Today is my birthday. I decided to celebrate by asking fat loss and nutrition expert Dr. Chris Mohr to do a guest post for this blog. He agreed. The topic, of course, is fat loss.
You see, if you have ever completed a successful fat loss program, you have much to be proud of. Your friends and family, on the other hand, do not always agree. For whatever reason, people do not know the difference between being in shape and being sickly and deathly thin or having an eating disorder.
If you have ever completed a fat loss program and made an amazing physical transformation, I guarantee you know what I am talking about. People say things like:
"You're too thin!"
"Eat something!"
"What you are doing isn't healthy."
"You need to stop. You have a problem."
Two clients of mine in particular have relayed this message to me. Both of them took their body fat percentages from over 20 to around 10 and while doing so, they had continued to make strength gains in the weight room. Unhealthy and dangerous? I think not. Let's allow Dr. Chris Mohr to weigh in on this issue.
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Have you ever gotten backhanded "compliments" from anyone after making a serious body transformation?
Check this out — we got an email just yesterday from a women in our Boot Camp.
They had to do with some comments they heard from family and "friends" over Thanksgiving.
"Thanks to you guys and your boot camp, I fit into my "skinny jeans" and wore them on Thanksgiving — for two reasons — one, I felt great about myself and two, they helped control my intake because it was more difficult to overeat like I’m used to on Thanksgiving. But rather than getting compliments on my recent changes, my sister called me a "skinny b*****" (telling me it was a term of endearment) and my family continuing to tell me to eat, eat, EAT!!!! Why is it that after making a ton of change and improving myself, am I the one who is the "bad guy" in all of this?"
And, similarly, we also heard from someone else who said that all her family kept saying to her were things like "when are you going be done with this health stuff? Just eat already … aren’t you getting a little carried away?"
It’s interesting.
Because as someone who leads a pretty healthy lifestyle, making time for exercise, eating clean 90% of the time, and doing the other things we talk about on a daily basis…
We hear the same things.
We’re not suggesting standing on a podium and preaching about how everyone else should change their diets if they don’t eat well … that will fall on deaf ears.
But why is it that when you are making great changes, have made huge improvements, look and feel fantastic….
Do people try to shoot you down with their "compliments?"
People who eat well and take care of their bodies are always expected to change … but it never seems to be the other way around.
Maybe instead of hearing "c’mon, eat these Big Mac and fries just ONCE" it should be "c’mon, eat this apple and put down that coke just ONCE."
Just our two cents.
Considering it’s suggested 50% of the population will have diabetes — one of the most preventable diseases in the world — by 2020, I don’t think I’m going overboard with these thoughts.
Do you agree?
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Dr. Mohr, I wholeheartedly agree with you. Any comments from my readers? I'd love to hear them.
For a link to the original post, click here.
My family has a grandmother that tells even the clearly overweight people I'm related to that they're not "eating enough". Some people are just odd. :D
ReplyDeleteI think it comes down to making sure you're listening to the right people. People who tell you you're anorexic or have a disorder are not the ones from whom you should be wanting the pat on the back. Don't do it for them. Do it for you. Find a few knowledgeable peers and get their opinion on your physique from time to time. That's all you really need.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, any person that has ever told me I looked too thin during a cut was overweight. EVERY ONE OF THEM! People don't take responsibility for their unhealthiness. It's like the guy at work who gets all the work done and makes everyone else look like slackers. None of the slackers say, "Hey, he's a great role model...I should step it up!" Instead, it's much easier to try and knock him down, because then he/she is the one with a "problem"...not you.
I'll take skinny B**** any day over fat B**** or jealous B****
Well said.
ReplyDeleteI've been called "too skinny" all my life. I realize that I don't work out a lot, that part of it is just luck (although I do eat healthy), but it is really tiresome to hear all the time. No one would take it kindly if I said "you're too fat!" I've learned to shrug it off and realize that most of the time people are trying to get you to eat more or put you down because then they won't feel so bad about their choices. It is nothing personal--it is more an expression of how they feel about themselves than how they feel about you. All you can do is model a good lifestyle, tell people how good you feel about YOUR decision, and move on.
ReplyDeleteI like that, Mary. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Sometimes I think it is personal though... people just don't when people are leaner or healthier than they are and try to put them down.
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