Sonja Katariina, 24, from the Gold Coast has revealed how she transformed her body in just eight weeks. Photo / Instagram
Welcome to You Got This, news.com.au's weekly slice of fitness inspiration featuring tips and advice from real women who've experienced it all.
It can often be one of the hardest body parts to mould but Sonja Katariina proves that with time and dedication your desired booty isn't too far behind.
The 24-year-old Gold Coast resident was struggling to motivate herself after the summer holiday and while she never wanted to lose weight, it was muscle she was hoping to gain.
Katariina had always led an active lifestyle – living on the Sunshine Coast, she was brought up on surf and swimming – but she wanted to challenge her body in different ways. She wanted a strong, more toned physique.
"The lack of intense work outs and my inconsistent diet made me feel super tired all the time and I struggled to focus and build my swimwear label and I wanted to change that," she told news.com.au
Katariina, who officially launched her sustainable label Savari Swimwear in September last year, said with the pressures of running her own business, her active lifestyle took a back seat.
"I was working a lot, and when I work a lot, I am stressed and I forget to eat," she said.
"I would go all morning fasting or drinking multiple coffees and I just wouldn't get hungry until the afternoon."
And because of that, her afternoon meals were never satisfying enough.
Katariina never felt oversized however, she began to notice a change in how her clothes sat on her body.
"I just felt kind of 'soft' and not toned as I used to be. I felt like I want to be stronger and feel better in my body," she told news.com.au.
MIND, BODY TRANSFORMATION
The swimwear designer went on to lose 4kg with her sole focus on lifting more weights.
She took on the eight-week Bodyweight Built challenge and with it came the perks of a more sculptured booty.
"I noticed it had toned up quite a fair bit too," Katariina said, "It was all those squats, kettle bell swings and combination of body weights and cardio I was doing."
Each day of the program focused on different muscle groups from upper body to lower body with five to six targeted exercises and varied reps.
"I would google the exercises beforehand if I didn't know them, so that I could get the most out of the sessions and make them more intense for me," she said.
The functional form of training also involved exercises from jump squats, push-ups, dips, high knees and push-ups.
Katariina said the challenge also played a huge role in understanding more about what she was putting in her body.
"Not only what I ate but also what I drank. Like I said I drank a lot of coffee and accidentally replaced my breakfast," she said, adding, "I was observing how much and how often I drink alcohol."
The young Katariina noticed she was consuming a glass of wine with friends a few times during the week and on weekends.
"So, I changed that. I didn't have alcohol during the challenge and I feel like that helped me a lot to reduce my bloatiness."
The 24-year-old, who often shares body positive posts to her more than 10,000 Instagram followers, said she went through a bit of a phase, not knowing what to do to move her body.
"I think the stress what I was going through got me in this cycle that I wasn't even able to find motivation to workout."
But after following the eight-week program, she has rediscovered her groove and is back on track, training five to six times a week.
"Also, I noticed that having my meals more in the morning or afternoon helped my body to feel fresh in the mornings and I was ready for a workout."
She's up at 5.30am training followed by a surf
"Some days my body feels and looks better and some days worse. I think it's completely normal as your body fluctuates."
But for most of the part she has been able to maintain her body, lifestyle changes and training since completing the challenge late last year.
DAY ON A PLATE
Katariina trains on an empty stomach (personal preference) followed by a protein shake. For breakfast she has oats with banana, papaya, berries, hemp seeds and chia seeds or she will opt for avocado on rye sourdough with tomato and nutritional yeast.
"For lunch I usually have a salad with heaps of vegies, seeds and tofu and dinner could be a tofu/legume curry, buddha bowl or lettuce tacos — for snacks I normally have some fruit, cashew nuts or a plant-based protein shake."
BODY IMAGE STRUGGLES
As a teenager, Katariina battled her own personal body demons for three years before bravely overcoming her eating disorder.
"It was really painful time for me, and I can't remember much of it," she said in an Instagram post from June last year.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Sonja Katariina (@sonjq) on
Her family dynamics changed at age seven when her father remarried and Katariina said it was a tough time for her as a young girl.
"I realised that food I put in me was a form of a self control. If there is something you can control it's your body," she said.
"The beach lifestyle I live and beach Instagram I have now, some might think that I am super confident in my body but the truth is I am not.
"I would say 99 per cent of women are not."
Katariina feels there is too much social pressure on what girls and boys are supposed to look like.
"What I am trying to bring up is literally just try to get yourself out of the social media bubble of the way you should look like."
It is also part of the reason she refuses to weigh herself.
"I feel like so many women get obsessed with their scales (I used to too) and weigh their bodies all the time. But that is just a number. I care more about how my body feels and looks than what I weigh. And I think everyone should."
King and Queen recently adopted a puppy from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.