Screenshot of an article from the Adme.ru website.
On the way from Finland to St. Petersburg, we caught up with Tanya Rybakova between her jobs to ask how she earned money for an apartment in the center of St. Petersburg and a Mercedes-Benz. But first things first.
Tanya Rybakova is the same girl who lost 55 kg. Over the past 4 years, Tanya has been shown in dozens of television shows - from “Let Them Talk” to “Fashionable Sentence”, in hundreds of media outlets around the world - from “AIF” to The Sun. Now Rybakova is a popular video blogger (290 thousand subscribers on Youtube, 190 thousand on Instagram), a certified trainer and nutritionist, the founder of the “Lose Weight in 12 Weeks” course and the DetoxTime brand of directly pressed juices.
Tanya, you wrote on your Facebook about a banner about the “weight loss tragedy” with a photo that you allegedly died, how did the story end?
That banner was removed.
The same fake banner with the image of Tanya Rybakova appeared on one of the major film sites.
Does this happen often?
Very. When I was on the set of “Let Them Talk,” I was introduced to a deputy, his assistant helped me close about 30 fraudulent sites using my name and photo, this took about a month. But it’s difficult to deal with this, given that this is just a landing page that can easily be re-uploaded to a new domain, just change the letter.
Is this still going on?
They send me screenshots of banners with my image every day. But I continue to fight. I’m just offended that people are being deceived and that they are selling obviously fraudulent products.
THE BEST “BEFORE AND AFTER”
Tell us how your popularity began? It's not just about losing weight, is it?
Coincidence. About 5 years ago I was living a very ordinary life, and I didn’t think of telling anyone about my weight loss, which had already happened by that time. But then I posted my “before and after” photo on the website galya.ru, where then every week they raffled off 1,000 rubles between those who had lost weight.
I won, and this photo of me attracted attention, I posted it on several public pages on VKontakte and it gained popularity everywhere.
The same photo that Tanya Rybakova posted at the “BEFORE and AFTER” photo contest.
And what did popularity look like back then? Did they write to you a lot?
Yes, my “before and after” photos in “weight loss” public pages were a success. Then I created my own public page about weight loss and developed it, then there were about 5 large ones on VKontakte on this topic. Moreover, most of them were about sports, rocking, a couple of women's and my public.
Tanya Rybakova has grown her public page to more than 100 thousand subscribers.
What did your life look like then, what did you do?
I had just quit my job at a large chain selling household appliances - I was processing warranty products there. At that time, my back hurt a lot and I quit because I couldn’t sit for more than 2 hours.
I wrote my thesis at the University of Cinema and Television, specializing in “Economics and Human Resources Management in the Social and Cultural Sphere,” and in order to have something to buy food with, I worked part-time as a text rewriter, working 9 hours a day.
Without which fitness and diets do not work: revelations of a former bbw
Woman.ru: How did you come up with the idea of creating your own YouTube channel and helping other people lose weight?
Tatyana Rybakova: I posted my “before and after” photos of losing 55 kilograms on a women’s portal, and they started writing to me a lot, I felt that my knowledge could be useful. To do this, I started a public page on social networks and called it Change yourself. Now there are almost 80,000 people who have been helped by my advice to achieve impressive results. Then the guys from Yougifted (a popular YouTube channel about fitness) noticed me and invited me to appear in a video for their channel. They appreciated my enthusiasm and advised me to start my own channel. I tried it and for 1.5 years now I can’t stop.
Woman.ru: But giving advice online is a big responsibility. Issues of losing weight are very individual. Have you received any professional training for this?
T.R.: Yes, to strengthen my practical weight loss skills, I completed dietetics courses and the Fitness Academy. Now I have the necessary theoretical basis to share my advice with my audience in blog format. I take online recommendations seriously because it has become my life's work now.
Woman.ru: What are the pleasant and unpleasant moments in the communication between a blogger and his audience? How do you treat your subscribers?
T.R.: I communicate with my audience not only online, but also at offline events. The most pleasant thing about both is the gratitude and impressive results of my students. This really inspires me and makes me move on. Sometimes it's hard to always be cheerful and cheerful when filming your videos. When my father was dying of cancer, it was damn hard for me to make new videos and answer the “I have terribly fat thighs and I don’t want to live” questions.
Woman.ru: Did this situation help you look at the problem of losing weight differently?
T.R.: This radically influenced my value system. When you are faced with a real tragedy, you begin to understand that life is truly scary. This helps you set your priorities correctly and realize what is truly valuable in life. And this is definitely not the number on the scale. Excess weight, cellulite and our other problems are definitely not something we should focus on. Because it is within our power to change this, but a loved one can never be returned.
Woman.ru: You have a lot of experience communicating with people who are overweight. What do you think prevents many of them from losing weight?
T.R.: Oddly enough, there is a lack of understanding of why they need this. You need to start losing weight from your head and awareness of your priorities. Going two sizes smaller and fitting into a beautiful dress is not enough motivation. But changing your life by becoming healthy and beautiful is much stronger.
Woman.ru: Isn’t it possible to be beautiful and change your life without changing your weight? How did losing weight help you?
T.R.: At the age of 14, I weighed 105 kg and could not climb the stairs without having shortness of breath. School life was a series of bullying, I was lonely and insecure. Thanks to losing weight, I was able to start a new life.
Woman.ru: You’ve managed to stay in shape for 4.5 years. How did you change your diet when you started, and what helps you stay slim now?
T.R.: I got rid of “garbage” in my diet: fast food products, fatty meats and unhealthy sweets. Now I can adapt my diet depending on my body shape, lifestyle and food preferences. I eat delicious food, often and in small portions that are sufficient to feel full. My diet is rich in protein, vegetables, fruits, grains and meat. In order not to feel like I’m on a diet, I even sometimes allow myself sweets and sushi.
Woman.ru: In addition to dietary restrictions, training is necessary. How do you keep fit?
T.R.: Now I'm experimenting with different workouts at home and in the gym. This helps you avoid getting bored by repeating the same program over and over again. In addition, muscle mass grows better if you constantly “surprise” the body with new exercises. You don't have to spend a lot of time on exercise equipment - you can just run around the park in good weather, rollerblade, go to the pool or take a long walk at a brisk pace.
Woman.ru: In addition to the obvious advantages of losing weight, you faced the problem of sagging skin, because of which you had to undergo plastic surgery. How did you decide to have the operation?
T.R.: When I started losing weight, I was 15 years old and I just wanted to change my life. Then I didn’t even think that such skin problems would arise. But when the goal was achieved, I realized that some areas of the body could no longer be toned with cosmetics and they needed plastic surgery. Nevertheless, for more than three years after losing weight, I tried to restore skin tone with massage, mesotherapy, exfoliation and moisturizing. There was an improvement, but not enough to make us forget about this problem. Then I decided to trust the professionals.
Woman.ru: Are you satisfied with the result?
T.R.: I think it was the right decision. It’s not the shape of the nose or the size of the lips that we don’t like for some reason; I corrected what I couldn’t change on my own. I’m happy with the result, and about a month ago I started training again, and I think that now progress will not be hidden behind excess skin.
Woman.ru: How has your attitude towards your body changed now?
T.R.: You need to love yourself in any body, but also strive for the best. Losing such a large number of kilograms could not leave a mark on the figure as a whole. I still want to train some areas of my body.
Woman.ru: Even after losing excess weight, you must continue to change yourself. How do you motivate yourself now?
T.R.: I never thought that I would become happy only if I lost weight. I'm ready to work on myself further because I know what I want to achieve. My goal is a slim, healthy, toned body for many years, not just to lose weight. Besides, this is my job. I cannot disappoint my students, for whom I serve as an example.
Woman.ru: What are the most effective techniques you can recommend to those who cannot cope with cravings for junk food?
T.R.: Most often, such a need is a false signal from the body, which needs vitamins or microelements. When your diet is properly composed, cravings for unhealthy foods are reduced. Then you need to learn the basics and understand the main principles of proper nutrition. I often talk about this in my video blog.
Woman.ru: Do you regret the time when you were overweight?
T.R.: If it weren’t for being overweight, I would never have learned how to eat properly. I still record all my videos mostly for the fat girl Tanya that I was. I hope that they will help those who are in a similar situation to start changing their lives for the better. Through my example, I try to instill confidence in people, because anything is truly possible.
OWN YOUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL
How did you get on YouTube, where did the idea to start your channel come from?
I got into YouTube thanks to Yougifted, they were just starting out then, there were only 26 thousand subscribers. The founder of the channel, Boris Mirochnik, invited me to appear in the video. At that time, I only knew about Youtube that there was Max +100500 there, who posted funny videos.
We shot a short video with the content “Hi, I’m Tanya, I’ve lost weight”:
They told me how the platform works and what to expect. The popularity of video blogging in Russia was just beginning.
By that time, I had already gained some experience, developing my public VKontakte, and began to study what SMM is. There were acquaintances in this area with whom we could discuss this, I absorbed advice and recommendations, they helped me figure out this whole matter. In order to start making money on Youtube, you needed to connect to an affiliate program, gain 1000 subscribers and a certain number of views. After some time, I started earning about $100 a month from AdSense, now it’s $300-400, but this is far from the main source of income.
“LET THEY TALK” WITH TANYA RYBAKOVA
How did “Let Them Talk” find you? What did it all look like?
They simply wrote on VKontakte, asked for my phone number, learned more about me, and asked for photos. Then we bought tickets to Moscow, brought them there, and told us what was what.
Did Malakhov talk to you before filming?
I saw Malakhov right in the studio, he came in, greeted everyone, took his place and filming began. In all 3 hours there were only 2-3 stops. One of the “stops” occurred when an invited representative of a plastic surgery clinic began to refuse to accept a patient from the transfer.
Malakhov stopped filming and said: if you don’t take him, we will simply cut you out of the program - the issue was immediately resolved.
After the main filming, the film crew came to St. Petersburg to film what was in my refrigerator.
Were the people there real? Not actors?
Yes, all are real.
What was the effect of “Let Them Talk”? Big increase in subscribers?
After the program they began to recognize me more often. But I didn’t notice a super surge in subscribers on Youtube; after all, these are different audiences. But the growth was steady and increasing: first - when it was broadcast, then - when the program was posted on the official channel of Channel One on Youtube. As a result, “Let Them Talk” had a cumulative effect; it worked for the first six months.
Then I was invited to many programs, twice starred in “Fashionable Verdict”, in the News block on MTV, in a talk show on the Rossiya TV channel.
We saw a post about you on ADME...
It was recently, I didn’t know, it was very unexpected and pleasant. Before ADME there was also “Chips”, I attended them a year ago.
Then that publication on Fishki.net became the basis of the text in The SUN before this New Year. I didn’t know about this at all, they called me from the Rossiya TV channel and asked how I felt about the fact that I was gaining popularity in the UK.
Tanya was written about in The SUN and dozens of other popular media outlets around the world.
After The Sun, there have been many publications in English in different countries in the last 3 months. And I even added English captions to my Instagram.
Diet of Tatyana Rybakova
This technique for gaining harmony is more than just a diet. This includes proper nutrition, motivation for success and the creation of a favorable psychological climate. The author of the recommendations insists that you first need to build self-esteem, love your own body, and gain faith in your capabilities. If you reproach yourself with your own obesity, your chances of successfully losing weight will significantly decrease.
The diet is based on a balanced diet with elements of a low-carbohydrate diet. Another fundamental rule is consistency. There is no need to starve and wait for quick results; you will need to acquire a culture of nutrition and replace bad habits with new ones.
The daily menu is prepared in advance, the products in it are combined with each other. The calorie content of each meal is calculated individually; Tatyana set herself 400 calories for the main meal and 100 calories for a snack. The daily diet consists of three main meals and a couple of snacks. Thus, about 4 kg are lost every month, if there is a lot of excess weight, then in the first months up to 10 kg.
Diet principles:
- split meals with three meals and two snacks. Eating food every 2-3 hours speeds up metabolism;
- breakfast consists of complex carbohydrates or proteins, for example, porridge or omelet;
- lunch - a combination of proteins and complex carbohydrates, for example, porridge with meat or chicken, fresh vegetables;
- afternoon snack – fish and vegetables;
- dinner – low-fat fermented milk product;
- in the first half of the day, snacks may include fruits and dried fruits, in the second - seeds, nuts;
- refusal of frying in favor of boiling, baking, stewing, steaming;
- avoiding sugar and spices, limiting salt intake;
- compliance with the drinking regime, at least two liters of still water per day.
In addition to diet, changes concern lifestyle. Physical activity is added to it. Tatyana recommends fitness three times a week. Exercising burns excess calories, maintains muscle mass and improves skin elasticity.
FITNESS EDUCATION AND FITNESS “CRUSTS”
When did you decide to get a fitness education?
When I started sharing all my accumulated experience and knowledge on YouTube, they often poked at me: “you’re nobody, and there’s no way to call you,” “you have no education, and you’re making videos, you impudent person.” And in addition to the accumulated knowledge, by that time I already had diplomas in fitness and nutrition.
But I believe that in most areas in Russia, a diploma in itself is not a guarantee that you are a good specialist. I myself, for example, studied from Baranovsky’s “Dietetics” - and some of the statements from that version of the book have already been refuted by new research. Science is moving, we need to follow publications.
Can you name anything else that is outdated?
Shelton's theory of separate nutrition, which came across to me when I was losing weight. Later I found out that it has no scientific basis, but at that time many believed in it.
Smoothie delivery business
The idea of delivering smoothies appeared in 2021, and I infected my friends with it, who in St. Petersburg had several cafes in business centers and delivery of lunches to offices, which means production, personnel and courier service. I was responsible for marketing, my assistant was responsible for packaging design, and another person was responsible for organizational and legal issues. We bought a juicer, ingredients, received all the necessary documents - we spent about $3,000 on everything.
Photo courtesy of the author
The smoothies turned out great. We had 3-5 orders of packs of 8 bottles per day. We also supplied smoothies to a chain of small health food stores and as catering for various YouTube educational events, showroom openings, and city food festivals. At such events, about 100 bottles were consumed per day. In general, the product sold well, especially considering that the product is not essential, plus it is perishable (shelf life is only 3 days). But the project required too much time. I had two options: refuse or somehow expand the business, create a franchise, attract investment. I decided to compete for the product, found partners in Moscow, but the local guys were unable to replicate the quality and taste of our smoothies. I thought - what franchise? To have my name associated with tasteless juices? In general, after a year of work, I decided to close this business.
WEIGHT LOSS IS MORE ABOUT PSYCHOLOGY, NOT NUTRITION
And what are the main reasons why most overweight people don’t lose weight?
There are several reasons. Besides the most banal thing - lack of knowledge, the main thing is laziness. Many people are very tired of life already at 20 years old.
Every day I receive and process a huge influx of messages from overweight people, and I can identify standard cases. Laziness comes first here, many even write like that – “I’m lazy.”
What is your answer in this case?
In general, almost all the videos on my channel are answers to someone’s questions, because it’s difficult to explain to each person, but providing a link to a detailed video answer is convenient. There are a lot of videos in the style of what I call “dietology for dummies,” about motivation and breakdowns.
I have a whole playlist compiled on the channel:
Don't you get the feeling that people think they have to work as hard as possible to lose weight?
Of course I have. Because they actually have other problems, and excess weight is simply a consequence of them. People think that if they lose weight, it will solve all their problems: they became thin and the sun came out from behind the clouds. They try to use weight to solve psychological problems that are deeper and often come from childhood.
They write me long messages in which, while talking about their weight, the person actually shares how she got married unsuccessfully, was not fulfilled in her work, and you understand that she has problems not just with her weight.
In addition, now there are no problems to find out that you can eat after 18, but the “milk” doesn’t make you sick. And psychological aspects come to the fore. It's about setting goals, choosing the right motivation, creating a personal vision and self-discipline.
About blog monetization
I tried to advertise from the heart and never advised subscribers what I considered unacceptable, for example, a weight loss product. Even though they offered me a lot of money, even a million Russian rubles. But reputation and people's trust have always been more valuable.
At first, advertisers rarely applied; in those years, this market was just beginning to take shape in Russia. On average, I had 1-2 orders per month.
As a rule, if a Russian blogger’s videos on YouTube get 100 thousand views, then he can ask for 100 thousand Russian rubles (about $1.5 thousand) for advertising, i.e. 1 Russian ruble for each view. The coefficients may be different, for example, 0.8 or 0.9 Russian rubles per view. It all depends on the specific blogger and his audience. When in 2021 my videos began to get 50-100 thousand views, I could ask for advertising integration, respectively, 50-100 thousand Russian rubles.
Photo courtesy of the author
I've made several hundred videos for YouTube. There are now almost 413 thousand subscribers on my channel. At some point, I no longer wanted to prepare the fifth video about why proper nutrition is useful, or the tenth “5 secrets of losing weight.” And I’m pretty tired of native advertising - these endless coordination of briefs, writing and coordinating scripts, editing, shooting, editing, editing again... Plus last year I had a personal crisis, I didn’t know which way to move, how to get away from a girl who lost weight a long time ago to one who is engaged in serious projects...
Photo courtesy of the author
In general, this summer I took a break for a couple of months. Previously, I posted videos on YouTube 1-2 times a week, now a couple of times a month. I recently started recording interviews with interesting people, such as designers and stylists. For the fall, I’m thinking about new content on the topic of health, psychology and a small reality show about healthy lifestyle.
THE HISTORY OF TANYA RYBAKOVA
How did your weight protect you psychologically?
There were 400 people in our school, but there were only two fat ones and I was the biggest. And when you are the fattest one in your school, everyone knows that you are that fat Tanya. As a child, if you were called fat, you cried and went home, everything is fine. And when adolescence begins, falling in love for the first time, everything becomes much more complicated... The peak of my weight (when I reached 105 kg) occurred precisely in my teenage years of 12-15.
At 14 years old, Tanya weighed about 100 kg.
In addition, our family lived poorly at that time and we had to move to Rybatskoye, into my brother’s apartment, and rent out our own. Therefore, I was also cut off from my yard, where I grew up.
All this was very difficult and I closed myself off more and more, stewing in this state of mine, in a stupid coat and always with headphones on.
What was especially offensive?
Once in a school amateur performance I played Winnie the Pooh.
And for my 10th birthday, my mother invited all my school friends, bought 2 cakes, and there were a bunch of girls. During the holiday, I once went into the bathroom and accidentally overheard them discussing me.
At the age of 12, the girls I was friends with started openly calling me names, and I don’t know how it happened.
And one day we picked up a dog, she was so pretty, cute, we named her Chika. Everyone loved her very much, and when they said “beautiful” to her, she wrote with happiness. One day, some kids on the street stuffed it into a trash can to watch me get it out. Just to make fun of me because I'm fat.
At the age of 14 there was a terrible graduation when I was left alone, completely alone. I go up to the girls I know, and they run in the other direction, chatting with some boys... We also had a cross-eyed guy in a parallel class, he also stood alone - at the other end.
It was terrible. And after such a graduation, I had to go to this school again, because there was no money for another. I had to. And that same summer I started losing weight.
After her first graduation, weighing almost 105 kg, Tanya firmly decided to lose weight and lost 20 kg. Here Tanya weighs about 85 kg.
How did you get to that weight?
It's hard to understand what I was thinking then. Then I didn’t see a direct correlation between nutrition and excess weight; everyone in my family ate the same. We had little money: we didn’t have time for a variety of products, and when money appeared, we always bought food with it: sausage, sweets, candy.
When I was a child, my brother was so chubby, when he sat on a chair, his butt hung on both sides. And then, at the age of 14, he began an active lifestyle and, as it happens, grew sharply over the summer and stretched out. Maybe they thought I was like that too. But that didn't happen to me. Well, I was always sure that I should be loved for who I am, why should I be different, adapt to everyone?!
Your usual breakfast: oatmeal with berries, nuts, boiled egg. Another option: bread, eggs, avocado. Favorite dessert : tiramisu Last movie I liked : “Bridge of Spies” Last book I read : “Hacking Marketing”, now I’m reading about attention deficit disorder. Sites you visit every day : my social networks and “Zuckerberg will call.”
On the way to a new life
View this post on Instagram
At the age of 15, her weight exceeded 100 kg, and health problems began due to excess weight: shortness of breath and joint pain. Then Tatyana decided that she needed to start losing weight. In her blog, the expert explained how her journey to the body she dreamed of began.
The path to losing weight was not easy: she spent a lot of time in the gym training, created a competent menu, normalized her diet, built up muscle mass, and made it her main rule to lead a healthy lifestyle. All this eventually yielded results: in three and a half years, Tatyana managed to lose 55 kg!
4 tips from Tatyana Rybakova to get started: 1. Believe that you can do it. If you don’t believe me, look at my example and the examples of many other people. It motivates. 2. Understand why you need it, and it suits any goal, not just weight loss. 3. Decide on a goal - it should be clear and precise. Break this ultimate goal into several stages, since many will need a lot of time to implement them and you need to somehow motivate yourself and reward yourself at the end of each stage. This will help you not give up. 4. Do. Sometimes we prepare too much, collect information for too long, read controversial opinions, although sometimes we just need to put everything aside and start doing.
The blogger admitted that in the middle of the “path” her main goal was health and the ability to maintain the achieved result in the future, and this turned out to be much more difficult than getting rid of extra pounds.
Tatyana notes that to maintain a healthy lifestyle, a varied diet is important, that is, the diet must contain products of both plant and animal origin.
To achieve any specific goals, you need to count calories. I calculate KBJU (calories, proteins, fats and carbohydrates) and come up with new dishes. In fact, you can eat everything – it’s a matter of the number and balance of calories. The main thing is to make sure that “junk” food makes up no more than 10% of your menu.
According to the expert, it is necessary to choose the right products in the supermarket, because “we are what we eat,” and therefore it is important to form healthy eating habits in yourself and your children, and also try to maintain a balance of sweets. The girl believes that the main thing is not to be lazy and not to blame yourself for all the troubles.
Tatiana Rybakova
blogger
“Most often, the reasons for failure lie in a lack of reliable information or simple laziness. But everything can be fixed, and besides, if you are ready to work on yourself, you can always turn to a specialist. In addition, it is important to correctly prioritize and be able to build an action plan. After all, many people can get together and introduce a number of restrictions for a while, but stretching it out over a lifetime is already a problem. Few people are ready for this.”
“12 WEEKS” AND THOUSANDS OF WEIGHT LOSSERS
Do they write to you a lot on social networks?
The last time I answered was a couple of days ago and now I have accumulated 156 messages (Tanya shows her VK account) - and these are only new VKontakte messages. And then there is Facebook, Odnoklassniki, Youtube, Instagram and, of course, the students of my course.
And do you work them all out personally?
Yes, I answer everything personally.
What are the most annoying questions for you?
I don't like other people's disrespect for other people's time. The person asks a big question and I recommend studying it yourself by watching 10 videos of 3 minutes each so that he understands the basics and we can speak the same language. And not everyone perceives such an answer adequately, they write “you have a lot of videos there, answer my question.”
And the question is such that it cannot be answered so simply: “Can I eat potatoes in the evening?”
At the same time, there is the opposite situation: they often write “Tanya, I lost weight from your videos.” And they didn’t even have to buy anything, if you wanted, it was worse.
And at the same time you give consultations for money?
I have a course “Lose Weight in 12 Weeks” and I personally teach all the students. The course is a platform with a food diary, personal account, forum, access to all materials.
Screenshot with the price tag for Tanya Rybakova’s weight loss course.
Several hundred people went through the course and my consultations; I didn’t count, but it probably definitely exceeded a thousand.
Did you see there that you have an option for 9,990 rubles with your personal consultation via Skype - is it in demand?
Not very much, most often there will be the most inexpensive option - for 1990 rubles. But I personally prefer the middle option - with a motivational subscription: we subscribe a person to 84 daily emails with a portion of tasks and important information. During these 84 days, a person goes through everything that I would like to tell him: from nutrition and training to the psychological aspects of eating behavior.
Are there anyone dissatisfied with your online course?
Several times they wrote to me “I already know all this.” I don’t deny: any information can be found in the public domain. But in this case, if you already know everything, why are you still interested in online weight loss products?! The course is a service, my personal development of an accessible presentation of the material in the form of diagrams, drawings, texts and videos, as well as supervision of each mentee.
Tanya Rybakova often speaks at conferences.
