Feeling low on confidence and self-esteem? It may not be just your mental health playing up on you. It could be your overall lifestyle. By focusing more on your overall fitness and health you can give yourself an instant (and yes, instant) confidence boost.

Just walking out of the gym after a hard workout feels amazing. You know that you’ve done yourself a world of good and you will want to shout to the world about it. There’ll be haters, but they’re just jealous that they don’t feel as great as you do after that workout.

Not sure fitness and health are going to boost your confidence? Here are 12 ways that they do.

You Get the Mental Health Boost

Let’s start with one of the biggest benefits of doing more exercise. You will get the mental health benefits right away.

Nobody wants to do exercise at first, but once they’ve done it, they don’t regret it. When you exercise, your brain starts to release all the right hormones. You get a boost of serotonin, endorphins, and dopamine. Altogether, the hormones will help you feel more relaxed, happier, and less pain.

These positive hormones will help to boost your confidence. When you feel good about yourself, you automatically get more confidence. You want to show to the world that you are happy within yourself.

You can also get some of these benefits through focusing on the right diet. It’s all about getting the right vitamins to support the network within your brain.

Exercise is the best way to support your mental health, though. Doctors regularly recommend it for those fighting depression and anxiety.

You See Changes Within Yourself

There is nothing better than seeing your hard work pay off. When you exercise and eat well, you will start to see changes in your body. You lose weight, tone up, and fit into your clothes.

Looking great is essential for confidence. When you feel like you look good, you will want to show off your look. You’ll have the guts to change more about yourself, such as your hair color. You’ll come out of your shell and show off your personality.

Thisopens your world to far more. You can socialize easier and make new friends. This then leads to more of a confidence boost, especially when you continue to see all the changes within yourself. It’s an ongoing cycle, even when you stop losing weight.

One of the best ways to keep track of your changes is by taking selfies. As much as people say they’re “vain,” they are an excellent way of documenting your journey. You won’t see the slightest change until you compare yourself side by side.

You won’t just see the physical changes in your muscle build and weight. You can start seeing changes in your skin. A healthier diet will help to support your hormone balance, which means a more normal natural oil production. Your skin won’t feel as greasy, and you don’t see as much acne. You also get the right nutrients to reduce signs of aging, such as dark spots and wrinkles. When you feel like you look good, you’ll gain more confidence to show off your body.

You’ll Get Stronger

Not only do you start seeing physical changes, but you’ll see them in your strength. You’ll manage to lift more weights and manage more around the house. This noticeable change is one that you don’t need to document. It’s something that you’ll notice with each trip to the gym.

Strength is more than just lifting weights. You’ll need to focus on a healthy diet, full of protein to help with the growth of your muscle. This will also help you with toning, which makes you look great (and takes us back to #2).

When you start lifting more and become stronger, you will see a benefit within your confidence. There are results from the hard work you’re putting in; results that you know make you healthier overall.

Achieve Goals Makes You Happier

Let’s not overlook the benefit of reaching goals and seeing success. We all get a sense of pride when we’re able to achieve something in our lives. Yes, it can be something as great as lifting an extra 10lbs on the bench press or running an extra 1k without feeling like we’re dying. It can also be as little as losing 2lbs on the scales week from week.

This sense of accomplishment helps to release the right hormones from our brains. We get similar results as when we’re physically doing the exercise.

Of course, you need to think about the goals you’re setting to help get this sense of accomplishment. While you need them to be realistic, you need to have goals that you put effort into. When you’ve worked hard to achieve something, you feel better about it. You know that you’ve done something that a few weeks ago you wouldn’t have been able to.

After each goal, you want to set a new one. You’ll gain endurance and stamina as you work towards each goal, further building your confidence.

If you can achieve your goals, there’s nothing you can’t achieve!

You Don’t Feel as Stressed

While you get a boost in the happy hormones, you will also see a reduction in the stress hormones. This further helps to support your confidence.

When we’re stressed, we can feel depressed and anxious. Nothing seems to go right, and all we want to do is hide from the world. This affects our overall confidence. We feel like we can’t do anything right in our lives and there’s no point in even trying. It’s a vicious cycle that we need to get out of.

That’s where the exercise and healthy lifestyle comes in. With the right fitness and nutrition plan, we get the boost of happy hormones. They help to reduce the number of stress hormones in our bodies, so we get that feel-good factor. We’re on out of the world, getting the instant confidence boost.

You Feel Like You Can Tackle Anything

Remember those goals that you’ve been setting? Remember the sense of accomplishment you get? Well, as you become fitter and healthier, you start to feel like you can accomplish anything. The idea of bungee jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge is so much easier than it was months ago.

This feeling of being able to accomplish and tackle anything is your confidence growing. But it directly builds more confidence. You gain more self-esteem that continues to give you the idea that you can do absolutely anything in the world.

Challenges feel less stressful, thanks to the bonus of all the happy hormones circling your system. There’s nothing to lose!

Your Brain Gets the Necessary Support

It’s not all about the happy hormones in your body. When you focus on diet and exercise, you will feel the benefits within your brain. You start to feel more clarity, getting rid of the fog that clouds your brain and memory. Your cognitive functions are sharper than they have ever been.

While you’ve not likely gained extra IQ points, you feel like you have. You feel smarter and able to do more throughout the day. You’re not as drained or as tired, making you feel depressed and fed up with life.

You will also feel more productive in the workplace. There’s nothing better than feeling like you’re on top of all your tasks and you’re worth your salary (or more). You don’t constantly feel like you’re behind the rest of the people in the office or like you’re constantly playing catch up. It’s easier to talk to the people within the office.

You Become More in Tune with Yourself

Fitness and health do more than affect your brain. It affects everything about yourself. Some of the benefits aren’t physical, but a feeling deep within. You start to listen to your body more, feeling a deeper connection to yourself and the world.

This can help to give you the confidence boost you’ve always needed. You’re more in tune with nature and your surroundings. You’re connected to Mother Nature.

Yoga is one of the best forms of exercise for this. You focus more on your breathing, which helps to push more oxygen around your body. When your organs get more oxygen, they work more effectively, helping to boost the happy hormones in your body!

Your Risk of Diabetes Drops (or Your Diabetes Reverses)

Your risk of diabetes is lower. If you already have diabetes, you could see a reverse in your diagnosis or a reduction in the amount of medication you take.

Being ill takes its toll on your mental health. You feel like you’re a drain on the health care system or you’re constantly spending money on medication that you wish you didn’t need to take. Depression and anxiety are more likely to set in, along with higher stress levels.

Exercise and healthy diets will help to lower your insulin levels and reduce the risk of insulin resistance. This can help to reverse your condition or avoid something like pre-diabetes turning into a major problem.

A healthier body will give you a confidence boost.

Boredom Is Alleviated

It’s easy to get stuck in a rut with life. When you feel bored, your mental health sees a decline. You start to struggle with confidence because you don’t feel like it’s worth doing anything.

Focusing fitness and health changes that, especially when focusing on your fitness. You start to attend new classes and eat different foods. You add spice to your life—and not necessarily literally. This quickly alleviates the boredom that you feel.

Your mental health gets a spike, helping to overcome the lack of confidence that you get.

You can also see a boost in your social life, especially if you do fitness classes. You get to meet new people, who all have similar goals as you. There’s this ability that you all spur each other on to make sure you all meet your goals, helping to get rid of boredom, see success, and boost self-esteem.

You’re at Lower Risk of Health Issues

It’s not just the risk of diabetes that’s reduced through fitness and health. Your whole health benefits by seeing you at a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, heart attack, and some chronic pain.

When you focus on your overall diet and improve it, you will get nutrients that help to support your immune system. There is less inflammation in your body, which means your immune system can work on the real bacteria and viruses affecting your health. You don’t suffer from as many common colds, while you also feel less pain daily.

When you feel like you’re fighting fewer health issues, you start to feel better within yourself. This will help you see a boost in confidence overall.

Concentration Levels Get a Boost

We’ve seen a few ways that your mental health benefits. One of those is on the concentration levels. You don’t have this cloudy feeling. Your brain gets the nutrients and the oxygen it needs to help you feel more alert and focused.

This is great for the work place. You concentrate more on the tasks at hand and make fewer mistakes. Your boss will be happier, helping you to get that pay rise and promotion that you’ve been after for months.

You’ll also have the confidence to ask for the pay rise. This is an accomplishment, giving you a further boost in your confidence when you get the pay rise.

It’s Time to Focus on Your Health and Fitness

A boost in your fitness and health will instantly help to boost your confidence. You become more alert and productive at work, while you see the physical changes to your body. You’ll feel healthier and find that you accomplish more in your life. All these benefits work together to boost your self-esteem and confidence in life.

SOURCE: Positive Health Wellness