Going with Bob to Disneyland really was unusually enlightening for me this time around. Such a short trip, yet some great new insights!
1. Planning meals is important to me when traveling. Obviously, there are some negotiables that have to be considered when traveling, but having a rough idea of when and where and what seems to be important to me, not only so we can keep a budget and not “blow a wad” buying food in Disneyland, but also to fend off the anxiety I sometimes feel when I am not sure what the plan is for meals. This is something that God is definitely still working with me on and I had no idea it was such a need until this trip exposed that fact.
2. Stress can hit unexpectedly, even at the happiest place on earth. To see how Bob handled the unexpected airline challenge was very illuminating to me. He wanted to deal with the problem before eating…even though he was hungry. I am not sure I would have handled it that way had I been alone with a similar situation! Here is the thing…life IS stressful. If we let stress derail us from adhering to our boundaries, we are likely to never make steady headway. I think the key is how we will handle stress when it hits. In Bob’s case, he didn’t even want to “go there” and sit down to a meal when he was physically hungry because of other factors. He mentioned in the video that being hungry, being in a place with so many good food options, and knowing he wanted to medicate himself from the stress all resulted in him not wanting to exercise self-control if he were to have a meal at that very moment. That was like an “ah HA!” moment for me. Funny how I can learn so much from him when *I* am the one who has been doing this for so long! LOL! He wanted to deal with the problem causing the stress FIRST. (Duh! What a novel idea! You mean, eating isn’t necessary in order for me to handle the problem? LOL!)
3. Walking into a situation where an abundance of FOOD sights and smells bombard (as they do in Disneyland) is NOT for the faint of heart! It seemed as though everywhere we went in Disneyland and when we walked to and from the condo outside the park, there was an assault of FOOD FOOD FOOD! Everywhere we turned people were eating turkey legs with an incredible aroma! It seemed like ice cream cones were as common as Mickey Mouse ears! And that is just the beginning. I can NOT imagine doing this if I didn’t have experience with not giving in to food in the face of temptation. I know that 5 years ago, I probably wouldn’t have handled this without eating my way through the park. I am reminded of years ago when I had just had children and I took them to the mall. For me, the mall was ALL about all the different food options I could indulge in. It had nothing to do with shopping and everything to do with eating. I think that may be what Disneyland (and other similar destinations) are for many…and could be for me if I am not careful!
4. Partnering with a spouse is invaluable. I can’t pretend not to be blessed. The many years Bob was not on board with 0 to 5 eating were hard, though he has never been a “foodie” like me. He has always been relatively supportive…never intentionally derailing me from my boundaries. Nevertheless, to be partnering with him was helpful to maintain my resolve to persevere with my 0 to 5 boundaries.
Do you have a place you enjoy going that could cause you to stumble in maintaining your boundaries? What strategies might you use to overcome these “stumbling stones” and come out the other side victorious?
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DRAWING WINNER!
I don’t want to forget to announce this week’s winner for our drawing! Whenever you comment here at the blog, I add your name to the “hat” (actually a brown paper sack). On Friday each week, I pray that God would have my hand land on the name of the person he wants to have the opportunity to pick a prize from one of our three prizes before I draw one lucky name out. The prizes to choose from are: Thin Within (copies donated by the Thin Within ministry–thanks to Joe Donaldson), Hunger Within (copies donated by Arthur and Judy Halliday), or a week of coaching by yours truly. 🙂
This week, we had over 60 names to draw from. That means you all were busy interacting with one another. THANK YOU.
This week’s winner of our drawing is Cindy!
CONGRATULATIONS! I will be shooting you an email. 🙂
While we were in Disneyland last night, my husband received a text that seemed to indicate that our flight out of Orange County (where Disneyland is) was due to leave in just a couple of hours. WHAT????
As it turns out, hubby had inadvertently made reservations for us to leave a full 24 hours before we planned to leave! Oh no!
Suddenly, Bob’s stress level was in OVER-drive as he anticipated righting this wrong and having to pay what could feasibly be $100 or morefor two new tickets at the right time on the right day so late in the game.
Having had a relatively long day and knowing that some phone calls to work out details were yet ahead, we made our way out of Disneyland early.
In the video below, Bob and I talk about how we are very hungry–clearly at “0”–but didn’t want to stop for food on the way back to the condominium and why. This video talks about the temptation to eat emotionally–even when at a 0, but wanting to plan for what could happen if we do that…hungry andemotional.
Bob shares from a guy’s perspective.
We take you from initial concern through several segments until we finally show you what we ended up doing.
What plan or strategy can you have in place so that when you are faced with STRESS you don’t blast through your boundaries? Have you ever considered waiting to eat–even if you are physically hungry–because you knew that if you started eating you might not stop? What can you do to avoid that predicament?
Note: We hope to make future videos closer to 5 minutes or less in length. Thank you for your patience with us as we get this figured out! 🙂
Disneyland! Hubby and I LOVE Disneyland. Even though we live 400 miles away from Disneyland, we are annual pass holders and enjoy multiple visits to “The Happiest Place on Earth” each year.
So, when Bob announced that he had to travel to Oxnard (not terribly far away from Anaheim, the home of Disneyland) for business, we knew that we needed to add me :-), another day, and a side trip to Disneyland (he has a Companion Pass for me to fly free with him on Southwest). Tonight (Tuesday night) and most of Wednesday, we plan to visit the park.
This is a wonderful opportunity to share with you how we maintain our boundaries of eating 0 to 5. It also will hold us accountable!
The only thing more exciting to me than being in Disneyland is hubby joining me in videos for you. This is the first of at least a five video contract. LOL! Seriously, he will be providing the guy’s perspective in future videos.
Hubby is successful using Thin Within principles to release weight, having recently lost 25 pounds. While he isn’t a big fan of the spiritual/emotional element of the program, he has the “mechanics” part of it down with his own unique approach added to it. I would say he is definitely in “phase 2” of Thin Within, using information about food to make wiser choices. That means he considers nutrition and caloric density in his foods. He has never dieted a day in his life, so he doesn’t have the challenges with this that some of us have (including me!).
If you know any men who might appreciate hearing Bob’s take on this approach to weight loss and maintenance, let them know that Bob intends to be a part of the blog and the intention to continue to support Thin Within participants.
Below is a video we made of our lunch out at El Torito and how we go about doing that together. For some of you, this is old hat, but for others of you, it may be a new way of doing things, of thinking about food and eating out! I hope you enjoy! (Stay tuned for another vid or two about Disneyland!)
How about you? Do you have someone you travel with or go out to eat with who will enjoy sharing meals with you? Do you struggle at all with vacation eating? Do you get an “entitlement” mentality that says that since it is a special event you can toss out your boundaries? What do you think? Does that work for you? Or does it set you up for failure, making it more difficult to return to your boundaries after the trip or meal out is over?
What do you think? Have you made the standard of losing weight so important that when you give in to eating outside of your boundaries you feel like the whole goal is derailed? Or do you have a sense that God is building godly character in you no matter what happens with your weight…and is it worth it to you to press on? Do you see your mistakes as part of the path to growth in character? Are there any boundaries you have set for GOD? Do you need to welcome His involvement in some area of your life?
How important is it to you to be thin? Do you feel like losing weight will solve problems in your life and just, well, make you happier? What if God were to offer you a wonderful change in your character, a heart that is being conformed to his, a mind that is not burdened, yet you weren’t as thin as you think you should be. Would that be ok?
This week, we have the opportunity to evaluate the premium we place on thinness and if we are thinking God’s thoughts about it or if we have some work to do renewing our minds about how we think about weight and size. I hope that you are encouraged even though the material may be convicting!
We will also have a look at Entitlement Eating–another BIGGEE in motivating much of our eating outside of our boundaries.
We are already in Week three of our Weight Loss Bible Study with a Thin Within Spin. 🙂 If you are subscribed to this blog with email or another reader and the video doesn’t show up, please visit the blog site and check out the video. Here is what is going on this week:
Continue with your renewing your mind goal and taking time to try renewing of the mind.
Can you resolve to not eat outside your boundaries for three days this week?
If you haven’t tried Truth Journaling yet, give it a go.
Read and do the questions and journaling activities for Barb’s Bible Study Day 5.
Read and do the questions and journaling activites for Barb’s Bible Study Day 6.
Continue to post here. Each time you do, it enters you in the drawing for a free book or free coaching…each Friday, I draw a name. The lucky winner gets to pick either a Thin Within book, a Hunger Within book, or a free week of coaching. Not only that, but you all are such GREAT support for one another! THANK YOU again!
Sometimes, we hear food calling our name. It seems to insist that we come, give it attention, consume it…even though we aren’t hungry. I am pretty sure you know what I mean.
For me, it is often the ice cream that I have in my freezer. I am free to have ice cream, but want to enjoy it within the parameters of hunger and satisfaction. There are times, though, when I can’t get it out of my head. I can grit my teeth all I like with a resolve “I WILL NOT THINK ABOUT FOOD,” but that seems to do little good.
This video just shares in brief (a bit over 3 minutes), what I suggest instead. I hope it helps!
If you would like more information about the God List and Praise-Feast (or Praise-Fest), visit my other blog where I have described how to do these things in some detail.
I was asked in one of the comments about the schedule, so thought I would post it as a separate post instead of in a response in the comments where it might get buried. 🙂
Here is the schedule – the first link is to the study at Barb’s site. The second link is to the post here with the videos, assignments, etc:
Then I will probably have a wrap up during a week 9. A chance for us to debrief about some things and a looking forward to what might be next.
As of now, I plan to use the Thin Within workbook with a RENEWING OF THE MIND focus for a study to follow this one.
So, how is it going for you all? Is this study helpful? Is your thinking changing? Do you see any differences in the way you act that you can tie to changes in your thinking?
If you feel like you are stuck in the same-old same-old, I want to encourage you to ask yourself this question…what am I willing to do differently so that I get different results? If you haven’t been working on the renewing of your mind, start there! 🙂
I love that you all are engaging in community! Isn’t that awesome!? It really encourages my heart. THANK YOU for making this study what it is. It really touches me.
I am praying right now as I reach in to get someone’s name out of my “hat.”
Lord, would you cause my hand to land on the name of the person who needs the resource that we have to give away? Thank you for Joe and Pam Donaldson and Arthur and Judy Halliday and their generosity in giving books to this study here at the blog. Use this generosity, Lord, for your glory and the good of some special person this week! Bless all of the participants of this study and Barb Raveling, too, I pray! Thank you for the joy of community, too, Lord. In Jesus’ matchless Name I pray, Amen.
This week’s winner is Natalia! I will be connecting with her in email to find out what she has chosen for her prize.
Lord, thank you for giving a gift to Natalia! I pray that you would encourage ALL our hearts today with the gift of your presence in our lives! Thank you!
Thank you ALL for participating!
What can you do to experience the support and encouragement of community in your life, face to face with others? Is God possibly leading you to do this?
I am LOVING the community that has been growing on these pages. Thank you SO much for your participation! This week’s drawing will have a bunch of slips of paper in the hat! It isn’t too late to dive on it, be counted, contribute, comment on a post or on someone else’s post.
It has been really touching to see just how much you all are encouraging one another…and thank you for all your encouragement to me, as well.
Thanks SO much!
So, a few more hours are left to get your name in this week’s drawing for a copy of Thin Within, or Hunger Within or a week of free coaching. 🙂
