Absolute.

When I started the TTTT Series I made a list of the lies I used to tell myself with notes about the truth that I needed to hear.  I’ve been posting one lie a week for the last FOUR MONTHS and I have finally finished the list.  (Plus one post from a guest contributor, “Too Old to Change.”) 17 BIG LIES! I’m still shocked by how long the list was.   It’s proof of how hard I was working to re-create my reality.   I tried to keep the posts short, direct, and practical because that’s the nature of the truth.   In a few of the posts, I included relevant scriptures.   I will probably circle back to a few writings and elaborate more and/or offer more scriptural support, but I won’t be posting weekly anymore.   For now, I wanted to share this list of scriptures and make it available because I believe in the power of God’s Word!   For those of you who want to make a change but are struggling, I believe this list can give you the encouragement and rein...

TTTT: I’m too busy serving others to exercise. Truth: If you’re modeling after Christ, you’re going to get your steps in.   I used to say, “I’m too busy serving other people to be consistent with an exercise routine.”   I believed that I was modeling after Christ, making sacrifices for others.   I told myself that caring for the church body was more important than caring for my own body.   But I was ignoring this truth- I AM a PART of the church body!   If I truly believe that caring for the church body is important, then it’s impossible to justify neglecting the care of my own body. Scripture is clear that it’s not okay to show favoritism in how we treat people within the church (James 2:1,9), but don’t overlook the fact that that includes YOU!   You are “people within the church.”   If you’re prioritizing caring for the church body, then prioritize caring for yourself.   Moreover, the New Testament tells us that the body is the temp...

  TTTT: 155 pounds is the lightest I will get. Truth: God “is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think.” (Ephesians 3:20) I put 155 in the Facebook post, but the truth is, this number has changed many times.   Back when I was over 200 pounds, the 150’s sounded like a pipe dream.   When I finally started losing weight,   I thought 155 was the lightest I would get.   I remember my disbelief when I saw the 140’s on the scale.   Later, I broke that threshold as well.   The lightest I ever weighed in Minnesota was 135.   … TWENTY pounds less than what I thought my dream weight was! Fast forward a few years, I put a lot of weight back on after moving to Texas (details in other posts).   I refocused and started dropping the pounds again.   I told myself “145 is the lightest I will get”- things were different, I had more muscles, I was older, etc., etc.   I hit 145 and bought new clothes to celebrate.   I had momen...

  TTTT: “I'm an athlete. There’s a lot of muscle in here.” Truth:   Muscles don’t hide. “I’m an athlete, I’m supposed to have a stocky build. And there’s a lot of muscle in here.”   I used to tell myself this as I was buying larger and larger clothing sizes.   The truth is, I was an athlete.   Before the days of being overweight, I was a multi-sport athlete.   But during my season of obesity, I couldn’t do a 20-minute at-home workout video without pausing it… multiple times.   Being an athlete was still part of my identity , but it wasn’t part of my reality or my lifestyle. Being an athlete is tied to physical activity AND physical appearance.   But the connection to physical appearance doesn’t match what I was describing.   Yes, it’s true, muscle weighs more than fat.   But you know what else is true? Muscle tissue burns more calories than fat.   So “a lot of muscle in here” might justify what you see on the scale, but it ...

It started in elementary school.   I learned from a presentation that I was supposed to have 3 meals a day and I was convinced. I began fighting for that normal rhythm as a child.   In my mind, my mom was obligated to provide me with 3 square meals a day and I even argued that a sandwich counted as a snack, not a meal.   25 years later, not much had changed. I remember when Matt (my husband) first brought up intermittent fasting to me.   He was sharing his YouTube education, and I was NOT impressed.   I dismissed it quickly with confidence that I was supposed to have three meals a day.    That is what is “healthy.” The average American has 11 eating events in a day, stretched over the course of 15 hours. Think that over.   That’s one hour a day that you’re not eating, and about 8 snacks a day.   Maybe you don’t look like the average American.   But the statistic alone, should be alarming for all of us, because this IS impacting ...

  “That number can’t be right.   It isn’t right.   I’m sure.”   “Something is wrong with the scale.”   These are thoughts that came to my mind each time the scale reported a number to me that sounded astronomically high.   I remember once anticipating a doctor’s appointment.   I was thinking about how I knew the scale at home was wrong and I was looking forward to getting an ACCURATE weight.   I went to the doctor’s appointment and weighed even more.   I justified it by pointing to my breakfast, clothes, shoes, etc.   AND… I used the variation in the two different numbers to ascribe them both as unreliable . I was in such complete denial about my health I was willing to dismiss data, numbers, and hard facts.   Maybe that’s where you are today.   If you find yourself arguing with scale, weighing multiple times because you’re sure the first number was wrong, or throwing out the number altogether, please know, I’ve been the...

 “I’ve always had these curves and I always will.”  I used to believe this.   But when I said “always,” that wasn’t true.   I wasn’t overweight as a child.   Maybe you were, but I would still be willing to bet you- your body can change . It’s kind of a double-edged sword for women.   In general, when we lose weight, the butt and boobs are the first things to go.   You’ll notice that some of your curves are missing and you might not be thrilled about those.   And then as you continue in your health journey, you’ll find yourself frustrated because the belly fat seems to be the last thing to go. For men, it seems to be the opposite.   The dad bod/beer belly is the first thing to show the difference.   So, that makes it even more frustrating if your weight loss partner is your husband. [Sidenote: Your belly is getting smaller, but because everything else is getting smaller, it is hard to monitor it accurately.   If you know yo...

TTTT: “Sugar is not a drug.” Truth:  If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it's probably a duck.  Or in this case, a drug.  I can picture it like it was yesterday.   I remember the scene perfectly.   The first time I ever heard someone compare sugar to a drug.   I was approaching 200 pounds and in a room full of people of similar and larger sizes.   …And stilllll oblivious to the fact that this was an effort to get me (and others) to think critically about what we were eating.   He spoke of his own efforts to avoid added sugars.   He told “folklore” of how processed sugar was originally kept under lock and key.   I didn’t think he was lying, but I thought he was seriously misguided.   I compared the lock and key story to prohibition and dismissed both as mistakes.   (Alcohol not addressed in this post, TMTR for sure!) About 3 years later, I did my first round of Whole30 .   Whole30 allows ZERO sugars- natura...

 TTTT: “My physical health doesn’t affect my ability to lead others.” Truth: ‘Good leadership starts with leading yourself well and then letting that overflow into the lives of others.’  ...paraphrased from Steven Furtick I once believed there was a dichotomy separating my leadership and my physical health.  I was reading leadership books and having lots of leadership conversations.  I served as a volunteer leading the children’s ministry at my church.  I was young.  I made lots of mistakes and I did a few things well.  I knew my physical health was lacking, but I didn’t believe that it had any impact on my leadership.   I thought- ‘if it isn’t important to me, why should it be important to anyone else?’   As I have improved my health year over year, I have been shocked by how much my physical health is connected to every other component of health.     It sounds crazy until you experience it for yourself, but I can’t tell you ...

“The ideal weight range for my height is an unrealistic standard for me.” Truth:  Your mindset is what needs to be adjusted, not the standard.   I used to say this one A LOT!  I would look at those numbers and it felt like they were on a completely different planet.  At one point, I was 100 pounds heavier than the bottom number for my height, almost double the “recommended” size.  It’s no surprise that those numbers felt impossible.  I had a long list of reasons why those numbers were unrealistic (my weight in high school, my athletic build, prescriptions I was taking, etc.).  There are a LOT of factors that affect your weight.  That is real.  ANNND that is why the recommended weight is given as a weight range , not a singular number. The range accounts for the variables and factors.  Don’t be confused, I’m not dismissing your list.  Even today, as a “healthy weight” individual, I still have a list of variables and factors ...

  TTTT: “Diets don’t work for me.” Truth:   Diets don’t work for anyone, lifestyle changes do.   I don’t recall ever saying this one out loud.   I reserved this one exclusively for the internal dialogue because, even back then, I knew it was a lie .   Verbally lying to someone else is a sin, but somehow lying to myself felt less dramatic.   I told myself that diets (plural) didn’t work for me, but I had made a respectable effort on only one (singular) diet.   It WAS working.   …It was also working for Matt (my husband).   It worked better for him than it did for me.   I fell victim to the comparison trap and I quit. I said it didn’t work for me.   But it did work.   It worked better for him, and I used the relative comparison to convince myself that it wasn’t working for me . Many of us are susceptible to this.   Maybe it is working but it’s not working as well for us as it did for someone else.   Or, m...

TTTT: “I’m too old to change.” Truth: It’s still worth it! This is a special edition in the TTTT series spotlighting a guest contributor, Louise Lefler.  This is her story... Two years ago, at the age of 68, my health was spiraling down.   I was eating fast food for most meals, not exercising, and stress was a huge issue.   I started having daily digestive problems.   I was telling myself, “ I am too old to make any changes and too old to start trying to lose weight and eat healthy.”   No one else told me that I was too old, but I believed this for several years. I was missing out on family gatherings and my grandchildren’s sports activities.   Continuing to miss their important future events was a struggle I had to overcome.   Something had to change.   After much prayer and listening to what God said about me, not what I said, things started to change.   My mind was where all the negative talk and self-destructive conversati...

  TTTT: “I got fat genes.” Truth: Weight is not an inherited trait. I used to say it a little differently.   I would say “I didn’t get skinny genes.”   Or “Everyone in my family is fat.   I am supposed to be fat and there’s nothing I can do about that.”   This wasn’t a huge exaggeration.   Both sides of my family tree are filled with people who are overweight and obese.   It is a prevalent theme in my family heritage, and those who don’t measure up to these labels are the outliers.    I don’t know EVERY one of their stories, but I do know several- many of them maintain terrible diets, lead inactive lifestyles, have physical handicaps, unaddressed traumas, etc.   There are SO many factors outside of genetics that are contributing to the shape of my family tree.   Yes, genetics and DNA are real, but BMI is not an inherited trait.   Your height is an inherited trait.   Certain things about your skeletal frame influen...