Karien Van Der Wal

Transforming Her Baby Bump Into a Contest-winning Bikini Body

Before Karien van der Wal became a fitness professional, USN Face of Fitness cover model search finalist, and an all conquering Fitness Bikini stage diva, she also grappled with the same struggles we all do.

“While I wouldn’t say I was overweight, I was certainly a bit chubby – soft around the edges, so to speak,” she muses. Then she fell pregnant with her first child. While she picked up some baby weight, she was able to lose most of it after her baby was born. “However, before I reached my post-pregnancy weight-loss goal, I fell pregnant again,” explains Karien.

LIFE HAPPENS

Unfortunately things went a little differently for Karien the second time around. “This pregnancy was a lot more difficult, and when my second child was born we faced a number of challenges.

Firstly, she needed to have an op at three months. She didn’t sleep very well and she suffered from bad reflux, which all took its toll on our family.” Amidst the challenges of parenthood, Karien and her husband also went through a financial crisis at the time, which added additional stress to her situation.

“The end result was that my physique, and controlling what and how much I ate wasn’t a top priority for me. I didn’t care about looking after myself at that point in my life and I had actually made peace with the fact that I was going to be overweight for the rest of my life.”

TURNING POINT