Sometimes I just can’t slow down long enough to journal about lies I am struggling with. I have learned over time of using Barb Raveling’s techniques and her app how to use her approach “on the fly!” This recording is a REAL LIVE example of me struggling with a temptation today and how I handled it…
Just so you know how it ended. It is now about an hour an 10 minutes after I recorded that in my car and I am home. No milkshake. YAY! I obeyed God thanks to accountability with you all. 🙂 Obedience feels good. I am not hungry yet!
As you launch into this leg of your journey, there may be three fears or doubts that assault you. If you are like most of us, maybe you can relate to these. Hope there is something here that can encourage you!
Let’s not let doubt win. Instead, let’s submit our thinking, our doubts and fears, to the Philippians 4:8 test:
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble,
whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent
or praiseworthy—think about such things.
– Philippians 4:8
If you find yourself thinking things that are not serving the godly goals you have established (and I mention some of those thoughts, doubts, and fears in this video), subject them to this test: Is this thought true, noble, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy? If not, REJECT the thought!
We demolish arguments and every pretension
that sets itself up against the knowledge of God,
and we take captive every thought
to make it obedient to Christ.
– 2 Corinthians 10:5
This is what we are doing! We are replacing thoughts that are not God’s thoughts with His thoughts. How does God think about whatever it is you are thinking about? What does He think about your attempts to apply these principles? What does He think about the doubts that people may verbalize to you? What does He think about the process of eating 0 to 5 for landing on a healthy weight and maintaining it all your life long?
What do you think? 🙂
What doubts have you been facing as you begin this leg of your journey?
Today is the big day! 🙂 Here is a video (10 minutes) that highlights some of my thoughts as we launch into this “Weight Loss Bible Study.”
Click here to go to day one of Barb Raveling’s bible study. You will want to have this page at Barb’s blog open.
As indicated at Barb’s site under The Plan section, select a Primary Boundary. For our purposes, we will assume it is 0 to 5 eating.
Select your secondary boundaries. For that, you could have it be anything you want that will support your primary boundary. You may want to consider any of the other Keys to Conscious Eating:
Eat in a calm environment by reducing distractions.
Eat when sitting.
Eat when body and mind are relaxed.
Eat and drink only the things your body loves.
Pay attention to your food when eating.
Eat slowly, savoring each bite.
The MOST important thing about our study and Barb’s material is this:
We will renew our minds. We will change the way we think. We will learn to think God’s thoughts after him about food, eating, weight, him, ourselves, etc…
Romans 12: 2 Says “Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
Suggestions about Picking a “Renewing of the Mind” Goal
I wrote a post (with a video just for this) last Wednesday. If you haven’t seen it, check out this link. Consider prayerfully (ask the Lord to show you) if there is any way that you should think differently about eating, your body, food, your weight, emotions, about Him, about people that challenge you. Is there a theme that impacts your success in adhering to your godly boundaries? There usually is. for many of us, it might be “I look to food to make me happy” or to reward me, or to energize me, or to comfort me, or… The list can be quite long. For me, my renewing of the mind goal has to focus, for now, on thinking differently about 0 to 5 eating. I want to be sold out, committed, delighting in 0 to 5 eating and all that I know God does when I live within this godly boundary.
My renewing of my mind goal: “To think God’s thoughts about 0 to 5 eating. To see 0 to 5 eating as a wonderful joy, and a path of freedom.”
I might end up getting more specific, too, as time goes on, breaking this renewing of the mind goal down into several smaller thoughts.
HOW will I renew my mind about 0 to 5 eating? What does it look like to “renew my mind” about this? I share that in the video, and here are MyAffirmations about 0 to 5 eating (click on that link) that I can read in the morning and again later in the day when I know my resolve may weaken…and again, if need be, after dinner. There are times when I need to read this out loud every time IÂ before I eat! I want to GO AFTER THE WAY I THINK during this study. I hope you do, too! I want to crucify the lies I believe and replace wrong thinking with thinking God’s truth. I have my affirmations about 0 to 5 list on my Blackberry. You could put your list of true thoughts about whatever it is on an index card or piece of paper, if you want.
Decide what you need to think differently about relative to your weight loss journey, then write down the truths you want to start thinking about whatever it is. Decide when you will refer to that list. I suggest in the morning before the day gets rolling and any other time of the day that might challenge you relative to the thing you want to think differently about (for me, this is afternoon about 3pm and again right after dinner). Also, refer to the list after you have an “episode” of eating outside of your boundaries. Observe and correct and refocus by reading your affirmations again.
Do the questions at Barb’s blog called “Following Your Boundaries.” Journal these. Copy and paste them into a document if you want to have the file on your computer. Spend time with this. THIS will renew your mind, too!
This week’s ASSIGNMENT:
1. Today: Choose a renewing of your mind goal. (Tell us in the comments what it is…your name gets entered in the drawing for free books each time you comment.)
2. Today: Write down thoughts that are godly to think instead of the thoughts you have about whatever it is. I call this my “affirmations.”
3. Today: Plan when will you choose to read and pray over the list of affirmations? (Should be before you are tempted, but times when you know you are vulnerable and also anytime after you have given in to temptation.) Once you plan for it, you want to DO it. This will take practice! Extend grace to yourself! Remember, if you don’t want to renew your mind (or go over your list of affirmations about whatever it is you want to renew your mind about), it is good to renew your mind about that, too. Remember, at the heart, renewing the mind is thinking God’s thoughts after him…thinking TRUTH. What is truth about renewing the mind? 🙂
4. Today: Select what your secondary boundaries will be. Write them down.
5. OPTIONAL (but VERY helpful): Get an accountability partner. (If you want professional coaching as you go through this material, see this page.)
6. Complete the questions in Day One of Barb’s Weight Loss Bible study entitled “Following Your Boundaries.” Share here any thoughts that you have upon completing these questions.
8. Let’s talk about this material here! I will be doing our first drawing this Friday. If you comment, your name is put in the drawing. If you post at Barb’s site, I will count it, too, just let me know at the comments at her site that you want your name in the drawing for the TW materials. I won’t automatically assume that! The winner of the drawing each week will get to choose between a copy of the book, Thin Within, or a copy of the book, Hunger Within, or a one-hour coaching session on the phone or on Skype with me. The more you comment, the more entries you get in the drawing! My desire is that we build a community to support one another as we go through Barb’s material with a “Thin Within Spin.” 🙂
Whew! This is a lot of stuff! This week, I will address your questions as they come up and provide additional material here at the blog. If you have a question and a preference for a video or written response, let me know that, too. Like if you have dial-up, I don’t want to respond with a video! 🙂
Hi, everyone. I know many of you may have gotten the link for the study starting tomorrow from Barb Raveling’s blog.
That said, I don’t want anyone to be surprised…I use a non-diet approach. Specifically, I use Thin Within. I was the collaborator with the Hallidays for the book and drafted the first edition of the workbook back in 2001. I am pretty entrenched in the material! 🙂 And happy to be! I won’t be talking about dieting during our study. Or at least I would rather not. 🙂
My (very lengthy-desperately-needing-to-be-edited) testimony is here. I hate to ask you to read the entire thing, but it might help to let you know where I am coming from if you don’t already know.
I am looking forward to getting started with you tomorrow.
Some of you are also wondering how this will work. The majority of the studying will be done by YOU! 🙂 You can get out of this study as much as you like, depending on how much time you put into it between Mondays.
Each Monday, I will post a blog post that recaps the previous assignment and/or what is to come. Some of these may include video. Some may not.
Monday’s post will typically include an assignment. Pace yourself for the week. Some of it may need to be done as soon as possible. Do as much (or as little) of this assignment as you would like, but I challenge you to dive in deep…go for all you are worth in this! Of course we want the easy fix, but we know that there is no easy fix. We have all lost weight before, but we know that there is more to this. This study will get us digging for the more.
You will be challenged to work hard. Not at losing weight, but on thinking differently. The internal work you will be encouraged to do, may be challenging! Plan now how you will handle the desire to quit or to ignore this much needed component of our study.
Between Mondays during the week , I plan to have other content posted for you. Some of it will be related to a topic that I have stumbled upon during the study. Some of it may be more supplementary to the study. Either way, it will be designed to help you as you continue this journey! I hope you will stop by during the week. Follow the blog or subscribe if you want to be notified when new content is posted.
Remember that this study will focus us more than anything on Renewing Our Minds!This is what will make the HUGE difference. We are going to use Barb’s approach of renewing the mind and apply it to our Thin Within journeys. I believe that these strategies (Barb’s renewing of the mind and Thin Within’s non-diet approach) are HUGELY compatible!
As we prepare for launch tomorrow, just a couple of things I would love for you to do:
…pray for me and for yourself and others studying. Pray that our eyes would be open and for clarity. Pray for unreserved devotion. Pray that we will be “sold out” to the Lord and resign our eating to Him, forsaking an attitude of entitlement! Pray for open hearts and open eyes. He is faithful to answer that prayer.
…ask questions…here now as well as through our study. The more questions you ask, the more clear things will become. Chances are that if you have a question, someone else has that same question, too. If you ask it, others benefit as well.
What do you hope to experience through this study? 🙂 What questions do you have even now?
I get asked about physical hunger all the time. I made a video to help answer some questions about this. I hope it helps!
Summary:
Hunger is not a sound (a growl), it is a sensation.
Getting hungry will not slow down your metabolism in Thin Within because we eat when we are hungry. We are actually teaching our bodies that it is a good thing to be hungry since that is when we get to eat. We will not go into “starvation mode.”
The stomach is higher than you may think. Knowing this can help you immeasurably in figuring out when you are hungry!
Below is a video that I made to help people understand what it means to renew the mind…what it is, how to go about doing it and why!
I hope it helps you.
Thanks again to Barb Raveling for her help in understanding how to practically apply the wisdom of Romans 12:2!
Summary:
Renewing the Mind is, simply, thinking God’s thoughts after him.
First, choose a renewing of the mind goal. Why? Because it is our thinking that causes us to act. If we want to act differently and see different fruit in our lives, we need to start where actions are birthed–in our thoughts! What do you want to think differently about? The scale? Your body? Food? Your marriage? Your job? Probably, for our study coming up, you will want to select something that has to do with food, eating or weight, but it is your choice. Maybe you are an emotional eater, so you need to think differently about processing emotions. Maybe you don’t feel like you trust God. You might want to renew your mind about God’s character. So first thing, you want to pick a renewing of your mind goal.
Secondly, select times of the day when you will proactively choose to think God’s thoughts about whatever it is. First thing in the morning is a good idea for most of us since it might set the tone for the entire day. If you struggle in your marriage, you might also want to plan a renewing of your mind session for just before you see your spouse. If it is about food, you might need a mini-renewing of your mind session before you eat each time you eat! Let’s dive in and do this for all we are worth. Give it just a few weeks of diligence and hard work and you will be amazed at how you are impacted! You can also renew your mind in the middle of giving in to behaviors that are counter to your godly goal or after you have given in. It is best to plan a time before that happens, of course! But even if you “blow it,” you can renew your mind about whatever it is after the fact and it will help!
Thirdly, select strategies for actually thinking God’s thoughts after him. In this video, I share some ideas for that, but it is by no means comprehensive. You can use Barb Raveling’s I Deserve a Donut app. You can read scripture or review memorized verses. The bible is clearly where God shows us his thoughts, so it is a safe place to land to find things to think about for renewing your mind. If you want to be more specific, you can do what I have done. On an index card, piece of paper, on a file in your laptop or your cell phone or iDevice :-), you can create a file or jot down a list of TRUTHS about whatever it is that you want to think differently about. Then, each of the times that you renew your mind, you would read those things…preferably out loud. Pray over them and ask God to work them deeply into the soil of your heart and mind.
Also, in the video I say one of the things I like about 0 to 5 eating is that it is easy. Then I talk about Barb’s app and mention that 0 to 5 eating is hard. What I mean by that, is when I am tempted to stray away from it, THEN it is hard. That is when I need to stop myself from whining about how “hard” it is. It is always going to be hard to obey. But the principles are easy, simple, and doable!
I hope this helps clarify what renewing the mind is! 🙂
