I had just launched into an hour long temper tantrum as I wrestled with God over the fact that I had gained two pounds that week. I simply couldn’t believe it! So I stood my ground with Him, listing all the things I had worked so hard at that week. I was diligent in waiting for my 0 each day. I made food choices that were in line with my Whole Body Pleasers. I took great care to plan my hunger around the Christmas parties I had attended that week, ensuring that I arrived at a 0. I renewed my mind to avoid temptation lurking in my kitchen (homemade sugar cookies, yummm!) when I wasn’t at a 0. I had done all these things, so how could I possibly have gained two pounds that week?!
“Surrender your 5, Becky.”
I heard it again. And it was in that moment that things became very clear to me.
In my Thin Within journey, I have gotten to a point where waiting for my 0 has become like second nature. I can wait for it and recognize it pretty easily before I begin eating (Praise God! What an awesome victory!). My 0 is glaringly obvious. I can’t ignore it, I can’t pretend it’s not there, I can’t quiet it. A 0 is a 0 for me, no doubt about it!
But the 5…..ohhhh that 5 is much more of an elusive target fore me to hit! 5 has always been a bit difficult for me to define and find. The margin for a 5 is rather wide. On one end of the spectrum, a 5 can be “just enough,” where you stop eating at the first moment you begin to feel satisfied. On the other end of the spectrum, a 5 can be “one bite shy of a 6”. And in between those two marks is a vast area that can contain ten more potato chips or five more bites of a sandwich or another spoonful of yogurt. When you add in the fact that it often takes my brain twenty minutes to register just how satisfied I truly am, the 5 is pretty easy for me to misjudge and blaze right by!
And that afternoon the Lord revealed to me through the Holy Spirit’s conviction in my heart that I had been selfishly camping on the far end of the spectrum, trying to see just how many extra bites I could take and still stay under a 6. I justified it because I had been so patient to wait for that 0 to come around, I “deserved” to eat those extra five bites of my sandwich. Oooof, that’s not fun to admit!
With this realization, He also gave me a technique to use to ensure I have the opportunity to recognize my 5 and gravitate towards the other end of the 5 spectrum, where I first begin to feel satisfied. He showed me that I can 1) ensure my meal is truly a fist-sized meal 2) I can stop eating 2/3 of the way through my meal, put my fork down and prayerfully ask Him if the remaining food on my plate is something my body truly needs or just something I selfishly want.
If it’s not something my body needs, am I willing to surrender my 5 and the rest of the food on my plate in obedience to the Lord? I can’t say that surrendering my 5 has been an easy exercise! In fact, it is the single most difficult thing for me to do in my Thin Within journey right now. But I do know that those two steps above can help me ensure that I get closer to hitting the mark with my 5. I am also armed with the knowledge that this is indeed possible since I can do all things through Christ (Phil 4:13)! Not only is it possible, but this is a step I can take towards lasting freedom!
How about you?
Is it difficult for you to define your 5? How do you know when you’ve reached it? Are you ever tempted to eat a few more bites once you have first realized you’re satisfied? Do you sometimes just get so excited to finally eat that you blaze right past your 5? Do you have any effective strategies for knowing when you’ve reached a 5 and surrendering the rest of the food on your plate? Are you willing to surrender your 5?
Written by: Becky Y.
[Editor Note: Hey, ya’all! Feel free to respond to the “How About You?” questions right here in the comment section of the blog. We would LOVE to see you share your thoughts and insights–or even your questions! 🙂 Thanks! ~ Heidi]
Another Editor Note: If you have chosen to “Follow” this blog, you will not receive any more notifications as of tomorrow (I think). We are integrating with the Thin Within website and you will want to “Follow” the new blog once it is alive and active. It will be all of the same content moved from God Is Doing a New Thing over to Thin Within. So sorry for the inconvenience.
What a joy it was to go to the grocery store this morning without a new diet plan guiding my shopping list! It’s been a long time since I approached a New Year without some crazy diet or workout plan.
FLASH BACK to…January 2013
I decided that I must have an issue with dairy so I planned to quit drinking coffee for a while and use almond milk. The problem is that I love crumbled cheeses on my salads and enjoy occasional yogurts. And my husband and I spend Saturday and Sunday mornings talking over a good cup of coffee. So, that plan lasted about two days. I also was going to drink a veggie smoothie for a meal at least once a day – kale, spinach, cauliflower, goji berries, expensive powdered vitamins and minerals would save me from this extra weight. The problem is that I hate cold drinks in the winter.
FLASH BACK to…January 1012
I decided I could only have special shakes and “natural foods.”
FLASH BACK to…January 2003-2011
You name it – Weight Watchers, Flat Belly Diet, nutritionist (eat specific foods every 2-3 hours), only homemade foods, “health” foods, Weight Watchers again….you get the picture.
And these diet plans usually involved a crazy workout plan. From working out an hour and a half daily to running half marathons to following a ninety day DVD program of intense exercise.
Well, praise God, I was freed from the diet mentality in 2013! It took a lot of work (renewing my mind, prayer, surrender to the Lord, giving up fear and control), but the rewards have been tremendous.
But back to my grocery trip last last week. I went with a list—not of diet foods for me and regular foods for my family, but a list for meals that my whole family would enjoy – homemade pizza, crockpot Puerto Rican pork and rice, grilled chicken on salad, chicken enchiladas and chicken quesadillas. It was such a relief to buy normal food, to be a good role model for my children who were with me, to pass by the kale without putting it in my cart, etc! I smiled as I passed by the kale, but I did buy spinach, mushroom and lettuce for the salad I enjoy. I felt more relief as I passed by the low cal/low fat granola bars (I remember when those were my “treats”). I considered buying gluten free cereal for my yogurts (I have to eat GF), but I wasn’t in the mood for it. I declined the cereal not because it was a “carb,” but because my body didn’t want it that day. I bought tortilla chips as well as chicken breasts. I left the store elated that I have freedom and choice and am not in bondage to some “expert” rules for my food (and exercise) choices. I felt badly for the people who are placing their hope in their new “expert” diet this January.
You may wonder if I have released weight since giving up dieting. The answer is yes. I do not weigh myself and I am close to my God given size as it is. But, my pants fit better, some are too big and I have gone down a size in new clothes. Some of my old clothes are fitting as well. Several months ago, I accidentally saw my weight at my doctor’s office – I was 4 lbs from my original “goal” weight. The nurse said “oh, this must be a mistake. You’ve lost 7 pounds since your last visit 3 months ago.” I told her it wasn’t a mistake and briefly described Thin Within.
For those of you new to TW or working with Heidi (i.e. allowing God to guide you), amazing freedom and peace await you. Yes, you will release weight, but you will also experience the freedom, peace, and joy that come from surrendering to the Lord as you grow in intimacy with Him.
By Carrie (Not South Africa :-))
How About You?
How has grocery shopping changed for you since beginning Thin Within? What changes would you still like to make? What questions do you have, if any? 🙂
And we are OFF! Let this year be LIT up with the HOPE that comes from letting Jesus do what he does so well…redeem, transform, and love. Let’s let him redeem us and the years the locusts have eaten. Let’s let him transform us from the inside out and let him love on us. We will open ourselves to the whole kitten-kaboodle! Let’s RUN the RACE!
Yesterday we had our first webinar. Find the recording for the webinar here. If you are a group leader, here are the Orientation/Intro Webinar Group Questions. Thank you to Allison Mitchell for writing them for us this week!
Here are some thoughts I have about this upcoming study overall and the focus we will have. Also, I share some thoughts about this first lesson on HOPE:
Video Questions:
1. Do you have a desire for transformation like I mention in the video?
2. What are the three things that will saturate our study of the workbook together?
3. What unique experiences, wisdom, and support do you have this time as you go through the workbook?
4. What “Little t” truths do you need to TRUMP with God’s “Big T” truths?
5. What would you like to see God call into being into your life?
6. Take a few moments to pray and ask God to show you what lies you might be believing that are standing in the way of you experiencing the hope that he intends for you to experience.
Introductory Thoughts About Renewing of the Mind
What we think/believe will drive our choices or actions. Our actions will establish a pattern. Our patterns will reap fruit. What fruit do we see in our lives that we might like changed? Let’s trade lies for truth, so we will begin to believe differently. The truth we believe will affect our choices and behavior. Our new choices and behaviors will establish new patterns in our lives. And the new fruit we long for will become evident over time!
You can select the level of involvement that you can manage. As time goes on, if you have to pick just ONE thing to do each day, I would recommend that you invest time in journaling through one set of questions in Barb Raveling’s I Deserve a Donut book or app each day. I believe that time invested doing this will reap HUGE rewards!
Trade Book Assignment –to be completed by January 13th
If you are using the Thin Within book (paperback or hardcover) published 2002 or 2005, I have pulled out from the deep dark recesses of my hard drive(s) a draft of a Thin Within Book Study Guide that, as yet, is unpublished. I provide it to you with a caveat…please be kind! lol! It isn’t publishable… Use it at your own risk ;-), but know that it was created with love. I provide the TW Study Guide Intro and TW Study Guide Week 1 documents, but please know they don’t match what we will do with the workbook study. I think it will be good, anyhow! It has you doing 5 chapters each week, so you will be done sooner than the workbook if you go at that pace, but hang out with us. 🙂 Also, you might still want to do the assignment below, #s 4, 6-10. You don’t have to have a workbook to do those.
Workbook Assignment – to be completed by January 13th [[Note: I know that many of us struggle with perfectionism and a condemning spirit. This is a chance to break out of that. I give you WAY more to do in any given week than is reasonable to do. So, do NOT expect to do it all! That would be impossible! Extend grace. Practice godliness by releasing perfectionism…Do what you can and be ok with that. PROMISE me! :-)) Consider all the possibilities like a “buffet.” Choose what looks best to you and let the rest go this time. There is always another day to try another tool!
1. Read through the introductory material in the Thin Within workbook, pp. A5-A11.
2. Read, highlight, mark Lesson 1 on pages B3 – B8 or listen to the audio file of Lesson 1 at Sound Cloud. Discuss it here in the comments section below this post or at our Class Private Facebook Group Page.
3. Complete one section of “exercises” each day. For instance, today, Tuesday, you could complete Day One on page B9-B10. Tomorrow, Wednesday, you could complete Day Two on page B11. Thursday, complete B12…and so on. When you come to the optional exercises, use your discretion. You can catch up on one of the other days or do some of the other optional activities.
4. For extra power in this process…begin now to each day keep a running list of any of God’s attributes, his characteristics, how he relates to or treats people that you find in your reading of the workbook or Scriptures. I suggest keeping this running list in a section of your journal (or inside the cover of your workbook) as you will add to it over the course of weeks and months! It helps if you include the reference. Check out this post to learn more about what I call “The God List.” (If anyone comes up with a better name, please PLEASE tell me! LOL!) If you would rather have it electronically, I have found software like Evernote is a great place to keep my God List as it syncs between all my devices and I have it handy ANY time I want or need it. I suggest adding at least two or three (or more) to your God List each day. You will be glad you did as we get further on. The extra few minutes will be an investment. 🙂 Here is more information about the God List.
5. This week, use Days 1-7 in the Temple Tool Kit. If you would rather, keep your notes in your journal. I like using a regular journal as there is more space to write.
6. Record any thoughts—LIES—that you discover pop into your head such as:
“Why bother doing this? It will never work.”
Or “You have done this before and you never keep the weight off.”
Or “This approach may work for everyone else, but it won’t for you.”
Or “I am SUCH a failure!”
And so on. When you discover a thought that contributes to thoughts of defeat, flush it out into the open and ask God to show you HIS thoughts about whatever it is. For instance, regarding the above:
“With the support and prayers of all the group members, with a new focus on this material, this WILL work!”
Or “God is doing a NEW thing and he will give me what I need to succeed AND to walk in victory.”
Or “God created my body reliably and he will show me that this way of releasing weight is effective for me, too. It is a God-sized work, true, but he is AT work doing it right now!”
Or “God will use this failure to teach me what doesn’t work and to give me strategies for victory!”
7. Make liberal use of the Sound Cloud files and You Tube videos. They are there for you to help you. Please enjoy. Download. Put them on your devices, carry them with you. God wants to saturate your thinking with the TRUTH about this journey!
8. Commit to relishing eating ANY food you desire once your stomach is empty…at a perfect “0.” Serve yourself less food. Start by halving your portions this week. If you sense physical satisfaction — a “5” coming before you are done eating, ask God to give you strength to stop eating. You get to eat again the very next time you are hungry! NO deprivation here!
9. Most of all…keep on praying! Pray that God will help you arrive at your natural God-given size, that you will break free from the stronghold that food has on you, that you will renew your mind so that you think differently about food, your body, eating, and the victory that God has won for you! Thinking differently will result in different actions resulting in different fruit! And maybe most of all…pray that you will have a wonderfully refreshing new intimacy with your Savior and Lord. 🙂
10. If you want to supercharge the transformation, renewing your mind will be paramount. I am personally making sure I do something twice each day to renew my mind. If you aren’t sure what that might look like, then journaling through a set of Barb’s questions in her I Deserve a Donut book or app is just the ticket. This is a great complement to our study of the Thin Within book!
How About You?
Check in! How are you feeling about beginning this journey? I would LOVE to hear from you here.
Note: If you have just stumbled upon this blog and this post and you like the idea of breaking free from dieting, fear-based exercise and the obsession that has so often been our practice to break free of extra weight, sign up for our Thin Within workbook study email list. It isn’t too late to dive on in! This page tells more about it.
I have worked through all four of the Thin Within workbooks.
I have worked through the Thin Within book.
I have led Thin Within groups three times in the last ten years.
I am a certified Wellness Coach and Pilates instructor.
I teach.
I KNOW this stuff!
And yes, here I am, still yearning for freedom, still waiting on God. Still wondering when I will be set free from struggling with excess eating and excess body weight.
Perhaps it’s precisely because I am immersed in the world of fitness that I am easily distracted and find it hard to keep my eyes fixed on the path that I know is the only way to freedom in this.
A few months ago I invested in a season of private coaching with Heidi Bylsma; a very wise decision! I remember sending her my daily logs with my “hunger numbers”—almost always reporting 0 to 5 eating. And yet I saw no weight loss and felt no progress happening. Heidi pointed out the discrepancy. ☺ As is the way of a good coach, Heidi put the observation out there and left it to me to wrestle with: “Brenda, you report eating within your chosen boundary of 0 to 5 on a consistent basis, yet you say you are not seeing the results you’d hoped for.”
In my wrestling, I decided I needed to more clearly define a “5.” Obviously I was eating past 5, so in my mind the solution was to get better at stopping at a 5.
One morning God turned the light on for me; all I had worked on with Heidi became clear as I read through the book of Joshua.
I came to the part where the land is being divided up between the tribes of Israel. I noticed how clear and precise the boundaries were and I started thinking how boundaries are important to God—God gives us boundaries for our safety, health and because He knows what is truly good for us.
In Joshua 18 the Scripture tells us that there were still seven Israelite tribes who had not received their inheritance. And Joshua says to them, ” How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the Lord the God of your ancestors has given you?”
God spoke to me through that—How long am I going to wait until I do MY part to take possession of the freedom that God has given me?
It’s my inheritance!
God has given it to me, but it is up to me to do my due diligence and receive what God has for me.
For me, at this point in my journey, trying to more precisely define a “5” on the hunger scale is not where God wants my focus.
I believe He is showing me that my part is to do what it takes to place myself before Him every single day for the renewing of my mind; soaking in the truth of His Word, writing Truth Cards as a daily practice, being honest about where I am spiritually and what I am doing, as well as what I am eating.
Sunday morning at church God again spoke to me—this time through a guest speaker. She was teaching from Genesis chapters 2 and 3, and she came to Chapter 3 verses 8 and 9, where Adam and Eve have disobeyed God and eaten from the one tree in the garden that He had forbidden. In verse 9 God calls out to Adam, saying, “Where are you?
I believe that God is asking that of me as well. “Where are you with ME, Brenda?” Are you living in all the abundance I have given you, or are you in a place of rebellion? What tree are you choosing?”
To me it’s a really big deal is that I finally have taken my eyes off of seeking weight loss above everything– although I haven’t given up and I do still want it. It’s that now I am seeking FIRST the kingdom of God; seeking GOD through specific, daily practices so that my focus turns away from food and body obsession.
I have learned that the daily practices of prayer, Bible reading, writing and reading Truth Cards, praising God in song, lifting my face to Him will bring about the renewing of my mind and the transforming of my heart, my body, and my life. And then eating within the boundaries of 0 to 5 will be a natural result of my decision to claim my inheritance and choose the abundant life He alone offers.
~ Brenda Ameli. Brenda lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, teaching mind body movement and leading the women’s ministry at her church.
How About You?
Is it possible that “thin” or “0” or “5” has actually become a distraction from what God wants for you? Does God want you to focus elsewhere? What might responding to His invitation in this look like for you?
New Year’s Resolutions are motivated, no doubt, by a strong desire we have not to stay stuck…to make things happen that we know we want.
Even so, jokes abound this time of year about New Year’s resolutions. I have made my own jokes about it in past years, flippantly “resolving” to make only one resolution…that of not making ANY resolutions.
This year, I decided to look into God’s Word to see what it says about resolving or resolution. In the English Standard Version there are only 4 uses of the word “resolve.” The New International Version is not different:
In 2 Chronicles 20:3, King Jehoshaphat resolves to inquire of the Lord when a large army marches on his people.
Daniel 1:8 tells us that Daniel resolved not to forsake the dietary laws of the Jews when he was taken captive.
In 1 Corinthians 2:2, Paul states that he resolved not to know anything except Jesus and Him crucified.
Other than those three uses of the word, “Resolve” in the NIV, there is this reference:
If you do not listen, and if you do not resolve to honor my name,” says the Lord Almighty,
“I will send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings.
Yes, I have already cursed them,
because you have not resolved to honor me.
~ Malachi 2:2
If you have come to this blog for any length of time, if you have participated in any Thin Within groups, bible studies, or read the material yourself, you know that we speak a great deal of grace.
But I am remiss if I don’t point out that a twin truth with God pouring immeasurable grace on us is the fact that He desires our complete surrender to His will.I can’t read this passage in Malachi (or the other references in the bible) and feel ok with a New Year’s Resolution of “To walk the dog four times or more each week.” Or “Save $1000 for a vacation.” Or any of the other more typical things that I might include if I were to ever jump on the “Make New Year’s Resolutions” Bandwagon.
This passage screams sobering truths to me, instead.
What does God want me to be resolved to do?
He wants me resolved to Honor His Name.
There are consequences if I do not resolve to honor His Name. The New Covenant changes many things, but there is nevertheless a principle here: If I don’t resolve to honor the Name of the Lord, my experience will be that even blessings will be as though cursed. Perhaps this is what happens when I experience fear relative to food and my body. Food was intended by God to be a blessing. My body was intended by God to be a blessing. When I don’t resolve to honor Him with my life—especially, in this case, with my eating and drinking and how I treat my body—then even the blessings of food and my body seem to me as if “cursed.” They become so much less than He intended. They are a burden, a trial, a difficulty…a curse.
Will I take time this New Years Day to generate some New Years Resolutions? I haven’t in the past years, so I probably won’t this year…especially now that I have seen this passage. It seems a much better use of my time and investment of my energy to fulfill an intention that I know is called for in His Word.
I resolve afresh to honor the Name of the Lord.
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do,
do all to the glory of God.
~ 1 Corinthians 10:31
What will this look like? I will pursue renewing my mind with His truth. NO more settling for the lies that are contrary to His Word. Not even one lie! No matter how “little!” Like the lie that says “I deserve to eat something sweet every day or multiple times each day.”
No more apathy or “sloppiness” with my godly, God-given boundaries of eating only enough food to nourish me. “Eating this won’t matter.” IT DOES. No more of that lie either!
God lays claim to my body.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you,
whom you have from God?
You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.
So glorify God in your body.
~ 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
So, I will be proactive and move my body in a healthy way, for the joy and benefit of doing so! AND to honor the Name of the Lord!
I resolve to honor the Name of my God.
It means making some difficult choices.
How About You?
What would it look like for you to resolve to honor the Name of the Lord? What blessings do you have that feel more like they are cursed these days? Is it possible that God invites you to resolve to honor His Name more than any other resolution this year?
