“Lucky to be so fit.” I says, “Pardon?”

The other day one of my Facebook friends (a real life friend too) posted that she was told that she was “lucky to be so fit”, her response “Yup, because sweating it up at the gym 2 hours a day is pure luck?” Can sense the rant brewing?

Before the hate mail starts, this comment came from an employee at the gym where my friend works out, this person is not diseased, disabled, ill or injured, just wanted to be clear on that. Here it comes…

Let me start out by saying that I HATE (and I don’t hate many words, there are a few I dislike and I chose not to use, but this one I hate) the word ‘lucky’. I think that in 99% of situations the word lucky is preceded with a lot of hard work, and prefer to use the word ‘fortunate’. If you catch a lucky break, you have likely tried many times before succeeding, if lady luck is on your side, you have probably already spent thousands of dollars for a lesser windfall, it’s got nothing to do with luck, the odds were finally with you and you won, and if you get lucky, as with the previous examples you have either invested time, and/or dollars, and you finally got it.

Being fit does not mean being thin, there are many thin people out there that have skinny genes who are far from fit, I call them skinny fat people. We all know a few skinny/fat types, they consume copious amounts of empty, garbage calories, never exercise and probably have a less than positive outlook, I certainly wouldn’t call them fortunate. On the other hand there are a great many out there that are not thin but are fit. Whatever body type you are accept it, love it (we all have days that we don’t) and work with what you have. I am thin, but will never be a size 2 and I am ok with that, I work hard for my curves, truth be told I wish a few of my curves were a bit bigger (like a full ‘B’, ok maybe a ‘C’).

However you look at it, you don’t have to be lucky or fortunate to be fit, it is a choice and it is work, (that’s what the ‘work’ is in ‘workout’) and why wouldn’t you want to be fit? Everyday tasks are done more easily, you look, feel and sleep better, you dramatically reduce the risk of dying of chronic disease not to mention your clothes fit better. That being said, close to 60% of Canadians are not physically active enough.

Being fit isn’t about running marathons, but if you were running marathons, I would assume that you were fit. Being fit is also about living a healthy lifestyle, eating a well balanced diet, not smoking or taking drugs, limiting alcohol consumption (notice I didn’t say avoiding) and managing stress. It all sounds good but let’s put this healthy lifestyle into perspective for a moment, by exercising regularly and eating a balanced diet you are able to effectively manage your weight, reduce your stress, feel good about yourself and lower the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and some cancers, add to that avoiding smoking/drugs and limiting your happy hour indulgence, you are now reducing your risk even further of dying of a chronic disease. Ok, being fit makes you look good and feel good, are you lucky? HELL NO, it’s just smart.