I Don't Think It's Working

Last year, after our first brush with quarantine — a word that up till then was usually reserved for imported animals — and upon our ‘release’, almost everyone had a fitness-awakening story. Daily runs, weekly walks and cycles — sometimes all three activities on multiple days per week — were coupled with proclamations of abstinence from alcohol and an allegiance to restricted ‘feeding time’, aka intermittent-fasting.

- Wendy Long

Ironically, I only found out that such fitness and diet regimes were being enforced when the person practicing them informed me. In other words, I didn’t notice any difference in physiques and certainly would not have guessed that they were training at the same intensity as pro-athletes. In fairness, it could also be attributed to the fact that I have not seen the ‘before’, so perhaps there was indeed a difference.

I’d like to believe, however, that at such level of intensity and fervor towards a grueling regimen, any difference would be very significant that even a stranger could tell even without them telling. This got me thinking: Would you rather tell someone you had been dieting and exercising or hope they would notice it on their own? That would have been a better litmus test of the fitness and diet program, wouldn’t it? Besides, how should one respond when told about the unnoticeable pounds shed?

I find it highly intriguing to dig deep into the reasons why fitness regimes and diet plans, more so the latter, don’t always work despite the effort or discipline. It will be easy to justify it with genetics but in reality, weight loss is a scientific code that requires a highly customized formula. What works for one may not work for others. Following a trend without understanding one’s own body and lifestyle is futile.