Healthy is not being skinny

Before i tell you the answer about why i exercise not to be skinny.

I need to tell a story and maybe it will change the way you see exercise and diet. And if you have kids - i am sure it will hit you like a ton of bricks.

I was ten years old on a family break in Asia. It was the best as a kid. Running around on daily adventures. Going out often. Eating out late. It was an age when most kids are carefree and enjoying life as it is. Then one day, i hear my dad yelping from the bathroom.

My dad was on the floor unable to move or talk. It was a major stroke.

The stroke was so severe that he couldn’t talk, or walk, or feed himself and relieve himself in the bathroom. I watched my dad struggle as he tried to rehabilitate himself back to normal.

He was completely incapacitated.

It wasn’t just the physical injuries that took a toll on our lives but also the psychological and emotional challenges. In essence, i lost an active dad in my life.

I watched my mother feed him, bathe him, clothe him as if he was a child. And while i was ten, i didn’t know how to process what was happening.

And I could not imagine what my mother went through looking after my dad and my brothers and sister. I remember helping out a lot when i was kid. Doing the dishes, doing the laundry, helping my mum with groceries.

Luckily for me, we lived in front of the park otherwise i couldn’t see how else i could’ve connected with the other kids in the neighbourhood. I would have been isolated.

My brothers coped in various ways and my sister would’ve been four that year. So it was a hard year.

At school, i stopped swimming classes and became less involved with school friends.

My home life drastically changed and my personality started to change. I wasn’t the carefree child.

After physiotherapy, exercise and diet - thankfully - he managed to recover physically but psychologically and emotionally he wasn’t the same.

According to neuroscience, the links in his brain was affected by the trauma and he never gained back his confidence.

My dad loved life and loved food. He also had high blood pressure, diabetic, overweight and never exercised.

This one catastrophic event changed my life forever.

If we trace back to how it happened, it was lack of exercise and food. Undeniably food.

And the question that we need to answer is:

Is it worth watching what we eat and taking the time exercise?

OMG. YES IT IS.

Is it worth seeing your future family grow and mature into their own families?