Putting Weight Loss On The Back Burner

Last week, I started training at a ninja gym. Not the masked guys in all black sneaking around assassinating people with throwing stars, obstacle course training like you see on American Ninja Warrior.

It’s so much fun even though I’m pretty bad at it right now. But honestly, it’s essentially just a huge playground. How can you be “bad” at playing? I think I need to work on how I’m thinking about that.

Anyway, as a former competitive climber, I still have memories of how every pound of additional body weight can impact your ability to move through extreme climbing problems. The same is true of ninja training.

I have to admit that the thought crossed my mind to just do a quick cut to shave off a bit of body fat and then return to my Intuitive Eating ways. It’s what a lot of people in that space do. It’s what our society would applaud.

However, the likely outcome would be that my performance would suffer as I’m already feeling like I need to eat quite a bit more to fuel this new form of activity. Increased risk of injury due to lack of recovery. And, if I pushed my body beyond where it is most comfortable, it wouldn’t stay there anyway once I stopped starving myself.

As an intuitive eater myself and coaching others in these principles, I have had to put my money where my mouth is.

So, what am I doing instead?

I’m focusing on improving my technique on the obstacles by listening to my coaches.

I’m working hard during the training sessions to make sure my body builds strength and resiliency in the parts that are particularly taxed by this type of activity.

I’m making sure to eat ENOUGH food including protein, fat, and lots of carbs.

I’m listening to my body when it tells me that I’ve done enough flying through the air and yanking on my shoulders in spite of any peer pressure.

All of this will bring improvement and all without any intentional attempts at changing my body size.

In essence, I’m applying the principles of Intuitive Eating to my movement as well.

Keep in mind that Intuitive Eating is not a soft, easy road. It’s challenging yet so incredibly rewarding. And it can be practiced regardless of the type and level of movement you find most fulfilling.

Do you have performance-related goals? Are you wondering if taking a weight-neutral approach to nutrition is possible if you are involved in a sport where the strength to weight ratio is an important factor (e.g. climbing, ninja or other obstacle course training, etc.)? Check out this episode of the Men’s Intuition Podcast where I speak with Amanda Fitt about this exact topic.