Are you doing it wrong?

image by: Greg Williams

Fitness is a part of health, if your pursuit of fitness is hurting your overall health then you’re doing it wrong
(My mate)~Sean Aalders~

Now this is a quote that hits home for me, because for a good 18 months of my life, fitness had absolutely nothing to do with health. It was all about being #shredded #lean #fitnessmodel #fitfam etc etc (god I’m cringing just thinking about it).

After three fitness competitions, I was left in a very deluded and seriously dysmorphic state of being. My sense of self value was based on the fat on my body. So if my body fat percentage was anywhere above 12% – my self esteem percentage would make a steady decline.

The irony here is that the more you abnormally reduce your body fat percentage, the unhappier you become – why? Because humans need fat on their body. In fact, women should sit between 15-25% depending on their genetic make up. If this drops too low they can develop major health issues including infertility, poor bone health and low energy just to name a few.

So even though I thought I would be a happier person at a shredded 10%, hormonally, it was impossible to feel happy at such a low body fat percentage (for me anyway).

Very unyogic right? Very unhealthy too.

I have been lucky enough to have some beautiful support from friends and family helping me to ‘keep it real’. Reminding me that happiness is health and that fitness should just be a by-product of health.

Ask yourself why you train, why you ‘diet’ or ‘eat clean’.

Is it because you hate yourself and the way you look?

or …

Is it because you LOVE yourself enough to want to be healthy and happy?

Mirrors are funny things. They tend to reflect what you feel, not necessarily what you look like. SO work on feeling good and the reflection will BE good. If you feel like shit – chances are that’s what you’ll see looking back at you.

Here’s to health.

x
Miss Vertue.