Coins of Obedience

Having been inspired by the three resources I mentioned yesterday, gently nudged towards losing weight by my parents and facing my daughter's wedding (oh!  all those pictures!), I'm off on this new weight-loss journey.  I knew that the way I've done it before wouldn't work. If it did, I wouldn't need to be doing it again!  I was determined to try something different.  This is going to be an exciting year for our family.  My son is going to Spain with his high school, my daughter is planning her wedding, three of us are going on a mission trip to Puerto Rico....I don't want to spend this exciting year obsessing with losing weight.  And since in my heart I feel like my real milestone is a lifestyle of obedience, I decided to count "obediences" instead of ounces, calories and pounds.  For some reason, I started viewing obedience as coins. And each time I make a right choice, I visualize throwing another coin on the pile.  In my mind's eye, that pile is getting bigger every day and it is exciting for me!

There are four main ideas supporting my pile of coins.  Let me preface this by saying that I have no medical or nutritional background, other than what I've learned over a lifetime of weight struggles.  But this is the plan that I'm trying for me.

• Eat Sensibly - I've dieted all my life and probably can quote the calories, fat grams and carbs right out of the book for most things I eat.  Being armed with that information is really important.  While I don't write everything down and add it up, I do try to mentally stay around 1200 calories a day. I focus on portion-control and eating a broad range of foods.  I will never be a totally "clean" eater, so I am not doing anything extreme like banning all sugar and bread.  I recognize that I might have to tighten up as I get closer to my goal weight, but I'll ease into that if I need to.
• Exercise Moderately - I love to exercise.  I love the feeling of that little bit of muscle soreness throughout the day.  Not the agonizing, "I can hardly move" soreness...just the vague feeling that my muscles have been worked.  I've done all kinds of exercise in the past...running 3 miles five days a week, The Firm and TaeBo home exercise videos, walking.  But I do tend to get pain in my knees and my hips, so I have to be careful, especially here in the beginning when I am carrying so much extra weight.  As a busy working wife and mother, I'm also short on time.  So most of my exercise has to be done early in the morning. To start out with, I'm focusing just on cardio....burning calories.  I have a recumbant exercise bike that I use each morning.  That's all I'm doing for the first ten weeks.  After that, I will add some work with weights and hopefully, eventually, I can add a little bit of running.
• Weigh Once a Month - As I mentioned earlier, I refuse to be obsessed with the numbers.  But I do need to stay on top of how I'm doing if I'm going to reach my goal by next Thanksgiving.  I've set a target for each month and as long as I stay below the target, I won't have to count calories or weigh more often.  But if I miss my target, I may have to become more rigorous.  I weigh only on the first of every month.
• Hold on to God - This is as much or more of a spiritual journey as a physical one.  It will be impossible for me to make lasting healthy changes if I am not relying on God's strength.  I'm being faithful in my daily quiet time with Him, currently doing the 21-day devotional that goes with Made to Crave. And I'm in a Bible Study with a community of ladies who are supporting, encouraging and holding me accountable. 

So we'll talk about each of these in more depth as I go along, but those are the basics....Eat Sensibly, Exercise Moderately, Weigh Once, Hold On!