Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

Liberia

Permission control

Week 3 of the My Loss Their Gain Campaign. Pounds lost: 0. Pounds gained: 2.5! Blech. Back on the home scale this morning, and while I wasn’t surprised, I was disappointed.

Yes, I made poor eating choices. My youngest was sick, away from home, thus away from our doctor and didn’t sleep well most of the week. Neither did I. So, I compensated with too much coffee, too much Diet Coke and chocolate whenever I could find it. I was on deadline for a writing assignment, too. With the added child sickness stress, I snacked a lot in the afternoon trying to stimulate my brain to function.

The crowning moment of the week, however, was a haircut.

I thought that would be good for a half-pound of weight lost, at least. It’s good for morale, anyway.

The day that most characterized my eating struggles this week was Saturday. I attended a bridal shower (food+cake+punch=full), then joined my parents for a pizza/baseball game trip, where I added to my gluttony. And paid for it later. (Pizza+breadsticks+Diet Pepsi+ice cream+popcorn=becoming too familiar with the guest bathroom when I should have been sleeping. Enough said.)

A long car trip home capped the week.

So, here I am short on sleep, with leftover road snacks in the house, in desperate need of a trip to the grocery store. We’re home for 2 1/2 weeks before we head back to family and friends in Illinois.

And this is what I need to practice before then: self-control. I’m not always going to be able to eat only what I’ve bought in my house or cook the foods that are best for me. We will go out to eat. We will eat at family member’s homes. And even though one friend made concessions with me in mind (thanks for the wheat tortillas!) I don’t expect everyone to do the same.

I will memorize and apply this verse to my eating habits.

“Everything is permissible”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible”—but not everything is constructive. (1 Corinthians 10:23)

Am I free to eat whatever I want? Yes. Does it benefit me to do so? Is it helping me with my goal? No, on both counts.

Let’s end on a positive note so that my whole week doesn’t seem like a downer: I ran 2 miles on night with my cousin’s wife, something I hadn’t planned for my week but really appreciated. And, my grandma is on board to match my pledge for pounds lost. So now, for every pound I lose, $10 will go to help widows and orphans in Liberia. Great news!

Now, I owe it to them to get back on track.

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.