Katerina had to overcome her love for food and wine...

I used to be very active in my youth, being part of every sports team in school there was. But at 20 years of age I left my country to study in Australia and to pay for my studies I started to work in restaurants, where I discovered a love for food and wine and where I also met my husband.

Although I started to pick up bad eating habits and hardly doing any exercise, I managed to stay quite slim until my early 30's. But slowly the weight started to creep on and before I knew it, I was 10 kg heavier. That was the first time in my life I realised I am not the slim person I always used to be and was time to take an action.

I managed to lose 5kg, but...

I started to go to the gym and tried to watch what I ate and managed to loose about 5 kg, but half way through my weight loss I got pregnant and without knowing how, I managed to pile on another 20kg. After having my lovely daughter, I lost about 12 kg, but was still heavily overweight. By that time we were living in Hong Kong and running a restaurant business here - I am constantly tempted by all the lovely food and wine, which is at my disposal. Although I was trying to loose weight I didn't realised how much I snacked, how big the portions were that I ate, in short I had no idea about healthy eating and effective exercising whatsoever.

It got to the point that every time I saw my own reflection in the window I would get extremely annoyed. The other thing which really got to me was the fact that I just couldn't find any nice clothes anymore, the only store I could shop in was pretty much Marks and Spencer and H&M here in Hong Kong. I just had enough.

I used to buy lots of fitness magazines for inspiration, which is how I came across Women's Health and Fitness Australia and the Bodyblitz Challenge. I got very inspired and read every success story there was and noticed that lots of the winners were Ideal Bodies Online clients. So I checked their website and realised that this was exactly what I needed. I admit, I was a little apprehensive at first, but it turned out to be one of the best investments I ever made. The exercises and nutrition I was given by Kristin were very straight forward and easy to follow. Having Maxine as my Feedback Coach was fantastic, as every question I had was quickly answered and I was always supported when I went off the rails.

It was not perfect 12 weeks by any means, the fact that I had to give up my wine was a huge struggle, but as I started to see the kilos falling off, that gave me motivation big enough to keep going. By week 8 I could see a huge difference in my body already, but still had quite a way to go. I didn't think it would happen but as I was assured by Maxine and everyone else, by the end of week 12 my body was looking almost fitter then I ever remembered. Everyone was and is still commenting on how good I look and asking how I did it. And finally - I can go and buy clothes I love. To fit in all of them just feels amazing!!

Katerina's 3 tips:

1. They all say it and they are all right... plan your meals ahead and be organised!!
2. Focus only on each week at a time
3. Don't think before exercise, just do it!