Fit not Thin in 2018?
Many people will make a resolution to lose weight in 2018. To be fair lots of us made the same resolution on January 1st 2017... and 2016...
What if we’re looking at it all wrong? What if a better resolution was to get fit in 2018? Fit not thin.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t aim to lose weight. If your knees buckle when you try to stand up and you have a family history of cardiovascular disease maybe you should. But maybe that family history of cardiovascular disease should prompt you to think more strategically.
Obesity is linked to cardiovascular disease but that’s not the whole story. Lack of fitness also plays a role. Tackle the fitness and a side effect may be that you also tackle the obesity. And seriously, getting fit is way more fun than dieting. A friend once told me about the shift in her mindset when she decided to focus on fit not thin. “As I got fitter I became more than I was before. Whenever I’d tried to lose weight in the past I’d focussed on being less. That was the main difference for me.”
Personally I think that if society paid more attention to fitness rather than weight loss, we’d actually have less obesity. If we (especially women) focussed on how far we could run or cycle, or how many push-ups we can do, we would naturally be more active and less obese because focussing on fitness actually makes weight loss easier. The fitter you get the more you view food as fuel and the more you want to eat high quality nutritious food because it helps you get fitter. It’s positive reinforcement.
And let’s be honest, society is horribly biased against fat people. But if fitness was the Holy Grail we wouldn’t automatically assume that not-thin equates to not-healthy. We need to stop being obsessed with weight-loss and thinness. If we get involved in more conversations about fitness rather than how to lose extra pounds, our fat-bias would diminish and maybe more overweight people would feel comfortable joining the gym or that exercise class they always fancied.
Both fat and thin people would be healthier if they aimed for fitness rather than thinness. Even if overweight people stay overweight weight, they still get all the protective benefits of exercise. And there are many thin people who are terribly unfit and are at risk of cardiovascular disease. Thin does not always or even often equate to healthy, in spite of popular myth.
It’s not an either-or situation but if you only aim to end 2018 thinner you might succeed, you might not, but you’ll still be unfit. If you aim for fitness you will probably lose weight, gain confidence, friends, a new skill or two, and in the words of my friend be more than you were by the end of the year. I know which route I’m going to take.
50 To advertise in thewire t. 07720 429 613 e.
fiona@thewireweb.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100
