Meet Toni Suchka | Personal Trainer, Nutrition Coach, Weight Management Specialist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Toni Suchka and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Toni, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Growing up I was never taught about eating healthy or living a healthy life. Most of my family was always searching for the next fad diet to lose weight. I began to gain weight in my teenage years and by 19 I was feeling uncomfortable in my skin. I started Weight Watchers and really didn’t learn anything about nutrition, but I did learn how to manipulate points to eat my ice cream. I lost about 10 pounds but developed an eating disorder from the weekly weigh in you had to do with WW. That number on the scales determined your success each week and began to determine my happiness each day. I would starve myself all week so I could step on those scales and see a lower number and then binge on the weekends and punish myself on Monday. It was a vicious cycle of under eating and overexercising for years.

I developed a passion for exercise and health and became a group fitness instructor and personal trainer. I was so interested in nutrition and really wanted to help women live a healthy lifestyle so they could pursue their purpose and passion in life although I was still struggling with my own backwards thinking of less is more when it came to food. I started one on one training and small group training as my business Strength Healing.

After years of calorie restricting I developed the autoimmune condition Hashimotos. This condition attacks your thyroid from functioning optimally or even at all and can lead to other health concerns. After my dad passed in 2018, my body tapped out. A friend referred a book to me called the Adrenal Thyroid Revolution by Aviva Romm and this is how I realized I may have Hashis. I ordered some labs and sure enough I was stage 4 Hashimotos. My doctor at the time roller her eyes at me and said “Every women over 40 has hypothyroid and adrenal fatigue”. I fired her! I made it my job to learn how to overcome these symptoms holistically and wanted to help any woman who had this same condition.

In 2020 I was struggling to figure out how I could help more women in their own health journey. What could I offer them? One on one training had a ceiling on how many women you could help. I thought about developing my own app but that seemed overwhelming to me. I was introduced to The FASTer Way to Fat Loss by the same friend who recommended the book to me and this program changed my life. It gave me FOOD FREEDOM and freedom from the dreadful scales. For years I battled an eating disorder no one knew about and I was finally free from it. I’ll never forget stepping on the scales one day full dressed with shoes on and at that moment I knew the scales no longer had control over me or my happiness.

When I saw this program had given me food freedom and helped me overcome more hashimotos symptoms I knew this was an answer to prayer of what I would offer my clients. I interviewed with the company, studied and took my nutrition exam and became a certified FASTer Way to Fat Loss Nutrition Coach. Since then I have been able to help change the lives of hundreds of women struggling with hashimotos/hypothyroid symptoms, peri/menopause symptoms, belly fat, low energy and more. My clients are losing fat, gaining muscle, energy, better sleep and feeling their best in midlife instead of being told it’s all in their head. I’m so thankful to be able to use the FASTer Way platform in my business to help women live a healthier life so they can walk out the calling on their lives.

In midlife our bodies are evolving and we have to evolve what we are doing.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
My previous story probably covers most of this.

Business is never easy especially in the health and wellness arena. I’m working with women wanting to change their health. Our health journey is more than just physical appearances, It’s an emotional ride of emotions. On hard days I have to go back to my WHY. I want to empower women to become an advocate of their own health. Not allow a doctor to tell them your body fails after forty. When I have a client send me a message that her A1C is lowered or her cholesterol is the lowest in years or her body fat is reduced while her muscle mass has increased, that’s what keeps me going. It’s about small changes, one day at a time. As midlife women, we don’t have to suffer for years. We can make simple changes and feel out best in midlife.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would take them downtown Greenville and we would walk along the swamp rabbit trail or along Falls park. We have so many great restaurants in Greenville. Maybe we would enjoy lunch at Nose Dive and sit outside then grab and ice cream at Jeni’s ice cream. Shopping at some of our local boutiques and dinner out at a new fave, Roccos at Bridgeway Station. For another day we’d have to hit up Table Rock for hiking. Anything outdoors!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’m forever thankful to my dear friend Chris DeHollander for recommending a book that started a journey for me to overcoming health obstacles and eventually leading to where I am today in my health and business. I am also grateful to the FASTer Way for leading with excellence in the health and wellness arena empowering women to be advocates of their health.

Website: https://www.strengthhealing.com

Instagram: strengthhealing

Facebook: strengthhealingfitness

Youtube: strengthhealing

Other: TikTok-strenghthhealing