[Exerpt from Justeina's book Fitness By Faith]
Are you familiar with the “do it yourself” stores such as the IKEA store? These stores sell home furnishings at very reasonable prices. The reason they are able to sell their merchandise at a cheaper rate is because all of their items require assembly once you get them home. They give you a box with the instructions and all the materials and you have to take the furniture home and assemble it yourself. I’m sure most of you have gone to a store looking for furnishings and you look at the display and it looks so great and you can already picture right where you want it to go in your home, so you grab the slip of paper with the merchandise number on it, you take the slip to the sales associate, pay for the item and in return they give you a flat box full of small parts and pieces and just expect you to figure it out on your own. As much as you try begging them to just sell you the display, they aren’t going to give in. If you want the piece of furniture you are going to have to do the work of assembling it all on your own.
My husband and I experienced this recently because we had a new baby on the way. We needed furniture for the new nursery; so we made a trip to the store and picked out different pieces of furniture for our baby’s room. The displays looked great and I knew right where I wanted to put each piece. Of course what we made it home with was not the beautiful put together displays. It was four different flat boxes full of little (and I do mean little) parts and pieces that we would have to assemble. By “we” I of course mean my husband, and it ended up taking Kyle over five hours to put just one dresser together. I am sure he would want you to know that it wasn’t because he didn’t know what he was doing. It was simply because assembling the pieces of furniture took lots of time and lots of work!
You know, God does the same thing to you and me. He prepares for us different packages requiring assembly throughout life and then asks us to put them together. There is a good example of this in the lives of David and Solomon. In 2 Samuel 7 David decides he is going to build a temple for the Lord to dwell in. God tells David that he doesn’t want him to build it, but that he has plans for David’s son Solomon to build the temple. In fact, God was telling David I’ve never asked you to build the temple for me. I didn’t give you a temple package. I am giving it to your son Solomon.
In 1 Chronicles 28 at the end of David’s reign he charges his son Solomon with what God has called him to do. Solomon finds himself as King in place of his father David. As he steps into his new position, David hands him a package that should have read, “assembly required”. David handed over all of the parts and pieces that were needed to build the new temple for God to dwell. He gave him all the instructions for every detail of the plan. As David hands him the package he tells Solomon to “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God is with you…” I am sure that Solomon would have much rather just received the display. He would have rather stepped into his position of King with the temple already built. But that wasn‘t God‘s plan for his life. God wanted him to go through the process of building it.
The same is true for you and me today. It was and is very necessary that God takes us through the process of building a healthy lifestyle. He will drop off a full package for you. It will soon have every part, piece, instruction, and tool needed to build it. Now hear God‘s voice declaring over your life today, “Be strong and do the work.” In 1 Chronicles 28:20 it says that God would not fail or forsake Solomon until all of the work for the temple was finished. It didn’t mean that God was going to leave as soon as the work was done; it just meant that God would see the work through until completion.
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Showing posts with label Fitness By Faith Tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fitness By Faith Tips. Show all posts
I thought I would share some Fitness By Faith tips with you for a few weeks on my Monday Blog. Since Metabolism seems to be a hot topic, let's start there. Many of us have a sluggish metabolism because of lifestyle choices we are making. And you know how it feels when your metabolism is sluggish. You feel slow, hungry, tired, cranky, and groggy. You and I want our metabolism working as quickly and as efficiently as possible. There are a few things that we can do to rev up our metabolism so to speak and I thought I would share them!
1. Exercise
It's important to understand that exercise has a dramatic effect on metabolism. The more active you are the higher your metabolism will be. Of course that means the less active you are the lower your metabolism will be. The higher your metabolism is the greater amount of calories your body burns even while at rest. That means if you increase your metabolism you can increase the amount of calories your body is burning even while you are sleeping. Sounds like easy weight loss to me.
2. Eat Breakfast
Breakfast is one of the most important meals you can eat during the day. Think of it this way, you basically have been fasting all night long. Your metabolism has slowed itself down throughout the night because you haven’t been moving or taking in calories. The morning meal is what is going to “break the fast”. That’s why we call it breakfast. When you eat after getting up it will give your metabolism a boost and force it into action for the day. It’s like pouring fuel on a flame. The longer you wait to eat the lower your metabolism will stay. Which brings us back to one of our important keys for eating smart and that’s eating frequently. Start your day with breakfast and then continue to eat frequently throughout the day.
3. Drink plenty of water
I simply cannot stress this point enough. When people ask me what the weight loss miracle would be I tell them its water. Water plays a crucial role in weight loss, healthy living, disease prevention, and increasing your metabolism. It’s one of the simplest things for us to do yet the one that seems to be most left out. You have to become very intentional about making sure you are drinking enough water each and every day. Drinking water can increase your metabolism by up to 30%! That is going to burn a lot of extra calories.
4. Get enough sleep
I always laugh when people say to me that they can live off of 4 hours of sleep each night. What I want to say to them is “if you think you can survive on that little of sleep, do you have any idea how great you would feel if you got the right amount?” Most people are so used to getting too little sleep that they don’t even realize how negatively it’s affecting how they feel, not to mention how their body is functioning. Most people who are sleep deprived are also more likely to eat more throughout the day. You are tired and so you eat to try and stay awake. You also are more inclined to making poor food choices. Eating isn’t the answer to sleep deprivation. If you have problems sleeping at night there are a few things you can try. Reduce your stress, exercise during the day, turn the lights and noise down low in the evenings, and most importantly don’t drink caffeine in the afternoons or at night.
5. Move more often
This one is a little different than exercise. Exercise will consist of a specifically set apart time that you dedicate just to being active. But you can also be intentional about moving around more all day long. In other words don’t fight that poor old lady for the front parking spot. Go ahead and park at the back and make the walk into the store. When you are at work try taking the stairs more often or walking up and down the halls during breaks. If you have a job that requires you to stay seated most of the day make sure that you take moving breaks every hour. The more you fidget and move the higher your metabolism will be and the more calories you will burn. So go ahead and get moving, it’s what your body was designed to do!
I think these are very practical principals every single one of us can begin applying. So why delay…let’s start today!
Get more information on Fitness By Faith
Love,
Justeina
1. Exercise
It's important to understand that exercise has a dramatic effect on metabolism. The more active you are the higher your metabolism will be. Of course that means the less active you are the lower your metabolism will be. The higher your metabolism is the greater amount of calories your body burns even while at rest. That means if you increase your metabolism you can increase the amount of calories your body is burning even while you are sleeping. Sounds like easy weight loss to me.
2. Eat Breakfast
Breakfast is one of the most important meals you can eat during the day. Think of it this way, you basically have been fasting all night long. Your metabolism has slowed itself down throughout the night because you haven’t been moving or taking in calories. The morning meal is what is going to “break the fast”. That’s why we call it breakfast. When you eat after getting up it will give your metabolism a boost and force it into action for the day. It’s like pouring fuel on a flame. The longer you wait to eat the lower your metabolism will stay. Which brings us back to one of our important keys for eating smart and that’s eating frequently. Start your day with breakfast and then continue to eat frequently throughout the day.
3. Drink plenty of water
I simply cannot stress this point enough. When people ask me what the weight loss miracle would be I tell them its water. Water plays a crucial role in weight loss, healthy living, disease prevention, and increasing your metabolism. It’s one of the simplest things for us to do yet the one that seems to be most left out. You have to become very intentional about making sure you are drinking enough water each and every day. Drinking water can increase your metabolism by up to 30%! That is going to burn a lot of extra calories.
4. Get enough sleep
I always laugh when people say to me that they can live off of 4 hours of sleep each night. What I want to say to them is “if you think you can survive on that little of sleep, do you have any idea how great you would feel if you got the right amount?” Most people are so used to getting too little sleep that they don’t even realize how negatively it’s affecting how they feel, not to mention how their body is functioning. Most people who are sleep deprived are also more likely to eat more throughout the day. You are tired and so you eat to try and stay awake. You also are more inclined to making poor food choices. Eating isn’t the answer to sleep deprivation. If you have problems sleeping at night there are a few things you can try. Reduce your stress, exercise during the day, turn the lights and noise down low in the evenings, and most importantly don’t drink caffeine in the afternoons or at night.
5. Move more often
This one is a little different than exercise. Exercise will consist of a specifically set apart time that you dedicate just to being active. But you can also be intentional about moving around more all day long. In other words don’t fight that poor old lady for the front parking spot. Go ahead and park at the back and make the walk into the store. When you are at work try taking the stairs more often or walking up and down the halls during breaks. If you have a job that requires you to stay seated most of the day make sure that you take moving breaks every hour. The more you fidget and move the higher your metabolism will be and the more calories you will burn. So go ahead and get moving, it’s what your body was designed to do!
I think these are very practical principals every single one of us can begin applying. So why delay…let’s start today!
Get more information on Fitness By Faith
Love,
Justeina
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Fitness By Faith Tips,
health
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