There’s nothing worse than walking into class, donut in hand, and sitting next to someone decked out in matching Lululemon leggings and running shoes. Suddenly, that donut does not seem as appealing as it did two minutes ago when you first walked through the door. You begin to panic as you assess the perfectly toned and seemingly flawless individual sitting next to you.
Thoughts fly through your head at a million miles per hour. Will I have time to go to the gym today? How many calories does this donut contain? Will the fat go straight to my hips? How does this girl next to me look so damn good in those leggings?
Let’s face it: we’ve all had at least one moment like that before. But instead of wondering how many push ups we have to do to burn off the donut we’re about to inhale, here’s the question we should really be asking ourselves: why does it matter so much to us?
In her Mustang News article “Excessive Exercise: Treading the Line Between a Healthy Habit and a Problem,” Sam Gilbert raises a very important issue. Cal Poly students feel pressured to constantly exercise—and not for the sake of being in shape, but for the sake of attaining the body type our society has designated as attractive.
Gilbert’s article features an interview with a Cal Poly alumna who felt so much pressure to look fit that she developed an eating disorder and an unhealthy obsession with exercise. It also cites a Cal Poly psychology professor who correlates excessive exercise with self-objectification.
If reading that bothers you, then we’re on the same page.
I think it’s time we, as a Cal Poly community, recognize two important points together:
- Exercise is a way of keeping a body, no matter what shape or size it is, active and healthy.
- Exercise should not be seen as a means to attain the body shape that our culture defines as the standard of beauty.
What this means is that no one should find motivation to work out by looking in the mirror and thinking, “Wow, my stomach looks really flabby today. I guess I’m spending the day at the gym.” You shouldn’t be exercising out of disdain for your body type; rather, you should be doing it for the love of your body.
Exercise to keep your heart healthy and your lungs in shape. Exercise to build and strengthen your muscle tone. Exercise to relieve stress and to pump some endorphins into your system — to show your body that you love it by keeping it in good condition. But please, do not exercise only because you feel like you are not “attractive” enough to adhere to Cal Poly’s standards. It is when exercise becomes a punishment for simply being the way you are that it becomes unhealthy.
Thank you, Sam, for bringing up this incredibly important topic in your article. It’s true that society puts enormous pressure on everyone to appear a certain way. It’s up to us to stand up to this expectation and to re-evaluate our motives for doing what we do. We must remember to embrace the fact that we are all human and that our self-worth is not defined by our size or our shape.
Once we begin to accept our bodies as they are and exercising for the sake of staying healthy, not for the sake of upholding society’s beauty standards, there will be far fewer people treading that line between a healthy habit and a problem. And that’s when we will walk into class with a donut in hand and our heads held high.