15: 5 Benefits of Working Out You Didn't Expect

In this episode of 5 Benefits of  Working Out You Didn't Expect, we dive deep into the transformative power of physical activity. While most people associate exercise with weight loss, we’re revealing five unexpected benefits that go far beyond the scale. 

If you’ve been struggling with stress, anxiety, or simply want to feel more empowered in your own skin, this episode will show you how exercise can be the mental reset you’ve been needing. Tune in and discover why movement is one of the happiest, most empowering happy habits you can create for yourself. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hi, I'm Laura Orlando and welcome to the Build Strong Women podcast. I believe as women that we are the role models for the next generation of girls. So how do we become the best role models for these young girls? We work hard to become the best version of ourselves, whatever that means to you. It's not easy. It takes work. It takes learning, trying new things, falling down and getting back up again. But that's what we do on the show. We dive deep into how we can grow on the inside. We will learn from women that are on the same journey as us. Hi everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Build Strong Women podcast. Thank you so much for being here, tuning in to this week's episode. And this episode is all about the five reasons to work out. I'm telling you, it's not just to lose weight. And this is coming from my own experience and all the things that I go through in my mind about why I work out every single week and I really wanted to share that with you because working out can stink. Working out can be really hard and I really wanted to show you my twist on things of how I motivate myself to work out because it's not just to lose weight. There are so many other benefits that I have found that have completely changed my life and I can't wait to share those things with you today. But I want to remind you to head over to the show notes and make sure that that you are subscribed to the podcast you never miss an episode and if you could just rate and review this podcast that would mean the world to me podcasters live for any type of review any type of rating because it'll help us grow get better and hopefully be seen by other people and if you could just share this episode like I always say with just one person through text or anything social media it doesn't matter that would mean the world to me too because that is another way that I can grow and I would appreciate that so much all right so let's dive into this week's episode and we are challenging the idea that working out is only about losing weight. And I'm not going to sit here and lie and say, oh my gosh, I don't care about if I lose weight or not. That is not true. You know, we all want to feel our best, feel healthy, not put on weight and things like that. I do work out for that reason as well, I should say, but it's not, that's not what it's all about for me. And while fitness is often like tied to weight loss and in all the conversations that we have and we see and even through social media there's so many other powerful reasons that we need to move our body that have nothing to do with that number on the scale so from boosting our mood to improving our overall health exercise offers so many benefits that just go far beyond just changing the way you look and today we're going to just dive into five reasons to work out that will leave you feeling stronger healthier and hopefully more motivated to get yourself moving so we need to shift the focus and talk about how Exercise can transform our life and hopefully it will help you to get you back to moving more and being a little bit more optimistic and motivated to work out. So the first thing that I want to talk about is the main, main reason why I continue to work out. I seriously work out for my mind. That is what I will say forever. This is why I work out. Number one reason I work out for my mind. Exercise has such a Thank you so much for joining us. When I was younger and even in my 20s and 30s, I did suffer from anxiety and depression. And I was on medications and things like that. I wasn't like a severe depression, but I was always like just kind of feeling gloomy and down and I didn't understand why. And once I started having a regular exercise routine, my mood and my self-esteem and everything changed. And that's why I say now that I work out for my mind. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with taking medication. for you know different things especially like depression but I didn't really need it all I needed to do was just find things that make me happier and fill me up and just give me purpose in life and working out I can say does that and it really has helped me with my sleep and just really managing my ups and downs we have a busy life like all of us do as women and moms and we're always running around and when I don't do this for myself my my mind can go crazy I'm not as focused and I just don't feel at my best when I don't work out so I'll say this for the rest of my life I work out number one for my mind because I want to feel good inside I want my mental health to feel good and that is one of my happy habits that I do for myself every single week and I have started doing it five days a week and even sometimes I'll do things on the weekend too to add another day because it just makes me feel good after I'm done that's all it really is it just clears my mind it helps me feel good inside and that's why I do it and when I was kind of researching this topic you know it does say that physical activity can be just as effective as some medications that we're taking for mild or moderate depression and that's kind of what I had that mild depression and it really just improved my mental health and that's why I will never stop doing it and that's why I will continue to do it all right so the next thing that you need to know about why you should be working out and it has nothing to do with losing weight is you feel good because you did something for yourself and one of my core foundations for you know making promises to yourself and making sure that you're incorporating those happy habits is involving movement in your life because you're doing something for you you're doing something that makes you feel good you're doing something that helps with your self-esteem and your confidence and it just helps your mind feel clear so why wouldn't you want to do that for yourself. You will feel so empowered because you did something for yourself. Even if it's just like a 20-minute walk around the neighborhood, you're going to feel better. You will see the capabilities that your body can do and you will be so proud of them. And I want you to understand that having that sense of purpose in your life can change your life as well because you can set these little goals for yourself. And once you achieve them, you're going to boost your self-esteem and your confidence and you're going to feel so much better about yourself. and your body and you'll have this positive outlook on who you are as a person because you're doing something nice for yourself. We all need to do these self-care things and I know that we see that all the time online and on social media, you know, take care of yourself, you know, make sure you have self-care, but what does that really mean? But just have some form of movement for your self-care and that's one of the core ideas for my happy habits that I have in my life. One of the buckets is movement and I have to do that for myself. because I know it's going to help me feel good when I'm done. Okay, so another reason that you should be working out or another reason why I work out and how I'm trying to help you do this for yourself as well is that you're going to boost your self-esteem and your confidence because you're going to feel like a stronger person and you're going to have this resilience inside of you. So when we go and we do a workout, you know, sometimes it's a little hard on us. You know, we get a little bit uncomfortable and we have to overcome that physical discomfort when we're working out because that's how we're going to grow inside. That's how we're gonna grow mentally. That's how we're gonna grow physically. And a lot of people think that, you know what, I'm gonna go work out and it gets really hard, so I'm just gonna stop. I'm gonna be done. This means that I can't do it, that it's too hard for me. Absolutely not. This resilience will boost your self-esteem because you're gonna start to recognize that you are capable of more than you believed. And that mental strength that you'll gain by pushing through those hard things and getting outside your comfort zone, that you will develop when you work out for yourself will go into every area of your life. You will see that it's empowering you to take on these challenges because you're doing this hard thing for yourself. And when you do these hard things and you get a little uncomfortable and you get outside your comfort zone, you are building your confidence each and every time. There's one affirmation that I say over and over to myself when I'm exercising and it is, you can do hard things to push me through. When I am on the That's really hard. I tell myself I can do hard things because I know that I have to get a little bit uncomfortable to grow. I want to grow physically stronger and I want to grow mentally stronger as well. And I know that I'm going to feel so much better about myself when I leave. And I know that I pushed myself and I didn't back down. And when we do this regular physical activity, whatever that means to you, it doesn't have to mean the same thing to everyone. That's another thing I want you to understand. You're taking that focus away from the way you look. and you're thinking you know what I'm going to be mentally stronger I want to step outside of my comfort zone and do something for myself that helps me grow my strength and my resilience being strong is a beautiful thing being resilient is a beautiful thing and the more that you do this you are going to have a greater sense of confidence and self-esteem within yourself and it's going to shine on everything that you do and I want that for you I want you to feel good in your skin and in your body I want you to feel good mentally and physically and working out helps you do that there's so many reasons that you need to work out and this this one I think is a star because if I can feel good inside myself and I know that I pushed myself and did something hard it just sets the tone for the rest of the day and I'm someone that likes to work out in the morning some people are not you have to find what works for you but I know for me that it sets me up to have a great day it sets me up with a great mindset and that's why I do it okay number four on my list is that you need to understand that that being able to work out and move your body is a privilege and not a punishment. And this took me a long time to understand. I'm like, why does this hurt so bad? Why am I struggling so much? Why am I, you know, just, you know, you'd go so out of your comfort zone when you're working out and you're pushing yourself. If you kind of can turn the wheels and turn the table around and say, you know what, this is a privilege that I get to do this. I'm not hurt. I can do something hard. I can push myself. I get to be here and it's not a punishment it changes everything I mean it's kind of cool to think about that your body can do these amazing things so every time you move whether it's lifting weights or running or you're practicing yoga you're honoring your body's strength and flexibility and all the things it can do for you you kind of have to reframe yourself and just think you know what this is a privilege that I get to do this I am able to do it and I'm going to do it I feel like when I think about that working out is more of a privilege rather than a Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. pressure to, you know what, I got to be skinnier, I got to lose weight, I have to make sure the scale goes down. I want to empower myself to be this strong woman and this healthy woman. I don't want to always try to like fix myself or make myself better in some way because you know what, we're never going to be happy with every area of our body and that's okay. We all have body issues and body image things that we are dealing with and that's just normal. It's part of being a human being is that we're going to struggle with certain areas of our body that we don't really like or love and we have to work on that. So when we come from a place of privilege rather than we are like punishing ourselves for working out, we set like this great example especially for our kids and they see us, you know, trying to be stronger. I always want my kids to see me trying to be strong. You know, I talk about lifting weights and doing these things and trying not to say that I'm dreading the exercise. I'm not going to come home and say, oh my gosh, this was the best thing ever. They know it's hard work and they know that I keep showing up and doing it so it's kind of helping them shift their perspective on exercise and working out and seeing it as a privilege you know what you get to go and do this and get stronger and I'm hoping that I am creating this positive relationship for them. with fitness and exercise because I'm showing them what I do and I talk about it and how much I love it and how the coaches push me where I work out and how I'm trying to lift heavier or you know just being with my friends when I'm working out it just sets this example of like this is a great thing and this is something that I'm doing for myself to help me feel good to help me with my mind to help me with my body to help me just be strong as a woman it's not a bad thing to be strong as a woman and that's what I I want to show them. I don't want them to ever think that exercise is this terrible thing, that it's just like a punishment in life. You know, sweating and doing a hard workout is a good thing. It's great for every area of their life. And I want to teach them that it's so great for their mental health. It's so great for their body. And I just really hope that I'm setting a good example for them. And that's what I want you to do for yourself as well. Show them that you are working out and doing these things because you love your yourself you're not trying to punish yourself because something you ate you're doing something for yourself because you love yourself and you want to feel good you want to have great mental health you want to have good self-esteem you want to raise your confidence and all of those things and show them what it feels like to work really hard and show them the ups and the downs of exercising too because they need to know that it's not all like sunshine and rainbows yeah you're gonna have to push yourself outside your comfort zone that's what it's all about it's really all about self-love and how having gratitude for your body. And this gratitude shift can say, you know what? I don't have to do this. I get to do this. And I've said this in a past episode. When I work out, I say, I get to do this. This is amazing. I don't have to do this. I get to do this. It's just kind of like doing a mindset shift and having that gratitude for your body. Every day in my gratitude journal, I'm always writing, I had a great workout today. I had a hard workout today. And this really shifts my perspective Thank you so much. your body and have gratitude for the movement that you're getting in throughout your day. Okay, and my fifth reason why I want you to work out and it's not to lose weight is because I want you to have a way to reduce stress in your life. And this is key for women and moms. I don't care who you are. We all have these stress hormones and it is called cortisol, which are released during these stressful situations that we can have. And when we exercise, it helps us balance out the negative effects of that stress. Now, I don't know everything about it, obviously. I have researched and looked things up, and I've seen posts about cortisol and how it affects our body, and it's not a good thing. And we have to do this physical activity to get rid of that excess cortisol. I know for me and my relief and like like you can breathe I know when my husband hasn't worked out because I can just see this tension on his face and in his body and I know that he needs to go work out tell him go in the basement go work out and then when he comes back upstairs after his workout I can see a complete difference in his mood and just the way he looks and feels so definitely if you have stress in your life make sure that you are moving your body and getting in some type of exercise even if it's just Just taking a walk. You will feel so much better. You will release that stress and that tension that you have within your body. And that is huge. Another thing that it can help you improve is your sleep. And I mean, who doesn't want a better night's sleep, especially in our 40s and later? Getting a good night's sleep just gets harder and harder, or even falling asleep just gets harder and harder. So getting that regular exercise in, getting that movement, or even getting outside and taking a walk, it's going to help you fall asleep and get a better night's sleep. All right, so now that we talked about all the reasons why I want you to work out because it's not just about losing that weight. It's about all the different things. Five reasons you need to work out. Working out for your mind. You need to make sure that you're doing something for yourself because it feels good to do something for ourselves. It's going to help us boost our self-esteem and our confidence and who doesn't want that. Also, it is a privilege to work out. It's not just a punishment. We can change our mindset. It'll be easier to get that movement in and having that gratitude for our body. And number five is just reducing the stress in our body. We all have stress. We all have crazy lives. We need to do something to help us with that stress and to manage that. So now I really wanna talk about some tips to help you on your movement journey or your exercise journey. And number one is just being consistent and realistic. So consistency is key when it comes to making exercise this regular part of your everyday life. But it's important to set very realistic expectations. Don't put pressure on yourself to work out. You know what? I've never worked out before, but now I'm going to work out every single day and I'm going to do it three times a day. Absolutely not. You're going to push yourself to these extreme measures and you're going to be done before you even started. So start with these manageable goals and gradually build up from there I didn't start going to the gym five days a week right off the bat I started with three days and then I added a fourth day and now I have a and now I go five days and some days I'll add in a yoga on the weekends but I didn't start off that day and guess what some days you're gonna miss a workout and it's gonna be okay I know sometimes for our mental health it's gonna be like oh my gosh I'm done I missed a workout you know what now my whole routine and health routine is over absolutely not what matters is that you get back up the next day and you keep showing up. Even if it's just for this short session. If you get home and you're like, I didn't have enough time to work out, go in your bedroom and do 10 push-ups. Do 25 push-ups. Who cares? At least you're doing something. I swear to you, if I didn't work out for the day and I just go and I try to do like 25 push-ups, I feel better just doing that and being done. It's crazy how just that little bit of movement and pushing myself and doing something changes my mindset. It is crazy. The next tip I have for you is just making sure that you find something that you like and feels good for you. I don't care who's doing what kind of workout. If it doesn't feel good for you, you're not going to continue to do it. I don't care if the girl that you work with or the person that you're seeing on social media that you follow that you love does this hot yoga practice and you cannot stand hot yoga don't do that workout you need to find what's best for you it's so important to find a form of movement that you actually enjoy it could be dancing hiking yoga strength training or something completely different you don't have to do what everyone else is doing you have to find something that you actually enjoy and that you are going to stick to and have this consistent routine. Don't be afraid to just try and experiment with different types of exercises either. You have to discover what makes you feel good and what you like. And you want to stay motivated and make it fun and fulfilling for yourself. And if you can do that, you will stick to a consistent routine. But if you're doing something that you don't like, that you dread doing, you're not going to stick to it. Or if something that really hurts your body, you know, maybe you're getting older and you don't like this type of exercise, because it really hurts your knees. Don't do that. Find something different. Find something that makes you feel good inside. And you might have to try a couple things before you find the thing that you actually really love and enjoy. Okay, and my last tip is find a workout buddy that can help you stay motivated on the days you don't feel like exercising. Even if it's a buddy that you just text with, you don't even have to work out with them. But if you can find someone that you can go to the gym with, that is awesome. Now, Number one, it will hold you accountable to getting to that workout. Number two, having someone there at your workout that you're meeting can just make it so much more fun and enjoyable and you'll look forward to going to these workouts. Plus, working out with someone else can really bring out your best. You know, you're going to push yourself. You're going to push each other. You're going to try to reach these new goals and you can really celebrate each other's progress along the way. You're not comparing yourself. You're saying, you know what, let's do this together and you're going to push that person and they're going to push you and you're going to do it together and it just will mean so much to you and to whoever you're working out with it really brings you together it really helps you to push yourself outside your comfort zone together when you have that partner with you so finding a buddy is really really helpful even if it's just hey I'm going for a walk today how about you through a text you can do that as well and that is keeping you accountable it's keeping you consistent so as we wrap up today's episode I hope that you learned something I hope that you enjoyed this episode I know it's a little different but remember that exercise is so much more than just losing weight and trying to fit in a certain jean size as I got older I learned that you know what I don't care if I'm losing a pound on the scale I don't care it's about nurturing my body and helping myself feel strong and not as stressed and boosting my mood and empowering myself and I hope that I am setting an example for for my kids to empower themselves as well because exercise has changed my life. I want you to remember that moving your body is an act of self-care and it's an act of loving yourself and really taking care of yourself. And whether you're working out to release that tension or improve your mental health or to just feel good in your own skin, the benefits go far beyond that physical thing of, oh, I just want to lose a pound. Who cares? Focus on being strong. Focus on having good mental health. Focus on feeling good inside yourself. So the next time you are ready to go and hit the gym or just go in your basement or go in your bedroom and do 20 push-ups, I want you to remember that you're not just taking care of your body, that you're taking care of your mind. And that is so powerful and it will help you In so many ways, it will completely change your life. So I hope this episode was helpful. I hope that you feel inspired to move your body with intention and appreciation and that you love yourself a little bit more and you will move it a little bit. more so as always i want to end the episode with an affirmation to help you through your week and that affirmation is my body is strong capable and full of energy and i honor it with every movement so i hope that you have a wonderful day i hope that you loved this episode and if you loved it and if you learned something new i'd love for you to share it with a friend i would greatly appreciate it and i will see you on next week's episode have a great day