Almost 10 years ago to the day, I started my successful 100-pound weight loss with a gentleman named Sean Kelly, who owns Fortis Fitness. I moved gyms about six years ago, but rejoined Fortis yesterday. I had not seen Sean for about four years, prior to yesterday.
Sean's first reaction to seeing me was "You look amazing, Dude!" My initial reaction, in my head, was "Riiighhhtttt... I still haven't lost my pandemic weight, and I just got back from a vacation in Ft. Lauderdale, where I generally threw all my healthy eating habits out the window." Moreover, I knew that I had gone up a size in clothing since the last time I saw him.
I thought for sure that I had caught Sean in a lie - but then he surprised me with this follow-up comment... "Last tim I saw you, your shoulders were hunched over, and you neck was bent. Now you're straight up and down, compltely straight as an arrow. Shoulders tall, chest proud." I thought for about two seconds, and realized "Damn, he's right." Sean and his gym are a pure "weightlifting" gym. They focus on lifting heavy, and all the details that go into that, including posture. I also remembered when I first started with him that he had commented on my posture and that it is something we would work on.
To further substantiate his claim, over the last year, I had been working with a personal trainer - three times a week at 6:00am like clockwork. I knew the trainer had been targeting my posture, especially my back, and shoulders - places I had made a lot of "gains" in the past year.
In short, this exchange pleasantly reminded me that exercise and eating are NOT about weight. Whether or not Sean noticed my extra few pounds seems irrelevant to the fact that he noticed something I hadn't - my posture. So, I was reminded of the following:
Those of us who have body image issues may always have pre-occupations with our weight;
We may not realize where we are making gains in other areas, because sometimes they are not noticable to us;
We need to engage in movement and eating so that we are not just focused on weight; and
Do not let slips from your eating, minor weight increases or vacation eating derail your long-term goals.