Blogpost #8: Commuting Makes You Fat

There's nothing wrong with being fat. You might look a few pounds heavier than you should and I'd still treat you like a normal person. What's wrong is being unhealthy, and long commutes cause unhealthiness. Great, another reason to hate long commutes.

I admit, my BMI fluctuates a lot since I started college. I tried to make working out a part of my daily routine to at least make up for my poor choice of food but that only worked for a few months, and it was a real challenge. 

How do long commutes really affect one's eating habit habits?

If you take EDSA on a daily basis, just like I do, you'd know for a fact that the Philippines is jam-packed with restaurants and food ads. In an article by Malcolm Farr, it is explained that advertising influences the type of food we eat and that overseas studies have found that unhealthy foods are most likely to appear in these advertisements.

“This being the case, advertising is likely to have played a role in the current obesity epidemic... Furthermore, targeted advertising of unhealthy foods may entrench and even increase existing socio-economic inequalities in the prevalence of obesity.” says Farr.

So, ads don't only make you fat, they also keep you from having a healthy lifestyle. They have the power to keep those who are already overweight overweight for the rest of their lives. Advertisements play a big role in our community. They make people want something they don't need in the first place, and promise them the good things without mentioning the bad things. 

But commuting isn't always so tiring. Okay, maybe it is, but it's not always what we think it is. After a few months of doing the same routine, and once you get the hang of it, you'll just learn to forget how life-sucking it is. That's when you decide to do something new, like keeping your diet and workout on track.

In the article entitled "How to Keep a Long Commute from Wrecking Your Healthy Habits", Jillian Leo recommends morning workouts because it does not only energize you for the long day ahead, but also guarantees you to fit it into your day.

"Even though sometimes I feel like crying when my alarm goes off at 4:45 AM, I always feel so much better after a workout. Exercising in the morning will give you the energy you need to get through the day. " she adds.

It is stressful to think of the long day ahead, but working out in the morning conditions your body and helps you relieve stress before the day even starts! It's true, I've been there. Don't get discouraged once you hit the snooze button a few times, because once you get the workout you planned for that day, it won't matter! A few minutes of moving around is always better than none.

Of course, you wouldn't be able to do all this is you don't have the will to do so. Make sure the workout you choose is something you're most comfortable with, otherwise it just wouldn't work the way it should. It might cause you to get fit physically, but not emotionally. It's not at all bad to think of your contentment when trying to discipline yourself.