Lest You Think It's Easy

I hope I'm not giving the impression that losing weight has been easy for me. I am not sailing or skating through weight loss. True, as of today, I've lost 28.5lbs; but, it's taken me three months to do it. Progress has been slow and steady as I've been unlearning old bad habits and learning new good habits. Whoever compared losing weight to a journey was right on.

In the picture you can see most of the tools that I use to help me make it through this journey. I also read nutrition labels and use online tools such as daily calorie intake calculators. About two weeks ago I started using Calorie Count. It's taken some getting used to, but I've come to love the fact that I can log my daily foods and activity and determine how many calories I've burned each day. It's not perfect, but it's definitely helpful. How does the Bible help me lose weight? It provides encouragement, wisdom, and a reminder that I'm not doing this alone.

Why go through all of this trouble? Why measure and weigh food, step on the scale every morning, and log calories? The short answer is because I have to. Some people are good at estimating weights and measures. I am not one of those people; I never have been. Some people can eyeball their food and know that it's enough. I've been trying to do that for 20 years and obviously it's not working for me. So, rather than try and be something I'm not, I've decided to use the gifts and abilities that I've been given: the abilities to plan, to organize and to persevere. I think God is trying to tell me, "Use what you've been given." There's nothing wrong with trying to develop new skills. However, sometimes I think we (meaning I) spend too much time focusing on overcoming our weaknesses rather than developing and honing our strengths.

Perseverance pays off. Three months may seem like a long time, but actually it's not. On New Year's Day, I was mad at myself for being overweight. Three months later, I'm 28lbs lighter and I feel better. Three months from now who knows how much less I will weigh. In three months I have learned to be content with eating less and to enjoy the weekly splurge. I have seen my clothing size decrease while watching my activity level increase. When I got my pedometer in early January, I was only able to burn 289 calories in 44 minutes. Today, I walked 4.6 miles and burned 535 calories in 73 minutes. Woo hoo! And to celebrate, I'm going to have a corn dog for lunch. Hey, it's only 240 calories. :-)

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17