In his memoir “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running,” novelist Haruki Murakami casually reveals that his body is the type which responds positively to lots of food and little exercise.In his case positive means higher numbers on the bathroom scale.
I know what you are thinking: gee, that sounds familiar.
Murakami continues by saying his wife is just the opposite. She eats -- no matter what or how much -- and she stays slim. Yeah, we all know one of those. I saw her in the gym, just the other day. (And for the record, she wasn’t exercising. Just picking up the boyfriend.)
But back to my point: Murakami lives his life, writes his books, eats as mindfully of his belly as he can…and he runs six miles a day.
Poor guy, we sniff, mentally photoshopping our own scowling faces onto his body. Here he is, sweating and toiling on the road each day while his wife eats bon bons and frets because her size twos are too big to belt.
Life is so unfair.
How is it that some body types actually boost metabolism by consuming MORE calories? We know where this is going, and quick: Murakami will no doubt finish out the pages reeling off a zillion examples of the injustices which taunt the endomorph. Huh. I could have written this chapter myself.
Murakami says those “lucky ones” who don’t gain weight easily don’t need to exercise in order to stay slim. “There can’t be many of them who would go out of their way to take these troublesome measures when they don’t need to,” he says. True enough.
Yet the next paragraph is as refreshing as a low-calorie mint-and-melon smoothie. (Fellow endomorphs, listen up.) Those skinny people who don’t exercise? Their physical strength deteriorates as they age. And, because they have no reason to exercise to shave off pounds, they aren’t doing squat to counteract it!
We softies and roundies, on the other hand, have been exercising all along, fighting the bulge … and keeping ourselves young in the process. Fifty years from now, we endomorphs will be as spry as spring chickens, our joints well lubricated from decades of effort and sweat. And, hopefully, our minds will be sharp and nimble, too.
What seems so very unjust right now will be oh, so sweet in those octogenarian years. Just you wait.
We’ll just have to remember to be kind to those “skinny folks” we fantasized about taking down all those years ago. Yeah, sure we will.
4 comments:
Since I am not one of the "lucky ones"...I'll keep on walking! Thanks for the inspiration. : )
Alas, I used eat tons and it would melt away after one long bike ride. But now that I'm in "midlife," it goes right down to my backside and just. stays. there.
I wanted to read that book. I take it you liked it. I do not always want to exercise but it's second nature after being an athlete for years. I know it's good for me. But I still like my occasional Pop Tart and movie popcorn.
Love the Glass Is Half-Full slant on this lil' opine...
Of course, I wish it came off as easily as it went on, but being a former athlete, I've found burnout can be cause for lack of motivation when it comes to shaving a few calories off the backend of the count.
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