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6 MINUTES WITH ... 21 HEALTH AND FITNESS: MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER In a time of physical distancing and self-isolating, maintaining health (physical and mental) has taken on paramount importance. This month, Retail Pharmacy Assistants’ Margaret Mielczarek chats with the inspirational Ophie Ho about fitness and how we can incorporate it into our routines — pandemic or not. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Who is Ophie Ho? My full name is Ophelia Ho, but people call me Ophie. Growing up an only child, I always had to occupy myself with things to do, which is probably how I’ve found myself here: working in a day job as well as running my own business as an online health and fitness coach. Discovering health and fitness has completely transformed my life, both physically and mentally. This is a large part of why I’m so passionate about it. But also, it’s because I’d fallen prey to the many myths in the industry, such as detox teas, accessible meal replacement shakes, fat burning pills and many other ‘magical’ products. Having gone through all this, seeing both the good and the bad, I’m a proud advocate of actively nurturing not only your physical, but your mental health also: an area that’s not generally incorporated in personal training, despite being pivotal to transformation. Tell us more about your role as an online health and fitness coach. I never imagined myself to be here. Back in school, I faked sick notes just to get out of PE class. But it all truly began when I turned 18 and made the sudden realisation that I’d neglected to exercise for many years. I felt incredibly out of shape, hated seeing my own reflection and avoided wearing particular clothes because I felt I didn’t look good. I became very insecure about my image. Joining a gym with some friends was one of my best decisions. Learning about weight training, seeing the results in my body – it was an interest that increased exponentially as I felt better and better every time. You mention on your website that you’ve struggled in the past with food, the gym, and your relationship with yourself. Tell us more about this. How did you overcome these struggles? My struggles with food mostly manifested after having competed in a bodybuilding competition. After six months of extreme dieting, little-to- no social life and several hours in the gym every day, I began associating all of these things with the outcome of looking ‘good’ – when ‘good’ on stage is not at all healthy or sustainable. Overcoming these deep rooted issues was a battle ... but the biggest contributors to my success have been a combination of intuitive eating and journaling. This allowed me to get in touch with my body’s true hunger cues while removing the need to religiously track every calorie. It gave me the freedom to enjoy food again, rather than see it as simply a number. What’s your definition of being healthy and fit? What should men and women aspire to become when striving to make improvements in this area of their lives? Healthy and fit, in my opinion, describes someone who’s living their best life, optimising every aspect of their health through eating a diverse range of foods, participating in a variety of physical activities and nurturing their wellbeing and mental health. People should aspire to be better versions of themselves every day. Health and fitness will look different on everyone, and trying to cookie-cut everyone into a mould won’t work. One of my favourite outlooks is: do one thing every day that’s going to make you a better person tomorrow. It doesn’t matter how small or how big. If you’re consistently working on being better, you’ll always be improving. What does a typical day in the life of Ophie look like? How do you maintain balance, along with health and fitness, when running your own business? Pre-pandemic, this answer would be very different. But the structure of my days has remained somewhat the same. Alongside coaching, I also work a corporate day job (now from home). I dedicate most hours of my weekdays to bringing my absolute best to the team. After that I spend my personal time nurturing my clients and building my business. I absolutely love what I do, so it never really feels like I’m working when I do this. In terms of balancing health and fitness, the most important realisation I made along this journey is that this is a lifestyle. To make it work, it needs to form part of our routine naturally. Otherwise, we won’t be able to commit to it. I schedule everything into my calendar, including lunch times, because I know all of us can get carried away with work sometimes. How important is health and fitness for overall mental health? Very, very important! As many of you TO PAGE 22 RETAIL PHARMACY ASSISTANTS • MAY 2020