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Tony, when did you meet Dr. Emilova? - In 2000.
I met her in Burgas.
I had just given birth and I was quite large.
You couldn't tell if I had given birth or not.
I looked like I was still pregnant when I met her in Burgas.
It was in a tailor's studio
where these cool ladies were making clothes for us.
When she came in...
I had heard of her before but didn't know her.
She came to me and asked, 'Would like me to help you?'
I said, 'Yeah, okay', but just out of politeness.
I was so busy at the time, I was a first-time mom
and my weight was the last thing on my mind.
I knew being overweight was bad for me
but I didn't have any time for myself.
However, in the autumn of 2000 after many unsuccessful attempts...
Back then I didn't know about fasting, to be honest.
After many failed diets on salads and what not
I had lost 3 kg and that was it - 2 or 3 miserable kilos.
When I saw that the situation was hopeless
and that I couldn't do it on my own,
I called her and I came here.
I fasted for about 20 days but I messed up.
I mean, I lost about 5 or 6 kilograms while I was here.
I was very motivated.
But after I left I got into my old habits.
It's like I've told her,
back then her words got here
but didn't get in here.
I somehow failed to fully realise them.
So I gained back the lost weight pretty easily.
I would start fasting every day and by lunch I would forget about it.
I was like that for 4 years.
Now I think I needed this time to mature for the idea.
During those 4 years I dreaded the day I would meet her again.
I was ashamed that I...
It's not that I let her down, I let myself down.
Maybe I was looking for excuses,
because I told myself that the time wasn't right.
But in 2004 I decided that was it.
I had had enough, I had grown tired of being fat.
I was sick and tired of being ashamed of myself and my weight.
I was done starting diets every Monday.
That's when I came to her.
I believe it was February.
I stayed for 20 days and I started losing weight...
I fasted several times that year
and after... after a few visits here,
when I had lost 15 or 16 kilograms or something like that,
I made a show-and-tell of sorts.
I wanted to come up with a way of showing the results I achieved.
By that time I had lost more than 10, maybe 15 kilos.
The only thing they had here that had some weight to it
were a few pumpkins.
I took two of these really big pumpkins and looked at them.
I had lost the equivalent of 4,
but when I thought of all that hunger they seemed like nothing,
although they weighed about 15 kilos.
All of the other patients came. The room was full.
I said, 'When I lost the first pumpkin, nobody noticed.
Nobody paid any attention. It was probably about 3 kilos.
When I lost the second pumpkin
my family said, 'Wow, you have lost weight!'
Everyone noticed the third one
and when I lost the fourth, I was in heaven.'
I lost the equivalent of a fifth, but I gained it back.
I've come here a lot since that year.
I fast at home too, but I feel better here,
because I am tempted at home.
I cook for my kid and I start to get nervous after 3 days.
It's normal.
Here all you have to do is fast and swim.
At least that's what I do when I am here, besides everything else.
I haven't been here this year because I had a lot to do,
like I recorded an album, ran errands, had a bunch of gigs...
I had dental problems and practically spent the year at the dentist's...
My daughter... I didn't want to leave her
because she is a teenager now, she is in the sixth grade
and doesn't want to go to school.
It is harder for me to leave now, but I will definitely come soon.
So that's why the fifth pumpkin is back, but I don't worry too much.
What struck you when you first came here?
Dr. Emilova is so cool!
When I come here I feel like I've come home.
Of course, I go through all the...
....procedures and mandatory and non-mandatory tests.
But she is the first thing that comes to my mind.
She is such a great host!
She welcomes you like a dear friend.
She is not just friendly, she welcomes you with her whole heart.
She just opens her arms...
It's not just because it's me,
I've seen her with others, although she does not know it.
There isn't a single person
who'll say she was dismissive because they weren't somebody important.
She isn't so warm just because she knows me
or because I am on TV.
She is like that with everybody. I've seen it.
She is a very warm person.
She is the most youthful person I know and I've told her so.
She really is.
What would you wish her for her anniversary,
for her 70th birthday in a couple of years?
Hey, two years is a long time!
First of all, she does not look 70, she looks my age.
Maybe even younger.
I wish her to always be young.
May she always have that big heart of hers
and not have it broken.
May she always be surrounded by people who love her, as she is now.
I wish her to help people...
One day everyone will know just how great a person she is.
In recent years we've seen everything in terms of weight loss methods
but she does not get her due credit.
In Bulgaria we recognise people only after we lose them,
but I want her to be around for a long, long time.
She will get her credit.
I simply love that woman. I really do.
There is one thing I'd like to add.
As you see, I'd make the perfect poster girl for weight loss pills
and, to be honest, people have offered me money to do it
but I never accepted.
First of all, I don't believe in such things.
You don't just take a pill and, lo and behold - you lose 30 kilos
and become a model like Kate Moss.
You have to make an effort.
I haven't and I never will do something like that.
Plus she is a friend,
I believe in her method and I would never betray her.
I just love that woman.
I'm sticking with her and hope she sticks with me.
What changed in your life when you started eating this way?
I won't pretend that I do it a 100% all the time.
Sometimes I break all the rules and she knows it.
But she taught me a lot more.
She taught me to always strive to keep my body fit.
We've talked about it
and I know that no matter what I do I'll never be that slim.
It's how I'm built, I have big arms and a belly, I'll live with it.
She helped me realise and decide for myself
that even if I'm never that slim, I'll never be that fat either.
She taught me to want to be physically fit.
When you are physically fit, you are fit mentally as well.
The important thing is to want it, not to force it.
And the results will come.
I don't force myself to fast but I don't force myself to eat either.
She taught me... Oh, I learnt so much from her!
I probably still do not realise just how much she taught me.
I always want to come back. I love everyone who works with her.
I know they love me too.
This means that she taught me how to love and be good to people.
What would you tell people who have heard about this place
and consider coming here?
Don't hesitate.
Sometimes I feel incredible hunger.
Yet, when I'm fasting and I get so hungry I could cry,
I tell myself, 'It's not like the food will run out by the time I get out.'
The thought that there will be food after comforts me.
Many people think it's too expensive to come here,
but when you consider the cost of food it's roughly the same.
You will pay about the same for food if you stay home.
For many people it's the actual fasting that scares them.
It's scary for me too, let me tell you!
Sometimes I don't want to do it
but it's my body... it's your body, whoever you are out there.
Don't be scared, 20 days of fasting is not the end of the world,
but once you are done you'll go home a few kilos lighter.