Alpha and Omega

Read Revelations 19-22

Revelation 21:6 "And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely."

Alpha and omega are Greek for beginning and end. Somehow it sounds better when we use the fancy words.

Those who have reached their weight goals are starting the New Year slim and starting a weight maintenance year. Those who have not reached their goals are resolving to pare down in the New Year and maybe meet their weight goal at last.

The year is ending and whatever we did or didn’t do this year is ending as well. The New Year can be the end of excuses and the beginning of a healthy lifestyle, whatever our current weight.

Maintenance

Read Revelations 16-18

Revelation 18:13 "And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men."

A sigh of relief is in order for those who have reached their weight loss goals. A sigh of relief—not a trip to the nearest hot fudge sundae.

Now we want to work on maintenance—we want to keep the weight we worked so hard to lose off. We are ready to add foods, to add calories, but not to get too carried away.

We might be able to have a small piece of our favorite sweet we have gone without—not every day, probably, but sometimes. We want to keep the variety of healthy foods we have cultivated in our diets and then some—we’ll keep watching our weight to make sure it does not creep back up.

Reaping Rewards

Read Revelations 13-15

Revelation 14:15 "And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe."

If we have reached our goals or if we are close, we are ready to reap the rewards of being slender. We can easily find clothes in our size without going to specialty stores and can even shop in thrift stores, saving money in the process.

We can move about more easily and need less room to squeeze by a row of people when finding our seats in church or the movies. We can fit into one airplane seat without spilling out over into the next person’s space.

We can face the New Year and for once not have to make the resolution that we are going to lose weight and get back into shape. We can focus on keeping our weight off and continuing to improve our newly toned bodies.

The End Game

Read Revelations 10-12

Revelation 11:10 "And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth."

What if we have reached our goal? What if we are at the weight we had hoped to reach, have gotten our bodies back into shape, and have resolved many of our health issues?

We may be tempted to quit at this point. Or we may be too excited to quit and want to keep going.

But our end game is to maintain our new physique. So celebrate and then keep exercising and watching what we eat so we will never find ourselves where we started—or worse—again.

Hunger and Thirst No More

Read Revelations 7-9

Revelation 7:16 "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat."

Hunger and thirst are how we know when to eat and when to drink. Those of us with weight problems are learning to only eat when we feel hungry, because we’ve been eating in response to other cues.

Sometimes we eat when we are really thirsty because it’s not always easy to tell which is which. Nutritionists say if we wait to drink until we feel thirsty, we may have waited too long.

Sticking to a regular eating schedule and drinking often can help. We will be struggling with this until we get to heaven, where we’ll hunger and thirst no more.

Colorful Food

Read Revelations 4-6

Revelation 4:4 "And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold."

Food tastes good, smells good and even looks good. One of the ways to make sure we’re getting variety in our diets is to vary the colors we are eating.

We might have white rice and brown beef, green beans and a red apple. Too much of the same color may signal we are not eating a balanced meal nutrient-wise.

When we look at food guides, we notice that similar foods may look alike, for instance rice, potatoes, and pasta. So colorful food usually means a balanced diet.

Hot and Cold

Read Revelations 1-3

Revelation 3:15 "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot."

Children like their food to be cold, or at the most, lukewarm. That includes hotdogs and hot chocolate, which seems unappetizing to adults.

We can give our diets some zing when we vary the numbers of hot and cold dishes we serve. We want our soup to be hot and our salads cold.

We might also want to experiment with switched temperature foods to add variety when we are getting bored with our food choices. We might try a cold soup or a taste of fried ice cream.