Drop the Weight with EJ: Four Benefits of Exercise

Exercising for long periods of time every day won’t do you much good if you go on to eat unhealthy food. While we all know this, sometimes it’s difficult to get motivated to exercise because it takes some time to see the benefits. Today’s post is all about benefits the traditional benefits of exercise that you expect to read about, but also one benefit that you can expect to see almost immediately. This benefit is one that you’ll love if you want to use less foundation too, so read on.

Build Muscle
Depending on the kind of exercise that you do, you can turn your body into a more efficient calorie burner. This is achieved by doing exercises that build muscle. I’m not talking body builder muscle – most women don’t have enough naturally occurring testosterone for this. I’m talking about lean muscle. There are several reasons we as women should want to build muscle, I’ll start with two:
It burns more calories than fat during activities. This is of particular importance if you have long term weight loss goals
It takes up less space than fat. Even though muscle weighs more, it takes up less space than fat so you get that lean and slim look that a lot of us women want.

Use it As An Outlet for Stress
According to an article on the Mayo Clinic website, physical activity stimulates various brain chemicals that leave you feeling happier and more relaxed. If you have ever heard of “runners high” this is what is being referred to. Also there is nothing like hitting a punching bag hard (if you have one) when you have had a hard day at work. If you’re not one for using intense cardio like running and kickboxing, yoga is also a fantastic way to relieve stress while moving your body in awesome ways that’ll have you feeling like a superwoman.

Increase Your Energy Levels
This sounds counter intuitive but exercising can help increase your energy levels. One of the ways it does this is by helping you be stronger because you have more muscle mass than you used to and this added strength can help you do things for longer than you could before. This is what happens when after two – three weeks of taking the stairs you don’t feel as tired as you did when you started.

Maintain Great Skin
If you’ll like to reduce the amount of makeup you use, you’ll love this benefit. Sweating is your body’s way of getting rid of toxins and when you exercise vigorously you sweat a lot. This sweat can help clean out your your pores, which reduces the buildup of dirt and can reduce your chances of breakouts and blackheads aka you don’t need as much foundation. Just make sure to take a bath after working out so as not to clog them up all over again.

Overall exercise is a good way to achieve your long term wellness goals whether they are about being healthier and stronger or about looking leaner and slimmer. It will help you get there faster. Plus if you are trying to lose weight and you incorporate exercise into your routine, you can eat a bit more and still achieve your goals.

Over to You
I’d love to hear how you benefit from exercise. So if you currently exercise please share the biggest benefit that you’ve seen in your health, body, and life.

Photo Credit: Dreamstime | Michael Zhang