I just thought I’d share this with you.

I was a big girl a year ago, but I was also content with my life. I’m not the type to sob about how fat I am, and let that get in the way of what my soul was put on earth to do.

I traveled, learned new things, ran 2 charity campaigns successfully, and had a lot of love from friends and family.

The weight didn’t really affect who I was as a core person, and it didn’t snub my light.

But I was heavy.

Now let me tell you what being heavy means. It means that when I went to Bali to learn how to surf, they had to replace my 9ft board with a 12ft board that was 3-inches thick, because my weight sank the board whenever I tried to push up to stand on the water.

It was incredibly hard to spring up because I had to carry my own weight to do the things that other girls didn’t have to.

For surf instructors to tell me my weight was the reason I couldn’t get up and ride the waves like my lighter counterparts was frankly, depressing. Because I’ve always wanted to be a surfer girl.

I didn’t get to stand up that day, and the brochure said they guarantee you’ll stand up or you get to come back until you stand up. I eventually went back another day for the free session (alone) and was able to stand, but that day with my friends, I felt like such a failure because I was the only one who didn’t stand up.

Heavy also meant I was slower, because I had to push 85kgs of weight forward when other little ladies only pushed 55. It was a lot harder to do all the active stuff that I loved, and I love the outdoors and being active.

And I found out a few more stuff about what heavy meant in Bali.

One day, a bunch of my friends and I decided to go to the Waterbom. Sliding down the slides was so scary!!!

As the law of gravity states, the heavier something is, the faster it drops!

Imagine the kind of speeds I was reaching coming down what were supposed to be fun waterslides. Easily I would have gone at least 30% faster than everyone else, since I was 30% heavier. It was PETRIFYING!!!

So while other chicks were screaming like cute girls getting a cheap thrill, I thought I was going to die from a heart attack from being airborne for a few seconds, and being expected to land back in the slide. What if my ass was so big I missed the landing, injuring and paralyzing myself in the process?

Being heavy also meant that doing wall climbing made my fingers feel like they were going to dislocate, and when I ran it was really hard on my heart, and my knees hurt.

So the biggest advantage to losing weight for me hasn’t really been about the way I look, but that I could do the things I love with a higher rate of success and be a lot healthier.

It’s just so much easier to do things and get around when you’re lighter.

I’m a lot lighter, faster, and agile now, though I definitely can get better, faster, lighter, and more agile. So you saw how I looked like a year ago above.

Now here are some journal shots to document how I look like today. I look like a different person huh?

Losing the weight means I have longer limbs to catch on to stuff without all the padding getting in the way. It also means there’s a lot more space in between for rapid movements without knocking into my own body.

That has been the biggest advantage of losing weight for me. Looking better is just a bonus.

A word of caution. I hope you won’t go on some crazy dangerous diet just to lose weight for the sake of losing weight. Do it healthily, and do it for the right reasons, and do it gradually.

For me, losing weight is about freeing my body to do what it was made and designed to do. By keeping it in peak healthy condition I can live my life to the fullest!