5 Signs Your Relationship With Exercise Is Extremely Toxic

Our social media feeds are often filled with workout videos, gym-obsessed influencers, and #fitnessgoals. You can barely do a single scroll without seeing some model flashing their unattainable abs or showing off a juicy cleanse.

It’s easy to think that this lifestyle is the key to happiness and wealth. You just need to do crazy exercises daily and eat kale for every meal to look like a smiling gym selfie on Instagram in real life, right?

Exercising is something that should be fulfilling, but when we live in a society that pits us against each other, it’s easy for physical fitness to become unhealthy.

A toxic fitness culture has made exercise a kind of competition between who can look thinner or have the best body. It makes us feel like we have to push ourselves beyond our limits and prioritize fitness above everything else in our lives.

It can have detrimental effects on our body image and fitness, but more importantly, it can damage our relationship with ourselves.

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When your relationship with fitness is unhealthy, you are not at your best. You’re unnecessarily critical of your body and preventing yourself from truly loving your workouts.

This doesn’t mean you need to give up exercising, you just need to adjust your mindset to feel good about yourself and overcome your body image issues. Recognizing unhealthy fitness habits is the first step in improving your exercise routine and increasing your self-love.

Here are 5 signs that indicate an unhealthy relationship with exercise:

  1. You use exercise to punish yourself for your food choices

If you’re using exercise as a way to make up for that slice of pizza you ate last night or to justify eating cake later, you’re doing it for the wrong reason.

Obsessively worrying about whether you’ve burned enough calories to compensate for how you’re fueling your body is toxic. Nourishing your body is not something to be punished for. As long as you maintain an overall healthy diet, a few foods here and there won’t radically change your fitness goals.

Your diet and exercise are not enemies, they should work together to make you feel great.

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  1. You feel guilty when you skip exercise

Sometimes plans get in the way or you’re not in the mood to work, but that shouldn’t make you feel bad about yourself or think you’ve failed in some way. If you feel like exercising is compulsive or feel anxious when you don’t find time to exercise, your fitness habits are not healthy.

Forcing yourself to exercise to avoid these feelings only leads to more compulsive fitness habits. It’s important to accept that your body needs rest periods. A healthy exercise schedule should keep you feeling good, even on your days off.

  1. You rearrange your plans to exercise

Do you cancel your plans last minute or reschedule them to fit just your gym sessions? If so, you may need to reevaluate your relationship with exercise.

Exercise should be used to complement a happy life with friends and family, not to take over your entire routine.

If your friends can only meet up at a time when you would normally go running, you should skip the workout and spend time with the people you love instead. Having close personal relationships is far more satisfying than any fitness goal.

Additionally, having strong social connections has been scientifically proven to reduce your health risks.

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  1. You are trying to change certain parts of your body

Cravings to change your appearance are not good for your mind or body! Ultimately, your fitness goal should be to feel good, not look a certain way.

Every person is unique, and what you see on social media or in magazines is not necessarily possible for your body. Everyone’s body is designed to weigh within a certain weight range, so believing that you can radically change your appearance is inaccurate.

It’s also impossible to reduce fat, so don’t be fooled by mini waist workout videos! Exercise is for your insides, and your worth is not based on a number on the scale.

  1. You exercise even when you are injured or sick

We all have to dig deep to find the motivation to work sometimes. But when does forcing yourself to exercise cross the line?

Toxic online fitness culture is often based on pushing your body to the limits, and not giving up even if you’re tired or in pain. But there’s nothing healthy about exercising when you’re exhausted or injured. It will only keep you from achieving your long-term fitness goals by wearing you out.

Rest is just as important as activity in a fitness routine. Recovery days allow your body to repair muscle tissue and rebuild glycogen levels so you can get the most out of your workouts.

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