Kim Kardashian’s Trainer REVEALS Her Struggle with Body Dysmorphia & Becoming Her STRONGEST Self!

You look in the mirror you see you know I am fat I'm big I'm this I'm that you're just breaking yourself down you have such Advanced body dismorphia looking at yourself I didn't love myself at that time I felt weak I felt frail versus now I feel strong I feel confident I feel I almost say invincible is the founder of zenoa and we rise and she is Incredible Tada grea the way I looked on my myself bun from not thin enough to like I want to look as strong as I possibly can that's where you

step into your power into your true strength you're born to have muscle definition strength training is Queen you're also a trainer for Kim Kardashian right now how do you navigate your work with someone like that for me there was an opportunity to help her but also help other women what do you feel like is Your biggest insecurity or fear now [Music] I guess I'm always hey everyone LS how here I'm excited about today's episode we have an inspiring guest Sonata Greco who is Kim Kardashian's personal trainer but she is teaching and inspiring people all over

the world about building muscle for longevity and mental health and fitness not just for Aesthetics or for appearance and in a world where women And men are craving attention craving the need to be liked and never feeling good enough about their health and their physical appearance her approach to building muscle to building mental strength is what's going to help you actually build more self- confidence no matter how you're looking and when you're training in this specific way and when you're thinking and developing habits in the way she talks about in this episode you're also going

to feel Better and look better as well super excited about this make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel click the like button and leave a comment on your biggest takeaway from this episode let's dive in welcome back everyone to the school of greatness very excited about our guests we have the inspiring Sonata grea in the house so good to see you and uh congrats on everything thank you so much it's a pleasure of being here thank you for having me I've seen You I've seen you just kind of like take over the Instagram feed

you know and the explore page for years of your content of just inspiring and empowering women to see what's possible for their health their bodies and their their really their strength and to show what is possible you've been an inspiration for so many women around the world you reach millions of women and lots of people on a daily basis and um but it wasn't always that way for you it seems like I've you know read some of your backstory you you deal with some some challenges some anxiety some depression some body issue challenges as well

what would you say were the main challenges you faced either earlier in your life or your teen years before you got into a healthy body image and healthy lifestyle for yourself what were the main challenges you faced yeah of course yeah well so coming into the United States um as a Teenager um presented a lot of issues with fitting in and I think that was kind of the first if you want to say foreign so like the the issues that started at that point is how does this Foreigner um fit in and and integrate and

look like you know the other the other kids in the popular kids so I think that's speak English too or no I I was an English speaker at the time I had taken private courses back in Albania and you know in In preparation of like either coming to the states or it's like the main uh forign language at the time uh in Albania so started on that path and the opportunity presented itself for my family to come here by winning the lottery and the green card so were like legal basically um citizen instantly pretty much

which was super fortunate to be able to come here at a time of unrest in Albania and Civil Wars and um just a chaotic atmosphere so it was great to Escape that and be able to come legally into to the United States but that presented the issues of like now okay I'm a teenager in a new country with new challenges and on top of that I was the only English-speaking person in my family to so now I had to carry the load wow translate everything yeah I had to translate everything I had to basically become

a parent yeah go get a grocery store and ask questions yeah go to the doctor's office when my parents go to Whatever office go fill out paperwork to this day I don't want to fill out paperwork cuz I'm so traumatized by by by that at an early age um and you know but had to it it had to be done it fell on my shoulders and that I I believe coupled with again being a teenager in a new country trying to fit in so that's where depression anxiety and even an eating disorder came to the

surface eating disorder wanting to fit in depression anxiety because there was so Much uh of an over load of you know my day-to-day school things and then family um issues that I had to help with and coupled I found out later in life that I have a genetic predisposition to anxiety and depression interesting so that was a a a more recent Revelation even though I've known because my my mom has dealt with it and hearing from her my grandfather has dealt with it so you kind of create that that link that it has existed um

thus I'm experiencing it But then to kind of know from genetic testing that wow I am predisposed to all of these things and now how do I work through them um yeah so that was kind of the backstory coming to the country and and kind of experiencing some of those issues that then kind led me to where I am today um wow the desire to combat those in a natural way and not say that I did I did take anti-depressants like I was um on medication to help with that but it never gave me the

relief or the Uh long-term relief that that that I needed you knew it wasn't the long-term solution it wasn't the long-term solution is just a cover up of the symptoms but how you know I always think of with anything like if it gets taken off the market if suddenly you don't have no access to pharmacies or how are you innately going to deal with these issues so I'm always for start with the things that you're able to do and achieve in a natural way by yourself and If you need them um not against Pharmaceuticals and

obviously not against therapy but can you start with the basics or can you utilize them in conjunction with each other and then hopefully it'll carry you to a point where you're able to maybe back off from Pharmaceuticals because there it is known that they have uh side effects and what is the side effects of exercise and eating healthy none really it's actually just benefits from it w so how long you Know since you moved the country um you had this kind of emotional weight that you had to carry with the family also fitting in in

school where What state were you living in what city New York Upstate New York yeah so you're trying to fit into a school in New York a new culture um different type of I guess girls and how they communicate versus what you're used to in alvania you're also getting into puberty all these Different things are happening all at the same time all at the same time when did you realize like you had signs of a eating disorder and how long did it take until you were able to break that kind of that habit it was

you know when you have an Ting disorder you're blind to it right it's more the people that are outside of you that that notice it so was teachers and parents that that started noticing it that I was losing weight drastically But when you have this body dysmorphia you could be the thinnest that you've ever been that you could possibly be that you know you're you risking serious health problems you don't see yourself as that really when you look in the mirror you look in the mirror you see you know I am fat I'm big I'm

this I'm that you're just like um the most negative you're you're you're you're breaking yourself down you're just don't see that because Because you're you're you have such uh Advanced body dysmorphia looking at yourself from a different lens that you don't recognize that what do you think is the main cause of body dysmorphia for most people is it an emotional trauma is it a hypercriticism they get from parents or peers is it a pressure from seeing Marketing in society that like oh I'm not enough and so I need to become like that thing what is

I think it's a combination of all of what you mentioned It's hyper IAL parents um I love you mom but she if I didn't get like the highest grade in class if I wasn't first in class you know if you're not first you're last kind of mentality which comes with amazing side benefits when it comes to drive and achieving and overachieving in life but it comes with a huge weight on your shoulders to be the best and um that is not always required to be successful to be the best to look the best so I

think it's a Combination of all those things I think there's the societal uh pressures that that weigh on on young people that are uh in their formative a in their formative formative years and U yeah the comparison of of unrealistic Beauty um and for me at the time was all of those factors as well as trying to figure out how to fit in in a new place new country new culture you know trying to control something that felt controllable um amongst uncontrollable An uncontrollable situation so is that is that a common theme that you've heard

from other women that have had you know an eating disorder or body dysmorphy in the past that they felt out of control and the way to feel a sense of control is with your body or with Foods it is one of the main things that leads to that is trying to control something that feels controllable in your life CU you can't control anything around you control yes interesting yeah so how long Did it take until you started to I guess teachers were telling you or peers or friends or family but when did you start to

say oh yes this is a problem I need to take care of it it it took a couple of years it took a couple of years and and therapist and um being prevented from being in sports because Sports was something that I was really interested in so I was stopped from being from participating in sports you got so skinny because I got so skinny and Unhealthy that um that yeah that was kind of one of the the beginning sort of wakeup calls that you know I couldn't do one of the things that I absolutely loved

um but but again like that voice of like you know you're just you don't look the way that you're supposed to look like persisted for for a while for a few years and then um I was utilizing working out to again while understanding thaty you have to n yourself so I started to increase the Caloric intake but still not to the degree that was needed and then trying to uh outweigh that with working out still really so what was the caloric intake that you would take if you could you know guess at the Times where

you at your lowest with body dysmorphia or or eating disorder anorexia anorexia anorexia with anorexia what was it was very minimal and I don't want to because I don't want to influence anybody to even consider doing anything like that Cuz it was very unhealthy but uh it was it was very minimal like under a, calories a day or way less like few calories a day few hundred calories a day very unhealthy very unhealthy what when some when a woman thinks I want to eat less cuz I want to lose weight today maybe they don't have

body dysmorphia or anorexia or eating disorder order but they're just thinking want to lose weight and so I'm going to go into extreme calorie deficit what is Happening to a woman's body when they for long periods of time do 1,000 calories or less or 500 calories or less a day I'm not talking about like 24-hour fasting here and there but it's like long periods of time what happens to a woman's body yeah your body goes into a shutdown mode basically so your hormones start to go off uh their regular cycle um your body yeah literally

goes into shutdown mode because now it needs to protect what it has um and and not Produce the unnecessary things um that a normal functioning body would require so you start you know losing your period you start um um losing hair so basically it's just your your body shedding all what it considers to be unnecessary um functions wow yeah well even though they're super necessary but like to the basic survival preserve energy preserve to preserve like the basic super basic needs of a human uh it starts to shut down all of those all of Those

other functions of the body yeah I did I did I did at the at that point I did lose my my my period really um and then I had to yeah um work on on gaining it back how long did it take to kind of gain back your normal hormone function it it wasn't that long it it was within like a year if I remember correctly it was a long time ago still wow but but um yeah no laughing matter because it is it is um an important part of of being healthy physically and mentally

100% Yeah where is the where's the level of selflove like how much selflove did you have during that season of life and I don't want to speak for other women or other men who maybe going through anorexia but where is that typically seem to be or where is that for you did you have a low self-esteem a low level of self-love and then yeah how did you learn to believe in self love self to kind of course correct yeah I Mean I think there's almost like no selflove because if you if if I were to

have any self love I wouldn't do that to myself right because now you're basing your self- love and self-esteem on an image that you can't even see clearly so if you can't see yourself or who you are um and you're wanting to diminish that image there I I would say that there was no there was almost no self-love because you don't have a a clear image of yourself and you're Focusing that love on an idealistic image that's outside of you Perfect Image A Perfect Image that's outside of you that you can't attain you and you

could attain it but in your eyes you know like you're say let's say you're you've lost a certain amount of weight but you're still not able to see that you're still that's why it's like that you're never able to grasp for that image because you're not able to see yourself realistically so you had very Little selflove at that season right when did you start to have a lot of self-love and self-compassion and see yourself differently to treat yourself differently I mean I I wasn't I was doing all these things I was trying to be the

thinnest that I possibly could and I still wasn't happy so there was like a you know a miscommunication there between like you're you you know you're going to be happy you're going to be satisfied when you're this weight and That wasn't happening and I was constantly depressed and not happy so then that came into question like where when how are we going to do this like how are you going to reach that level of happiness because obviously this is not working so then I did um a turning point for me was when I saw a

a physician a primary care physician that she was running marathons and she was running and she was like I think in her 50s and running One I don't want to exaggerate and say every month but it was at least every three months she was running a marathon consistently so she she got me into running into working out for the right reasons for that mental aspect and and started to shift nurturing my body to fuel the runs and to fuel the working out so that was like the first shift you're like what 17 18 19 ear

I was like early 20s yeah okay early 20s yeah during that whole period from like 15 to To 20 early 20s it was a struggle of like a push and pull of wanting to look a certain way and dieting and overworking out and and just trying to like you know I went from actually I went from under eating anorexia to like Bing eating I never did fully go into like bulimia but like I did struggle with those two extremes because it's a you know you're you're you can only take so much when you're constricting constricting

constriction and then You're going to go the opposite way you need to like yes exactly wow um it was that and it was actually a cousin too also saying that's not a like you're not like really leaning into one of the joys of life which is eating and experiencing you know the food that you're eating and your your constant thinking is around what I should be eating should not be eating so I don't gain weight versus sitting with what you're eating and enjoyment of it wow so that was kind of A little bit of a

light bulb moment that eating doesn't have to be like such a chore such a a you know a weighing Factor but more of a joy of life and enjoyment and I know nowadays that we've there's so much information out there and so much stress around like eating what to eat what I not eat fruit is suddenly uh controversial I'm like really um so it just you know taking it back to the basics you know and going back to food is Actually a joy of life yes it feeds our ability to function but it's also at

least for me um Joy you know that's beautiful yeah when did you start to feel like oh I've I've starting to got these things under control my perception of myself my my weight my food my my working out I'm not too extreme in one way I have a good sense of self yeah self-image and I feel like I'm in a consistent healthy place what years was That I mean in my early 20s it was when I started to make that shift I um um if I can remember the book that overcoming overeating cuz that's what

I was doing at that point which is the one and the same kind of you're just not restricting you know you're or you are restricting because you are thinking this food is good this is bad and now you're maybe over eating the things that you think they're good but nothing should be in excess right um so that was kind of a Turning point in my early 20s I was I was realizing that I could eat nourish my body and then and and get the physical activity that I needed and be in a stable uh physical

weight and and function properly right and um I think it was then um later on in in my early 30s that I shifted from cardio and running and marathoning to more weightlifting interesting so for almost so for almost a decade you were Like cardio running that's a lifestyle what did your body I mean not that we should focus on body image but what was your body what did your body look like in your 20s then when you were in cardio mode running didong distances versus weight training lifting mode it shifted it's interesting because I was

doing cardio and and that during like my 20s and my weight would would drastically shift you know so I would go into being super thin if I was running If I was training for a marathon thin not a lot of muscle definition to then when I was not training as hard kind of being a little bit rounder and softer um but then when I started the strength train I've never been so consistent in in how I looked and how I feel and how I feel looked look it's been years of like actually being super consistent

and and the physical aspect then what is the difference that you feel emotionally spiritually psychologically Between mhm you know almost a decade of cardio training mostly versus years of strength training yeah I there's a draining aspect with that much cardio and and while you can look a certain way that maybe this Society thinks that it's you know feminine thin and not a ton of muscle definition but when I shifted into strength training I leaned into my confidence and my self-esteem like skyrocketed because I that's where you step into your power Into your true strength and

occupy space and utilize what you're born with you're you're you're you're born to have muscle definition you're otherwise it wouldn't be it wouldn't be there the ability to do so so when I fully leaned into that it just completely shifted um my self-confidence the way I looked at myself went from I'm not thin enough you know I don't look thin enough to like I want to look as strong as I possibly can I want to develop as much muscle as I possibly can and then you know we're can talk about that too like and how

that feeds into to Health and Longevity sure um I mean there's been a huge wave of uh research and science and people like um Dr Gabrielle lion and Dr maray CLA who are talking about the importance of protein specifically for women absolutely protein and muscle building yeah for health for longevity for uh also managing kind of The the menopause phase of being a woman and just like being able to navigate that with more balance I guess and just it seems like in the last year to that has been the primary focus of many female experts

speaking to to women like start building muscle absolutely but I don't feel like I ever heard that before because a lot of women don't want to look bulky they don't want too strong or too muscular or less feminine so how have you learned to navigate the Psychology of you going from what Society or what maybe you thought was a more feminine skinnier look for a decade of cardio versus a more strong feminine look in these past years how have you navigated that when maybe Society so a lot of women say well I don't want to

look bulky or strong for sure yeah I I do get that comment a lot really or I have um not a lot I should not say that I every so often there will be a comment Of like too masculine or you know things like that and then and it doesn't bother me honestly because it's that person's perspective of me and that's not a perspective that I have of myself that's great um and how I made that shift was organically because I know what feeling that that gave to me like I know how I feel when

I lift when I feel Stronger versus when I try to diet myself to my skinniest version I didn't love myself at that time I did not feel Strong I felt weak I felt frail versus now I feel strong I feel confident I feel I want to say invincible but there's points yeah when you know it's like that when you when you do lift and when you're pushing yourself that you do feel Invincible you unable unable I take on exactly exactly exactly you didn't feel that all the time when you were in the cardio world no

not really I mean you do get some endorphins from running you do feel some Of those good good feeling um uh endorphins when you run the runner is high is real not in the same fashion I would say not in the same fashion it's not strength it's it's endurance exactly you can run long distances and there is strength in endurance absolutely absolutely there is confidence in that overcoming hard things but it's not as strong as muscle and and at the end of the day yes you can get those similar sentiments from a lot of modalities

From cardio from running or from Str training or from Pilates or yoga whatever you know that does it for you but for me I think of L longevity it's come to that point where I'm like quality life quality longevity being able to live uh unassisted when you you know your your later years in in the 70s 80s 90s hopefully and Beyond the commercial that I remember seeing a lot in in the I guess '90s on TV was I've fallen and I Can't get up yeah and you see all these like old grandparent grandma grandmaa on

TV who are like I fall and I can't get up cuz they literally fell over and they can't push themselves off the ground they don't have the muscle strength to just exact stand up and it's so funny you don't think about it as a kid you're like oh yeah I can get up but when you're older if you don't build muscle in your youth it's going to be so much harder to build it Absolut when you're Older absolutely do you know this do you know any of the research out there about how much harder it

is to build muscle after 40 50 60 years old versus before AB I think in it's different for men than women and in some situations to the higher end it's almost what men are almost twice as as uh able as women to build muscles so I think for women it's even more important to try to build that muscle when you can um I think it's so funny because I wrote The I think in the um I'm like I'm not going to remember all of this what's what's so for if you're going to like your 40s

it's basically two uh2 to7 pounds of muscle per month and then double and and then 2.4 to 8.4 per year so so like on the high on the low end is 2 lb per year to 8 lb per year if you're going after it like true intense maximal strength training you should try to be gaining two pounds of muscle per year is that's your ability To that's your ability your ability you all in if you run all in you could only in their in yeah in their 40s wow and how easy and It Go drops

you know in their in the 50s is like 1.2 to6 pound of muscle per year that's if you're training like three to five days a week hard heavy like I mean you know maybe genetically Sometimes some people can be a little bit more but on average that's yeah and how easy is it to lose muscle like if you get sick for a couple weeks Or don't train for a month like how easy is it for a woman in their 40s and 50s to lose muscle it starts within like two weeks you can you start to

lose muscle um and you you start losing muscle in your 30s you start to lose muscle at about 3 to some studies say five some studies say eight on the higher end percent of muscle mass per decade you could start at in your 30s yeah so that's you're fighting that natural if you're seditary for your life you're Just going to lose muscle you're going to lose muscle so that's why it's so important to start early on to build as much as you can so then you can kind of offset the muscle that you will inev

eventually lose yeah when you're 80 70 it's got you're to lose it exactly yeah wow that's interesting have you track how much muscle you've gained in the last 10 years I'm not huge on like numbers on like all right let's draw I don't want to get in my own head this is There's some people that benefit from that but there are some people like me who have suffered through some of these eating disorders that stay away from I stay away from weighing myself it doesn't have that on me anymore sometimes if I want to hop

on it just to be like hey I knew that was going on cool and it doesn't have that effect on me but um yeah I try to stay away as long as in my heart I know what that I'm doing everything that I can to strength Train as hard as I can to eat the right way get in the right amount of protein carbs and fats Etc if I know that I'm doing that I don't need any measurements to tell me how I'm doing I guess it's interesting if we think about it like I don't

know we didn't have scales back in the day there was no scale a couple hundred years ago I guess to like weigh yourself wasn't a priority but now everyone's got a scale and they check it every day a lot of people what is The the I guess the negative for a woman who wants to weigh themselves and see a number every single day what is the downside to weighing yourself for women versus the pro of having that number that they see every day it's going to dictate how you feel on that particular day and do

you really want your mood and your day to be dictated by a number on a scale that's what I always say why do you want your Day to be dictated by that you know progress like we lie to ourselves we're good at lying to ourselves but we know when we're progressing when we're regressing when we're we're stagnant right so I I don't want my my day to be dictated by a number now granted that there is if you are able to remove that aspect and somehow not allow that number to dictate your day and simply

utilize that as a way to to track progress but not every day Because you're not going your your your body fluctuates within a day from day to day but if you're measuring yourself maybe in like at the most like weekly increments but even then if you're like you if your number if the number doesn't hit your expectation exactly one week of hard work and you're like I didn't see the results you defeated and then start binge eating exactly and feel like ah what's the point of this I work so hard because progress takes time yeah

it Takes a long time to put muscle on easier when you're a beginner right because your body is going to respond right away because it's something new and then a little bit harder if you're more advanced um lifter or person that works out but T progress takes time whether it is gaining muscle or losing weight and that's that's the thing I think that that's why most people quit because they don't see uh that progress in the short term and it takes three to Six month months to see true results and people mostly drop a new

program within the first like eight weeks I think there's like statistics like three uh 50 to 65% of people will quit in the first three to six months of starting like a workout program with a and then if it's like New Year's is like 80% of the people will quit I have this it says a study show that 88% of people who set New Year's resol resolution even higher they fail within the first two weeks I'm Curious what do you think is the biggest barrier to maintaining goals then so that people don't fail so quickly

when they start I think the first thing it is like those uh unrealistic expectations set realistic goals for me if you are just starting out if this is something completely new is set that goal of just showing up show up every day keep create that consistency consistency is the primary goal that maybe somebody should aim for in my in my eyes aim for that Consistency every day day in and day out to then bring you to to to carry you to that point where you have created a new um a new habit and it takes

time to create habit I mean there was a misconception of like taking 21 days actually it's much longer than that I mean 21 days is a good starting point because it's a little bit more than the two weeks but uh if you're really wanting to solidify uh a habit especially when it Comes to working out it's like a little bit over two months M some people say 66 days but yeah I'd love what you're saying about this because if everyone could focus on making the goal of making the process the goal as opposed to results

the goal they would live life exactly exactly process is the goal yeah process is the goal it's so hard though I mean I've been in that I've probably been on a I don't know two year almost two years Ago I you know Co hit I was training a lot before then then covid and breakup emotional stress kind of all that stuff like just life happened where I gained a lot of weight for myself right and I was at like 255 at my heaviest but just didn't feel good right I'm 64 I'm a big guy it

doesn't like look like obese but it just didn't feel good right yeah yeah and then two years ago I really got consistent in the training and I'm down to 225 is so I've dropped a lot of Weight but I'm still not where I want to be but it's like but I'm training so hard and even me knowing as an athlete that it just takes time but kind of like letting go of the expectation or the goal of like this is where I wanted to be yeah I can still have that Vision on my mind but

a lot of it is the the acknowledgement of showing up and just say did I do the right thing today exactly did I do the right things for my health for my mind for my future self Today exactly and the results will eventually come if I keep showing up for me absolutely and but it's it's it's take a while you know to get the results you want and that so I love what you're talking about make the the process the goal not the the result and and are you comparing yourself to to this image that

you you had or you were at some point you know like 22 and I'm like a athlete yeah yeah can you be the best version of yourself that you could possibly be now Yeah it is hard it is hard because we unfortunately have have my body has changed from a year ago from two years ago absolutely it it and it happens but am I in my power can I honestly say to myself that I'm doing everything that I can with regards to working out strength training with regards to nutrition with regards to sleep recovery you

know all of the components that that yeah will bring you to that optimal self at this point in Time so that's that's where I'm at yeah you're focused on that's where I'm at yeah um that's interesting um there seems to be like I don't know what I don't know if this is the right terminology but there seems to be Trends with uh women's body sizes and types and structures since I was like you know I grew up in the 80s and 90s it was all about being super skinny then it was about you know curvy

and voluptuous then It's like seems like it's going back to skinny like it seems like there's these trends in the culture why do you think that first off is that accurate that there are trends for women in their way that their body is supposed to look if so why does that change for women over the years I I there is definitely trending there's been like you said you know I agree with you that there's been you know the trend Of being skinny and then curvaceous and I don't know that it's necessarily being thin again I

hope not I don't want to yeah I think there's a movement there's a true movement is um with being being like strong being strong and I love and appreciate all the doctors that are coming forward and sharing their their data on how strength and and having as much muscle as possible is healthy um for a Woman not just quality of life now but in their later years I think um yeah I think a lot of these studies and this these doctors that are coming forward with women specific because I think more a lot of the

studies have been done on men but with women specific studies that show that importance so I'm I'm hoping that that's the that's the new trend and that's here to stay well it's interesting because you know as you mentioned when you moved to America and There was you saw pressure from other teen girls in your school you saw me marketing you know whatever it might be campaigns of like celebrities that you see look a certain way yeah but you're also a trainer for Kim Kardashian right now and you have been for a while and I'm sure

I'm assuming you're around a lot of top celebrities as well in that world yeah um how do you navigate knowing that you're working with a a very influential Woman that women look up to women want to look like women want to you know emulate maybe they feel comparison to or a lack of comparison that they can't live up to the way she might look or something like that or just other celebrities in general yeah how do you navigate I guess your work with someone like that also understanding that a there's a 15-year-old out there who

was once like you yeah yeah that maybe sees her and wants to be like her and then Does that help her Inspire her to eat healthier and train or is it like let me go you know extreme food deprivation like I don't know how do how do you navigate just that in your mind honestly that was one of the main reasons why I accepted to work with Kim is because she does have this influence and she decided that she wanted to step into her strength and build muscle and and maintain that muscle because also she

realized the muscle is important for Her Health and Longevity not just aesthetically speaking and for me that was an opportunity to help her but also help other women that she is influencing obviously her reach is way bigger than mine is so that was one of my biggest driving factors for working with her and other celebrities that I have is to send that message of strength to the women out there that strength is beautiful strength is health and quality longevity so that's to me that was uh yeah I see That as a as a positive uh

having a positive effect on women because you you see Kim leaning into strength training more absolutely that's what you're working with right absolutely she loves it I mean that's not and she did she always do that before no she didn't it was more cardio and pilates and and things like that which again everything has a place and a space and a time but in my opinion humble opinion and I think research backs it up strength training Is Queen right um at the top of the list if you're I mean we don't have to speak about

her that much but what have you noticed in I guess over a year of strength training with Kim Kardashian about maybe just confidence levels or things like that has anything changed because she's been a pretty confident person already she's got you know massive businesses she's got a lot of success like has she shared that anything you're allowed to share or we Noticed something like that or yeah I mean she she with all the confidence that she already has she feels definitely more confident and she can't wait to train with me really I me yeah it's

it's amazing you know if she per chance happens to not be training for a few days because of her very demanding schedule you know um she's like I can't wait to train so that to me like music to my ears to to hear that somebody has uh has has made that leap and is has Leaned into strength training and I've seen her and I you know to me again it's not as much about Aesthetics but about you know form like you know walking around and doing things with great form injury pre injury prevention and and

all of that so it's beautiful I mean we're here in LA and it seems to be kind of like a hub of extremes here and specifically with like weight loss drugs or these asmic type drugs and things like that um and it seems to be it's Popular in La you know I don't know I don't know people who are on them or not on them I don't like know these things but right I see extreme weight shifts in certain women after a few months and I'm like maybe that's drug-free maybe that's OIC I have no

idea what is the what's your thoughts on the pros and cons of something like an OIC or these weight loss drugs specifically for women MH first starting point for me is always Have you tried doing it naturally right so are you able to because some people are just not able to get to that point right so for me is like start starting with the attainable things that you can naturally like nutrition and working out and if that hasn't worked and you are as a matter of fact somebody that is a candidate for that drug then

um there's more and more research shows that that can be helpful in a lot of aspect not Just losing weight but healthwise um so as with any other therapies pharmaceutical therapist I'm not necessarily opposed to them but there's a place and time for them so for me it's like have you tried the foundation which again we know is eating right and working out getting enough sleep exactly meditating for me meditating is huge um did I mention everything yeah so like if if you are if you're focusing on on having those that foundation and you Still

are struggling and maybe it's time to talk to a professional to see if that is um something that is that would be of benefit I know that again there's been studies out there with drastic weight loss I'm not on board with that so if it's happening even with o zic if you're utilizing it and you're experiencing drastic weight loss that is not healthy because you're losing not just fat but you're losing lots of muscle in that process really But if it's done to with with kind of micro doing again is what studies show is that

you're able to maintain muscle mass while slowly losing weight interesting yeah is I mean yeah it just seems like a lot of people just have lost weight really quickly mhm is what it seems like again I don't know who's using it or who's not using it it's like it's hard for me to tell but it seems like that's what's been happening MH and that scares Me it is super scary that that is scary the DraStic weight loss no matter what way is it's done if it's a drastic weight loss and if it's dumb because you're

restricting your food intake and you're working out like crazy or whether you're doing something like uh gp1 like oig then it's it's that's not good yeah that is not good this is a interesting question I have for you Sonata I'm curious when you know when you know that also like Women I don't want to say all women but there's a tendency that women May compare themselves to other women yeah and you have content out there that may seem unattainable for a lot of women right I don't know if that's what you're hearing or maybe someone

said that but I can only imagine some woman is scrolling who's not healthy or not fit or maybe like not confident themselves um and they see some of your videos and they're like this woman is a Super Woman Like someone may be really inspired by that and say awesome that's an example that I can lean into and I can follow her programming and I can maybe one day be like that in my own way whereas other women might say gosh dang it she's like too good-looking or she's too fit or she's too shredded like how

she even I could never do that how do you navigate the uncertainty that women might have to feel like they'll never be as strong or Fit or lean as you or be able to do the workouts the way you do them so effortlessly based on what it may look like for them versus I'm here to empower and Inspire women not show them show them that they're not enough yeah how do you navigate that personally it's to me like that my intention is to never have anybody compare me to them and and have them feel bad

about themselves like that that would absolutely that is not my intention like my goal and my desire is To empower women to to step into their strength to feel the strongest that they possibly can to embrace their their musculature their strong bodies to embrace that so for me um that's been my desire to kind of embody this strong person with muscle so that women feel empowered to to to aim to build muscle and to look in the best way version of themselves not me obviously I um I have a different genetical genetic makeup you know

than Than somebody else like we were genetically and bio we're biodiverse we're gen genetically diverse so um might it might be unrealistic for some women to to aim to look exactly like me but nobody should want to aim to look exactly like somebody else so I always and I say this you know in my post is I aim to be the strongest version of yourself the best version of yourself and not utilize me as a as a comparison but rather as hopefully an Inspiration of a woman that was struggling throughout her entire life and now

has embraced her her strength and and my abilities and it took years you know it took years so I I didn't suddenly wake up lifted a couple of weights and I'm here I never I didn't always have great form you know that's one of the things that people always praise like great form how are you able to do that I I didn't wake up doing that it was just years of practice Years of of kind of perfecting my craft uh to be able to do that with this much awareness and attention about who you are

now from the last I guess eight years I think you've been on social media I think you said like and just the following and the views you get and the attention you get 201 2019 actually 201 okay years years six years I mean it's been no one knew who you were and the last six years a lot of people know who you are and you're working with one of The biggest celebrities in the world what has that been like for you psychologically or emotionally to deal with now everyone's critiquing you whether it be positive or

negative and you're working with big celebrities how has that been for you as a human MH I think the biggest the threshold that scared me the most was hitting 100,000 followers that was like whoa there's 100,000 people that are looking at what I do and then for some reason it kind of Normalized after that it doesn't really every million it's like okay another million yeah yeah no not that I take it for granted gred by any means I'm so grateful for the platform for my audience I never take it for granted but it doesn't have

that you know fear you correlated with it you know it's it's not um because I know what I'm doing I know what I'm saying I feel to a certain degree so it doesn't when when I was just first starting out obviously you're Still kind of building your confidence and and and and navigating that so um but to kind of go back to I think what you were asking like how has that affected me personally in the beginning you do deal with a lot of this person said that so now you know am I really that

or and then you just learned at least I have learned to to see that as not a reflection of who I am I know who I am I know the message that I'm trying to Portray and I know you know that I'm there for service you know that's what makes a purposeful life is being of service to others and that's I want get emotional but that's what fulfills me is like being of service and providing as much Service as I can to as many people as I can especially women because um I'm a woman and

uh was you know I'm in a household of women I have two younger sisters so that always has been kind of keeping in mind what my goal is and who I am and not being affected by people that will will try to speak negatively in the process when did you start to think about your life of being in service to help others when did I start to think was that was that like something earlier in your life or was that in the last six years like I want to start like really adding value and trying

to serve people whether people or five million I think that's always been I think it came Within the territory of like experiencing depression I think that's you know I think uh that sense of purpose is linked to to to to to depression somehow so I was I was struggling with that for a while you know I how how old were you or what I mean I went to I went to business school I went I got a a master's in business and you know I did this all of this accomplishment graduated sumak kumlade with the

highest Honors in three years and then in one year for my business degree so you know I I was accumulating all all of these accolades and um and it just wasn't adding up like it wasn't feel it wasn't fulfilling to me because it wasn't you know it didn't feel like it was coming from a sense of like of of of purpose or of service rather to the greater good and um and now where I am at knowing what strength training and nurturing myself In all aspects um nutrition like we were talking sleep meditation and Recovery

like knowing what that has done for me for my mental health uh that's been kind of my driving factor to to bring that to to the world and and yeah wow how how long did you feel like you were experiencing depression for or your mental health was struggling it started when I was in my teens you know like I said with uh uh dealing with with the eating disorders and then realizing that There was like a s there there was depression that was going hand inand with that and anxiety and um you know as I

say those monsters in the closet never go away you just develop better tools to to to to manage them to manage them so for me working out is one of my main Tools in my tool Bell that you know I'm feeling a certain way I know I'm going to go get a workout and it's going to to shift my day so there are those moments where I absolutely don't feel like Working out but I know what I will achieve on the other side of that so that's I think one of my main motivating factors along

with wanting to be independent in my later years wanting to have a quality of life and Longevity that I can rely on I think the other one is I don't I I don't want to feel depressed I don't want to feel anxious I don't want to deal with those uh things that I know I am predisposed uh to to deal with so you can't override those That's just like hand that you're deal but it's like what tools in your tool belt do you utilize to best deal absolutely wow what do you feel like is your

biggest insecurity or fear now uh I'm I I guess I'm always I always think am I giving my best self to my audience to the people that I influence that is always my the thing that if there is one thing that keeps me up at night it's it's that It's am I providing the best value that I possibly can uh out there to the world so that that that's the one thing that I always strive to to do better that's why I launched the Weise app I so I had an app prior to that and

I I relaunched and rebranded last January so we're coming up on a year and I'm always striving to make it better whether it's like with the latest research and and what it'll be it'll it will'll be light light years ahead of what it is now because we're Really aiming for it to be a a female uh empowerment and development platform not just a fitness app wow and uh and yeah that's that's what we strive every day to perfect how do you that how do you navigate not falling back into an obsessive perfectionist critical State versus

progress consistency and a healthy balance yeah when you have that type of like older personality it's like how do you make sure you don't go into That in extremes with work you know body you know perfection in a different way yeah you're just more conscious of that selft talk you're just more conscious of those patterns I think that's with everything you just become conscious of the way that you talk to yourself conscious of negative U past patterns and then you course correct and it it is it is good enough it is it is good because

as we were talking about earlier you know great and Perfection can be the enemy of good so I'm always conscious of that to not aim for Perfection but to aim for value and and and good yeah have you ever done like uh therapy also emotional therapy instead of you know workout therapy I have I I have um what's been the biggest takeaway from that for you or biggest lessons I'll be honest therapy for me has been going to work for you not as much as working sure but it it works for a lot of people

it has it Has it's been a long time honestly um since I've been in therapy and I definitely promoted like yes do therapy it's definitely great like I said all of these are just tools that we accumulate and then we use and whatever works best for you for me it's been more self therapy yeah I read a lot of I've read a ton of self-help books I've read you know books that you'd read at a in a Colgate level you know um and that's how I self-educate and that's how I Self-help and self-actualize and analyze

um maybe it's a good time to say I've also done plant medicine mhm and that has been huge help for me and and kind of being my own therapist cuz that's the best way that I can describe uh plant medicine is being your own therapist seeing yourself from the outside and looking at your patterns and looking at at everything from a different perspective kind of removed from that ego Self do you have um do you have a relationship with God or a spiritual practice I have a relation ship with God yeah yeah I don't know

that if it's in the context of the the religion in in a sense or maybe it is inclusive of all of that I just believe in in um the Creator being the Creator for all of us one loving creator that is that is good and wants what's best for us and that is Not um judging but that is loving so what do you think what do you think God wants for you moving forward to continue doing this work and to really um actualize that I am of of of help and service to others you know

cuz I I do at times struggle with that like like I was saying before am I doing my best am I really being of service to to humanity to others so I think really Leaning into that that yes you know if I actually help just one person that that is a life fulfilled if I've changed course corrected somebody's path even by a small percentage then that is uh an accomplishment that's beautiful yeah where do you think you'd be do you think you'd be as happy and healthy if you didn't have a Rel Rel ship with

God or a spiritual practice I think it's good to have somewhat of a relationship with whatever You believe kind of that high higher power to be um I think it's it's something to lean on I think it's something to lean on and for you know for people it's different for everybody is different what that could be or look like and what image you have in your mind but whatever gives you that comfort that um you're here for a reason yeah yeah did you have a a spiritual relationship or when you were in your teens and

early 20s and Struggling with you know the the depression and things uh I had my grandma raised me to be religious and say prayers every night and um and I think I lost that a little bit and now I'm back at you know saying my prayers every night and um you feel more peace now I yeah absolutely yeah that's beautiful that's beautiful yeah your parents still around yeah they are they are my parents have U my two younger sisters they're all in New York They're all in New York yeah yeah yeah they're still around what's

the biggest lesson both your mom and your dad taught you my dad um taught me to be strong and to to persevere and to um yeah he never complained he never complained he went from being a doctor back in Albania to being a janitor when he came to the United States even though we're legally here and everything but he that's what he had to do he you know English but he knew to um put his ego Aside and just do what needed to be done to support uh his family and um from my mom is

to like like that that compassionate spirit and also uh even though it it led to some things that weren't so posi in my life like that that striving to be the best also led to where I am today I believe so yeah I thank her for that wow that's beautiful what's the uh the biggest lesson Kim's taught you she's a hard worker sometimes I Thought I was a hard worker so um yeah she inspires me in that way to to to to be a hard worker and beautifully balances that with having a a family and

having four children so and spending quality time with them so having that balance like that's that's inspirational that's cool that's cool uh you've got an app called the Weise app how how many women are in this community right now in this in this app oh my gosh and need Where's thousand thousands of women yeah thousands of women tens of thousands of women are all over the world that are achieving their best strongest selves and I'm so excited for it what what do they get in the app what what's their what yeah what are these women

working on well what they're working on what what they get a lot yeah what they so whatever experience level that you're in so if you're beginner intermediate advanc if you're working out from home Or the gym there is a program that is for them and what they want something to get started like a 20 minute follow along that I'm with them every step of the way and kind of guide them through um uh they they got that on there so I think for every kind of Walk of Life there is something in the app and

there is a meal planning and recipes and macr tracking uh right now we currently have an expert nutritionist an expert habits person she actually is One of like the four phds in the world that um that that works with with habits to just help people establish good habits get rid of habits that don't serve them anymore and then on nutrition side you know speaking about like what are macros sure and then how do we ensure that we you know intake enough protein and all of that and that's just the beginning we have huge plans that's

great where can they go to sign up for that Weise Doxyz okay awesome I'm sure it's in your bio it's on my bio it's I buyo yeah I'm not wearing the clothing but I also have a clothing line calls and toe on okay um making women slightly a little bit more motivated by wearing some cute workout clothes there you go yeah to work out but um yeah yeah that's great what um what can we do to be of best service to you moving forward with this community or people watching or listening right now spread the

word spread the word of Of strength spread the word that Aesthetics will come as long as you put in the work to aim for health and and Longevity yeah yeah and and what's the best place to find you on social media what's your Instagram for people toaa yeah see you know you see how much I love self-promoting you know in this whole conversation this is probably like the the the most kind of slightly uncomfortable I've felt because I don't Like self-promoting but yeah without self-promoting I guess what is of service then you don't get people

to take advantage of that that's true that's true where do you think you'd be if you didn't start putting content online six years ago if I didn't if you did not I I I don't want to think about my the past jobs that I've done because it was not not not uh not fun but I would I Would I would do something I I would be in this space I would be in this space somehow because I'm so passionate about it so if I if I didn't have a presence such a large presence in social

media I would probably do it in a in in a small fashion even if it was you know outside of the 9 to5 which I was doing actually before my my I was teaching yoga classes and I was training on the side while having my my nin to5 um and then you know I love that aspect so Much which is what led me to to to kind of start doing this and putting myself out there putting my workouts out there and one thing led to another and here we are today so you were doing it

on the side you had a full-time job I had a full-time job uh but then I was teaching yoga classes and you weren't teaching strength training and and a little bit of strength training as well yeah um it it has advanced from from from that point that that starting point um to Where it is now but I was doing that on the side and obviously doing my workouts and then I decided let's just put it out there like whatever I'm doing every day and you could see probably things have shifted from earlier on until now

but just put it out there every day get up in the morning do my workout film it as I'm doing the workout and and to see where it leads when when did you start to notice that like oh this is starting to take off like the content I'm posting Daily like oh it's actually getting out there and it's resonating with women and yeah I mean pretty pretty fast it it started to happen I mean it didn't shift from like I think I had like 2,000 followers in 2019 when I started if I one or 2000

when I first started and um it's started to happen gradually and then exponentially after that I think that first period of like getting to um a few thousand was probably like the hardest cuz it it's it's like working Out you know it's consistency and you don't see a ton of results but then you stay with it because you don't you know you you you just can't tell the future you can't predict it from just that short period of time so like with anything else consistency consistency consistency uh so I've got a couple final questions for

you but this is powerful thanks for sharing and being so open today I appreciate it course of course um this is a question I ask Everyone towards the end it's called the three truths so it's a hypothetical scenario and question imagine you get to live as long as you want to live and you get to accomplish every dream you have but for whatever reason you have to take all of your content with you when you die so we don't have access to the videos you posted this interview it's all gone anything you create From This

Moment moving forward it's gone your app it's gone for whatever reason Hypothetical MH but on the last day of your life you get to lead behind three Essence to the world and this is all we would have to remember your content by called three truths what would those be for you I think the biggest thing for me is to do everything from a place of love so whatever you're trying to achieve achieve it and aim for it from a place of Love um aim to be the fullest version of Yourself and not that of somebody

else but the fullest version of of yourself and the third would be to treat everybody in a way that I don't know if necessarily you want to be treated yourself but in a way that I believe in a higher self and the higher the higher self would would want you to treat or God if you will will want you to treat the the the the fellow man and woman with with just compassion and love And understanding stepping aside from judgments and what you have been taught to to perceive yeah yeah that's beautiful create from love

aim to be the fullest version of you and treat others with your kind of your highest self MH in mind that's great that's beautiful um I want to acknowledge you s out of four your transformation and your ability to be consistent and it sounds like it's Very challenging leaving one country coming to this place and just having to deal with all the pressures of society of school of parents and you needing to be the parent as a teenager that's a lot of weight emotionally and physically so I want to acknowledge you for overcoming that challenge

and overcoming the depression and the sadness and the anxiety and the stress that you faced and for starting to tap into the healthiest version of you and being Consistent with that version of you letting go of your old comparison ways and stepping into how can I just be my happiest fullest self so I acknowledge you for putting yourself out there also you know six years ago deciding to say hey I'm GNA put my content out there and start to serve people the best way I can and if it helps one person or millions of people

I'm just going to do it consistently so I acknowledge you for for all of it and um I appreciate you For opening up so honestly during this conversation thank you so much I appreciate you saying that appreciate you having me here today was a very enjoyable conversation thank you it's beautiful one one final question son what's your definition of greatness I think it's embodying again the true fullest version of yourself while being of service to others to the fullest capacity that you are able to it's beautiful so thank you so much For being here I

appreciate it thank you so much I appreciate it thank you for having me of course thank you so much for being here I hope you got some value from this episode as much as I did if you did please do me a favor and click the like button right now if you like this it's going to help share it out into the YouTube world even more for us please click that like button and leave a comment below on your biggest takeaway or if you have any questions that you Want me to follow up with also

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easy I think you're going to love this and it's all about creating Financial Freedom the link is below in the description or you can go to makemoney ebook.com and check it out grew up very poor so it was mhm scarcity mindset and you know my mom worked so many jobs my dad worked so many jobs and it was like no matter what there was never really Enough so and money it was always like a stress around money probably always always a stress around money and