If your only goal for exercising is to lose weight, you may want to reconsider your priorities. While weight loss is certainly a beneficial side effect of exercise, it should not be your only focus. Exercise provides countless other benefits, including improved mental health, increased energy, strengthened muscles and bones, and improved heart health.
If you’re only exercising to lose weight, you’re likely missing out on all of these other benefits. Worse, you may be setting yourself up for disappointment. Weight loss is not always linear, and there will be days, weeks, or even months where the scale doesn’t budge. Focusing only on weight loss can lead to discouragement and may cause you to give up on exercise altogether.
Instead of fixating on weight loss, try to focus on how exercise makes you feel. Do you have more energy? Are you able to think more clearly? Do your muscles feel stronger? These are all signs that you are reaping the many benefits of exercise, even if the scale isn’t moving as quickly as you’d like. Trust that the weight loss will come as you continue to exercise regularly and make healthy choices.
It’s no secret that exercise is good for you. Regular physical activity has been shown to improve mental health, increase lifespan and protect against conditions such as obesity, heart disease and stroke.
However, if your only goal for exercising is to lose weight, it’s time to rethink your priorities.
While it is true that exercise can help you shed excess pounds, there are many other benefits of physical activity that are far more important than weight loss.
For example, exercise has been shown to improve mental health, increase lifespan and protect against conditions such as obesity, heart disease and stroke.
So, instead of fixating on the scales, try to focus on the other ways that exercise can improve your health and wellbeing. You’ll be far more likely to stick with it in the long run, and you’ll reap the rewards in many different areas of your life.
