Stout but fit, just like Pooh Bear

First impressions are powerful thoughts that cause us to judge people in an instant. What do we base these judgments on and how do we know if they are the truth/reality?

If you met a slim gentleman (A) and a gentleman that was stout (B) what would your first impressions of their fitness and health be? Most people would assume gentleman A to be fitter and healthier due to their visual look. Society amongst other things, has taught us to believe that slimmer is fitter but is this the truth. Firstly we must ask ourselves what is fitness and health and is size and shape the only measure of it?

If you asked a group of people what health and fitness was to them and asked how they would measure it, you would get many different answers. Health and fitness is subjective and as such can only be defined by the individual and their personal parameters. Therefore, one persons perception of fitness (I can walk to work and not get out of breath) can be totally different to another’s (I can bench press 100kg) and therefore their body shape will look nothing alike. Who is right and who is wrong?

Is Pooh Bear fit? He is stout and cuddly yet he walks every day and plays lots! Does that make him fitter than a model who eats little nutrition, hardly trains due to lack of energy yet has little if any body fat and fits societies “healthy” shape. There are plenty of people I know who on first impressions would be perceived to be “overweight” and “unfit” due to their size yet I would not like to take them on in the gym. And I am not talking about the big muscle men just Joe Blogs.

So when we judge on first impressions what are we actually doing? When we have information presented to us, in this case in the form of an “overweight” person, we delete, distort and generalise the information and base our reality on past experienced, personal values and beliefs. Our own belief about people and situations are not reality only our own reality. Reality exists but is never experienced by anybody. All we known is our own reality created by years of experience, deep routed beliefs and learnt truths. What you perceive in people is merely a reflection of your own deep values.