Fitness & Nutrition Expert
Certifications
- Registered Dietitian – AND
- Certified Personal Trainer – ACSM
- Yoga Instructor – Yoga Alliance
- Kickboxing Instructor – WKA
- CPR/AED/First Aid
- ServSafe Food Manager Certificate
Education
Teachers College – Columbia University
MS, Nutrition and Public Health
Teachers College – Columbia University
Dietetic Internship
Hunter College, CUNY
BS, Nutrition and Food Science
University of Wisconsin – Madison
Meet Colleen
Greetings, Friends! I’m Colleen O’Brien, a Certified Personal Trainer and Registered Dietitian. If you’re visiting my website it’s probably because you’re looking to optimize your health and physical status through diet and exercise, which is mandatory in our fast-paced, competitive world.
Eating healthy and staying physically active can be a challenge as we navigate the stresses of daily life. Your body is a gift and should be treated as something incredibly valuable. This takes time and dedication. But it can be achieved with a plan and expert guidance.
I am pleased to offer you a One-on-One Personal Guidance from a trained professional in the best and latest practices to get in shape, lose and maintain a healthy weight, reduce stress and achieve a life-style that will help you become your best self. I know from personal experience how challenging it can be to change old habits and create new behaviors. I also know how important feeling well and looking fabulous can be to one’s self-esteem. If it was easy everyone would be doing it.
My Story
The wisdom I am offering you comes from a mixture of life lessons and higher education. In high-school I was an all-around athlete. I competed in track and gymnastics, played on the basketball team and was a cheerleader. I started dieting to slim down. All of my crazy dieting led to an unhealthy and negative relationship with food and my body!
My saving grace was that I loved challenging my body. That’s what led me to become a personal trainer. I love seeing how far I can run or how much I can lift or how hard I can kick and punch. Correcting my relationship to diet and nutrition was a challenging process, but I finally achieved that!
Eventually, as a trainer I saw people taking a kickboxing class and realized it was a very effective and fun way to work out. It was love at first kick! And that passion led me to training and competing in the martial art of Muay Thai kickboxing. The strict ‘no food’ diet from my past did not cut it when I started training and preparing for competition. I realized that to perform the way I wanted, I had to eat properly to fuel my workouts.
For me to perform at the highest level I needed to learn how to Eat for Success. In other words, what I should be eating to keep my energy up, keep my lean muscle mass, and lose body fat to make weight for my competitions.
the Plan.
Diets don't work.
Scientific evidence-based practices are the most reliable and give the best long-term results. Diets do not work. Research shows diets promote weight loss and then weight gain because most diets are restrictive and not sustainable. When a diet is restrictive it does not provide all of the necessary daily macro and micronutrient recommendations. The best dietary regimen is to eat a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, lean proteins, multigrains, low-fat dairy, omega-3 rich fish and healthy monounsaturated fats.
The body was made to move.
What is your favorite way to move? Is it running, walking, dancing, gardening, swimming, or maybe stretching? It’s important that you find the type of movement you love and use it in your workout routine. Yes, we should all do some weight training, cardiovascular exercise and stretching but there are so many ways to get the job done and enjoy ourselves along the way.
Everyone needs a plan.
Sounds simple, right? The bottom line is everyone needs a personal regimen to achieve their goals. My job is to help you create the program that will work for you to reach and sustain your lifestyle goals.