Coming Clean: Cassey Ho on Dieting

Written by Liz Britton

TRIGGER WARNING

Fitness guru, Cassey Ho, recently came out with a video on why she will never diet again. The founder of Blogilates and POP Pilates comes clean about her struggles with her previous extreme dieting. In the video, she lists less than ten things she was allowed to eat during her training for a bikini competition according to her competition trainer.

Apparently, as the competition came closer, her trainer got stricter and stricter with her diet. It got so bad that he even scolded her for eating iceberg lettuce because it had “too many carbs.”

[L]ooking back, I have to tell you…I felt so empty.

Empty described how my stomach felt. Empty described how my brain felt. Empty described how my friendships and relationships felt. I also a very angry person who would snap easily. This is not a Cassey characteristic.

Cassey Ho finished the competition without winning a trophy – but that didn’t matter to her. All she wanted was cheesecake.

That’s right.

Cheesecake. Yum.

But when she ate the dessert, she started showing a huge sign of starvation: cramping.

I cramped so hard and had to curl into fetal position in the car for a couple hours before I could walk again…

This is actually a real symptom of starvation. Some people even throw up after starving for so long that once they eat something, their stomachs completely reject it.

Her struggle with orthorexia (obsession with eating healthy foods) was developed in 8 weeks, but lasted much longer than that. Cassey Ho developed a fear of apples and bananas, believing fruit to have too many sugars and carbs. After the competition, Cassey Ho kept restricting her diet, but she started to gain weight.

Her body was clinging to any calories it could get, making maintaining her weight impossible. With her weight fluctuations came embarrassment, especially since she posts workout videos every week, and is well known fitness instructor.

A year later, I decided the heck with it, I’m just going to eat whatever I want. So I had pizza, Chinese food, lots of rice, boba, cake – whatever I wanted. I ate that on the daily. I also got so unmotivated that I stopped working out too. And guess what. I didn’t gain weight or lose weight. I was like what!?? My metabolism is broken! I was so confused and lost.

But eventually, she got back on track with her eating habits. She questioned why she was working out and eating the way she was. Was it really for her or to fit an image? Being a fitness instructor, Cassey Ho deals with critics all the time. There will always be petty people trying to tear her down, but through self love and self respect, Cassey Ho started her healing journey for herself.

Watch the video below or go to Cassey Ho’s blog to learn more about her journey.