Looking at her throw punches and knee her opponent, it’s a little hard to believe that Sherilyn Lim,23, was once a victim of mockery and teasing for being fat. She wasn’t even overweight, just chubby, but her classmates gave her a hard time and she often found herself being the last to be picked for group work. That’s terrible! Ha, if those classmates of hers in secondary school see her now, I’m sure they wouldn’t dare to bully her the way they used to!
Well, she’s definitely in a much better place now. Sherilyn’s profile was raised sky high last year, when she made her debut at the One Fighting Championship held in Singapore last October. She won Ann Osman of Malaysia by split decision and they will be having a rematch on 14 March; this time in Kuala Lumpur. I had a chat with her one evening at Fight G, where she trains and works at, and she told me about the mean classmates she had.
You can read the full interview I did of her on Yahoo!
Thankfully, it did no damage to her and she did not go on any extreme weight loss methods or anything crazy like that. She finally found her calling in MMA and has made a career out of it, and training for it has naturally threw off the excess kilos. At 1.6 metres tall, she fights at a weight of 52kg.
I love her outspoken personality, which makes interviewing her a delight. She told me how she had random people messaging her through her Facebook page, telling her that she would “look sexier” if she had a six-pack. These silly messages were ignored of course, but she has a message to them: “..that they should take their ignorance and shove it up where the sun doesn’t shine”. Absolutely hilarious. Life isn’t about aesthetics – it’s about being healthy and able to jump, climb stairs, run after the bus, pick up your kids or carry groceries.
It’s true – the society does hold some very unhealthy stereotypes of how females should look and I can’t help worrying about girls who go on crash diets (eating like 300-500 calories) or completely starving themselves. I was once there – I grew up a fat kid and got bullied in school for being fat too. I tried all sorts of dieting methods from pills to slimming centres to extreme exercise, lost a shitload of weight and put it all back. Finally I found my comfort in fitness – work out regularly and watch what you eat and you’ll be fine!
