Absolute.

TTTT: I’m too busy serving others to exercise. Truth: If you’re modeling after Christ, you’re going to get your steps in.   I used to say, “I’m too busy serving other people to be consistent with an exercise routine.”   I believed that I was modeling after Christ, making sacrifices for others.   I told myself that caring for the church body was more important than caring for my own body.   But I was ignoring this truth- I AM a PART of the church body!   If I truly believe that caring for the church body is important, then it’s impossible to justify neglecting the care of my own body. Scripture is clear that it’s not okay to show favoritism in how we treat people within the church (James 2:1,9), but don’t overlook the fact that that includes YOU!   You are “people within the church.”   If you’re prioritizing caring for the church body, then prioritize caring for yourself.   Moreover, the New Testament tells us that the body is the temp...

  TTTT: 155 pounds is the lightest I will get. Truth: God “is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think.” (Ephesians 3:20) I put 155 in the Facebook post, but the truth is, this number has changed many times.   Back when I was over 200 pounds, the 150’s sounded like a pipe dream.   When I finally started losing weight,   I thought 155 was the lightest I would get.   I remember my disbelief when I saw the 140’s on the scale.   Later, I broke that threshold as well.   The lightest I ever weighed in Minnesota was 135.   … TWENTY pounds less than what I thought my dream weight was! Fast forward a few years, I put a lot of weight back on after moving to Texas (details in other posts).   I refocused and started dropping the pounds again.   I told myself “145 is the lightest I will get”- things were different, I had more muscles, I was older, etc., etc.   I hit 145 and bought new clothes to celebrate.   I had momen...

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...

 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 ...

“The ideal weight range for my height is an unrealistic standard for me.” Truth:  Your mindset is what needs to be adjusted, not the standard.   I used to say this one A LOT!  I would look at those numbers and it felt like they were on a completely different planet.  At one point, I was 100 pounds heavier than the bottom number for my height, almost double the “recommended” size.  It’s no surprise that those numbers felt impossible.  I had a long list of reasons why those numbers were unrealistic (my weight in high school, my athletic build, prescriptions I was taking, etc.).  There are a LOT of factors that affect your weight.  That is real.  ANNND that is why the recommended weight is given as a weight range , not a singular number. The range accounts for the variables and factors.  Don’t be confused, I’m not dismissing your list.  Even today, as a “healthy weight” individual, I still have a list of variables and factors ...

  If you’ve known me for less than 10 years, you might not know- I used to be fat.   Not subjectively “fat”.   Not fat, relative to how I look now.   I was medically obese.   If you looked at the ideal weight range for my height and multiplied that number times 2, that would give you the highest number that I saw on the scale. I was over 200 pounds and I quit using the scale after that.   Maybe you knew me then, maybe you didn’t.   The truth is, I didn’t know myself. I had no clue that I was fat.   I would have admitted that I had weight to lose, but I was oblivious to the reality that I was extremely unhealthy.   I was on the path to countless medical problems and chronic diseases and I didn’t know it. I had brainwashed myself. I believed lies. I used the people around me to normalize my behaviors and dismiss my convictions about my lifestyle. I started correcting my relationship with food about 10 years ago and am still growi...

 A while back, I read “Trust” by Dr. Henry Cloud.  He writes repeatedly about how humans are hardwired to trust.  We are built to trust others and form relationships.  The book covers a lot of ground but one of the over-arching ideas is that when you spend time with someone, the natural by-product of that time is that you begin to trust them. It does not matter much about the person’s actual conduct or character.   It also does not matter much how they treat you.   If you stick with them, you deepen your trust in them.   The books goes in depth about how this plays out in your daily life (it IS a worthwhile read), but I think we should also be very conscious of the inverse side of this equation… The people who are spending time with you, most likely trust you.  Even if there is no conversation with a trust litmus test or any other form of a DTR (Define The Relationship), they probably trust you and more significantly- your opinions.  Our ...

 So, the word of the year thing is very trendy and I think I have only jumped on this band wagon once or twice in the past.  I’m not very good at it. Made obvious by the fact that I don’t remember any past words of the year with confidence and that I’m not even solidifying my word of the year until February…nuance.   Anyways, I have received and committed to my word of the year- “DISCIPLINE”.   Some of you that know me well might be a little confused by this (as was I).  I am already a pretty disciplined person. Significantly more disciplined than most, and very comfortable with that.  I have not drank a drop of alcohol in 4 years and haven’t consumed any sweets for about 3 and a half years.  I eat well.  I work out multiple times a week. We have 1 TV in the house, and I barely watch it.  I rarely lose track of time swiping on social media.  Discipline permeates pretty much every area of my life. So when God hit me with this discip...

I have made a lot of lifestyle changes over the past two and a half years.   I am incredibly grateful for all of the support and encouragement I have received from my family and friends as I have developed new physical, spiritual, and dietary disciplines.   I have earned quite the reputation for discipline and follow through.   I made another big change back in January but have not had many conversations about it, because even I was not sure that I would follow through.   I stopped drinking alcohol, indefinitely.   In a lot of ways this has been a long-time coming.   I had already significantly tapered my alcohol consumption in conjunction with Whole30 .   I knew God and my body were both encouraging me give it up altogether, but the idea of doing life completely alcohol-free was intimidating to this True Blood Texan.   So much like Jonah, I continued on in a different direction believing this strong of a commitment was just unnecessary. ...

Hey There! I’ve missed you, but don’t take it personal- I have missed out on quite a bit lately. We have had an exciting transition over here and an especially busy season of church involvement to go with it.   So, life has been crazy and I have not had time for lots of things.   Aside from not writing any blog posts, I have also not seen the three new episodes of my favorite television show, I am behind on my reading schedule, AND I have gone out to eat more in the last two weeks than I typically would in two months (out of rhythm).   If you have read a few posts on here you know, food is a heart issue for me.   Meaning, I have realized that my diet is directly tied to my relationship with God.   I am constantly battling to have a healthy relationship with food- not allowing food to become an idol, exercising contentment, and not placing my hope in food by expecting it to make my bad days good. For some people, food is just food .   I realize th...

Normally when I write a blog post, I have a clear idea that I want to write about.   Whether it’s persuading participation in something, sharing how God has worked in my heart, or writing a book/movie review- I have a direction and purpose.   I am looking back on something, and I can put a pretty bow on it and write about it.   I have not posted anything on the blog in a while, because I haven’t experienced closure with the things I would typically write about.   I am still walking through a season of wrestling with God and my own limitations and there is no pretty bow for that. I recently committed to a challenge- 21 Days of Discipline.   I told myself, “it takes three weeks to form a habit, commit to this, and you’ll be on the trajectory to do this from now on.”   Among other things, I committed to working out at least 3 times a week, getting up extra early to read and pray, and finishing my entire morning routine by 8 am so that I could have the whole...

I completed my third official round of Whole30 a few weeks ago.   Soon, 18 months will have passed since I started my first round.   At this point I feel like Whole30 is the new norm- I know what I’m doing, and I’m doing it because I know it works for me.   I committed to my third round simply because I had some lingering weight loss goals and my husband said he was ready for another round.   I did NOT expect to learn anything new about my relationship with food, but once again Whole 30 brought a surprise... My third round of Whole 30 shone a big spotlight on my personal issues with contentment.   This round should have been easy.   There would be no sugar withdrawals or detoxing headaches.   My husband was completely on board and home for most of the round.   He committed to the 30 days with me.   He consistently helped with the cooking and cleaning after dinner.   He even found several new recipes for us to try, one of which was del...