Note: My stats are showing more and more people searching for bulimia — I don’t have the answers. That’s why I’m posting this tonight. I am receive a dozen or more hits every day now wanting to know about bulimic prayers, hope, healing, etc. I’m just now coming face to face with the damages I caused my body when I was younger. While I no longer physically purge food — I was released from that captivity several years ago – I do still at times over eat, over exercise, and starve for the wrong reasons. — if any of this is an issue for you, please please PLEASE check out the page my friend gave me. Setting Captives Free. I’ve committed to it myself, starting today. It’s a wonderful sight. Thanks.
The first question I see in every weightloss program I’ve ever tried is “Why do you want to lose weight?”
That’s a loaded question, don’t you think? Why do any of us want to lose weight?
To:
- Fit in that new dress / bathing suit.
- Look good for vacation / wedding / class reunion.
- Find a Mate. (Already have one)
- Build my self-esteem
- Be healthy and live longer.
- Get my blood pressure and sugar back down to reasonable levels.
- Be more successful as a worker / performer / speaker
- Finally wear skinny jeans again.
- Receive positive attention from others.
Lots of choices to that question, but something tells me (other than looking ahead) all of my answers are incorrect.
I ran into an old friend this weekend. Someone I hadn’t seen in ages. She looked great. What I noticed first though, was her eyes. They had this light that I feel like I’ve lost. I wanted to know what she was doing differently. I mean I’m reading the Bible. I’m praying, I’m studying healthy eating habit and I’m exercising.
I’m.
I’m.
I’m.
I’m.
hmmmm
Then she said something really great – eating disorders cover false idols.
I had never until that very moment thought of the idol of being thin.
It was a total “aha” moment for me.
It was immediately obvious that I’m doing something very different from what she is doing. She’s living to honor God, I’m living to get thin again. No wonder my eyes look tired and her’s don’t. If I’m is a contraction of I am. Maybe I’m focusing on the wrong I AM?
I wonder.
Think about it.
An idol is a false god — something that replaces the real God we have in Christ.
CONFESSION: Every single reason I have ever – in my life – had, for wanting to lose weight — is an idol. Approval, self-esteem, respect, personal health, success, control. None of my choices had anything to do with God. No wonder I continue to fail. I’ve made it all about me.
What about you?
What is your reason for wanting to lose weight?
This post written by Deana O’Hara for Redemption’s Heart: Confessions of a Spiritual Bulimic. All rights reserved. No goods or services were given in exchange for the endorsement of Setting Captives Free. I am only sharing a resource that I myself find to be very useful.
Deana O'Hara - Speaker, Comedian, Writer 
Deana,
Well I have to share my recent experience with weight loss. I’ve been fighting the battle of the bulge for way too long! Of course all the reason for losing weight like trying to be healthy, lower my blood pressure etc… Tried lots of different things with little results until I came across a book titled “The Belly Fat Cure” by Jorge Cruise. His book offered me a way to lose weight without having to kill myself exercising like crazy and eating things I really didn’t like.
His plan is simple. Limit your sugar intake to 15 grams a day or less and to have no more than a total of 120 carbs a day. Eat pretty much all the protein you want within reason during the day. Book provides lots of good recipes, he also has what he calls a carb swap system that helps you keep within the limits of sugar and carbs.
When I started this plan I weighed in at 260 lbs, had a waist line of 47.5″ (I can’t believe I ever got to be that size!) After 4 months of following the plan I have lost 30 lbs and 5″ off my waist line. That kind of success motivates me to keep going and stick with the plan!
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That’s great! I have also discovered triggers that will cause me to be weaker when it comes to eating the right (and wrong) things. One good thing I can say is, Martin was able to hear for himself from a doctor that he, too could use a change of diet! And he is trying, too.
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You must definitely have the right “mind-set” to lose weight. All you said is true, but it is also, at least for me, a true “weakness”. I get tired of fighting. I get tired of wanting healthy. I get tired of…the list goes on. Weight loss requires focus and I get distracted. The same goes for our walk with God. That, too requires focus. I may be distracted from that, too, by the same things that distract my desire to be healthy. Something to ponder and come to grips with. I have a new coworker in the same boat I am in (distractions and weakness), and maybe together, we can be accountable for ourselves using each other’s weaknesses as stepping stone to reach our goals. Wonderful post, Deana. Thank you.
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Rena, thank you for joining the conversation. I totally understand the distractions and weaknesses myself. For me, for right now I also have to realize the warning shots for what they are. Meaning my surgery. Had I been at a healthier weight that mass would have been discovered sooner – and by that I mean a few years sooner – and I could have had it treated then instead of being in the hospital, having a hysterectomy and being out of service for six months because of severe anemia. My blood count was at 6.2 by May. It is supposed to be at 12.
Accountability is great. I started the In His Image study and now have a mentor as well as an accountability partner and I feel like together we can accomplish what I alone failed to do.
I ignored those warning shots before and the results were horrible. This time, I’m doing my best to pay attention. Looking forward to the study.
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