hey!

• the beginning •

• what has changed •

Since I joined the gym *this will sound so cliché* I think I found inner peace. I found peace with my body and my mind. I fell in love with taking care of myself. Somehow exhausting myself in the gym is the most relaxing part of my day. Did you ever realize how much your body loves you? It's always trying to keep you alive. It's making sure you breathe while you sleep, stopping cuts from bleeding, fixing broken bones, finding ways to beat the ilnesses that might get you. Your body literally loves you so much. It's time you start loving it back. The biggest change happens when you learn to love yourself for who you are, but not hate yourself for who you are not. I cannot express enough, how important loving yourself is. Yes, sure, I started seeing the results, little tiny ones, less belly fat, thinner thighs, skinnier face, less flabby arms, but I realised that looking good is secondary, having a healthy relationship with my body should be my priority. But for the love of God, seeing your physique improving after all your hard work is freaking amazing let me tell you that! But always remember, that your best weight is whatever weight you reach when you're living the healthiest life you actually enjoy.

I can even list you all the things that changed when I started working out and eating healthier:

1) More energy. Any exercise or physical activity that gets the heart rate up and the blood flowing and releases endorphins is going to raise your energy level. Good cardiovascular exercises will strengthen your heart and give you more stamina.

2) Improved mood - happy endorphins. When you exercise, your body releases chemicals called endorphins. These endorphins interact with the receptors in your brain that reduce your perception of pain. Endorphins also trigger a positive feeling in the body, similar to that of morphine.

3) Better quality night sleep. Exercise triggers an increase in body temperature, and the post-exercise drop in temperature may promote falling asleep.

4) Self-confidence. This one is obvious, right? If you feel intimidated to be the only girl in the weight-training area (not in my case because there are so many girls who weight-train at my gym) you should watch this video by one of my favorite athletes Sophie Aris!

5) Feeling of accomplishment. As your waistline shrinks and your strength and stamina increase, your self-image will improve. You'll earn a sense of control and pride.

6) Reduced stress levels. Exercise reduces levels of the body's stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol. It also stimulates the production of endorphins, chemicals in the brain that are the body's natural painkillers and mood elevators.

7) Improved digestive system. Regular physical activity stimulates the gut, whilst increasing intestinal activity, so digestive problems are prevented. It increases blood flow to all your muscles, and this keeps the muscles in the digestive system moving, allowing food to pass through it much quicker, even when you're resting.

8) Healthier looking skin. Increased circulation from exercise means more oxygen and nutrients are delivered to your skin cells – which will radiate on your face. 

9) *tiny cute lil* muscles. Gaining muscle and losing fat altogether lead to a more toned, slimmer-looking body.

10) Feeling stronger. Hustle for that muscle girl!

11) Losing weight. Working out burns calories, which creates a caloric deficit leading to weight and fat loss.
12) Less overthinking. When your body is busy, your mind will be distracted from the worries of daily life and will be focused on a workout movement only.

13) Loving how you look already and striving for even better results.
• current goals •
At this very moment, I am still cutting. For now, my goals are to reduce my overall body fat percentage, tone my arms, triceps zone to be exact, of course, working on that *peach emoji* growth, because losing weight also comes with losing your butt and chest unfortunately. These are my main goals body-wise, but of course, toning my whole body and just building a healthy relationship with food is an ultimate goal of my early fitness journey.

• conclusions •

So far, joining the gym was one of the best decisions in my life.  Yes, I still have so much to learn and I still tend to fall off the wagon from time to time, but that's totally normal, because I am not here for the temporary results, I am here to build a healthy lifelong lifestyle and let's be honest, big changes don't happen over night so there is no need to pressure yourself. You do you and if you find something in life that truly makes you happy, stick to it and never let it go. For a hot minute I was considering whether I should upload a couple of 'before' pictures here at the end of this post, but still, I didn't because for some reasons I am not comfortable enough to upload those 'bad before' pictures on the internet. Maybe someday, when I have achieved greater results, who knows! Yet, if you are interested to track my fitness journey, you are more than welcome to follow me on my instagram, which is @violetalyskoit, I post there pretty often! That's all I have for you today. I really hope you enjoyed this unexpectedly long post, because I truly loved writing it as this topic is really close to my heart and I hope that I managed to inspire at least some of you to take a better care of your body and soul. Lots of love,


https://www.healthspan.co.uk/advice/why-exercise-is-good-for-your-digestive-system
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/exercising-to-relax