Healthy Lifestyle

There’s more to exercise than weight loss and physical appearance. Together, we’re going to explore the other side of exercise. The side that is all the other aspects of living a lifestyle that includes exercise. Along the way, we’re going to work on our exercise mindset and shift to exercising for its true health benefits.

What is exercise anyway?

Exercise is structured, repetitive movement. It falls under the umbrella of physical activity which is movement of the body. So think about exercise as moving your body in a planned and structured way with the goal of improving fitness or performance. This could be activities like walking, running, biking, swimming, lifting weights, yoga, or other workout classes. Physical activity is anything where your body’s in motion.¹ This includes the exercise activities just mentioned but also things like taking a break from sitting to stand for a bit. Parking further away from the building, walking to the other side of the building to get water or use the bathroom at work, cleaning your house, or doing yard work. For us, we’re going to focus more on the exercise side of the house. In another post, we will be talking about physical activity.

What can exercise do for your health and well-being?

There are so many benefits to your health and wellbeing that regular exercise offers. Some of my favorites, that are also beneficial to living a busy life are: 

• Increase in energy. When you have a lot going on in your day to day life, having the energy to get through it is amazing!
• Mood boosting. Exercise can provide lots of endorphins which can put you in a better mood. Who can complain about that? Especially when someone does something at work that just irritates you.
• Form of socializing. Hiking with friends, working out with a group, and being part of a community of people that also exercise are all great ways to socialize. Exercise is a great way to meet new people and be part of a community that has a shared interest as you. Those people can go on to become great friends and important people in your life.
• Productivity boosting. Exercise helps you keep and stay focused.
• Better sleep. Regular exercise improves our sleep. Enough said. 
• Self care. Exercise is focused time on you. Check out Chapter 2 of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans for even more benefits.²

Why is regular exercise important?³

You’ve probably heard many of the reasons before, but let’s review some of the main ones:

• Reduce risk of chronic diseases. Some of the main ones include type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
• Builds strength and endurance. You move about your day easier and you can go on a hike on a whim.
• Good for mental health. Our brains benefit from exercise and that has an impact on our mental well-being. It can also be one aspect of a stress management plan. And remember those endorphins? 

Why exercise does not need to be linked to weight loss and appearance

As you can see from above, it does so much more for us! We get so much out of exercise and feel less pressure to participate or not participate in it when it’s separated from weight loss and appearance. Sure those things can be a great motivation to get started, but if you aren’t seeing the results you want, it’s difficult to keep going. But when there are other reasons to exercise and ones you find important to your life, it is easier to find time in your life. Even on the days when you really just want to sleep in before work or lay on the couch after a long day at work. 

Why shifting our exercise mindset can lead to more exercise

When we shift our mindset around exercise, we open ourselves up to many different health and well-being opportunities. 

1. For one, very likely you won’t see exercise as a punishment. We’ve discussed many benefits already which gives us so many reasons to see exercise as something we do to show appreciation for our bodies.
2. When you take off the pressure of exercise as a form of weight loss and to control physical appearance, you might just find it to be a lot more enjoyable. 
3. Form of self care. Self care can range in activities, and exercise is just another form. SO many health benefits! See above.
4. Less focus on a specific physical outcome = less pressure. You can then explore exercise and find things you like to do and will want to continue to do long term. With less pressure to achieve a physical appearance goal, you don’t have to feel stuck doing forms of exercise you don’t enjoy because you’re not focused on a 6 pack.

So what does this all mean for you?

This is our opportunity to break up with our relationship between exercise and appearance. There are so many benefits to exercise that improve our overall health and well-being. There’s a lot of pressure to exercise when it is tied to our appearance. Not to mention how for however long exercise has existed, it has been used as a way to punish ourselves for “messing” up with our food. But that stops now. Today and moving forward, we are going to end that relationship and start a more positive relationship with exercise. So take a deep breath and get ready for the ride. 

Ready to make the switch?

Ready to get started on this new exercise journey? Join the mailing list for regular updates and tips to be successful. 

Until next time! – Atim