Color Me Fit: weight loss, fitness, exercise

Is it worth it? All these sacrifices, giving up on foods we like, forcing ourselves to exercise, and everything else–is it really worth it?

I had to answer to such a question a few weeks ago. In a nutshell, my answer was: yes, it IS worth it.

Granted, it’s not easy every day, and there are moments when I too feel like whining about how ‘unfair’ it is that I can’t have my cake and eat it, that I’ll gain weight too easily compared to other people, and so on. However, all in all, when looking at the big picture, I won’t say that my attempts are living a healthier life were–are–not worth it.

Is it worth getting tired because I have to exercise after a long day of work/school? Yes. I’d be just as tired if I didn’t exercise, and perhaps even more, because not eliminating stress this way would cause me to get a bad night of sleep.

Is it worth getting rid of foods I like, such as cookies or pizza, to focus on ‘diet foods’? Yes. After all, liking pizza doesn’t mean that I don’t like vegetables either: there are plenty of ways of making the latter even more tasty and enjoyable. Besides, in my opinion, it’s not diet food, it’s just called ‘eating sensibly’.

Is it worth doing those ’sacrifices’? Well, it all depends. If I want to consider these as sacrifices, then I’ll feel deprived. If, on the contrary, I try to consider all the positive aspects first, then it seems more normal and more enjoyable. I wasn’t feeling better when I was out of breath at barely 25 after climbing a flight of stairs, or when I felt sick after eating too much of that ‘favourite’ greasy food of mine. Wanting to think that this was better would be diving deep into an illusion. It wasn’t. It was just another way of being miserable.

My motivations aren’t really of the aesthetic kind. I don’t have even the slightest potential of having a model-like figure. I’m short, stout, with square jaws and shoulders, and no matter how much ‘dieting’ I do, I will never be ‘feminine’ or ‘beautiful’–in terms of society’s current standards. But I can be healthy and athletic, I can have a good night’s sleep every night due to being well-fed and not over-fed, I can keep at bay for just a little longer some illnesses that run rampant in my family. Moreover, by making those efforts, I can be beautiful in MY own eyes, and feel at ease in my body. Isn’t this what’s important, in the end?

So what’s eating a slice of pizza every two months instead of the whole thing twice a week, if it allows me to have that? Not such a sacrifice, I say.

Don’t doubt for a moment that it is worth it. Maybe we have to be a little more selfish and take time for ourselves to do so. Maybe we have to change things for a whole family instead of for just one person. Maybe it’s very hard in the beginning, and gets harder again in difficult periods.

But it is still worth it.

Our lives are worth it.

We are worth it.