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Sick of being overweight and unhealthy for most of her life, Helen Lim joined Fitness First in 2006, and has never looked back since. She is now a dedicated Group Exercise instructor with Fitness First. Vivi Kusuma, Group Exercise Manager for One Raffles Quay in Singapore, had a chat with her and gained a personal insight into her evolvement from member to instructor. Read her inspiring story here! |
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V: Tell us how you got started with the club – what was the turning point in your life? |
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H: I was overweight most of my life, ever since I was young. Even the shame and embarrassment of being in my school’s 'TAF Club' for overweight kids every single year did not stop me from my unhealthy diet and tremendous lack of exercise. I grew bigger and heavier with each passing year. At my heaviest, I was scaling a hefty 80kg at 1.64m! Everyone around me would tell me how fat I was. I could barely squeeze into XL-sized clothes or climb up the steps of an overhead bridge without panting heavily and thinking I was going to die from oxygen deficiency. I was even looking much older than my actual age – people thought I was 30 and pregnant when I was only 21!
Desperate, I tried to take the “easy way out” and resorted to all kinds of slimming pills that promised quick weight loss without exercise. It took me some time before I came to my senses and realized there was no such miracle pill in the world. I was at my lowest point then and felt depressed all the time. Then, one day in 2005, I sat down and started to think about my life. It was then that I set my foot down and told myself that I had to do something about my weight. I signed up for a gym membership the very next day, and have never looked back since. |
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V: What inspired you to take up Group Exercise (GX)? |
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H: During my membership at that club, I became very drawn to the GX classes taking place inside the GX studio. Many times I would simply stand outside and watch, never being able to muster enough courage to join in the classes. What I saw each time was a group of fit, self-confident women who knew exactly what they were doing. I was instead,an overweight girl lacking self-confidence and new to the world of exercising after a prolonged period of self-denial. What if I tripped and fell? I did not want to make myself a laughing stock.
Yet the enticement factor of GX programmes never once pulled back my interest. I started to purchase exercise videos and began trying them out in the privacy and 'security' of my own home. I began shedding some weight, but it wasn't enough. I found myself hitting a plateau and the fat stubbornly refused to leave my body. One day, a colleague and I chanced upon an ad for a fitness club which offered a free trial Muay Thai class. All it took was that one class to get us hooked; from then on, I decided to embark on a mission to enter the world of GX. Unfortunately, the club I was with had only 1 outlet and closed down soon after. |
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