Day #5 & 6:
Hello again :) Yesterday was the first Saturday of my life I can remember getting up early to exercise. I had actually planned on sleeping in a little (what I do on a typical Saturday), but my internal clock woke me up early anyway, so I decided to do something positive rather than laze around in bed. I felt pretty good about that. I did the same today. Yesterday, I went to a great Financial Freedom Seminar at my church & one of the activities was to write down any goal & list smaller steps that we can take to achieve that. I gave that alot of thought pertaining weight loss. It would be the natural thing for me to say, I want to lose x pounds by such-a-such a date. For me, it would only serve to lead me back to the wrong focus concerning weight loss. In fact, I need to not focus on weight loss at all. Huh? Than, why did I label this a weight loss blog? Well, I am hopeful that losing weight will be a natural by-product of my other behaviors.
I have done weight watchers, Atkins, low-fat, vegetarian, slim fast, just plain not eating, my on-again, off-again bouts with bulemia, etc.....they all "worked" to some extent or another. But, for me, they all caused me to focus MORE on the food than ever before. I simply thought about points & portion sizes & what foods were "good" and which foods were "bad". Obviously, there are some foods that are "healthier" than others. To me, it doesn't take a genius to see a peice of toast is a healthier breakfast option than a twinkie. However, as to all the rest of it: GOD MADE IT!!!! God cannot make anything BAD. The "Experts" throughout the years have labeled almost every food "healthy" or "unhealthy" at one time or another. They all disagree. They are all trying (successfully) to convince us all that we need to follow man-made rules about eating. If they know so much, by the way, why is obesity a national epidemic? Why does the average weight charts keep expanding every year? Why are people still clogging up their arteries? It reminds me so much of the Judaizers who were trying to convince the new Christians to go back to living under the law rather than the freedom they had receieved in their relationship with Christ. Food is good. God created it for us --not only to sustain us, but for us to enjoy it & to use it as a social part of our lives. If not, why would He have created such a wide variety, with so many beautiful colors, textures, smells, tastes, etc....& why would He make mention of laying a table for us in Heaven? God made food good. We have polluted it with our own imposed rules of what we can & cannot eat & in what order. And, people have made millions out of our belief in
this. It's all good. In moderation.
Food good......gluttony, or eating beyond the point of fullness is bad. Eating when we are hungry....good & common sense.....eating out of boredom, loneliness, stress....bad. We need to turn to Him for our problems. His grace is sufficient for us!! Enjoying the food that God created is good......making it a top priority in our lives & thinking about it frequently....NOT good. He wants our thoughts & hearts on Him, not food, or anything else. Thanking Him for variety....good. Calling what He created for us bad.... Bad. Wanting to look skinny, or sexy, like this actress or that model... or whatever....pride, vanity, bad. God created us all according to His perfect design. He loves us as individuals. He could have made us cookie-cutters, but He chose to make us unique. Trying to take care of the only body God will ever give me....the one He wants to dwell in as His temple....good. I am saying all this because I believe it's in line with God's word & character & also to retrain myself. There is still a part of me that wants to slap that # goal on the paper & say to myself, "If I achieve this goal, I will be successful". But, if I do, and even if I reach it, I will be defining success by the world's terms, or by my own flesh. I've done that. Been there. Not going back. I want to live my life....every area of my life for Him, for His glory, in obedience to His commands. I would be lying to say I don't want to lose weight. I'm sick of being fat & teetering towards the larger side of the store. I'm tired of being embarassed about my weight. But, my #1 goal has to be obedience & I am trusting in Him to take care of the pounds for me (I've lost 3, by the way :) The obedient life is filled with better blessings than we could ever "earn" or achieve on our own. My God can do anything but fail, so I'm letting Him fight this battle for me. Have a lovely day....hope I didn't p---- off any of you Atkin, weight watcher, slim fast, south beach, etc....advocates. I'm just expressesing my view. That's my plan & I'm stickin' to it.
God bless, keep reading. I TRULY appreciate all the comments. (Kris, I get the pix from google images) If you post your goals, I will commit to praying for you.
The Love of Christ to you all, Dianna
3 comments:
Anna,
If you want to borrow some of my Leslie videos, let me know. My cousin has some of them now (you remember Angela, right?) but I have more than enough to go around :-)
I agree that everything in moderation is good. Its when we get addicted to things like chocolate, chips, soda, etc. that we tend to have a problem. Why can't we be addicted to something like cucumbers and carrots? Hummm... Food is good. Counting down the days till we cut the bird. Anyway, love you Dianna. Oh and I never responded to your email because I have been busy setting up and figuring out this new computer, but I would like to sit down and talk to you whenever you are ready about that topic. And you are right, I should post that extra thing as a goal. You are so smart :) What would I do without you?
Dianna:
Again, I enjoy reading these and learning from them. I don't think you realize what a huge influence you have been on my Christian life. Alot of things that I go through I try to remember what you've said or mentioned. In regard to this blog it would be when I go to grab a cookie I think to myself how you mentioned that it is idolistic (maybe not that exact word) if you just want the cookie because you're craving it or if you're really hungry for it. Anyhoo, My goal is to just eat when I need to eat and to feel healthy, as for the exercise I'm still working on it, I'm hoping the stuff I do during the week and at home can be considered exercise. We'll see.
Love Ya,
Jane
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