Melissa Alcantara: Daily Routine

From broke Brooklyn waitress to Kim Kardashian’s trainer—Melissa Alcantara built a fitness empire by putting herself first.

In 2013, Kim Kardashian’s personal trainer Melissa Alcantara was, according to an interview with CNBC, an “unfit, super broke” waitress living in Brooklyn, New York. As a new mum, Alcantara was starting down her fitness journey with the primary goal to lose the 70lbs (31kgs) she gained during and after her pregnancy.

“My entire life I’d been yo-yo dieting,” she said in an interview with Joe Wicks. “I always had low self-esteem. I was big, then small, then chunky. I would starve myself. I didn’t do it the right way.”

So she dedicated herself to changing her lifestyle, waking up at 5am every day to exercise. She tried a variety of fitness programs and regimens, from Weight Watchers and Crossfit, to Jiu-Jitsu and Yoga, before committing herself to bodybuilding.

“It morphed from me just wanting to have abs to me saying ‘yes’ to myself, choosing myself, and putting love into myself every single day,” she told Women’s Health. “And that was a whole new ball game for me.’”