We live in a society that uses food to make us feel good. When we’re happy we eat, when we’re sad we eat, and when we’re bored we eat. What happens when we’re stressed out? We eat even more.
The end result is that obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the US and a few other countries.
The hard truth is that food is fuel, and not therapy.
Exercise is one of the best ways to make you feel good. This sentence alone is enough to make many women shudder. “Ugh! Exercise? Ugh!!!” The reason people react this way is because of societal conditioning.
We’re led to believe that if you want to lose weight you need to spend hours on the treadmill or be a gym rat and lift weights, etc. The truth of the matter is that there are a ton of activities that you can do that’s also considered as exercise.
Like to dance? That’s exercise. What about hiking? That’s exercise too. As long as you’re in motion, what you’re doing is a form of exercise. Pick an activity you enjoy and go with it. Cycling, skiing, rowing, karate, Zumba, hot yoga, etc. are activities that have millions of fans.
If you hate running, don’t force yourself to do it. Exercise should be fun. That is the most important thing when embarking on a fitness program. Pick an activity that makes you happy and you’ll be much more likely to stick with it. Once you’ve developed the habit of moving more and leading an active lifestyle, you may find that you’re drawn to other sports too.
Cultivating the habit of exercise is imperative to stay fit and healthy. Motivation may come and go but a habit is what will keep you going. So, pick activities that you enjoy. Now let’s look at how exercise makes you feel good.
• Gives you confidence and pride
Exercise will help you shed excess pounds and develop a lean and sexy body. Of course, your calorie count must be correct to promote fat loss but if you have that dialed in, your body will become shapely and toned.
In today’s society, the norm is to be overweight and out of shape. It’s has reached a point where the media states that is fine to be overweight. Yet, it is undeniable that even overweight people look and feel better once they’ve shed excess pounds.
Exercising will get you the body that you desire. You’ll gain confidence and pride knowing that you achieved your goals instead of settling for less and telling yourself to accept it. This confidence will make you happy from within and nobody can take that away from you.
• Elevates your mood
Exercise makes your body release a chemical known as endorphins. This chemical will elevate your mood and have been said to create a positive feeling in you that similar to what morphine does. The harder your workout, the more endorphins released. That’s why you may dread tough workout but you always bask in the afterglow. Now you know why.
• Detox your body
Exercise burns fat stores that hold toxins. These toxins will be flushed out by your liver and kidneys and you’ll feel much better. When you perspire during a workout, that’s the body’s secondary system of detoxing the body. This is the reason why they have hot yoga classes.
• Promotes better sleep
When you exercise earlier in the day, by nightfall you’ll be exhausted and plop into bed and doze off peacefully. If you have sleep disorders and can’t get a good night’s sleep, you need hard exercise.
The body will automatically shut down to rest and recover. Exercise often and you’ll have no problems sleeping. Just make sure you don't exercise during the 3 hours prior to bedtime or you’ll stimulate your body.
• Relieves stress
Exercise is a fantastic stress reliever. In fact, if you’re into sports like kickboxing, CrossFit, boxing or high-intensity training, you can expend all your pent up frustration by training as hard as you can. Punching a boxing bag or kicking motions in a kickboxing class are excellent stress busters… And they’re more immediate and effective than meditation.
These 5 points should leave no doubts in your mind that exercise can make you feel great. Initially, it may be difficult to drag yourself to exercise because this is a change in your usual routine and all change meets with opposition.
But once you get into the swing of things and develop the habit, you’ll look forward to your workout sessions and the natural feeling of high that comes with them. You’ll not only feel great but your body will be shapely, sexy and become more feminine than you dreamed possible. Do get started today.
Stay FYRE!?
Maiah Chanel