Day 3

Sit Down to eat.
This may turn out to be the key change I make in my behavior which will change my thinking about eating.
When I sit down and focus on the food I am more likely to eat to nourish myself and not to meet an emotional need.
When I use food all day long to support me emotionally, comfort me, restore me, I am very likely to overeat if just a little.

DAY 2

Ok, you choose your diet today. Choose any healthy diet. The first time through I did weight watchers. I have now simplified it to calorie counting. I am in the habit of 3 meals and 2-3 snacks a day and I eat fairly healthily. I have a little dark chocolate daily, and a glass or two of wine. I am still having a cup of coffee and a few diet sodas a day so not perfect but moderation.
One problem I have is really believing that a diet is the right way to go. I think it should come naturally without any rules! But then I think about my schedule. I fully believe I have to plan a schedule or i won't do what needs to be done. So what's the difference? I am thinking of the diet part as the plumbline i have chosen for God to work on me through and around. I am not serving the diet I am serving Him.

I wrote another Truth card for when I doubt I should be on a diet that reminds me of this. You might do the same if you have sabotaging thoughts about a "plan".

some of my reasons

Reasons I do welcome to your death diet

1. I don’t want to live for myself but for
Him who died and rose on my behalf
2. I will not be controlled by anything
3. I want to live for God’s glory not my own
4. I will live longer
5. I will be healthier, no diabetes, or
heart disease .
6. I will be able to serve my family, and
minister to others more effectively and
for longer
7. I will travel more easily, less pain and
discomfort.
8. My feet will feel better.
9. I want to bless others with beauty
10. I do not want to be depressed, discouraged
or distracted by my weight
12. It’ll be easier to dress every day
14. Less depression so I will be able to get out
and grocery shop, counsel or go to church
15. I will not spend times every day feeling guilty for overeating or
for being a bad person
16. I will not waste time and energy vacillating from plan to plan;
philosophy to philosophy.
19. Outward fruit of God’s help
20. Helps me focus on God many times a day

DAY 1

This first 2 weeks is laying the groundwork. Learning crucial strategies that you’ll need to be successful and maintain the weight loss. (You don’t even have to start the actual diet part for 2 weeks) Today you will make your first Truth Card. Truth cards are index cards with messages that will counter sabotaging thoughts. This first card, to me, is the crux of the diet. Why am I doing this? (my past motives were not powerful enough to carry me) So write down on an index card (or on a few) your reasons for doing this program. I left off all idolatrous reasons like: I must look good to feel good about myself! I will include my sample list. The reasons should line up with God’s purposes for your life. You will be taking a minute twice a day to read through this list. I set my phone to remind me at 8 and at 3pm. Dr Beck kicks you in the butt a little bit to MAKE you do this…I have decided I am going to do every single thing she says. She has convinced me it’ll work if I take it seriously.

I'm Back

I took a little detour and "forgot" I had a commitment to a good plan here. So now
I have returned to The Beck diet solution by using a workbook that I ordered earlier. I got busy this fall traveling and just got off track.
So Back to day 1 I go! I don't even remember where or when I quit doing the "welcome to your death diet". But I do know that I gained 3 of the 5 lbs i had lost back. I'm sure it will
come off quickly and my goal this time is to be serious about sticking to my plan
and to get my wt down lower than my earlier goal. My first goal was the high end of my healthy range.(150) Now I want to get down to the middle of my healthy range, that would be 137.
My wt today is 154.

A 3rd Way

At the CCEF conference I ran into an old friend Barbara Aills (CCEF Board member and excellent biblical counselor. www.biblicalcounselingministries.com). We were talking about the right way to be motivated to eat or to not eat.
(So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:30-32)
She drew a line horizontally across a paper. On one end she wrote restriction. On the other end she wrote licentiousness. And then she said something shocking. The 3rd way is not even on this continuum. It is up at the top of the page (triangle) and that is God's way. It is surprising and utterly different. It is motivated by love, gratefulness, forgiveness and God's glory.
This illustration can be applied to the other areas in which one wants to overcome and please God with the only motivation that will bring about change that glorifies God.

Hurry Up

"Isn't God powerful enough to change me immediately? Yes God is and sometimes does...
but I don't think that is typical. Indeed the New Testament affirms that the most common method
for sanctification (change) is a process that has to be practiced as you struggle against sin."
Love to Eat Hate to Eat by Elyse Fitzpatrick

I have been struggling against overeating for 30 years. But that does not mean I have been struggling against sin using His methods. I usually (almost always) use my own methods.
His methods are utterly different than getting motivated by restriction.

uummm, yeah

I did it again.
I worshiped at the altar of "Health and Beauty".
One month ago I adopted a rigid, way healthy, diet.
No caffeine, no soda, no coffee, green tea daily, and
every super food you can think of:
almonds
walnuts
oatmeal
soy milk
flax seed
salmon
asparagus
spinach
olive oil
pomegranites
brown, whole grain rice
quinoa
egg whites
etc...
What is wrong with this?
I think what is wrong for me in this is that I doubt the power of Christ in my sanctification to change me and help me to eat for Him. I "use" the thrill of reinventing myself and being perfectly healthy to motivate me. It works immediately and fantastically...but it is not lasting.

“Grasping the external propulsion of God’s grace is crucial to our understanding of mission. It means that mission is not a duty (something we ’should do’) but a natural overflow of the gospel’s work inside us. If you aren’t motivated to love, serve, and speak the gospel to people, the answer isn’t to ‘just do it.’ The answer is to examine your heart, repent of sin, and discern where your unbelief is short-circuiting the natural outward movement of the gospel. As the gospel renews your heart, it will also renew your desire to move out in faith into the relationships and opportunities God places in your path.

To put it simply, the grace of God is always going somewhere—moving forward, extending his kingdom, propelling his people toward love and service to others. As we learn to live in light of the gospel, mission should be the natural overflow. God’s grace brings renewal internally (in us) so that it might bring renewal externally (through us).”

- Bob Thune and Will Walker, The Gospel-Centered Life (World Harvest Mission, 2009), 46.

Skinny Bitch

As I have confessed in earlier blogs, I am susceptible to getting on health kicks, feeling GREAT and then burning out. Well, at the risk of repeating this scenario I have embarked on yet another "health kick". I mean how can I say no to an urge to eat oatmeal, flax seed, pomegranates, and salmon, to just name a few of the many super foods I have been eating daily. I can't resist the super feeling of getting all those antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids, flavonoids, vitamins and minerals .
It started innocently enough. I was in an airport on one of my many trips I have been taking lately and saw the book "Skinny Bitch". I was curious and bought it. It really inspired me to, first of all quit the junk, like coffee, soda, refined flour/sugar and wine. One line in the book was particularly inspiring, something about taking healthy habits one day at a time, the hardest part will be the first 30 days and then it'll get easier since I'll feel so much better.
In the mean time I am 2 weeks off caffeine, coffee, soda and junk and one week off wine.
I feel really SUPER.

Stressed?

If you try to seize the day, the day will eventually break you.
Seize the corner of His garment and don't let go until He blesses you.
He will reshape the day.

Reminders to think thin

If you think...I hadn't planned to eat this food, but I'm hungry. I have to eat right now!

Remind yourself... I don't need to eat. I just want to eat. But I want all the benefits of weight loss much more than I want the momentary pleasure of eating.



If you think... Even though I've finished everything on my plate, I want to keep eating I like feeling really full.

Remind yourself....Trying to become overly full is a habit that is likely to lead to weight gain. I need to stop when the food I've planned to eat is gone. My hunger will subside within 20 minutes.

DAY 42

Practice, Practice, Practice

Congratulations!
You've learned the cognitive therapy skills to think like a thin person. The longer you practice these skills the easier dieting will become.
Whenever you hit a rough patch, and you will, come back to the 42 habits we have just gone through. go through then all over again!
I am going to!

DAY 41

To Do
Here is a list of techniques that you have learned over the last 40 days.
You will need to continue these if you want to reach your goal weight or more importantly STAY at your goal weight.

Do these activities daily

Eat a healthful diet with limited calories.
Think about what you are eating before you actually put it in your mouth.
Sit down whenever you eat and then eat slowly and mindfully.
Eat only to mild fullness.
Monitor your eating throughout the day.
Give yourself credit.
Exercise.
Respond to lies or sabotaging thoughts.

Do these activities between once a day and once a week.

Weigh yourself at least once a week.
Discuss your weight and diet with your coach once a week.
Do planned exercise at least 3X a week.
Make sure you devote enough time for dieting.
Read your truth cards as needed.
Use anti-craving techniques.
Use the 7 question technique when upset.
Prepare for special occasion eating.
Problem solve to reduce stress.
Enrich your life.

Do these when you feel needed.

Plan and monitor what you eat..ideally daily!
Read your cards.

DAY 40

Enrich your Life

Do not put your life on hold while you diet.
Take a few minutes to write down goals that you have
now and for after you lose weight.
Do you believe that you are a worthwhile person deserving of love and pleasure?
Or do you think you do not deserve those things until you are at a certain weight.
Challenge yourself to allow yourself to enjoy pleasures and opportunities at your current weight.
Live your life now. Value yourself now. Even if you never lose the weight.

DAY 39

Keep up with exercise

Motivate yourself to exercise! Start small, 10-15 minutes a day.
You can do anything for 15 minutes!
Ask someone to do it with you.
Hire a trainer.
Try a video.
Be sure and do the type of exercise you like!
You need to write on your truth card why you want to exercise and read it often.

DAY 38

Deal With A Plateau

If you expect the scale to go down every week you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Short plateaus are perfectly normal in which the scale doesn't move or even goes up. This is due to fluctuations of hormones, fluids etc...

If you have reached a plateau, usually within the first 6 months of dieting, in which your weight does not moved for weeks at a time and you are still overweight, then chances are your body does not need the amount of food you are eating.

You can either change up your exercise or cut back on the food.

I am patient!

One thing I can say that I have become with dieting is PATIENT. (I am practicing giving myself credit.)
But it is true over the 30 years I have struggled with my eating I have learned to be more gentle and patient about the process. Finally.
I mean I wasn't patient 5 years ago when I went on the unhealthy atkins diet and ate sunflower seeds and low carb chocolate compulsively. When that diet stopped working after losing 20 pounds I began to gain quickly and stopped at a 30 pound gain. That is when I adopted patience. Four years ago I joined weight watchers and 24 hour fitness and began slowly and usually patiently losing weight and getting in shape. I guess I took a few crazy detours like the the Eat - Clean phase I went through, explained at the beginning of this blog back in april. Knowing what my purpose is for losing weight has kept me on the journey. The goal is not to get thin. But hey, I realized this week while I was living my life and living it with purpose, that I am within 4 pounds of my healthy goal weight. And I feel perfectly ok with where I am. The thing that I'm getting tired of is paying weight watchers forever...even though it has been worth it to not quit and gain it back. So what I decide to do ii... I am looking into working FOR weightwatchers. Then I can recoup some of that money AND keep getting the encouragement to continue. ineed to know that its part of the purpose God has for me...and I'll do it.

Stressed?

What do you mean by the providence of God? (Question 27)

“The almighty and everywhere present power of God; whereby, as it were by his hand, he upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things come, not by chance, but by his fatherly hand.”

- The Heidelberg Catechism

DAY 37

Steps to Reduce Stress

1) Solve the problem- If you are stressed due to too many demands or responsibilities,
review day 8 cutting back on activity.
review day 27 to respond to negative thoughts.
2) Relax- Breathe and relax your body using relaxation techniques
3) Change your mindset-If you are chronically stressed you may be functioning under a set of your own unrealistic rules.
For example I should always make people happy, or I should always do my best.


Think through whether these are God honoring rules? or is the god you are truly serving "yourself" as you strive to feel good about yourself. The chief end of man as per the catechism is to " glorify God and enjoy him forever".
This should eliminate much stress : to glorify God you "depend on him".

To Do List

Write up your food plan (takes about 3 minutes!)
read your truth cards at least twice
read other truth cards as needed
eat slowly, seated
express gratefulness when you engage in helpful eating behaviors
exercise
create a believe it truth card
progress report
remind self of behavior and mindset changes you have made in the past 5 weeks
weigh and record

also are you still....

consulting diet coach
making dieting a priority
tolerating hunger and cravings
responding to lies with truth