Love Thyself to Better Health

I mentioned in my last post that I keep track of my fitness by periodically recording certain stats. What I would like to address now, is the common practice of using one's starting stats as motivation, and how this is not always the best idea.


You've all seen it. The "BEFORE and AFTER" pictures placed side by side, the person in the Before picture looking miserable about their fatness, and in the After picture, the same person stands tall, looking proud and happy.


Now, I love transformation photos. I find them inspiring and fascinating. I don't argue that eating better and moving more brings more happiness. Leading a healthy lifestyle does wonders in lifting one's mood, self-confidence, and over-all sense of well-being and accomplishment, not to mention the improvements it causes in posture and body composition. I love looking at pictures of body transformations and seeing the results of hard work. These pictures are a fantastic way to measure and celebrate progress.

What bothers me however, is when the starting picture, weight and measurements, are looked at as a situation from which one needs to escape.

I can't count the number of times I have heard a person say "I have to get in shape because I'm really fat and gross right now", or "I didn't realize how fat I was until I saw a picture of myself. Now I use that picture to help me stay fit because it's a reminder of what I never want to be again".

One part of me wants to say "Hey, do what works for you", but then I give myself a good slap in the head because frankly, if what works for you is to beat yourself up, to use self-disgust and shame as a form of motivation - hell no. I can't condone that. 

Yet this kind of thinking is not only prevalent, it is widely accepted.

Let's be honest here. You can not use feelings of self-disgust as fuel to make yourself healthier. Self-destruction and self-improvement oppose each other.  Simply put, an essential part of health is self-respect, and you can not achieve and maintain a happy body and mind without it.

There is a danger in sticking your sad, fat "Before" picture on your fridge as a way to motivate yourself to keep your diet in line; in giving your love handles a vicious squish as you stare into the mirror and wish for a slimmer physique; in thinking about the cheese you just ate going straight to your hips and making your ass even bigger... 

Hating yourself to a better body will do nothing but make you unable to fully appreciate the progress you make. If you use disgust, guilt and punishment for fuel, then if and when you do reach your goals, I guarantee that any happiness you feel will be short-lived - only to be replaced soon enough by the familiar, and now habitual feeling of "I'm still not good enough".

If you are going to build and maintain a stronger body, you need to strengthen your mind and spirit as well. 

Accept yourself as you are now, and if you want to become healthier then work from a place of love. Rather than trying to escape from your body, try embracing it. Getting more fit isn't going to get you closer to the person you want to be unless you actively work on being who you want to be right now. 

So, to anyone out there who needs to - please take all the self-loathing out of the equation. Regardless of whether or not you want to make changes for health reasons, for aesthetics, for better performance in sport - let that desire for improvement fuel you, rather than cut you down. Open your mind to the possibility of surprising yourself with what you are capable of, rather than trying to be somebody else. Successful change happens through deeper self-awareness and positive action, not through escapism and self-destruction. 

Now I ask you, what is your motivation? 

Currently for me it is quite simple. I want to lead an active lifestyle again so that I can become healthier, avoid disease, and have a body that performs better in every way. I want to celebrate my life by living it well. 

I don't have a certain physique that I am working towards. I'm happy with myself, and as I become more fit, my fat/muscle ratio will just naturally and gradually improve. 

As I push myself to become stronger, faster, and more highly functional, my body will adapt however it needs to in order to meet the demands I make of it. Form follows function, not the other way around.

*

Get Moving!

It's Fall it's Fall it's Fall!!!

I LOVE Autumn. It is my favourite season. The leaves change, the winds blow cooler, and every part of me seems to wake up from the daze of summer heat. My body and my mind are tingling with a revitalized awareness and new, exciting ideas. There is more electricity in the air and in me, and I suddenly need more outlets for my increased energy. As a result, Fall is a productive time creatively and physically.

I'm getting back into weight-training after being pretty damn lazy all summer. I love throwing heavy shit around, and it's really important for health. I haven't done it in a while and after a few sessions back in the gym it's apparent that I have become really weak. I'm looking forward to putting in the work and feeling like a warrior chick again.

I always enjoy tracking my progress throughout a program, because I find it motivating to see how much stronger, more agile, and more flexible I become as time goes by. It also lets me know what is and isn't working.

I am a huge nerd who is fascinated by the science of fitness, and I like to view my developments or lack thereof with the eyes of an eager student who is conducting experiments. I'm kind of my own lab rat, and it's really fun for me! Nerrrrrd.

An essential part of measuring progress is tracking body composition. I track myself by periodically recording my:

EXERCISE PROGRESSION
GIRTH MEASUREMENTS
BODY WEIGHT

PICTURES

From time to time I will get my body-fat measured with calipers as well, but I don't put too much stock in that as body-fat measurements are notoriously inaccurate (the at-home electrical impedence body fat scales being some of the worst offenders. Please don't take those numbers seriously). Together, the above four give me a good idea of where I'm at physically.

I keep an eye on how I'm feeling too, in terms of my energy levels, my emotions, and my mental state. If I'm healthy, then my body, mind and spirit are all working well together. If I'm over-training, or exhausted, or putting more focus on workouts than on personal relationships - well that ain't healthy right?

This blog is about living well, and since fitness is such a huge part of my life, I'll be talking about it often and giving updates now and then on what excites me.

*