Meet Carrie Moody of Fit Balance Nutrition

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carrie Moody.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Carrie. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
My love for nutrition and fitness started at a young age. I was always an active child, playing soccer and softball, taking dance classes, and always being outside on my bike. I became a vegetarian at the age of 13 and remained one until I was pregnant with my second daughter in my early twenties.

As a young girl, like many young girls, I struggled with body image. I never truly felt comfortable in my own skin and spent years and years trying to achieve the perfect body, trying every diet and workout known to mankind. This continued throughout early adulthood.

During that time, I used exercise to push myself to the point of exhaustion, thinking that was the only way I could ever truly be successful in my workouts. I also had an unhealthy relationship with food and soon found myself battling depression and anxiety.

In college, I obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice & Criminology from Arizona State University. My goal was to work in federal law enforcement and hunt down the really bad guys… but another lifelong goal came first. I got married and started a family, and that became my priority.

During this time, I started working for a local law enforcement agency as I raised my young family. I never felt 100% satisfied with my work though. My struggles with depression and anxiety continued, and soon I started to research ways to take my health into my own hands.

After seeing an integrative medicine practitioner, my life changed. I started to explore using nutrition as fuel for my body and started using exercise to feel better, not to achieve any sort of aesthetic expectations. I started to develop a better understanding of good nutrition and exercise and how it played a role in my mood, energy, and overall well-being.

After eight years in a job I did not love, I decided to return to school to pursue a second degree in nutrition and dietetics.

Has it been a smooth road?
It certainly was not a smooth road. For many years I felt stuck in a career I hated, and that was something that brought on even more anxiety for me. With the support of my husband to pursue a career I know I was meant to be in, I realized returning to school in my thirties was much more difficult than I had anticipated.

I now had more life experience under my belt, but I also had so much more responsibility. I had four kids to care for and a hell of a lot more homework. Can we just talk about how organic chemistry almost made me give up altogether? Whew, I hated that class!

But I somehow did it. I graduated with honors and soon after completed my dietetic internship, then passed my RD exam and now I am working in my dream job. The next struggle I faced is highly debatable among new dietitians starting out in their careers.

I started my private practice and began working for myself right after obtaining my license. Of course, the struggles of becoming an entrepreneur/ business owner were there, but I have slowly been building my practice and am comfortable with the pace at which it has been growing.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Fit Balance Nutrition – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
When I first started out in private practice, I focused mainly on meal prep. I accidentally stumbled into that area when several of my husband’s co-workers would ask him to convince me to prep their lunches each week, just as I did for him.

I felt this was an opportunity for me to educate others on how to prep healthy meals for themselves so they could stay on track with their health goals.

So I started offering private meal prep lessons. My goal was to share my step-by-step process and teach others to do the same in their own kitchen each week. Word of mouth helped gain a lot of momentum for my business through this service. I have a tried and true process that works for me and certainly can work for others.   

As my business expanded, I started seeing more clients for one-on-one and group nutrition coaching. I generally work with busy moms and women who want to feed their families healthy meals, feel energized, strong, and happy, but who need a little guidance along the way.

I work with gyms and fitness studios to develop and implement nutrition programming for their members and trainers. It is so important to have a licensed nutrition professional providing evidence-based nutrition information to clients in these facilities.

I also offer meal planning subscriptions with a customized nutrition prescription for anyone who is looking to get on the path to healthy eating for themselves and/or their families. My nutrition philosophy doesn’t include restricting certain food groups. I believe that finding a healthy balance in what you eat and how you live day to day is the most realistic and healthiest approach to finding wellness.

Teaching clients how about realistic meal planning, learning to put together well-balanced meals, and finding mindful movement each day is a game-changer, and I have loved sharing this education to help others better their lives.

I think my personal experiences have brought me to better understand my clientele, and my education and knowledge of nutrition and physical fitness have made me better able to connect the dots for them to achieve a happy, healthy lifestyle.

What are you striving for, what criteria or markers have you set as indicators of success?
For me, success doesn’t mean making millions of dollars… although I certainly wouldn’t complain about it. I’m not in this career to get rich. I genuinely want to help others achieve optimal health through good nutrition and movement in their bodies. The greatest marker of success is someone telling me how much they have noticed improvements in their general health and well-being after working with me.

In my personal life, I feel success is measured in joy. I want to achieve my goals, have a thriving business, balance family life with being an entrepreneur, but I need to feel happiness and joy and purpose while doing it. That means continuing to pay attention to taking time to feel well in my own personal life while helping others learn to do the same.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.fitbalancenutrition.com
• Email: fitbalancenutrition@gmail.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/fitbalancenutrition_rd   
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/fitbalancenutrition

Image Credit:
The headline photo and the first two below are by Holly Azouz.
The next 3 are Emily Piraino Photography/ West Valley Mom’s Blog, and the last is just mine.

Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.