Kim Dolan Leto - Staying Fit God's Way

Kim, I am so happy to have you here with me. You are an incredible person and truly a woman after God's heart. So thank you for hanging out with me today.

Hannah, I love your flavor. I love your pink. I love your crazy. I just. I love that you're crazy blessed and, you know, it's just so fun to be here. I was so looking forward to my time with you because I know that God, the Holy Spirit's here and we are going to help change some lives today.

Absolutely. Oh, my goodness. Kim. This is one area that I'm passionate about, like, being in my 50s. Like, I'm in my mid-50s right now, and I feel so good, which is like, that. That I think is normal. Like, I believe this idea around, oh, as you age, you get tired and sick and you can't do as much. I just think that's a lie. And God has a way of us not just being healthy now, but being healthy later, like our lives. He says he's going to give us a long, full life. And so I'm excited about this because I know it's your passion. I am passionate about this. But I want you to, like, let's talk about how I think pretty much the fitness industry is so screwed up right now. Like, how. I'm sorry, but I'm just going to say, like it is. Oh, I agree.

I agree. Say it the way it is, sister.

Tell me your opinion on it, because I just think we get so just. We get it twisted and it creates stress and anxiety and struggle and nothing's ever good enough. So share with some people today who are feeling that way.

Well, I believe that, you know, doing fitness the secular way, the world's way, it's so exhausting. I mean, how many of us have been on a diet? We know willpower doesn't last, right? It's just this, like, you're white knuckling it. You're like, I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it this year. This is the year I'm going to lose weight. And then your kids get sick or you get, you know, a call from work, like, something derails you and you lose your footing. And I believe that as especially for women who love Jesus, like, who love God. Why haven't we invited him into this equation? It's so interesting to me, like, how we sit in church and we're like, okay, parenting, finances, marriage, let's do all that through the word. But this whole body image, food, working out, motivation. We've left God out of this conversation. And that is why it's such a place to struggle. Because the world does not have our answer. Like, let's just be honest, has it ever worked? And how does scrolling through social media and looking at all these body part photos make you feel any better about yourself or lead you even one step closer to health for yourself? It's just crazy. And it's. I mean, I did it. I understand all of it. And it brought me to my knees. It made me feel broken. And that's why I wrote Fit God's way. Because God showed me there is another way, and it's his way, and his way is always best.

Yeah. Can you share about that? Like, because you said it brought you to your knees and. And it really broke you.

Absolutely.

Okay.

I think you know, a lot of people, and I don't mean this in an arrogant way at all, but a lot of people, I'm sure they do this too. They just think, oh, your life is easy. And it's like, you didn't. You don't know the struggle it took me to get here. I mean, I grew up really with a really rough childhood. I came from not. I was overweight, out of shape. I didn't know how to get healthy. Watching my dad, like, for those who are listening, who have a family member who you love so much, and they've suffered through heart disease, a stroke, a heart attack, diabetes, like, all these issues, I realized I needed to get healthy. I was 30 years old when my dad had a stroke, and I was so unhealthy. And it just. Hannah, I'm telling you, I was desperate for answers. And I know that's going to speak to someone because we come to the end of ourselves. Like, lord, what do you want me to do here? I'm like, I need help. And I definitely had to come to Jesus moment one day at church where, you know, in, like the. You're at church and the whole. You can just feel the Holy Spirit, like the worship music is playing, and it just makes you want to cry.

Well, we were. We were studying that every Sunday for me. Yeah, but. Yeah, go ahead.

But it was especially intense that day, and we were studying Revelation and this was like my come to Jesus moment. I opened up Revelation. And back. Back then, I didn't even. I was like, Revelation. I. I knew it was the back of the Bible.

I didn't.

I was like, revelations, Revelation. I didn't know what I was doing. I opened up the book and I looked down. I look. Opened up the Bible and I saw Revelation 3:20. And it says, it's Jesus talking. And it says, here I am. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone answers, I will come in and eat with them. And they with me. And I was like, mind blown. Like, lord, you want to eat with me? Like, I took God at his word, and I started inviting him to the table and to the gym and to the mirror. And he has just done a new work in me and set me free from that crazy dieting cycle of I'm good when I eat good, I'm bad when I eat bad. I got off the crazy train, and I'm so grateful to God for setting me free. And it is the mission of my heart to help anyone woman that I can. Because most of us women are mamas and we're raising little versions of ourselves. And I want us to raise children who know who they are in God and are empowered, not broken by the world. They're empowered in God.

Right. And the world will break you. Because I believe the goal of. Of Satan is just to get us to question God's authority and to question his promises. And he does promise us vitality. He promises us health and vigor, and he promises us a long, healthy life. And I think sometimes we're like, well, that sounds good, but let's get realistic. And unfortunately, everything that we see in social media is either, you know, filtered and so it's unrealistic, or it could be just, well, this is. This is what you need topically. This is what you need externally. Like, let's just fight that battle. And it has nothing to do with the heart. But I truly believe that unless we can change what's inside, we'll never see a sustainable, really, a dramatic change on the outside. I mean, I tried to, you know, I've. I've done the diet thing. I've gone down that road. I remember in college, I was just like, nothing about my body was good enough. Isn't it funny how we think that, you know, back then it was like, oh, I was out of shape. We look back and we're like, oh, yeah, it's actually pretty hot. But we're just so distorted in our perception of our body.

Absolutely.

And I remember one time with a client I had quite a while ago, struggled with her body image. And one time she was just berating her body, and I just asked her this one question, and it really shifted things in her. I said, you know what? You can have that opinion of your body. You have total freedom to believe that your body is fat and ugly and Gross. You have that freedom. But can you just. While you hold that opinion, could you just ask God while you're looking in the mirror what he thinks about your body? Not thinking that you have to change, but just allow God to speak into whatever you're believing, and I promise you the truth of what he says about your body will start to transform what you may be believing about your body.

I think that is vital because I have a whole section in my book, Fit God's Way, that talks about that. It's all about fit thoughts. And I believe in this whole space that Jesus is. Jesus gives us a call to action. It says in John 10:10 that the thief comes only to kill, steal and destroy. But I've come to give you life, and more abundantly. And that abundant life is not living in your head listening to the devil's lies about your body. Because at any age, whether you're a teenager or you're 85, you are a child of God, and He made you for such a time as this. So those lies, you need to pluck those ugly weeds out of your head and plant some godly truth there. And I'm not saying it's a perfect journey. I mean, I've really struggled with this. I've really struggled with this because I grew up in abuse, and it really. My dad was not sexually abusive. I want to preface that. He was just emotionally and physically abusive because he was struggling with drugs and alcohol at one point of his life, and he got saved. But the damage that it did to me, I still fight that. So I have the filter. The filter, you know, in my mind, I've got to filter everything through the word of God. And I want to just challenge your listeners to do that. When they think the thoughts, they think just say, wait a minute, is this God's truth about me? And would I ever say this to someone that I love or respect? And if you wouldn't change that narrative, girl, you deserve better.

I mean, you need to be your own best friend.

Yes, absolutely.

But sometimes I think on this fitness journey, and I kind of want to talk about something a little like, a little challenging today, because I know, like, you're the chick for it.

Bring it, Hannah. Bring it. You've got this. We've got this.

Yeah, we do. Because I know you are a woman that is founded and grounded in the word, but I believe on this fitness journey that there are two ditches on either side. Like, there's the, oh, I need to work so hard. I need a diet. I need to restrict myself it's all about what I look like. And, and we get, we go overboard with, with the law, right?

Been there, done that. Okay, quit that. Yeah, yeah.

Limited to calories. Like all this stuff I didn't work out, oh my gosh, I'm not good enough. All that.

Okay.

We have that legalism that is binding, that heavy yoke, that Jesus, look, don't put that on.

Right?

But then I feel like especially trending now, there's this other ditch on the other side that says it's not about your body, it's all about just the inside and that inside side beauty. And yes, that's true, but we, it's like that area where we're almost like air on that side of like, oh, it's all about the grace and we just like hold the thoughts and it doesn't matter what we eat or our body or our curves or, you know, like, let's get past even like thinking about the body because it's all about the freedom in the body and let's just, let's just get the internal beauty. And sometimes that leads to places that I've seen are destructive. We get neglectful about taking care of this temple. So it's like, where do we find that place in this journey where we are managing the temple of God, where we're caring for it, but yet it's not this obsessive. Oh my gosh, I can't do it. Right.

Well, first and foremost, my initial thought is on either side of that street, in those two ditches, our identity is not in God, it's in what the world is telling us. So if, if you were an 80s lady, drop an old school beat like me. You were trained in dieting, okay? You were trained, you were beating yourself up. I can't believe I.

Fat free stuff. Remember all the fat free stuff.

Let's eat all the fat free cookies.

We ate so much sugar back in the 80s. It's like I could eat like two boxes of these cookies because they're fat free. Like God. Thank you for repairing the damage to our brain. Just fat free stuff. I know.

So we're listening to the world now. The narrative is flipp flipped and it's like. And on either side. I don't believe that that shame or guilt. I believe that for those of us who love Jesus, we are God's children. We are, we are his daughters and we should not be listening to the world. Okay? Stuffing my face with a bunch of food or starving myself. Neither one of those are of God. So I want to Listen to God. And I believe that God wants us to rest in our identity in him. So we don't. We aren't starving ourselves to fit some mold or being in gluttony because we feel like, well, who cares? Like, the world's telling me this. Like, let's not listen to the world. Let's get in the word and listen to what God says. Oh, that's my answer.

That is fire, sister. I love that.

Fit God's way, not the world's way, God's way.

I mean, has the world ever really gotten it right? I mean, we can kind of look at it and, and see how destructive it is. But today I'm seeing many, especially young women. And I know this breaks your heart. Kim is to become. Because of how everything is, social media is so just surface level. It's all in the appearance. And it's almost like, how do we measure up? Like, what is the message that as mothers we can give to our daughters about their bodies and honoring their bodies and. And it's not a tool that we need to use to attract, but it is, it's really what I consider. The body is the vehicle to go through this world and manifest the goodness of God. Like how, yeah, we're here to serve kids.

I have to tell you, okay, So I hope it's okay. But this is what makes me have some holy anger is that why aren't we teaching this in the church? Why aren't we going to church? Why aren't our kids being taught? I would have loved. I have never, ever sat in church and heard a message about, you know, God wants you to have a body image that's rooted in him, not in what anyone else says. Can you imagine if you grew up thinking that? And hey, the world wants to tell you you need to diet and have this crazy, perverted relationship with food. No. Pray before your meals. Eat what I made for your body. Eat whole God made foods. If you want to eat stuff, enjoy it. The whole guilt eating and guil relationship is what causes people to binge and have eating disorders and body dysmorphic disorders. So we need God here. You know, I always say we're raising little versions of ourselves. So moms, let's be really cognizant of what we're saying about ourselves because our, our voice becomes our children's inner voice. So let's not be a known participant in their, like, lack of mental health. Like, we want to foster mental health in our children that is speaking God's truth about them. And it's Interest interesting to me because I'll never forget this. Hannah, you'll love this. One day I was getting my hair done. Okay. And this lady was getting. Or she was getting her hair dyed, and I was getting my hair cut. And I was sitting across from her while she was under the dryer, and she was like, she saw my cross and she's like, I don't think Christian women should wear makeup, and I don't think they should do this and that. And. And I was like, okay. You know, you hear all these people. Christian women shouldn't do this, and Christian women shouldn't do that. And I just. I just looked at her and I said, can I ask you a question? Like, I just. From like, a heart of, like, humility. I just want to know. You're coloring your hair, right? And she was like, yeah. And I was like, and you have your nails done, so what's the difference about makeup? So I think there's a very slippery slope where people can get very judgmental.

Yes.

About tattoos and people hate on my eyelashes. And I'm like, girl, these are my praise hands. And they give me seven hours a week to serve you. Like, I factored in, I have seven more hours in my life because I have lashes that I get done every three weeks so that I can serve as a mom. I am just trying to make a system for everything and get things done. I'm. I'm like you. I mean, my body, my life is of service to God. I'm just trying to show up in the power of the Holy Spirit every day to serve. So I think we can get really weird about all this stuff and judgmental. And really what we need to do is just have a heart of grace and compassion for where people are at.

So good. That is so good. And. And that judgment, I feel like judgment is something that. That can just come into our life almost innocuously. We don't even realize it's there. And all of a sudden we're not just judging our bodies, we're judging other bodies. Good, bad, doesn't matter. We're still placing judgment over that. And if we can understand if this were the vehicle that I'm going to travel from birth to death in, and I don't get a do over. I can't exchange it. How can I better take care of it? Better take care of it. How can I take the best care of it and have the most energy and the most vitality and the most joy and satisfaction? That. And I believe it just like we talked about with that yoke, it doesn't have to be hard. So I want to just, you know, we have a few minutes left. I want to dive into this because I believe there are people who are at listening, watching today, and they're like, it seems so easy for you guys. Like Kim, Hannah. It seems like it just comes naturally. First of all, as natural, those eyelashes, right? No.

Like, it's taken a lifetime of Jesus working in me to get here. And I think that that is why, like Hannah, I didn't think. I've already written a fitness book. It was a bestseller. God put my workout series on pure flicks. He's done. He's opened crazy doors for me. But I got a book deal after being rejected by every publisher. And I thought, okay, God, surely you would not have opened the store unless you had something to say. And so I took those eight years of working with women and hearing every one of their needs, their struggles, and I just said, God, what do you want me to say? And I prayed every day before I wrote. And I believe what we need is to redefine God's fitness, God's way. We need to really abandon the world's way of doing this and do it God's way. And the simplicity of God's way. I offer such a simple and fit God's way, such a simple roadmap. And anyone who's listening can go to www.fitgodsway.com right now and download a free plan because I am a thousand percent invested in your success. See, those eyelashes bring me extra time. But the simplicity, the simplicity of God's way, it's found in something I call the seven W's. And that's modeled after the way Jesus lived. You know, Jes got up early, he spent time with his father. He ate to live. He didn't live to eat. He drank water. He walked everywhere. He wasn't having people come to him. He came to serve. And he finished his race well. So the seven W's offer clear instructions to spend time with him in his word, to eat the foods he made for our bodies, to drink the water that he gave us. Water is a gift to worship him, to invite him to the table, to the mirror, to the gym, and to work. One of the biggest things too is to start to take care of your sleep. So the seven W's are to get in the Word worth whole God made foods, water, workout, worship, and the wake sleep cycle. And they're all modeled after the way Jesus lived. So simple. But when you read this book, you're going to be shocked at how effective they are and how many. There's tens of thousands of women that have gone through this that are free. And that's what I want, is that burden of diet failures and bondage from the world and all of that junk to just lift from your shoulder and for you to just have peace for the day and who you are in God on the journey without even caring. You get on the scale. You're like, so what? It's a number. It's not my report card. You have freedom. That's what I want for women. I am fighting for women in this space. And Fit God's Way is. It's an excellent book. I'm honestly like, I don't even feel like I wrote it. I'm like, okay, God, I. I typed like, you wrote this. I'll just type because he brought it and it cares.

He really cares.

He does about every detail.

Used you as a vessel to get this message out and they can go to fit God's way.com and get that free plan. Oh, my gosh, you are so sweet. Thank you so much. Because it is about having that freedom. And the Word tells us that you'll know the truth and the truth will make you free. So I know that there's some people listening and watching, and they're like, gosh, Kim, I just have so far to go. Like, I have. I've just kind of neglected this area of my health, and I've got so far to go. I want to speak to that person and say, God meets you right where you are. Like, the first step today, go to Fit God's way. Com. Just. Just go there and get started. Because he will meet us wherever we are. I mean, there is no one who's like, God's like, well, yeah, they've neglected it, so I guess it's no use now. He's like, no, no, no, baby. Let's just get on board today. We can create a change. Like, don't you think so?

Yes. And really, I think people need to know. I want to speak to that person who just feels hopeless that you're not alone, that God loves you so much and he's right there with you and you just lean into him. Even if you don't even know a lot about the Bible, download that. That free plan@fitgod's way.com. look at the scriptures. Look at what he. Who he says you are and what he says you can have. And if you believe in faith, you will get Fit God's Way. You will get results because he's with you on this journey. You are not alone. And I just don't want you to miss out on the life that he died to give you by living in your head and believing things about yourself that are not true because you are so loved.

So loved. And you know that.

Me all emotional.

I'm serious. But Kim, seriously, it's just, it's painful love of God when you know, and.

I went through it, like I went through the weight loss transformation, the body transformation, and, and the pain of it alone and the struggle and just what it did to my mind. And as a Christian, it did that to me. And I should have known better.

Yeah. And, yeah, that idea that we should have known better. Yeah. But remember, like you specifically said, why isn't this being taught in churches? Why isn't being taught to our children? Like, maybe you shouldn't have known better. Maybe you had to go on that journey so that someone right now listening or watching is saying, God, thank you that you used Kim to meet me right now. Because that's so vital. To think you have to do this alone is excruciating. You don't. Kim is there for you. I'm there for you. You're surrounded with people that love you and support you. And Jesus said, I will never leave you or forsake you. You're covered, babe.

You are. And he's going to instruct you and teach you and guide you. And I think another thing that's so amazing, as Christians, we don't realize that when we said yes to Jesus that the Holy Spirit came to live in us and we have access to self control, joy for the journey, peace, faithfulness, all of it. And it's like, wait a minute, we. And when we see that fruit, like that's God growing in us to make those good decisions. And. And we feel so much better at the end of the day. And I just. Life is already hard enough. Don't do it alone. The answer to dieting is not in the world. It is in the wor, sister. Trust me. I lived it, learned it, bought the.

T shirt, and I'm back. And it's better than any diet. It's like the live it, not the diet. It's like in the word.

Yeah, I'm not going to die it. I'm going to live it. Yes, exactly.

Preaching now. All right, Kim, where can people go to get more of you and reach out to you? I know they're going to go to fitgod's way.com and get that plan or anything else, like anywhere else you're showing up that they can get in contact with you.

Thank you, Hannah. Well, of course, hit that share button on this podcast episode and then please follow me. Come say hi to me on Kim Dolan Leto. That's D O L A N L E T o on social media. And then I have Kim Dolan leto.com a website. And I also have the Strong Confident his podcast, which is all about you're not alone. Listen, tune into that. Prayers, motivation, recipes, workouts, everything you need to have that friend. I'm that friend who wants to help you succeed. So make sure you listen and go download that free guide, Fit God's Way Calm.

Awesome. Awesome. And guys, I know Kim. She's a real deal, you know, I wouldn't bring you guys anyone that wasn't truly grounded in the Word and she is. So thank you so much. Remember, share this, get in contact, make sure you get that Fit God's Way and you are going to be blessed like crazy.