Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men….

—Colossians 3:23 ESV

Why is it so hard to make healthy living a habit? Armed with our greatest determination and countless diet and training plans, it should be easy; but many of us find that it’s not. Somewhere between setting our goals and facing reality, we trade healthy habits for quick-fix gimmicks and temporary results. All the while our only motivation is too often found in pictures of actresses or models whom we want to emulate.

Growing up I dreamed of being on a magazine cover. My walls were plastered with pictures of models from the pages ofGlamour andSports Illustrated. I wanted to be like them, but it was clear to me that I couldn’t compete. In comparison to these women, it seemed the list of what I wasn’t far outweighed the list of what I was. I wasn’t born with their build; they were taller and thinner, whereas I was much shorter and thicker. However, the images inspired me. So I began to place an unhealthy importance on my appearance and losing weight. And, by age thirteen, dieting became a regular part of my life.

Eventually, I became a cover model for health magazines such asFitness andOxygen. I achieved the thing I had dreamed of for so long, but I made mistakes along the way—the biggest mistake being my motivation for it all.

Since witnessing the effects a stroke had on my father, giving birth to my daughter, and inviting God to become the focus of my health and fitness journey, I have realized just how skewed my view was back then. Dieting was a means to an end—an end that left me feeling empty, exhausted, and ready to overindulge in all the foods I had missed and gain back every pound I had lost. It’s clear to me now that the way I felt about myself needed to change before my body needed to change. But to get to that point, I had to stop dieting. Only then could I get healthy for good.

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