Ashley Tisdale Shape Magazine - "I think, 'I love exercise' – and it works"

Ashley Tisdale reveals making time to go to the gym, just "felt like torture," the actress, 23, tells Shape magazine in its January issue

But after suffering a back injury on the set of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and discovering her family's history of diabetes, Tisdale realized it was time to make a few changes in her life – starting with her attitude, PEOPLE reports.

"Now before I work out," she says, "I think, 'I love exercise' – and it works."

Before exercising, "I was always super-thin – too skinny, actually," she says. "I felt like someone could break me in half. I realize now that being a bit more curvy and toned is so much more beautiful."