What's Your 'Why' For Working Out?
Kate Irwin • August 11, 2020
Morality Doesn't Belong In Our Workouts or Our Food Choices
What is your ‘why’ behind working out? What motivates you to get to the gym, go for a run or hop on your bike? If you are like many individuals I have spoken to in the past, a large contributing factor is the caloric burn it provides to help to contribute to weight loss. This makes sense right? You want to burn more calories than you consume so you need to workout to burn extra calories. Especially if you attended a big event or a had a ‘binge’ recently, your mindset is you have to “pay back” those calories and fix your mistake.
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Many people default to cardio to burn extra calories and aid in weight loss. While you will burn calories doing cardio it can take up to 30 minutes to burn 300 calories and about 1 minute to eat a slice of pizza with 300 calories. It’s a losing battle to try and burn more calories than you consume via exercise. Not only is it a losing battle physically but it is also a losing battle mentally. Using exercise solely as a way to burn calories turns it into a punishment when in reality exercise should be used as a celebration of what our bodies are capable of. Morality doesn’t belong in our workouts or our food. There are no good or bad foods, and we shouldn’t feel guilty for not working out because we ate pizza the night before. When we link exercise with morality it can increase the stress related to exercise and decrease your enjoyment of it.
The goal is to change the narrative of your workouts. When you begin to focus on the positive benefits of exercise, rather than using it as a punishment it can quickly become more enjoyable. It also becomes more attainable and you become more flexible with it, allowing yourself to listen to your body rather than forcing it to perform things that you don’t find enjoyable.
Some positive reasons to strength train:
◽ Increased resting metabolic rate
◽Increased muscle mass and toning
◽Increased bone density
◽Increased strength
◽Decreased risk of injuries
◽Decreased risk of age related muscle atrophy
◽Increased sense of accomplishment
Some positive reasons to perform cardio:
◽Improved cardiovascular health
◽Improved cholesterol levels
◽Decreased risk of Type 2 Diabetes and Heart Disease
◽Decreased blood pressure
◽Opportunity to connect with nature
Example of changing the narrative:
Today you were set to run and you are tired and don’t feel like going. If your only reason for working out is weight loss and burning calories you may have negative emotions and self talk around running and either talk yourself into doing something you don’t want to or just cancel the run all together. On the other hand if you view your exercise as an opportunity to improve fitness, decrease stress and decrease your risk of cardiovascular disease it may become easier to either get out for that run or transition to a walk instead of a run. While the walk won’t burn as many calories as the run, it still has wonderful benefits on your body, your physical health and your mental health.
Take 5 minutes and write a quick list of the reasons you like to get moving and workout! By having a go-to list on your phone of the benefits and your why, it may make it easier to get moving!
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