What’s the point of eating well and exercising?

What’s the point of eating well and exercising?

Why would you eat well and exercise?

Seriously, what’s even the point?

After all, it’s a whole lot easier to sit around and do nothing.

While it’s easier to not exercise and eat “convenience” foods, there’s a definite reason why many people desire to eat well and move their bodies.

Ultimately, the reason so many people want to eat well and exercise is because they want to improve one of three areas in their lives:

1. Health

2. Wealth

3. Relationships

As humans, we want to be healthy to live a happy and fulfilling life.

We also want to be financially free and develop close relationships with others.

Let’s go over each of these markers of success and how fitness and nutrition affect each of them:

What does “health” really mean?

According to Dictionary.com, it means “the general condition of the body or mind with reference to soundness or vigor.”

So we’re talking about more than just physical health, and we’re talking about more than just how you look.

Mental health is important as well.

How you think about yourself and others affects everything. When you think positively about yourself and your capabilities, you’re more likely to act positively and take actions moving you toward fulfillment.

When you have negative belief systems, you’re less likely to take action toward your dreams and more likely to feel “stuck.”

When you eat well, you’re feeding yourself nutrients that affect the processes in your body. Your brain, heart and everything else in your body function more optimally when you nourish yourself with primarily whole, minimally processed nutrition in the right amounts.

You’re less likely to develop diseases and conditions that could reduce your lifespan.

What you eat and how you move your body impact how you look, which impacts your confidence.

When you’re more confident, you’re more likely to take action on the things that really matter to you.

As humans, we desire to be free from worry.

Being free from financial worry is a big part of that.

Thomas C. Corley, author of “Change Your Habits, Change Your Life: Strategies that Transformed 177 Average People into Self-Made Millionaires,” found 76 percent of rich people exercise aerobically 30 or more minutes per day.

He defined “rich” people as having an annual income of $160,000 or more and a liquid net worth of at least $3.2 million.

While correlation doesn’t equal causation, how you do anything is how you do everything.

When you create structure and discipline with the one area in your life over which you have complete control, your own body, you set yourself up for success in other areas of your life.

Think about it.

You control what you eat. You control what you feed your brain. You control whether you exercise.

When you control the controllable things in your life, you develop confidence to perform better in other areas of your life.

In his book “The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman,” Tim Ferris asked billionaire business owner Richard Branson how he stays productive. Branson said he gets four additional hours of productivity every day by working out.

Former United States president Barack Obama said he was an occasional drug user and underachiever in life until he started running three miles per day. He told Men’s Health magazine he works out 45 minutes per day six days per week, using a combination of strength and cardio exercise.

As you can see, a lot of wealthy people exercise and eat well.

As humans, we also desire to feel a sense of belonging.

Thus, having meaningful relationships is important to us.

Whether it’s a romantic, familial, social or spiritual relationship, we yearn to feel connected to others.

While you certainly don’t need to eat well and exercise to feel connected to someone else, you’ll often find the confidence you obtain from improvements in your physical and mental health deepen your relationships.

According to American psychologist Abraham Maslow, we have a hierarchy of human needs, and “belongingness and love” are one of them.

Ultimately, happiness is what we strive for as a human being. There’s research to suggest the happiest people tend to have greater involvement in their communities than those who aren’t as happy.

Think about it – when you’re healthy both physically and mentally, are you going to be more likely to positively impact others?

From an anecdotal standpoint, the answer is likely “Yes.”

So be conscious of the choices you make with your food and exercise because they can have a big impact on your relationships with other people.