\n<\/p>\n
Rapper <\/span>Megan Thee Stallion<\/b> is opening up about her health and fitness journey.<\/span><\/p>\n In a new exclusive with <\/span>PEOPLE<\/span><\/i>, the rapper shared her unique reason for starting her gym routine.<\/span><\/p>\n Oftentimes, people start going to the gym and working out because they want to change their physical appearance.<\/span><\/p>\n But for Megan, the focus was mainly on the mental health benefits.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMy journey started because I wanted to release emotions,\u201d she explained to <\/span>PEOPLE<\/span><\/i><\/a>. \u201cWhen I started going to the gym, it was definitely a mental thing for me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n She reiterated that she encourages her fans to have the same mindset and choose to do things like workout for themselves, rather than to try to gain external validation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think you should be doing it for anybody else,\u201d she says. \u201cIf your reason is because you\u2019re having a bad day and you need to release that energy, that\u2019s valid. I hope you\u2019re doing it for you and not for anybody else to give you approval.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n For Megan, having a sense of personal motivation is what really helped her stick to a consistent fitness routine.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOnce you really have a reason to want to be in there, that\u2019s when it changes,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s when you start seeing results, because you\u2019re passionate about it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Megan also admitted that when she first started working out, she didn\u2019t realize how important of a role nutrition plays in keeping your body healthy and strong.<\/span><\/p>\n However, she has since learned that <\/span>protein<\/span><\/a> is an important part of building muscle mass, and has incorporated that into her routine.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhen I started my health and fitness journey, I just dove in,\u201d she said. \u201cI didn\u2019t really know too much about the nutrition side of it. But once I started figuring out, \u2018Okay girl, if you really want to see some results, you need to be eating and drinking some protein,\u2019 everything clicked.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n This made the rapper\u2019s collaboration with Dunkin\u2019 to promote their new protein refresher drinks a natural fit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n