In glaring black-and-white block letters on the side of your favorite cereal, they vie for your attention: calories. Yet while they're the most prominent part of a nutrition label, calories don't tell the full story.

That's according to Nichola Whitehead, a registered dietitian and nutritionist who says the most important thing to look for on a nutrition label is not the calories but rather the ingredients.

"It's what you're putting into your body that counts," Whitehead says.

While calories can provide a rough estimate of how healthy something might be, they leave out several important factors. Calories don't tell you, for example, how satiated or full something will make you feel, how beneficial it is for your digestion, or whether it contains the vitamins and minerals you need for healthy skin, hair, and nails.

This guidance can be applied to whole meals as well as processed foods.

Take the following two breakfasts as an example. Meal one consists of a piece of wheat toast with butter, a couple of scrambled eggs, and a coffee. Meal two includes a bowl of frosted cereal in low-fat milk, a glass of orange juice, and a coffee. The two meals have almost the same number of calories.

While they tally up identically as far as their calories are concerned, the two plans are far from equal.

The cereal-and-juice meal is based around sugar and refined carbohydrates, which the body breaks down quickly, creating a constant need to refuel with caffeine or a snack. The eggs-and-toast meal, on the other hand, is what Whitehead would call "balanced" — it contains the right mix of proteins and complex carbohydrates that your body needs to be properly fueled in the long term.

Because they score high on something nutritionists refer to as the glycemic index, essentially a measure of how a food will affect your blood-sugar levels, foods like processed cereals, white bread, and white rice fall into a category known as "empty calories." Foods like this will "give you a rapid amount of sugar, but you're going to feel hungry shortly afterwards," Whitehead says.

This is where ingredients play a key role in sizing up the content of what you're eating. When you see things like sugar, corn syrup, fructose, or white flour listed as the first ingredients on a food, that can be a good indicator that it will not keep you full or energized in the long term. Instead, look for things like whole grains, lean proteins (chickpeas, beans, or chicken breast), and vegetables.

"It's what kinds of foods you eat that matters when it comes to how healthy your body is, how satiated you're feeling, and how much energy you've got," Whitehead says. "Calories are just a tool."

SEE ALSO: Our obsession with calories can be traced back 100 years — and it hides a much bigger problem

DON'T MISS: The best thing to eat before and after you exercise, according to the physiologist behind the viral 7-minute workout

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NOW WATCH: The Big Bang is not the beginning of our universe — it’s actually the end of something else entirely

We're all terrible at taking vacations.

A recent Glassdoor report found that, on average, Americans don't use half of their vacation time or paid time off.

And once we're actually on vacation, we have trouble kicking back and relaxing.

According to the same Glassdoor report, 66% of Americans say that they work during their vacations — that's compared to 61% five years ago.

Harris Poll conducted the survey on behalf of the job site, interviewing 2,224 adults in the US. Only 771 — about one third — of those participants took vacation or paid time off in the past 12 months.

We all really need to get it together and start vacationing the right way. Taking a break from work can be great for productivity. On the flip side, working without any time off is a great way to burn yourself out.

Here are some signs that you seriously need a vacation:

SEE ALSO: 5 steps for returning to an almost-empty email inbox after a vacation

1. You begin to look like your passport photo

"It's an old joke with a lot of truth to it," says Michael Kerr, an international business speaker and author of "The Humor Advantage." "Any signs of chronic stress that might be signaling impending burnout are obvious red flags: irritability with colleagues, finding it difficult to concentrate on routine tasks, chronic tension headaches, back strain, stomach issues, or more serious health concerns."

2. You're having trouble sleeping

Whether you're having trouble falling asleep or waking up a 3:00 every morning, sleep issues can be a symptom of overwork and stress, or it can be a signal that you're too focused on your work at the expense of everything else, he explains.

3. Your personal life is suffering

If you find yourself having missed too many family dinners, school concerts, or family outings, it could be a clue that you need to reconnect with your family during some much needed vacation time, says Kerr.

Eating healthy is only half the battle.

Perhaps you've swapped your pancake and sausage breakfast for avocado toast, gone cold turkey on M&Ms, and even added salad to your meal repertoire.

But if you haven't started paying attention to what you're drinking, you may not have really made a dent.

Sweetened beverages like soda and juice can make up a surprising portion of the calories you consume each day, yet they don't fill you up the same way solid food does.

Those are some of the reasons that Cara Anselmo, a nutritionist and outpatient dietitian at New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, advises her clients who are trying to lose weight to stop drinking beverages with calories.

"If you drink 500 calories of liquid versus eating 500 calories of food you’re going to feel much less satiated, which is one of the reasons soda and sweetened drinks are such horrible things. You don’t get a sense of fullness," Anselmo tells Business Insider.

Researchers from Harvard University and Children's Hospital in Boston tested this idea in an 8-year study that included nearly 50,000 women.

When compared to participants who slashed their intake of sweetened drinks like soda or fruit punch, those who started drinking more sugary beverages gained weight and increased their risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The more their sweet drink intake increased, the more weight they gained and the more their disease risk went up.

This is partially because the calories we get from sugary beverages don't fill us up, as several short-term studies exploring people's appetite and eating behavior after drinking sweetened beverages have suggested. In fact, they may do the opposite.

"When drinking fluid calories, people often end up eating more calories overall," Richard Mattes, a professor of nutrition at Purdue University tells Live Science.

The key takeaway: If you're trying to lose weight, you can start by reducing your intake of sugary drinks like juice, soda, and fruit punch. Instead, wash down your meals with water.

SEE ALSO: Our obsession with calories can be traced back 100 years — and it hides a much bigger problem

DON'T MISS: Juice is the biggest con of your life, whether it's squeezed by hand or a $400 machine

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NOW WATCH: Scientists figured out why a giant crack in Antarctica is growing so fast, and it points to an even bigger problem

Costco is great for stocking up on low-priced essentials, especially these. But buying in bulk does not always give the best bang for your buck. Cheapism put together a list of items to think twice about before picking up at your warehouse club.

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Tender Greens wants to give Sweetgreen a run for its money.

The Los Angeles-based salad and comfort-food chain just announced its first outpost on the East Coast, located in New York City's Union Square neighborhood. The expansion has been in the works since 2015, when Tender Greens received a minority investment from Danny Meyer, the founder of Shake Shack and CEO of one of the most successful restaurant groups in New York.

The chain, founded in 2006, has 25 locations in California. In 2016, it made over $80 million in sales — and company executives say annual revenue is growing 20% year-over-year.

We stopped by Tender Greens in downtown San Francisco to see what the buzz is about.

SEE ALSO: A healthy fast-food joint that got panned by a New York Times food critic is crushing it

In 2015, Shake Shake founder Danny Meyer said in a statement that he visited a tiny California salad chain and loved the idea so much "that I wish I'd thought of it myself."

Source: Business Insider

Meyer's restaurant company, The Union Hospitality Group, made an investment of an undisclosed sum in Tender Greens — its first time taking stake in an outside concept.

I visited a Tender Greens location in downtown San Francisco during the late afternoon. During the typical lunch hour, long lines wind outside the door.

Nutella is an incredibly delicious "Hazelnut Spread," but even though it contains nuts, it's not exactly the most wholesome snack. More than half of the jar is straight up sugar. 

We initially learned about Nutella's ingredients from this viral chart. We reached out to Ferrero, the company that makes Nutella, to confirm. Here was its full, official response:

"We don’t disclose the full proportions of the ingredients in Nutella as our recipe is unique and we wish to safeguard this. The product’s label provides simple and clear nutritional information per 15g portion, or one heaped teaspoon, as well as per 100g.  The ingredients are also listed on the Nutella website."

"One of Ferrero’s core nutritional beliefs is that small portion sizes help people to enjoy their favourite foods in moderation. The labeling on our products enables consumers to make informed choices and helps ensure that Nutella can be enjoyed as part of a balanced and varied diet."

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If you're on a budget and low on time, a fast-food breakfast might be your best bet every once in a while.

Whether you're headed to Burger King or Starbucks, there are usually a few healthier options to choose from.

For this list, we tried to prioritize breakfasts that contain whole food ingredients like eggs and whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Most are 400 calories or fewer and pack a hefty amount of protein to fill you up and fuel your body for the day ahead.

Still, one caveat with most of these items, is that they pack a lot of salt, so watch your sodium intake on the days you eat them.

SEE ALSO: Our obsession with calories can be traced back 100 years — and it hides a bigger problem

DON'T MISS: 15 of the healthiest fast-food menu items

McDonald's — Egg McMuffin, no ham (300 calories)

The fruit and yogurt parfait isn't the only healthy morning item McDonald's offers. Avoiding the meat is an easy way to lighten up the chain's traditional breakfast items. An Egg McMuffin has:

300 calories— not too high, not too low

17g protein— a hefty amount to strengthen muscles and fill you up

12g fat— not too high, not too low

29g carbs— pretty low

730mg sodium — high; a little less than half your recommended daily allowance

Starbucks — Spinach and Feta Wrap (290 calories)

While the yummy pastries at Starbucks are sure to catch your eye, sugary muffins and scones can leave you hangry. Their hot breakfast items, like this wrap, are likely a healthier, more filling AM meal, with:

290 calories— on the lower side

19g protein— a pretty good amount to strengthen muscles and fill you up

10g fat— not too low, not too high

33g carbs— pretty high; replace sugary or carb-heavy snacks with protein-rich ones

830mg sodium — just under half your daily allowance

Subway — Egg and Cheese Sandwich (360 calories)

"Eating fresh" in the a.m. is pretty easy at this chain, where you can get an egg sandwich on flatbread loaded with veggies. Our only caveat is that the sandwich is very high in sodium, which research suggests may be bad news for your heart.

360 calories— not too high, not too low

19g protein— a good amount to strengthen muscles and fill you up

12g fat— not too high, not too low

44g carbs— roughly 15% of your daily allowance

860mg sodium— high; more than half your daily allowance

Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, have a valuable collection of artwork, but if it weren't for Instagram, we might not know anything about it.

According to Artnet, the couple has been criticized for failing to disclose their collection in financial documents, despite some pieces being worth as much as $500,000.

According to the Office of Government Ethics, federal employees are required to report any artwork that is kept for investment purposes and worth more than $1,000. Kushner is a senior adviser to President Donald Trump.

Experts say the couple's collection could be worth millions, but a lawyer for Kushner told Artnet that the art was "for decorative purposes" only.

Ivanka has posted many images on Instagram of her and her family against the backdrop of their expansive art collection.

Take a look at some of those photos:

SEE ALSO: Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner failed to disclose an art collection that experts say is worth millions

Ivanka Trump frequently takes pictures of herself and her family posing in front of artwork that lines the walls of their $4 million condo on Park Avenue in New York.

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Some of these pieces are worth as much as $500,000, but the couple did not disclose this information in financial reports when Kushner became a federal employee.

Source: Artnet 

In the background of this photo of Trump posing with two of her children, Arabella and Joseph, is a Nate Lowman painting from his "Bullet Holes" collection. Two of his similar works sold at Sotheby's for about $177,000 in 2016 and $665,000 in 2013. On the right-hand side is a Dan Colen chewing-gum painting.

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According to Bloomberg, a similar Colen piece sold for $578,000 at Phillips New York in 2012.

Source: Bloomberg, Sotheby's 2013 and 2016

These paintings have appeared in the background of Trump's Instagram posts for months.

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In June 2013, heavy rains led to a catastrophic flood in the Canadian province of Alberta, causing an estimated five billion Canadian dollars in property damage.

One of the hardest-hit areas was the town of High River, a suburb of Calgary.

In Beachwood Estates, a High River neighborhood full of million-dollar homes, floodwaters rose so high that residents had to abandon their properties, according to the Calgary Herald.

Photographer Seph Lawless documented the homes before they were sold or demolished earlier in 2017. He captured them, abandoned and eerie, awaiting their final fate.

SEE ALSO: No one wants to buy this $20 million townhouse owned by a real-life 'Wolf of Wall Street'-er

Beachwood Estates was once a thriving community full of pricey homes tucked among more modest ones.

Now the homes sit empty and abandoned, virtually untouched for four years.

As part of a relocation platform, the homes were bought by the Alberta state government, according to the Calgary Herald.

Source: Calgary Herald

Chef and co-owner of Eleven Madison Park, The Nomad, and Made Nice, Daniel Humm shared what he believes to be the most important kitchen utensils he uses daily. Following is a transcript of the video.

I'm Daniel Humm. I’m the chef and co-owner of Eleven Madison Park, The Nomad, and Made Nice. I think a really good pan is important. Sounds simple, but a really good pan with a super flat bottom. We use copper pans here because they have really great heat distribution. 

I think you need a sharp knife and I use Victorinox Knives. It's a knife that I grew up with. It’s a Swiss brand so I had it all my life so the knife is a very big part of a chef. But then there's maybe also one other tool that's maybe a little bit unusual that every one of us uses and it's a cake tester. And with a cake tester, as you cook you can check the doneness, you can check the temperature, but that's really a super valuable tool and it costs about $0.75 or so.

So it's a great tool. But I'm not a chef of, you know, really fancy equipment. I — we’re pretty basic with what we work with. We just want a good pan, a good knife, cake tester, good cutting board — that’s pretty much it.

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Walking down the beauty products aisle can be overwhelming. High-end creams? Bargain moisturizers? What the heck is in topical venoms?!

Dermatologist Dr. Erin Gilbert explains her picks for the best and worst products. What she recommends may actually surprise you and, better yet, save you from wasting money on something that's not going to work.

Your skin needs care, but stem cell cream is probably not the way to go. Instead, go for a medium to high-end antioxidant product that comes in a sealed container.

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Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, New York Times writer, former Google data scientist, and author of "Everybody Lies" reveals how employers could use online data in their hiring practices. Following is a transcript of the video.

Everything you do correlates with something else you might do. That’s just the way the world works. If you wear blue shirts, you’re more likely to do something than people who wear red shirts. It may be a small difference, it may be a huge difference, but in general everything you do has some predictive power for something else you’ll do.

Historically, companies have only known five or six things about you. They knew maybe your race, your religious background, what school you attended, your income, your previous employment history, and then lawyers or politicians could determine what are companies allowed to use. If they know six things, well they can’t use these two things.

But now we’re entering a world where employers know a million things about you. They know everything on your social media, they know a lot of your purchase history, they know maybe things you’ve done on computers in various places. Many of these things are going to correlate with your likelihood of being a productive employee. There are random correlations people have found that if you like curly fries on Facebook, you’re more likely to be intelligent. Why? No clue, just everything correlates with everything. It’s some weird correlation. but you could imagine a world where employers would be wise to give you a downgrade if you don’t like curly fries, if you like straight fries instead of curly fries. I think the legal and ethical framework is not prepared for big data.

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Bad breath is sometimes very disconcerting, not to mention gross. It's primarily caused by bacteria from leftover food, however, it could indicate a much bigger problem. Dr. Ada Cooper, explains everything you need to know about alleviating bad breath.

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The official history of the martini is shrouded in mystery, and competing stories come from both the East and West Coast of the US. Despite the cocktail's recipe being documented in the 1880s in Harry Johnson's "Bartender's Manual" (the first guide to the bartending trade), there's still some debate as to where it came from.

Its West Coast origins involve stories of gold miners going to the bar after striking it rich. On the East Coast, however, its rumored origin story takes place in the heart of New York City and involves the wealthy Astor and Rockefeller families. 

The storied birthplace of the martini is The Knickerbocker Hotel, which was opened by John Jacob Astor IV in 1906, in New York City's Times Square. Back then, rooms averaged around $3.25 per night, and writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald and George M. Cohan were frequent guests.

Guests would enter the Knickerbocker's speakeasy via a door located underground in the Times Square shuttle stop. The door, though no longer functional, can still be seen in the Times Square station today. Once they entered, they'd see bartenders who were busy serving a roster of guests that included oil tycoon and millionaire John D. Rockefeller.

It was Rockefeller who was supposedly served an eponymous cocktail by then-bartender Martini di Arma di Taggia. Made with gin, dry vermouth, sweet vermouth, citrus bitters, orange bitters, and garnished with a lemon twist, the original martini recipe is still served at the new bar inside the recently reopened and landmarked Knickerbocker Hotel today.

While Astor died in the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, the Knickerbocker Hotel didn't close until 1921, and the building went through several renovations, including a stint as the Newsweek Building in the '40s and '50s.

The hotel reopened as the Knickerbocker Hotel in 2014, after a $240 million renovation. 

SEE ALSO: I wrote about the Old Fashioned's 'comeback' and a bunch of people from Wisconsin freaked out

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NOW WATCH: You have to break codes to get cocktails at this spy-themed bar

The rise of social media has given birth to a new type of star: the "influencer."

Many of these influencers have careers outside of social media, but they are famous for being really good at social media, particularly Instagram. These are people with tens or hundreds of thousands of followers checking out their photos, and who brands will often pay money to be associated with.

But part of what makes social-media influencers intriguing is that they let fans into their lives in a casual and intimate way. They aren't peering down at you from celebrity mountain like a Hollywood movie star. They are more like a friend, or perhaps someone you could even date.

But wait, could you?

Well, you might at least have a shot — it turns out a lot of influencers are active on dating apps. Dating app Hinge recently debuted the ability to link your Instagram to your profile, something you can also do on competitor Tinder as well. And in doing so, Hinge found out that some of its users have quite prominent Instagram followings.

Hinge put a list together for us of the 30 most eligible influencers, decided by who had a combination of activity on the app and a ton of Instagram followers. Here they are, along with links so you can actually find their particular profile if you want. Good luck!

SEE ALSO: Bob Iger gave up on his dream job at 23, and ended up becoming Disney's CEO instead

No. 30: Lauren Schramm

Work: Personal Trainer

Education: University of Pittsburgh

Influencer type: Fitness

Instagram handle: @laurenschrammfit

Followers: 27k

City: New York City

Here's her dating profile.

No. 29: Matt Weitz

Work: Client Financial Analyst at Marketing Werks

Education: DePaul University

Influencer type: Photographer

Instagram handle: @mattbweitz

Followers: 27k

City: Chicago

Here's his dating profile.

No. 28: Laura Stuart

Work: Laura Elizabeth Jewelry

Education: University of Santa Monica

Influencer type: Lifestyle

Instagram handle: @lauraelizabethjewelry

Followers: 13k

City: Austin

Here's her dating profile.

The citizens of Huaxi, the "communist utopia," are very wealthy but aren't allowed to speak to the press. The village was once a poor farming community but is now considered a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate in steel and shipping markets. There are 2,000 “registered residents” who are said to have free healthcare and education. Everyone works seven days a week with no weekends. 

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We live in disposable times. Many consumers today would rather buy something on the cheap — and sacrifice on quality — than have to fork over a lot of money.

But sometimes it makes more economical sense to spend a bit more and buy that long-lasting product. Trouble is, how do you know when to splurge and when to save?

We chatted to Tara Button, founder of Buy Me Once, an online store that looks at customer reviews, to find out which are the most durable products that we should think about buying.

Keep scrolling to find out her top recommendations for your once-in-a-lifetime purchases:

SEE ALSO: Here's why buying your first suit isn't at hard as you think

Le Creuset Cooking Pot, from $130

This sturdy cooking pot was the inspiration behind Buy Me Once, according to Button. Depending on the size, they can cost anywhere between $130 and $550. "Its classic look and craftsmanship mean you'll be handing it down to your grandchildren," Button said to Business Insider. 

Buy online here.

Darn Tough Socks, from $19.30

Vermont-based sock company Darn Tough has a range of all-weather socks for men, women, and children. The secret ingredient is merino wool, which is designed to keep feet warm in winter and cool in summer."They're the best socks I've ever had and the top seller on Buy Me Once," Button said. 

Buy online here.

Davek Umbrella, $149

Davek umbrellas were created in New York with the city's extreme weather in mind. The main umbrella canopy is made with 190-thread-count fabric and built to weather any storm. They come with a lifetime guarantee that covers breakages, and if you lose it, you're entitled to 50% off the replacement.

Buy online here. 

The late architect Zaha Hadid — known as the "Queen of the Curve" for the modern, curving designs of her buildings —had a legendary career.

The Iraqi-born British architect became the first woman to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize (the Nobel Prize of her field) in 2004. She also received numerous other awards and honors, including being named a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DME) in 2012 and earning the Royal Institute of British Architects Gold Medal in 2015 — the first ever given to a woman.

Hadid designed everything from a metro station in Saudi Arabia, to the aquatics center for the 2012 London Olympics, to a city center in downtown Belgrade — all in her signature flowing style.

One of the last buildings she designed will be completed in New York City this summer. It's an 11-story condominium made of steel and glass, and it incorporates a unique curvy chevron pattern.

Hadid died in a Miami hospital in 2016 after suffering a heart attack. Google is honoring her Wednesday with a Google Doodle on its homepage and a retrospective of her work. 

Click through to see how her style evolved over time, and remember the artist through the body of work she left behind all over the world.

SEE ALSO: Eerie photos show a neighborhood of abandoned million-dollar McMansions

Completed in 2003, the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati was Hadid's first project in the US. It was a huge critical success.

Source: The New York Times

After the success of the Rosenthal Center, Hadid was hired for several other projects. The BMW Central Building in Leipzig, Germany was among the first. It was completed in May 2005.

Source: The New York Times

And she designed the Phaeno Science Center in Wolfsburg, Germany, which was also completed in 2005. The New York Times called it "the kind of building that utterly transforms our vision of the future."

Source: The New York Times

BMW's latest art car is the first to incorporate augmented reality.

The German automaker has collaborated with famous artists for over 40 years to transform race cars into works of art. The artistry of its latest entry, however, is not immediately apparent to the naked eye.

Chinese multimedia artist Cao Fei used augmented and virtual reality to transform a BMW M6 GT3 race car into a stunning light show. Viewers can experience the art installation by downloading an iOS app. 

Fei also released a short video clip, titled "Unmanned," as part of the overall multimedia experience. The video shows a man in traditional Chinese clothing using VR to create beams of light from his fingertips.

Fei, who spent three years working on the project, is the first Chinese artist to create an art car for BMW.

Scroll down to see the 17 other art cars that came before Fei's work:

Aaron Brown contributed to an earlier version of this post.

SEE ALSO: BMW's wild vision for the future includes cars with flat-screen TVs and electric motorcycles — here's a closer look

Alexander Calder's 1975 BMW 3.0 CSL Art Car.

BMW's Art Cars program began in 1975 and was spearheaded by Herve Poulain, a 35-year-old French race car driver and auctioneer whose two passions in life were art and racing.

While Poulain was just an amateur racer, he aspired to race in the 1975 24 Hours of Le Mans, which is an annual 24 hour race hosted in France each June. He managed to convince BMW to sponsor him and to persuade the American artist Alexander Calder to paint the car before the race, pictured above.

Several world-class artists have contributed to the BMW Art Car program since Calder created his masterpiece.

This 3.0 CSL was designed by American artist Frank Stella's and raced at the 1976 24 Hours of Le Mans. The design was supposed to resemble a blueprint.

On Roy Lichetenstein's 1977 320i Group 5 Art Car, the designs are supposed to represent roads, sunlight, and the sky.

I've been going to the gym regularly for years.

It's kind of funny, actually: When I lived in a Manhattan building with a gym in the basement, I never, ever went. It was a matter of principle — no one told me I had to pay a gym fee on top of my exorbitant rent! So I steered clear of the treadmills.

I sure showed them.

But when a gym rep came to my previous job and handed me a tee-shirt I'd never end up wearing along with a hefty corporate discount to a gym chain, I bit. And now, more than three years later, I can't bear to leave it. I love the teachers! I know the schedule! The locations are so convenient!

You know what I've learned? It doesn't matter whether your gym is in your building or down the block or 30 minutes away. Most of the work of going to the gym happens before you even walk in the door.

Below, I'm confessing some of the motivation tricks that get me off the couch and onto the spin bike. I can't guarantee they'll work for you — I can't even guarantee they'll continue to work for me — but this is what works right now.

SEE ALSO: I just ran my first half marathon — here's what I tell my friends when they say they could never start running

I tell myself I can decide whether I want to go ... later.

This tactic has worked brilliantly.

Instead of spending the day fighting myself over whether I "feel like" or "want to" go to the gym, I postpone the internal debate until after my workout.

That way, I can have a nice, indulgent mental back-and-forth and bask in indignation and reluctance for as long as I want — on the train home, having already done my workout.

I've never been sorry.

I recognize that there's always a reason to bail.

I once wrote about how "there's always something," in reference to planning out your spending and your budget. It's the same for the gym. I'm not sure there has ever been a night where I couldn't think of multiple reasons not to go.

For instance, here's a list of reasons I considered not going to the gym in the last week:

• I'm tired.
• My calves are sore from a new class I tried.
• I don't have the shorts I prefer to wear for spin class.
• I got stuck at work and won't be able to make my preferred Tuesday night class.
• It's dark.
• It's raining.
• I forgot my headphones.
• I'm going to miss the express train home.
• I'm coming down with the cold that's been going around the office.
• I need to pack for a weekend trip.
• My gym buddies all bailed on me.

Just because you have a reason doesn't make it a good one. Go anyway.

I think of the money.

The brilliant thing about belonging to a gym, as opposed to those $35 boutique spin classes so many of my friends adore, is that since you've already paid, it gets cheaper every time you go.

That's amazing! If I go to one class in a month, it's a $90 class. Two, they're each $45. Nine classes? At nine, which works out to fewer than three times a week, I'm paying only $10 per class.