JESUS IS THE ONLY way, and there is no weight or food challenge that is so difficult that He cannot resolve it for you.
“Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me”
(John 14:6, NLT).
Spiritually speaking, God’s Word is the most edible, easily digestible food you can ever eat.
A diet is not a remedy for weight loss, but life-style changes are.
HALT is a revealing mnemonic acronym that will remind you that the devil depends on your losing control and overeating when you are:
HURT ANGRY LAZY TIRED
Reduce excessive eating by not watching television during meals.
Change the time of your largest meal from supper, when you have minimum caloric needs and the least activities, to lunchtime, when the opposite situation prevails.
Visualize eating less food before you sit down to eat and eat with a glass of water alongside your plate or bowl.
You have to be careful not to judge the effect instead of the cause.
Your goal is to purchase a dress or a suit in a much smaller size, not because it fits, but simply because you like it and will be wearing it soon.
HABITS TAKE TWENTY-ONE DAYS
It only requires twenty-one consecutive days of repetitive proper eating for a strong habit to be created and established. You can do the same thing with reading.
For example, when you read fifteen to twenty minutes on a daily consistent basis, you are literally “hooked”
and become a daily reader. If however, you break the habit by stopping on the twentieth day, a day before the habit can be formed, you have to start again.
The greatest friend you can have when you associate with Habit is Repetition. You probably noticed the persistence of repetition in Lean God’s Way because it has been proven to increase learning through recall and comprehension. It also creates familiarity, which leads to clarity and understanding. Repetition, or consistency, acts as a visual key that ties your information together and unifies it. It controls your reading eye and keeps your attention on the identical sections as long as possible. The great advantage of repetition is that it stores your reading data into long-term memory in your brain.
Visualize and write down your goals with corresponding dates. Then post them where you can see them. This includes posting positive images on your refrigerator door and other places that you visit often.
If you decide to experience a “transient, set-back food attack,” talk to yourself by asking, “What is my problem?” When you answer this question, be sure to say, “Whatever it is, get over it!”
Whatever choices you have to make, decide if you want to be powerful or pitiful. You have to know that being pitiful is not your answer, since God has already set you free.
Visualize bringing in your favorite suit or your favorite dress to your tailor for alterations so as to accommodate your new weight loss. Do this often!
Since you are so valuable to God that He knows the number of hairs on your head, surely He is sensitive to your body weight challenges. He knows your number of pounds on the scale. He knows what you face, and He cares!
Jesus said, “And the very hairs on your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:30, NLT).
Isaiah, the prophet, wrote: “Who else has held the oceans in his hand? Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers? Who else knows the weight of the earth or has weighed out the mountains and the hills?” (Isaiah 40:12, NLT).
JESUS REMOVES BURDENS
Jesus recognized that heavy bodies can be heavy burdens, and He can give you peace in place of heaviness. He will heal you everywhere you hurt. You are able to rest in the bosom of the Father when you understand that you obtain peace only through Jesus.
You need to know your Father in Heaven and you get to know Him by knowing Jesus.
“Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matthew. 11:28, NLT).
Now, take a moment to relax with this anecdote:
I had a wonderful patient who was slightly overweight. She insisted on doing everything her own way, but when she told me she had started( on a new banana diet, I knew I had to intercede, so I called her into my office.
She explained how her banana diet worked In the morning she had sliced bananas with skim milk. In the
afternoon she prepared mashed bananas and for dinner she ate fried bananas.
Sometimes, for a late-night snack before bed time she would prepare bananas flambe or bananas Foster.
I told her, “Well that is fascinating. But did you lose any weight? Does it work?”
She quickly responded “No, but you should see me climb trees!”
Say this PRN out loud:
“Dear God, thank You for helping me to eat wisely. Holy Spirit, thank You for providing and guiding all my food needs.”