Monday, September 17, 2012

How Skinny is too Skinny?

Over the weekend my Hublet, myself and a friend went for a hike. It was great, being in the outdoors, the beginning of the changes of the leaves into their brilliant fall colors and just enjoying time together.
Anywho, we were going along and this woman ran by us, twice in fact. She was very lean. Probably a marathon runner or the like. The comment was made among us that she was very lean. Our friend, a guy, said, in fact she is too lean. My Hublet agreed with him. She did not look good to them because of how lean she was. She was wearing short running shorts and a crop top, so it was easy to tell she had very little to no visible body fat on her. Six pack on full display.
About a week ago, a female trainer I receive emails from, sent a picture of herself saying she needed to lose  three to five pounds to lean out even more than what she already is. She has recently done some photos for her product as well as other fitness photos. She is already very lean, but wants to go even lower.
Over the past several months in the paleo/primal world, there has been some back lash from readers of blogs about woman who follow this life style not being lean enough. Meaning, low body percent fat so you can visibly see their six packs and all muscle definition. The writers of these blogs have ripped them apart for this. It has been the best when it is a male blogger saying woman should not be this lean, they do not look good or healthy. It is about health and being this lean is NOT healthy for woman. Following this lifestyle is about finding lasting true health, not being very low body percent fat with a visible six pack.

All this has gotten me thinking. Thinking about how skinny is too skinny? We are continually bombarded as woman that we need to be leaner and skinnier, but do we? From the comments I have heard from guys, we do not. We need to have some fat on us, to be healthy and look good. I do not want my husband, or any of his friends, saying I am too lean and do not look good. Why do I put that kind of pressure on myself, to be leaner and leaner?

I am a certified personal trainer and a certified holistic nutrition/health coach, part of why I push to be very lean. Most would not look at me and say you are a personal trainer, because I am not sporting a very defined physic. Others like to tell me I am too skinny. My Hublet thinks I am perfect, not rock hard, but not a dough girl either.

My questions to myself is:
Do I as a personal trainer drop those last 5-10 pounds of fat so I "look" like what most people would think of a personal trainer. Or do I say, forget that. It is about being healthy, a role model for other woman that you can be healthy, good muscle, but do not have to be 10% body fat and have a six pack to look good? I think this is the one I am going with, it is about my long term health.

Picture from the hike.



Saving the world one stick of butter at a time.
God's many blessing upon you this harvest season.
Jenn

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