ITZY’s Chaeryeong Reveals The Members Had To Diet “365 Days A Year” As Trainees

Trainee life can’t have been easy for ITZY.

In a new “2TZY: Hello 2021” YouTube video together, ITZY‘s Chaeryeong and Ryujin revealed some of their trainee dieting experiences.

Last year, the ITZY members told IU that they try to eat a healthy amount these days and avoid skipping meals so they have plenty of energy for their performances. In an interview with Harper’s BAZAAR, they also revealed that their daily diet includes plenty of delicious foods like glazed donuts, ice cream, cheesy rice, and meat. However, their daily diets weren’t always this way.

| KOCOWA/YouTube

When Chaeryeong saw the set for her video with Ryujin, the striped fast-food restaurant-style chairs reminded her of her experiences dieting as a trainee. While many idols typically only go on on a diet before comebacks and activities, Chaeryeong says the ITZY members “were on a diet 365 days a year as trainees.”

| ITZY/YouTube

That said, they didn’t always let that stop them from eating what they wanted. Ryujin started laughing as she recalled how the members would “make it obvious” that they were dieting, only to go home at night and feast on fried chicken and watermelon.

| ITZY/YouTube

[We’d say] ‘Oh, but I gotta lose weight…’ and we’d go home at night and eat fried chicken and be like, ‘I only lost 0.5kg.’ We were on that kind of diet.

— Ryujin

At the time, Ryujin lived with her parents rather than in the JYP Entertainment dorms, so she was able to eat what she wanted at night without getting caught by company staff. Since she ate comfortably despite dieting rules, Ryujin says she “was really happy then.”

Chaeryeong shared a similar memory of how she used to stop at a nearby supermarket on her way home and buy ice cream with the members. They’d often race to the sweet treats, leaving the person who arrived last to pay for everyone’s dessert.

| ITZY/YouTube

I still remember this to this day. We’d be like ‘Who’s gonna treat us to ice cream today?’ and make a dash for it. ‘The person who gets here last buys everybody ice cream!’

— Chaeryeong

Although the members weren’t as close as they are now back in their trainee days, Chaeryeong explained, those memories remind her of how happy they were back then.

Source: ITZY (YouTube)

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