Being kind to your body

Recently I needed to go shopping to buy a long, formal gown for the Dance With Me princess ladies’ retreat in Springfield, MO. I haven’t worn a floor-length, formal dress in years, have put on a LOT of winter weight since last year, plus I am very picky when it comes to buying clothes. These things made the shopping an all-day event before I finally found a dress (on sale)! 

Although it felt great to dress up and look pretty, and I had a BLAST, after I looked at the pictures of the retreat I realized that I couldn’t tell myself that it was just that “the camera adds ten pounds.”  The camera doesn’t add THIS much weight. Yes, I seriously need to do something to get into shape!

My life/business coach Cindy Rushton and our daughter Heather Denney have both been inspiring me to lose weight this year through changing their eating habits and exercising, and I am now reading what I can on the subject and applying what fits (pardon the pun!). 

Cindy hired a fitness coach, changed her diet, and has now advanced from walking and working out in the gym to being in 5K races!  Heather started using The Belly Fat Cure diet (book by Jorge Cruise) and progressed from taking a zumba aerobics class to teaching one. Both women have lost an incredible amount of weight , physically and emotionally feel better, and look GREAT!

Over the past several weeks, I’ve been adjusting my diet to include more salads, less fats, and less sugar – and smaller portions!   

This past week when the sun began breaking through the rain clouds again, I began walking in the morning and in the evening, listening to my Ipod filled with good worship and podcasts. I dragged the mini-trampoline out of the closet that I haven’t seen since last year (the trampoline idea was taken two years ago from Donna Partow’s book Becoming The Woman God Wants Me To Be: A 90-Day Guide to Living the Proverbs 31 Life).  Doesn’t it sound fun to bounce your way to fitness? 

I am also conciously drinking more water and trying to eat more nutritious meals at home. It’s really all about being kind to your body, taking care of yourself physically so that you can do the things God has called you to do and to be.  We can’t fulfill our destiny in Christ to its greatest potential if we are out of shape or get sick – or even die prematurely.  I desperately want to reach my potential in Christ, doing and being all He has destined me to be, for His glory.

And of course I can’t do this – or anything else in life – without God’s help.  So I am praying each day for God to help me, offering my body, my lifestyle of eating, my exercising habits, my physical fitness to Him in prayer.  He will help you, too.  He made each and every one of us, and He wants us as healthy as possible, both for our own personal comfort and well-being’s sake and for His kingdom’s.

Drop me a line sometimes to ask how I’m doing to keep me accountable, okay?  What are you doing to get into shape this year?  I’d love to hear your ideas, and any comments or suggestions about physical fitness.  Be sure to read the article below by contributing writer and life coach Susan Liddy.

“Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, NLT)

Here is a GREAT, encouraging article on taking care of yourself by Life Coach Susan Liddy, 3 Tips To Getting Super-Charged!