5/5 Why do we exercise and diet?

Before you start reading, answer this question: Why do I exercise?

It seems like a silly question.  And there definitely isn't a right answer, but it's certainly important to have an answer.  Why do you wake up every day and go to the gym?  Why do you count calories?  Why do you worry about your weight?  Why do you feel guilty for not participating in local road races?

Exercise isn't easy, but it should always be fun.  Furthermore, you should always be able to justify time spent designing your workout plans or diet.

The Pittsburgh Marathon was this past weekend, and I can't tell you how many people came in to Fleet Feet for supplies, begrudging the fact that they "have to run the marathon on Sunday".   Even after the race, people say things like: "I'm glad that's over with".  If it's so terrible, why the hell are you doing it?

The fitness industry has drawn many into its ranks, and, simply by following the beat of some unknown drum, many of us have fallen into a routine of dieting and exercising without asking ourselves: Why?

I have thought hard about this, and I have compiled a list of reasons that I think people work out and diet:
- to lose/maintain weight because you think other people like your "fit" look
- to lose/maintain weight because you like your "fit" look
- to improve athletic performance
- to mimic the look/behavior of a celebrity
- to improve your body's regular functions (e.g. complexion, digestion, hormonal function, energy levels)
- to simply remind your body what it feels like to be mobile
- to ensure that you live a long, healthy life
- to try to fit into your wedding dress

There are obviously an unlimited number of responses to this question, and I certainly won't try to convince you that one of these is the correct answer.  But there is some truth to the suggestion that one or more of these reasons could lead a healthy activity to become an unhealthy one.  Those people that diet and exercise in order to lose weight could be doing it because they know that diet and exercise are part of a healthy lifestyle, and skinny, toned bodies must mean healthy bodies, right? (wrong)

The fitness industry has been built around precisely the idea that skinny = healthy.  Unfortunately, it just isn't so.  90% of runners think that - since they are runners - they can eat whatever they want.  They pound down calories, but they never put on any weight because they're burning so much through their run training.  Unfortunately, the hidden dangers of poor omega 6s: omega 3s ratios, insulin insensitivity, lower brain function, atherosclerosis, reduced liver function, skewed gastrointestinal function, and kidney failure are just a few of the hidden dangers that come with a poor diet.  If you're skinny, then congratulations!  You burn more than you eat!  The fitness industry has preyed off of this concept for years.  It's always about weight-loss.  Magic pills sold at GNC that equate to little more than legalized speed bring in billions per year. 
The same could be said for body builders.  They are drawn into the fitness industry by meat heads with biceps bigger than watermelons on the cover of muscle magazines.  It's unclear as to whether or not these guys (you know who I'm talking about) are doing it with health in mind as opposed to a new bench press max.

While diet fads come and go and while exercise strategies ebb and flow, there is some advice out there that has persisted over the years: 
- everything is ok in moderation
- some things are better in excess; others are better left alone
- the body is an amazing machine, capable of amazing things
- vegetables are good for you
- sugar is bad for you
- if you read an ingredient on a food label that you can't pronounce, it's probably not good for you
- listening to your body has always proven effective in deciding what's right for you
- logic almost always prevails
- a well-performing body is a well-rested body
- moderate stress results in large increases in performance
- form follows function

Ask yourself why you exercise and for what you purpose you eat whatever it is that you eat.  If you are exercising to burn off those cookies you ate the night before, you are exercising for the wrong reason, and you probably ate those cookies for the wrong reason, too.  Working your ass off in the gym isn't going to change the source of the problem, which is your relationship with food and exercise.  Developing these relationships starts with asking yourself: Why?  From there, you can slowly begin to love exercising and eating better foods. 


I diet and exercise in order to live a long, healthy life.  Why do you do it?