Not really. This is unfortunate,
but while I’m glad I am putting the effort in I have yet to feel a
return to the boundless energy I felt I had access to over the summer.
This, my friends, is called ‘losing fitness’. It
can happen disquietingly quickly and is quite disappoint when
discovered. However, on a positive note, it’s fairly easy to regain. I
definitely don’t feel as unfit as I once was – not by a long shot – and
I’m still quite comfortable doing twenty minute runs,
even at higher speeds. However, half an hour is looking much harder
than it once was.
The only way to fix this is with
the application of effort. It’s not necessarily an enjoyable process but
it’s going to be a rewarding one. So I’m pushing myself back into
exercise, despite the cold weather, and trying to
cut back on the zero-value foods I eat (potato has crept back into my
diet and I feel this is the biggest reason for my difficulty). This is
somewhat of a loss, but only in a superficial sense; my long term
fitness and health will certainly benefit from it.
But isn’t wanting to look good in and of itself actually a superficial
attitude?
The question arises after my
brother recently asked me whether I thought he was shallow or not. This
in turn made me question whether or not my focus on fitness and physical
appearance was a shallow pursuit – and then, in
turn, whether this was necessarily a bad thing. My conclusion was that
it was shallow, but that it wasn’t bad or wrong of me.
Why is it shallow? Well, I’m purely
basing a virtue upon its outward appearance, with no closer analysis.
Since my analysis of the problem lacked depth – I was fat, I wanted to
not be fat/look attractive – the decision itself
to lose could not help but lack depth. I was trying to increase my
apparent worth based upon my physical appearance; the very definition of
shallow! How could I ever doubt that it was for shallow or superficial
reasons?
Well, that’s all wrapped up in why
it wasn’t a bad or wrong thing to decide. Firstly, I certainly do not
judge my entire worth – material, intellectual and spiritual – upon how I
look. I did not consider myself a ‘bad’ person
because I was fat. It wasn’t morally wrong to be fat, nor ethically. As
such my losing weight only affected myself in any serious way – my
friends nor more like or dislike me now that I have lost weight compared
to when I hadn’t, for example. They are impressed
and encouraging, but it is a personal change for a personal benefit,
and it was always going to be that way. So there was no socio-cultural
fallout from me losing weight, nor was anyone harmed or hurt by it.
Ergo, not morally wrong.
Secondly (I do love my
quasi-numbered paragraphs, don’t I?) there was the desire for attention –
to be found attractive. I feel I, as a personality (a mind,
philosophically speaking) was always attractive. I say this not
to boast but to clarify and confirm that I did not and do not judge my
worth purely upon my physical appearance. This said, losing weight has
undeniably made me look and feel more physically attractive. Is that
bad? Certainly not. It would be if I lorded it
over others, or made people feel bad about how they look, but I have
not done this in any way – at least, not deliberately or with intent and
I hope in no other way at all. So again, though shallow in decision
there is nothing ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’ with it.
Thirdly and finally, humans are
visual animals – evolved as predators or created as stewards, either
role or belief makes us primarily visual beings. We definitely judge
each other based on appearance; we’re wired to, we
can’t help it. Closing your mind against revising that judgement is
wherein lies the sin - social, moral and ethical. As long as you do not
use just physical appearance as your sole measure of someone and their
worth, you’re okay to make judgments about it.
This also prevents the
arguments use as a defence for not losing weight – “I’m not a shallow or
judgmental person!” doesn’t mean being overweight makes you a better
person. Just as surely it doesn’t make you a
bad person, but please do not try to hide behind moral betterment to
disguise a refusal to motivate yourself. Just as there is nothing wrong
with being overweight, there is equally nothing wrong with being in
shape.
