Why I Still Love Food

If you haven't been a follower for long or just don't know me very well you might not be aware of my biggest struggle.  I'm totally addicted to food.  On one hand that's a good thing.  We need food to survive.  My struggle comes with making choices.  With compromise.  With not being able to have "just one bite" or saying "I'll pass".  Food isn't the problem, it's me.

I gained a lot of weight when I was pregnant with the Little Guy and worked really hard to lose it.  I ran a 1/2 marathon and trained with a personal trainer.  About a month after I reached my goal I was pregnant again.  I did better the second time around but I still weighed so much after having Reed that I'm embarrassed to share.

(this was about 10 days after Reed was born)

I've worked really hard for the past 9 months and have lost 40 pounds.  I still have 20 to go.  It's not baby weight...it's Peter weight!  It's the "I'm so happy and my life is so good I'll just eat it all" weight and it was accrued slowly over the first 3 years of our marriage.  I'm DETERMINED that by Reed's first birthday  I will be back to my wedding weight.  I have 19 pounds to go.

In order to have some accountability I've joined up with a great group of girls in a challenge we like to call #alittletoofluffy.  Sadly I can't take credit for the idea or the name but I'm gladly participating and really benefiting from the motivation that attempting weight loss for over 30 other girls can bring.  We're encouraging each other via social media and it's fun to see everyone's progress!

I have to admit I was a little embarrassed after our first weigh-in.  I'm kind of in a rut.  I've lost the last two weeks but it hasn't been anything to write home about.  I've been attempting this pseudo-paleo lifestyle and it isn't working for me.  Here's how my week goes...

Mon-Thursday 

each super healthy and don't cheat on paleo other than a small bit of cheese on my salads...

Down 2.2 pounds!!!

Thursday....my cheat day....

eat what I THINK is a moderate amount of food and try to stick to mostly paleo

Weigh in on Saturday

UP....2.2 pounds!!!

I've done this two weeks in a row.

Clearly this isn't working for me.  I need to stick to the plan.  I'm ruining all my hard work by one meal each week!

I was so frustrated today as I emailed my weight in.  I wanted it to say 2.2...not .6. I felt like I wanted to give up, to give in.  I wanted chocolate.  And bread.  And cheese.  And lots of it!!

But I'm not willing to quit.  What I need to do is follow the plan.

Weight loss is like our Christian faith.  We do awesome a lot of the time.  Then there is that thing.  Maybe we struggle with gossip or some type of addiction (hello food!).  Whatever it is just gets us down.  And it un-does all of the hard work.  We feel like we're too messed up to go on.  We'll never get it together.  We'll always be fat....or gossipy....or broken.

And we are.

We are broken.  But thankfully we are redeemed!  We are COMPLETE!!  

This doesn't mean we have an excuse to continue the behavior or shrug it off.  But we have a freedom in Christ that doesn't bind us to our sins.  We CAN have victory over them through him!

I'm starting over today and I'm sticking to the plan.  I'm going to make healthy choices and I AM going to lose this weight.  I'm making some changes in my other habits as well.  Less social media.  More Jesus.  Less busyness and more cuddles.  Less negativity and more encouragement.  Less I can't and more I can.  Less couch and more cha-cha.  

Feel free to ask me how my journey is going.  Just don't invite me over for dessert!!

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding

Ephesians 1:7-8

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:20