After talking with one of my most favoritest and most admired friends, I was inspired to post this thought for today. Because we score similarly on those personality profiles, we have similar strengths but also seem to struggle with the same weaknesses especially when it comes to weight loss. I felt empowered after ping-ponging worth the weight ponders with her. I love to chat about this journey with people because it makes me know I am not alone, and it makes me feel so encouraged to keep on keeping on. Road trips are always more fun with people you love.
She told me once that she never struggled with weight or even the thought of being overweight until one day a family member commented on her weight. After she took notice of herself, she really started to gain. Hmmmmm....This is exactly the mindset of what I have been trying to get out since I started this blog... (Actually, if "Blog" is hip for "web log," then I would like to call this, "Flog." That is hip for "Fat Log," and also illustrates what I'd like to do to my hips sometimes.) Anyway, her consciousness of her "imperfections" (according to her family member with good intentions and a big mouth)only gave "WEIGHT" to the problem. This is exactly what happened in the Garden of Eden. Everything was happy-go-naked until the serpent made Eve aware she lacked. She really wasn't as perfect as she thought she was. She needed improving, and he had just the solution to make her all she would ever want to be. "Listen to me instead of trust what you know, and I will make you what you are not." Big FAT lie. Oh Dear Eve and Adam, Why oh why couldn't you see you "AM" already? (No worries, Friends. Second Adam reversed the delusion. Now all we have to do is see the Truth.) The crafty part of the serpent was not that he lied, but that he told the truth with a side of manipulation. When they believed they lacked, they were made self conscious instead of God conscious. Oooooh! That makes me mad! Yet I fall into that exact trap myself quite often.
If you are like me, I think, "I have a reputation to uphold." (Whatever!) I struggle with perfectionism. I think I can give the illusion of my perfection when I should realize everybody can see my junk (and not just the obvious "trunk" junk.) The only person falling for any got-it-together illusion about myself would be me. Being fat is an outward sign of imperfection that you can't cover up even if your entire wardrobe is black. Fat is extremely difficult to get over for someone with my personality weaknesses of goody-illusionist and fix-it-fast mentality. All other "sins" are fairly easy to cover up at least for a little while. Fat sin is evident at first impressions no matter how much black you wear to cover up those jelly rolls.
The lack-trap makes me more aware of self than truth. When I think I am not enough, I am judging myself through my eyes and self conscious opinions instead of seeing me in reality. I so admire people who are overweight and so comfortable in their own skin. Did you know according to my personality profile, my biggest fear is being embarrassed? This causes me to want to hide my fat self instead of go out in public. I always especially hesitated to accept invitations to meet with people who have not seen me in a while. I ASSUME they will think of me the way I think of myself. I judge myself harshly, therefore I do not want to give others the opportunity to judge me as "less." There are several glaring things wrong with that sort of mindset. First of all, my perspective of myself is not right-minded. I do not want to see me from a horizontal perspective. I want to see me in the eyes of truth from a vertical perspective. Secondly, so what if others judge me as less? Who cares what they think anyway? The worst that would happen is that they actually would judge me like I judge myself. If they did, it would just be their issue anyway. If I am embarrassed about my weight, then I am being self conscious. That is the trap. It makes me want to stay home instead of go out in public. That is not only bondage to self, but extremely prideful. We all have spectacular giftings to share with people. It is selfish to think it is ok to keep to ourselves. Am I so shallow to think my value is determined by my appearance? Can I be confident in who I REALLY am and secure enough in who I know God made me to be to share with and love on others? Am I so self conscious of this body made of dirt, that the real me is hibernating? The only way anything real can grow is to share it. I want to grow, therefore I must get over myself. Continue to stay right-minded in truth. Accept and share myself with others. Grow. I am not my overweight body. I have some people to love on and some relationships to begin. I might even go meet them wearing something besides black....wouldn't that be a sign of freedom!?! :)
Wins For Today:
Ahhh...This was a great day. I finally followed my food plan I gave for an example on Day 45, and it was YUMMY! The plan gave a little room for some discretionary calories so I ate a brownie with my cup of milk. (Smile) I also revised a few things on the menu to make it fit better for my family. I didn't get to make a green smoothie today, but I made carrot, apple, lemon juice with my juicer. This was the first time I made it and it was YUM in the TUM. Wayne went to the frig later to get a cola, but opted for my juice instead. (Yes!) I also added some green peas and a spinach salad to supper just because I wanted it and to get in the greens I had originally planned for in the green smoothie. I also ate the nuts I had planned for on my salad instead instead of breakfast. For breakfast I got full on a bunch of strawberries and a scrambled egg. I didn't know I was out of my whole grain bread, so I ate a ham and cheese wrap instead. Supper was a big hit! My little boys even gave me lots of compliments of how good supper was. I have a two, three, and five-year-old who ate the hound out of tilapia, quinao, green peas, and a little spinach salad! Family Win! I love days like this. Full of healthful tastiness and smiles. Today was a big encouragement to plan well for each day. Like my friend, Heather, so wisely said, "Fail to plan. Plan to fail. We do better with structure."
Nutritional Nugget:
We eat too much sugar! Although the tried and true, evidence-based research only indicates sugar to have adverse health effect for dental caries, foods made with lots of sugar are probably going to be low on the nutrients and high on the calories. If you look in the ingredient list, you want to try to avoid foods that have sugar as one of the first few ingredients. Sometimes "Sugar" can be named something else so it might be hard to locate. I have listed some other names of sugar below, although there are lots of sugar-sweet names that can be used. If you want a more complete list, you can google "Food Label Name of Sugar."
Sample of names for added sugars: sucrose, glucose, high fructose corn syrup, maple syrup, fructose, dextrose, agave nectar, cane crystals, honey, molasses, corn sweeteners, lactose, maltose, and malt sugar.
No comments:
Post a Comment