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3 Sneaky Reasons You’re Not Losing Weight or Reaching Your Fitness Goals

fitness May 19, 2020

3 Sneaky Reasons You’re Not Losing Weight or Reaching Your Fitness Goals

(Press play above to listen, or enjoying reading below.)

There are few things as hard as losing weight and reaching our fitness goals, so we want to make sure we’re not inadvertently sabotaging our best efforts.

Before I dive into these three sneaky reasons that could be hindering our weight loss and fitness goals, I want to encourage you with some Faith Fuel.

Psalm 119:105 says,

Your word is light unto my path and a lamp unto my feet.

As we walk out our fitness through faith, we see from this scripture that God is with us. When we seek His word for answers, He’s there showing us the way.

God wants us empowered with knowledge, so make sure one of the following is not keeping you from your goals.

3 Sneaky Reasons You’re Not Losing Weight or Reaching Your Fitness Goals

1. You have a daily habit that has a grip on you

Is there something you do daily that could be stopping you from making progress?

Examples: stress eating at night, drinking your calories, eating large portions of even healthy food, or skimping on your workouts.

If you’re ready to take away its power and stop it from sabotaging your best efforts...

Here’s Your Action Step:

What can you replace it with?

Can you create a schedule where you have it or do it on specific days instead of every day, or does it just need to be replaced with a healthier choice or action altogether?

2. You think you can’t!

Like Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right!”

Consider the words you say to/about yourself:

Do your words encourage and affirm your goals?
Do you refer to yourself in parts—negatively focusing on your
thighs or arms or stomach?
Do you talk failure and expect success?
Do you build yourself up or tear yourself down on a regular
basis?

Your body hears and is deeply affected by everything you say. We’re physical, emotional, and spiritual beings, so all three aspects of us need to be committed to the same mission. We need to make sure that the words we say align with our goals in order to find peace and balance and avoid inner turmoil.

Here’s Your Action Step:

Open your mind to the possibility that you can.

Start by listening to your inner voice, and then begin catching yourself when the old soundtrack plays. Identify any negative patterns (listed below) and create a positive, truthful, and productive inner voice.

This takes time and practice. Cultivating a healthy relationship with yourself means you speak to yourself the same way you talk to your child, best friend, or someone else you love very much.

Create Replacement Statements

Identify your negative theme and where it came from. Don’t define yourself by someone else’s opinion. When you choose words to describe yourself, make sure they are true of who you are now, not who you used to be. Don’t blame yourself for something someone else said or did to you.
Replace the lies you believe about yourself with the truth of God’s Word and who He says you are.
Practice speaking to yourself correctly. If it helps, memorize scriptures that will strengthen you. If you wouldn’t say it to your children or someone you love and respect, then you shouldn’t be saying it to yourself.
Quickly notice and correct old thinking patterns, and pray for God to reveal when past issues resurface.
Until our thoughts change, nothing changes. It all starts with our thinking. Making a list of old, wrong thinking versus new, right-thinking will help you understand the things you’ve allowed to repeat over and over again that aren’t true. Write down how you currently talk to yourself and create a list of the common themes and new ways to begin to speak to yourself.

3. You’re not sleeping

It’s no secret that our culture places zero value on sleep, but it is vital to our health and fitness goals.

Did you know...

Sleeping an extra hour a night could help you drop 11 pounds in a year?

Sleep controls your appetite:

The two hormones that help regulate hunger—ghrelin, and leptin—are affected by sleep:

Ghrelin stimulates appetite, while leptin decreases it.

So when the body is sleep-deprived, the level of ghrelin spikes, while the level of leptin falls, this leads to an increase in hunger and being unsatisfied even after you eat.

But, when you sleep enough. low ghrelin creates a normal appetite and high leptin which means you're satisfied after eating.

Inadequate sleep also causes increased cortisol which equates to fat storage and decreased insulin sensitivity. When your insulin sensitivity is low, it puts pressure on your pancreas to increase insulin production to clear sugar from your blood. Low insulin sensitivity may also result in chronically high blood sugar levels, which are thought to increase your risk of many diseases, including diabetes and heart disease.

Here’s Your Action Step:

Make a sleep time schedule and stick to it for even a week, and I guarantee you that you will see results, on the scale, in your energy, stress, cravings, mental acuity, and on and on. (Aim for a minimum of 7 hours.)

Sweet friend, God wants us smart! He wants His daughters equipped.

Take the time to know the sneaky traps that are sabotaging your best efforts!

Dear God,

We see how our habits, negative mindsets, and even not taking care of ourselves with proper rest can rob us of our health if we let them. Liberate us from the bondage we have toward the things that keep us stuck. Our goal is to be free of the weight that deprives us of our health. With a heart full of the right motives, help us take action today and create the changes we long to see!

In Jesus' name, amen.

I’m never going to leave you without asking you to get into action.

Nothing happens without action, and I’m here to be your accountability partner.

Join My Power Up Challenge!

Make sure to Subscribe/Rate/Review to the Strong. Confident. His. Podcast, and head over to my social media and let me know which tip spoke to you?

When you do, you’re automatically entered into my Power Up Challenge!

I pick one winner every week, and you’ll either get a 10-minute call from me, a copy of my best-selling Christian fitness book Faith Inspired Transformation, the FIT workout series, or some fun Christian swag.

I’m invested in your success.

If you’d like to get fit, gain control over your appetite and feel more confident, make sure you go to my site and download my free resources.

Remember, You are Strong. Confident. His.

Until next time...

From my heart to yours,