Image courtesy of artur84 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of artur84 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What does success at Thin Within look like to you?

Like many, when I first stumbled upon Thin Within, I was looking for a way to lose weight. Sure, I wanted to do it in a way that honored God, but really… I just wanted to drop some excess weight and fit into a smaller pants size. And God was faithful, He drew me closer to Himself and He also allowed me to release 40 pounds.

If you read my post on Failure, you’ll know that in the years since first coming to Thin Within, I have regained 30 of those pounds back. And during that time, God has really been challenging me on how I define Success and Failure with Thin Within. In the last 4 months through my coaching with Heidi, I have been able to take a hard look at how I’ve set my standards for what success really is.

In these past fruitful months, God has revealed to me over and over that success with Thin Within is about so much more than just releasing excess weight. It started slowly, but I could hear Him whisper to me each week that went by, “What if my definition of success is more than just losing weight? What if that is just a small piece of the pie?”

He began to show me that success really meant having daily quiet times with Him. Success was about surrendering my selfish ambition, my pride over appearance and my self-centered efforts to release weight. Victory took the form of me depending on him in humble submission on a daily (and often minute by minute) basis. Success was committing to praying against the enemy’s attempts to throw me off track with Thin Within. Victory was inward change in my heart that was reflected in my outward actions.

And as the weeks have turned into months He has shown me more and more about what true victory in Thin Within really looks like. There are so many wonderful ways we can experience success with Thin Within. And I just can’t keep all of these things to myself! Consider the many ways we can experience victory in Thin Within through Christ.

  • Success is saying no to a second helping when you’ve reached a 5
  • Success is getting back on the horse if you’ve fallen off
  • Success is dying to yourself
  • Success is seeing your faith deepen and your walk with God strengthen
  • Success is listening to your body and obeying its hunger signals
  • Success is asking God to help you get through that all-you-can-eat buffet
  • Success is defeating Satan’s attempts to steer you in the wrong direction
  • Success is seeking the Lord’s face each and every day in prayer and through His word
  • Success is rejecting preventative eating
  • Success is not allowing a “slip up” or failure to hold you down
  • Success is seeing that your body actually thrives within 0-5 boundaries
  • Success is being set free from food’s power over you
  • Success is overcoming a stronghold for the very first time (hallelujah!)
  • Success is delighting in obedience to God
  • Success is weeding out all those little foxes
  • Success is not letting yourself fall into shame if you ate from 6-9
  • Success is seeing changes in your heart, not just your appearance
  • Success is running to Him in prayer when you feel tempted to start eating and you’re at a 3
  • Success is spending just one day where every meal was eaten between 0-5
  • Success is setting aside attempts to lose weight through your own power
  • Success is honoring our bodies with foods that make us feel energized and satisfied
  • Success is giving all the glory to God when you release even a tenth of a pound
  • Success is allowing His power to work through your weakness
  • Success is walking in humble dependence on God in this journey
  • Success is overcoming a challenging situation for the first time (0-5 on Thanksgiving Day anyone?!)
  • Success is breaking a bad habit
  • Success is seeing the fruit of Observation and Correction
  • Success is realizing you are being set free from bondage, one chain link at a time
  • Success is when Thin Within becomes more about growing closer to our Savior than dropping a pants size

I believe that God absolutely positively allows success to also include the release of excess weight. I’m living proof of that. (Editors Note: Becky has released ten pounds in the past four months!) But that is just one small piece of the victory pie! There are so many other pieces of the pie that He cares more about…like how our hearts are being transformed and how our minds are being renewed and how we are being drawn closer to our Creator.

How about you?

Have you experienced success with Thin Within other than releasing weight? Has God shown you any other pieces of the victory pie in addition to weight loss? Have you experienced freedom from strongholds or broken a bad habit? Did you see anything on the list of successes that you didn’t even realize were successes?  Let’s celebrate those together!

Written by Becky Young