I don't give a Gap!

Lately I've been a more aware of diet and exercise, a great thing for sure but it brings me back to a time as a teenager when I was obsessed with being thin. Thanks to good genetics I've always been thin, but there was a time when I'd eat the bare minimum for fear of gaining even an ounce. I wasn't the prettiest thing starting high school and I thought that the only thing I had going for me was being thin, so I made sure I stayed that way.

My problem wasn't just eating the bare minimum but also the WRONG things. 

Junk food is my weakness. 

However since graduating high school and college I've realized that how the world views me isn't important. What's important is the way that GOD views me. 

He made me in His image and He is perfect, so how can I be anything less?

Of course that doesn't mean we shouldn't take care of our bodies by eating right and exercising but doing so in the right way to honor the temple He has created for us. 

We can't do God's will if we are physically unfit for the task. 

I was speaking to someone recently who had the same issue as me when it comes to body image and eating. They told me that for a while they had become obsess with having a "thigh gap".

I was almost immediately was angered.

This is a thigh gap

If only girls would realize how WEAK it looks, like they'll break at any moment! Not to mention her legs probably look like a skeleton under there!

Maybe it's just me, but over the past two years I've worked out my legs so much that a thigh gap is laughable. My thighs touch, even though I'm still a healthy slim, and I'm perfectly happy with it because it's muscle and my thighs are rock hard. 

I think of it this way also, if I ever have to fight for my life strong legs without a thigh gap sure are going to help me more than stick legs!

I'd rather have thunder thighs!

The problem with this thinking and the whole thigh gap issue is that girls are thinking that being rail thin is beautiful. Ehh....nope sorry a walking skeleton is not beautiful. 

You can be thin, but doing it the healthy way and right way is what matters. 

Being strong should matter, my way of thinking has changed, for me....Strong is the New Skinny and I can't tell you how much over the past few months of working out besides running has increased my positive self image.

 No, I'm not losing weight anymore....in fact the numbers on the scale are increasing due to the muscle I'm building. And guess what...I don't give a gap about that anymore....

Being able to do more than 10 pull ups and push ups is the accomplishment I look forward to and when I know I look my best, not when I can count my ribs in the mirror or see a gap in my thighs.

It all comes down to one thing. I'd rather be fit and strong than skinny and weak.

~Amber

Stronger with Every Step

For those of you who are up to date with my love-hate relationship with running.

I'm back at it after a ridiculously long lay off from a knee injury.

I want to jump right in and overdo it again but I know that slow and steady is the way I'll get back to top form and be at my high mileage again. 

So far I have been adding half a mile a week. With that being said I was ecstatic when I hit 2 whole miles on Saturday! I feel that once I hit 3 miles I can begin to keep up and run with some of my favorite gals ever! 

It's so hard not to be bitter about how far I used to run versus how far I run now...2 miles seems measly now but I have to remember that......

And that I need to also......

I love how so many times we want to rush things instead of waiting on God's timing and we end up messing it up somehow. Much like my injury, if I don't keep running and doing a steady mileage increase I'll end up hurt again and back to square one or even permanently not able to run, the same thing goes for opportunities that God wants to give us. Things need to be in His time or we could end up permanently messing up an opportunity.

I feel myself getting stronger through ever step and every half mile I increase. Im doing half mile intervals because by the end of the half mile my knee is very warm and starts to get sore. I know that means that I need to slow down a bit, and if we listen to God He gives us that self same warning to slow down, take things easy and allow Him to strengthen us for the works ahead.  

So be strengthened, be strong and remember that it's worth it to be slow and steady and to do things right and to wait on God and His perfect timing.

I'm finding out that He's never, ever wrong or going to let me down and He will strengthen me for what's up ahead if I keep focused on Him and let go. Through my training I'm also learning to keep persevering because I'm stronger with every step.