Archives for June 2015

Outside the bubble. Why body shaming has no place in fitness advocacy.

Zoey · June 30, 2015 · 1 Comment

Sometimes I kind of live in an Operation Move bubble. And I think that whatever running or fitness groups you are in or pages you follow all support what we do which is all about appreciating the body for what it can do, not what it looks like. I like a gun show and progress photos as much as the next person but we don’t do body shame. Ever. Shame doesn’t motivate people.

Not that long ago I got sent some prospective copy for one of our website pages and it had a bit of body shame about it in the tone and I cried for two days. And I felt physically ill over it. It’s not some kind of ideal or abstract concept to me. It is really personal. Because I was that person. I know how it feels for people to judge what you eat based on how you look. Or to sneer at you because your face goes beetroot in the gym. Or look at you with contempt because of the way your clothes look. I know all of those things. And if those people knew half of the courage it took me to even be in a gym or outside on a run in the first place, they might rethink it.

But every now and then somebody sends me something that is like a slap in the face. In the real world, especially in the fitness world, body shaming happens all the time. Sometimes it is subtle and insidious and sometimes it is all out, blatant shaming. But it is there and it is abhorrent.

The goal of fitness advocacy or running advocacy or weights advocacy is more people in the sport. Not less. We don’t want to foster some kind of exclusive club that you only get to be a part of if you look a certain way, or you dress a certain way or you body is a certain shape. That is not a club I want to be a part of.

I am in the business of telling people that they can. Sure there are obstacles but there are ways around them. If you can’t run, you can walk. If you don’t have dumbbells – you can use cans from the kitchen. If you are not ready to go to a gym – there are things that you can do at home. I am not in the business of ridiculing people who are being brave.

Accessibility is everything. It doesn’t take much for me to give a fellow runner a big smile when our paths cross on a morning run to let them know I am on their team. It doesn’t take much to support people in their achievements. And if you are passionate about fitness that means fitness for everyone, not just some small subset that you deem are worthy enough.

So the next time you see someone being body-shamed, because they are too big to be at the gym or they are wearing the wrong clothes, don’t ignore it – stand up for that person. Because you have no idea how much more challenging there world is. You have no idea how much judgement they have already absorbed. You have no idea what they are capable of. You have no idea what their history is. And you want that person on your team.

Does running for weight loss work? Here’s an even better idea

Zoey · June 19, 2015 · 3 Comments

Not everyone starts running to lose weight, but a lot of people do. You might have come here wanting to know things like:

How do I start running for weight loss?
What are some tips to get me started running for losing weight?
How much do I need to run to lose weight?
Does running for weight loss even work?

And the answer is more complicated than you might think. Everyone has been taught the calories in – calories out method of weight loss. It’s simple. All you need is to consume less calories than you expend. But the reality is that it is more complex. Not all calories are created equal. A lot of it depends on your metabolism. And sometimes the challenge with starting running is that your appetite increases.

None of which are reasons not to run. There are so many things to love about running that have absolutely nothing to do with diet and weight loss. And if you are looking to lose weight, moving your body is a great place to start, that and breakfast.

But the main reason why weight loss and starting to run might not be such great companions is that learning to run involves developing your aerobic system. Which means lots of running at low intensity. That’s why most learn to run programs have walk/run intervals. But the way weight loss works is that it is most effective with running at high intensity intervals. So running for weight loss and running to improve your fitness are two very different things with very different outcomes.

And where weight loss is often focused around restricting calories or carbohydrate intake, performance is based around fuelling your body for everything it needs. Because if it’s not getting everything it needs it will start burning muscle to get it. Unfortunately, your body sees muscle as less necessary than fat – so if you aren’t eating enough – muscle will be the first thing to go.

But I have an even better idea than weight loss. Weight loss is an outcome but what is the goal really? To feel like you have more energy? To feel more comfortable in your clothes? To feel strong and energised? Then maybe focus on the way you want that life to look like and the weight loss will follow.

Learning to run has so many benefits for the body and mind. But rather than stepping into another cycle of deprivation and weight loss, look at how you can reward your body with movement and fuel to support that movement. Look at things that you are going to enjoy. Look at a lifestyle that you are going to enjoy and is sustainable for you.

The problem with traditional diet and running exercise programs is that a few things happen:

1) You are probably not eating enough, so your body starts burning muscle
2) The more weight you lose, the more your metabolic rate drops so to maintain the loss you have to eat less and less and it becomes increasingly less sustainable
3) You end up abandoning it because you are miserable

You might not have a dramatic body improvement in 4 weeks, or even 8. But if you learn to run, eat food that is good for your body and food that you enjoy to eat, in 6 months or a year or 2 years – you will like how your body looks, you will love how your body feels, you will enjoy your running and the lifestyle you have created for yourself.

Do yourself a favour. There’s a reason that those diet programs are called ’rounds’ because you go in circles and don’t get anywhere. Imagine what you want your life to look like. And just do that instead.

11 Things That Learning to Run Will Teach You That Have Nothing To Do With Running

Zoey · June 18, 2015 · 3 Comments

You ever notice how runners never shut up about running? I KNOW. But there’s a reason for that. And it’s because running will give you so much more than fitness or health or wellbeing. It becomes a great metaphor for your life, really. Because you get out of it what you put into it. But here is the secret, it always gives you more than you give it.

1. You stop placing limits on your life – on your work, on your education and on your goals

When one thing seems impossible, a lot of things seem impossible. But what happens when you do something that you thought you could never do? When you do the impossible, few things seem out of your reach. When you start running 5km seems impossible because you feel like dying after running 300m. But one day, you do it. Just like that. Like it was nothing. And suddenly you question all the limits that you have allowed to creep into your life, like they belonged there.

2. You have more confidence than you ever had before

I think probably what attracted me to running in the first place is that I could theoretically run without anyone really seeing me. Now, of course there might be people at the gym or on the pathway. But at the gym you could look straight ahead and pretend no one could see you and on the path people would zoom on by you in no time. You didn’t have to be in a class where people would be judging you. And after awhile, that sense of accomplishment settles in on your shoulders and it straightens your back a little. And you begin to wonder how much time have you spent trying to be invisible and trying not to take up any space. And you decide, to be seen.

3. You learn to love the journey

When I started it was all about the result. And running had very little to do with the experience and far more to do with shifting some baby weight. But now, the destination seems kind of inconsequential. Once you fall in love with the process, it’s pretty amazing. There is a quote I love from Andy Rooney – “Every one wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you are climbing it.” And once I started to love the journey, it gave me a great sense of purpose which fed into so many other areas of my life.

4. Every day is a good day if you run.

On a bad day, a run will remind you who you are and on a good day it will tell you who you could be.

5. Most of the time you just need to get out of your own way

A lot of the time I had a lot of excuses about why I couldn’t do anything. I was too fat. Or I smoked too much. Or I was too tired with small children. Or I was too busy looking after said small children. But the truth is, I was just scared. And in the end, you need to decide what’s worse – trying and failing or not trying at all. The secret is that staying the same is just as hard as changing. But only one of those things will give you a gift.

6. Everything is temporary.

Pain is temporary. Joy is temporary. Anger is temporary. Happiness is temporary. So you might as well just keep going and enjoy the good stuff, allow the hard stuff to strengthen you and know that nothing will keep you down forever.

7. It’s not about the hill, it’s about how you handle it

It might not be an actual hill. It might be a difficult situation or an obstacle or anything in your life that is hard. But running has taught me that it doesn’t matter what I’m facing, the only truly important thing is how I handle it. How you handle adversity will tell you everything you need to know about yourself. Anyone can be great on the best day of their life. Character is who you are on your worst day.

8. If you want your life to change, you have to be willing to be uncomfortable

I’ve spent a lot of my life avoiding discomfort – anxious social situations, confrontations, anything where I risked being embarrassed. And that’s pretty exhausting. But if you really want it to change, you have to be willing to get really uncomfortable. Growth happens by accepting discomfort. You don’t have to like it, but you do have to do it.

9. Celebrating other people’s achievements will enrich your own

It can be easy to get dragged into the comparison game, but it is meaningless and will only make you feel worse about yourself. Spending time supporting other people’s journeys and supporting other people’s achievements will give you the space to be able to recognise how amazing your own successes are.

10. Exercise isn’t a punishment and food is not a reward

It took me a long while to figure this one out. Probably because when you are starting running feels really hard and there’s enjoyment in the achievement afterwards, but not so much during. But now that I’ve been running for awhile there is so much joy in it I couldn’t conceive of considering it as a punishment. Running taught me to view movement as a reward and food as nourishment (and fun and comfort too!)

11. Everything Counts.

Running taught me that everything counts. Running counts. Walking counts. Great runs count. Bad runs count. Because it’s all effort and time and willingness that you are putting into it. The outcome doesn’t matter. Showing up matters. So I show up.