My Story

Assalamualaikum.
My name is Saarah.
A qualified personal trainer, nutritionist
with a degree in Biomedical Science.

Teen Weight Loss Dreams

I began dieting young, but was always lost! Never seeing lasting results. At 18, I started taking nutrition more seriously, and my exercise. I fell so in love with the strength I saw in being able to control my own health-future. But things took a turn.

PCOS Diagnosis

I could always lose the weight, with great difficulty, but never keep it off. When I was diagnosed with PCOS, I thought, this made sense. The truth is, it made even less sense. Doctors were unhelpful, and made it seem like there was nothing I could truly do - ‘just lose weight’.

My symptoms of IBS, irregular and heavy periods, extreme fatigue and chronic stress, made everyday life difficult. Studying felt impossible, with needing a nap almost every hour. But I kept pushing. Kept exercising, kept trying to be healthy.

Working within the System

I began working for a GP, as a secretary, making Gynaecology referrals for women just like me. Stress in their jobs and lives, hair falling out, irregular periods, weight issues. Doctors were always baffled and so would just request a referral. They would get diagnosed with PCOS, and the only help from there was the pill to regulate periods, and nothing else. I had been through this myself.

Then, I realised - women were coming in needing fertility referrals. These women were diagnosed with PCOS years prior, symptoms were not treated at the root, just ignored or given the pill. These same women would come years later struggling to get pregnant. I was confused. Some women would then receive a diagnosis of endometriosis, but still not explanation, no discussion of treating the root issue.

Then one day, my period stopped. I didn’t have a cycle for 11 months.

I started trying to research, and thats when I realised. It wasn’t the doctors fault. Its the entire system. No one has bothered to research the root cause of all our seemingly ‘spontaneous and unexplainable’ gynaecological issues.

Go on the Pill
or Wait.

The doctor’s told me, you can wait for it to return, or go on the pill. But I knew what this meant. I saw other women who listened to the advice of doctors. The worst part was, my doctor said, you can wait until you want to have kids. My heart dropped. I knew, working within the system, what waiting would only do to me. It would cause all my problems to spread and become more insidious. I was not about to let that happen.
I realised, I could not mask what I was going through with a pill.

I had to figure out why my body was not producing the hormones as it should.
I had to look inwards, at my life, at the simple things we and the medical system claim we just don’t have time for. Yet, truly, this is where our problem lies.

If there’s only ONE thing you to take away from my page,
let is be this.

Yes, please go to your doctors, rule out cancers and other diseases etc. BUT when you hear ‘PCOS’, or ‘you’re fine’ like I did for many years, but your body is clearly screaming otherwise - that is your SIGN that you MUST take a serious audit of your life and the stressors in it.
From there, build systems that make like less stressful.

After 6 years, I maintain 20 lbs weight loss, a regular cycle and have my energy back. I started ETBR to help women to navigate this world of hormones, stress and weight.

No doctor told me how to manage my stress, how to build systems that would help me cope, how to work on my diet to feel energised and not extremely tired all the time, how to exercise without feeling exhausted each day.

After regulating my own period,
developing my own approach to nutrition,
stress, and lifestyle, that truly works,
I now personalise this to cater
to driven, high-performing women, feeling burnt out,
and desire to tackle the ROOT.