Weight, Eat, Live.

I'm starting on a new journey and this one doesn't involve traveling!

I've been inspired by close friends that I respect and admire to do what has seemed impossible...

I'm changing my diet. 

No more random eats, little snacks, or indulging in the foods that I've easily and so often grabbed for. I've decided to challenge myself to eat differently, eat healthy whole-grained, organically grown, non-dairy foods that will enrich my body and detox from what I've put into my body for almost 27 years. Good luck to me.

I'm changing my diet today - Sunday, September 8, 2013 - and I'll continue it for 40 days. Ironic that it's a Biblical number but my original goal was to make it to my friend's wedding reception which is a day after this ends. Now, there's a deeper meaning involved.

But I'm ready for the challenge. No one's telling me to do it (and that might be why I'm more persuaded to go for it) but also I'm ready to feel BETTER, not only about the way I look but to take increased care of what has been given to me as a wonderful and graceful gift from the Lord.

I've always fluctuated with my weight, and as a woman, it's difficult to take. Am I right, ladies?? Not only are we critical and harsh on ourselves, we take that outlook and then compare ourselves to the other women we see every day. It doesn't ever work out well. I used to cope with food because it made me feel good or I'd eat out of boredom. That didn't work out well either.

I didn't have too many insecurities about my weight until I went to college. I was comfortable enough about who I was that it didn't bother me if someone commented to me that I was too tom-boyish or maybe on the heavy end. Then college happened where girls spent hours on their hair and make up and athletes commented on how "fat" they were even though they were in the best shape of their lives. Even if you don't think those things about yourself, when you continue to hear how others criticize the qualities about themselves that you actually find unique and pretty, and that's when the comparison begins. Because if they're thinner than you but calling themselves fat, what does that make you? In God's eyes, it just makes you beautiful and perfect. But in the wonderful early twenties, all girl dorm room living, young woman's eyes...it just makes you fatter. 

So we fight that in unhealthy ways - by eating less, working out more, obsessed with finding the right form flattering clothes -- or we give in to unhealthy ways - binge eating, emotional eating, negative thinking, not working out, giving up completely. We forget to take care of ourselves in the way that God has intended us to.

So this is my journey to a healthier, more content life. I believe this will affect me far deeper than I could have ever imagined. But isn't that what God does? He does immeasurably more than I ask or imagine, Ephesians 3:20.