The P word...yep THAT one!

 Who am I to try and help anyone during a struggle?  Who am I to show anyone to Christ? Who am I to tell people how to be positive and let their lights shine?  Answer, I am no one, BUT GOD!  

The truth is I've known OF God my entire life, but not until recently have I actually met Him, became friends with Him, and started a daily courtship with Him.  I knew God enough to have asked Him at a very young age to come into my heart and forgive me of my sins.  I was raised Assembly of God, which is like Pentecostals but the hair is not quite as big and we ate more like Baptists.  As I got older I learned how to name drop me some Jesus when I figured it would get me more holier invitations to events, like that one girls bible study that like everyone was talking about.  I would even tell people I would pray for them and for them to have a blessed day!  I'm sure I had some kind of cross necklace and possibly something with a bible verse on it hanging from my rearview mirror.  I can say I was never brave enough to adhere a Jesus fish or a sticker to what church I attended to my car because well I tend to have some road rage and a shameful addiction to 90's rap.  Lord bless me!

About 4 months ago God began a work in me.  Like a REAL work in me.  I finally hit rock bottom.  Lower than rock bottom.  The most devastating, soul crushing, gut wrenching, wishing my life was over,  season of my entire life.  And to be honest the season isn't over.  BUT GOD.  At the bottom of that pit is where God found me, or should I say where I finally found Him. Really found Him.  I surrendered, (with the help of an a amazing counselor/mentor/tribe sista), I gave it ALL to God.  Do you want to know what the hardest part of that was?  Not picking it back up! 

 I like to be in control.  If something needs to be done, I'll handle it!  I had to do everything MY way.  I wanted things planned out.  Weekly plans, monthly plans, 5 year plans, 20 years plans, your plans, their plans, everything would just be easier if everyone would do things the way I had them PLANNED!  I mean really its for their own good, right?  My God, in his amazing daddy way, just patted me on the head, took all of those plans in my adorable, totally organized planner and hands me a post it note that reads.... wait for it... "Be Still". Even typing that I just audibly groaned and put my face in my hands, seriously! Be still? Me? But who how would people know what to do and how to act without my constant assistance and planning???  I've never been a fan of the "P" word. You know, patience.  I've always figured that and the whole self control fruits of the spirit were just suggestions and they just didn't suit my palate. Well me and God had one of those "Come to Jesus" meetings where He pretty much told me, THIS is what you have to eat and we'll just sit here until you do!  There were fits, a few tantrums, tears, you know typical toddler behavior and finally I caved and took a big bite of patience!  Let me just say I'm still chewing! Which keeps my mouth shut!

So I know you've probably heard it before, but honestly, let go, let God.  Give it to Him, completely.  Rest in what Jeremiah 29:11(NIV) says "For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." How reassuring is it to know that our Heavenly Father has plans to give us hope and prosperity?  Right now its enough to help this girl lean on God and exhale.

Stuff's getting better...

Love, Faith 

CHANGE UP, DONT BURN OUT!

Starting out the New Year is usually a new start in all of our minds, especially for fitness minded individuals.  Its a time to reevaluate our goals, set new ones and enjoy our past accomplishments.  Most of us want to push harder than we did last year and add more workouts, more reps, more days...well as much as I encourage exercise I want to tell you now  DON'T DO IT!  Assuming you have a significant workout regimen right now including at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise 5 days a week, my suggestion is don't stop it.  My new focus this year is flexibility and form.  Take the exercise that you've been doing and perfect it.  Watch your form when performing those reps, concentrate on the muscle group that you are working at that very moment.  Up your intensity, not your frequency! Consider exchanging some high cardio time with some flexibility exercises or calisthenics.  Try to see how many sit ups you can do in one minute, strengthen your core, exchange some cardio for weight training, add variation. 

At some point in your fitness journey, you're going to get tired.  The biggest thing is don't quit.  If you feel overworked, take a few days off, maybe even a week to jump start your mind and body, but don't STOP!  Visit www.Livestrong.com and search "over training" read a few articles to determine if you may be over doing it. Just remember the longer you take off the harder it will be to start again.  Now I'm not saying spend a week on the couch, I'm saying maybe take a couple days off your high cardio and maybe just take a walk on those days or pop in one of those old Jane Fonda videos (yeah you know you've got them) and change it up.  Make sure you do some form of activity just maybe not all out sprinting.

Look at your diet as well.  Trying to lose weight we get it stuck in our heads that we need to eat less and move more.  Although if you're moving more but not eating enough, you're going to hit a wall!  You need carbs to fuel your workout and protein to repair your muscles.  Now that doesn't mean to eat a plate full of pasta before you go to your cardio class and then come home and eat a steak afterwards.  You need just enough carbs to fuel your body but not so much that it stores it as fat for later use...theres a balance.  Shoot for around 30g of carbs about 30-60 minutes before if you're planning on an hour long aerobic session. (information gathered from livestrong.com) Unless you are weight lifting you don't need a large amount of protein after an aerobic workout but a boiled egg or a small protein shake would aid in your muscle recovery.

People have said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.  Don't be insane, if what you're doing isn't working, make some changes.  Do some research, come talk to me, talk to your doctor, your friend, whatever you can do, I want you to be happy strong individuals who meet their goals, sometimes the path that we take to get there just needs a little work.

Love ya! 
Faith

I want it and I want it now!!!!

In a society that offers absolutely everything we want, exactly when we want it, with no reason to wait, we have gotten quite spoiled.  We can have ice cream at 2am, because someone, somewhere is open and ready to help you out.  We take that same thought process into our weight loss.  We assume that since we can instantly summon everything else to us, that we should be able to be bikini ready overnight, even though we have had an unhealthy relationship with food for years!  If you want a bikini ready body by June, you may want to dust of the dumbbells and treadmill NOW for starters.  You can't think of exercise as a quick fix to lose weight.  I know we hear this from everywhere but you have to make a lifestyle change!  I see ladies on a daily basis here at Curves that are 60+ years old that could run circles around some 20 year olds, simply because they made the decision years ago to be ACTIVE!  Don't just go to the gym, lose those 10 pounds and then go back to your habit of eating Cheetos and drinking cokes at 10pm every night!  You have to realize this is for your LIFE not just for your summer!  So what are you going to do NOW that will impact your life for ALWAYS?!?!

Pedometers

Ok so everyone has one tucked away in a drawer, under the bed, some may even wear them...I'm talking about pedometers.  Fitness guidelines say that we should strive for 10,000 steps a day which equals out to about 5 miles.  Granted these are "steps", going to the refrigerator, bathroom, marching in place, these all register on the pedometer so you figure that should be a fairly easy task...well ummm no.  I first put mine on 4 days ago while at work, assuming that since I own a fitness club and I'm constantly on my feet that I should rack up atleast 5000 be the end of the morning, well I was wrong.  Standing is not Stepping! The first day I managed 7500 steps ( now I did remove it before any Zumba classes, I want 10000 steps on top of my usual workout). The second day I really paid attention and I'm fairly certain I never stopped moving either at work or home.  Instead of standing still reading the paper or mail I was marching in place or doing quad lifts. By the end of that day I had managed 10,500 steps!  Now yesterday was gorgeous here and I decided to involve my kids while trying to get my daily walk in, considering that by 10 am I was still in my PJ's my pedometer was barely awake, so we went to the local state park and tried out their hiking trail.  I logged in steps and the kids enjoyed the walk!  Then we went to the playground where I walked around the swingset and did some chair dips and counter push ups while they enjoyed being outside.  After all our activity of the day I still needed 4000 steps to meet my goal, so I dusted off the old treadmill and met my goal while watching the Discovery channel...LOL  I can absolutely feel the difference this little device has made! As I'm writing this I've been up for about an hour and have only logged 171 steps..thats doing my normal routine of bathroom and coffee, gotta step it up..:)
Now pedometers are very very cheap, ranging anywhere from $5-$35.  Some can track calories, time and some can store up to 7 days worth of readings.  I sell one at Curves for $32.95 that tracks calories burned, and holds your weekly totals as well as offering an alarm, calendar and clock. Either one you choose will be great, just pick one up and start walking, itll make a HUGE difference in helping with your health and fitness resolutions this year!  Happy New Year friends, I will talk to you again soon!  Love ya!

New Year New Me

Just realized that I had a blog!  LOL!  So my well intended plans were just that, well intended but not followed through with.  Since my last post I have had some changes.  I got my Zumba certification and have been teaching since May.  In June, I purchased a local Curves franchise and have thoroughly enjoyed the process!  I get to be involved in womens lives, helping them to grow stronger, mind, body and spirit while also pusuing my fitness dreams.  Looking over my goals when I first started, I think that Im on the right track.  I'm going to have to step up my game if I plan to compete anytime soon and also I'm not sure if the 5k thing will work or not.  I seem to injure my right shin everytime I run here lately, so may have to get that checked out soon.  I absolutely LOVE to run and would hate to not be able to participate in that activity.  Hope to spend more time here with my blog and share my goals and journey with others.

C ya!

Day 4

Yes I realize its been 5 days since my last post, but since no one is reading this but me, well its my perogative!  LOL  I've really been enjoying my journey of Zumba and my new food relationship.  I actually spoke with my hubby about the documentaries I've watched recently, and he paid attention!  Yes no one more shocked than me, maybe I can get him to actually watch them and understand my passion.

I have officially been given a place to teach Zumba after I get certified on April 16th?  So beginning Tuesday, April 19th, I will be teaching an hour long Zumba class from 5:30-6:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays!  I'm very excited and also very grateful to Jeanette for thinking of me and Jimmy for allowing me to use his facility!  This is my first BIG step to achieving my fitness goals and I can't wait to get it started!

I'm also currently looking into ways to cook and eat quick meals while making them healthy.  With baseball/softball season starting its tempting to run through Sonic drive-thru and grab a burger too and from practice, but my waist line and pocket book can't handle that!  I'm hoping to possibly get meals made ahead of time so we can just heat and eat, but even then its still difficult when work ends at 5 and practices start at 6 and don't end until 7:30 or later, 4 days a week!  Hmmmm I'll keep you posted on that!

Well here's to another day of posting, I hope to do this again tomorrow and maybe with a little more enthusiasm!

LOVES!

Day 3

Ok so only 3 days into my blog and I missed a day...well sue me.  I had the evening and so far all of this wonderful Sunday to myself and I used it!  LOL  Actually I've learned alot in the last 18 hours. 

I'm a bit of a closet documentary enthusiast and since the invention of Netflix I can feed that desire with the click of a button.  Last week I watched the documentary Super Size Me, yes I realize I'm a bit slow watching it but alas I have done it, and let me tell you I was shocked.  If you have not watched it, it is well worth it, and will absolutely make you think.

Last night I watched Foodmatters.  I was shocked at how the sickness and obesity crisis is so linked to our food.  Now some of you may think, "Really, you didn't know that food made you fat?", but honestly its so much more than that.  At a recent outing I noticed that at least I would say 70% of everyone in this one building was either obese or dangerous close, now that wasn't just adults, that was children too!  I caught myself shaking my head in disbelief!  The documentary introduced me to so many things that I can't even explain to you here, you MUST watch it to understand.  There are huge corporations putting our farmers out of business.  I've never been one for conspiracy theories, but I believe that even my 5 year old could see whats happening with our seed crisis.

I watched another documentary today called Food Inc.  It was equally as intriguing and educated me on where we can start.  We all want to do better and make better decisions, we're just not informed enough to make those decisions.  And as the show addresses, its much easier and cheaper to buy meals for my family off of the dollar menu than it is to buy organic meats and veggies and actually cook them!  I get it, I understand, but I also believe that us as a community and as a country are going to have to endure a little uncomfortable times if we want to make a difference.  No one wants to have to spend time planning stuff, we want things to just happen for us.  Why make extras at supper so that we can take our own food at lunch?  Why buy organic veggies when I can buy 2 weeks worth of TV dinners for $50?  We have to start standing up for ourselves!  These are our bodies, and we're letting other people put poison into us at rock bottom prices!
Please consider watching these films and visiting www.takepart.com to see what changes we can begin making for ourselves and our children!

P.S. I'm sure by now someone has probably said "Wow you're worried about fitness and nutrition but you've been sitting on the couch watching movies for 2 days.".  Well don't worry I exercised last night for an hour and 20 minutes and have worked in the flower beds and garden today, I'm good!  LOL

LOVES!