Where does exercise fit in for the Christian woman? I think it plays a huge part! For the average healthy woman her body image is a major part of who she is. I know women of all ages are concerned about their appearance. God made us unique and He created very individual creatures. He also made us after His own image. Since we cannot change much about our appearance, meaning without surgery, the only thing God left to our responsibility physically about our bodies is how we take care of our weight. I am not saying that if you are overweight you are sinful or should be ashamed, but I have counseled many women of all shapes, sizes, and builds and the fact is that a woman’s body is on the forefront of her thoughts and her mind almost all of the time. Research shows how much time men think about sex because God made them that way, but I bet research would show that a woman thinks about her own body even more than that. I have worked with women that weigh up to 400 lbs. and I have seen how weight can destroy a woman. Just watch to see how many episodes of Oprah discuss women and weight issues. Just look at the tabloids next time you are at the checkout counter and without picking one up just count how many time the front covers are displaying the images of “too fat” and “too skinny” women. Teenage girls are actually committing suicide because they cannot handle being a size 6 in today’s cruel and judgmental society.

How does this worldly problem fit into today’s Christian woman? Well, exercise was designed by God and has many wonderful benefits. Even if you do not see results like you want to, just exercising a few days a week moderately (enough to feel uncomfortable) has the potential to make you feel like a new woman. It not only improves your self image, but it increases your energy level and overall body function. Exercise is God’s natural way of releasing endorphins in the body, that He created, and have actually helped many people come completely off depression medications. I believe that godly women should be the last on the list in today’s society to cry every morning when putting on her jeans. A Christ centered woman should be showing her piers that her body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and we should be taking care of what we put into our mouths, how much we put into our mouths, and how much we exercise to keep our bodies functioning properly.

When a woman becomes obsessed about her weight she is taking her focus off of everything else. How can we be women of a sound mind when all our mind is on how horrible my rear end looks in these jeans? I have been very guilty of letting my body image control my life. It is probably the hardest habit to kick for most of us even more so than addictions like cigarettes!

Many people always ask me, “What is your advice about exercising? How can I lose weight?” I have a degree in Exercise and Sport Science from Kennesaw State University. I love to exercise! I worked as a personal trainer for 2 years when we moved to Louisville and loved every minute of it. My husband also loves to run ultra-marathons, which are more than the traditional marathon in length and harder in nature. Most of them are on tough trails and either 50 or 100 mile increments. Yes, that’s 50 or 100 miles in ONE day! I have only ran a traditional marathon and a bunch of half marathons, which seems pretty easy compared to his races! Now that you know my background, maybe you will trust my advice! Maybe!

I am not going to tell you that in order to lose weight you must train for and run a marathon, although I can promise you will lose weight that way! I am going to give you some of the best advice that you will ever hear when it comes to exercise, and you do not even have to pay $20 for a book- you can just send your donations to my address below- Just Kidding, it is free!

The easy formula is calories in versus calories out! Everyone has a “special” number of how many calories their body needs per day in order to maintain the weight they are currently. I will put a link below so you can get a quick estimate of your special number. But lets say my number is 1200. That means that I must eat right at 1200 calories per day to maintain my 115 pounds (before I got pregnant!) Well, if I eat 1350 a day, then I will slowly be gaining weight. If I eat 1000 per day, I will gradually be losing weight. It is that EASY!!

Now, here is where the exercise comes in, it is very important to eat at least your required calories per day to ensure you are getting good nutrition for proper body function. When you exercise you are burning away the calories and therefore losing weight. So let’s say I am eating 1200 per day, yet exercising and burning about 250-300 calories most days of the week. Then I am losing weight! Most people eat way more than the recommended number per day, then they get mad and frustrated when they are not losing weight while exercising.

Here is what I make clients do, for one week keep a strict log of everything that goes in your mouth! Go to www.nutritiondata.com and find out how many calories are in each food according to the amount you have eaten. At the end of each day add it up and see how close you are to the special number. You will have a visual of how many calories you are consuming and what foods are taking up most of your calories. You will probably be surprised. It is usually just one or two food items that does it, for most people it is soft drinks and sugared coffee! Once you get to that special number with your diet, then start exercising and the weight WILL come off! I suggest my clients be VERY strict with this for the first month. After that they can introduce some of these foods back into the diet but only in small portions moderately.

I had one client that would eat great throughout the day and stick very close to her number. Every night she would splurge and have just a few oreos that were her favorite. This was something she was NOT willing to give up. She would exercise often and get frustrated at not losing the weight fast enough. I finally told her that if she did not give up the oreos every night then she would have to burn an additional 150 calories per exercise session. To her it was worth the extra work to see the results and still eat her oreos each night!

We need to try our best and pray every day that we can be Christ centered in our eating and exercising habits. In my life I have used my exercise time to make a new friend. We walk together many days of the week and have built up a close relationship. You do not have to think of exercise as wasted time! Ask someone you know, or do not know, to become your exercise partner and use your time wisely, or use the time exercising in prayer!

We as Christian women need to focus on keeping our bodies healthy and setting a good example for our daughters and piers. We need to stop obsessing and work hard at just staying healthy. Our obsessions can lead to even worse obsessions in our children! I am just as guilty as anybody when it comes to this subject. Eating disorders are on the rise and have become a huge problem our teens are facing each day. We need to out our focus on Christ and focus our thoughts on Him and not ourselves. We need to obsess over our spiritual bodies more than out physical bodies! My prayer is that my daughter[s] grow up to learn the balance between spending time each day improving their spiritual life as well as their physical life.

Lord, may that be the example their mommy sets!

You can play around with you numbers but do not forget the formula:

If calories in are more than your “special” number minus calories burned, you will gain weight!

If calories in are equal to or less than your “special” number minus calories burned, you will lose weight!

To get your special number go to this link and scroll to the bottom to fill in your info and it automatically gives you the number: http://www.hpathy.com/healthtools/calories-need.asp