Thin is Overrated.

Hey Amanda,

So you and I both know that American eating habits are iffy. Thinness, however, is irrelevant to nutrition. The Obesity Epidemic news report cliche of watching fat people walk around with their heads out of the frame is really unacceptable. They are human beings with families and aspirations and struggles. I hate the mindset that those video montages display. It’s still not acceptable to judge someone's values and worth based on their bodies. 

Obesity Epidemic: n. A public health concern that is often used to justify fat-shaming. Similar to the phenomena of “Bless her heart,” one may invoke “For their health” before an insult to mask disgust, or otherwise ignore the moral imperative to treat everyone with human dignity.  

All things being equal, if you're not at a healthy weight being overweight is actually healthier than being underweight. Let’s stop high-fiveing celebrity anorexia in the name of “getting healthy” when you really just mean getting skinny. Thin does not equal healthy.

Let’s Meet Some Olympians

Sarah Robles

Meet Sarah Robles. She's an Olympic weightlifter, and the strongest woman in America.

Reese Hoffa

Reese Hoffa, Bronze medalist in Shot Put at the London Games. Hoffa is one of the most consistently awesome shot-putters in history, making more than a hundred "over 21 meter" throws in competition. He can also solve a Rubik's Cube in under 30 seconds. This is completely unrelated to his physical fitness, but it's awesome, so worth mentioning.

Are these olympians thin? No. 

Are they fit?

Um, Robles can lift a quarter of a ton and hold it over her head. Hoffa  launched 16 lbs of metal more than 70 feet with his bare hands at the Olympics.  You'd have a hard time coming up with a definition of fitness that excluded them.

That is if you've ever stopped to think about the definition of fitness. Fit, contrary to popular belief, is not a synonym for sexy.

Sex appeal is a really bad yardstick for health. BMI is a bad yardstick. Blood sugar levels are approaching an acceptable measure. At least they are more accurate on an individual basis and more relevant to what actually kills people--diabetes--the 7th leading cause of death in the US.

The moral of the story is you can't tell if someone is healthy by looking at them. Bigots gauge work ethic or self control by skin color, eye shape, or pant size---you shouldn't.  

As a total non-athlete, I freely endorse the idea that we undervalue our bodies when all we do is sit, walk, or sleep. It's unhealthy, but it's not "Eww, really? Gross." Recently, I've gotten really dedicated to pseudo-pilates and I've literally realized I had muscles in places I didn't know about. I can even do one of these now:

via Be Fit Physical Therapy & Pilates Ltd.

I'm not any smaller, really. That wasn't the point. I'm just a whole lot fitter. And if you're currently ignoring all the remarkable physical feats your body can do, well, I invite you to take strides towards becoming a fitter you. 

But remember, 

No compliment sounds as good 

as accomplishment feels.

If you need motivation, always, always, always choose competence over vanity,
Steph

Anyone else have problems internalizing the difference between fit and thin, 

even when you know better?

 It's hard to notice the water you swim in.