In this post, we’ll briefly tell you the story of how Fitlap was born, introduce Fitlap’s CEO René Laane and Fitlap’s co-CEO Crisgel-Berit Laane.
- We are not just theorists — we are practitioners too, because we have both been through significant weight-loss journeys ourselves. But more about that a little later.
Let’s start by talking about how Fitlap was born.
I’m René, and I’ll tell you the story of Fitlap’s beginnings!
Before founding Fitlap, I was already an entrepreneur, but I had never really been involved with healthy nutrition. I had attended a few short trainer courses, but my exposure to healthy eating was still very superficial.
Fitlap began in 2009 because of my personal need to find a suitable nutrition plan to help me achieve my goals. At the time, I was competing in powerlifting at a high level, so my initial goal was actually to gain weight. Specifically, I wanted to increase my body weight from 135 kg to 145 kg within a few months so that I could set an Estonian heavyweight bench press record.
When I started looking for a suitable nutrition plan that could help me achieve this, I couldn’t find one. At the time, the only nutrition plans available in Estonia were ones with up to 10 recipes, which meant you were expected to manage your daily nutrition around the same limited selection.
Eventually, I bought one of these nutrition plans and did achieve the goals I had set for myself. However, I quickly realized that following such a nutrition plan was not sustainable in the long term.
From there, things naturally started to take their own course. I realized that if I had this problem, there were probably many other people facing the same challenge.
And that idea became the beginning of Fitlap.
At the time, I trained at Arctic Sport in Tartu, where I met Fitlap’s future co-founder. Since I had completed several internet marketing courses that taught me how to build websites and market products online, and there was someone at the sports club who was involved in creating both training and nutrition plans, I suggested that we create a training and nutrition coaching platform that would offer clients a much wider variety of nutrition plans — plans that could actually be followed throughout life and were therefore sustainable.
After some consideration, we reached an agreement and started building the website. Just a few months later, Fitlap was born — although at the time, its name was kaalustalla.ee. In 2015, we changed the brand name, and ever since then we have operated under the Fitlap brand and on Fitlap.ee.
Today, Fitlap’s nutrition plan includes more than 3,000 healthy recipes, helping people lose weight, gain weight, or simply eat healthily. Fitlap has grown into a healthy lifestyle platform! Over the years, more than 300,000 Estonians have tried Fitlap.
Fitlap’s goal is to make affordable, simple and healthy eating accessible to everyone.
I’m René — not just a theorist, but a practitioner too.
My name is René Laane. I am one of the owners of Fitlap. I am a mentor, athlete, nutrition coach and trainer.
I completed my nutrition coach training at the Academy of Public Health and hold an EKR Level 3 trainer qualification.
In the past, I competed in boxing and powerlifting, but today I am dedicated to Fitness Challenge, where I have reached the very top of the sport. I am a multiple-time European Champion and World Champion in the discipline — despite being 49 years old!
When I was competing in powerlifting 15 years ago, I weighed as much as 145 kg. It was difficult — difficult to move around, difficult to change clothes, and difficult even to put on my shoes. I couldn’t even go running with my daughter Berit, who is now Fitlap’s co-CEO. That was the moment that really made me stop and think and gave me the push I needed to start losing weight.
Faced with all these difficulties, I decided to give up competitive powerlifting at the highest level and lose enough weight to get below 100 kg.
During my weight-loss journey, I followed Fitlap’s nutritional principles, and two years later I had lost 49 kg, weighing 95 kg. This is an ideal rate of weight loss, as I lost an average of around 2 kg per month.
I have stayed around the same weight — 90–95 kg — for the past 15 years, but I can confidently say that I am in the best shape of my life right now. And I intend to be in great shape 10, 20 and even 30 years from now!
Why have I been able to stay in such good shape for so long?
- The short answer would be: I eat healthily, get enough sleep and train smart. Mental well-being and having a sense of purpose are, of course, extremely important too!
- There is a much longer answer to this question as well. I could probably write an entire book about each of these topics, but I won’t do that here because this post would become far too long. 🙂
Yes, the people in the photos below are really me. In the photo on the left, I weighed 145 kg, while in the photo on the right, I weighed 95 kg. 🙂
I’m Berit.
My first connection to Fitlap is, of course, my father, René, but I have also had my own personal journey with Fitlap. That journey began more than 10 years ago, when I wanted to lose weight.
Since then, I have been on an enormous journey. I managed to lose weight, then gained it back again (I was a highly emotional eater), then succeeded again, only to struggle with my eating habits once more. I spent years riding those “up and down” waves until, about five years ago, I realized that I couldn’t continue like that.
Interestingly, I have exercised my entire life, but that didn’t stop the weight from accumulating. Unfortunately, exercise alone doesn’t get us into shape — weight loss starts with what we put on our plate. I realized that healthy eating couldn’t simply be a phase in my life to lose weight. It had to become my lifestyle.
That doesn’t mean I have to follow a plan 100% for the rest of my life. It means I need to find a balance that allows me to stay consistent — taking care of my body while also enjoying life.
I realized that healthy food isn’t some kind of obligation. In fact, I WANT to eat healthily. I WANT to move and exercise, because I genuinely want to feel healthy and happy and live a long, energetic life! 💪
By now, I have lost more than 18 kg, and I can confidently say that a healthy lifestyle truly is my lifestyle — not just another phase of my life.
An emotional eater has become an enthusiastic advocate and enjoyer of a healthy lifestyle!
I have finally reached a point where I feel happy in my body, take care of my health, eat healthily and exercise — and I do all of this simply because I genuinely enjoy it! 😌
I want to share my experiences, lessons, tips and mindset with you, so that I can help make your own weight-loss or lifestyle-change journey easier and help you genuinely enjoy healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle! 🙌
The most important thing on this journey is consistency. You can’t always be perfect, but what matters is continuing to move forward. Even if you have to get back up 20 times, the important thing is that you get back up and keep going! If you do that, there is ultimately no other option but to succeed! 💛
This is my transformation thanks to Fitlap! For me, the biggest help has been Fitlap’s food diary. I can use it to add Fitlap recipes, but I can also create my own simple, tasty meals from ingredients I already have. I don’t always have to follow a recipe to the letter.
Just like my father, I have also competed in powerlifting — squat, bench press and deadlift. When I was only 16 years old, I set an Estonian junior record in the squat. At the time, it was 86 kg. Naturally, those numbers are quite different today. I also won the Estonian junior championship title at the same competition. Later, I competed in the women’s category as well, where I also reached the podium at the Estonian Championships.
In 2020, my father and I even competed together in a bench press competition.
More recently, from 2023 to 2025, my father and I competed together in Fitness Challenge. In 2025, we became both European and World Champions in the pairs competition.
It was one of the most powerful emotions I have ever experienced — training and growing together with my father and actually getting to experience that all the hard work was worth it!
