Change My Heart

Before my feet hit the ground this morning the praise chorus "Change My Heart Oh God" I felt God reaching down and breaking through my self-imposed stubborn resistance. You know--I'm going through a hard, stressful time and I deserve to eat myself into oblivion. After all, it's the one thing I can control.

Control? Overeating isn't control! Why on earth would my mind even think that? Oh yes, I forgot. "The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jer. 17:9)

Real change comes when the the heart is changed. I can't do it. It's something God needs to do in me. In fact, it makes me think of the story of the man who straightened out his life in his own strength:

Luk 11:21-26

"When a strong {man,} fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are undisturbed. But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder.
He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.
When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.'
And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. Then it goes and takes {along} seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first."

So I thank God for reminding He is the potter and I am the clay, and that it's not up to me to keep my house in order or turn a new leaf. It up to me to stay moldable in the potter's hands.

Donna
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Still Floundering

How do I write a blog to encourage making healthy life choices, while I'm floundering in a sea of stress and eating sugar, carbs, fats...well you get the idea. I decided playing like an ostrich wasn't the answer. It's not fair to leave my readers wondering what the heck happened to me. Instead, I ask for your prayers. I'm not even asking for prayers for a job for my husband, or that the $1,200 needed to fix the van would magically appear...things like that are of this world. I struggle with spiritual things--like turning to food for comfort. Is that keeping my eyes on things above? No. Therein lies the real problem.

Donna
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An Extra 100 Calories An Extra 10 Pounds!

My loyal readers have noticed my sporadic blogging. You guessed it. I'm walking about in a rebellious funk. It doesn't matter if it's hormonally inspired, spiritual rebellion, or some other reason. The results are the same. I stopped counting calories and my waistband tells me so.

I've been praying to get back on track--I even start most days with great intentions that usually carried me to lunch or even passed lunch, but the evenings seem to plague me with yearnings for snacks. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with having a snack. But if you want to lose weight how much you eat makes a difference.

This morning on NBS's Today Show a guest talked about changes that happen for women in their 40's. When asked about why it is harder to lose weight, the expert said that hormones change and an extra 100 calories a day not exercised off can translate into an extra 10 pounds in a month! In a MONTH!

So as much as we don't want to count--it's a way to be aware of our caloric intake. It makes a difference. My waistband tells me so.

Donna
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Motivation Factor

Do you ever feel your motivation to eat healthy dwindle when stress or hardship turn the screws a little tighter in daily life? It's not easy to "do the right thing" when you feel tired or put upon. However, stop and think about it. When you eat right, you have more energy. One of the things stress does is rob you of your energy.

If we can hold on to this one thing--it's a trick. Making poor food choices may seem like a comfort on the front end, but the long term effect is worse than when we first begun.

Donna
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And I'm Off--

...with a limp. I finally bought a battery for the scale, and the weekend pulled me off course to help friends moving from Florida to TN. We didn't stop for lunch and my cereal began to run a bit thin. By the time we sat down to dinner at the buffet, I ate too much food.

Hard work, too much food, the two hour drive home and I was ready for bed. It wasn't even 10:00, but I didn't care. I didn't drift off to sleep. I dropped off. But I awoke in the middle of the night with some abdominal distress, fell back to sleep, woke up and recognized a cycle. I was tired enough to work with it. What else could I do?

The following morning I awoke and started the day with a shot of Noni juice and some water. As I sat at the keyboard to puruse emials my stomach twisted, tightened and almost burned. Kind of reminded me of a contraction. It didn't take long, but took my breath away.

Is the price of overeating worth it. No. So why do I do it? Guess I didn't plan ahead enough...

Donna
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Eating on the Run

It amazing how many times errands pull my routine off kilter. I desire to eat right, but when I'm out and about and get hungry...well it's easy to look at the menu and make poor choices. Is that what I really want? At the moment I'm looking at the menu? YES! But later, after I've scarfed down a large sandwich and maybe even some chips or fries, I'm not happy with myself.

So how do I get around it? Make a plan. Print out the nutritional information for the various fast food estabilishment and keep them in a folder in the car. This way when I have to make a stop for lunch, I'm prepared. I have the information I need to make an informed decision that's best for me.

Donna
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Walking By Sight

I still don't have the battery for my food scale, and so am unable to weight my portions. However, because of my faithfulness in the past I can make a good guess at how much I can eat to stay within my calorie goal until I get to the store (and remember that I need a battery).

It's scary for me--am I eating enough? Too much? So I'm going with my real hunger and trying to eat about the same as I do when I weigh my portions. I realized today that I don't need to fear. God knows my heart. I'm not trying to pull one over on Him like I used to do. (As if I couldn't ever do that! What was I thinking?).

So I broke down and weighed myself today to make sure that I haven't gained--and I haven't. I'm down two and a half pounds since the first of the year, so I'm must be ballparking my servings pretty accurately.

Donna
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Is It a Trick?

I live in a rural area. Recently, we followed a country road that runs between my daughter’s home and ours. The pungent odor of skunk leaked into the car. Our headlights shined on the small dead animal, but it was gray. An opossum. We rolled down the window and let the fresh air clear out the smell.

The following day we drove by the same smelly dip in the road. I studied the animal one more time—I was almost positive it was an opossum. By the third day, it became the topic of conversation as my husband and I both said it looked like an opossum but sure smelled like a skunk. I hate to admit it, but the fourth day we were wondering if GA had a different kind of stripeless skunk.

Finally I saw the real culprit. A black and white form tucked beside the edge of the blacktop. I wondered at the fact that I was almost ready to believe the opossum was a skunk!

Do you let your senses trick you? Have you determined to eat healthier and then let the smell of food trick you into eating something you regretted? How about the sight of some gooey treat that once you gulp it down leaves you disappointed?

I can’t help but think of Eve.

Donna
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Today's Scripture and Pondering Point: Is It A Trick?:

Gen 3:6-7

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make {one} wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

Already Wavering

The battery in my food scale needs to be replaced and I don't have another. Doesn't that sound like an excuse to eat what I want without measure? That would be the fleshly mindset--and yes it crossed my mind.

This first week of getting back on track with portion control and making wiser choices is tough. It takes 21 days to really develop a new habit. Although this habit isnt' really new, I have to learn it all over again.

Break healthy living into tasks:

Shop making wise choices
Plan a menu
Set a time to exercise

Donna
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Today's Scripture and Pondering Point: Are You Greedy?

Num 11:32	The people spent all day and all night and all the next day, and gathered the quail (he who gathered least gathered ten homers) and they spread {them} out for themselves all around the camp.
Num 11:33	While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very severe plague.
Num 11:34	So the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had been greedy.

Day One Under the Belt

How do we make progress? One step at a time. How do we lose weight? One day at a time. Renew your plans to achieve weight loss each day. Upon waking, talk with the Lord about your plans. Order them according to His ways. Plan to exercise. Buy better food choices so as not to be tempted to snack on junk in a weak moment.

Make a plan for success--and walk in it.

Donna
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Happy New Year

How often we say it--wish it--but do we make choices to encourage it?

"I want to lose weight." I've said it, you've said it. It's probably among the top New Year's resolutions. So how do you actually follow through and do it?

Set some goals--not just a resolution. Mine include:

exercise 5 days a week
counting calories and staying between 1,000-1,200
weigh in on the first of the month
be accountable to at least one other person

What are your goals?

Donna
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