Have Fun With Movement

Have you ever thought about how you move?

Previously I have said that I started blogging initially as part of a fitness and weight loss journey and I was in a routine where I would post on a weekly basis as an update with what weight I had lost on my ‘weigh in Monday’.  This soon turned into something that was quite toxic and left me feeling terrible about myself.  I also soon realised that was not what my blog was about and instead I turned my focus to being a healthier and happier me. The wording of my blog strap line changed from ‘An ordinary girl on a mission to get fit and lose weight’ to ‘be fearlessly unapologetically you!’ A blog post with more on this, can be found here.

With this change in mindset I found that I began to enjoy more the simple act of movement and being active in different forms whilst having fun with it.

Now don’t get me wrong, I feel I need to address this as I don’t want anyone to think I am being a hypocrite, I would like to lose weight.  There is nothing wrong with that (although I always fear being shot down when I say that).   But I can do so in a healthy and happy way.  Talking weight loss has become taboo and I actually wrote a blog post about that here, but my point is being active and movement should not be done with the sole focus of losing weight.

Have Fun!

For me I need to enjoy what I am doing and strongly believe we should never underestimate the importance of having fun.  My mindset moved from having to diet and exercise to lose weight, which ultimately made me feel worse about myself and instead focus more on movement that makes me happy.  It is what I love about going out on my mountain bike too – enjoying just being out and about on my bike, getting dirty, enjoying the fresh air, climbing across ditches with my bike, not worrying about my average speed and just enjoying the fun of it.  Why don’t we do more of what we love?

To have fun is to enjoy what you are doing and for it to bring you pleasure.  Once I took things back to being fun I found so much more enjoyment and I want to be active. My goals are still there but in between I enjoy my life.

A friend asked me once why I ran if I hated it?  Good question, I was running to get quicker, but why?  Soon I stopped chasing that goal of running quicker – I can run, I am not quick and that is fine.  Why was I in such a rush and in turn hating every single run I did?  Why not realise that the simple ability to move is a gift that some others do not have the luxury of and we should cherish that.  I ended up running with a couple of friends at local parks and veering off on trails, exploring the forests.  We would laugh and joke, jump trees, cross gates and bridges, run through streams and crawl through pipes and just enjoy being outside.  Arriving home I would be filthy dirty but had a huge smile on my face.

Diet Culture

Increasingly the focus within society is on what we can achieve through exercise and movement rather than the health benefits.  This leaves a feeling of working out to be a chore and something we don’t look forward to.  Movement is defined as the act of moving.  Looking at exercise as movement instead is more pleasurable.  Movement produces serotonin, a feel good hormone that your body will thank you for.

Diet culture also plays a part where we have it drummed into us to look a certain way, eat certain foods and this naturally warps the mainstream perception of what movement and exercise is.  To live like this encourages a very unhealthy relationship – be active, exercise and move because you want to and not because you ate a cake or a biscuit.  There are many quotes about doing an activity because you love your body and not hate it and it is very true – we don’t complete a workout to feel depleted, we want to feel energised and we should do so intuitively.

Have you ever felt increasing pressure to go bigger and better?  You run/swim/bike (whatever your chosen activity is) a series of distances that increase in distance but where does that stop?  The focus is always on getting quicker, going further, and that is fine BUT if that is not your goal then that is also absolutely fine.  You may have heard that phrase to compete or complete?  Both are fine, it just depends what your personal goal is.

Find what works for you and your body and don’t be as concerned with what everybody else is doing.

What Does Being Active Look Like To You?

The NHS have guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64 to complete 150 minutes of weekly physical activity.  This could be anything from working out in the gym, to walking, cycling or yoga and much more.  Choose what makes you smile.

For me being outside is key, I love nothing more than getting out on my bike or just being outdoors.  Our son is now 22 years old but when he was growing up we wanted him to love being outdoors too.  Children will follow the examples set by those around them and imitate what they see so it is key to remember that your influence can be hugely powerful.

So ask yourself how you move and if that brings you enjoyment and if the answer is no don’t be afraid to change and when you do, smile.