17 February 2008

Not on a Diet

I should be doing a few other things, but I just have to blog while I have that first cup of coffee this morning. It's too good of a revelation not to share. I have lost 10 pounds. If you want to be technical 9.8 pounds - but I feel comfortable rounding to 10. I got on the scale this morning and it confirms what I have always believed - that you don't have to diet to lose weight. Diet, as in seriously restrict your food intake till you're starving all the time.
I did the Weigh Down Workshop years ago with my friend Carol, and we both lost a lot of weight. We also learned a lot of scripture. There was a big hoopla in the Christian community when the founder was outed as a Unitarian - which I didn't bother me nearly as much as her hair! More recently I had started to participate in a similarly Bible based weight loss program online that I failed at rather quickly. I learned something from both of these studies that I have applied with success this week - that God designed our bodies to work a certain way. He created our bodies to function properly under certain conditions. The problem for me was that these programs also required a great deal of Bible study.
Whoa - before anyone gets offended or feels I just made some sort of shocking revelation about an aversion to the Bible, please understand - I love the Bible. But, I personally refuse to use it as some magic formula to get me from point A to point B as far as my weight loss. I just can't do it. I personally don't like it when someone seeks to get close to me with ulterior motivation, and I personally can't imagine God does either. This is not to diminish in any way the successes that others have had - but for me, I know that all the scripture memorization and Bible study had an ulterior motive. Which is why when it ended, I gained all the weight back, and failed. The Bible study was a stumbling block for me - a program of guilt and obligation - when I didn't get to it or stay consistent with it, how I ate and the numbers on the scales reflected it.
But recently I have been thinking so much about what we are supposed to eat and not eat. I have also pondered the all things in moderation - meaning that nothing need be eliminated but put in its proper place. I have had the hunger pangs of an empty stomach. I have experienced the joy of eating cake again, and still been dropping pounds here and there. When I realize that my body is working the way it was designed, I am worshipful towards a Creator who made me this way.
No secret formulas. No guilt and obligation. Just me and God. He is teaching me all about His marvelous creation of the human body - my own.

8 comments:

  1. Congratulations on the 10 pound loss! I have gained and lost numerous times since I got married. It's so frustrating, but I love what you shared here. A breath of fresh air...

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  2. Congratulations. That is a big accomplishment.

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  3. Oh Julie, I lost 20 pounds following the "not on a diet- eat when you're hungry" philosophy. I really need to get back into that frame of mind. It's a battle. Congrats on your 10 pounds! That's great!!

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  4. I think I once saw something on that Weigh Down woman... she was really weird and I couldn't believe people actually followed her diet. All I really remember is a bizarre prayer, her eating a few M&M's and chewing them for a long time, and a bunch of very odd southern baptist followers. She definitely frightened me.

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  5. Awesome, but that hair is frightening.... it looks like she put everyone's fat under there to poof it up!

    I am so proud of you. two thumbs way up on the weight loss.

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  6. Pretty cool! Diets don't work and I see no need to deprive yourself just because of calories or guilt or whatever. My weight has been up and down my whole life and I am heavier right now than I want to be but I'll get back to where I need to be in time.

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  7. Congratulations! That's really great. But I don't see what you are doing different than what the study was about. And you were never a failure. It just sounds like it took a little longer to click. :-)

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  8. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! Well done on the weight loss. Well done too on getting away from that SCARY HAIR!! Oh my word, what was she thinking???????

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Awaiting your words......
♥ Juls ♥