Made a point to do a quick run/walk mile this morning since I was going to be gone all day and didn’t have time to wander the neighborhood for miles. I’ve heard if you do something to get the metabolism up first thing in the morning, you burn more calories over the day. So maybe even though I didn’t exercise very long today I’ll have good results.

I missed my long walk, though. A friend told me today that they are “Eden walks.” I really like that thought. In the story of Adam and Eve, God would come into the Garden of Eden and call to the people He’s created. Then they would walk together.

This walking does often feel that way—like a call to hang out with God. And as I walk, feel the fresh air and sunshine, it is easier to believe the places in the Bible are true when they say that He loves me and works everything out for my good.                 January 8, 2012

This morning I read a weight loss devotional. The main idea is that instead of allowing the scale to control our emotions, we should ignore the ups and downs of the scale and focus on doing what we do as an act of obedience to God.

All day I’ve let this though twist and simmer in my head.

This losing weight thing didn’t feel like a command; it felt like a gift.

How do you obey a gift?

Like everyone else I struggle when the scale doesn’t move for a while. Many people say it so affects them they binge. I haven’t had that problem since I started BeNew. I’m not sure why, because weighing at the doctor’s office the last few years or getting my yearly, “you need to lose weight” lecture did trigger food cravings. (Part of it probably has to do with the intense nutrition of BeNew. It helps with the cravings.)

But since I’ve begun my weight loss journey, it feels like such an answer to my heart-cry, to the prayers I’ve prayed for a few years now, “please, Lord. Show me what to do about this weight.”

It’s a gift to move again. To have more ability to walk, run, do a crunch.

To get out of a chair effortlessly.

Sure, there are days I’m sick of thinking about what’s going in my mouth. I don’t want to take a walk, even if I do think God meets me there.

But the gift is too wonderful to squander.

So I make a cup of herb tea instead of eating junk food. I take a walk more days than I don’t.

I don’t like to think of it as an obedience issue, but rather like opening a present.

What About You?

Is there a spiritual component to your weight loss journey? Do you see it as connecting body and spirit? If so, how does that relate to how you think God views your journey?

Tagged: benew, gift, losing weight, weight loss, weight loss journey