Intro Knowing you have to make big changes can be so intimidating. It is natural to feel paralyzed by all that you need to decide and do in order to take back control of your health. In this episode I’m going to lay down doable first steps for you to take as you get started in your journey. ***Routine Toolkit*** Build good habits through routines *** Personal So, we are having our state testing week at school and it is just a lot. There is a lot to coordinate and get done all while staying positive and encouraging. I love our school. We’re a little rural public school, preschool through 12th grade all in the same building. Because of that, a week like this affects everyone and we are all working together to make sure the testing students can do their very best. It is beautiful to see everyone come together like this but I’m also coming home mentally and emotionally exhausted and I’m not the only one. By the end of the week everyone will be ready for a break. So, that’s just a little of what is going on in my world. I know many of my listeners are going through their own trials and challenges right now, too. That is just part of living. It’s also another situation where you might feel paralyzed by the idea of having to throw additional strain or stress into your life with healthy changes. Concept The other day I was talking to a woman who has to make some serious changes for medical reasons, and she was just paralyzed by the enormity of it all. She had a very long list of what she need to start doing and stop doing. It was like a total life-make over. And, this comes up so much for my coaching clients. They’ll get a medical diagnosis or have surgery or even just have this wake up call moment while trying to climb a flight of stairs where they are convinced that they need to do a massive overhaul of their life habits and it is overwhelming. So, what do you do? I wanted to break this down into a few simple concepts that will establish a foundation that you can really work from. First, make a plan. I like to get out a notebook and a calendar and work through the process. List the habits you would like to establish, set goals, analyze the resources you have to work with, enlist family and accountability partners for help, and have a workable plan for getting started. REMEMBER: Plans are meant to be adapted and changed as you go. For the women I work with, we usually start with creating a protocol for eating and self-care that we commit to for three weeks then reevaluate and tweak as needed. Concentrate on habits more than the end goal. Would you make monthly payments on a home that you have to give back after you are done paying for it? Would you be willing to make payments a little longer if that meant you get to keep your dream home when you are done? That is the difference between habit building and crazy crash diets. Crash diets are often very difficult, getting the weight off fast but with no intention of continuing to live that way once you reach your goal. Because of that, you usually don’t keep that weight loss, instead, you have to give back your success as you go right back to the way you were living before. That is why habit building is powerful: you establish habits you can do indefinitely and lose your weight slower but with the ability to keep living in that smaller body when you reach your goal. Start Small. Seriously. I know the list is long but if you try to change everything all at once you will crash and burn. I’m guessing your life already has a lot pressure and stress so it is unrealistic to expect to have the daily energy, time, and mental space to make many drastic changes. Once again, concentrate on establishing your habits because if you invest time and attention to this, it will be changes you get to keep. Also, starting small is kind and will take away some of the fear and intimidation that is paralyzing you from moving forward. Lastly, trust in God’s timing because not all bodies and lives are the same. I laugh at myself often because I’m very good at setting difficult goals and then being seriously upset at myself when I don’t reach time. It is downright ridiculous. Only God knows what each day will hold and only He crafted the masterpiece of our bodies. We can set a goal of losing weight at a certain pace, but if it takes longer, please don’t bail on your progress. Surrender to God’s timing, especially when you know you are doing the right things for your body. Spiritual Application 1 Corinthians 13:4 begins with “Love is patient. Love is kind.” Just last episode we talked about being kind to the precious body God gifted you with for your time here on Earth. So, be patient with your life and be kind to your body. It will help you both move forward and stay the course as you make these important changes. Practical Application Once again, if you are looking at making some big changes and need some help moving forward, I challenge you to make a plan, concentrate on habits, start small, and trust in God’s timing. Journal Prompt Here is a fun exercise. Imagine for a second that you are the woman who has made all the health changes you are challenged to embrace. How does she feel physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually? How does she show up around friends and family? What lessons do you think she will learn? Sign Off I am praying for your strength and God’s provision for you. We are God’s church and precious members of the body of Christ. Your quest for change is important and precious. All my love to you, sweet sister. I’ll talk to you next week.
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Intro If you were to record a conversation you had with a friend about your recent diet, how would you really talk about your body? The way you view your body is a fundamental deciding factor in your success in losing weight permanently. Are you ready for this? Personal I recently fell into some incredible research on circadian rhythms and how our bodies function. I’ve changed some little things and firmly embraced others when it comes to what and when I eat, sleep, and the amount of water I drink. It is a whole new level of feeling great physically, emotionally, and mentally. I promise to share some of this in upcoming episodes, but for now, I want you to know that I do this because I see my body as a vessel, something to treasure and work with…not something to work against. Concept Back when yo-yo dieting was my bread and butter for weight loss, I totally did things to my body that felt terrible. I starved myself, feeling like the longer I went without providing myself with energy the quicker I would shed those extra pounds. I ate food based on caloric count instead of quality that would make me feel a little better and be something I enjoyed. I leveraged cheat days, stuffing my body with food that left me feeling lethargic and sick in order to squeeze some emotional pleasure and relief out of a few moments of binging. I hated my body. I saw it as soft, imperfect, frustrating, and something to cover up and ignore unless it was at just the right size to show off in my favorite dress. I saw it as something to disrespect and mold and push into what it should be according to my specifications. Permanent weight loss requires a complete shift. My experience is so similar and often identical to the women I coach. They have been thinking about and treating their bodies the exact same way and the results are sad and frustrating. The truth is, your body is like a life partner that you can never divorce and whose condition affects every moment of your experience. Your body’s pain, energy, and abilities are intrinsically connected to everything you do even when you are asleep. Crazy, right? And yet we treat it like an enemy instead of treating it like an asset. I’m sorry, but if you want your body to continue to work against you, keep treating it like trash and the results will speak for themselves. If you really treat your body like a life-partner whom you love and want to be at its best for all the plans God has for you, then you will be happy to drink the water instead of the soda. You’ll embrace those leafy greens and listen to whether or not it needs fuel, needs to move, wants to stretch, and needs some sleep. Somewhere along the way, we became so cerebral that the plan became squeezing as much out of our body’s as we could instead of caring for it and honoring it. Spiritual Application I’ve often heard Christian women talk about their flesh as being full of sin and yes, we are totally prone to giving into some fleshly desires that don’t serve us, but really, I feel that the original design of our bodies holds incredible life-giving potential and truth about what it needs. I love viewing my body as a precious and holy gift of God, a temporary home to my soul that provided me with. I love that verse in 1 Corinthians 6:19 where Paul wrote, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;” Be honest, think about whatever diet strategy you are currently diving into and ask yourself, are you doing this because you are cultivating the health of your body? Are you treasuring and respecting the vessel God gave you in the process of losing weight? Practical Application When I am working on leveling up my own health, I always ask if it is something I could do long-term or simply something I am engaging in to get some quick results or changes. If it is something I could see myself continuing indefinitely, then I know it is a kind thing for my body and a loving choice. But, if I immediately admit that I would stop the moment I reached some goal then I have to consider that I’m not really respecting my body. Now, there might be exceptions, of course. You might be preparing for a medical procedure or surgery that requires physical preparations or doing some training for a race or event a couple months away. Also, sometimes change is uncomfortable, and we need to try something for a month or so before we really know if it is a good fit for our body or lifestyle. Either way, when you start seeing your body as a life-asset instead of an enemy to contend against, you start to notice that making healthy choices with deep-peace and confidence comes easier to you. Journal Prompt Before we sign off, I really want you to consider a couple questions I asked earlier: think about whatever diet strategy you are currently diving into and ask yourself, are you doing this because you are cultivating the health of your body? Are you treasuring and respecting the vessel God gave you in the process of losing weight? Remember, your body can give you powerful direction on whether or not your diet is something you can do long-term or is something that is truly cultivating the health of your body. Sign Off Remember that if you want some free help, guidance, and motivation in your health journey, take that quiz. Until then, it was so fun having this honest conversation with you, sweet sister. All my love to you! Bye for now. Intro Most of us are awake for over sixteen hours a day and we just go and go and go. We push ourselves so hard and then are bewildered when we break down and give in, willing to do whatever we can to release pressure and give ourselves a break. That often means giving in to food that will bring us a little pleasure and take the edge off the incredible stress we feel knowing we still have several more hours to get through the day. Well, sweet sister, let’s discuss breaking this cycle with a simple investment of time that will significantly raise your quality of life and keep you successful in your weight loss. Personal I am loving the warmer weather because one of my favorite things to do when I’ve had a long day and still need to get through the rest of the day full of caring for my loved ones is to get outside and go for a walk. I love going down the country road and listening to the birds and watching the sheep graze and hearing the cows in the pasture. I literally can feel the physical stress leaving my system and after a half hour I have the strength and perspective to start sorting laundry and answering emails. Concept Daily Decompressing is essentially doing something that lowers our stress-levels and provides some rest and restoration at a point where our emotional, mental, and or physical tanks feel like they are running on empty. This does and should look different for each person depending on personality, jobs, daily schedule, etc. So, why is this important? 1. Cortisol levels. Cortisol is a normal and naturally occurring hormone your body releases during times of stress. However, when it is constantly elevated, your brain and body also have a hard time doing things that are essential for weight loss such as going to sleep and utilizing fat reserves. 2. Learning to care for yourself without food. After years and sometimes decades of reaching for chocolate instead of meaningful self-care, it will take some time to unlearn that habit. However, each time you sit down for some journaling or share a cup of herbal tea with a friend instead of digging into a bowl of ice cream, you are solidifying the healthier choice. 3. Space to make healthy choices. Our lower brain takes over when we are stressed and it wants easy energy and pleasure-leveraging the release in the moment over any more longer-term consequences. Once again, that lower brain is like a toddler that is only interested in the present moment and not any repercussions of the future. When you take a moment to release stress with some exercise or a quick power nap, that lower brain will calm down. If you try to lower stress with food, the moment you stop chewing and swallow, you find the stress is still there. Hence you might end up seriously over eating. However, when you release stress in a healthy way where the effect lasts after the activity is over then your higher, more logical-thinking brain takes over which is willing to wait until dinner to eat and drink some water instead of stopping by McDonalds for an easy dinner. 4. Evidence that you do have your own back. Often women who have been yo-yo dieters for a very long time begin to feel like failures that always bale on themselves. By taking a few moments each day to truly care for your needs in a deep way, you will slowly build trust in yourself. You will also learn to start valuing and loving yourself which will feed into even more healthy practices. 5. Embrace something you could see yourself doing for a long time. How many of you have ultra-suffered for weight loss? Willing and ready to do all the hard stuff to see that number on the scale change with the eager hope that when you reach the finish line you’ll finally be able to welcome some joy and pleasure back into your life? Well, when you make daily decompressing an essential part of your permanent weight loss journey it truly becomes something you are unwilling to let go of no matter what the scale says because it feels incredible to take care of yourself that way. Spiritual Application Before we can go on, I need to talk about the elephant in the room, what you are all thinking about right now--that you don’t have time or opportunity to daily decompress. Hey, sweet sister, that was my theme song for a LONG time. Until I went back to teaching a few years ago, I was a stay at home mom for nearly a decade taking care of two little girls, one with many developmental and medical needs, and the wife of a man who farms and ranches so that meant I was also his side-kick in any way I could be, matching my life the the hours our lifestyle required according to the season. BUT, it wasn’t all that that kept me from resting. It was a nasty little voice that said that if I took a moment then I couldn’t get it all done and I would be lazy, useless, selfish, and unworthy of what God had given to me. I also was pridefully trying to do so much in my own strength without allowing God to bless me--as His very human and loved daughter. I’m reading through the Bible in the New Living Testament this year and I came across a verse in Hebrews that struck me. In Hebrews 3:19 it reads, “So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest.” The writer of Hebrews is talking of the Isrealites that Moses lead out of Egypt. Over and over they refused to trust God, wanting blessings their own way and in their own time. I’m still learning to trust God that the home can stay a little messy while I rest on a Sunday or that it is okay to pause when I get home and take a moment to decompress even if it means that I won't get every single chore done before I go to bed that night. The more I trust Him, the more I see Him bless me, the more I am willing to take better care of myself. It is a faith-building cycle that amazes me. Practical Application Learning to establish a routine of daily decompressing is going to take some commitment and a willingness to go through the trial and error process. I find that the most important step is first to commit to a decompression activity at a certain time. Either tell a friend who can keep you accountable or write it down in your planner or journal. Even better, set an alarm on your phone reminding you to decompress. When the time comes, give the activity all your energy and focus and pay attention to how you feel afterward. Expect some resistance to spending some time caring for yourself. Your mind is going to offer you all manner of excuses and many will be based on fear that you don’t have the time or energy to spend in that way. Take courage. Trust God and accept the opportunity as a blessing from your Good Good Father. Journal Prompt To kick off your quest to take care of yourself by giving yourself daily decompression time, I want you to journal two powerful questions. First, if you had thirty minutes to do anything that didn’t involve social media, shopping, gambling, food or alcohol--what would you do? What does your soul long for? And the last question is, what is keeping you from taking care of your soul? Sign Off Just as a reminder, in our membership this month we are building the habit of this exact goal. The ladies in my membership have access to a PDFs support and weekly videos guiding them and encouraging them through this process. They also can connect with other women in the online community for fellowship in their health journey. I would love to have you join us. All my love to you, sweet sister. I’ll talk to you next week. Good bye for now. |
by Lora ArmendarizYou Can Do It!Do you want to fall out of love with a destructive habit? The first 42 episodes of this podcast are a resource for anyone who wants encouragement and information as they take a six week break from a habit in order to fall out of love with it. Archives
April 2024
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