You're Working Out for the Wrong Reason

By Shaina Eldredge on November 24, 2017

I’ve been pretty thick all my life: “big-boned,” my mom’s ex-husband called me; “fat,” I called myself; “just big,” said friends who were too scared to call me fat. I’ve been learning over the past year to accept my body, and for the most part I have. But ever since 10th grade in my personal finance class when my boyfriend told me I was breathing too heavily, I have always wanted to lose weight. I failed at dieting because I wasn’t committing, and working out wasn’t, well, working out for the same reason. Until one day pretty recently something switched inside my brain and I decided to 100% fully commit to a more fit and healthier lifestyle.

via Pixabay

About two weeks ago I decided to make the commitment to feel better. Not to lose weight, but to feel better. Breathe better, feel better, be better, as I keep chanting to myself. I woke up that first Monday and the first thing that popped into my head was “I’m doing this for me.” And I am; I’m not doing this to lose weight or to look better (although that WILL happen, and I won’t complain about it), I’m doing this so that I can feel better. I’m tired of walking up my stairs and losing my breath halfway through. I want to run farther just because.

 

When I’m at work, I always say that there is no excuse to be late, because there isn’t any excuse to be late. But I had been making excuses to not make a better life for myself. So with a full schedule, I still made time to go to the gym for an hour each day, or run for two miles if I don’t have access to the gym. I started counting calories, too, with MyFitnessPal, and logging my exercises with FitNotes to see how well I’m keeping up with bettering myself. This is a journey and a commitment I have made for myself to reach more goals than just to lose weight.

I’ve been dealing with really bad anger and anxiety, and my friend depression isn’t making it any better, so I am working out to redirect my energy toward the gym rather than lashing out on people who don’t deserve it. I want to be able to breathe better because again, I breathe really loudly. I want to get a tattoo on my thighs, and I keep telling myself that I will do it when I lose weight. I work really long days, so I want some more energy to help me feel better each day. I have so many non-scale reasons to do what I’m doing, and that’s what’s motivating me to keep waking up at 4:45 each morning to find time to spend with my body.

Don’t work out and diet because you hate your body; do it because you love your body.

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