A day of rest: are you kidding me?

I am so proud to say that I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. (Any other LDSers out there who read that and continue on by singing "I know who I am, I know God's plan..." Just me?) You probably know us better as Mormons. We call ourselves LDS.  However you say it you all get the picture, right?

Don't stop reading. I'm not preaching. There is a point. Just hang in there.

As members of the LDS church we believe that the Earth was created in 6 days and on the 7th The Lord rested. We use this "model" in our church. We have 6 days of work and use Sunday as a day of rest. We call it "keeping the Sabbath Day holy". This means we believe that Sunday is dedicated to going to church and spending time with family and focusing on our Father in Heaven. Everyone does this differently. Some do no TV on Sunday's. Some do their Family Home Evening on Sunday. Most have a bigger Sunday dinner. I could go on but I will just continue on with my story THAT HAS MEANING. I PROMISE.

So let me tell you how my day of "rest" goes:

• Wake up at like 8:00.
• Get ready
• Wake up Michael in the middle of all this and get him going.
• Gather all my Primary stuff and truck it to my 3 hour church day
• I am a Primary chorister so I spend two hours at top energy entertaining kids and teaching them songs.
• The other hour is spent listening and learning and focusing on the spirit.
• I come home and make lunch and dinner.
• I do usually get in a Sunday nap (I can't leave out that awesome part of my day)
• I do a little cleaning from time to time
• Then get ready for the week ahead.

Does that sound like rest? Ok, the nap probably does. My Sundays are NEVER a day of rest. Usually Sunday is the craziest day of the week. It's the day I work the hardest.

Ok, I promised a point. How does this compare to fitness?

Just as important as the actual workout is your rest day. You need to give your body a day to recover so you can continue to SAFELY build that awesome muscle. On this rest day you are expected to eat the same, drink as much water, and feel just as great. Let me tell you about my first couple of rest days.

• I would wake up later because I didn't have to work out.
• This usually caused me to feel a little bit lethargic
• Since I didn't spend my morning sweating all the fat out of me (not all you need some fat but you get the idea) I usually wasn't hungry first thing and would forget to eat.
• That lead to a very large lunch that consisted of whatever I could grab because I was starving. Starving.
• At this point I would realize that I'm thirsty and haven't had any water to drink all day. My water intake is not as much as it should have been.
• At that point I started to feel fat. 
• Since I felt that way I might as well just eat some chocolate, right? You know, because I felt fat so I might as well eat fat.
• After the chocolate my whole day was spent, right? So might as well go through a drive through for dinner. Yeah. I wanted a burger.

Every thing I worked for that week. Gone. Just gone.

It's hard though. Just like my Sunday is my day of rest and means more work; my workout day of rest needs more work, not rest. It's not a day of whatever you want. You still have to make conscious decisions to keep up your healthy lifestyle. Also, you need to keep up your new found healthy habits.

Here are some things I suggest:

• Wake up at the same time you normally would even though you are not working out. Spend that hour on some personal development or whatever seems uplifting to you. TV IS NOT UPLIFTING.
• After your workout would normally be done make breakfast. Just like it's a normal workout day.
• Plan your meals that day the previous day. So you know what you are having and when you are having it.
• KNOW that you are actually not getting fat just because you are not working out. Your rest day is part of the workout. If you grew fat on your rest day then there would be no rest. Just make healthy decisions so you really don't grow fat.
• Go on a walk. Take your dog. They want a walk. I promise. Just make it light.
• Do you have a workout buddy, yet? Get one. Text them and let them know you are struggling. Have them help you. Encourage you. Because you can do it. You can get through it. You're awesome.
• Find what works for you to keep you on track. How are you motivated to stay strong?

The best thing you can remember is that gaining a healthier lifestyle isn't always the easiet thing you will ever do. It takes learning new habits and realizing how amazing you actually are and how you can actually feel like a rock star. You are a rock star.

Stay strong through your rest day. Think of the bigger picture. Your final goal, everyone has a different one, should be posted for you to see every day. Something that you can see to remind you of what you are doing and why you are doing it. Get through your rest day so you can come out the other side on top. Don't take a step back. Just keep moving forward.

No matter what... before you can have a rest day you need to start working out. So, GET UP! DO IT!

Because there is NO better time than NOW!