Are you one of the many thousands of people around the world worried about their “spring break body”? Have you constantly made an effort to hit the gym hard every day? Maybe the past couple of weeks you’ve finishing your workout with an extra mile or decided to do an additional 10 minutes of abs.

But have you stopped and asked yourself why you were more motivated this past month? Too many times I’ve had a conversation with a friend at the gym who’s said, “I still need to lose a couple more pounds for spring break.” Whenever I hear such a ridiculous comment, I can’t help but laugh.

Have you asked yourself who you are trying to lose weight for? If you are going to gym and lifting weights, running on the treadmill and tackling ab exercises, who are you losing the weight for? Most people say they want a “spring break body,” but in reality, these people are losing weight so they can feel comfortable around friends while on vacation.

If you think about that, isn’t it sad? A majority of individuals are willing to put in hundreds of hours at the gym just so they can look and feel accepted by others. But I understand where people are coming from. No one wants to be the person who doesn’t look physically fit, can’t run five miles or lift 300 pounds! But people shouldn’t be going to the gym because they want others to accept them for the way they look--people should be going to the gym for themselves.

The numbers that you can physically put up in the gym does not define who you are, and for three years of college, I never realized how true this statement was. I thought I needed to be stronger and more physically fit, so every day I would go to the gym attempting to build the perfect body. But the problem wasn’t going to the gym every day just to become physically fit. My problem, and many other people’s problem is that we are going to the gym to be accepted by others.

It shouldn’t matter how much time you put up in the gym or what the number says on the scale, because if you are happy with yourself, that’s all that really matters. People need to start going to the gym for themselves instead of worrying about what others think of their bodies on spring break.

So the next time you say, “I need to lose a couple more pounds,” make sure you are losing the weight for yourself and not for others.