It's All About that Fitness

I don’t have a problem with hyper-masculine, fit males in advertising. I’m not really bothered by women in perfect shape all over advertising either. Before you call me a pig, hear me out.

I feel like a lot of the “pressure” that studies have shown is placed on people to have the “perfect TV body” is self-inflicted. I guess that people see the ‘advertising body’ and falsely believe that they should be able to make that kind of body happen with a normal schedule. The truth is that searching for the ideal body in spare time is both unrealistic and possibly not worth it.

It should be known that the people in advertising have the bodies that they do because they are paid to. Their job is to look good when filmed; they have chosen to make their living by staying in shape and representing various products. In a lot of ways I’m jealous- Get paid to work out all the time? That would be sweet.

It’s unrealistic to think that if you have a full-time job you will be able to work out as often as models do. You can’t. You have other things to do. People need to know that one’s value as a person does not just rely on how in-shape they are. Having a family, being successful at your job, enjoying other hobbies and spending time with friends are all components of personal wealth. It should follow that a person must make a decision on what the value of each of these components is and work to maximize their self-worth.

On the other side, if you’re depressed about your body image then do something about it, but make sure your goals are realistic. I’ve heard people openly complain that watching models makes them feel terrible about their bodies. Either decide to make a change and live a healthier lifestyle, or decide your other traits as a human make up for being unhealthy.

Another component of the fight over personal fitness is diet. I’m well aware that healthy food is slightly more expensive and slightly less accessible, but the dividends paid by overhauling your diet and switching to a healthy lifestyle are more than worth the extra effort. Models are, again, paid to eat perfectly so that they may maintain their perfect body. To me, this is not too much to ask, but it’s a conscious decision that has to be made. I often tell people to ask themselves how much the taste of a food item worth in health. Usually that gets them thinking about what they really value. To be honest, healthy food isn’t bad tasting, either. It’s just less mainstream so far less people know how to prepare it. You have to be confident enough in your healthy lifestyle to pass up MacDonald’s with your friends and eat that chicken salad later at home.

I’m glad that models are in such good shape. It lets me know the potential my body has, and serves as a metric for where I am on the useless-fat-blob-to-perfectly-in-shape scale. I don’t look at all of the unhealthy, hygiene-lacking, scared programmers I see around me and become depressed because my coding abilities are pathetic compared to theirs. I have so many other things going for me. Why should fitness be any different?