Day #7:
Well, I am happy to say I surpassed my goals for the first week of my challenge. My goals for the following week are the same as the last, plus trying to eat more slowly. I made a soup for dinner tonight with some yummy bread. Typically, I could easily eat 2-3 bowls & 2 pieces of bread. Tonight, I ate 1 piece of bread & 1 1/2 bowls of soup. Right after I finished the soup, I realized I would have been full after 1. I wasn't stuffed to the gills, but if I had eaten more slowly, my body would have had time to tell my brain it was already full & didn't need more. It's just so odd; I have to learn how to listen to those signals, because I really have never learned. Most of my life, I have just eaten whatever I want, whether I was full or not. Or the opposite, which was eating so little I was always hungry. My aim is to eat enough & not more than I need. It's very surprising for me to learn I really don't need all that much food. Today, I had a 1 egg omelet with some peppers & a tiny bit of left-over steak & coffee for breakfast, an apple, cottage cheese & almonds for lunch, a banana for a snack & what I just described for dinner. Compared to what I am used to eating, that is not much. And, like I said, if I had been more sensitive to my bodies' signals, I could have eaten less. No problem, though....I am learning.
The exercising is going much easier. It has taken me less time to start that habit than I would have thought. Probably because I am mentally & spiritually ready for it this time, unlike so many other times I have tried to do it in my own strength. It actually feels good & is helping me sleep a bit better & helping my state of mind. I was thinking about what is different this time & why I am so confident that this is it!!! This is the time!!! There are many reasons, one of which is I have come face to face that all my "reasons" were flimsy excuses for me being a lazy butt. Here have been some of my many, many, excuses:
1) I have asthma, so I can't exercise as easily as most people. True, but this walking program I'm doing is totally doable & still a great work-out. 2) I'm soooo...busy. I homeschool, I'm busy in the ministry, etc..... Who isn't busy? If I can find time to watch an hour of TV every night before bed, I can make the time to exercise. 3) I HATE to exercise.....That's really just my attitude. Once I get past the initial chore of getting out of bed, it's ok. 4) I've been this height since I was 11...there's nowhere to go but out. Oh, that's just silly. 5) I've tried so many times & failed. Yes, but this time I'm fully giving it over to the Lord rather than trying to exert my own will. 6) My husband still finds me attractive & my girls think I'm beautiful. Well, thank God for people who love me no matter what, but pleasing God is more important than pleasing any man (even hubby) & I really doubt Tony will be crying as my flabby behind starts to shrink :) After all, he did fall in love with me when I was at my thinnest. 7) People shouldn't judge me by my looks. True, but they do & I never want anything stand in the way of an opportunity to be a witness for Christ. And, anyway, I judge my own self & I know this is not the body God wants me to have. 8) Food is too good to give up. RIGHT!! But, who asks us to? It's all about not overindulging & not living to satisfy the desires of our flesh. I'm sure I have used many more excuses, but that's all I can think of. Life is full of choices. I know I haven't done myself any favors when I've tried to justify my actions to myself...in this area & many others. We choose to be happy or sad. We choose to laugh or get angry. We choose to love or hate. We choose to accept Jesus as our savior, or reject Him. I have chosen to let myself be defeated. Now, I choose a victorious life.
So...what's your excuse? Love you all...keep reading & posting. You are all a blessing to me. Love in Christ, Dianna
2 comments:
Dianna:
Glad to see/hear you're doing well with this. You are a true inspiration. So far I have given thought to the extra food that I don't need before I eat it and I'm not eating it. I usually eat out of habit, ie: I bring two cookies everyday, two little pieces of candy, the same lunch. Yesterday Katelynne took one of the cookies and my boss took a piece of the candy, I was so struggling with the fact that I only had 1 of each. I mean how pathetic is that, it really bothered me (and I didn't know how much it did til I started typing this)that I didn't have the other two but by the time it was time to go home I realized Hey, I can live without it, so today I have one of each and maybe tomorrow I'll have one and then the next day none and so on and so on.
I'll see you tomorrow night!!!!
Love ya
Jane
I am so proud of you Dianna. You really sound confident. I hope I get there soon. I am working on it though. I just sit back and think of my excuses (which many of them have been posted in my blog already) and I compare a lot of yours to mine. Its pretty funny how much we really are all alike as humans. Its funny because Ricky was just talking about how research shows that dieting actually doesn't help people but make them worse. It made me think about a blog you posted that day talking about how all food is good because it comes from God and it is just about your own choices. These blogs for the past week or so my not have completely changed any of my habits just yet, but it sure has me thinking about things quite a bit. Good going Dianna. The first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one and that is why you are so successful with this. High five!
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