Exercise is only good if it makes you
happy. If you'
re happy with who you are the
way you are, without having to change, that matters more than looking a certain
way. If you work out because somebody else thinks you should diet, change, or look a certain way, it's no good. The point of exercise is to improve/maintain your physical mobility mostly (for doing what you love to do in life), not to look like
something from a magazine cover. There's a difference between loving yourself and being in love with yourself, so when someone tries to tell you that being okay with the way you are without changing is narcissism, let them know if they had any heart they would look you in the eye when they said it instead of their eyes darting around the room at everyone and everything else.
Exercise is not a bad thing or a punishment, getting an ass whooping is a punishment, though it's mild compared to medieval torture. Still, if exercise becomes
something you no longer enjoy, at least you
don't have to do it if you
don't really want to.