What role does faith play into fitness?

Stage14

Interesting question! After thinking about it, for me, it doesn't play any role at all. I fully believe in God, and commune with Him regularly. It's just never occured to me that He might possibly have any interest in my waistline. I always figure He's got bigger fish to fry than giving me the strength to go work out or helping me fight the temptation of the evil Snickers bar. So, I just rely on me for those things.

kathryndale

everything. GOD wants me to be healthy and take care of myself. i must do my part and GOD will do his.

JNick77

I always figure He's got bigger fish to fry than giving me the strength to go work out or helping me fight the temptation of the evil Snickers bar. So, I just rely on me for those things.

^ This. Now I do have to admit that I do believe in the concept of a "Guardian Angel" or something along those lines. There are occasionally those weird unexplained things that happen and I can't bring myself to believe that of all the millions of people on this planet and probably trillions in the universe that God really has the time to focus on me as an individual, seems silly if you think about it. God created our brains to to be capable of confidence, pride, ego, and the ability to make decisions. God would not have created us this way if he was just going to do everything for us anyway.

phred_52

Uh oh....knew I was lacking something (faith). As I've been told being an Atheist, I'm the Devil re-incarnated. No wonder I'm not getting fit :sad:

TMLPatrick

I have only faith in my own abilities.

Brige2269

When I am at the gym I pray that a hot girl's top falls off.

This made me LOL out loud!

anemoneprose

Yup. I had faith that I will die, and I didn't want to spend more of the time before then unhappy.

ThickMcRunFast

This is an interesting question. I would say that I have faith in my training plan. I don't know that it works from experience, but I have to trust that it was made by people who know better than I do. Maybe that's faith, maybe its just an educated guess. Regardless, I have to trust that my training will be enough to see me through on race day.

As far as 'in the moment', I would say its more determination and stubbornness than faith that gets me to my daily, weekly, and overall goals. I know that no one else can do the work for me.

jerrygon10

For me it played a big role since I believe in God and His creation.

I see myself as one of His creations and I am therefore charged to be a good steward of the "temple" He created.

Once I decided to focus down and get serious about trying to be a better person and live a more balanced life things started to fall into place. Prayer was a big part of that for me. One of my motivations in losing weight was my desire to better be able to serve God and that meant being the best, healthiest "me" I could be.

Thankfully and humbly, I was able to achieve my goal!

gracielynn1011

My faith teaches me that the spirit of God dwells in his people, and that our bodies are the Temples of God. As such we are caretakers of the Temple. We should do the best we can to care for ourselves and respect our minds and bodies. So yes, my faith does play a role.

With that said, it was not faith that led me to MFP. It was my desire to look in the mirror and like what I see. To be able to play ball with my boys without being out of breath and not able to run. And to have my husband look at me with the same desire that he had for me when we first met. It wasn't until later than faith became a part of it.

gmallan

I believe in science. Science is probably more importatnt to fitness and weight loss than faith

MissSharon2013

I couldn't have done this without God's help. He is my strength and motivation. He has sent wonderful people, believers and non-believers alike. They encourage and keep me motivated. I thank God for this chance to get it right this time! May God bless us all with success!!