Steadfast Faith and Weight Loss

I have read my Bible every morning.Check. 

I have read my devotion every morning. Check. 

I have prayed every morning. Check.

I try to regularly feed my soul. 

But what I didn’t see was my soul’s  connection to eating whatever I wanted and being an inactive couch potato. 

The pounds kept creeping on and on. Before I knew what was happening, I weighed 240 pounds on my 5′ 10″ frame. 

That seems impossible, I know. How could I not know what was going on with my body weight? But, I didn’t. 

Nor did I sit down and visualize bulking up to 240 pounds. I didn’t read books on how to gain weight. It’s kind of funny thinking about it. Imagine a book on “How to Become Obese in Three Easy Steps.”  Nope. I can do that fine, thank you, without a self-help book!

240 pounds just sorta happened. No activity. Eating unhealthily, and presto, 240 pounds of flab!  Yuk!

Now that I’ve become conscious of my obese body which consciousness happened about a month ago, I’m making my best effort to lose 2-3 pounds a week. It’s gonna take a long time. There’s no magic diet. No magic pill. And forget fat surgery. I’m not doing that. 

So what I am doing is visualizing me at 180 pounds and eyeing some of my 38 inch pants that hasn’t gone to Good Will yet. All of them should have been long gone, but they serve as a visual reminder of what I used to be. 

I realize it’s going to take faith, lots of faith, to realize my vision. The Bible says, “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1).  

I have to have confidence in what I hope for which is 180 pounds, and the assurance that I can reach and sustain 180 pounds.  That’s faith!

Faith involves action too. I just can’t sit around and pray off 60 pounds. The Bible makes that clear. “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?” (James 2:14). 

So, I believe by faith that I can get down to 180, and I’m working my tail off to get there. I’m eating healthy food with smaller portions and walking almost 2 miles daily. As a result, I’ve lost two and a half pounds and two and a half inches in my waist. It’s not much for a month, but it’s better than gaining two pounds and expanding by two inches. Besides that, I’ve read where the body is resistant to weight loss. It likes being fat!

I have a view of the end of how I want to look. And, I have a view of the arduous process it takes to successfully attain the look I desire. To get there, I have to maintain faith, match my faith with work, and learn patience. It’s not going to happen tomorrow. I will have to believe, really believe that with God’s help, I can change my body and my nature to making me more patient, more restraint in regards to eating through self-denial, and strength to persevere. 

“Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life” (James 1:12 (MSG).