Before and After: Cheryl Tay when she was at her heaviest (left), when she was doing extreme weight loss methods …
If you struggle with body image issues, it’s not something you’ll easily admit or talk about with other people.
For over a decade, I struggled with my weight and I loathed my body, often feeling upset about the way I looked and allowing myself to envy skinny girls.
I hated looking at the mirror and avoided social activities because I felt I wasn’t good enough.
It started with a first love that went wrong, where I was dumped over the phone for “not being hot and pretty enough”.
I was also given fat-related nicknames throughout my school days and bullied by the popular girls. The bullying started at the impressionable age of 16. For the next 13 years, I took my body through a series of quick fixes as my self-esteem hit rock bottom.
You can call it abuse – I took my body through extreme exercise, starvation, low-calorie diets, pills, binge eating, slimming centre packages, slimming creams, excessive diuretics, laxatives, meal replacements, fad diets, TCM, acupuncture, massages, mesotherapy and nearly went for liposuction.
Besides spending a lot on these treatments and “solutions”, there were the detrimental psychological effects as I kept beating myself up for the way I looked.
At my heaviest, I tipped the scales at 66kg for my 166cm height. It wasn’t obese, but I felt like I was the fattest and ugliest woman on the planet.
At the most severe point, I recall scratching myself till I bled as “punishment” for breaking the starvation streak.
Turning point
Throughout the years, I knew what I was doing but I remained in denial and it was only early this year that I came to terms with my body and accepted it for what it was.
Turning point
Throughout the years, I knew what I was doing but I remained in denial and it was only early this year that I came to terms with my body and accepted it for what it was.
It was always at the back of my mind that I needed to lead a healthy lifestyle in order to get in shape. That means eating well and also getting regular exercise. I avoided exercise and tried the easy way out because I got burnt out after running 26km every day for two months.
Eventually, I realised exercise is beneficial and necessary, so I tried all kinds – yoga, Power Plates, powerlifting, running, cycling and CrossFit.
After I picked up CrossFit, I became proud of what my body can do, such as how much weight I can lift or how fast I can complete a metcon (Metabolic Conditioning workout).
I wasn’t the only one who went through this ordeal.
Before and After: Kelly Latimer
A good friend of mine, Kelly Latimer, faced similar struggles for four years when she was 21.
“I knew I wasn’t happy and I tried many things to change myself. It led to a lot of self loathing and resentment,” said the 26-year-old sports host.
Like me, she resorted to numerous weight loss methods and treatments.
Finally, she found HIIT (high intensity interval training), which helped her to love her body and the way it was changing over time. Gradually, it led her to accept herself.
It took a lot of trial and error, but Kelly and I finally found what we liked and it works in the sense that it helps us find confidence in our bodies.
It is no longer about losing weight. We got rid of the “I want to be skinny” mindset and focused on being healthy instead.
Before and After of Ford Lim. Photo: Cheryl TayMen struggle too
These issues do not affect only women.
Ford Lim fell into the dangerous world of anorexia and bulimia for an entire decade, often forcing four fingers down his throat to purge every time he ate.
For his 1.75 metre height, the 27-year-old pre-school principal plunged to an all-time low of 52kg with his obsession of running very long distances.
“I was bullied by my friends for being fat and I wanted to use what I thought was the easiest and most effective way to lose weight. I just kept running and was running up to 110km a week,” he recalled.
“It was only when I became too weak and my body broke down, that I realised I was harming myself. In addition, my mother caught me purging the food she cooked.”
Feeling fatigued and empty, Lim came round when he realised how weak he was after attending a class on strength and conditioning.
He then got himself out of the hole and saw the importance of building muscles to function better and as a result, look better as well.
Opening up to others
Admitting your struggles and opening up is the first step to helping yourself.
Opening up to others
Admitting your struggles and opening up is the first step to helping yourself.
“The first step is to accept your current body. Self image ‘issues’ are often and offensively, taken as ‘diseases’ but they are not,” Lim said.
It may be difficult to tell anyone how embarrassed you are of your body, but there are similar individuals around that you can turn to.
There is nothing to be ashamed about.
Latimer advises finding a type of exercise or activity that will give you confidence and keep you motivated.
For example, take up a sport or a hobby and be part of a community that values you for who you are and not how you look.
“There is no such thing as a miracle cure or an overnight solution – the focus should be on keeping your body healthy and not trying to fit it into some skewed perspective of what society thinks we should look like,” Latimer added.
Body image struggles are still prevalent today but I hope more people will step forward to share, so that we can all encourage one another to love ourselves more.
Don’t be afraid to speak up – you’re not alone.
Source: https://sg.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/fit-to-post-sports/body-positive--opening-up-about-your-struggles-032537946.html
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