3 Reasons to Focus on Fitness

When you want to lose weight, you may immediately start focusing on dietary changes like cutting calories, reducing portion sizes and eliminating junk food. These are all great changes that will indeed result in weight loss, but there’s another factor to consider. For health purposes, it’s wiser to focus on getting FIT rather than just losing weight. After all, it’s possible to be thin and sickly, thin and weak, and thin and unhealthy, right?

Here are a few things to keep in mind regarding fitness and weight loss:

- Physical activity boosts metabolism.

The more active you are, the thinner you will be and the healthier you will be. Not only that, but when you exercise regularly and live an active lifestyle you’ll be able to consume more calories while still maintaining a healthy weight. When you try to lose weight just by eating less, you’re setting yourself up for a lifetime of eating fewer and fewer calories just to maintain a healthy weight as your metabolism slows down as you get older.

See: No Time to Work Out? How to Easily Fit It In

- Physical fitness promotes mental and emotional fitness.

When you’re physically active, your entire body, mind and emotional state reap the benefits. Not only do you have more energy, better balance, flexibility and strength, you also enjoy better concentration, a more positive mood, and better sleep.

See: 9 Ways Exercise Can Make You Feel Better

- Physical activity provides stress relief.

Being physically fit also helps you reduce and manage stress better, which helps keep your weight down. Stress is a major contributor of stored belly fat, because higher levels of the hormone cortisol are released into your bloodstream when you feel stressed. If you feel stressed a lot, that’s a lot of unnecessary fat being stored in your midsection. Regular exercise kills two birds with one stone: burning off any stored fat, and helping you release stress so you don’t store more.

Obviously, it makes more sense to get fit rather than focusing solely on weight loss. You don’t have to become a pro-athlete to be fit, just include regular exercise in your routine several times a week. That alone will go a long way in helping you lose weight easier and provide a ton of other health-boosting benefits.

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