Starting Strong

Last week I bumped into some friends at a local mall. It was absolutely hilarious. We haven’t seen each other for a few years but he reads this blog faithfully albeit silently. So I am walking from the opticians heading for the supermarket when I see a guy leaning on the wall near the shoe shop look up from his phone, see me, look away, take a second and third look then goes like…

“You!!!!!!”

Okay….who is that and then it hits me and I am like is that Sammy?

“Oh my God!!!! Sammy!!! It’s you!!!”

Then begun a one and a half hour conversation about just about anything with him and his wife who joins us later and one other passing friend and the response was the same…shock and surprise at how much weight I have lost. It also brought some things to light because I am not really thinking about how I look.

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“You need to document this process for people” he said.

“That is what the blog does right?” I replied

“Maybe give a few more detailed ideas on the process from start to where you are today. It will definitely encourage someone.”

It gets me thinking because I had a similar response and challenge in the very same mall, close to the very same spot with a totally different person just two days before this encounter. What are the odds that people are asking the same questions if the answer isn’t needed?

The next morning, Emma, Sammy’s wife, calls me to help her figure out how to get on the path to weight loss and better health and once again I realize the need. So today we will explore the first element.

Know why you are on this path or want to get on the path.

We have all heard people talk about knowing why when it comes to life change and motivation so I won’t belabour the point but you must have a deep personal reason for starting on the health, fitness and weight loss path.

In my case, the conversation began with God a long time ago about my optimum weight which I exceeded for several years. It would have been easy to say I am not over 100kg and there are people bigger than me but in all honesty I felt like I was 100kg yet I was just at 70kg. I looked like the proverbial African woman with a beautiful shape and nice hips but few noticed me struggle to stand for long, walk for long, keep my energy and focus up. No one saw the struggle within.

Every time I asked God for strength to keep going He gave it to me alongside the reminder that I needed to work towards our optimum…yes I said our optimum. Since He knit me together in my mother’s womb and knew me even before that, He also knew the maximum size I needed to be for optimal function and he held me accountable for it. He made a regular demand for me to go that way and I had the choice to align or walk away.

Yes, I had the choice to align or walk away.

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I finally had to make a choice because the fatigue plaguing me was too much and it became the trigger to ask for help one last time clearly intending to do something about it. My why isn’t just about being smaller, it is ‘To become all that God has shown me and operate at optimum.” That may sound amorphous but it is so clear for me because in there is a very clear definition of optimum and targets for weight, fitness and diet…His definition.

I can’t get away from His definition because it has been present for many years and every time I have attained that definition I have actually enjoyed it. I can only determine in my heart to walk the path no matter how challenging it may be. It has allowed me to be driven by a very personal, internal reason that stands the test of dissension or discouragement and gives me the capacity to walk a largely solo path and change that I may encourage others to do the same.

What is your Why? What is your driving reason?

Find it today and you will find the energy and focus to be more than awesome in this day. Let it be grounded on a clear word from God, a promise you can stand on, a calling to fulfil for him, an opportunity to showcase him. Find your WHY in God

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand. Prov 19:21 ESV

There are many plans in a man’s heart, Nevertheless the Lord’s counsel—that will stand. Prov 19:21 NKJV

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