Why do you exercise? (Or, why do you want to exercise?)

To “lose weight”?

To “get in shape”?

If you thought our two life-changing reasons to exercise were going to be scientifically verbose explanations, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. In fact, “losing weight” and “getting in shape” pretty much sum them up. But, it’s actually the benefits of those two reasons that get us excited. As wellness doctors we look at exercise and movement as a way of maintaining a vibrant, active lifestyle.

Like I said above, there are basically two main reasons for exercise:

1) Decreasing body fat (“losing weight”), and
2) Increasing muscle (“getting in shape”).

These two things go hand-in-hand. When you’re decreasing body fat, you’re increasing muscle. The more muscle you have, the less room there is for body fat.

The benefits of having increased muscle and decreased body fat go far deeper than you’d expect! Check out just a few of the radical results that occur when you exercise.

You have better blood sugar control, which means you have more energy. When your blood sugar spikes up and down, your body, in turn, releases cortisol–a stress hormone! Cortisol leads to body fat storage. Since your body is working harder, you can become irritable and fatigued. Exercising, however, keeps your blood sugar from spiking up and down. Which means you’re not only more pleasant, but you also have more energy.

You have more balanced hormones. Again, exercising helps keep your body balanced, especially when it comes to hormones. For example, if a woman has excessive body fat, she produces more estrogen, which isn’t good as we age. In fact, excessive estrogen puts women at higher risk for breast and ovarian cancers. Exercising keeps our hormones in check.

You have a much better immune system response. The body uses white bloods cells to fight illness. And guess what? It pulls those white blood cells from the muscles. If you have increased muscle, you’ll have more of those cells, which means you’ll heal much faster when you’re sick. Plus, more muscle means you can fight off illness better!

Your bones become stronger. As we age, we lose both muscle and bone mass. When this occurs, our balance reactions are slower with greater risk of falling. Exercising keeps our bones strong, stimulates better balance and, especially for women, can decrease the risk for osteoporosis.

You have a better internal water balance, which means you stay more alert. You have water inside and outside your cells. The more water you have inside your cells the better. When water leaks outside the cells, it causes fatigue, bloating and feeling of sluggishness. Think of it like this: you don’t want raisins for cells… you want plump grapes. You can keep that water inside your cells by exercising and increasing the number of healthy muscle cells.

See what I mean? With all these benefits, exercising a little every day is absolutely worth your time.

When you exercise:

• Be mindful… think about the muscles you’re working. (We’ll talk soon about how to exercise. Stay tuned.)

• Be grateful that your body can do it, even if you’re just starting out at 15 minutes per day.

So, what are you waiting for? Think it and do it!