Peterborough fitness instructor hopes to motivate UK after recovering from extreme illness during pregnancy
After facing extreme illness during her pregnancy, Natasha Gilson made her body a temple despite all odds.
Now she has turned to helping others, the same way she has helped herself.
Natasha (35), from Walton, Peterborough suffered intensely from Hypermesis during her pregnancy with daughter, Anaïs. The illness which Kate Middleton also suffered with, left Natasha being sick up to 40 times a day.
She explained: “I lost a lot of weight, 9lbs in the first month of being pregnant!
“I had gone from working full-time and an active lifestyle to nothing. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t drink, I was so poorly.”
Sadly, this wasn’t the worst of it, as when Natasha’s daughter was merely a week old, Natasha was hospitalised with Sepsis. Sepsis is a life-threatening condition caused by the body’s response to infection.
Natasha was rushed into intensive care, where she stayed for two weeks, at the worst of it being operated on to help her recovery.
When her daughter Anaïs was around three months old, Natasha found her inspiration through Instagram. She explained: “I saw a post of a friend who had competed in a body-building expo, I messaged her saying ‘she looked amazing and that I wanted to do something like that’ and she said ‘why can’t you?’
“I looked at myself and thought I could. My body had changed through my pregnancy but why can’t I?”
Natasha then went on to train and compete in the same competition and succeed, despite other competitors underestimating her, because of her lack of competition experience. As she explains: “Before I only used to work out so that I could go out and drink and have a kebab on nights out. But in January I went out and ran 8K and began training properly in the gym.”
Natasha has since found her passion in motivating others, namely as Miss Motivator UK. Her health journey and finding solace in working out and bettering herself, was key to her recovery from her illnesses and trying to maintain her good health.
Bringing that same motivation to others is something which drives her, she has recently been on hit show Sunday Brunch promoting fitness to the nation.
Natasha continues to want to help others and you can follow her on Instagram at: @missmotivatoruk or contact her at: [email protected]