Respect

Respect

By Phil Parham

“Self-respect is a question of recognizing that
anything worth having has a price.”
-Joan Didion

In college, my friends and I would frequently go to a karaoke lounge.  Without fail, we’d see a group of girls on stage belting out “Respect” by Aretha Franklin, and it was always fun to sing along in the crowd.

Thinking about that song made me wonder how much I respected myself over the years.  I want to say yes, of course I respected myself.  I married a wonderful woman, I have beautiful children, and I’m proud to have a successful career.  But I didn’t have respect for my body.  I didn’t take care of it.  I didn’t feed it well.  I didn’t give it enough water I eventually became obese, damaged my joints, and put myself at risk for diabetes and heart disease.  Sometimes it’s still difficult for me to admit that I had such little respect for my body.

Your thoughts and actions toward yourself and your body are important.  When you start to respect your body, the world starts changing for you.  Have you ever heard someone say, “Just take care of yourself and everything will fall into place”?  I never believed that because I always had to do a million things to make everything fall into place.  How could I find time to take care of myself?  But after doing just that and getting fit and healthy, a whole new world opened up to me, and everything really did start falling into place—the right place.  Loving and respecting yourself will start to bring a whole new perspective on life.  You will begin to attract people and opportunities you never thought were possible before.

Recently, Amy and I were eating dinner at a Lebanese restaurant after a busy day.  We looked at each other and smiled.  I told her how neat it was that we could take some time away for ourselves to enjoy each other’s company over a delicious, exotic meal.  A year ago, we never even knew this place existed.  We would have never thought to look for healthy international cuisine.  It’s a simple example, but one of the many changes in our lives.

I had to first make the commitment to change.  I had to respect and see the value in my body.  Only then did life truly change for the better.  Yours can too.  Respect yourself.

Mini-Challenge of the Day

Today, reflect on your body and how you take care of yourself.  How did you respect and value yourself a year ago?  How do you respect yourself today?  Has it changed?  You can’t make permanent lifestyle changes unless you respect yourself.

Tip of the Day

Choose whole fruits over fruit juices.  Fruit juice is full of concentrated sugars, and drinking too much juice can cause your blood sugar levels to spike.  If you’re going to have juice, mix it half-and-half with water.  This is how we give juice to our kids, too.  They quickly got used to the difference, and now, when they drink 100% juice, they think it’s too sweet.

Until tomorrow, be blessed!

Remember to DREAM!

Taken from “The 90-Day Fitness Challenge” by Phil and Amy Parham, former contestants on television’s “The Biggest Loser”.

Going Through the Process

Going Through the Process

“Your life is the sum result of all the choices you make, both consciously and unconsciously.  If you can control the process of choosing, you can take control of all aspects of your life.  You can find the freedom that comes from being in charge of yourself.”
- Robert F. Bennett

By Amy Parham

Every time I ask Rhett, our autistic son, to do something, he has a process that he has to go through to be able to do what I ask.  For example, if we tell him to do his homework, he yells at the top of his lungs, “I don’t want to do my homework!”  After he yells, he calmly walks over to his book bag and gets out his homework to work on it.  He does the same thing when I tell him to take a bath, take out the trash, or any other request we make of him.  It’s almost as if he has to loudly announce his opposition before he agrees to do what we asked him to do.

Many of us do the same thing when we’re told we need to do something.  Our doctor says we need to lose weight, and we find ourselves at the Burger King drive-thru immediately after the appointment.  We know we need to exercise, but instead we lie on the sofa.  We might even get to the parking lot of a gym, but we leave before we actually get through the front door.  We all know what we need to do to be healthy, but we dig in our heels as long as we can before we finally admit we have no choice but to get healthy.

Right now in your weight loss journey, maybe you’ve hit a plateau.  Maybe you’re bored with your workouts.  Maybe you’re sick of eating healthy food.  Don’t give up.  Be empowered and stop fighting the urge that tells you to quit.  Here are some tips to embrace the “challenge” and continue on your way.

1)      Accept the fact that the road to health is seldom an easy one.  The things in life that are most valuable require the most sacrifice.  Just because things get hard doesn’t mean that’s a sign to quit.  These are the times to prove just how strong you are.

2)      Tell yourself that eating healthy and exercising is your idea.  Convince yourself it’s your choice, not something someone else is telling you to do.

3)      Remind yourself this is a process and not an event.  Take one day at a time and celebrate every small success because they will eventually add up to big victories.

4)      List the things that will be different in your life when you get healthy.  Smaller sizes in clothes, more energy, playing sports you’ve never played before, feeling confident—these are all good ones to write down.

Empower yourself with these tips and keep going.  You’ll reach your goal before you know it!

Mini-Challenge of the Day

What two things that you know you should be doing that you’ve been tempted not to do?  Write them down.  Why do you think you are rebelling against the things that will bring you closer to your goal?  Take time to think about your process for achieving health and fitness and embrace it fully.

Tip of the Day

If you don’t feel like exercising one day, use the twenty minute rule.  Just tell yourself you’ll work out for twenty minutes.  It’s a short time frame but long enough to see benefits.  Chances are, you’ll end up having a forty-five minute session because you feel so good.  Use this tool to negotiate your way to the gym and at least start your workout.

Until tomorrow, be blessed!

Remember to DREAM!

This was taken from “The 90-Day Fitness Challenge” by Phil and Amy Parham, former contestants on “The Biggest Loser.”

Happy Birthday America!

Have a Save and Happy Independence Day!