Kasey Shuler teaches six principles for the Christian intuitive eater to exercise in a way that starts with grace.
If you’ve embraced the intuitive eating philosophy, you’ve started paying more attention to your body when it comes to hunger and fullness. What if you could do the same with your body around exercise? What if, instead of being driven by the fear of gaining weight or living in pain but veiling it as gain, you could move for joy? And not just for joy, but by grace.
Principle Nine of Intuitive Eating is “Movement—Feel the Difference.” And the real difference between exercise and intuitive movement is to step away from focusing on using workouts to change how we want to look and instead use them as an opportunity to pay attention to how we feel. Many have gone a step further and run with the concept of “joyful movement.”
For the Christian, joy is the expression of grace, so the root of being able to move joyfully for us is centered upon, rooted in, and overflowing from the grace of God.
Christian intuitive eaters exercise in a way that starts with grace—we start with gratitude that our body comes from God and our life is ultimately in His hands. We surrender cultural body ideals into His hands and move for the utmost prize of knowing Christ—we move for the joy of the Lord.
For the Christian, joy is the expression of grace, so the root of being able to move joyfully for us is centered upon, rooted in, and overflowing from the grace of God.
Here’s a process of how we teach Christian intuitive eaters to exercise by grace, for joy at Joyful Health Co.:
1. Become Aware
Change starts with awareness.
– Notice your mindset towards exercise.
– Wonder if you associate exercise with physical or emotional pain.
– See if an exercise habit or lack of exercise causes you to turn inwards instead of empowering you to love God and others.
If you answered yes to these questions, it’s time for a change.
Our goal here is to see the discrepancy between our view of exercise being a man-made construct we must adhere to and movement being a natural expression of joy in our God-given body.
Become aware of any program that uses diet language, primarily pointing you to lose weight, burn calories, or sculpt abs.
All of these messages disconnect you from paying attention to how you are feeling by focusing on how you should be looking. They shift the power from your own discernment into the hands of others. They will eventually lead to shame, guilt, and failure. On the other hand, becoming aware of how certain movements make you feel will help reestablish that connection in your body and empower you to make healthier choices with God for life.
2. Let Go
As you notice the ill effects of diet culture messaging and start to build trust in your body, you can now begin to separate calorie burn from exercise.
Put away the scale, and don’t turn on the fitness trackers. If you can, even set aside timers for now so you can focus on how your body feels during movement and reestablish that mind-body connection to sensations of fatigue, stiffness, pain, etc. You will not only prevent injury and create a lifetime movement habit, but you may even start to thank God for the gift of exercise.
3. Accept Grace For Your Body
We often talk about grace, but let’s apply grace to our bodies. You are loved in your body just as you are. This is God’s promise to us. You don’t have to change yourself to be loved, but we are changed by love.
We must start by accepting the unconditional love of Christ for us right here, right now, without modifying a thing about our bodies.
This also means dressing for your body as you are. Wear clothes you are comfortable and confident moving in. Choose the frequency, intensity, type, and time for movement that fits your level of activity and ability. This is where you start.
4. Do What You Enjoy
If you’ve never given yourself permission to let exercise be something that you truly enjoy, but have always chosen workouts that burn the most calories or give you the most tone, it’s time for a change.
Life is too short and God is too gracious for us to continually look inward. Instead, joy is a greater power that invites us outward.
Step out into the joy that God has already prepared for those who love him to enjoy the world He has created for us to be in relationship with him.
If you have a hard time thinking about what activities you enjoy, focus on what already gets you moving or excited. Could it be music and dancing, a beautiful day on the trail, or the refreshment that comes with swimming? Could it be entering into community with others and going to a fitness class? Have fun experimenting, glorifying God, and enjoying Him through movement.
Exercising doesn’t have to look a certain way. The Bible doesn’t have specific verses on this but simply directs us to follow Jesus.
5. Resist Condemnation
You will be tempted to jump on the latest trend even though it’s not right for your season. You will be tempted to do the high-impact moves to match the instructor even though it hurts your body. You will be tempted to compensate for your eating with your exercise for the sake of weight loss.
You will wrestle with thoughts of condemnation like: “I’m bad because I didn’t work out today” or “I’m a loser because I couldn’t keep up.”
Notice and resist.
As Jesus despised the shame on the cross, so too must we despise any shame or fear that may come from our inner critics about becoming unfit, being weak, or lacking self-control.
Look beyond the condemnation and find your deeper desires fulfilled in the power of Christ’s love in you: health and longevity, connection to others, balance, and order. Your identity does not come from what you do but from what Christ has done. Stand in His love bought for you and resist all other false gospels of health and fitness. Throw these aside, and go enjoy what you love.
Stand in His love bought for you and resist all other false gospels of health and fitness.
6. Embrace Change
Your body will change over time, and our responsibility is not to control our bodies but to understand where we are, what we need, and respond appropriately. Continue to tune in to how your body is feeling with and without movement. Each experience is feedback for us to choose how movement can support the life season God has for us.
When we sustain an injury, our body calls for a period of rest. As we get older, we must make sure we are taking care of our bones and muscles with resistance training. When we are feeling energetic, we can learn new athletic skills and build an aerobic base to keep us fit for our day.
Allow movement to be an activity that meets you where you are now and moves you into who God is shaping you to become.
This is how Christian intuitive eaters exercise.
As you can see, there is no one size fits all prescription, but each of us gets to follow the joy of the Lord as he leads us in the body He has given us. May you have the grace to accept the movement you can do now, the wisdom to know how to continue, and the strength to keep going.
What is the best style of movement for your body right now?
Kasey Shuler is an author, ACSM personal trainer, Platoon 18 Revelation Wellness Fitness Instructor, and co-founder of the Joyful Health Collective. Her mission is to help women find lasting health by starting with grace and finding joy in movement. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Athens, Georgia, and would love to connect with you at joyfulhealth.co, or on Instagram.
God Cares About Your Body
Intuitive Eating isn’t just about a new way to eat.
If you’ve been in diet culture for most of your life, Intuitive Eating can be a way to surrender your food choices and body image to the goodness of God. Because God cares about the whole you.
You won’t be looking at the world’s prescription for the perfect body anymore. Instead, you’ll trust God has made your body with specific needs that can be met with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Food doesn’t have to be the boss of you anymore. Tune into God’s voice and find food freedom!
Learn more about Intuitive Eating:
