This story is about a girl, named Alena Shifrin who had problems with her weight for most of her life. In the times when she was a college girl her weight was unbelievable 205 pounds. Even though she was smiling and seemed happy on the outside, she felt sad and trapped in her weight on the inside.
In college, she met and fell in love with a boy named Seth. Years afterwards they got married. Seth never pressured her to lose weight or made her uncomfortable, but always complimented her instead. He said to her that she has to lose weight for her and not for anyone else. They had a very nice and blissful marriage for nearly a decade and had two daughters, Serena and Gabby. That is when the problems started. Alena couldn’t play with the kids at the playground or even walk them to the bus stop. She lost her glow for life and just wanted to hide.
The most painful thing for her was when in 2011 she found about her extremely high cholesterol. As a result, she was denied life insurance. This was the moment when her husband, a renowned doctor of Sports Medicine in Mount Kisco, NY faced her with the truth. “This is no longer a question of weight but question of health and our future instead”- he said. Then, Alena felt like she hit the bottom. She knew that she had to make a huge change in order to stay alive and healthy for many years to come.
The first thing she did was enrolling into a Zumba class. She used to stand in the back because she felt embarrassed due to the other participants in the front who were all beautiful and fit. In comparison to them she felt big and ugly. However, her bright spirit and affinity for dancing were immediately spotted by the Zumba instructor, Shahidah Ansari who became friend with her.
As the months were passing by, the situation changed to better. The shyness of Alena disappeared and slowly moved to the front with the other girls. This type of workout was definitely adequate for her because she felt not just physically, but emotionally better as well. Her appearance was not drastically changed but the Zumba class gave her confidence and positive vibes. She got the courage to go on the stage with the instructor and eventually, made many life-long friendships.
Alena managed to lose unbelievable 100 pounds in a year, with the help of dancing and getting lost in the music. Once, she felt stuck at the bottom but now she lost that feeling of being hopeless. She is a completely new person, healthier, self-confident and energized. Alena is 155 pounds lighter now and she feels that the feeling of being trapped in her body is over now. Her family and friends who are very proud of her, admire her courage and make jokes once in a while by saying: “ I want to be Alena when I grow up”.
