Weighing Down with Christ: Challenge Update

Pastor James,
Thanks for your encouragement and prayer. I weigh in on Saturdays and was down .2 My exercise is sidelined while I wait for a strained hip to heal, but my food choices have been healthy and portion controlled. I love Dr. Oz's book. He has easy to follow guidelines that you can continue for a lifetime of healthy eating. This isn't a diet but a lifetime adventure!
I'm committing to journaling during the 30 minutes I would be exercising. Journaling is hard for me so this will be a good start.
Blessings! Carol

Good Morning Pastor James,
First and foremost I want to thank you for your dedication and the work you put in every day to your ministry. Phillipians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who strngthens me" In my many challenging times where my goals seem so humanly impossible. I remind myself of this wonderful living truth that the lord has given to us. I will keep you and your ministry in my prayers. Your Brother in Christ- Wil

Dear Pastor james. this is my first time of writing you. Your comments, which I just started reading are life saver. I shared the first comment that I read at the women's meeting. I am under some weights, I need prayer and other help that you can render to help me live a dedicated Christian life. I have a heart to serve God with all my heart, and with all my strengths but anxieties are choking me up. I am a pastor's wife, and I work three jobs. The church is too young to support us as needed and my husband is looking for a job. I have my masters in education, so I am currently teaching. My husband has a PHD degree in environmental science. We have four children and people who do not know our needs constantly asks us for support. We usually give as God directs us. God is faithful and He has been supplying all our needs. But in a nut shell, I am drained and I do not live to the expectations. I do not want to end up in hell after preaching and reaching in many ways to other people. Please pray for me. Yours sincerely, Elizabeth

Pastor James,
Great job monitoring your activity and good eats!! I will keep praying for you. My friend once said "We know all the right things to do (diets) we just have to do it" Its great advice.
Try an occational fast, when I do, I pray the meal I miss will be supplied to someone who is in need.

James: Have you thought about looking into the Eat Right 4 Your Type? I have to say upfront, my issue is not weight LOSS, but that of gain. I've been sick to the point of malnutrition...it really got BAD! Anyway, I thougth this Eat Right thing was a bunch of malarky until I've been doing elimination dieting to find out what makes me sick. After over a year now I picked up this book (again) and realized that most of the foods that make me sick are listed for my blood type to AVOID! I had come to the conclusion that I needed a mostly vegetarian diet with no milk and no wheat. This is what the book says for my blood type! I have blood type A. God has been leading me to this for years I did NOT listen. I am listening now and am finally recovering (I've been sick for 3 years/no food staying in me!) If you get the book, please ignore the garbage in the front about us evolving from human like creatures!!
you can check it out here:
http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Right-Your-Type-Individualized/dp/039914255X
God Bless and STAY healthy!
Lisa

I've been on board since last Thursday, James. Portion control, no sweets, etc. Oddly enough I was at 235 also. Lost 2 lbs. so far. Every time I feel bad about having to eat less, I just think, "Just think how you'd feel if you were fasting." :) Josh

Hello!
I too am on a journey for better health...I am realizing two things as I get older, one, that taking care of my body is an issue of stewardship, and two, that not taking care of it starts to show its unpleasant fruit as I inch closer to 40!
Just wanted to mention a free online resource available that helps track goals, diet, exercise, and has a vast library of helpful articles, healthy recipes, and a lot of encouragement from others on the road: www.sparkpeople.com. Its free. :o)

James,
I've joined you on this since last Friday. 257 then, 251 now - target of 230 in 40 days. (I'm 6'5") My regimen goes like this:
No soda or sugar drinks or dessert, except for fruit and a hard candy here and there.
Breakfast: 1 spoon of Flax seed oil(high Omega 3 - good fats), Spiru-tein protein shake, Mid morning - 2 Fruit (apples, pears, bananas,...)
Normal lunch but eat until full and save the rest for a snack in late afternoon.
Snack on cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, snack sausage, fruit, nuts, etc as needed throughout the day.
Small balanced dinner or lite sandwhich or just the above snacks if not that hungry. Evenly spaced snacks are great for killing the hunger - low fat ones not as good as the low carb ones(some fat is essential for holding back hunger). Whatever exercise I can work in schedule permitting. Sit ups, walking, or biking.
On your lead I'll increase my quiet time and prayer - which works nice for the tough 1 Thessalonians study requires my small group at Rolling Meadows Harvest is doing.

James- Way to go!! Keep it up! With God on our sides how can we fail?? This is so doable!
I'm the person that suggested "You on a Diet" by Dr. Oz. So glad to hear you're going to pick it up. He has GREAT illustrations of the physiology of digestion, fat, what it does to us, etc. When you really see it with your own eyes and process the info, it's truly amazing. For me it was like "God gifted me with this amazing body that can reverse just about any damage I do to it, how dare I take that for granted one more day!" We are living, breathing, walking miracles of God's creation. We must be stewards of this gift as one more way to GLORIFY HIM!! It's our purpose so let's GET AFTER IT!!!!
NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP!!!
TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!
Marcey

Hello Pastor James and Fellow Losers (I mean that in the best sense!)

I am learning two things this week...portion sizes are the world's greatest lie, and the scale can be your friend. Who is happy with a 'portion' of cheese that is the size of two dice? Now THAT is evil.

But...with prayer, persistence, alot of pushing away from the table (is that considered aerobic?) my scale smiled at me and registered two pounds down!

Now, I'll take the pennies out of my pockets that I weighed in with when I started this and get real. Just kidding Pastor James, I would never do that!

Hang in there everyone...when it seems impossible to avoid the temptation...just remember who you are giving in to! I try to remember that the Lord is blessing me with every step I take toward good health!

Blessings!

I love this! Maybe I've been in the dark but the thought of encouraging each other to lose weight & get healthy in this manner just blows me away! I am very encouraged. Let's all keep up the good work, no matter where we are in our weight loss battles. Are most of you from Pastor Jame's church? Geographically, I'm in Oregon but I believe we are all very much connected spiritually. :)

Reply to Theresa Y.:
You wrote:
"Try an occational fast, when I do, I pray the meal I miss will be supplied to someone who is in need."

This is a wonderful thing to do Theresa! During the lenten season our family skips a meal and the money that we normally would have put into that meal is put into our "rice bowl" that we keep on our kitchen table. That money is donated to the food shelf at the end of Lent. Of course, this can be done all year long or however you choose to do it.

Keep up your good work!

Lynn

Even this week. Lots more exercise, but not enough control on the food side. I'm taking your advice from the broadcast this week, and applying it to a food journal. I started today - what am I eating (every nibble), why am I eating it, how much exercise per day, etc? Thanks again for your challenge!

"Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
1 Corinthians 10:31

Pastor James,
I know that during my years of being overwieght I would try one diet after another, always seeking that correct combination of foods or the denial of certain other foods that would make me lose weight so I would look and feel good, so that others would notice me and I would have a good self-image. But, looking back, I see that these motives were all wrong, it was all about me. It was for my own glory and that is why it never lasted.......
I had to see what my motive was.
God convicted my heart that I needed to have proper motives. It was a time of deep sorrow in my heart for I saw that I was attempting to rob God of some of His glory.
I repented. I prayed...
That prayer was a turning point for me...

This is from the book, " The Lord's Table"
I went to the classes that Harvest offered and it was wonderful. It helped me see that my roller coaster ride that I had been on needed to stop.......It was all about me.....(Like always......)
Anyway, long and short of it........I am 150 lbs less and working on the last ten...........

These things helped and I still use......
*Repenting.
*Turning to Christ and the word with a open heart (instead of snacks)
*Discipline.
*Exercise.
*Accountability......

Psalm 115:1
"Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory because of YOur loving kindness, because of Your truth."

In His Grace,
Traci

The christian life for me is analogous to getting on a tremendous new rollercoaster you have never seen of heard of. You go around bends, up hills, race toward deep valleys. You feel at times you are all alone fearing for your life one second and reminded by the Holy Spirit the next, "I will never leave you or forsake you". You relax and enjoy the thrill of life knowing God is in control, His will is the right way, all will be good in the end. It took me a long time to learn this, leaving my home, losing a family, all I've aquired twice, ridiculed, shunned (by christians) because of my mentally ill wife who destroyed every day all our hard work. But through it all God was still there, reminding me of His love for me and our special realtionship. Now I'm moving toward a new rollercoaster and again with a riding partner with whom I feel safe and secure.

Hi Pastor James,
Ten years ago I left my home, Northern California, in a state of utter defeat and spiritual failure. God has taught me alot in ten years here in MN -about humility and His chastising love. About what it really means to fear Him. Now EXACTLY ten years later, I am finally going home. Just waiting for my small home to sell. I will be seeing people I have not seen in a decade -some friends, and some enemies who did not think my God was real enough to comfort me and provide strength. Scoffers who mocked me and mocked my God. It's important to me not to go home looking -well, like a pig who has no self control. I am sorry to admit that my last vice to go is food. Victory in this means alot to me. I want my Christian mother to be proud of me the way she was before I left the good path. I want the scoffers to be silent.

Mike

I want to say thank you James, though i don't know you personally nor have i ever met you i listen to your podcast and i am blessed by your sermons as are many i know. I am a lover of God, a husband, a pastor and a soldier in the US Army National Guard...Physical fitness is huge to me. It has always been hard for me to listen to preachers or people's testimonies that are fat...my mind says how can they take care of what they can't see and leave what they can see a total mess. So in short i want to say thanks for watching the weight and trying to bring God glory not just in spirit and mind but in body. Thank you,

Troy

I need all of your prayers because I LOVE to walk and to be fit...but for the past few years I have let fear reign over me. I have a great fear of being outside alone.