FXBG Neighbors Podcast
Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast
FXBG Neighbors Podcast
EP #102 Inside Intentful Nutrition: From Undereating To Strength
What if the most powerful shift in your health and performance isn’t eating less, but finally eating enough? We sit down with registered dietitian Brooke Czarnecki, founder of Intentful Nutrition, to explore a weight-neutral approach that helps runners, active postpartum moms, and everyday athletes fuel better, feel stronger, and perform with confidence.
Brooke’s story starts on the track. As a collegiate runner, she experienced the hidden costs of underfueling without realizing it at the time. That lived experience, paired with rigorous training as a dietitian, shaped a virtual practice centered on adequacy, habits, and sustainable change. Brooke walks us through her one-to-one model, from discovery calls to customized plans, and explains how she measures progress with real-life markers like steady energy, better recovery, regular cycles, and fewer injuries. No food policing. No scale obsession. Just practical sports nutrition that meets the demands of training and life.
We also dig into entrepreneurship and alignment. Brooke shares why trying to be a weight loss coach drained her, how pivoting to performance and nourishment re-energized her work, and what starting young as a military spouse taught her about building a flexible, values-led business. She opens up about returning to running postpartum, building community in Fredericksburg, and her passion for free, accessible education through seminars and her Actively Fueled podcast. If you’re curious about fueling strategies for endurance, red flags for underfueling, or how to balance family, training, and nutrition without rigid rules, this conversation offers clear, compassionate guidance.
Connect with Brooke on Instagram at Intentful Nutrition, find her at intentfulnutrition.com, and listen to the Actively Fueled podcast on your favorite app. If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who trains hard, and leave a quick review to help more neighbors find us.
Brooke Czarnecki
Intentful Nutrition
intentfulnutrition@gmail.com
This is the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Dori Stewart.
Speaker 1:Welcome back to another episode of the FXBG Neighbors Podcast, where we share the stories of our favorite local brands. I'm excited to introduce you to my guest today. Joining me, we have Brooke Czarnecki with Intentful Nutrition. Brooke, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for having me, Dori. I'm very excited to be here. Well, I'm excited to get to know you better and learn more about your business. So let's start there. Share with us a little bit about Intentful Nutrition.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so my name is Brooke Czarnecki. I am the owner of Intentful Nutrition, which is a 100% virtual nutrition counseling business. I've been in business for about five years now, a military spouse. So my business has kind of been all over the country with us. I specialize in working with endurance athletes, specifically runners, and also those struggling with eating disorders or disordered eating. And since becoming a mom, I've taken a special interest in working with postpartum moms, active postpartum moms as well. So, you know, I've loved everything about my business. It's evolved slowly over the years. And uh that's, you know, just a little bit about what I do.
Speaker 1:Interesting. You you cover a wide range of topics. And so I want to learn your backstory. Tell me about your journey and tell me about how you got into this.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I was a collegiate athlete myself. I ran uh D3 cross-country and track for four years. And throughout that time, I struggled with a lot of symptoms of undereating, but I didn't know. And I was never diagnosed with an eating disorder, you know, never was flagged for anything like that. But through that experience, and then on top of my education for becoming a dietitian, it wasn't until after I was out of my collegiate experience that I was like, hey, I was really struggling with undereating and I didn't know. And so I made it my mission to help collegiate athletes, recreational athletes, anybody who is active to help them nourish their body because we really need to talk about these things. I think a lot of what we see in the media, a lot of what we see online is like how to make our body smaller, how to lose weight. And I don't do any of that. I want to help athletes really understand like how to nourish your body for sport. So a lot of what I do has come from my personal experience and also, you know, just my educational background, combining those two things as well. Um, I, you know, that's that's how I get into it.
Speaker 1:Very interesting. And we're all uniquely positioned to serve the person you once were. So it makes a lot of sense that you have a special passion for this. So talk to me a little bit about the business model. How does it work? How do people find you? And then what does it look like to work with you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I like I said, I'm 100% virtual practice. So a lot of people find me through Instagram. I'm sorry, you're probably gonna hear my cat, Marsha. She loves to join in on all my podcasts. Um, she's always my my favorite guest. Um so what I do is people usually find me from Instagram, they find me through my website, they sign up to work with me. We chit-chat, you know, a little bit of a discovery call for about 15, 20 minutes. I just like to get to know you first and make sure that we're a good fit because nobody likes to be working with somebody that they just aren't a good fit with. So I like to make sure that my clients feel good, they feel confident about entering their work with me. Usually I work with folks for anywhere from three to six months. Um, those in active eating disorder recovery I might work with for like years at a time. Um and, you know, basically it's one-on-one work. So it's very individualized, it's unique to you. And I we take it as slow or as fast as my client wants to. And that's again the beauty of working with somebody one-on-one is that we're not like bound into a program. They don't have any, you know, specific steps that we have to meet, like it's all about them and what they want to do. My next question is what do you find people are or what myths or misconceptions do you find uh people have about your industry? Yeah, so for sports nutrition specifically, and also it goes hand in hand with the eating disorder dietitian part of this too. Um, I do not focus on weight loss. I think a lot of people hear, like, oh, you're a dietitian, you can, you know, you help people lose weight, or I'm the food police, like I'm gonna shame you or judge you for the things that you are eating. Uh, none of those things are true. So, like I said before, I really like to make sure that we're focusing more on like the habits and behavioral change of food choices and someone's nutrition over the aesthetic piece, over you know, focusing on a number on the scale, um, because number on the scale is only one metric.
Speaker 2:We don't, you know, that's doesn't tell us a lot about someone's overall health.
Speaker 3:So um, yeah, those are I feel like the top the top myths that I would like to bust in this podcast um is that I don't focus on weight loss, more so just helping people feel their best in their bodies and helping them make sure that they're eating enough.
Speaker 1:That's so important. You must get so much satisfaction out of what you do.
Speaker 3:I do. And I, you know, when I first started my business, I was focused more on like the weight loss piece because that's like what people want. And it just drained my energy. Like it just wasn't where I thrived. And so when I, you know, made the pivot into really focusing more on that, like, you know, adequate nourishment piece, preventing underfueling and sport, like I found like a lot more satisfaction in that.
Speaker 1:That's a big lesson to learn, right? Is is finding in business what you um what is most authentic to you, and then making that pivot, I'm I imagine not only are you happier because you're not as drained, but you're probably serving your clients um in a you're showing up in a better way.
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely. Yeah, night and day difference. I'm I'm better and therefore my clients are better off. So it's really, really important.
Speaker 1:I love that. So if there are any listeners who are thinking about starting their own business, what advice would you give them?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, that what we just talked about is probably really important, you know, making sure that you are aligned in your values with your business, or else it's you're just gonna feel drained day in and day out. It's gonna be very hard to feel motivated. Um, and I think one thing for me specifically is I started my business really young. I was 21 or 22 when I started my business. I didn't have a lot of, you know, clinical experience in the dietetics world. And a lot of people would say, like, you know, you're not gonna be able to do it. You can't do it. And I just did it, uh, more so because I didn't really have a choice with like our military lifestyle. It, you know, it's it's hard to have a career as a military spouse sometimes. Uh, but I knew that if I started this virtual practice, I would have something that I could grow, you know, grow with us essentially on all of our moves. So, you know, I just jumped in headfirst and didn't look back. And I'm so glad that I did. So um, you know, don't believe the, you know, the naysayers out there. If you feel like you can do it, you can 100% do it. That confidence in yourself and that belief in yourself is huge.
Speaker 1:Yes, that is huge. That's a big lesson to learn. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah, I love that. Okay, so when you are not busy helping your clients, what are you doing for fun?
Speaker 3:I am running. Well, not right now. I'm coming back my postpartum journey right now, but I love to be outside. I love to run, I love to go on walks, love to go on hikes. Um, I just am a very active person, like to be outside in nature, so helpful for my mental health. And, you know, in this season of life, I am with my family a lot of the time. I have two young littles at home, a husband, a dog, and you guys have heard my cat during this podcast. Um, so a lot of family time together with my boys. And, you know, that's that's life right now. And I I love it. I love the simplicity of it. I love that. That's awesome.
Speaker 1:So, how long have you lived in Fredericksburg?
Speaker 3:So we just celebrated a year in Fredericksburg. We moved on Halloween last year. Um, and shortly after that, I I got pregnant. So I haven't really been, you know, out in like the community as much as I would like to, like networking and things like that. So 2026, and I mean I guess 2025, we're starting early, yeah, is really get out in the local community, network, connect with people. Uh, one of my favorite things to do is offer like free nutrition seminars by going into businesses or doing like a virtual seminar for, you know, either it's fitness studios, really anybody that wants to, you know, corporate jobs, anything like that. I love to just come in, give a free chat so I'm connecting with folks in the local community and just getting more people in my world. So um, yes, I I'm very excited to be local now, networking again um in Fredericksburg and just really make this place our home. I'm thinking and we're hoping that we can stay here for long term. So that's really exciting. We love Virginia.
Speaker 1:I love that. Well, welcome to Fredericksburg.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 1:And what a great resource to businesses to have you coming in and being a resource for for them. That's that's really great. I love that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that gives me a lot of satisfaction too. I love connecting with with people and just helping them see a different side of nutrition. Like I said, I think a lot of us think it's like always about weight loss and how do we eat less. But um, you know, I really like to help people understand that it's not all about that. And we really we want to make sure that we're feeling good first and foremost.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that. So, what is something that you wish the listeners knew about Intentful Nutrition?
Speaker 3:Oh my goodness. I feel like we have addressed so many now already, but I I would say, you know, if you're somebody that's like, oh, I'm not really sure if I fit into her niche, like I'm not a postpartum mom, or I'm not, you know, an athlete, or I'm not a runner, um I'm not someone struggling with an eating disorder, like please reach out still because I do work with folks of all different walks of life. Um, those are just the things that I specialize in. It doesn't mean that I can't also help you. This is what I've you know been trained to do, is what I went to school for for over four years. So I've got a lot of other background experience too. So if you feel like um, I really liked what Burke had to say today, but I'm not really sure like if I'd be a good fit. I always tell people, let's just have a conversation and see where it goes.
Speaker 1:So I love that. No, no pressure, just a conversation to get started. Absolutely. Awesome. So if the listeners want to connect with you, learn more from you, where can they find you?
Speaker 3:Yes, the best place to find me is Instagram at Intentful Nutrition. And I also have a podcast. So the the actively fueled podcast, you can find it on Apple, uh, Spotify, all the other major podcast outlets. Um, and I do have a website too, www.intentfulnutrition.com. So all three of those places are great ways to find me. I am pretty active on Instagram, so I always love connecting with people in the DMs and just learning more about them.
Speaker 1:Amazing. Brooke, congratulations on all your success, and thank you for joining me on the podcast today.
Speaker 3:Thank you, Dori.
Speaker:Thank you for listening to the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to FXBG NeighborsPodcast.com.