Mona Muresan, you might know her from all the bodybuilding matches that she has under her belt. She is also a trainer and former editor-in-chief of Muscle & Fitness Hers magazine. At the age of 16, she moved to New York City and the Transylvania-born teenager tried hard to fit in the American culture and developed a passion for fitness because that was trending there.

She realized that she had a lot of potential for it because of her genes and her own drive and thus, started competing in figure competitions. After months of hard work, she landed her titles in the Garden State Championship and Jr Nationals, and ultimately an IFBB Pro title. Since then, her career has been hosted by leaps and bounds with various magazines contacting her for advertisements and interviews. She also featured in the New York Post for her accomplishments in business and fitness.

You'd never guess it now, but Mona Muresan was once bullied for her being too scrawny. "The kids on my junior high school track team used to make fun of my skinny legs," she says. Fast-forward some 20 years and it's clear that the IFBB pro figure competitor and ex-editor-in-chief of Muscle & Fitness Hers are getting the last laugh.

Currently, she is focused on her new project, and that is not fitness related, in a certain way. It is motherhood. At the age of 42, Mona became pregnant with her first child with the help of IVF. However, she did not stop exercising during her pregnancy and worked with a fitness expert and through her own research, she created a safe and effective prenatal training program for herself. “I worked out throughout my pregnancy and that was the best decision I made. After only four weeks from giving birth, I was pretty much back in shape,” she reveals.

Now, her goal is to spread her knowledge about prenatal workouts to to-be moms to help them stay active and fit during their journey to motherhood.

Before we move on to what her diet plan and workout routine look like, it is important to look at her physical attributes and statistics and her accomplishments that she gained in the fitness world.

Mona Muresan Statistics

Full Name: Mona MuresanAge: 44Date of Birth: October 4, 1975Nationality: Romanian, AmericanProfession: Fitness Instructor, Figure Competitor

Mona Muresan Accomplishments

Mona has a lot of titles under her belt and that is solely through her immense determination and dedication towards her goal.Here is a list of Mona’s Competitions:2012

• Omaha Pro Figure, Figure: IFBB Pro Figure (9th)
• IFBB Toronto Pro Supershow, Fitness/Figure: IFBB Pro Figure (6th)
• New York Pro Championships, Figure: IFBB Pro Figure (10th)

2011

• Sheru Classic, Women Figure: IFBB Pro Figure (7th)
• New York Pro Championships, Figure: Figure Open (10th)
• Pittsburgh Pro Figure & Bikini Championships, Figure Class (9th)

2010

• Team Universe, Figure: Earned Pro Card
• Team Universe, Figure: Class E (1st)
• Jr National Championships, Figure: Class E (1st)

2009

• IFBB North American Championships, Figure: Class E (2nd)
• Atlantic States Championships, Figure: Class C (3rd)

2008

• IFBB North American Championships, Figure: Class E (6th)

A Plane Ticket to a Better Life

Mona Muresan was born in Romania. Although she was a happy child, Mona grew up poor and was often picked on by other kids for being skinny. “The kids on my junior high school track team used to make fun of my skinny legs,” she reveals in her interviews.Because of their poor living conditions, Mona and her family moved to America in hopes of finding a better life. She was just 16 years old at this point.First Years in AmericaShe worked multiple jobs before she could pay for college as soon as she moved to the United States. Eventually, she found herself a job as a coat-check girl at a local steakhouse in Nebraska. It was during this time that she became interested to know more about the American culture which included the trend and love for fitness and sports in an average person's life. One day, she came across a poster of a girl with a fit body and washboard abs and that was the exact moment when she decided that she wanted to look like that!Start of Fitness

Inspired to add some muscle to her 5’7”, 120-lbs frame, Mona started training in the gym. However, she was new and did not really know what to do. When she first joined the gym, weight training was nowhere on her list and she was rather afraid of them. So, she spent hours running on a treadmill instead. However, this did not lead to any improvements in her physique and she wondered what was going wrong. After she saw a fit girl lifting weights in the same gym, she started her weight lifting routine too. That's when she knew that it was all about lifting weights and minimal cardio.Physique ChangesAfter she replaced cardio with free weights, Mona’s results quickly improved. The progress that she was making motivated her and she kept on researching about fitness. She started reading a lot about nutrition and work out training and how both of them are related. This knowledge helped her improved her physique even more.Eventually, she also established a great fitness routine for herself which she stuck to and which gave her results. She hit the gym 6 times a week without fail and did strength training for 45 to 60 minutes with a 15-minute abs workout.She limited her cardio to 2 or 3 times a week for 20 minutes because she was naturally very lean.Hard Work That Paid OffAfter only one year of working out, Mona was now looking better than ever. Alongside her success in the gym, she also tried to experiment with making money, business-wise. In 2005, after years of gradually saving up money, she bought the restaurant where she had once worked as a coat check girl.Figure Athlete

Two years after she first began her fitness journey, Mona began to set new goals for herself. One of these was to compete in figure shows. "I was so impressed with how shapely and fit all of the women were," says Mona. "I thought, ‘I can do this too!' "Without any previous experience whatsoever, Mona started her preparations for her first-ever contest. Since she competed in a figure category, Mona had to pack on additional muscle mass to match the requirements of the contest. For this, she reduced her repetitions and focused on increasing the weights she lifted. She said, "We're judged on our muscle development, so I doubled the weight I was lifting and reduced the number of reps I was doing." She also added more food to her diet and ultimately she was able to sculpt the body that she has always dreamed of. She also started following a six-meal-a-day, high-protein diet, which aids in muscle growth. Four months into her training, she made her debut.She was satisfied with her progress and she looked amazing. All the credit is to her hard work and patience that she won the competition too.

The victory obviously boosted her confidence and she continued on her fitness journey stronger than before. She also started to compete in more shows all over the world. "After I won first place in my division, I felt a huge surge of confidence," says Mona, who went on to participate in seven more shows in the U.S. and abroad.Mona Muresan NowEver since her early fitness days, Mona Muresan has come a long way into being a veteran and icon of the fitness industry. She, with her partner Mike O’Hearn “The Titan”, continues to motivate and inspire other people with their amazing story of success, by showing that nothing is impossible in this life if you work hard enough for it.

Mona Muresan Workout Routine

Mona base all her exercises on free weights that help her tone and sculpt the body. She focuses on both isolation and compound movements that are important to gain strength.https://www.instagram.com/p/B--Zzi8lklK/Her Body Transformation BeginsMona and her family left Romania when she was 16 and shifted to New York City in search of a better life. "I grew up poor and always dreamed of owning my own business," she says. She was not able to afford college and so had to work several jobs over the next six years, which eventually landed her with a job as a coat-check girl at Nebraska Steakhouse & Lounge in the Financial DistrictAs Mona immersed herself in American culture, she became aware of the importance of sports and fitness. "I saw a picture in a magazine of a girl with a six-pack and was blown away," she says. Eager to add some muscle mass to her skinny 5'7", 120-pound body, Mona joined a gym near her house. Having no experience of being in the gym, the former track star leaned toward something that every newbie does in the gym: run on the treadmill. "I stayed away from free weights and cable machines because I had no idea how to use them," she says. "I didn't want to accidentally smack myself in the face!"However, her fear to try strength training disappeared one day when she saw a girl doing deadlifts and squats. As her interest in lifting weights increased, Mona began reading several exercise books and magazines like Shape. Soon she was spending an hour at the gym six days a week, dedicating 45to 60 minutes to strength training and 15 to abdominal work.https://www.instagram.com/p/B-uUf6elnLo/Because she wasn't trying to lose body fat, Mona limited cardio to 20 minutes a day. In just a year, she added 15 pounds of muscle to her lean frame. "My triceps and biceps got cut, and I gained definition in my abs," she says. "As my body changed, I became even more motivated to train," she said.All she wants to do now is to spread the deep message of motivation for improving fitness and health amongst men and women. "I want to give women the resources they need to live a healthy life and look amazing," she says. Mona admits she's extremely proud of how she's transformed her own physique- especially her legs. "These days, I take great pride in my muscular quads, hamstrings, and calves," she says. "And the fact that I can push 500 pounds on the leg press is pretty awesome too."https://www.instagram.com/p/B-0jVJPlo1J/Balanced TrainingNowadays, Mona tells the importance of training by the “feeling.” That means that while she trains hard and heavy, she never neglects her body’s demands and what it is trying to convey."If she feels too sore to work out, she’ll take a break," she says.Similarly, if Mona believes she could do one extra repetition or if she can increase the weight, she’ll go all in. This came from years of experience and knowing how her body works. Thanks to this smart approach of listening to your own body that Mona is able to stay healthy and injury-free all year-round.

Mona Muresan Tips For A Healthy Lifestyle

1. Plan Accordingly: Mona is a believer in making all of her time worth it. She says, “I work long hours but always find time to hit the gym at least six days a week. Write the time of your workout session on your calendar the day before.”https://www.instagram.com/p/B-mrZ2FlIVJ/2. Catch and learn: She asks others to learn from someone else because that is exactly how she learned the importance of weight training too. She says, “Steal tricks and moves from trainers at your gym. If you don’t think you’re doing an exercise correctly, ask for help.”

3. Give in to temptation: She says that cheat meals are important because they let us be more sustainable to our diets and goals. In her words, “When I’m not competing, I allow myself one ‘cheat day’ a week. I usually indulge by eating pancakes or French toast with peanut butter.”4. Up the ante: She always pushes her clients to add variations to their workouts saying, “Varying your treadmill workouts will keep you from hitting a plateau. Mix things up by adjusting the incline. I like to start with a 3 percent hill and work toward a 15 percent climb.”https://www.instagram.com/p/B-IByyEFLgG/

5. Keep your mouth moving: This is a number one trick to kind of fool the body into thinking that it is eating something without any calories. She says, "I chew a stick of extra Dessert Delights gum whenever I’m craving something sweet. At any given time, I have seven or eight different flavors of sugar-free gum in my car and purse.”

6. Pamper yourself: She really believes that pampering ourselves can help elevate our game by leaps and bounds. She reveals,“I treat myself to a deep-tissue massage every other week. It relieves stress and helps take the knots out of my muscles, so I can continue to train hard.”This is all about Mona Muresan's tips and workout routine that she sticks to. But fitness i more than just workouts and so we follow her diet plan below.

Mona Muresan Diet Plan

Just as she trains hard, Mona also follows a very clean but flexible diet to stay in shape all-year-around. Clean and wholesome foods like chicken, sweet potatoes, vegetables, and avocados are all part of her daily meal plan. She does not have any specific diet chart that allows her to have specific meals. Instead, she practices following whatever she feels like, making sure she is eating healthy and not junk food.https://www.instagram.com/p/B9CL5mzCcR-/On the other hand, she tries not to consume refined sugars and inflammatory processed foods which is always out of the question for Mona and her partner Mike O'Hearen. She has to cheat meals once a week but she flips back to eating healthy in an instant afterward. For her cheat meals are important too because it breaks the monotony of a strict diet and following the same eating patterns.https://www.instagram.com/p/B84NqKBlZPZ/That is all about her diet ideas.

Mona Muresan Idols and Influences

When Mona began her fitness journey, she was inspired by the American culture and the fitness models she saw on the covers of magazines. Another source of her inspiration was an inner-drive to create a better life for herself and her family since she belonged to a poor background. With hard work and dedication, it was possible for her to achieve her goals and be an influencer in her later stages of achieving fitness.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS5sCdKPyrkIf there is something inspiring about er, it is that one has to create his or her own destiny. She is literally rising from rags to riches story and she makes sure that everyone is inspired by that. She really believes in the fact that every day is an opportunity for us which must not be missed. And with being consistent and putting n the hard work, it is impossible to not achieve your goals and create new ones.That was all about Mona's eating and workout plans that keep her lean and fit throughout the year. She is a great example of how one can remain fit and lean by having a lifestyle change that involves balance and patience. She always advises her fans to be patient with their results and start slow. Probably that's the greatest advice that she gives!