Don't Give Up

I just wanted to write a post encouraging you to not give up. Yesterday you may have eaten too much. You may have not exercise this weekend.  You may have messed up a lot but God still loves you and you can do this. You are not alone, there are many people that are going through something also. I implore you to encourage someone today, even if you "feel" like you don't have it together and wonder how can I help somebody.  Your words of encouragement can encourage someone to continue on and not give up. You never know they may in turn encourage you also.

Loving and Living from the Inside Out.
Sharon

Struggling with Exercise

Here are some things we may say to ourselves when it comes to exercising:

• Why am I the only one struggling with exercising? 
• Why is it hard to find time to exercise? 
• I'm too big to exercise. 
• This is too hard for me. 
• They're skinny they don't understand what I go through. 
• I'm barely walking 1 mile everyday, and the recommend miles to walk everyday is what!!!
• I just don't have the energy or motivation to exercise. 
• Sorry exercise - It's too cold, I'm too tired, and I need some relaxation time.

Have you made any of these excuses lately on why you can't exercise or find the time to exercise? Well join the club, everybody has thoughts or excuses for not wanting to exercise, but they are just that THOUGHTS! A few weeks ago we talked about what words we are speaking over ourselves, now we need to focus on what thoughts we are thinking. 

I remember in the beginning I would think to myself I am going to have to lose weight the hard way. One day I verbalize this to a friend; she asked me is there an easy way to lose weight? It made me think; there is no easy way to lose weight. You WILL have to work hard no matter what "diet", exercise plan, or etc... you do. So if your not checking or examining your thoughts on your journey those thoughts you have can/will hurt  or be destructive to you during the process.

Did you see the words that are italicize in the above paragraph? The first word is think - what thoughts come to your mind when you think about exercise? The second word that is italicized is verbalize - What words are you speaking over yourself? This should make you think about what you are actually doing. Sometimes I thank about exercise as a chore (duty, burden, job); something I really don't want to do. Instead of thinking of exercise as a chore think of it as something fun and exciting. In the March 2013 newsletter there was a section on Fitness Fun that gave different options on incorporating fun in your fitness routine. Some of those ways were Zumba classes, dancing, housework, swimming, game console (Wii, Xbox, or PlayStation has fitness options), exercising with friends (this can help the time move along), hula hooping, and just going for a walk outside. It's time for us to stop thinking of exercise as a duty instead think of it as something that's fun and helpful also.

Exercise is one of my weakness on my journey, so I decided I would start off with small steps. I am currently walking at least 15 minutes a day doing the Leslie Sansone 1 mile express walk. You can easily found any of her videos on Youtube. I have also found some Zumba fitness videos. I am doing these while we still have cool weather but when the spring time comes i am planning on walking on the lake front. 

So what thoughts come to your mind when you exercise?

Struggling With Something - Check Your Thoughts!



Thoughts

Are you struggling with something like weight loss, exercising, eating right, .... Do you know what's really going on? I have a suggestion maybe you should check your thoughts. A few weeks ago we talked about the words we say now we are going to talk about the thoughts we think. I  wish I could have posted about this subject before I posted about the words we speak because the thoughts we think manifested in what we say.

 

I have personally been struggling in this area a lot lately. I have been wanting to write this blog for a while now but I didn't know how to encourage you about your thoughts when I am haven't totally conquered this area, so this is something I hope we can learn together. One of the areas I struggle in is my thoughts toward exercise.

 

Here are some things I think to myself when it comes to exercising:

• Why do I feel like I'm the only one struggling with exercising? 
• Why is it hard to find time to exercise? 
• I'm too big to exercise. 
• This is too hard for me. 
• The recommend miles to walk everyday is what!!! I can't do that.
• I just don't have the energy or motivation to exercise. 
• Sorry exercise - It's too cold, I'm too tired, and I need some relaxation time.

Have you had any of these excuses lately on why you can't exercise or find the time to exercise? Well join the club, everybody has thoughts or excuses for not wanting to exercise, but they are just that THOUGHTS!  What you think about something can shaped how you view it. If I think about exercise as a chore (duty, burden, job) then it becomes something that I don't want to do. But if I change my thoughts I can begin to look at exercising as fun and exciting.

Okay I know some people are like well that's fine for you but how do we change our thoughts?

The first step is to start off by examining your thought? Is the statement true or false? Let's take one of my thoughts about exercising " Why do I feel like I'm the only one struggling with exercising?" Now is this statement true? No it's false I am not the only on struggling with exercising.

The second step is to ask yourself is this statement caused by emotions? Yes this statement is caused by my emotions, a key element in knowing this is by the word "feel". What you feel may not be true.

The third step is to change your thought into something truthful, "I am not the only one struggling in exercising".

The final step is to take action, you can do this by asking yourself a question about you new statement. For example well if I am not the only one that has a struggle with exercise what did the other people do to help themselves? This question will cause you to research how to help yourself in overcoming your struggle.

When I researched for a answer to my question I found an article that helped me. (I apologize but I did not save the article if I find it I will post the link.) The author of the article was talking about how he challenged himself to do at least one push up a day. The objective was to give yourself such an easy task that anyone could do it; also it helps you to incorporate a small step into your process. By the time you do your task you most likely start to push yourself into doing more.

I decided to challenge myself into walking at least 1 mile a day. This would only take 15 minutes and anyone can do this. Well I have been doing this for a couple of weeks and I am enjoying it. Now there have been a couple of days where I'm getting ready for bed and I remember I haven't done my mile; so I get up and do my mile. I am currently doing this challenge for the month of March into April. I am considering adding another mile next week and doing that for a couple of weeks then changing accordingly, but I have to at least do a mile!

Do you see by changing my thought I was able to find a solution to a problem I was having? Do you have thoughts that are sabotaging you along this journey? What steps do you take to change your thoughts?


 

Side Note: Please know there are plenty of ways of incorporating fun in your fitness routine. Some of those ways are Zumba classes, dancing, housework, swimming, game consoles (Wii, Xbox, or PlayStation has fitness options), exercising with friends (this can help the time move along), hula hooping, and just going for a walk/run outside.

Sharon