Last spring, my husband and I complimented a 60ish furniture salesman we know on his youthful physique. He told us to read the book, Body for Life. My husband and I have worked out for many years, but frankly I haven’t been inspired for the last few. I found myself doing less and less at the gym. This June I remembered our salesman’s recommendation and ordered Body for Life from www.paperbackswap.com. I read the book and was immediately inspired to do the 12-week challenge. Read more about it here.
God took away my compulsive overeating problem in 1996 and I maintained a 30-pound weight loss until 2004 when doing the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) for ulcerative colitis caused me to lose an additional 12 pounds. Unfortunately, most of this weight loss was lean muscle–especially since I wasn’t doing as much strength training as I had in the past. During the last couple of years, I have regained the 12-pound loss and then some from eating more and working out less.
BFL appealed to me because it argued that strength training had to be planned and intense to be effective, cardio could be just as effective if it was short and intense, and muscle gains and fat loss occurred when eating six small meals a day comprised of one protein and one carbohydrate portion. I typically wandered around the gym goal-less, doing whatever I felt like doing. I often ate poorly because I didn’t want to take the time to make something nutritious. Doing BFL gave me a daily plan for exercise and for eating, too. Just knowing that I had to come up with a protein and a carb for each meal gave me the structure I needed to start eating better. Combining BFL with SCD was a little challenging at first as I cannot eat processed low-fat, non-fat foods. I did eat cheese made with 1.5% milk and no additives and occasionally splurged and ate small amounts of things like olive oil and full-fat homemade sour cream. I took full advantage of my free days, eating anything I wanted, except for the last two weeks. I did use EAS’s 100% whey protein even though it isn’t legal on SCD. I didn’t have any problems tolerating it and I made delicious smoothies with it as well as frozen coffee drinks using homemade almond milk. Finally, I took glutamine, creatine, and CLA daily.
After 12 weeks of BFL’s 6-day-a-week eating and exercise plan, not only did I lose 5 pounds, 8% body fat, and 1-2 dress sizes, but I have increased my strength more than 150%! I have also been getting up at 6 a.m. for 12 weeks. That’s been a goal of mine for years–to consistently get up early each day. Not only that, but my body now only requires 7 hours of sleep. I always needed 8 before and I still felt tired. I have so much more energy! The discipline of BFL has taught me how to meet other challenges in my life, too. One of the keys of BFL was to prepare for the next day’s workout the night before. I have preached this for years, but didn’t give it 100% of my effort until BFL. I just knew that if I didn’t plan my workout, meals, and my workout clothing for the next morning, I wouldn’t accomplish anything. I was actually afraid not to do these things! I knew that all it would take was one day of not planning, one day of resetting the alarm to catch some extra sleep, or one day of eating whatever I wanted when it wasn’t a free day for my challenge to fall apart. I didn’t give myself the option of not doing it.
The picture on the left above was taken a year ago this weekend. I don’t have a before shot from 12 weeks ago that I am willing to share with the world (LOL), but trust me, that I looked just like this 12 weeks ago! The most incredible part of this transformation is that God enabled me to do it. BFL emphasizes reviewing your goals daily which I absolutely believe in. But I knew that I wasn’t capable of achieving them in my own strength. I prayed daily that the Lord would give me the ability to get through each workout. He did!
What’s next? I plan to continue the BFL workouts and eating plan. I will probably be a little less fanatical on eating throughout the week, but otherwise I will continue on. My prayer is also to inspire others. Looking great is a wonderful confidence booster, but that isn’t what got me out of bed at 6 every morning. I wanted to be as healthy, as strong, as faithful to a goal as I possibly could be. I look forward to taking on new life challenges now, including developing a spiritual workout for people who would like to make any kind of change. If that’s you, let me know and I would love to have you be a program tester. Most of all, I want God to get the glory for the changes He made in me. If He can change me, He can change you! You can be in the best shape of your life, not in your own strength, but in His.
P.S. Why on earth am I wearing high heels with a workout outfit? I took some pictures in other outfits and forgot to change shoes.
To listen to my interview with Phyllis Wallace of Woman to Woman on how to change your life now, click this link. Enjoy browsing the new “Woman to Woman” site. It’s lovely!
My 3yo daughter sang a song about God and His Son that I’d never heard before. I said, "Where did you hear that song?" She said, "God put it in my heart." Awwwww. It was so dear! The next day I asked her to sing it again. I was thinking I might videotape her. She said, "I don’t know that song anymore." LOL
I love how children often encourage us in OUR faith even as we encourage theirs. A good friend emailed me this example and I wanted to share it with you:
A few days ago, we caught a glimpse of a big beautiful woodpecker in our front yard. He created quite a stir in our house, but despite my best efforts, I couldn’t capture him with my camera. I was really disappointed! I studied ornithology in college and thought I remembered it being a Pileated Woodpecker. A quick online search confirmed it.
This morning, a pair of the woodpeckers returned to our yard and were patient enough for me to attach my zoom lens. I was delighted to get this shot.
I was thinking that God comes to us the way this woodpecker did. I certainly wasn’t looking for him. But there he was, creating in me a longing for more. In the book of Isaiah, God tells us: “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.'”
May the Lord reveal Himself to you this Christmas in beautiful, unexpected ways.
The kids received a puzzle around Halloween and the answer was Frankenstein. The puzzle pointed out that Frankenstein is not the monster, but its creator. I was so intrigued by the fact that an 18-year-old Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein when challenged to write a frightening tale at a dinner party. It is considered to be the very first book in the science fiction genre.
I checked the book out from the library, determined to read the classic a la A Thomas Jefferson Education. The particular version I got was from The Whole Story collection. I am crazy about this series because every page is beautifully illustrated (yes I’m 40 and I still like picture books!) and because all kinds of historical background information is provided in the margins. I bought a copy from Ebay, but there are several classics available in this series from Amazon.
At this point, you may be wondering if I have my holidays confused! Nope! I just finished reading this book and I loved it. I don’t even remember the movie, it’s been so long since I saw it. The story captivated me! The monster follows the once-prideful Frankenstein everywhere intent not on killing him, but on killing his joy and hope. Mary Shelley was an atheist, but she wrote a fictional work that could be my story and yours. We, too, are pursued by a monster who isn’t content with our death; he wants our faith, hope, and joy. Like Frankenstein, we create our own monsters and are then powerless to eliminate them. But praise be to God who delivers us from the enemy of our souls! This Christmas, we can celebrate having no reason to fear, but every reason to rejoice.
What goes up will almost certainly come down. After I spent time with some lovely Christian ladies at a retreat in Michigan, I was flying high! When I returned home to laundry and mess and everyday life with no husband (he traveled last week), I went into a tail spin.
This picture of the Blue Angels reminds me of my concern for the air show pilots over Labor Day weekend. Our air show went off without a hitch, but another one in Seattle had a fatal crash. Flying is dangerous–even for expert pilots. And soaring Wonder Women will inevitably experience a nose dive.
So many of us experience change for a time. We’re flying and enjoying the ride. Then we hit some turbulence and suddenly we are ready to crash. What we do in these situations can mean the difference between short-lived change and true victory. Here’s the kind of turbulence we can expect and how to handle it:
1-Not spending time in the Word and prayer? Pray NOW.
When we’re happy or distracted with busyness, Bible reading and prayer are often the first habits to go. If this is you, stop reading and pray for God’s intervention right now! Ask the Super Power to get you out of bed 5 minutes early tomorrow so you can pray. Commit to praying constantly for the rest of the day. Find one Scripture to meditate on, too. Use a search engine like www.biblegateway.com or a concordance. When I did this, the Lord gave me Luke 10:40-42. I was concerning myself with the wrong things!
2-Resentment rather than thankfulness? Give thanks NOW.
Pray with thanksgiving right now for everything you’re thankful for. Then make a list of them to reflect on later. I was annoyed that I had so much work to do when I came home. I pondered my thankfulness for a home, a family, and belongings to care for and I felt better.
3-Not recalling the goal? Remember why you’re flying.
When we lose the vision, we don’t know which way is up and we can lose altitude quickly. Why are you trying to change? Have a picture, a list, or a goal statement written and posted where you can see it frequently. I reflected on the joy and freedom my schedule gives me to lift my spirits.
4-Emotional needs not being met? Meet them in positive ways.
Even though I was a psychologist who should have known better, I was shocked when I discovered that I ate from unacknowledged emotion. In other words, I KNEW people ate to deal with sadness and anxiety. I just didn’t realize I was sad and anxious! Ask yourself what you’re feeling and what you need that is driving the unwanted behavior. Then brainstorm constructive substitutes for meeting the need. When I did this, I realized I was really lonely. Instead of mindlessly surfing the Net to meet that need, I emailed a friend how I was feeling and she gave me a call.
5-Physical needs not being met? Meet them in positive ways.
When I don’t keep a regular bed time, eat good meals, and get enough exercise, I can count on feeling too exhausted to fly. If this is you, get to bed earlier tonight, make yourself a real meal, and go for a walk listening to the praise music of your choice or do any other form of exercise you love.
6-Failed to anticipate the turbulence? Be ready next time!
Think through tonight or tomorrow right now. What obstacles to change do you anticipate? What can you do right now to keep yourself in the air? While I was gone last weekend, I forgot that my house would be a mess and my laundry would be behind. I forgot that I would need a new goal to stay inspired. Even considering this preventive action has me feeling lighter!
I’m praying that what I learned during my nose dive will have you soaring.
I’m a Christian psychologist turned homeschooling mother of six. My life can be a little crazy, so I look for sanity-saving ideas to use and share. I hope you’ll read my About page to learn more.
