Problem: Article: How you perceive yourself, how you talk about yourself, and how you represent yourself eventually becomes the reality for you. And if it happens that you're putting yourself down, belittling your worth, and making light of your talents in the face of others, then you will come across as self-effacing, low in self-esteem, and almost a part of the wallpaper. There's a difference between humility and self-denial. On the other hand, if you exaggerate your qualities, talents, and skills, you'll come across as egotistical and arrogant. Oddly enough, this is not about overestimating your self-worth but about deceiving yourself through insecurity. There is a middle pathway and it is the one in which you recognize and celebrate the fact that you are a valuable person, equal to everyone else, and that your talents and thoughts are unique and worthy. Getting to this belief can be difficult if you have spent years underestimating your worth but it is always possible to change your thoughts and to learn to value yourself. Self-love is often equated with narcissism, egotism, and some kind of one-way trip to a negative form of introversion. This is probably partly because the English language has a hard time dealing with the word "love" – it has to cover a lot of territory for the many different types of love out there. It is also mired in the confusion people feel about the message to do good unto others, to always be charitable, and to give of oneself. While these are noble intentions, they can often be taken out of proportion and used to downplay putting one's own needs and wants beneath those of others out of a fear of being perceived as selfish or inward-looking. Again, this is about getting the balance right through self-care.   Healthy self love is about being your own best friend. Self love is expressed not through preening oneself all day and constantly announcing how great you are (those are signs of intense insecurity); rather, self love is about treating yourself with the same care, tolerance, generosity, and compassion as you would treat a special friend. Avoid obsessing over how other people see you. How does it help you to cater your personality to their idea of you? Only you can give yourself the esteem boost you need. . Self-worth requires that you learn to listen to and rely on your own feelings and not automatically respond to the feelings of other people. When you trust your own feelings, you'll recognize unfair demands and be able to respond to them better. Self-worth plummets when we let others make decisions for us. Initially, this may seem like the easy route and one that allows you to avoid hard choices, however, our self-worth grows when we make decisions for ourselves. If you don't, you will always find yourself boxed in by what other people decide for you. When the people who make decisions for you disappear from your life, you are left alone and indecisive. Many of us live in a culture that is very fond of going to see someone else to analyze us. Here are some questions for your self-analysis:  What experience have I had? How has this experience informed my growth? What are my talents? List at least five. What are my skills? Remember that talents are innate, skills need to be worked on to perfect them. What are my strengths? Stop focusing on your weaknesses; you've probably done that long enough. Start looking at what your strengths are and start thinking about how you can make the most of them in the things you choose to do. Try taking the character strengths survey at www.viacharacter.org. What do I want to be doing with my life? Am I doing it? If not, why not? Am I happy with my health? If not, why not? And what can I do to move into wellness instead of living in sickness? What makes me feel fulfilled? Am I working on that or am I busy working on other people's fulfillment? What is important to me? If you try to live up to other people's expectations, you'll struggle to find your self-worth. Unfortunately, many people live this way, making such choices as what to study, what career to choose, where to live, and how many children to have -- all based on expectations from parents, spouses, friends, and the media.  Be very wary of listening too much to people who regret the choices that they made in life and who actively inflict their distress or anger upon others. They'll give you poor information, incorrect details, or simply omit to inform you at all. People with healthy self-worth will share their insights and learning with you, and will be willing to guide you around life's many traps. Look for those people to mentor you. Let go of the parts of your self-worth that are based on people's opinions from your childhood. Whether it was your parents, a caregiver, or kids at school, their opinions don't determine who you are as a person. If those people made you feel bad about yourself, look for evidence in your life that they're wrong so you can let go of their opinions.
Summary: Understand the power of your attitude toward yourself. Learn to overcome a fear of self-love. Trust your own feelings Analyze yourself. Stop making your self-worth conditional on other people.

In one sentence, describe what the following article is about: A great addition to a healthy diet is exercise.  Cardio in particular helps your body burn calories and support a gradual weight loss.  Aerobic exercises like running don't cause a lot of weight loss alone, but it's important to start running.  It's when combined with diet that you see the best results for weight loss. Health professionals recommend that you include at least 2 1/2 hours or about 150 minutes of moderate intensity cardio activities each week.  This amount of exercise comes with a lot of health benefits outside of weight loss.  It can also improve your sleep and mood and decrease your risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.  Try activities like:  walking, jogging, hiking, swimming or doing an aerobics class. In addition to cardio, it's recommended to include a few days of strength training.  This type of exercise can also support gradual weight loss.  Weight training or resistance exercises also do not cause a lot of weight loss by themselves.  However, they can increase your lean muscle mass which may help support a faster metabolism in the future and increase your body's ability to burn calories.  Aim to include about 1-3 days of strength training each week.  Try to work every major muscle group and do your exercises for at least 20 minutes per session.  The following activities can count as weight training:  weight lifting, using weight machines, or doing isometric exercises. Another great way to help you burn more calories and gradually lose weight is by increasing your lifestyle activity.  Lifestyle or baseline activities are things you do in your typical day.  They could be anything - raking leaves, gardening, mopping the floor or even walking to and from your car.  These activities do not burn many calories at 1 time, but added up together at the end of the day can make a significant impact on your health and weight. You can also do yoga or pilates, both of which are good for posture, flexibility, improving balance, and mind-body connection. Think about your typical day and how much you move and walk around.  Are there ways you can add more movement or steps to your day?  Try parking further away, taking the stairs more often, going for short walk breaks at work or doing exercises during commercial breaks while you watch TV.
Summary:
Aim for 2 1/2 hours of exercise weekly. Start including regular strength training. Increase your lifestyle activity.