It prompted a year-long hospital stint.
Actress Lee Si Young, currently best known for her performance in Sweet Home, recently talked about how her rigorous workout routine ended up messing with her body.
The actor appeared as a special guest in the latest episode of Shin Dong Youp‘s YouTube talk show, Zzanbro, where she shared her ordeal.
During the episode, Lee candidly talked about how her extreme fitness regimen took a toll on her physical health after her recent divorce. The topic came up when her co-star, Kim Dasom, mentioned the terms “testostrone woman” and “estrogen man,” which denote strong, bold women and soft, caring men, respectively.
The comment prompted Lee to disclose that her workout routine caused her significant hormone issues, leading her to consistently visit the hospital for a year.
My testostreone, it got too high…I had to go to the hospital for a year.
— Lee Si Young
She recalled that while filming Sweet Home, she followed an extreme workout regimen, which gave her a very high muscle density and a very low fat percentage.
I had more than 30kg of muscles for the first time…[Body fat] was around 6% then.
— Lee Si Young
While her buffed-up physique became the talk of the town after the show was released, in reality, this drastic change ended up stopping her menstrual cycle completely. Lee, who is also a former boxer, mentioned that she was familiar with this condition when she was boxing as a light flyweight. Back then, regaining her weight restored her period, but this time around, it didn’t help. After undergoing medical tests, she was told that her body couldn’t recognize itself as a female body because her testosterone levels had gone way too high.
Lee admitted that after undergoing such a health scare, she had become “a bit scared of losing that much.”
Meanwhile, Lee Si Young is currently appearing in the ENA K-Drama, Salon de Holmes, as the female lead, Kong Miri. The show airs every Monday and Tuesday at 10 pm KST.
