Recently, I have been going in on my social media in calling out this false narrative I’m seeing. I decided that rather than shout at my phone I’ll talk to you all instead.
I look the way I do because I focus on gaining 10lbs. I want to be able to squat 10 more pounds. I want to be able to press 10 more pounds over my head. I want to gain another rep in a minute of body weight push ups. I want to be able to jump another 10 inches higher. I want my glutes and thighs and lat spread to increase by one more inch.
In my body this translates to muscle mass that is a furnace and always looking for energy. Where we humans get tripped up is that we have negative association with the words “gain“ and “fat”. It’s been a while since I’ve broken down the gym motto and I believe it’s time for a reminder.
F^k F@T
The negative connotation around the word “fat” is unfounded. The human brain is made of fatty tissue. Vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat soluble and are important to protect our cellular membranes, transport calcium and phosphorus to our bones from our intestines, improve our skin and hair. Fat is how we store energy in our bodies.
What makes me mad is that people keep blaming fat for their own lack of discipline. People keep trying to get rid of it but sucking it out, taking pills, starving themselves, and squishing it against their internal organs. Rather than understanding their bodies and moving around more or putting down the brownie they blame genetics. I said what I said.
Our looks are made up of our habits. Family plays a big role in our habits for we are influenced by our family. We could go down the rabbit hole to say wealth plays a factor in access to better health, but I say it is more about ones own perseverance. I was raised with poor eating habits and in the same hand exposed to different cuisine as a young child. I chose to continue to explore cuisine. Thus breaking the cycle of fast food everyday. I was able to do that because there are simply so many other things I could focus on outside of how fat plays a roll in my life.
I eat based of the activity of my body. Many are probably familiar with this type of life style. People will go vegan and rave at the initial amount of weight loss. However, true vegans know that it is the balance in their diet and exercise that helps them to maintain their body. Anything done to the body that is drastic will yield a shred of fat tissue, however research done has show no trend diet will yield results after 2 years. If I eat this way however, I must be doing something different that has lasted a decade. My habit of exercise in fuels the desire for cleaner foods and more balanced at that.
Think of protozoa. This single cell organism is considered a predator. Why? Because it absorbs other organisms to eat. A single cell organism with no cilia or flanges to propel it through water has to wait for its prey to bump into it. In understanding the protozoa we understand metabolism. It could be weeks before the protozoa will have another meal, so it's digestive system is trained to move slowly in an effort to sustain calories to exist. Anyone have a pet snake or crocodile? Animals that solely survive off of protein and fat have much slower metabolisms. They have some nice abs too.
We humans have it rough. We are multicellular organisms. We have organ systems and skeletons. We have McDonalds and UberEats. We have BagelBites and Nestle Tollhouse cookies. The body is complex. It's full of chemical reactions and enzymes, and little bolts of electricity. The other issue is that living a human experience socially is complex. We have to sort out our values, income, education, family, friends, intimacy, and the minimum in self care eating.
Some people are living like protozoa and not like humans. Because of the calories it takes to sustain our homeostasis we will always need calories. We will always need a ready supply of energy to allow movement to happen in our bodies. We will always need to consume carbohydrates because our brain which runs our entire body only runs on glucose. Everything we consume goes through a chemical breakdown process to become glucose. What does this mean?
Humans need variety in everything and everyway. We need to diversify our movements so that we are less injury prone. We need to diversify our palate to embrace the simplest forms of food to tolerate our own terrible cooking. Just kidding, I think I'm a culinary artist obviously. We live these complex lives so we all need to be sure to look out for number one. There has to be a baseline of the things that we do in order to be healthy and good looking. Being well attracts love and abundance and prosperity. There is nothing to fear in sacrificing time for self-care if the focus is on what can be gained.
Kristen has created a plan to help you get in tune with your body and develop better habits. Check out the Balanced Wellness in the store!