Losing Weight Without Any Self Control-Part 2

Before I go on with part 2, I forgot to mention one little thing about those darling little blubbers hanging on the fridge. I put those on the fridge months before I ever got serious about trying to lose weight. Well, I was serious about it when I hung them up, but not serious enough to actually begin. As a matter of fact, they hung on the fridge so long their colors began to fade. By the time all was said and done, they were probably 5 shades lighter than when they began life in the kitchen.

OK. Enough babbling.

Step 4. I found a picture of myself from my not-so-blubberous days and hung that up on the bathroom mirror. I'd see that and then the "new" me. You get the picture?

Step 5. I wrote out bible verses and other quotes that convicted me about who I should be and who I wanted to be. I hung those cards up in the kitchen on all the cabinets that had food in them. Sometimes I would ignore those and eat anyway, but more often than not they would stop me dead in my tracks.

Have you ever heard of Gwen Shamblin and the Weigh Down Workshop? It's a weight loss program "loosely" based on biblical principals. I say loosely because when all's said and done, I think Gwen is off her rocker. This post isn't about her so I'll just leave that at that. The Weigh Down Workshop was held in churches all over the country and it was expensive. So, another motivation for me was the money my poor husband had poured out so I could go through that program not once, but twice. And that was a couple years before I got serious about all this. I'd gone through the program twice and lost not a pound. I felt sooooo guilty about that. All that wasted money!

Anyway-here are some of the things I had written out and posted on our kitchen cabinets: (and where they came from)

-Gwen: When you feel hungry, your body is burning fat

-Gwen: Remember Eve. When you're not hungry think about how much harm one bite can do. (using Eve in this instance was taken completely out of biblical context, but this quote did give me food for thought. Every bite I take when I'm not hungry harms my body)

-So that he can no longer spend the rest of his natural life living by his human appetites and desires, but he lives for what God wills. 1 Peter 4:2 (bible)

-Consistency. A living model of patience, determination, and strength. It's an obvious mark of maturity. It's hanging in there day in and day out in spite of everything that could get you sidetracked. (not sure where this came from-dictionary maybe?)

-And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Gal. 6:9 (bible)

-All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.
1 Cor. 6:12 (bible) Mastered=to be held under the authority of something
This verse isn't talking about something lawless or wicked. It's talking about something that is lawful but not profitable. You know, things like pigging out.

I knew I needed to stop rationalizing my over eating and making excuses for it. And now I'm going to say something that may sound harsh or judgemental. Please don't take it that way. This is my personal story and what I felt God speaking to me.
In my list of reasons for losing weight I felt like I should include:
-to glorify God

I wondered what it said to people when I told them I was a Christian and Jesus was my everything and then I sat there wearing a size 18 pair of shorts. Um, excuse me? Who is your God? I knew in my heart that I was going to food for everything; stress, sadness, joy, anger, fear....anything at all that came down the pike was a reason to eat. I felt so guilty every time I put something in my mouth. It occurred to me that I might even be hurting God's heart. Not that that's possible, really, but the bible does say He is jealous for us:
—for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. Ex. 34:14
And for me, I knew food was an idol I worshiped.