Gorilla!

Let’s talk about the 600-pound gorilla in the middle of the room.  (I looked it up and that is the high end of gorilla weight.)  In this case, it’s a metaphorical gorilla.  (If there is a real gorilla in the middle of the room, please stop reading and go somewhere safer.)  The metaphorical gorilla stands for weight.

Weight is a weighty topic in fitness.  We hear a lot, culturally, about the obesity epidemic.  Our doctors may cluck about our BMI.  It is probably impossible to pick up any women’s magazine without finding some kind of diet or other scheme designed to help us lose weight.  Additionally, there are some newish drugs out there that do promote weight loss.

 

There is not a lot of conclusive evidence that body weight alone is a factor in health.  People of all sizes can be strong and fit and healthy.  People who “look” healthy in terms of weight can still have heart disease, COPD, high cholesterol, and other diseases that we have been taught to associate with weight.

 

As a personal trainer and Pilates instructor, I don’t focus on weight unless it is a major priority for my clients.  I think there are much better ways to approach fitness than through the lens of weight loss (although I do, in fact, have a certification in the process).  I prefer to look on fitness as a process of feeling better in our bodies, of building capability.  Many of us, as we become stronger and more active, do naturally get slimmer, but some of us, due to various factors including diet and genetics, don’t.  This does not mean that working out is a waste of time.

 

I’m not here to judge anyone.  If someone is motivated by a smaller number on the scale, I support that.  But I also want that same person to know that they are so much more than a number.

 

Go play.