Prepare Ahead

Read Joshua 1-3

Joshua 1:11 "Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it."

Sometimes we’re surprised at an unexpected array of food, like at a coworker’s birthday celebration. But usually, we can plan for our eating challenges ahead of time.

If we’re going to a church social and we know who will be bringing their most irresistible high calorie specialties, we can make a plan to allow ourselves a taste of each favorite. It may be less than we want, but at least we don’t have to deprive ourselves of the treats.

If we know we’re going into temptation’s way, but don’t know exactly what might be on the menu, for instance, if we are invited to a party, we can still make a plan. If we eat a little something before we go, we won’t arrive starving and we’ll be able to taste a little of each food that attracts us, knowing we still can prevent ourselves from overindulging by preparing ahead.

Stay Strong

Read Deuteronomy 31-34

Deuteronomy 34:7 "And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated."

We expect to grow weaker as we get older. Scientifically, it’s the natural order of the life cycle.

We have to work harder just to maintain what came more easily when we were younger. We gain weight more easily and losing those easily put on pounds is harder and takes more time.

Bur we can’t give up or give in. We can be vital right up to the end if we are willing to do the work. We will see it’s worth it.

Unlucky

Read Deuteronomy 28-30

Deuteronomy 28:19 "Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out."

We compare ourselves to others around us and feel unlucky when others can eat what they want without consequences. When we try that, we gain weight.

We may have been unlucky enough to have slow metabolisms. It takes us a lot of extra work to lose the same amount of weight a friend can shed easily.

Even if we’re one of the unlucky ones, we can still reach our weight goals. So what if it’s harder or takes us longer? We can get there, just like everybody else.

Name Calling

Read Deuteronomy 25-27

 

Deuteronomy 25:10 "And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed."

 

If anybody called you that today, it wouldn’t upset you. Even knowing what it means, it doesn’t have any sting.

 

But being called fat hurts. Being called names hurt us as children and still hurts now.

 

Sometimes it’s said with innocence, like a child making an observation. Sometimes it’s said as a diagnosis, like when a doctor is telling us we’re too fat. Fortunately, it’s something we can change.

Courting the Forbidden

Read Deuteronomy 22-24

Deuteronomy 23:7 "Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a stranger in his land."

We hear the word “diet” and the first thing that pops into our minds are all the foods we can no longer eat. Certain foods become our enemies.

But restrictions have a tendency to spark rebellion. If we aren’t allowing ourselves to eat a certain food, that’s all we will crave.

So it’s best to make friends with all foods. Just eat less of those that might sabotage our diets.

The Odds

Read Deuteronomy 19-21

Deuteronomy 20:1 "When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the Lord thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."

Most people who start diets don’t stick with them. Most people who try dieting fail to lose any weight.

The odds of success are stacked against us. We are fighting against a society that wants to sell us sugary, fat-laden foods and against our own lifelong bad habits.

But we don’t have to let the odds discourage us. All we have to do is keep our eyes on the goal and take one day at a time.

Remember

Read Deuteronomy 16-18

Deuteronomy 16:12 " And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes."

When we remember how we felt when we were thinner, we can use it as motivation to keep us going now. We might remember a favorite dress we used to be able to wear, or the special occasion associated with it.

We might remember the last time we tried to lose weight, or the many failures we have been through. That can either discourage us or help us to strengthen our determination to succeed this time.

One thing we need to remember is what is happening today. We’ll want to remember what we’ve already eaten and whether or not we have exercised yet. No matter what the future might be for us, today we can stick to our diet and exercise plan.

Wrong Dreams

Read Deuteronomy 13-15

Deuteronomy 13:3 "Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul."

We dream of getting thin and fitting into tiny sizes. We dream of the surprise on the faces of people who knew us when we were fat.

Those dreams are not going to be enough to keep us motivated when temptation threatens to get the best of us. Superficial dreams will not keep us going when discouragement threatens to set in.

We need deeper dreams from inside us to keep in our minds while we are on this journey to slender. The wrong dreams are a luxury for when we’re doing well.

Cause and Effect

Read Deuteronomy 10-12

Deuteronomy 11:13 "And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,"

We learn that certain actions have consequences. If we put water in the freezer, it will turn into ice. If the doorbell rings, we will find someone standing on the stoop when we open the door.

So when we diet and exercise, we expect the pounds to drop off. We expect our hard work to cause changes in our figures and a loosening in our clothes.

And we get frustrated when that doesn’t happen—when days or weeks go by without the effects of our diligence showing up. That’s when we need to get our focus off the results and on to the process. We will get there, but we need to keep going, even with discouraging results.

Not Hungry

Read Deuteronomy 7-9

Deuteronomy 8:3 "And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live."

When we have an eating problem, we can lose our ability to recognize hunger. We have other prompts to eat.

When we see food that looks good, we want to eat and might not realize we’re not really hungry. We follow our noses to find what smells so good and can’t wait to taste some of it, even if we’ve recently eaten.

If we wait long enough between eating sessions, real hunger will kick in. The trick is being able to wait that long.

Anger

Read Deuteronomy 4-6

Deuteronomy 4:21 "Furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance:"

How do we handle anger? Exploding in words or actions are generally considered uncivilized and can hurt other people.

So many of us turn to food. It doesn’t make rational sense, but anger isn’t a rational emotion.

We may eat to calm ourselves down or eat to give our hands and mouths something to do, but we have to stop anger eating. There are other things we can do, like go for a walk, tackle a tough cleaning project, even take five minutes by ourselves to take a deep breath. We don’t have to turn to food to comfort ourselves, but we’ll have to consciously change our go-to response.

Don't Be Discouraged

Read Deuteronomy 1-3

Deuteronomy 1:21 "Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged."

Maybe we keep cheating on our diets. May be we’re saying no too many times to exercising.

Maybe we’re being faithful and diligent, but we’re just not losing weight as fast as we want to. Or the weight doesn’t seem to be coming off in the right places.

We can’t let that discourage us. A lack of progress or the wrong progress doesn’t need to derail our efforts. Keep going and keep to our determination to be healthier and we will eventually be glad we did.

Refuge Food

Read Numbers 34-36

Numbers 35:13 "And of these cities which ye shall give six cities shall ye have for refuge."

There are times when we are so hungry, we have to put something in our mouths right now. We can’t wait for the meal to begin, or for the designated snack time.

Junk food is the easiest thing to grab. We can buy it in bulk and most of it has enough preservatives to be fresh, no matter when it gets eaten.

But we don’t have to succumb to high calorie snacks to satisfy sudden hunger. We can keep plenty of low calorie, low fat, low carbohydrate foods around, like vegetables or certain cereals, which will be quick to eat and still keep us from blowing our diets.

Mortality

Read Numbers 31-33

Numbers 31:2 "Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people."

What if you’ve been to the doctor and been given a grim diagnosis? What if your doctor even gave you a time limit on how much longer you can expect to live?

First, you would be stunned and then depressed. Eventually you would sit down and figure out how you want to spend what’s left of your life.

You may decide to live it up and make a lot of foolish choices. But even the best doctors and medical information aren’t always right. With a healthy lifestyle plan and careful implementation, people often outlive a death prediction date and sometimes even reverse damage that has been done to their bodies.

Breaking Your Word

Read Numbers 28-30

Numbers 30:2 "If a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth."

We may have tried to lose weight many times before. Starts and stops litter our pasts with successes and failures.

Losing weight to fit into an outfit or for a special occasion is not enough motivation to keep us going. Vowing to slim down for a special someone or to meet a challenge was also a flop.

 

But this time we are dieting only for ourselves. We won’t break our word because even if we fail today, we can resume our diets tomorrow.

Inherited Health

Read Numbers 25-27

Numbers 26:65 "For the Lord had said of them, They shall surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun."

Looking at family health history can be depressing. Certain diseases may run in the family—diseases we know are hereditary.

We compare ourselves to our family members when they were our age. When did Uncle get diabetes? When did Grandmother find out she had high blood pressure?

Even though we can’t help what tendencies we were born with, we don’t have to be victims of our heritage. We can make a healthy lifestyle for ourselves and possibly avoid our family health legacy indefinitely.

It's a Blessing

Read Numbers 22-24

Numbers 23:20 "Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it."

Having to lose weight is not a blessing. Being able to lose weight is.

It’s a blessing to be able to make changes in our lifestyles that have a positive effect on our health. How fortunate that it is not too late to get back into shape!

Even though we may wish we didn’t have to go through these changes, we are lucky that there is still time for us to reverse some of the damage done to our bodies.

If Only There Was an Easy Way

Read Numbers 19-21

Numbers 21:9 "And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived."

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was an easy way to lose weight? If only we could look at something like the children of Israel did for a cure and have those pounds drop off.

If only the pills and diet drinks really worked as well and as fast as they claim. We would be at our weight goals in no time.

 

If only the diet foods and plans took the weight off quickly. Unfortunately, no matter what aids we use, it still takes hard work and vigilance to lose the weight we want to lose, but rarely as fast as we want.

Criticism

Read Numbers 16-18

Numbers 16:3 "And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord?"

People criticize us and make us feel bad about ourselves. Sometimes we even criticize ourselves.

We wonder how we ever let ourselves add on so much weight before doing something about it. Our critics point out the health risks we are taking.

But no matter how bad we feel or how far we have to go, the Lord is not criticizing us. He knows how we got here and is on our side as we struggle to get down to a healthy weight.

Abundance

Read Numbers 13-15

Numbers 13:27 "And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it."

We want to have plenty to eat despite the restrictions. We want to experience the same feeling of abundance we had when we ate whatever we wanted.

There are certain vegetables we can eat tons of. Foods like lettuce, celery, and other low calorie foods show up as unrestricted in most diets.

The problem is, we miss eating an abundance of other foods. And it’s not just the sweets and junk foods—we miss eating extra meats, fruit, and other foods that are on our diet list.

 

Variety

Read Numbers 10-12

Numbers 10:5 "When ye blow an alarm, then the camps that lie on the east parts shall go forward."

I can understand how the Israelites felt. Eating the same thing over and over can get boring.

It’s easy to slip into the habit of the same foods over and over. We know how to prepare them, we know the right serving sizes.

But instead of complaining until we decide to abandon our diets, we can put variety into what we eat. We can either spice up the foods we are eating now or we can try other diet-friendly foods and get out of our comfort zone.

Guidance

Read Numbers 7-9

Numbers 9:16 "So it was alway: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night."

If we read enough diet books and magazine articles, we will find opposing advice. One source will recommend a particular food and another source will warn against it.

We’re looking for guidance that is as clear as the Israelites’ daytime cloud and nighttime fire. We can start with the testimonials of people who have lost weight and how they did it.

But that isn’t always reliable either. We won’t know if former fatties are advertising a certain product or have really lost the weight in that particular way. We can rely on the Lord to give us wisdom and the guidance to lose the weight we want to lose.

 

Does Age Matter?

Read Numbers 4-6

Numbers 4:23 "From thirty years old and upward until fifty years old shalt thou number them; all that enter in to perform the service, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation."

It’s easier to lose weight when we’re young. We cut out sweets and second helpings for a few days and the scale showed a few pounds were gone.

The older we get the longer it takes to get results from our dieting diligence. When we are hoping for quick results, we can become mighty discouraged.

Even though it’s harder and the pounds come off excruciatingly slowly, it’s possible to lose weight at any age. We just have to stick to it, stay at it, and those pounds will eventually drop off.

 

Special

Read Numbers 1-3

Numbers 2:33 "But the Levites were not numbered among the children of Israel; as the Lord commanded Moses."

We don’t always feel very special. When we go out in public, we may have been ignored and overlooked.

Or we may have gotten stared at. Some will avoid us.

We feel our excess weight defines us and shames us. But remember that God is not finished with us and we are special in His eyes, no matter what we weigh.

 

Rest

Read Leviticus 25-27

Leviticus 25:5 "That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land."

When we’re pushing hard to lose weight with a strict diet and vigorous exercise, sometimes we need to rest from our efforts. Our bodies are adjusting to the new normal and we may stop losing weight for a time.

We might want to search out other low calorie, fat, and carbohydrate foods and shock our bodies into losing weight again. Letting our bodies rest doesn’t mean we want to gain back any of the weight we might have lost, though.

Some may rest by fasting or going on a crash diet. Those extreme responses are not recommended, but a day or two might not hurt when we are doctor-declared healthy.

Feasts

Read Leviticus 22-24

Leviticus 23:44 "And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord."

When we’re not too far along on our weight loss journey, we might dread feasts. We know a lot of our favorites will be out and we may not even want to resist temptation.

Plus, our friends will want to know what we think of how their dish turned out—especially if they tried a new recipe. How can we give feedback if we don’t eat those offerings?

But if we use our imaginations, we may be able to stick mostly to our diets and still enjoy a bite of the other dishes. We can fill our plates with salads, etc., and leave a tiny space for the less diet-friendly foods.

Clean Plate Club

Read Leviticus 19-21

Leviticus 19:10 "And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the Lord your God."

Leaving food on our plates will not help those less fortunate. Eating everything on our plates will not feed starving folks in foreign countries.

Still, many of us grew up encouraged to clean our plates for a variety of reasons. It was a way for parents to get their children to eat healthy meals.

 

But now, we don’t have to feel compelled to finish everything in front of us. We can throw away what we can’t finish or wrap it up and save it to eat once we are hungry again.

Clothing

Read Leviticus 16-18

Leviticus 16:4 "He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on."

Once we get to our weight goals, we’ve promised ourselves a whole new wardrobe. We’ll have earned it after all that hard work and deprivation.

But that’s going to be expensive. Maybe we can set money aside little by little as we lose. But depending how much we need to lose and how quickly it comes off, we might not have enough.

 

An even better plan would be to freshen our wardrobes while we lose. Not by buying clothes we want to shrink into, but by getting a piece of clothing that fits our new size now. We don’t need to wait to reward ourselves a little.