The SCALES OF JUDGEMENT. Tremble and BE JUDGED! What absolutely does not help you either lose weight or be more healthful, is arguing about whether or not it’s possible to be both fat and healthy. From an individual point of view, it’s entirely unhelpful (even though I think it’s important on a societal scale). Is believing that you cannot be fat and healthy going to help you lose weight? No. Is believing that you can be fat and healthy going to help you become more healthy? Maybe. Depends on your point of view, and whether or not you care for your own wellbeing enough to dedicate yourself to your own development. A maybe is better than a no, so I find the whole argument rather tiresome. And this is why I’m so into genuinely loving and caring for yourself. Because only then are you capable of growth – only then will you really care about building a better life for yourself. Self-hating practices only chain you to the wheel of failure – I touched on this previously. And anyway, who cares whether or not being fat is healthy if we don’t have a reliable way of getting people thin? It’s totally irrelevant. Whatever your size, it is possible to focus on improving your health. Maybe you’ll lose weight, maybe you won’t, but at least you’ll be doing something practical. You’ll be encouraging nurturing, healthful behaviours, and discouraging practices that harm you. You’ll give yourself a chance to enjoy exercise, and it’s only enjoyment that will keep you training. Discipline isn’t enough and hatred fails everyone sooner or later. And guess what? Most diets are hurtful. Most dieters gain weight in the long run. Are you trying to be one of the (remarkably few) special unique snowflakes who succeeds, or are you going to learn from the rest of our mistakes? Are you going to punish yourself with exercise, or are you going to invest in your own personal development? Do you love yourself enough to open up and explore movement freely, or do you rely on believing you’re not good enough in order to stay motivated? Does your training involve grinding away at the same old shit, or is it geared towards growth?
Are you going to sacrifice your future health in order to be thin, beautiful and accepted – now? It is possible to treat a dysfunctional relationship with food; it is possible to overcome disordered eating patterns, and these things will make you healthier – even if you don’t shed a single pound. These things will set you up to be healthier for the long term. It is possible to enjoy those things that are naturally, intrinsically good for us - exercise and nutritious food. They can be satisfying if you explore them, but you might need to cultivate that enjoyment, and that can be tricky. Turning the TV on while you train is the best way to sabotage any hope of satisfaction - if you try to ignore the fact that you’re moving, you’ll never discover what you like to do. If you never train with intensity, you never give yourself a chance to experience the deep satisfaction that good training delivers. Try hitting that point, and watch TV at the same time. Intensity demands focus. Unfortunately, we’re usually told what we need to be doing is burning calories, getting enough cardio, and doing any old mindless shit. We’re seldom encouraged to explore and investigate for ourselves. We’re seldom told how to really develop our strength and athleticism. The industry expects us to be idiots who don’t care. The hypocrisy of our society is revealed when people ignore the health detriments to dieting, claiming that any thinness is good thinness. There’s always a flip-side to the coin, and if you focus on what’s truly good for you, you have the best chance of success. Chronic dieting depletes you of energy, nutrition, and fucks with your metabolism and hormones. If you focus on what does you harm – punishing yourself, depriving yourself, judging yourself, these things will not lead to improved health and vitality. They will only make you sick in years to come. And isn’t that why we’re supposed to try to lose weight in the first place? To be more healthy? Or are we more concerned with the appearance of health? Of course I think we are, which is why I phrased the question that way – and clearly I think it’s to our detriment.
2 Comments
Michellers
10/4/2011 09:39:41 am
Another awesome post!
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Chris Serong
10/4/2011 01:06:28 pm
Thank you for your thoughts! For me, it's about trying to experience stuff fully, and not hiding in delusion or ignorance. I don't know how much it matters what that 'stuff' is exactly, but that's the essence of zen: pure experience without concepts. It doesn't matter what you're doing, it's about awareness, which connects us with ourselves. And it's so much harder than following some program with 'discipline' and 'doing what you're told' and all that jazz.
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