How often have you heard the words “I need to lose WEIGHT?” I’m pretty confident that you’ve heard it more than once a day (usually from the same people). Does one really need to lose weight???
We see ads all the time advertising “lose 10 pounds in 3 days”, gyms selling and telling people about “” programs. People saying I “need” to lose weight for a wedding, a trip etc. Where does this number of pounds come from … why do people feel the need to throw out this number of pounds they need to lose. Will they be healthier at this weight they want to be at???
The obsession with the number of pounds one loses/gains is totally ridiculous and misguided.
Scales are one of the main reasons that people don’t meet their fitness goals or get discouraged about fitness altogether. Going to a gym filled with hope to lose those extra pounds, only to find that you’ve gained weight. They walk into a change room at the gym, weigh themselves before and after they workout (hoping for a miraculous change in their weight). Then to their great disappointment, there is little to no change.
People need to learn (more importantly taught) that your actual weight on a scale has little bearing on your health (if other factors are met). One’s фокус should be on shrinking fat cells, gaining lean muscle tissue while losing inches. Along with that, improving their cardiovascular endurance. With so much фокус put on scale weight, people lose sight of what’s truly important … THEIR HEALTH!!!
By practicing proper exercise and nutritional habits, you might very well gain weight when you step on a scale. This isn’t the end of the world though. If you’re losing inches in your waist, hips, chest etc., and your weight is the same, you’re doing very well! You’re building lean muscle & losing fat (muscle burns fat). One really has to know all the factors before they give up trying a healthier lifestyle.
Muscle weighs more than fat … if you’re gaining weight, losing inches, breathing better, have more energy, should it matter if you’re losing weight on the scale?! “We” (the fitness community as a whole) really have to get people’s minds in the right place so they too can truly enjoy a healthier and a better quality of life. Pushing “weight loss” on people will discourage more than help as most aren’t going to lose the number of pounds they set out to lose (if all is going well with their training & nutrition).
One’s health shouldn’t come at a price! Preying on people’s insecurities about their weight just to make a buck isn’t going to help anyone. Truth be told, if less фокус was put on weight, we would see A LOT more “healthy” people. More people getting involved in fitness is beneficial for all concerned.
The fitness industry and people in general really need to give and get the facts so we all can live better … “together”.
The divide between the two needs to be closed!
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