Can you relate to this situation?

You eat healthy all week.  Then on the weekend you go overboard allowing anything to go into your mouth.

By Sunday evening you’re saying,

“Ugh. You just keep messing up.  You are such a failure. Just forget it.  Who cares anyway?”

Typical thoughts from a typical human brain.  

But what’s not typical, the women that choose NOT to believe these lies.

The women the dismiss this thinking are the ones that confident and just magnetic to be around.

How you talk to yourself determines how you feel about yourself. How your feel about yourself will determine how you will treat yourself AND others.

Two weeks ago, I explained why it’s vital that Christian women build their self-confidence.

This week, let’s dive into a tool to building self-confidence…having an AMAZING opinion of yourself.

You alone created my inner being. You knitted me together...

“I am cutting out all carbs, drinking 100 oz of water a day, exercising for an hour 7 days a week, and adding in 30 minutes of meditation.”

This often the answer I get when I ask clients what they want to start working on.

This is not an exaggeration either.

Can you start implementing all of these at once along with your busy life?

Yeah, me neither.

To top it all off, in the past we’ve tried to change everything all at once.

We failed. 

Then we made it mean we aren’t good at the things we tried.  Or that we aren’t meant to lose weight and keep it off.

Two weeks ago I told you the “secret” to losing weight and keeping it off…

SELF-CONFIDENCE.

Last week, I outlined the very first and most important step to building self-confidence…

TRUSTING GOD.

Trusting God really is the only step you need.  Because if you trust God, you’ll start and you’ll keep going no matter what failures.

...

Last week’s I wrote about the MOST important thing I think most Christian women are lacking:

SELF-CONFIDENCE

You can find that post here.  You don’t have to read that post before reading this one, but it will help.

And, if you've been wondering how in the world you are you going to increase your self-confidence, I’ve got you. That’s what we are covering today and the next couple of weeks.

The hope is to start building your self-confidence muscle so you can show up as your true self, the one God created.

Let’s dive in.

Building self-confidence is all about BUILDING TRUST.

Trusting yourself is a vital piece of self-confidence.

But to do that, you need to build your trust in God first.

Do you believe that God is the ultimate, perfect creator?

At the same time, do you believe that you’re not good enough?

How do those two work together?

If God made you, then he made you perfect for your place in this...

I use to be jealous of a particular “breed” of girls.

These girls aren’t usually what others would call the “prettiest” or even the “smartest”.

Nope.

The girls that I was jealous of were the ones that could get ANYONE talking and made everyone feel included.  The ones that would stand up in front of a group and give a quick talk and would skip the part where their hands shake and voice cracks.  The ones that could hop out on the dance floor and have the time of their life WITHOUT any liquid courage.

You know those girls, right?

The ones with…

SELF-CONFIDENCE

Have you ever longed for self-confidence? 

There are so many misconceptions about self-confidence that I’d like to clear some up. 

What is self-confidence?

It’s the state of being secure in yourself and your abilities.

Put it in the Christian perspective; it’s the state of...

I think Jesus loved simple.

This is just my thought, but there is some evidence to back this.

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:3 KJV

Paul writes about how the gospel is simple, easy and it’s the enemy that makes it hard, complicated.

Also, Jesus condenses all the laws and commandments into TWO! (Matthew 22: 37-40)

 “For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.” 1 Corinthians 14:33e 

So why do we get caught up in the confusion of complicating things?

The enemy KNOWS it trips us up.

What does this have to do with weight loss? 

EVERYTHING.

The majority of my time is spent simplifying things for my clients.

They (like I used to be) are so resistant to letting go and embracing the simpler way!

But, really ponder on this question… How can simple living be a benefit?

Believe...

Skepticism is NOT rational thinking.

It’s doubt.

And it’s limiting what God can do through you and in you.

You don’t think you can lose weight and keep it off because you’ve never been able to do it in the past.

That is doubting God’s ability and distrusting yourself.

Who do you spend the most time with?

God and yourself.

Do you really want to spend the majority of your time doubting and distrusting who you spend the most time with?

Look what happens when you do this.  

You become overweight, unhappy, anxious and feeling out of control.

But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

I can do ALL things through him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13 (emphasis mine)

If God put the desire on your heart to lose weight and care for that temple, he’s already given you the way to do it.

Cut the skepticism.

It’s...

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18

How about a little rejoicing today? 

How about every day?

If you rejoiced every day how different would your life look like?

How would you show up in this world differently?

How would you eat differently?

I just wrapped up another challenge last week.  It was an AMAZING 10-day journey with so many women.

There is so much to rejoice in and give thanks to God about.

Let me share a few with you:

My mindset has changed, and I have lost 4.2 pounds. Yeah me! ~RS

So much to celebrate from the past 9 days. I feel such an emotional/mental shift in my perspective toward food. I know this is going to take more work moving forward but I am thanking God for sending this information and Amanda into my life! And hey, 4-5 pound weight drop is a lot to celebrate too!!!!  ~DS

I have enjoyed this so...

“I wish weight loss wasn’t so hard!”

Have you ever whined this to yourself or others?

I know I have.

What if weight loss is easier than you think?

What if you’re just the one making it hard?

I recently wrapped up one of my weight loss group programs.  I asked everyone what their biggest insights or shift were in the program.

My one client, who lost 11 pounds said, “I realized weight loss isn’t that hard.”

This was a turning point for her.  That’s when she started leaning into it instead of fighting against it.

So how about you?

What if weight loss isn’t hard?

What if it was possible that it could actually be FUN?

What could be possible?

A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. Proverbs 17:22

My mission is to show women that weight loss is actually EASIER than they think.  Heck, it can even be fun a lot of the time! 

When it feels fun or even doable, that's...

In last week’s blog post I told you how to NOT eat the brownie.

But what if you want to have a brownie sometimes?

Guess what?!

You can.

And you can still lose weight!

Promise. 

I and my clients still eat "brownies" (or "unhealthy" food).

Here is how you do it…

Make the choice confidently and stay present when eating it.

That’s it.

Here’s why these are the two most important things.

If you DECIDE or CHOOSE the brownie with conscious decision making (not just out of habitual desire or because someone made you them) you will feel good about eating it.

When you feel good about eating the brownie you will have no guilt or regret which just leads to more eating.

And, if you are present, enjoying every bite, one brownie will be enough.  You’ll be able to listen to your body's cues of fullness and be able to stop.

NOT BECAUSE YOU SHOULD OR YOUR NEED TO STOP, but because you WANT TO.  Because you’ve had enough.

...

We all have those foods. 

Those ones we can’t say no to.

Gooey, Girhadelli brownies are one of mine.  Those and chips and salsa.

But substitute whatever tempts you the most.

I want to tell you how to say “NO” to the brownies (insert your food) and still feel REALLY GOOD!

No deprivation.

Deprivation feels icky.  And when you feel icky, what do you do…

EAT!

You eat to make yourself feel better.  Even if it’s only for a moment.

Mustering up a “no” to a brownie only to turn around and shovel down 6 cookies IS NOT HELPFUL.

I want to teach you how to say “NO” to the brownie and feel really great doing it so YOU DON’T BINGE later.

Here is one hint first:

It’s not really saying “no”.

Here is why you can’t just say “no” to your favorite food…

You’ll want to rebel.

Yep.  You’ll want to say to yourself, “Forget you, (insert...