Author: Amanda Wright

SURREND’hered to the STIGMA: Does Faith Based Equal A-Hole? [Part 1]

Post author By Amanda Wright
Post date September 17, 2015

An Epiphany….

We all see them and they make us cringe. They are the people that are so caught up in their own beliefs, whether whole-heartedly with an established religion or whole-heartedly against established religion, that they start pushing their beliefs on everyone they know and questioning anyone in their way.

With the advent of social media, we’ve seen this interaction on the rise. People have more courage to be a-holes when they are typing their responses instead of saying them. Plus, things get lost in the text and translation and it’s a slippery slope to a non-stop loop of slander and defense.

All of this has made a strong case for society now telling us “keep your Faith and your political beliefs to yourself!”

So, deciding to take courage to ignore said opinions and put my Faith into my business that is built for the online space is something that is pretty scary to do! I’ve opened up a few times regarding these fears that I’ve been able to overcome.

And yet, at the same time, writing about my Faith is also kind of a “safe” way to be open about it. I have the protection of my screen blocking me from any riffraff. I can choose to read comments and respond or hit delete and move on!

Alas, this past weekend when I had the opportunity to do some face-to-face interaction and opening up about my business and the Fit and Faith movement, I was nervous. I was among 80+ other health and fitness female entrepreneurs attending the Best of You Coaching Club fitness retreat all the way in Asheville, NC. I have been in this group all year, but as it is a virtual coaching club with the majority of our interaction via Facebook, I had met only very few of the women in attendance before that day.

As is customary, at the first session, everyone was asked to stand up, give their introduction about their business and tell what they’d like to learn over the weekend. I was nervous of course, because, well, #publicspeaking.

But I was also really nervous because I knew I was going to be “breaking society’s rules” and attempting to do it face-to-face. In fact, my mentor herself has written that she is not a Faith-based person at all, which I totally get! Not everyone is where I am. Talking about Faith among other believers can be awkward enough, but putting it all “out there” to people who don’t share your faith is HARD.

But I knew I needed to stand in my Truth. My Truth is that A. Wright Fit is not just a regular “I want to help women get healthy” kind of business. I know, that ultimately, I am in the life-changing business because I want to use Fitness as a way to help women grow into their Faith and a real relationship with God. Then I want to use their Faith to excel and balance their Fitness!

With married health power-houses, Jade Teta (Metabolic Effect) and Jill Coleman (Jillfit.com and my business mentor) — Me (center) with the married health power-houses, Jade Teta (Metabolic Effect) and Jill Coleman (Jillfit.com and my business mentor).

I stood up smiling and said my piece, “Hi, I’m Amanda Wright, I own A. Wright Fit that is a Fit and Faith based company that I hope to expand and lead a Fit and Faithful movement.” I sat down and my heart was beating audibly in my ears. “Whew, I did it!” I thought. As I listened to all the other women, I realized, we all had different ventures (which is awesome!) but I was the only one that had decided to be combine Faith and Fitness.

What happened was pretty remarkable. Later throughout the day, I had several women come up to me and talk about being Faith-based in this industry and give me such great praise for being the only one there that said anything about their Faith and business together.

One woman told me she was in awe that I was willing to just be bold and say it because she had a hard time admitting to her faith in her business out of fear of isolating some clients.

Another friend said the same thing, while she had one Faith-based component of her business, her main business aspect she wanted to pursue was outside of the Faith realm because she knew that so many people would be “turned off” by it and wouldn’t buy from her.

Another woman said that she was not religious at all (she had had a bad experience growing up) but she really respected the way I went about my Faith and wrote about it too. Such amazing encouragement!

Everyone had very valid points in their concerns! While I do not believe that it is necessary for everyone to make their “business” about their Faith like I feel I am called to do, all this does point the very real fear of breaking “Society’s Rules” that I mentioned before. This can go for ANY belief and stance in life, but specifically, I believe….

…as Christians, we fear the STIGMA that everyone thinks Christians are Self-Righteous A-Holes.

I have admitted on this blog a few times that one of my biggest fears in starting A. Wright Fit was not about standing up to the non-Christians, but about standing up to the CHRISTIANS.

To date, the only person that has ever “ruffled my feathers” over an article I wrote was in fact a Christian guy whom I agreed with on all of his points! But he still felt obligated to post some crazy offensive stories with some very defensive remarks that were pretty unwarranted.

So all this to say, there is some legitimacy to everyone’s claims. There are some of the overly religious, overtly rules-based, sin-pointing, shame-inducing, types that are frankly, 100% WRONG, in how they approach and speak to anyone that does not yet have a relationship with Jesus.

But you know what? Even though there are these extreme types, I want to make a stand and say it. NO! Not ALL Christians are Self-Righteous A-Holes!

In fact, NOT MANY are. I don’t have hardly any Faith-based friends and family that are self-righteous because frankly, why would I be hanging around a person like that?!

I realized that if I am hoping to start a Fit and Faithful MOVEMENT, which will highlight and celebrate everyone that is embracing their Faith in their Fitness, then we need to start the conversation about simply being BRAVE enough to admit to your Faith first!

The reason why so many of my fellow believers don’t admit it is because of the STIGMA that society has given “religious” people. But the STIGMA is NOT TRUE in MOST CASES. Fearing the stigma and shying away from the stigma does not make the stigma going away.

**We must SURREND’her to the STIGMA and stand up for the truth!**

Faith-Based DOES NOT Equal A-Hole.

Faith-Based means humble. Faith-based means kind. Faith-based means loving. Faith-based means passionate, strong, God-powered and centered. Faith-based means you know how screwed up you are, but you just serve a God that’s greater.

To be Faith-based simply means that we are attempting to grow and cultivate our character to be like that of Christ, albeit it quite imperfectly. In case you don’t know, Christ, in the 33-years He was on this Earth wasn’t an A-hole. I know that sentence is not exactly in the scriptures anywhere, but I can read between the lines and that’s what it comes down to. (;-))

If we can get over our FEAR of what everyone is going to think about us, than we can move on to freely do what we are set out and called to do, help those we love find God in their heart. To, as is my Mission Statement and Life Verse says, “Let our light shine before others, so they might see my good deeds and glorify my Father in heaven!” (Matt 5:16).

Matt 5-16

So, to prove my point, I’m going to a second-part of this series on the 5 Distinguishing Things I Did Last Weekend to Avoid Being a Faith-Based A Hole..

Be sure you check it out!

Tags a-hole, business, entrepreneurs, Faith, faith and fitness, fitfaith, Fitness, God, Jesus, jillfit, mentorship, stigma, Women

Fitness & Training Spiritual Health

Isn’t It Just Like God…. A Testimony of Fitness and Faith

Post author By Amanda Wright
Post date September 16, 2015

It would be 2013, lucky #13, that would be my most transformed year-to-date. I was single after being in an on-again, off-again relationship going on about 4 years. I was living in Denver, CO and had just found myself lucky enough to be raptured in a new passion that was soon going to be a career change. I had always loved going to the gym but then I was given the opportunity to start teaching group fitness classes, training clients and soon became a certified Nutrition Coach.

I had just found my “word”, you know, those words that seem to smack you in the face with how perfect they are for you right in the moment? My word was SURRENDER as I had realized that even though I grew up going to church, I hadn’t yet fully SURRENDERED and committed myself to a real relationship with God. Those several heart breaks helped me fill my heart with God’s healing Grace, and now that my life was falling into place just right, SURRENDER was the word I clung to to keep me walking with God and letting Him lead the way.

However, somewhere at the juncture of deciding to take my passion for the Fitness industry to a career-level, I got scared. I started to second-guess myself and my self-worth based on my long held body image issues. As a way to “look the part” I decided I would train for a Bikini Competition. I vividly remember standing in the gym with a tug on my heart and Jesus whispering, “You don’t have to do this, Mandi.” The problem was that I had already made my “grand announcement” and was receiving so much praise and encouragement, I feared I couldn’t back out of it. So I ignored God and thrust myself into 5-months of grueling training for an event my body was not designed to do. All so I could convince myself I was “good enough” for people to hire me as a professional.

It didn’t work. Show Before and After

The day of the show, I was back stage, at 10% body fat, 20 lbs lighter and still felt absurdly “larger” than the other girls. I was shaking my head in disbelief. How could I still feel this way after so much work? Not recognizing the woman I became, I prayed to God, pleading for Him to just be with me. I was deep in shame and regret but He, of course, was there all along, and His peace renewed my strength. I knew I would recommit my heart to Christ and try to put back the pieces of my heart with Him at the center.

But, here is where I would get the greatest shock and gift of grace of my entire life.

The day of the show, my then “off-again” boyfriend, Howard, whom I had not seen for 18-months, decided to fly in from California and surprise me at my show! He was a bit aghast at my ribs and skinniness (he politely asked that I gain back 20lbs immediately) and I thought of it as a sweet gesture of support that I tried not to think much about given the fact that I was attempting to be “OVER HIM” from the past years of pain. In my heart, he had always been “that guy” that I could not quite get over.

A week later, I got a call from Howard with some news! He had apparently spoken to my Mom and Dad, asking their permission and forgiveness first, and wanted to let me know that he had finally figured out (with the help of a couple years of therapy), that I was in fact “The One” all along. That he had finally overcome his fears of inadequacy and commitment and he was ready to get married, have a family, travel the world and anything I wanted, if I’d have him.

This news was of course a tremendous shock! The words I had always hoped to hear were finally being said! I felt elated.

“But…..,” he said. Never a good sign.

“I have to tell you, I have a 8-month old baby girl, named Eden.”

My elation was met with devastation and I could hear no more. I hung up and cried out to God, “God have I not endured enough? How can I bear this pain too? Please God….please.” I cried all night.

But by morning, something in me all of a sudden shifted. Something in my heart was triggered. A hair thin strip of peace that “transcended all understanding” formed deep within me and began to grow. For some reason, I knew everything was going to be alright. I didn’t know how, but I went back to my word—SURRENDER.

Over the next month and several more conversations with Howard, I would come to understand that this baby girl, sweet Eden, while not planned by her parents, was still planned by God. She would be an agent of change in Howard and would be used by God to transform his life. She would renew Howard’s faith too, as he fought his own regrets.

I realized, it’s just like God to do such an act of Grace. To take a time where I would blatantly ignore his voice and pull away from Him, AND Howard would certainly make a bad choice trying to do things “his way” too and yet, God decided to bless us anyway.

It’s just like God to take these unplanned and imperfect circumstances and make them PERFECT agents of change to propel us to the life He called us for, both individually and in marriage.

“And we know that in all things, God works for the GOOD of those who love Him. Who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:38

In October 2014, I became Mrs. Howard Wright and from that decision of forgiveness onward, my life has been a whirlwind of change! I gained back ALL the weight, moved to a new city and then another new city just 1 year later, adjusted to life as a “corporate wife” and of course, step-motherhood of a toddler! And I wouldn’t CHANGE ONE THING!

God uses every single bit of it and has molded every fear, feat and failure along the way into my Greater Purpose and this venture of A. Wright Fit. I am passionately using my small platform to help others find their True Health from the inside-out! Aligning our Fitness through our Faith and allowing God to take the reigns of our LIFE and our health! To SURREND’her our way to becoming STRONG’her and WISE’her.

Because it’s just like God to make us STRONG’her than we know…..

Tags bikini, Bikini Competition, competition, Faith, Faithful, fat loss, Fitness, Love, marriage, step mother, woman, Women

Spiritual Health

What Rules Do You Need to Break Today?

Post author By Amanda Wright
Post date September 9, 2015

I have returned from a 17-day journey and I am experiencing a phenomena that is a first for me. It is breaking a RULE I have been subconsciously following my entire life and I think you probably have been following your life too.

You see, I feel physically pretty YUCK today. I’m tired, I’m bloated, I’m fatigued and yet……I am STRONG and HEALTHY. My body? Oh no, body is no good today. But my MIND and my SPIRIT? I’m #winning.

Let me explain….

So, as I am very lucky to get to travel as much as I do, it can be a challenge to stay healthy. Luckily, even away from home, I typically do pretty well health-wise on staying pretty consistent. I have dialed in my health #rituals that I love so much that I have learned to do them wherever I am and whatever time-zone I may be. So, the first 10-days I spent in Colorado was no problem for me. Feeling A-ok body, mind and soul!

But then, things started to fall off course….

It started when I was on an 11-hour plane ride to Tokyo sitting next to a very friendly man, but a man who was a self-described “hard core atheist, tea party republican, and Jack Daniels drinking” man who was on his way to meet his SECOND girl friend that lived in Laos while he left his FIRST girlfriend back in Las Vegas. Typical right?! “Don’t worry,” he told me, “They know all about each other.” RIIIIIIGGGHHHT.

While I did casually introduce the fact that I’m a Faith-based health writer, he just laughed and he told me not to try to “convert him to Christianity as his parents had been trying that for decades now” and instead proceeded to drink….and drink….and drink. I had already learned the lesson that talking politics OR religion DO NOT mix well with alcohol (Take Note!), so that was enough of a sign to let me know that my time would be better used working on my laptop for my clients.

Somewhere along his 7th Jack Daniels of the flight and constant interruptions, I decided my productivity wasn’t going to happen and decided since he was drinking enough for the both of us, my vice of choice should be CHOCOLATE. So I attempted to “cocoa coma” myself to sleep with fair success and he left me well enough alone.

Well, having just finished an elimination diet to test for gut and food intolerances, after going 3-weeks sugar free, this necessary chocolate move hit its stride!

I found myself in the hotel “all dessert” buffet one afternoon (totally worth it by the way) and then as we were visiting my 3-year old step daughter Eden {where she lives with her mom and (Navy doctor) step-dad in Yokosuka, Japan,} those darn gummy bears and cookies found their way into my mouth on several occasions as well! Again, these things are to be expected and I consciously chose them while having fun with the family.

Naturally, upon my return, my body feels YUCK. My stomach hurts. I have a headache. I’ve put on several pounds (although I will not be weighing myself to see exactly how many!). My clothes don’t fit very well. This is the reality of what these foods do to me. Sigh.

Nevertheless, here is where I have made a break through.

You see, I have been anticipating a battle in my mind after I overdo it on vacation—I call it the BATTLE OF THE BODY SHAME.

I realized not long ago, that where I thought I had been “guilting” myself all these years, I was actually SHAMING myself over my body.

Reading the books, “I Thought It Was Just Me But It Wasn’t” and “Daring Greatly” by shame researcher and renowned author, Brene Brown, I had this aha moment.

Guilt is what you feel when you realize you have done something wrong. “It was a bad idea to eat that much chocolate so many days in a row.”

SHAME is what you feel when you internalize your feelings to now define who you are. “I AM bad because I make such stupid decisions with my eating.”

She explains, shame is something all humans experience. We each have shame and may even use shame to employ control over others.

Because my body image issues have run very deep in my personal history, naturally, these are the areas that I feel the most shame about my “imperfect” and indulgent behavior. I would tell myself that I was “gross” or “disgusting” when I would put on some weight. I would look in the mirror, pinch my fat and scoff at my reflection. I would berate myself for not being “strong enough” to overcome the sugar cravings and I would punish myself with a “DETOX” or 2-a-day workouts and only vegetables and protein. This is actually very dangerous, and if continued over a long period of time, can result in eating disorders like anorexia nervosa. This can become addicting and unfortunately, people with this illness can become seriously ill and impact their health forever. If you, or someone you know is suffering with an eating disorder, you can access inpatient treatment. this is 24 hour, live-in, professional care.

I have realized that I have been operating on the RULES of the world. A rule that is completely logical, mathematical even, and is something that we ALL follow in some way.

THE RULES:

BEHAVIOR (+) = EMOTIONAL RESPONSE (+)

BEHAVIOR (-) = EMOTIONAL RESPONSE (-)

If I engage in healthy, positive choices and behavior, I enjoy the positive, loving, and joy-filled emotional reaction, and vice versa.

Meaning, if I eat healthy, practice self-control, engage in exercise as best as I can, I am rewarded with feelings of pride, joy, peace and a healthy mindset.

However, on the flip side, if I go over the top with my eating, over-indulge in foods I know better than over consuming, don’t exercise as much as I should have, and consequently feel the physical repercussions of those actions, I naturally feel the emotions of disappointment, regret, guilt and YES, historically a lot of BODY SHAME.

These RULES we come to depend on and rely on so much that we continue to implement new behavior patterns and habits so we might avoid the negative emotional consequences we suffer from again and again.

Even just a couple months ago, I wrote about a trip I came back from in London where I seemed to have OD’d on High Tea Cookies, Cakes and Crumpets. On this occasion, I anticipated and was met with the expected break-down of BODY SHAME. I spent a solid morning pretty upset, crying, and angry with myself but luckily sought refuge with God, who of course gave me the resiliency I needed. In His strength, I recovered quickly and moved onward. I shared the 4-steps that got me out of it.

I was anticipating a similar morning today. I feel just as crappy as I did after that last international trip, so I thought I would naturally have the same emotional response.

But what I am experiencing is unprecedented.

I am NOT having the negative emotional response I’m supposed to be having right now. I am feeling good and even, dare I say, joyful, even in the midst of feeling physically ill.

How is this possible? There is only one explanation that accounts for this newfound reaction:

I’m WINNING THE BATTLE of BREAKING THE RULES.

You see, what I have realized that the ROOT CAUSE of any one ever feeling shame is that this is the number one strategy the devil uses to try to win. If he wins our minds, he wins our lives. This is what SHAME does.

SHAME keeps us playing small. SHAME keeps us looking backwards in our life and dwelling on what we “should have done.” SHAME is a major distraction to the path that God has laid out before us. SHAME denies us of our Truth that God loves us and we are WORTHY of His love and eternal blessings no matter what stupid things we fall for.

This is the kind of stuff the devil THRIVES on. He wants us to believe that we HAVE TO DO SOMETHING to earn the forgiveness from God and the emotional response we desire. He wants us to keep “trying harder and harder” and putting more and more responsibility on ourselves.

I subconsciously fell for it my entire life. You might be falling for it too, but the TRUTH shall set you free. And, the TRUTH is….

GOD ABOLISHED ALL THE RULES.

In God’s presence, there is no law that says BEHAVIOR (-) = EMOTIONAL RESPONSE (-).

No, God’s law says that no matter what we do in our BEHAVIOR (+/-), He can give us the EMOTIONAL RESPONSE (+) when we seek Him with our heart.

God has broken EVERY RULE when He sent His son Jesus to die for our sins. Even HIS OWN LAWS that He gave to Moses that He commanded His people to follow for thousands of years were ALL BROKEN when Jesus was resurrected.

We are never going to be able to be “enough” on our own. But because we have the sacrifice of the only perfect Man to ever walk this planet in Christ Jesus, we no longer have to suffer from all of the “RULES” of life.

This means the RULE of self-criticism, punishment and even SHAME that we often feel after making poor decisions is abolished too. When we have GOD in our heart, we don’t have to follow those rules anymore.

It is NOT ABOUT RULES, but about a RELATIONSHIP.

My relationship with God TRUMPS my historic relationship with myself—my self talk. When I take the victory that God has handed me when Jesus rose from the grave, I take that victory in EVERY SINGLE WAY that the devil tries to beat me in the battle over my mind.

Today, I guess I realized just how strong and resilient I really am. Because I know that when I’m weak, my God in me is STRONG. And when I’m strong, He is even STRONGER.

The devil has NO PLAY when I stop playing by his rules. This Battle is not mine, but is the Lords.

“And the Joy of the Lord is my strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10)

Tags breaking, chocolate, Faith, flight, God, Rules, strongher, Surrend'her, tokyo, travel, trips, Vacation, Wise'her

Goal Development Spiritual Health

4 Ways to Endure the P.A.I.N of Growth

Post author By Amanda Wright
Post date September 3, 2015

There is no other area in our life where we choose PAIN as much as we do in the form of intense exercise. Think about it, for those of us that have the real love for exercise, we seem to have some sort of masochistic connection to it. “It hurts so good” we say! “No pain, no gain” we shout!

We actually PAY MONEY for classes and trainers that practically torture us and we love it. (Ok, maybe not ALL of us love it, but I do sincerely believe that every body out there can find one (or two!) forms of exercise that fits just (w)right with your body that you too will love to hate.)

It’s true, to build muscle we must first break muscle. It is a physiological fact. A design from God Himself.

What we get from this truth is a strong life lesson that we must apply to all areas of our True Health.

In order to “grow” in our MINDSET and in our SPIRITUAL life we must endure some pain and accept change. We must dig deep and get uncomfortable and persevere through some pretty tough times in order to get the ultimate reward of greater health and a greater life.

How can we do this intentionally? It IS slightly different than the PAIN you get from exercise, because often the emotional pain we may seek won’t have that wonderful “endorphin” high that exercise has nor will be it be over in the 45-min time frame that every good solid workout should fit.

Here are 4 ways I think we can intentionally endure some PAIN to get the life GAIN in life of living God’s Greater Purpose for our life:

P: Plan—Set. some. goals. To step out of your comfort zone and grow by taking some risks in life, make some goals that feel BIG and write them down! Then, set out a general plan on how you’re going to get there and #justdoit. You’ll be surprised in how effectively motivating writing down your goals are, especially with a deadline!

A goal for your MINDSET might be something like reading a certain # of books in a month or year about _______ thing you are struggling with or just want to learn more. It might also be to take the risk a seek that guidance counselor or therapist to deal with that thing from your past your been subconsciously avoiding and “numbing” yourself from your whole life.

A SPIRITUAL goal might be to find a church home where you connect with the way the Pastor teaches or the community of the congregation (this usually takes a few “interviews” to find!). It might also be to seek the answers to the HARD QUESTIONS you have about your Faith or beliefs by committing to reading God’s word or asking someone that knows more.

“I know I am not yet what God wants me to be. I haven’t reached that goal, but I keep moving forward to make it mine because Christ made me and saved me for this.” (Philippians 3:12-15 Living Bible)

A: Adapt— As you write out some goals that allow you to take some risks and branch out of your comfort zone, you will find you might hit some bumps, delays and road blocks in your dream or answers you seek. You might FAIL a couple (read: hundreds) of times too. Here is your grand opportunity to really grow by adapting to these changes in your plans. We have to constantly adapt our plan to God’s plan in order to find the path He has set out before us. We cannot discount ANY experience we have because there are no accidents in God’s will for our life. If you take every opportunity to assess and adapt to the trial you are facing, you will learn and grow in Faith!

“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.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

I: Invest: To truly experience the life-changing and life-saving things that will transform your MIND and grow your SOUL, you will need to invest in your CHARACTER above all else. When God guides you through life, He intentionally takes you through some challenging circumstances that make you wait, endure, and persevere. All of these things are designed to build your CHARACTER.

As Rick Warren always says, “God is not interested in your comfort, He’s interested in your character!” God is trying to give you the opportunity to grow and be more like His son Jesus. Our character is ultimately what we take with us to heaven, not our bodies or our circumstances! When you are being tested, you are given the choice to choose your human, fearful response, or to invest in character and choose the loving and Kingdom response. Invest in your character by seeking God’s will more and more.

“For our present troubles are small and won’t last long. Yet they produce in us a glory that vastly outweighs them all and will last forever!” (2 Corinthians 4:17)

N: Nurture: Just as with our bodies, we are not designed to be in PAIN all the time! Oh no, we are designed to need some rest, some recovery and some nurturing. This is God’s role when we are branching out in our MINDSET and our SPIRITUAL health. God is our refuge and is the only thing that we can find real comfort from in times of discomfort and pain. He does not just abandon us and leave us to figure it out on our own! No, he is there to give us His fruits of the Spirit and connect us to our God-given courage, strength and power to persevere.

The purpose of our Greater Purpose pathway is to grow in our relationship with God. You will find that the beauty of our Pain is that these are the times we feel God the most. You grow in your Faith and Love with God at these times which allow you to keep going and even love this pain too!

Just like Paul said, “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV)

When you see how much you can GROW from intentionally enduring some pain in life, you will become just a “hardcore” for your MINDSET and SPIRITUAL growth as you are for your CrossFit, Paleo or Vegan diets! #imaginethat

Tags adapt, body, gain, Health, invest, Mind, nurture, pain, plan, Soul, training, Wellness

Goal Development Health Coaching Spiritual Health

FINDING YOUR LANE TO WIN

Post author By Amanda Wright
Post date August 28, 2015

FINDING YOUR LANE TO WIN

I am gearing up to speak tomorrow morning at a gym in Denver, CO, Bodies By Perseverance about the importance of your Greater Purpose in Transforming your Health!

I wrote earlier this week about how knowing about your Greater Purpose will drastically impact all other steps necessary to transform your health, including: Finding Your Greater Balance, Goals, and your Go-To’s.

But, to run any race to win, you have to find YOUR lane. Obviously, we can’t keep switching lanes and expect to gain any real speed. So your Greater Purpose is going to be found with your genetics, your gifts, your talents, your character, your personality and your experiences all contributing significantly to defining exactly what that lane and race will be for YOU.

Each one of us is designed specifically for this calling and this destiny by God. We are inherently worthy of this destiny and it is not earned in the least. God has it all planned out before you and will gently lead you to your lane. It will always be your choice to follow Him there or not. That is the power of Free Will.

For me, God first showed me my lane when my natural passion and love for health turned into a part-time job about 4 years ago. I didn’t find it, it found me. As I had been establishing my walk with God a little tighter at this time and felt a tugging on my heart to expand on this. It was awesome how it just fell into place. It felt right.

The problem that happens sometimes we God guides us to OUR lane, is that we wind up looking at it like this.

It feels lonely almost and uncomfortable being asked to do something against the grain. My Faith waned and I chose to take initiative on myself and force some body changes so I could feel more worthy of being a Fitness Professional, I chose to do a bikini competition. . I pulled away from God and blatantly ignored His voice in my head telling me, “You don’t have to do this Mandi.” But I was scared and the Fear got the best of me.

But, as I have written several times now, what is so amazing and merciful about our God is that He took a mistake and a failure and me turning away from Him and decided to bless me any way.

But it’s just like God….

“And we know in all things, God works for the Good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:38)

I realized from this miracle how much God truly loves me and how much God really has it all planned out for me. All I needed to do was trust Him, allow Him to guide to me my lane again and this time, just FOCUS on what He tells me to do.

{There’s a HUGE lesson in our life to find our lane–> FOCUS.}

So I found myself now in a lane where I am a Wife, a Step Mom, a Daughter, a Friend and now, ….an ENTREPRENEUR?

As I was adjusting to a whirlwind change in life, I felt this inkling and calling to start my own business afresh. After one of my friends showed me an article about business people who had succeeded in their later years, I was so inspired to try and make a name for myself and my business.

employee engagement metrics to measure the different aspects of my environment. I think it’s a great idea and one that I will probably decide to incorporate once I’m up and running.

I have also been giving some serious thought to the marketing side of my business. For example, I already have an amazing email marketing campaign in mind. To succeed in the digital world, harnessing the power of the internet is fundamental, and using an email marketing campaign is an excellent way to tap into a captive audience so that my business can grow. In fact, I found some great pointers about email marketing on makeawebsitehub.com. I even read a great article about some of the different types of email marketing software, including alternatives to MailChimp, so once my business is underway, I will definitely be taking all of this information on board.

Once I am in an ideal position, I will then start to think about looking for employees of my own to help get my company to where I want it to be. I’ve heard that the only way to achieve greatness is to think about giving out something similar to these job satisfaction survey questions at different times within the year, so I can get a better idea of how they are finding their work and whether any improvements that I implement could help them to feel more comfortable. It will be important that I do this, as a business is nothing without a hard-working set of employees who enjoy working for you and have the same goals. This will be a long way into the future though so at least I have time to think about this.

I also knew I wanted to WRITE and SPEAK on the radical transformation that I experienced in my True Health. A. Wright Fit was born.

As I was called to this lane again, now, as a “Online Health Professional,” and decided to write and speak about the role that God has played in my Health and how He can restore and transform everyone’s health and LIFE in the same way, I was faced with the very same feelings I had felt before when He showed me my lane.

FEAR.

I was afraid that I would be breaking “society’s rules” that you aren’t supposed to talk about Faith (or Politics.) I was afraid of offending or being offended. I was afraid that I wouldn’t find “success” if i set myself apart so far from the rest of the “Fitness Community.”

Again, these FEARS of being THIS came up again….

This is when I learned the power that comes from FOCUS.

These Fears are the way the devil will try to keep me DISTRACTED with all the other things I ‘should’ do, instead of just doing what fits with ME to do (again, MY genetics, MY talents, MY gifts, MY personality, MY heart, and MY experiences.) I had to choose to stay in my lane or start skipping around again.

The blessing this time around is that I have more Faith and more Trust in God. Because I have been blessed and unburdened by a host of LIES I had been believing for my entire life, I have been free, to “throw off everything that hinders (me) and the sin that so easily entangles. And…run with perseverance the race marked out for (me), fixing (my) eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of (my) faith.” (Hebrews 12:1,2)

I can feel the fear and choose love instead. I can choose to focus my thoughts on ACHIEVING SUCCESS (i.e. love) instead of AVOIDING FAILURE (i.e. fear).

I am at this place that I am today because God has allowed me to be here all along. God has chosen ME, I have not chosen Him. God has given me His calling for my life, I have not manufactured or forced my own version of success.

I’m not perfect at it at all. Not even SUCCESSFUL by society’s standards yet either. But I AM exactly where I am supposed to be. I have peace and love overflowing with this *knowing*. I simply seek Him and trust in Him and my path is made clear and work to master the crafts of my calling.

The more I FOCUS on my lane and simply work to master the skills that He has given me, the more I will advance my running and will run my race to WIN.

All we ever need to do in our life is allow Him to guide us to our lane, choose LOVE, and RUN with it. You will win every time. Whether in your Health, in your Career, in your Relationships— you must find your lane that supports each together. All of it is used for your Greater Purpose and you must FOCUS your eyes on Jesus to get there.

Just a reminder there are 2 days left to enroll in the STRONG‘her SQUAD! A 12-week Women’s VIRTUAL GROUP HEALTH COACHING program that will help you find your lane and establish your TRUE HEALTH. It is a structure program that gives you education and success tools to develop all areas of your health: BODY, MIND and SOUL so you can become STRONG’her, WISE’her and SURREND’hered to your lane! Please contact me at amanda@amandawrightfit.com to sign up! Payment must be received by Sunday, August 30 and MIDNIGHT

Also, if you are in the Colorado Area, I am going to be at Bodies by Perseverance located on the 5ht FLOOR at 450 E 17th Ave, Denver, CO 80203.

You can join me and my Fit and Faithful partner Jennifer Samuel for a workout and the workshop (provided by me!) from 9am-11am. The workout is $25 and the presentation is FREE.

If you are not interested in the workout, the presentation will begin around 10am.

I will be auctioning of a FREE spot to anyone present to join the STRONG’her SQUAD! Contact me at 858-531-7456 if you are interested in attending!

Tags achieve, achievement, balanced health, calling, destiny, Faith, lane, Love, oprah, run, success, true health, win

Health Coaching Spiritual Health

Everyone’s Always Searching For the Magic Bullet, Well I Have It For you.

Post author By Amanda Wright
Post date August 26, 2015

As a trainer, nutrition enthusiast and “health professional” you get asked all the time about trends, food choices, exercises to do. When I start to field these questions, I realize there is one common goal that many people wish they could have when it came to their health—> the “Magic Bullet” that would make it all easier.

I know they are wanting me to say some tips like, “Don’t eat past 7pm and THERE you’ll have your magic bullet!” OR “Do this particular exercise sequence that only takes 7-minutes and THERE, you’ll have your magic bullet!” These tactics have all been mercilessly exploited.

Unless you are one of the thousands of authors that capitalize on this human “easy fix” desire and decide to write some “Diet” book that promises to “solve all their problems, get them 6-pack abs, and fix-up their husband and clean their house while they’re at it,” MOST trainers and health professionals will say, “There is no such thing as the magic bullet!” mainly so they can reemphasize their own need, right? We don’t want to lose OUR job to some “magic bullet” out there, we need to be needed!

Well, although I am NOT a “Diet” author hoping to capitalize on the naive hopes of people, I am also not afraid of telling all my clients ALL they will ever need to know in order to MOVE ON and no longer require my services. I have the “Pay it forward” mindset, always relying on God to keep business good and wanting to serve in the health industry which usually means giving most of it away. Convince you that you can do it on your own!

For THIS reason, I must share I DO BELIEVE IS A MAGIC BULLET THAT ALL PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT AND UTILIZE TO RADICALLY CHANGE THEIR HEALTH!

Annnnnnnnnddddd, I’m gong to tell you exactly what it is! Here! For FREE!

The Magic Bullet for your Health is……

Your Greater Purpose.

This is your destiny, your calling and the reason why you were put on this Earth.

Because let me tell you, you are not only BORN TO RUN THE RACE of life, you are BORN TO WIN THE RACE and your health is both a product of and an integral tool in your ability to run this race to win!

Your Greater Purpose in NOT what you do for a career or even a valuable role you play (as wife, mother, daughter etc). Your Greater Purpose is your ROLE in expanding the Kingdom of God and fulfilling God’s perfect plan.

It takes understanding your inherent worth, your DNA genetics and every gift, natural desire, ability, heart, passion, personality trait, and every single experience in your life ALL mold together to propel you down this raceway to not only learn to RUN but to LEARN TO WIN.

You WIN in life when you finally learn why you were put on this planet and you passionately pursue mastering this cause for God’s glory.

So, you might be asking yourself, Amanda, this is no “Magic Bullet” and what does this have to do with my HEALTH?

Ahhh but it is! It IS magic because it takes such a monumental shift if your way of thinking that elevates your Spirit to its highest expression of YOUR. It IS a bullet because it cuts to the heart of WHY you should get healthy, what your health is supposed to help you do in life. That’s all I’m really after in my health coaching and teaching….helping you find your WHY for Health.

Your “WHY” is as unique as your DNA because your GREATER PURPOSE can be achieved by NO ONE but you. You can’t achieve greatly by trying to fulfill someone else’s shoes! If you don’t find it and do it, no one else will. There are things planned out for you that God specifically designed YOU to do, but it will always be reliant on your choice and willingness to do them. It takes trust, hope, faith and above all LOVE to get your head wrapped around this and to say YES to God’s call. It is a process.

The reason why I know that this is THE MAGIC BULLET is because knowing you are designed for a Greater Purpose and knowing what your Greater Purpose IS significantly affects ALL the other areas of your health that truly matter.

I believe there are 4 STEPS TO TRANSFORM YOUR HEALTH:

Greater Purpose- Pursuing Your Destiny for Life

Great Balance- Body, Mind, Soul

Goals -Strive to Win

Go-To’s – Create Your Community

While I don’t have time to go over each of these 4 Steps TODAY, I can tell you the MAGIC BULLET of knowing your Greater Purpose in life DRASTICALLY affects ALL THE OTHER STEPS.

Understanding that you were specifically chosen for a role in this life and a destiny you are to fulfill dramatically affects your GREAT BALANCE because you see such a need to get your Spirit aligned with God in order to know what steps to take to your destiny and you also see the need to keep your mindset aligned with God’s thoughts so you don’t fall prey to the devil’s schemes who of course, wants to convince you never to pursue your Greater Purpose and stay playing small in life.
Understanding your destiny calling will allow you to establish the (w)right GOALS in life to get you there. If you don’t have your final destination in mind, your goals are going to take you off course and will distract you from learning what you need to learn. Not every goal is designed for you to succeed either! Some of the greatest tools God uses in our Greater Purpose pathway is to teach us through Failure. But knowing God will make your path straight and will use all for Good allows you to not fear failure, but to FAIL FORWARD, FAIL FAST and FAIL FAITHFULLY.
Finally, understanding you are born for a gift to the world that only you can offer will allow you to seek and find your GO TO’s in life. Surround yourself with your Tribe of People that “get it” and understand where you’re going in life. They will be there to speak to your gifts and help push you forward with encouragement and love. In the same light, knowing your Greater Purpose will help you BE THE CHANGE that lost people need to see too. To build up God’s Kingdom and show His love and mercy.

So really, there is a HEALTH HIERARCHY that exists in order for you to transform your health and live your greatest life possible! It works and I have several clients to prove it!

If this resonates with you, I would be honored to help expand on what this means in YOUR LIFE and YOUR HEALTH. The main curriculum objective in my 12-Week Health Coaching sequences both the 1:1 Health Coaching and the **STRONG’her Squad,** is to guide you to this MAGIC BULLET and help you renew your mind in accepting this, then your health will fall into sequence accordingly. To learn more and to see when I’m leading my next SQUAD opening, check out the Health Coaching tab on my website HERE or contact me at amanda@amandawrightfit.com!

Tags Balance, calling, community, destiny, Faith, Goals, God, Greater Purpose, Health, hope, Love, magic bullet, race of life, run to win, Trust

Fitness & Training Goal Development

{BODY TYPE} How Knowing This ONE Thing Can Set You Up For Goal Success

Post author By Amanda Wright
Post date August 26, 2015
2 Comments on {BODY TYPE} How Knowing This ONE Thing Can Set You Up For Goal Success

What’s Your Body Type?

How Knowing This ONE Thing Can Set You Up for Success

When I did the bikini competition back in June of 2013, I have written several times that it was a pretty bad experience for me. It was bad Spiritually because I blatantly ignored a voice from God that told me I didn’t need to do the show to make myself more “worthy” of being in the fitness industry. It was unhealthy for my mindset because I became incredibly self-involved and living in FEAR at every given moment–fear that I would fail before I got to the show and fear that I would fail after the show by gaining all the weight back (which I basically did). These things were just the things that happened to ME because I was doing it for the wrong reasons. It wasn’t because all bikini competitions are *bad.* I don’t believe that is always the case.

But, moreover, the bikini competition was a bad experience for me because of my BODY TYPE and the way that it wrecked havoc on body systems. I am an Endomorphic/Mesomorphic Body Type which means I gain weight very easy, have a high craving for food and have a naturally higher muscle mass AND higher body fat percentage (you’ll see more on this below). For these reasons, in order to get down from 19% body fat to 10% body fat, I had to take more drastic dietary cuts and increase my cardio for 5.5 solid months. Obviously 10% is not sustainable and not healthy for women. It was very hard and was a lot of sacrifice.

I wound up not having a menstrual cycle for 5 months (amenorrhea) and developed a host of stomach issues and intolerances (that I still deal with to this day) after I gained back all of the weight, as I feared I would. The mental aspects of this were the hardest part.

I have mentioned Body Types in passing several times, and I do go into more detail when you sign up for any health coaching service I offer (whether the 1:1 or the group) in my Metabolism Ebook. I go into depth about what the body types are and what you should be eating based on them (generally speaking).

For #STRONG’herAugust, I want to go ahead and break down what Body Types are and the PROS and CONS of each type so you can not only recognize and know yourself better, but you can then develop better GOALS that will set you up for success!

Please be warned, do not let this information place you “into a box” where you either use it as an “excuse” or as a “crutch” to lean on. The truth is each and every body type has opportunity for excellence and True Health! God does not look at appearance, God looks at the heart.

This information is valuable because you can establish smart goals for your body that will help you maintain your body’s health. You body is to be USED for God’s glory which usually means it needs to be in good shape. So use this information as a tool to help you figure out your BEST version of you, no matter what shape or size!

So here we go!

3 MAIN BODY TYPES and THEIR PROS AND CONS!

1. Endomorphic-

CONS: Endomorphic Body Types are those that gain weight very easily. They have higher tendency to be “Sugar Burners” which means they burn through carbs easily but not fat, so they get more hungry more often. They have higher tendency toward sugar cravings along with caffeine (sugar burner tendency’s).
PROS: While it might seem like you get the “short end of the stick” by God, I find that Endomorphic Body Types have the opportunity to be the HEALTHIEST. Endomorphics tend to CARE more about their health because they have to! They invest in themselves, know what they can eat and not eat. Many can have quite healthy figures (think of Marilyn Monroe!) and look curvy and beautiful! Take Kim Kardashian, for example. While her body type may be accentuated on pictures through photoshop, she is known for her body through Instagram, resulting in her being the seventh most followed person on the social media site (how does she not use sites like upleap to grow her followers?). This just proves that this body type can be healthy and curves should be embraced!

2. Endo/Mesomorphic-

CONS: While these body types can build muscle fairly easily, they also store fat pretty easily making dietary concern and body concern still a struggle. They will have the same “Sugar Burner” tendency and will have to restrict carbohydrates more than others.
PROS: These women have curves and know how to use them! It takes a lot of work, but it is well worth it! Also, these women can be strong and care about their health because they have to care about their food. A win/win for “True Health” in the Body.

3. Mesomorphic-

CONS: These body types can get “ripped” so fast that they might often take their True Health for granted! They can get away with maintaining a physique while eating some “crap” food (lots of processed food etc) that can still cause unhealthy results internally. Also, in women especially, having the ability to build such lean muscle mass can be undesirable from an aesthetic perspective. However, it can be great for others, especially if they find it difficult to build their own muscle mass with ease and often need to search for supplements such as peptides for sale to have the body they want.

PROS: They have a gift for weight training and athleticism. As women, these body types might have slightly higher testosterone allowing for more muscle growth quickly. Other pros is that the diet for Mesomorphic body types is typically a “Mixed Burner” which means they use both carbohydrate sources and fat sources for energy and just have to choose a balanced diet. Also tend to be average weight and in healthy BMI.

(It is my opinion that this body type is the ONLY great body type to be able to do body building competitions because it doesn’t require as much mental and spiritual strain to get the body to change so drastically).

4. Ectomorphic:

CONS: Have a difficult time putting on muscle mass at all yet can still have body fat which can someimes make them “skinny fat”. Ultra lean bodies have the highest rate of health issues later on in life and shorter life span. Ectomorphs are typically “muscle burners” meaning that their metabolism will start catabolizing their muscle tissue to provide energy when depleted. Often these are ‘Type A” individuals with lots of energy and forget to eat. Most should avoid caffeine as well, as it induced higher stress cortisol levels.PROS: The nice thing for them is they can eat just about anything and not gain any weight! They also need a diet that is higher in carbohydrates which makes eating more enjoyable. Also, ectomorphs can find really great exercises that fit so well with their body types. Things like Yoga and certain Dance (such as ballet) are really ideal for these body types. Just because it might be hard to put on weight, doesn’t mean it is. Cameron Diaz has some guns on her and cares very much about her True Health.

God has made every single body on this planet as unique as your DNA with purpose. Even if you might fall into some of the generalizations of these body types does not mean that you are defined by them! Use this information as you wish to, either to help you establish smart boundaries for your body goals, or to eat wisely, or do a really WISE thing and ignore it and just listen to your body!

The real question is, now that you know what your body “type” might be, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH IT?

Follow you Greater Purpose Pathway. God will lead the way. 😉

Tags body, body type, ectomorph, endomorph, Fitness, goal, God, Greater Purpose, life, mesomorph, success, Women

Fitness & Training Spiritual Health

Feeling Pain? How’s your Alignment?

Post author By Amanda Wright
Post date August 23, 2015

Frustration was an understatement to what I was feeling when I heard the news. I was in a state of “worry” and obsession about my body and my eating (which was my standard operating procedure in my life at this time). It was compounded by the fact that I had put ON some weight (necessarily) after doing a Bikini Competition the previous June but more worrisome to me was the wedding I was planning for that upcoming October. I wanted to lose some weight and lean up again, but I was afraid of taking things too far in the wrong direction, like I did for the Bikini Competition. It was at this time that I decided it was time to start cranking up my weight training again when I could and try to chill out on my food.

But then the pain started. I thought it was just muscle pain cause by too tight of glutes, but then the excessive pain traveled down my leg giving me horrible sciatica. I finally had to go see a Sports Doctor and found out the injury was pretty bad. A friend of mine did tell me about an alternative way to help pain relief which is now my favorite kratom sellers.

I had a 10mm bulging disc between my L5 and L6 lower lumbar. I was in serious pain and the doctor’s worried that surgery would be my only viable solution.

Needless to say, that idea didn’t really work for me. So instead, I started a marathon of treatments to help the disc including a Spinal Decompression machine 3-4x/week, Corticosteroids, Acupuncture AND what would become a game-changer for me– Egoscue Alignment Exercises.

Pete Egoscue started this clinic in Del Mar, CA but they now have satellite offices all around the nation. His exercises and principles are all based on aligning out joints to help solve and prevent pain. In perfect alignment your ear should be perfectly over your shoulder, your shoulder perfect over your hip, your hip perfectly over your knee, and your knee perfectly over your ankle. Your hips should be aligned and your shoulders too.

My body looked like a jagged saw when I first took the 4 poses and they drew the lines on me. But as I committed to doing the non-intensive, but oddly difficult exercises to get my small muscles functioning to allow proper joint alignment, sure enough my alignment started to straighten out and my pain started to go away. I was very lucky that after only 3 months of intensive treatment, my bulging disc ceased hurting and I was considered healed well enough to do some weight training again, but I would always have to be careful and couldn’t do a lot of the things I used to do. It was also recommended to me that I should consider getting a new mattress that could help with any potential pain that I feel in my back or hips. Getting a new mattress can really help ease back pain was what I was told by someone I know, and that I should definitely consider looking into it so that I have a better chance of being pain-free for as long as possible. It may also quicken up the process of me being able to continue doing the things that I once was able to.

The Egoscue Tower — Here I am at Egoscue Clinic in Del Mar, CA doing the “Tower” treatment which helps release the tightness of the psosas (hip flexor) caused by excessive sitting! Game-changer for your hips and back pain!

Well, since I believe in preventative measures to be sure that the bulging disc does not come back, I got into a pretty could ritual of doing my 20-minute menu every morning. About 8 weeks ago, I was able to go in for some pictures and my alignment was drastically improved!

{DISCLAIMER: Please consult your doctor before attempting any of the treatments for your pain or injuries. I am not a doctor and am not qualified to give medial or procedural advice. This was simply my body’s experience.}

I think that news got me a little cocky however, because then as we were traveling a lot I fell out of my morning routine and sure enough, when I went back and got pictures done last week, I was misaligned again! My body could FEEL it too.

Isn’t that the truth that just when we think we have everything aligned and are pain free, we cease doing the daily rituals that help us stay that way and sure enough, pain comes back up to bite us again.

This alignment issue is true for ALL areas of our True Health. Anytime your health is out of alignment with your True Self (a.k.a Kingdom Version), the person God designed you to be, you will experience pain.

Think about it….

MINDSET HEALTH: whenever we get our thoughts out of alignment with the Truth of God, we experience emotional pain and anguish. If our thoughts prey to the devil’s work, we start to believe the lies he tries to tell us like we are not “worthy enough” for God, that God doesn’t care for us, or that we have to do everything on our “own.” It’s painful.

SPIRITUAL HEALTH: Along the same vein, once our thoughts misalign with the Truth of God’s love for us, our Spiritual life suffers and we pull back from God or do what I call the “run and numb” method of numbing our feelings with a whole host of “busy” tactics and addictive habits. As we do this, we start to embody the “worldly” values and characteristics as a non-believer. We lose hope and Faith.

The SOLUTION!

Just as it was with my body’s alignment, the solution is to do a little bit of work every day to get your mindset and spiritual life back in alignment of which you were designed and called to be.

This is why my #1 LOVE these days is the power of HABITS and RITUALS! “You are what you repeatedly do,” so if you want to get out of the pain you are in, you have to simply set up small habits and rituals for all the areas of your health that you commit to.

Just a reminder for anyone new and not privy to my #RITUALS obsession quite yet, but the difference between habits and rituals are as follows:

–>Habit: A habit is a new repeated behavior pattern that you insert into your life in exchange for a “bad” habit you want to replace. I believe in having purposeful body habits, mindset habits and spiritual habits for a balance of True Health!

–>Ritual: A RITUAL is the little part of *you* that makes that habit more personally rewarding and fun for you to do. Taking the time to set up your new habits in a fun and unique way for you makes you more inclined to truly implement that new habit into your life. Example) Finding that special chair that you sit in, with a fuzzy blanket and favorite mug of coffee to get you to read your Bible every morning is a very useful ritual I enjoy.

So, if you want to get your body, mind and spirit back in alignment with the amazing woman/man that God created you to be here’s some ideas for your game plan!

List 1-2 new habits for your Body, Mind and Spirit you want to replace some old habits with.
Think about how you can #RITUALIZE the above habits in your own unique way.
Write down your Specific Action Plan in how your are going to implement each new Alignment Ritual.

For example) I will do my 20-minute alignment exercise menu every morning while I am reading my morning devotional book. I will reward myself with a cup of coffee right after and I will commit to doing this 4x/week.

Or) I will do buy a Bible Study book and make a goal to do it 3x/week instead of watching the news in the morning. I will sit in the chair facing the window and get a notebook and pen I like while I enjoy my favorite tea.

SOME IDEAS TO GET YOU GOING!

BODY:
–Alignment Exercises, Stretching, Yoga, Meditation, Deep Breathing Exercises, Tai Chi, Functional Training
MIND:
-Prayer Journal, Lesson Journal (writing the lessons you learn on a given day), Calls with Friends, Therapy/Counseling, Reading Self Help/Educational Books, listening to podcasts etc.
SOUL:
-Daily quiet time with God, prayer, online sermons/podcasts, other Spiritual reading, Prayer Partner, Bible Study

Sitting at a desk for a long time, or being sedentary dulls your inspiration and own energy levels too. If you are feeling uninspired, you can inspire action, clarity of thought and your creative expression by doing a few movements, such as the Taoist twisting technique below, often used as a warm-up before t’ ai chi, chi kung, or other martial arts. Among many other healing benefits, it wakes up both body and brain.

Additionally, if you are looking for a way to help ease the symptoms you feel from muscle pains (or dolores musculares for our Spanish readers), knowing that there are topical treatments that help with inflammation could be beneficial and potentially something worth looking into.

Alternatively, nourish both your body and being with a few yoga asanas. Yoga is the ideal antidote to creative block, with the added benefit of banishing any resistance to the process on the yoga mat. It can be difficult to learn the contortion moves that you need to do yoga and can be very uncomfortable for any tight muscles. This is all apart of the learning process but you may be more comfortable learning with the true experts. I’m not saying to find the best yoga instructor course in india (though you’re bound to learn super quickly if you did and get quality instructing) but you could learn online such as Youtube. This is just one of the many ways of becoming realigned but is certainly one of the best!

As your True Health gets realigned, you will find that at the center of your balanced life is this state of contentment and true POWER. This is your God Space, where you operate as the person you were designed to be. This is a fleeting moment, but the daily practices will help ensure we seek this alignment more and more!

Tags alignment, body, egoscue, joints, Mind, pain, posture, power, Soul

Food & Nutrition

Intermittent Fasting: Why I Do It and How I Do It (W)Right

Post author By Amanda Wright
Post date August 18, 2015

The first time I heard of someone doing this, I thought they were crazy and were going to send themselves into starvation. I mentally judged them, immediately, and came up with a ton snippets of “health tips” that would disprove their practice as fallacy! Ha!

Cut to about 3 months later, when I decided to take a quiz from one of my favorite teaching blogs on all things Metabolism (Read: Fat Loss) related, Metabolic Effect, and guess what this quiz advised me to do? The VERY act that I so ruefully mentally judged others in the fitness industry for doing! Typical, right? (God was listening ;-))

So now, every day, I don’t eat my first meal until about 11am. I eat my last meal by 7 or 8pm. Basically, I eat in a 8-9 hour window.

WHAT IT IS:

So, I’m talking about Intermittent Fasting. Let me start by saying that I hate the term “Fasting” because anytime you say that, it makes people think of either a spiritual prayer practice (which is good, but not related), or a detox or cleanse. Which again, those two things can be good for you (if done right), but all these words seem to spark up a lot of “judgey judgertons” just like I admitted to being.

Intermittent Fasting is just a term used to describe going an extended period of time, every day, without eating. We ALL fast every day. This is called sleeping. So, intermittent fasting is a way to just extend the “non-eating” phase of your day because it essentially extends the Fat Burning period of your day.

Studies (and HERE) have actually shown that the TIMING of when we eat can have a bigger impact on our weight that the actual amount of calories we eat! In fact, I talked about this rat study on my blog on NUTRIENT BASED TIMING, HERE. The most recent study published in Cell Metabolism Journal, essentially tested two groups of rats who both ate the exact same amount of calories but one group ate all day long while the other group only at in a 10-12 hour window. The results showed that the group that ate at all hours of the day got obese while the intermittent fasted group of rats stayed at a normal weight. With the exact same amount of food!

The way our fast paced world has been operating lately, we can easily fall into the trap of GRAZING all day, every day. We need a snack at all occasions! I truly believe this contributes heavily (no pun intended) to the deathly serious overweight and obesity epidemic we have on our hands.

WHY I DECIDED TO TRY IT:

So, back to my decision to bite my own judgement and take the advice from the Metabolic Effect quiz I took. First, I have already done a lot of research on the Metabolic Effect website, read their books and know they are Doctors with credentials I trust. This is the most important part about taking advice from any health hack out there (myself included!).

Second, I had already been eating in a 12-hour window for 8+ months at this point. This was something I knew I needed to do not only because I had heard about that rat studies but also just by pure math. I have a large appetite and so if I don’t pay attention to the times and quantities I eat, I can (and have) eaten several hundred more calories than I need to in a day.

Third, the reason why this quiz advised me to push this fasting period back even further is because I had already taken several steps in the (w)right direction for my health and this was just the next best step in the (W)right direction for ME. Meaning, I was already eating a Nutrient-Based diet of clean, holistic foods CONSISTENTLY. While also regularly looking into different meal reviews so I have the option to change my meal plans up a little while still eating the healthy sustenance I need. I has also already practiced short periods of intermittent fasting first before by eating within a 12 and 10-hour window. I was also already active and healthy. I just had stopped seeing results, so it was time to try something new.

HOW IT’S BEEN WORKING SO FAR:

So, I decided this step would be something worth trying to see if it worked for me!

The way to TEST any new dietary change is to monitor 4 areas *H.E.C.D.* (a modified tool from Metabolic Effect as well): 1. Hunger 2. Energy 3. Cravings 4. Digestion. So as I made the change to move my first meal back to 11am and as I ate my meals, I monitored those 4 categories. I told myself I would try it for a full week to let my body adapt and get a real feel for how it was working (or not working).

PROS:
SHOCKING!

-My HUNGER actually went WAY down over the course of the day. I had been used to eating 5-6 meals per day and my body had been conditioned to get hungry when I had been used to eating. So where I thought that I would be building up several more hours of HUNGER from not eating at those times, I was SHOCKED to feel substantially less hungry. I believe this tactic helped to mellow out my hormones (ghrelin and leptin are your hunger and satiety hormones) . I don’t have the exact science as to why, but this is how it turned out for ME.

-Moreover, I actually had less CRAVINGS for sugar and other food items I normally crave as well! My hardest part is still at night more than in the morning, so I do still have a sweet tooth but I manage that with other tools anyway.

-My ENERGY felt about the same! I often found that by overeating so often before, I would put myself into a food-coma and feel lethargic. Now my mornings are my most productive time!

-My DIGESTION is on par. This one relies most on the quality of foods I eat, but going longer between meals helps move things along much better for my body!

On top of all of these factors, the other benefit of doing this is in those months where I was not really being careful about WHAT I ate (I had a ton more sugar, frozen yogurt, and BBQs during the month of July) but I still stuck to this 8-9 hour window, I DID NOT GAIN WEIGHT. At all. So this proves to me that the rat test they conducted is in fact on par with my this human body works too!

Overall, I AM eating enough food (almost the same amount of calories) just in the tighter time-frame. This is VERY IMPORTANT that I’m not starving my body as a crash diet. I am only changing the timing of my eating, not the quantity of food. Since I love big meals, this works great for me too.

CONS:

There are a few things I had to adjust and some ways to trouble shoot this that are not the easiest.

I rely more on coffee and caffeine in the AM. I have been getting up by 5-6am to start writing and working, so I’m tired of course, but also that is a pretty long window of being awake without eating. So, coffee (without cream or sugar) and tea are my solutions to keep my stomach calm. If I do experience stomach growls, I’ll drink more water first.
I had to move back my workout time: I was a morning workout girl for a long time but decided that working out fasted is not the smarted idea for me. This worked out though because I needed my mornings for productivity and writing anyway. It will always take an adjustment period to get hyped up enough for an afternoon workout. It also is harder to avoid the excuses of getting “too busy” to go to the gym. Good thing I only do 30-45 min workouts now!
Breakfast is my favorite meal: The absolute hardest thing for me is going out for breakfast with friends and family and not eating. Maybe this is the O.C.D, way TOO self-controlled part of my life, but I am just a person that once I commit to something, I commit to it and stay as consistent as possible. So, when in a situation where we are out to eat or my husband and I are traveling and he is eating breakfast, I will have coffee and enjoy the company and order a meal to go if I have to. I admit this is challenging but only because of the social pressure and because I love breakfast food. Not because I’m hungry, surprisingly.

The (W)Right Way Of Intermittent Fasting:

So, if you are interesting in exploring what this might look like for you, I encourage you to take the following steps:

START 12-HOURS: Start with a 12-hour window of Intermittent Fasting FIRST. This is my Nutrient Based Timing strategy that will work wonders for you if you have not already been eating in this window of time. Stick with this FIRST for about 6-12 weeks. See if you get desired results and good H.E.C.D. results.
SMALL STEPS: If you have already been eating in a 12-hour window, push back your eating window by 2 or 4 hours at the most. You can decide if you want to push back your first meal of the day, or stop eating earlier in the evening. Pay attention to the clock and adjust it if necessary according to your plans that day (dinner out, etc).
STAY CONSISTENT: I don’t advise doing just one day here or there of intermittent fasting. I think this is how you start to confuse your hormones and metabolism into thinking you are indeed ‘starving’ on certain days. If your body thinks your starving, it will go into shut-down mode and slow your metabolism. No bueno.
SATISFY YOUR BELLY: Eat well and eat enough! For the above reason, you should make sure you are eating enough food! You reasonably can have 3 solid meals and maybe one snack all within that 8-9 hour window. Eating causes a BOOST in your metabolism because you have to burn calories to digest. So a large BOOST followed by an EXTENDED FAST (Fat-Burning) period is why this science works.
STAY TRUE TO YOU: If your H.E.C.D. is all off after trying this, then I don’t think intermittent fasting is for you and your body type. Some people with higher metabolisms will just have a harder time with this because their bodies need more energy more often. This is GREAT to learn and important for you to listen to! I think intermittent fasting works for me because I have a endomorphic/mesomorphic body type. (More on this another time!).

I’d love to hear your thoughts and/or experiences you have encountered with intermittent fasting! Every body is different and I’d like to hear what you like, didn’t like or if you are going to give it try and why!

Tags Eating, fasting, fat burn, Food, Intermittent Fasting, metabolic effect, metabolism, nutrition, Timing

Fitness & Training

My Top 3 Workout Formats for my Varying Goals

Post author By Amanda Wright
Post date August 12, 2015
4 Comments on My Top 3 Workout Formats for my Varying Goals

My Top 3 Workout Formats

For My Varying Workout Goals

Now that I’m back into my True Health rhythm and flow through some of my favorite #rituals, I have been 100X better this month for my #STRONG’herAUGUST quest.

Lately, I have been focusing on changing up my workout routine! I’ve been looking online for some new bicep workouts that would help to make my routines nice and fresh. I’ve set some new goals for myself and I’m hoping that my new routines, diet, and supplements will help me reach it as soon as possible. I did research into whether or not I should take a supplement but I ended up buying a pea protein powder so I will let you know how it goes. When it comes to exercise and weight training, I have a few things that I remind all clients.

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1. Do whatever exercise you LIKE to do–but give it a TRY to determine that! Weight training is not very fun when you first start out or when you are trying to get back into it after taking a long break. There are varying ways to to build and maintain muscle mass through exercise including yoga, body weigh calisthenics, dumbbells, kettle bells, exercise bands, and Olympic style weight training! Keep trying new ones until you find one you like! Some of these exercises can even be done at home too, meaning that more people can do them whenever they feel like it. Some of my clients have purchased steel buildings kentucky, or wherever they live, to create home gyms in their backyards. These buildings are perfect for working out, most of my clients are extremely happy with their new home gyms. Perhaps more people could consider that if they didn’t feel comfortable going to the gym.

Also, give yourself a solid month before you determine what you “like” and “don’t like.” I have heard from various clients that told me it took a couple of months to finally get that “endorphin high” feeling after a good training session. Things will build up progressively and as you get more comfortable with a new training style, you’ll feel more encouraged to keep going and improving!

2. You Must Keep Changing It Up: I hate this, but my body (specifically my metabolism) gets really used to doing to same exercises that I’ve done for a long time. It will help maintain my muscle mass just great, but if I am wanting to encourage some FAT LOSS I have to keep my routine and format changing all the time.

Your workout should always include some form of “work” in there in order to push your metabolism to fat loss mode. There are no workouts where you’re just “going through the motions” and coast to Fat Loss! Sorry! There are a few things you can do if you’re looking to build muscle mass, rather than just lose fat. For example, you might buy HGH injections (as long as you can find a reputable place to get it from) to help build energy and muscle. But this might not be your aim so it varies from person to person.

It’s not always fun, but the after affects are well worth it and you’ll start to love the pain! Invest in ways that you can hold yourself accountable to changing up your routine!

SO, with those two thing in mind, I wanted to share just 3 of my Top 10 Workout Formats. For those that sign up to work with me for 1:1 Health Coaching or for my new STRONG’her Squad group health coaching opportunity starting at the end of this month, you will actually get ALL 10 of my favorite training techniques to ensure that you will be able to ALWAYS have a new routine to shake things up and keep Fat Loss from stalling!

But for YOU, you at least get 3 really great Go-To’s with the goals that I use them for.

Top 3 Workout Formats:

Workout Format #1: Timed Workout High Intensity Interval Training (a.k.a. Metabolic Conditioning)

Goal: “Get it in and getter Done!” I do this style A LOT when my schedule is really full and I only have about 30 minutes to workout, including warm up and cool down!

How To Do It:

Choose Dumbbells at a Medium-Heavy weight. You should be able to do about 10 perfect bicep curls with them, but not 11 and not 9.
Choose 4 Full Body Exercise Movements (or one particular body part if you want to focus your workout that day).
Set Your Timer for 20 Mins.
Complete 10 reps of each of the 4 exercises in non-stop circuit fashion to complete as many rounds as possible (AMRAP). By “non-stop” I mean that you should actually stop if you get into the higher heart rate zones, but then as soon as you recover well enough, keep going! Keep rest to a minimum but don’t over exert yourself.
Goal is complete about 3-4 rounds in 20 minutes. So the moves should be challenging enough but not too easy!

Example (Shown in Video HERE):
Dumbbell “Man Maker” with Push-ups x 10
DB Wide Squat with Curtsy Lunge x 10 each side
DB Standing Arnold Presses x 10
DB Reverse Lunge with Power Up x 10 each side

Repeat AMRAP for 20-Min

Workout Format #2: Giant Set
Goal: To build a muscle group via Hypertrophy

While most women don’t want to “bulk up,” at all, there are some muscle groups that DO look better when they are built up. The main ones I focus on are my glutes and my shoulders (it makes for that perfect “hour glass” effect!).

So for these body parts you want to build the muscle through a periodization series of Hypertrophy (muscle growth), Strength Training, Power Training and then REST.

How To Do It:

Find 2-4 Compound, Multi-Joint Exercises that target your muscle group you want to improve.
Complete A Giant Set of 6 Round of 10 reps.
Rest only 30 seconds in between each set for best results. Will get your heart rate up there, so be sure you are hydrating and monitoring form.

Example (Shown in Video HERE):
Barbell Heavy Back Squats x 10
REPEAT 6 Rounds
30 seconds rest in between

Workout Format #3: Super Set with High Intensity Interval

Goal: Functional strength training with fat burning focus.

Super Sets are a term that is used when you do two exercises back-to-back that work opposing muscle groups.

For example:
Biceps and Triceps
Quadriceps and Hamstrings
Glutes and Abs

To make this workout style even more fat burning and effective, I add on a high intensity move at the end of each Super Set. This just ups my heart rate to get a nice fat burning spike! The best High Intensity moves are going to be a plyometric move or a quick stair run or sprint.

You then rest 2+min before completing your next Super Set.

How To Do It:

Choose 2 exercises of opposing muscle groups that will form a “Super Set.” They don’t have to be using the same equipment but will need to be accessible quickly.
Complete Exercise #1 with 10-15 reps or failure.
With No REST, complete Exercise #2 with 10-15 reps or failure.
With No REST complete a timed portion or 10-15 reps of a high intensity burst such as a plyometric or sprint.
REST 2-3 mins in between sets.
Complete 3-4 Sets
Choose 2-3 SuperSets to Perform for your entire workout!

Example (Shown in Video HERE):
Super Set:
Barbell Bicep Curl with Front Overhead Press
w/ Tricep Dips to Failure

HII: 10 Burpees

REPEAT 4 Rounds
2-3 mins rest in between

If you LIKE any of the above workout workout formats, you will REALLY like when I give you my Top 10! They are just one small part of the WEALTH of information I give clients when they sign up to work with me either with the 1:1 Health Coaching or the Group Health Coaching STRONG’her Squad.

Check out more information on when I’m offering spots on both of these rosters to get signed up today!

Tags burpee, Exercise, Fitness, giant set, hiit, lifting, metabolic conditioning, plyometric, super set, timed workout, woman, women who lift, workout, workout format

An Epiphany….

…as Christians, we fear the STIGMA that everyone thinks Christians are Self-Righteous A-Holes.

But you know what? Even though there are these extreme types, I want to make a stand and say it. NO! Not ALL Christians are Self-Righteous A-Holes!

We must SURREND’her to the STIGMA and stand up for the truth!

Faith-Based DOES NOT Equal A-Hole.

Faith-Based means humble. Faith-based means kind. Faith-based means loving. Faith-based means passionate, strong, God-powered and centered. Faith-based means you know how screwed up you are, but you just serve a God that’s greater.

I realized, it’s just like God to do such an act of Grace. To take a time where I would blatantly ignore his voice and pull away from Him, AND Howard would certainly make a bad choice trying to do things “his way” too and yet, God decided to bless us anyway.

It’s just like God to take these unplanned and imperfect circumstances and make them PERFECT agents of change to propel us to the life He called us for, both individually and in marriage.

Nevertheless, here is where I have made a break through.

THE RULES:

But what I am experiencing is unprecedented.

I’m WINNING THE BATTLE of BREAKING THE RULES.

GOD ABOLISHED ALL THE RULES.

It is NOT ABOUT RULES, but about a RELATIONSHIP.

“And the Joy of the Lord is my strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10)

FINDING YOUR LANE TO WIN

“And we know in all things, God works for the Good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:38)

{There’s a HUGE lesson in our life to find our lane–> FOCUS.}

FEAR.

I can feel the fear and choose love instead. I can choose to focus my thoughts on ACHIEVING SUCCESS (i.e. love) instead of AVOIDING FAILURE (i.e. fear).

For THIS reason, I must share I DO BELIEVE IS A MAGIC BULLET THAT ALL PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT AND UTILIZE TO RADICALLY CHANGE THEIR HEALTH!

Your Greater Purpose.

This is your destiny, your calling and the reason why you were put on this Earth.

It takes understanding your inherent worth, your DNA genetics and every gift, natural desire, ability, heart, passion, personality trait, and every single experience in your life ALL mold together to propel you down this raceway to not only learn to RUN but to LEARN TO WIN.

You WIN in life when you finally learn why you were put on this planet and you passionately pursue mastering this cause for God’s glory.

I believe there are 4 STEPS TO TRANSFORM YOUR HEALTH:

Greater Purpose- Pursuing Your Destiny for Life

Great Balance- Body, Mind, Soul

Goals -Strive to Win

Go-To’s – Create Your Community

What’s Your Body Type?

How Knowing This ONE Thing Can Set You Up for Success

3 MAIN BODY TYPES and THEIR PROS AND CONS!

1. Endomorphic-

2. Endo/Mesomorphic-

3. Mesomorphic-

4. Ectomorphic:

The real question is, now that you know what your body “type” might be, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH IT?

Follow you Greater Purpose Pathway. God will lead the way. 😉

This alignment issue is true for ALL areas of our True Health. Anytime your health is out of alignment with your True Self (a.k.a Kingdom Version), the person God designed you to be, you will experience pain.

Think about it….

The SOLUTION!

So, if you want to get your body, mind and spirit back in alignment with the amazing woman/man that God created you to be here’s some ideas for your game plan!

WHAT IT IS:

WHY I DECIDED TO TRY IT:

HOW IT’S BEEN WORKING SO FAR:

PROS: SHOCKING!

CONS:

The (W)Right Way Of Intermittent Fasting:

My Top 3 Workout Formats

For My Varying Workout Goals

Top 3 Workout Formats:

Workout Format #1: Timed Workout High Intensity Interval Training (a.k.a. Metabolic Conditioning)

Goal: “Get it in and getter Done!” I do this style A LOT when my schedule is really full and I only have about 30 minutes to workout, including warm up and cool down!

Workout Format #2: Giant Set Goal: To build a muscle group via Hypertrophy

While most women don’t want to “bulk up,” at all, there are some muscle groups that DO look better when they are built up. The main ones I focus on are my glutes and my shoulders (it makes for that perfect “hour glass” effect!).

Workout Format #3: Super Set with High Intensity Interval

Goal: Functional strength training with fat burning focus.

If you LIKE any of the above workout workout formats, you will REALLY like when I give you my Top 10! They are just one small part of the WEALTH of information I give clients when they sign up to work with me either with the 1:1 Health Coaching or the Group Health Coaching STRONG’her Squad.

Join the A. Wright Fit Inner Circle!

**We must SURREND’her to the STIGMA and stand up for the truth!**

PROS:
SHOCKING!

Workout Format #2: Giant Set
Goal: To build a muscle group via Hypertrophy