When I was a child, I liked eating fast food, but my parents would always make sure that I didn’t eat too much junk food and drink too much.
I had a healthy diet when I was a child.
When I hit my teenage years, I gained more control over my food choices and fast food became a bigger part of my diet.
I used to turn to fast food whenever I felt stressed or anxious. I knew it was a bad idea, but I couldn’t stop it.
I was never able to stick to my fitness routine and gave up within a few weeks of starting it. Like my diet, I struggled to stay consistent with my physical activity.
I began to gain weight as a result of this lifestyle, and by the time I turned 16 I had gained 15 kilograms.
My level of fitness started to go down as well. Things like going on a run or visiting a gym became even more mentally and physically exhausting due to all of these factors.
I wouldn’t accept this as my way of living in the long term.
FORCING MYSELF TO EXERCISE
For a time when I was 17 years old, I dragged myself out of the house whenever I had more time and energy to invest in my fitness, such as during school holidays when commitments did not get in the way.
For over a year, I was able to make progress. I lost 20 pounds because I kept this up for over a year.
I wasn’t enjoying any part of it and I was forcing it on myself. I didn’t feel a sense of relief that I was no longer overweight, but I still felt exhausted.
One day, my regime of forced exercise ended.
I was under a lot of stress at the time. During this time, I was constantly busy and often sleep deprived.
I neglected my fitness again. I went back to my old routine of trying to fit in a workout every day for a week.
It was difficult to avoid reverting to my previous tendencies, including fast food.
My fitness became worse as time went on.
After attending my pre-enlistment medical screening in July last year, I was graded moderately obese, the lowest point in my teenage journey.
It was a sobering wake-up call to see the word “obese” on the document.
I felt a sense of shame as I contemplated how my actions had led me to this point.
I used to struggle with sports and fitness in school, and it brought back bad memories.
People would pull me aside and tell me I had to start working out more. This happened a lot and made me feel humiliated.
I had no faith in taking part in sports with the lifestyle I had. When my friends would invite me to do things like play basketball or hike, I always chose to stay at home.
I missed out on a lot of opportunities to hang out with my friends. I began to feel unfulfilled in my social life as this became a cycle.
National service was included. I decided that I couldn’t continue with my bad habits during my national service because of the importance of fitness
WHAT WORKED
I wanted to do things a different way this time.
I had to learn to accept failure and be nicer to myself so that I don’t lose motivation and spiral into a worse state than before.
It worked for me to set realistic goals that were easy to achieve.
Simple things like allowing myself to eat anything I wanted but in smaller portions would be included.
In the early hours of the morning, when there were less people around, I would go on runs to keep my anxiety in check.
When it came to increasing my fitness level, some of the goals were not very effective. I was able to stay consistent with these shorter workouts.
I was able to set a slightly higher bar each time to achieve better results.
I had to deal with my stress in order to get back into healthy eating.
I spent more time doing things that I loved. I like to work on personal projects like creating graphic design or making short films with my friends. During my spare time, I was able to engage in such activities.
There were times when I would experience stress and neglect my fitness.
I would get back on track if I worked on my unrealistic goals.
I had my body mass index taken again before I enlisted.
After changing my approach, I dropped about 12 kilograms and was now considered to be of a healthy weight.
Although I still have a long way to go, this felt like a triumph in my journey with fitness.
I have gained more confidence in myself because I know how to work through the urges that come up.
About the author.
A 20-year-old man recently graduated from a tertiary institution with a degree in communications and media management. He is serving his country.