Coaching Session Q & A Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of the Coaching Q & A Session! You submitted your questions to me, and I am answering them here today. Although I’m pointing to answers, I want to always first point straight to God because He is our answer to everything!

If you are not a part of my online community, I highly encourage you to join us! We talk about all things faith, fitness, womanhood, food, and all of the above!! Join us here!

If you’re experiencing any of these: hormones, cravings, hopelessness, age-related weight gain, lack of desire to workout, wondering how to get your abs back after baby, wanting to know what my favorite God-made meals are, my thoughts on intermittent fasting, finding joy, or what to do when you feel alone and lack confidence, buckle up because I’m pouring and praying it out today!

This blog format will be a little different than usual because I really want to focus on answering your questions fully! Let’s dive in! 

What do you do when you’re feeling alone, depressed, or lacking in self-confidence? How do you remind yourself to renew your mind?

I have 3 real thoughts for this question!

1. Have a friend that you can confide in and tell her you are struggling with depression or self-worth. Ask her if she would consider being your hype girl on days you are feeling down. 
2. Take out a journal or put a note on your phone for you to look at on days when you are feeling isolated or blue. You can write your own or use this note I have written below. Dear me, the devil is trying to make me feel less than. NO! I’m not falling for it. I’m not alone my God is able and he is with me! These feelings come to me because God is doing something in me and the enemy wants to stop me, He is trying to get me into doubt, confusion, discouragement, and make me lose confidence, but I am an overcomer. Jesus, I cry out to you to feel me with truth, set me free from the chains of these lies, you are my living hope. And then listen to Won’t He do it! Put it on and get up and dance girl, shake off that devil doubt and rock your Godfidence! BOOM!’ It also really helps to download my Godly confidence list. You can do that at kimdolanleto.com/godlyconfidence
3. Go do something for someone else. Give someone a compliment, donate some clothes, send 10 dollars to a charity, sign up to volunteer, pray for someone else, call someone God has put on your heart, etc. Go be that light this world needs and see how getting out of your head and pouring into someone else’s life s a gift you give yourself!

What are your thoughts on intermittent fasting and intuitive eating?

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Matthew 6:16-18

I think they should call it Intermiittnet Eating, not Intermittent Fasting. Fasting is for spiritual growth, not weight loss. Jesus says when you fast not if you fast so it is part of the Christian life, but we are not to do to be seen.

“That your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Matthew 6:18

I like the principle of intuitive eating, but they leave God out.

For those of you who don’t know what intuitive eating teaches:

• Reject diets
• Eat when you’re hungry
• Pay attention to fullness
• Choose foods that make you feel good
• Respect your emotions

I teach a combo of Mindful eating and intuitive eating with a Godly focus. 

Mindful eating is done by limiting distractions during meals, while Intuitive Eating incorporates mindfulness and other tools to reconnect with the body while rooting out deep-seated negative beliefs about the body and food.

God wants us to have a healthy relationship with food, enjoy food and be grateful for food. But the world has perverted and twisted that relationship to be performance and rigid with rules that are not BIblical. Food is either a gift or an idol.

I would pray and seek God for wisdom and listen to your body, take the time to learn what is best for you because everyone is different.

What are your thoughts on joy versus happiness, as I know they are not the same?

Here are my thoughts. Happiness is a fleeting feeling and Biblical joy is choosing to respond to external circumstances with inner contentment and satisfaction because we know that God will use these experiences to accomplish His work in and through our lives.

“The joy of the Lord is your strength.” —Nehemiah 8:10

It’s easy to read this scripture and miss the full context. In the book of Nehemiah, the Israelites (God’s chosen people) were carried away into exile, but God preserved a remnant to stay in the Land of Israel.

These people heard the Word of the Lord spoken to them by a prophet and realized that they had not been living according to God’s commands.

Filled with remorse and guilt and shame, the people began to weep and mourn over the bad choices they made in the past. In the midst of their mourning, the prophet Ezra told the people to turn from sorrow and to celebrate their new understanding of how they should be living because God set up such a system for their benefit.

You see, the Israelites understood their failures, but that wasn’t enough to evoke real, lasting change in their lives. They needed to see beyond the negative emotions brought on by their realization and believe that God loved them and wanted to bless them despite what they did in the past.

Don’t we need to do that? See past our feelings.

Basically, they needed to see the situation from His point of view.

God celebrated the fact that His people recognized the wrong they did in the past and that their hearts were opened to the possibility of transformation. He wanted them to celebrate as well and to know that he was rooting for them.

Much like the Israelites, many of us have made mistakes or experienced hurt in the past that have since determined the ways in which we see and treat ourselves. Recognizing those mistakes and realizing that we have fallen short is a difficult pill to swallow, but accepting that the love of God washes away those mistakes should be the most transformative and joy-giving message we ever receive.

We don’t always understand, as the Israelites did, why we have to face challenging times. But, even when we can’t recognize why we struggle, the answer is to settle our emotions and find the joy of the Lord in the midst of hardship.

If the joy of the Lord is our strength, then happiness isn’t material; it’s a choice we make in those tough moments to see Him working in our circumstances rather than focusing on our problems. I find joy by grabbing my daughter and hugging her, playing my favorite Christian song that makes me feel overwhelmed by God’s love and His presence, choosing to see people through the eyes of grace—remembering all the things God has forgiven me of, and recognizing when I choose gratitude over complaining.

What is one of your favorite God-made meals? Anytime, breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

“Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.” Genesis 9:3

“And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.” Genesis 1:29 

I love whole oats with ¼ envy chopped with walnuts, maple syrup, and cinnamon

Salads are my go-to, any kind of salad, any protein with kale, veggies, or spinach and veggies. I make a dressing with olive oil, lemon, garlic, and black pepper

I love ground chicken in coconut oil with broccoli slaw. I love ground sirloin burgers with guac and pico de gallo with roasted veggies, peppers mushrooms onions. I love fajita’s, healthy of course! I love meatballs to have on hand for post-workout with Sweet potatoes, quinoa, or brown rice.

My favorite veggies are kale, broccoli, spinach, baby carrots, and peppers.

At the end of this blog, you’ll have an opportunity to download some of my favorite God Made Meals!

What do I do to stop falling for diets? I promise myself I’m going to get off the cycle but I get sucked in.

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” John 15 4

The first thing I would do is put pen to paper and write down all the diets I’ve tried and the end results, and how you felt, the whole experience. It’s also important to write out your feelings if you have any guilt or shame. Forgive yourself for any and all equipment, meal plans, memberships anything you’ve ever bought that you didn’t use, and then lay this down. Surrender it, give it to God and ask Him to help you. You want to be healthy and actually take care of your body and make the best choices. 

As long as we think we can get something for nothing or have the wrong motivation, keep doing it in our willpower and strength, we can get sucked back in because God isn’t there.

I encourage you to try something I call the FIT power hour. It’s the daily rededication to stay on track or get back on track in His grace. Look at yourself and see yourself as worthy of taking care of for more than what you look like because you are the temple of God.

Let’s pray friend!

Dear God,

Thank you for the blessing of doing life with my sisters. We come to you in absolute awe and gratitude help us center ourselves on you and step back to see the whole blessed picture of our lives and not focus on the trials.

These trials will come but let them grow us because you are so much bigger. The enemy wants us to focus on our problems or why we can’t do things or wonder if it’s biblical, so give us clarity. Today we choose to partner with you and pull ourselves up and out of what keeps us down or stuck

We lift our hands to you and ask that you give us the strength, grace, and determination to live for you and take the very best care of ourselves. We love you with all of our hearts.

In Jesus’ name, amen,

Faith fuel

“She is more precious than rubies, And all the things you may desire cannot compare with her.” Proverbs 3:15

“Blessed is he who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promise to her

POWER Up.” Luke 1:45