Svetlana Ivanova

I have struggled with weight my entire life. I was an active child and did competitive swimming and horse riding into my teenage years,except I couldn’t keep up with the other girls because of my weight.I was a very unhappy person.  At 16, I started my first diet. I rapidly lost weight, but it wasn’t permanent. I followed a diet for nine month and lost 40 pounds. The problem was that I committed to a lifestyle change but I didn’t havethe right knowledge and tools to maintain my physique. I managed to maintain this weight for around 2 years and over the next 3 years found those 40 pounds again. Over the next year or so, I continued to gain weight, reaching my peak weight of 175 pounds shortly after I competed in my first show. I was miserable and projected a negative attitude. I needed to change. At the very beginning of my fitness journey, I was running 10kilometers a day on the treadmill. Health and fitness were becoming apart of my life, and I never missed a run. My close friend was heavily into power lifting, but I was too intimidated to tackle the weight room on my own so he introduced me to weight training. We started weight training together 5-6 times a week. The weight room quickly became my new home, and I loved challenging my body. It has been 6 years that I have been lifting weights and I don’t regret even one day spent at a gym!

Peer pressure, snacking all the time with school friends to pass time, not a regimented diet, consuming calorie dense food.

“If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done”Everyone goes to the gym. What makes me somewhat different is a total commitment. I train on a vacation and do my meal prep even when I’m traveling. Everyone can find enthusiasm for 30 minutes, some for 30days, but it is the one who has it for years who makes a success. I want to be the one. In my training I stick to basics: maximal time under tension in a given muscle while performing an exercise using both heavy and light loads compound movements first progressively increasing the load super sets, drop sets, pyramid sets- keeping the intensity high prioritizing recovery: getting all my meals in every single day,sleeping 8 hours every night

I use different approaches. Mostly for me it is 6 low carbohydrate higher fat days and one high carbohydrate day or a reefed day.But any diet has to be tailored for specific metabolism. It all depends on how your body is reacting to the program.Something to try is intermittent fasting, carb cycling and paleo I keep an eating log and record my food intake so I can make accurate adjustments. If you are very active you may have to eat more. If you are naturally overweight and hold onto body fat easily you may have to eat less. The only way to really know (how a certain level of food intake will affect you) is keep an eating log and discover what effect eating a certain amount of calories for a month has on you.I try to avoid calorie dense foods. When I decrease carbs I do so without cutting calories. I eat more protein and fats. Over-dieting is not good. It’s not a contest about who can starve themselves the most. Eat enough to maintain your strength, energy and your muscles.

March 21 2015 GNC Toronto Championships figure medium tall 2nd June 5-6 2015 Toronto Pro Show/ Ontario Provincials figure D 5th

2

I moved to Canada only a year ago so I did not know anyone. But this was more of a challenge than an obstacle

I am big on planning. If something doesn’t go my way, I get upset. Too many people in the gym made me slow down the intensity of my workout, couldn’t buy the brand of food I always use, had to do cardio right before a workout instead of after, small things… I need to learn to be more easy-going))

Work for your transformation, earn it. If it was easy, everyone would look like a bodybuilder.