Photo by Tyler Nix on Unsplash

I hosted a podcast called Health Matters where I interviewed leading health experts. Cathy Morenzie is a noted personal trainer, author, blogger and presenter and a leader in the health and wellness industry for nearly 30 years.

Her impact has influenced thousands of people over the years to help them lose weight and develop positive attitudes about their bodies and about fitness.

Cathy identified the top 3 mistakes and gave women practical strategies so they can feel empowered and victorious.

1. Stinkin’ thinking

“What that means is that we’re focused on the right things to do to lose weight that we’re taught and everybody knows like exercise and eating right. But then there’s the whole issue of the mindset that we don’t look at.

“We don’t renew our minds. We don’t pray. We don’t look at what we’re actually thinking. So our thoughts come in and they actually can affect our progress, our weight loss results.

“So we want to do something but our minds are telling us we can’t do it. Or we’re speaking negatively about ourselves. Or we have thoughts that we’ll never be good enough. And these thoughts are actually getting in the way of our results. Because if you’re thinking, you can only be as vigilant as your thoughts. I’d like to say it’s impossible to think rightly and achieve a healthy weight.

“And so until we renew our minds, until we learn how to think well of ourselves as God thinks of us we’re going to keep spinning our wheels.”

What can Christian women do to overcome this mistake?

“We have to renew our mind with the word of God. We have to take some time.

“First of all we need to be conscious of it because we don’t even realize what we’re thinking. We don’t even realize that we have these beliefs that we can’t do it. We don’t realize that we become the brunt of our own jokes. In conversations, we say things about ourselves that are just so not in line with who God created us to be. So the first thing is to get conscious of the negative thoughts you’re having about yourself.

“And then when you catch yourself doing that say something from the Word of God to combat. So you might say, ‘I am an overcomer’ when you see yourself saying, ‘I can’t do it’.

“Say, ‘I have the mind of Christ’. Keep telling yourself you have the mind of Christ. Use scripture, ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’

“To combat the ‘Stinkin’ Thinking’ the Word of God is always going to trump the negative things that you say about yourself.”

2. Surface scratching

“What I often tell women is until you can understand why you do what you do you’re going to remain stuck.

“What women do is they just scratch the surface. So they say, ‘Okay, I want to get healthy. I want to lose weight.’ But they only look at what’s quick, what’s easy — let me go on another diet. But they don’t go deeper into the root causes of just why they’re overweight, just why they can’t stop themselves from eating, just why they eat emotionally.

“There’s a list of reasons that are a lot deeper than just the simple, the traditional, eat less exercise more. A lot of us don’t go beyond, we just stay and only skim the surface.”

What can Christian women do to overcome this mistake?

“To overcome the ‘Surface Scratching’ it’s getting to the root. Have the courage.

“And it’s tough because the reason why we stay on the surface is because when we go deeper it’s tough. We buried it for a reason, it’s painful. And so we partner with the Holy Spirit.

“There’s a scripture that I love, ‘Search me oh God, know me and know my anxious thoughts.’ Ask God to show you those things in you that you’ve hidden that you are not even aware of. And they’re really at the root of why you do what you do.

“So pray for wisdom about some of the limiting beliefs that are holding you back. And limiting beliefs are thoughts that you have about yourself direct your habits, that direct the things you do.

“Pray and search for wisdom in allowing the Holy Spirit to show you just what are those things that are limiting you from reaching your goals. And that’s what it means to go deeper instead of scratching the surface.”

3. Auto piloting

“What auto-piloting means is that we just do what we do every day on automatic.

“You wake up, you grab something quick to eat, and you don’t think about what you’re eating, you don’t take the time to pray. And this is because of the busyness. We’re just going and going and going.

“We’re not taking the time to stop and notice what we’re doing. We don’t take the time to notice why we’re doing it. We don’t take the time to prepare healthy foods.

“Living on automatic pilot means we’re just not in control of our food choices. And most of the time we’re just so overwhelmed in our day-to-day living that our health doesn’t even make it on our to-do list. And that leaves feeling very out-of-control and the overwhelm comes in again.”

What can Christian women do to overcome this mistake?

“How do you come off autopilot? Well, some of the simple things that we’ve taken for granted like praying before you eat.

“Instead of saying, ‘God bless this food’ ask for self-control before you eat a meal. As you wake up in the morning, just give your health over to God. ‘Lord, direct my day. Help me to make good choices. Help me to look for ways to be more active.’ Include your health in your morning prayer.

“Even as you go throughout the day when you have that attitude of gratitude about your health and you realize that, ‘Look at me, I can move. I can exercise. I have the freedom to eat foods.’

“If you take those three together, ‘God be with me as I go throughout my day. I want my body to honour You. I want my health to glorify You and honour You’ then it takes you out of that automatic, ‘Okay I got wake up, I got to shower, I got to get to work, I got to feed the kids’.

“You get out of that routine by noticing, ‘Okay Lord, my health is important and that’s why I’m turning it over to You.’ It really changes your perspective on your health because so often you don’t even think about it.

Bonus strategy

“And I just want to add a big thing and that’s to breathe.

“A big breath in, and exhale. And when you can do that and tie that breath to a small little, ‘Holy Spirit be with me’ or ‘Thank You, God’. So tie the breath in throughout the day to just kind of give you a pause in that day.

“And that can get you off the automatic pilot but just saying, ‘Okay I’m going to stop and I’m going to take a breath.’ And right there, you’ve just settled yourself, you’ve just come out of autopilot and you’ve tied yourself back into the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Since interviewing Cathy, I have incorporated these strategies into my own routine. I love the “breath pause”. And I especially love the idea of including your health in your morning prayer. It’s so easy to be creatures of habit and just go on autopilot and these are strong strategies to use.

Although the podcast is no longer available, if you’d like a copy of any of the full interview transcripts, please send me an email.

This has been an excerpt from the Health Matters Podcast, believing that prayer & Bible study are to the spirit what exercise and healthy eating are to the body.

Blessings on your journey to health.