A few weeks ago, my fellow fitness enthusiast shared with you all her experience after running an amazing 5K.

Betty Doyling was “feeling pretty good” about herself until a gentleman who watched the race told her she could be unstoppable — if she lost a bit of weight.

Talk about deflating someone’s balloon, right?

The exchange led her to include, in her Lifestyle column, a list of things that she felt shouldn’t be said to people on their fitness journey. It was an amazing piece. Many times my clients have mentioned how people weighed in on their weight or their fitness goals without being asked, as if they were experts.

Sometimes the comments were as innocent as, “You should run like this …” or as brutal as “You are too big to be running”; there were also comments such as: “Don’t lose too much” and “Are you sick? You’re losing weight”.

Hold up. Wait a minute. Stop.

We should be cognisant of our words, our comments, our questions. Many people are on a fitness and wellness journey — whether weight loss or gain.

They aren’t looking for people to share their opinions because it’s not their body!

Now that I’ve addressed that again — thanks Betty for discussing — I want to simply remind you that being functionally fit and athletic is better, by far healthier, than being solely aesthetically pleasing.

Note, I said solely aesthetically pleasing.

Sure it’s awesome having the round butt, muscular arms and to-die-for legs, but not if that is achieved at the expense of your health.

If you’re lacking nutrients or water, if you’re not having a balanced diet, if you’re limiting calorie intake to a dangerous level or exercising with no rest just to achieve 5 per cent body fat and the unrealistic (Photoshopped) magazine cover look, then I’d strongly advise against it.

We are here to live happy, healthy, well-balanced lives no matter what that may look like. So, going back to my advice on commenting on someone else’s journey, remember size does not directly correlate to health.

Though less body fat can be seen as healthier, it is not always true.

More so, bodies that have less fat but are aesthetically pleasing don’t directly correlate with healthy either.

If we just focus on being healthy, functional, balanced and well rounded, in time our bodies will respond and may result in an athletic, aesthetically pleasing figure.

Stress less about the perfect look. Whilst this is clearly my opinion, I’m 100 per cent sure that most of us wish to be healthy first. Yes?

So let’s focus on doing that and, in doing so, reap the benefits of nutrition and training.

Speak positivity to others, comment less with your opinions and simply enjoy your own fitness and wellness journey — be inspired by others as well!

Healthy, fit and athletic looks different on every body.