MENTAL HEALTH AND FITNESSBy Juan Rojas
I want you to ask yourself the following question and answer as truthfully as possible : Why do you go to the gym and choose to eat well ?
I like asking this to people as the answer is never the “ deep-down ” correct answer . I commonly hear things like : “ To lose weight ”, “ to gain muscle ”, “ to get healthier ”, “ to compete in a show ”, etc .
Although these are by products of manipulating a diet and following a training regimen , why do you truly go to the gym and choose to eat well ? The true answer for most people is because they feel mentally accomplished in one way or another by reaching the goals mentioned above . Whether you want to be a top bodybuilding competitor or just lose a few lbs . to fit in a dress , it comes down to feeling mentally happy by doing these things .
Now , what is happiness ?
The answer to this is different for everybody . There is no one blanket statement to answer this , but one thing most people can agree on is that happiness comes from within . Those who seek for happiness in material things or temporary things are often left disappointed .
Most of the readers of this will be in one way or another interested or involved in physique competitions . To the majority of us involved in this , living a fitness-oriented lifestyle makes us feel happy and fulfilled . Although many see it as something very challenging ( which it is ), following our discipline day to day to achieve the necessary tasks to get closer to our fitness goals adds a sense of accomplishment to our life that enriches it . In the last decade , there has been a big push to bring awareness to mental health issues . It used to be a very taboo subject , but now , many are not afraid to reach out to the proper resources that help deal with these issues .
Mental health illnesses are no joke . Many people at one point or another in their life will deal with illnesses like depression , anxiety , schizophrenia , personality disorders , eating disorders , substance abuse and many more . The Canadian Mental Health association mentions that by age 40 , 50 % of the population will have or have had some sort of mental illness .
Mental Illness is not as easy to spot as physical illness . Mental illnesses are not biased towards a certain gender , ethnicity , income level or culture . Mental illness is something that can affect any person no matter what their situation is . It can also affect an individual at certain times in their life and not in others . Some mental illnesses are more severe than others , and some people are affected more than others as well . The reality is that many of these mental illnesses can lead a person to commit suicide . According to the Mental Health Commission of Canada , suicide is one of the top 10 causes of death here .
Consider yourself lucky if you have never dealt with a mental health illness . Chances are if you have never dealt with one , somebody you know or that you are close to has . It may be hard to understand this person if you have never dealt with mental health issues , but the best thing you can do is listen to them , support them , and encourage them to get the proper resources needed to win this battle . I want to share with you folks my own personal struggle with mental health illnesses . I know many people who are thankful to fitness and bodybuilding as it taught them many life lessons and gave them a passion in life . I am one of these people . I grew up overweight and although I had amazing parents and an awesome childhood , I had 0 confidence in how my body looked and performed . I also struggled finding a passion that I enjoyed pouring my heart and soul into and did not just want to be an average person since I was a child . Bodybuilding changed my life in many ways .
At age 15 I decided I was going to lose weight no matter what . I was so sick of the reflection in the mirror , that I did the obvious thing that anybody uneducated on the matter would do to lose weight . Eat as little as possible and do as much exercise as possible . I would starve myself until I could not take it and then I would eat the wrong foods . I would also jog every day looking for more sweat every time believing that the more you sweat , the more fat you lose . In a matter of 10 months , I lost about 90 lbs . I was finally skinny . I was at the point where I imagined being “ happy ” with my body . Now that I look back on it , I was dealing with anorexia by being severely afraid of food , bulimia by having many occasions where I would binge and then do extra exercise to burn it off , and depression by being extremely sad about my body . I was at a very low point by the time I turned 17 and all of the sudden I picked up a bodybuilding magazine with a picture of Arnold on it . It was a MuscleMag International issue where it highlighted bodybuilders throughout history that are considered “ Legends .” This magazine changed my life . From that moment I said : “ This is what I want to do ! I want to be a pro bodybuilder .”
I realized that losing a drastic amount of weight does not get you a “ great body .” It just gets you skinny . I was still super unhappy about my body . At 140 lbs ., I started looking on internet forums and realized that food is nothing to be afraid of . That food is used as the energy needed to train hard and to build muscle . I realized that over exercising was bad when it came to building muscle and that if I wanted to achieve the body of my dreams ; I had to drastically change my way of thinking and my habits . Through time , I was able to drastically
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