Inspirational Musings on Health and Fitness
Imagine! It is actually possible that you were never meant to be a size 6. Next time you’re at a family gathering, take a good look at those you are most closely related to. Are all of them perfectly built and shaped? Do all of them fit the image of the ideal human? On the scale of health and fitness are they all a ten, or are they like you, a perfect six and a half? Perhaps they are exactly as they were meant to be. Perhaps you also turned out just like the rest of the family, a perfect almost seven.The first consideration in any fitness program must be an honest evaluation of your health and fitness level coupled with realistic expectations for change. Would it not be wonderful if the media broadcast those ideas daily and everywhere, instead of trying to make us all the same?. What’s right for one person is not necessarily so for all. We do not all fit the same mold, and neither should we be expected to do so.The second consideration in your efforts to lose weight and increase fitness is patience with yourself.If that honest look in the mirror did say that a little less weight might not be a bad idea, then make it truly an honest evaluation, and make your expectations ‘fit the crime.’ Don’t fall for the unrealistic and quite frankly unhealthy quick weight loss diet trap. Depending on what you decide, realize that any extra weight took a while to grow on you. Similarly, it is going to take a while to take leave of it.The third consideration is a realistic evaluation of the advertising which bombards us on a daily basis.Are you tempted to buy every magazine that promises to reveal the latest diet secrets? Do you stop dead in your tracks when you see a new ‘fat burning’ supplement being advertised? Do you give the media generally far more credibility than they deserve? Ask yourself how often you have come across a seemingly informative article that was really an advertisement.You have always known, of course, that the advertisers pay the media’s bills. Has it occurred to you, though, that those same media may not at the same time be prepared to report truthfully any damaging or contradicting information which may have come to light about an advertiser’s product? Occasionally we do hear sentences like, ‘the opinions expressed are not necessarily the opinions of the broadcaster,’ but it never hurts to do your own due diligence. There is good information out there. You just need to look for it.