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4 Ways God Uses STRESS to BLESS

It’s the most wonderful time of year and yet can also be a more stressful time of year, right?! Busyness and the hustle-bustle obviously can add more stress to our lives. Enjoying some ontario weed online could help some people strike the right balance so they be productive with stress. To much stress can have a negative effect on you and its not just physical stress. Not to mention the financial stress we can all feel from this gift-giving frenzy. Speaking of financial stress, this is something that many people face over time. Whether it is getting fired from a job and not having an income for a while or are wondering how to repair your credit on your own, when it comes to managing finances, there is always a solution. Even if it seems tough at the time, at least with a plan, hopefully, a stable financial life can get back on track.

If you’re experiencing being stressed on a daily basis, you may want to click here to find a great treatment to reduce stress with Ear Seeds.

From a health standpoint, stress gets a bad rep, with good reason. A study from the British Medical Journal in 2006 showed that employees with chronic work stress had more than double the chances of a “Metabolic Syndrome” (which refers to risk factors associated with increased risk for stroke and Type II diabetes, along with heart disease as well.) See more on that article HERE
Your stress directly impacts your metabolism which directly impacts your waistline! Increased adrenal responses (the release of stress hormones) have shown to both slow down the fat-burning processes AND increase our HUNGER!. That’s a bit of a lose-lose, right?!
In spite of these statistics about the effect of chronic stress, the reality is that stress is actually a GIFT from God.
As with all gifts from God, it doesn’t mean we use them appropriately, and since we do live in a fallen world with a broken “body,” this intended gift goes off-kilter quite easily.
Nevertheless, getting back to the INTENTIONAL DESIGN of our stress can give us the perspective of how God can use STRESS to BLESS our lives and our health! Are you suffering form stress and looking to find a solution to manage this? You could take a look into herbmighty.com for CBD products which have been proven to reduce stress.
4 Ways God Uses STRESS to BLESS:
  1. STRESS SAVES: The original design for stress on our bodies was the thwart us into Fight or Flight mode! While the human body may no longer be fighting wild animals in the wilderness, we do still need to be ready to react quickly in a hairpin turn!
    Think about the Father’s that can magically reach out and grab their children’s head before they crash to the ground. Think about your quick reactions to avoid the oncoming car crash. Think about all those times where you “didn’t think about it” you just “reacted!” Those are all the saving graces of STRESS which uses our Sympathetic Nervous System to SAVE us. And while this is true if you’re constantly in that state of mind you’ll become worn out.
  2. STRESS SIGNALS: God uses stress all the time to help guide us in the right direction. Specifically in the form of FAILURE, God will redirect us in and out of situations with the help of stress. An abundance of chronic stress is a signal that we are doing things in OUR WILL, not GOD’s WILL.
    Often, we are even subconsciously creating additional stress for our lives. Holding on to both guilt and unforgiveness for example, will subconsciously add stress to our lives and bodies. Additionally, expecting other people in our lives(like our spouses, significant others or even children) to fill a roll that only God can fill will also add subconscious stress. Stress is a gift that God gives us that will SIGNAL that we need to reconnect and realign with Him. It’s our CHOICE whether we do that or not.
  3. STRESS is SEASONAL: As it says in Ecclesiastes 3:1 “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” Stress can definitely come in seasons. When we have a season of CHANGE, this causes stress. When we have a season of SORROW, this causes stress. I am in a season of START-UP and am challenged by learning new things in new cities with new relationships, and all this can cause STRESS. But the Bible also tells us that we “reap what we sow,” both the good and the bad. What we sow in one season, we won’t reap until another season. So while you might feel stressed right now from learning something new or through this phase in your life, you will be rewarded in a new season sometime soon of the rich harvest of blessings from this work you are putting in. This is building your character of ENDURANCE. (I even wrote a blog about 10 Bible verses that help you endure more if you want to check that out HERE).
    The other side of the coin is true too. You might also be feeling the stress from the ramifications of having made poor choices in previous seasons. But, instead of guilting yourself from past mistakes, choose to accept your consequences, pray for forgiveness and plant new seeds that align with how God calls you to live TODAY. Plant seeds of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23) These will reap the greatest of rewards “30, 60, 100 times over.” (Matthew 13)
  4. STRESS SERVES: There are some stressful situations that God designed for your life. Things you didn’t choose for yourself but God chose for you so He could build in you the character He needs you to have to fulfill the Greater Purpose He has designed for you. The stress serves as a test for your life, a way that you can grow your Faith and Trust in God. Bishop T.D. Jakes spoke about this “frustration” and why God had allowed His chosen people (the Israelites) to endure hundreds of years of slavery under the Egyptian reign before being led out by Moses. Bishop Jakes said, “The more frustrated the environment, the more FRUITFUL the individual.“ (To listen to his podcast sermon, click here.) How very true!

God doesn’t care about your circumstances nearly as much as He cares about your character. So while your stress might be an uncomfortable position to find yourself in, it’s designed to be temporary and well worth the character value it will reward you with. Your CHOICES determine just how temporary this phase is.

So, stress, much like fear is not going to ever “go away.” God will never take stress away from you. It provides that every day opportunity for you to grow your Faith and lean on God a little more.
But you gain your #godpower when you learn the key to you using this GIFT from God. Your success in life is not about your CIRCUMSTANCES but about your CHOICES.
So the stressful circumstances will never change. The old “when things slow down” excuse is never going to happen. Things aren’t EVER going to slow down. But what you will always have is your CHOICE in how you react to it.
Speaking of great CHOICES, one really smart one would be to empower yourself with some new COPING MECHANISM for when you’re stressed. I am giving a free webinar on Tuesday evening or Wednesday midday called “From STRESS to SUCCESS: 5 Ways to Negate the Stress on Your Health!” I will be offering some practical solutions to dealing with stress in your life so it doesn’t have to impact your health! Click HERE to sign up and reserve your spot!
From Stress to Success_500px
{P.S. #SPOILERALERT, with every FREE training I give, I offer the live attendees a BONUS or 2…or 3! This week, when you attend, you’ll hear to auditory delights of my STRESS FREE PLAYLIST with your own copy of the link! }

In Love and Health,

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BALANCE: Just Because We KNOW Something, Doesn’t Mean We’re DOING It.

It’s the holidays and there seems to be so much to do!  In my world, things always get a little flipped upside down when my step-daughter Eden comes to live with us for a month.  Eden lives in Japan right now with her Mom and her Step-dad, who is a Navy doctor. They were stationed there last year, so we get a lot of extra travel time to Japan and then she comes and stays with us for big chunks of time about 3x per year. December is our time!

So, Eden is 3-years old, boisterous, beautiful and with a BIG personality! She’s hilarious and, as all 3-year olds are– a handful! You really have to get your energy right for her, for sure!

Eden and Mandi Christmas

The only THING about my life right now, is that I am in full swing of “Mandi the Entrepreneur.” In the health and wellness industry, obviously, January is a BIG time of year! I have been working for MONTHS now on a new website, a new membership program and now a 4-Part Webinar Series, TRANSFORMher Health 2016, on the 4 PILLARS OF HEALTH: BELIEVE, THINK, EAT, MOVE.

This is a new platform for me, so it’s learning a lot of new “techie” things and trying to get everything “just so.” Needless to say, there are some ups and downs. Technology, as amazing as it is, provides a HUGE learning curve and a lot of expenses too! I have faith it will all pay off, but the first stage of this is NEW and a bit CHAOTIC.

The irony here is……

this entire series I am teaching (as well as some of the back resource tools I’m developing) are ALL about BALANCING our health and TIME MANAGEMENT.

These two things, I am NOT doing very well right now.

But here is where GOD is GOD, His timing is always PERFECT and He send His messengers to us just when we need them.  Just as I am feeling this overwhelm from being out of balance in my life, there pops-up one of my favorite Podcasts I listen to every day from “The Daily Hope” by Rick Warren. What was the subject on? You guessed it—BALANCE.

There were so many good notes from the 3-part series that I wound up taking about 6 pages of notes. You can catch this podcast HERE. You won’t regret it.

But my my favorite takeaway from yesterday’s teaching on finding BALANCE message was when he said , “I needed this message (myself). So I preached this sermon for ME tonight. So if you got anything out of it, I’m grateful, but really I just needed to hear it myself… Knowing it doesn’t mean you’re doing it, right? And preaching it doesn’t mean you’re doing it, either. You’ve got to DO IT to DO IT.”

#CanIGetAnAmen?

So, because I have always been intentional about being completely open to you, my dear readers and to being completely authentic when speaking about my struggles and my difficulties in my health— physically, emotionally and spiritually—I felt it was appropriate that I go ahead and fess up that there are things I KNOW and can TEACH but am not currently DOING THEM.

While so often, most of us want to keep up our appearances and try to convince the world that “we have it all together,” and then secretly we’ll feel like frauds on the inside and it plagues our souls.  It can cause us to spin our wheels in an effort to keep up the charade.

I’m gonna go ahead and skip all that guilt and exhaustion and just admit that I am not successfully balancing my life right now even though that is what I’m teaching on.  I give this honesty, even with the tinge of fear added with it, because I know that when I live in MY TRUTH that I may just give you permission to live in YOUR TRUTH and as Jesus said, “The truth shall set you FREE.”   So the solution for us both is to stop TRYING and to start TRUSTING in God.

We need to give our daily schedules to God and let Him guide us in what to do. Ask God with every decision, “God, is this something you want me to do?” He will always guide us when we ask Him.  He send His messengers and we will get the hint (just like Rick Warren was for me).

When we operate from God’s timing, we have just enough time. He would not give us a list of things to do if He didn’t also give us enough time, power and resources to do it.

Jesus said in Matthew 11:30 “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Pastor Rick pointed out that if we have a HEAVY burden right now, know that it’s not from God. That it might be just from YOURSELF and you would need to rid yourselves of the unnecessary “busyness” that is making your life and health unbalanced.

Yoke is easy

So, in honor of me outing myself this week, I wanted you to be aware that I will be giving another FREE Live Training next week on Part 2 of my TRANSFORMher Health 2016 training. It will be ANOTHER great lesson that I myself need to hear. It’s on STRESS— “From STRESS to SUCCESS: 5 Ways to Negate the Stresses on Our Health.” If you missed last week, you’re not too late to the party! Sign-up now for  and you’ll receive access to the video replay of last weeks health teaching on BELIEVE.

This week, I’m not only going to give you a great workbook and tons of useful information, but you’ll also receive some special BONUS offerings including my personal ANTHEM PLAYLIST that I use for my stressful times! You won’t want to miss it! Sign up here.

As you move ahead in this busy time of year, I encourage you to continue to ask yourself daily, “What am I doing that God doesn’t need me to do?” Have the Faith and the courage to let go of those things you think you “should” do and instead rest in the arms of God to lift you UP.  Stop and enjoy this wonderful time of year!

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Does Transformation Lead to Change or Change Lead to Transformation?

How Do We Change For Good?

I have been thinking, or ruminating, really, on how change really happens in one’s life.  I am obviously, interested in making lasting and effective changes in my life and my health and helping others do the same.Change is hard.  We’ve heard that.  But why?

I have noticed, that some of us seek change so ruthlessly that we actually use the “seeking” process as a great distractor from actually accomplishing anything.  We skip from goal to goal to goal, without trying to “earn” whatever feeling we think “success” will bring, not realizing those feelings are within us already.    <——This is ME.
Then there are those that are very resistant to change, as inevitable as it is.  They stall, numb and distract themselves with mindless busy work in order to avoid that mandatory first step.  They don’t realize that delaying the inevitable is still change, it is just stepping in a direction they are not destined to go (usually backwards into their past).
Numb
These change resistors are a bit more stubborn, but really it’s about being scared to fail or living too deep in their shame of their past or current circumstances.
One noteworthy study on these folks was done by Kenneth McGrawthat showed the “biggest wall to success is just getting started.  We are prone to procrastinating because we visualize the worst parts.”
How very true.
The answer for the above two challenged individuals, both the compulsive “Do-er” and the hesitant “Think-er” when it comes to health goals is of course, where all answers lie, in the middle.
I have learned that you must first SEE change in a new way, open your eyes to what it really looks like, not just what you fear about it, in order to fully embrace it and benefit from it.

THIS means that we seek TRANSFORMATION before we seek change.

How is that possible you ask?  Don’t several changes have to take place before transformation can really happen?
That is what I used to think, until God happened.
If you pause and reflect on the words of Paul in Romans 12:2, he writes “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.“
Romans 12.2 NIV
Transformation happens in our mind and it is from our transformed minds that we are able to CHANGE any behavior and direction (which usually requires moving against the grain of popular society).
This TRANSFORMATION of the mind is what led me to the biggest health accomplishment I have made to date.
You see, I was a girl who scoffed at her reflection in the mirror EVERY DAY of her life and incessantly wished it was “skinnier, stronger, leaner, tanner” than it was.  Every. Day.  Both my heavy days and my super lean days.  I lived in the space of “not quite good enough.“
Until one day, by the grace of God, I looked in the mirror, at a body that had put on a few pounds, still had that cellulite and the “bottom-heavy” look I usually despised,  and on that miraculous day, I did not scoff, but I smiled.
I all of a sudden saw this beautiful body, flaws and all, with love and appreciation and capability.  I finally saw it for the beauty of its Creator.   I even laughed at my flaws….LAUGHED at them.  Thinking, “Why have I wasted so much brain power hating you, my big ol’ bootay with the dimples on it?!”
This is health transformed.  This is love.
This is taking away the power that the devil wants to use to keep us playing small in life.
Only from a renewed mind can we (attempt to) see things as they are, not as we are.  Then we can seek to make changes in our life that will bring us that much closer to God and the Holiness He seeks for us.  Living in TRUTH, not opinion.
We should seek change for our health, but we seek WISE change—improvement in Mind, Body and Soul.  Growing deeper in our Core Values and the character God designed deep within us.
As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I received a blessed gift from God and a word in the early morning guiding me to an article on WISDOM in Charisma Magazine.  This article reminded me that if I seek WISDOM above all else, that wisdom goes at a much slower pace than I am going.  “Wisdom seeks, listens and waits for God.”  Wisdom is rare and “worth more than gold, silver and even rubies.”
This has shattered me in so many ways  It has revitalized and awakened how I desire to teach and help others find True and lasting health.  I need to slow down and I need to help my clients slow down too.   I struggle with this so much.
When we seek change in our health, it is PARAMOUNT that we choose WISE goals and intentions.  That we don’t make hasty decisions out of a place of insecurity.  It also means that we don’t DELAY change out of fear of failure or to delay dealing with our *stuff.*
It all comes back to just taking that NEXT BEST STEP Action Step for your life and your health.
BELIEVE
THINK
EAT
MOVE

“Achievement isn’t about doing everything.  It’s about doing the right things.”  -Help Scout.

So as you are gearing up for the New Year and are thinking about the wide gift of possibility that this year (and every day) brings from God and in Christ, my hope for you is that you are wild and unbridled in your VISION for what will be and then you seek WISE steps of transformation first to then change your habits.
If you REPEAT IT, you will BELIEVE IT.  When you BELIEVE IT, you will RECEIVE IT.
TRANSFORM
If you are hoping to learn some useful tools to TRANSFORM your health so that you make seek wise changes in your health for 2016, I cordially invite you to join me in the TRANSFORMher Health 2016 FREE 4-Part Masterclass.   It starts THIS week!  We will have 4-separate trainings that will help you throughout December to get ready for the greatest health achievement you’ve ever seen in 2016!
Click on this link here if you’re a GO for the training!
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5 Areas Women Need to Own Their Worth

 

There is something taking place that I find the be the single biggest tragedy facing the majority of women today.

Let me paint the picture for you with my personal experience with it….

2013 would be the most radically transformative year of my life. Somehow, in January of that year while I was single, having just moved out of my parents home in Colorado after needing to save some money, working at a job I liked but not a job I loved, and did not have much savings or great spending habits to my name, I had to audacity to create my first ever vision board with some pretty lofty dreams.

For those perhaps unaware, a vision board is a visual dream and goal creator. You put pictures and words that represent your goals and vision for yourself that year.

 

In January of 2013, on this vision board I put:

  • A diamond engagement ring (remember, I was very single at the time)
  • A home to own, not rent.
  • A woman with strong and amazing body
  • A LLC for a start-up business of my own

Just 3 months later, I would start by own business. Just 6 months later, I would be at my strongest and leanest body ever for a bikini competition. Just 8 months later I would be engaged to the love of my life, a miracle that my ex-boyfriend would be proposing to me. And just 10 months later we would also be buying a dream home together in beautiful sunny San Diego, CA.

In just ONE YEAR, every HUGE and over-the-top blessing I could dream of was in my possession.

You think I would be elated right?! Well, I waaaaas….. but then I wasn’t.

Over the course of that year, as I was adapting to my new, whirlwind life, I experienced odd, overwhelming waves of emotion.

The second I would start to feel overjoyed and reflecting on all that was happening to me, I would feel a squeezing of my heart, a wave of panic, and my eyes would well up with tears.

I felt so unworthy of it all.

Isn’t it such a strange reaction, to get everything our hearts desire and KNOW that these gifts had to have come from God, but to not be able to enjoy them because these waves of unworthiness.

I would learn that these thoughts of unworthiness, were just the devils way of stealing away the joy from God. This is a tragedy to me. A tragedy that I now have heard from several other women as well—and I think it’s high time we stop falling for it!

In December of 2014, God would surprise me yet again. In a prayerful moment, I asked God to speak to my heart and tell me what He wants me to hear. God whispered to me that day, “Worthy.”

Of all the words to hear, this one floored me. I knew it could not be my own voice, as this was not at all how I felt. This was God telling me that not only am I worthy to receive the abundance of blessings of that year, but I am worthy of so much MORE.

Therefore the year of 2015 I would make it the year of the word “Worthy.” I dedicated this entire year to meditating on that word, researching that word, understanding the feeling of unworthiness and how we, as women can make a stand against the devils plots to ruin our joy and steal our Faith.

 

What I have learned is that there are many areas of our WORTH that we do not yet embrace and instead try to establish our WORTH in things that really do not matter.

What I know for sure is that your worth is NOT in the number on the scale, NOT the number of “likes” you get on a selfie, NOT the $ in your bank account, NOT the number of calories you burned in a workout, and NOT the compliments you receive from your husband or significant other.

Your WORTH is not earned either— it is inherent. You are worthy because you are God’s precious creation. It was embedded in you as God knit you in your mothers womb. You are fearfully and wonderfully made! (Psalm 139:14)

Your only job in life is to grow into the woman God designed you to be, rooting yourself firmly in your inherent and beautiful worth that God so richly poured into you. Whether you are an escorte quebec, a powerful business woman, or a stay at home mom, you bring joy to this world and no matter who you are, that is something that should be celebrated!

Here is my list of the 5 Areas that Women Need to Own Their Worth in Christ Today:

1

You have so many choices in how you use your time and how you value your time. Time is precious and limited! Everyone knows that, but not everyone takes this reality seriously.

If you are a business owner, this may mean that you start to see that you are worthy of prosperity and need to charge appropriately for you services.

But even if your time is not spent “earning,” you must see every hour as your chance to either grow toward the woman that God designed you to be or grow away from it.

Stop wasting time doing unfruitful things. Seek ways to be wise with your time.

2
The energy you bring to this world, your LIGHT, is your gift and talents. You must own the great value that this has and use it to shine on others. So often however, we zap our energy with worrying, busyness, temporary circumstances, and fruitless labor.

The key to owning the worth of your energy is focusing your attention on others, not yourself. Ask yourself what you can do to brighten another’s day and in return you will feel the weight of your burdens lift and the energetic light within you shine brighter yet. It is a beautiful and mutual gift we give and receive.

3
You are worthy of receiving a compliment, a helping hand and favor from God. For some reason, women have a hard time truly receiving these things from the heart.

We brush off compliments; we deny a friend’s offer to help us out of some sort of guilt; and we set out to “earn” the blessings that God has already freely given us, thinking our “good deeds” are what earns God’s love.

In short, we trap ourselves believing the LIES that we for some reason don’t deserve these things.

To overcome these lies, you have to go straight at them. Question your thoughts and their source and correcting these lies with the TRUTH of God’s love.

4
One of the biggest lies we believe is that we are capable avoiding failure. God has not revealed the pathway ahead of you, but He will guide you to take the next best step. There will be several tests all along the way to see if you trust Him and remain Faithful to Him when things don’t go as planned.

Having a new perspective on your failures allows you to see how truly valuable they are! Failures help you course correct and you are WORTHY to be set in the right direction again.

The greatest way to test and see if you are doing what God designed for you, is giving it 100% and if you fail, just change direction and keep going. This is how you master any skill and how you master your life.

Fail Forward.
Fail Fast.
Fail Faithfully.

5
The other biggest lie that we believe is that perfection is attainable. We let “perfect be the enemy of good,” which robs us of opportunities of joy. You will never be perfect because we live in a fallen, broken world.

You are WORHTY of flaws because these will be the very things that God uses to draw you close to Him and to give you a Greater Purpose in His Kingdom.

God made you with intentional flaws to keep you unique. God knew that there would be imperfections in your relationships and life circumstances too. These “gaps” between what you hope for and what actually happens in your life is the space that God fills.

We need these spaces in our life, these gaps of imperfection, so that we always have room and a deep desire to let God into those spaces. Only then, do we experience true power and abundant peace and joy. This is God’s grace, of which we are so worthy.

 

So today, I encourage you to take a moment to pause and reflect on these areas today. Look for any LIES you might be believing that try to convince you that you are not worthy of these areas and give these over to God to fight for you. Then, watch and see how a life awakened will bring worthy waves of joy, love, hope and peace. This is God’s desire for you.

TRANSFORM

If you are interested in making 2016 your WORTHY YEAR in Health and Life, join my 4-Part Master Class called TRANSFORMher Health Master Class! These 4 live webinar teachings will focus on practical and life changing tools to transform your True Health the 4 areas of BELIEVE, THINK, EAT, MOVE! You won’t want to miss it! Click <TRANSFORMher Health Master Class> to get on the wait list and you’ll also receive my free gift of my STRONG’her Starter Kit!

 

 

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The Top 5 Ways to FAIL at your Health in 2016

 
 
I know I know, we just hit November and we all want to savor and enjoy the Holidays!  I’m with you, I promise!
 
But let’s be really honest here, when the holidays hit, we likely WON’T be thinking too much about our health goals, aside from the obligatory, “Ok, I’ll eat just one more Christmas Cookie and then will be GOOD come New Years!”  #AmIRight?
 
So, I’m writing this to you NOW so that you might pause and take a minute to go ahead and reflect on your health goals for 2016 NOW.  And who knows, maybe getting your optimistic juices flowing NOW might actually incentivize you to start implementing these new health habits through the holidays!  {Look at you being early to the party New Years party! }
 
I just wanted to be sure that you knew that NEXT YEAR IS YOUR YEAR!  I see it already in you!  It’s going to be your year to shine bright and do all these great things that you had never dreamed of before.  Your health is going to improve, your energy skyrocket and your fire for life ignite!  Yes, ma’am!
 
So, as you are getting your juices flowing in your brain to plan for those specific goals that you know will take you there, as your advocate and chief BELIEVER of YOU, I want to make sure you DON’T make some really small-minded mistakes in planning (or lack of planning) for your health that would prevent you from this amazing success in health in 2016.
 
IMG_8167
 

So, let me tell you the TOP 5 WAYS TO FAIL AT YOUR HEALTH IN 2016 we can avoid any common traps.

 
1.  YOU WON’T SET ANY GOALS:
Well, while we are not guaranteed to achieve every single goal we have ever set out to achieve before, we ARE guaranteed to FAIL at achieving 100% of the goals that we don’t set.
 
You might convince yourself that you don’t need goals to see results in your health, but I disagree.   A recent study conducted at Dominican University surveyed students for 4 week goals and found that just writing down your goals increased your chance of completing the goal by 55% and telling a friend about it with some accountability increased your chances of success by 65%!
 
 
2.  YOU SIMPLY MAKE A NEW YEARS RESOLUTION:
So, how did it go last year for your resolution?  Did you make it past March?  Studies show that the average length of any New Years Resolution only lasts 5 weeks and 92% of people that make New Years Resolutions fail!
 
A Vision Board however is a tool you can use to literally visualize your success for the entire YEA, not to mention have a little creative fun. It’s a colorful example of dreaming big and setting your eyes on your dreams.  It propels you toward what you want in life, not just the habits you hope to get away from.
 
From personal experience, I can tell you that Vision Boards FAR outweigh the success of regular goals.
 
In 2013 I was single and renting an apartment in Denver, CO while working.    I had the audacity to put on my vision board the following visions:
—Become engaged.
—Start my own business.
—Own a home..
—Get in the best shape of my life
—Become more like my grandmother, Bobbie.
 
Within 9 months I had completed EVERY. SINGLE. DREAM. for that year.  It was truly a shock to me--a miracle!
 
Now, these might not be typical results.  In fact, every year since then has not even come close to these accomplishments.  But I believe in Miracles and I believe that God will help you achieve your wildest dreams just to grow your Faith and trust in Him!
 
 
3.  YOU ONLY FOCUS ON THINGS YOU’LL STOP DOING:
We all know those things that we eat or do physically that aren’t the BEST for us.  It is always so tempting to just make a bit check list of all the things we vow to stop doing or cut back on.  Well, it DOESN’T WORK.
 
Bad habits don’t just go away.  You have to REPLACE them with the good behavior you desire and the focus on the GOOD, not the bad.
 
Whatever we think about GROWS.  So if you focus on what you DO want and what you WILL eat/drink/do, then you propel yourself toward those habits and the success you desire.
 
However,  if you only focus on what you DON’T want to eat/drink/do or the fear you have around cutting back on those guilty pleasures, then you can count on those behaviors to still own you and make the white-knuckling experience of trying to give them up pretty miserable and likely unsuccessful.
 
You will have to force your thoughts toward what you DO want it life. Your life becomes transformed by your thoughts alone!  Reason enough to give it a shot.
 
 
4. YOU ONLY FOCUS ON YOUR DIET AND EXERCISE HABITS FOR YOUR HEALTH:
If you limit your health to ONLY focus on those things that are food and exercise related, you are literally missing half of the battle!  I get that this is what society will tell you you need to focus on for real change, but it’s simply not true.
 
To change ANYTHING about yourself you must seek health from the inside out.
 
The Four Areas of TRUE Health are:
BELIEVE
THINK
EAT
MOVE
 
Believe:  Believing is really more about KNOWING.  Not just knowing WHO you are, but knowing “WHO’S” you are.  Knowing God by receiving His love and  SURREND’hering your heart to Him is the path to your greatest life possible.
 
Once you KNOW God, you can BE who God created you to be.   This becomes the WHY for your Fit and Healthy Life.
 
 
Think: As you step into the promises of God, you will transform your life “by the renewing of your mind.”  You will learn to THINK new thoughts that are aligned with God and your Spirit within.  This is incredibly powerful and finally allows you to let go of the performance-based, possession-based or popularity-based version of worth  you’ve likely been living under.
 
By THINKING better, you will SEE your body and your health in new light and will seek greater understanding and wisdom for what God desires for your body.
 
 
Eat:  Now that you KNOW who you are and can SEE your health for its truth, you will have a greater understanding and desire to eat those foods that give you the most life.  You will let go of your addictions and idolatry of food and instead taste and see that the Lord is good.  Food will be enjoyed, but not worshipped. 
 
 
Move: As you are appropriately fueled by food, you will have the abundance of energy to move more and do more.  You will no longer settle for mediocre versions of your health, but seize the opportunity for abundant living.  Motivated to showcase to the world the light of life you feel from the inside out.
 
 
5.  You Try to Implement “EVERYTHING AT ONCE."
 
We humans love a polarized way of life. We think we have to be “All IN” or “All OUT.”  When it comes to "health" goals, we think we have to start with a blank slate and just build up ALL of the health goals we desire.
 
Trying to implement 10-12 new habits all at once is nearly impossible.  Even if you’re successful at a few, you wind up feeling defeated by those tough ones you couldn’t quite hack.  It makes you want to quit them all or settle for a mediocre version of success.
 
Your best bet is the put on the mindset of ENDURANCE, PATIENCE, and SELF CONTROL as you play the moderation card.  This means setting just 4 “BIG ROCK” goals at a time and stick to them for minimum 60-days for habit success before going for another one!  Think of just ONE thing you can do in each of the 4 categories that will have the biggest impact on your health.  
 
Then, after a year, you will have implemented 24 "BIG ROCK" changes and your life will be transformed!  This is the pace to go if you are racing to win!
 
 
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If these 5 tendencies resonate with you, and you’d like some more tools to help you create your HEALTHIEST YEAR YET, I would like to invite you to participate in a FREE 4-PART MASTER CLASS ON TRANSFORMher HEALTH 2016.  Click HERE to be put on the waitlist and the first to reserve your spot!
 
I’ll be covering all four topics of True Health {BELIEVE, THINK, EAT, MOVE} and teach on a specific and usable tool for each category.  All teachings will be covered in live webinars with a Q&A session to help you with any specific question you have regarding your health in 2016.
 
If you’d like to learn more about living that SURREND’hered life, you can sign up HERE and receive my FREE STRONG’her Starter Kit!  It’s all you need to start feeling high energy and STRONG’her today!
Categories
Health Coaching Spiritual Health Uncategorized

“You’re not bad at it, you just haven’t learned it yet.”

What are the stories you have been telling yourself about your health and body these days?

Are you telling yourself you’re not capable of being in shape? Are you telling yourself you are never going to overcome your serious sweet tooth and overeating tendencies? Are you miserable while eating your healthy food selections and watching the “skinny” girls eat all they want and not gain any weight?

Our health can be one of the most stressful factors we deal with. Last week, I learned a valuable lesson in probably the only other category of our life that is equally as stressful, if not more-> MONEY. I learned some great insight into the “story we tell ourselves” that I think will help you re-write your story today too whether about health, money or whatever!

Here’s how it went down….

The other day, I was at my counselor’s office having our monthly chat. We see her mainly as a marriage counselor, but I go to her independently too. I have found that I really value having a professional to go to for the times where those really tough circumstances come up, as they inevitably do, and I don’t necessarily want to always air my dirty laundry on my mom, friends or husband. If you have never tried seeking a pro, it truly changed my life. She and I were discussing a heated discussion my husband and I had recently had regarding money. Money is just one of the toughest subjects to talk about, ever. No matter how much you may have or don’t have, money is stress-inducing. And as the Bible states, “To whom much is given, much is required.” Being new to the amount of financial responsibility my husband has, there is a significant learning curve I feel the weight of. I have come to realize that whenever he seems to be stressed about money, I internalize it (well, and make it about me, darn it.) I start to think about all the ways that I have not been stewarding and spending money very wisely, often spending out of haste and convenience and just plain old ignorance. Financial stress is something that many people deal with. But it is important to realize that there are ways to get this aspect in your life back on track. Whether someone has decided to start saving for a holiday, budget for retirement, or maybe just wants to learn how to manage their finances better, having a reason to take charge of this situation might make it easier for a lot of people to save money.

I will start to internalize it so much that I will start to regret the very things that have been intended gifts of love from my husband. “Oh, he’s stressed about money, I should never have had that destination wedding….” “Oh, he’s stressed about money, I should have just kept my old car….” “Oh, he’s stressed about money, why did I get so carried away at Whole Foods the other day?”

Let me be clear, these are all actually very valid introspections for me. You learn the best by making mistakes and realizing them from hindsight.

There are some ways I spend money that does not actually align with the kind of woman I want to be and am called to be. I will need to change what I DO in order to BE who God intended me to be. However, my mind takes this ideal and distorts it in a destructive way. This is something we all do. As I was explaining this particular conversation I had with my husband to my Dr., I told her this.

“You see, I am really bad with money….”

And she immediately corrected me. “You’re not bad with money! You just haven’t learned how to do this yet. You are still learning and you need to give yourself some space and grace to process this. It’s a change for you.” Wow, without even realizing it, I just exposed my SHAME. She was right! I had only just discovered that you could get a credit card for no credit history to help build your credit or take out small personal loans at the bank. After listening to her, I decided not to be so tough on myself. Bene Brown, renowned Author of Daring Greatly and many other best selling books, explains the difference between feeling guilty and feeling shame is in that word “AM.”

It’s the difference in saying, “I did something bad” and “I AM bad because I did x,y or z.”

Shame is really common but really destructive and tend to traps us subconsciously. I had taken something I’m inept and uncomfortable with and actually internalized it to mean that “I AM BAD.” My brain will convince me of a distortion of this truth by convincing me of a story that “I AM bad” and then I act from a place of that story instead of acting from a place of my Truth. This means, I act from a place of insecurity, instead of a place of patience and grace that is required for the learning process. I learned from Rick Warren, that the natural ramifications of my insecurity will manifest in 3 ways: I either get:

DEFENSIVE-I start to justify all the reasons why I am the way I am (i.e. bad with money) –DEMANDING– I start to demand that my husband help me with the expenses more. –DISTANT-I’ll avoid the subject and focus instead on something I do feel like I’m good at.

The problem with all three of those responses is that it doesn’t actually fix the subject at hand and it causes issues in our relationship. Inevitably, these insecurities and resulting issues are going to come up again until I fix the root issue and finally stick with LEARNING THE PROCESS better. I realized, I need to reframe my intention back toward LEARNING how to be wise with money and it will be an ongoing education. There’s plenty of educational resources online on how to manage your personal finances, such as MyInforms, so I wasn’t concerned about their being a lack of literature out there.

SO, let’s flip this back to health.

With those thoughts that you have, perhaps subconsciously, been convincing yourself is your “truth” (like, “I am bad at eating/exercise/sticking with a program”) is it possible that you too are just internalizing something you simply have not yet LEARNED yet?? You might be thinking, “Yeah, but Amanda, I’m not new to my body? I’ve had time to learn, and yet I still feel like I have no idea what I’m doing? To that, I think it’s important to understand the complexity of our body. Because our body’s are always changing, we are constantly having to adapt to the ramifications of the changing hormones and metabolic factors (including stress!). So what might have worked for you 10 years ago won’t necessarily work for your body where it is now. Maybe in some ways, but not completely. You have to commit to the process of LEARNING how to take care of what your body is doing this year. In that same way that I had learned how to spend money as a single person just fine, but I still needed to learn how to spend money as a married woman with a whole lot more expenses, you too will always need to adapt to the changes your body may have faced in the last year. Sometimes you may be in desperate need of something but don’t have the funds necessary to attain it. In situations likes these, it may be wise to apply for credit; but before you do, get your free report here. And just like I was exposed the negative ramifications that came from internalizing my shame in the way I would become DEFENSIVE, DEMANDING or DISTANT, you too need to be aware of your own reactions to the story you have convinced yourself too. Realize that if you simply change your story from ” I am BAD at eating healthy or exercising” to “I am in the process of learning about my body this year” you will release yourself mentally from having to be an expert in it right now. Instead, allowing yourself some grace in the space of learning. This week, what are you going to seek and learn about what your body needs from you? What are some things you need to investigate and learn about?

  • Maybe you have been experiencing some digestive issues and you need to learn about what foods might be causing your issues.
  • Maybe you have been experiencing some joint and body aches and you need to learn some new ways of stretching and exercising to help alleviate the pain but keep you feeling strong.
  • Maybe you have a life change going on that is keeping you busy and you need to learn some new rituals to streamline your health so you can still maintain a healthy system required for the additional roles you are facing.
Categories
Goal Development Health Coaching Uncategorized

The Quit Quitting Plan

"You can pray for anything, and if you believe you have received it, it will be yours." Mark 11:24

So, we’ve all been there before.

You make changes to your exercise and nutrition routines.  Cut back on those extra desserts, fried foods and other things you love.  You feel great off the start, see some results right away and that motivates you to stay the course….for a time.  

But then, it comes.  Boredom.  Willpower drainage.  The awkward conversation with your husband/boss/sister/girlfriend/mom that emotionally triggers you to reach for that bag of Cheetos or old stale cookies in the back of your pantry.  

Ugh, you just want to quit.  What's the point in trying?  

#AmIRight? 

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If I’m being honest...

I have QUIT every single diet I have ever been on.  

 As a bonafide emotional eater, I couldn’t hang with any “program” I tried to willpower my way through because my emotions ruled my life and my eating behavior.  

  • If I was happy, I would eat. 
  • If I was sad, I would eat. 
  • If I was stressed, I would eat. 
  • If I was bored, I would eat. 
  • When I felt defeated and wanted to quit…..you guessed it, I. Would. EAT!  

  This overwhelming emotional state of living was not working well for my health aspirations.  While I usually tried to compensate for my eating by just exercising more and more (and more), during certain seasons of my life where I was too busy to find time for the gym, my weight crept up easily.

 At one point,  in the course of just 6 months, I went from a healthy 160ish lbs (standing at 5’10”) to 180 lbs.  I was miserable and ashamed but felt stuck.  

I had been actively *dieting* right up to this point.  But the overwhelm from the stress I was feeling, well, you get the picture.  I felt too overwhelmed and just quit trying.  

 But luckily, things can change...

Today, I am happy to say that I NEVER quit anymore. 

It’s not because I don’t have emotional eating tendencies, I still do from time-to-time, although I have a better handle on those too, but because I have built my LIFESTYLE approach to my health and am no longer *ON A DIET* which would necessitate having to *QUIT* my health plan. 

I have experienced a freedom that can only come from doing the inside work on my Spiritual life and my relationship with God.  This has allowed me to find these KEY True Health Habits  that guide me to a healthy living for my BODY, MIND and SOUL.  I no longer rely on my emotions to guide my actions, including any tendency to quit, and I am so happy to share with you my...

 

TOP 5 HABITS TO STAY THE COURSE WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE QUITTING!

1. RITUALIZE YOUR HABITS:  

A habit by itself gets boring really fast.  But when you take the time to ritualize your habit, meaning, you think about now just WHAT you are going to do but HOW you are going to do it in a way that you can enjoy, you keep things enjoyable.  

This means anything from wearing your favorite outfit to the gym, rocking out to a specific playlist on the treadmill, buying a special mug and blanket for you to sit with some hot tea at night instead of that glass of wine. 

Any way that you can add some special and personal enjoyment into otherwise monotonous habits will serve you in helping you feel more *REWARDED* in the process of your health.

 

2. VISUALIZE YOUR SUCCESS:  

Study after study shows that visualizing yourself succeeding in an action is  JUST as powerful as physically practicing the action.  Check out some studies here.  

And, as I always reiterate at A.Wright Fit, from a high level Spiritual standpoint,  it is important to KNOW that God has designed you for something specific and special in this world—a Greater Purpose for your life that only YOU can do, no one else.  Your health is a significant factor in helping you achieve all that you can out of life.  You are to live and THRIVE by God’s work in you and through you.

If you take the time close your eyes and visualize yourself as this future self, your Greater Purpose self,  and focus on her and what success looks like on her, you will train your brain to propel you toward becoming her.  

This is why my motto is STRONG’her, WISE’her, SURREND’her because we must all keep visualizing our own her that God will help us to become.

 

3. JOT DOWN YOUR LESSONS:  

Throughout any process and journey in our life, we are learning so many lessons, and unfortunately the HARD way.  What seems to happen more often than not, we have to learn things the “hard way” about 30-50 times in order for us to finally *GET IT.*  

But it doesn’t HAVE to be this way.  By starting a lesson journal you are saving yourself quite a bit of time.  By writing down your lessons you are committing them to memory in a better way. If you then read and re-read that journal from time to time, you are further conditioning yourself to remember what you are learning and to keep applying it.

Studies show that it takes 21-days for the neurons in our brain to actually create a MEMORY and a full 63-days to form a HABIT.  

Starting a Lesson Journal is a clear way to help keep this process going!  Plus, the satisfaction from real life lessons is incomparable in hindsight.  To look back on all that you learned helps you endure through painful experiences in the future too!

 

4.  SHARE YOUR JOURNEY WITH YOUR *PEOPLE*:  

You are designed for community and so every opportunity given by God also is an opportunity to connect and share with others.   Knowing you have friends or family in the background that are backing you gives you more incentive to stay the course.  

Choose wisely those people you can share your journey with.  Find those people that will be your true Accountability Partners in life, meaning that they account for your abilities and not just your disabilities. You don’t need people that point out your mistakes or guilt you into better behavior.  You need people that can see you the way God sees you and you should do the same for them!  Believe that they will become the person that God will’s them to be too!

 

5. ACT AS THOUGH YOU’VE ALREADY WON: 

This is everything!  God has designed you for Greatness and to WIN in life, and, now have taken the time to even visualize yourself as her, you have nothing else to worry about in this health quest.

 
It’s already been DONE for you.  There is no waiting necessary, really.  
 
"You can pray for anything, and if you believe you have received it, it will be yours." Mark 11:24
"You can pray for anything, and if you believe you have received it, it will be yours." Mark 11:24

Because while you think you are after the specific MEASURED success (which is not a bad thing to have a measurable goal in mind, they do work), you are really after a FEELING, which you actually have ability to choose NOW.  You are her NOW.

In Faith, know that if God has put it on your heart to want to achieve a level of health you do not embody yet, He has also paved the way for you to actually DO IT.  You have all you need because you have God within you.  Focus on Him within and act accordingly. 

Categories
Goal Development Health Coaching Uncategorized

What a Difference A Year Makes

33 Birthday Lessons

32

It's been an incredible year!   I have taken over 47 flights.  I have traveled to 9 countries and over 15 cities, domestically.  I became wife.  I became a *bonus*mom (of a toddler!).   We moved to a new city and learned the art of making new friends.  I started a new kind of company and stepped into a calling.  I spoke openly about my Faith and became a writer.  I overcame some significant strongholds and for the first time felt the presence of God, tangibly.   I also was privileged to coach over 23 women personally, which means I fostered 23 intimate relationships with women in over 11 different cities nation-wide.  Every single day, I focused myself on how I could grow and teach others the ways of living STRONG'her and WISE'her by SURREND'hering more and more to God. 

All of this was done in the 32nd year of my life.

I of course don't say this to boast or even martyr myself in the least bit.  It was just a big year!  While it was incredibly busy and frankly a whirlwind of a life change, I have come away with possibly the greatest year EVER! Through the willingness to embrace all this change has come an abundance of lessons and the cultivation of characteristics and virtues that I didn't even realize were possible.   I screwed up a lot.  I had panic attacks and full on melt downs on the regular.   But, I leaned in and withstood the storms and experience sheer joy time and time again.  I learned to #FailForward, #FailFast, #FailFaithfully. I heard of this great idea of keeping a journal of all of the lessons you learn in life (as you inevitably screw up) so you actually remember what you learn and don't have to relearn it the hard way again.  While I didn't start this particular lesson journal in October of last year, but I did acquire quite a few lessons nevertheless!    

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So, for my birthday today and the welcoming of my 33rd year of life, I would like to offer you 33 lessons I learned last year through all my mayhem.

33 Birthday Lessons

  1. There are over 7,000 promises that God gives us in the Bible.  When you find one that resonates with your current need, circle it and pray on that every day.    "For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call on me and come to pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."  Jeremiah 29:11-13

  2. Sometimes you just have to shut up and pray.

  3. There is a huge difference between a promise and a VOW. 

  4. It's ok to say "no" to something "good" so you can say "yes" to something "great."

  5. When you say you're sorry, you can't add a "but" to the end of it, otherwise it doesn't count.

  6. Talking openly about your Faith is extremely hard and even more humbling when you realize how small your Faith really is.

  7. Nagging people to change never actually works.  They might appease you for a second just to get you to pipe down, but it doesn't work in the long run.

  8. Setting boundaries in how you let others treat you is a way of showing them love.  You are offering them a chance to see the Truth of who you are so speak with gentleness and stand firm in your truth.

  9. The opposite of love isn't hate, the opposite of love is fear.  When you worry, you cannot love.  When you are loving, you cannot worry.   "Perfect love drives out fear" (1 John 4:8).

  10. Asking someone "Why?" is not nearly as inviting as asking someone to "Tell me more about that?"  You get much less of a defensive response.

  11. Sometimes you think you are allergic to foods when really you are allergic to STRESS.

  12. You can get so much more done when you make a list of the top priorities of your day and just do those things.  

  13. There is a perfect  rhythm of working HARD for 90-mins and then taking a short break to do something Physical or Spiritual.  This rhythm makes you far more balanced and efficient, helping you get so much more done WELL.

  14. You can be content in all circumstances by seeing with grateful eyes.

  15. You must not neglect your gift.  You must grow it, cultivate it and give it away.

  16. So what, you're weird.  Radically accept that.   "Those the mind don't matter and those that matter don't mind."-Dr. Seuss

  17. There is true bliss that comes from giving into your "Happy Weight."

  18. "Live not by works, but by Faith."  Busyness does not get you any points with God.

  19. You can actually rewire your brain by visualizing your "future self" and SURREND'hering to her as you make decisions.

  20. God's capacity to give far exceeds our capacity to receive.

  21. There is a distinct difference between "No" and "Not Yet" with God.  Patience is everything.

  22. Comparison is the thief of joy.  We should join in the praise when we see God's blessings on others lives.

  23. Take your environment seriously and it will radically shift your life.  From the people you put yourself around, to the things you watch and read, and the spaces you design for your own work and creativity.

  24. God designed us for Prosperity.  Not understanding the proper value of your TIME will consistently hinder that.

  25. To change any bad habit, including the habit of fear, you must always REPLACE the habit and focus your intention on what you DO want to become.   I suggest love.

  26. Neuroscience now proves a MEMORY is formed after 21-days of intentional thought and dwelling.  A HABIT is formed after 3 cycles of that for a total of 63 DAYS.  For. one. habit.  Focus only on the 'Big Rocks' that matter and will have a bigger impact on your life. 

  27. Those whom are hardest to love are always those that need the most love.  Their insecurity makes them difficult, demanding and distant.   Your love and respect can cure them of all that. 

  28. You learn your true identity and Greater Purpose from others, not by yourself.  God designed us for community. 

  29. "Joy doesn't come from what you have, joy comes from what you know can't be taken from you."  Rick Warren

  30. Your soul is where your body meets your power source. 

  31. It's just like God to take our sinful, selfish acts and decide to bless us anyway.  "God works for the Good of those who love Him." (Romans 8:38)

  32. "Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy and creativity." -Brene Brown

  33. You are so very WORTHY of it all.  Spiritual magic happens when we seek to see ourselves and others the way God see us.  Our worth to Him is endless.

Categories
Spiritual Health Uncategorized

Embrace the Space: Why the G.A.P Method Works!

GAP

I have characterized the majority of my life as feeling like a solid B+ student wishing she were an A.  Across the board, I have felt this lacking and longing that I could be just a little better than I was.  In my looks, my body,  my intellect, my athletic capability, even my Faith! 

There always feels like there is this space between where I am and where I want to be.  Do you know the feeling? 

I feel this space also in my relationships!  You can feel the tension and the gap between where I am coming from and where, say, my husband is coming from on any conversation or subject. 

These gaps in our life can leave us feeling completely inadequate and lacking in various ways.  Like the dangling carrot on a stick in front of our nose,  we will never quite get there.  For some, it may make them want to just give up and quit!  For others, it will become a perpetual obsessive cycle to become “enough.” 

But, what I have come to learn, that these gaps in our life are the greatest gifts we can ever receive and a brilliant design by God. 

So, not only am I going to explain why you should say a prayer of thanks for your gaps in your life today, but I will give you a great tool to remind you of their magnitude to store in your heart for your next moment of inadequacy!

When we study God’s word and reflect on His nature and character sewn throughout, we can see what an act of love our own insufficiency can be.  Because, without our own GAPS in life, we would not have enough room and space for God.

God designed us to need Him and wholly depend on Him for our entire life.  Without these great spaces in our lives, we would not have that longing for Him.  Nor would we have the chance for Him to bless us in such astonishing and over-the-top ways.

He blesses us in spite of us.  Paul reminds us in Romans 3:23 NIV “for all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.” 

So whether you are the Pope or Mother Theresa, you too fall short of the Glory of God. 

If life were a literal race and we were all running from coast to coast, there will be some that will be better than others, sure.  But in the end, no man is able to run non-stop all the way to the finish line.  We ALL will fall short.   

There is a GAP between where we are in our sin and where God is in His Holy throne.  We cannot get there while on this Earth. 

The Good News….

BUT,  BUUUUUUUUUUTTTTT, God is Good, ALL THE TIME and He takes these blessed GAPS in our life and transforms them into exactly what we need!  How?  By bridging the G.A.P and filling that space.

You can use this acronym to remind you of exactly what your GAPs in your life really represent!

G:  Grace

The space between REAL you and PERFECT you will be filled with God’s Grace.  It is with Grace that God sent His son Jesus down to live and die as a sacrifice for our sins we are committing now. 

This Grace is what fills up this universe sized space between our sinful nature and God’s nature. 

When we feel insufficient, we are reminded by God that, “My grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV)

He takes our insufficiency and transforms it with His Grace.  We are sufficient and purposeful because we fall short.

The best part is, that God’s grace is FREE.  You cannot earn it or buy it!  All you have to do is believe to receive. 

So if you have not yet received God in your heart and are ready to unload this burden of trying to be perfect all on your own, it is time that you give your heart a break and choose to believe in Christ today.  Your Faith does not have to be perfect to trust and believe, it just has to be from the heart.

You can do it right now and say in your heart,  “God, I choose to believe that you love me and sent your son to die for me.  I ask for your presence and guidance in my life, to be my Lord and save me.  Amen.”

God will take care of growing your Faith and all of the questions that you have.  You don’t have to prove Him to yourself, He will handle it.  Just believe and you will receive.

A:  Abundance

 The second reminder is that when we feel like we are lacking in qualities, outcomes, characteristics, and even Faith, God is our ABUNDANCE. 

One of the greatest gifts you can have is to think with an abundance mindset.  To know that no matter what, there is always more where that came from. 

If someone stole your great invention, there will be an even greater invention down the line. 

If you didn’t get the great job promotion that you worked so hard for, there will be an even better opportunity coming shortly. 

All of dreams that seem impossible with your current circumstances, are POSSIBLE with God. “Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

Having that GAP in between the reality and your expectation, leaves room for the Great HOPE for tomorrow that only God can provide.  God gives us Hope with His Abundant nature.

“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,”  (Ephesians 3:20 NLT)

P:  Power

These very spaces of inadequacy and gaps in our alignment become the areas where we gain our greatest courage, strength and POWER. 

Going back to the verse in Romans, not only do we see that God’s grace is our sufficiency, but is also our POWER because God’s Power becomes our Power.

“My grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV)

When we are weak, He is STRONG. 

When we feel afraid, He is our COURAGE.

When we want to act out in anger, He is our LOVE.

All of these attributes become our very power within us to withstand every circumstance and failure in life. 

Whatever we are lacking, God exceeds and it is in HIS Might that we are so capable. 

The next time you feel the weight of the space between you and your goals, expectations, and progress, remember your GAP is your Guide.  

It is easy to keep putting more pressure on yourself to try harder or to give up rather than give IN to the God that created you, but I assure you, seeing these spaces as the Grace, Abundance and Power that you need to excel will quickly show you how incredibly rewarding our Faith can be!

Categories
Food & Nutrition Health Coaching Uncategorized

FAT LOSS DIARIES: These 5 Factors Can Mess With Our Metabolism the Most

Fat Loss Diaries

As I mentioned the other day, my road to the the ultimate LEAN life lead to a majorly disrupted Metabolism! I’m currently 2.5 years “post bikini-show” and I am still trying to help get my metabolism recovered! A lot of women struggle with their metabolism, especially as they get older so I know I’m not the only one with this issue. Some women struggle with metabolism so much that fat loss can seem almost impossible. Many prefer to take a surgical route in their weight loss journey, including things like liposuction offered by people like Dr. Paul Fortes. However, there are other ways to lose weight. There are lots of factors that affect our metabolism and weight gain so it’s usually very dependant on the individual. For example, my friend has to get Indolemax from Amazon to help control her weight because her estrogen levels aren’t correct. This also helps with her menopause so it helps her in two different ways! The importance of our metabolism is because we want to be able to EAT NORMAL amounts of food and stay pretty lean!

Our METABOLISM MATTERS big-time if we are trying to live a balanced life. We need to take care of our bodies and take things slow, showcasing the necessary patience and endurance to do this the (w)right way. (Click here for my favorite scriptures to help you with ENDURANCE!)

First, let me preface this next specific topic about your Metabolism by saying there is SO MUCH MORE to learn that I simply cannot fit into one blog. In fact, I wrote an entire MODULE PROGRAM in my Health Coaching programs that goes over all the important factors you need to know about your Metabolism (Module #2: WISE’her Metabolism).

To check out more information on my HEALTH COACHING programs, click HERE.

Nevertheless, in my QUEST TO FIX MY DAMAGED METABOLISM, I have learned the 5 BIGGEST VILLAINS TO SUSTAINABLE FAT LOSS EFFORTS.

Prepare to hate this list with me! But….knowledge is power and power provides excellence!

  1. ALCOHOL: Ok, this one can hurt most of our feelings. You might have read my journey to cut back on this in my WINE-NOT series a few months ago. But there is nothing more relaxing, in my opinion, then a nice glass of wine after a long day. Most of us do consider alcohol our ultimate stress reliever and while that part *does* have some benefits for your Metabolism (by reducing your cortisol levels for a short period of time) it is FAR counteracted by the negative affects alcohol has on metabolic processes.
    Alcohol by itself is an high calories (at 7 calories per gram), empty-calories, no-nutrient entity that is a sugar, but a sugar that is especially reactive in our bodies. So much so that our bodies STOP PROCESSING all other metabolic processes (like other food or even our fat metabolism) in order to process the alcohol and get it OUT of the body by detoxing it through our liver and kidneys.
    So, drinking just 2 alcoholic beverages will slow down your metabolism by 80% (!!) for the following 4-hours. That’s why you tend to gain a lot of fat when you drink too much—hello beer belly!

Recommendation: Overall, if you want to lose fat, you are more than likely going to severely cut back on all alcohol. It was recommended to me to limit it to just 2-3 glasses PER MONTH.

2. CAFFEINE: So, this one is not ALL bad news. But the deal with caffeine is that the chemical causes a huge rush of the “Fight or Flight” hormones to cascade into high gear for up to 14-hours! That is, Cortisol, Adrenalin and NorAdrenalin. These hormones by themselves ultimately SLOW DOWN your Fat Loss because these stress hormones go into “Sugar Burning” mode instead of “Fat Burning” mode. (Jade Teta, Metabolic Effect)
SO, if you OVER CONSUME caffeine, you might be sending your body into “Fight or Flight” mode quite unnecessarily, all day long! UNLESS of course, you consume caffeine and then actually go and USE YOUR BODY, for something like, WORKING OUT! Stress hormones in the presence of Human Growth Hormone and Testosterone (those hormones that are produced when you weight train) actually HELP in Fat Loss. So it does have a nice condition.

Recommendation: Overall, cut back on caffeine unless it’s just before your workout. Green Tea is a much more metabolically stimulating drink of choice!

Your Daily Dose of Caffeine should be 2.5mg/Kg of your Body Weight.
For women of child bearing age, it is recommended to limit yourself to about 300mg/day.

Here’s a little research I did to put this in perspective for you:

Screenshot 2015-09-25 08.28.42

3. SLEEP: We have all heard this one a hundred times, but sleep is SO VERY VITAL for so many things, including your Fat Loss efforts. One interesting thing however is that you have to be careful not to get TOO LITTLE sleep (anything less than 7 hours) or TOO MUCH sleep (over 10 hours) both have adverse metabolic affects on your hormones.

Also, ever wonder why those all-nighters made you so hungry? Studies have shown that getting too little of sleep affects your HUNGER Hormones by increasing your hunger-producing hormones (ghrelin) and decreasing your satiety producing hormones (leptin).

The benefits of sleep is not only in our energy production for the next day, but during our sleep we also experience our HIGHEST Growth Hormone levels and Testosterone (mainly for men) that significantly boost the FAT BURNING machinery in our systems.

Recommendation: Get 7-9 hours of sleep per night. To help yourself fall asleep and stay asleep, avoid caffeine in the afternoon and avoid your TVs and devices 1 hour before bed time (the blue light in them activate our “awake” responses in our Circadian Rhythm clocks). Try to go to bed and wake-up at the same time every day, as this has been shown to help you get in the proper Circadian Rhythm cycle flow.

4. REFINED SUGAR: Refined Sugar, or any sugar that causes a huge Glycemic surge, is an Fat Loss nemesis. The more the food spikes our blood sugar, the more it will send in a rush of insulin, and essentially slow fat-loss. Then, as your blood sugar gets too low (which inevitably happens after the bad rush of Glucagon to break down the insulin), this triggers a the HUNGER hormones (ghrelin) to come in full force again! This is why, when you eat refined sugary foods, you are not full for very long. It is burned quickly and makes you hungry sooner, all while NOT Fat Burning.

Recommendation: Eat foods lower in Fructose and low on the Glycemic Index charts, meaning, more complex and fiber rich starchy carbs. A great resource for low-glycemic foods is HERE. I copied a graphic from Low GI Health website too that I found really helpful.

Low GI Health

5. FOOD INTOLERANCES: This one was a surprise to me, but I learned very quickly after my bikini competition that I became very food sensitive and intolerant! I began experiencing very painful digestion issues that caused me so much issues that it’s taken over 2 years to truly figure out all of the “issues” I have (which are far and above just digestive issues by the way!).

But the reason why food intolerances can affect your fat loss efforts in a variety of ways. If our gut lining in unable to break down certain foods or the gut lining ins compromised in some way (leaky gut syndrome, for example) then it will limit the ABSORPTION of the vital vitamins and minerals (which is done predominantly in the intestines). Our vitamins and minerals are HUGE factors in making Fat Loss happen because they are the agents that “turn on” all of the “machinery” needed for Fat burning.

Not only that, but our guts also are huge factors in our stress responses (I carry my stress in my gut which has a huge factor on my digestion too!) and even our cognitive thinking!

RECOMMENDATION: At some point in your life, I recommend doing an Elimination Diet. I prescribe a specific one in my Health Coaching program (Module #3- Nutrient Based Eating) but there are many others. Whole 30, the Daniel Plan, Metabolic Effect, and Precision Nutrition all have varying programs. My friend Lisa Suazo, owner of also hosts a “CLEAN CLUB” that goes through this elimination process too she learned about from the book by Dr.Alejandro Junger, CLEAN.

Overall, these 5 factors can have SIGNIFICANT delays and negative delays on your Metabolism and Fat Loss efforts if not carefully considered.

With ALL things for your body, start with just ONE AREA and determine some new, healthy habits to focus on for a few weeks consistently. Then, as you get those down, add on another habit or two. Soon enough, you’ll be stocked full of all kinds of new habits that will start to really add up to some SUSTAINABLE, HIGH METABOLIC Fat Loss success!

As always, feel free to comment below or email me at amanda@amandawrightfit.com with any questions!