From "Not" to Hot: An elements Trainer Turns Her Life Around

Written by Elements

Most people can remember a life-changing event, but few can pinpoint the actual day they chose to change their lives. elements for women personal trainer Ilona Maj can. It was August 10, 2005…the day she casually picked up a copy of Muscle & Fitness Magazine and committed herself to living a healthier life.

Enough is Enough

women's fitness Ilona had never paid much attention to her physique before. She had no problems eating whatever she wanted, drinking alcohol and logging in time on the couch. Although she admits she had a very active childhood, playing basketball and doing gymnastics, she was not encouraged to participate in sports or teams at school. This paved the way for a lifestyle of excess calories and little exercise.

Finally fed up with her appearance, Ilona began to follow the diet and fitness plan recommended in Muscle & Fitness Magazine. After three months of diligently working at it, Ilona went from 154 pounds to 126 pounds with 12% body fat. “I started seeing changes in my body that I thought were not even possible, hence leaving me passionate about fitness,” Ilona says.

Moving on Up

No longer ashamed of her flabby body, Ilona moved up from her residential community’s gym to a real gym with trainers. She continued to work on her diet and fitness, and began reading all she could about how to live healthier. She picked up Oxygen Magazine, which sparked her interest in figure competitions. Within months, she was training for her first competition. All the diligence and hard work paid off when she was awarded second place in the 2007 Emerald Cup in Figure Class E…only ten months after giving birth to her daughter!

Ilona said, “Not only was it my first competition ever, but it was the first event in where I received a real trophy and on top of it all qualified for Nationals!”

Living the Dream women's fitness

Even with a busy family life of two children and husband who also body builds, Ilona continues to train and work towards building a fantastic body. “My kids and my husband are a huge part of my fitness. We workout together as much as we can, and when we can’t, we definitely share our workout stories with each other.”

Realizing a healthy lifestyle starts early, she encourages her kids to be active and eat healthy every chance she can. “My kids prefer their fruits and vegetables over French fries, and my son even does his push-ups and crunches several times a week and loves bodybuilding videos! He knows that he can only get big muscles and stay strong if he eats healthy foods,” she says.

Ilona took her passion for fitness to the next level and became a personal trainer at elements for women in Mount Prospect, IL where she helps motivate and encourage others to lose weight, eat better and live healthier.

She comments, “When I started out in my small complex fitness center I could only dream of a place like elements, and now it is here and I am a part of it! I think that elements is a great place for women no matter if you are beginning or continuing and if you haven’t checked it out yet, you should soon!”

Looking Ahead

women's fitness With four shows already under her belt, including the USA Championships in Las Vegas, Ilona plans on earning her professional figure card and competing in local shows and the NPC Junior Nationals in Chicago in June 2009. She would also like to one day build her own successful personal training business.

“I want to help people with their fitness goals, and most importantly help people realize how a healthy lifestyle can help them become happy individuals,” Ilona adds. “I chose to be fit and healthy as long as I live so working within an environment such as elements is helping me to stay focused on it. Being a good role model for our members is very important to me and since I work with so many people I learn from them as much as they learn from me. Everyday I learn so much from being a part of elements that one day I want to have my own fitness club and continue motivating and helping women succeed!”

Her Recipe for Success

To prepare for the competitions, Ilona followed a high-protein diet that included chicken, tuna, and eggs, but discovered that animal protein took the most energy from her as she digested. She became a vegan for awhile before switching back to diet involving meat …this time in moderation.

Ilona says, “I believe that everyone needs different things to be healthy and to grow. Being a vegan helped me become healthier since it forced me to eat more veggies and good fats, but now I do include chicken, fish and eggs in my diet.”

Ilona recommends 5-6 small meals every three hours that include some source of carbohydrates, good fat, and lean protein. This helps keep clients full and prevents them from overeating while their metabolism going strong. Not a big fan of wheat germ? No problem!

“Everyone is different so don’t think you have to eat the egg whites or the asparagus if you hate them. There are plenty of foods that you can replace them with, and don’t think you can never have a hamburger! I think one of the biggest mistakes that people make is that once they have pizza or ice-cream they continue eating badly for the rest of the day, week or even month since in their minds they have already messed up,” she continues. “I love pizza, ice-cream, burgers and cake but I love looking and feeling fit and healthy way more. What is more important to you?”

Ilona’s Fitness Tips

•   Full body workouts are great for beginners, and as you progress you can start splitting the body into 3, 2 and 1 body parts worked per day. This doesn’t mean that you should never go back to a full body workout; it just means that you need to vary your workouts to prevent plateaus and to get better results.

•   A great balance of fitness is strength training, cardio, and flexibility and, of course, a good diet. If you practice all of those things then you have nothing to worry about.

•   People think that I workout all the time and for hours a day; well, that’s not true. Working out too much can actually be counterproductive. After an intense workout, your muscles need to repair and your glycogen levels need to be restored by eating plenty of healthy carbohydrates so that you have energy for your next workout.

•   If cardio feels boring, try PHA training. This type of training is perfect for fat loss while maintaining muscle mass. It is similar to circuit training but it requires switching from upper body to lower body exercises so that your blood flow is constantly directed to a different body part. This enables you to workout your entire body with more sets without fatiguing your muscles. Try it if you dare and I promise you won't be disappointed!