I was recently turned away from a podcast interview about former legal professionals and their new gigs because the host didn’t want to talk about diet and exercise on the show due to her history with disordered beliefs/behaviors.
It’s okay, I get it. Also, she doesn’t know me or that I don’t operate in the weight loss or diet world. Truthfully, it’s not the first (and probably won’t be the last) time someone has made blanket statements based on this assumption about me, my work and the fitness industry as a whole so I get it but …
I hate that it’s come to this. I hate that we can’t talk about being active without triggering deep-seeded self-loathing and insecurity. I hate that physical activity has become this thing that we view as punishment — a way to control our bodies and beat them into submission.
I wish that fitness could be seen for what it is — a pathway toward greater health and well-being.
🔸Physical activity is not just something you do to burn calories.
🔸Exercise is not an apology or a form of self-flagellation for your shape, size, or choices.
As long as you approach them in these ways, they’ll be tied to your self-loathing not your self-love. No wonder so may find it hard to stay motivated, committed to, or enjoy exercise. Who wants to be committed to or enjoy hating themselves?
Society will tell you that the value of your exercise is determined by how well it can alter your body’s shape and size. But being active actually serves many very real self-loving functions that seem to have gotten lost in all that noise.
For example, I use it with my clients and students to guide them out of persistent pain, minimize reoccurring injury issues, increase strength and confidence, and create more mindfulness around how they are supporting themselves.
Movement is critical to how our bodies maintain themselves on a cellular level — all the way down in the tissues that really don’t give a shit about how many calories you’re burning or what size leggings you wear.
Do yourself a favor, root out these insidious beliefs about why exercise is important.
Move in ways that feel like love, because it is … or at least it should be.