friday::FITNESS

Tips for Dining Out

Fre­quent eat­ing out isn’t healthy for any­one. Not only will it expand your waist­line, but it’s sure to lean out your wal­let. It may seem like $7 here and $12 there, but it adds up. I rec­om­mend lim­it­ing eat­ing out to 1–2 times per week. (If you take me up on this rec­om­men­da­tion, DON’T freak out at your first gro­cery bill. Wait until the end of the month, and you’ll be shocked how much money you saved.)

How­ever, I’ll be the first to admit cook­ing every meal at home is unre­al­is­tic. Not only does life hap­pen and we get pushed for time, but with ministry, we all have people in our lives. Birth­days, hol­i­days, and meet-ups at restau­rants are unavoid­able.

When you do treat your­self to din­ing out, here are some guide­lines to help you stay on track with your health & fitness.

Eat your calo­ries — don’t drink them! Water is the best option, but you can also opt for unsweet­ened tea. If you have to sweeten it, carry some ste­via with you, as many arti­fi­cial sweet­en­ers can be just as bad for you as reg­u­lar sugar.

Scan the menu for key words. Aim to order dishes that con­tain words like grilled, steamed, broiled, or broth. Avoid menu items that con­tain words like fried or creamy.

Skip the appetizer.…at least as an actual appe­tizer. The extra 10–15 min­utes to wait won’t kill you, and this will help elim­i­nate eat­ing excess calo­ries. How­ever, if there’s a healthy choice as an appe­tizer, it could make a great choice as your entree. Appe­tizer serv­ing sizes gen­er­ally aren’t as large, and prices are usu­ally more rea­son­able as well.

Don’t assume every salad is healthy. A fried chicken salad with ranch dress­ing, cheese, bacon and crou­tons can have more calo­ries than a Big Mac, large fries and large Coke. If you do order a salad, fill it with veg­gies and lean pro­tein like grilled chicken, salmon or shrimp. Also, ask for vinai­grette dress­ing on the side, dip­ping each bite as you go.

Side items count. Just because you were good and ordered grilled chicken, don’t ruin it with french fries and mac and cheese on the side. Even if not on the menu, most restau­rants will usu­ally bring you a side of fruit or steamed veg­gies if you ask. (Remem­ber — you are the pay­ing cus­tomer. Don’t be afraid to ask for substitutions!)

Ask ques­tions. I’m always sur­prised how “healthy” menu items come as pre­pared in the kitchen, such as steamed veg­gies that are served drown­ing in but­ter. Ask your waiter before­hand how what you’re order­ing is pre­pared and make adjust­ments to suit your health needs. (Don’t be afraid to send it back if it’s not cor­rect. Always be polite, but there’s noth­ing wrong with get­ting exactly what you ordered.)

Avoid the bread bas­ket. Most restau­rants serve but­tered white bread, which is full of fat and sim­ple carbs…empty calo­ries, which will not make you feel full, caus­ing you to overeat.

Eat half. If you’re din­ing with a health-conscious friend, find an entree you can split. If you can’t agree on any­thing, when the waiter comes back with your order, ask for a doggy bag. Put half of your meal away, and eat the other half. If you ordered wisely, it’ll be a fine lunch for tomorrow.

Have a bite of dessert. That’s right — a bite! Buy a dessert for every­one at the table to share. That way, every­one gets a taste of some­thing sweet, but no one pigs out.

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friday::FITNESS

Consistency Counts

Fitness. It's on everyone's brain. I mean, it's January - the most popular month for exercise thanks to New Years resolutions. But what if there were some tips that would help us not fizzle out on our goals by February? Thankfully, there are.

It's so impor­tant to find a work­out that you enjoy. If you played sports in high school and miss those days of con­di­tion­ing, a boot­camp style work­out may be a good fit for you. If music moti­vates you, maybe jog­ging, walk­ing, or run­ning out­side with you iPod is bet­ter. If you pre­fer weights, you can con­cen­trate on strength train­ing. If you used to cheer or dance, there are dozens of dance work­outs avail­able. Activ­i­ties you dread are easy to dis­miss, but you will always be more con­sis­tent with things you like to do. (Con­tact me if you want to talk fur­ther about a plan that is right for you - I love helping people find their soul mate workout!)

Write it down. Sched­ule your work­outs just like you would book a meet­ing at work. If you plan to work out on your lunch break and a co-worker asks you to go to lunch, say you’ve already got an appoint­ment. You do — with your­self! Would you back out of an impor­tant meet­ing at the last minute just because you didn’t feel like it? Hope­fully not. Plan your work­outs a week in advance, write it down in your cal­en­dar, and stick to it.

Get account­abil­ity from a fit­ness pro­fes­sional. Before you argue that you don’t have enough money to hire a per­sonal trainer, what if I told you you could get help at no addi­tional cost to you? Join­ing my website makes me your FREE fit­ness and nutri­tion coach! Together, we will develop a fit­ness and nutri­tion plan that com­ple­ments your pri­or­i­ties, your goals, your sched­ule and your budget.

Con­sis­tency involves con­sis­tently chang­ing up your rou­tine. If you con­tinue to do what you’ve always done, you’ll con­tinue to get the same results. So, if you want your body to change, you’ve got to change some­thing you do. For exam­ple, I teach strength train­ing classes. I have a few peo­ple who rarely miss a week. They are extremely con­sis­tent. But some of them are still using the same weights they were using a year ago, and their bod­ies aren’t chang­ing. Few gym frus­tra­tions are worse than putting in the time to work­out with­out see­ing results. Make a com­mit­ment to change some­thing every­time you work out. Lift heav­ier. Wear weighted gloves to kick­box­ing. Run on incline. You don’t have to change your activ­ity — just make small adjust­ments to your routine.

Have a "why" that is deeper than a smaller pants size. Sure, losing weight will be good motivation for a while, but after the a few weeks, the weight doesn't come off as quickly. Instead of focusing on the scale, make the reason you work out to be a healthier mom to your children or a better partner in ministry to your spouse. Those things are closer to your heart and will motivate you much more than any number.

Happy New Year!

Let's do this,
Michelle

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friday::FITNESS

At its core ministry is about meeting the needs of others. Whether that means visiting the hospital for a 6 a.m. surgery, being a shoulder to cry on after a 2 a.m. break up, hosting an afternoon staff meeting, preparing a message, providing pizza for a late night study session, or making time for a date with your spouse and helping your kids with their homework, most of your day doesn’t belong to you.

The time constraints of ministry make it easy to justify the lack of attention we give our health. We are just too busy. After all, fast food is convenient. Gym memberships are expensive (especially if you don’t know if you can go consistently). And don’t even get me started on trying to get eight hours of sleep each night. Ministry often requires you to stay up late at an event just to get up early to do it all over again the next morning. You have intense physical demands on your body, especially when you top that ministry off with a family. How are you supposed to have the energy to exercise?

No matter how realistic the justifications you use sound, they are really just excuses. Contrary to the belief that adding exercise into an already exhausting routine results in burnout, research shows that regular exercise not only helps control weight, but it reduces risk levels for various diseases as well as improves overall mood and increases energy levels to sustain activity.

Just as you are called to be a good manager of your money (Malachi 3:10), your time (Ephesians 5:15-16), and your gifts (Romans 12:6-8), God also calls you to be a good steward with your body. First Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.”

You might ask, But isn’t it selfish to spend that time and money on myself when there are so many others in need? Well, there’s definitely a line that can easily be crossed from health to vanity. Philippians 2:3 says, “Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.” If you work out to have six-pack abs or deprive your body of necessary nutrients just to squeeze into a size 0, that’s a completely different issue. But when you exercise to give yourself extra energy for your family and the ministry God has entrusted to you, you’re taking care of God’s temple.

Taking care of yourself also puts you in a better position to take care of those in your ministry, which is how Jesus said was the way to show your love for Him (John 21:15-17). Not to mention, it helps to set a positive example. If those in your ministry don’t witness you making your health a priority, they are more likely to not make it a priority of their own.

So, what are five practical ways you can begin prioritizing your health without sacrificing the values already in place in your life?

1. Don’t allow yourself to stress over the scale or compare yourself to other women. Judge your health based on how much energy you have and how well your clothes fit. Every woman’s body is different. We all have trouble zones, even if they’re only in our imaginations. At the same time you’re wishing for her thin thighs, I assure you she’s wishing for someone else’s toned arms. Instead of weighing yourself every morning and getting hung up on the numbers, find an outfit that you feel comfortable in when it fits well and try it on regularly.

2. Keep trying different workouts until you find something you enjoy. It doesn't matter what burns the most calories. The best workout for you is anything that you’ll do with consistency, which is much easier when it’s something you like to do! As a fitness lifestyle coach, one of my favorite parts of my job is helping my clients find their “solemate workout.” Working out is no longer something they dread or one more thing on the to-do list. It becomes something they look forward to every day. For some of you, you may enjoy jogging outside with a friend or participating in an adult softball league. Others may want to join a gym and attend group fitness classes. Maybe you prefer exercise DVDs to do at home so you can save some time and money. Keep trying different routines until you find something that works with your lifestyle.

3. Don’t hesitate to ask for help if you’re not sure where to start. People come to you for spiritual counsel because you work at the church or you’ve been to seminary. Likewise, personal trainers, fitness coaches, and nutritionists are educated in their fields and are there to give you advice. My son's smile is about the only joy for me that can top helping people transform their habits into healthy lifestyle choices.

4. Don’t beat yourself up if you mess up one time. So many people give up on their health and fitness goals after they blow their new routine just one time. Don’t let one unhealthy meal or skipped workout be a reason to quit. Just make a healthy decision the next time you’re given an opportunity.

If it’s motivation you need, here you go: Getting in shape is an incredible witnessing tool. Now, before you think I’m taking this too far, hear me out. If someone asks you for advice on their workout and it works, do you think they might ask you for advice again? Probably. Only this time, it might be because they have a tough decision to make in their personal life. Once someone trusts you in one area of life, it’s a very easy transition for them to trust you with more important issues. God may even open the door for you to lead them to the real source behind your strength: Jesus.

Michelle is especially passionate about helping those in ministry get healthy. Contact her here if you'd like her help in getting started on making your health goals a reality.

Michelle Myers Online

The Look that Kills: An Anorexic's Addiction to Control (2010)

Myers Cross Training

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pastors' wives and fitness

Fitness. Nutrition. Health. I'm not sure about you, but as for me (Veronica) I want to be fit. I want to be healthy, but sometimes......, okay more often then not, my excuses outweigh the "want to" and the "I will start tomorrow" syndrome kicks in.

So...why wait till the new year to get healthy? What if we at CLUTCHtalk did it NOW? We have to be "Fit 4 God's Mission" you know!

Okay so I can hear you say, I want to, but don't know how. Or, I lack the time. Maybe, you lack the motivation, discipline or accountability. Don't worry, I (Veronica) do too. :) Who hasn't at one time or another? Well ladies, together let's get in gear. We should be fit body/soul/spirit.

I want to introduce you to my PW friend Michelle Myers! I'm blessed that we not only live in the same city, but the same subdivision - how cool is that!

Michelle is the author of A Look that Kills. She has a tremendous testimony and is the queen of fitness!

She has a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies with a minor in Psychology from The University of Tennessee. In addition, she earned her Masters of Arts in Christian Education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Did I mention she is a cutie and has the sweetest spirit!

Michelle describes herself as......

• Christ Follower.
• Pastor's Wife.
• Noah's Mom.
• Author.
• Speaker.
• Business Owner.
• Fitness Instructor & Nutrition Coach  

Today she is sharing a great recipe with us!

You will need:
1 sweet potato, cut into cir­cles
Non­stick cook­ing spray
1 tsp organic coconut oil
3 TBSP. orange juice2 TBSP water2 TBSP organic honey/agave nec­tar
1 clove gar­lic, finely chopped

Instruc­tions:
Place pota­toes in a steamer bas­ket over boil­ing water.
Cover pan and steam 10 min­utes, or until tender.
Brush pota­toes with coconut oil.
Spray grill with non­stick spray.
Place pota­toes, cut sides down on rack.
Com­bine remain­ing ingre­di­ents in a bowl.
Grill pota­toes 5 min­utes on each side, or until ten­der, bast­ing with orange juice mixture.
Eat and enjoy!

Soon you can find Michelle blogging right here on CLUTCH in our new Lifestyle column! Stay tuned for her introduction and details!

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© CLUTCH, 2009-2011 unless otherwise sourced.

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Tweets, trackbacks, and link sharing encouraged.

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