Body Image Part 3 - Fat or thin?

FIRST THINGS FIRST! ZUMBA STARTS AT STANMORE COMMUNITY CENTRE ON 16th MARCH 1030 - 1130. Come and enjoy the dance fitness sensation that is Zumba and discover fun fitness that you never thought could exist!!!

This weeks article focuses on our obsession with being fat or thin, there is there never any emphasis on being fit? Fit and healthy no longer seem important, but looking back, were they ever? It is possible to be thin or fat and fit but we associate heavily on the thinner we are the more healthy we will be but this just simply isn't true.

Low levels of physical activity and poor physical fitness can significantly increase the risk of developing certain conditions such as coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. People will excess body fat are also at increased risk of developing these conditions.

Setting aside the physical implications there are also the huge psychological benefits. We know that physical activity forms an effective element of treatment and rehabilitation for such lifestyle diseases. People starting a programme of exercise report improved mood, increased self confidence and sense of well being. This feel good factor is vital in getting people to continue with their exercise programme and then hopefully increase it!

However, we must make the distinction between being fat or thin and being fit. Being slim, thin, skinny or whatever you wish to call it - or not having the stereotypical body image 'ideal' is not an indicator of good health and/or fitness. In our society today with all our processed foods and take always along with our affluence make it even more difficult to lose weight and then fight to maintain it. The challenge is to increase physical activity and fitness for ALL, regardless of their body size and shape.

I am a huge fan of the Dove Real Women campaign as it shows real womanly body in all their glory, wobbly bits and all! Dove commissioned research before they launched their Real Women campaign and found that two thirds of women wanted advertisers to be honest about air brushing, women felt that beauty advertisers were selling them the unattainable image of perfection and of those women 40% had low body confidence as a result.

In the research over 1000 women were questioned originally in 2004 and then again in 2009. They found that advertising images impacted negatively on self esteem, 42% of women questioned are self conscious about how they look with 28% of those feeling inadequate and 20% being less confidence in their daily lives and this has nothing to do with health and fitness, this is just body image!

Dove changed their advertising to show how diverse our beauty is and we can only hope that other advertisers follow suit although I think this will be sadly lacking. We need to accept ourselves for what we are, warts and all! Love what we have got and then make the effort to improve our fitness level. How many of you will go out for a walk today? Go for a bike ride in the woods? Go swimming? How many of you will take the opportunity to have a lazy day and relax? None of those are right or wrong but you must make a choice and accept that choice, not try to defend or excuse it as you right! Rest and relaxation are as important as exercise and training after all but you need to get the right balance as in everything in life!