MY FITNESS JOURNEY

Fitness. A word that gives you 1 of 2 feelings. Either way, the word might make your stomach drop or give it that butterfly feeling. If fitness isn't your thing, the stomach dropping, empty pit in your gut feeling might be too real. However, if you enjoy exercising, this word might be your bliss. For most of my life, fitness and I have gotten along. I've played soccer pretty much all my life. It wasn't until college that I noticed myself falling into a lazy slump. I was so busy with school work, my sorority, and just trying to have a life that exercise really started falling on the back burner. It took about 3 years of this to make me realize I was no longer liking the way my body started to morph. One day, I woke up and I said "I've had enough with this lifestyle." From that day forward, my life changed in a way I didn't expect. The biggest thing about working out is it releases endorphins. I'm sure you've heard this before and were like "Yeah. Okay, sure." But these endorphins that your body releases really do make you a happier person! Since I had been exercising my whole life, I didn't realize what I was missing out on until it was gone. When I was living away from home, anxiety that I had my whole life started to become much more prevalent and really started to effect my everyday living. I had found that the only thing to really help me, wasn't medicine, or therapy, but exercise. Now I'm not saying that those things don't help because they really do wonders for some people! I just prefer exercise. Another thing exercising did for me was give me back my confidence that I had no idea I was lacking! Once I noticed my body changing for the better I was just, in general, a happier person. The way a person feels about their body will without a doubt affect their attitude, whether they realize it or not, and that's what was happening to me. The saying "Look good, feel good" is no lie! Lastly, fitness gave me a drive to be healthy. When I was a little girl, I was always terrified of getting older and not being able to eat my favorite foods. I blame this solely on the Freaky Friday Movie with Lindsay Lohan, when Lindsay's mom (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) is in Lindsay's body and talks about eating her first french fry in 8 years. I remember thinking "if adult's can't have french fries, I want to be a kid forever." Now obviously, adults can eat whatever they want, but as we get older, our metabolism slows down and these foods can affect our bodies in a way they didn't when we were younger. Exercising allows you to eat your favorite foods, within reason, without any long lasting effects. When you exercise, your metabolism begins to run faster which helps you burn more calories everyday! Exercising also gives you a slower, more steady resting heart rate which is also great for your body! Being healthy and exercising goes hand in hand. After seeing the effects exercising had on my body, I wanted to go the extra mile (literally) and start eating healthier too. The combination of all these things has nearly given me back the body I had in high school, but most importantly, it's given me my mental health back too. If you are on the fence about starting a workout routine I highly, highly, encourage you to grab the bull by the horns and go for it! It's not always easy to get started, especially when you haven't worked out for awhile, but I promise you, if you stick with it, you will find yourself happier and healthier than you have even been!

#Fitness #FitnessJourney #Endorphins #BodyPositivity #Excercise #MentalHealth