‘My
journey’ sounds a bit cheesy right? But realistically it has been a bumpy
journey, with SportsDock being a stable base for the ups and downs. I’m now in
my final year and there is no way the workload will be stopping my gym
attendance. I dread the day that I’m stacked up to my eye balls in work and the
gym seems like a distance memory but until then you will catch me there six
days a week!!
Training partner: Before coming to University I battled with my
weight. It was my first time away from home and now my eating habits were in my
hands. I was certain that I wanted to
grab control of my weight issue and ‘transform’ myself. Luckily my housemate,
Sarah, was of the same mind frame and we both set our minds on losing weight.
Minus those movie nights with a tub of Ben and Jerry’s between us, oh and the
late night chocolate trips to the corner shop. We went to the gym together and
helped motivating each other, it was great.
Calorie counting control: Knowing little how to lose
weight, I started to count calories and doing excessive amounts of cardio. The
whole counting and control of my diet became a bit obsessive, oh and not to
mention the cardio overload. I did manage to lose weight but I didn’t feel
exactly healthier. I was tired all the time mainly due to not refuelling my
body properly. My obsession with eating and going to the gym restricted my
social life. Now this may seem a bit extreme and you probably feel as though
you’d never become like that. One of the purposes for the women's wellbeing blog was to
help raise awareness on subjects that are topical. I feel some women have a
blurred vision on such wellbeing issues as calorie counting and weight lifting.
One of the lads: In my second year, my housemate
had returned to Australia and I soon found myself among the lads in the gym and
ended up training with them, hey it was better than training alone. Although I
loved training with the boys in the gym I ended looking like one and my weights
to cardio ratio has completely switched. I gained muscle but the weight around
my mid drift was staring back at me in the mirror. I was unhappy with the way I
looked, a re-occurring theme, when returning home for the summer, I ‘up-ed’ the
anti and was determined to lose weight!
A ‘loner’: As my interests shifted towards
weight lifting, I realised a real lack of women in the weights area. I started
to become more and more curious as to why there wasn’t the same sense of
community between the females as there was with the males. So here comes my sob
story… the men at SportsDock would greet each other each morning, share fitness
tips, chat and they would laugh together in-between sets…. and then there was me.
Alone.
It was love at first sight: My adoration for the gym has
grown and grown, some say I’m crazy, some say I’m obsessed but most I believe admire my
dedication. I may not have the ‘celeb’ body but I’m a lot happier in my own
skin than I was and continue to challenge myself from week to week. The love
for the gym has helped me love my own body. Being a journalism student I wanted
to be able to combine my two passions, health and writing. By creating the blog
I was able to reach out to women like me or educate girls so they wouldn’t fall
into the same traps as I did.
If you
have similar interest or want to become more involved with UEL's women's wellbeing project then email me at jasminenatashawing@gmail.com.
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