The Change Within | By Marissa Hooi

During my second year of university, I moved in with one of my good friends who quickly turned into a roommate with severely bad eating habits and did little to zero acts of physical activity. We would order pizza at 2 a.m., go for McDonalds run when we were craving and sleep super late each night while never exercising at all. Before packing on 20 pounds that year, I had been an active person all my life before attending university. I was a ballet dancer for eighteen years, a swimmer for a couple of years and was overall enthusiastic with other forms of physical activity, such as badminton, basketball, etc. Growing up, my parents always fed me nutritional and nourishing food, something I am constantly thankful for every time I reflected on my health. Flash forward to 2014, I began living on my own on campus and the first thing I thought of was “FREEDOM! I can eat whatever I want and whenever I want!” With no kitchen to cook in or rules for eating to abide by, I was excited to finally take in as much junk food as I could, an unhealthy mindset that would build up over the years up to 2016, the year I moved in with my roommate. Thus, my desire to eat food freely took over for the worse and I quickly became a whole different person in the mirror.

At first, I was stubborn and carefree. I was a very body positive person back then as well and because of it, I ignored my parents’ advice and harsh comments about my weight, not realizing I was negatively impacting my health and mistaking my confidence for egotistical satisfaction. In other words, I never saw any changes to my body gaining weight, although physically, I could see my cheeks getting plumper and my clothing sizes going up. It wasn’t until I weighed myself one morning that I realized I was not as “fit” or “healthy” as I had thought I’d been. Instead of crying and blaming myself for treating my body poorly, something in me snapped fiercely and with great speed. The next day, I bought myself a journal from Walmart, and began documenting EVERYTHING about moving forward with a better and healthier lifestyle.

My first strategy was to distinguish the nutritional differences in food such as fats, carbohydrates and proteins. I decided not to follow a meal plan that would only tell me to “eat this, not that” and not properly explain to me why I needed to do so. After sorting out my diet and my new way to approach food, I began writing out exercises I could try at the gym; exercises from Pinterest and social media outlets like Instagram and YouTube. Every day for the next few months, I would wake up at 6:00am and hit the gym, trying out new exercises at first by doing full body workouts to fully understand how and why certain workout exercises targeted certain muscle groups to help me get toned and lose fat; and of course, lots of cardio to sweat out my stress. The first few months flew by and they were surprisingly successful, losing a couple of pounds here and there until I was almost 5 pounds down in 2 weeks. My new roommate after my other one had a smoothie maker that changed my life for the better and I began experimenting different ways to replace meals with delicious drinks. However, my progress came to a halt around December 2017, when I realized I had still been eating poorly while going to the gym, thinking copious amounts of exercise would make up for my unhealthy diet.

Inspired to take it to take it to the next level, I began tracking my macronutrients (mainly my fats, carbohydrates and proteins intake). I downloaded a super helpful app name Lifesum (which I still use to this day) to try and record the amount of food I was putting into my body five days a week; also while still working out 5-6x a week at the gym and trying to stay healthy on the weekends. I would meal prep easy to make lunches and dinners with the help of my parents and bought snacks that were easy to track in my app and reminded myself to hydrate every day. Of course, I finally went back using my scale and measured my body weight a specific day each week to check on my progress. After a few months of tracking with some off-days and mostly good days, I was almost down the 20 pounds I had packed on since 2016. After a while, school started again and my focus in tracking macros came to a halt as my priorities shifted to my schoolwork and working my job. Not only was I semi-aware of the amount of calories in a serving of most food groups, it allowed me to understand how to maintain those servings instead of going over it. It was after that time I decided to reverse diet and bulk to build some muscle after shedding off all that weight and to become even more defined and toned in some body areas than before (and to lift heavier). Flash forward to this year of 2018, I’ve bounced back between tracking my macros and not tracking them (intuitive eating) while still working out at the gym or at home 5-6x a week. As of recent, I try to plan my workouts in advance to avoid mindless sessions at the gym or at home; keeping in mind the ideal body I’m still aiming for. I have not weighed myself in nearly a year but have never felt more amazing and happy in my body; both an incredible feeling and reminder of how far I’ve came in this journey and the hard work I’ve invested in it.

My goal was to really show people that you don’t necessarily need to pay a lot of money for diet plans designed by other people or hire the best trainer(s) in town to get the body of your dreams. The confidence I had before my weight loss journey and after came from an inner motivation to want to lead a healthy lifestyle and create a natural balance of being in the best shape I can be and to also not obsess over food 24/7; I loved who I was before my journey and I will continue to love who I am today. Do it for yourself and nobody else, and the determination and strive will come inherently and not feel chore-like. Instead of creating numerous big goals, CREATE SMALL GOALS and be consistent and patient towards them; results don’t always have to come from far-fetched ambition. Be open-minded to successful people instead of putting them down, but also remain considerate of other uncontrollable factors such as genetics and/or resources. Alas, there will come MANY times when you start comparing yourself a lot to other people on the same journey as you and to those who have already exceeded their expectations or those still working on it, especially through social media. But the best advice I’ve ever received on leading a healthier lifestyle is that it is NEVER a competition; there is no right way to be fit. It’s always about moving forward and wanting your body to thrive significantly to the next year and the next! Life is so short; why not live all the way to see it unfold?

Marissa Hooi, Fitness Enthusiast.

 

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