NELSON LEIVA

I have always considered myself to be in pretty decent shape. I have been playing sports since I was in middle school. Played high school football and ran track. Our high school football program introduced me to weight lifting my sophomore year and I have been lifting and working out ever since.

As I got through college and in later years of it, I started to pay more attention to what I ate although to be honest, didn’t really have a clue as to what I was doing, I was just trying to make better and healthier choices when I could. About 2 years ago I started to take it even more seriously and would cook my own food and try and limit how often I would eat fast food or at other restaurants. Of course this led to some better results but after a while I had stagnated. I wasn’t seeing much progression in my body aesthetically and was growing frustrated as I still worked out almost every single day and I had thought I was eating right.

When I started working with Katerina I found out, although I was eating healthier, I wasn’t eating nearly enough food, or enough of the right food. I was shorting myself on a lot protein as well as some healthy fats, and probably indulging on some extra carbs. Before I go in depth a bit more, I feel like I must explain I had no idea what it meant when people spoke of “Macros” or what they even were. Sure I knew protein was important, fats need to stay low, and carbs…I heard they were bad? But not really? who knows. Anyway that is not to say that I was starving myself, because I knew that wasn’t any good either, I just didn’t know how much I truly needed.

As we started the program she had a few good simple easy to read handouts that explained what exactly macros were and why it was important to keep track of them. First thing I noticed with Katerina was how little protein I was actually eating. I think for the first week or 2 I had cut back on my normal food intake, but certainly not in a bad way. Even though my intake was cut a little bit, with the changes she had made, I was always satisfied with every meal. I didn’t ever really feel hungry or like I was starving myself. After about a month or so I had lost 10lbs of bad excess weight and had really noticed a difference in how I feel and even look. I was eating more food than I ever had on a daily basis and the way the macro program works with Katerina, I was still able to eat a lot of the food I wanted.

Tracking macros at first was a little difficult only because I was new to it. I had no idea what nutrients a lot of food had in terms of carbs or fats. Now after a few months I can see a plate of food and get a pretty good idea of how many carbs, fats, and protein it has. Being on a program such as this really teaches one how to be more moderate when indulging on the sweeter treats, but even if one wanted to eat a little more, they can still find a way to work around it and hit their numbers, and still feel good about what they ate throughout the day.

That being said, I can now say I am probably in the best shape of my life if not really close to it while being on her program. I am eating more food than I ever have throughout my day and I am still 15lbs lighter then when we started. I feel stronger and healthier then I have in a really long time. I enjoy the meals and food I eat. I can still indulge on sweets if I choose and still be within my numbers and more importantly still seeing progress. Every week I am adding more food and seeing better results. I have been really happy with the work we have done together and would highly recommend her to anyone that would ask me how I feel about it. Katerina has been fantastic throughout and is also a great motivator and quite the inspiration herself. I look forward to working with her even longer and to get even better results.