My Changing Outlook on Health & Weight Loss

I'm half-way through a free online program/Bible-study my counselor recommended called "Setting Captives Free" They have different courses, including one on food issues, which is the one I am doing. It has helped me to see how much I run to food rather than God.... well, I don't know that it has really helped me see that - I already knew that. But, it has helped to equip me better to fight this battle. One thing I did, which I posted about in my last blog, was to throw my scale away. This isn't actually something the program recommended, but it was something I knew that I needed to do.

A blog/Facebook page I follow called "This is Not a Diet - it's your life" had mentioned the book "Healthy at Any Size" and it has been on my list of books to read for a while. After getting half way through the online course, I realized I really needed to read this book. I firmly believe the diet industry and insurance providers are somewhat in cahoots to get people to be a "certain size". I have long loathed the BMI chart as it takes no consideration to muscle mass. I doubt I will ever be in the normal range of the BMI chart and if I was I don't think I would be healthy. I know I am not at a healthy weight now, but I am learning that focusing on losing weight doesn't work for me. I need to focus on being healthy, not a number on the scale. By changing my focus, I believe some weight will come off. I don't know what my weight will be or what size I will be, but I no longer care - I just want to be healthy... whatever weight or size that means!

I got these two books and they are going to the TOP of my pile of things to read. I have been seeking to be spiritually, emotionally, and physically healthy and as long as I am binge eating and not taking care of myself I will not be any of those three things. I will, of course, still continue my Bible reading and devotional reading, but these books are going to be very important in helping me get a better handle on learning to eat when I am hungry and to RUN into the arms of my Heavenly Father when I am feeling frustrated, upset, stressed, depressed, or any other number of emotions I usually stuff with food. These books aren't written from a Christian perspective, but with the backdrop of what I have learned and am learning in the Setting The Captives Free study, I believe they will go hand in hand with the principles I'm learning. I will also be learning to exercise for enjoyment - not because "I need to lose weight" but because it is healthy for me to move my body!

After I am done reading these books I will be blogging about them, I'm sure I'll include snippets from the books along the journey as I'm reading, but I will be writing more extensively once I finish the books. I am so excited to see the journey God is taking me on as I learn how to eat and move the way He designed me to.

Learning, Growing, and Pressing On,

Sherri

The Day I Threw My Scale Away

I have been a compulsive "weigher" for quite a while - weighing myself once, or twice a day - sometimes more. I haven't weighed myself in over 2 weeks and I decided today that I really don't need to weigh myself. I am learning to eat when I am hungry, learning to listen to my body's hunger signals. I haven't arrived by any means, but I am learning. I am learning to turn away from running to food when I am upset or stressed and run to God instead. I believe that if I continue on my journey to learning to listen to the hunger signals God has given me and eat according to them, then I will arrive at a healthy weight. I don't know what that number is, I don't know what size it will mean, but I believe if I stop focusing so much on that number on the scale it will go a long way in helping me to focus on the true goal - honoring God with my life - including how I eat and how I exercise.

So, today... the day before I start officially training for the Des Moines 1/2 marathon in October... is the day I'm throwing my scale away and taking my life back. 

The number on the scale doesn't matter - the condition of my heart is what truly matters and that is what I care about more than anything!

Running to God,

Sherri