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That's how the Teaneck mom wants it to be: Raw and real.
"I don’t try to make lifting look like it’s something you can do while you’re trying to look pretty," said Levitansky, 34. "It’s hard work and I’m not going to try to cover that up or disguise it."
The mom of three created her Instagram account in 2015, right after becoming a NASM-certified personal trainer, and has amounted more than 10,000 followers.
Some call it gym porn, others call it inspiration. She calls it life.
Levitansky, who was raised a Chasidic Jew, has struggled with her weight her entire life.
High school was the first time she made a change -- that was just through dieting. She admits, it was unhealthy and lead to a cascade of trend and yo-yo diets.
"It began healthy with caloric restriction and snowballed," she said. "I ate smaller portions, cut out carbs but eventually I was just eating a Slim Fast shake for breakfast and a can of tuna for dinner. That was it."
The doctor told her she was on the verge of being underweight and if she didn't eat healthier, she'd be hospitalized. And so she ate. And ate. And ate.
By May 2012, Levitansky was a mom of three and at her heaviest weight. Tired of watching the money she put into WeightWatchers go to waste, she put the same amount toward a membership at the gym she got a flier for in the mail: Retro Fitness in Hackensack.
Levitansky showed up on her first day in a skirt and her hair covered. The treadmill was her best friend. It would be another six months before she saw the weights.
Weeks later, her health insurance gave her a $100 rebate for going to the gym, which she used to purchase personal training sessions.
"I saw the value in training in terms of attaining my goals," Levitansky said. "So I invested in myself and pursued training even though it wasn’t something I enjoyed."
Her trainer made her a program that was all cardio. She hated it. She couldn't catch her breath and felt completely out of her comfort zone. But, she said, she felt sore in ways she didn't from just walking on the treadmill.
By November 2013, Levitansky had become the "cardio queen." She was taking up to two spin classes a day and running, both in hopes of finishing a 5K for her kids' school and fitting into a dress three sizes too small for an upcoming wedding.
She was barely seeing changes in her weight anymore, and she was confounded by how much she was sweating. How hard she was working. How little she was losing.
Then, she got a new trainer.
"From the first day we worked out he told me to forget whatever I had been doing with my old trainer," she said. "After speaking about my goals, we were changing everything.
"He made me swear not to do a single minute of cardio."
The day after the 5K, Levitansky started a new training program -- a traditional bodybuilding split. She could come to the gym as much as she wanted, but couldn't do anything but weight lifting.
Chest Monday. Back Tuesday. Shoulders Wednesday. And so on.
By week six, Levitansky was in love with the weights. And she was down 15 pounds and into the dress for the wedding -- it was the perfect size.
"I didn't need to track my diet closely," she said. "Just made healthy choices -- limited processed food and a ton of fruits and veggies."
In 2015, Retro Fitness became Levitansky's home away from home. Lifting weights became her therapy, fellow gym-goers her family.
She woke up every day with the sun to get a lift in before work. The gym was where she met her best friends -- the "5 a.m. crew" -- including her loyal lifting buddy, Frank "Nitty" Molina.
There was nothing easy about what they were doing together, but that's what made it fun, Levitansky said. She felt strong. Capable. Empowered.
In September 2015, Levitansky earned her personal training certification and shortly after, launched her Instagram account, encouraged by Molina.
She has amassed thousands of followers on the account, where she continues to post her workouts and inspiring captions, on both her best and her worst days.
It's a refreshing take on exercise, really. Her captions are detailed. She hides nothing. The exercises are always different.
Levitansky hopes to show other women how they can use weights to change their lives, their bodies and their minds -- the way she did.
"I want to show women that it's okay to lift heavy weights and not be scared of the weight room. It's actually empowering.
"You can pick up your pretty pink weights, but you're not going to get results," she said. " If you want to change your body you’re going to have to do something that’s vastly different than what you’ve been doing. That’s challenging."
EMAIL MIRIAM LEVITANSKY TO LEARN MORE.
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