Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

food addiction

My cup of tea: A 3-step losing game plan

Oh, the holidays. Cookies. Candy. Comfort food.

I knew that starting a weight loss plan in early December might have been a mistake. My husband had papers to finish for finals week. We packed to go home for a couple of weeks, then went home for a couple of weeks. And ate and ate and ate.

The few weeks I dared step on the scale after restarting my personal weight loss challenge, I had no good news to report. Small gains, in weight that is, each week. This must be what it’s like to get older and just watch the pounds pack on. I feel like a llama trudging up a mountain with supplies strapped to my sides. Or a pack mule. I’m packing on extra pounds, and I almost feel helpless and powerless to stop it.

But I’m not.

And thanks to a few tools at my disposal, I have a 3-step plan for the new year.

One of my Christmas gifts was a Wii with a Zumba Fitness game. A couple of months ago, I attended a Zumba party at a friend’s house and loved it! Now, I can have my own Zumba workout in my living room at 5 a.m., hopefully before anyone else in the house is awake. This is a huge boost to my intention to lose weight.

I also plan to read this book. It’s been on my Kindle for months. Exercise, and lack of it, is only part of my battle. Another part is food. I love food. Cooking it, baking it, serving it, eating it. Food, itself, is not bad. But my relationship with it is not right. So, I look forward to any insights this author has to offer. I’m also going to use a 21-day devotional that goes along with a book called “Made to Crave” by Lysa Terkhurst. To put food in its proper place in my life, I have to put God in His proper place. I’m hoping to do that through this devotional. And maybe the full book later on.

Thirdly, I’m finding strength in numbers. My husband is on board and is helping me make healthier eating choices. He is my in-house accountability. My mom is also on a weight-loss journey and we’re planning to check in with each other about our weight, our eating habits and exercise choices. Support is essential to success when attempting something difficult.

So, there it is, for all to see. My 3-step plan for weight loss this year. I’m hopeful, and a little desperate.

I know I’m not alone in these struggles, and I hope to maintain balance. I don’t want to focus on food so much that it controls me in the opposite direction.

Health. Fitting into my clothes. Feeling good about myself when I look in the mirror. These are my goals.

I’ll never be a size 6 or 8 or whatever the “ideal” is. But I know that where I am now is not where I want to be.

Want to join the journey? E-mail me or comment on this post. I’ll pray for you and support you in good times and bad.

Let’s do this, together, shall we?

Putting money where my mouth is

It’s time for a change.

I’ve been stuck in a rut for a couple of months now, weight-loss wise, and this weekend I found myself back to square one. Any weight I’ve lost in the last year is back on my body, and I’m supremely frustrated and ticked off at myself.

Sometimes, it’s a matter of not getting to the gym often enough and being too sedentary. Summer, after all, is not my ideal time to be outside in the heat and humidity. But that shouldn’t stop me.

© Jay Crihfield | Dreamstime.com

The bigger issue than exercise — because I actually like to exercise — is food, which I also like. Too much.

I have little to no control over how much I eat. Or, more accurately, I don’t exercise control over how much I eat.

Late-night snack craving? How ’bout some ice cream followed by some chips?

Kids making me crazy? I’ll just pop some chocolate in my mouth and everything will be fine.

I’m not extremely disciplined for my own sake, so while wondering how I might change this set of circumstances, I was presented with a reality that I cannot ignore.

Photo taken by Lalrosiem Songate, general director of the EC Church of India, on a visit to Liberia

It is this: Every 30 minutes, 1,000 people die from starvation. Probably that number is higher. I think the statistic might be outdated. Even so, while we sat in our Sunday School class yesterday, eating cheese puffs, cookies and bagels with cream cheese, people somewhere else in the world died because they don’t have enough food to eat. It was enough to make me want to vomit.

These two events have led me to a personal challenge, and I’m asking you to join me in some way over the next 6 months.

Here is the challenge:

Photos by Lalrosiem Songate. These are children in Liberia. I don't know if they are orphans, but they stir my heart.

For the next six months, I will pledge $5 for every pound I lose to help care for widows and orphans in Liberia through the EC Church’s micro-enterprise program. (Click here for more information. It’s No. 8 in the Giving Catalog.)

I will weigh in on Tuesday, July 5 to determine my official starting weight, and I will aim to post weekly about my journey, including what I learn about hunger and poverty in the process. You can follow the posts under the category “my loss their gain challenge.”

I’m making this public because I need accountability. I need your emotional support, and I need to hear your experiences with weight loss and overeating and, let’s face it, food addiction.

Beyond that, I’m asking you to take the journey with me. Do you have weight you want to lose but just can’t seem to take it off? Pick a cause close to your heart and make the same pledge. Or, if you want to live vicariously through me, make a pledge for my weight loss, too. At the end of the year, I’ll be making my donation based on the number of pounds I’ve lost. You can do the same at that time.

Excited. Nervous. Scared. Intimidated. Hopeful. I am these things and more.

And ready for a great adventure.