What's Your Mile?

 

A while back, I arrived at church for an evening Bible study class.  I was feeling worn out; I’d done my walk that day but I didn’t get up in time to walk before church so I donned my tennis shoes after church and did my mileage for that day.  It was a beautiful day, after 1 pm, so it was quite warm, which zaps me of my energy quickly.  Plus my bad ankle decided to get cranky with me that day.

I felt like I had something to moan and groan about with my lack of energy.  I was all ready to give my friends my pity speech in conversation when another friend arrived, barely able to move.  She had spent most of the day running about twenty miles up and down a mountain.  Why?  She was training for an ultra-marathon (30 miles), full of elevation gains.

I was impressed and shared that with her, commenting, “And I was feeling worn out from walking a mile today!”  She said something that struck me as super important, not just in exercising but in all areas:  

“Everyone’s mile looks different.”

I knew that but I wasn’t looking at it that way.  I was looking at what others were doing, what others had to offer.  People who seemed like they had more to offer than me tended to make me feel envious.  People who offered less than me often brought out judgment.  But that wasn’t right.  Envy is a sin, right there in the Ten Commandments.  Judgment is God’s job, not mine.

I decided I needed to look at what my mile was.  My mile, an assignment from God, was not what my friend’s mile looked like.  (I didn’t want it to be; running 30 miles of hills does not sound like fun!)  I needed to turn to God and ask Him what my mile looked like.

I figured out that I was doing my mile.  I was doing it but I was looking at everyone else’s instead of looking at what I was accomplishing.  God doesn’t want me to focus on other people’s miles unless He’s asking me to help with their mile.  He wants me to focus on doing the best I can do at the mile He’s given me.  

I may not be running 30 miles in a day.  But if I’m focused on giving 100% to the mile He’s asked me to walk, then I’m right where I’m supposed to be no matter how difficult it might look to others.

What is your mile?  Are you giving it 100%?

The Need For Accountability: Part Two

Yesterday, I talked about the three times I've been successful with weight loss and exercise through accountability.  Today I'm going to share what I'm doing to be accountable to others to improve my success once again along with a mindset change necessary to succeed.

God laid it on my heart to take hold of the next opportunity I had to commit to a 5K run with a friend.  A week later, I was at a barbecue with some church friends and two of my friends mentioned a 5K in September.  I agreed to run the 5K with them.  Now I’m committed.  I’m a lot less likely to sleep in each morning because I know come September I’m going to need to be able to run a 5K.  I committed to them and I know they expect a follow through.  I don’t like to disappoint when I’ve committed to something.

In April a friend and I began the Made to Crave bible study with Lysa TerKeurst.  We’ve missed a week here or there, but on Wednesday we will have completed the entire DVD and both the book and workbook.  As we went through it I felt convicted that I needed to do some major overhaul to my diet (here I’m using the word diet simply to mean the food I generally eat).  I didn’t need to make small changes for the short term.  Rather, I needed to make BIG changes to my lifestyle for the long term.

(By the way, most fat people know all there is to know about healthy eating, exercise, and all the fad diets.  We’ve tried most of them with little results!)

I wanted the changes I made to be something I could maintain for the long term.  This was going to be a blueprint for my regular eating habits.  Most importantly, I had to make sure God was in control and not me.

The plan I picked (with God’s guidance) was South Beach, because it would work with my body’s medical issue (people with PCOS do not do well with higher levels of carbs, especially simple carbs) and would be something that can be sustained for the long term.  (Like on my birthday, when I am DEFINITELY eating CAKE!)

For the past week, I have had no starch based foods.  No breads or grains of any kind, no fruits, no potatoes, no corn, no sweets.  I’ve eaten meats, eggs, nuts, beans, cheese, and veggies.  I’ve also been accountable to my friend who’s doing the bible study with me and knows about my eating plan along with my husband, who is doing the first two weeks with me.

I’ve made it through seven days.  I’ve made it through a function with delicious looking brownies for dessert.  I’ve made it through a few days with a pulled back muscle.  I’ve made it through National Donut Day.  I made it through a barbecue with my in-laws and even made a dessert I was choosing not to eat.  But I couldn’t have done it on my own.

Chicken, tomatoes, parmesan, baked in the oven...Yum!

I needed accountability.  Accountability in my exercise.  Accountability in my eating.  But most importantly, I needed to have my heart focused on God and not on the world when I traveled this journey.  I believe I will be successful this time both because I’m being transparent and because I’m focusing on God.

Lysa TerKeurst sums up best what I’m doing in Chapter 16 of Made to Crave, “So I’m not on a diet.  I’m on a journey with Jesus to learn the fine art of self-discipline for the purpose of holiness.” (p 158).

For the purpose of holiness…that’s why we need accountability.

The Need for Accountability: Part One

I have been overweight for decades.  Two decades to be exact.  Considering I’m turning 31 next month, I don’t really remember what it’s like to be at a healthy weight, since I haven’t been at a healthy weight since I was eight.

Half of the weight is a medical issue (polycystic ovarian syndrome or PCOS) and the other half is the Standard American Diet (SAD) along with a lack of regular exercise for the last ten years.  I’ve tried to lose weight and build healthy habits since I was eleven with no success.

There have been times I’ve managed to flat line on weight gain or lose 20-30 pounds.  I spent two years on the swim team in high school where I gained no weight (although I didn’t lose any either, thanks to PCOS!).

My freshman year of college I went to the gym three days a week with a friend and we lifted weights and did the elliptical for two hours on those days.  I lost about twenty pounds by the end of the term and an additional ten over the summer.  No freshman fifteen here!

About five years ago, I put $450 down on a personal trainer and worked out five days a week the entire summer.  Between that and the stomach flu, by the end of October that year I had lost 35 pounds.  Then I began working on my master’s research with a kindergarten class full of special needs kids and a toddler at home.  Can we say takeout, anyone?

The rest of the last twenty years have been dozens of fits and starts with different diet and exercise plans, none of which lasted a full two weeks.  What was different about those three times in my life where I was able to be successful?  I had accountability.

I’ve found that accountability is important in a variety of areas in life, whether you are accountable to a spouse, a boss, your church, a family member, a friend.  Accountability is important to maintain integrity and also for follow-through.  What I’ve learned is I’m more likely to give up if I’m not accountable to anyone.

Five months ago, I started walking.  I didn’t mention to anyone that I started walking at first but then I’d walked more than two weeks straight and realized I was making progress.  So I started posting on Facebook and blogging about it. Now my friends and family will ask me regularly how my walking is going.  When I get up in the morning my husband asks me if I’m going for a walk.

But during crazy seasons of life, that’s not quite enough.  It’s too easy to give in to my bed when I was up late the night before accomplishing something.  After two months of near-daily walking and seventy miles, I hit some major roadblocks and I let them trip me up.  I missed out on most of March after a major flu bug caused a second miscarriage.  At the end of March, I got back on the wagon and remained consistent for about three weeks when a nasty cold derailed me once again.  I knew I needed more accountability than the occasional post on Facebook.

Come back tomorrow when I share what I did to add accountability to my exercise and eating habits!

To Faith on Your Due Date

My Sweet Little Girl,

Today is the day you were supposed to arrive in the world, the day we were planning for your big debut.  Today is the day I’d planned to hold you and nurse you and look into your eyes as you looked at me.  Today is the day we hoped to start learning about your personality.

But instead it’s just another day.

When I began dreaming about this day, eight long months ago, I pictured a nursery full of woodland creatures.  I pictured light and joy and happiness and excited anticipation.  I pictured a beautiful baby in my arms as family and friends came to admire our new arrival.

I thought when I woke up today, I’d be ready to go to the hospital or maybe already at the hospital or maybe even home from the hospital by now (Your sister was three weeks old on her due date!).

May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.  ~Numbers 6:24-26

Instead I woke up to a day with a sore back.  I woke up to my fifth day on the South Beach eating plan.  I woke up to a Facebook newsfeed full of donuts I’m choosing not to eat right now.  But most of all I woke up to a day without you.

I’m trying to be thankful.  I’m trying to cling to God, who knows the end from the beginning.  Most days I’m successful.  

Today is not one of those days.

Today, I cried.  But you already know that.  You’re looking down on me from Heaven, with Reese, as you see the throne of glory in person.  I didn’t cry for you.  I cried for me, for all the hopes and dreams I lost when I lost you.  You didn’t lose hopes and dreams.  You gained everything by entering God’s Kingdom.  So I’m sad for me.  But I rejoice with the angels and the Lord Jesus that you and Reese have made it home.

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.  ~Genesis 50:20

I miss you every day, Faith Leanne, but today I miss you even more.  Reese is very missed, too, but today is your day.  Today is the day I hoped to meet you.  I’ll have to wait quite a bit because God’s not done with me here on Earth, but someday He’ll call me home and I’ll be with you.

Happy Due Date Day, sweet little girl.  I’m thankful for the months I carried you.  I’m thankful for the days I held your tiny body in my arms.  I’m thankful God is writing an amazing testimony with your life.  I’m thankful you’re safe in Heaven.  And I’m thankful for YOU!

Love,

Mommy