JamieLYY’s Health & Fitness Journey
I had initially started this blog to talk about health and fitness, but I realized that I haven’t actually written anything about it yet! I had just started to write the first article, but realized no one really knew much about my fitness journey, so I thought it would be good for me to share my story with everyone to give some context as to why I’m so passionate about this area :)
My Health & Fitness Journey
I was a chubby kid. I then proceeded to become an overweight teenage kid, and then an obese adult.
I had always been athletic since I was a kid (I used to play basketball quite actively, and played for the Singapore Under-15 Youth team at one point). But after a certain point, PCOS (Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome) hit me, and I started putting on so much weight. I always thought that I wasn’t as popular because of my looks, and because i was FAT. So I tried really hard to fit in, but I always felt inferior. Furthermore, i didn’t feel smart because I wasn’t ‘book smart’, and didn’t excel in studies.
During my time studying in Perth (7 years) - I picked up some of the worst health habits. I drank, smoked and over-ate till my heart’s content. This was me at 18 - acne faced, disgruntled with life and fat as f***. And yes, I had boobs then as well - HAHA! Honestly though, I was miserable deep inside, and was plagued with self confidence issues.
One fine day, after eating a ton of food, I didn’t feel satisfied at all. Was I still hungry? Not really. I still felt like there was something missing, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. But the only thing that could get me excited or ‘satisfied’, was eating more food. So I ate more, but… the feeling of dissatisfaction was still there. I continued to feel even more guilty for binging. I weighed 78kgs at that point of time, a whopping 20KGs over my ideal body weight. I felt super sluggish, lethargic and feeling super shitty in general..
So I decided to make a change and that was 10 years ago, in 2010.
Meal Prep & Home Fitness Exercise Videos
I looked up tips and tricks on how to lose the excess weight - I signed up for a gym and even went through personal training in Perth. I also learnt how to ‘meal prep’ from this guy called Mike Chang (Founder of 6packshortcuts - which he has now sold to a third party. I think he’s living in Bali now, and has also changed his mantra / perception on fitness. Here is his youtube channel.)
The meal prep part was pretty interesting! It taught me how to discern whole food from processed foods, and I learnt how to eat clean in smaller portions - and seriously, those meals were tasty and SO easy to prepare! Sunday was my dedicated cooking and grocery day, where I would complete my grocery shopping for the week, and spent a good 2 hours cooking for the next 6 days. Every time I was hungry, I’d pop one of the containers in the microwave and have food to eat in 2 minutes! Even my friends loved my food!
Fast forward to the day I started working at Google, I was obviously ecstatic that I had landed a job there! There’s also the famous ‘Google 15 Pounds’ (~7.5kgs) that happy employees usually put on at the beginning of their journey at Google - and yep as you can see from the photos below, I definitely put on a ton of weight as well!
My weight fluctuated up and down, and I continued to try different crash diets and tried a TON of supplements and fat burners to help. But none of them worked.
Ultimate Performance: Singapore
Finally, I caved and signed up for an expensive Personal Training Program with Ultimate Performance: Singapore so I could get into the best shape of my life! Here are some photos of me before the program (Q3 2018), and of me after the completion of the program (Q2 2019).
Sure the program worked! I put in a ton of effort, I lost a total of 12KGs, and 10% Body Fat. I was also super broke - the program had cost me SGD 16,000 dollars. This isn’t counting the amount of supplements and food I bought from them as well. I’d say I spent at least SGD 20,000 on this.
Other problems arose as well. With the low calorie and low carb diet the program put me on, I wasn’t allowed to eat carbs - and thus I started to develop the mindset that whenever I ate a cheat meal or carbs, I would instantly grow fat. Thus I continue to deprive myself of the foods I loved, only to find that I ended up binging on them once in awhile.
Even at my time with Ultimate Performance, they didn’t particularly bother to educate me on why and how I could continue to eat and train. It was more of just following instructions: Eat this much, don’t eat carbs, during gym, do this exercise A, B, C. Finish Gym. Walk. Eat. Sleep. repeat.
So obviously when I left, I didn’t really know how else to maintain my physique. God knows I tried, but within 3- 4 months, my body fat went up by a few %. Sure I was in the best shape of my life, but I was still miserable inside.
I still felt incredibly stuck once again. I was already exercising 6X a week ( 3X weight training, 3X swimming) - eating super clean calories at a deficit, and doing intermittent fasting. Yet my fat % wasn’t dropping. I was super frustrated.
Nuskin TR90: The first genetic based body shaping program
I was introduced to this program by my best friend and I was INCREDIBLY skeptical about it. After all, I had done it all hadn’t I? I had, by this time gone through almost all sorts of diets, supplements, fitness programs, and I had also just obtained my nutritional coaching certification. I was sure this program was a scam.
Basically, the program helps to reset your gene expression to when you were younger, helping your cells & metabolism to better function. During this 3 month program, the coaches in the program would teach you how to eat sustainably. They claimed this program didn’t need you to do any sort of extreme gym exercise (and if you liked to gym it was considered a bonus) as well.
I was tired by this time. I figured, what else do I have to lose (beside more body fats?) I needed way to ‘diet’ sustainably, so I decided to invest in myself, and I was really happy that I did!
Again, these are the results after the 3 month program - from Jan 2020 till March 2020. And yes, this also happened when the circuit breaker in Singapore - so I had actually REDUCED my exercise by at least 2X during this time.
I was initially quite shocked at the progress I had made - I had been eating pretty much whatever I had wanted during the 3 months (in the right portions mind you), and the bloatedness and inflammation went away!
Though the body shape and composition had changed drastically, my body weight has actually stayed the same! I felt more confident and was super happy with my results.
Having completed the program, I continue to eat the foods I enjoy without the feelings of guilt haunting me every time I ate something I enjoyed (which included carbs / snacks) !
If you’re interested to know about the program, drop me a comment on the blog or drop me a DM on my instagram handle @jamie.lyy! Super happy to explain the details of the program and share the love :)
Why Health & Fitness matters so much to me
TR90 was a humbling experience for me. I had to shift my mindset to be open to suggestions and continue to learn new things about health, nutrition and exercise.
Even today, I’m still learning tons of new information via books and articles. I know the internet is filled with information on these topics, but because there is SO much information out there, people get confused on what to truly believe. I know it, because I was one of them.
I spent SO much money trying to get the perfect body - and reflecting back now, I realized that how I was looking at it wasn’t the healthiest way for myself, both mentally and physically.
I recently finished reading this book in 1 sitting: Not a Diet Book: The Must-Have Fitness Book From the World's Favourite Personal Trainer - James Smith. I’m thinking of doing a blog post on the important points I’ve picked up from the book to share with everyone - so stay tuned for that!
James’s book was different from the typical fitness book, and it really changed my perception on how we view health and fitness. Everything he mentions in the book resonated in some sort of way with me and really, this is the sort of book I’d aspire to write in the future! I highly recommend you read it, if you are struggling with weight loss / how you view yourself.
JamieLYY’s Life Mission #1
People ask why I’m such a health & fitness nerd?
Well, you can clearly tell that I’ve spent the better half of my life trying to find a way to lose weight to fix my inferiority complex.
10 years later, having gone through so much - I’ve learnt loads and have come out stronger. Physically, I feel lighter, more agile, stronger, more flexible. The feelings of sluggishness have disappeared, and I no longer feel guilty eating carbs as I know how to eat sustainably. Mentally, I feel more happier and confident as well!
One of my life’s mission is to help the world live a healthier and happier lifestyle through wholesome living.
I particularly want to help women change their perception on what an ‘ideal’ body shape should look like, and how they can achieve the health and fitness goals they want, without compromising their mental well-being.
This goal emcompasses many areas, and it requires loads of time and effort to help re-educate and change the public’s perception on so many issues pertaining to body images. So it’s not gonna be easy, but sharing my journey’s definitely a start. After all, if I am able to help anyone cut the corners, save them time and money and be able to achieve that they want, why not? :)
Resources:
Not a Diet Book: The Must-Have Fitness Book From the World's Favourite Personal Trainer - James Smith ( Book | Depends on your reading speed)
Ultimate Performance Singapore (Personal Training Website | They don’t mention the cost, you’ll have to set up an appointment with them to find out)
Nuskin AgeLoc: TR90 (PDF on Program & Products. Speak to me if you’re interested to understand more!)
