Resolution

Read Amos 7-9, Obadiah 1

Amos 9:14 "And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them."

One of the things we use to motivate ourselves to stick with our weight-loss plan is the vision of our resolution. We keep in mind what our lives will be like once we reach our goals.

Hopefully, we know better than to picture that we will be free to go back to eating anything and everything we want and stop exercising. But we can picture that we will no longer need to measure and record everything we eat and do exercise-wise.

Our resolution is that we will enjoy our thinner selves and healthier lifestyles. We will find freedom in the smaller sizes and increased mobility.

Complications

Read Amos 4-6

Amos 5:19 " As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him."

Losing weight and exercising should be simple. We want to be healthy and we know what we need to do.

So why is it so complicated? Why do we sneak those things we’ve decided to forgo and have to force ourselves to eat salads and vegetables?

Eating and exercising aren’t straightforward. We eat for reasons other than hunger and have to make time to exercise—those are the things that cause weight-loss complications.

Raised Up

Read Amos 1-3

Amos 2:11 "And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the Lord."

The pull of our upbringing is strong. We may not even realize we have fallen into the habits formed during childhood.

It can be a good thing. Parents strive to help their children make right choices, eat healthy meals, and exercise even if it’s in the directive to go out and play.

We will want to uncover those long ago formed habits. Any that help us lose our excess weight we can cultivate and any bad habits we can wrench out and discard.

Restoration

Read Joel 1-3

Joel 2:25 "And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you."

We may get discouraged from even starting a diet. We may think we waited too long and our age will work against us.

We may believe that the damage has already been done to our bodies—stretch marks, loose skin, etc.—and there is no point in even trying. We may already be diagnosed with a health issue that will limit us diet or exercise-wise, so why bother?

We can’t let things like this keep us from starting and sticking to a diet and exercise plan. We want to do what we can and eventually we will be surprised by the restoration that is in store for us.

Laid Meat Unto Them

Read Hosea 11-14

Hosea 11:4 "I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them."

Vegetarians get along without meat, but the rest of us enjoy eating meat. It’s also one of the most expensive portions of our budgets.

So we gather as much information as we can about all kinds of meat. It doesn’t do us any good to buy a cheap cut that is on sale if we can’t enjoy it once it’s cooked.

Different cuts require different cooking techniques. Expensive cuts can be cooked easily, but cheaper cuts may be tougher and need marinating or other cooking tricks to be tasty.

Hot as an Oven

Read Hosea 7-10

Hosea 7:7 "They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me."

Turning on the oven and letting its warmth permeate the house sounds good this time of year. As the days grow cooler our thoughts turn to baking.

Not all ovens are the same, however. Even though we expect the same temperature to bake in the same way, experience shows that it doesn’t.

Before we bake something to present to others, we will want to test our oven’s baking progression. We may need to adjust the baking times or temperatures to get the results we want from our particular oven.

Lack of Knowledge

Read Hosea 4-6

Hosea 4:6 "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children."

With all the information available, it’s hard to imagine a lack of knowledge for dieting and exercising. But not all who would like to lose weight know what they need to know to do it.

When starting a diet, we need to know how to eat healthy foods for a balanced diet. When starting to exercise, we will want to know about aerobic exercises and shaping exercises.

The most important information to have is a go-ahead from the doctor. Once we have that examination, we will know how strenuously we can exercise and whether or not we have any health issues lurking around the corner.

No Numbers

Read Hosea 1-3

Hosea 1:10 "Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God."

Keeping track of numbers is an easy way to keep our weight loss on track. Counting calories, fat and carbohydrate grams, measuring our inches, weighing ourselves and our food—all those numbers can be charted.

But some folks are intimidated by numbers. All of those figures can make a person dizzy and discouraged.

Those who want to lose weight with no numbers will come up with other ways to keep track. They might use smaller plates to reduce portion sizes and rejoice in how much looser their clothes are on them.

Great Accomplishment

Read Daniel 10-12

Daniel 12:3 "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever."

People start diets, stop diets, cheat on diets, and talk about diets. But very few people stick to diets.

So if we have been plugging away at our diets and exercise programs this year, we have no doubt lost some weight. The loss of any weight is a great accomplishment.

Even if we haven’t lost as much weight as we had hoped, we have lost some. We’ve made changes in our routines and our lifestyles that we can keep up until we have lost all the weight we planned to lose.

Countenance Changed

Read Daniel 7-9

Daniel 7:28 "Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart."

When we have been struggling with diet and exercise for a long time, we may be pleasantly surprised when the results begin to show. We keep track of how much weight we’re losing and how many inches are falling off.

We notice that we can wear smaller sizes and fit into smaller spaces. We can see our feet when we’re standing and cross our legs if we want to.

Our countenance changes as our faces are resculpted by the weight loss. Only a person who has been through being fat can really appreciate all the changes that go along with getting thin.

Supernatural Willpower

Read Daniel 4-6

Daniel 6:22 "My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt."

This time of year, as stores put out holiday displays, our thoughts go to holiday treats we have known. Our cravings for candy, cookies, pies, cakes, breads, and all the other goodies may have already started.

It was hard enough to say no to everything we wanted to eat, but knew would sabotage our diets. Now the whole world is about to enter into a conspiracy to undermine our best efforts to resist.

So we need supernatural willpower. The Lord will get us through this—all we need to do is call upon Him and tap into that strength beyond ourselves.

Crash Diets

Read Daniel 1-3

Daniel 1:12 "Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink."

For our health’s sake, we will want to stick to a healthy diet, no matter how much weight we need to lose. But crash diets could serve their purpose, too.

Some start their diets with a crash diet to lose enough weight to motivate them to get shrinking. Others use a crash diet when they have reached a plateau of weeks of no pound-loss progress, hoping it will jump-start their bodies to let go of the fat.

The temptation will be to keep it up when the results are good, but we need to keep our over-all health in mind and return to a healthy diet. As long as we don’t stay on one for too long, we can reap the benefits crash diets offer.

Boiling Places

Read Ezekiel 46-48

Ezekiel 46:23 "And there was a row of building round about in them, round about them four, and it was made with boiling places under the rows round about."

Boiling water used to only need a container and a fire. As inventions have evolved, it’s lots easier today.

A teakettle is a handy boiling place. We can keep it filled with water for any water boiling convenience.

But the microwave oven is the quickest water-boiling place around. It is less efficient for boiling other liquids and foods, however.

The Law of the Kitchen

Read Ezekiel 43-45

Ezekiel 43:12 "This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house."

The law of the kitchen is different from family to family. In some families, the members eat whatever they want whenever they want.

A person from that family may not see what the problem is if they eat something we have bought for ourselves. They figure they’ll eat something of ours and we’ll eat something of theirs.

That may work in most situations, but not for dieters. We have certain foods and certain times for eating and need adherence to the law of the kitchen where members respect another person’s right to eat their own food.

Bringing Flax

Read Ezekiel 40-42

Ezekiel 40:3 "And he brought me thither, and, behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate."

We don’t hear much about flax unless we’re playing Pitt. But multigrain cereals and breads might include flax in their ingredients.

Flax is more versatile than we give it credit for. Unfortunately, it’s not as readily available as other grains.

But we can eat it or wear it. We don’t need to avoid it.

Combo Food

Read Ezekiel 37-39

Ezekiel 37:17 "And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand."

Combination foods often become one entity. The ingredients blend and when we take a bite, we often have more than one type of food on the fork or spoon.

Some foods, like casseroles or soups, wouldn’t be the same if they were only one ingredient. The fun of making and eating them comes in the switching up of the components.

Other foods are known because they are combo foods. Foods like pizza are often considered a separate category, since they represent so many possibilities.

Fearless Eating

Read Ezekiel 34-36

Ezekiel 34:28 "And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid."

Pesticides and additives. Both strike fear.

Not only are pesticides poisonous, but fear-mongers would have us believe that washing off fruits and vegetables before eating them might not get rid of all the poison. Additives are supposed to be harmless and used to make food better but article after article warns us about how harmful they can be.

But we can’t let the latest scare tactics keep us from eating low calorie, low fat, and low carbohydrate foods that are good for us. We have to engage in fearless eating.

Unique

Read Ezekiel 31-33

Ezekiel 31:8 "The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty."

We compare ourselves to models and actresses—people who are in the public eye. If a popular beauty has a mole, soon others try to copy her look.

It isn’t easy to see beauty in ourselves. When we are overweight and getting older by the minute, all we see are flaws.

But we are unique. Another’s unique look that makes us want to copy it won’t work. We need to look beyond our flaws and embrace that which is unique in us.

Fired Food

Read Ezekiel 28-30

Ezekiel 30:8 "And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be destroyed."

When food catches fire, we put it out as quickly as we can. We just need to know what kind of fire, so we can use the right extinguisher, for instance baking soda on a grease fire.

Even if the food has not technically caught fire, it sometimes burns. Most burned food has to be thrown out because of the horrible taste, but some people like burned food, for instance marshmallows for s’mores.

Then there is the food deliberately set on fire to enhance it, like cherries jubilee. And some love food that is set over an open flame on purpose, like roasting hotdogs or barbeque.

Settling In With Food

Read Ezekiel 25-27

Ezekiel 25:4 "Behold, therefore I will deliver thee to the men of the east for a possession, and they shall set their palaces in thee, and make their dwellings in thee: they shall eat thy fruit, and they shall drink thy milk."

When we settle in with food, we mark an occasion. It’s not limited to a holiday-related occasion.

It’s usually an occasion for leisure. We settle in with popcorn when we’re about to watch a movie.

Maybe we settle in with more than popcorn, if we’re out and about, rather than at home. Or we settle in with a pre-bedtime snack, marking the end of our day.

Milestone Dates

Read Ezekiel 22-24

Ezekiel 24:2 "Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this same day: the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day."

Marking weight loss progress is something we can’t help but do. It can be slow going as we mark off pound by pound or inch by inch.

Going from one hundred forty three pounds to one hundred forty two pounds doesn’t look impressive. But getting below the one hundred forty pound mark can be exhilarating.

We can mark these milestones on a calendar and keep track of the dates when each happened. That way we can see a bigger difference in progress quickly.

Diet Sabbath

Read Ezekiel 19-21

Ezekiel 20:20 "And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God."

If our bodies need a day of rest each week to renew our strength for the coming week, could our diets benefit from a break? Some people diet carefully every day and then on one day each week, they eat anything they want.

The break day often falls on a weekend, so the dieter can feel free to go out with the rest of the family without guilt. It helps them stick to their food plan the rest of the week, knowing the treat they want will be legal on their rest day.

This might not work for someone who has a hard time getting back on the wagon the next day. One day, even one day a week, may not seriously interrupt our weight loss progress, but it will if we can’t resume our diets after the break.

Special Treatment

Read Ezekiel 16-18

Ezekiel 16:19 "My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord God."

When we came home from college, we might have gotten meals made up of all our favorite foods. We knew we were home when we sat down at the dinner table and all those familiar foods were there. We knew we were loved when most of those foods on the table were our favorites..

So it’s easy to feel like we’ve fallen from favor. If we are unable to eat our favorite foods, we may not feel loved.

We may not even realize that is what is behind our difficulty in sticking to a diet. We will want to find nonfood ways to give ourselves special treatment to prevent self-sabotage.

Strange Motivation

Read Ezekiel 13-15

Ezekiel 13:19 "And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?"

We try lots of things to keep ourselves motivated. Some keep the bathroom scales in front of the refrigerator as a reminder.

Some post old pictures of themselves to remember they were thinner and can be again. Some make collages of lots of pictures of slim women or pin pictures of their own heads onto the models.

Some keep clothing several sizes too small in their closets, planning to wear them one day. Others keep a slim sized bikini on their wall as a reminder.

Astonished Drinking

Read Ezekiel 10-12

Ezekiel 12:19 "And say unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord God of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein."

Alcoholic drinks can’t be consumed legally unless someone is twenty-one in most states. But other drinks besides alcohol have age guidelines, like coffee.

Once we’re adults, we’ve tasted pretty much every drink there is. We’ve decided which ones we like and which ones we never want to taste again.

Still it’s possible for the taste of drinks to astonish us. New products are introduced and they look and smell familiar, but the taste ends up being a new experience.

Digging in the Fridge

Read Ezekiel 7-9

Ezekiel 8:8 "Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door."

The refrigerator can be a hazardous place. It’s where some of the most calorie, fat and carbohydrate rich foods hide.

Some of the oldest containers may be housing inadvertent science experiments—not anything we want to open. But digging in the refrigerator can be rewarding, too.

If we do it right and before too much time goes by, we might find leftovers that can be combined into a fresh and delicious casserole. We might even find something we were saving until later, but forgot about.

Correct Portions

Read Ezekiel 4-6

Ezekiel 4:16 "Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:"

If we are eating the right foods but still not losing weight, we may not be eating the right portion size. If we eat too much, even of an approved food, our calculations may be off.

One way to check if that’s the case is to simply eat less. Cut our usual portion in half, or at least take a smaller piece.

But if we are serious about correct portions and need to be more accurate, we can measure and weigh our food before we eat it. Weighing it before we cook it may not give the accuracy we are looking for.

Eat What We're Given

Read Ezekiel 1-3

Ezekiel 3:3 "And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness."

We want a little information before we eat anything. For dieters, we need to know what the calorie, fat, and carbohydrate content is.

Even non-dieters want to prepare their taste buds for what they are about to eat. But sometimes we don’t have the luxury of data.

Sometimes we just need to eat what we’re given. Those are the times we may need to view eating as an adventure.

Not Consumed

Read Lamentations 1-5

Lamentations 3:22 "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not."

We may lament because we waited so long to get serious about our weight problem. Who knows what kind of damage we may have done?

But God is gracious. Testimony after testimony is about how a person was diagnosed with a critical disease, but after dieting and doing whatever exercise they could, the disease disappeared.

Not everybody has that happy ending, however. So we don’t dare wait any longer to get into the best weight and shape possible.

Getting Active

Read Jeremiah 49-52

Jeremiah 50:29 "Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel."

Regular exercising is good and necessary to lose weight. But we can go beyond formal exercises to encourage weight loss.

We can get active in other ways. We can move around more often, we can do things the hard way—the one that involves the most strenuous activity.

Magazines sometimes have charts that show how many calories we burn depending on what we do. As we clean our houses, vacuum our cars, or beat batter in a bowl, we can take satisfaction in knowing we are burning calories.