Without a doubt, Michelle Obama will go down as one of the most impactful First Ladies in American history. Among her many accomplishments, the December Vogue cover star stands out for her commitment to health and fitness—not only for herself and her two daughters, but for the entire nation, as her Let’s Move! campaign can attest. Here, five times Obama revealed her personal wellness philosophy—words to live by.
Practice what you preach.
“We can’t lie around on the couch eating French fries and candy bars and expect our kids to eat carrots and run around the block,” Obama pointed out in a 2013 keynote address. “But too often, that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
Fitness benefits are physical and mental.
“Exercise is really important to me—it’s therapeutic,” Obama said in 2008. “So if I’m ever feeling tense or stressed or like I’m about to have a meltdown, I’ll put on my iPod and head to the gym or out on a bike ride along Lake Michigan with the girls.”
Handle aging wisely, but with grace.
“I have never felt more confident in myself, more clear on who I am as a woman,” she said in 2013. “But I am constantly thinking about my own health and making sure that I’m eating right and getting exercise and watching the aches and pains. I want to be this really fly 80-, 90-year-old.” Who doesn’t?
Self-care is key.
The First Lady has always been a proponent of taking time for yourself. “Women in particular need to keep an eye on their physical and mental health, because if we’re scurrying to and from appointments and errands, we don’t have a lot of time to take care of ourselves,” she once said. “We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own ‘to-do’ list.”
Happiness is holistic.
“It’s multifaceted,” she said of health. “It’s physical, it’s internal, it’s my diet and my emotional state—it’s all tied in together.” In other words, it comes from the inside out.