Accepting My Curves

I'm having a problem with the accepting my curves movement. I think it is fabulous to be good with where your body is at, but I think many are using the "Loving my Curves" movement to embrace unhealthiness. I have been overweight all my life. It has always been a struggle. I am not trying to be a skinny model type, I know I never will be. I am striving to be fit and the best I can be. For many years I was okay with being bigger, and it became a sort of excuse. A reason I couldn't do things, that eventually became an omnipresent reality. I had so many things on hold for when I lost weight, but I honestly wasn't putting any effort in.

The rub for me, and probably others, since I don't think my journey is that unique, was that being okay with where I was meant I didn't have to try to do better. My husband used to work at a place that had a sign that read "Good Enough is the enemy of Excellence." I was living a "good enough" life for years, but God promised excellence. Did that mean he would hand it to me on a silver platter? No, it meant I needed to go out and run the race that was laid before me, and in that race I would discover a deeper, more excellent relationship with Him. That doesn't make it easy.

Everyday I am walking in a new healing. My thought patterns are changing. The excuses are getting eliminated. This week I'm doing something I would have thought I couldn't do in the past. More importantly, because I was living in "good enough" I didn't really want to do it. So, what is it I am doing? Well, a few weeks ago I talked about Orange Theory Fitness, and I have joined them now. Twice a year they do what they call a challenge week, and this is that week. I had originally planned to do only Monday, Wednesday, and Friday this week, but every day is a different challenge, so I am going Monday-Friday.

Does it intimidate me? Heck yeah. Am I wondering how I'm going to do it? Definitely. However, this will give me all sorts of bench marks so I can check my progress in six months. I don't think it is chance that this is basically the first week I'm there. I believe God will give me the strength to see it through. I believe out of it He will create excellence. I'm excited to see how the week ends, and I feel like this is only the beginning of the fitness side of my journey.

Freedom in Movement!

Life is constantly changing. It has been almost a year ago that I went into the hospital with sepsis, and stayed for 9 days. The life changes that have happened since then are amazing. Just after closing the shop, my health was so poor. I don't know how many times I caught colds. I was having a hard time just walking around the store, many times resorting to the wheelchair cart. My knee was in pain pretty much constantly, and it was severely limiting my movement.

This week I'm really feeling changes in that area. It has been happening for about a month, but this week is when I really noticed how limited I had been. Now I'm parking further from the store on purpose, and it is freeing to not have to drive around and around to get a better spot. This is something I didn't really even think of, much less consider a kind of bondage.

I feel better, stronger, and healthier everyday. Just yesterday I tried Orange Theory Fitness, something I'm sure I would have disliked and dreaded in the past, but not yesterday. It is like I'm craving the challenge now. I cannot even fathom the changes that God is working in my spirit and body. Yesterday was exhilarating, and I'm hoping to be able to go again soon.

Finally, I'm going to finish this off by saying, I'm starting to take the stairs. Going down is still challenging to my knee, but I'm confident I will be able to reverse that. This morning I took my fasting blood sugar, and most of the time that is about 135-140, today it was 105, so I'm confident I'm reversing the diabetes. Most importantly, I'm sure that God is transforming me into a more abundant life, and I praise Him for the transformations.