Stop fretting about diet culture “pressure” to link exercise to weight loss.
Science links exercise to a much lower risk of chronic illness!
It’s surreal that some women (and certainly some men) as old as 40 can’t shake the feeling of “pressure” from diet culture to associate any form of exercise with a desire to lose weight.
This stops many of them cold from doing any kind of structured physical activity in the name of exercising for health and fitness.
Unless the retailer that sold you your new mini-trampoline, treadmill or stationary bike has threatened to bust into your home while you’re away to take back the merchandise if you don’t give them proof of weight loss – there is absolutely NO reason you should be permitting yourself to submit to this “diet culture pressure” that lives rent-free inside your head!
Exercise to Reduce Chronic Illness; Stop Fretting About Diet Culture
It’s time to outgrow the victim mentality and stop making excuses to avoid exercise.
A study led by Lucas Carr, associate professor in the Department of Health and Human Physiology at the University of Iowa, analyzed questionnaire responses from more than 7,000 patients at the UI Health Care Medical Center.
The patients were there for annual wellness exams.
The research found that those who engaged in moderate to vigorous exercise for at least 150 minutes per week had a significantly lower risk of developing 19 chronic conditions, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory diseases and diabetes.
This group of active patients was found to be at a much lower risk for these diseases compared to those who reported low or no physical activity.
In contrast, people who exercised little to none were at higher risk for developing chronic health problems.
Now perhaps you’ve heard very little from your doctor about the importance of exercise, and maybe this has contributed to your sedentary lifestyle.
But Professor Carr notes that in the current healthcare system, doctors are not typically reimbursed for encouraging patients to exercise, which limits their incentive to offer exercise-related guidance.
There are always exceptions to this rule, but the vast majority of primary care physicians don’t say much more than “make sure you get plenty of physical activity.”
Most U.S. hospitals do not currently ask patients about their physical activity, and according to the researchers, no hospital system in the Midwest has implemented such screenings.
How the Study Was Done
For this study, Carr and Dr. Britt Marcussen, a family medicine physician at UI Health Care, introduced the Exercise Vital Sign survey to the patients between November 2017 and December 2022.
The survey asked two simple questions on a tablet:
- “On average, how many days per week do you engage in moderate to vigorous exercise (like a brisk walk)?”
- “On average, how many minutes do you engage in exercise at this level?”
In addition to the data collected from the survey participants, the study also compared responses from more than 33,000 patients who did not take the survey.
The researchers found that patients who completed the survey tended to be younger and healthier than those who did not.
This difference is likely due to the fact that people who schedule and attend wellness exams may also be more likely to engage in regular exercise.
Stop Blaming Diet Culture on Your Avoidance of Exercise
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Nobody gets to write your story but yourself.
If your parents made you do sports or take long walks or bike rides to lose weight, and this put a long-lasting bitter taste in your mouth, then for Pete’s sake, it’s time to shed this childhood “trauma” and face the music: Every BODY Needs to Exercise.
Whether you’re morbidly obese, “small fat,” husky, chubby, medium, fashionably slender or rail thin – your body needs consistent, structured exercise.
This fact, proven time and time again by large research studies, has NO relevance to any messages that you believe diet culture has shoved down your throat.
For example, one obese influencer, who has avoided exercise in her adulthood, states that diet culture has always made her feel like a failure when childhood gymnastics and cheerleading – mandated by her mother – didn’t result in weight loss.
This was her excuse for avoiding exercise like the plague once she reached adulthood.
She’s now 40 and only recently has begun to slowly reconsider doing regular exercise.
And she could do it for only a few minutes at a time, courtesy of over 20 years of avoiding exercise and becoming seriously overweight.
She’s laden with chronic illness from morbid obesity and years of being sedentary.
This includes obstructive sleep apnea, type 2 diabetes and a painful foot condition called plantar fasciitis (obesity is a risk factor and also makes this condition much worse).
The longer you’re morbidly obese and live a sedentary lifestyle, the higher the risk of chronic illness and permanent damage from the excess weight and lack of exercise.
Stop making excuses, even if they stem from feeling pressure as a child to lose weight.
Your body is the only body you’ll ever have. Give it lots of love by sticking to moderate to vigorous exercise, cutting way back on ultra-processed foods and big portions, and always striving to reach a healthy weight by engaging in sensible and sustainable eating habits rather than gimmicky or crash diets.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, increased strength, muscle building, and improved fitness and cardiovascular health.
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