Source:SOPA Images /Wong Fok Loy
[Saba Sports News] Recently badminton stars Huang Yaqiong and Zheng Siwei appeared together at an event in Nanjing. Although both have retired, they were dressed casually and still looked like athletes. However, Huang Yaqiong’s change is quite noticeable. She has been married for just over four months and retired only a little over three months, yet she has already gained a lot of weight. In the released video, Huang is wearing loose black pants that make her thighs look thick and her hips and waist appear wider; from the front her face looks fuller, with nasolabial folds and a somewhat weathered appearance, which has led some fans to speculate that she might be pregnant. Other fans think the change may be due to stopping systematic training abruptly, causing a rebound in her figure. It seems female athletes also need to maintain exercise and control their diet after retirement, or they can gain weight quickly. Some fans pointed out that Huang often shares married life with her husband Liu Yuchen on video platforms — they seem happy, eating, drinking, and having fun every day, so maybe she’s simply been eating too much.
The columnist believes that after retirement Huang no longer undergoes high-intensity badminton-specific training, so a decrease in muscle mass and changes in fat distribution are normal physiological responses. Also, moving from a strictly controlled diet and regular athlete routine to a freer, family- and social-focused newlywed life makes weight fluctuations a normal occurrence.