From being dangerously ill at 5st 6lb Kate Michalkova has transformed her life through diet and exercise. Jaine Blackman reports

A lifelong struggle with coeliac disease has led to a whole new lifestyle for Kate Michalkova – including winning a fitness modelling title in a national competition.

And now the busy mum-of-two from Banbury wants to inspire others to take charge of their diet and fitness.

“Fitness gives me energy – it is my sanity,” says Kate, 39, who is originally from Slovakia but has lived in Oxfordshire since 2005.

“Simply working out gives me joy and happiness and I wish this feeling upon anybody.”

Kate was diagnosed when she was two years old.

“I had become very unwell as soon as my mum introduced gluten into my diet. I started to developed horrible tummy aches and a runny tummy, I also started to loose weight rapidly but had a very swollen tummy,” she says.

“My health became very unstable, I had lots of respiratory problems, looked very pale and had cold sores on my mouth all the time.

“It took doctors a long time to diagnose me as the coeliac illness was not very common then.”

For the next few years kate was in and out of hospitals, as well as being sent to spas.

“In those day, we are talking about 1977, coeliac disease was considered a curable condition so doctors put me back onto wheat diet when I was six years old,” says Kate. “Surprisingly I took well to it and was considerably fine for almost 20 years.

“I can remember being on antibiotics quite often, as well continuing having cold sores and bloated tummy, but we did not pay any attention to it.”

That was to change after the birth of her daughter Lucy, who is now 14.

“After I had my first child by C-section and had gone through very tough personal marriage problems, I started to feel very withdrawn, very weak and ill. I felt like fainting all the time, was extremely dizzy and lost lots of weight,” recalls Kate, who also has a son, Daniel, six.

Her weight went down to 5st 6lb and she was admitted to hospital seveal times to be put on the drips.

“It continued for three years. I was at the doctors non-stop being considered as depressed or a lunatic hypochondriac,” she says. “I couldn’t see a way out of it and felt seriously terminally ill.”

Oxford Mail:
Kate Michalkova with her son Daniel Lucas-Janes Hutchins, six, and daughter Lucy Kopcokova, 14

But finally she was diagnosed and started on a gluten and wheat-free diet.

She also started to exercise as she was indoors and working a lot on a PC running an export company.

“I felt I needed to change my life,” she says. “I trained myself from the scratch and introduced healthy meals into my diet.

“I started to make new recipes and turned my fitness into my profession and passion.”

Last year she gained a fitness diploma to do personal training and give nutrition advice; she gives classes in kettlebells and body and booty toning at EP Gym, Banbury; is a part-time instructor at Spiceball Leisure Centre, Banbury; works with care homes helping elderly people with mobility and has won or been placed in the top three in a selection of national fitness modelling competitions including Ms Bikini (over 36) at the Miami PRO event in London.

Kate says competitions aren’t for everyone but she is evangelical about spreading a healthy lifestyle message.

“Competing requires a lot of sacrifices and dedication but to make fitness a part of your life that is something I would highly recommend to people, and if I motivate and inspire at least one person a day I can live with that,” says Kate.

She offers personal training classes for people looking to get stage ready or lose weight (£30 an hour with fitness packages available) and wants to deveop her business further.

“I want to help mums to get back to the shape after either having a baby or simply just letting themselves go.

“I love inspiring and motivating people, especially busy mums like myself to workout actively and reach for their goals never mind the obstacles,” says Kate.

Plans for the future include a website, currently under construction, where her recipes and training tips will be available from £5.99 per month and she’s planning her own line of gym wear.

To contact Kate see facebook.com/kate.michalkova or call 07903 845 583