{Faith and Fitness}: Just Get Movin'

Hi everyone, my name is Jessica and I am wife to Seth; mom to Caleb, Eli, and Noah; sister to Erin and Sarah; daughter to Jack and Heidi; friend to many; and a follower of Jesus Christ. I am a former collegiate athlete, volleyball player, and high school volleyball and soccer coach. After adding my 3rd kiddo to the mix, I decided to transition from being a teacher and a coach to being a stay at home mom. It was incredibly hard leaving behind a job I loved, but I am enjoying being home. And now I’m thrilled to be able to blog at Worthy of the Prize on the 3rd Wednesday of each month as part of the Faith and Fitness series!  It’ll give me a chance to talk about and engage in things I’ve done for so long and used to do at my job! Now, I’m not claiming to be an expert on health and fitness by any means, but I figure we can journey through this year together and encourage each other as we set out to accomplish our goals. 

Speaking of goals, good ol’ Dave Ramsey says, “A goal without a plan is just a dream.” And how right he is. Dreams are a great thing! I have many dreams (hello, Pinterest, with my dream home, dream haircut, & dream body); but if you ever want your dreams to be a reality, you have to get intentional. So, you change your dream to a goal and then you come up with your strategy or plan to get there. If you don’t have a plan, you aren’t going to make it very far! Plus, it’s in the plan that you can be held accountable.

This year for my family, one of my goals is for us to be more active! Yes, of course, I want to lose weight and exercise more (hello, baby weight and trip to the beach!!!!!!), but more than that I want our children to grow up loving to simply be active. To run and play outside. To ride their bikes and jump on the trampoline. To do push-ups and sit-ups for fun. And even stretch! I don’t want them to get in the mindset of thinking that fitness has to be a certain activity or has to be losing weight. I want them to learn they can be active in their daily lives and not necessarily have to formally workout all the time. Because I do believe they (and the rest of us) would be a whole lot healthier and fit if we were active all day and not just during a 45-minute workout. 

So to achieve this goal, our plan is to do just that... be active. We are going to “power off” in the afternoons. Instead of only watching shows when we get home from school, we are going to play outside, too. We are going to go on family walks and bike rides in the evenings when the weather warms up and the days get longer. We are going to jump WITH them on the trampoline instead of just supervising. We are going to play baseball and soccer and tag and hide and seek WITH them. Think of all the extra family time we’ll get by being active with our kids. And I can almost guarantee I'll feel a lot better, too. 

What can you change in your daily life that can make you more fit? (By you, I mean me, too). Park further away from the entrance of the store. Stand while working on the computer. Get rid of your maid (or maybe just have her come less often) and do some housework yourself. And if you just can’t completely kick your TV habit (I know, I like Downton Abbey, too), then do some lunges or sit-ups or bicep curls while you watch. I’d say during the commercials, but honestly, who watches commercials anymore?! Use the stairs instead of the elevator. Walk places instead of driving. Ride your bike on Saturday mornings instead of sleeping in. Or sleep in and ride your bike anyways. Whatever it is you change, just get movin’!!!! 

I do hope you'll keep checking back in with this Faith and Fitness series. I haven't a clue what this year will hold. But I do know I want my family to be more active. And I do know I have a good 10-15 pounds to lose. And I do know, that above all, I want to grow deeper in my relationship with Christ. And I do know we can do it together! 

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." I Corinthians 9:24-27

 L to R: Jess, Noah, Eli, Caleb, and Seth.

To read more from Jessica & catch up on her family, visit her blog here. 

To add vitamins and supplements to your daily regimen to aide in your weight loss and fitness, go here.

To see the previous posts in the {Faith and Fitness series}, go here.

About the Author: Jessica Vick Lewis is a Worthy of the Prize volleyball coach. She was the assistant volleyball coach at Martin High School for 5 years and the assistant volleyball coach at Seguin High School  for 1 year, before she began "staying home" with her boys full-time. Check out her Advocare site for all of your health and wellness needs and follow her family blog to see what her and her boys are up to! Jessica is married to S, a Construction Manager, and they have 3 little boys...c, e and n.