I recently came across a story with exactly this content from a famous person (Russian singer). “When I walked uphill for almost half an hour at speed 7, wet as TV..., and burned with.. . 125 kcal. Maybe I should never eat?” Let’s talk about eating disorders today, attitudes towards the body, diets and all that..⬆️ Thoughts in the vein of “or maybe I should just never eat” and the belief that this is real, “I just need more willpower”—playing sports solely for the purpose of losing weight (“I worked out, but only burned 125 calories”) or to a greater extent for this purpose—focusing on centimeters, kilograms, calories, and not on well-being, pleasure from physical activity - self-criticism, devaluation of one’s actions (“I didn’t burn 3000 calories - I tried in vain”, “it all makes no sense”) stimulate or reinforce behavior patterns characteristic of eating disorders (ED), and the latter, for example, also depression. I don't know if there is any other area of ​​life in which there are as many myths as the topic of weight loss and exercise. Unfortunately, despite the great leap in information on this topic in recent years, this does not mean at all that people stopped going on diets, doing grueling workouts, fasting, and “eating right.” And if a famous person with a multimillion-dollar audience speaks about the idea of ​​“not eating,” then there is no doubt that followers (and in the future people suffering from eating disorders) will meet many more times. At the same time, modern research proves to us that: 1. Willpower is a limited resource. This is a spring that cannot be stretched indefinitely2. Willpower has nothing to do with nutrition, because the feeling of hunger and the need to satisfy it is physiology. And this physiology is the result of evolution and underlies the survival of all living beings. The oldest survival mechanism cannot be overcome by willpower (only in a way opposite to survival, but this is a one-way road if you know what I mean). In other words, no, friends, not “eating” is not an option!3. Changes in body volume weakly correlate with the number on the scale or the number of calories burned during physical activity. The body quickly adapts to stress and, again based on the second point, strives to maintain body weight. It easily replenishes burned calories in a variety of ways. If you exercise intensively, the body goes into energy saving mode. If you exercise regularly, but in moderation, the amount of fat mass will simply be replaced by muscle mass, and since muscles weigh 1.5 times more than fat, the weight may not change much, or even a slight increase may occur. Doesn’t sound rosy? But the good news is that: ❇️ You can play sports for the sake of feeling good. It has been proven: by doing physical activity, we are guaranteed to get a surge of endorphins, which will make us feel better and perceive ourselves more adequately and positively❇️ By feeling better and more energetic as a result of training, we can influence the areas of life that are important to us: work, hobbies, relationships, instead of being in an endless cycle - dieting - deterioration in well-being (not immediately) - focus on the body (narrowing the range of interests) - overeating - deterioration in well-being again - depression, eating disorder, etc. As a result, the quality of life is greatly reduced (if you look at it longitudinally, i.e. a period of six months, a year or more. Sometimes people live like this for years, I know)❇️ Feeling good, we are less prone to emotional overeating (“eating emotions "")❇️ You can focus on the training process. By focusing on the process rather than the result, we can perceive our lives more fulfilling❇️ We can explore the issue of objectification of the body and move away from it towards a neutral or friendly relationship with the body❇️ We can direct energy to those areas of life that are more controllable than feelings hunger and body weight, which in general will make you feel happier. It is dangerous when a person broadcasts such ideas to a larger audience.