What you are doing everyday that affects the shape of your body

but isn't even in the top 10 reasons you should probably be doing more of it.

Some of the most spirited Anti-diet Movement influencers insist that exercise doesn’t or shouldn’t change how you look.

That is like saying getting wet shouldn’t change how you look. Wet hair and skin look different from dry hair and skin. Muscles that are used regularly are shaped differently than atrophied muscles. Therefore, the way your body looks changes as your muscles contract and lengthen more often or less often, over time.

To say that how you move doesn’t affect how you look would mean we’d all shake our heads in confusion in response to “he looked like a football player.” Any average American is familiar with the muscular build that sprinting and throwing and tackling develops over years of doing these movements. Different activities build certain muscles and stretch others, so those who perform an activity regularly will often have a characteristic look because of it. If exercise shouldn’t change how we look, then volleyball players who “look like” volleyball players or soccer players who look like soccer players or sprinters who look like sprinters would all be deemed dysfunctional. Participating in a sport so regularly that body shape adjusts because of it does not indicate a dysfunctional relationship with food and exercise. (Disclaimer: Eating disorders and compulsive overexercise in athletes are certainly things that happen. An athlete’s relationship with her body is unique, as is her relationship with how she nourishes and strengthens her body in order to be her best at her sport. Luckily, there are counselors who help athletes stay healthy in their relationship with food and their bodies through this process.)

Not everyone is an athlete, but if you play tennis as your main form of exercise, your body will respond (and even look) differently than if you primarily swim on a regular basis, for example. Beyond the regular exercise you do, your body is also always moving and that ALSO shapes your body.

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

If we can accept that bodies can and do change when they move, we must acknowledge the other reasons that moving is so important, if we want a relationship with our bodies that feels good.