Do You Need to Change Your Diet?
Good Morning Girls! I hope you are all doing well. I had a great time at the cabin in Wisconsin with my family. I had two of my nephews doing INSANITY with me and they both said "Auntie.....that stuff is legit!", which I believe means really tough in college boy lingo.
I have two weeks of it left.....and I am counting down the days. My ankles hurt. My butt hurts. I am sick of jumping. I am sick of push ups. I am sick of the dread I feel when I see the count down clock in the lower left side of the screen start at 59 minutes, 24 seconds or something like that. My max attention span is about 45 minutes. Anything after that is unnecessary torture in my book! I confess I have thought of quitting, but I know I can't. I will regret it forever.
Oh but I must look so smokin' hot by now right? Seriously, these workouts are so intense and shocking to the system, they must be changing my shape.....RIGHT? Yep.....they should. They should......but they are not. Would you like to know why they are not? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why I have actually gained 6 pounds rather than lost any (and I don't want to hear any crap from any of you about me getting on the scale.....yep.....I did it.....end of discussion!). Anyway, the reason I believe I have not only not lost....but gained weight is simple- I've been eating too much. Duh!!!!!
You see, because these workouts were so intense I kind of took it as a license to eat freely. I would try to follow a food plan, but by about 4pm I would be thinking things like "well it is summer vacation.......well I have been working out really hard.........I'm sure I will at least break even........I will deal with the eating later" The most prevalent thought was "the workouts will compensate for my poor eating". And I truly believed it.....or at least I wanted to believe it. I believed it despite me knowing full well that you cannot exercise hard enough to compensate for a poor diet. The body cannot burn off as much as we can put it on an ongoing basis if we continue to give it things it does not need. We cannot get stronger simply by working out harder......it just doesn't work that way.
You know, this reminds me of another Spiritual truth. We cannot compensate for our sins by hard work. All of the good things we do will not compensate for all the sinful things we have done, are doing, or will do. There is not enough time in the day to work off the sin. The more we try to compensate for wrongdoing by working hard, the more "weight" we put on. The weight we put on comes in the form of guilt, frustration, and feeling as though we will never get it right. The weight becomes unbearable as we try to earn our way back into Gods grace and mercy.....His "size 6 designer jeans" arms of love if you will. The weight is so heavy........
So what do you do when the burden feels too heavy? How do you get rid of this excess weight that is bringing you down? You change your diet. You stop feeding your soul on on your works.....and start feeding it on the love of Christ. Jesus is the only one you need to sustain you. Chew on his Word. Feast on His unfailing, ever faithful love. Drink in His goodness, mercy, and never ending grace. You will feel the extra weight of excess works and sin melt away. It's the easiest diet you will ever find!
As for me and my physical diet.....well, I am still working on that one. My answer may surprise you......I know it has surprised me.....but we will talk about that at another time..................
Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.
Love, peace, and fat free faith to you all,
Jen
I have two weeks of it left.....and I am counting down the days. My ankles hurt. My butt hurts. I am sick of jumping. I am sick of push ups. I am sick of the dread I feel when I see the count down clock in the lower left side of the screen start at 59 minutes, 24 seconds or something like that. My max attention span is about 45 minutes. Anything after that is unnecessary torture in my book! I confess I have thought of quitting, but I know I can't. I will regret it forever.
Oh but I must look so smokin' hot by now right? Seriously, these workouts are so intense and shocking to the system, they must be changing my shape.....RIGHT? Yep.....they should. They should......but they are not. Would you like to know why they are not? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why I have actually gained 6 pounds rather than lost any (and I don't want to hear any crap from any of you about me getting on the scale.....yep.....I did it.....end of discussion!). Anyway, the reason I believe I have not only not lost....but gained weight is simple- I've been eating too much. Duh!!!!!
You see, because these workouts were so intense I kind of took it as a license to eat freely. I would try to follow a food plan, but by about 4pm I would be thinking things like "well it is summer vacation.......well I have been working out really hard.........I'm sure I will at least break even........I will deal with the eating later" The most prevalent thought was "the workouts will compensate for my poor eating". And I truly believed it.....or at least I wanted to believe it. I believed it despite me knowing full well that you cannot exercise hard enough to compensate for a poor diet. The body cannot burn off as much as we can put it on an ongoing basis if we continue to give it things it does not need. We cannot get stronger simply by working out harder......it just doesn't work that way.
You know, this reminds me of another Spiritual truth. We cannot compensate for our sins by hard work. All of the good things we do will not compensate for all the sinful things we have done, are doing, or will do. There is not enough time in the day to work off the sin. The more we try to compensate for wrongdoing by working hard, the more "weight" we put on. The weight we put on comes in the form of guilt, frustration, and feeling as though we will never get it right. The weight becomes unbearable as we try to earn our way back into Gods grace and mercy.....His "size 6 designer jeans" arms of love if you will. The weight is so heavy........
So what do you do when the burden feels too heavy? How do you get rid of this excess weight that is bringing you down? You change your diet. You stop feeding your soul on on your works.....and start feeding it on the love of Christ. Jesus is the only one you need to sustain you. Chew on his Word. Feast on His unfailing, ever faithful love. Drink in His goodness, mercy, and never ending grace. You will feel the extra weight of excess works and sin melt away. It's the easiest diet you will ever find!
As for me and my physical diet.....well, I am still working on that one. My answer may surprise you......I know it has surprised me.....but we will talk about that at another time..................
Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.
Love, peace, and fat free faith to you all,
Jen
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