There has been a lot of pushback against the Fit at Any Size movement. Many critics hate the concept, believing it to be 'enabling' of fat people. They think it gives the overweight an excuse to just accept their size and stop trying to do anything about it. Or something. Honestly, I'm not sure why these people are bitching, other than just to be bitching about fat people for whatever reason. Though, to be fair, perhaps they really don't understand the Fit at Any Size concept.
FaAS does not mean you just sit on the couch, proclaim to be healthy, and go back to the business of eating your potato chips. The idea is that you realize that no matter what size you are, you can begin to live a more healthy lifestyle. You can begin to explore physical fitness. You can analyze your eating habits and think about what is working for you and what isn't.
Now some people might ask how this is different from traditional dieting. I think the best way to look at that concerns how view diets. If you ask anyone, they will tell you that a diet is a way you eat for a certain period of time until you reach your goal weight. Then most of them will glibly tell you that diets don't work. For most people, they certainly do not. Even people who lose lots of weight and reach their goals tend to gain the weight back.
This is because we view a diet as a means to an end. "This is the horrible bullshit I'll put up with in order to be a size six." People hate diets. People feel deprived on diets. People, who do not quit the diet, look towards the end of it with hope and dread. They hope that it will soon be over and dread that they will gain the weight back. In fact, when you diet, you are rarely IN THE MOMENT of your life. You are almost always living for that goal weight . . . or you're sneaking candy bars in your car.
Fit at Any Size is not about an eventual goal. It accepts that you are the person you are right now and that it is possible you may NEVER weigh less than this. Because of this basic acceptance, weight loss is not THE goal at all. It may happen or it may not. The goal, then, becomes the idea of better fitness.
Instead of dieting, you begin to look at your food in terms of how it can be better. Small changes can be made, at a pace you can live with. You never have to feel deprived, because it isn't about limiting what you eat. However, as time passes and you continue to make different choices, you DO begin to eat less. You find that you want a homecooked meal instead of eating out. You find that you like your tea without sugar. You can handle the small bite of chocolate instead of the whole chocolate bar. But because you're doing this because it's what you truly desire, you don't feel like you're being punished for doing it.
Workouts when one is dieting are concerned with burning as much calories as possible. This means that people tend to overtax their bodies and be exhausted most of the time. They do exercise that they hate, in fact, many of them feel nothing but hatred and fear about workouts. If the goals are hundreds of pounds away, the workouts can feel like hopeless torture. Often the only results seen are exhaustion, pain, and injury. I screwed up my ankle in middle school gym and I was HAPPY because that meant I could sit out the class. This isn't a positive outlook on physical fitness.
However, with Fit at Any Size, the idea is to begin to add more movement into your life. It's not about losing weight or burning calories, it's about strengthening the body, building more stamina, and achieving a greater level of physical balance. Sometimes, exercise is merely about pain management and learning how stretching muscles can make the body feel better. The process is more slow and the participant feels like they have more control. Because of this, one can develop a positive relationship with workouts. It isn't about some goal down the road; it is about how you feel better today than you did yesterday.
I may never reach a weight that is concerned normal. I may always be a heavy woman. However, I can be a stronger woman. I can be a more healthy woman than I am now. I can have a better heart rate and have more stamina. I can walk farther than I did today. This makes me happy. It makes me more healthy.
No comments:
Post a Comment