I’m sure you’ve heard the cliché “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” With a book, sometimes the cover doesn’t necessarily represent what’s inside, but with people, the outward appearance seems to be more representative of the inside. I’m not talking about the friendly or good-hearted nature of a person. I’m talking strictly about health.
Imagine that you saw three people standing next to one another. One was obese, another was thin with no muscle tone, and the third was lean and athletic looking. Could pick the one who is the healthiest? What if I offered you $1 million if you could pick the one who had the best blood tests regarding overall health. Who would you pick?
If you picked the lean, athletic person, would you be right 100 percent of the time? Probably not. But your chances would certainly be much greater vs. picking one of the other two.
Why? It’s simply because the way a person looks on the outside is a strong determinant of what is going on inside their body. Just look at Olympic athletes. They are the best at what they do, and look at their bodies. Enough said.
The obese person and the person who’s thin with no muscle tone may be similar in terms or health, or the obese person may even be healthier. I’m not sure whether “healthier” is a good word to describe these two, so maybe I should say less unhealthy.
If you do nothing — and by nothing I mean very little exercise and poor nutrition — then you’re leaving your health in the hands of genetics. I believe it’s very possible to offset most bad genetics you may have inherited by living a healthy lifestyle. Not only will you become healthier on the inside, but your body will respond by looking healthier on the outside. This is the way it should be.
I think it’s a curse to have good genetics if you don’t take care of yourself, because you’ll get this false sense that you are healthy just because you don’t put on excessive weight. Many studies have been conducted proving that thinner people can be just as unhealthy if not more so than obese people.
If obese or overweight people start exercising, they will significantly reduce their risks for developing problems. Not only will they get healthier on the inside, but if they exercise enough and eat the right foods, they will also see big changes on the outside. If a so-called “skinny fat person” starts living healthier, then he or she also will eventually see great results.
This is not a matter of things being fair. It’s a matter of, do you have the determination to live a healthy life? Is it possible to go from obese to really fit and lean? I would say definitely, but it usually doesn’t happen because the person gives up.
It takes a lot of effort for this change to happen. It’s the same thing for the unhealthy thin person. They usually realize that it’s too hard to exercise on a regular basis, and then they convince themselves that they don’t need to exercise because they are thin. It becomes a dangerous situation.
The only way an unfit person can get fit is by living the life of a fit person. A thin, no muscle tone person is not the same as a fit person. It’s not even close. Every physiological and chemical reaction that goes on in their bodies is different.
Just remember that you don’t have to make it to the Olympics to achieve fit status. All you have to do is make a small change and commit to making small changes.
Stick with these changes, and you’ll soon see progress. You can look forward to sleeping better, feeling better and looking better. Good luck!
— Dr. Bob Wilcher is a chiropractor and personal trainer in Santa Barbara. He owns Killer B Fitness, a personal and group training studio also located in Santa Barbara. Contact Wilcher at www.killerbfitness.com or 805.448.2222.