Our lives are busy. As a woman, you may be constantly juggling between making careers, maintaining hobbies and a social life or doing household chores while being busy with your children and everything else. Still, a healthy lifestyle doesn’t have to take away a lot of time. Nasrien had a talk with Sabrine Zarti, founder of the new platform PersonalFit. Discover how this platform can help you.
For those who need an extra push to change their lives positively, Sabrine Zarti has launched a brand new concept: PersonalFit. You don’t have to go to the dietician or hire a personal trainer anymore, you can consult them online.
“It doesn’t take much time to start a healthy lifestyle. But, it’s pretty hard to start the process of a healthy lifestyle.”
The Interview with Sabrine Zarti
Sabrine, how did you come up with the idea?
The idea comes from my own experience and has gradually grown. About three years ago I felt uncomfortable in my own skin. At that time I visited a dietician who gave me insight into nutrition and healthy living. When I first became a mother a year and a half ago, my life became even busier than before. I wanted to make a career, be the perfect mother and while still being healthy and eating fresh food and doing sports. I searched for inspiration online to make combining easier but eventually found I was googling more than anything else.
Because of what I experienced, I suddenly realized that a lot of other busy women are going through the same thing. In between all those activities you suddenly have to take some time off (or find a babysitter) to visit a dietician or a personal trainer. My idea started to take more and more shape, without me realizing it.
Although my visit to a specialist was the best I ever could have done, I also thought about the “loss of time” due to traffic jams and the often (too high) cost of a personal trainer, or not finding a babysitter. With PersonalFit I want to do something about that. I want to motivate other women not to postpone living a healthier life anymore because it is too difficult. And a healthier life isn’t just about being tighter or losing kilos. More importantly, answers to questions like:
– How does my body work?
– Which foods contain a lot of nutrients and which ones do not?
– How do I find the balance?
The focus of a healthy lifestyle is focused no longer on the kilos, but on a nutritious and healthy life. I noticed that when I gave my body what it needed, I started to feel much better about myself. Not only physically, but mentally as well. When I went to the gym, I wasn’t focussing on what I could do better or how many abs I already had, but I focused on how I felt. The pressure was off and I felt freer. You just want to be the best version of yourself and that’s what I want to achieve with PersonalFit.
How can anyone change her lifestyle?
A healthy lifestyle doesn’t come overnight. But you do notice that you gradually start to feel strong and better. For me it took about two years before I realised what I needed to feel good. During my pregnancy I was first much more concerned with the kilos. From the moment I gave birth, I had other things on my mind. I had to be healthy for my daughter. So the focus was on a healthy way of life and a healthy diet. I even lost the pregnancy kilos after 6-9 months, without being awake.
At that time I was still working at my previous job and I wasn’t happy there anymore. Because I was so busy researching what made me feel good, I noticed it was time for something else. The energy I put into building PersonalFit helped me with that. And look, now it’s launched.
And it looks beautiful! What can we expect from PersonalFit?
Actually, you should see it as a platform aimed at busy women who want to have a healthy or healthier lifestyle. Everyone tries to achieve that differently, of course. For example, some people have been working on it for a while, but are looking for some inspiration, others have to start from scratch and are looking for guidance. That is why we have developed two different formulas.
The first is InspirationalFit. That is for the more advanced. They don’t need motivation, but they do need inspiration and that is what you’ll find on our website. There is a library with work out inspiration and healthy recipes that take less than half an hour to prepare. Because if we’re honest, hardly anyone has time to stand in the kitchen for three hours to prepare a healthy meal. It’s all really healthy and the calories are listed per dish so you can be sure how much you’re getting in per meal.
For example, I made a healthy chocolate cake with dates. Everything went first in the blender, then in the oven. It took a couple of minutes to prepare it and it was super tasty. I also work a lot with frozen vegetables, for example, then you don’t waste any time cutting all those vegetables and they are as nutritious as fresh vegetables. That’s what we want to show above all: a recipe really shouldn’t be difficult to be tasty and healthy. And with all those recipes, tips & tricks on the website, it’s guaranteed that everything you eat is nutritious.
What if you have to start from scratch and you have no idea where to start?
That is where the second formula is for, MotivationalFit. There you can choose between a trajectory of 6 months or 8 months.
Here you will be guided to a healthier lifestyle by certified dieticians and as an option, you can also be accompanied by a Personal Trainer while exercising. The advantage here is that everything happens online. You’ll have frequent online sessions with your dietician and a Q and A will be recorded: you can ask any questions you have.
That’s where the PersonalFit app comes in handy too. Imagine you are in the shop and you have 7 kinds of jars of peanut butter. Then you can take a picture and send it to your dietician via the app. This way she can give you advice on which jar to buy. How cool is that?
Is PersonalFit for everyone?
The dieticians & personal trainers who work for PersonalFit are the same target group as the group we want to appeal to. They are mainly women with a busy life who sometimes have a hard time finding time to cook healthily and exercise enough. Because they belong to the target group themselves, they can help in a better and more targeted way.
Sabrine launched the PersonalFit platform today. You can find all the info on MyPersonalFit.be. And remember to not be so hard on yourself. It’s okay to not always feel 100%.
“I also have hormone fluctuations, or sometimes eat a little too much, and sometimes I have an irresistible urge for chocolate. But I’ve learned to just accept that. Ok, I ate too much, so be it? Or I feel bad for a day? Tomorrow is another day and I will try again.”
