Are You Your Own Worst Enemy?

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

07 Jul 2006 05:30 AM

I wrestled with whether to post this in the Weight Loss blog or here in Fitness. I finally decided to put it here in Fitness because it confronts your level of personal fitness on a mental, emotional and physical level. I read the most interesting article recently and it got me to thinking. This article challenged why we stayed fat. Exercise and fitness is a vital component in choosing to lose weight. In many weight loss programs, you learn about how to adjust your lifestyle and make overall life changes in order to achieve the weight loss that you want.

But there is more to it than that - there is the mental place you occupy when you are overweight or out of shape. Bear with me here, because I am not psychologist or a psychiatrist. But the article made a compelling argument for the idea that we choose to be overweight. We use our status as overweight as a defensive mechanism and while we want to lose weight and become more fit on the one hand, we sabotage ourselves with the other in order to keep our protective shielding in place.

This Seems Like a Stretch

I know that this seems like a stretch and to be perfectly honest, my initial reaction is - no, I have never chosen to be overweight. Yet, on deeper reflection - there is something to be said for letting your perceptions color your reactions. When you perceive yourself in an unhealthy fashion - you can and will treat yourself in an unhealthy manner. If you don't think you're worth it - why would you invest in improving yourself.

So the argument can be made, if you make the time for yourself, if you improve yourself - you make yourself important and you prove to yourself that you are worth something. So consider for yourself, why are you not working out - why aren't you meeting your fitness goals, what is holding you back?

Are you your own worst enemy?

If you think you might be - or even if you don't think you are - there is a way to find out. Make a list of the things you aren't doing or are uncomfortable doing in your present state of physical fitness. Understand - that achieving your fitness goals or even your ideal weight doesn't mean that all changes will be great. You may have to confront problems you've always attributed to your weight or your physical condition.

You may have to admit to things you don't want to admit to and if you can identify your fears - you stand a better chance of overcoming them. There is an old saying that suggests you have nothing to fear, but fear itself - admitting to your own fears and holding them up in the light can help you confront them head on - and you can stop sabotaging yourself.

What do you think?

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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