Maya Nassar: Fitness Model, Personal Trainer & TV Host Reveals Her Success Story

Namita Nayyar (WF Team)

8 years ago

Maya Nassar: An Exceptionally Talented and Accomplished Competitive Fitness Model, Personal Trainer and TV Host Reveals her Success Story "Start Living Right"

Maya Nassar, born on October 3, 1986 is a Dutch-Lebanese competitive fitness model, TV host and entrepreneur. Nassar was born in Long Island, New York. She grew up in Nigeria, and spent several years in England before moving to Lebanon for high school, where she has lived ever since.

Maya Nassar is a leader in fitness and wellbeing. A certified sports nutritionist and personal trainer, her Start Living Right mission has propelled her to the podium in fitness modeling, and helped thousands reach the best shape of their lives.

Maya Nassar lives the trans-formative power of fitness. She mounted the podium for second and third place trophies in fitness modeling at the 2015 Pure Elite UK Championships, and earned its most sought after prize: the People’s Choice Award. The year prior she took home first in the Bikini category. And in May 2015, she was selected a brand ambassador for the international sports retailer Decathlon.

Yet these victories were hard won. For only a few years ago, Maya was five sizes larger and weighed 20 kilos more in fat. Frustrated, she remodeled herself on the mantra of Start Living Right: Develop a fitness and dietary plan according to the most up-to-date information available, and then commit to it. Of Dutch-Lebanese descent, Maya lived this mantra to become one of few Arab fitness models. It’s a journey she chronicled on her website startlivingright.net.

In March 2015 Maya invited others to join her. Certified by the International Fitness Professionals Association (IFPA) in sports nutrition and personal training, she launched the free Start Living Right app – a top ranked Apple Store download for Lebanon. The app offers users a range of essential fitness tools: exercise diagrams, a fat loss calculator, calorie counter, videos to keep you committed, and articles on nutrition. Soon it will feature an online forum for the Start Living Right community to share and interact.

The Start Living Right app is an entryway to best practices in health and fitness worldwide. Maya counts amongst her professional network some of today’s top international fitness trainers: Andreia Brazier, Tom Brazier, Gemma Williams and Tom Venuto.

Media attention has allowed her to share the Start Living Right vision. She’s been featured on the cover of Fit n’Style, Rag Mag and Special, and the subject of articles in The Daily Star, An-Nahar, Al-Akhbar and As-Safir newspapers. The TV networks MBC, MTV, LBC, Al-Jadeed and Al-Mayadeeyn have all invited her to speak to their audiences. MAYA has authored her own articles on fitness in Fit n’Style, Hibr and Fitness News.Lebanon has taken note; she’s an endorsed athlete by the Lebanese Ministry of Youth and Sports, and the Lebanese minister Abed Hennawi has endorsed the Start Living Right app.Increasingly, she’s engaged in workshops and events to promote fitness and healthy living. Maya has worked alongside the NGO Maryam & Martha to create strategies attuned to women who have sought refuge in shelters. The women’s empowerment initiative Elle Fiesta asked her to run a motivational workshop. In June 2015 traveled to Yekaterinburg, Russia to run a health and fitness seminar hosted by the magazine Miracle.

Maya expounds the same principle throughout her media appearances: Anyone can share her triumph of self-transformation. Healthy, fit and strong is beautiful – and her vision is to assist all in reaching that goal by Start Living Right.

Full interview on Next Page!

All content on this site is copyright of Women Fitness and no part of any article found on this site may be reproduced without an express permission and highlighted, do follow link crediting http://www.womenfitness.net/ or preferably the original page as the source. This interview is exclusive and taken by Namita Nayyar President womenfitness.net and should not be reproduced, copied or hosted in part or full anywhere without an express permission.

Maya Nassar is an exceptionally talented Competitive Fitness Model, TV Host and Entrepreneur. She is in conversation with Namita Nayyar, President Women Fitness.

Ms. Namita Nayyar: Tell us about your journey that took you to the top in the world of fitness training?

Ms. Maya Nassar: Initially I had no background in fitness. I used to eat large portions of very unhealthy food and never did any exercise. I never even knew what a dumbbell looked like. However, after gaining a lot of weight and feeling very insecure, I decided to do something about my lifestyle. This is when I started eating clean food, going to the gym and keeping active. After losing all my excess weight and getting into shape, I wanted to do the next best thing and looked into fitness competitions. I wanted to prove to myself that I could push to my limits both mentally and physically. Since I started competing, I am very lucky to have won a total of four prizes.

Ms. Namita Nayyar: How your experience and background of certification by the International Fitness Professionals Association (IFPA) in sports nutrition and personal training, has helped you in your present profession as Fitness Trainer, Fitness Expert, Bikini competitor and Fitness Model?

Ms. Maya Nassar: Becoming certified has helped me increase my knowledge in health, fitness and exercise. Learning more about a subject I am passionate about has enabled me to help even more people with their fitness journeys. My certification has also boosted my credibility as a fitness professional.

Ms. Namita Nayyar: Share your exercise routine that you do to maintain such a bikini perfect physique?

Ms. Maya Nassar: My exercise routine involves a combination of both weightlifting and cardio. I do cardio about three times a week and lift weights five times a week. I train all the muscles in my body with weights including my legs, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps and abs. My mobile application contains lots of easy-to-follow exercise programs that anyone can do. They can download my app for free by searching for “startivingright” in their smartphone stores.

Ms. Namita Nayyar: What is your diet? Do you take a particular fixed regulated diet comprising of nutrients and vitamins to keep you in perfect health?

Ms. Maya Nassar: I eat clean and natural wholefoods every day. My diet includes fruits, vegetables, protein, health fats such as avocadoes, olive oil, raw nuts, etc and wholegrain carbs like brown rice, oatmeal, potatoes, quinoa, etc. Your diet makes up about 80% of your fitness results so this is why it is very important to eat healthy. I restrict junk food and sweets to no more than once or twice a week.

Ms. Namita Nayyar: What is your motivation to take a multi-faceted personality of a Fitness model, Personal trainer, Media personality, Nutritional expert, Fitness and Lifestyle writer, Professional Motivational speaker, Bikini competitor, Founder of startlivingright.com and one of the industry’s leading experts in fitness?

Ms. Maya Nassar: My motivation comes from liking what I do. There is a saying that if you love what you do, then you will never work a day in your life. My passion motivates me to keep pushing hard and doing my best in the fitness industry. The fact that I have no background in fitness also plays a major role in my motivation. I know how it feels to be unfit, unhealthy and completely out of shape. When I started exercising and following a good diet, I suddenly felt confident, healthy, happy and full of life. This new lifestyle helps me wake up with motivation and the will to succeed.

Ms. Namita Nayyar: You have glowing skin and gorgeous hair. Do you take some kind of skin treatment to keep it young and glowing and secondly, what you do to your hair to make them look so stunning?

Ms. Maya Nassar: I really believe a healthy lifestyle is the best ingredient for glowing hair and skin. It is also very important to minimize bad habits such as drinking and smoking, as this will reflect in your physical appearance. I moisturize daily to keep my skin smooth, but other than that, I exercise regularly, get lots of sleep and follow a clean diet.

Videos

Ms. Namita Nayyar: Few years back you were five sizes larger and weighed 20 kilos more in fat.You remodeled yourself on the mantra of Start Living Right and developed a fitness and dietary plan according to the most up-to-date information available, and then committed to it. Of Dutch-Lebanese descent, you became one of the leading Arab fitness models. Tell us more about this spectacular transformation of yours?

Ms. Maya Nassar: After gaining a significant amount of weight, I became very insecure and self-conscious. This inspired me to take things to the next level and prove to myself that I am capable of changing for the better. I wanted to transform from being too insecure to walk around on the beach to stepping on stage next to top fitness models.

Ms. Namita Nayyar: Fitness Modelling is all about bold photo shoots. What advice you wish to give to the women of today to be body confident in order to do such bold modeling?

Ms. Maya Nassar: My advice would be to relax in front of the camera, have fun and simply be yourself. It is important to feel comfortable and at ease. The next best thing it to choose a professional photographer that will make you feel relaxed. If you are not comfortable with your photographer, it will reflect in the images of the photo shoot. At the same time, I advise women to meet with their photographer before a photo shoot to discuss the concept, ideas and what will happen on the day of the shoot. This will make the photo shoot a great experience and help to produce top quality photos.

Ms. Namita Nayyar: Tell us about your endeavour of launching “Start Living Right app” – a top ranked Apple Store download for Lebanon?

Ms. Maya Nassar: As I trained for my first fitness competition, I documented my diet and training on my personal Facebook page. This trigged a lot of interest from my Facebook friends and gave me the idea to start a website where anyone can go and get advice about health and fitness. My website startlivingright.com became very popular and started getting around 8,000 hits a month. In March 2015, I launched a mobile version of my website with more tools and information to help anyone, anywhere in the world for free with advice and support about nutrition, health and fitness.My application became the first fitness app in Lebanon and has been ranked number one by the Apple store many times competing with international apps. My application has also been endorsed by the Lebanese minister of sports. It can be downloaded for free by searching for “startlivingright” in any smartphone store.

Ms. Namita Nayyar: Elaborate on the personalized concept of “Personal Training” that you offer online?

Ms. Maya Nassar: My mobile application contains detailed training programs which are linked to animated exercise illustrations for all fitness levels. They target all the muscles in the body from head to toe.

Ms. Namita Nayyar: Tell us how you felt before and after winning the People’s Choice Award at 2015 Pure Elite UK Championships in fitness modeling?

Ms. Maya Nassar: Before the competition, I was extremely nervous and did not know what to expect. There were many beautiful women competing against me and I did not know if I would even place. I also felt extremely anxious the entire week leading up the competition. The competition was great fun and I met so many friendly people. I always see it as me against myself. It doesn’t matter whether or not I win, all that matters is that I reached my goal and got into the best shape of my life. I ended up winning three trophies at this competition and one of them was the People’s Choice Award. It is one thing to be selected by the judges but a whole other experience to be chosen by the audience from out of more than 200 competitors. I felt extremely happy, overjoyed and relieved that my hard work had paid off.

Ms. Namita Nayyar: You have been associated with NGO Maryam & Martha to create strategies attuned to women who have sought refuge in shelters and also you serve on the board of directors of ‘Animals Lebanon’ the largest animal welfare NGO in Lebanon they are all dear to your heart, tell us how you have been able to achieve and quench your thirst of giving back to the society through this endeavor of your?

Ms. Maya Nassar: I am very passionate about women’s rights and animals’ rights and do my best to support these causes as much as I can. I enjoy changing the lives of others and believe we make a life by what we give.

Ms. Namita Nayyar: In June 2015 you travelled to Yekaterinburg, Russia to run a health and fitness seminar hosted by the magazine Miracle. Tell us more about this experience of yours?

Ms. Maya Nassar: This was an amazing experience. I spoke in front of up to 100 people for several hours sharing my experiences and talking about a subject I am very passionate about. I know how it feels to be out of shape and know just how rewarding a lifestyle of health and fitness is. This is why I love helping other people and changing their lives the same way I changed mine.

Ms. Namita Nayyar: What do you wish to say about the website Womenfitness.net and message for its visitors?

Ms. Maya Nassar: My message to your visitors is to always believe in themselves and believe that they can achieve the impossible. With hard work, dedication and consistency, anyone can reach their ultimate goal.

To know more about Maya Nassar, Check out: http://www.startlivingright.com/

To get all the latest news follow her on her social networks:

Women Fitness Team thanks Maya Nassar for giving us her valuable time for this interview and quenching the thirst of her fans to know more about her and making this interview happen.

Videos