Renewing My Mind – Evening Eating Part 2

Renewing My Mind – Evening Eating Part 2

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This week we are hitting “Night-Time Eating” head on by creating truth cards that will help us fight the lies we believe that cause us to give in to temptation after dinner with TRUTH.

Today, I want to share with you page two  in my truth card deck!

  • This “habit” (of eating at night) is the single BIGGEST hindrance to my confidence that I am currently at my God-given size.

After I obsessed and went nuts and dropped all the weight I did, it was clear that I had gone too far. So I am not at that LOOOOOW a weight right now. I am good with that. But what I *don’t* know is if I am where I should be. I don’t think the number matters at all. But night-time eating is sort of a bug-a-boo for me. I haven’t conquered it at all. I know that many evenings, I do “desire” eating. If I were to be obedient during this trouble time, I know that I would have confidence that no matter what my size or number or whatever, I am right where God intends for me to be.

  • I need to CHOOSE to surrender my “desire eating” in the evening to God. Will I?

It really boils down to WILL I OBEY GOD? Or my desires?

  • Will I call “foul” to God when he asks me to give evening eating over to him?

Is this one of those areas where I retain *my* (supposed) rights? Or am I truly surrendered…”Not my will, but thine be done?” No food tastes as good as obedience feels!

  • Is giving up food after dinner (when I am not hungry) worth what I get in return?

There truly is no sweeter sensation–no tantalizing taste-bud thrill–than loving God with my choices. The peace that I experience when I submit to his authority is just SO wonderful!

HOW ABOUT YOU?

Are these truths that you can add to your truth card deck? How is it going for you using your truth cards? What truths can you add to these that I have posted?

Renewing My Mind – Evening Eating Part 1

Renewing My Mind – Evening Eating Part 1

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Do you struggle with eating after dinner? I know that many do. We aren’t typically hungry for the few hours that follow dinner time, yet we nevertheless end up eating. I have three truth cards for that as well. It helps me to read these truth cards out loud just before dinner time. It also helps me to read them out loud just after dinnertime, too. If I find I am tempted, I like to launch Barb Raveling’s “I Deserve a Donut” app (she has an I Deserve a Donut book now too for those without iPhones!) and use some of her questions to illuminate what is going on.

In any event, here are THREE truths that I can say out loud that help me to NIP EVENING EATING in the bud!

  • Unless I eat an early dinner (or light dinner, stopping before I reach a “5” on the hunger scale), I simply WILL NOT BE HUNGRY before bed!

Have you experienced this? Where you know that you ate plenty at dinner time, but you know you are planning…actually planning to eat anyhow? Do we want to BE CURED of this overeating and extra weight stuff? Do we really WANT to be obedient to the Lord in eating only what we need for fuel? Then the truth is, unless we eat a very early dinner or an extremely light dinner, it isn’t likely we will be hungry before bed!

  •  I sleep better when I don’t overeat at bed-time or just before.

Have you ever had a food-fest in the evening while watching TV or a movie or playing games with the family? Or perhaps that is your computer or reading time and you just munch most of the evening? Has it affected how soundly you sleep? It does for many of us who struggle with this. When we use food for fuel, we are able to sleep peacefully!

  • When I don’t overeat at night, I wake up hungry for breakfast which is a good thing!

A lot of people assume that they need to eat in the morning when they wake up. Honestly, when I overeat the night before, I am not hungry until 10am or sometimes even 11am! Is this true for you?

How About You?

Do you struggle with night-time eating? Might speaking these truths out loud each morning and again in the evening before you eat after dinner actually help you? What are your strategies for emerging victorious over the temptations to eat in the evening “just because?”

Stay tuned for part 2 of night-time eating Truth Cards!

Battle Update

Battle Update

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Screen shot of the notes on my phone

Last week I posted about the battle I was going through.  I wanted to give an update.

As I said in the post, my battle plan was:  to be in the Word, to pray, to thank the Lord, to read my truth cards, to renew my mind, to keep pressing on!

And that’s exactly what I’ve been doing!  And God has been faithful to help me this week!  Praise God!

Each morning, before I even get out of bed, I read the Bible, followed by reading my truth cards, my notes on my phone, journaling, and sometimes Thin Within (which I started reading again this past week).  This starts my day on the right foot and gets my mind in the right place.

Another thing I have been making more of an effort in doing is journaling.  When I have overeaten, I will write about it in my journal afterwards.  Usually, the overeating takes place at night, so I will write about it in the morning.  There have also been times when the enemy has attacked my mind with thoughts about going back to dieting, so I have been truth journaling about why that’s not something I or God wants me to do.  I will write every truth I can think of to dissolve the lie the enemy is throwing at me.  It’s been SO good to journal more!

I’ve also been setting a timer on my phone which prompts me to open my notes on my phone displaying three scriptures (which I share a screen shot of above).  It’s amazing how having those reminders during the day really makes a difference.

Can I encourage you to start your truth cards if you haven’t already?  There is power in the Word of God!  It becomes clear to me more and more about how important it is for me to read those cards each day.  I have literally watched the Lord transform my life in the area of eating and all it’s taken is me taking the time to read those truth-packed cards.  Renewing our mind is so important: change begins WITHIN!

The evening has been the hardest for me lately.  Because of where I am at in my pregnancy (baby is bulking up), I’m starting to get a little hungrier.  For awhile there I wasn’t hungry enough to eat in the evening, but now I am finding that I am hungry and need to eat.  The interesting thing is that even if I’m at a “0” and I eat, the enemy tries to condemn me for eating.  It’s probably because I was making such an effort to not eat if I wasn’t at a “0” before.  The condemnation was the driving force behind me thinking that I can’t trust myself, that I need to go on a diet after pregnancy, and blah, blah, blah.  That’s where the battle would begin in my mind.  So I continue to press on with the Lord by doing my part in renewing my mind and He does the rest.  Praise God!

Friends, let’s continue to press on with the Lord in this journey toward becoming thin within.  It starts with our mind.  As God continues to do His mighty work within us, it will become evident outside of us!

How about you? 

Do you feel like you are still in the heavy part of the battle?  Are you putting on the full armor of God each day?  Will you join me in spending time in the Word and renewing your mind with your truth cards?  The enemy is the Father of lies, but God will dissolve every lie the enemy throws at us.  God is so good–all the time!

Written by: Christina

Night Time Eating – Carrie’s Testimony and Challenge!

Pathway...
 Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.
 Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure.
Do not swerve to the right or to the left;
 turn your foot away from evil. Proverbs 4:26
Night time eating is the most recent stronghold that I am seeking to overcome, with God’s help. The Lord has delivered me from the diet mentality, afternoon snacking, over-exercising and several other habits and obsessions. However, I was still holding onto eating after leaving the dinner table. Not eating several hours later when I was hungry, but almost immediately after leaving the dinner table with a satisfied belly.
The habit was created during my years on weight watchers – I would save “points” for the end of the day. While my husband put our son to bed, I could finally rest and relax – I had earned a treat and I was going to enjoy it! Fast forward many years and it was a daily habit, largely associated with emotion, that I was just not willing to surrender. I realized recently that I had to give it up, to surrender it. So, I thought I’d share some of my strategies that have helped me continue moving forward in this journey. (These strategies are in addition to the reading of Truth cards, reading scripture, prayer, praise music, etc).
Please understand that I had to draw a line in the sand to not eat after leaving the dinner table. Some of you may need a meal closer to bedtime, but I sleep better and feel better if my stomach is empty or close to empty at bedtime.  So, I choose to close the kitchen after dinner!
1)   I start every day with a commitment, a promise, to God that I will not eat after dinner.  When I am tempted, I remember my promise and then my mind and heart turns toward my Lord. I know, too, that He provides a way out for me in temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13).
2)   I report to my accountability partner nightly on my success or failure on this point.
3)   I track on my phone with a checkmark if I have stayed in this particular boundary. It gives me an easy way to see if I am stumbling or succeeding.
4)   I review “my reasons to stay in my boundaries even when it is tough” daily. The reason that speaks to me the strongest currently is that I don’t want to be in this same place in 6 months. I want to be experiencing more and more freedom. I know that surrendering the nighttime eating is crucial to this growth.  So, when I am tempted, I often ask myself “where do I want to be in 6 months?”.
5)   I have started planning for a little sweet at the end of dinner. I will join my family in a small bowl of ice cream. And sometimes I don’t eat the ice cream. I am free to do either one!
6)   I change the direction of my feet.  TV watching is strongly related to the urge to eat after dinner. I am now watching a lot less TV at night. Now, especially when I am strongly tempted, I will take a bath. Or I might read a book or work on my Bible studies or call a friend. Or I just wait for my husband to come back downstairs.  I just do not go near the TV and I try to stay out of the kitchen.
7)   I memorize scripture so that in a tough moment, I can immediately go to the Truth. It helps me to pray my way through the tough moments.
8)   When I do slip up, I observe and correct. I make a plan for next so that I will have a better outcome. I also may truth journal about my thoughts that I had before I broke my boundary.
I underlined the two strategies that have made the biggest difference for me. As of today, I surrendered this habit to the Lord 40 days ago. Quite biblical, isn’t it 🙂?  I have had 4 nights where I slipped up and 36 nights when I was surrendered. I consider that a huge success when I look back and know that I was eating after dinner almost every night.

What About You?

What behavior of yours may be holding you back from total freedom? Pray about what steps you might take to help you overcome.  Please share that that others may learn from you!
~ Carrie

Renewing My Mind – Evening Eating Part 3

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On Monday and Tuesday, I posted parts 1 and 2 in this series. Today is the final installment. Evening eating is one of the things that many of us struggle with–it is that “bewitching hour” between dinner and bed-time. Often the kids head off to bed and we want the reward for a day well done! Or conversely, we are lonely and want to comfort ourselves. Whatever the primary reason is for giving in to eating in the evening when we aren’t hungry, we can FIGHT the lies we believe with truth. I have been sharing my truth cards with you this week. I hope it is helpful. I would love to know what other truths you use to fight the lies that lead to night-time eating. What you share may help one of the people who visits this blog! 🙂

  • My enjoyment of my family/husband is NOT dependent on my eating with them when I am not hungry.

If my husband or kids start munching on something in the evening, there is nothing that says I have to join them. I can relish their company even more when I focus on them instead of the food. I wonder what it is that has created the lie that fellowship is equated with eating in our minds? It certainly doesn’t need to be that way. I can absolutely enjoy my family members without eating!

  • My enjoyment of movies, games, etc., in the evening does not hinge on eating too!

This is another lie that I tend to believe…that if we watch Netflix or play a game together that it is made all the better by eating. Truthfully, I feel like my conscience kicking into overdrive and the physical misery I end up in diminishes the enjoyment of the food AND the movie or game that I might be enjoying (AND the company of my husband and kids!).

  • I can RELISH the precious hours before bed and TOTALLY enjoy them—ALL THE MORE when I don’t blast through my boundaries and eat outside of 0 and 5.

This gets back to yesterday’s truths as well…that it FEELS SO WONDERFUL to be tender hearted to my boundaries. Don’t you think? Those hours before bed when I am not hungry are made so much more rich…so much more of a blessing when I don’t defy my conscience!

How About You?

Do these truths sound like they might work for you? How might you amend them to be more applicable? When do you use your truth cards for the most victory?