The ESNL was founded in 1997 by Dr. Richard Kreider in collaboration with IMAGINutrition^® (Laguna Nigel, CA) while he was a faculty member in the Department of Human Movement Sciences & Education at the University of Memphis.  In the summer of 2002, the ESNL and staff moved with Dr. Kreider to Baylor University where he served as Professor and Chair of the Department of Health, Human Performance, and Recreation. After 6 years of highly successful leadership as Chair and Director of the Exercise & Sport Nutrition Lab; Dr. Kreider moved to Texas A&M University where he was named Head of the Department of Health and Kinesiology and Thomas A. and Joan Read Endowed Chair for Disadvantaged Youth. This also involved moving the ESNL, staff, funding, and a number of doctoral students to Texas A&M University.

The ESNL is now located in a 5,500 sq. ft. facility in Building Two of the Research Park (Suite 2500) at Texas A&M University.  It consists of a patient/subject reception area; a stress testing area; a medical exam area; a body composition/bone density assessment area; a phlebotomy/muscle biopsy area; a resting energy expenditure study area; an isotonic and isokinetic strength testing area; an anaerobic capacity analysis area; work stations for nutrition/data analysis; and, wet labs for biochemical analyses of muscle, blood, and/or urine samples. Additional areas include workspace for research assistants, data analysis, and a CurvesSmart^® training area.