My Health Journey

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NOTE: From time to time there will be a post from someone in our congregation that helps us toward being healthier people in all aspects of what it means to be human. When we think of church, we certainly think of spiritual health which  is so important. What can get neglected or overlooked though are the other facets of us that are also are created in the image of God. Our physical, mental, and emotional heath. This post is by Laurie Glemser who is a busy mom of four and is married to Jason. Laurie candidly shares her own health journey with us. 

 

Being healthy is more than feeling and appearing physically fit.  Not only does it include your physical appearance but also your emotional and mental sides of health.  I believe that good health is a journey.  A journey that requires a mindset of work that morphs into a lifestyle of action.  This journey requires motivation, but more importantly discipline.  Motivation will come and go but discipline will produce life changing habits.  We all want to change our physical appearance, lose weight, or just feel better but if you are not mentally prepared for the struggle that lays ahead then you may not unlock the power within you to achieve your desired goals.

 

My passion for health and fitness comes from my own challenges that I faced.  I was not confident in my appearance, my happiness revolved around my weight.  I sought out help from a nutritionist in my early 20’s to lose some weight and learn to eat properly.  I was active and was just learning how to properly train with weights.  I saw some immediate results, losing around 20lbs.  But that initial success began to consume my life.  I enjoyed the compliments and began to tie my self-worth to how much weight I lost or what the scale said.  Coupled with I was newly married, and my husband was constantly gone with the military, and I was living in a new state away from my family, I quickly began to spiral out of control with an obsession of eating to fuel my body even though I was working out harder and harder.  I had a part time job at the YMCA and my daily thoughts of food and fitness just consumed me.  In this time, I had many ups and downs and began to have a bad relationship with food and letting it control me in every area of my life.

 

My mistakes led to bad and dangerous habits.  Bad behaviors and habits can get the best of us if we let them.  I believe that my struggles are not that uncommon to women.  While each woman is unique, we all may experience some of the over-arching themes of lack of confidence, self-doubt which we translate into our physical appearance.  I wish to share my good and bad experiences along with the things that I have learned and studied over the years to help women achieve their goals without making the mistakes I have made.  As a certified health coach, I want to encourage women that they can achieve a healthy lifestyle no matter their circumstances.  The most important component of a healthy lifestyle is mindset.  And that a healthy lifestyle is a journey that is filled with good days and not so good days.  I strive every day to encourage women to have a strong mindset and give real world applications to overcome the specific daily challenges that are unique to their circumstances.  I am firm believer that if you change your mind, you can change your body.

 

I have been blessed with the opportunity to be a full-time health coach and I have learned so much about myself in the process. I never want to go back to the destructive thoughts and bad relationship that I had with food.  I practice what I coach every day; discipline is required to be healthy.  I love learning about habits and why we do the things we do.  Being physically, mentally, and spiritually fit require you to have healthy daily habits in place.  I love routine and I stress the importance of this my clients.  A routine will make things easier; it will become muscle memory.  I have grown disciplined in my health journey and have relied on that more then motivation.  We will not always be motivated to do these certain habits, but I know that I will feel better and will be the best version of who I am if I continue to work on myself physically, mentally, and spiritually.   Looking back on this now, I know God had a bigger purpose and plan in my life.  He was leading down a path that has shaped and molded me to who I am today.  We don’t always see God in our struggles at that time and we tend to ask “Why” but leaning on His strength and not our own is something we all need to practice day in and day out.   Spiritual health as well as physical health is a lifelong journey and not one that we can turn to occasionally.  Being strong mentally, physically, and spiritually will only make every area of your life better.

 

We must that the right steps in nurturing ourselves to be the best we can be for others.  As a busy wife and mom of 4 I have learned that I need to always make myself a priority.  If I don’t then my family may not get the best of me.  We can not let life get the best of us we have to get the best out of life.  And part of that is our total health.  Losing weight or just feeling better can be done as long as your put your mind in it and always remember that you are worthy and deserving of living a healthy lifestyle.