As I have been working hard on this journey, I have found that my number one help in this journey is God & Him alone. Please understand, I have lost everything in my life. A wife, family, friends, job, ministry, & health. My weight was the biggest cause of all these problems in my life. After multiple years of slowly killing myself by overeating, I came to a Bible passage in John 5:1-9 where Jesus asks the crippled man if he wants to be made well. I could identify with this story and it was like Jesus was asking me, "DO YOU WANT TO BE MADE WELL?" Duh, I responded and said, "YES, not only well, but I want to LIVE....” and this started my journey. Like a boxer, I have been on the comeback trail to regain my life. Everything is being restored, but it’s also NEW. Nothing is from my old life. I workout 5 days a week between weight-lifting and swimming. I am fully committed to becoming healthy and to becoming the Man of God that He wants me to be. I have stumbled onto 5 keys that have helped me over these past 6 years. These keys will help anyone who is battling obesity or other addictions. No matter if you have hurts, hang-ups, or bad habits, you too can overcome them all with God’s help.
Please note these 5 keys are taken from T.D. Jake's book ”Lay Aside The Weight” but have been modified using my own life experience.
The 5 Keys To Unlocking Weight Loss:
1. Motivation: Why do you want to get healthy? (You’ve got to do it for yourself, not your family, friends...but for YOU.) You deserve to have a LIFE.
2. Understanding: Learn about your body and how it works. Learn how it digests food, and what triggers cause you to binge eat at times. Learn to distinguish between head hunger and true hunger. When you stand at the fridge or the cabinet, knowing it’s not a meal or snack time, and hear yourself saying, “Hum, hum I wonder what I can eat,” it's a clear sign of head hunger and boredom.
3. Conviction: Once you learn and understand how your body works and how food is just fuel, you’ll have the strength and the conviction to overcome when you are tempted to eat things that are not good for you - those times when the cookie calls out.... EAT ME, EAT ME. It’s not willpower, but in God’s strength and grace you will overcome. The problem is in our mindset. With a proper conviction, and changing of the heart and mind, you will not fall for the trap.
4. Knowledge: Know what you plan on eating this week. Make a list before you shop. Plan out your meals. If you have to go out to a fast food restaurant, check out their nutritional information on the internet before you get there.
5. Trust: You must learn to trust your body to reset itself as you are on this journey. Don’t use your new found freedom to say, “No Big Deal, I can eat bad and get back on track.” Listen. This is true for some, but for many, once you get off track and derail, it’s hard to get back on and move forward. What I do to get back on track is, first, I have an accountability partner. Second, I go ahead and take 5 minutes to beat myself up... it's OK really! Then, I shake that off and make my next snack or meal a better choice. That's it.
My Thot: is to encourage you and not to beat you up. I pray for everyone that is dealing with weight-loss, but above all, I want to make sure your motivation for weight-loss is clear and that you understand this is a NEW Lifestyle. Comment below and, as always, don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to receive blog updates in your inbox.
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