The #1 Best Dieting Solution!
My daughter recently saw this quote on Facebook and shared it with me. I thought it was so funny, because I had just made this discovery about myself!
It’s all fun and games ‘til your jeans don’t fit!
Was one of your New Year’s Resolutions to lose weight? Me, too!
Is this the first year you made that resolution? Me, neither.
The desire that we all have to look our best, our skinny best, has created a massive industry. Dieting is BIG business. A $64 billion market in 2014.*
This post may contain affiliate links. You can read my full affiliate disclosure here.
There are diet plans galore—Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, Atkins, South Beach, etc. Plans that call for calorie counting and plans that only call for eliminating certain food types.
There are also diet pills, diet doctors, pre-packaged diet foods and even surgeries to aid us in our efforts.
We even have technology to help us. I have an app on my phone called MyFitnessPal that I use to keep tract of my calories…whenever I’m being good and dieting…again. I also have a Fitbit…somewhere…that I could use to encourage me to exercise.
And still I have failed at getting rid of those unwanted pounds.
But even those who actually do reach their ideal weight many times gain it all back and then some.
There are so many products out there to help us reach our weight loss goals. Yet we fall short of reaching and maintaining those goals.
2/3 of us Americans still struggle with being overweight?*
Why? Why do we lose this battle?
Because we are fighting our flesh…in our flesh.
But the flesh can only be defeated, or brought into subjection, through the Spirit!
We will never win this battle with our flesh until it becomes the conviction of our heart and soul that overeating is sin. (Proverbs 25:16, Luke 21:34)
Overeating is sin!
And then realize that…
the only way to have victory over any sin is through complete surrender to God of our will.
I had learned this lesson years ago in another area of my walk with God…my tongue. Only after surrender to the Lord of my will in the area of wifely submission was I able to be cleansed of bitterness and freed from the battle with my tongue. This wasn’t a “one and done” thing, but a major victory nonetheless.
Victory came only when my heart was emptied of self-will allowing the Holy Spirit to fill me instead.
Even knowing this, it wasn’t until reading Proverbs 25 again that the Lord helped me realize that this lesson also applies to other struggles with my flesh. Such as the area of overeating and weight gain! It was another one of those light bulb moments for me!
I cannot win by self-control. I need temperance—or Spirit-control.
So, how can we get the victory?
How can we, can you, get the victory and finally lose that extra weight?
By first spending time with God in prayer surrendering to Him your reasons/excuses for overeating, such as—
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Relying on food for comfort when you’re sad or upset instead of relying on God’s Word and Spirit for comfort.
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Eating too much just because it tastes so good! Or…
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You want to reward yourself. Or…
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You don’t want to disappoint someone who brought food to an event. Or…
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Because it’s easier (than self-denial) (Easier to eat high calorie foods from restaurants than to cook at home.) Or…
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You don’t want to leave food on your plate that you paid so much for at a restaurant. Or…
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Because others are hungry and ready to eat. And you don’t want to keep them waiting. Or…
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You feel hopeless. (You’re already overweight. One more meal won’t make a difference. Why not?) Or…
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Well…just because it’s there.
What are your excuses for overeating?
Once you have surrendered your excuses, God’s Spirit will fill your heart. Ask Him to help you, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to follow His will in the area of taking care of the body he gave you, His temple.
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 1 Corinthians 6:19
But to follow God’s will concerning our diet, and dieting, we have to know what that is.
God’s #1 best dieting solution?
Eat so much as is sufficient for thee. Proverbs 25:16b
In other words, don’t keep eating just because it tastes good, or you’re sad, etc.
Eat just enough.
And no more.
God’s portion control method. It is God’s command and will for us that we eat only what we need. Just enough.
That’s really what diet plans help us to do—just eat a moderate amount—of better-for-you foods. They help us learn to eat less, learn to eat only as much as is sufficient.
Sufficient to fuel our bodies for the tasks ahead.
This Is Our Year!
I believe that we can do this. We can conquer our overeating!
For more help growing in your walk with God, you’ll want to be sure to check out all these Practical Ways to Get Closer to God Today!
By God’s Spirit we can!
Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. Zechariah 4:6
I’m adopting this verse as my mantra to help me…
Eat so much as is sufficient for thee.
Proverbs 25:16
If you have extra weight you’d like to lose this year (and never find again!), why not print this page containing six copies of the above verse? Then separate them and hang one on your refrigerator, on your snack cabinet, in your car, on your computer, or anywhere you tend to eat or snack.
Click the image to download and print.
Use this verse to remind you to rely on God’s Spirit and strength to fight this battle. Realizing that this battle is really a spiritual battle of wills…ours against God’s.
Then each time you want to eat more…when you know you don’t need it…simply surrender in prayer again.
God will help us do right. We just have to truly want Him to.
Are you tired of fighting and losing this battle? Does this thought resonate with you like it does with me?
There are a number of health problems related to being overweight, especially as it moves into obesity, and that doesn’t include the mental stress, guilt and/or shame that many people feel about themselves.*
The Lord wants us to be free. Free of those negative feelings. He wants us to have the victory.
And we can! Through Him!
Because really it’s not even about dieting. It’s about putting God first…at each and every meal.
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31
We will have the victory each and every time God has the victory.
Drawing nigh to Him,
Teresa
* https://www.franchisehelp.com/industry-reports/weight-loss-industry-report/
LET’S TALK ABOUT IT
Note—God doesn’t necessarily want us skinny, but rather healthy. And making good eating choices. He doesn’t want us starving ourselves on deprivation diets.
Neither does He want us comparing our size to others and feeling unworthy, etc. We will be the size we are meant to be, if we will simply follow God’s solution…to just eat so much as is sufficient for us…and no more.
Our focus should be on Him. Not on our body measurements. And then those measurements will take care of themselves!
Have you struggled with weight issues and dieting? If you will join me this year in surrendering to the Lord to follow His dieting solution, please let me know in the Comments below. Let’s encourage one another!
