Leah Peters is a leading nutrition and fitness expert, and former award-winning bodybuilder who kickstarted her booming career in the online coaching space almost a decade ago.
Like many successful entrepreneurs in the online space, her career initially started out on Instagram as a way to motivate herself and others to stay healthy and lose unwanted weight. It turns out that was the birth of her career, brand, and business without her even realizing it.
“Simply sharing my love and curiosity for health and fitness turned into my dream job”
The line between balance and obsession: nutrition and fitness expert weighs in
As a teenager and young athlete, Leah struggled with restrictive eating habits and obsessive exercise.
“I felt pressure to be the slimmest, fittest member on the team or in my circle, even though it was self-created pressure.
Then, a major injury took me out of all sports, so I turned to bodybuilding as a way to expend my energy, stay fit, and de-stress. I found myself meeting a few people who competed in bodybuilding competitions and decided to give it a shot in the “bikini” division. After 12 weeks of rigorous preparation and winning my first competition, I was captivated by this new world of fitness and competition. I then went on to compete in several shows for the next 5 years, including winning the Europa Games Expo and competing at Junior NPC Nationals.”
While competing in dozens of competitions earned Leah the title of “sponsored athlete” and gave her the opportunity to coach others, her mental health suffered from endless dieting and pressure to be the “fittest”. She recognized that she had once again fallen into the unhealthy habits of her past and decided it would be the last time she let fitness control her life.
“This moment was a turning point for me. I no longer wanted to be obsessed with my body and food. I wanted to feel balanced again, and not have to work out for 2 hours a day while counting every calorie.”
Weight loss, fitness, and health is far more than just a numbers game
The road to rebuilding a healthy and positive relationship with food and her body was more difficult and lengthy than Leah had anticipated.
“When I no longer had to follow a diet, I didn’t know how to eat what I actually wanted without over or under doing it. My whole perception of food was wrecked from years of dieting only for looks and performance. It took about 2 years of counseling and gaining 20 pounds to finally get my body and mind to a place where I felt truly healthy (mentally and hormonally) again. Despite what people often think, weighing less does not always equal being healthier.”
When asked how her personal journey has affected her coaching style, Leah says, “Every sport, every diet, every injury, and every mistake I’ve made along my own health journey has allowed me to provide my clients with authentic, evidence-based advice that is irreplaceable. Now, I focus a lot on mindset coaching, because you can learn every fat loss technique and every muscle building workout in the book, but until your mind is in the right place, fitness will always be an uphill battle.”
The secret to lasting weight loss success
“There’s a lot of inner-healing and soul-work involved in successful weight loss. Most of us have old stories about our capabilities, habits, and bodies that have to be completely re-written in order to create lasting transformation, and that’s what I guide my clients through. Weight loss is not just a numbers game, it’s a mental game, and when you win the latter, anything is possible. There’s a fine line that I think many people walk between getting too obsessed with fitness and being too relaxed, so I strive to teach my clients how to solidify positive and sustainable health habits.”
Leah’s coaching philosophy is simple, “I want people to see what they are capable of. I want my clients to see that they can do really hard things, and they can succeed”. It’s evident from Leah’s content on her Instagram page that education and self-development are intentionally weaved into every service.