Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

This motivational image I saw on Funeral For My Fat reminded me that I wanted to talk about exercise.

It reads:

A daily hit of athletic-induced endorphins gives you the power to make better decisions, helps you be at peace with yourself, and offsets stress.

Honestly, if you are trying to exercise to lose weight, it’s kind of a losing battle. Take, for example, the Big Mac. It has 563 calories. In order for me to burn off that many calories, I would have to RUN at 5.0 mph on the treadmill for 48 minutes. I can’t keep up a 5.0 mph pace for that long. It’s impossible for me right now at my level of fitness.

I could walk. I would have to walk at 3.0 mph for TWO HOURS AND 25 MINUTES to make up the calories in one Big Mac. Two and a half hours for something that provides me pleasure for less than five minutes (two if I scarf it down). That is such a long time for such a short pleasure burst that the thought of exercising to burn off food is very frustrating.

Exercising for mental health, however, is a HUGE payoff. Just like this image from Loving My Body Through All the Good and Bad says, “You are only one workout away from a good mood.”

I also like this motivational image from NOURISHED EXISTENCE.

It reads:

Exercise is the most potent and underutilized antidepressant… and it’s free!

Stop thinking of exercise as a way to “work off” food and start using it for what it’s best for: mood elevation. The happier you are, the less you’ll turn to food for comfort, so get out there and get moving because it will do more for your emotional and mental health than it can do for that Big Mac you ate.