When I first lost 20+ kg after living through entire childhood of being overweight/obese, I met a friend of mine whom I have not seen in a while. He was so surprised, that after retorting “what happened?!” he immediately turned to my wife – in my presence – and straight up asked her,
“Eh, aren’t you worried that he’s going to marry a second wife?!”
We had a good laugh.
Jokes aside, this remark made me ponder about the "WHY" of exercising and eating healthy. People always view this fat loss thing as purely for aesthetic purposes, to attract others. Perhaps is that why some people sometimes completely stop exercising altogether after marriage, because they “got the girl” and nailed the wedding photos… and before you know it: Dad bod..?
More recently, I heard a case where, in her attempt to “secure” the husband from seeing someone else, the wife deliberately stuffs the husband so he will gain weight to appear less attractive.
Some people even outright refuse to exercise because they feel “nobody wants to look at me anyway”.
“Fitness” is always associated with sexual attraction, and seldom associated with good health, and improving our quality of life and taking care of the Amanah of the only home that Allah has given us: our bodies. When in fact, that should be the main goal - especially as Muslims!
We really need to mature our paradigm and move away from this shallow, teenage-boy mindset of #BicepCurlsGetTheGurls getting a beach boy to "catch chicks".
When our intentions our shallow, then the actions that inspire them become unsustainable and short-lived.
As for my big WHY for maintaining regular exercise and going to the gym, I sum it up in two words: Age Awesomely.
I ask myself this simple question: "If Allah grants me long life in this dunya, how will I imagine I spend my days in that old age? Would I want to live to be a grumpy grandpa, barely surviving on life support of pills and medication, waiting on the next surprise news upon my next medical checkup?"
My major inspiration is the example of our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and how he lived his day-to-day life, towards the end of his life. Throughout his final years in Madinah, much of what took place in his 60s, he was playing with children in the streets, was constantly smiling (to the extent that Abdullah bin Harith said "I have never seen anyone more in the habit of smiling than him ﷺ), was on the front lines in the battlefield, would win in a footrace with his wife A’isyah, the first to respond onsite when a crisis was about to happen, actively socializing with his young companions, and would be the hardest worker in hunger when they dug the trenches during the battle of Al-Ahzab. Wow! Masha Allah.
How will I imagine my physical self if Allah allows me to live until my 60s? Wouldn’t it be awesome if I could work out and play squash with my son, as father-and-son bonding activities, and to be goofing around jumping about with my grandchildren? If I can retain all my memorizations of Qur’an and hadith, AND keep up that growth mindset to continue learning, writing and memorizing more? If I can continue to play an active role in da’wah efforts, still do house chores efficiently as ever? If I can maintain an optimistic and positive demeanour to play a role to motivate the people around me?
This is one of my big WHYs of exercise: to live a quality life that ages awesomely.
So, let’s change our paradigm and really plant the habit now, with this long-term intent of aging awesome. Let’s set our eyes on the prize: to live a quality life full of energy, enthusiasm, motivation and razor-sharp cognitive health and memory to be the best version I can be to perform righteous deeds for ourselves and to be positive presence for our families, well into our old age.
Attractiveness? Sure: For the spouse, of course. Compound awesomeness!
إنَّمَا الْأَعْمَالُ بِالنِّيَّاتِ، وَإِنَّمَا لِكُلِّ امْرِئٍ مَا نَوَى
"Actions are (judged) by motives (niyyah), so each man will have what he intended." (Hadith narrated by Al-Bukhari, Muslim)
Let’s chuck away the excuses and stamp this on our priority list of habits. Don’t wait until the shocking medical report to push us, or the dreaded news that it’s “too late”.
“If it’s important to you, you’ll find a way. If it’s not important, you’ll find an excuse” (Jim Rohn)
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said that the best of mankind, are those
مَنْ طَالَ عُمُرُهُ وَحَسُنَ عَمَلُهُ
“Whose life is long and his deeds are good." (Narrated At-Tirmidzi)
#TheBarakahEffect #Exercise #Fatloss #loseweight #fitness #healthylifestyle #cleaneating
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