Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Terrific Testosterone Tuesday with Steve
I chose Steve because I enjoy the early morning banter on Twitter with Steve and Ryan from no more bacon (The Sunday Stud rep). They keep me motivated just by reading their tweets and their blogs with their competitions. Steve is the Terrific Testosterone Bombshell! Thank you for joining the party.
WEIGHT LOSS: A GUYS PERSPECTIVE*
*Please note, I am not an expert on the “guys perspective.” I’m not even cool enough to play an expert on TV! These thoughts and opinions are my own, and may or may not jive with the rest of the male population. I would like to say though that I’m sure I’m not alone in a lot of my views, and I really don’t think the male and female perspective is really as different as people think. Now, enough of this disclaim crap, lets get the party started!
Appearance:
We want to look good, that’s pretty simple. That’s why we bathe, brush our teeth, trim our nosehair, etc… People who are a normal body weight and are more in shape tend to look better in most peoples eyes, so of course we want in on some of that action! We may not want to look good in that little black dress, but we still get a sense of pride if we are able to pull off the handsomeness in a suit, or tux or whatever. We might also not all want to look good in that bikini, but we wouldn’t mind being able to shirtless at the pool or beach without anyone thinking a whale has been beached. Hell, some of us (myself included) would like to be able to wear a t-shirt without it looking like we have boobs.
We want to look good, that’s pretty simple. That’s why we bathe, brush our teeth, trim our nosehair, etc… People who are a normal body weight and are more in shape tend to look better in most peoples eyes, so of course we want in on some of that action! We may not want to look good in that little black dress, but we still get a sense of pride if we are able to pull off the handsomeness in a suit, or tux or whatever. We might also not all want to look good in that bikini, but we wouldn’t mind being able to shirtless at the pool or beach without anyone thinking a whale has been beached. Hell, some of us (myself included) would like to be able to wear a t-shirt without it looking like we have boobs.
Body Image:
Some women can fall victim to that false idea of what a woman should look like. They see the magazine covers, the advertisements, and they think that is what men want and that is how they NEED to look.
Some women can fall victim to that false idea of what a woman should look like. They see the magazine covers, the advertisements, and they think that is what men want and that is how they NEED to look.
Guess what? We do it too. We have our GQ, we have our Men’s Fitness magazine, we see the guys with muscles (sometimes even muscles on top of muscles) and we think that is what we should look like, or what we NEED to look like. I mean, if you had the choice, would you rather look like Ryan Reynolds, or Danny Devito?
Competition:
We want to be the best at our jobs, have the best car/house/whatever, etc…etc… I think in some ways this applies to weight loss (and by extension our fitness level) as well. We may not want or need to lose more weight than the other guy, but if we can gain more muscle, or end up looking better than him, then hell yeah, why not? Being able to lift heavier weights, or run faster, or jump higher doesn’t hurt either. It may sound dumb in some ways, but we’re just men, you ladies are the better half of the species anyway (remembering my target audience FTW!)
Self Esteem:
We’re not looking to become total douchebags and think we’re the best thing to ever live, but a little self-esteem wouldn’t hurt, eh? Most of us big guys don’t have it, which either helped cause us to gain the weight in the first place, or has come as a direct result of the weight. Being overweight can and does (to a lot of people anyway) represents laziness, gluttony, and all around patheticism (it’s a word now, so deal). We want to be able to have a little bit of pride in and to feel good about ourselves, we want our kids to be able to look up to us, we want our friends to respect us. If proving that we can take care of ourselves is what we need to be, then we will do it.
We’re not looking to become total douchebags and think we’re the best thing to ever live, but a little self-esteem wouldn’t hurt, eh? Most of us big guys don’t have it, which either helped cause us to gain the weight in the first place, or has come as a direct result of the weight. Being overweight can and does (to a lot of people anyway) represents laziness, gluttony, and all around patheticism (it’s a word now, so deal). We want to be able to have a little bit of pride in and to feel good about ourselves, we want our kids to be able to look up to us, we want our friends to respect us. If proving that we can take care of ourselves is what we need to be, then we will do it.
Relationships:
Being overweight does not have to make you a social and relationship pariah, but it certainly doesn’t make things easier. For those of us looking to date, we find that our appearance can put a damper on the first impression of ourselves, which basically means that we get nowhere. Low self-esteem doesn’t help either, and I’ve mentioned this on my blog before: “if I can’t like myself, how can I really expect anyone else to like me?”
Being overweight does not have to make you a social and relationship pariah, but it certainly doesn’t make things easier. For those of us looking to date, we find that our appearance can put a damper on the first impression of ourselves, which basically means that we get nowhere. Low self-esteem doesn’t help either, and I’ve mentioned this on my blog before: “if I can’t like myself, how can I really expect anyone else to like me?”
Those who are already in relationships don’t necessarily have it easier. I’ve have (as have a lot of others, I think) been lucky enough to have be in relationships with supportive people (mine have ended for other reasons). But that doesn’t always matter. I’ve always felt that I was letting down the other person, and that they’ve harbored resentment towards me for letting myself get this way. I’ve also always felt that my obesity would be enough to kill the spark, and the other person would eventually dump my sorry ass for someone much better.
Health
And of course, our health. We’re not thrilled about the risk of dying of a heart attack, we’re embarrassed to be out of breath after a flight of stairs (or even a step), and we don’t really like our doctor giving us condescending looks (maybe just in our minds, but still!) when he tells us we are morbidly obese, have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and that we need to go on a diet. We want to be awesome, and none of that sh*t is all that awesome.
There are a ton of other reasons behind a guys wanting to lose weight, some are universal, some specific to that one guy. All in all, they really don’t seem to be all that different from a woman’s reasons.
I know, right? Maybe we aren’t all that different after all…in some cases. Men can’t grow other humans inside of them, so there’s that (and that’s a pretty cool thing you ladies got goin’ on there). Men don’t also have a monthly visitor (or do we?), which can sometimes hinder weight loss efforts (so it seems, anyway, I really have no idea what I’m talking about). Regardless, women are still better (again, target audience FTW!), so there you go. WooT!
I want to thank the lovely Jules for giving me a voice (and letting me hog up her blog for a day), and I hope everyone has a great day.
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