Victoria Viola

"Vic, your weight fluctuates like the temperature." Ouch, that was a burn to hear. This was from my best friend nonetheless, but she was right. 

It was honestly embarassing the way I lost and gained weight so often; not to mention whenever I lost it, I feared and knew I would gain it back. I feared the attention it would put on me to be thinner, and if I even deserved it. What if I can't maintain the new look and then everyone will see me fail, again, so I might as well hide anyway?

Looking as fit and healthy as I knew I was, just didn't seem to be in the cards for me.

Ironically, I didn't have any issues with my weight until I started dieting. 

Growing up in dance classes, I spent a lot of time fixated on the image in the mirror. I wouldn't say I had a fantastic self-esteem. I was suffering (still recovering) from a debilitating condition called perfectionism. Add in cultural and peer pressure, and that's a recipe for a young girl to think her body needs help. It needs fixing. The yo-yo dieting only worsened my relationship with food. It all became black and white to me. I basically forgot how I used to eat before I started thinking about how to eat. The love/hate relationship with food was never really about food though...although I really, really love it, and thank goodness, now I’m proud to say that.

For 13 years, it had been a cycle of restriction, self-sabotage, binge, mind games, meltdown, start over.

 Always starting over.

I received my degree in Dance from Hofstra University in 2007. Graduating as the President of the Dance Majors, an esteemed choreographer by faculty and peers, magna cum laude. From there, I began teaching group fitness in local gyms, and at Hofstra while I was in school.

I was intensely interested in personal training. Becoming a one-on-one coach came naturally to me as I was so interested in people. Teaching in front of a class was fun, but I wanted to know someone deeper and be a part of their journey. I was always a leader, obsessed with movement, and loved helping people.

I then spent 7 years training one-on-one in one of the premiere health clubs in New York City, achieving the rank of highest level trainer. On top of my certifications with NSCA and EFTI, I became pre/post natal certified, Trigger Point therapy certified, Powerplate certified, and Kettlebell certified through Kettlebell Athletics.

Dance quickly took the back-burner to fitness and I began competing in powerlifting, and not long after losing a dramatic amount of weight (far too quickly) I competed in bikini. The terrible rebound I experienced after my first show mentally destroyed me, and to make matters worse my skin erupted into a painful rash covering my arms and legs for an entire year. My emotional health was toast. I had dug myself into a metabolic pit. 

After months of healing on the inside, turning my life over to God and taking the focus off myself, I was then ready to conquer this cycle once and for all. I achieved the Precision Nutrition certification to coach my PT clients, and I really dove into the journey of self-forgiveness and the study of nutrition. I found an incredible mentor, Jennifer Jewell, who’s message to help women not just look their best, but become their best was mine as well. I proudly joined Jen’s vision when I began international online lifestyle coaching for INJAFit in October of 2014.

My husband and I created our business, Excelerate Wellness, to help men and women create sustainable health-conscious habits that suited their lifestyles. Working both online and in-person in New York city, we work with a variety of people (stressed-out busy New Yorker’s especially) and we are always ready to meet them where they’re at and gradually take them to their next level at their appropriate pace. 

My passion is to guide the people that are sick of always starting over. The men and women that need balance and realize that physical transformation is much more than just exercise and food. 

I know my purpose is to be a light of encouragement and to live open-handedly, willing to serve others at every opportunity.