I just wanted to follow up and let anyone who was curious know that the Jimmy Coby Classic went well. I won the masters & middleweight class making it to the open class overall posedown for the first time ever! I finished 3rd overall and felt this was a big improvement since the show was bigger than last year and bigger than the other 2 NGA shows I did last year. Praise God for His goodness & kindness to me in this sport!

Kevin

When people ask me what they can do to lose weight, the first thing I ask them is how much water they drink. When I suggest that they can lose 5-10 lbs. alone by just drinking water primarily, most go away as sorrowful as the rich young ruler did after Jesus told him to sell all that he had & give it to the poor. Most people aren’t interested in giving up their drink of choice for water because they’re emotionally attached to it.

Water is one of those things most of us take for granted. It is everywhere & readily available. Yet many have been seduced away from it. Sodas, tea (“Crack Tea” if you live in Waco!), or (flavored) coffee all day compete for attention rather than drinking plain old water. If you are concerned about weightloss then perhaps you have even switched over to a diet soda thinking you are taking in fewer calories so therefore, “dieting”.

Our bodies were set up to run on water & be water-cooled. Have you noticed that God did not make any rivers full of soda, coffee or tea (That would have been interesting, huh)? And what happens when we drink something besides water as our main drink? We actually become dehydrated & our body actually holds water! When our body is water deprived, it holds whatever water it has “thinking” it’s not going to get anymore. But when you drink water, your body passes water out of your body knowing it’s going to get more thus you drop your “water weight”.

The body is such an interesting, adaptive machine it even loses water weight if you drink slightly more water than the day before. Don’t believe me? Take the challenge…take one week. The morning of the first day, weigh yourself upon waking, first thing in the morning. The first day, pay attention to how much water you drink w/o trying to drink an excessive amount or more than you are used to. If you normally don’t drink water, drink at least a glass or two so that you have a baseline to start from. The next day, force yourself to drink a little bit more continuing this pattern throughout the week. Saturday morning, weigh yourself again. Chances are that you will have lost weight by just drinking water.

Jesus Christ works exactly the same way; the more you get of Him, the better your life works or at least the more prepared you are for it! Whether by praying, reading your bible, or listening to music that honors God; just spend some time each day with Him (Philippians 4:7-9). You can take the challenge here too if you like J

Your brother in Christ, Kevin

These articles are anecdotal in nature; have a physical by qualified medical personnel before embarking on a diet and/or physical fitness plan.

My brother in Christ, Andrew, inspired this article.

Where will you be in 5 years? 10? 20? What will your life look like? What will you be doing? You are setting the groundwork now; is it for success or failure? More importantly, what will your health be like? Are you living like there’s no tomorrow? Are you “robbing Peter to pay Paul” meaning are you doing things now that appear not to be hurting you but will one day come back to haunt you (i.e. smoking, dipping/chewing tobacco, poor diet choices)?

I have 3 teenagers and a common theme to them all (and to me when I was their age) is not only do they want everything now but also the weight of the consequences to their choices. Trying to get them to understand that at some point smoking, eating fried food and drinking soda after soda all will have a devastating consequence on more than just their waistline but their long-term health, not to mention their day-to-day moods and even happiness.

But how different are we adults & parents? How many of us think that what we do to our own bodies will not harm us because it doesn’t appear to be harming us now? Science has linked diabetes as well as the build up of bodyfat at your waistline to many illnesses now including Alzheimer’s disease (1). Yet many of us don’t think about the consequences to our bodies that we’ll have to answer for as we age. Are you building good habits now that will carry you throughout your life & senior years or are you waiting until a doctor gives you an unwanted diagnosis before you’re finally ready to make changes?

A lot of Christians live as if Jesus will come back in their lifetime; I’m personally hoping this to be true for me as well. But if He doesn’t, I will honor God by taking care of His temple I live in, my body. I won’t tear it down with drugs, nor allow things (like junk food or tobacco) to control me so that I compromise my health later down the road because my “compromises” now control me. And if you want to know what your future looks like, look at your parents. What is their health like? As someone whose father has already passed away from fibromyalgia, heart disease & complications of diabetes at what now seems a very young 72 & whose mother already fights daily with Alzheimer’s disease; the decisions I make today take on much more importance!

So I urge you, re-evaluate your life and look realistically at it; what are you doing now that is not conducive to a long productive & healthy life? Economists predict that social security disbursements will be exhausted by 2016, only 7 years from now! (2) Chances are, you will have to work longer than your parents did to make ends meet as you age. Will you be able to do this? Or are you just going to rely on the saints to pray you through any health issues you bring on yourself? Please consider this a plea to make changes while there is still time.

Your brother in Christ, Kevin

1). The Science of Alzheimer’s pt 1 & 2 - HBO.

2). MSN.com