The gym feels like a waste of time

Going to the gym feels like a waste of time.

The end and start of the year is so busy for me at church. I started off doing a week of prayer at each of my churches. So 3 churches, 3 week of prayers. 
So once I completed those I was able to get back to the gym last week. Its been a long time since I have been in the gym. And you know how it goes, the longer you are away from the gym the more you put it off. You gotta just do it. 

I was so worn out. Fortunately because of a good diet it wasn't that bad, but very far from where I needed to be. 

Next day, I was crazy sore. But the day after I was back in the gym and battled through the pain. 

Only two days last week. Not the best start, but it was a start. It was the time I had available. 
Now its the first week in February. It is time to not just find time, but to make time. 

But sometimes it feels like going gym is a waste of time. After my first day back, I looked in the mirror and not much had changed. I mean, what was I expecting after one day? But that's what make exercise so hard. We do all this exercise, and there is nothing to show for it. I can see how someone who has never really exercised before would be discouraged after a workout. You're tired, sore, sweaty and you can't see a difference. They say "no pain, no gain." But it seems like there is way more pain than gain.

But I know better. I know what months of consistent exercise can do- especially when you combine it with a good diet. 
After my sister saw my before and after photo after I did a raw diet for three months in 2018, she told me she didn’t realize how drastic the difference was, maybe because she saw me all the time.
 
And that’s the thing, it seems drastic when you see the before and after side by side. But when you are living in the before picture, you don’t see any drastic changes and it can get discouraging. So let me show a photo that shows more of a progression from month to month.

The first month is where I lost most of the weight. 13 pounds. However the goal was never to lose weight, but to the lower the waist size and body fat percentage. That first month I already dropped to 75.5 cm in my waist size. But not too much in body fat percentage. That goes to show how bloated I was. The average adult has 5-20 pounds of toxic waste trapped in the digestive track. That’s why when you start a raw diet you may even feel more bloated. That’s because you have a traffic jam of bad stuff blocking the good stuff. That’s why in my meal plan, before even starting the raw diet I suggest getting your water intake up. You got to start clearing the path.
 
So anyway, after a month I was just half a centimeter from my waist size goal, now I just needed my body fat percentage lower. Now that my digestion was much smoother, my body had an easier time breaking down my body fat. The next two months I was able to shed about 1% of body fat each month, bringing me to my goal of getting below 6% body fat again. I put this post up, because I truly believe that the cleaner our diet the faster the cutting of fat will take. It doesn’t take very long to start seeing results.

If you are just starting off I do recommend that you join the 300 challenge and focus on diet first. But if your diet is going well, then its time to incorporate exercise. But remember, exercise is not a one-day-cure-all. It requires commitment. One day of good diet and exercise will just leave you hungry, sore, and discouraged. But if keep at it little by little your body will get healthier and its composition will start to change. Even in the midst of your journey you may not realize that changes are happening, but you don't realize the inside changes are happening that you cannot see, but just trust in the process and when you look back you will realize, "Whoa, I have changed!" 

Exercise is a lot like faith. Sometimes you can't see anything, but you have a hope that something will happen. "Now faith is the assurance of things hope for, the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). In the midst of your journey you may not realize that God is changing something inside, but we need to trust in Him to do His process of molding us. 
Trust will lead to action. "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:20).

So back to exercise. Even if you can't see any difference with all this exercise and you feel like  you are wasting your time, trust in the process and let your trust lead to action. Keep exercising trusting that one day you will look back and  see that you are no longer your before picture. You are a new man/woman. ​