I could imagine Carrie of “Sex and the City” sitting at her laptop and trying to find the most eloquent way of describing how sex and fitness go hand in hand, especially living in the Big Apple. But what about right here in H-Town, where everything is BIGGER, including our weight, the portions of food that we eat, our reputation for Houston being #4 on the “Fattest Cities” to live (and creeping up the charts to #2) and what effects does this have on the dating scene and our sex lives?
Well, I decided this made for interesting conversation and took the question to the streets. I asked, “Why do you think Sex and Fitness go hand in hand?” The responses were definitely entertaining to say the least, but some quite educational. Let’s take a look at what some Houstonians had to say.
Monica, Age 41: I personally think men want a woman to be physically fit, but then think nothing of having a beer gut, saggy man boobs and less than noticeable other physical features I would be attracted to. It’s one-sided. Men want what they are not willing to do.
John, Age 56: I have been into fitness all my life. It makes me feel good knowing I have a reason to be confident in my appearance. It’s hard to find women that take pride in their body, especially over the age of 50 and sexually, I’m not attracted to girls in their 20s. It’s a challenge at any age, but sexually, over 50, it’s downright difficult.
Donald, Age 33: Being overweight has been a problem all my life. Needless to say, I think other men who have put the work in to make their bodies look good do have better sex lives than someone like me. I’m just not motivated, I don’t have time, so I realize my options may be limited and deal with it.
Kenneth, Age 27: Why do women think men cheat? Because visually they are not appealing to us. All men want a woman with a nice body and truth be told, it’s very few men that want a fat-overweight woman. I don’t buy into that, “I’m just happy being fat” crap or “You have to learn to love your curves.” That’s just a bunch of BS and another reason to say you’re too lazy to do something about it. People just don’t want to be honest, but men want a woman with toned body that looks and acts like she cares about what she looks like.
Felecia, Age 40: Sex and fitness, hmmm, never really thought about it. I personally don’t like going to the gym, as I don’t want to get too bulky. I think my sex life is just fine whether I go to the gym or not. I’ve always had great self-esteem and don’t really have time to spend hours in the gym. If a man can’t love me the way I am, oh well. His loss.
Pastor X, Age 45: There is a direct relationship to sex appeal, sexual relationship and fitness indeed. Not speaking in biblical terms, but many occurrences you see in the church unfortunately has to do with wandering eyes. Both men and women alike. Many don’t want to admit it or talk about it, but it’s true. We want to blame the woman or the man that choose to keep their body in top condition for being attractive, sexually appealing and desirable, but I would challenge the many singles, husbands and wives that don’t choose fitness as part of their daily regimen to examine why they think so little of how they take care of their bodies. God speaks quite a bit biblically about caring for our temple. While I’m not making any claims of what’s right or wrong, there is no denying the two go hand in hand. There is a problem inside and outside of the church and it goes far beyond just the sex and fitness, but cuts right into the actual health of many congregations across the state and the city. We could really strengthen the health of the overall body of Christians if we could get them to understand how important fitness is across many areas of their lives.
Davon, Age 17: Most guys my age are looking for butt and boobs. I’m just saying. But nowadays, even girls my age don’t even think about going to the gym, much less being in good shape. I’m a football player. I think I have an image. I live a fit life and I’m not sleeping with a girl that’s fat and out of shape. It just tells me what she thinks of her own body and why should I care if she doesn’t?
So, there you have it folks! I actually have over 150 responses some of which I couldn’t reprint here if I wanted to, but you get the point. While we may all have our own personal opinions on the topic, there are some scientific reasons that have been studied in great length as to why the two go hand in hand. So until the next chapter of “Sex and Fit in the City” stay tuned for more to come on this topic.