Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Not by my strength
The sermon at the last church service I went to included a verse from Zechariah where God says, "Not by power, nor by might, but by My Spirit." That verse, although I've heard it a thousand times before has been running through my head ever since. It seems pretty self-explanatory but it has hit me lately in a fresh new way. And though the verse wasn't specifically talking about working out or getting healthy, as a believer I know I can apply it to my life because His Spirit is within me.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Purpose of this Blog/My Story
I have another blog (www.kdoggswalk.blogspot.com). Actually I don't really blog on it. I set it up a year ago as a place where people could view my testimony and check out good links. The purpose of the kdoggs walk blog is eternal. So, why have another blog? And what is the purpose of it? Well, first of all, this will be more of a real blog in the sense that I will be posting on it weekly. The title Lay It Down is something that has been on my heart for awhile. You see, God has done so much with me. He has been faithful to bring me through so much and bless me immensely. Not only did He bring me His truth and save me, but He has helped me to overcome some pretty big obstacles in my life. God has given me the gift of sobriety for a little more than 8 1/2 years now. He has restored relationships with friends and family. I have many blessings in my life including great friends both here and around the country, a wonderful dog, a great job, a comfortable home, etc., etc. Oh yeah, and not to mention a relationship that I don't deserve with the Creator of this universe. The Lord is constantly convicting me and teaching me many things. However, there is one big hurdle that I am yet to overcome. It's something millions of people struggle with. What is it? This seemingly insurmountable obstacle has been called the battle of the bulge-or in layman's terms, losing weight.
Okay so a blog about weight loss is nothing new, and it may seem rather shallow, especially in light of my other blog. So, why am I doing this? Here's a little bit of my story regarding my battle with weight.
I was not overweight growing up. In high school, I started battling with alcohol. After I graduated and moved out on my own, I had two jobs, both of which had me on my feet and one of which was very physical labor. After I got myself fired from one of the jobs and quit the other, I took a sales job where there was a lot of traveling and sitting. My drinking continued to increase but my physical activity decreased, and thus, the pounds started to creep on slowly but ever steadily. Add to that the fact that I was no longer at home getting mom's homecooked meals, so when I did eat usually ate fast food, and that sure didn't help matters. Anyway, a few years sober, I joined a well-known twelve-step program and stopped drinking. It was great that I wasn't drunk anymore, but I started eating again and the weight really piled on. I also took up smoking cigarettes for the first couple years of my sobriety. By God's grace, I was able to quit the nasty habit, but guess what? You got it; more weight-gain. There was some dieting here and there but for the most part I topped out for awhile and then I took a desk job and gained even more! By 2005 I was at my heaviest weight ever! This made me very depressed. I didn't want to go out and do anything anymore. I was missing my life! And what's more, by this point I had become a Christian and I knew I was not representing God well with my body and my eating habits. In early 2006, I snapped. I got sick and tired. I was getting too big and out of shape to be able to do certain things. I was full of shame and fear. By God's grace, I found a diet plan customized to my specific body type and I went to work. Six days a week, I ate healthy and worked out. On Sundays, I pretty much ate what I wanted and gave the working out a rest. This helped me to not feel deprived and eating more calories and different food one day a week actually helped to jumpstart my metabolism. It worked great! Within five months, I had lost 70 lbs! Then, I hit a wall-me. Since that time, it's been a series of ups and downs, on and off healthy eating, on and off working out, even starving myself at times and losing the weight then gaining it back. So, to make a long story short, here I sit today almost three years after starting this journey having gained back over half of that 70 lbs I lost.
I'm a pretty private person. I don't like to always tell everyone my business. However, there are times for discretion, but I believe there are also times where being open can be helpful. This is one of those times for me. Why? Because being open with you all means being accountable, and that is what this blog is all about. Losing weight isn't just about looking and feeling better for me. It isn't just about my health. It isn't just about being more comfortable or having more self-esteem. It goes way deeper than that for me. It's about being a good witness and a good representative of Jesus Christ. Period. I want to be of maximum service to God and to others.
So, I will be posting weekly and giving updates. This isn't really about numbers. I'm sure sometimes I will post numbers, but I do not wish to use this blog to boast on myself. I want accountability for eating healthy and exercising and glorifying God with a healthy lifestyle. I want to be open and honest. I definitely would like prayer on this for those of you who pray. And most of all, I want to give glory to God. I know we are all busy but I hope to hear from some of you on a regular basis. Thank you for reading this. Love you all!
Okay so a blog about weight loss is nothing new, and it may seem rather shallow, especially in light of my other blog. So, why am I doing this? Here's a little bit of my story regarding my battle with weight.
I was not overweight growing up. In high school, I started battling with alcohol. After I graduated and moved out on my own, I had two jobs, both of which had me on my feet and one of which was very physical labor. After I got myself fired from one of the jobs and quit the other, I took a sales job where there was a lot of traveling and sitting. My drinking continued to increase but my physical activity decreased, and thus, the pounds started to creep on slowly but ever steadily. Add to that the fact that I was no longer at home getting mom's homecooked meals, so when I did eat usually ate fast food, and that sure didn't help matters. Anyway, a few years sober, I joined a well-known twelve-step program and stopped drinking. It was great that I wasn't drunk anymore, but I started eating again and the weight really piled on. I also took up smoking cigarettes for the first couple years of my sobriety. By God's grace, I was able to quit the nasty habit, but guess what? You got it; more weight-gain. There was some dieting here and there but for the most part I topped out for awhile and then I took a desk job and gained even more! By 2005 I was at my heaviest weight ever! This made me very depressed. I didn't want to go out and do anything anymore. I was missing my life! And what's more, by this point I had become a Christian and I knew I was not representing God well with my body and my eating habits. In early 2006, I snapped. I got sick and tired. I was getting too big and out of shape to be able to do certain things. I was full of shame and fear. By God's grace, I found a diet plan customized to my specific body type and I went to work. Six days a week, I ate healthy and worked out. On Sundays, I pretty much ate what I wanted and gave the working out a rest. This helped me to not feel deprived and eating more calories and different food one day a week actually helped to jumpstart my metabolism. It worked great! Within five months, I had lost 70 lbs! Then, I hit a wall-me. Since that time, it's been a series of ups and downs, on and off healthy eating, on and off working out, even starving myself at times and losing the weight then gaining it back. So, to make a long story short, here I sit today almost three years after starting this journey having gained back over half of that 70 lbs I lost.
I'm a pretty private person. I don't like to always tell everyone my business. However, there are times for discretion, but I believe there are also times where being open can be helpful. This is one of those times for me. Why? Because being open with you all means being accountable, and that is what this blog is all about. Losing weight isn't just about looking and feeling better for me. It isn't just about my health. It isn't just about being more comfortable or having more self-esteem. It goes way deeper than that for me. It's about being a good witness and a good representative of Jesus Christ. Period. I want to be of maximum service to God and to others.
So, I will be posting weekly and giving updates. This isn't really about numbers. I'm sure sometimes I will post numbers, but I do not wish to use this blog to boast on myself. I want accountability for eating healthy and exercising and glorifying God with a healthy lifestyle. I want to be open and honest. I definitely would like prayer on this for those of you who pray. And most of all, I want to give glory to God. I know we are all busy but I hope to hear from some of you on a regular basis. Thank you for reading this. Love you all!
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