Be Healthy. Be Happy.
Striving to Live a Healthy and Happy Life, One Day at a Time.
We each have the ability to start anew and change our lives for the better. Each and every day I make a choice to be happy, to be healthy and to take care of this body I was given..
My Story.My name is Alena and I am a 25 year old woman from the West Coast of the United States, currently living in Germany with the Love of my Life.
I have also lived abroad in France and Spain, and each time I learned so much about Life, my body and the importance of creating healthy habits of which I struggled to do at the time. I have a passion for Languages (I speak my native English, French, Spanish, a little Swedish and am learning German), I love Traveling, Cooking, Snowboarding, Surfing, Skateboarding and all things Fitness & Health related! Getting into fitness changed my life and in some ways it saved me. I feel so much Healthier, Stronger, Fitter, more Confident and more Emotionally Balanced every day. I definitely still have my ups and downs, my good days and bad, but with each day that comes I learn a little bit more about how to take care of myself and live a healthy, balanced lifestyle, and I do my best to focus on the positive things. I am sharing my history of ups and downs to educate people that everyone has their own story, struggles and triumphs. If I could go back in time and talk to my younger self, I would have so much to say. I would tell her there is so much to be thankful for in life, and it will all get better.
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With each day comes a new opportunity to be become a better version of yourself.
Although it took me longer to notice the differences, my friends and family started to see the change and by Christmas I had already lost 20 pounds. Sometimes it's hardest for us to see the changes we have made. During the first 5 months or so, I was mostly just doing cardio exercise, using the elliptical trainer and then a few weight machines for legs. But during the next few months I began to incorporate more outside activities such as Snowboarding (I coached a High School team) and I started lifting light weights (please read Blog post "Active Living: My Fitness History for more info). I also started using social media sites and finding trainers and other like-minded people for motivation on sites such as Instagram.
Lifting weights and incorporating hiit training changed my whole outlook on fitness and helped me redefine my goals. I didn't just want to lose weight, I wanted to be Strong! I didn't just want to fit in my clothes better, I wanted to be toned! Weight lifting and hiit exercises definitely helped me drop some extra weight, but also helped my body tone up much more than anything I had ever done before. I began really incorporating all of that, lifting, more body weight exercises and HIIT into my routine Summer of 2014. I am now doing Aussie Trainer Kayla Itsines' Bikini Body Guide 1.0 version (have finished 2.0), but I am still incorporating a little extra lifting into my routines. I may not see the same types changes as much as in the beginning(such as weight loss), but I am continuing to change, get stronger, leaner and am seeing and feeling new types of progress. I love feeling strong enough to hold my own body weight, lift something I couldn't before and see that extra bit of Muscle definition I never knew I could achieve! I was raised by what I would describe as a health conscious family, and even decided on my own at 5 years old to be come a vegetarian. But somewhere along the way I got lost and confused during those rough transitional teenage years. I started caring too much about what others thought of me and wanted to fit in so badly that I stopped caring if I was hurting my body in the process. I think back to even just a year and a half ago, and I cringe at how I treated my body and mental well-being. But I do not believe in regret, as I believe each and every experience made us who we are today. I only look back to reflect and be grateful that I was able to make a real change. I now know what it feels like to wake up clear headed and motivated. I know how great and determined I feel after a training session, be that hiit cardio, weight training or one of the workouts from BBG 2.0. I have friends and family from near and far asking Me for advice and so I know what it feels like to inspire others to change. It is wonderful and uplifting. And even when I am having a bad day mentally, I know everything is so much better than before and I remind myself how far I have come. Change doesn't always happen quickly, but with enough determination and self-belief anything is possible. My goal everyday is to focus on the little things that make me happy and keep me motivated and inspired, like the people in my life and all the accomplishments I've made, big and small, in the past year. I have learned so much about Health and Fitness, and how to Respect and Take Care of my Body and Mind. I'm still learning everyday, but appreciating every moment of the journey. |
We each have the ability to start anew and change our lives for the better. Each and every day I make a choice to be happy, to be healthy and to take care of this body I was given. You can do it too. Seize your opportunity and give it your best. Love, Alena