Los Angeles, Dec 31 (IANS): Singer Nicole Scherzinger says going to the gym some days is ''like pulling teeth''.

Scherzinger, 36, gushed that she's not as strict with her workouts as she used to be in her 20s.

"I'm like any woman, my weight fluctuates up and down. I have good days and bad days. For many years I worked out every single day, but now I'm in my thirties (and) it's like pulling teeth. I gotta make myself workout, you need to find that balance," she told a lifestyle magazine.

The former Pussycat Dolls explains that she's able to keep her energy up by taking good care of her body, reports eonline.com.

"(Exercise) changes everything about how I approach my day and helps me go about life with confidence, that's the main reason I do it. It gives me clarity and makes me feel stronger.

"It's not so much for the physical and vanity side of it. I do it more for the emotional and mental strength it gives me," she added.

Scherzinger also shared her definition of healthy, saying: "Healthy for me means a healthy mind, that everything else becomes aligned, the mental, physical, spiritual... everything. Being happy means having balance, being creative and finding peace."