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If you’ve grown up in a plus size size, you’ve likely been “encouraged” or even forced into sports or some form of physical activity by your family or friends. This, of course, is an idea rooted in diet culture, where movement automatically equates to weight loss.
As research progresses and most of us have personal accounts, exercise does not always result in weight loss, and it is not the most important reason to move our bodies.
Have you heard of the Joyful Movement?
Joyful movement is a way of approaching physical activity that focuses on choice, happiness, celebration, intuition, pleasure, and flexibility. First, you should look for an activity that you truly enjoy. Taking your pet outside for a walk can be as simple as dancing or swimming.
We often have these great ideas of what exercise should look like, but the truth is, moving your body in any capacity is beneficial for both your mind and soul.
Moving has many benefits that have nothing to do with weight loss. Whether you’re looking to improve your sleep habits, reduce stress, or increase mindfulness, it’s important to find something that works for you. Not everyone likes the same type of movement, and that’s normal!
If you are lucky enough to have a friend who is interested in the same type of physical activity, do it together! Bringing a friend is always more fun.
It can be important to set a realistic goal when embarking on a joyful movement journey. As we mentioned earlier, the purpose of shifting your focus to celebrating your body involves not focusing on weight loss or burning calories. A realistic goal might seem like committing to 15 minutes of movement a day to get started, and you can adjust this forward as you find something you like.
Some Thoughts from Fat Activists
This is not an easy transition to make, and it won’t happen overnight. According to Danielle, @confidentfearless, “I started to realize that moving made me feel better physically, but I enjoyed moving my body in certain ways more than others. I discovered water aerobics and it was the only thing I really enjoyed doing. Water combined with music didn’t even feel like exercise to me. Things will be experimenting because joyfully moving your body doesn’t have to look a certain way. Recently my goal has been to stroll around Disney with my family, so I came up with an 8-week walking program that focuses on time walked rather than miles, and it really made a difference for me.
Lindsay, @fantastikfatty, they often host joyful act lives on TikTok and have a lot of thoughts about it! they state, “The biggest thing is to learn the science behind exercise and weight loss and discover that exercise doesn’t actually lead to weight loss. Once we understand this, it shifts our entire perspective around movement and exercise. If we can think of the movement [exercise, sports, athletics, everything] we will start choosing activities that feel good as something we do for fun, connecting with ourselves and others, for mental and physical health, and because we love wildly. The more we focus on exercise to lose weight, the more we miss out on the REAL benefits of movement and why exercise is so important to our human experience.”
Lindsay makes a very important point on the subject. science behind exercise and weight loss. According to an NIH Article entitledHealthy lifestyle habits and mortality in overweight and obese individualsHealthy lifestyle habits are associated with a significant reduction in mortality regardless of baseline BMI.
Individuals were divided into groups according to their BMI and amount. “healthy behaviors” They were adopted for more than 14 years, including not smoking, eating 5 servings of fruit and vegetables a day, moderate alcohol consumption, and exercising 12 days a month.
When all four of these behaviors were put into action, overall health risks were reduced, regardless of the person’s BMI, and there was virtually no difference across all BMI categories. The most important thing for us is that the weight of the participants does not change over time, regardless of the “healthy habits” adopted.
Lindsay also recommends starting the joyful movement slowly and gently. “Even when we’re pushing ourselves, movement is for feeling good and we shouldn’t go beyond what our body can do, because it only causes pain and injury. The only way to do that is to slow down and listen to our bodies. Talk to our bodies. Be kind and gentle with our bodies. Just because we could have done it 5 years ago? And don’t ask him to do what he can’t do just because someone else can do it.”
How do you enjoy celebrating your body through movement? Let us know in the comments!
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