THE FIGHT AGAINST OBESITY
Let’s be real here.
We’ve lost the war on obesity. The fat hasn’t gone away (not that the fat was really ever the problem in the first place).
The problem is our assumptions about our weight, and what makes us healthy, and what makes us happy.
One thing I know for sure is that the war on obesity hasn’t helped solve any of those things.
I dunno about you, but I am bored with the “diet” programmes on TV and I am a bit of a nerd when it comes to the science and
application of that stuff…
I am currently reading and researching a lot around the area of childhood obesity and the impact of that on adulthood disease
with particular attention to sugar sweetened beverages. As adults we need to get a handle on this too by the way, its
horrifying!
Back to obesity….
All it’s done is develop extensive collateral damage in the shape of a fear of food (its not difficult to eat well but it seems ever
increasingly difficult to source foods that haven’t been messed with!) , body and weight preoccupation (and in some cases, obsession), discrimination, eating disorders, diminishing health and a widespread dissatisfaction with our physical selves.
Doesn’t sound like such a great battle to be involved in to me, and yet that is what the diet and fitness industries are pretty much
all about. LOSE WEIGHT…….. NO!
Don’t get me wrong I am not saying we shouldn’t try to lose the excess but to solely focus on this ends in tears.
Thats why I like to educate my clients and empower them to make HEALTHY decisions!
I will hold my hands up, I too was brainwashed by the bombardment of marketing in magazines when I was 18-19 years old
and social pressure to take it on as my rock solid belief that being fat was simply TERRIBLE.
BUT then I realised(and educated myself) it wasn’t all about just trying to shift fat, there was much more too it! Health, Happiness
(stress reduction) and Fulfilment!
But here’s the thing. The real, untampered with, untwisted, actual, as it stands, thing.
Good health is not a number on the scales! Who gives a sh*t!
And the only way to solve the weight problem is to stop making weight the problem.
It is merely a basis for stigmatization and a fear of being “overweight” which takes our eye of the ball in terms of what are
really the threats to our health and well-being.I have said it before, the scales are a nightmare!
Now for the record…I actually did a transformation contest before Christmas in which the results were fantastic. I didn’t judge the
winner on weight lost, even though the title was “Launceston’s Biggest Loser”.
Weight is not a reliable measure of body composition, character, health, intellect, attractiveness, or morality. That is one of the
reasons why I now use our ultrasound scanner to accurately look at body composition, to help advise clients on exercise and nutrition to help them improve their lifestyle habits to feel better about the body they have.
I am overweight on the BMI scale…..I don’t worry about that! I actually chuckle about it!
It is purely my opinion but I would hazard a guess that being a little overweight is no where NEAR as hazardous to one’s health as
the stress that results from the associated weight stigmatization (even if the pressure comes only from one’s own beliefs).
Overweight and obese are arbitrary labels which truly serve no one but those making money from the fear those labels instill.
I must tell you later in the week about what happens when you take fat out of a product and make it “light” or “low fat”. One
of my buddies works for a large food company!
Many people who are given those labels are neither an inappropriate weight for their skeletal and muscular stature, nor at any medical risk.
The fight against obesity has done nothing besides heighten the fear of being overweight and it actually makes people feel
incapable, and made us as a population more susceptible to both physical and mental malady!
It messes with peoples confidence and self esteem, but as soon as get them eating well, reducing stress and exercising PROPERLY,
guess what they feel bloody good!
Take Steve, a new client of mine, said to me yesterday morning when I bumped into him in our town at 8am on a cold sunday, “what have you done to me, I feel brilliant when I wake up, I just can’t wait to get going in the moorings”.
The only way this situation is every truly going to change, is if we each start in our corner. We have to stop poking the preverbal
with a stick and help people change their mindset! And that’s what we’re trying very hard to do at Blast Fitness Camps and FA Fitness Personal Training.
Matt ” I don’t care if I am overweight on your scale ” Luxton
P.PS. By the way, if you’re local to West Devon and North Cornwall
and want to feel fitter, healthier and happier at a size that is
healthy and maintainable for you, we’re currently offering a trial
week at one of our locations. To book yours head to
http://www.blastfitnesscamps.co.uk and pop your name and phone
number in the green box.
