Don't Make Losing Weight your Resolution for 2017

With New Year’s quickly approaching I am reminded of my annual “lose weight” resolutions during my obese lifetime.

I want to persuade you to NOT make losing weight your resolution for 2017.

In those B.S. years, Before Spiking, I used to struggle with dieting and my weight to the brink of insanity but each New Year provided me a fresh shot of hope. I’d say, “this will be the year I lose weight and become the new me”.  

Well, you may say, “isn’t hope a good thing?”

Yeah no, well at least not when it comes to dieting. What you need is enduring faith.

Unfortunately, my new hope would only last a few months. Then predictably, I’d gain all the weight back and more. Even worse was the damage done to my self-image of yet another failed diet.

 

I’m not alone, each year, about half of us are coerced into making an Annual Resolution of Failure. ARF for short. I don’t want to be a “downer” or crush your hopes but this is for your own good. According to Forbes, only 8% succeed in their resolution and one out of three will make losing weight their ARF for 2017.

Please, do not be one of them!  

Diets don’t work! The POWER of a New Year’s Resolution can't change that fact.

To be clear, I’m not saying it’s bad to have personal goals nor am I saying that it’s impossible to lose weight. Heck, I’m not even saying, don’t have a resolution. I actually have one to share with you at the end of my rambling.

I am saying that, in order to succeed in those lifelong struggles like, obesity. We need to be inspired from within. That is the foundation for any life altering transformation. Goals influenced from the outside like a New Year’s Resolution will not have the firm foundation necessary to hold us steadfast when our old world and new world collide.  

The truth is, “all things are possible” including a life altering physical transformation. I am living proof of that. When I went from a lifelong struggle with obesity to not just losing over 100lbs and not just maintaining that weight loss but actually losing another 30lbs over the past 12 years.

By the year 1 B.S. I had resigned myself to a life of obesity. I was tired of fighting and decided to just accept my fate. The following year two events impacted my self-image like nothing ever had before. My first son was born and I also accepted Christ as my savior. I realized that both Jesus and my baby boy loved me no matter how much I weighed and I allowed myself to be loved. It sounds simple but before this, I don’t think I felt worthy of being loved. Joy, however, can only last so long. The shame and guilt started coming back with the realization that due to my genetics my son could very well struggle with his weight just like me. Also, I was well on my way to being 400lbs and I was already pre-diabetic with high blood pressure at 26 years-old. So how could I then be the father I wanted to be for him and how long would I be on this Earth for him?  At that moment I decreed to “lose weight or bust”. I actually wrote that on the cover of my food journal.

Well as they say, “old habits die hard” and “old diets suck hard”.

So, of course, I began dieting like I had many times before, it should be simple right? “Eat less and exercise more”, yeah not so much.  I eventually plateaued just like every diet I had ever been on. Even after a few long weeks of struggling with my nemesis, I refused to quit. However, I was beginning to lose hope along with my mind. Then God came to the rescue. After not finding help or answers from diet books and personal trainers I asked God to give me wisdom and guidance. Then while digging into my Bible,  a verse jumped out at me.

 

"With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26

Maybe it was because I was losing my mind or because I was at the end of my rope, but I felt that verse stoke the fire of my inspiration. I believed it with every part of my soul.

All things are possible with God!

Then I heard God tell me to “Give in”. I knew immediately he was referring to my food cravings and the “junk food” I thought I surrendered forever. He gave me permission to splurge! Which to a dieter is kind of a big deal, because that's kind of like bingeing and the opposite of what I thought I needed to do.

I decided that the next day, which was a Saturday would be my Sabbath from dieting and exercise. I’d “give in” and eat anything and everything I wanted and had been craving. It was my first weekly Spike Day and it was legendary.

Dieting and not losing weight is what I call “Diet Hell” and the wisdom to "give in" freed me!

The point I want you to take away from this is not just that Spike Day’s are awesome but, no matter how you choose to lose weight it has to be a doable long-term lifestyle and not a diet.

My inspiration came from within, I wanted this more than anything. I refused to quit which meant I could NOT fail. You will have adversity but you won’t fail unless you quit.

A transformation has to happen on the inside before it does on the outside. So make your 2017 Resolution about loving and accepting who you are and knowing that you are and have always been worthy of unconditional love and respect.

Then, if losing weight is something you desire, you will have the patience and faith to build and unshakeable foundation.