The Guises and Risks of Excess Weight

excess weight

by Liz Jansen

Researchers tell us we tend to gain five to seven pounds on average over the winter. Understanding risk factors, improve our chances of emerging in spring without excess weight.

Winter weight gain is programmed into our biology—we eat more when food is historically scarce. We also sleep longer, exercise less, and give in to the preponderance of high-calorie food.

Carrying excess weight affects our cardiovascular health, endurance, and flexibility. We need all those for safe, long-term riding.

Extra pounds on our motorcycle, including body fat, means more load to manage, and greater momentum if you crash.

But there’s another type of load that impedes our journey. It’s easy to accumulate responsibilities, commitments, and cling to unhealthy relationships. We take on the problems and worries of others when they’re not ours to take.

It’s up to us to be generous to those less fortunate or facing difficulties. We carry the gifts of kindness, wisdom, and integrity, not to keep to ourselves but to share with others.

We want to help, to prevent others from getting hurt. But we need to make sure we’re extending compassion from a heart of love, not co-dependency. If we help because we like to feel needed or appreciated, we overstep our responsibilities. Doing so can enable others and prevent them from learning their life lessons.

Meanwhile, we become exhausted under the load and don’t have the strength to navigate our path.

As we prepare for spring and take off winter layers that may be camouflaging weight gain, it’s a good time to do an overall assessment. The bathroom scales tell only part of the story.

Assess what you’re carrying and why you’re carrying it. It may be time to shed excess weight.

 


Photo credit: staffan.scherz on Visualhunt / CC BY

About

Author, writer, and student Liz Jansen combines her artistic mediums to create stories that inspire readers to embark on their own journey of self-discovery.

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