By Ben Wheeler
MEET the stunning identical twin sisters who are taking social media by storm, having left London’s toxic fashion industry behind to pursue a new life as fitness professionals in LA.
Images show an unhealthy and underweight Maria and Chrysa Syngrou, 29, originally from Athens, Greece during their eight-year stay in London where the fashion industry’s obsession with size zero left them dealing with disordered eating, compared to their dramatic transformation today which sees them boast sun-kissed skin and a physique to die for.
Maria initially discussed her and Chrysa’s close bond as well as their life in the capital, revealing why they left their life there behind to start afresh across the pond.
“We describe our relationship as an old married couple,” she said.
“We fight all the time over small things, but we can’t live without each other. We’ve always been close and although we do argue we never hold grudges.
“During our teenage years we developed a passion for the arts and in particular fashion.
“After graduating from high school, we both moved to London in order to study fashion design and fashion styling.
“During our studies we were both dealing with disordered eating and were very strict with our food, eating around 1200 calories a day. We were underweight, we felt weak, out of energy, moody and not very excited about life.
“When I was doing one of my internships I heard a designer use the most shocking expression when they described the models as ‘hangers’, it was so rude and disrespectful and made me realise I was on the wrong career path.
“Even though we still love the artistic and creative side of fashion, we were exposed to too many messages telling us that size zero was the ideal physique for women, which eventually led us to take another path.”
That new path took the pair straight to Los Angeles where they initially had fashion internships lined up but ever since setting foot in the gym have never looked back, with Maria and Chrysa balancing careers as fitness and promo models, personal trainers and even actresses.
“We’ve always been into fitness since a young age but got inspired by friends we made here in LA to start taking it seriously,” Chrysa recalled.
“They were competing at the time and introduced us to the art of bodybuilding, it was also them who encouraged us to pursue a career in the fitness industry as they told us we had what it takes.
“So, we got back in the gym and actually started competing and that’s how our professional fitness journey started.
“Fitness has definitely been our salvation. Coming from our background of disordered eating and being told size zero is an ideal physique, fitness has had a major impact in our recovery physically and most importantly mentally.”
The women insist there are no real secrets to achieving the bodies they have now, with Maria describing their fitness regime and diet in more detail.
“It’s simple, we have a balanced diet and good training regimen,” she said.
“We don’t believe in extreme diets and unrealistic workout sessions with endless hours of cardio. Moderation is the key to a fit and healthy body, we don’t count calories, but we keep track of our macro intake such as protein, carbs and fats.
“Our workouts are based on our work schedule which always changes, but we usually have one heavy leg day, two accessory leg days which is glutes and hamstrings, one day of back and shoulders and another day of biceps, triceps and shoulders.
“We usually finish our workouts with a twenty-minute cardio session and try to take two days off for recovery.”
Finally, Chrysa talked about the important online aspect to what they do and the sacrifices they have had to make to get where they are today.
“We both decided to work on out Instagram since it’s a great platform for exposure but also gives us the opportunity to share our knowledge and journey to motivate and inspire others,” she said.
“Getting fit together on social media and sharing our journey has definitely helped us get to where we are right now.
“It’s landed us sponsorships, modelling work and connected us with fitness advocates across the globe.
“However, keeping up with our social life can be hard, during our first competitions we barely went out although these days we’ve learned how to balance it better.
“Getting in shape is not following strict and drastic diets or training programs, it has to become a lifestyle.
“It’s a combination of balanced food and realistic training that can be sustainable not for a couple of months but the rest of your life.”
For more information see https://www.instagram.com/thefitwins1/
