2014-0127 - quality vs. quantity

As you may recall, one of the goals I set a couple weeks back is to lose weight, get healthy, and stay motivated!  In order to track my progress, I determined to weigh myself on Saturday mornings.  The first week I was so happy, I lost 1.6 pounds!  I didn’t make many changes to my diet, I didn’t feel deprived, and I added some exercise to my day to help with my energy levels.

The second week my scale said I didn’t lose any weight at all.  Arrggghhh!  I started out to be a little discouraged; then I thought about it a little while and chose NOT to be discouraged.  I hadn’t lost any weight; but I didn’t gain any either!  I decided that was a good thing and that I would count that as a success!  We have to take our battles one at a time and I am content this week with NOT GAINING weight!  That made me happy.

As I thought about what changed from week 1 to week 2 I realized that I probably hadn’t eaten a lot more calories in week two than I had in week one; but, I ate a larger percentage of those calories in carbohydrates.  I was sick, and was experiencing some digestive issues that second week so I ended up eating more “comfort foods” and white carbs like bananas, potatoes, white rice, and crackers.  I am sure I ate more fruit than green vegetables.  I was craving sweets so I substituted peanut butter for lean protein several evenings in a row.

I didn’t write down everything I ate and drank I ate so I’m sure I put more calories in than I should have.  I didn’t feel good, coupled with the fact that it was bitterly cold outside, I didn’t walk last week; therefore, I got virtually NO exercise.  And, last – but certainly not least in my little world – I didn’t drink as much water as I should have.  Goes to show me that the quality of the calories I consume are just as important to my consistently losing weight as the quantity of calories I consume.

At different points in my life I would have taken this as a complete failure and would have let my defeatism dictate that the diet (change in eating habits) was a disaster.  I wanted to go out and binge on something sweet, and high calorie, and really bad for me; but, I chose not to do that this time and I am counting that choice as a victory.

God cares about my struggles!  All of my struggles!  But, Satan likes nothing better than for me to get discouraged and quit what I’ve started.  He plants seeds of misgiving so that God’s children start questioning their ability to make good decisions; he likes it when we don’t trust ourselves, and he loves it when we doubt whether God really cares us.  Be comforted!  God cares about us!  He cares about everything we think, feel, do, or say!!!!

We all know that God cares about those big things like salvation and our Christian testimony, but Satan wants us to think that the daily stuff of life is too small to interest the God of the Universe.  God does care about the details of our lives!  God cares about our thoughts and feelings, our joys and sorrows, our trials and triumphs, our motives and the means we use to accomplish our goals.  God cares when and how we do things.

Yes, I’ve let negative talk, and poor self-confidence, stop me lots of times before; but NOT THIS TIME!  This time I am drawing on Gods strength and power to get me straightened out and moving in the right direction.

Philippians 1:6 (KJV) - Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

My prayer for today...   Thank you, Lord, for lending me your strength and your power.  Thank you for giving me a sound mind and the wisdom to look at my own shortcomings in this situation and for giving me the resolve to renew my efforts.  Help me, Lord, to choose the right food this week, to write down all that I eat or drink, and to get some exercise.  Remind me often that you love me and that you will help me if I make the effort to help myself.