Meet Tara Bialek. She is a gorgeous wife and a inspirational mother of three beautiful kids. She has her own business and on top of that, she takes time each day for God and for fitness. We first met through Instagram. I loved how her love for God glowed through her posts and I enjoyed her HIIT workouts! Recently, I had the privilege of asking how Tara got to where she is now in her fitness journey. Read on and be inspired!
How did you come to realize you wanted to change your lifestyle?
When I was in college at the age of 20, I was caught in the college life of staying up too late, partying and being super lazy. I was also lost. I didn't know what I wanted to do when I grew up and felt depressed about the weight gain that I experienced in my first few years there. I remember walking into my favorite store and not being able to fit into the largest size there. I was at a low. I felt like I was in a hole and couldn't get out. I went from being an active athlete in high school to 30lbs overweight and lonely a few years later. After that store incident and a bad breakup I knew it was time to do something. I started walking around campus and eating better. I researched about nutrition and started incorporating what I was learning into my life. I also started doing home workouts like TaeBo and the "OLD SCHOOL" Firm videos. I was too embarrassed to go to the gym, so I did what worked for me. AND it worked. About 6 months later, I lost the weight and was looking into nutrition programs because I was so interested in learning all that I could and helping people live a healthy lifestyle. I transferred schools and got my Bachelors in Nutrition and Dietetics and then went on for my Masters in Education so I could teach!
What is your motivation? How does your faith come into play?
My motivation now is my family. I want wellness to be a part of their lives...part of their foundation. I want to live a LONG, healthy life with them and experience every part of life with my family. Before, when I was originally going through my weight loss journey, I was doing it because i wanted to look good. Yes...that's the added bonus of feeling GREAT, but now I do it because it's my time to push myself and get my endorphins going. I feel amazing after and have a totally different mindset for the day.
My fitness and the WORD are those things that are a non negotiable for me. They need to be part of my day somehow. God has changed the way I look at health and fitness. It was first all about ME and now its about taking care of the body God has given me, showing others that wellness is important and loving people right where they are. God has given me a platform now to use what I have learned and what He is guiding me to do, to help share His love with the world. My mission, my purpose is to share His love---and what better way to do it then to help others learn to love their bodies and feel good in their skin? Love them right where they are and every step of their journey.
How do you include your family in your fitness journey?
Fitness and nutrition is a part of me now. My husband actually now LOVES working out from home with p90x3 and Bodybeast. He's totally changed his tune about home workouts and has lost 40lbs! My kids are always joining in and we make "moving" part of our lifestyle. We swim, walk, play outside all of the time, ride bikes together and hike. It's just what we do. I want to make it fun for them!
What are your three favorite go-to exercise moves?
My favorite go-to workouts would be HIIT workouts! I love the high intensity intervals of high knee jogging or skipping (jump rope) for 45 sec and then doing squats for the next 45 seconds, alternating between a strength move and cardio move. The workouts are 30 min and I feel awesome after. I burn a lot more than hitting up the treadmill and lifting after. That's boring to me. I wouldn't be able to sustain that. I actually tried the gym and went for years before I was married and see much better results now from home workouts!
How has your view of yourself changed since starting your fitness journey?
I honestly think the reason why my view of myself has changed is because I am growing everyday in my faith and I see how much God loves me. I find my identity in Him and He thinks I am beautiful. I definitely struggle with this and have so much in the past but everyday I ask God to show my how He sees me. I don't ever want to find my true identity in what others think of me. If that were the case, I wouldn't be able to share my journey on social media like I do. If I didn't put myself out there and be vulnerable, how would I help people? How would I be doing what God has called me to do? God is stretching me and showing me how GREAT His plan is for my life so everyday I renew my mind with His promises and how much He loves me. That change of focus and mindset is what drives me to be healthy and share it!
If you could give one fitness tip, what would it be?
I tell my clients that it's so important to CHANGE your mindset in order to create LONG TERM change in your health. They need to see how much they are valued and how amazing they are as they go through their wellness journeys. I always recommend a book like the Compound Effect or Crash the Chatterbox (depending on their faith) to help them on their wellness journey. Changing your MINDSET is the most important tip that most people leave out of the fitness equation but if you don't....chances are you will never believe you are worth it and you won't give your health priority over most things in your life.
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