Why is fitness so controversial?

Since Southern B mentioned some new and superb songs to power up your workout (which I have already downloaded and tested thankyouverymuch), I thought I'd share a little rant I have about working out and fitness in general.

I think you could ask any woman, and she'd tell you that at one point in her life, she's been jealous of another woman's shape. I don't think that's a bad thing, so long as it doesn't become all consuming. Sometimes, seeing something you desire in others pushes you to get after it yourself.

A little jealousy can go a long way when it comes to fitness. In fact, seeing another girl running longer or faster on the treadmill next to me always pushes me to ramp up my efforts... and if she looks great in a pair of yoga pants I've been lusting after, WELL, let's push for the extra mile, shall we?

My rant is not the jealousy, it's how I feel some people manifest that feeling by begrudging the girl who's working it on the elliptical over yonder.

Today in the Boston Globe, an article was written about women and exercise. Specifically, how a new Brigham and Women’s Hospital study argues that women who begin with a healthy body weight should be aiming for 60 minutes of exercise a day. Presumably, that would mean women who don't have a healthy body weight should be doing more than that, if they're trying to loose. While older guidelines have always been around 30 to 60 minutes, I think conventional wisdom has always rounded down to 30 (which, incidentally, is the US Department of Health and Human Services’ standard).

I can already imagine the backlash I'd receive if I showed this article to some of my friends ("MORE EXERCISE?!"). It's no secret that healthy eating and exercise have become a large part of my life in the past few years, but I still find it absolutely shocking how many people seem to be bothered by it.

The same goes for celebrities. Why do people, and women in particular, get so angry when they see a healthy celebrity being photographed coming out of the gym? Are they threatened? Why do they feel the need to say "I could do that, if I had a trainer/chef/person I could miraculously pay to run for me?"

Look, you may not ever look like a model. That's normal! But lots of everyday people manage to look great all on their own, and I bet a little gym time and eating in moderation had something to do with it. It's not about how skinny you look, it's about how healthy you are. So stop telling me how you could look like that if you just did what they were doing, and do it! There's nothing worse than being jealous of something and doing nothing to quell that feeling.

Don't judge the other girl for doing her thing, just do yours. Let just a little bit of jealousy help to get you to the place where you can honestly say that you're doing the best you can to be healthy... and then unabashedly ask the girl next to you where she got those cute running shoes.