It’s safe to say that having shredded 6-pack abs borders on an obsession in the health and nutrition industry – And, with good reason – They do look really cool. They also say volumes about who you are as a person (more on this later). So in a way, Abs are the ‘trophy wife’ of health and nutrition – we want them for what they say about us.
Basically – Abs scream out loud “Successful fitness person RIGHT HERE!!”
I’ll be honest with you, time and time again I’ve proved to myself that throwing a picture of my abs on twitter or Facebook gets far more attention than any of my scientific work. Really, Abs trump a Master’s degree in this odd world of health and fitness. 
They are considered by many to be proof of success.
But just like a trophy wife, this isn’t always the case.
Some people who are extremely unhealthy have abs. Some people who really don’t care about fitness or nutrition also have abs. And there are many, very healthy people who don’t have abs.
So here is what you need to know about abs –
They come and go..and if they go, don’t freak out, you can get them back. If you don’t have them, it doesn’t mean you are unhealthy or a health and fitness failure.
After all, in the grand scheme of things whether or not you have abs is a very, very small component of your life.
And even if you had abs, but lost them… don’t worry..they are not gone forever.
I’m not sure what part of the health and fitness industry has built this feeling of ‘permanence’ into our thinking, but it has to go away.
If you lose muscle while dieting, guess what? You can build it back.
If you lose your abs because you’re dealing with something else in your life, Guess what? You can get them back.
In fact, every single transformation contest you see on-line has at least one person who had abs, lost them for a great deal of time then got them back.
So the important lesson for today is this – every single part of your health is transient/temporary. You don’t just diet and get abs then have them for the rest of your life. You don’t work up to a 500 pound bench press then just have it for the rest of your life.
They key to health and fitness is learning how to balance your life and fitness. And to do so sometimes you have to prioritize and move some parts of fitness to the back burner.
But don’t worry, you can always get them back and the process will actually be easier than it was the first time.
BP
