Tag: weihgt loss motivation

8-minute Miracle that can revitalize your metabolism and turn you into a fat-burning machine

It was one of those mornings when I was running short on time and I knew that my day was booked solid, so it was likely I wouldn’t be able to squeeze a workout in all day & evening. I was committed to my weight loss program and didn’t want to accept defeat so easily and throw in the towel so to speak.

From my previous experience years ago reading the “Body for Life” by Bill Phillips, I remembered that a workout out first thing in the morning on an empty stomach helps burn 300% more fat than a workout later in the day after you’ve eaten. Bill also taught me about Hight Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) in that book. At the time, it was a fairly new type of training that was said to supercharge your metabolism and fat-burning even more.

A short workout on an empty stomach first thing in the morning like this can be equivalent to an hour (or more) long workout late in the day on a full stomach. It stokes your metabolism (body’s furnace). It also helps keep your metabolism burning extra calories all day long and research shows that this furnace stoking can last up to 48 hours after your exercise is over.

So, I made time for a workout and jumped on my Elliptical Machine at home. I only had 10 minutes to spare and I made it happen using High Intensity Interval Training also known as High Intensity Intermittent Exercise (HIIE) or Sprint Interval Training (SIT). It’s also more popularly called (in the last two decades) as Tabata Training after the Japanese Professor who popularized it with a study in 1996

So, I jumped on the Elliptical machine for a quick 10 minute workout and burned 256 calories. I warmed up for 2 minutes at a mellow pace with the machine setting to 30% inclination grade (my normal setting) and the resistance set to 15 out of 20. The RPM on the machine was about 40-50 RPM. When I do my normal, what most would call medium intensity workouts for 20-30 minutes I use the same settings, but run/glide at about 60 RPM for the whole duration. So, the 40-50 RPM is a fairly low intensity for me.

After 2 minutes of warming up at a low intensity I then run/glide as fast as I can (about 90-100 RPM) for 30 seconds followed by 30 seconds of low intensity (again about 40-50). Each of these 60 second periods could be called one set, of which I do 4 of them. So, slow for 30 seconds then fast for 30 seconds for 4 minutes straight. I then do a cool down for 2 minutes at the low intensity level of 40-50 RPM.

The whole workout is 8 minutes long and if you think this sounds kind of wimpy, you’re dead wrong. I finish these workouts about to lose my breakfast (which I would have, had I eaten any) and my lungs feel like they did when I was forced to run the mile (as fast as you can) as a Freshman in High School…they hurt and I cough throughout the day from time to time as a reminder. It seems to kick up all the crud in your lungs.

Even though the Elliptical Machine display only showed 256 calories burned from these short workouts…it is likely that those calories were mostly taken from fat storage. In addition to slimming down my waist-line by a small amount, I will also burn more calories just sitting at my desk at work today from the extra metabolism boost. You might call that a double-bonus. 🙂

So, don’t ever underestimate the value of a short workout. Anyone can make time for the 8-minute Miracle.

This should also help you not ever have an excuse for not getting some exercise in. You should be able to squeeze at least a 8 minute workout in, anytime.

So, go ahead and hate me for it…I just stole the main reason people don’t work out when on a weight loss program from your list of excuses. 🙂

You can learn more about the history of the High Intensity Interval Training by visiting our Wikipedia friends here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training

 

Sacrifice Comfort & Junk Food to Give Glory to God and Lose Weight Too!

12 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Romans 12:1 ESV

Can all this sacrifice of calories, junk food, comfort (by exercising) be a living sacrifice to God?

Yes! It can.

You can make a lot of the things in your life a sacrifice and it will become a form of spiritual worship.  Fasting for one is a way to demonstrate spiritual worship to God through physical sacrifice.

12 1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. Romans 12:1 The Message

I love the way The Message translates this scripture. ‘Take your everyday, ordinary life’ (and every aspect of it) and ‘place it before God as an offering’.

The part about embracing what God does for you relates perfectly to how I’ve often shared with you those moments that I am reminded that “God is my source!”.  Everything in your life comes from him.

The part that says don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.  This really speaks to our whole way of life.  Not only spiritually, but through our diet and exercise we can also be counter-culture for the Glory of Jesus Christ.

We are to fix our attention on God and what HE wants from us and are promised that we will change from the inside out.  Readily recognize what he wants from us and quickly respond to it.  We’ve got to be listening, so that when we hear him, we can take action right away.

That’s so awesome don’t you agree?

If we will turn our lives & our commitment to Christian Weight Loss into a living sacrifice to him, God will bring the best out of us and develop well-formed maturity in us.  I think that sounds like another example of God’s undeserved Grace abounding blessings into our lives through our simple obedience.

Let’s do it together!  What do you say?

Another day towards a new you and a new identity

When we receive Salvation through our Faith in Jesus Christ, by confessing with our mouth and believing in our heart that Jesus is the Son of God, we become a new creation.  Our identity now lies with him and in him.  We are believers, followers, we are Christians.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

I don’t want to take away or distract from that, but when you’ve committed to a Christian Weight Loss Program you’ve also committed to building a new identity for yourself.  A healthier, happier you who is more like Christ in spirit, but one who is also eating right & exercising.

You are no longer that overweight, clothes-fit-too-snugly, person that you’ve been with for the previous part of your life.  You, although the outside appearance of your body may not 100% agree YET, are a healthier & happier version of yourself.

You are working on a new identity.  Pretty soon you will be known as the guy/gal who is pretty disciplined with how he/she eats and exercises.

Funny how the word disciple can be extracted from the word disciplined.  In conjunction with your evangelism for Christ (sharing the goodness of Jesus Christ) you will also be sharing the good news of eating healthier & living happier (how you learned here).  My main point is start to see yourself differently. Divorce (yes that is a strong word) yourself from your old identity. That’s not me anymore is your new attitude.

Doing so will make your new life in Christ and Christian Weight Loss easier and more natural as you make better choices that will get you down the path to a healthier happier you.

Let me be honest.  Even if you go through a few or several 40-day cycles and lose significant weight over the next few months and longer, it won’t last and you’ll gain it all back UNLESS you buy into a NEW identity.

So, as you go through your day today start to work on thoughts and actions that support your identity in Christ, but also your identity as a healthier, happier version of yourself…one who’s lost a ton of unnecessary baggage (fat).

May God richly bless you as you make it a great day friend!

I’m going to really focus on opportunities that I can shift my focus to how I will be a new creation. What it will feel like to be able to wear some of the close I gave up on because they were too tight.  How, when I’m down significantly I won’t be down on myself anymore. I’ll likely have to go shopping for more clothes because my pants won’t stay up.  My belt may not even fit anymore.  I won’t be that guy “whose always been a bit of a big guy”. I’ll be the guy people look to for advice on how to get fit and live healthier & happier while following Jesus. That’s the new me…my new identity.

Join me today in doing the same!

Excerpted from the Christian Vitality™ Weight Loss Program

Those that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength & power

Growing wearing when on an exercise and weight loss program is often a setback. If we keep the right mindset and perspective however, we can renew our strength and continue building fat loss momentum.

When I went out on my bike ride today this song came to me.  It’s sung in various circles performed by different people, but they all get the words from the same scripture verse.

31 But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired. Isaiah 40-31 Amplified Version

Though many take the words from the King James Version, I looked at several versions and the Amplified Version struck me as applicable to you and I on our journey towards weight loss (and long-term fat loss). Wait in the Amplified Version is defined as [who expect, look for, and hope in Him], which we should definitely do.  We should tie our expectations & hopes in the Lord and look for evidence of his prescience in our lives.

One of those God moments where he shows himself through those odd (what secular people would call coincidence) circumstances happened to me today.

One of our key Bible verses in my small group at church today was this scripture verse and as we had a dialog about how it applied to our lives a friend of mine, Jenny, was sharing some difficulties she was having letting go of a situation between her brother & mother. She admitted to being a worrier her whole life and that she just couldn’t let go.

I felt like the Holy Spirit was reminding me of a close friend of mine (who is the Pastor of thriving church in Oregon) once told me that the Greek word for the word wait in the verse from Isaiah 40:31 is actually better defined as someone who waits on you. Like a waiter. Always there asking “is there something I can do for you? Do you need anything? How can help you?” I shared this with her and told her that every time she feels compelled to worry she should take it to him…let it go and ask…”what do you want from me Lord in this situation? How can I serve YOU? What do you want me to do Lord? That way she can transform herself from worrier to warrior for Christ.

I pray friend that today you would wait on the Lord.  For everything. Renew your strength and not grow weary as you pursue Christian Vitality through exercise and better eating..

When ahead in the race…don’t coast to the finish line!

Run the race on your journey with the Lord in such a way as to WIN!
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 1 Corinthians 9:24 ESV
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Imagine for a moment you’ve decided to run a race. A real foot race.  It doesn’t matter whether it’s a mile, a 5k, 10k or even a marathon.

You have a close friend of yours that you’ve made a friendly bet with of whoever gets the best time will take the other out to dinner afterwards. You are both at the same level of fitness and you both have an equal chance of winning.

You give it your all and about 80% of the distance to the finish you find yourself so far ahead that, there’s no way that your partner in crime can catch up.

So, you find yourself in this mental game we often get into with ourselves.  Should I ease up and take it easy…you know…coast in to the finish line in style?

You could do so easily, without chancing the loss to your friend.

Taking out the compassion for your friend argument out…you know, slowing down and letting them catch up (which I would fully endorse from a philosophical standpoint), you promised God you’d do your best and accept whatever the outcome.  So, if you ease up and coast in are you fulfilling your promise to him?

What about to yourself? Would you be letting yourself down by not staying the course and giving it your all?  You’d still win, wouldn’t you?

I’d like to make the point that once we commit to the race, whether its the race Paul talks about on our spiritual journey and service to Jesus or whether it’s your weight loss program that you should always give it your best…your very best.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 1 Corinthians 9:24 ESV

That way you’ll finish knowing you didn’t let yourself down, you did “everything unto the Lord and not to men”, and finally you wouldn’t be letting your friend down either.  Don’t you think they’d be upset if you told them you pulled back and coasted all the way in?

23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. Colossians 3:23-24 ESV

Whatever you have on your plate for today.  Give it your best effort…your very best.  Some days your level of best will vary and that’s okay.  Just give it the best you can today. You’ll be glad you did and make God proud in doing so.

let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, Hebrews 12:1b ESV

Be blessed today as you honor God with your spiritual & physical life.

 

Excerpt from Christian Fatloss Program sharing my fat loss journey with members of the private weight loss program for Christians.

 

My Journey Alongside Yours: Today I weighed in at 211 lbs.  Achieving my 5% goal for this cycle of 211.375 (or less).  If you compare last Friday (1 week ago exactly) to today I have lost 2 lbs this week which is par for the course.  It was another one of those weeks where my weight jumped up a bit from my lowest 212.5 of last week and it appeared that I might be lucky to hit 212.5 this week.

Yesterday I did hit 212lbs for my official weigh in for week 4 of 5 for this cycle, appearing to only lost .5 lbs.  God is good though and if you stick to the plan the weight loss will come.

In hindsight I was sore for quite  a bit of the week from my softball game last Friday and had my back slightly out (probably from picking up my 3 year old).  The inflammation as I’ve pointed out numerous times in the weeks prior was having me carry around all that extra water.

So, do I sit back and coast knowing I achieved my goal?

No way. I’ll stick to the plan and the fact I play Softball again tonight will likely set me up for a bit of swelling for next week.  I can only hope an pray that I hit 211lbs or lower next Wednesday on my final weigh in for this cycle.

Who’s your judge? God of course. And mostly you are accountable to him and yourself.  Give this week the honest effort you deserve.  “Do everything unto the Lord and not to men”, remember?

4 days to go until the 2 day break and the end of this cycle.  After the break we’ll jump back into to 5 days of grace and then start the next cycle.

Let’s do this! Make him proud…make yourself proud.

What do you think of this post? have you been guilty of coasting through life at times? Share some instances or challenges you faced? Share your victories in the comments below.