fitness

I recently watched the documentary “Fit for TV: The Reality of The Biggest Loser,” and it reinforced even more how toxic diet culture is. I grew up surrounded by the Biggest Loser, Beachbody and all the weight-loss pills that were constantly being shoved in your face.

Back then how they advertised was early morning informercials. They were on at times when people were the most vulnerable and more likely to be sucked into making rash decisions. Hell, even I bought into a lot of what these companies were selling at the time.

I had the Beachbody DVD sets, bought new programs when they came out. I had the Biggest Loser cookbooks and their workout DVDs. Back when you thought a workout program or a particular diet was going to change your life. And that is not to say that it couldn’t, but these companies knew what they were doing. It was a mass marketing scheme, that worked at that time.

It brings me back to the Biggest Loser, I can remember watching the show back then, seeing these contestants, and think wow, look at all the weight that the lost. You were mesmerized by it all, but when you watch the documentary, you realize that in all honesty they were not being taught anything. Their participation on the show was for ratings. And if we are being completely honest…. if you dangle a 250K carrot in front of someone’s face, what do you think their motivation is? Because it’s no longer about losing weight and getting healthy, it’s about losing the most weight, so I can win that money. Money then becomes this huge motivational factor.

A lot of these contestants had gained if not all, but most of the weight that they had lost from their time on the show. They had not been taught about proper diet and exercise, how to maintain that once they left the show. Ultimately, while some may have won the prize, they were the loser in the end because it set them up for failure.

It’s why diet culture is so toxic. In order to achieve this, you have to do that, a one size fits all approach. There are always new drugs or products on the market, aimed at helping you achieve those results and people still buy into it because they are looking for that quick fix.

Imagine if we swapped the word diet for lifestyle, how that would change our perspective on what was possible. How we would be less likely to subscribe to the noise telling us that we are doing it wrong. When in actuality we are doing it right, making small changes that carry us into the long run, not just the right now.

I have navigated the roads of a healthy lifestyle for over 20 years. It has been filled with its ups and downs.

Remember the days when you could eat anything, not exercise and not gain a pound? The joys of being a teenager with a fast metabolism. Then you get older, metabolism slows, you start packing on the pounds and next thing you know you are over 150lbs at only 5ft 2.5inches.

When I looked at myself in the mirror during those times, I hated what I saw. I tried everything I could, from diet fads, exercise programs guaranteed to get results and diet pills, before there was Ozempic. My brain could not seem to comprehend that I hadn’t packed on this weight in a day, therefore it wasn’t going to come off in one.

I developed an unhealthy obsession with the scale. Every time I stepped on it and didn’t see the results I wanted, I spiraled into self-sabotage mode. Stopping all exercise and going back to old eating habits.

I needed to retrain my brain…to not compare my journey to someone else’s. I also needed to stop listening to all that fitness noise that was out there. It can be deafening, with their never miss a Monday and treating fitness as a one size all mentality.

It’s not a one size all, what works for someone else, doesn’t mean it is going to work for me.

When we change the way, we look at things, it has a way of clicking into place. I ditched the scale fully, a few years ago. I don’t deny my body of cravings I might have. I also don’t work out 7 days a week for hours on end. There is no judgement if that is your thing, it’s just not me. And most importantly I stopped beating myself up for every time I missed a workout or gave into a craving.

I focus on healthy habits…I am not looking to meet quotas, just to be the healthiest version of myself.