You Don’t Get Fat Accidentally

Fellow Melbournian and blogger/fitness guru Craig Harper recently made a comment which really caught my eye. It was one of several useful points in a blog post of his and was simple this –

“You don’t get fat accidentally”

And I guess, when it comes down to it, that this is true. At the end of the day, someone has to take responsibility for the state of your health and wellness, and ultimately that someone has to be you. Sure, your Mum might have stuffed cookies and ice-cream down your throat when you were young, and maybe you really did have zero positive influence in the health arena while growing up. Maybe bad genetics play a part, or perhaps you just spent years not even being aware that there was an alternative way of eating, a way that didn’t result in a slow but steady rise of the scales. And it could be that you’ve been unfortunate enough to suffer some kind of physical, emotional or otherwise impairing ailment that really has restricted your ability to eat well and exercise.

But the long and short of it is that, like it or not – and whether or not you’re fully to blame – the body that you’re walking around in is the direct result of the foods you’ve put into it, the thoughts and subsequent actions you’ve allowed to take place, and the amount of movement that you’ve made room for in your busy life. And you might think that poor health or a greater waist girth than you’d like is something that just snuck up on you, but the truth is that you kinda knew things were going wrong a while ago, didn’t you? It’s just that, for whatever reason, you didn’t feel ready to face facts. To square your shoulders and admit to yourself that whatever you’d been doing was clearly not working out for you. And that more of the same would absolutely, most certainly, in fact irrevocably lead to more of the same.

And hey. Who am I to talk? I spent at least 3 or 4 years in my early days as a Personal Trainer a good 6-10 kg overweight, pretending that it wasn’t an issue, trying to convince myself I was getting away with not practicing what I preached, going out to dinner nearly every night and then finally, eventually, having to look myself in the mirror and admit that I wasn’t happy with what I saw. And that despite the fact that I’d been working 80 hour weeks (and therefore had the ‘excuse’ of having no time for exercise or food preparation) and despite being constantly ‘dragged’ out for less-than-healthy meals by my then partner, the image I was looking at was a direct outcome of my behaviors. I was the one who had chosen to let things slip, and I was the one who was paying the price. So it stood to reason that I was the one who had to do something about it.

Your situation may be more complex than that. I was lucky enough to figure all this out at an age where hard work and good eating alone was enough to (slowly) turn things around. And I didn’t have any underlying hormonal issues holding me back, at least nothing that a few week’s of proper sleep couldn’t sort out. Nor did I have kids or any other sort of serious responsibilities to worry about. You might have so much going on in your body let alone the rest of your life that you feel as though – accident or not – your current physical state is a battle your gradually losing and that you really don’t know if you can do anything about it.

But the good news is that just as you don’t lose control by accident, you don’t get it back by accident. Why is that good news? Well sure, it would be wonderful if the magic fairy came by and waved her wand and you were suddenly looking at the you you’ve always longed to be, but we both know that ain’t gonna happen. And really, who wants to live in a world where success depends on chance?

You’re lucky enough to live in a world where you do have the power. You can decide right now who you want to be 100 days from now. You can decide right now what you’re going to put in your mouth from here on out. And whether or not you’re going to continue to kid yourself, to justify the treats, the ‘surely-this-little-bit-won’t-hurts’, the missed workout opportunities, the constant waiting for the right time to really be tough on yourself and find out just what you’re capable of. And what are you waiting for? You wouldn’t be scared at all, would you? Afraid of what might happen if you do man up? Square your shoulders, look yourself straight in the eye, and admit that you really haven’t been giving things a proper shot? Because when all is said and done, if somebody has to take responsibility for the state you’re in (and they do), then isn’t it best that that person is you? Assuming of course, that you have your own best interests at heart.

But if you’re okay with always wondering, or if you truly don’t mind the added bulge, then that’s fine. Don’t face the fear. Don’t finally take the plunge, truly commit to eating, thinking and training right day in and day out. The choice is yours, after all. There are no accidents in the weight loss game.

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