(If you subscribe by email, you will need to visit the blog to see the video.)
What can you do to ensure you won’t give in to eating outside of your boundaries today and tomorrow? What will you do about the mistakes that have happened previously so that they don’t dictate what happens next?
When I saw this image, it totally reminded me of ME! She has that “I can TOOeat this if I want!” rebellious look about her. AND she is redheaded and freckled like yours truly. Do you ever feel this way? 🙂 I hope not! But if you do, I am in company with you. I praise God that he is at work in me, though, and the moments when I feel this way are fewer and fewer! YAY, God!
I want to cover a lot of ground today. This post includes:
A Video about Overcoming Failure Eating
Announcement: Who is the winner of this week’s drawing
Updated Bible Study schedule
Poll asking you for what you would like to study next.
Video About Failure Eating – If you subscribe via email. please visit the blog to see the video.
Even if you haven’t been doing the study with us, you can probably relate to a day when you gave in and ate outside of 0 and 5. You may have given up for the day, not even trying any more to maintain your boundaries. This is NOT uncommon! This short video is an option for what to do instead! I hope it helps:
The drawing this week is a bit…well…unusual. I prayed as is my practice and my hand landed on NATALIA! She won the week of coaching week before last. So, if Natalia would like one of the prizes, she will get one.
But it also seemed like I should reach in again…so I did. We have two winners. 🙂
The second winner is Lesley UK. 😀
CONGRATULATIONS!!! I will send you both an email and you can let me know which of the prizes you would like:
A Thin Within book (donated by Joe Donaldson of the Thin Within ministry)
A Hunger Within book (donated by Arthur and Judy Halliday)
A week of One-on-One Coaching (donated by yours truly)
Schedule
This is what is ahead for the remaining weeks of our Weight Loss Bible Study:
Evaluation: How are you doing? Use this worksheet to find out. Week 5 March 31-April 6
Emotional Eating: “This will make me feel better.” Week 5 March 31-April 6
Hopeless Eating: “I’ll never get over this. I might as well eat.” Week 6 April 7 – 13
Good Food Eating:Â Hey, that looks good. I should eat it. Week 7Â April 14-20
Bad Scale Eating: I didn’t lose weight. I might as well eat. Week 7 April 14-20
Social Eating: She’s eating. I should eat. Week 8 April 21-27
Preventative Eating? I have to write this one up if we are going to look at it, but I think it bears doing! Week 8.
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.
What Do You Want To Do Next?
What’s next? Well, let me know what YOU would like to see! 🙂 Here is a poll to help me figure that out. 🙂 This is the first time I have tried this “polls” feature, so here’s hoping it works!
[polldaddy poll=6998572]
Practical Questions:
You may see by now that I like to end most of the blog posts with a “bringing it home” set of questions. So let me ask you: What practical steps can you take today to maintain your 0 – 5 eating boundaries? What have you learned during the past month of our study that really stands out as something you can apply today? 🙂
What can you do when you have been here before…and you have typically caved–eaten outside of your boundaries of hunger and satisfaction? What if you can see it coming? How can you observe and correct? How can you prevent another “failure?”
I just can’t renew my mind too often! I need to wash my mind clean from all kinds of lies and line dry it to have a fresh start by putting PURE truth into it!
Sometimes, an attitude of entitlement or justification taints the way I think about food, eating, and how willing I am to minimize the impact of breaking through the boundaries that God has led me to establish!
My husband just left town for a few days and for as long as we have been married (nearly 30 years), when he is out of town I have some of my biggest challenges with desire eating–wanting to break my boundaries of eating only when hungry and stopping eating when I am no longer hungry. When he leaves, it seems to trigger a mindset of some childhood trauma or something–a sense of abandonment! I know that sounds silly.
Exactly!
If I just let myself feel what I feel about it, or, worse, if I tell myself I am being silly and beat myself up over being such a baby, I invariably end up reaching for food to “comfort” me.
Hosting the bible study by Barb Raveling is SO good for me! This time, I choose to renew my mind right now and each day Bob is gone. This is what it looks like for me to do that:
Lord, Bob is out of town and you know that means I get sort of careless or I abandon all resolve with eating boundaries. I want to inhale food outside of 0 and 5.  This time, I will not do that. Instead, I will reach for you as my true Comforter. Food is a counterfeit.
The TRUTH, Lord, is that Bob hasn’t abandoned me. This isn’t my childhood. This is my husband who has always come home to me before, so his track record seems to indicate he will come home this time, too! And no matter what happens–even if he doesn’t, food can’t comfort me like you can.
The TRUTH is that while I was abandoned in many ways as a child, you never abandoned me. You were there all along.
The TRUTH is, Lord, you are with me and will never leave me or forsake me, even if everyone else does!
I know that reaching for food during these days when Bob is gone is not going to satisfy the emptiness that I may feel.
Lord, thank you that I have the freedom to eat any food I desire when I am hungry. The rest of the time, when I am drawn to food, what will really minister to my soul is:
taking a hot bath and letting wonderful Christian music sooth my soul as the hot water soothes my body
All the ice cream in the world won’t make my life better, my marriage more secure, or the trials and insecurities I face go away. I choose you, Lord. I choose your boundary lines.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; Â Â Â Â surely I have a delightful inheritance.
– Psalm 16:7
Thank you that I can set my mind not on earthly things, but on things above. What is seen is temporary, what is unseen is eternal. I choose to fix my eyes on the promise that you have an inheritance waiting for me, Lord. The boundaries that you have established for me are pleasant. When I am tempted to break them, I will turn to you. There will be joy in doing so. There will be a deep sense of satisfaction. You will be my Comfort and my Strength.
Amen
How about you? Are you facing a situation that often triggers eating outside of 0 and 5? Will you choose to renew your mind about your circumstances so that you can emerge victorious, capturing this moment for the Lord? 🙂
Going with Bob to Disneyland really was unusually enlightening for me this time around. Such a short trip, yet some great new insights!
1. Planning meals is important to me when traveling. Obviously, there are some negotiables that have to be considered when traveling, but having a rough idea of when and where and what seems to be important to me, not only so we can keep a budget and not “blow a wad” buying food in Disneyland, but also to fend off the anxiety I sometimes feel when I am not sure what the plan is for meals. This is something that God is definitely still working with me on and I had no idea it was such a need until this trip exposed that fact.
2. Stress can hit unexpectedly, even at the happiest place on earth. To see how Bob handled the unexpected airline challenge was very illuminating to me. He wanted to deal with the problem before eating…even though he was hungry. I am not sure I would have handled it that way had I been alone with a similar situation! Here is the thing…life IS stressful. If we let stress derail us from adhering to our boundaries, we are likely to never make steady headway. I think the key is how we will handle stress when it hits. In Bob’s case, he didn’t even want to “go there” and sit down to a meal when he was physically hungry because of other factors. He mentioned in the video that being hungry, being in a place with so many good food options, and knowing he wanted to medicate himself from the stress all resulted in him not wanting to exercise self-control if he were to have a meal at that very moment. That was like an “ah HA!” moment for me. Funny how I can learn so much from him when *I* am the one who has been doing this for so long! LOL! He wanted to deal with the problem causing the stress FIRST. (Duh! What a novel idea! You mean, eating isn’t necessary in order for me to handle the problem? LOL!)
3. Walking into a situation where an abundance of FOOD sights and smells bombard (as they do in Disneyland) is NOT for the faint of heart! It seemed as though everywhere we went in Disneyland and when we walked to and from the condo outside the park, there was an assault of FOOD FOOD FOOD! Everywhere we turned people were eating turkey legs with an incredible aroma! It seemed like ice cream cones were as common as Mickey Mouse ears! And that is just the beginning. I can NOT imagine doing this if I didn’t have experience with not giving in to food in the face of temptation. I know that 5 years ago, I probably wouldn’t have handled this without eating my way through the park. I am reminded of years ago when I had just had children and I took them to the mall. For me, the mall was ALL about all the different food options I could indulge in. It had nothing to do with shopping and everything to do with eating. I think that may be what Disneyland (and other similar destinations) are for many…and could be for me if I am not careful!
4. Partnering with a spouse is invaluable. I can’t pretend not to be blessed. The many years Bob was not on board with 0 to 5 eating were hard, though he has never been a “foodie” like me. He has always been relatively supportive…never intentionally derailing me from my boundaries. Nevertheless, to be partnering with him was helpful to maintain my resolve to persevere with my 0 to 5 boundaries.
Do you have a place you enjoy going that could cause you to stumble in maintaining your boundaries? What strategies might you use to overcome these “stumbling stones” and come out the other side victorious?
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DRAWING WINNER!
I don’t want to forget to announce this week’s winner for our drawing! Whenever you comment here at the blog, I add your name to the “hat” (actually a brown paper sack). On Friday each week, I pray that God would have my hand land on the name of the person he wants to have the opportunity to pick a prize from one of our three prizes before I draw one lucky name out. The prizes to choose from are: Thin Within (copies donated by the Thin Within ministry–thanks to Joe Donaldson), Hunger Within (copies donated by Arthur and Judy Halliday), or a week of coaching by yours truly. 🙂
This week, we had over 60 names to draw from. That means you all were busy interacting with one another. THANK YOU.
This week’s winner of our drawing is Cindy!
CONGRATULATIONS! I will be shooting you an email. 🙂
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?
