On my way home from work today, I was waiting for a train. A couple of things struck me as I observed the goings on around me.

1. How obsessed (read possessed) we, as humans, have become with our phones. I would estimate that about 90% of the people I observed had their face well and truly planted into a smartphone, oblivious to the world going on around them. Hard to be mindful when you are so far away from the now.
2. A lot of people are carrying some extra weight – I would guess if they had their BMI assessed, they would either be in the overweight or obese category – mostly office workers given the location and attire I’m guessing.
3. Nobody looks very happy 😦

There is no judgement in any of this, we are where we are as a society, but it is interesting to pause and observe the world around you and make yourself more aware.

While we do, as humans, need to be aware of our own body weight, it is only one factor in your overall health picture. In today’s society, there is an overemphasis on weight loss, created by gyms, slimming clubs and fad diet marketing, I feel the focus should be more on health gain. Once you gain health, your body will manage its weight just fine and you won’t have to worry about counting calories or points or any of the things that the short term unsustainable quick fix weight loss programs advocate.

Focus your precious attention and energy on long-term, sustainable lifestyle changes that will stack the health deck in your favour and issues like weight loss will fade into the background and become a side effect of you improving your overall health and well-being. This means setting different goals that don’t revolve around losing x pounds but more focus on activities and healthy habit creation. You are what you habitually do.

Forget losing weight and focus on gaining your health.