Tipping the Scales

Are fitness magazines our tormentors or saviors? Maybe none of the above, but as I was catching up on mine this morning, it occurred to me that they can be hazardous to one's self-esteem. 

I must confess I'm a transformation junkie. I go straight for the "Success Stories" complete with Before & After shots. Man, they make it look easy. "Janey cut out fast food and lost 10 pounds the first month. She began walking and quickly lost 20 more pounds. Inspired, she added strength training and lost 15 more pounds before the end of the year." Janey never lets 2 drinks turn into 5 at Happy Hour before finding herself facedown in a plate of nachos. (No, she sips a wine spritzer, which is just a sin against wine, but I digress.)

I was in for a treat with this month's haul of fit mags. This being the January issue, it was Transformation Central!  What got me started on this theme, was coming across the phrase, "tipping the scales" in two different stories. What does that even mean? One person "tipped" at 192. I can see if she weighed 410 and her scale only went to 400. And even if she weighed 410, she could always weigh more. "Tipped the scales" suggests some kind of end-of-the-road weight to me. Like she weighed as much as is humanly possible. Alright, I'm being overly-something. I guess I just don't care for the expression and it got me thinking about the fitness media in more general terms.

Shape, Women's Health, Fitness, Self, I subscribe to all of them. Sometimes it's hard to discern much difference among them. Sometimes  I wonder how a $995 handbag or this season's perfect shade of lipstick for every complexion is going to push me along on my quest for fitness. (I already know the publishers' answer to this complaint: fashion, makeup, celebrity profiles, and other tips and quasi-promotional placements, er, articles, facilitate a holistic approach to women's "wellness".)

Which is fine, I suppose. I'm free to peruse the sections I find motivating and pertinent and flip, flip, flip through the other nonsense. Most of the "fitness models" are the same 4% body fat figures found in glossy fashion spreads - demotivating. Sometimes they'll feature a recipe makeover or a new cardio routine I want to try - motivating. 

Lately though, I've found them piling up for a couple months before I get around to them. Maybe because I've found myself so much more inspired by real people on fitness blogs? They experience struggles, setbacks, and successes - often in the same day! - just like I do. They get fed up and go "awol" and find their way back to an approach they can live with - just like I do. They don't have pat answers or 8 steps to flat abs, they make it up as they go along - just like I do.