Resist the Urge!

As I had said on an earlier blog, it never ceases to amaze me how I can take something absolutely wonderful and turn it into an utter nightmare. In the months of March and April I was working out like I had never done before. I was doing everything that I needed to be doing but I was not loosing weight. It bothered me that I was not shaking the plateau, but they said change the excercises so I did. That shook off two pounds and then I stagnated again. Now I was working out in the AM and in the PM and still nothing. I should have been loosing weight like crazy based on the Math, but nothing was happening. So finally I cried out to God about it and he answered me. He said I was doing things in the flesh and had stepped away from what he had told me to do.

So I went back to the original Jesus plan. Eat when you are hungry (true stomach hunger) and stop when you are satisfied. That was 13 days ago. Since then, I have shed 8 pounds effortlessly. I am smaller now than I have been in years!!! I am so blessed!

I find that my greatest challenge has been to wait for true stomach hunger before I can eat. Most of the time, I just want the taste of something in my mouth, other times I just want to eat because I am stressed and other times, like now, I just want to eat coz I can! That is the "lust of the flesh" I should not just feed my body because I want to eat.

Ok,let me say it again for those who think it is ok to eat just because the food is there and you can. THE LUST OF THE FLESH INCLUDES EATING NOT BECAUSE YOU ARE HUNGRY BUT BECAUSE YOU FEEL LIKE IT! Yeah! Talk about taking the wind out of my sails! I am blessed, however, that God does give us a way out of every trial and struggle and this morning he said in James 4:7 "Submit yourselves then to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." So now when I am struggling to wait for true stomach hunger I submit myself to God and in the name of Jesus I resist the lust of the flesh.

As I continue I am sure that I will see great progress and will be able to share it with you.

For resources on God's way of losing weight please visit www.thinwithin.org

Two sizes smaller

Believe it!!! I am two dress sizes smaller. I look like a clown in my old clothes. They are all too big and hang loose. I am very happy about it. I have lost 8 inches off my body. My weight loss seems to have stalled, but I have been lifting weights quite a bit and I'm sure I am gaining muscle mass which is good. Hence the smaller dress size, without very much change in weight lately. Although I have lost a total of 9 kgs (20lbs) in the last 10 weeks. I think that is pretty good. I still have not used the Suzanne Cox DVD and will have to report on it next week. So far so good. I was telling my best friend yesterday that I feel like I am being transformed from an ugly duckling to a beautiful swan. Matter of fact, I resolved today that moving forward I will wear full make up anytime I go out. I had stopped wearing make up because I didn't quite feel pretty enough. Doesn't make sense, I know.

Belated Skinny Friday Blog

I have lost quite a few inches and will be sharing this information with you come this friday. Everyone says I have shrunk and I clearly need a new wardrobe (wonderful problem to have). For now I just want to share this new DVD that I bought and will tell you all about on Friday, after I have tried it.

Out of the Plateau

"I will sing of the Lord's great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations" Ps 89:1

Hallelujah! I'm out of the Plateau!!! Ok, if you have been following my journey towards my perfect weight, you know I have been in a plateau for the last 3 weeks. Had the Lord not encouraged me, I would have given up. I am so blessed that he chooses to help us even with weight issues.

I went home feeling really hungry on monday. I had realised my metabolism seemed to be in high gear, I just seemed to get hungry real quick and was eating something every two hours. When I got home I got the unction to check my weight (remember I had thrown away the scale) and when I did, I had lost 1 kg (2.2lbs). I was so excited. I am still not over the excitement (clearly!)

Lesson learnt: Keep at it. Even when you don't want to and you are not seeing any results. Better yet, enjoy the work outs and let the weight come off. God is so good!

Workout dynamics

I promised to let you know how I found the “Fat burning for dummies” DVD, so here goes. It is fabulous. You absolutely must try it. It is 50 minutes long but pure joy. I enjoyed it tremendously. The music is really good and you kind of get into groove mode with it. This is my first time doing aerobics so I had to learn the steps first. She takes you through 12 minutes of teaching you the steps which also doubles up as a warm up session and then you go into the “burn the heat” part of the work out. The DVD has chapters to it, which allows you to jump from one section to the next or skip a combo if you like. I like all of it so I do the full 50 min. This morning I found myself moving faster than she was which made me realize I need to start incorporating some of the High intensity moves as well, which I did this morning and enjoyed very much.

I have ordered “Weights for Dummies” which I hope to get today and start using for my lifting, which up until now I have been free styling on. It would be nice to work along with a tape. Since I tossed the scale, my workouts have been more relaxed and fun. I was always so stressed out because I wasn’t losing weight as fast as I would like.

I am finding that the body has rhythms of its own. I have to find my body rhythms and work with them for maximum results. I find that I am abit sluggish in the morning so the fat burning for dummies is great in the AM, but if I want to Tae Bo, which is high intensity, I need to work out in the evening. I’m having a bit of trouble with scheduling my workouts because I want to combine it all, Tae Bo, lifting and aerobics. I will have to update you on that as I learn how my body works. Right now I want to do the aerobics (50 min) in the morning 4 – 5 mornings a week, then Tae Bo (30 Min) 3 evenings a week, and lift (30 Min) 2 evenings a week. I get up at 4 am so a morning workout is great for me and kind of sets the activity/productivity level of my day. So far so good. Will keep you posted.

New Excercise Video

Just wanted to let you know I got this new DVD for my workouts. Will let you know how it turns out next friday.

Throw away the scale!

Some things do NOTHING to increase your faith. Sometimes too much information is not good for you at all. I have been in the plateau from hell for the last two weeks. I started lifting weights and what has happened is that I have not registered a downward slide on the scale. However, I have definitely noticed inches lost. So I know that I am doing well, but you know how we get. I want to see the scale move closer to my goal weight of 150lbs. Uuuuuuugggggghhhhhhhh!!!

Right. As usual, the enemy has taken that opportunity to try and discourage me on my perfect weight project by telling me it is not working. Even though I can clearly see that it is!!! I heard Joyce Meyer say on her show yesterday that the devil will come in and try to deceive you. Once you believe the deception it becomes true for you! How terrible! So if I believe that nothing is happening, then nothing will, but if I continue to believe and declare that I have achieved my goal weight, then that will be true for me.

Weight loss is a science. I am using fitday.com to record all my intake and my excercise. As long as I can tell that I am eating right and working out right, I will only weigh myself once a month, and not once a week as I have been doing. That scale is not serving me well at all right now.

In her book "The Secret" Rhonda Byrne talks about how to receive from the Universe (I substitute that with God) and she says all we have to do is appropriate Mathew 21:22 "Whatsoever ye sahll ask in prayer, beliveing, ye shall recieve." and Mark 11:24 "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." She goes a step further and actually talks about it in the context of weight loss.

Ask - Get clear on the weight you want to be, visualize yourself at that weight and think of it often.

Believe - You must believe you will recieve and that the perfect weight is yours already. Imagine, pretend, act as if, make believe, that the perfect weight is yours. So when you make your confession do it in the present tense. "I am 150lbs" Do not contradict what you have asked for with your thoughts, words, and actions. When I weigh myself, that is what happens. The moment I see the readout, all the contradicting thoughts flood my mind. Rhonda recommends that you don't weigh yourself at all. Make it your intention to look for, admire, and inwardly praise people with your idea of perfect-weight bodies. Feel yourself at your perfect weight.

Receive - Feel good about your body. Praise and bless every square inch of your body. Don't criticize it and dub your belly, arms or thighs "the trouble spot" you have no such areas. You are perfection. Trust me, this is Biblical he says in Song of Solomon 4:7 "Beautiful are you my darling, and there is no flaw in you." Believe the word of the Lord. Think about all the perfect things about you, as you do you are on the frequency of your perfect weight summoning it to you. You are summoning perfection. Focus on your perfect weight, imagine you at your perfect weight, be thankful for it and for perfections sake throw away the scale!

FOOD ADDICTION

I have heard of it, but I never knew that I was addicted. I guess denial had something to do with it. My best friend can eat anything and still weigh 49 kgs. She weighed 63 kgs at full term pregnancy, get that! And me? I have weighed over 100 kgs for as longs as I can remember. I was 99 kgs last February and that was me at my smallest in a while. That’s how bad it has been. But God is faithful and will always help us out when we call to him.

At the beginning of this year, the Lord called me into a life of prayer and fasting. The prayer was okay but the fasting was punishment. I couldn’t even imagine it. But he gave me the grace and I began to fast the best I could, a meal a week. It sounds like little, but for a person that would eat every couple of hours it was a lot. Soon, I got better and better and have continued to progress well in that area. Now I’m fasting two days a week from sun up to sundown. I’m still trying to get to all water only for 24 hours and I believe I will.

But this is what fasting has done in the area of weight loss, it has broken the bondage of food addiction. I am no longer tied to food. Now I can actually wait until I am truly hungry before I eat. I used to almost panic without food in my bag or my drawer at work. I needed that comfort, and I used it for everything. When I was stressed I ate, when I was angry or anxious I ate. When I was sad or lonely, I ate. That was a lot of eating.

Now I am free. The Lord is who I run to when I am anxious, stressed, angry, lonely or sad. I have no need to eat all the time. And I can see it in the way the weight is coming off me. I am so blessed.

If you are struggling with a food addiction, call to God and start to fast. Even just one meal a week. He says he will teach you how to profit. That word is multi faceted. He will show you how to get the most out of your body so that you live a long and healthy life on the earth.

TAE-BO

I will vouch for it for as long as I live! It is fun, hard and addictive. I mean I’m running home to work out in the evening after my day’s work. I love my work out. I have Cardio which is 35 min long and rigorous. My weight did not change this week. I guess the Tae-Bo and the lifting have built some muscle which caused this, but I am not alarmed. I know next week will be awesome. And my clothes, they are just falling off of me. I will have to either have a tailor adjust them, or have get a new wardrobe. I’m going with the tailor for now because there is still so much to lose. And guess what?! Clothes that I have not won in over a year fit again. I have dug out all those old clothes that I really could not part with even though I couldn’t fit in them, and some of them are beginning to sag. Now that is a good problem to have. It’s amazing how losing 7 kgs and tightening your body affects your dress size. If you would like to get a Tae-Bo work out, there is a guy selling the DVD’s on Moi Avenue right by Sanford the chips place for a Sok! How about that?!!! Enjoy your work out.

Weighty Matters

This is a belated skinny friday blog. Sorry!

Welcome to the first official skinny Friday blog. At the beginning of this year the Lord spoke to me on the fact that my personal theme for this year is “supernatural.” When he said that, I did not think that included my health even though I have often confessed that I walk in divine health. However, my mentor says that health is also a factor of what you do. Do you eat right? Do you work out? Are you keeping your body fit for the master’s use?

I have been a heavy girl all my life and I bought into all the lies. You have large bones (which I do, but is my belly made of bones?), it’s genetic for you, you should just be happy the way you are… But how can you be happy when your weight issues eat into your self esteem, when going clothes shopping is a night mare because you either don’t find clothes in your size, and if you do they don’t look good on you, when you’re too embarrassed to go swimming with everyone else? How can you be happy when you are carrying disease and death in your body… diabetes, hypertension, fibroids (from hormonal imbalances brought on by obesity), arthritis and other diseases that are brought on or exacerbated by obesity.

Well, the Lord was quick to show me that the state of my body is of concern to him, and not only that, but that he is willing to come in, break the bondage of food addiction and guide me step by step into losing weight. The word of the Lord is sharper than any two edged sword, and when he speaks a word you can apply it into any area of your life. Is 48:17 says that he teaches us how to profit. He will teach you how to profit even in your health. How to ensure that your body functions in the perfection for which he created it. He will cause you to be strong, and toned and flexible. You will be able to jump and run and do all the silly things you wish you could.

I started this weight loss journey on January 28th and the Lord started by teaching me how to eat. He said “Eat when you are hungry and stop when you are satisfied.” I lost 6 lbs that first week, then 2 lbs the week after that and 3 lbs in the third week. 11 lbs in 3 weeks just by not overeating. I hit a plateau on week four and held steady. Last week was my fifth week in the journey, and I had two 20 min sessions of exercise and that jump started my weight loss again and I lost 3 lbs, and that brings me to a total of 14 lbs weight loss in 5 weeks. Isn’t God good? This has never happened before in my life. I am so blessed.