My Health and Fitness Journey
There's a lot I could say about myself but I know what most people want to know about me. At this point, majority of you would have found out about me through Instagram, where my posts are 90% about yoga, health and fitness. Because of this, I get asked fairly often about my health journey. So besides the basics, this is my entire health and fitness story.
I was never a "healthy" or active child. I don't have any background in ballet, dance or sport. It was not something I wanted to try doing mainly because it did not interest me. I saw it as something you had to be born with. Either you were born with an active gene or you weren't. Silly, i know, but as a child that's what it seemed like.
The most activity I had growing up was playing with the neighbours or running around during recess with my classmates. This went on until i was about 10 when all of that stopped and I was only really active for P.E. Even then it was nothing much. Because of my lack of activity and bad eating habits, I ended up becoming overweight and unhealthy. But as a child, these things don't concern you until someone says something. Over the years, my activity level and eating habits never improved, but puberty was actually on my side and my weight managed to even out around my body as I grew. Still, I was bordering on being overweight and I was on the chubbier side. As much as I wanted to improve myself, I never had that push that made me really want to. Unfortunately, this only encouraged me to not care about my bad habits and think I could do whatever i pleased.
When i moved to Perth, Australia for university, I met a whole new group of people who really showed me what it was like to be healthy. There was a bigger emphasis on sports and fitness and healthier food was easier to come by. I wasn't paying attention to it at first but after a while a friend of mine inspired me to start caring about my body because I saw how much she cared about hers.
When i came back to Singapore I started running. I was already motivated to start but discovering the running app, "Zombies, Run!" was what i needed. I would highly recommend this app if you were lazy like me, having a game you can play while running or working out is an amazing push to start getting active.
At this point, I believed that i loved my body the way it was and that I "didn't have to change". Later on I realised that wasn't true and I was definitely lying to myself. I learned this because I reached a point where I truly did become accepting of myself and the body I had. If you're interested, I wrote a post about it HERE.
Over the next year, I was more active but my eating habits remained the same. Still, I definitely improved. I could run an entire 5km at a decent speed when previously even 1km was a struggle. I got stronger and faster, but my body looked, felt and weighed exactly the same as it did before.
Eventually I added swimming a few times a week, then switched from running to doing Jillian Michaels workouts. In September 2014 I started yoga and my Instagram account @AlyR.Fit . Then a couple of months later, thanks to my friend Emma, I swapped workout plans and started Kayla Itsines' BBG. That was when change really started.
I was never a "healthy" or active child. I don't have any background in ballet, dance or sport. It was not something I wanted to try doing mainly because it did not interest me. I saw it as something you had to be born with. Either you were born with an active gene or you weren't. Silly, i know, but as a child that's what it seemed like.
The most activity I had growing up was playing with the neighbours or running around during recess with my classmates. This went on until i was about 10 when all of that stopped and I was only really active for P.E. Even then it was nothing much. Because of my lack of activity and bad eating habits, I ended up becoming overweight and unhealthy. But as a child, these things don't concern you until someone says something. Over the years, my activity level and eating habits never improved, but puberty was actually on my side and my weight managed to even out around my body as I grew. Still, I was bordering on being overweight and I was on the chubbier side. As much as I wanted to improve myself, I never had that push that made me really want to. Unfortunately, this only encouraged me to not care about my bad habits and think I could do whatever i pleased.
When i moved to Perth, Australia for university, I met a whole new group of people who really showed me what it was like to be healthy. There was a bigger emphasis on sports and fitness and healthier food was easier to come by. I wasn't paying attention to it at first but after a while a friend of mine inspired me to start caring about my body because I saw how much she cared about hers.
When i came back to Singapore I started running. I was already motivated to start but discovering the running app, "Zombies, Run!" was what i needed. I would highly recommend this app if you were lazy like me, having a game you can play while running or working out is an amazing push to start getting active.
At this point, I believed that i loved my body the way it was and that I "didn't have to change". Later on I realised that wasn't true and I was definitely lying to myself. I learned this because I reached a point where I truly did become accepting of myself and the body I had. If you're interested, I wrote a post about it HERE.
Over the next year, I was more active but my eating habits remained the same. Still, I definitely improved. I could run an entire 5km at a decent speed when previously even 1km was a struggle. I got stronger and faster, but my body looked, felt and weighed exactly the same as it did before.
Eventually I added swimming a few times a week, then switched from running to doing Jillian Michaels workouts. In September 2014 I started yoga and my Instagram account @AlyR.Fit . Then a couple of months later, thanks to my friend Emma, I swapped workout plans and started Kayla Itsines' BBG. That was when change really started.
In the before photo, I was still eating anything I wanted and never did any exercise. It was about 2 months before I actually started running. I didn't take it intending it to be a progress photo, or maybe a part of me did, but I definitely wasn't happy with what I saw and that's why I kept the photo. Just over 2 years after i found the same bikini in my closet and decided to try it on to see the difference. And honestly i was blown away.
Many times you feel like there is no point in trying because the progress isn't what you expected. I looked at myself everyday and though I knew there were changes, I never noticed the real physical differences until I saw the photos side by side. It was the extra motivation i needed to keep going.
I had already started living a healthier life. I was eating better (went vegan about , exercising and doing yoga. Aside from that i was also taking better care of my hair and skin. And now i was really seeing the difference it made.
This wasn't just something I felt I had to do anymore, this is what i love doing.
My own health is important to me, keeping myself fit is a priority.
At this point I can only see myself changing of the better.
Many times you feel like there is no point in trying because the progress isn't what you expected. I looked at myself everyday and though I knew there were changes, I never noticed the real physical differences until I saw the photos side by side. It was the extra motivation i needed to keep going.
I had already started living a healthier life. I was eating better (went vegan about , exercising and doing yoga. Aside from that i was also taking better care of my hair and skin. And now i was really seeing the difference it made.
This wasn't just something I felt I had to do anymore, this is what i love doing.
My own health is important to me, keeping myself fit is a priority.
At this point I can only see myself changing of the better.