K-Pop Idol Reveals The Dangerous Effects Of Extreme Dieting That Idols Face

Ladies’ Code’s Ashley Choi recently revealed the serious side effects that K-Pop idols and trainees may deal with caused by improper dieting and starvation.

Ashley revealed that prior to moving to Korea, she never dieted and considered herself to be relatively thin at 52 kg.

However, in order to debut, she was told to reduce her weight to as low as 49 kg, which can be considered underweight for someone of her height, 166 cm.

Companies pressure trainees into quick and drastic weight loss by telling them there will be consequences if they fail to do so — like being cut from the company.

There are no proper nutritional instructions given to trainees and many resort to unhealthy dieting tactics like starvation.

It was just literally like 12 cherry tomatoes a day or a salad the entire day.

— Ashley

In Ashley’s case, both her starvation and extreme stress took a toll on her body and caused her to lose her period for an entire year.

Two months after I started training, I lost my period.

— Ashley

She tried to get it back with hormone shots that failed to improve her condition. Eventually, the only thing that worked was resting for a month before debut where she was able to get sufficient sleep and eat more.

However, after debut, her period immediately stopped again.

In addition to period loss, starvation can eventually slow your body’s metabolism and reduce your energy vastly. It can also have an adverse effect on your body and begin to store extra fat deposits in fear of running out of fuel.

Ashley says now that she’s more educated, she knows extreme dieting is very unhealthy and can have serious side effects.

Watch the full discussion below.