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New York Times recently published the article 'Fat but Fit'?  posing the question: can you be fat and healthy? This has been a long running debate, but more recently fatness has become more accepted. It's important to remember that if you're skinny, you are not necessarily healthy. Some thin people eat horribly and never exercise, but are just lucky with the genes/metabolism they were born with. Many may assume these people are healthy from their physique, but the truth is that they could be extremely unhealthy. Health itself does not look like anything. We know that obesity is an unhealthy disease and we can see it with the naked eye. But, having fat, and varied amounts, is usually just down to you metabolism and how your body happens to react to food or physical activity. Don't judge people's health from looking at them, because that is almost impossible.

A New "Exercise Pill" Could Completely Replace the Fitness Industry

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A new study shows that "exercise pills" may be the future. Rats were given pills that boosted endurance, increased metabolism, and burned fat all without actual exercise. The author of this study explains, "... you can improve endurance to the equivalent level as someone in training, without all of the physical effort.” With people working longer and longer hours, many just do not have the time to work out. Reaching the level of consistent recommended exercise is just not a reality for many at this point. Receiving the benefits one gets from exercising in the time it take to swallow a tablet may be the new answer. Of course, we do not know that this could ever be a reality as scientists are just in the very beginning stages of the drug. But, if an exercise tablet became a viable option, would you use it? We take vitamins to substitute absent nutrients in our diets. Could we do the same for the absence of exercise? Source

Let's talk about mental illness...and exercise!

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Mental illness is a very serious and sensitive subject. Assumptions about causes, treatments, or the validity of mental illnesses are often met with offense. For example, when someone expresses their struggles with depression, a frequent and misguided recommendation is just to exercise. “Have you tried working out. It’s proven to boost your mood!” While someone who says this is coming from a good place, they often don’t understand that depression is much more than just being in a bad mood. In fact (and I am no expert on mental illness, but), I know depression can often be difficult to even recognize and some of the most joyous-seeming people could be suffering. Let’s go back to the exercise recommendation. Working out is proven to boost your mood. Is this a valid treatment option for people with depression, or even suicidal thoughts? Could it actually make a significant improvement in their lives? David Levine explores this in his recent article about the connection between br...

Stressed? Get to the gym!

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It's common knowledge that regular exercise comes with a plethora of physical benefits, but often overlooked are the mental health advantages many receive from working out.  Cardio and weight-lifting may not just make you look better, they will probably make you feel better too. Enhanced good mood, increased energy, and focus has all been linked to regular exercise.  According to helpguide.org, exercise can help treat mild cases of depression, anxiety, ADHD, and just stress in general.  This is because the physical activity triggers calming and happiness-inducing chemicals in your brain such as dopamine, norepinephrine, and endorphins.   So next time you're overly stressed, cancel your Netflix binge and junk food eating session; instead, hit the gym!

How Much Do You Hate Ads?

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People have mixed feelings about advertisements. Some go to great lengths to not see ads, paying for premium services and installing ad blockers. Others watch the Super Bowl only to see the advertisements in the form of commercials. Many fall into both of these categories at once depending on the content. What makes us want to see advertisements? Obviously consumers enjoy advertisements when they are entertaining, funny or heart-warming. We all loved the hilarious KIA commercial featuring Melissa McCarthy putting herself in perilous situations trying to save the planet. This ad obviously took a lot of time and money to hire McCarthy and feature such amazing special effects. (If not, rest in peace Melissa McCarthy.) But, not all advertisements are this special... as many of us are painfully aware of. Companies just don't have the resources to create Super Bowl-worthy ads for every product they sell. More normal, every day ads are less exciting. Here is one I scrolled p...

The Last Thing I Look Like When I Work Out, Is A Model

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Many clothing brands are scared to feature varieties of female builds other than sky-high, skinny women. This creates a problem of inadequate representation for the women purchasing the products, who come in all different shapes and sizes. For example, Victoria's Secret Sport presents only women with a slim and tall physique. This is just one of the many body types and athletic builds for women; the rest nowhere to be seen. See this recent Facebook ad, for instance.  Some criticized the photo in the comments claiming the model wasn’t even holding the weight with the proper form and that it was laughably light. Do you think Victoria’s Secret Sport and other companies need to step up their advertising of athletic wear?  It is definitely a safer route to stick to conventional and traditionally feminine beauty standards. Using tall and slender models has obviously worked for selling clothing retail in the past. But, shoudn’t sportswear showcase more sportiness? Victo...

What does fit look like?

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What does fit look like? When I shop online for workout attire, I am often disappointed (but unsurprised) at the visual selection of the clothes. For many labels, such as Victoria’s Secret’s athletic line, Victoria Sport, there is a decent(ish) range of sizes, but only has pictures of women with the same body type. That is - tall and slim. You’ve seen Victoria’s Secret models before. You know the body type. These women are gorgeous and obviously look great in these clothes. However, this look is simply unachievable to many women, and it can be very discouraging only seeing this one body type when shopping for clothes that will have to fit on your body. Many shoppers just don’t see themselves represented online.  Victoria Sport Sports Bra Collection Every once in an while, though, there is an athletic brand that pops out of the crowd of only tall, only lean, only “perfect” bodies, and proudly showcases more representative and more real(istic) models to displ...