The fruit of the Spirit is:
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and
self control...
I am currently on a "diet." People tend to have a problem with non- obese people going on a diet. Sorry guys. The truth is, I AM over my healthy bmi, and I want to wear my old clothes. The ones that fit me before I started working at a coffee shop and eating/drinking all the "mess-ups". The ones that fit me before I got pregnant, and then got pregnant again. And, I want to be fit and feeling good the next time I get pregnant. (Not anytime soon hopefully!) I want to avoid Gestational diabetes which means that a lower weight and better eating habits would be helpful. I want to avoid diabetes in the future, as (apparently) my mystery grandparent had diabetes, my grandpa Don has diabetes, sugar makes my mom crazy, and having had GD I have at least a 50% chance. And I want to be full of energy!
Enter, Self Control!
I have had the goal of being at my goal weight by April 14th for a long time. It is my "School of Worship" class reunion. Seems like a good event to have as my weight loss deadline. (I mean, who loses weight for Mother's day, or for Easter???) But as the time was getting shorter and shorter I was not seeing the scale move at all. At least, not down. It moved a little up a few times.
So I decided to do the hardest thing food-wise that I have ever done. I went on a NO CHEATING, lean meats, veggies and fruit diet. I am not someone who cheats in any other area of life. But as far as eating goes, I am a big, FAT, cheater... no pun intended!! That means less of this:
A little bit more of this to keep life interesting:
This is what I've found:
1. I'm not as addicted to sugar as I thought I was. I can have sugar within ten feet, and still not eat it.
2. I can have/do have self control (Two weeks and I haven't cheated at all!)
3. Working with less options makes you a better cook, you have to get creative!
4. Self control is birthed from vision.
I have been pondering how vision for the future is what keeps us strong in "hardships" and "temptations." If I didn't have a goal in mind, believe me, this would have lasted less than one day. As it is, my desire for what is to come out weights my temporary frustrations. I feel like this is such a valuable lesson to learn that can be applied to every area of life.
Today I made the kids gluten-free, dairy-free peanut butter cookie-cake. I love them because they are sweet and gooey and peanut-buttery. Yum. And I didn't have one little snitch. Not one.
Because the battle was already won. I have already decided not to snitch. Not to cheat.
There have been plenty of great opportunities for me to say, "What I wouldn't give to eat that ______!" But I realized that what I wouldn't give is:
A shot at being healthier
A shot at being thinner
A shot a more energy
A shot at knowing I can follow through with something
Ok, the last one is a lie. If the first three were non-existant, I would have eaten half the pan of cookies. But with vision for what is to come, I carry on.
Vision for the future, a vital ingredient in developing Self discipline.
