When we asked our Joyful Health Course participants why they signed up for our course, one response was, “I'm so tired of the 'I need to eat/exercise better - here’s my plan - nope not happening' cycle. I am ready to give this to the Lord and learn what it looks like for Him to show me His way." Yes and amen, sister.

Maybe you feel like this too.

You want a goal to work towards, a plan to keep you on track, but when you don't see results, feel too sore and lose motivation to continue, you get discouraged and feel more guilty, ashamed, and mad at yourself than ever.

What's not working here? Is it the exercise plan, or is it you? Let's take a look.

The Exercise Plan is Not Working: Lack of Results

How would you define: "my plan isn't working?"

Compare the plan's promises with your purposes.

If they don't line up, feel free to ditch the plan. This is not you being a quitter, it's you saying "no thanks" to a small goal to say "yes please!" to your greater purpose.

And your purpose in the Lord doesn't have to be some highly defined minute-by-minute plan. God gives us wild freedom in His will:

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Rejoice, pray, give thanks, always. Simple? Yes. Easy? No.

But this applies even to our exercise plans. Rejoicing in life and movement, praying through the whole thing, giving thanks for bodies.

When we start a plan in our own willpower, we expect to sustain it and complete it by our own willpower. And weekends show that our Monday willpower only lasts so long. Heck, evenings show that we get tired, we have limitations, and we need help. That's not a weak thing, is a wisdom thing.

Exercise Program Red Flags

Let's put your exercise plan in the hot seat.

What has this exercise plan promised you? Is it to lose a certain amount of weight? Is it to build a bigger booty? Is it to complete at 5K program?

If your exercise program promises the following, it is doomed to fail long-term:

Focuses on weight loss: Any diet or fitness regimen that solely focuses on weight loss has a 95-99% failure rate. Separate your body's natural desire to get out and get moving from any negative weight loss narrative that says you need to exercise to pay off your eating sins.
Focuses on external appearance: I do admire the body builders' intricate knowledge of how exact exercises shape the tiniest muscle groups (I never heard of people doing neck workouts until recently). However, these programs are hard to keep up with, and often miss the bigger picture. If these plans leave you feeling discouraged when the results wear off, Proverbs 31:30 reminds us to take step back and remember: "Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised."
Focuses on a quick fix: Our body is not made for quick fixes. We need 24-28 hours to build muscle tissue from strength workouts. Plus, the best way to send your body into survival mode is to force it into a stressful workout you aren't ready for and can't sustain. Consistency over quick fixes works in the long run.

Did I just cut out most fitness programs? Maybe, but maybe not. Maybe the fitness world has restricted human movement into a tiny box called "get shredded in this 8-minute workout."

We know from experience that food restriction causes bingeing, and exercise restriction causes discouragement.

Harder, faster, stronger, doesn’t work for long.

We have this idea of fitness and think that if we don't adhere then we have lost. No way.

Just as our aerobic energy system has to switch gears after 30 seconds, so we have to switch gears from depending on the flesh to depending on the Spirit.

God created your body, so don't depend on fitness to form your soul.

Forget about the fitness programs that have failed you. If it doesn't fit you, it's not for you!

Let God's Words strengthen you to try again. Even if you've been fishing all day for fitness results, Jesus might tell you to cast your net on the other side of the boat (John 21). This time, you'll be successful not because you're doing the right movements but because you're acting out of obedient to His voice.

So listen, discouraged one, to His voice. Open your hands and receive His blessing from Zephaniah 3:16-17:

“On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
‘Fear not, O Zion;
let not your hands grow weak.
The LORD your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.’”

Pick A Program That Fits You

Most fitness plans expect perfection and end in disappointment. Get out from underneath that crushing load and get on top of how you want to use fitness as a tool to support your life and release joy in the Lord.

Define your season. If you're in a busy season, don't pick a high commitment plan. Choose something slightly below what you think you can do with upward mobility potential, or pick a plan with clear ways to progress. Make it relevant to your life. If you work on the computer all day, make exercise your stress-reliever and get outside in nature. If you are a working mom, maybe it doesn't make sense for you to train for an Iron Man but rather to go on stroller walks to spend time with your kid.
Discover what is physically fun for you. If running totally sucks, don't do it. Find what you can actively enjoy, because joy is the best source of energy we can tap into (hint: joy comes from the Lord, a fountain of joy that never runs out and keeps you coming back for more). If you don't know what your core motivator is, take my quiz to figure out what moves you and how that connects to how God made you to enjoy Him.
Discipline follows delight: Once you have found what is fun for you, commit. You'll want to do more of and get better at what you like to do. Ask the Lord for a vision, and go work it out, for as Phil 2:12-13 says, it is God who works in you. Build it into your life as you would other essentials. Make working out a warm-up for work, or a stress reliever at the end of the day. It is a tool at your disposal. When you just do it, you won’t carry the mental load of thinking about how you didn’t do it.
Reverse engineer your goals: You don't have to strive to fit into the world's idea of the right plan for you. God already has plans for you. Step into them. Prayerfully ask Him what He has planned, and you can either work backwards from that vision, or if your season is indefinite, let Him lead you step by step with His Word being the lamp that guides you. This could be taking fitness on a week-by-week basis rather than having a 12-week training plan. Whichever one works for you, works for you!

Modification is Not Weakness, but Wisdom

If you really enjoy the movement you're currently doing now but it just needs a few tweaks, then by all means, tailor it to you! As a fellow Revelation Wellness instructor Erin Bremer says, modification is not weakness, but wisdom. You don't have to do what your sister on the screen is doing to feel like you are with her.

Listen to your body and make those small adjustments like keeping your feet on the ground to make it low impact post-baby, or do shrugs instead of lateral raises to protect shoulder pain. If you're moving together, then you're together. As long as you’re moving in step with the Spirit, you’ll be united.

Invest in Lasting Solutions, Not Quick Fixes

Life has so many ups and downs. We call those squats. And squats make you stronger, right?!

But you wouldn't have the energy for squats if the Lord wasn't working through you. That’s the power of gratitude. And you wouldn't have the firm foundation to stand upon if God wasn't your Rock, Christ holding all things together. That’s the rejoicing that you don’t have to keep it all together!

What we want to pivot from is the mindset that a quick program can fix us outside of trusting in the Lord and the length of eternal life based on the joy of presence. That’s the prayer part of life: being with Him in our day, and yes, even in our workout.

Go ahead and train for that one-time race. Try out the new gym for 30 days. You can ditch something when it stops being helpful for your life. All things are permissible, says 1 Corin 10:23, but not all things are beneficial. You have the freedom in Christ to do what is best for your relationship with Him, whether that is letting go of the perfect routine to lean on Christ's perfection, or signing up for an endurance run because God wants to teach you patience. You are free. Exercise that freedom.

1 Corinthians 13:8 puts this all into perspective:

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

To translate it over to our workout plans:

Love never ends. As for diets, they will pass away; as for beauty, it will fade; as for strength, it will pass away.

How to Know If Your Fitness Plan Is Working

Finally, to follow this up with a bit of practical grounding, here are some signs that your fitness plan is working:

You feel more energized for your God-given purpose
You focus on play over perfection, curiosity over calorie burn
The failure narrative has morphed into neutral feedback cues
You look forward to your next session, and therefore plan for it
Confidence increases, so you focus less on yourself and more of what God can do
Improved creativity helps you change up your workout when life gets crazy
Your hope is no longer on your superficial results but in discovering what God has done

Your fitness plan works when you work out what God is already working in you.

Ready for More?

I hope this helps. But if you want to dig more into what this looks like to heal your relationship with exercise, to use fitness as a gift to live the abundant life God promises, then I encourage you to check out our course, Joyful Health.

Created by my dietitian friend, Aubrey Golbek from Grace Fueled RD and I, we teach biblical intuitive eating and exercise principles in just 12 weeks with a tight knit group of women acting as a community of support. We have already seen the Lord use it for freedom, and would love for you to join us for the next round!

Learn more

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