Change Takes Action

For a year or two, my doctor was telling me I needed to lose weight.  I have high cholesterol and blood pressure and I was what they consider pre-diabetic.  So in 2021, I started on a journey to lose weight.  Here was the problem I was running into.  When I looked up what to eat to improve my cholesterol it seemed everything on the list was bad for my blood sugar.  It was the same going the other direction.  I really got frustrated.  I felt like I ate pretty healthy already so I felt very trapped.  I reached out to the doctor and told him that I feel like I have to choose which thing I want to die from.  He referred me to a dietician.  We met a couple of times on the phone and she agreed I ate a healthy diet.  The thing that I really needed to work on was reducing the number of whole eggs and the amount of cheese I eat.  I love cheese!  I don't eat a lot of dressings and condiments, but I want cheese on just about anything.  Cheese definitely goes on eggs.  If you disagree you are wrong.  

Long story short I continue to make slow progress but plateau at about 12 pounds.  In October I joined Noom.  Now, this is not a commercial for Noom, but here is a quick summary of the program to provide context to the point that I want to get to.  You fill out a questionnaire that takes your current health situation, weight, gender, height, diet restrictions, etc., and creates a calorie budget for you.  This daily budget is divided into three categories based on the food's caloric density (Think, eat lots of grapes and fewer raisins).  Along with that, there are daily lessons to read and you weigh in each day.  Along with tracking your food you also track water intake, steps, and exercise.  You are also paired up with a coach and a group that helps you along the way.  It can feel very overwhelming the first few days. 

At the beginning of this year, I  had blown away my goal and was down 30 pounds.   What caused me to lose the weight?  It was not weighing in every day.  I already knew I needed to lose weight.  It was not reading the Noom lessons every day.  It was not tracking my food.  I could just eat calorically dense food and track that.   It was all about the application.  I had to take what I learned about food, my eating habits, and my relationship with food and take action.  I had to make lifestyle changes to lose the weight.  I could not keep thinking the same way I always thought, and I could not keep eating the way I always ate if I wanted to experience change.

Where am I going with all of this? This really is an example of what Christian discipleship looks like.  You start where you are at.  You have the Holy Spirit and the Church to coach you and encourage you in your journey.  Just like the Noom lessons did not cause me to lose weight, reading the Bible will not make you grow spiritually.  You have to apply the scripture to your life.  You have to learn about God and your need for Him.  You have to learn about sin and the desires of your flesh.  But learning is not enough, you have to make changes to the way you think and the way you live your life.  Being a follower of Jesus is a relationship, not just a to-do list. You can do all the "right" things (Read the Bible, go to church, pray, etc.) and never grow in your relationship with God.  You have to make changes in how you relate to God to grow.  

Do a check-in on yourself.  Are you experiencing a plateau in your spiritual growth?   Maybe it is time to learn something new and make some changes to your life.  You can start by taking action.  Open up the Bible and ask God to speak to you as you read, but don't stop there.  Do what He says.

Thanks for reading.  As always subscribing and sharing are encouraged and appreciated.   If you want to check out Noom for yourself you can use this LINK to check it out for free and save 20% if you join.  If you join, Noom will also send me a little something as well.