Sports host Kelly Latimer first struggled with her weight when she returned from Australia after her studies and had gained a total of 15kg over 1.5 years. Naturally, she felt depressed seeing all the petite girls in Singapore and thus gave in to the pressure and decided she had to lose weight and get back in shape.
The 28-year-old went on to attempt all kinds of fad diets and “retarded” exercise regimes, including zero-carb diet, fruits-only diet, three-day detox of lemon juice and cayenne pepper which burnt her throat, consuming caffeine pills amid a truckload of other weight loss supplements. She even visited slimming centres and hired a personal trainer for a year.
After five years of battling this bulge, she finally shed 14kg by watching her diet closely and exercising fervently (a little too fervently perhaps). At that time, she got lots of hosting jobs and everyone had nothing but praise for her new body.
But it wasn’t healthy – she was obsessed with becoming a certain size, her hormones went haywire and her period was irregular.
Then Kelly got injured and fell off track because she couldn’t exercise as much as she used to. The weight piled back on and she found it hard to regain the same motivation.
Today however, Kelly has found her happy place.
Gone is the pursuit of a petite frame, gone are the crazy days of exercising nonstop. Eat well and don’t deprive yourself of your favourite foods, work out because you enjoy it and not because you want to lose weight. Once you are happy and you take good care of your body, the results will show for itself.
Kelly shares her thoughts…
What does body image mean to you?
Body image to me is how I perceive myself and how comfortable I feel in my own skin.
When did you struggle with body image?
I’ve struggled twice with my body image. The first was when I was overweight after returning from my studies in Australia in 2008. I felt out of place and uncomfortable in a petite-frame society. Thus, I decided to eat clean and work out religiously.
I lost the excess weight, and some. I got lots of jobs and everyone complimented me on how I looked, but my body started changing. My hormones went out of whack, my period was irregular and I became obsessed with being a size 6.
Then when I got injured, I gained weight due to my lack of training. I fell off the bandwagon, tumbled down the slippery slope and found it hard to regain motivation.
Since then, I’ve found a happy medium… I eat well, with treats and cheats. I work out, and I make sure I enjoy each session. There’s a system and a goal that is sustainable and suitable for my body as I enter the next phase of life.
What advice do you have for others who are struggling too?
If you find yourself struggling, you need to identify what it is you’re unhappy with and why it makes you unhappy. Once you realise it’s something you want to change, you’ll be able to define a goal and make it happen. But if it’s something that is influenced externally due to social pressures, you’ll quickly realise that those opinions don’t matter.
What are some of the misconceptions society has about fitness now and how do you hope to correct it?
Society has several standards and the “ideal” body type has changed in recent years. To make a general statement, especially in Asia, I feel that a more slender physique is preferred and that a muscular frame is largely frowned upon. That’s changing, slowly, but we need to be happy with ourselves before society catches on.
What do you hope to do in your capacity to help those with body image struggles?
I hope to reach out to more people, male and female, to help them be happy with themselves. If you are giving your body all the ingredients it needs to be fit and healthy, then you have every reason to be content with the way you are. Be happy with yourself, but ensure that you’re helping yourself along the way to become the best version of you.
