My Weight Loss Story
I know how it feels to have no control over binge eating and compulsive overeating. My binge eating began in college 36 years ago, mmm..powdered donuts! Back then my metabolism was high and with playing sports I burned it off.
Stay in shape or experience the pain!
For me, working out is not a choice. I have to workout. 33 years ago, I suffered a serious spine injury in an industrial accident. Vertebrae twisted out of place, I couldn't move my left shoulder, arm or hand without experiencing extreme pain (and I'm left handed!) The doctors could not completely fix me so I ended up classified as 5% permanently partially disabled. I was told I would need to workout and develop a daily stretching routine to keep the pain to a minimum.
As I got older I continued to struggle with binge eating. My metabolism was obviously slowing down; my response was to workout more. Even with the extra workouts my weight slowing increased (you can't outrun overeating).
Don't eat the cruise ship!
In 2003 I went on a cruise. Boy, did I eat! In just 7 days I developed a horrible new habit. Now I was a compulsive over eater and a binge eater! When I got home, I would gorge every night after dinner. I'd get up from the table and raid the fridge and pantry, eating until I felt sick. A couple hours later I'd do it again.
As I gained weight, my response was to make each workout longer and more intense. The weight kept going up.
In 2005 I suffered a serious hip injury from over exercising. I literally couldn't walk. The doctors thought I might have cancer in my hip, luckily I didn't. I went to see a specialist, he told me my injury was rarely seen in a hip. He said, "Once you've healed, slow down and don't do such intense workouts, you're not in your 20's anymore." I backed off on the intensity of my workouts…and the weight kept coming.
Stop workouts and feel the pain or keep working out and die!
One day I measured my body fat (28%) and I freaked out. What was I going to do? I had to workout to keep the pain away. I couldn't stop binge eating and compulsive overeating. I now feared it wasn't a matter of if, but when I'd have a heart attack working out.
I didn't know what to do. I finally broke down and begged God to help me.
Everything I knew about resisting temptation, losing weight and keeping it off was wrong
I have always been fascinated by psychology and the study of the mind (I had a Psychology minor in college). I read anything I can get my hands on about psychology and research into how the mind works. When I would learn techniques I could use to better myself I would use them, but any success was always short term.
Basically, modern psychology has shown us what an amazing gift we've been given in the unbelievable power of the mind. I became fascinated by those who were using this power to become super successful, those at the top of their professions. I began to study successful people in all walks of life and I found something very interesting. While they had somehow harnessed the ability to use their minds to achieve great success in some areas of life, in other areas they seemed incapable of using the same skills. In some areas of life they were doing fantastic, in others they were a total mess.
I found it boiled down to temptation. Where their lives were successful they could resist temptation, in areas that were a mess they couldn't. But why couldn't they resist temptation all the time? Something else had to be going on.
What modern psychology has proven
plus God's help equals
the ability to resist temptation
My breakthrough came when I begged God for help. What I discovered was that we have been given tremendous abilities, but that is only one part of the equation. We need to use those abilities in a certain way along with God's help.
I discovered when we use the tremendous abilities we've been given to develop an awareness of the presence of God throughout our day everything can change.
How? When you develop the ability to resist the temptation to binge eat and compulsive overeat, you have developed a new skill. That skill can be used in other areas of your life where you struggle with temptation.
"Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God."
01Peter 1:18 "The Message"
Another word for consciousness is awareness. How would you be different if you went through your everyday life (not just prayer time) with a deep awareness of God?
While some may think developing this awareness means all fun in life is gone, the exact opposite is true.
To glow on the outside you must first glow on the inside. When you develop an awareness of God's presence you begin to glow on the inside.
What can happen when you spend a few minutes each day learning to resist temptation?
age 49 - 28% body fat age 54 - 11% body fat
I lost over 1/2 of my body fat.
Most of the fat came off fast...and 5 years later has stayed off!
I did not diet (I kept eating the same foods, even junk food).
I exercised less.
So what's different? In just minutes a day, I learned to resist the temptation to binge and overeat. That's it.
