TRUSTING & CONTROLLING

A couple of Sundays ago, our pastor went over lies that we believe about the bible, God, or being a follower of Christ. Before he had even finished the lesson, thoughts were coming to my head on what lies I have been believing. I struggle with believing that the Lord has the best plan for me and not trusting Him fully. I believe the lie that I have the better way and better plans for my future than God. Trying to control every aspect of my life shows that I’m truly not trusting God’s calling on my life. 

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve felt the Lord reveal different areas of my life where I am not trusting in him fully. 

For example, the other day I organized the front bedroom in my house. I came across the journals that I had kept from different retreats and bible studies. One of the passages focused on the different core values we have in our walk with Christ, like power, control, comfort, and approval. I started to think about this and quickly figured out that I try to control everything. I overcommit, overpromise, and overstate what I can accomplish. I want to have mastery over every area of my life. 

Not only do I try to control my own life but I try to control the way people perceive me.  I want to be the best friend, daughter and girlfriend that God has called me to do. Honestly I want everything in my life to happen when it’s convenient for me because I think my way is the BEST way. 

This all comes down to one simple thing I don’t trust that the Lord is good and that he has the best intentions for my life. I can try and tell myself over and over again that he is good, but actually believing those words is something different. Daily I struggle with not giving God full reign on every aspect of my life. 

I DO know his goodness. I know God, who came to save a sinner like me by sacrificing his own son on a cross, must love me and always have the best intentions on my life (1 Timothy 1:15). “…so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”- Romans 5:21. After reading this how can I question not giving him full reign? 

There is a small part of me that thinks his plan won’t ultimately give me everything I want out of life. But when thinking this, I am cutting my life short of things. I am leaning on my own understandings and choosing my own path rather than the straight path that God has chosen for me (Proverbs 3:5-6). I am not living a life free from anxiety and worry (John 14:27). I am not living my life for his magnificent purpose, which is WAY better than my purpose (Luke 17:33). I am not living the life the way he has for me (Matthew 20:28). 

There are many times I go through my prayer journal reminding myself of his faithfulness in my own life. In my daily prayers, I try to remember to let go of every aspect of my life and allow myself to fully submit to the Lord by trusting in him. I know that his plan is the BEST plan because his love for me is eternal. HIS way is more than perfect than I’ll ever see. I see what is right in front of me when the Lord sees everything to its fullest.  

  

GOALS

We are all at fault of telling ourselves that we cannot do certain things. I don’t have time for the gym. I know I should go, but this is way better than running. I can’t do that tonight, I’m exhausted. Sound familiar? We are all guilty of letting ourselves believe we cannot do something or not wanting to do when it comes to life but more so with health and fitness. When in reality that might not be the fact.

Many people think they don’t like running (for example) when it’s just your mind giving you the “I don’t” or “I can’t” excuses.  It’s crazy how we can train our brains into thinking differently about something and then we automatically have a new perspective on that topic. This is where goals come in. Each year we tell ourselves that we will make time for our health and fitness goals, but it never fails that life gets in the way. Time commitment seems to be one of the main reasons why we fall short of those goals. Whether that being a diet you wanted to follow or the weight you wanted to lose. 

Since we never seem to accomplish our health and fitness goals for that New Year why not change those to monthly goals. Doing this has not only helped me accomplish more goals but I have actually seen many changes.  Not only with my health and fitness, but with my energy level and much more. 

Here are some tips that will help you meet your diet, weight loss and fitness goals. 

1. Know YOUR Personal Limits and Be Reasonable
   Setting different goals such as; I am not going to eat any sweets for this entire month, or I’m going to lose 20 pounds by the end of the month. We all have that specific food that tempts us whenever we go to a party or walk through the grocery store. In time of need we will devour that temptation. When you know that there is something that tempts you try to not just eliminate it completely from your diet, be reasonable and have a sensible portions. This will allow you to not go crazy and binge into that desire. Being reasonable will help you accomplish this goal long term. When trying to lose weight we have to remember that each individual is different. While some of us can lose weight quicker by just exercising others might have the opposite effect and gain weight because of muscle mass. My advice is to know your body, try not to compare to others and to be reasonable when setting goals for YOUR LIFE!!
   
2. Write It Down and Make It Visible
   This is something I believe in 100%! When training for a competition, trying to lift heavier or just wanting to run for a certain amount of time, put a plan on paper is something that will help you. When I trained for my first half marathon, I wrote down what mileage I needed to run each day. I put this in my planner as a reminder of my goals each day (my planner is my life.) (Side note: I love pens, markers, Sharpies whatever it might be.) I marked each day I completed a run with fun markers. I don’t know about you but when I mark something off my list of goals, I feel a huge sense of accomplishment and it keeps me wanting more!
   
   
   
3. Plan Ahead With Diet
   You know you’ve been in this situation before where we put ourselves on these crazy and silly strict diets, and then hunger hits you in the middle of a trip. There is no food in sit that follows the strict diet you thought would be a good idea, so you reach for that cookie (becauseeeeee you have to eat something, right?) the splurge begins. To maintain your diet remember to plan ahead and bring healthier snacks in the car on road trips. (My go to snacks are fresh fruit/veggies, any kind of natural bars and dried cereal). Try Planning ahead for a couple of weeks. Pack your lunch for work/school, pre and post workouts and dinner. Meal prepping every Sunday start your week out on the right foot has truly been a major scale in keeping my health and weight in check.
   
4. Find Fun and Accomplishment in Exercise
   Before I joined Pure Barre, I never really enjoyed group fitness classes, boot camps or yoga. Basically group exercise wasn’t ideal for me. A friend invited me to come to a free PB class which I surprisingly FELL IN LOVE with! I’ve had many conversations with friends in PB class how it’s not only motivating but it’s something we have fun doing. When you find something that you enjoy fitness wise stick with it. Whether it’s PB, boot camp, cycling or a class at your gym. You’ll more likely WANT to go workout in those times when you are feeling sluggish or having zero motivation for exercise. Making fitness FUN, makes your goals that much more attainable and will slowly become part of your life and not a chore your tasked with.
   
5.  CHEAT DAY!
   We’ve talked earlier about depriving yourself or taking something out of your strict diet that tempts you. Guess what! You can actually have those, and YOU NEED TO! Once a week having a cheat meal… noticed I said cheat meal and not a cheat day is what will help keep you on the right path. You need to allow yourself the food you are craving. Cheat meals will allow you to eat those foods that you have been craving all week and keeps you sane.
   
6. Set and Mark Off Deadlines
   You will not get that gratification of writing down your goals without a start/end date. I do this monthly, but you can do whatever is easiest for you. When keeping your goals without an end date, how will you ever measure progress? When you know the completion date is coming up, you are so proud of how far you have come and more likely to stay on track. Helpful Hint/Tip-something that has helped me stay on track is a reward such as new workout clothes, one night going to a healthy dinner (YAY no cooking!) or buying something new I’ve been wanting. Like these!
   
   
   
   
   
7. Keep Track
   There are so many different apps, watches and accessories that track your fitness. The one thing that has helped me the most (which it free) is taking a picture of yourself. This might not sound ideal, but putting on that bikini that you want to rock this summer will give you that motivation to push yourself even harder. Take a picture of yourself every week on the same day to see your body transform into that rocking body that you’ve desired!

Hope everyone enjoyed! If you have any questions about anything health or fitness related that I can help with, Email me! I would love to help you kick start a new lifestyle!

First Post!

Well, here we go my friends! This is my first post- YAY it’s finally here!

I’ve been thinking about writing a blog for a while now. I am a devoted follower and reader of many blogs, so I kept thinking I should just start one myself. I enjoy reading blogs not only for fashion tips and different ways to connect with God, but the capability they have by bringing people together socially. Blogs truly have something valuable about them~ the way that the blogger and a follower can become friends through just commenting on a post. I’ve seen many of my bloggers get married, have babies and go through many challenges throughout their lives. No wonder I look at their blogs daily, they are my friends!

A reason why I want to start my own blog is that I think there are some interesting things I want to share and I hope that you (as a reader) can agree. Also, my boyfriend Ryan (see you’re already getting to know me) has encouraged me a lot lately that I need to start one. His support made me think about starting a blog and it finally made me give it a try!

I truly hope that you enjoy reading my blog, and I’m looking forward to sharing my life with you!