Time Magazine a while back ran a long article out about research to indicate that exercise doesn’t make you thin. We’re thrilled, overjoyed, so excited about this that we decided to lay down on the couch. Seriously. 

But haven’t we have all felt deep in our hearts, that we can be on the treadmill for HOURS and then be hungry, tired, and want a cookie reward. We’ve all had weeks where we worked out faithfully only to discover a gain.

So what shall we do? Do we give up exercise? No.

What we do is change our mindset about exercise. We must eat for health NOT size – we must exercise for strength not scale. Let us re-align our thinking about why we are working out.

Here are the reasons why we are going to exercise in the face of this Time Magazine Article.

1. Exercise makes you more agile. The more you work those muscles the better able you are to leap out of your chair-in-the-bag after the kids’ games, the easier you can lift the laundry hamper, and the smoother you are at dancing the Electric Slide at a wedding reception. So exercise for agility.

2. Exercise lifts your mood. We’ve been known to get in a funk. It’s been shown that putting on your headphones and pretending you’re in Dirty Dancing with Patrick Swayze or Rocky running up the steps can help you beat back a little depression.

3. Exercise reminds you that you must take care of yourself. Yes the kids/ job/dog/spouse need you to sign this/get that/wash those. But you need to pay yourself first. When you exercise you put your health at the top of your to-do list. Without your health none of those other things will get done.