On Wellness

My journey to wellness. Actually, starting it like this sounds like i’ve already achieved wellness nirvana and ready to start open my own gym. No. The reality is far far from it. Fact is, I’ve only started taking baby steps on this journey but I’m running with it to see how far I can go with it. Hopefully, it’s not just the post-resolution making January in me speaking.

In Bride Wars, there was a scene where Kate Hudson’s character gained a little weight and asked if the salesperson could alter her wedding dress only to have the saleslady haughtily retort, “you don’t alter a Vera Wang to fit you, you alter yourself to fit Vera”. Like a majority of well-meaning females in the world, I started this journey because of a dress one Saturday in November. Having chosen and bought a bridesmaid dress for my friend’s wedding, i brought it home only to realise it was a tad tight across the waist. Meaning I CANNOT GAIN ANY EXTRA WEIGHT until the wedding. This inspired more than a little panic which had me frantically counting calories for everything I ate and manically running on the treadmill for a whole week. Yup, it lasted exactly 1 week before I regressed and went back to my slovenly sugar eating ways. I mean, life is already hard without calorie counting and feeling hungry and deprived all the time. And food just makes me happy, ya know? Thinking of eating, planning my meals, reading eatery reviews, looking up recipes, I derive as much joy from them as the actual act of eating. It was truly miserable going into my second week of this new lifestyle.

On the eating front, I haven’t done so well. But I’m glad to report that the exercising part stuck at least. From exercising 2 days a week, I increased to 4 times a week, and now, I’m aiming to stay active at least 6 days of the week with 1 total rest day. To be honest, I didn’t want to tell anyone about my goal outside of my immediate family because at the back of my mind there were thoughts of, “what if I fail halfway?”; “what if people expect some kind of result like having 6 packs and I still have flab?!”. Or when looking at friends or influencers with bodies to die for, I felt inadequate and more than a bit envious. How on earth did they do it??? But I’ve decided that I won’t be dictated by how others look or what other people think anymore. It isn’t healthy. Everyone’s bodies are built differently and I’ve just got to run with what works for me and makes me feel good about myself. Maybe I will never get that 6 pack, but at least I’ve got better stamina than I had before. And I’m stronger than I was yesterday.

My 2019 goal really is to turn this into a habit so it sticks as part of my lifestyle. I’ve still got a long way to go, especially when it comes to governing my habit of snacking at night. As they say in all those fitness articles, diet is even more important that exercise itself. But as for whether I’ll be able to look slim sans unsightly tummy bulge in my dinner dress, well… the moment of reckoning comes all too soon (next week). Wish me all the best!

(insert poster of a motivational quote here)