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! 🙂
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.
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?
