“Noting that I am 41 Y.old, and I had followed up with many many coaches, You are a unique coach in designing the sets, techniques, and, simultaneously, adding the curiosity waiting for the following sessions' routine and aiming to place better numbers/results.
The nutrition part handled by Nadine, too, is impressive as she is so supportive and taught me how to be in good shape without being harsh or dramatic but simple with creativity.”
Awni Zeid
“It all started 3 years ago. I joined the gym with my son to do body weight exercises. It was my first time, i was 50 years old. Back then my biggest accomplishment in sports was finishing alive the marathon (42.2km). I have always been the unusual runner. My nick name was the turtle and i was overweight. Nevertheless i had the determination. I remember the first day i joined the gym i couldn't do one pushup and was afraid of weights. Today i do 5 pushups ( yeah i am a turtle even in pushups ) but i can deadlift almost 100kg. Nadine kassem my strong coach was there in every moment. She was understanding and always pushed me gently to have confidence in myself ( not easy when you have reached an age where you overthink every move you do). When i started my journey with Nadine i didn't have a clear vision of why i was going to the gym. But with every little achievement we had, the goal was clearer. I want to be strong, i want to be able to do everyday chores without assistance of my children and keep on moving as long as i live. Nadine started to focus more on my strength. She would write programs especially for me and my goals. Working with Nadine made me stronger and happier. When i was down ( mentally) during several occasions or travelling, she would adjust the program automatically without any hesitation and with a virtual smile. Even sometimes she would give me a break for a period of time to sort out my life. I love being a part of a program that does not make you feel as a client but rather like a friend. Thank you Nadine for always being there for me.”
Rana Daouk
Abdulhalim Abdin is a CrossFit Athlete, Taekwondo instructor, husband, and a father of 4. Halim has struggled with his weight in the past. Although he was training hard, his nutrition was still not in check. 90 days later, and 10.7kgs down, Halim has mastered discipline, commitment and will through a flexible nutrition plan. Halim’s goal is winning 1st place in The CrossFit Open (Scaled Division, in Doha, Qatar), and he mastered that! He is currently on a maintenance program and then off to a massing program post CrossFit Open! He started off weighing 84.6kgs, and is currently 83.9kgs.
“I seriously don't know where to start, I joined the AD family back in Dec. 2019 when the situation in Lebanon only started to get worse, I'm not new to fitness and sports, but never in my life, I had someone to coach me and guide me like the coaches at AD did, they didn't just coach me by telling me what to do, but also they made sure I understand what I'm doing and why I'm doing it.
When I 1st started I was at 116kg and I was able to reach 102kg in 3 months, without losing muscle mass, I got stronger, but also I understood fully how my body functions, and through several other programs I achieved what for me, was impossible at some point, I did handstand push-ups, pull ups, and even Olympic weightlifting. AD isn't just a service, it's a whole community of athletes and coaches working together to push each other to be better every day.
Thank you AD, Much love. <3”
Nidal Al Kalash
"My journey! My whole outlook on fitness & health has completely flipped forever. My fitness journey has started long time ago and been dedicated to crossfit almost 2 years apart from now. The date between these 2 pictures is less than 3 months. No transformation is instant. Consistence, persistence, and resiliency is what got me to where I am today. Neither one of these photos is better than the other. However, I am pretty much different. Proud of myself and how i have transformed but I am more proud of how my mindset has changed to be able to focus on what my body can do regardless of how it makes look. A big THANK YOU note goes to Nadine who has coached me, guided me through my diet plan to shape up my body despite all the circumstances going around on each and every aspect of life. More kudos to go to Athlete’s.diary, it’s the point to kick-start your radical change."
“Never in my life did I think I could do a handstand push up or a single under till I joined Athlete's Diary!
What Athlete's Diary embodies is unlocking untapped potential!”
-Karim Saad
“ I know I am a coach, and I help people make dramatic and sustainable changes. But I myself struggle and need support to lose fat as well!
Coaches need coaches too. I struggled from PCOS & extremely low insulin levels around 6-7 years ago. That time was actually my peak with Weightlifting and CrossFit, and I really thought I was eating well.
Not going to lie, I rarely ate. Coach Nizar convinced me to get some blood work to see what was going on, and boom, finally figured it out. Insulin levels were so low, glucose way too low, B12 was low, literally everything was low, except for my weight, lol.
What Nizar Kaawache did was not just tell me what to eat, he coached me, educated me, he was patient, he was committed. He listened, he cared. I went down from 71kg to 58kg, within a year, and now maintaining at 62kg which feels good for me.
My issue was not choosing the right foods, my issue was being so afraid of eating, trying to be so damn perfect with every food choice, and with Nizar’s coaching, I am now helping other people make those positive and lifelong changes.
Interesting note: I do not have a starting photo at 71kg. I hated my body and could never get myself to take a picture of it. That photo on the left is actually me weighing in at 63kg, which is what I weigh right now (image on the right!!) Crazy right???
After losing all the weight, I then never thought I made progress because I never saw changes on the scale, but putting these two pictures together proves everything. Avoid chasing numbers, numbers are information, but they do not dictate progress.”
Nadine
“Coach Nadine brings incredible knowledge, wisdom and compassion to each coaching session. I first sought Nadine out for counseling in nutrition. I left not only with practical and obtainable goals for my nutritional health but also with renewed hope and plenty of encouragement.
What I didn’t expect, but quickly discovered, is that Nadine is highly effective at recognizing patterns and providing emotional support. For me, she has been more successful at creating real change compared to my previous traditional attempts to lose weight, and I look forward to my workouts everyday because she keeps them fun and different every session. She understands the body and mind connection and has offered transformational support in the healing of the whole self.
Nadine is the absolute best coach for navigating gracefully through this process and for providing the support and motivation needed to see it through. I am deeply grateful for Nadine and for the support I received from the whole @athletes.diary community during my journey.”
- Tarek Balshi
16 year old Hussein only 3 weeks into his first cut ever!
"I turned 40 years old this year and I always struggled with my weight I did a lot of sports but no nutrition whatsoever until I reached the point that I had to do something about it. I joined the CrossFit community three years ago worked very hard to establish muscle but there was no definition or muscle mass until I met Nadine. She coached me through my diet regimen which changed how my whole body looked. I’m the same weight as I was before but I’m way leaner, bigger,stronger, more muscle and very happy how my life is going. My sleep habits has improved a lot I’m eating more food than I used to eat and everything is in check. If anyone needs to change his life Athlete's Diary is the place to be."
- Modar Hamieh
9-6 job, Nourhan still manages to squeeze in a training session early in the morning. The limitations in her lifestyle did not stop her from reaching her goals. Nourhan worked with Coach Nizar for on a Training Program and Coach Nadine on a Nutrition Program. This is a 3 month transformation, from 62kg to 56kg, and a real example of what dedication, consistency and will looks like!
"I used to be very athletic when I was a kid ( kickboxing, gymnastics ) and then for whatever reasons I stopped being active throughout most of my teenage years and I was so unhappy. I tried conventional gyms but they just bore me out. So when I came to beirut I wanted to get back to martial arts an integral part of it being strength and conditioning. I researched a bit and discovered CrossFit. Contacted CrossFit B-Town and strated attending classes, and my life completely changed as cheasy as it sounds. In less than a year I went dorm a dude who would wheeze climbing up stairs, to one that is known for his cardio. I became stronger ( lifting insane amount of weights I never thought I could lift ) and I discovered how mentally tough I really am. Basically CrossFit allowed me to discover my true self. Obviously CrossFit B-Town for anyone who knows me is my 2nd home now. Coaches Nadine and Nizar are professional, yet super friendly and I am honored to call them my friends. I wouldn't have been able to push through all the rough stages of my transformation and strict diets , hadn't it been for their constant supervision, motivation, and mentoring.
Last summer I had no idea how I was gonna lose 10 kgs and I just trusted the process as Nizar Kawaache, one of my coaches would always tell me to do and poof, 2.5 months later I had lost 9 kgs by following Nadine's Nutrition Program.
My transformation is not done yet though, as I'm aiming for a six pack this summer, one that I know I will get if I keep showing up at the gym and purring in the hard work."
- Rashad Saab
“ I was scared to eat, scared to gain weight and this all started with my desperate need to look and feel good again.
My year abroad in college was to me, one of the best years of my life. Not only did I feel confident about who I was and what I was becoming but I lived In Italy and I was living “ la dolce vita “. Finally fitting in with people who had the same interests as me, not that I didn’t like my friends back home but the art world was my world and that none of my friends from home shared with me. I was living in paradise, that meant I was going out, having fun, making friends, basically anything a first year college student did and went through. But what living in Italy had on top of those experiences was, you guessed it: the FOOD. I mean who doesn’t like Italian food? That’s right no one, and if you don’t then one thing my year abroad thought me is you’re missing out. Obviously, after a year of college I came home to my parents with immense weight gain and a digestion problem, all that carb didn’t help. And not being able to go back to Italy, I went from ecstatically happy to extremely unhappy. I wasn’t feeling like myself anymore, that confident, extroverted, happy go-lucky girl I had always been.
That’s when this entire journey started, I went on a strict “Yasmine don’t eat” diet, which I knew wasn’t good but I was DESPERATE. Initially, I was unhappy so that contributed to my first few kgs of weight loss, then came lockdown and that’s when I lost the bulk of it. Unlike most people during that period of time, I spent it doing the things I loved: painting, drawing, reading, doing some exercise, basically going through project after project to the point where I forgot to eat. I’d eat maybe one meal a day, at diner time when everyone was around the table and that was it. Everyday for 3 months. By the time lockdown was lifted, I had lost roughly 18 kgs. I had come back from Italy at 86 kgs and ended lockdown at 68 kgs. After that I just couldn’t lose anymore weight and that was beyond frustrating. I was still working out and eating as little as I had been yet I was seeing no results. That’s when I noticed my unhealthy habits. I was forcing myself to stick to eating once a day, trying to get back to that lockdown lifestyle that I had maintained for a good 3 months but I failed drastically, leading me to just get immensely hungry and binging after a few days of trying.
Few months later, I discovered Athlete’s Diary, spoke to Nadine and BOOM! My life changed ever since and thankfully for the better. My family was like any other Arab family trying to convince me that I was a wasting my time but I believed in Nadine’s approach and I pushed through. She helped me regain my confidence, because even though I had lost 20 kgs I still was the shy, self aware little girl sitting in my own corner scared of being judged on anything I would or was about to say.
I will admit I was worried at first when I noticed my numbers on the scale hadn’t really moved in any direction, but Nadine was there by my side pushing me to keep going. Even though those numbers were stagnant, I had lost an entire dress-size to a dress-size and a half. Which to a person who’s addicted to shopping was basically the equivalent of heaven (not so much for my wallet though hahaha). She also pushed me to get an InBody scan, which I had done a few months before starting my nutrition program with her, and shockingly: there was a difference! My muscle mass had gone up and my body fat had gone lower than it ever was before. I still have a long way to go to reach my ultimate fitness goals, but one thing is for sure Nadine has shown me that it is possible to eat and look good. I started this journey with one thought, “There is no way I could eat this much and lose weight.” And now i’m just very thankful that I found the AD community and that it’s helped me build my current lifestyle. I won’t lie, I do have junk food every once and while because I mean, who doesn’t love a nice juicy burger or a big slice of chocolate cake but I’ve learned to balance it out with the rest of my daily food intake.
The moral of the story, I feel stronger, more energized, fitter, and better than ever! All thanks to Nadine and how she’s taught me, educated me, and been patient with me all throughout the process. Not only has she been professional but she’s also managed to make me feel, due to her immense kindness, as if I’ve been talking to a friend. Also, I have never had any kind of muscle definition and here we are 6 months in, okay I don’t look like Hulk, and trust me I’ve tried many times to get that definition with no avail (not Hulk definition just more of a shape), and now I have all sorts of it, some muscles I didn’t even know where possible to obtain or even existed in the human anatomy, and that means a lot coming from someone who draws and studies bodies and shapes on a daily basis.”
- Yasmine