the sugar slide. say it ain’t so.

Okay, I know that is poor grammar but I can’t think of a more descriptive title for this posting.

I’ve been asked a lot of questions about my weight loss/maintenance journey. Here’s where I am on the map.

• Although I still fit into my skinny jeans, I struggle with craving and eating sweets. From sweets it is an easy “hop” to salty snack foods and pretty soon a “leap” into eating what I call the TRIPLE THREAT TRINITY aka: wreakyourlife. What am I talking about? sugar. salt. fat. When they become your food group of choice, you are in trouble.

 

• I’m learning. I don’t believe I will ever get over my food crushes. This year is a journey to figure out how to manage my eating. My dream is to eat all things in moderation. But… here is what I’m finding.

Eating good whole grain cereal topped with a banana turns on this craving.

 

 

• I’m grateful that though my food struggles continue, there are a couple of habits that are still in place. I am still regularly exercising. I am still hooked on water. I find these two habits just short of miraculous and it gives me hope.

 

• No one makes it through the day with a perfect score.

 

• It isn’t any secret that I love word pictures. I have two. Here is the way I view the challenge before me. I picture the impulses from my brain to eat unhealthy foods to waves crashing in or clouds moving slowly along. My goal when the pastry calls my name? Stop, slow down and wait for the wave or cloud to pass on by. Because it will move on. I don’t need to jump into the wave or attach to the cloud. I DO NOT NEED TO GIVE IN.  For my sake, I better repeat it, “I do not need to give in!”

 

• If I’m not riding a wave or floating on a cloud, where am I trying to land? On the GROUND!  Grounded to what I know works for me. Grounded to remember that pastries lie. They have never once solved any of my problems. They do offer enjoyment, for about 30 seconds. I can do better.  But I so soon forget.

 

• I do not want to redefine beauty. God has given us a very clear picture! It is found in the book of Wisdom.

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;                                                              but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

  ~ Proverbs 31:30

I spent a few hours this past week in the presence of a lovely lady. Other than hearing of her struggle with a neurological disease, never once did I hear her mention any struggle with “beauty issues.” What did she glow about? Her Bible club work in a city school, a recent trip to a third world country, her work in feeding those that are HIV/AIDS, spending a week of vacation helping disabled children at a summer camp…

A beauty that doesn’t fade. She has it.

A beauty that counts for eternity. It’s what I’m after.

I want to be a woman who loves the Lord, who obeys the Lord.

And with my Beauty Manual in hand, I stake out my ground. My journey calls for obedience in this pathway of food addiction.

Grab and go for it!

I hope we’re grounded together. For the record, in case I haven’t made this perfectly clear, I am one of the most hopeless cases I know.  If I can see some improvement, so can you in whatever your struggles are. I’m with ya in pain and gain, in victory and in loss.

margi

monkjo@live.com    My mailbox is always open for comments/questions.