Leah Casey

Mental Health Counselor

Leah’s main goal is to help people achieve healthier, happier, and more well-rounded lives. She began pursuing this mission by studying mental health and art therapy while pursuing her Master’s Degree. Through her own experiences and while coaching CrossFit and fitness, she realized that many of the symptoms she was learning to treat depression, anxiety, and other issues could be prevented through better nutrition and an active lifestyle. Now, as a Health Coach for Weight Loss, Leah strives to help others take a holistic approach to their health through nutrition, movement, and mindfulness.

When Leah met the Beyond the Box Nutrition team at a seminar in 2017, she learned that her approach to eating was way off. She was eating over 1,000 calories below what her body needed to thrive, while also restricting carbs, which developed into an unhealthy relationship with food. With the team’s guidance, she was able to adjust her approach to eating much more, with the proper balance. Miraculously, she quickly noticed improvements in strength, mood, hormones, and even her mental clarity. Leah also learned that food is the missing link for many people like her who were searching for better physical and mental health; from balancing hormones and reducing inflammation, to fueling your bodies and brains.

Today, Leah believes that health is defined by the little habits and routines that help us all feel our best, inside and out, but that these are all very different for each particular person’s lifestyle. Through a holistic approach as your Virtual Nutrition Coach, Leah wants to help you find a more sustainable nutrition and health plan to fit your lifestyle. With goals ranging from sports performance and weight loss, to better health, and even improving your relationship with food, she is ready to provide a positive and supportive partnership to help you not only reach your goals, but surpass them.

Terri Hartman

Culinary Ninja

Terri is a CrossFit athlete and coach, a wife, a mother of two, and an expert in Chicago Nutrition for Athletes who believes that in life you make your own road. Because of all this, she’s now on a road that she believes in, that she’s passionate about, and that others will benefit from.


Terri dabbled in and out of various sports and exercise routines until she met her now-husband who challenged her to run a 5K with him. Hesitantly, she agreed and caught the running bug, completing several marathons over the next few years. After having her two boys and still working full time, Terri’s running waned and she started looking for her next fitness passion. Then came CrossFit.

After 20 years in Marketing and Sales roles, Terri decided to take a break from the corporate world to focus on her family as well as her passion for people and fitness. Getting serious about CrossFit and learning more about nutrition, she began a complete mind and body transformation that now is the center of her busy Mom/Wife life. Learning how to properly eat for health and to efficiently fuel fitness, Terri is now also a weight loss coach who is stronger, leaner, healthier, and happier than at any time in her life. Her family agrees.


Like many of us, Terri loves delicious food. Using her formal training in Baking and Pastry at Kendall College, she’s able to take a recipe and tweak the ingredients to create not only more nutritious meals, but dishes that taste like you’re in a restaurant. She’s always experimenting with culinary ideas and techniques to strike the balance of “good” and “good for you”. 

Going one step further, Terri even teaches her two young boys how to bake and cook, all the while teaching them about “macros”. At the ages of nine and twelve, her two boys now understand the importance of protein, carbohydrates, and fat to fuel their bodies, and why too much refined sugar can potentially lead to unhealthy consequences –– pretty amazing!


Through her own experience with nutrition coaches, nutrition training, and practice, Terri has found an ongoing, balanced relationship with food, while still being able to enjoy dinner parties, vacations, and date nights in the city with her husband. Being a Mom of two very active boys and a wife of a busy husband, focus and attention on your own well-being can be hard, but with practice and self-love, she can vouch that it’s absolutely attainable.

Finally, Terri believes that everyone can find a way to lead their own unique life and still have a balanced, healthy relationship with food. Through her supportive and honest approach, Terri wants to understand your lifestyle and goals in order to personalize a Chicago nutrition for athletes and wellbeing program that best suits your needs. Think of her as your wellness advocate, your weight loss coach, and your fitness enthusiast.

Gwen Holtan

Wellness Advocate

Gwen Holtan is a virtual nutrition coach, health evangelist, and co-founder of Beyond the Box Nutrition, a nutrition coaching practice that helps clients lead healthier, more fulfilling lives.

Nutrition is about so much more than the number of the scale. It’s the key to unlocking overall wellbeing —- from sleep to mood regulation, self-esteem, disease prevention and so much more. Gwen brings this holistic view of nutrition to bear when working with clients and designing personalized plans that are tailored to each individual and optimized for success. Since co-founding Beyond the Box Nutrition, Gwen has helped hundreds of clients achieve their health goals including and beyond losing weight.

Gwen got into the business of nutrition when she realized it was the thing that linked her personal and professional life. Gwen is a veteran of the healthcare industry where she worked for pharmaceutical companies — most recently at Walgreens where she spent over a decade in corporate sales management and marketing. From the healthcare industry, she saw how increasingly preventable health problems were overwhelming the system; doctors were treating symptoms, but they didn’t have the time, or expertise, to discuss nutrition and fitness. In her own personal life, she also experienced her own struggles with weight and body dysmorphia. Later on, as a competitive athlete, she realized, with the help of an online nutrition coach, that focusing on nutrition and holistic health were not just important for physical performance, but the keys to unlocking the best version of herself.

She often starts with clients by asking them: “How do you want to show up differently in your life?” — do they wish they were able to set better boundaries at work? had more energy in the afternoon? that they felt more confident in their body? As a nutrition coach, Gwen is gratified to be able to help her clients experience these life changes through a focus on self-compassion, reframing thought patterns and positive self-talk.

No dieting, gimmicks, or quick fixes. While working with Gwen, you will establish a partnership based on trust and compassion that will nourish your mind, body, and soul.

Sheena Lawrick

Two-Time Olympian

A lifelong athlete, two-time Canadian Olympian, and inductee into the Softball Alberta Hall of Fame, Sheena’s passion through Chicago weight loss consulting has always been directed towards getting the most out of her body. Throughout a series of life-changing experiences –– competing at the highest level of softball, competitive CrossFit, and most recently becoming a mother for the first time –– she has learned what works for her in regards to both training and nutrition.

During each of these stages of her extremely active life, Sheena witnessed firsthand how different modalities of exercise demand different capabilities from your body. From all of these experiences, she’s learned that it’s always easier when you don’t go at it alone and you stay in tune with your personal needs. She considers herself very lucky to have had some amazing coaches in her life and wants to pay it forward by helping others, including helping dozens of clients as their favorite COVID weight loss coach.

After retiring from softball in 2008, Sheena got hooked on CrossFit in 2009. Back then, a low-carb Paleo diet was all the rage. She fell into a “workout more, eat less” trap and actually began to see her health, body composition, and fitness decline. But for years, her quality of life continued to suffer as she dug herself into a deeper and deeper hole–refusing to believe that her diet and over-training/over-exercising was the problem.

Realizing she was 20 pounds heavier than her Olympic softball days, her confidence as an athlete and CrossFit coach was extremely low as she felt she no longer “looked the part.” Sheena also struggled with new health issues that many of us experience, from work/life balance and relationship management, to low energy and sleep problems.

Finally, she sought help and hired a nutrition coach. This would prove to be a major tipping point in Sheena’s life. Her confidence quickly came back. Her quality of life dramatically improved. She did all this by practicing the very same fundamentals Beyond the Box Nutrition teaches all their clients. Today, as one of our Chicago weight loss consulting experts, Sheena continues to enjoy the best of all worlds with strength training, CrossFit group classes, and Peloton workouts, as well as the enjoyment of eating her favorite foods.

Sheena believes there is no one “right” diet and that each person is unique in his or her nutritional needs. She values the connection and relationship she creates with each client as she teaches positivity, patience, and a “trust the process” mentality, whether it’s as a COVID weight loss coach on Zoom or just as their trusted nutrition consultant.