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!
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! 🙂
It is best to give yourself a portion, rather than have a bag of chips or a serving dish of food in front of you. Put an amount of food on your plate and then let that be that. Experiment a bit, but you may want to establish a boundary that whatever food you put on your plate, you will eat that (or less) and then wait 10 minutes before serving yourself more if you think you are still hungry.
A fist is a very reasonable measuring tool to use to evaluate portion size. Here is a video where I share my thoughts on the subject. 🙂
Another approach is whatever you have been serving yourself up to this point (if you haven’t been eating 0 to 5), try serving yourself a third or half of that. I know this sounds extreme, but just remember you can eat again when you are hungry.
Thin Within is quite simple, really, but we find that there are times when it isn’t easy. Times when we clearly want more food than we need. We can have all the practical tidbits in the world, but if we aren’t willing to say no to our fleshly desires, if we aren’t willing to live within our good, godly and delightful boundaries, then all the wisdom and insight will make very little difference!
So, are you willing? I personally, am romancing the willingness. Will you join me?
Last week, we did Day 1 and Day 2 of Barb Ravelings Weight Loss Bible Study. If you haven’t yet done that material–no problem. Go at the pace that works for you. Just keep moving forward!
I shared last week that we have to be willing to renew our minds–to think differently, if we are going to act differently for the rest of our days. This will ensure that the transformation we experience is lasting. We made a “renewing of the mind” goal, in fact. How is that going for you? I would love to hear.
I wanted to share some thoughts that I have as I look over my notes from doing Day 2 of Barb’s study. Because I am colossally lazy :-), I will do that in video…
Continue with your Renewing Of Your Mind goal. You are proactively taking time to think God’s thoughts (that pass the Philippians 4:8 test) about whatever it is that you need to renew your mind about.
Additionally, be alert and on your guard to any other thoughts that are NOT His thoughts about your body, size, eating, 0 to 5, boundaries and anything else pertinent to this journey. Take captive your thoughts so they don’t take YOU captive!
Do Barb’s Day 3 study on “Justification Eating.” Be alert to any mention of “calories” and trade dieting terminology for something that is congruent with 0 to 5 and Thin Within.
Make a list of lies that you tell yourself to justify eating outside of true physical hunger and true physical satisfaction.
Did you take Barb’s challenge last week? To have three days of not eating outside of your boundaries? Why not take the challenge this week. Just three days of truly sticking with 0 to 5. See what happens!
Note: If you are struggling with thinking about food all the time, you have to choose to think about something else. You can’t just tell yourself to stop thinking about food! The best thing I have found to think about is what God says is my true portion…HIM. At my other blog, I have a boatload of resources that can help with that. I especially recommend establishing and adding to a God List and using that to have a Praise-Fest.
Don’t forget to post here to the blog to support one another, ask questions, share your insights! Each time you do, you get entered in the drawing for a Thin Within book (donated by the Thin Within ministry), a Hunger Within book (donated by Arthur and Judy Halliday) or an hour of personal coaching with yours truly.
