The way to where I am now to where I am going includes CHANGE. There’s no way to change and stay the way I am. Change in my behavior, adaptation to my new lifestyle with a return to a healthy way of living. It’s not all about food, calories and exercise. The mind needs to be changed. Yesterday in church I heard something I read Lisa Bevere say in ‘You are NOT what you weigh’: you become what you behold. I cut down magazine subscriptions (magazines that celebrate an unreal and unachievable weight and look for real women), I refuse to watch TV shows that celebrate people whose bones stick out of the hips constantly, I don’t read diet books from people who obviously don’t have it together when it comes to their own weight (e.g. celebrities who keep gaining their weight back but keep capitalizing on diets). I used to but I don’t behold those images anymore. It’s a trip when I read people in the blogsphere say that they find inspiration in those images. Inspiration to become anorexic, bulimic and unhealthy? Change requires to be careful of who my role models are. Certainly, not the celebrity mom of twins who lost all her weight two weeks after giving birth and to top that, ran a maraton while promoting her achievements the whole way. No, we didn’t hear about the chefs, nutritionists, nannies, plastic surgeons, trainers and assistants involved in the equation, they make it seem like that stuff can be done by anyone.
Change is not that magical, at least not for me. I’m not gonna be ashamed of showing my real photos or taking photos with my little son. I would hate to look back and noticed that I refused to be part of the memories because I still had weight to lose. How crazy is that?
My mind needs to be renewed so I can see the great things God has prepared for me. The Bible says be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Renewing my mind requires that I do not focus on mothers of multiples who lost all their weight quickly, they can’t be my mirror or inspiration. The plan God has for me needs to inspire me to keep going because He knows me and loves me.
I still feel it’s important not to focus so much in the numbers on the scale but on behavior change, which is the key to long term weight loss and a healthy lifestyle. When I focus on the scale and food alone, I say ‘I’m only doing this for a little while, this is a fad.’ When I focus on behavior change I set myself up for long term success. I also remind myself that there’s a lesson to be learned in this season of life for me. God brought me through major weight loss the last two years in order to prepare me for a healthy lifestyle. I learned my lessons with my first pregnancy and now in this post-partum phase, there are still things to be learned. It’s incredible how having a made up mind matters in every season of life. Finding joy in everyday situations matters and counts for me.
It’s not all about looking at skinny mamas and hating my body won’t do the same. It’s not all about wishing my mothering style was the same as what I see around me. It’s about changing in order to be more like Christ while allowing Him to encourage me to be all that He created me to be.
I make peace with God and welcome change in my life today. No matter how big my thighs are in the present moment, this is a phase and it will change soon or later.
Breakfast
½ cup of 7 grain hot cereal; ½ banana; 1 teaspoon of flax; 1 cup of milk with tea or coffee
(1 fruit, 1 grain, 1 oil, 1 dairy)
Snacks
1 ½ oz cheese; 4 wheat crackers; green tea
(1 grain, 1 dairy)
2 rice cakes, 3 T peanut butter, ½ banana
(1 grain, 1 protein, 1 fruit)
yogurt, 1 apple
(1 dairy, 1 fruit)
Lunch
Vegetable Soup, 4 crackers or salad
(1 vegetable, 1 grain)
Dinner
1 grilled sausage; ½ rice ; ½ broccolis ; 1 salad
(1 protein, 1 grain, 2 veggies)
My Goals for this Week:
{1} Walk 26 miles;
{2} Get the correct amounts of protein, dairy, veggies, fruits, grains and water daily;
{3} Focus on behavior change, not on the numbers on the scale. Weigh in once a week on Tuesdays.
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