It’s a new year, a time of new beginnings, a time for transformation. At the beginning of the year many resolve to do things like go on a diet and lose weight. They have great enthusiasm for this new venture, but by the first week, they’ve already thrown the diet in the trash.
If you’re among those whose trash cans are full of diet plans, fat-burning pills, magic weight loss supplements and weight loss shakes, I’m not going to send you on a guilt trip. I’m just going to tell you there is a better way to get healthy other than dieting.
Really Good Dieter
When I was extremely overweight, I was a very good dieter. I’d choose a very restrictive diet that had me counting points and taking fat burning pills to ramp up my metabolism. I’d do good on whatever diet I chose. Problem is I saw it as just a diet, a short-term fix for my very long-term problem.
I had no plans to change my habits. I only had plans to stop them for a short time, lose some weight and go back to eating everything and anything I wanted. This had the disastrous effect of the yo-yo dieting syndrome where I’d lose weight, then go off the diet, and go back to eating whatever I wanted. I’d gain back all the weight I lost plus more.
This is a sure-fire way to get into the super morbid obesity club. At 430 pounds, I was there for many years. Then I discovered a logical, practical solution. It wasn’t even a secret, but I have lost over 260 pounds.
I Can Change My Habits
What I finally discovered is I can change my habits. I’m not captive to them. Implementing some easy strategies and sticking to them I lost weight. Then, the question became, how do I keep the weight off?
I had to realize I have to change my habits because I want to. I have seen the bigger picture and I want to get healthy and remain healthy. It’s a permanent change. It’s not just to get into a certain size jeans I wore in high school. It’s to get into them and stay able to wear them.
I had to have a transformation, a not-of-this-world mindset shift. “Do not be conformed to this world any longer with its superficial values and customs, but be transformed and progressively changed as you mature spiritually by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2, AMP).
When I change what I eat, I don’t go back to what I ate before. That would be the quickest way to regain weight and it would not be changing my mind. So instead of trying to get weight off the quickest way, I chose a slow and steady method that will give me time to make sure the changes are permanent. Plus, it gives my mind time to adapt to the transformation.
God’s Wisdom for Me
I have to have God’s wisdom for me. I have to know what I should eat and shouldn’t eat. Am I addicted to certain foods? Am I someone who just needs to cut back the quantity of foods I eat? Am I an emotional eater who needs to find other ways to process my emotions?
These are questions each of us needs know. For some, it’s all three. What’s true for all of us is God desires us to be healthy. “I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit” (3 John 2, NLT). Many times, though, we just don’t understand or don’t want to understand what He’s saying to us or showing us.
See an error in this article?
To contact us or to submit an article
