Earlier this month I posted the article, The Culural Shift in Nudism, which discussed how the emphasim in nudism has shifted away from exercise and fitness since AANR embraced body acceptance in 2001. I also discussed a little about an article that appeared in N Magazine where the author encouraged nudists to start giving more attention to health and fitness and actually the article has motivated me to do just that. I think body acceptance is an improtant principle of nudism and that we should be accepting of our own bodies and the bodies of others in spite of differences in sizes and shapes. But as the author of that article emphasized, we shouldn't use body acceptance as an excuse for ignoring the consequences of poor dietary habits and lack of exercise.
Personally I have allowed myself to gain a good bit of extra weight, especially around the mid-section over the past couple of years. When I weighed on my own bathroom scales about a week ago, I discovered that my 5 foot, 8 inch frame sported 206 pounds. Plugging those figures into the handy Body Mass Index (BMI) calculator available at the Center for Disease Control website revealed that my BMI stands at about 31.3. Persons with a BMI over 30.0 are considered by the CDC as obese.
Since I am not an exhibitionist and was not attracted to nudism as a way to have others see me naked, my reasons for wanting to lose weight and get more fit have nothing to do with wanting to appear more attractive to other nudists. I am motivated by the health considerations since it has been well documented that being overweight does increase a person's risk of developing some very serious health conditions. But on the other hand, if becoming more physically attractive aids in presenting nudists in a better light and makes the lifestyle more attractive to others, then I don't have a problem with that really. So I have taken the challenge to lose about 30 pounds and to become more physically active once again.
I have actually started a diet and fitness regimen and while I haven't weighed yet to see if I have dropped any weight, I already feel better and have more energy. My reason for sharing all this here is that I hope making this public will serve me well by increasing my motivation to succeed and in that vein, I will be providing updates from time to time on my progress.
I read the article in N and it reflected some of my thoughts on naturism, health and fitness, and body acceptance. For me body acceptance was a first step and I've been working to lose weight, lower my blood pressure, raise my good cholesterol and get my blood sugar under control. Health is my primary motivation since I have a family history of diabetes and after seeing what my mother went through, I decided that I wasn't going to endure it or put my family through it, not if I could do anything about it. I've lost about 40 pounds and I'm nearing my target weight that I feel is healthy for a man of my age and height. I feel much better and looking better is a pleasant side effect.
ReplyDeleteI think there are benefits in promoting naturism as a healthy lifestyle. Naturism has helped motivate me to get healthier.