My decade-long weight loss journey. Will I be successful one more time?
I’m an ambitious career woman.
Being an Asian working in an American firm in America has put me in a slightly disadvantaged position.
I look young to most Americans. I wanted to make it to the next level in my organization.
I was in my late twenties or early thirties. I observed that all the senior managers around me were all on the heavy side. So I concluded that gaining weight would be necessary to catapult me to the next level.
In less than a year, I gained 10 pounds and got the promotion.
After the promotion, I started dieting and exercising to lose the excess weight.
It took me less than a year to go back to my original physique.
That was the beginning of the yo-yo of my body weight for the decade to follow.
With the passage of time and the stress from work, my body had become so out of shape.
Standing at 5 ft 3, I weighed 130 pounds at one point.
I wasn’t obese. I just unknowingly became fat.
I started noticing all of my clothes now hugged me at every contour of my body instead of loosely hanging from my shoulders.
I lost the ability to shop for clothes just by reading the size label. And I was disheartened by that.
So I bought a stationary bike and a rowing machine. I started exercising at least an hour on each machine each day.
I was appalled by the outcome.
I gained weight instead!
Totally disappointed by my efforts, I realized I needed help, professional help. So I mustered up the courage and approached the gym manager, asking her for a recommendation of a personal trainer.
That was more than ten years ago.
I had always been skeptical of the effectiveness of exercising with a trainer. To me, most trainers work by standing beside you, chit-chatting, and pointing here and there.
But after I hired one, I realized the benefits a trainer brings. The obvious one, of course, includes designing a relevant exercise regimen for you to achieve your training goals.
But what really changed my way of thinking towards exercising was the obsession in tracking progress by both myself and the trainer.
When I started exercising, my body fat accounted for more than 30% of my body weight. I pictured myself a big piece of jello with stumpy legs.
I didn’t even have enough muscles in me to do the simplest thing! I looked like a joke in the gym. Rolling around with the balance ball, not being able to steady my body at all, no matter how hard I tried.
Feeling embarrassed and humiliated, I started exercising on my own in addition to the personal training sessions.
My obsession with becoming good eventually paid off. I finally had enough muscles in me to properly exercise with my trainer.
After exercising for 18 months, I weighed 110 pounds with 18% body fat. I was pleased with my transformation and my newfound strength.
Life started to take different turns for me.
Relocations, pregnancy had caused my physique to change for the worse.
I’m embarrassed to report that over the next few years, I grew back to 130 pounds and with more than 30% body fat a few times (which also meant I managed to lose those weight a few times as well).
My goals and priorities in life have evolved, and my obsession with physical appearance faded.
However, over the past few years, I’d developed an interest in fishing, amateur, but all sorts of fishing.
It is a hobby (or possible second gig in life for me) that requires me to have enormous strength and agility to catch big fish at sea.
Today, I started, once again, a new plan to become fit.
