Food is My Friend

I have lived my life chunky.  If you have read any of my blog posts, you know I have struggled with weight.  It is my everyday reality.  Ugly, stinking truth.  Maddening, saddening, debilitating truth.  

I am on the cusp of something magnificent.  I am not quite sure exactly what it is yet, but I am convinced that God is leading me on a journey and I am on the edge of huge self discovery.  Of course, He is leading me on a journey every day, but I am specifically referring to a journey about having a healthy lifestyle.  I have always believed that they key to weight loss success is Eat Less, Move More.  I still believe you eat what you want, but not a lot of it.  Portion control.  It is key to weight loss.

But what do you do if you are somewhat at an ideal weight, maybe need to lose 10-15 pounds, but really are more interested in healthy lifestyle changes.  Making better choices.  I have made some discoveries lately about myself and my eating.  Here is what I have realized, as dumb and simplistic as these may be, they were revelations for me:

1.  I love unhealthy food.  I love fast food, hamburgers, pizza, pie, cake, cookies, frosting.  I am using the word "love" when I am referring to these foods.  I don't like salad, fru fru sandwiches, vegetables, fruits, nuts.

  Yes, I eat these things but not as a meal.  If I have a salad, I like my meat and potatoes to follow shortly.  I could go my whole life and never eat another vegetable, salad, fruit or nut.  They are not items I am interested in eating voluntarily.  Adkins diet is great for me.  I tried it once, and lost weight but I can't go my life eating like that.  Another diet tried and failed at.  I need balance.  But I love unhealthy foods.

2.  Food is my friend.  We have a longstanding relationship.  I love food and it loves me.  I enjoy it, I socialize with it, I adore it, I entertain it, it makes me feel good, makes me happy, makes me feel full.  I like to spend time with food.  Daily.  All of these are characteristics of a good friend.  This morning I determined that food is my friend.  Admitting these things is the first step to recovery.

3.  I wish I ate to live.  But I don't.  I live to eat.  I wish eating was something I had to do each day.  Instead it is something I want to do each day.  It is my struggle.  My craving.

Enter onto the scene, an online Bible Study.  I found it through a friend's facebook post.  She wanted to know who was joining in on this study.  I thought, not me!  However, I felt very led to participate even though I knew nothing about it.  The study is through Proverbs 31 Ministries  http://proverbs31.org/.  I did some research and decided I would buy the book.  All the while thinking, "Another book that will collect dust, another attempt at a Bible study that will end in failure to finish."  But, I bought the book and signed up for the study.  The study is on the book Made to Crave by Lysa TerKeurst. 

 Well I can't put it down.  The study is excellent, the support is phenomenal, and the material is taking me to the next level beyond Eat Less, Move More.  It gets to the underlying meaning of why we crave what we crave.  We can crave all sorts of things from shopping, to food, to rescuing animals, to alcohol, drugs, internet, social media or a host of other things.  We crave them.  Insatiable desire for them.  Everyone craves something different.  This study talks about how God made us to crave.  It gives scripture reference to why we crave things here on earth.  The truth is that whatever we crave we need to steadily tear down the tower of craving and use those same bricks to build a pathway to prayer.  God wants us to crave him.  Instead we crave worldly things like food and shopping.  

This Bible study has brought me to some shocking realizations about myself and my cravings.  It is teaching me how to overcome my cravings.  To crave God rather than food.  I am trying to balance.  Balance food and healthy choices.  Balance God and my cravings.  Balance life.  I crave a balanced life.  

Thanks be to God for compelling me to join this study.  It isn't too late to join me.  Visit the website at http://proverbs31.org/ and sign up if you want to. I bought the book on my Ibooks on my Ipad.  I am sure you can get the book at Lifeway or order it online at the Proverbs 31 site. Maybe it will change your life too.  I am on the verge of something big.  Not sure yet what it is, but it is big.  God is big and He does big things in my life.  I am ready, I am willing, I am listening, God. 

Let me know what you think!  I am excited about this.  Please subscribe to my blog by putting your email address in the box at the right.  You won't miss a single post.  Thanks for reading my post.  Please share it with your friends to spread the word and don't forget to hire me for your next event!  I can speak on your topic or mine.  Visit my website at www.funthoughtsonlife.com

Have a great day and Crave God!  

Jennifer 

My Inner Fat Chick

Today I have a dose of my reality for you. I share these things today because I want you to know you are not alone.

Yesterday I was in Walmart looking at summer clothes and they had rearranged some things so that the plus sized clothes were where the workout clothes used to be. I didn't realize it and picked up an adorable shirt only to discover it was plus sized. I have worn plus sized clothes many times in my life. I actually thought to myself, "I could eat what I want and wear this and it's cute." My inner fat chick was coming out. I quickly had to shove her back under the covers and smother her. It is sickening to me to think that this is my day to day reality-to shove a fat mentality down on a daily basis. Shouldn't I be home free once I figure out to eat less and move more?? I guess not. Every moment I have to make up my mind that I am going to eat less and move more. When I have a bad moment and eat something I shouldn't or eat too much then I immediately start over and regroup and say to myself "I'm starting again now".

Suppressing my inner fat chick is incredibly frustrating especially when you feel like you do the right things and still gain weight or are still wanting something you shouldn't have. Distraction or drinking water, well, that works if you have will power to do them. Most times I do, but sometimes I don't and I cave.

One of the things I do to keep myself from eating things is I ask myself, "is this worth the calories?" Most of the time it is not. So many things we eat are not even all that good. But we are eating them anyway to fulfill some need we have whether it is comfort or emotion or perceived hunger or we are in a social situation and everyone else is eating and we feel we should be too. So ask yourself, "is this worth the calories?" If the answer is no then shove the inner fat chick or dude and smother her or him.

My other technique is different. If I decide to eat something I shouldn't then I say to myself "Now you have to run three miles to work that off, is it worth it?" Sometimes it is worth it and I get out there and run to work it off. Other times I refuse to eat the dessert because I don't want to do the work to maintain my weight.

Here's the deal: EVERY DAY IS A STRUGGLE. I keep up with my weight so that it won't creep back on me and one fine day I wake up overweight again. If I'm a pound or two heavy one day then I make adjustments in my eating that day and hope tomorrow will be better weigh day. I used to be anti scale. Now I bought a scale a few months ago for this very reason. So weight won't creep back. So I have an idea every day how my day needs to be. Now if you are trying to lose weight, stay off the scale!! But if you are trying to maintain, I have found it to be a good tool. If you are trying to lose weight then the scale, I have found, will be a problem in that you will give up more easily if you don't see results you want. Muscle does weigh more than fat so as you lose and get more active you will build muscle so the scale is not your friend to lose. The scale is a friend to maintain.

I share these thoughts today for validation, for reality, and for strength for another day. I hope they have helped just one person. Share my blog and leave comments below. Thanks for reading! I love to know who is reading. I have no way to know who is reading unless you comment or like my page :) Have a fabulous day and eat less and move more today!