12 Most Least Obvious Best Reasons You Should Be Working Out

We all know we should workout (and eat right) and we know why. It's good for us. The truth is, fitnesscizing is good for every single part in your body - your muscles, bones, tendons, heart, even your blood, skin and just about every cell in your body. Not to mention it's youngifying and makes you look great. But for some reason you don't do it, or you can't keep doing it. So here are some other reasons that may help hoist you over the fitness hump and finally get you moving!

1. Smaller clothes look better on you.

Of course they do. Not only do they look better, they feel better, and you feel cool wearing them. This comes with the extra accessory of "confidence".

2. Working out can actually cure and reverse disease, not to mention prevent them all together.

When you're younger, it's expected that we take our health for granted. But as life presses forward we learn, often the hard way, that life gets extremely difficult when we're sick or injured. No one really relies on us when we're younger, but with time comes responsibility and we realize there's no time to be sick, or in pain.

3. Exercise has a dealing property.

When I was writing this one, I actually meant to write, "healing" but perhaps by Freudian slip, both ways are right. Not only does kicking your own a$$ get out the frustrations of your day, but when you're done, you have a different perspective on whatever problems or situations you're dealing with. At the very least, you've let off some steam and decompressed which is where you need to be to get into "solution- mode".

4. The mirror works better.

Lets be honest - most fitness starts in the mirror. We look, scrutinize, examine (from every angle), make faces of horror, and perhaps even grab a piece of "layer" to see how far it will stretch. Fitness is often an outside-in process. You're motivated to change the outside, but when it does, the inside is transformed.

5. It takes less energy to workout than it does to beat yourself up for not working out.

Aren't you tired of the all the self-talk about what to eat, what you shouldn't be eating, what you shouldn't have eaten, what to wear, what makes you look thin…it's exhausting, stressful, and time consuming. If you just devoted 3-4 hours a week (out of 168 hours in a week) you'd save so much time and you could shut the little voice up once and for all.

6. It's cheaper than anti-depressants.

No matter what's going on in your life, when you finish a good workout you just feel good. You almost always have more energy, feel invigorgized, and problems look a little different when you leave the gym than when you walked in. You stabilize your mood, increase your energy and you need nothing more than your body and some dumbbells.  

7. You won't have to spend hours in a changing room.

You'll know what size fits you and almost everything will look good.

8. Endorphines actually do make you feel high.

It's not a myth. You really do have this great happiness-high after a good workout (or run). It's comprised of all kinds of chemical reactions in the body, but it also includes an intense feeling of accomplishment and self-pride which you can't get from real drugs.

9. Strength and confidence look great on you.

And it doesn't just show up on your body, it shows up in your attitude. You become more positive, helpful and downright charming. People may not know what's changed, they'll just know something's "different", in a good way.

10. You get smarter.

Ok - maybe not IQ wise (though some studies suggest you do), but life-wise. When you start consistently working out, you gain more energy, and more energy makes you feel more alert, and more alert helps you in all aspects of getting through your day. Try a workout at the start your day and just see if it doesn't make your mind clearer and better focused. If you can't get it in until the evening, it spills over into the next day.

11. Your kids are watching.

Be a good role model. Kids don't care what you say, they watch what you do. Give them the tools they need now so they don't have to struggle like you've had to. You're not denying them by not letting them eat junk, you're protecting their health for the future. No one can eat whatever they want and stay healthy, not even children.

12. You'll look and feel incredible.

Ok - those are obvious. But if this is your motivation, so be it. Just know, that if you want to feel better and look fabulous forever, don't buy into those "lose 30 lb. in a week" schemes. They don't "stick". When you read these "diets" ask yourself, can I eat and live this way forever? Start healthifying now and you'll have what you want soon… and soon is so close.

by Heather Frey