Talk about a woman that other women would love to hate.
Just one month after giving birth to baby Karyna in November, Katya Malysheva was back at work and appeared on the cover of Urban in January.
The 1.8m Ukraine-born beauty now weighs 60kg, a mere 2kg heavier than her pre-pregnancy self, a feat she credits to 'doing nothing'.
She says her weight loss was natural.
'The most weight I lost was 5kg in one week. Every day when I weighed myself, at least 0.5kg was gone. It was really scary - I was wondering what was wrong.'
It's easy to tag her as yet another stereotypical too-skinny model, but her stand on weight loss is impressively resolute: 'If clients ask me to lose a little bit of weight, I will. But if they're talking 2 to 4kg, I'll say, forget it.'
This happened about five years ago, when she was working for a modelling agency in France.
'I was really skinny but was told to lose another 3kg, and I refused to. If I'd lost that weight, I'd be blown away by the wind.'
Malysheva wears a tunic top by Talbot Runhof, $2,566, and Herve L. Leroux cocktail dress, $5,562, both from Pois, 02-47 Paragon; and heels, $205, from Nine West, 01-07A Wisma Atria
Thanks to her Singaporean businessman husband Johnny Tan, she is now a self-professed lover of local fare like Hokkien mee and char kway teow and 'eats everything with chilli'.
But surely, she must've been worried about not being able to get back into shape to model?
'Not at all,' she says. 'I was more worried about how good a mother I was going to be.
'As a first-time Mum, I didn't have any experience. It's harder for me as my mother lives in Ukraine. My husband was here, but having a mother with you is just different.'
Perhaps that's why she is toying with the idea of quitting modelling so as to be a full-time Mum.
'I wouldn't mind doing shows and commercials once in a while, but taking part in major shows that require a lot of commitment now seem like a waste of time because that time could be spent with my baby.'
She tells Urban of how, when she was taking part in the Singapore Fashion Festival in March and April, she barely got to see Karyna.
'When I left the house, the baby was sleeping, and when I went home, she was sleeping too. That, or when she saw me and wanted me to carry her, I couldn't because I was busy and rushing to change or something. That was pretty hard for me.'
TIPS FOR LOOKING GOOD:
»Exercise
Up till my final trimester, I was still going to the gym to get on the cycling machine and to walk. I also did some exercises to stretch my tummy. Besides that, I swam every day up till I gave birth. Because I don't have much time now, I swim every weekend if I can.
»Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula
From the second to sixth month of pregnancy, I applied this on my tummy every day to prevent stretch marks. I bought it from Watsons for about $25.
This article was first published in Urban, The Straits Times on May 8, 2008.
