The Menville Test

Last week I had an extremely pleasant conversation with a co-worker about running. When I tell people that I am planning on running the L.A. marathon next year I get two responses:

1) OH GOD THAT WILL BE SO HARD YOU WILL WANT TO DIE
2) You know, running is a GREAT way to LOSE WEIGHT which you obviously want because who doesn't?
3) Oh god, that will be hard, but at least you will lose weight and get in shape!

This is hard for me because I do not want to lose weight. I do want to be active and healthy, and I do want to be a badass who can run 26 miles and change in one day. When I explain this to people I get an enormous amount of what my grandma would have called guff. I've had to argue with people I talk to about whether or not I want to lose weight. Not even whether or not losing weight is a worthy goal, or would make me healthy, or would make me happy, whether or not I, Mary Menville, would like to lose weight. While I feel very strongly that losing weight does not improve cardio-vascular fitness and that men and women of all different sizes are human beings who deserve to be treated well I recognize that there are a number of opinions on these issues. There is however, only one opinion on whether or not I want to lose weight. I do not. The End.

This is what made my conversation with a fellow runner at work so lovely. We talked about the runner's high, the extra time to think, and what music we choose to jam out to. He told me that running a marathon felt amazing, and that while you do sometimes feel like you had been hit by a truck you also feel like a freaking super hero. Not once did my new friend mention how much weight he had lost, or how much weight I could lose, or how many calories you could burn up so that you wouldn't feel wracked with guilt for eating food.

I remember feeling so wonderful after this conversation, and so encouraged and happy. Then I realized that this was the first conversation I had about exercise that did not mention weight loss since I was a child. I'm going to say that one more time, in all caps: THIS WAS THE FIRST NON-WEIGHTLOSS RELATED CONVERSATION ABOUT EXERCISE SINCE I WAS A CHILD. And by child, I mean somewhere between 7 and 9 because lord knows all the girls wanted to lose weight in 5th grade.

I propose a test, similar to the Bechdel Test and because this is my blog, I want to call it the Menville test. To pass the Menville test a person or persons must discuss exercise for at least five minutes or 500 words in print without mentioning weight loss. Bonus points if one or more of the participants in the dialogue are non-male identified.

How many of your exercise conversations pass the Menville test? How many of your health and fitness blogs/magazines/books pass the Menville test? Why is it so hard to find a fitness blog or magazine that doesn't discuss weight loss?