Photo: apdk

What does it mean when we teach our kids they have to work harder and harder just to survive?

That having a childhood where they get to run around with other kids just having fun is no longer an option?

That regurgitating information constantly leads to stunted creative thought?

It means many kids are highly stressed, overwhelmed, and depressed:

Just as we’ve done for ourselves as adults, we’ve eliminated nights, weekends, and holidays for kids by making them work right through them all. Unfortunately, much of this is repetitive busy work, which has shown little positive impact on achievement.

No Child Left Behind has been an almost complete failure. AP classes in Science have not increased performance in college for this subject area.

Depression in kids more than doubled from 1995 to 2002 (though this may partly be attributed to other reasons, such as higher rates of diagnosis, there is certainly a connection between the stress put on kids and feelings of sadness and failure).

What’s the antidote? It’s easy: Play.

Even big companies are starting to get that. But if you need more convincing, check out some studies on play.

Here’s some other ways you can take action.

Photo: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

There are no easy answers to the obesity “epidemic”.

I’m not trying to diminish the issues faced by so many Americans by putting epidemic in quotation marks. But that word makes it seem like we just need to create some vaccine to kill the monster.

I know most people are well-intentioned in their pursuit of weight loss, or in their pursuit of their partner’s, or parent’s, or child’s weight loss. I know that many are heartened to watch people cry in joy on The Biggest Loser after a contestant has finally ‘broken through’. But all of these bright outlooks on permanently losing weight (which many people mistakenly believe will automatically lead to a happier life) are not really based in reality.

And that’s the part I appreciate most about Tara Parker-Pope’s recent cover article in the New York Times Magazine, The Fat Trap. She scientifically, and rather bluntly, shows us that permanent weight loss is damn near impossible for most people who take it on.

Not completely impossible, mind you, but close. Essentially, most people who lose a large amount of weight will have to closely monitor their diet and exercise every day for the rest of their lives.

And before you go thinking that it’s simply about calories in, calories out and will power, Pope explains what is finally breaking into mainstream medicine – our metabolism and weight is dependent on a myriad of body functions, including hormones and brain receptors that act similarly with food as they do to with other addictive substances. Our evolution, emotional landscape, and deeply wired brain patterns all play roles in maintaining weight loss.

Even more disheartening is that science has proved a person who has lost a large amount of weight will have to eat less and work out more than a person who was already at that lower weight to begin with. In fact, a person who is naturally 150 pounds can consume 300-400 calories more per day than a person who has lost weight. For those who don’t know, that’s a meal – or a good chunk of one.

The part of the article’s revelations that made my heart open is that maybe, just maybe, people will begin to realize that condemning others for their weight isn’t fair (particularly when they have dieted often, lost weight, and then gained it back. Which is true for almost every ‘obese’ person). That people will begin to understand losing weight isn’t simply about will power, or lack thereof. That people who try to lose weight unsuccessfully, particularly when they have previously been successful, will stop beating themselves up.

That the paradigm on weight loss is beginning to shift.

The Science of Weight Loss

Photo: Tumbleweed:-)

In this interview on NPR, Parker-Pope and Dr. Arthur Frank, founder and former director of George Washington University Weight Management Program, discuss the fact that the people who do lose weight and keep it off long term – which is only an estimated 5-20% of the people who diet, meaning an 80-95% failure rate – remain “enormously dedicated” every single day, exercising the equivalent of four extra miles a day just to maintain their new weight.

This group often still gains a few pounds back from their lowest weight.

It’s worth listening to why this is the case – for example, even a year after a person stops dieting, hunger hormones are still at high levels, while the part of the brain that controls will-power is diminished. Our ancestors packed in as much food as they could to survive during famine, and our DNA is hard-wired to do the same. That means quickly packing on pounds via less food then before starting a diet.

But I couldn’t help but think as I read Pope’s article and listened to the NPR podcast, what kind of weight loss are we discussing here? Fast, manic weight loss, to be sure. Weight loss based on drastically changing ones diet and dramatically upping exercise.

Toward the end of the NYT article even Pope admits, “One question many researchers think about is whether losing weight more slowly would make it more sustainable than the fast weight loss often used in scientific studies.” Though some experts believe the rate of weight loss is “unlikely to make a difference”, I beg to differ.

Because weight loss that happens slowly, that is due to health changes incorporated over time, is a whole lot different than throwing the body into upheaval, which is what happens when you diet.

What if we threw diet out of the equation?

Slow and Steady

What if we focused more on what makes us happy? / Photo: mdpai75

I’m not here to sell you something that is going to work for everyone. I’m not down with shelling out quick fixes. I agree with much of what Pope talks about, and appreciate the fact that she was open with her own weight struggles.

But I am here to tell you that I’ve seen, time and time again, people get healthy by taking slow and strategic steps toward a better life. They start to incorporate new foods that are healthy, ones they actually like. They slowly remove old foods, not based on the fact that these foods are ‘bad’ for them, but that their tastes have changed and they don’t desire those foods so much anymore.

They have found ways to move that feel innate, instead of listening to people tell them they need so many hours and reps at the gym. They have given up on “achieving” a particular number on the scale, and focused instead on loving their bodies as they are as much as they can.

It’s not a simple weight loss plan. This approach goes far beyond just diet and exercise. It’s a lifestyle change, and that goes down to the very core – do you love your work? Are you able to process your emotions in a way that’s good for your body? Do you have support in your life? Do you believe in something larger than you? Can you disconnect at least partially from what society says is a “healthy”, “fit”, or “hot” body and unconditionally love what’s in your skin?

For each person, it’s different. Food addiction is very real. A society full of easy, processed foods that impact our hormones at every turn is something we have to face. Chemicals in our food and environment act as endocrine disruptors and mimic estrogen while slowly diminishing our thyroid function. All the science Pope so eloquently elaborated on is fact.

But slowly unwinding from these traps so as to not shock our bodies is a stronger option than dieting. Sometimes, our bodies don’t want to move as quickly as our minds want them to.

Pope notes that people losing weight have to “find a new normal.” In other words, they can never go back to how they ate before. With this, I totally agree. But what if you found your own new normal first, and the weight came off because of it?

Photo: Buster Benson

I’m in the middle of putting together a workshop about the title above that lured you in, making some pretty little handouts and an e-book to pass along some of that secret juju.

As I was pulling in tips from all sorts of different places, I was also thinking about what to post on this week here at LH. Finally the “duh” hit me and I realized I’d go ahead and offer some of those recommendations to you guys.

I picked a couple of tips that I think are super important from three of the sections in the book, especially when you go ahead and be honest with yourself that parties are a part of the game, sugary foods will be eaten, and alcohol will be imbibed. The point here is to minimize damage while having a good time, and maybe, just maybe, come out of the holiday season even better than when you went in.

Two of the 5 Most important Ways to Get Through All the Raging Parties

2. Coconut Lovin’. Eat something with coconut, or drink full-fat coconut milk, before you go out and consume a couple (or let’s be real, several) drinks. Coconut protects your liver!

5. Drink EmergenC. Take one of these bad-boys with you to your shindig, and drink one halfway through your evening of alcohol beverage imbibing (as part of one of those “water in the middle” drinks). If you drink EmergenC right before bedtime, it can wake your body up, but if you take it before you start to swig on an egg nog cocktail, it’s going to be out of your system by the time you say “Feliz Navidad.” Take another one upon waking the next morning.

5 Necessary Ways to Start and End Each Day

I don’t care if it’s October 15th or December 24th. Start doing these things NOW, and do them every day during the holidays! They will keep you healthy in mind, body, and spirit.

1. Lemon in warm water every morning before eating.
4. Digestion or detox tea at night sometime after dinner.

Move It or Don’t Lose it

2. Go dancing. There are so many opportunities to dance during the holidays, at parties, special shows, even at work once happy hour has started. Do yourself a favor and stop thinking that people are watching. Other than to say, “Damn, she looks good!”

3. Rake leaves, shovel snow. Seriously, this is good exercise. And if you have your iPod tuned to Barry Manilow’s “Because It’s Christmas” (or AC/DC’s “Mistress for Christmas”…whatever floats your boat), you can rock out that yard in no-time, burning a couple to a few hundred calories in an instant.

What’s my biggest secret to not gaining weight and staying healthy during the crazy holidays? Check back here on Nov. 1, when my Get Through the Holidays Without Gaining Weight (and Still Have Fun) interactive e-book will be available for $14.99. Or, if you sign up in November for a nutrition and wellness consultation, it will be your free gift, along with some other goodies!

Photo: Official Star Wars Blog

There are way too many exercise options out there, and yet so few that many of us want to do over the long term.

And really, that’s the key to exercise – finding something you want to do over the long term. That means you have to enjoy it. It has to both challenge you and make you feel good. Maybe you’ll take a break from it here and there, but ultimately, it draws you in.

I believe there is some form of movement that makes the previous sentiment true for every single person.

On that note, I decided to pull some videos together of artists and yoginis doing there thing – and doing it well. I asked them to provide just a quick intro to their “exercise” of choice – yoga, bhangra box, belly-dancing, and for me, jazzy burlesque. These are all fun and meaningful forms of moving the body that anyone can enjoy.

Take a look, and see what strikes your fancy:

Lindsey Lustig, owner and operator of Blissful Living, has a BA in Philosophy from Temple University and a MA in Holistic Health Education with a specialization in Holistic Nutrition from John F. Kennedy University. She is AFAA & Zumba certified, & has participated in a work-study program at Shoshoni Ashram & Retreat in Rollinsville, Colorado. She has been teaching yoga since 2005, and Zumba and other fitness classes since 2008.

Monica Bhatnagar began her acting career in 4th grade when she starred as Tom Sawyer in an adaption of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Though an engineer by trade for many years, she has always been an actor and dancer. Monica has appeared as the lead in the movies Her Path Home, What If?, and Ammi, as well as countless plays and commercials. Check out her site for more information.

Lisa Zahiya is an innovative, award-winning performer, in-demand instructor and successful studio owner. Working in the genres of bellydance, Indian dance (Bollywood & Bhangra) and hip-hop dance, Lisa travels nationally and internationally teaching and performing. Lisa serves as a Resident Artist with the Lake Eden Arts Festival, working with 1st-8th graders in public housing communities and is also a Guest Dance Instructor with the Buncombe County School System.

Christine Garvin holds a Masters degree in Holistic Health Education and is a certified Nutrition Educator. She is co-editor of Confronting Love and has written for a variety of health, travel, and relationship sites and magazines. When she is not writing, she gives wellness consultations and choreographs and performs hip-hop and bhangra routines.

What are some other forms of movement you love?

Exercise! Eat Fruits and Veggies! Sacrifice Your First Born Child! / Photo: mikebaird

MSN Health, along with Prevention magazine, recently did one of those slideshows that forces you to flip through 10 online pages primarily to up their ranking on Alexa (each page counts as a view, instead of just one view if they were all on the same page). Trickery aside, 9 Harmless Habits That Age You had some good points. Then there were some points that we all know, but with 24-hour a day news, are bound to get regurgitated over and over again.

Here’s the gist (note: this is, as usual, geared toward women, since apparently we’re the only ones that need to try and continue to look young. Oh, and we buy most of the magazines and products):

• Go to bed at a decent hour and sleep for at least 7-8 hours
• Cut down on sugar
• Bring down your stress levels
• Exercise consistently, not only when you are trying to lose weight
• Turn down the music on your iPod because it’s making you deaf
• Hang out with your girlfriends
• Eat more fruits and veggies
• Eat good fats (I’m proud they put this one on there)
• Have more sex

Fantastic. They actually talked about sugar relating to aging, which I think doesn’t happen enough, and that the three S’s – stress, sleep, and sex – are seriously important to keep moving and groovin’. Hmm, actually I guess that would be the four S’s.

Good points aside, haven’t you already heard them already, a gazillion times? Don’t you get tired of being told what you have to do to be healthy? I couldn’t help but think as I read this how people in Africa, or South America, and even Western Europe, would just laugh at shit like this being spoon-fed to them on a daily basis (though, I have no doubt, in some of those areas, this insane approach has already been passed on).

Isn’t it ridiculous that we need to read on a computer screen to get off our asses and go live life?

You Know What To Do

Oh, those healthy American habits
Photo: sylvar

Now, I know I spend too much time on the computer. I know as I work on an article or try to read a PDF of some random health e-book that has been passed onto me, I easily get distracted by that Alexa toolbar at the top of my computer calling my attention to such articles as this MSN Health one.

And yes, being a health writer, I feel I need to click on that little link so that I can read up on whatever fascinating health information they have recently discovered. Somehow, 9 times out of 10, I’m sorely disappointed that I wasted my time and precious little mental focus. Say what?

Thing is, we know all this shit. It’s the same stuff people have been doing for thousands of years (minus having to pull themselves off the computer to get some exercise or turn down little electronic musical gadgets). I get we need to be reminded sometimes. But why is it that when we are feeling tired, we need to be told to sleep? Can we not tell that stress is making us feel stressed and about to bitch-slap someone? Are we so disconnected from our hormones that we can’t tell when we are horny? (more likely, we push those feelings away because we are busy working).

What’s That You Say?

I implore you to do one simple thing – start listening to your body. It cries for all the bullet points listed above without you having to remind it. Sure, sometimes we need a little help, but I highly recommend going to an acupuncturist or a massage therapist or some sort of natural health physician that you trust to talk about individual steps you should take to improve your health (or connect to that bleeping signal in your chest that you are trying desperately to ignore).

Feel good about your own movements, not that you’ve checked that yoga class off your list or ate that salad with tofu because that’s what Oprah said to do.

We each have our own level of needs when it comes to living and loving ourselves, and feeling good. No aggregate website, screaming trainer on The Biggest Loser, or even big-name alternative health MD can tell you what’s right for you.

Photo: e³°°°

There’s no other way to put it than to say I was annoyed. Just like the time before. In fact, every time I had been to this particular yoga teacher’s class, I itched to stand up, roll up my mat, and walk the F out.

He’s “edgy,” but admits this too readily for it to be completely authentic. I have no problem with edgy – I have a problem with someone beating it down my throat in order to show how much they really don’t care what the world thinks. Even following it with laughter doesn’t make me buy it. But I had come to his class once again because a. I really needed to take a yoga class and b. it was free.

Yet as I sat there trying to breathe through the thickening irritation, I had that ‘aha!’ moment. This, my friends, is the point of yoga. It is not to sit in a quiet, easily contemplative environment where not a sound is made as you gently stretch your thighs and breathe. If yoga is to be applied to real life, and real life pretty consistently introduces annoyances, than this teacher was in fact, bringing me a true and complete lesson. Damnit.

As my brain tried to zero in on my pointed middle-finger in Warrior II, his voice seemed to get louder and more insistently crude words frothed at his lips. I wanted to drop the rest of my fingers and just leave the middle one pointed in his direction. Still, as I struggled to breathe more deeply, to fight against the insistence of my brain to focus only on him and my reactions, I got the lesson for something else I was currently struggling with in my life. And focus is the key to both.

In the chaos
Photo: lululemon athletica

I get pulled in many directions, easily. I think it’s quite impossible in our current world not to, what with email, phone, text, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, TV, YouTube…and really, the list goes on depending on your whims, and this makes focus a quaint notion. Just think, for a moment (I know I only have your attention for a second before you click open a new window), what our bodies go through when information is continuously pummeled at it. Constant stress reaction. No calm, no restore and repair. Just fight or flight, fight or flight, fight or flight. Keep up. Don’t stop. Breakdown. Disease. Cancer. Death.

To focus doesn’t mean to not feel stress, but it does follow the natural ebb and flow of feeling up and then down and probably somewhere in the middle. To focus means you can keep at bay those insisting issues that stimulate the hell out of your mind and adrenals. To focus means you can breathe, evenly.

Really, what is the point of yoga if not to teach us how to breathe?

So, I committed that I would go to his class again. I didn’t say how often (I always break whatever I give a specific number), but that I would show up to deal with his bullshit once again. Because the lesson he doesn’t even mean to teach me is what gives me the strength and ease to face many other issues in my life. For a free yoga class, that ain’t bad.

*******************************************************************

I came across Yoga Journal’s 21-Day Yoga Challenge the other day, which begins January 10th. They will be presenting yoga videos at their site ranging from 15-45 minutes each of the 21 days. The purpose is to help instill a home yoga practice, which I can get behind because it’s free and you can do it on your own time. Then again, I’m horrible about doing things at home and on my own time, which is why I prefer classes. I’m curious as to whether anyone is doing this, and if so, what is your experience of it? Does it help to create a home practice when you have video guidance? Please share your thoughts about it below.

I’m interested in how people move past their body stories, the ones deeply implanted by their mothers, or their friends, or the TV. Or all three. How they get through the rest of their life still hearing the same words leave the mouths of their fathers, their lovers, or the magazines that cover the shelves at the grocery store.

Changing the story for a moment is easy; changing it for the rest of our life is a daily struggle.

Here is my friend Celeste’s story:

What’s yours?

Celeste Matzat is a life coach focusing on weight and body issues. You can contact her at celeste@danceyourjoycoach.com.

[Feature Image: TinyTall]

Photo: Bhaskar Banerji

I love the way you move

I love the way you fuck

I love the way your stomach rounds

I love the red bumps on your inner thighs

I love the way your arms tighten easily

I love that your stomach never will

I love that your big toe turns in slightly while the rest stand straight out

I love that your skin tans easily

I love that your face reddens even more easily

I love that your legs look long in the slightest of heels

…and short without

I love the way you snake your arms when you dance

I love that your eyes can pierce

I love that you often look away instead

I love how you get me out of bed every morning

especially when I remember a time that wasn’t so easy

I love that your face gives away exactly how you’re feeling

…even when I don’t want you too and don’t think you are

I love that you are my best friend

and accept me even when I don’t accept you

I love that you are with me no matter what happens in this life, who comes in and out of it, what I accomplish or fail

I love you

Photo: suez92

The Obesity Epidemic. I admit I don’t always know how exactly to respond to this…phrasing.

Sometimes, I think it gets thrown around with me more than other people. Those who know I went to nutrition school, or even those who spend more than five minutes with me, know that food – quality food – is an integral part of my life. Elbows are nudged when a fat person walks by, or someone who is overweight orders a large plate of meat (with a side of meat) at a restaurant where we eat. Some who don’t know me well, but have been around me a bit, expect that I’m vegetarian. There are people who’ve known me for years that forget I’m no longer a vegetarian.

There is often more than a moment of shocked silence when I finally express my feelings around the words “fat” and “obesity” (and not being vegetarian).

The politics of food, and more importantly, of being fat, are skewed at best. What was once ignored has now become public enemy number one, making any person of size the equivalent of being a person of color pre-1970.

Yes, I see this as a civil rights issue. As a society, emotional-lynching of fat people is the last safe haven of prejudice and hatred.

A View From the Outside

A friend, his son, and I walked around the North Carolina zoo on a sunny Saturday afternoon. My friend whispered to me, “It’s when I come to places like this that I really see the obesity that’s happening.”

Photo: Ed Yourdon

The night before, we had watched an episode of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. In Huntington, West Virginia where the show is filmed, we obviously noticed many people of larger size, but the thought crossed my mind that this focus might about making good TV. At the NC Zoo, there was no denying that we were surrounded by more large people than average-sized ones.

So I’m not denying there is an issue. I can also see that to a certain extent, I live in a bubble of health-conscious reality. Large cities and smaller, progressive towns tend to be more natural food focused and movement oriented, and for the last 10 years of my life, these are the only types of places I’ve lived. These cities are filled with people who like their organic apples and green smoothies. The rest of suburban and rural America is dotted with chain restaurants and the main outlet for exercise is walking from the parking lot into the front door of Target.

Still, as I look around the Whole Foods where I’m currently chomping on some green salad and a free-range burger, I see a diversity in people shopping for health food that didn’t exist ten years ago. I believe when given the choice, people want to do right by their health. Yet it has to fit into a lifestyle that is faster than the human race has previously known. Where I sit at this moment, there is a choice to easily purchase quality food. But the only thing available in most places is crap, nutrient-deficient food made by some of the largest, and most profitable, corporations out there.

The Blame Game

I wrote a bit about my view of fatism in an article at Brave New Traveler called Overweight Charged For Second Seat On Airplanes: Is “Fatism” To Blame?, comparing this form of discrimination to the accepted discrimination of yesteryear against women, people of color, and the handicapped. I should have guessed what the flavor of the comments would be before they came pouring in:

“Comparing fat people to one’s sexual orientation or race is not right. Except in very few cases, most people choose to become fat.”

“Only through discomfort will they actually try to get rid of the deadweight; widening doors and allowing them two seats in the name of PC or equality is just wrong.”

“I think the equivalent of trying to justify larger people paying the same price for first class or two seats is the equivalent of demanding that two gay people can naturally have a child together. It’s not a prejudice thing, its just is what it is.”

A PC issue? Hmm. More like a simplistic judgment that easily prompts the masses to jump on board, stones in hand.

Mixed messages anyone?
Photo: vlauria

But that’s all a part of the American Dream, isn’t it? Blame the individual. It’s your fault you’re not rich. It’s your fault you work at a job that doesn’t pay you well. It’s your fault you couldn’t afford to go to college. It’s your fault that for survival purposes, you joined a gang or started to sell drugs. It’s your fault you aren’t beautiful enough. It’s your fault that you’re not skinny. If you are not “successful” in the land of opportunity – don’t forget to shield your eyes from those systemic oppressive forces at play – it’s all just your fault.

There’s a lot of money to be made with the blame game. It doesn’t take much to realize who benefits from each of us blaming each other, or even more tragically, ourselves.

War and Peace

Yep, I have a lot of fire around how easily we blame fat people for the drain on our healthcare system, their “unsightliness”, their “disgusting” ways. It doesn’t necessarily make a lot of sense – I’ve never been what most would consider overweight. Yet I spent plenty of years believing I was, in some ways, too fat. I also know that most women in the West spend their lives thinking the same thing.

My insides bind up in a tight knot whenever I hear people’s commentary about obesity, which is never, ever forgiving. I wonder, what defines obesity exactly? Sure we have BMI’s (body mass index) and weight goals, but really, being fat is in the eye of the beholder. One person’s overweight is another person’s just right, and until you get into the morbidly obese category, it actually is not a reliable indicator of health issues (in fact, studies like the one conducted by Katherine Flegal, PhD and published in JAMA show that the overweight group had fewer deaths per year than the normal weight group, and many less deaths than the underweight group).

Some of those judgments? Let’s see if these sound familiar:

• No will-power
• Lazy
• Pig
• Disgusting
• Pathetic
• Gross
• Sad
• Just stop eating junk food already

Imagine that what hasn’t worked for establishing peace between countries – war – is the same thing that doesn’t work when dealing with obesity. “Attacking” the issue doesn’t breed love, compassion, or peace, with that last one being the most important. Don’t we all want peace in this life?

Achieving peace is never an easy thing. But the path to peace is NOT through war on other people, lands, or belief systems. And it is definitely, definitely not through war on your own body or the body of another.

Begin With Acceptance

This is a human issue, discriminatory in its basis through not fitting into an ideal developed by the ruling class of beauty. People can argue until the cows come home that it is about the healthcare costs of being obese, but in truth, it is about how we perceive larger people.

The Undressed Project
Photo: basykes

I’m not saying that taking care of yourself isn’t one of the most important jobs you have in this lifetime. Without a doubt, it is. Eating quality and nutrient-dense food, moving your body, getting enough sleep, and fitting in some reflective time makes your mind work better – period, really – and helps to keep your emotions steady. Life feels more worth living when we feel good, and it’s hard to feel good without loving yourself in these ways.

But we have a chance here to look at the “problem” in a different way: what is at the root of this “epidemic”? Is it really laziness, or is it depression? Is it lack of will-power, or is it pain? Can we provide the tools to people to reconnect to their bodies and spirits, filling the void that is currently being stuffed with food? Can good food be easily found in more than just cities and liberal towns?

Can we look at the whole picture and reach for compassion instead of condemnation?

Photo: mary_gaston22

As the new year opens, many of us are resolving to get up off the couch and get our bodies into shape. But if we don’t examine our underlying attitudes towards exercise, then we may end up facing some mental barriers to getting physical.

Changing your mind might just be the first step to changing your body. Here are a few common notions – and their truths – that I have witnessed as a personal trainer:

Grueling Conditioning vs. Pleasurable Movement

On television shows like the “Biggest Loser”, the media often portrays exercise as suffering. The reality is, the “no pain, no gain” approach actually creates a huge psychological hurtle to just getting started. If we associate the gym with punishment, we’ll be less inclined to go, and unlikely to consistently return.

Conversely, finding an activity that you enjoy – a dance class with a dynamic instructor, a compelling training event or a beautiful, nearby hiking trail – will ensure that you will repeatedly go. Exercising can, and should, be both challenging and pleasurable. Finding a sense of joy while exercising will ensure that you look forward to your next workout, and will eventually help you increase your intensity.

Short Term Results vs. A Lifetime of Health

Photo: Claudio Matsuoka

If you are working out to obtain six-pack-abs or a “bikini body,” then you might resort to extreme routines. Onerous fitness programs, like extreme caloric restriction, may lead to rapid weight loss, yet are virtually impossible to maintain.

Instead of toughing out the routine to achieve a perfect body, consider exercise as lifelong practice of crucial and feel-good self-care. Regularly breaking a sweat serves as very potent medicine regardless of your weight, age, fitness level or body type. To reap the benefits of fitness, we need to take this medicine for the rest of our lives, instead of administering it for a quick fix.

Spot Reduction vs. Functional Fitness

When I worked at a women’s fitness center, I often heard women list a litany of hated body parts like their abs, upper arms, or thighs. They have come to expect that they can “fix” individual body parts by using specific pieces of gym equipment that isolate individualized muscles groups.

Unfortunately, the fitness industry has fueled the idea of “spot reduction” with infomercials for gizmos called “ab-blasters” or “thigh masters”. The fact is, depending on your genetic disposition, you may or may not be able to sweat your way into a visibly muscular physique.

Photo: Fabio Macòr

Regardless, muscles are not designed to work in isolation with a machine providing support for the spine and pelvis. Popular strength training equipment that includes a seat and back support actually does us a disservice by denying us a chance to build abdominopelvic stability.

My rule of thumb is: “If it looks like a chair, then beware.” Getting out of chairs develops our core muscles and trains the muscles to effectively work together.

Practicing integrated, full body movements (also called compound exercises) can drastically improve posture, build balance, boost athletic skill, address back pain and increase energy. Exercise your body as an integrated, functional whole instead a fractured, conglomeration of flawed parts.

Working Out vs. Working In

Too often, exercise becomes pigeonholed as an atonement for dietary transgressions. Instead of using it as self-punishment, a movement practice can be a form of self-determination. Beyond burning calories, training can provide emotional balance, foster introspection, and increase creativity.

The conscious movement of our body opens up mental blocks and soothes our inner self. One of the reasons that yoga and other mind-body approaches have become so popular is because they engage the physical, mental, and spiritual dimensions of a person.

If you find yourself giving up on exercise, then you might recognize some of these attitudes. If your workouts are no fun or you are just trying to squeeze into a smaller dress size, you might get stuck in an “all or nothing” mentality.

But you may be less apt to throw in the gym towel if you reconsider why and how you are working out. So whether you choose swimming, hula-hooping, or rock climbing, do something that you love and will do regularly. We can exercise to condition the body as well as refresh the mind and enliven the spirit.