Faith, Family and Fitness – Are you Ready for a Challenge?

I was cranky. I was tired.  I was unsettled.  I was UNCOMFORTABLE!

That was me one year ago.  When I wasn’t eating very healthy.  When  I was exercising, but only to  to burn off the horrible things I was eating and in hopes of losing some extra pounds to fit into my jeans.  I wasn’t motivated to do it in order take care of what God had given me.  I wasn’t under conviction to treat my body like the temple it is.

I knew something had to change. I tried to “diet” and exercise more, but I just kept gaining weight and losing self esteem. My family was suffering from my mood swings and my severe PMDD.  My relationship with my husband was tense, and since I wasn’t taking great care of myself, I wasn’t taking great care of them either.


I have always tried to focus on feeding the boys healthy foods and making sure they got certain things into their diet.  But because I had gotten lazy with my own nutrition, theirs was suffering as well.  And Matt has always eaten what I eat, so his body wasn’t being fueled properly either!  It was a vicious cycle, and one I knew had to change.

In desperation, I researched and found the 21 Day Fix.  It sounded simple, and I figured if I could follow it, then I would see results. And of course I did, but it was about so much more than just following a meal plan.  I began to ready Lysa Terkeurst’s Made To Crave when I started the fix.  I knew that this physical battle and discomfort went deeper.  My relationship and reliance on Christ needed to be solid before I could ever move forward!  I wanted to crave HIM more than anything else, and that did not happen overnight.  It was something I had to pray about and seek DAILY!

I remember reading Lysa’s prayer asking God to unsettle her, and I did the same thing.  I had NO idea what lay before me or what God had in store, but boy did He answer that prayer!!!


I began to see my need to care for myself as an issue that not only affected me but my entire family!  When I was healthy, my family was healthier.  When I worked out, my family noticed and joined in.  When I ate healthy food, my family ate healthy food!  It’s not rocket science, but a light bulb came on!


The boys, although too young to really work out, are very aware now that Mommy makes fitness and exercise a priority.  Sometimes they jump in, and sometimes they just watch and cheer me on!  But I know that what we do daily will impact their future.  If it’s important to Matt and me, it will be more likely to be important to them.  And with obesity. cancer, and other health issues on the rise, we cannot take prevention too seriously!

The same applies to Matt.  When I wasn’t working out, he wasn’t working out.  My marathon runner man had  gotten pretty complacent alongside of me.  When I made fitness and clean eating a priority, he began to make changes as well.  Now, we all know Matt is an old man….ahem! It’s very important to keep him healthy and around for a little while longer, so God convicted me to stay on track for him as well!  And let me tell you, even though Matt does not follow my meal plan exactly or stick to clean eating like I do, he is a 21 Day Fixer!!! He gets up and does the workouts by himself some days, and he is much more motivated to stay healthy now that it has become a family focus!

As I have mentioned before, I pray A LOT about where God wants me to take these monthly challenges.  I want to be used as His tool, and this is such an awesome opportunity for me to do so.  

So, for my next challenge group, I really feel God leading me to focus on family health!  A healthy mommy and daddy can go a long way in building a strong family.  And I know that health goes deeper than the exterior.  So, for this March challenge group we will be focusing on

• Learning the basics of clean eating
• Creating family-friendly meal plans
• Incorporating healthier options into our children’s diets
• Improving your own health and that of your spouse
• Exercise and how to get children involved
• Daily scriptural support for a healthy lifestyle
• Weekly prayer focus for our children