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Archive of posts filed under the Weight Freedom category.

Getting Healthy Requires Change

Posted by Kathryn Lang on 4 December 2009, 12:28 pm

My life exists in the home. We homeschool. I work from home on the computer. Even my communications are through the internet these days. It is rare for me to be out and about so getting exercise usually consists of me walking from one chair to the next.

This lifestyle has not always been mine. There was a time when I would be running, hiking or skiing before I would be watching television. That was before 24 hour cable networks, on demand movies and the baby pouch. I enjoyed being active and made the choice for activity at every turn.

I changed my life once and now it is time to change again.

Steps to Healthy Change

    1. Get active even if that just means taking the kids to the park to play. Getting out in the sunshine will help you feel better and get you in a better mood for moving.

    2. Do what you enjoy. I watch the Biggest Loser the other day and guys that were almost 300 lbs ran a marathon – that is over 26 miles. If they can do that then I can find a way to run and hike once again. It may be a slow run or a short hike, but it can still be done (fortunately it is too cold for skiing right now  ).

    3. Gather support. Get friends and family to join you in your new active lifestyle. Kicking a ball around with the kids is way more fun than walking on a treadmill.

    4. Fake it until you make it. I know I am not healthy and hiding away in my house will not keep others from figuring it out. I might as well get out and enjoy what I enjoy even in the limited amounts despite what others may whisper or think until I can actually enjoy doing what I enjoy doing.

Getting healthy does not require me spending hours at the gym or hiring a personal trainer. Making more active choices in my life can be the one change that will get me to the healthy person that I desire to be.

Filed under Inspiration, Weight Freedom. Tagged ,
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Let the Weight Loss Journey Begin

Posted by Kathryn Lang on 8 November 2009, 9:29 am

Weight will not be the issue that drags me down. I refuse to let something as small as a bite of food hinder me from my purpose or stand in between me and my relationship with God. I KNOW that gluttony is a sin. I KNOW that eating even one bite outside of physical hunger is gluttony. I know the truth but I still do what I have always done so it should be no surprise that I continue to get what I have always gotten.

It was not always like that. There was a time in my life – a short few years – where I grasped the truth. I ate when I was hungry, I did not life on the scales and I could still fit into my pants. It would be easy to blame my current weight struggles on pregnancy but the simple truth is that I chose to listen to man instead of God. How many of my struggles in life have been caused by that one simple issue?

My weight is not the problem. It is my heart. Any time my heart is not fully devoted to God I end up stumbling over mistakes that I already know to avoid.

What is the answer to weight issues?

The first thing I have to do is realize that there is no easy answer to my weight loss or to any issue that might come up in my life. I could take weight loss pills or follow a diet plan that regulates food but none of those will deal with my heart and eventually that weight loss or eating issue will rear its head once again. I have to face the food straight on and I have to reach out to God every moment of every day if I want to put weight under my thumb.

The second thing I have to do is confess my sin of overeating and of putting other things (food) before God because that is the reason that my weight is where it is. I have to then reach out to those around me. This seems almost funny. You can NOT hide the sin of over eating from anyone because the weight shows, particularly on a five foot frame. But I still try and the only person I am fooling is self. I need to find a group that will support me specifically on my Christian weight loss journey – instead of a weight loss plan that will teach me to control the calories, food or exercise.

The third thing that everyone has to understand is that a walk closer to God is a personal journey even when that walk is about weight. We may be able to share some hints and tips, but we can not share the same path. Every person is drawn along a different way – that is why it is narrow because there is only room for one. A personal relationship with God is just that – personal. There was only one burning bush, only one talking donkey and only one road to Damascus and there can be only one weight loss journey for me.

I am still not sure how I will make all of this come together, but I know that I am eager to try. There are others around me struggling to choose the path that God for their weight and their health has over the ways of man. Helping others lose the weight and deal with eating issues helps me because it keeps me God focused and God centered. With God with me then who can be against me?

Filed under Christian weight loss, Weight Freedom, Weight loss issues. Tagged , ,
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Christian Diet – The Bonds of the Enemy ARE Broken

Posted by Kathryn Lang on 7 October 2009, 6:49 am

Christians are free from dieting. My own experience has taught me that as a Christian I have a right to be free. I saw the chains fell to the ground. I was free. My heart knew it beyond a doubt. My mind even seemed to grasp the idea. But my hands were in control and they reached down to grab up the chains and wrap them back around me.

Being overweight is the same thing. Christian diet plans have helped me achieve the desired weight loss. Christian diet plans have also helped me to get back in the chains by forcing me to follow their RULES. I get so tangled up in one chain offered by the Christian diet that I give up and pull back on my old chains.

I have wrapped my body with the chains; the chains of diets, calories, inactivity, overindulgence and so much more. My chose was the chains over the freedom. My actions with the chains have to be the first thing that changes if I am going to fundamentally change my life. I can not rely on the Christian diet plans or the Christian diet books to give me my answer.

Christian diets are almost as prevalent as secular diets. Everyone seems to have the right pattern to help me get healthy or to lose weight. The thing that we tend to forget is that God does not do any two things the same. There was only one burning bush, only one talking donkey and there can be only one way for ME to lose weight, get fit and stay healthy.

I can not follow YOUR path any more than you can follow mine. That is why the best Christian diet plan is one that is specific to you and designed by the ultimate diet guru Himself.

The problem with finding the best Christian diet plan that will guarantee weight loss is that you have to commit to consistently studying the word AND also be willing to do the things that the word leads you to do.

Some Christian Diet Tips in the Bible

    1. Christian dieters need to go to the mountain top – Jesus often went to the mountain top to recharge and refresh his spirit. Take a hike and spend some time with God.

    2. Christian dieters need to eat it fresh – Daniel ate fresh fruits and vegetables to be healthier than the others around him.

    3. Christian dieters need to be consistent – John spent his whole life eating grasshoppers and honey.

    4. Christian dieters MUST spend time feeding the heart – David walked a successful life (even though he had some mighty stumbles) because he pursued God with his whole heart.

All of these are great ideas for developing a Christian diet. Some of the best selling Christian diet programs include these ideas. But God does not come in a box even when that box is a packaged Christian diet. How the ideas and concepts from scripture will work in your life and in my life has to be an individual decision made with prayer and study. The experts know very little compared to the Creator. I think I would get much farther in all of the things I attempt if I would take more time to consult with Him first.

Finding the best Christian Diet plan has to begin with finding the Diet Planner and then allowing Him to guide me to the successful weight loss that I desire.

Filed under Christian weight loss, Gaining Control, Weight Freedom. Tagged ,
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Pray the Weight Off

Posted by Kathryn Lang on 28 September 2009, 5:18 am

Eating is hindering my blessings in life. It sounds silly, but it’s true. I’m not talking about the basic, help the body run eating. This is the eating for eating’s sake kind of eating.

The bible refers to it as gluttony, and it’s a sin.

So if eating too much is a sin and sin blocks my blessings, then my eating is hindering the blessings that God desires for my life. The real painful part is that my eating is also hindering the blessings of my family. You would think that thought alone would be enough to keep my mouth shut.

Sin has a strong pull though. Some days I can breeze right through just eating when my stomach growls and never overdoing it. Then there are times when I think I am unable to stop snacking all day.

Believe it or not, my solution to this quandary is prayer. When I start my day talking to God then the temptations are not only smaller, but there always seems to be an escape route. Those other days, every thing seems hectic and overwhelming and food seems to be the only neutralizer.

So I’m going to pray my way past gluttony and to a fitter, trimmer life. Breaking the sin will not be easy. I know it does NOT want to go. But it is time, and I am determined to be free.

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Recognize Food Addiction to Lose Weight

Posted by Kathryn Lang on 24 September 2009, 11:23 am

“An addict will look for opportunities to partake alone.” My husband’s words came out of no where and were like a face full of cold water. I am not an addict so why would he say something like that. There is addiction in my family – alcohol and even drugs – but I was clean. I had never even thought of addiction in my life because I knew I was not an addict.

Or was I?

    There are times when I have hidden food when someone walked in unexpectedly.

    There have been times when I have planned what I would eat as soon as I was alone.

    There have been times when I have splurged and snacked all day and sat down to a meal like nothing was going on.

    There have been times when I would “exercise” knowing that I was eating ever time someone turned their eyes away.

    There have been times when I would eat an entire fast food meal in the car on the way to the house.

Food has become my addiction – or it was my addiction. The launch of this website was my break away from food. But recognizing that the habits and traits of other addicts were some of the habits and traits that I had formed in my own life will be just as useful in my transformation.

Recognizing the problem is a major step towards overcoming and I am determined to overcome. My weight is my issue – no one has forced fed me the weight. Pregnancy did not force the weight on me. Knowing that I did it to myself and admitting that I did it already gives me a taste of the freedom that I am working towards.

Are you ready to be free?

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Weight Freedom Day Two – The Reason Why

Posted by Kathryn Lang on 22 September 2009, 6:26 am

My weight was the same in college that it had been in high school but when I would come home to visit people would comment on how much weight I had lost. The weight had not left, it had just shifted to the places it needed to be. Dancing all day (ballroom dance) and stretching so that I COULD dance all day had worked together to create some muscle fat – and I felt great!

That is my goal now. I want to feel great once again. I want to pull pants out of the closet and not have to worry about whether or not those pants will fasten. I want to be able to run across the field with my kids without passing out for lack of breath. I will be healthy, fit and trim again!

Weight Loss Struggles I am Overcoming

    1. Eating without cause – there are days when I will just about eat everything in site and sometimes call in reinforcements by having my kids or hubby bring something else from my FIL’s house. My mind says I “need” it but my body begs to differ. I am listening to my body.

    2. Finding an excuse – there is always a reason not to do what I know to do. Now I am looking for a reason TO DO what I know to do. If I am going to make an excuse it might as well be for a good cause.

    3. Keeping it real – the Biggest Loser started a new season and it would be great to drop the kind of weight that they do each week. The problem is that I do not have 8 hours a day to devote to working out. There are days when I am lucky to have 8 minutes. I am keeping it real by looking at my habits and focusing on changing those one at a time.

This is good. Change may not be easy but it can be exciting and fulfilling. This freedom journey is one of those changes that are worth the time, the effort and the energy. Are you on your journey yet?

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Simple Steps to Lasting Weight Loss

Posted by Kathryn Lang on 22 September 2009, 5:22 am

Weight has been an issue for me for the last 25 years. Only in the last five I’ve started to understand how to deal with the problem. For most people, losing weight is not a medical condition (although there are exceptions to this). The keys to losing weight are simple.

Simple Tips to Help Weight Loss

    1. Chew less. When I first read this statement, I was thinking about the “chew your bite 40 times” that I had heard in grammar school. The truth is that when I sit down to eat, I simply eat too much. Chew less means don’t eat so much.

    2. Eat off smaller plates (or bowls). This will force you to eat smaller portions and will also trick your brain into thinking it’s getting more food.

    3. Take your time. Eat smaller bites and take time in between each bite. It usually takes the “full” message from your stomach about twenty minutes to reach your brain. (I wonder if this is because all the blood and energy is being used to digest).

    4. Make meal time an experience. Put out the nice linen. Light a candle. Play some mood music. Enjoy each and every meal instead of shoving anything into your mouth and calling it done.

    5. Stop before you are full. I call it “first date” eating. Only consume as much as you would on a first date – or an amount about the size of your palm.

    6. Get moving. You have to burn more calories than you take in, and movement is the way to do that. Make it your goal to walk just 10,000 steps per day.

    7. Build muscle. Muscle will burn more energy than fat. The stronger you get, the more weight you can burn off with less effort.

    8. Don’t ever give up. If you slip, start again.

    9. Start now. If you wait until tomorrow then you will continue to wait until tomorrow.

    10. Treat yourself. If you complete deprive yourself of chocolate then you won’t be able to think of anything BUT chocolate. When you are hungry, enjoy a small amount of your favorite food, but don’t go overboard.

Losing weight doesn’t have to require lots of charts and graphs. With just a little common sense, some self control and some get up and go you can work and live your way to a thin and healthy life without diets. The steps to losing weight are simple – now if they were only easy, too.

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