From Skinny to Strong: Demetra Eftimiades’ Transformation

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Her Motivation

Demetra Eftimiades has been passionate about sports since middle school. She played volleyball, soccer, softball, lacrosse, and basketball year-round, and went on to play basketball in college. But being athletic didn’t mean she was healthy. Eftimiades fought a weight problem, and at her heaviest she weighed 155 pounds at a petite 5’1″.

When she was 19, Eftimiades decided she wanted to lose weight—and dropped 40lbs in just three months. But she didn’t do it in a healthy way. “I wasn’t eating enough—I was going through a breakup, I was depressed and had no appetite,” she recalls. She found herself getting light-headed when she stood up, and had to take frequent naps to combat her constant fatigue. While she was thin, she says, she wasn’t happy, especially with how weak she felt. So she turned to the gym for help.

In the Gym

Her fitness journey started with her athletic interest—instead of a set workout schedule, she would play pickup soccer or basketball, or go running with a friend. “Exercising in a group setting was both motivating and fun for me,” she says.

Eventually, though, she started lifting weights on her own, focusing on accessory work like squats, biceps curls, legs presses, lat pulldowns, pullups, and front raises. “I loved lifting because I would just play my music on my headphones and drown out the world,” she said. After a few months, she started to work with a coach, Roxie Beckles, who helped give her workouts structure and discipline.

“I began lifting heavier than ever before, and that’s when I really began to fall in love with the weight room. I loved being able to increase my numbers, whether that was by reps or in weight. I always tried to do better than my last session.”

In April 2015, her sister took her to a bodybuilding competition. “The first thing I noticed was the gleaming smiles that the girls had on the stage,” she says. “I was very much into fitness and living a healthy lifestyle, and I wanted to show the world how hard work and dedication can really make a difference in one’s life.” She entered her first bikini competition in August 2015 in the Bikini Novice Class A (sixth place) and the Bikini Open Class A (10th place). She plans to do another competition this fall.

To meet her competition goals, the 22-year-old hits the gym five to six times per week, but she looks forward to legs day the most. “I feel like those sessions are the most rigorous on my body—I love to see what my body is capable of!” Favorite moves include squats, sumo deadlifts, and different variations of hip thrusts.

Her cardio includes short HIIT workouts (each no longer than 25 to 30 minutes) and one to two days of longer, lower-intensity endurance workouts like walking that can last up to an hour. Her moderate- to high-intensity sessions are usually done either on a track, treadmill, bike, or stairclimber. She does cardio in the morning and a lifting session at night.

Her workout

Pull day (high volume)

  1. Hammer Strength (4 sets of 6–8 reps)
  2. Underhand Pulldown (3 sets of 8–12 reps)
  3. Weighted Back Extension (3 sets of 8–12 reps)
  4. DB Hammer Curl (3 sets of 12–16 reps)
  5. Face-pull (4 sets of 12–15 reps)

Legs day (low volume)

  1. Squat (3–4 sets of 3–5 reps)
  2. Hip Thrust (3 sets of 4–6 reps)
  3. Spilt Squat or Single-leg Kettlebell Romanian Deadlift (3 sets of 5–7 reps)
  4. Legs Extension (3 sets of 6–8 reps)
  5. Calf Raise (3 sets of 6–8 reps)

Eating Right

As she grew stronger, Eftimiades realized she also had to change up her diet. “I went from having a lot of fast food, pasta, and carb-dense meals to eating more vegetables, dairy products, and lean protein—basically the foods you would find along the perimeter of the grocery store.”

Today, she counts egg whites mixed with cauliflower rice, spices, beans, low-fat mozzarella, and barbecued chicken among her favorite clean meals, and strives to eat “all the colors of the rainbow” in her diet.

Her journey to find both her inner and outer strength has taught her a lot of valuable lessons both in and out of the gym. “I’ve learned to live my life with a more give-and-take approach, trying to maintain a healthy balance rather than a lifestyle that seems too strict and structured. I’ve learned I need to do what makes me happy, not what others may want.”

That’s a lesson she wishes other women would also take to heart. “If you’re at the gym, you should be there for your own goals, whether that may be to look and feel better or just to blow off steam. We need to make more of a conscious effort to focus on ourselves and not worry about what everyone else does or thinks.”

On the Menu

Breakfast

  • 1 whole egg plus 3 egg whites (add in spices, hot sauce, salsa, mushrooms, onions, peppers)
  • 1–2 slices of bacon
  • 1 slice of toast or 1 serving of granola or 1⁄2 cup oats or cereal
  • 1 cup of fruit
  • 1 tbsp of honey
  • 1 cup of tea

Lunch

  • 1 cup of any veggies
  • 4–5 oz lean beef, pork, turkey, or chicken
  • 1 cup carbs (e.g., potatoes, pasta, fruits, rice, banana, or English muffin)

Pre-workout meal (30-60 min. before workout)

  • 1 scoop protein powder
  • 1 cup almond milk
  • 2 rice cakes
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 banana
  • 1 tbsp peanut butter or Nutella
  • Sprinkle of cinnamon

Dinner

  • 4–5 oz lean meat (beef, pork, turkey, chicken)
  • Salad made with tomatoes, peppers, onions, salsa, avocado
  • 1 cup carbs (rice, potatoes, 1 slice of bread)

Dessert

  • Low-fat ice cream or 1 cup Greek yogurt with granola and stevia; or 1⁄2 cup cereal with low-fat milk
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