| Featured Body Transformation Kathryn Stewart  BASIC STATS Name: Kathryn Stewart Age: 41 Location: Midwest Height: 5'4" Weight Before/After: Nearly 200lbs. Before / Competed at 115lbs. / Now 125lbs. Body Fat % Before/After: Typically 14% / Compete at 7-8% Years Involved In Fitness: I didn't start really working out until the year 2000. I competed for the first time in 2006 Favorite Bodyparts: Back, shoulders Favorite Exercises: I love to work shoulders, back and biceps. These types of exercises just make me feel so strong. Anything supersetted or in a giant set as well. My favorite plyometric is a 3.5 ft box jump. Favorite Supplements: I am a distributor for Beverly International, so I must say Beverly. But honestly their proteins taste the best to me. I use some fat burners and rotate them and they normally include Lipo 6, Hydroxycut Hardcore and Jet Fuel. INTERVIEW 1) Can you tell The M.F.I.C members a little bit about yourself? When I first started on this journey I was a mom, full time employee and divorced. Today I am a Trainer, Nutritional Counselor, Fitness Model, Physique Judge and the owner of KMS Fitness Inc. and Fisico Moda (Physique Fashion for ALL Women, Every Woman). 2) What were your initial motivations for transforming your body? There wasn't any one thing but rather a combination of tragic events that led up to my transformation. They started early as a child and then continued on into being a young adult. A few examples were losing my mother, losing my sister 8 months later, nearly losing my child who was born three months early and the break up of my marriage. I decided enough was enough and I was tired of life controlling me and it was time I took the control! 3) How long have you been on your program for and what kind of success have you experienced so far? Simple things to feel better about myself on the inside first. Manicure, self help books, bubble baths just to name a few. I then bought a treadmill and started tweaking my diet on my own. I started doing a walk/jog type of workout and eventually moved into running. I started running marathons and loved it but it was so tough on my legs. A friend of mine asked me to come and workout in her home gym with her and I did and fell in love with weight training. I liked the nice well rounded look I was getting. I then joined a gym near my home and started incorporating cardio and weight training more often. I attended a fitness, figure, bodybuilding show in Washington DC in 2005 and met my trainer for the first time. I actually hired him to help me lose my last 10 pesky pounds. In March of 2006 I stepped on stage for the first time (my intent was only one show). I walked out with two trophies that day (unexpected) and with a complete new love of the sport and a new love for myself. I have since gone on to do a total of 7 competitions and am currently prepping for two more before the end of this year. 4) How has this success changed your day-to-day life for the better? I feel so much better about myself on the inside as well as the outside. I have confidence... I don't let others intimidate me. I have learned that I am worth it. I now do all that I can to help others realize they matter as well. If I can reach that one person that feels lost and help them to achieve their dreams, it's all worth it. By training others, helping with diets, starting a support forum/board, and now the clothing line (geared for the small lady to the plus sized full figure woman), I feel I have taken a well rounded approach to helping others with their goals and to help them feel better. In many ways, I have become their life coach. 5) Did you experience any setbacks along the way? If so, what were they and how did you get past them? Oh yes, everyone does. I feel half the battle is picking yourself back up. If you fall down the stairs you start climbing them again. The most difficult for me was having surgery at the end of my 2007 season. It was just a minor surgery to repair two hernias. When I came out of surgery, I was told that my entire abdominal wall was in shreds. They had to reinforce my entire stomach. My down time from working out and the pain was horrible. I had to take a full year off from competing and train lightly for months. It took almost a full year to not feel pain. So I picked myself back up... worked as best I could to build some muscle and the point to these two shows this year is to lean back out and see what I was able to accomplish in the last year. I am very excited! (my abdominal issues were not related to lifting weights... the doctors informed me it was most likely a situation that I was born with... so don't be intimidated by those weights) 6) What type of training plan has worked best for you? A constantly changing program is my best bet. I change my workouts and my diet every three weeks now to always keep my body moving and guessing what is coming next. I have incorporated very fast paced workouts that include supersets and giant sets and lots of plyometrics. I have also started running sprints and stairs with some friends of mine at a local university. I think I am building a better booty. LOL (this is the hard spot on a 41 year old). If I can't literally wring the sweat out of my fitness clothing when I leave the gym, then I haven't worked hard enough. LOL It depends on the goal. As I stated above, I change it up every three weeks. During contest I really play with fats and carbs and keep my proteins up. One thing I have done is to incorporate Amino Acids into each meal. They just add more protein to my diet without having to consume the extra calories. (Notice I said I add them to the meal... I do not replace my protein with them) I rely on real food for my nutrition and minimize any type of shake. I always say if you can't raise it or grow it, don't eat it.
1. Believe in yourself! You CAN do it if you want it badly enough! JUST DO IT! Fisico Moda: www.fisicomoda.com
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