Don’t just lose weight, Get in Shape!

Getting fit is the new fad nowadays as people try their best to mold their bodies and physiques into the ultimate silhouette, but what is this ultimate silhouette anyways? For most people, getting rid of unwanted bulges will suffice as their ultimate fitness goal, but is that enough? Certainly not! Because this is not a correct measure of your performance during your fitness journey. Let me elaborate on this matter a bit further.

Suppose there is a person who is given the task of vacuuming an office floor in an eight-hour shift. Normally, the amount of dirt cleaned up in a given eight-hour shift could be considered as a measure of performance, but is this good enough to ascertain the worker’s ability as a cleaner? A clever worker could end up bringing a certain amount of dirt with him/her each day and end up cleaning it within an hour to get a good performance score. A proper and more plausible performance measure would be to judge how clean the floor remains during the eight-hour shift of that person, and for that to happen, this person would need to be constantly vacuuming the floor throughout this eight-hour shift.

The attitude of people nowadays, towards fitness, resembles the “Clean the dirt” mindset. Weight loss has become the holy grail of the fitness world and that’s because everyone ranging from doctors and dietitians to even the media, focuses solely on weight loss but exercising is not given its due limelight despite its equal importance. How many times have you seen a video on Facebook that focused on an inspiring weight loss journey but exercise is conveniently ignored? We focus solely on losing weight but don’t work enough to get our bodies into shape after that. Losing weight is certainly crucial towards maintaining good health and is the first step towards a great body, but without a proper exercise regimen, you are quite far away from your ultimate goal i.e. great health and optimal fitness.

Exercising provides us with the chance to mold our bodies into shape. Who doesn’t like bulging muscles on a male or an hourglass figure on a female? But, even if exterior vanity is put aside, just focusing on losing weight without trying to get in shape will do more harm than good.

As your start dieting, your body starts to lose bad fats on a regular basis, leaving only muscle mass behind, but that muscle mass is intrinsically weak. Exercise strengthens your core and builds up the strength of your muscle mass. Those bulging muscles or mesmerizing abs have much more on offer than what meets the eye.

A powerful body driven by highly strengthened muscles will make you more fit than ever before allowing you to do your daily tasks with much more ease. Regular exercise even builds your stamina and increases your motivation levels.

And that’s not all, a great body can help you boost your self-esteem to a very high level and lead you to develop a more positive body image as you are now more confident of your overall look. With a great body, you get the choice to flaunt that haunting midriff at the beach or wear that off shoulder gown with arms to die for.

But the most important reason on why you should get a good body by exercising is because regular exercise will help you maintain what you have got in addition to not letting you gain those extra kilos back. Most of our weight troubles begin when we follow a sedentary lifestyle and start eating too much too fast, but with exercising incorporated into your daily routine, you will certainly remain mindful of how much effort you just put into the gym and that will lead you towards making more healthier food choices when it's dinner or lunch time at home.

Dieting alone is just a half cooked dish, it might lessen your risk of contracting diseases that are linked to obesity, but without fitness and a goal to get into better shape, you will not get far from you where you started. A comprehensive diet and exercise regimen is what every one of us needs and the sooner it becomes part of our daily lifestyle, the better it will be for us to finally experience what it feels like to have a body that not just feels good, but functions and looks great as well.