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.

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