Absolute.

  TTTT: “I'm an athlete. There’s a lot of muscle in here.” Truth:   Muscles don’t hide. “I’m an athlete, I’m supposed to have a stocky build. And there’s a lot of muscle in here.”   I used to tell myself this as I was buying larger and larger clothing sizes.   The truth is, I was an athlete.   Before the days of being overweight, I was a multi-sport athlete.   But during my season of obesity, I couldn’t do a 20-minute at-home workout video without pausing it… multiple times.   Being an athlete was still part of my identity , but it wasn’t part of my reality or my lifestyle. Being an athlete is tied to physical activity AND physical appearance.   But the connection to physical appearance doesn’t match what I was describing.   Yes, it’s true, muscle weighs more than fat.   But you know what else is true? Muscle tissue burns more calories than fat.   So “a lot of muscle in here” might justify what you see on the scale, but it ...

It started in elementary school.   I learned from a presentation that I was supposed to have 3 meals a day and I was convinced. I began fighting for that normal rhythm as a child.   In my mind, my mom was obligated to provide me with 3 square meals a day and I even argued that a sandwich counted as a snack, not a meal.   25 years later, not much had changed. I remember when Matt (my husband) first brought up intermittent fasting to me.   He was sharing his YouTube education, and I was NOT impressed.   I dismissed it quickly with confidence that I was supposed to have three meals a day.    That is what is “healthy.” The average American has 11 eating events in a day, stretched over the course of 15 hours. Think that over.   That’s one hour a day that you’re not eating, and about 8 snacks a day.   Maybe you don’t look like the average American.   But the statistic alone, should be alarming for all of us, because this IS impacting ...

  “That number can’t be right.   It isn’t right.   I’m sure.”   “Something is wrong with the scale.”   These are thoughts that came to my mind each time the scale reported a number to me that sounded astronomically high.   I remember once anticipating a doctor’s appointment.   I was thinking about how I knew the scale at home was wrong and I was looking forward to getting an ACCURATE weight.   I went to the doctor’s appointment and weighed even more.   I justified it by pointing to my breakfast, clothes, shoes, etc.   AND… I used the variation in the two different numbers to ascribe them both as unreliable . I was in such complete denial about my health I was willing to dismiss data, numbers, and hard facts.   Maybe that’s where you are today.   If you find yourself arguing with scale, weighing multiple times because you’re sure the first number was wrong, or throwing out the number altogether, please know, I’ve been the...

 “I’ve always had these curves and I always will.”  I used to believe this.   But when I said “always,” that wasn’t true.   I wasn’t overweight as a child.   Maybe you were, but I would still be willing to bet you- your body can change . It’s kind of a double-edged sword for women.   In general, when we lose weight, the butt and boobs are the first things to go.   You’ll notice that some of your curves are missing and you might not be thrilled about those.   And then as you continue in your health journey, you’ll find yourself frustrated because the belly fat seems to be the last thing to go. For men, it seems to be the opposite.   The dad bod/beer belly is the first thing to show the difference.   So, that makes it even more frustrating if your weight loss partner is your husband. [Sidenote: Your belly is getting smaller, but because everything else is getting smaller, it is hard to monitor it accurately.   If you know yo...

TTTT: “Sugar is not a drug.” Truth:  If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it's probably a duck.  Or in this case, a drug.  I can picture it like it was yesterday.   I remember the scene perfectly.   The first time I ever heard someone compare sugar to a drug.   I was approaching 200 pounds and in a room full of people of similar and larger sizes.   …And stilllll oblivious to the fact that this was an effort to get me (and others) to think critically about what we were eating.   He spoke of his own efforts to avoid added sugars.   He told “folklore” of how processed sugar was originally kept under lock and key.   I didn’t think he was lying, but I thought he was seriously misguided.   I compared the lock and key story to prohibition and dismissed both as mistakes.   (Alcohol not addressed in this post, TMTR for sure!) About 3 years later, I did my first round of Whole30 .   Whole30 allows ZERO sugars- natura...

 TTTT: “My physical health doesn’t affect my ability to lead others.” Truth: ‘Good leadership starts with leading yourself well and then letting that overflow into the lives of others.’  ...paraphrased from Steven Furtick I once believed there was a dichotomy separating my leadership and my physical health.  I was reading leadership books and having lots of leadership conversations.  I served as a volunteer leading the children’s ministry at my church.  I was young.  I made lots of mistakes and I did a few things well.  I knew my physical health was lacking, but I didn’t believe that it had any impact on my leadership.   I thought- ‘if it isn’t important to me, why should it be important to anyone else?’   As I have improved my health year over year, I have been shocked by how much my physical health is connected to every other component of health.     It sounds crazy until you experience it for yourself, but I can’t tell you ...