Willpower

This morning as I drug myself out of bed at 5:30am, after only 5 hours of sleep, (blasted 2 hour showdown with a stealthy mosquito!) that internal battle began.  In one corner, "You didn't get enough sleep-go back to bed-you won't do well with your run today anyway with the lack of sleep." In the other corner, "You let your pillow win yesterday and then were disappointed in yourself for not getting up and going! So GO!" After a few moments of going back and forth in my head, I just stopped and said a prayer "Lord, please help me to make the right decision and give me the strength I need." Almost instantly I felt at peace and had the motivation to go. I grabbed my SPN energy drink and started getting ready to go. After I got back, I was sitting on the back porch cooling off and I started browsing through the devotional reading plans on my bible app and I came across one that looked interesting called "New Day, New You" by Joyce Meyer. I began reading Day 1 and what do you know, it was about WILLPOWER! Isn't it awesome how God will give us exactly what we need if we just seek Him out through His word?

When I started my weight loss program, I prayed often asking God to give me the strength and willpower I needed each day to be successful at losing weight. I believe that's the only way I was able to stick with it and have the success that I had. I had determination and willpower but it wasn't my own...it was fueled by God's power.

If you've not prayed and asked God to help you on your weight loss, wellness or fitness journey, I encourage you to start! God will give you the desires of your heart when they are in accordance to His will and I believe it IS His will for us to be healthy!

I want to share with you the devotional message from day 1 of New Day, New You by Joyce Meyer:

Willpower: The Fair-weather Friend 

Willpower sure sounds like a great thing. We are led to believe that we have enough of it to fight off every temptation that comes our way. And sometimes it works. But let me tell you a little secret about willpower. Willpower is your best friend when things go well, but it's the first friend to check out when you get weary. I have found that if I really don't want to do something, my mind gives me plenty of reasons why I don't have to. My emotions even join in, saying, "I agree because I don't feel like doing it anyway." 

Our soul (mind, will, emotions) would love to run our lives, but the Bible says we are to be led by God's Spirit. We are never instructed to be willpower-led, we are told to be Spirit-led. Willpower and discipline are important and vitally necessary to a successful life, but willpower alone won't be enough. Determination gets you started and keeps you going for awhile, but it is never enough to bring you across the finish line. Zechariah 4:6 (NKJV) says, "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts." 

What happens if, instead of turning first to willpower in your time of need, you turn to God instead? God releases His power into your willpower and energizes it to bring you across the finish line. Willpower does not get the credit for our success, God does. Jesus said in John 15:5 (AMP), "Apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing." This is one of the most important and most difficult lessons we must learn if we want to enjoy the life Jesus died to give us. 

From the book New Day, New You by Joyce Meyer. Copyright 2007 by Joyce Meyer. Published by FaithWords. All rights reserved.

GET READY! You can DO it!!

We're Not Just CRAVING...We're ADDICTED

Studies show that one of the main reasons most people fail at weight loss is that they don't address the changes in brain chemistry caused by food that can be more powerful than the effects of cocaine.

A ground breaking study found that rats given diets of bacon, sausage, chocolate and cheese cake had sharp rises in "dopamine" and "serotonin," neurochemicals that affect the brain's pleasure centers. Later, when the researchers withheld these foods and tried to put the rats on nutritional foods, the rats refused to eat, almost to the point of starvation. The rats even chose to endure painful shocks to get to the sweet and fatty foods. They were literally addicted and it took two weeks for their brain to return to normal. Rats addicted

to cocaine, on the other hand, recovered normal brain functions in just two days.

The lesson:

An addiction to food can be harder to overcome than drug addiction. 

CHEMISTRY AND WEIGHT GAIN

Most people who are overweight don't experience more hunger than anyone else. They eat too much as a form of self-medication, unconsciously bringing to balance levels of the two brain chemicals that are disrupted by unhealthy foods.

DOPAMINE--

When you eat foods that are high in fat, such as red meat, french fries and cheesecake, you experience a surge of dopamine.

It feels good, but the "high" is short lived. As dopamine levels decline, you may feel listless, sad or depressed. The quickest way to offset the negative feelings is to eat more high-fat foods...and the up-and-down cycle continues.

SEROTONIN--

The neurochemical that produces excitement and other high-energy feelings.

It’s the primary target of most antidepressant medications. People who consume a lot of sugar and carbohydrates made primarily from white flour (pasta, crackers, white bread) or a combination of sugar and white carbs (cookies, cakes, doughnuts) have increased seratonin that make them feel good.

 But as 

with dopamine, the effects are temporary unless you keep eating these foods. 

WHY OUR PROGRAMS WORK LONG-TERM AND OTHERS DO NOT:

Weight loss programs, medical diet pills or diet supplements that don't deal with these issues discussed will rarely work and if they do, the lost weight will usually always return...plus more.  You must go deeper and to the root of the issues to make a lasting change!

THE SOLUTION--

Taking the right supplements to reprogram, rebalance, and oxygenate your brain and body chemistry, to put you on the right path of weight loss and inch loss. 

This is exactly what the XanoLean Supreme does! 

I feel so blessed that at FirstFitness Nutrition we are the only company in the

world to have exactly the right products and programs for a person to achieve their weight loss, health and fitness goals! 

THE PRODUCTS

(FYI: All of our products are safe, all natural, and come with a 100% money back guarantee! It's there for you, but you won't need it. :) ...in 22 years of being in business, we have less than a 1% return rate!)

NEW XanoLean Supreme:

Maximum strength weight loss formula that suppresses hunger and controls appetite, controls overeating, increases fat burning, targets belly fat, breaks the food addiction cycle, increases energy and elevates mood.

Reneu:

Helps cleanse, detoxify, reprogram and oxygenates your body to feel better, to remove excess fecal matter in your colon and reduce bloating and inches.

Body FX:

Complete meal replacement shake. Supplies the perfect nutrition to your body while losing weight. Supports faster weight and inch loss.  Can be used to lose weight, maintain weight loss or gain weight depending on how you choose to use it in your diet.  

See all of our weight loss, wellness and sports nutrition products at my website www.julieholland.firstfitness.com 

Aimee's Success Story in the Making!

Over the past two weeks, I've had the privilege of helping Aimee, a college student, get started on her way to meeting her weight loss goals.  She started out using the Suddenly Slim Xtreme 30 day Cleansing and Weight Loss Program and has done FABULOUS!! She is now starting our new product XanoLean and I expect her day 30 results to just be off the charts! Here are her before and "during" pictures! The "during" pictures are from her Day 14 which she just completed.  I am so excited for her and LOVE seeing her results! WAY TO GO AIMEE!!!

DAY 1                    DAY 14

    

 If a college student can do it and get results like this in only 14 days, ANYONE CAN! :)
If you're ready to see results like Aimee, there is no better time to get started than NOW! Set your mind, decide to make a change, and let me help make those changes a little easier for you!

Understanding Your Metabolism: The Irony in Eating to Lose Weight

Recently I heard a simple analogy about metabolism that really allowed me to better understand just how it works. After hearing this, I now know just why on days that I eat more, I lose more! (When I say I eat more-I mean snacking on primarily vegetables-not candy or chips.) It was baffling to me when I was doing the Suddenly Slim 30 Day Program that I needed to eat so much, when I was trying to lose weight. In my mind, losing weight meant eating a lot less and doing my best to NOT eat when I was hungry or wanting something to snack on between meals. This is a misconception that many people have due to what the world has told us about losing weight over the years and what we believe in our minds to be true.

Your metabolism is like a camp fire. To start the fire in the morning, you need wood (FOOD) and to get the fire going it helps to add fuel or igniter fluid (our SLIM N‘ UP XTREME SUPPLEMENTS). To keep that fire going or to build it bigger, you have to constantly keep adding on wood (FOOD) throughout the day. If you let the fire die down and then add on a pile of wood (FOOD), it just sits there and smolders. (FOOD SITS IN YOUR STOMACH AND COLON. YOUR BODY “SAVES IT” OR STORES THE SUGARS AND FATS FOR ENERGY USE LATER ON.) Your metabolism needs to CONSTANTLY be fed. At the end of the day, you need to put the fire out and clean out the ashes so that you have a fresh clean start and you’ll be successful in having a nice fire the next day. (our RENEU SUPPLEMENTS) Our colons are filthy! There’s a reason they call waste TOXIC. The walls of our colons contain hair follicles that trap parasites, funguses, and molds. As those toxins build up in those hair follicles on our colon walls it prevents our colons from absorbing the vitamins and nutrients in our foods. The Reneu supplements clean the walls of your colon and those hair follicles and gets rid of all those toxins that are built up.

This is why the Suddenly Slim 30 Day Program works so well! The all natural, herbal supplements boost your metabolism and energy and also cleanses your body so that your food is used better by your body. The daily guide and menu give you all the right “fuels” you need to build up that metabolism fire and burn off that stored fat!

So take the supplements, start EATING, and you’ll see greater LOSSES!

Julie's Before/After Pics Posted!

*As of 3/26, I have posted our new Before/After pics and taken those swimsuit and Nathan's shirtless pics off of here! :D


Can't believe I actually put those horrible, embarrassing, gosh-awful pictures on here! Nathan has been on me to do it for weeks now, since I put his on here, and I just kept putting if off...I so terribly HATE that swimsuit.  I normally donate my no-longer-worn clothing to Goodwill but this one went straight to the garbage!! NO ONE should EVER, EVER, EVER wear that swimsuit.  EVER!!! ha! It's HIDEOUS! And so were those thighs, butt, gut! ICK!! Anyhow, there up on my page now, out there to hopefully inspire someone and not make anyone ill. :)

Product Spotlight: Suddenly Slim Cleansing & Weight Loss Program

When Nathan and I decided we were tired of carrying around extra weight and feeling run down all the time, we decided what was best for us was to try the Suddenly Slim! Cleansing & Weight Loss Program from First Fitness Nutrition.  We didn't just happen upon this product and say "Hey, let's give this a try!" Rather, over a span of two to three years, we watched some friends of ours totally transform their bodies and keep the weight off.  So we knew it could work, but could it really work for us?  After researching it further and asking MANY questions from our friends who'd used the products, we too decided it could work for us.  This is something we could do! We decided that we could commit to 30 days and just see where it took us.  After THREE days, we were completely amazed! In as little as three days, we were seeing changes in our bodies and on the scales.  AND we were getting to eat real food, REAL BUTTER PEOPLE!! :) We weren't having to count calories or fat grams, and we weren't going hungry-we were satisfied and feeling great.   We would get up in the mornings, look in the mirror and say "Holy cow! It's melting off in our sleep!!"  It was great!

Now that we have lost the weight (I JUST BOUGHT MY FIRST SIZE 6 JEANS SINCE HIGH SCHOOL!!)  we have so much more energy and actually want to be active!  We feel better about ourselves, have more energy and have a renewed zest for life.  -and shopping!! :)

Here's the "skinny" on this kit:

Dieting is a multi-billion dollar industry. And the problem with most diets is that they provide only temporary solutions to weight challenges. Another ongoing issue is that many diets may require you to drop out of life, while you fulfill the requirements of a strange new, fad diet, that is unrealistic and that you cannot incorporate into your daily life. Therefore, once again you have only a temporary solution. But to maintain a healthy weight loss, one must adapt the basic tenets of a healthy diet, improving your metabolism, and ridding your body of excess toxins.

The Suddenly Slim Cleansing and Weight Loss Program is a proven and effective method to lose weight and maintain your weight loss. Developed by nutritional experts, scientists and medical doctors, Suddenly Slim is designed to produce results-fast!

3 Powerful Products:

The Suddenly Slim! Program is made up of 3 Powerful Products designed to cleanse and detoxify, reduce hunger, increase energy and provide optimal metabolic function.

-Reneu-

An advanced inner body care formulation using all natural herbs to support the cleansing and detoxification of the body, which helps optimize your weight loss

-Slim 'N Up!-

 A nutrient-rich herbal formula that helps reduce hunger

 and increase energy. Enjoy increased vitality—while losing excess stored body fat.

-Body FX-

A delicious, meal-replacement “shake” with scientifically

 balanced nutrients for optimal metabolic function. Available in Tropical Crème & Chocolate Paradise