Exploring Life & Business with Kat Ostroumova of Kat International Fitness

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kat Ostroumova.

Hi Kat, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Kat was born in Irkutsk, Russia. At the age of nine, she moved to Toronto, Canada with her family where she still resides.

At the age of 17, Kat was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism – an overactive thyroid disease – that causes the heart to beat fast and irregularly and the person to feel nervous, anxious, and weak amongst other severe symptoms. After unsuccessful radioactive iodine treatment, which lowers the thyroid hormone level to its regular production, her condition morphed into hypothyroidism – an underactive thyroid disease. Symptoms of hypothyroidism include fatigue, weight gain, cold intolerance, slowed heart rate, joint, and muscle pain, cramps, weakness, and recurrent urinary and respiratory tract infections just to name a few.

After years of struggle, major weight gain, and weighing 183 lbs at her heaviest, Kat decided to take control of her life by prioritizing her health and well-being above everything else. She changed her mindset which allowed her to restructure her time, diet, exercise, and overall lifestyle. After losing over 40 lbs, Kat went on to compete at the WBFF (World’s Beauty Fitness Fashion) show, where she earned multiple top-three finishes in multiple categories.

She has successfully taken back control of her life from hypothyroidism and has now dedicated her life to others suffering from the same affliction. Globally, people from all walks of life have reached out to Kat asking for help and guidance with hypothyroidism, weight loss, and mindset coaching. This was the birth of Kat International Fitness™

The mission at Kat International Fitness™ is to inspire, motivate and empower women who are struggling with the mental and physical effects of hypothyroidism, hormonal imbalances, and weight loss by implementing proven custom strategies and accountability touchpoints. Currently, Kat is operating a successful online coaching business that helps thousands of women worldwide meet their health and fitness goals through custom programs, her own personal app, and a line of pro-grade resistance bands.

Kat has been named Canada’s Top Hot and Fit 100 by Inside Fitness magazine, has been featured in Fit and Firm Magazine, numerous publications, podcasts, and TV and radio interviews, and is also a sponsored athlete for Goli Nutrition and Rival Nutrition in both Canada and The United States.

Through her organization, she has touched hundreds of women dealing with mental and physical challenges.

Although Kat is a fitness coach quite often the mental aspect is strongly connected to physical outcomes. Kat personally connects with each client to ensure she gets to their root cause, acknowledges their barriers, and then creates achievable custom strategic solutions. She takes it one step further by establishing a fitness journey curriculum through her custom app. As Kat always says… Empowered Women Empower Women!

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Absolutely not! I’ve had many setbacks and wanted to throw in the towel numerous times. The number one struggle at the beginning of my health and fitness journey was Hypothyroidism. It was extremely difficult and frustrating to lose the weight at first but it felt amazing once I got control of it.

My father got diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and it was progressing fairly quickly so all I wanted to do was help my mom and be around him as much as I could. Then my grandma (my mom’s mom) wasn’t well and she lives in Russia. So my mom then made a decision to move back to Russia so they could be with my grandmother. I was missing them like crazy and just wanted to give up everything here and move back as well, but I kept going.

I also got into a relationship towards the end of my transformation journey – he became very controlling, insecure, and angry. I later found out he struggled with substance abuse and anger issues. It got to the point where I had to literally grab what I can and get away. Instead of letting that horrific experience bring me down, I got more fired up to keep going and used the gym as my therapy and “outlet” for stress.

Not everyone was very supportive of my transformation journey-some people said “she will fall off”, “she won’t see it through” and “she won’t succeed”- I am glad I didn’t listen to them and proved them wrong! Then, when I said I am starting my own fitness business to help other women-I also had some people (women actually) say to my face and behind my back that I will never make it again, proved them wrong. But where would I be if I listened to them?

Right before COVID, I had plans to expand my business but then everything shut down in March 2020. Everything was so unknown and scary- I thought this is the end of my dream. I really didn’t know what to do and felt so lost. But I had a mindset shift and said to myself-once this thing is over-whether it’s in a few months or years, I need to come out on top with a fully operational business and I am going to use this “lockdown’ time to build and build. And so I locked myself up in my condo for about six months and built and built!

I was missing my family more than ever, I couldn’t go see them and they couldn’t come to see me due to Covid. At that point, my father’s healthy completely declined and in January 2021 he passed away. I couldn’t even make it to the funeral. That took a huge toll on me mentally and I just wanted to give up completely. I was in a dark place and just didn’t know how to move forward but something just made me keep going.

And of course, there were things and still things like some clients falling off the plan- I take it very personally as I believe in every client I take on, potential clients booking consultation calls and not showing up to these calls-very disrespectful. People say they will sign up and pay, but don’t end up paying. The website crashes, APP not work, and on it goes. There have definitely been moments where I was tested again and again but such is life. It’s full of ups and downs. There will always be obstacles/challenges along the way in any journey-whether it’s a relationship, fitness, career, or life. That’s what makes it exciting.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Kat International Fitness?
At Kat International Fitness we inspire, motivate and empower women who are struggling with the mental and physical effects of hypothyroidism, hormonal imbalances, and weight loss by implementing proven custom strategies and accountability touchpoints.

We create custom lifestyle programs for women that include meal plans/vitamins plans/workout plans completely based on each client’s goals, dietary preferences, medical conditions, body composition, and lifestyle. The plan includes mindset coaching with me as well as accountability, weekly check-ins, and 24/7 support access to me and my team!

Plans are done via our Kat International Fitness app. We also have a line of pro-grade anti-slip and roll booty bands that are perfect for at-home, gym, and travel workouts and are great for low-impact training or to add more intensity to a workout.

I am so proud of the community we have created by helping, transforming, and empowering thousands of women worldwide.

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I grew up in Siberia, Russia. I had a great childhood. My father traveled a lot for work so me, so my mom and my grandmother spent a lot of time together. Even though my dad was very much present in my life and had a great influence on it – I feel like I was really raised by three very strong, independent, positive women.

My parents called me “the leader” as I always gathered my friends and organized “concerts”, “talent shows”, “interviews” and so on. All my friends also came to me for advice with all their life problems from a very young age. I loved solving their problems and listening to them.

I absolutely HATED school in Russia and also when I came to Canada in grade 5 and on all the way to college. I thought it was boring and useless and I won’t use anything of what I learned in the real world. It just wasn’t challenging me enough.

I always knew I wanted to help people and work with people-I just didn’t know how. Crazy how having a disease like Hypothyroidism has actually led me to my life’s purpose and passion. WOW.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://katinternationalfitness.gr8.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katostroumova/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katinternationalfitness
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/katostroumova