From Couch to Confidence- Exercise with God's Help

Isaiah 40:29-31, it says “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall; But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” 

So here are a few ways you can walk this out in your life this week:

• Start with 10 minutes: stretch, walk, dance, praise. As you move, tell Him what you’re thankful for.
• Declare affirmations: “I am building strength, not perfection.” Did you write your own? Are you using the ones I shared last week?
• Celebrate effort, not performance. It’s not what we do but what we allow the Father to do through us and to us. Laying down our cross daily, releasing control, forget the strive and try. Let Him lead.

Holy and Heavenly Father, I surrender my doubt, fear, overwhelm, frustration and shame. Father Replace my struggles with your peace, strength and discipline. Help me get up off this couch and move with Your perseverance and focus. You give me confidence Father, knowing You go with me gives me hope. Thank You for loving me, it’s in Your Holy Name I pray, Amen.

Are you sick of trying diet after diet and NOT losing weight?

Hey there friend, I'm Lindy Schlabach, Christian Fitness & Nutrition Coach. I gained 100 pounds in my late twenties and struggled for years to get it off. Seven years ago, I found a basic system that worked and has helped me lose 90 of those pounds. I’ve been working with women in online fitness and nutrition ever since to break chains of diet culture, embrace their bodies and fueling instead of dieting.

In this podcast, I'll teach you how to:

• • Lose Weight in a Way that honors God without obsessing about the scale
  • Meal Plan and Prep for Your Family
  • Follow a MACRO based plan that allows you to eat the foods you love.
  • Recognize and pray through triggers keeping you stuck.
  • I’ll help you Plan your week and schedule your self-care time.
  • Cultivate a spirit of self-discipline in your workouts you actually enjoy.
  
  It's time to give God your health journey and watch Him make you new, from the inside, OUT.

Join The Biblical Weight Loss Framework: https://www.herweightlossmindset.com/framework

Join my FREE Community: https://bit.ly/JoinTheChristianWeightLossCommunity

Join my Insiders List with weekly tips for weight loss for Christian women: http://herweightlossmindset.com/herweightlossmindsetinsiders

Transcript

Hey there, you're back. I am so glad that you're here today. Oh man, we are talking about getting active again, not through guilt, but through God's grace.

This episode is for the woman who feels stuck, tired, overwhelmed, depressed, or even embarrassed to begin. God is ready to rebuild your confidence one faithful step at a time.

So I've shared with you how I couldn't complete a warmup at 250 pounds, but have I told you the story about late that day? So my uncle showed up at my house and needed a place to stay. So instead of restarting and trying my workout again, I gave up.

He lived with me for nine months, and it wasn't until he moved out that I tried again.

In the meantime, we were drinking bush light pretty much every day. We were hitting up the local watering hole.

That's a quick walk away from my house. That first week after he moved out, I knew I had to try again, but I felt so defeated. I felt like a failure, and that inner dialogue I had was enough to drive me almost insane.

But you know what? I just decided to try again, and I'm so glad I did. So if you're struggling to get started, this episode is for you.

I want you to pull up a seat, and let's chat.

Are you sick of trying diet after diet and not losing weight? Are you tired of doubting your ability to actually lose weight in a healthy way? Do you wish you could find a laid out for you plan that will help you stay accountable to your goals?

Hey, friend, I'm Lindy Schlabach, Christian Fitness & Nutrition Coach. I gained 100 pounds in my late 20s and struggled for years to get it off. So grab your pre-workout and let's chat.

I want to invite you to the Biblical Weight Loss Framework and take a Holy Spirit-led approach to weight loss God's way.

Listen, this is not another weight loss plan. This is not another diet program.

This is working out the junk that's in your mind that's going to help you break old chains old habits and help you learn to lean on God in a way that you never have before as it relates to your weight loss journey.

So find the link in the show notes and join us at herweightlossmindset.com/framework. That's herweightlossmindset.com/framework. Listen, I gained 100 pounds.

I've lost 90. I know the struggle.

So join us and let's work on your own personal journey. So today's scripture comes from Isaiah chapter 40 verses 29 to 31.

It says, He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall.

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint.

Wow, I don't know about you, but that fires me up and inspires me in a way I didn't know I needed.

Well, to be honest, minus the running part, I don't think I would run if someone was chasing me. I was like the story of King David when he was throwing himself down and acting crazy to avoid King Akish.

Do you remember that story in the Old Testament? Not a fan of running personally.

But hey, listen, you don't have confidence to start.

You have everything that you need inside of you because Jesus is inside of you if he's your personal savior. You're going to gain confidence by picking one seemingly small step. Even if you fall, he's going to be there to pick you up if you let him.

Sometimes, it's just about making effort to start and letting him give you what you need to keep going. If you're anything like me, you're continuing to rely on your own strength. You're not letting him do the work he wants you to do.

The creator of the universe is in you and he will give you what you need if you ask and then you obey. So let's talk about some reasons maybe you're feeling stuck.

Maybe it's fear of judgment or failure.

Maybe you're just so tired of starting over. But I want to know how many times have you quit? How many times have you stopped or talked yourself out of it?

How many times have you shamed yourself when you feel like you suck at a workout?

How many times have you said horrible things to yourself about yourself while you're struggling through a workout or after maybe you made a mistake on your diet plan and ate something that you weren't really planning on?

I want you to hear me right now.

God is not judging you, so why are you judging you?

The simple fact that you want to live a healthy life is a win. So it's time to stop being our own worst enemy and start speaking to ourselves like we deserve. God is never going to shame us.

He wants to invite us to connection, personal, intentional, intimate connection with him. So what the heck are you waiting for? I want you to start viewing activity and workouts and meal prep as worship.

It will change your mindset.

As I'm drinking my pre-workout in the morning, I'll say, thank you Lord for my body.

Help me to honor you with this workout.

I have struggled the last couple of months to love my body.

So I don't always feel like saying those things, but I always say it because then that becomes my truth. And it's going to become yours too.

We read in the Word that your tongue has the power of life and death, and so we have to choose life over our body. We have to choose life over our thoughts and feelings about exercise.

Sometimes we just got to turn up our Jesus Jams and let him move through us. If you want to get off the couch and move to confidence, you have to start leaning on the Holy Spirit within you. It's time to change your words.

It's time to change your thoughts. So we just talked about out loud affirmations. Do you remember?

Are you doing yours?

Did you write down some of mine or did you write down some of your own?

Listen, if you don't choose change and only continue to take in the information without using it, what's the point? I heard a coach say one time many years ago, knowledge isn't power. Applied knowledge is power.

Knowledge isn't power. Applied knowledge is power. If you took all of the knowledge of every book that you've ever read and applied it to your life, where would you be today?

It's applying the knowledge that matters.

When we start to think about movement as praise instead of punishment, our mindset changes.

We have to own our bodies today, where she is today, maybe at 250 pounds. Because if you don't love her today, no amount of weight loss, no amount of cute clothes or abs are going to help. Trust me, I've had all of them and it didn't help my mindset.

It was never enough.

I always wanted more instead of choosing gratitude and contentment where I was.

And here I am striving and trying and frustrated, and it's no one's fault but my own. We have to take responsibility for our choices and we have to lay those excuses down at the foot of the cross.

Every stretch, every step, every meal that you prep, every squat, every positive thought that you say or think over your body, it can be an offering.

Every positive thought leads to another and every positive change leads to chains broken in Jesus' name. And you are worthy of change. But it's time to stop relying on ourselves.

You have the Holy Spirit-led strength inside of you.

And we're wasting it.

We're leaving it dormant in there.

So when you think about getting off the couch and getting moving, I want you to say, Lord, give me what I need.

Lord, help me. Help inspire me. Thank you for my strong body.

Help me to love her as she is. When we focus on obedience to the Holy Spirit, regardless of the outcome, when we listen and obey, we are strengthened regardless of the result. And when we live that way, the results come.

And yeah, they're great. But it's the connection with the Holy Father that feels better than loose pants and toned legs. So I want to give you three things that you can do to walk this out this week.

Are you ready? Do you have your pen? Start with 10 minutes.

Do a stretch.

Go for a walk. Dance in your living room. Praise.

Praise.

Turn on some worship music and praise.

And as you move, tell the Lord what you're thankful for.

The second thing is declare those affirmations. I am building strength, not perfection. And move according to my goals.

What affirmations are you writing down? What affirmations are you professing with your mouth? Are you using some of the ones I shared?

Are you creating some of your own? Seek the Lord and ask him what it is that you need to speak out loud. And then lastly, celebrate effort, not performance.

Celebrate obedience, not the outcome. It's not what we do, but what we allow the Father to do through us and to us.

When we lay our cross down daily, when we release control and forget the strive and try, he can actually lead and we can actually take steps forward. So I want to offer you a final note of encouragement.

You're not going to stay on the couch forever.

It's time to get up. It's time to get on your knees and seek his strength. God is calling you to rise.

Not in your strength, but in his. Are you going to take the first step today? Only you can choose to apply this knowledge.

Most Holy and Heavenly Father, I surrender my doubt, my fear, my overwhelm, my frustration and my shame. Father, replace my struggles with your peace, strength, and discipline. Help me get up off this couch and move with your perseverance and focus.

You give me confidence, Father. Knowing you go with me gives me hope. Thank you for loving me.

And it's in your holy name I pray, Amen. So if you're ready to get off the couch and rebuild your mindset, rebuild your focus, rebuild your body and your confidence through Jesus Christ and not diet culture, join the Biblical Weight Loss Framework.

It's a safe place to heal your mind while you heal your body. So don't forget to find the link to join us in the show notes at herweightlossmindset.com/framework, herweightlossmindset.com/framework. We'll see you in the group.

God bless.

Hey sis, I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If so, would you take 30 seconds and share it with a friend? Also, please leave a quick review for the show on Apple Podcasts.

It lights me up to know this podcast is helping you. Okay, it's time to go make a protein shake and get my sweat on. No more standing in the kitchen waiting for motivation to appear.

I will meet you back here for another episode. God bless.