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)
