What is Your Diet and Fitness Identity?
After studying nutrition and exercise physiology I have come to the conclusion that most people that start reading about diet and fitness eventually lose sight of their original goal of ‘getting in great shape’ and quickly get lost in the process of diet or fitness as their identity.
Who are you?
People seem to latch onto a label or community or identity to become a part of regardless of the result it produces (and I believe they do this precisely because of a lack of results).
All of my research and interactions with clients leads me to believe that all people just want to look and feel better about themselves and their body. And to be specific, they want to be in great shape.
Nobody would workout or pay attention to their diet if it somehow made their body look worse (even if it made them feel better).
So there is no way to detach what diet and exercise does for the physical appearance of your body. Looking good and feeling good are one and the same.
But a strange thing happens when people fail to see the results they were hoping for…they start adopting the lifestyle of dieting or exercise itself as the goal, and give up on the original goal of getting the body they’ve always wanted.
This is how people can get lost in a particular style of training or a way of eating that was never their original intention. Sure there are some people who really do want to be a power lifter or a ‘crossfitter’ (whatever that is)…and some people who really feel better eating vegetarian or ‘paleo’ style etc.
But it’s likely that the majority of people who attempt any of these diet or training styles are really just people who want to look better and have so far failed to do so. Then they turn to these ‘alternative’ ways of exercising and eating, and before long get caught up with the identity and forget why they started dieting and working out in the first place.
The truth is that none of these identities are meant to produce a specific body shape or look, they’re an identity in and of themselves.
I wonder how many people who are living within one of these identities would trade it in a nano second if they could be guaranteed to get the body they’ve always wanted another way. I bet most wouldn’t even think twice about it.
So my challenge to you is to take an introspective look at what you’re doing with your diet and fitness lifestyle and decide if you’re latching onto an identity or are you actually trying to get results. You might surprise yourself with your answer.
John
P.S. Check out my other blogs for todays podcasts and weight loss info at:
The AdonisIndex blog -> How to Read a Research Paper
The VenusIndex blog -> How I lost 47lbs: Interview with Lisa Etwell
The Anything Goes Diet blog -> How many meals should you eat per day to lose weight?
7 Responses to “What is Your Diet and Fitness Identity?”
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February 15th, 2011 at 9:57 am
I guess i’m kind of at a cross on this. Let’s take diet. On one hand, I always think that people tend to gravitate towards a diet that they find interesting and that fits their personality. Chances are that if they followed that diet, they could lose the weight they want to lose. But then like you state, maybe they don’t take the diet seriously, don’t get the results, but still stick with the diet lifestyle because they identify it. I guess what I’m getting at is that there’s a diet out there that everyone can follow that can get them to lose weight, get the body they want, and fit their personality. But it’s just a matter of how you fully you apply it. Not sure if that makes sense.
February 15th, 2011 at 11:00 am
Mike,
I agree with you, the issue is when the identity of the diet takes over and becomes more important than the result. This happens to many people and they not only don’t get the result they want, but it starts to affect their social life, and in some cases negatively affect their health.
February 15th, 2011 at 12:18 pm
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February 15th, 2011 at 1:37 pm
I agree 100%. People see the kind of shape I’m in and ask if I’m vegetarian, which I never have a straight answer for. “I eat a lot of vegetables, and I very rarely eat animals but sometimes I do …”
Same with personal training – potential clients aren’t sold on customized training, they want to be sold on a “program”. It’s like when the movie 300 came out, guys thought that ******** training was the way to get Spartan-like ab development.
And anybody who has purchased **** didn’t buy it because they believed the science behind it; they bought it because “the guy in the infomercial is ripped”.
February 15th, 2011 at 7:42 pm
Nobody would workout or pay attention to their diet if it somehow made their body look worse (even if it made them feel better).
Welllll, I dont think people start a workout/diet thinking it will make them look/feel worse, but they get caught up in the ‘identity’ and wont quit, even if it does make them look/feel worse.
Prime examples are vegans and raw foodists. Guy in my boxing class is a raw foodie– he is a fairly attractive guy, but not in good shape (by any metric), and he just had to get some bloodwork done (apparently he doesnt feel well for some reason…)… but raw food is his identity. He wont give it up. *shrug*
February 16th, 2011 at 4:53 am
It’s funny how people forget about their goals. A friend of mime recently told me that he became a crossfitter. When I asked him why he wasn’t able to give me a proper answer. It was like : “I like that type of training” and “it makes me feel good about myself” and “I can feel that I’m finally doing something”.
February 16th, 2011 at 2:07 pm
I think these people continue to latch onto these identities even after they stop producing results because they provide a sense of validation and self-importance. I know several vegans/vegetarians who are constantly preaching about their “lifestyle” much like a religion.