Fitness during a pandemic

Fitness during a pandemic

I want to talk today about how I actually got out of the on again off again weight roller coaster.  I, like a lot of women, would do some crazy diet and lose a lot of weight, and as soon as I stopped this diet, all the weight plus some would come back.  I literally did this over and over again.  You name the diet, I did it.  And had success with it until I couldn’t continue the diet because none of them are sustainable.  And the minute you go off the diet, BOOM, here comes that weight you lost and it brought friends!!  I’m here to tell you that the first thing you have to do is decide that you are not going to be on a diet anymore.  You have to be done with that.  Your body needs all of the macronutrients to function.  You have to find Whole Foods like fruit, vegetables, grains, meats, legumes, nuts and seeds that you actually like.  Processed foods are not your friend.  Now, can you have processed foods?  Absolutely you can!  Because the diet police has left the building!!  But you need to eat them very sparingly.  Try to avoid them, but if you want some kraft Mac and cheese, by all means, have a serving!!  But limit to a serving size.  Portion control is another thing to watch.  Measuring your food and tracking what you eat will help educate you on where you are eating too much.  You won’t have to do it forever because you will learn what a serving of fish or chicken looks like, and you can just eyeball it.  But you have to educate yourself first.  Stop telling yourself that you “can’t” have something.  You are grown!  You can have anything you want to eat.  The minute you tell yourself you can’t have something that is exactly what you will crave.  Stop doing that to yourself.
Now that I have your mindset right, exactly how do you get there with the Whole Foods and portion control eating?  You take one step at the time.  Set daily and weekly achievable goals.  Change one habit at a time.  A good one to start with is Soda.  Make a commitment to yourself that you want to be healthy and strong and soda is not helping you achieve that goal.  So decide to not have soda for 3 weeks.  It takes that long to break a habit.  Take it one day at the time. Then move on to the next goal.  The commitment to yourself is what is important.  Your health is important and it is important for you.  Make the commitment to yourself that you are going to set and achieve attainable goals every day, week, month, year until you get to where you are making healthy choices 85% of the time.  Also, give yourself some  grace if you screw up, because that is going to happen.  You are human and you are going to fall off the wagon.  Just get up dust yourself off and start over.  You may have to start over and over and over and over....... you get it, just don’t quit!!  Don’t break that commitment you made to yourself no matter what!!
Same thing with exercise.  Don’t jump into the gym and do some crazy 3 hour workout in one visit.  Because you will be so sore you will never go back.  Start with something like a 10 minute walk every morning for 3 weeks, then gradually add in something else.  Daily, weekly, monthly, and annual goals.  Make the commitment to your health.  Do it to be healthy and to get strong!!  
One last thing for today.  STOP WEIGHING YOURSELF.  Just stop.  If you have a scale in your bathroom put it away.  That number means absolutely nothing.  I mean it, stop putting so much value on a number on a box.  And stop comparing yourself with other women.  If your goal is to look like other women then you are setting yourself up for disappointment .  You won’t ever look like anyone else.  You were created by God and He says that you are beautifully and wonderfully made.  You are beautiful just like you are.  Focus on the Healthy.  Your body is a Temple where the Holy Spirit dwells.  You want it to be strong and healthy so that you can be the hands and feet of Jesus and take care of His people.  You are unique and God has made your body and you especially for a purpose.  You are a part of His plan and you have a job to do.  You need to be healthy and strong to fulfill your purpose!!

The key is the commitment that you make to yourself that you are important and you are getting strong and healthy because you are worth the effort and time it will take to get there.  You will not always be motivated to eat well and exercise.  There will be times that you do not want to go to the gym or for that walk.  It’s at those times you need to remind yourself that you made a commitment to yourself and that you are worth following through with it.  And just do it!  You won’t ever regret it, I promise.  Sometimes you just have to make yourself do it for you!!
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