I was scrolling through Pinterest
yesterday looking for motivational quotes to put on our goal board in the gym where I work. In the
midst of all of the words and images of people running, lifting weights,
practicing yoga, there was one particular box that made me pause. It said: “Don’t
listen to your inner fatty. She’s an evil b*tch. She misses cupcakes.” Sure, it
was funny. (Because who doesn’t like cupcakes? They are delicious.) But it was
the reference to the inner self that made me think about the quote beyond its
basic humor.
We all have voice in our head that dictates
what we do throughout the day. It determines whether we go to the gym after a
long day at work or we head home to the couch; whether we eat the salad at
lunch or the massive burrito; and whether we decide to continue working towards
our fitness and health goals or let them fall to the wayside. According to the
quote mentioned above when we make the choice to head to the gym, eat the
salad, or keep pushing towards our goals, our skinny self is in charge; when we
sit back on the couch, eat the burrito, and give up on ourselves, our inner
fatty is wheeling his or her ugly head. However, what if we consider that we are
not simply one or the other – fat or thin – but rather a combination of the
two?
Trying to be just the skinny self is hard – it requires a lot of commitment,
time, and effort on one’s part to stay motivated on a daily basis. However, channeling
only our inner chubby self does not
necessarily make life easy either; it can lead to a load of problems, including
weight gain, diabetes, heart disease, among other issues. As a result, like
most things in life, the trick is to find a balance between the two and
acknowledge that while our skinny and fat selves are at odds with one another
essentially they are one in the same - because they make up you.
So who do we achieve balance in fitness,
in our diet, in achieving better health? Begin by starting small, making sure that
your goals are specific, realistic, measureable, time bound, and achievable. Being
prepared to run a marathon in a month’s time is time sensitive, specific, and
measureable; however, if you are hitting the road for the first time and have
yet to run even a 5k that goal is neither realistic nor attainable. Likewise, if
you are looking to drop a few pounds before the holidays arrive, that is
fantastic. But you need to determine exactly how much weight you would like to lose and by when; what is
realistic for your body type (and your
schedule); and then create a plan to establish healthy eating habits that you can maintain for the long-term, not a fad diet. Whatever type of plan you are creating,
whether it is a training schedule or diet strategy, be sure to give your lean
self a break once you have established those healthy habits and give the chubby bunny inside a nod once in awhile.
Reason being? It will prevent burnout on
the fitness side. It will keep you from binge cheating on your diet (e.g. not
just eating the one donut – but eating the whole
pack of donuts). But even more so, it will bring a sense of balance to your
life, allow you to sustain your healthy habits, and still work towards your
fitness and health goals rather than contribute the vicious yo-yo dieting and “get
fit – fall off the wagon” cycles.
Our inner fatty is there, but s/he is not
necessarily evil. S/he simply needs to be heard once in a while in order to
give the skinny self a rest from all that exercising and clean eating. But more
importantly, the two have to work together to keep our whole self sane and to
keep ourselves on a path to better overall health. So… if you’ve already hit
the gym everyday this week so far: cupcake, anyone?
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