Wonder Woman Hustle: Being Equally Yoked

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Wonder Woman Hustle: Being Equally Yoked

It’s one thing to lose weight but it’s a completely different monster to maintain a healthy lifestyle in order to keep the weight off. If you are strong of will, this is a piece of cake (pun intended). But the likelihood is that your will wavers from time to time and when it does, can be influenced by those around you.

There’s a show I’m obsessed with called “Extreme Weight Loss” and they have episodes called “Love Can’t Weight” In these episodes, Heidi and Chris Powell, expert trainers who are also a married couple, help a morbidly obese couple lose a specific amount so they can finally have the wedding they dream of.  At the beginning of the episode, the couple will talk about who they are and how much they love each other but how their weight is an impediment to their future. What I pay attention is who they were before they met each other.

in every episode I watched, there was always one person in the couple that was very active and ate healthy but when they met their significant other, love and comfort left little room for discipline (this isn’t pessimist Uchechi speaking. Studies show your brain responds to being in love the same it would to a drug. See struggle.). Without being aware of it, the healthy one would fall into the same eating pattern as the unhealthy one. Then….

BAM!

combined the couple would be almost 300 lbs overweight. And one has to wonder, how could something that drastic happen? Easy. They weren’t equally yoked.

Now follow me here. We always consider how it will affect us if our significant other isn’t on the same page with us spiritually, mentally, or financially. I don’t think many of us, particularly women, consider how someone who we have come to love unintentionally sabotage our hard work by simply continuing eating habits they had before we came into the picture.

Sheesh. So how do you avoid the overweight couple nightmare?

If you’re single like yours truly, congratulations! Since you’re still dating and perusing the market (stressful ass market. The dating market is worse than a market in Lagos), you still have an opportunity to question your potentials about their fitness lifestyles. Granted, there are many factors involved in a relationship but if you and your potential boo thing are on the same fitness wavelength, he/she will be more likely to aid in your efforts to stay fit not derail them. And do you really want to enter a relationship who’s only activity is to walk from the sitting room to the bathroom and back?

Here’s the thing about choosing your mate. If you plan on having children, you are choosing your partner in raising them. They kind of need to be alive to do that. In my humble opinion, I think this is where women drop the ball. We’re always told to look past the physical and “see his good heart” which isn’t a bad thing.  What good is a great body without a decent personality or brain behind it? But we forget that the heart we’re asked to see may not beat too long because we chose to ignore that pounded yam belly that usually is an indicator of heart problems to come. Besides, I find it unacceptable that a man in his 20s to late 30s would have a belly anyway and have the audacity to see if my yansh is bigger than my belly. I’ll be damned if I look past anything.

I’m going off topic…Anyway.

Ok so what if you already are in a relationship or married? Is all hope lost if you two aren’t equally yoked? Will you end up a “Love Can’t Weight” couple? Not at all. Just as you can bring someone to our Lord Jesus Christ, you can bring someone to the light of health and fitness. Not going to lie, this may prove to be difficult but I’m assuming you’re committed to a sensible and supportive human being who loves you enough to work with you. However, you have to be proactive in making sure you and yours get on a healthy track. How?

  • Buying and cooking healthy food for the both of you. Make clear to your spouse your food triggers and ask them to agree to not bring them into the home. My friend’s husband was telling me how he thought he was going to die when his wife began to cook healthier alternatives to their normal meals. But he didn’t complain because he wanted to support her and then he realized HE himself was beginning to look leaner and more fit.
  • Gym dates. Work out together. Run together. Be active TOGETHER even if it means you have to drag them off the couch. Whenever my father would take us to the park, he would drag my mother along with us and have her walk/jog with him while we played.
  • Stay strong and stay aware. Sometimes our loved ones are the devil on our shoulder with the sweet voice. When you’re tired, it’s easy to listen. Try to pay attention and shake it off, especially if you’re a parent. You’re doing this for yourself AND for your babies.

Not only will you maintain your health, your spouse will become healthier and isn’t that one of the goals of a happy marriage/relationship? For both of you to be healthy mentally AND physically?

Now you’re probably wary of listening to a chronically single (hey I have to be honest.) woman in her late twenties but….I don’t know. From what I’ve witnessed in the relationships around me, I might be able to offer a few gems. You be the judge.

Ok this is long enough. Till next time y’all. Be well and get on the same forward page (or at least the same book) in your fitness journey with your loved ones.