The breakfast habitat Emily brought home from UCLA

The Melbourne rower turned fitness founder shares the breakfast routine that stayed with her long after college sport.

The alarm goes off at 6am, the first training session of the day runs until 9am and before you know it your next lecture has already started. Amidst the chaos of juggling being an elite-sportswomen and academic commitments, eating a proper breakfast becomes an afterthought.

In 2021, Melbourne student and competitive rower, Emily Sutherland, moved to Los Angeles to compete in college rowing and study Human Biology and Society.

“After training they had a fuelling station and we would each get a zip-lock bag with a couple of hard-boiled eggs, pre-peeled,” Emily said. “You’d get home, shower, rush to class and all the athletes would be sitting there snacking on hard-boiled eggs.”

As part of her course, Emily took several food studies classes where she explored the relationship between humans, the environment and how people live their lives. She assisted with research for a thesis project investigating the commercial evolution of processed foods.

“I’ve always been health conscious and loved cooking and eating healthy with quality produce. It really made me realise the importance of eating whole foods and being connected with what you’re eating.”

Since graduating in 2024, Emily has returned to Australia and recently opened her own fitness studio, Sutho Studio, in Hawthorn, Melbourne. Her mission is to empower women with the confidence to start training.

“The gym can be quite a masculine environment, and it can be a bit daunting for women who are just getting started. My goal is to get people comfortable with the equipment and the movements so they feel they can go and do it themselves.”

She says clients are always asking about their diet, especially protein intake.

“So many of the protein options available today are processed and packaged. Eggs are the best, they’re natural and high in bioavailable protein and cholesterol and all the good things our body needs.

“I still have eggs almost every day, around four for breakfast.”