Our Profile of the month for the month of July is our super hard working and gorgeous Eleni Tzimas! At just 16 years old, this little champion has completely turned her life around! I’ve known Elleni her whole life and have never seen her as confident and outgoing as she is today. I’m so friggen proud of her and all the work she puts in, to help herself look and feel so much better!

Elleni is 110% dedicated to her training and nutrition. She puts in 110% to each and every training session, without winging, without complaining and does so with a smile. She is always trying to improve and looks at how she can challenge herself further.

When it comes to her nutrition, now that she knows exactly what works for her body and how to feed it nutritious food without deprivation and starvation, she looks forward to meal prepping and does so with total commitment. She doesn’t rely on mum or dad to do it for her. She fits it in to her already busy schedule. Elleni has a number of commitments she fits into her life including school, a part time job, tutoring, singing, deb practice, and family and friends. To manage all of those commitments you need dedication and a stack load of organisation; Elleni has plenty of both!

The changes in Elleni go far beyond the physical. I’m not even going to focus on that; you can see those in the photos. For me the changes within her are much more powerful and important.

It is heart breaking to watch a teenage girl beat herself up about her weight, to watch her self-esteem plummet and her vivacious personality enclose into itself. I was watching this incredible young lady fall deeper and deeper within herself and it broke my heart.

So to see how much Elleni has come out back out of her shell and blossom into the incredible young lady that she is, is heart-warming. This is why we do what we do; it’s about helping people realise their potential and literally, unleashing the best version of themselves.

Elleni, you are an absolute rock star! I’m so friggen proud of you!!! I love that you now see the incredible young lady that you are, and that you are finally fitting yourself in as a priority. You are always there for everyone else, it’s about time you focus on yourself as well. Well done babe!

A word from Coach Emilia:

“Elleni when you first approached me for help in terms of your nutrition I didn’t hesitate to help, we spent a week working together and in the end it was all worth it. Elleni you are a very committed and determined person who truly wants to make long term changes and I can see the change in you over these past few months. Not only have you focused on improving your nutrition but also your level of training has elevated to an all-time high. Really well done Elleni, keep up the amazing work.”

Here is Elleni’s story in her words:

“I was a very unconfident girl. My weight not only affected me externally in the sense of not wanting to play and participate  in sports, not being able to finish one lap of an oval, to internally as well, as I became very closed  off from people and resulted in mental health issues. I not only had a negative outlook on exercising but a completely wrong outlook on food. I thought not eating was the best thing to do so I stopped eating breakfast, recess and lunch and only ate dinner for a very long time, but by the time I would get home I was starving so that resulted in eating unhealthy foods like chips and lollies.  

I was sick of being overweight, depressed and hating what I looked like, and at the time I really wanted to lose weight before my deb and thanks to Terri and Emilia that was possible. I wanted to not only fix my image but my mindset on food and my overall health.

I just loved how Terri made Terrific Fitness such a family environment and an environment where everyone has the same goal so let’s all work together and not against each other.

I started doing 2 days of training a week sometimes three and it’s still the same due to school and a part time job but in between training with Terri and Emilia I try and work out at home as much as I can 

I had a lot of trouble with eating so I reached out to Emilia. Emilia is such an amazing trainer as she really sat with me and broke down how to eat correctly as I was eating pretty healthy but I wasn’t eating nearly enough food and Emilia just sat with me a few times and gave me advice on everything. 

I feel so much better in my everyday life being able to walk up the steps at school and not be out of breath was the first sign to me that what I was doing may not just be visible on the outside but internally too. Even going to the gym is better I’m excited whenever I have class at Terrific Fitness. When I use to go to the gym I was crying after because I felt so put down and disappointed with myself due to the environment of the past gym I was working out at. But being at Terrific Fitness really took my mindset and flipped it completely around!

There is still so much I want to improve on there is still more weight I want to lose and more muscle I want to tone but I don’t see them as “ugly flaws” anymore, I see them as personal goals and I can’t wait to smash them. I feel like in life we are so busy focusing on everyone else and promising things to everyone else and helping everyone else, that sometimes we forget to help ourselves. So me being at  the gym really makes me feel happy that I’m doing something for myself and making myself happy and healthy at the same time. 

There is still a long way to go for me but I can’t wait for the journey ahead and I know it’s going to be difficult but I know that in the end it will all be worth the sore muscles and legs.

Straight after school on the Monday I have tutoring and so after that I come to the gym but as soon as I get home before anything, I put my gym clothes on and start meal prep for the next day so I have no excuse of first of all not meal prepping but second of all I don’t have an excuse of not going to the gym! I think for me it honestly was just finding a routine that got me to the gym and also the fact that I would subconsciously guilt myself about how I’ve worked so hard and not going is a step backwards instead of forwards.

[What would you say to someone thinking of getting started with Terrific Fitness?] Do it. Simply if you want to change your life and you honestly want to do it, get started with Terrific Fitness there is a variety of classes to choose from and amazing trainers who make it clear to you that their door is always open. Like I said before the environment of the gym is amazing. People just build each other up and that makes a difference when everyone has a positive attitude to the word ‘team’.” – Elleni Tzimas, South Morang