Posts tagged fitness motivation
30 Days of Motivation: Don’t Fool Yourself
Quote of the Day: “failure is not always about what you are doing, but more about what you are not doing.”
Scripture of the Day:”Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.” James 1:22
I wish I could record people’s conversations with me so you could get a real grasp on this concept. I have SO many people that list all the things they are doing right – but they are not getting results. The listen to what I’m saying, but they pick and choose what they want to apply. Then they just tell me the good stuff, and they withhold the stuff they aren’t willing to surrender yet.
Don’t let your good intensions cloud reality. If you aren’t getting results, it doesn’t matter how clean you eat, how much you lift and how often you run. If you aren’t losing the weight, or getting the results you want, you are clearly DOING plenty right – but you are doing something wrong.
Oftentimes it means you are eating too big of portions, too many calories, or getting the wrong substrates (fat, protein, carbs). My goal for you today is to encourage you to look at the balance between what you are doing – and what you are still not doing. Whether you are still drinking and still having your glass of wine at night, or still having your daily dose of chocolate. OR, maybe it’s your weekly cheat meal or date night that is sabotaging your progress. Whatever it is, please do not full yourself into thinking you can do enough right to erase your wrongs.
You can’t compete with what you eat – and getting results doesn’t just require hard work in the gym, but it requires a certain level of sacrifice in the kitchen and in your daily lifestyle. 
What is the first thing that comes to mind right now that you haven’t surrendered. That is probably the one thing standing in your way of success.
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30 Days of Motivation: Impossible Starts with the Possible
Quote of the Day: “Do the impossible by starting with the possible.”
Scripture of the Day:”What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.” Mark 9:23
You don’t have to be completely convinced you can do the impossible, but you do need to believe anything’s possible – but only if you try. The impossible doesn’t just happen on it’s own, without faith and at least an attempt to try.
Does someone become an olympic athlete by practicing the most difficult task? No. A gymnast will start with a forward roll on the ground before they advance to cartwheels, round-offs and back flips. They have to do what they CAN do first. Then they advance, one small challenge at a time.
This is how our workouts are. If someone can’t do a regular push up, they start on their knees. They may not even complete the movement in full range, but they do what they can, going deeper and deeper (with better and better form), each time they practice it.
If I had a dime for every boot camper, or member, who said they never DREAMED they’d be doing what they are doing now – I’d be filthy stinkin’ RICH! Sadly, many people don’t even begin to try because they can’t fathom what is possible. All they see is the impossible.
Be encouraged! Don’t think about all the things you CAN’T do, just do what you can – and eventually, over time, you will be doing things you never thought possible!!
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30 Days of Motivation: Don’t Erase Your Hard Work
Quote of the Day: I will not erase all the hard work I did in the gym this week with what I eat in the kitchen this weekend.
Scripture of the Day: “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Matthew 7:13-14
What this verse is saying is “Don’t do what everyone else does.” Everyone else does whatever they want on the weekend. Everyone else feels like the deserve the break. “We work hard during the week, let’s live it up on the weekend” some say – but how dumb is that?
Whether we are talking about how we eat, how we spend money or how we act, we should be protective over what we have worked hard on all week long – whether we worked hard to make money, for a good reputation, for spiritual growth, or to make progress toward our weight loss goals. Does it mean you completely live one day like none of that matters? Do we have an “OFF” day, as if no rules apply and the calories, actions, money or whatever don’t count? NO! What happens on the weekends doesn’t stay on the weekends! We carry that junk with us into the new week. Of course we can have small treats and fun, but we should be so dedicated to our goals, and to our standards, that we don’t go so overboard we erase 6 days of hard work on one day.
Sadly, this happens to so many people who in pursuit of a new weight or fitter body. Most people fail, not because they aren’t working hard enough in the gym, but because they aren’t working hard enough in the kitchen (especially on the weekends). They blow 5-6 days of sweat and tears on snacks and cheat meals. Even people who are eating healthy, still can eat too much.
Start becoming protective over your hard work in the gym. It comes with a cost – they are called calories. We burn them in the gym, and we need to protect that investment and prevent replacing them with irresponsible eating.
If you are trying to lose weight, commit to counting every single calorie you eat this weekend, even if you’ve never counted calories before. Before it goes in your mouth, look it up and add it up. Once you know the real cost of food, you will begin to budget your eating better and see the results you want! Have a great weekend everyone! More motivation tomorrow!!
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30 Days of Motivation: Adjust Your Focus
Quote of the day: “That amazing feeling you get when you finish your workout despite how hard it was, how tired you were, how weak you felt or how much you wanted to quit… Yeah, that feeling keeps me coming back for more.”
Scripture of the Day: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” Philippians 4:8
It is easy to let your mind think of all the excuses to not show up, all the reasons to quit too soon or all the reasons you are justified to not even try. However, we are to think on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable. We are not to focus on all the negative stuff that clouds are vision and keeps us from the things that are most important and most beneficial.
Remember constantly how good it feels to finish your workout, to do what is right, to have your priorities in order and to live a disciplined life. Success requires it – and God commands it too.
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30 Days of Motivation: Strength Starts In Your Mind
Quote of the Day: “Strength starts in the mind. Rule your mind or it will rule you.”
Scripture of the Day: “Therefore I always exercise and discipline myself [mortifying my body, deadening my carnal affections, bodily appetites, and worldly desires, endeavoring in all respects] to have a clear (unshaken, blameless) conscience, void of offense toward God and toward men.” Acts 24:16
I love what Horace said, “Rule your mind or it will rule you“. Our mind is our own worst enemy. When I think of my mind, I feel like I have an enemy at camp – a part of me that is not on my side. My mind seems to go against everything I know is good for me. It convinces me that I’m too weak, I’m too stupid and a multitude of other negative thoughts. I fail in my mind way before I ever fail in real life. HOWEVER, that only happens IF I let my mind run loose.
Self control in your eating, your training, your language, and your actions all starts with self control in your thoughts. The evidence of a controlled mind is you kill the thought as soon as it appears and you act on them less and less. But this takes practice (exercise). Sadly, most of us are tempted to camp there in that thought, feed it and let it grow. Whether it’s food, problems, anger, doubt or negativity, we have a choice as SOON as that thought comes up to either feed it or kill it.
There are SO many scriptures about controlling your mind, as God knows how powerful our mind really is. In Acts, Paul is quoted saying he has to “exercise and discipline” his mind. Another version says Paul strived to have a “conscience without offense”. If you know Paul, these words have a LOT more punch than they first appear. Paul (before he met Jesus) was a murderer. He did a lot of bad things. So you can only imagine what thoughts came to his mind after he realized his wrongs and decided to dedicate his life to the ministry. Guilt, doubt, frustration and regret are likely thoughts that wanted to rule his mind. I know they would if I were in his shoes. Of course this is my own speculation, but anyone who has messed up really bad in the past probably has these thoughts that want to creep back up and sabotage progress.
If I were him, I’d think I was the LAST person to be effective for the church. If he lived in our day, we’d call him a terrorist, yet he was called to minister to the very same people who he once murdered and hated. I also imagine he thought he wasn’t capable or worthy. He probably had to battle thoughts of the past daily, and all the regret that came with it. He said “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.” (Phil 3:13) The key point here is we can learn a lot from him, because if anyone had to battle his mind, it was Paul – and we are no different really.
We’ve all messed up. We can beat ourselves up for the things we’ve done, or we can kill those thoughts and feed thoughts of truth and hope. Whether we have thoughts and memories of poor choices, past failures or weight gain, we must learn to rule them or they will rule us. Even if it’s thoughts of regret for what we did yesterday (cheating on a diet, skipping a workout, etc) or if it’s thoughts of past failure from years of neglect or abuse, we must do what Paul did – forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.
Today, commit to exercising your mind as much as you exercise your body.
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30 Days of Motivation: No Regrets
Quote of the Day: “No one looked at their abs in a mirror and said “I wish I ate more pizza.”
Scripture of the Day: “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” James 1:13-15
If we know we won’t regret sticking to our diet, then why do we cheat? How do we fall into temptation?
As many times as I have read the story of Even in the garden and I never really thought about these 2 very powerful life-changing mistakes that led her into temptation.
1.) She was CLOSE to the one thing she was supposed to avoid. Why was she even hanging out around the tree that she was forbidden to eat from? Stupid right? Yet, we hang out with friends who are a horrible influence on us, and visit restaurants we have no business being around while dieting too.
2.) She was TALKING ABOUT the forbidden fruit. How ridiculous is that?! If we have issues with sweets, let’s say, should we go down the cookie and candy aisle? Should we really put our brain, and taste buds, through the torture of talking about it? The same way Eve should not have allowed herself to have a long conversation with Satan about whether she should eat the forbidden fruit or not, we too should avoid tempting conversation (EVEN WITH OURSELF) about things that are off limits. Trust me, just like Eve did, you can easily begin to doubt your beliefs, justify your actions, and before you know it, you have messed up.
Anything that is standing in the way of you being your best, and becoming the person God called you to be, has no place in your life – not now, maybe not ever.
Here are 4 Tips to Protecting Yourself From Your Greatest Temptations:
1. Know your weakness. Charles Stanley said, “One of the important things about temptation is, if I’m going to deal with it I’m going to have to recognize, this is an area of weakness in my life. I have been tempted here before and before and before.” You can’t possibly protect yourself from something you think is not an issue for you. Ironically, one of the hardest steps for addicts is to admit they are powerless over their addiction. They think they are making the choice, or there is a reason they do it. It’s not until they completely surrender and admit they are powerLESS, that they can become powerFUL!
2. Be willing to let go (for good). Some people can eat pizza occasionally and keep their weight off. Others can’t. If you are truly obsessed with food, you may need to treat it as a true addiction. Your whole thought process may not just need to change for a period (like while you are dieting), but forever. There are plenty of people who do cocaine and never get addicted. In the same way, you must know what you can and cannot handle. If you have dieted before, but gained the weight back, it’s likely that you simply set aside your addiction for later, instead of laying it down for good.
Be willing to let go of the things that are ruining you – not just for a period, but be WILLING to let go of them for life (if that’s what it takes). Anything that is standing in the way of you being your best, and becoming the person God called you to be, has no place in your life – not now, maybe not ever. It doesn’t necessarily mean you can never have it again, but letting go completely (and being OK if you never have it again , knowing you are trading it for SO MUCH MORE) is the first step toward a permanent change. Letting it go doesn’t just set it free, it sets YOU free.
3. Focus on what you are gaining, not what you are losing. So many people are SO busy focusing on what they are giving up, that they never truly realize what they are trading it in for. Is the freedom to order whatever you want at your favorite restaurant REALLY that much more important than losing weight, being fit and healthy, and feeling good about yourself? Your issue may not be the food itself, but giving up the “right” or “freedom” of doing what you want. Either way, the reality is most people are miserable when they are overweight and out of shape. They are insecure, depressed, restricted, physically uncomfortable, unattractive feeling, weak, out of shape, sick and tired. That is what poor decisions cost us. Personally, I can’t even think about what I want, or what I’m giving up. I just have to focus on what I’m GETTING – and it trumps my favorite treat any day.
4. Run from temptation. Not only should we not be around it, we have to physically and mentally work on getting the obsession of food out of our mind. I believe a lot of us struggle with things more than we should because we LET ourself fixate on it. We think about it, dream about it, talk about it and make future plans with it. When we diet, we even SEARCH for ways to still get it. Whether we look for the newest latest low-fat, gluten-free, paleo version of it, or whatever, we are still allowing our obsession to live with us.
Let’s think of it this way. Pretend it’s something that is SERIOUSLY WAY off limits – like another man or woman, an illegal drug, or breaking the law. We know to run from those things. We know not to focus on them. We know to push those thoughts out of our head as soon as they pop up. However, food can be just as dangerous if we LET those thoughts stay and take residence in our mind. They set up camp, they bring all their friends and, before you know it, they are ruling your body. If you want to really cut ties with your “drug of choice”, then you need to go to extreme measures to sever ties completely. With a drug addict, that means changing phones, blocking calls, deleting phone numbers, joining a support group, arranging people to hold you accountable daily, ending unhealthy friendships, changing your circle of friends, avoiding certain places, etc. AND, even if you do most of those things, if you don’t do it all you are still leaving an opening for failure. Are you running from temptation, only to leave a forwarding address so it can find you later?
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30 Days of Motivation: Finish What You Started
Quote of the Day: Commitment is finishing what you started even when you don’t feel like doing it anymore.”
Scripture of the Day: “Now finish what you began, so that your eagerness to do so may be matched by your eagerness to complete it.” 2 Corinthians 8:11
When we start something new, a diet, a workout, a way of life, a new relationship, etc. – they all have an excitement about them when you first start. The problem is that exciting newness will fade.
How necessary is a commitment on your first day of marriage, or first week, first month, first year? But how much more necessary is that commitment in year 5, 10, 15 and 20?
We wouldn’t need to make a commitment if it were easy. We make commitments because we know they will be hard. We know we will lose the excitement and motivation that got us started. That’s why we make a commitment to our spouse. We make that commitment to give them security that we will stay even when we don’t feel like it. That is the same type of commitment required for fitness – and that commitment should give us the security that we will get the results if we stick with it. We don’t have to feel like working out or feel like eating clean to get results. As long as we stay committed you will finish what you started.
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30 Days of Motivation: Taste This!
Quote of the Day: If you think Chocolate tastes good, wait until you taste success!
Scripture of the Day: “Taste and see that the LORD is good” Psalms 34:8
Someone recently was telling Steve how “lucky” he was for having such amazing dedication and self discipline, as if he had extra self-control super powers and dieting was easier for him than others. I have to laugh at this, knowing just how much he struggles with his diet. Why do people think it’s easier for the “fit people” to avoid sweets or not overeat? Then I realized, maybe it is a little easier for those who have already tasted success, because they realize success tastes better than the food they may have to give up.They know without a shadow of a doubt that it is all worth it.
It is hard to give up something for nothing, or for something they’ve never experienced before. It’s hard to invest in something when you have not yet enjoyed the even greater return. However, when you know how it feels to be fit, trim, feel good, feel more comfortable in your skin, feel stronger, feel healthier, etc., maybe it is a tad easier to stick with your diet. Then, trading regular coke for diet coke, or pizza for grilled chicken, seems easy.
I believe that is why scripture says “taste and see” (Psalms 34:8). God knows if we will just give Him a try, and taste His goodness, nothing will compare to it. I believe the same is true for fitness and taking care of our bodies. We are so fooled into thinking that certain foods, or living a certain lifestyle, is worth the extra pounds. However, if you’d just “taste and see”, I believe you’d realize nothing compares to living in a healthy body. Suddenly, sluggishness, heaviness, tight pants, high blood pressure, insecurities that follow weight gain, and all the repercussions of a lack of self-control make that lifestyle no longer worth it. But first, you must “taste and see” so you can make that comparison for yourself – because until you experience it yourself, you cannot fully understand and comprehend the reward.
Stick to your goals this year, long enough to truly taste and see how it feels to reach your goal – and I mean your dreamy goal, not your first goal. No! I’m talking about pressing on past what is good to what is great! Don’t stop short of your very best. THEN, you can say you’ve tasted success – and THEN, you’ll know just how good it really is and maybe then passing up the sweets or sticking to your plan will also be a little easier for you too!
A NOTE FOR DIETERS: Don’t get me wrong! Being fit doesn’t mean you never have chocolate again. However, when you are in the dieting phase and trying to lose weight, it may mean you are giving up some things (or not eating as much as you’d like of those things). The diet phase is more strict, but maintenance phase is much easier, and will allow room for occasional treats and freedom. The key is balance and accountability. Once a treat becomes a habit, the weight will creep right back on. Stick to your plan. I do promise it will be worth it. No one feels a set of tight tone abs and thinks “boy I wish I had eaten more pizza”.
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30 Days of Motivation: Make Yourself Proud
Quote of the Day: “Do today what will make you proud tomorrow.”
Scripture of the Day: God says, “I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live”. Deuteronomy 30:19
We don’t think of it this way, but the choices we make today determine our chances of blessings and curses we get later on. God gave us the choice. We can invest in life, or we can invest in death. The choice is ours.
Sure, bad things happen to good people, and vice versa, but we can expect a better healthier future if we make better healthier choices now. In the same way, we can expect a life of sickness, ailments, troubles if we invest in a lazier unhealthy lifestyle.
I see so many sick people who are suffering now simply because of how they treated (or neglected) their body years ago. I’m sure they didn’t think about how their choices would result in back pain, diabetes, obesity, etc. You can learn from those people. Don’t make that same mistake.
This year, decide to make better choices now – as an investment in a life you will be satisfied with (and PROUD OF) later.
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30 Days of Motivation: What Are You Really Giving Up
Quote of the Day: “Don’t worry about what you are giving up now. Worry about what you risk giving up if you quit pressing on.”
Scripture of the Day: “I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Philippians 3:14
When we start a diet, the first thing we think about is everything we are going to have to give up to reach our goal. We think about the food we won’t be able to eat, the parties we won’t want to go to (because we don’t want to be tempted) or the time we are going to have to invest in working out. What if we could change our whole way of thinking so this isn’t the first thought?
What if we changed our mindset and we were more concerned about what we are giving up if we eat the junkfood, skip our workout or don’t stick with our program. I mean, what is more valuable? The taste of our favorite cheat meal for 30 minutes or feeling comfortable and proud of our body for 24 hours a day?
This year, let’s focus on the prize more than the cost – because, honestly, the cost is so little compared to what we have to gain!!
