Success Stories

I love fitness success stories...

Here's one of a 42 year old home school mom who left a job as a nurse 15 years earlier to be home with her kids. She loved to teach and plan meaningful activities for her three growing children. She poured her life into developing her children and thrilled herself in the process of influencing them for good. In her down time she read and prepared and cleaned and did and did for her family. Although she loved her busy life serving her family, she began to notice how sedentary her lifestyle was becoming and how truly neglectful she was becoming of her own wellness. She used to be active, in great shape with boundless energy and missed the sense of strength and well-being she had had from earlier days. How long ago that all seemed. Troubling thoughts about the swiftness of time came in like a flood and jolted her into action. The last 15 years were a blur. Where would she be in the NEXT 15 years? The picture she imagined in her mind was not pleasant. A new urgency for change pressed in and did not let up.

Almost immediately, she started walking. She even found a new desire to get off to the gym early enough to lift a few weights before the day's agenda had a chance to demand her full attention. The more consistent she was the more her body craved and then demanded what it desperately needed. She hated missing. Without dieting or going into any specific program she began to see the pounds melt away. Her husband began to notice and admired what he saw. He complimented her and praised her for her new determination. Friends too began to notice and wondered if they should join her in her new found discipline. Eventually she made it down to the same weight she had before kids and was now working out up to 5-6 days a week. Her new routine included good heart-pumping cardio exercise everyday, muscle building, metabolisim increasing strength-training 3 times a week, and relaxing, rejuvinating yoga/pilates 2 times a week for at least one hour a day. She woke one day to find herself in her forties, looking and and feeling better than she ever had. She loved her life, and even more now that she had given herself permission to pursue this new energy-giving balance. A balance she determined she would not just begin with, but continue with for the rest of her life.

Her secret for this new determination from the beginning was to begin her new exercise routine (starting slow at first) with a new self-image. Picturing who she could be from earlier days and keeping that picture in mind until she accomplished the goal. She also filled her mind with truth about herself. "I am fearfully and wonderfully made. My body was made to function best through movement. I can celebrate who I am and glorify God through being thankful for how strong my body is capable of being. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength! God made me and loves me. I can give more to my family and friends when I am strong energetic and healthy. Exercising is part of my God-given duty to be a good steward of who I am."

You might like to try this too. Draw a picture of you swiftly running with no extra weight dragging you down. You are not huffing and puffing but rather breathing strong and steady taking in the refreshing breeze through your hair and the healing rays of the sun on your face. The adreneline and endorphins awaken a new energy deep inside and even though you are on your last mile you feel you could keep going. Or maybe for you it's going to be walking down your neighborhood trail and because of consistent strength training, you notice longer, leaner muscles as you pass by an unexpected reflection of yourself. Not that our physical appearance is all we think about, but a more beautiful you will emerge when you are healthier, more alive, and energetic and it's OK to enjoy that too.

What's your fitness success story? What better time to start picturing it than today. Rely on God who designed your body with a capability to replace what once was weak and troubling with strength, energy and new life.

Make it Happen!
~Donna