How HIIT changed my life

Let me bring you back to 31 Dec of every year. A date notorious to everyone because somehow the tradition to make a New Year Resolution was somehow ingrained in us in an attempt to make us more PRODUCTIVE!

So, what’s on your resolution list? 

Is it along the lines of “I want to go to Canada this year! I want to earn my first $100,000 this year! I WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT THIS YEAR!” ?  

I want to lose weight this year

This has been on my resolution list for many years. I always wanted to lose weight but didn't put an action to it till 2019. But what was my mistake all these while? I did not ask “How much exactly do I want to lose? 

My weight was like the stock market, one moment bullish, the next moment green, and it went up over the years! ( sounds good from the stocks market point of view)

How my life flipped around

In 2018, I went for a routine check up and did all the tests that came along with it. The results came out a week later, and I saw a few red numbers on the paper. Red means it exceeded the normal range and I should pay some attention to it. 

Cholesterol reading was in Red. It was over the healthy range. If you are as young as me, would you be scared by seeing that red number beside your cholesterol reading? If you answered no, we are on the same boat! 

I wasn't afraid of that and I continued to eat fried food, supper and all the food I love, and the weight continued to grow constantly. 

Nothing happened until I had to attend an event and I couldn't buy any evening dress for it. 

I was beyond the size of an extra large. I went to so many shopping malls that sell night gowns to try on and no matter how I hold my breath, sucked it in and squeezed myself into the dress, the zip could never reach its top. 

I started to panic, one more day to my event day, and I haven’t gotten my dress then! I even cancelled my night appointment and continued to shop. Finally, I saw something that fits the theme and I could fit in it. That sounds like I shouldn’t have to worry anymore, right? Guess, what? That dress cost me an entire week's budget - from my meals to my car petrol, parking, and cashcard top ups. 

It then hit me hard, and I thought to myself that, it’s really time to do something about it. 

After I came back from the event, I started telling my friends that I want to find a gym to exercise. A few of my friends were super helpful and they helped me google, sent me gym opening hours, fees, what can I do at the gym, etc. Oh man, what have I done to deserve such helpful friends? 

Introduced a new consistency in my life

After much consideration, I picked Ritual gym. I went for trial on 19th March 2019 and I was so impressed with their customised welcome pack. The first trial lesson was manageable and I continued to book more lessons under the trial package. 

Little did I know, when the trial was coming to end, I signed up for the full membership and the rest was history. 

I picked Ritual as my go-to-gym because the sessions are short ( 20 mins) and effective ( we did HIIT) , and they have lessons as early as 6.30am ( yes, that’s the timing I choose to go EVERYDAY ). 

The first month hit me the hardest, I constantly felt tired and drained. Imagine feeling so sleepy every day at 10am and I was always feeling so lethargic. I had no energy to do anything after 10am unless I got to nap for 30mins.

I cut my diet drastically, from eat-everything to eat-clean wasn't an easy task for me. I had to wake up at 5.15am every morning to cook breakfast. Here’s proof of my new eat-clean menu: broccoli, chicken breast/salmon, long bean, lady finger and packing some cherry tomatoes. 

I suppose this worked out well for me since I am not a picky eater, if not I wouldn't have survived this. 

Eventually, I noticed my weight did drop a little and I felt healthier just by doing exercise and changing my dietary habits. 

“Motivation is what get you started, and habit is what keeps you going”

Throwing my hat over the fence

What pushed me to lose more weight was having a “mini competition “ with a good friend of mine. We challenged each other, and the losing party has to give the opponent $1,000 if we didn't fulfil our targeted weight by the end of Jun 2019. I declared that I want to lose 5 kg by Jun 2019. 

With my money on the line, I made sure I went to the gym every morning at 6.30am. Made sure I ate clean and continued prepping my meals every morning. With consistency, I eventually lost 7kg by the end of the 3 months. After three months of waking up at 530am daily, it has since become a habit, and now I would feel weird for not going to the gym in the morning. 

And it’s been a year since I started my HIIT session, and to date, I lost 15kg in total. One valuable lesson I learnt here is that if you are committed to your goal, you will put all your heart and soul into making it happen. If that goal is important to you, you will take massive action to get it done. 

 “Train for improvement, not fatigue” -

Ritual gym 

We’re already in March. Is your resolution still holding up?

Otherwise, time to consider throwing your hat over the fence.