FAT FAITH

Growing up in a Pastor's home. being apart of a very conservative Christian group, I had an idyllic childhood.
Moderation and in many cases abstinence was practiced in almost every area of our lives.The one exception was food. I admit now that one of my biggest enemies growing up was my fork. We ate for fellowship, comfort, reward, celebration, commiseration and we ate till we were full.
At the time it was wonderful, but I see now that the many vices that we stood against as a church were in no way less destructive than us and our untamed forks.
Some one recently said "if it were not for food I would not be fat". The fact is, if it were not for food we would be dead.

If it were not for the eating of to much food and the wrong food I would not be fat. But the right food, ate as fuel makes me healthy. More to come....Keep your forks at the ready:)

FAT FAITH is a subject that I will go into in much greater detail later. But for now let me open this subject up with this statement. "My name is Randy Martin and I am a GLUTTON". Recovering yes! But I am ever at the mercy of my fork and spoon. With only my will power and the nutritional knowledge I have, standing on my side. Gluttony, derived from the Latin gluttire meaning to gulp down.
So starts this journey....

PREPARE

"Most people have the will to win, but few have the will to prepare to win." - Bob Knight

The other morning as I was spending a considerable amount of time PREPARING my food for the day, I thought of this. As opposed to being haphazard with my nutrition as I used to be, now I am deliberate and organized as to what and when I eat. Of course this principle holds true in just about every aspect of life.

Preparation is the key! People always say " I want it so bad" but do they want it badly enough to prepare for it.
After a concert a great musician was told "I would give everything I have to play like you" to which the musician replied " I have!''. Jesus said and I paraphrase, "nobody starts a building project without preparation".


To many times we want the result and the reward without preparation or practice. Today I commit to living with deliberation, committing to preparation and practicing for progress!

HEAD OVER HIPS

WHAT COMES FIRST, YOUR HEAD OR HIPS?

The Scripture tell us “to be transformed by the renewing of our mind” (Rom. 12:2).

For real complete permanent change to take place, we must first change our mind.

Ninety percent of the people who join a gym, quit in the first ninety days. Ninety five percent of the people who lose weight gain it back and more.

When we use temporary change trying to achieve permanent results this is what happens. We go on a diet and lose weight, and then we go back to our normal eating patterns and gain the weight back. It should be common sense, but I know from experience that it’s not.

The key is the state of your mind. It’s not about the scale or how many inches you need to lose. It starts and finishes with the way we think.

I know people who have had surgery to limit how many calories they could consume and they lost drastic amounts of weight. But guess what? Within a couple of years their mind had over ruled their bodies and they gained their weight back and more.

It’s not surgery, exercise equipment, gym memberships or diet programs we need to be successful with weight loss. These things come into play later. But first, before we change the inches of our hips we must change our minds. HEAD BEFORE HIPS!

HEAVY MIND SET

HEAVY MIND SET

WHEN I WAS GROWING UP I HEARD ALL THE EUPHEMISMS FOR BEING OVER WEIGHT.  I was told that I was Healthy, Husky, Stocky, Chunky, Big Boned, Chubby, and of course Heavy Set. I know that there are many factors involved in a persons weight. Genetics and certain health issues can predispose one to being over weight. I do come from some big people and it would be easy to fall back and take the path of the least genetic resistance and be HEAVY SET. But I have come to realize that for me being HEAVY SET was a MIND SET.

Here are the three areas I am working on in changing my MIND SET.

How I see myself.

I was conditioned to think of myself as Heavy, I saw my self as FAT. 

The Biblical principle of “As a man thinketh so is he…” worked for me. I saw myself as heavy and I was. Your internal picture of yourself will soon become your external reality.

I changed how I looked to myself before I changed for others to see. I found pictures of myself when I was fit and put them where I would see them everyday several times a day. I would visualize myself as a fit person. My MIND SET was changing. We must change in our mind before we change in time.

What I say about myself.

I would refer to myself as FAT. (I’m still working on correcting this one) I would call myself “the old fat guy”. This hurts on two fronts. I am youthful and FIT! My MINDSET allowed me to make excuses for being FAT, slow, tired and listless. I had come to be the person that I said that I was.

How I think about FOOD.

My dad used to say “some people eat to live but I live to eat”. I associated food with pleasure. I did not eat to live. I ate to enjoy. My mantra was eat till you’re full then eat some more. Food, Fun and Fellowship were all interconnected for me. No longer the case, I eat for FUEL. Eating gives me the nutrients I need to be energetic and enjoy life! My MINDSET has changed.

The Scripture teaches that we are TRANSFORMED by a renewed mind. MY MIND SET is no longer HEAVY SET, I am just SET to GO!!!

ENJOY THE PLATEAU

About every 4-6 weeks, just like clock work,  my body hits a plateau. On average I drop a pound to a pound and a half of FAT a week. But I will hit a wall and level out during this plateau period. No matter what I do I can not take off FAT during this time. I have tried everything I know of with little success. So I decided to go with it. The same way I have a treat meal or treat day every seven days, I use my plateau as a sabbatical. It's time for my metabolism to rest, so for at least seven days, sometimes longer I add good clean calories and good carbs to my diet. I will gain a little weight during this time, but when it's over and I go back to my normal lean diet I will drop FAT immediately, sometimes as much as five to seven pounds the first week. Usually twelve to fifteen pounds in the next month.
This principle is apropos to many areas of life. Don't burn out! When you stop progressing take a break! Then come back stronger than ever!!! 
ENJOY THE PLATEAU

LESSONS FROM LOSS

Webster defines a loss as the failure to win, gain or obtain. Winning, gaining and obtaining is great fun, not winning, gaining or obtaining, not so much! This weekend I planned to ride with friends in a thirty mile charity bicycle ride to benefit a local food pantry. The food pantry got the benefit of my registration fee and I got to learn a lesson from loss. 
The ride was thirty miles and I lasted all of three. It was not so much that I quit as it was that I was finished after just three miles. So much so that I had to call for my wife to pick me and the bicycle up from the side of the road. Now there were the contributing factors of  ninety degree heat and the many hills of southern Indiana.
Or the fact that I took my usual two hour sauna that morning before the ride and did not fully rehydrate or get my core body temperature down. But when I consider the day I am convinced that no matter what the circumstances of the ride I would not have succeeded. 
The lesson that I learned Saturday is the difference between Planning and Preparation. These are mutually exclusive terms. Although I had planned for weeks to ride, I did not prepare for the ride. I should have spent time training in the heat and on the hills. I didn't, consequently I lost. Planning is just not enough, I should have added ACTION to my plan, resulting in PREPARATION. Next time I will be PREPARED!