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.
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! 🙂
Mark your calendars for Mondays, starting one week from today–March 4th–for our study of Barb Raveling’s Weight Loss Bible Study. We will study putting a Thin Within Spin on the material.
Before we begin, I wanted to share with you some thoughts I have at the outset.
First, if you know me at all, you know that I don’t prefer focusing on weight loss. And that is one of the things I love about Barb–neither does she. Even though this study is called “Weight Loss Bible Study,” she focuses our attention on renewing our minds so that the transformation we desire physically is birthed by a deeper transformation inwardly. This is the only way to experience permanent change. It is only fair to warn you this requires a lot of work. You likely will be pushed out of your comfort zone. You may want to decide now what you will do when you are tempted to quit!
Secondly, Barb *does* use the word “diet”…be forewarned! So, when you see the word DIET or DIETING in Barb’s material during our study, please replace it in your thinking with “0 to 5 Eating” instead. Barb does a great job of speaking of boundaries. For those on diets, this may include points or calories or whatever else. For us, our primary boundary is to eat between 0 (physical hunger) and 5 (physical satisfaction). Please don’t let the use of the term “diet” throw you! God can use this material in our lives!
Thirdly, logistically, it can be easiest to work through the material if you print it out or have it on your own computer. I like to copy and paste Barb’s material into a Word document so I can interact with the material directly. This way, her blog posts become a journal for me that I save on my laptop. I can refer to it later or finish the study at a later time. If you don’t want to do that, you can print them out and/or journal in a notebook just as effectively.
What I do *not* recommend is to just do it in your head! 🙂 We tend to get lazy if we try that approach.
Given how much energy and effort and practice we have put into eating more than we need, causing us to carry extra weight, we can certainly spend time renewing our mind, thinking differently, by doing bible study. 🙂
So, what are your hopes, concerns, questions before we launch into this study?
A dieting mentality might cause a temporary poor choice to result in a longer lasting setback. I have learned nothing in the past 14 years of eating 0 to 5 if not to look at each moment as being significant in and of itself. What I choose to do now is every bit as important.
Yesterday, I wasn’t diligent with my 0 to 5 boundaries. When I went to bed last night, my stomach was uncomfortable. I haven’t done that to myself in a long while. While it is helpful for me to evaluate *why* I overate the way I did, that isn’t what this post is about. 🙂 This post is about what now?
I have a couple of choices. I can beat myself up over the head. This option is likely to result in condemnation. That certainly won’t produce positive changes. We can’t hate ourselves into positive change.
…or…
I can prevail upon the mercy and grace of God and extend that same mercy and grace to myself. THIS moment matters. What will I choose to do in THIS moment? Right now? As I begin my day, I can choose the RESET button. Yesterday is GONE. I don’t have to live in the shadow of it.
What about you? What choice will you make right now?
I first posted this…well, a long time ago, but as I was writing a new post for the blog this morning, I realized.. “Hey! I have said that before!” and so I thought I would just re-run the previous post, editing it a bit first. I hope it encourages you!
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My daughter placed her order at the local market’s deli counter.
“You can get a WHOLE sandwich AND a soda for just a dollar fifty more!,” the woman behind the counter proudly disclosed.
A bit taken aback by the assertiveness of the deli-counter clerk, my daughter quietly replied, “No thank you.”
“Are you SURE? Do you KNOW how SMALL half a sandwich IS?” Deli Lady looked at me for support. None was forthcoming. 🙂
.
“Yes. It will be fine. Really.” Michaela smiled weakly.
Deli Lady looked at Michaela and back to me with incredulity…back to Michaela again:Â “All ri-i-i-ight then. A half really *isn’t* much food…”
I asked Michaela after we left the store how it made her feel to have Deli Lady be so insistent. She said that she gets that sort of thing almost every time she buys her (half) sandwich there. Folks are just trying to be helpful.
Isn’t it odd, though, that we have become a society that generally needs to be told how much food constitutes a meal? Fast food restaurants are famous for this with their “meal deals.” And portions at even higher end restaurants are huge.
We have been trained to think we need to eat more food to be satisfied. It is no wonder that we seem somewhat unwilling when an approach (like Thin Within) for arriving at and maintaining a healthy size encourages eating less food. We are convinced we need copious quantities of food to live.
Even if we are relatively active, we may not need much. Our bodies are amazingly efficient. And it is strange that if we (even politely) say “No thank you,” people look at us like we have grown a third eyeball. 🙂 It does make it challenging to maintain our godly boundaries. It isn’t just friends and family members who want us to eat more! Who would have thought we would need a boundary with a Deli Lady–a relative stranger?
Deli Lady was very zealous about the great deal she wanted to let us in on.
I don’t just have a great sandwich and soda deal to share. I know the Bread of Life. I know the One Who is true nourishment for the heart and soul. Yet do I ever get nearly so earnest about “You need to have this!” as the Deli Lady was about the great Meal Deal she told us about?
