How Do You Eat An Elephant? ...One bite at a time!

Alright, I know some of you are sitting there thinking that what you just read sounds great and all… but how?!  I have a long road ahead of me you crazy lady.  One prayer for help won’t fix it.  You are right; one prayer will not fix it.  But a lot of prayer sure will go a long way! If you need a step by step then I can give you a step by step, or at least point out to you the steps that I took on my journey.  

How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.  That is the mindset you need to approach this because if you do not then you will get overwhelmed, discouraged, and then you will quit before you get started.   

Step one would be to pray.  Ask God for Him to lift you up in his strength.  Admit to him that you cannot achieve this goal without him.  For me, I had to pray before I ate any food.  My prayer was that I would find satisfaction with this food on my plate and not be tempted with more after my portion was gone.  I would pray before I ran that God would bless me with stamina and endurance.  Beat temptation with determination.

Step two is to be accountable to yourself and write down every single thing you need to stick in your mouth.  Don’t cheat yourself.  When I first started working out with a personal trainer she asked me to write everything down in a food journal.  So I did… write down what I ate… but just the good things that I knew she would approve of.  By doing that, I was only cheating myself.  If I was too ashamed to write it down, then I should not have been eating it.  Hold yourself accountable with some sort of journal.  Beat temptation with determination.

Step three is to figure out your portion and listen to your body.  When I had to lose 20 pounds before my gastric bypass surgery I went on the South Beach Diet and my husband told me he would do it with me for support.  Great! Awesome idea!  I was like 290 something and my husband weighed 148.  The man did not need to be on any diet at all but maybe a healthy clean diet.  In the first part of the south beach diet they restrict your carbs for 2 weeks.  To like, no carbs at all.  I lost 15 pounds in 2 weeks.  My poor husband was getting dizzy and having headaches so he went to the doctor.  The doctor told him it was the south beach diet and that he needed carbs.  He started eating carbs and his headaches went away and he quit having dizzy spells.  Moral of the story, not every “diet” is for everyone.  Everybody is different.  Now to maintain my body weight I just try to eat clean- meaning I try to eat lots of fruits and vegetables and try to stay away from any foods that may have been changed in any way.  So I try to stay away from foods with additives, preservatives, and processed foods.  I eat lean meats, whole grains, and heart healthy fats.  I avoid saturated fats, sodas, and high calorie foods.  I drink tons of water every single day.  I don’t count calories. I try to stick to the portion of a dessert or bread plate and I eat about 4 times a day.  Listen to your body.  I try to eat everything in moderation.  If I am craving an Oreo… I eat an Oreo after I pray over that Oreo.  By forbidding foods I would resist and resist and resist until I couldn’t take it anymore and then the whole bag would be gone because by the time I let that temptation overcome me, praying about it was the furthest thing from my mind.  Beat temptation with determination.

Step four is to Get moving!  Get out and walk, walk, walk to get started.  When I started to exercise I started the couch to 5K program.  You can find it if you Google it.  It doesn’t matter what you choose to do as long as you are moving.  Beat temptation with determination.

Step five is my final step… Have fun.  Laugh at yourself because let’s just be honest, we might all cry if we don’t laugh at ourselves.  Try new things.  I recently wanted to spice my exercise routine up so I took a pole dancing class.  Yes, you heard me right, a pole dancing class.  Best arm workout that I have ever had in my life, it was fun, and it made me laugh at myself and allowed all the other girls in the class to laugh at me too.  I have also tried Zumba… let me tell you, things were shaking on my body that I didn’t know could shake.  I loved Zumba so much that I went and got certified to teach it!  Have fun while you beat temptation with determination.

The last thing I want you to do is to get overwhelmed by these 5 steps.  I would like to challenge you by taking 1 of these steps and apply it to your life this week.  The next week, while you are still applying the first step then add another step.  Do this until you have concurred all of them.   

Beat temptation with determination one bite at a time.