I have been struggling with my weight for the last several years. No matter how much I try to discipline myself to work on getting back into shape, I just can’t seem to pull myself together. I might lose a couple of pounds and then gain it back plus some. It has become a very big struggle since I have never really battled this before. In the past 2-3 years however, it has really spiraled out of control. It is really starting to affect how I feel about myself and I can honestly say that a seed of discouragement has been planted deep in my soul. I went to my doctor this week for some other health issues and discussed my struggle with her. I know that my weight is also affecting my health. It’s not like I don’t know the things to do, it’s just getting myself pulled up off the floor and making some changes. It’s a mind set for sure!
I don’t really want to go on a diet that I know won’t last long. The weight always comes back. I want to make a lifestyle change that is sustainable. So after leaving the doctor’s office and seeing that big number on the scale that I had never seen before, I decided I had to take control somehow, some way. I decided that I needed to change some habits and gain some new good ones. In order to make some changes I decided on these 5 things to focus on for the next few months and just see where it gets me. They are 5 things that I know help with weight loss. 1. Drink lots of water everyday. 2. Build up to walking 10,000 steps a day ( I am currently starting at about 6,000) 3. Make better food choices (Like choosing more baked than fried, etc.) 4. Log my meals & snacks everyday (so that I can evaluate what & how often I eat certain foods) 5. Work on portion control. I don’t know where that is going to get me, but I figure if I focus on these 5 things until they become habit maybe it will be a change in the right direction.
So I have recruited the boys (Jack & Tommy) to support me in the walking and we are doing it before Jack & I start work in the mornings. We are on day 2. We decided this can be a time for our business meetings as well. The very first day I discovered that Jack was battling with discouragement as well. There are some things that he is getting discouraged about in his personal life and we were discussing them. I realized and shared with him that Satan had us right where he wanted us. Discouraged. Because if he can keep us discouraged he can destroy our trust in the Lord, make us lose hope, make it harder for us to get back up and try again, and it makes it harder to pray and seek God. Phillipians 4: 6-7 says: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. I was sharing with Jack how we have to guard our minds and not allow Satan to plant seeds of discouragement. It is like so many habits that we have, once we start and allow it just a few more times, it gets harder and harder to break away from. We have to develop good habits that benefit us and we have to feed our minds with good thoughts not negative ones. It doesn’t take long for them to take root if we don’t guard our minds. Phillipians 4:8 says this, ” In conclusion, my friends, fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable.
One of the ways that I learned in my many years of direct sales, is to listen to motivational tapes and music. If you are struggling to silent the negative voices, listen to tapes from motivational speakers. I have several that I have collected from speakers throughout the years in my business. Many of which are on cassette tapes if you know what those are. That’s how long I have had them. When I find myself slipping into that darkness of discouragement I start listening to the positive and uplifting words of my tapes & CDs instead. I was also sharing with Jack that some of what he was counting as failures was a lie. Just because we haven’t reached certain goals that we have set doesn’t mean it’s over because we are still a work in progress and learning what works and doesn’t work. We can allow the negative thoughts of discouragement to get us sidetracked from our goals and it delays our progress. Discouragement will allow us to lose focus, make compromises and bad decisions. I was always taught to map out a plan to my goals and follow it. If you get derailed, study the plan and get back on the horse. The biggest thing that I wanted to tell Jack and remind myself is that we get discouraged when we stop trusting God. When things aren’t going according to our plan we need to trust in him and let God work. Sometimes our failures and trials are actually blessings in disguise. So trust God and turn it all over to Him.