Читать книгу Dai Manuel's Whole Life Fitness Manifesto - Dai Manuel - Страница 30

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discover your personal why

I withdrew from friends, family, social outings—life expe-riences—and tried to fill the void I felt within, which mainly involved eating. Our family dinners were well-rounded, but outside of mealtimes, I was a junk-food junkie. Food was my crutch. Very quickly, I developed a bad habit of reaching for more snacks than I should, choosing burgers, fries and other garbage that barely landed in my stomach before I wanted more. In hindsight, I can see that I was making choices without really understanding why I made them. I was on autopilot, just acting on an impulse to soothe my turbulent emotions.

I certainly didn’t offload those extra calories with anything even approaching an active lifestyle. Blame it on too much time playing video games, too much lounging in front of the tv, combined with a lack of education around where my sedentary lifestyle was heading.

By the time I reached puberty, my frame—then 167 cm (5 ft 6 in) in height—weighed in at about 90 kg (200 lbs), with a 96-cm (38-in) waist.

The usual emotional and physical upheavals of adolescence made the situation even worse. As anyone who is or has been overweight knows, there’s a stigma that comes with being large. People can be cruel, but teenagers downright vicious in their ridicule. My peers found it hard to even look me in the eye and I was well aware of their snickering—behind my back, and even right in my face. I understood; I avoided looking at my own body when I stepped out of the shower. I wore baggy clothing in an attempt to camouflage my protruding belly. And shorts? I never wore them, no matter how hot the weather might be.

I said no to everything. Attend a pool party where I would have to wear a bathing suit? No way! Participate in gym class? Out of the question. Go to a school dance? No thanks. I’d simply avoid anything physical, leveraging my asthma as an excuse to opt out.

Through these lifestyle choices, I soon became freighted with low self-esteem. I approached rock bottom, feeling depressed and isolated. I can admit now that I even had suicidal thoughts.

And then one Sunday morning, I decided to do something that I usually avoided: I looked at my reflection in the mirror. Up to that point, I was able to pretend that things weren’t as bad as they were, because I wasn’t looking the problem in the eye. Deny, deny, deny. Facing up, however, I broke down in tears. I had never felt so low

How Active Are Our Kids?

Physical inactivity is now identified as the 4th leading risk factor for global mortality.The WHO Physical Activity Guidelines recommend that kids from 5 to 17 years old should get at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity every day. What’s unfortunate is that many children in first world countries aren’t achieving this minimum.

SOURCE: World Health Organization

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