Weight Loss, Being Fit, and the role of exercise in Life

Jet Rupar, LMT EP-C

Scrolling through Facebook this week I saw a meme with the basic statement that all choices in life are difficult; choose the hard you’re willing to face. The inevitable comments included “that’s offensive” or “no, that’s not it at all”.

Those reactions cut short the motivation I got from reading the original meme. My first reaction to reading it was to look at myself and say, “Self, you have a list of things that you need to work on, go do your thing!!!!! You keep saying you need to lose the weight. Go, make your body feel better! And all of that stuff you need to do for the business? All of the positive mental work that goes into making it sucessful?! DO IT!!! You’ve got this!”

However, I do see the other side of that, too. It can be very hard to lose weight for a myriad of reasons. Genetics, medications, disease processes (Hypothyroidism, I’m looking at you…). And no, hypothyroidism is not the only thing out there that can be against you when losing weight.

Everything is hard, for different reasons. Working out is hard, it’s physical and mental effort. Not working out is hard, because there are obstacles and the feeling of being stuck and frustrated sucks. People want to lose weight for many different reasons. Because they want to be more “fit”, or they want to feel better, or due to societal factors of what “healthy” should look like.

I have dealt with all of this my whole life. I have always been classified as heavy. Sometimes it was just “overweight”, sometimes it was obese. And yes, many times I have loathed myself due to my weight because it doesn’t come off easily for me. I didn’t learn until later in my life that my thyroid doesn’t produce enough of the hormone it needs, which means my metabolism is lower, which means I have to work harder to get the weight off.

I do what I can. Which is all I can do.

We all have battles with our bodies. I know a lot of people who have chronic pain who have issues just getting out of bed and through a whole work day, let alone trying to find the energy and motivation for a work out. It’s a fight with the body and with the mind.

All any of us can do is what we can. Some days, that may be some. Some days may be none. Some days that may be a lot more. We are still valid no matter what we can do, and our best effort can look completely different from one day to the next.

You can be fit and still have fat on you. You can be skinny and have not be as healthy because of hidden fat. You can have a lot of muscle and very little fat, but still have inflammation and other health issues. What you look like does not always correctly show what is going on in your body.

Exercise doesn’t have to be an all out effort. You don’t have to break yourself to be healthy. Any activity is good! For some people that’s an hour running or lifting weights. For other people, that’s walking five minutes more than yesterday, or stretching when they get out of bed. Choose what works for your body, your mind, and your life. Even small increases in activity can help your physical and mental health.

Know that I, Jet, know what it is like. And I am here for you, where ever you are in your journey. If you want to achieve more, you can do it. Whether you go it alone or with a trainer, we are here for you!