How to Lose Weight God's Way

Hi, I am Coach Matthew Gay! I help busy believers transform their bodies and lifestyles for good while learning to commune with God through daily health practices in 24 weeks!

I started my health for the same reasons most people do. To look and feel better. For me, it was about confidence and not being in pain. I grew up as a chubby kid and walked around with many insecurities most of my life. Growing up in the performing arts with parents who weren’t very active, I was naturally the kid who was picked last for everything at recess. As I aged, I took a strong liking to the things of the world and went a bit crazy. Parties, drugs, theft, porn, fornication, you name it. I even earned myself some jail time. Then in 2009, I was in a fatal car accident that almost robbed me of my ability to walk, and I began to take my life and faith a bit more seriously. The next year I landed a job selling gym memberships, finally getting me into a gym.

For years, I separated my faith in Jesus and my health journey. Even after becoming a coach in 2013, I didn't see how they were connected. I had spent so much money on supplements, listened to so many people on YouTube, read a ton of flex magazines, and even dabbled in taking testosterone, all for the sake of an image I was chasing. But it wasn't until I started making biblical connections between my walk with the Lord and my health practices that my life changed. I stopped following everyone's advice and started seeking the scriptures for answers. My reasons for all I was doing on my health journey began to shift. I stopped falling off the wagon and getting wrapped up in the next new diet trend. Not only did my body begin to change, but my heart and mind. This led me to begin teaching what I had learned and practiced at church and to the clients I could since I worked at a gym I didn't own (if you know what I mean). My unorthodox ministry began, and I had no idea where it would take me.

Since then, I have completely transformed my body and developed a healthy lifestyle that has impacted my wife, children, friends, and ministry.

When it comes to health transformations, I know what works best and what doesn't.

Along with my own experience, I helped more than 400 people to achieve amazing results that stick. All were busy, hard-working individuals who struggled with their weight and lifestyle most of their lives.

And by the way, they all thought that they would do great at the beginning and then fall off like they had many times in the past or that it would be too hard for them to stick with long-term. But you know what? Here is what they say now:

They all struggled at the beginning, just like you are now. But they tapped into something they never had before and won! If they overcame it, so will you. Remember, where you’ve been cannot determine where you can go. With God on your side and the right strategy, you will make changes you’ve only dreamed of making.

The Kingdom Blueprint

In this blog post, I will lay out the fundamental attributes we use in the Team Fitizen program to guide our clients toward lasting lifestyle transformation again and again. These components will lead to a life of adventure and joy by promoting our God-given liberties and showcasing the will of God through action. By implementing these components, you will improve your relationship with food, grow deeper in your relationship with the Lord, become naturally more consistent, and enhance your physical condition for life. 

Key 1. Walking

Toni had never been on an exercise program when she came to me. It had never appealed to her, but she was finally ready to get some weight off. We started her with three resistance training sessions a week, a whole food regime, and whatever style of cardio she wanted to do. As a dog rescuer, she owned many dogs and walked them as far as possible. Gradually her distance during pack walks got farther and farther. She was enjoying nature, bursting with energy, and losing weight. In just six months, she lost 40 lbs (as seen in the picture) and developed the habits that would lead her all the way to a total of over 140 lbs lost!

The concept of walking is found all throughout scripture as the primary source of transportation and a reference to how we live our lives. Walking presents an opportunity to commune with the Lord, reduce stress, improve metabolism, and enjoy life a little more. Walking is an essential part of a healthy human existence. It produces benefits within our bodies and minds that cannot be simulated. Unfortunately, this modern age has made it far more optional than God meant, which has produced abundant evidence among scientists and doctors to support their disapproval of the sedentary lifestyle. To be able to walk is a freedom many lack. Unless your life and job nature require you to walk 5-6 miles per day, walking must be woven into your daily routine at some point.

Action:

The amount of walking you commit to daily and your weekly frequency varies due to occupational demands, fitness level, and weight. You may also need to use other movement methods like biking or swimming. That said, regarding walking, I recommend starting with a goal of 7k steps per day and building from there.

Bridging the Gap:

While performing seedy state cardio, you have an opportunity to commune with the Lord. Consider listening to worship music, praying for yourself and others, or looking for things to be thankful for and giving praise.

Key 2. Resistance Training

Meet Amanda! This mom of 4 was fed up with how her body looked and, more importantly, how it felt. She knew a lifestyle change was in order, so she dialed in her nutrition and took to her bike. She enjoyed it! Reaching a stern pause in her progress, Amanda sought our help and was introduced to resistance training. She fell in love. Building strength boosted her confidence, shaped her body, and helped her become the active mother and wife she longed to be. Today, she’s a beast and loving it!

What does it mean to be strong, and how is it achieved? Strength is the ability to resist. The more strength you have, the more you can resist. For example, you may be able to lift your 42lb daughter but not your couch. In this case, you are resisting neither your daughter nor the couch but gravity. The Bible tells us to resist the devil, and he will flee. Not the same strength, is it? Strength against the enemy is a strength of soul and spirit against principalities and dark forces. In any case, whether spiritual or physical, strength can be built and, therefore, permits you to resist more. 

Resistance training for the believer is beneficial to both the body and the mind. To practice resisting requires discomfort and testing your boundaries. You are forced to deal with your weaknesses rather than run from or avoid them. The result is greater strength which can be applied in daily activities and your walk with the Lord. Through consistent resistance training, we build muscle, balance hormones, improve our functionality, increase our metabolic set point, and train our bodies to utilize carbohydrates more efficiently, amongst many other physical benefits. To be temple strong, you must challenge your strength. 

Functional Fitness

The exercises you perform should be relevant to real-life activities and scenarios. When we train our God-given abilities to pick up, press in multiple directions, jump, pull, carry, etc., we train for life rather than a look. While you can perform many different exercises, prioritizing movements that apply to real-life activities will help you transform your physique and, more importantly, open the door for more opportunities to live life with little limits, which opens up a world of opportunities.

Functional movements with some isolation

Fundamentally, functional exercises include squatting, lunging, pressing, pulling, balancing, core, and stabilizing exercises. From there, we venture into swinging, carrying, and plyometric exercises. When building functional strength, practicing a mixture of bodyweight and external resistance-based exercises is important. Being able to resist the gravity on your body efficiently enough to move your own body weight freely in a wide range of scenarios is vital for safety and an active lifestyle packed with adventure.

Recommended Frequency

4-6 days a week

Beginner: 4-5

Intermediate/Adv: 4-6

Recommended Duration

Beginner: 30-45minutes

Intermediate: 45-60 minutes

Advanced: 60-90 minutes

Important Tip: To continually improve your strength, you need progressive overload. This means that each time you perform an exercise, your goal should be to challenge yourself at a greater level than the last time. This may be through attempting to complete more reps than last time but with the same weight, increasing the weight for the same reps, or increasing reps and weight. Rarely will you be able to do both, but the point is to reach the point of failure, if not at least close to it, during your sets.

Key 3. Biblical Nutrition

Meagan had spent years dieting and reverting to old ways. She was fed up with her weight, fed up with the cycle, and desperate for a real change. We both knew her nutrition strategy would make or break, so we took an approach that focused on improving her relationship with food while providing a structure she could use anywhere. She quickly noticed a change in her body and mind. She was having fun for the first time in a long time on her health journey. Losing over 20 lbs and gaining more confidence than expected, Meagan has been going deeper in her faith and living on a new, diet-free level.

God made mankind eat a certain way. Since the creation of man, God has provided what he created mankind, as he made very clear to Adam in the Garden of Eden. The wisest approach to nutrition for any human is to eat from the hands of God as He intended. We find that the more significant percentage of our diet consists of fast and processed food options, our bodies develop diseases, grow obese, and often come to an early end. His serves as evidence that God did not create our bodies with these types of food in mind. He also didn't intend for us to use food for comfort or any reason other than balanced enjoyment, healing, and nutrition. 90% of your diet should consist of foods that can be grown, raised, or produced naturally. 

Use The Plate Method

Rather than use a calorie tracking system to create guidelines for those struggling with their relationship with food, we use the plate method. Using visuals and intuition has been the gold standard for decision-making about food since the beginning of man. This is why natural food comes in so many shapes, sizes, colors, and flavor profiles. We use our eyes and our understanding of food to make decisions about what we eat, how much, and how often. This requires a little effort but makes for a much more enjoyable experience when choosing and eating foods. We want to see God's wide variety of food for their God-given properties. We want to explore the beauty and wisdom that God created them with. He said it was good, and we want to know why so we can say the same confidently. The fitness industry has stained man's relationship with food, but as God’s children, we aim to restore it, which starts with us.

Action: 

To implement the plate method, you need to 

1. Create a schedule of mealtime windows

2. Create a meal plan using your schedule

3. Start with protein and veggies 

4. Add fruits and other high-fiber carbs.

This is a simplified version of the plate method but a great place to start. Our clients use a variety of plate styles, which permit them to try limitless combinations and foods. Your goal will be to do the same. Eat veggies and fruits in variety. Play around with your proteins. Embrace high-fiber carbs, don’t run from them. Use some additional fats here and there. Remember, have fun with the food God made.

Key 4. Enhance Your Sleep

Many underestimate the power of sleeping 6-8 hours each night. Though scientists cannot agree on why we must sleep, God designed us with a mandatory need. Recovery as a whole has been a requirement ordained by God since Israel was established as God’s chosen people and given the Ten Commandments. Rest is a product of wisdom. While there is always more we could do, rest is necessary. No man or woman has ever existed who did not need sleep. Without proper sleep, we experience side effects that range from carvings to hallucinations. For your body to thrive, you need to prioritize your sleep, which may mean adjusting your nightly routine.

Sydney hadn’t been committed to her health for a couple of years since she started working with me. She would start and stop because she kept letting life get in the way. We found that she did better, as most do when she was well-rested. She performed better in the gym, made healthier food choices, and maintained a better mood. Not so when she wasn't well rested. Sydney began structuring her time better to accommodate her lifestyle and health goals. This included a bet time routine, morning routine, and other scheduling. As a result, she found a rhythm that helped her drop weight and reignite that dying fire on her health journey for good.

To keep your hormones in check, your performance at its peak, your craving at a minimum, a stable mood, mental clarity, and your mornings productive, you need 6-8 hours of sleep. This will aid you in improving your physique and also your lifestyle. 

Action:

Set a bedtime and an unplugged time 60 minutes before that. This will create space for family conversation, prayer, bible study, stretching, journaling, or whatever helps you to settle your mind and prepare for a good night's sleep. Waking up at the same time each morning, likely earlier, will aid in shifting your sleep cycle which will make i easier for you to get to sleep at the hour you want. Earlier mornings also make room for exercise and seeking the Lord.

Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established. Proverbs 16:13

Key 5. Submit to God

The Christ-centered health journey is unique in that only those with a true and growing relationship with Christ can travel it. Your habits and efforts are an offering to the Lord as you care for the temple of the Holy Spirit. If you are to adopt a consistently healthy lifestyle, it must be in and with the Lord. He is unchanging though science is not. He is a source of strength when your goals seem far away. He is a spring of wisdom when life throws you a curveball. A beacon of light when trials disrupt your plan. Submitting to the Lord on your health journey means acknowledging him in all your ways. He then will direct your path. The bible says obedience is better than sacrifice. We should not be willing to lay down the measure of health God has given us. Rather we steward it well and glorify God in doing so. Pray about your health goals and struggles.

Revert to the word and prayer rather than unhealthy coping mechanisms.

Do all you do for God's glory, whether it's meal prep, workout, walking, waking up early, or passing on the sweets for a season. You will find a power that sweeps over you and lightens your load. You’ll notice the change of heart and mind you’ve been hoping for all these years as you chase weight loss and better habits. No longer will you have to strong-arm yourself to make healthy choices because they become a way of life. 

DO YOU WANT TO EXPERIENCE A LASTING LIFESTYLE AND FAT LOSS TRANSFORMATION CENTERED ON CHRIST?

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