Thin is NOT Fit

I've been involved with Lakota Indians for many years. A long time ago, an elder told me that when you look at something with your eyes, your vision actually distracts you from what you are really looking at. Another way to express this is that the eyes can make you focus on what you think you see, and stop you from understanding the full story of what you are looking at. Today's post is about an example of that wisdom as it applies to fitness and losing weight.

Over the weekend a friend came over to visit with her daughter who is only 19-years old. They brought dunkin donuts with them and tried to cajole me into eating with them--some how, I was able to say "no" and sip my mint tea and have a few rice cakes.

ANYWAY, the daughter is gorgeous-- as only a 19-year old can be-- perfect body, clear skin, long wavy hair-- and knows how to dress to show off her best ASSets. Yes, she really stays aBREAST of the latest fashion trends. LOL

It would be easy for people like us, who have a lot of weight to lose, to look at this girl and at first glance say, "I wish I could be like her." But let me assure you my friends, you DON'T want to be like her! Read on to find out why!

First of all, she excused herself every 15-minutes to go outside and have a cigarette. There's only one small staircase in the entry to my home and she would be winded each time she came back in. So here's a girl in the prime of her life who doesn't have the aerobic capacity of someone like me-- a fat old lady who is proud to be walking a mile or two a day.

Next, we have a weight bench, barbell and dumb bell sets and other exercise equipment in our sitting room. She asked if my husband lifts weights and was SHOCKED when I told her that I am the one who uses the weights.

She tried to pick up a 20 pound dumb bell and needed two hands to lift it. I do bicep curls with those 20 pound dumb bells and will be increasing the weight soon -- and I've only been doing this for 2 months. She asked me to demonstrate a bicep curl and I could tell that she thought I was full of shit and wouldn't be able to do it. Boy, did I shock her! It was priceless!

I could go on, but you get the idea.

If you started at a high body weight, like I did, and you go for fitness, not just thinness, then I have good news for you--- you will achieve really phenomenal levels of strength, aerobic capacity and endurance LONG before you reach your goal weight.

You may be three or four hundred pounds at the start and not as young as you used to be, but if you watch what you eat and put some honest effort into cardio and weight training, I guaran-freakin-tee ya that within a few months you'll be able to run circles around the average young party animal.

Yeah, it takes a year, give a or take a few months either way, for the average person to lose 100 pounds. But you can be stronger, faster, and more flexible within a few weeks of working out, and LONG before you reach goal you can be fitter than people who are half your age and half your body weight.

This is not only good for your health-- it is great for your self-respect and self-esteem. It gives you something to be proud of while you work on getting the rest of the weight off.

Right now, in spite of the fact that I've lost over 100 pounds since March and have been exercising faithfully since the middle of summer....... the fact is, I still have another 100 pounds to lose and I don't LOOK like someone who is at all fit. I don't look like someone who can walk 2 miles, lift heavy weights, or do squats in proper form -- but I can!

I have 37" legs. Do I want to look good in skirts again? You betcha!! I'd be crazy not to want that. But in the meantime, nurturing the budding athlete within allows me to focus on the positive and to be grateful for what I have already achieved.

Put me beside any thin 20-something and ask people which one is the fit one and they will all say it must be the thin one. LOOKS are deceiving. Don't deceive yourself! If you started at a high weight and have been exercising for awhile, you have already achieved far more than what the mirror or the scale can show you.

Give yourself credit! Thin is not fit. Fashionable does not equal real beauty. There is beauty in a woman who has taken on the goals that we have and who gives her all towards those objectives every day. People who cannot look at you and see that have not learned how to look at things and understand what they are really seeing. They need to go visit the native elders and learn that the eyes don't tell the whole story.

Be good to you today and do at least ONE thing that will get you closer to your goal!

xo
Peace out!