What If?

As I've continued reading Thin Healthy Mama (tons and tons of recipes, fantastic!), I'm wondering...

WHAT IF?:
-I'm setting myself for a "diet" that I will eventually fail at (I don't want to do a diet!)
-this doesn't work for me
-what if I buy some of these new ingredients and don't like them
-what if I just don't like the plan and waste a bunch of time and money
-what if I'm veering away from my Spirit-led goal...is the Spirit leading me to do this?

I have a tendency to play devil's advocate with myself sometimes, just to "test" myself.

How else would the Lord lead me to something like this? He'd send a friend or a link or something! I think I owe it to myself to TRY IT and give it 100%, because if this really is the blessing it appears to be from the Lord, I wouldn't want to not embrace it.

I been making my old "fatty" recipes and my husband recently asked me to cook more healthy. I made a switch to healthier recipes last year and then slid back to my comfortable recipes. I just couldn't get up the gumption to go back to (what I felt were) "boring" healthy recipes. I haven't known what to do for dinners...this really could be a good thing to help me in that direction.

I'm going to give it all a try. There is a steep learning curve. I need to encourage myself that I know more today about it than I did yesterday...so keep going.

We grocery shop tomorrow, I'm going to try a few recipes for dinners and see how that goes. I'm dreadfully bored with making my 15 ingredient salad, it might be nice to take a little break from it and do something else.

Lord, how does all this fit into what you've been telling me to do? Do I adopt this eating plan (hoping it a permanent change)? Do I eat my same breakfast? Salad? Do I just do this for dinners? Or drop what I've been doing and jump into their plan?

I'm so amazed at how much I agree with everything they are saying. It's like it is just taking what I've been doing to the next level. Maybe this is just the next step. I don't want to give glory to a "diet program" when I lose weight. This has been a process, maybe this book is simply a tool. Wondering how to get started when I feel so ignorant at this point. More time reading?

Trim Healthy Mama Post 1

(photo credit Trim Healthy Mama)

Yesterday, my friend Lara I. visited and shared with me this 600+ page book called Trim Healthy Mama. I purchased the ebook formats in PDF (.pdf), Kindle (.mobi), other reader (.epub) versions here for only $19.95. I quickly realized that I will want the actual paperback book, so I ordered that, too. I started reading it last night after she left and then again this morning.

 

I'm actually REALLY EXCITED about this.

 

I've done food combining in the past, but as I read, I realize all that they are saying is information I've been collecting over the past few years...like understanding:

-insulin resistance

-that spiking blood sugar is actually what makes us fat

-the need for healthy fats

-eggs are GOOD for you!

-butter is not evil!

-animal protein is not evil!

There are lots of people who think animal protein (MEAT), dairy and many other things aren't meant for human consumption, but I've always disagreed on a basic level. Of course, people are allergic to foods, that's not what I mean. And of course, the quality and source of meats and dairy makes a big difference.

 

I also think this is going to be highly sustainable for me. One of the reasons this is even possible is because of all the veggies I've been eating since last year. I've completely broken off the sugar addiction I used to experience every single day. (I used to eat chocolate every day for years). I've been eating the same breakfast for virtually 18 months (and I would welcome some healthful variety)! I guess all the things the Lord has been telling me to do have led up to this (including learning how to plan and prepare meals for my family over the past two years)! I'm READY for this, it won't be too many changes at once!

 

What I didn't realize is that eating healthy fats with carbs produces weight gain. I'm speaking about all of this apart from calories consumption. ANYTHING is going to put on the pounds if too many calories are consumed. You can never get away from the numbers, portions must be a limiting factor...and I would contend that if I overate on their plan, I'd gain weight (I would assume that they'd be in agreement). So they separate meals as "healthy fat-based" and "carb-based", but each meal has a protein anchor.

 

I'm starting to feel like the Lord provided my friend, particularly on yesterday's day of surrender, to bring me what I need! I'm going to keep reading and figure out what I need to do. There's a great review of the book here and a "getting started" PDF here. I'm aiming at starting in the next two weeks.

 

When Am I Going to Surrender?

I've been tracking a few things for a couple weeks. Not tracking "critically", but just to collect the data. What time I go to bed and get up, when I start and stop my walk. Did I eat my salad? Did I walk? This is helping me be honest with myself. It is also inspiring me back to a steady routine of walking. I cut back my distance (which takes longer) so I can easily get back home before my husband leaves for work. Even though I'm walking a short distance, I'm DOING IT!

I don't want to take another year to obey and surrender. It's been a year since the Lord told me what I needed to do. I've done everything BUT "eat half of dinner". I really DO want to do this, to get healthy and lose weight and be FREE of the strong hold food has over me. I'm done. I don't want to resist ANY MORE. I can see when I eat half of dinner, I'll be in that 1200 calorie range, and that is where I want to be to lose weight.

I've been trying to "think" my way into this, which is not the way I've gained victory in other areas! I need to SURRENDER, yield...I know what to do.

Thesaurus.com : abandonment, abdication, acquiescence, appeasement, capitulation, cessation, dedition, delivery, giving way, relenting, relinquishment, renunciation, submission, succumbing, white flag, yielding

I personally like the word "abandonment" and "yielding". I want to throw myself on the Lord and abandon myself to His Love. The word involves willingness to give it up. I give it up, Lord. Not in "give up" as in stop trying, but "give up" as in yielding my perceived right to control it.

I'm going to stop skimming the surface, I'm digging deeper into my attitudes about surrendering. I've surrendered in other areas, so I know what it looks like and I know what victory looks like, too. So I was making comparisons to my process of winning my kids' hearts...I know what to do! This encourages me.

This morning on my walk I realized I've been lying to myself. I was thinking about eating half. That's it. That's where I am. I'm SO CLOSE. I need to push through, so what's stopping me?

One thing I believe is that I don't have control. I was just posting on a Facebook group I'm a member of that very thing, I DO have control over my faculties. I CAN STOP.

So my first step starting NOW (with regards to eating half of dinner) is to STOP at half. And then deal with the fallout of that by processing with the Lord and crying out to Him for help in the moment. I have control over my faculties to DO THAT. I'm going to DO IT. I'm going to STOP at half.

TODAY'S PRINCIPLE IS: I have control over my faculties. I don't want to lie to myself anymore that I can't stop. The truth is (was) I won't stop...and that is going to go. I will exercise control by STOPPING at half. Thank you Lord.

BEGINNING AGAIN

I've decided to "begin again" instead of resisting the Lord.

I like to track myself with certain things, so I'm going to do that again. I'm going to weigh myself everyday just for the data aspect of it and the ease of doing it with my shoes on after my walk. I'm going to do the things He has for me to do.

I set my alarm for 6am and got out the door to walk at 7am. Not too bad considering I've been sleeping in a lot. The higher desire got me out of bed.

I'm excited to make my salad today and obey what the Lord has put in front of me! I'm going to start tagging these future posts with "2013".

UPDATE: The Lord provided a friend who inspired me today. She was explaining how she calculates how much she can have for dinner (before she loads her plate) and how she is taking puny servings and how she hasn't adjusted to these smaller portions yet. As she's continued, her stomach is smaller so she feels more full. This really inspired me today, thank you Lord!

(photo was a collaboration of several friends, thank you!)

Joining Forces

More and more I've been thinking that my husband and I need to join forces. This morning we had a discussion about the strong hold food has in both our lives. Each of us really needs to lose 100 pounds and we discussed what that might look like.

I've been making green smoothies for him since January. He has one every morning and loves it. He didn't used to eat breakfast at all, so I consider it a good step on several levels.

But I'm not surrendered about eating. The past couple weeks, I've not governed myself really at all, eating whatever I want. My pants feel tight and I'm nervous about getting on the scale.

This process does not have to take forever. I need to really make a decision and decide if I'm going to surrender or not.

Get Up and Go

I haven't been serious the past couple weeks. The good thing is I can begin again today. Took a walk and I can tell I'm a little creaky, no surprise, I ate a lot of sugar on our vacation. Did a little dancing this morning, too, if you count 2 1/2 minutes, which I do! Eager to "get up and go" walking this week. Today was a good start.