should be able to enjoy movement, build strength and empower themselves through fitness.