Devlin Brown at the water cooler: Find the sweet spot between obsession and taking care of your body

I was tagged in a photo on Facebook that I didn’t know was being taken. I cannot believe how out of shape I look to the rest of the world. Are we delusional in how we see ourselves, and how long does it take to deteriorate to the point of no return?

There’s always that one family member who is trigger happy with their phone’s camera. They stalk family lunches and snap just as you bite into the last piece of lamb or moments after you loosen your belt after finishing off a second serving of malva pudding.

That “tagged in a photo” notification may feel like a punch to your gut but the truth is that outside a few clear warning signs such as excess weight around the waist, how you come across in photos is really little indication of how healthy you are on the inside. In truth, we are so hard on ourselves that we often see flaws where others just see a happy, smiling member of the family they love.

Try not to obsess about your physical appearance. An obsession with what could be a belly, but could also just be poor posture, is the gateway drug to an unhealthy relationship with food at best, and an eating disorder at worst.

Some of the most “perfect bodied” people, who look like bikini or fitness models, have the worst relationships with food. Hidden behind the smile and abs is an anxiety about what they can and cannot eat, and the unthinkable consequences of indulging in a cocktail sausage.

There’s a new X account called Jozi vs Jozi. Motive or no motive behind the account, a picture says a thousand words. It is a chronicle of before and after photos in Johannesburg, spanning the last decade or so.

If you see just how “good” Joburg looked in 2010 (and we thought we had problems), compared to how horrific it looks now, it becomes apparent just how much damage can happen in a short period of time. In Randpark Ridge today, I had to make a U-turn as a makeshift live cable (that I referenced in this column almost a year ago!) had fallen onto the street and was still not attended to after four days. I saw a pedestrian step over the live cable. As citizens we truly are the frogs being boiled.

Don’t be like the politicians that are killing this city. Love yourself because the decay happens far quicker in our bodies. While no single body is the same, if you look through literature there are broad timelines as to how long it takes to get “out of shape”. Don’t peg your colours on these timelines, as all studies emphasise that it can happen quicker or more slowly. It depends on genetics and your taste for junk food.

Assuming you stopped all training and gave up caring about what you eat, you could lose a small amount of muscle and gain a percentage or more of body fat within four to six weeks. You’d look a little less toned and have a slightly larger waist. Double that time frame and you could lose noticeable muscle, and gain noticeable weight, especially around the midsection.

Oh how time flies, right? Between four and six months of not caring, your cardiovascular fitness could be down up to 25%, you’d have pronounced weight gain, especially around your midsection, including an increase in your body fat percentage, with substantial muscle and strength loss.

Some people care and others don’t. The ones who do care will “sort themselves out” and pick up an exercise activity (and mind what they eat) for a few months before “it gets too bad”, before yo-yoing again between Padel and Plett.

This is not about body snobbery. Don’t make the mistake of believing that a subjectively “good body” means good health. Physique competitors risk their lives to look like that. Rather, appreciate that body shape, such as a large waist circumference and excessive fat deposits could indicate cardiovascular, diabetic and other risks.

Be responsible with exercise and diet and don’t become obsessed with looks. Changing your lifestyle is both tactical and strategic. We’ve touched on how long it takes to “get out of shape”... it takes even longer to “get in shape”. Let that sink in.