Unit 9

My Plan to Health

Introduction

            Since a person is a triune being, body, mind and spirit, then they should find importance in developing their lives physically, psychologically and spiritually.  Only developing one or maybe two areas of their lives will not give them the wholeness, health and prosperity that are needed to live a life of human flourishing (Dacher, 2006).  If a person can live a life of human flourishing then they can help others to do so also.  Developing themselves physically, psychologically and spiritually will bring them to realize that their strength comes from within, not from an outside source. 

            I have come to realize that my biggest battle is in my head.  So in order to achieve the goals that I have set out for my life I must first learn to believe that I can achieve them.  Then I must not let my negative thoughts get in the way.  This is mostly a psychological issue with a little spirituality in there.  My spiritual development will only strengthen my mind and body.  Physically development is needed so that I am physically capable of achieving these goals.  I would have to say again that my biggest need is in the psychological realm.

Assessment

            In the beginning of this term I assessed myself at a 7 for physical well-being.  I would have to say that I went up to about an 8 since then.  I am now on a 90 Day Challenge because my goal is to lose 15 pounds before my birthday on November 2^nd.  I am working out approximately 2 hours per day 6 days per week.  My daily goal is to burn at least 1000 calories per day.  Since I get regular exercise and I also eat a well-balanced diet, I would say I am in good health.  I am still overweight but that is going to change.  I am my first client in my personal training.  If I can’t do it for myself then I won’t be effective to help others. 

            I first assessed my spiritual well-being at a 6.  I feel that it’s more of an 8 now.  Going through a lot of the exercises that we did in this course, I realized that I have the Word so deep inside me that anything that contradicts it feels weird.  It’s hard to explain.  There were a couple of visualization exercises that just didn’t mesh with me spiritually and I couldn’t embrace them the way Dacher intended.  A lot of them I replaced what they exercise were saying with scripture and I enjoyed it much further.  I still have to work on consistently reading my Bible and praying daily, though. 

            It’s funny because I scored myself the highest in the psychological well-being in the beginning at an 8.  Now I realize that I wasn’t correctly assessing myself.  I think this is the area that I learned the most about myself and I realized that it’s the area that holds me back more than anything.  I allow my mind to defeat me too easily, sometimes even before I start.  I would have to say that I am a 6.5 now.  I need to learn to quiet my mind on a regular basis. I also need to refute the voices in my head saying that I can’t achieve something and replace them with scripture, of course.  Scripture is where my strength is, because scripture is what God says I can do.  I am working on this area the most, aside from the physical, on my 90 Day Challenge.  I have assessed that in the past it wasn’t my body or spirit that defeated me, but my mind.  I didn’t believe that I could do it!  Now I do. 

Goal Development

            My goal for the physical is to lose 15 pounds by November 2^nd.  That will put me at 15 pounds left to my goal weight of 140 lbs.  I gain muscle very easily so I don’t see myself lighter than 140.  My goal for spiritual is to read my Bible every morning starting tomorrow during my 90 Day Challenge.  By the conclusion of the challenge I will have created a habit.  My goal for the psychological is to meditate for 30 minutes per day before I go to sleep at night, again starting tomorrow.  I will do this also for the rest of my challenge.  I am only on day 6 of my challenge so I have plenty of time to start other good habits beside diet and exercise. 

Practices for Personal Health

            For physical improvement strategies I will keep doing what I am doing.  I am doing 30-60 minutes of cardio per day which include running, intervals of sprinting and walking on the treadmill and using the rowing machine.  I also teach 4 Jazzercise classes per week on a regular basis and need to learn 30 new routines every 3 months.  Two of my classes are PT classes which are strength training.  My daily goal is to burn at least 1000 calories during exercise per day, 6 days per week.  I also want to utilize Myfitnesspal to track my calories so that I stay at about 1500 calories per day 6 days per week (myfitnesspal, LLC, 2005-2009).  I will also one day that I “cheat” but I will not go over the 1950 calories my body needs normally.  I will reach my daily calorie intake by drinking 2 Body by Vi shakes per day and eating 2 snacks plus one nutritious meal. 

            For spiritual improvement I will read my Bible in the morning for at least 30 minutes.  I have an app on my phone that has a daily reading so I think I will use that app to help me decide what to read.  I will also replace my regular running or cardio music with Praise and Worship music.  When I have done this in the past the music has helped me focus on God and the press towards my goal much better than secular music can.  Music is the best way that I can get my focus off me and on to Him!

            For psychological growth I will do the Journey On (Kaplan University, 2012) exercise or the Relaxation exercise (Meditation Workshop, n.d.) that I reference in my Unit 5 project before I go to bed each night.  This is the only time I will have “quiet time” since all four of my kids will be asleep.  I really enjoyed these two exercises in the course and I feel they will be beneficial to me in learning to relax and quiet my mind, especially before bed.

Commitment

            I will assess my progress or lack thereof in the first 90 days by tracking everything through my 90 Day Challenge I am currently on.  After that I will do another one until I reach my goal weight so I will track the spiritual and psychological goals along with the physical.  I have also shared this with my husband and he wants to do it too so the support and accountability that both of us are doing it is going to be beneficial.  I think the long-term practices are going to be more of creating new habits of wellness.  Allowing myself some grace to slip up but keep myself focused on continuing these things that will benefit me in many different ways.