Disclaimer: Always seek the advice of your physician before starting or altering any exercise or dietary plan. We all know them, those people who eat what they want, when they want, can eat a whole chocolate cake and not gain an ounce and are complete couch potatoes! I personally know a few, and can honestly say from time to time that my green-eyed monster comes out, I am so jealous!! Mostly because I used to be one of them when I was younger. I could eat whatever, and believe me I did, and I never gained weight, never felt sick, none of it. Then I hit my mid 30’s (eeeks that was a long time ago) and it all changed for me. I wasn’t one of the “lucky” ones that kept that wonderful metabolism running at Mach 3 for a lifetime. I slowly started to gain weight, I can’t say I became less active, but my activity was definitely different. Where I used to be out riding my horses, growing a big garden, doing physically demanding chores, I was now running after kids and all the appointments and activities that go hand in hand with raising a family. But I wonder, did I actually lose? Yes, I gained some weight. Yes, I developed some health issues, not all around weight though. Some of it is genetics, some is my diet, some is lack of exercise, and some just plain and simply can happen as we get older. Some of my skinny friends with their wonderful metabolism’s have worse health issues than I have!! How could this be?? Isn’t skinny healthy? Isn’t that what we’ve all been told all these years?
Let’s shed some light (or my opinion) on this and the “skinny” myth. When I started to gain weight, I started the yo yo dieting that most of us have endured over the years. If you’ve had success and kept that success I applaud you!! I did not. I spent A LOT of money on all kinds of fad diets, programs and the like over the last 15 years. I had some great short lived success on some of them even. I talked to my Doctor, they aren’t always the best resource, however they do the bloodwork, check your blood pressure etc., and that’s how some of the differences start with the “skinny” people. We don’t necessarily feel bad, we just want the Doctor to give us a magic answer to lose that weight, however, we start to learn that our blood pressure is a little bit high, or our cholesterol is sitting on the fence, maybe our blood sugars are just slightly over what is recommended. Oh, and while were there let’s get that knee checked out that’s been giving us trouble. So, we learn, early on that we have some indicators that if we don’t smarten up we will have problems and we try to change our lifestyle and diets to fix it. Our skinny friends, don’t go to the doctor for these issues. Some of their health problems aren’t identified early and what you don’t know can’t hurt you right?? Those wonderful BMI charts, in my personal opinion should be thrown to the curb!! I get that they are a “guideline” but some people live by them and some professionals think they are the best resource for treatment. I am a 50-yr. old female that is almost 6 feet tall. According to that chart I should weigh in between 135 and 175 lbs. First of all, that’s quite the spread! If I weighed 150 even, I would be extremely skinny and likely not look healthy even. But my skinny friends, look at this and think they are doing great!!! They might be if they are eating properly, exercising etc. But most of them aren’t. Then something happens and they go to the Doctor and they find out that that metabolism that allowed them to eat whatever for all these years, hid the truth. Their blood pressure is dangerously high, their cholesterol is high, they have fatty livers, some are even type 2 diabetics and the list goes on. They are shocked!! They are “skinny” so how did this happen? They have never had to worry about what they ate or drank, they didn’t “have” to exercise because they were “skinny and fit”. But they spent years relying on what they thought was a great system, they had an amazing metabolism. But that didn’t prevent all the junk food, sugary treats, salty snacks, soda, alcohol and bad fats from affecting their bodies. It just was kind of “silent” because they didn’t gain weight, and our society has said that if you’re fat you are unhealthy, and if you are thin you are healthy. So, the moral of my story today is basically that being skinny and being healthy is two totally different things and maybe we shouldn’t be so jealous of that friend who can eat whatever they want. While we are eating that salad and they are scarfing back that big juicy burger, instead of being jealous, maybe we need to be worried about our friend’s choices and how they are affecting their health. Something to think about Until next time, be the best you that you can be!! After all there is only one of you.
Just remember: It takes 4 weeks for you to see your body changing It takes 8 weeks for your friends and family It takes 12 weeks for the rest of the world. Never give up, your body will thank you. As of August 1st we have started a new FaceBook group for likeminded people to join. If you need motivation or would just like to support others on their Healthier Living Journey then please join our group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/971130139764831/ This post was originally seen on healthydietforyou2.com, we have integrated both sites into one to be able to post more often, and give better quality to the time we spend publishing this site. We will continue with our Facebook group for Healthy Diet for you 2. Follow us on: FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/minimalist101/ Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/realminimalism Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/real_minimalism Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/realminimalism/ We are always looking for guest writers. If you have a story about minimalism or travel that you would like to get out there then please feel free to contact us. Join our mailing list to know when our next post comes out. Thanks, Shelly and Mark Previous Posts You can check out some of our previous posts, just click on the pictures below. Or if you'd like to see any of our posts from the last year then you can click on this link. https://www.levelsofminimalism.com/feacb410d7bf0b3a2a89a362c4ca1aadf7a21165
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