Dancing was a huge part of Park Shan Hui (@lilmissshanshine), from her childhood through to her current university days. Her size was never an issue for her, until she suffered two serious injuries due to overtraining.
“I used to be relatively trim and fit throughout my childhood to university, given my heavy involvement in dance CCAs. However, that starkly changed when I got seriously injured on two separate occasions due to overtraining with my dance crew in SMU. Since then, I unknowingly started putting on weight, given the maintenance of the size of my appetite coupled with a serious drop in physical activity,” she said.
The drop in physical activity led to a weight gain of about 20kg but Shan Hui did not pay much attention to it until Circuit Breaker happened. She saw a recent photo of herself and that hit her on how she had let herself go.
“I never noticed that I was subconsciously deeply unhappy with the reflection looking back at me in the mirror, nor did I feel the need to change, until Circuit Breaker happened. It was around that time when I stumbled across a picture of myself in Korea earlier that year (January 2020). Only then did it hit me how I had let myself go, to the extent that I was making excuses for not being able to fit into my old clothes and simply completely drowning myself in my pursuit of a higher GPA.”
Realising that she can take charge of her lifestyle, she started incorporating an active regime of yoga, Pilates, HIIT, spin and dance to lose weight. However, her weight loss pursuit soon transformed into a lifelong journey to body acceptance and self-love.
“Circuit Breaker was a really huge turning point for me. It helped me realise that while I can’t control genetics such as base metabolism, I CAN take charge of my lifestyle and incorporate acts of self love. To me, self love entails eating things that make me feel good (ie. clean and delicious) while exercising to FEEL good and STRONGER rather than for aesthetic purposes. While my journey might have began as a weight loss journey, it has transformed to one of a lifelong road to body acceptance and self love, which I’m eternally grateful for.”
Now, Shan Hui is thankful to her body for keeping her alive, helping her break through mental barriers and letting her explore so many new things and places every day. Exercise is no longer a punishment for overeating, but an activity she genuinely looks forward to!
lululemon Singapore has expanded their top styles to fit sizes 0-20. Shan Hui is wearing the Enlite Bra in Black and the Invigorate 25” tights in Black.
