Expectation VS Reality

Let's take a minute to talk about fitness expectations vs fitness reality. When you look at fitness magazines or fitness pages on social media you see a lot of photos like this one.

While it's an honorable goal to want to be the best you that you can possibly be, one should keep in mind that the athletes you see prepared especially for either for a competition or specifically for that photo shoot to look this way! We don't walk around looking like this all the time! (Of course there are genetically gifted folks who can walk around jacked and shredded all the time, but let's just assume you're normal folk like myself.) It's not healthy to maintain such a low body fat percentage. And in all honesty, you don't feel very good when you're this lean.

Of course, everyone is different and their experiences with being extremely lean will vary. Let's just go over a few common side effects (side effects that I have experienced as do many other athletes) of being so lean: lack of sex drive, loss of menstrual cycle, brain fog or feeling mentally drained, exhaustion, constant hunger, feeling weak, feeling emotionally unstable, irritability, and more. You get the picture. Sounds great, right?  Not so much.  There is something to be said for a little bit of body fat!

Remember that what you see in magazines is not always reality. Remember that although this look is attainable, it is not realistically maintainable. And of course remember to love your body at  every stage of your personal fitness journey!