Day 135 of Your Year to Wellness; Fit; The New Sexy

5 Habits of Highly Fit People

I’ve been paying close attention to the people we call fit; you know the one’s I’m talking about. These folks are not too fat and not too thin. They move easily and get up without grunting. These folks all seem to have these things in common and for some reason, we don’t pay enough attention to what they do.

When I first noticed these traits and behaviors, I thought that maybe I was just imagining things, or that each person was a just naturally fit, but the closer I looked the more consistent the pattern was.

I know you’re thinking; just get to the five things, I will but before I do, I’d like to point out another thing; we keep allowing the diet industry to tell us how to diet but if you were fit and well, you wouldn’t need them.

So here are the five traits and behaviors I’ve noticed among people who are fit.

·         They eat all day

·         They move all day

·         They sleep all night and get up early

·         They rarely complain about themselves or others

·         They drink lots of water and smile

Okay, I know that last one was odd, but stay with me. Fit people, not gym rats or diet-aholics make being fit a lifestyle. So let’s look more closely at it.

They eat all day---these people seem to be chewing all the time. But they eat small meals and very slowly. They think about what they eat but they don’t fixate on it. They like food but food is not their friend. They eat for fuel and like birds; often and in small amounts. They tend to eat what is good for them, but they don’t politicize their food. They clean their food before eating it and appear to contemplate where it came from before they do. They think about what they eat and why they are eating, but they don’t fixate on taste.

They move all day---fit people move constantly but are not frenetic. In fact, if you didn’t pay close attention to them, you might miss the fact that they are moving at all. They stretch and bend throughout the day almost as often as they eat. If they have been sitting for long periods, they get up and move about. They do runners stretches when they are not going to run and they twist and turn their bodies while everyone else in a meeting is checking their smartphone. They may run, but most often they walk and they look for opportunities to do so. When I’m in an airport running to catch the tram, I see these people walking from one terminal to the next, so I join them. They are flexible and move with ease, because they are constantly stretching and bending. I think they may drop things just to have the opportunity to pick them up. They don’t belong to gyms and they don’t buy gadgets to use at home. They stay fit and use their own body weight for their weights; doing push-ups and sit ups regularly without counting. They do things that they will always be able to do, even when they are in their nineties. Exercise is usually referred to as a routine because they have made it one.

They sleep all night---Fit people love to sleep. They take a short nap daily and wake up more refreshed than they did in the morning. You’d never know they were taking a nap, because they don’t ever look like they need one. They go in a room, shut the door and sleep for ten minutes. Their energy level is constantly level; never too excited and never dragging. They are not easily angered because they get the rest the body and mind needs to stay calm. They sleep all night without interruption and they go to bed around the same time each night. They get up early and achieve more in the morning than most people do all day. In fact, they seem to have an easy life and don’t appear to work much all, but this is because it’s done before us regular folks are even up. If you want to annoy a fit person, just interrupt their sleep.

They rarely complain---These folks are amazing in that rather than be bothered by something, they are amazed by everything. They can appear to be aloof because they don’t listen to complaints. They will quietly remove themselves from a situation that is chaotic. They don’t like drama; it goes against their nature to participate. They tend to read a lot, but I think it’s their way of avoiding gossip and controversy, but maybe they like to read because they prefer learning to complaining. When they get sick, and they do, everyone is usually shocked because they were so healthy and never complained of being sick. Even if the fit person is having health issues, you would not know because they don’t point them out or seek attention from them. They are happy with life and life is happy with them.

They drink lots of water and smile---While you may find the other attributes difficult to emulate, we can all attempt to do more of this. Drinking water and smiling is a fit person’s way of getting more oxygen to their heart, lungs and other organs. They seem to just know that these are crucial to their existence and so they give their body what it truly needs. You would hardly ever see a fit person with a giant bottle of soda and you’d never see them with 40 ounces of anything. They smile all of the time and have the appearance of knowing something that the rest of us don’t. That’s because they do, and now you know these things too.

Being fit is not a fad or a fix; it is a way of life and will get you through the rest of your life. I’m striving to be fit and well, not thin and sexy, because fit is the new sexy.

Be you, be well, be fit

Bertice Berry, PhD.

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