One serious PIGGY!

So yesterday's questions from my FB post were these:

Where did he start?

• Dave's weight loss pursuit started at 425 lbs. He was a 4X Hanes T-shirt...pushing into a 5X with a 48" waist. He only wore t-shirts & shorts from Wal-Mart because the plus size clothes at CasualMaleXL were too expensive.

How serious did he have to be to make progress?

• Dave gave up all the bad foods. He was a frequent pizza eater, hamburger & fry kind of guy. Mounds of ribs, bowls of chili beans w/ a side a of mac salad at bbqs. He loved those super burritos filled w/ beans, rice, meat, sour cream, and cheese. 
• He says, "the pain had to become greater than the pleasure"...and after plantar fascitis developing in his feet, and his blood pressure moving up a bit...he realized that his weight was beginning to affect him physically, beyond just being big. Doctor visits were nearing his list of 'appointments for the week'. 

What simple things did he add to see progress?

• He first began with measuring out his food and keeping track of points as we did our home version of Weight Watchers. 60 lbs. came off in 6 months.
• Cutting fried foods, pizza on the weekends, drinking more water, and not eating whatever he wanted at family bbqs.
• Once he plateaued - working out was the next step. 

What things did he have to sacrifice?

• He sacrificed going along w/ what everyone else was eating.
• For a couple of holiday seasons, while everyone else was having stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie - he was eating his lean meat and veggies.
• Once he started working out, he sacrificed fun in the eve to sleep to get up at 4:30 to go to the gym.

How do you keep yourself motivated for such a long weight loss goal?

• Dave's #1 motivation was for Daniel, our 1 yr. old (at the time he made the commitment) to never know him as an obese dad.
• Then for the journey...and what kickstarted it overall: PRAYER!

The power of a praying wife is an amazing motivational tool in a marriage. When you see your spouse committing a behavior that you disagree with, does not glorify God, and puts his life in jeopardy, you better believe that prayer will work. I believed that it was not God's will for my husband to die young from preventable disease. So I prayed.

My prayer journey started as soon as he put weight on in the first couple months of our marriage. I prayed that he would have the desire to work out again, that he would have self-control. That's why when he said he needed to do that 'carb-depletion' in May '06 - I joined him. Because I realized, as I am praying and Dave is showing desire, I, his help-mate, needed to FULLY SUPPORT HIM!

Because I ended up pregnant in the midst of that, I could not continue on w/ the no carb/protein-fat only diet...and it seemed to go downhill with his eating from there. Fortunately, I did NOT give up. I prayed for 2 years for David to have the desire to lose weight...among a ton of other things, I prayed:

• God give David a love for his family that he refuses to eat himself to death.
• God give David the self-discipline to say 'no' to bad foods.
• God give David the desire to healthy and fit.
• God convict David when he wants to binge eat bad foods.
• God send people into Dave's life to speak to him about his weight (since he's not receiving from me.)

As a response to my prayer, toward the end of '07 after we had Daniel...a friend of David's went to him, with tears in this man's eyes, and said, "what are you doing to yourself?"..."I don't want to see anything bad happen to you (death) because of your weight!"...and then his friend just left, crying. This got Dave's attention because his friend was a man of few words, so when he spoke, Dave listened.



"Big"...is an understatement...as Dave looks at
this pic now...he says, "Dang, I was huge!"

Immediately following this conversation, another good friend of Dave's came to him and asked, "Man, Dave what are you doing? You're getting big buddy..." These were friends speaking truth in love...and were greatly used by God to get Dave's attention.
It was after these friends reached out to Dave that he realized he had to do something...and he began to take ownership of the idea that he HAD to lose weight...or else. Or else, he would die at a young, premature age from preventable disease.

At the beginning of '08, he had a couple of family members who started going to Weight Watcher's meetings, and Dave saw how easy they were losing weight...just by portion control. Since I was persistently & fervently praying...I was eager to join him when he showed the desire to start measuring out his foods.

I'll never forget...it was Easter '08 and I said to Dave, "So I have to know what you weigh to come up with the points you can eat..." His response, "Okay, I will tell you...but you have to promise me you will NEVER tell ANYONE..." I gave him reassurance that my lips were sealed...and then he said:

 "I'm about 425 lbs."

I had never known his weight before...tears welled up in my eyes...and I said, "Dave, this is a 911 emergency that you lose weight babe...we have to do something NOW!". The next day, we BOTH (since I had baby weight to lose) started measuring out our food & counting our points...and the lbs. started to drop for both of us.

Got fruit?

I was out in our garden last night and was inspired for today's post. I was looking at my squash plants and evaluating how some have squash already growing on them, and others are little, undernourished, scrawny plants. Yet they sit side by side with the healthy ones...it made me think of 'us'.

As a believer, the Bible calls us to 'bear much fruit', but are we? Are you?

Looking at these different plants, which one are you? You may be a little scrawny one because you just found the truth & have began your journey of following Christ and you have began the growing process.

You may be a larger one with a healthy fruit, growing and swelling in size with flavor. However, are you one who has been 'following the Lord' for many years, but remain fruitless? What is the fruit that God would have you bear?

According to Galatians 5:22, the fruit of the Spirit is:

• Love
• Joy
• Peace
• Patience
• Kindness
• Goodness
• Faithfulness
• Gentleness
• Self-Control

On a scale of 1-10, 1 being worst, 10 being your best, how would you rate yourself on each of these? Have you had a lot of joy and peace lately? Or have you been filled with anxiety? Have you been frustrated with everyone around you? Or are you patient (and gracious) towards others, i.e. family members, coworkers, employer, employees, spouse, kids, other drivers on the road?

How are your relationships? Do you have any broken ones? Dysfunctional, resentment torn ones? Or are you being kind, and loving (and forgiving) toward others who have wronged you?

And where is your self-control at? Are you having self-control in your eating, drinking (sugary and/or alcohol drinks), your finances/spending, your argumentative conversations, your anger, your_______________(fill in the blank).

Here is the great thing about these fruits of the Spirit...they are NOT intended for you to muster up all on your own. They are the results of your soul being watered by the Word of God (Bible), fertilized by doses of church, consistent care and maintenance by the presence of the Lord in your life ushered in by prayer and worship!

Do you have these things in your life: the Word, prayer, worship, and church? They are the glue that keep your lives held together!!!

In Matthew 12:33, Jesus says, "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit".

"No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the fruit of peace and righteousness to those who have been trained by it". - Hebrew 12:11

My garden will only survive when I ACTIVELY participate in its growth. I have to be disciplined to water it, fertilize it and pluck out the weeds. I have to be disciplined to take care of it. Just like our lives, we must be disciplined to say no to the things that spoil our fruit: the wreckless behaviors, the interfering relationships, the careless church absences, the obsessive overcommitments, the continual divisive conversations, and the complete negligence of God.

We want fruitful lives. We want to lead people down the path to eternal life with our actions of love, gentleness, kindness, and peace. The only way that others will enjoy our fruit is if we enjoy time with the LORD! We have to discipline ourselves to show up and let God speak to our hearts and submit to His guidance. We have to let Him nourish our souls to bear the fruit.

I want to be like this healthy rich-colored vine on my pumpkin plant. This thing is the healthiest one in the patch. I want to be the one that stands out next to the rest and shine for the Lord. I want people to see Christ in my life.

Are you willing to let God into your heart daily? Are you willing to turn on the music that sings of God and edifies your soul? Are you willing to rid your life of the unhealthy relationships that tear you out of God's will and presence? Are you willing to make it to church to hear the Word preached in a way that inspires you to change? Are you willing to make Jesus Lord of your life above all else so that you can bear the fruit of love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness, etc?

Choose this day to let Christ in your garden, your heart? Take out that dusty Bible and ask God to speak to you. Ask God to become real to you in your everyday life. Talk to Him about everything. Depend on Him for everything...but most importantly....love Him completely!