Female Fitness Myths Continued
MYTH: You’ll be Happy When You Achieve X Kilos, or X Dress Size…
Unfortunately, it’s just not true(1).
Happiness is a state brought on by having meaning and purpose in your life.
Your size, and the amount of gravity you displace, has no bearing on your worth as a human being – chances are, even if you achieve your goal you’ll still be unhappy with how you look. It’s better to start retraining your brain right now, than when you’ve spent several months and years flogging your body (this is not the same as saying “don’t lose weight” for health purposes, I’m just saying that your size doesn’t make you happy or unhappy, it’s your self perception of your own worth, and usefulness in life that makes you happy!).
As personal trainers we are placed in a position where we can perpetuate this myth (or untruth), or we can untangle it and address the real needs of real people: the health benefits of exercise are wide ranging, from dementia prevention to anti-aging, to surviving cancer, and instilling our clients with a robust sense of worth. Let’s not cheapen our services and what we do by flat out lying about the fact that losing weight won’t make our clients happy! It’s a myth!
There’s a free course from the Berkely University on the Science of Happiness, that you can enroll in here.
REFERENCES
(1) Berkeley University of California (2015) What is the Science of Happiness? berkeleywellness.com , retrieved 13th January 2025 from https://www.berkeleywellness.com/healthy-mind/mind-body/article/what-science-happiness