Last November, I decided it was time to get healthy again. I was heavy, tired, stressed, near burn out. I was coming out of one of life’s rough patches and made the decision to come out stronger. Since then, I’ve lost 30 pounds, I’ve drastically improved my cardio fitness, I’ve established 5 to 6 days per week of intense exercise, and I’ve memorized over 800 Bible verses (health is much more than physical. It’s spiritual first).

A few habits and tools I’ve added to make progress with my health;

• Intermittent Fasting. For six months, I utilized the 16:8 Fasting Plan. The plan is to do all your eating within an 8 hour period and fast for the other 16. This helped me get out of the habit of snacking, which pours on the pounds and get my calorie intake under control. I utilized the Life App for tracking.
• High Intensity Interval Training. I joined a HIIT class at my gym called Zone 30. It’s a heart rate monitored class that last for 30 minutes and utilizes dozens of exercises to get your heart rate up and work lots of muscle groups. Every class burns 400+ calories. Feels great! It’s always something different, so you never get bored. Seems like a lot of gyms have a HIIT option. There’s also Crossfit and other intense exercise based gyms and programs. And there are a lot of Apps that give you HIIT workouts to do at home.
• Running 15-20 miles per week. I utilized the Couch to 10k plan to get ready for the Crescent City Classic 10k, then jumped to the Half Marathon Trainer. I’m now running 4 days per week and looking forward to my first Half Marathon in years this October.
• Setting some goals – weight loss goal of 25 lbs. Also, put a few races on the calendar, including the Crescent City Classic 10k first, then the Tarpon Triathlon on August 3rd, and the Jazz Half Marathon coming up in October.
• Daily Scripture Memory. I typically follow a Read the Bible in a Year plan, and spend 20-30 minutes reading and journaling through the scriptures daily. This year, I’ve upped the intensity of my devotional life with Scripture Memory. I gave myself the challenge of memorizing every Verse of the Day from the Bible App or Youversion.com in 2019, utilizing the Bible Memory App. We saturate our minds with so much junk. I wanted to get intentional with what I saturate my mind with. The Bible Memory App helps me memorize, then review verses to mastery. I review about 30 verses a day, mostly just in the spare moments of waiting. Get some ideas on how to get started with the Bible Memory App here.
• Get rid of some things. I also turned off Social Media notifications, deleted Facebook and Twitter Apps, and replaced much of the time spent on those diminishing influences with exercise and Scripture Memory.

Where did I find the time? It wasn’t that hard, after turning off some non-beneficial habits. Thankful for the opportunity and the grace from God to get healthy again.

A few books and resources that have helped and inspired me on this recent journey:

• David Goggins’ book Can’t Hurt Me.
• Rich Roll’s book Finding Ultra: Rejecting Middle Age, Becoming One of the World’s Fittest Men, and Discovering Myself
• Free to Focus by Michael Hyatt
• The E-Book Right-Side Up Leader: Choosing Health in the Age of Impact by Alan Briggs. “Health before impact!” was a great challenge from Alan and this book.
• Didn’t See It Coming: Overcoming the Seven Greatest Challenges That No One Expects and Everyone Experiences by Carey Nieuhof.

What tools, apps, books have been helpful for you in getting or staying healthy? Are you near burnt out? Overloaded? Message me and allow me to pray for you and assure you that things can change.