Lean is Healthy

EATING HEALTHY IS NO WALK IN THE PARK

Have you ever had a time in your life when everything is going so well, you are feeling the best you've ever felt since adopting a healthy lifestyle, and then a concerned friend or family member makes a negative comment about the amount of weight that you've lost? But you are still well within the healthy range? If you answered YES, then you're not alone.

 

I've heard from countless people who live a healthy lifestyle that they get these sort of comments a lot, at least for the first few months or year. Sometimes it's simply because they are concerned and care about you; but in other cases, especially friends and strangers, it might be a bit of envy or jealousy. Or they could just thin you are crazy for doing the diet. :) A lot of the comments usually come from a place of ignorance and distorted perception of what is "normal" for a typical human. Society's waistlines have bulged over the last few decades, and things are not improving, they're getting worse! So compared to most people, we're extremely skinny. 

When we grow up around people that are overweight, it creates a new norm, so we are less able to distinguish between what is normal weight and what is overweight. And it might be shocking to hear, but some people even fail to recognise obesity.  If you drop your weight to a normal BMI of say 19-20 on calorie restriction, people are more than likely going to comment on this weight loss, and tell you that you've gone too far. But according to how you feel, and your excellent test results, you really couldn't be much healthier; and they couldn't be more wrong. 

At first it might seem that these comments wouldn't do much harm, but if they are persistent, you might develop a heightened anxiety around the issue, and feel the need to defend your lifestyle choice.  Nine years ago, in 2005, I had some of these issues myself with my own family and friends. I was continually bombarded with questions and concerns for my health. They told me that I could not live on healthy food alone, I had to eat "normal" food. It's completely ridiculous if you think about it. How can they say these things when they are eating processed junk food and are overweight?  

To put my parents mind at ease and get them off my back, I gave them reports on my nutrition that I did with a dietary planner. I showed them that I had exceeded the requirements for all nutrients. And to get my message across even better, I showed them a report of their own diet . . .  Which from what I remember was terrible and lacked so many vitamins and minerals. The topic came up less after this, but it still took them a long time to realise I knew what I was doing.

What happened?  I stayed healthy. I stayed young. I stayed alive. The results after a few years were undeniable. They eventually gave up because they saw the great results I had from the diet over the long term. Before I even started the diet, I had done a lot of research and talked to people to get some advice. I knew what I was doing, but other people at the time didn't think so. 

So, if you're just starting off eating healthy, doing calorie restriction, and people are making negative comments, don't stress over it too much. It's likely just temporary and mostly because they care. Just be a good example, and they might even change their diet themselves.  I think for most people, it's just the shock of seeing the weight come off and their distorted perception of what is normal sets off alarms bells that shouldn't have even gone off. If we didn't live in a society where over 1/3 of people are either overweight or obese, being lean would be such an issue. 

According to the BBC's Global Fat Scale, I am skinnier than 98% of adult males aged 15-29 in the UK. And I am skinnier than 87% of males between these ages in the entire world. It says that I am most like someone from DR Congo. DR Congo has the lowest mean BMI of 18.75. While the highest BMI goes to Micronesia with a mean BMI of 30. The average BMI for people in my country is bordering on being overweight at 24.78. It's clear why we stand out from the crowd when you look at the scale on the BBC website. 

As long as you're healthy, fit, and you have excellent results from the diet, just keep going! It's not always easy these days to live differently. Reach out and find people who take care of themselves and you can relate with. Not people who constantly try to sabotage your efforts. Eating healthy is hard enough as it is without people trying to encourage you to eat badly. 

What has been your experience since starting a healthy diet? Has it been difficult with family or friends?