You’re not along when it comes to your health and fitness journey - it’s something we all struggle with. During this week’s episode, we talk to Fitness Trainer and Author, Melissa Alcantara, reminds us it’s not only normal to struggle, but it’s something she deals with too! We talk to the incredible super mama about her personal fitness journey, how she stays motivated, and why she thinks it's a blessing to decide to work out every day. She also has a new workout series with Messenger, where we can all workout in real time and “Watch Together”. 😉 Besides that, Melissa is dropping all 👏🏽 the 👏🏽 gems 👏🏽 about life, staying motivated, decision making, and more. Get ready to be schooled !
More about Melissa: Raised in New York City and currently based in Los Angeles, Melissa Alcantara, aka ‘Fitgurlmel’, is a Dominican-American mom, author, fitness trainer, and athlete, who works as a personal trainer for Kim Kardashian West.
After losing 40 pounds in 60 days, and realizing she had total control of her mind and body, Melissa started training for bodybuilding competitions and shared her fitness journey on Instagram.
She has since grown her platform to more than 1 million followers, where she continues to document her inspiring health and fitness journey, share her no-nonsense diet and fitness tips, and inspire others to put in the work to change their body and life.
Most recently, in partnership with Messenger, Melissa created a series of workouts for Watch Together, a brand new feature that lets you watch videos with friends and family and see their reactions in real-time, to inspire digital fitness accountability, so friends can keep each other accountable while they train from home.
As a leading face in the fitness industry, Melissa has been featured in several publications such as Women’s Health, Cosmopolitan, Vogue, and many more, and was named to Create & Cultivate's Top 100 list in the Fitness & Wellness category in 2019.
More about Melissa x Messenger: Melissa, who has been documenting her inspiring health and fitness journey on social media, partnered with Messenger on a fitness accountability program to help people stay moving, highlighting the benefits of having a virtual workout buddy as many of us are working out from home.
Melissa created a series of workouts for Watch Together, a brand new feature on Messenger, perfect for fitness gurus or amateurs, to help inspire people to work out with friends and hold each other accountable.
Watch Together enables you to:
See your friends laugh and cry in real-time while viewing the same video at the same time in Messenger and Messenger Rooms.
Enjoy your favorite music videos, TV shows, movies, and FB Watch videos, including what’s happening now, Lives, music videos, sports and Facebook originals, with more selections coming soon.
Watch with up to 8 friends on a video chat and 50 in Messenger Rooms.
Watch Together is free and easy to use! Start a Messenger video call or create a Messenger Room then swipe up on the bottom of your screen and select ‘Watch Together.’ From there you can select a video suggested for you or choose from a category such as ‘TV & Movies,’ ‘Watched,’ ‘or ‘Uploaded.’
Check out Melissa's first workout video on Watch Together below!
Little Drops of Knowledge by Melissa Alcantara
“Super Mamas - that’s a compliment. Because most of the time I feel like I’m failing at everything. I’m winging it most of the time. But I think a lot of women out there need to realize thats pretty much how you do it. You have no choice.”
“I’m going to surrender. I’m going to stop trying to force something and I’m going to accept the fact that I know nothing, and you have to be okay with that.”
“Starting everyday is the hardest thing. I always sad it’s not the ten thousand squats that made your ass nice. It’s the ten thousand times that you said, ‘Yes, I’m going to work out.’ That’s what makes you feel good.”
“Making a decision is taking an action. Motivation comes from action. You must do first.”
“That’s how everything in life goes. You can’t just go from being a newbie to a pro. You have to learn how to love, how to appreciate. These things don’t just come to you, you have to teach it to yourself.”
“Everything that’s unknown is scary. It doesn’t matter if it’s good. That’s why people say they’re scared of success. Success is a scary freakin’ place to be.'“
“It’s really about balancing, about balancing your life. You’re going to make crappy decisions. You are going to not have the best day. But it’s how you carry on, how you keep going.”
“You have to make the decisions. If this is something you want, I’m going to guide you, I’m going to give you the tools you need, but I can’t do it for you. I can’t make the decisions for you.”
“Sometimes we feel like we have to make so many decisions in our life and we have so many responsibilities, but to see it as something good, to see it as, ‘I have control over my life and the things that I want and how I want to live it in the tiny amount of time that we have,’ is a blessing.”
“Making sure that we know that we have control, that we have the power, and that we can take responsibility for things that don’t happen perfectly or when we mess up because we human beings and we’re just trying out best.”
LINKS
Follow Melissa on Instagram @fitgurlmel and learn more about her on her site fitgurlmel.com
Subscribe to her YouTube channel for workout videos, recipes, and more! So much fun healthy living content.
Get your copy of her book, Fit Gurl, on Amazon and wherever books are sold!
