Goal?

Me: "Darn, I'm not down in the 2's yet!"
Coach Tyler: "Why do you care? That's not your reason for doing this."
Me: "But I wanna post on my blog that I have lost 5 lbs!"
Coach Tyler: "Why? The weight loss is not the point."

Perhaps the most important aspect of the W-D diet for me is that the goal really is not weight loss.
The goal is to trust God and eat in a way that says "God is suffucient!"
Every time I weigh I remind myself that the weight does not matter. My heart attitude is changing and that's meeting the goal.

Goal!!!

Have you met your first goal? If so let me know by commenting below! I have lost 5 pounds! What is your reward going to be? I have a hard time with rewards because I'm so lazy. Going ANYWHERE is just not a reward! Buying something is not a reward. I thought of the perfect reward: a decent glass of wine. By decent, I mean a bottle that costs more than my usual 4.98 I have a nice bottle (20 bucks) and I am going to have a glass tonight since I met my first goal.

DAY 15

Monitor your Eating
After eating make note in your notebook whether you ate what you had planned to eat. If you eat something more..note that.
Be sure to give yourself credit and be thankful for following your plan!
If you eat something you shouldn't do not think to yourself "What an idiot! I'm never gonna do this right!" Instead say"It isn't a big deal...I can get right back at it ..and it was a good job that I wrote it down!"

To Do
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

I be up in the gym just workin' on my fitness

Oxygen magazine was one of my false motivators. I began to get scarily into "clean eating" and began loving the idea of being one of those people who work out twice a day. It felt good to be master of my body, to create something good and to be in control. ( Like God is supposed to be.) It worked for a while but in the long run a false idol will destroy you!
It keeps demanding more time and attention until you don't even have room for God.
Weird things you begin to think when you serve the false god fitness:
1) I am clean if I eat clean, I will pack all my food in lovely safe plastic containers.
2) I am more worthy if I have just worked out.
3) Breast implants may be worth the money and the surgery.
4) I must be hairless, tan and have fake fingernails to be perfect.
5) Aging is not an option..it is shameful.6) Tombstone: she achieved defined abdominals.

MOTIVE

James 4

Submit Yourselves to God

¹What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? ²You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. ³When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

⁴You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?^a]">[a] ⁶But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
"God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble."^b]">[b]

⁷Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

The 2nd word Paul Tripp gives to describe living in a Christ-centered way is motive. Changing my motive for dieting has made a huge difference! I am living more with a fear of the lord. "Fear of the Lord means that I carry around with me such a deep awareness, awe, and reverence for the power, holiness, wisdom, and grace of God that I would not think of doing anything other than living for his glory. Fearing the Lord means that this worshipful awe is the single motivator of everything I think, desire, say and do."

When I dieted for a number on the scale or for a look I was after it was so frantic and hopeless and inconsistent. Remembering God's glory daily feels smooth, consistent and infinitely hope-filled. I know I am empoered to eat for His glory by his strength. No doubt.

I also know that if gain weight it is not the end of the world. I am in Christ. He is in me. He will keep me where He wants me.

DAY 14

We are ready to start the actual diet if you haven't already!
It is a Monday and I know how necessary it is to start on a Monday and
not on a Tuesday for heaven's sake.
The task to begin today is writing down what you are going to eat.
Ideally you would do this the night before.
This is a crucial step! It is not a popular one but studies show that people who record what they eat daily keep the weight off more successfully than those who don't.

As you go through your day follow your eating plan and record if you eat anything other than the
planned food. You will do this for as long as it takes to lose the weight. You can try occasionally
without writing down your menu and if you find you are overeating then you can go back to this helpful habit.

DAY 13

Today we practice defeating a craving. When you want to eat but eating is not in the plan at this time (or the food you want is not what you planned on) you can resist eating! It will not kill you! There are a number of tools we will use for this. Today I'll go over mindset techniques and I plan to revisit the last 3 tasks in the near future because I did not give them the time they deserve! Every time you have a craving do the following 1) Label it-Tell yourself--This feeling is just a craving...it is uncomfortable and intense but, (like hunger) its not an emergency. 2)Stand firm-Tell yourself you are not going to eat the food you are craving. When you wait out a craving you strengthen your "resistance muscle" and weaken your "giving in muscle"... 3) Don't give yourself a choice-once that decision is made it is easier. Tell your self..NO CHOICE. 4) Imagine the aftermath of giving in.
5) Remind yourself of why you want to learn to withstand cravings. Read your truth cards.