Yes, I turned forty this week and was taken out for dinner twice, a surprise lunch, had a rather large take away, some very tasty chocolate brownies made by Lorna’s lovely daughter and basically did not eat healthily at all. And I’m alright with that. I had a really special birthday week and was made to feel very special by the people I love.
Gary sent me the most beautiful bunch of roses and got me a dress making mannequin which we are picking up on Sunday. Somehow weight has not featured highly on my radar this week. However, I know me well. I know that as soon as I feel I have achieved something (the 20Ib loss) I will almost immediately let up on myself. This can be nicely illustrated by the sheer lack of any type of weight loss since my 20Ib loss. This is normal for me.
One of the reasons I chose to share my start-stop journey of weight loss is that, unlike many, I have NEVER reached my goal weight. Ever. I always except mediocrity from myself in this area and settle with losing some weight rather than continuing on to my goal weight. I said on the first or second week that this time I was not going to give up. I might not lose weight every week, but I will not give up. Having always given up, sometimes with the goal in sight, often not, I want this time to be different. Thing is, if I do what I’ve always done things will be as they always have been.
Right now, I don’t want to put in the hard slog to lose the weight. I’m not talking exercise. Both me and my body love to move. It is good for me, not just in the long-term, but it feels good in the moment. I like to exercise, it is not a hardship to me at all. I don’t like to watch what I eat. This is the slog, not the exercise. This is the point at which I fail. I am overweight, not due to laziness, but due to greed. I eat more than I need.
So how am I going to change this?
The first way is to turn this area over to God. I have fought doing this for so long. I actually don’t want to even think of God and weight loss in the same sentence. I don’t want to feel responsible before the God I adore, and then feel I have let Him down when I inevitably fail. Somehow, having God in the equation means failure isn’t an option; laughing it off isn’t an option; pretending it doesn’t matter isn’t an option. So from this day forth I am going to hand this area over to God and let Him become Lord over every part of my life not just the areas I don’t struggle in. It is a matter of self-control, one of the fruits of the Spirit, who I believe lives in me. God has already done the work, He has gifted me with the tools and His Encourager. I now just have to put in the work. Failure is not an option because God is not in the business of failing those who love Him. Can I please ask something from you? Please could you pray with me and for me, because this is one journey I will not be able to make unless God is by my side.
The second way is to set a goal which is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound:
This means I am going to share something that few people of the same size would want to. I am going to share my weight. I am going to do this because it is my weight I specifically want to see change. I already eat healthy home cooked meals with lots of fruit and veg, I just eat too much of everything!
I currently weigh 238 Ib (I am 5 feet 8 inches high, and I really am large-boned with feet size of 81/2). My goal weight, for my stature, is a very reasonable 158Ib. However, I have never been below 175Ib (the weight I was when I married) and I have never been below 208Ib since I have had children. At my heaviest, a year after I had the twins, I was 280Ib. My weight is a huge battle for me, and it is not one I have ever won and yet it is one I have battled for forever.
My goal is to lose 10 more pounds to bring my weight loss to 30Ib in total, and I will do it by the 1st of November. I don’t intend to post my weight again until then. I may not even weigh myself until then. I know what I need to do to lose the weight (or in my case what I need to not do). If I am able to control my eating I know I will lose the weight. This gives me just over a month, which is completely doable.
I will still post on a Saturday if I have something to share. Next week I intend to post my monthly update on our financial challenge, so there will be no wibbly wobbly post then.
Over to you. How have you done this week? Are you also setting achievable and specific goals in the weeks to come. Please do share, I would love to pray for you.
Thank you for your transparency, and happy birthday! I have just discovered your wonderful blog, and although I homeschool across the pond, I am really enjoying reading of all the wonderful activities you and your family are doing. Thank you for inspiring me to be more creative in my own school endeavors!
Should have mentioned as well that I struggle with self-control in my eating. Am going to try and cut out the snacking this week. Will pray that you have success!
Thank you so much for leaving such a lovely comment – you made my day! I will be praying for you too. Thank you for your prayers.
I wish you the very best for your new year of life (including your desired weight loss, love, peace and healthiness)! You are great, stay as you are!
My last two weeks were really hard because some of my tooth nerves inflamed after I visited the dentists. Now I am happy again, pain and agony have decreased! (Leaving behind a weak person which has to put on some weight- maybe I could get some of your pounds? ;)).
Enjoy life (and your weekend)!
Ha! If only it worked that way. I would happily donate as many pounds as you wished!!
You know, I had the same thought this week…that it might help me to keep on track and be honest if I posted my weight as well, and now that you have broken the ice, I just might do that. It is very close to your weight, and I am not as tall as you are. 🙂 I will pray for you and I would love it if you would pray for me as well. It is different this time because you have all of us rooting for you. I had the same thing when we went on vacation…I couldn’t worry about what I ate, and so I didn’t and now it has been the same process all over again to get back to where I was when we went on vacation. It is all a process. We are with you all the way.
Thank you, that’s such an encouraging thing to say!
I will definitely be praying for you.xx
Happy, Happy birthday, Claire! I am so very glad you had a wonderful birthday. You deserve it! We have the (almost) same sign at our house. Your roses are just lovely. The jug and hearts are beautiful. Lots of eating out and brownies – yummy! That is my kind of birthday!
Know I am praying for you on your journey! Hugs and hugs, my friend.:)))
Thank you Donna, I will be praying for you too. We can do this together! xx
Happy Birthday! You can count on my prayers. I am just back from vacation so I did not watch weight at all. My husband and I found it very challenging to find anything healthy to eat. I can feel the effects of going without my green smoothies for 10 days! We are back to exercising this week and working on our water intake again. I drank to many soft drinks on vacation. I kept getting root beer at the fountains because I thought it was caffeine free but I was wrong. I weaned myself off of them but still went through a couple days of headaches. I am going to stand with you and give my weight as well. I started at 188 pounds and wear a size 18. I am now at 178 pounds. I cannot remember what my ideal weight is supposed to be for my height…5 feet. My goal is to get back into a size 12.
Thank you so much for standing with me. It feels so good to have such a wonderful support group even though most of you are over the ocean. Isn’t the internet wonderful?
Happy birthday!
I appreciate your honesty about your weight and I will pray. I’m trying to loose some weight but finding stress and tiredness lead to eating. This wasn’t something that I realised applied to me until recently!
Well done for managing to take 20lb off.
Thank you Sarah. And thank you for your prayers. I will be praying for your tiredness and stress to lift. It is hard enough trying to lose weight without any added pressures.
Happy belated birthday, Claire!
Thanks Hwee!
Happy Birthday Claire, Sorry a little belated. We hope you had a great time, it looks like you were definitely treated. Will keep you in my prayers, you and I alike have had some journey on the weight loss adventure. I too, have reached that time to reevaluate, and I am following the same pathway. Sending you lots of love, support and encouragement. Xxxx
Thank you Angela. I love that you read my blog! Each time you comment I am transported back to the 166 bus and all the fun we had together.
It is lovely to have you along for the journey!
I have so many wonderful memories of that time, we had the best time it seems a lifetime ago. Seeing your beautiful twins make me think of the adventures we had, I can so much of you in them. The laughs we had. Sending you and your family, your mum included all our love. Will drop by again sometime. Xxx
Happy birthday! This post was so incredibly encouraging.
My weight is a vanity thing, I don’t need to lose any for health, but I need to be moving more to be truly as healthy as I want to be, and that’s what I’m working on.
Thank you Ticia. Moving more is a great goal and I agree so important for your health, regardless of your size.
Happy Happy Birthday Claire! Lovely to see you were as spoiled as you deserve. In my thoughts, I am showering you with best wishes, loving kindness for all of your goals, and of course a bucketful of colored powders.
Lol! Oooh, yes please to all, but especially the coloured powders!
Great plan Claire. I’ll do all I can to co-operate with you while you are here. When I was losing my excess weight 12 years ago I had a sort of slogan which I said to myself, often out loud, “I don’t need it so I’m not going to eat it.” I think it helped me. And of course bringing God into any situation purposely always puts us on the winning side!
Praying it is so!
Thank you very much re holiday…..only a few days now. There’s a palpable excitement in the house at the moment!
Happy belated birthday! Somehow Sunday slipped into Tuesday without my noticing – so I’m late checking in. I’m very inspired by your concept of getting to the heart of the extra weight and turning to God for help with the issue. Philippians 3:19 has been on my mind a lot this week…as I’ve thought about how often I serve myself, and how much my mind is on my own pleasure. I like to say, I love food – but the truth of the matter is I love ME – and I love giving myself good things. I had not thought about turning this over to God – but of course! That’s exactly what needs to be done.
I really recommend you read Made to Crave. It is a life changing way to think about weight and food issues in general.
Thank you for sharing your journey. I am also working on weightloss. After every workout I feel stronger & I remember Philippans 4:13.