Category Archives: Weight Loss

The word "Hope" and a new Benchmark

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product_image_xl550Have you ever had your hopes set for a certain level of something. You say to yourself, I can weigh X but please don’t let me weigh Y when I get on this new scale. Well it wasn’t a full on Z but it was over the Y I had held out hope for. So I am going to say to get to what I would consider a milestone for me is to lose 15 lbs, That would get me back under the magic Y major number. Believe me my Y number would be most peoples Z number or more for sure, but everyone needs to start somewhere. Now I am not starting this weight right sizing effort at a particularly easy point as I am about to go on vacation, but I hope to be very active on my vacation and come back not to far above where I am now.

Hope is a funny word, too frequently we use it even when we are pretty sure something is not going to happen. I hear us say frequently my hope is based on Jesus, or rests in Jesus, surely this isn’t the same hope we mean when we talk about our weight like I just did or about our favorite team winning. Is there a better word I should be using? Because I am sure my hope does rest in my relationship to Jesus, and through him to the forgiveness of my sins, but i need another word for trying not to go overboard on vacation. :)

A new start requires a benchmark

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I ordered a new scale to help in the benchmarking of knowing where I am. I have a scale, it only goes up to 400 lbs, and sadly I am beyond that. How much beyond is anyone’s guess, but as of Wednesday it won’t be as my “My Weigh XL550″ is set to arrive at my office. So soon I’ll know how far I have fallen, as at some time last year I had lost back down to 365 at one point. But you have to start somewhere, and I think that means figuring out where you are beyond simply my hometown.

A new sojourner

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I recently had a talk with my brother, who like me struggles with his weight. We have for years bantered back and forth about the need for our weight loss and the desire to encourage one another. I want to welcome him here as a new writer who I hope will encourage me and I him in our desire to make our temples worthy of the father.  So in the coming days he will begin chronicling his journey toward a healthier weight, my prayer is that perhaps with a different medium of expression he and I can encourage each other to draw upon Gods grace and strength to begin the journey back to a healthier weight.

Weight is undoubtedly one of the biggest burdens in my life, for others it may be gambling, drugs, pornography  or alcohol.  But for me it is my weight, it drowns me in guilt due to my inability to stop cold turkey, and I have lost and gained the same pound hundreds of times throughout my life.  The weight watchers program is a good one and if you have the cash it is a pretty good start, but I fear it is not my solution.  At $40 a month it is not a car payment, but since my wife needs it as well at $80 it is noticible, and I unfortunantly know what needs to be done, yet I don’t always do it.

I have been heavy all my life and while in the military I routinely passed the pinch test at 220 lbs considerably heavier than my 6′ frame by Army standards would otherwise allow.  So I know I will never weigh 180 lbs unless I am not muscular as well, but my current traget goal is to break the 300 lbs barrier.  From there I will try and regain my svelt athletic 220 lbs form someday.  But for me today it is beginning with just today.  I will start by adding exercise back into my life and cut my portions in half from where they were.

Pray for me and my brother Steve, I know I want to build Gods temple into a stronghold that is healthy and allows me to be the witness I want to be in my walk toward my future with him.  I want to be able to do the athletic activities and see my son marry and grow a family.  If it is His will I go sooner, praise God, but please Lord give me the strength to not squander the time you do give me here.

The weeks results

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My wife and I have been using the Weight Watchers system to lose weight since January, and I have to admit it has been successful despite my own actions. But yesterday my wife cried “Uncle”, the meeting style support is just not her bag. So we are going off the reservation, embarking on it alone with just each other for support, or will we? Most of the folks in the group are friends, and we will see them at Church multiple times a week, so perhaps encouragement won’t be a factor.

The e-tools provided by Weight Watchers although interesting have never been a real factor in adherence, more a tool supposed to help you see why what happened on the scales happened. But if that were the only way I knew what happened then I would be delusional. I was there, I know I ate the Arby’s BLT and a Beef n chedder, and that’s more than I should have. But I have a better attitude now toward making these incidents occur further apart than they used to. The old me paid little to no attention to the frequency of these binges. Now I am more thoughtful, I want to succeed and lose weight, so I actually think about what I’m ordering. I realize the only way to successfully lose weight is to exercise and watch the portions and type of foods I am eating.

So where am I at, we’ll I am adjusting to my new scales from the Weight Watchers ones. Since they appear to be about 5 lbs. lighter than the WW ones I will subtract 5 lbs from my starting weight and call it good. As long as the numbers are decreasing thats a good thing, I didn’t gain it all in a 6 month period, and I can’t get rid of it in one 6 month period. But I might be able to do so in 4, so I will keep after it.

I pray my wife will also continue to be mindful, I want to grow old with her in a good way, where we can go do things and be comfortable and healthy. She is a tremendous gift from God and seeing my Dad go through a painful illness with my mother makes me appreciate the days I have with her now even more. Pray for us to be stronger and continue the walk toward a more godly healthy lifestyle, weight control and godliness that’s another topic, I’ll hit that one in the future.

Oh, and to date I believe I have lost somewhere around 57 lbs. I’ll try and check in here weekly since I won’t be doing so at the group, and I’ll pocket the $80 I used to send to Weight Watchers.