Quick Wits: Thin vs. Happy (Finding Your True WHY for Your Physique Goals)

Is the pursuit of being skinny the key to happiness?

We're diving into the complex relationship between the desire to be thin and the pursuit of happiness. In our appearance-obsessed culture, it's easy to fall into the trap of equating being skinny with being happy. But here's the thing: this oversimplification often leads us astray when it comes to setting and achieving our physique goals.

We'll explore this common misconception, discuss the importance of body composition over scale weight, and I'll walk you through the powerful "5 Whys" technique to uncover your true motivation for your physique goals on today's Quick Wits.

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“Quick Wits” are short mini-episodes between full episodes to give you an actionable strategy or hit of motivation.

These mini-episodes give you practical advice on fitness, training, and mindset based on my everyday experience with clients that you can implement right away.

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Transcript

Philip Pape: 0:00

Is the pursuit of being skinny the key to happiness. We'll explore this common misconception the importance of body composition over scale weight and I'll walk you through a powerful exercise to uncover your true motivation for your physique goals. On today's Quick Wits. Welcome to the Wits and Weights podcast. I'm your host, philip Pape, and this twice a week podcast is dedicated to helping you achieve physical self-mastery by getting stronger, optimizing your nutrition and upgrading your body composition. We'll uncover science-backed strategies for movement, metabolism, muscle and mindset, with a skeptical eye on the fitness industry. So you can look and feel your absolute best, let's dive right in. So you can look and feel your absolute best, let's dive right in. Welcome to another Quick Wits, your go-to source for actionable insights to optimize your health, your fitness, your mindset.

Philip Pape: 0:54

And today we're diving into a complex relationship. It's the relationship between your desire to be thin or skinny and the pursuit of happiness, because in our culture, which is very obsessed with appearance, it is easy to fall into the trap of equating being skinny with being happy. But here's the thing this oversimplification often leads us to make the wrong choices that are not in our best interest when it comes to setting and achieving our goals to have a better physique, even when it is appearance-based, and so that's the conundrum we're talking about today. What it usually results in is fixating too much on the number, on the scale. Right, and you might not think you do it, but a lot of us do. Even those of us who've been tracking and have been doing this for a while. There's still the propensity to get hung up on that number, and have been doing this for a while. There's still the propensity to get hung up on that number, and we risk losing sight of what really matters, which, from a physical standpoint, is really our body composition. Right, there are deeper things that matter we're gonna get to in a second, but at least at the physical level body composition, which refers to the ratio of fat mass to lean mass. Right, and your lean mass includes muscle, bone, organs, but we're mostly uh, we mostly care about the muscle mass, because that's the thing we can really transform. That's body composition in our bodies, and improving that, rather than just chasing a number on the scale or being quote, unquote skinny, is actually the key here to all the other things leveling up our strength, our health and, yes, a great looking physique, and sometimes it requires going in a direction we don't feel super comfortable with, like gaining weight to build muscle, for example, or simply not dieting for a while to actually, ironically, get that amazing physique we're going for.

Philip Pape: 2:38

Now don't get me wrong the connection between thinness and happiness isn't totally straightforward, right? Happiness itself is a complicated concept. It's multifaceted. It encompasses your relationships, your personal growth, a sense of purpose, right? Things that go beyond just physical appearance, even though they're all interrelated in some way. And if we can shift our focus from the weight on the scale and being skinny, for example, to improving our health and our wellbeing and even our body composition, all of those actually work in tandem to cultivate this more balanced, if you will, or harmonious approach to our fitness journey. That's ultimately very fulfilling, and I'll tell you what. It is a lot of fun.

Philip Pape: 3:21

So how do you tap into the true motivation for your physique goals, even if your near-term motivation may be your appearance, may be how you look in the mirror and how you feel, and so we're going to do an exercise called the five whys. Now I talk about this in detail in one of the mindset modules in Wits and Weights Physique University, but I'm just going to lay it out for you here. Modules in Wits and Weights Physique University. But I'm just going to lay it out for you here, and it's pretty simple.

Philip Pape: 3:45

You start with the question why do I want to achieve this goal? Whatever this goal is and we're going to use an example here of your physique goal right, why do I want to achieve this physique goal? The answer might be I want to lose weight and I want to get lean. Right, or at least you think that's the answer. But then you ask why again? Why do I want to lose weight and get lean? Because I think I'll feel more confident. Okay, why will you feel more confident? Or why does that even matter? Because when I'm more confident, I'm more outgoing, I'm more social. Well, why is being more outgoing and social important to me? Because connecting with others brings me joy and fulfillment. Ah, why do I want more joy and fulfillment in my life? Because I want to live a rich, meaningful life surrounded by people I care about. Ah, so a rich, meaningful life may be tied to our ability to be confident, comfortable in our skin and connecting with others. Because of that, and that's okay, all of those are okay if that's your reason.

Philip Pape: 4:47

And so, by digging deeper into your motivations, you might discover that your true goal is really about cultivating confidence and social connection and living a fulfilling life, not just about achieving a certain look. And then all the choices you make from this point can be tied to that, and it may conflict with a short-term goal of quote-unquote looking better, but the long-term goal is still going to get you that improved physique because it's tied to these other deeper goals. So when you identify your deeper, why you can approach your journey from a place of I really care about myself, I love myself, I want to develop as a person, I want to get better rather than solely focusing on appearance, and then this shift in your perspective leads to the journey and process itself being more satisfying, sustainable obviously there's the S word that we talk about all the time and ultimately successful. So when we talk about happiness, you could say that happiness is is a deeper thing, but it also can be fairly concrete. If you do an exercise like this and if you can then prioritize your overall well-being and you focus on things like body composition and mental health, for example, you're actually going to be better equipped to justify why you're making these choices along the way and then become strong, a confident, thriving version of yourself.

Philip Pape: 6:06

So I want you to take a few moments, having heard this, you know, inspiring QuickWits episode today.

Philip Pape: 6:11

Maybe it's the first thing in the morning, maybe it's later in the day, doesn't matter. Take a few minutes, get the pen and paper out and dig into your true motivations, using the five wise exercise, and then let that guide you into some aha moments, right. Let that guide you on your physical and mental journey here and your the next steps you plan to take, right? Because now they're going to have a lot more meeting meaning. So, until next time, keep lifting, keep learning, stay true to your personal, unique journey. And thank you, as always, for tuning in to Wits and Weights. Thank you for tuning in to tuning in to Wits and Weights. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Wits and Weights. If you found value in today's episode and know someone else who's looking to level up their wits or weights, please take a moment to share this episode with them and make sure to hit the follow button in your podcast platform right now to catch the next episode. Until then, stay strong.