New Year's Thoughts

I have tried just about everything (except surgery) in the last ten years to try and lose the weight I need to lose.  And guess what?  I am still very overweight.  Between the fact that it is New Year's and the fact my body is finally recovering from some choices I made over the summer and fall I have come to the conclusion I am going to have to do this ALL BY MYSELF.  What I mean by that is that although I appreciate Nutrisystem and Jenny Craig prepackaged meals, I yearn to cook and learn, so having meals made by someone else only works for a little bit of time and then I get bored with the limitations and choices.  Options like liquid fasts are appealing but again it is tough not eat (although I am not saying it can't be done) and I get stressed by the limitations and choices.  Writing down what you eat has been proven to be a key indicator for weight loss because it makes you both aware and keeps you honest.  And if you don't want to be honest you have to ask yourself if you are really ready to lose weight.

So given all these experiences what can I do to lose weight?  This seems rather obvious but it comes down to the point that I am just going to have to walk this journey out.  I have said this before and meant it but I am coming at it now from the perspective of having tried so many other options that I need to apply some good old fashioned self discipline and self control.  They sound like bad words and are often used like synonyms but a recent bible study pointed out that they are truly different words (look up discipline and control in the dictionary if you don't believe me!) and are just what I need to exercise in order to get rid of this extra weight.  What surprised me most was that self discipline is actually quite a positive process.

So I began looking at the various weight lose websites again and settled on one about a week ago to see how the tool will work in giving me insight into my choices and begin to bring about the needed discipline that has been missing so far.  The point now is to walk this out day by day, choice by choice.  It is not a resolution to be broken but a lifestyle to be chosen.  I made the choices that got me here and I will need to make the choices to get to a better place.  I can use all the encouragement and bible study I can get to keep me motivated but when it really comes down to the nuts and bolts of weight loss I am ultimately the one that has to do it.  So I will be preparing our meals, shopping for our groceries, making lunches, tracking my food choices meal-by-meal and getting up off the couch to walk, with or without the dog.  No help--just (re)learning new and healthy habits and getting back the body that God gave me.