Being overweight is very bad for your health. Doctors recommend that you have a Body Mass Index (BMI) that is between 20 and 24. However, you can remain fairly healthy with a BMI in the 25 to 29 range. When your BMI hits 30, you are medically obese and you start to have a much higher risk for dangerous health problems such as cardiovascular or gallbladder problems or diabetes. Likewise, if your BMI drops below 20, you start having risks for digestive and pulmonary disorders.
BMI is calculated as
(weight in Kilograms) divided by (height in meters squared)
For those who are not on the metric system, it would be
(weight in lbs multiplied by 703) divided by (height in inches squared)
However, BMI charts are widely available on the internet and in literature. It is much easier to simply look up your BMI from a BMI chart using your height and weight than to calculate it mathematically. The goal (health wise) is have a BMI between 20 and 29. If you are concerned about physical appearance and want to look trim/slim, you should shoot for a BMI that is between 20 and 24.
Fad Diets and Rapid Weight Loss Diets Are Dangerous
Many people are overweight these days, and many are preoccupied with trying to loose weight -- and most do not successfully keep it off. There are many fad and "rapid weight loss" diets that have emerged over the years. Unfortunately, many of these are nutritionally unbalanced and some can cause health problems of their own, sometimes health problems more serious than the obesity-related problems they are trying to prevent.
Even the diets that are not total extremes can cause health problems. For instance, the high protein, low carbohydrate diets can cause gout and increase arthritis-like symptoms. Diets that are high in citrus fruits and acidy foods (such as the famous grape-fruit diet) can cause digestive tract problems when sustained for too long of a period. Diets that drastically reduce or totally exclude meats and seafoods and fats can cause vitamin B deficiencies, which have their own set of nasty side-effects, including muscle cramps and even heart problems. Diets that are too low in calories can leave you feeling weak, lethargic, tired and may cause you to feel emotionally depressed.
Fasting can do wonderful things for you spiritually, providing God has called you to fast. But from a physical health perspective, it is very bad for your body. There is often a supernatural grace on you if God has called you to fast, where He protects your health. But if you try to fast to loose weight instead of because God directed you to fast, that is a VERY BAD idea.
There are some medically supervised "fasting" types of weight loss programs, such as WMP in San Francisco that are safe and good. They use the term "fast" but it is not a "true fast" because the participants take about 500 to 800 calories of protein each day and they also take daily fiber, sodium and potassium supplements as well as multiple vitamins. This causes the participants to metabolize their own stored body fats instead of breaking down muscle tissue. Participants in this type of program are monitored weekly for blood chemistry and blood pressure and heart rate. They have periodic EKGs to monitor their heart. If you go on a medically supervised fast, that is usually safe and OK.
However, if you try to fast to loose weight, you are setting yourself up for great failure. Most people will gain back all of the weight they lose from a fast and even gain a bit more. That is because most of the weight you loose on a fast is muscle tissue, not fatty tissue. So you have increased your fat-to-muscle body ratio, which in turn lowers your metabolism. The higher one's metabolism is, the more calories they burn when "at rest" like sleeping, sitting, etc. If you lower your metabolism by fasting, then when you go back to your old eating habits (after the fast is over) your body will gain weight on the same number of calories that used to just maintain your weight. E.g. you can eat the same, or in some cases even eat less, than what you ate before the fast and still gain weight.
In addition to metabolism issues, your body chemistry (electrolytes) gets way off when you fast. If you do a water-only fast for more than just a few days, your magnesium and potassium levels can get off and your heart might loose it's ability to regulate your heart beat.
I once did a three week fast where I drank juices and a little milk. Twelve days after ending that fast, I thought God called me to a long water-only fast. About eight days into the water-only fast, I started having shortness of breath and my heart would race for several minutes from really minor activity, such as walking up a staircase. I also got muscle spasms and cramps in my arms and legs. I ignored these symptoms and continued on my water-only fast. About two weeks into the fast, my heart started palpitating and would not stop. We called my doctor, who told my husband to rush me to the nearest hospital.
I had put myself into a live threatening situation through unwise fasting (a water only fast shortly after a previous 3 week fast). My electrolytes had gotten so messed up that my heart could not regulate itself and I could have died if I had not received prompt medical attention. In addition to all that, I had become severely dehydrated from the water only fast... as strange as it sounds, if you drink only water (and in large quantities) and have no sodium intake, your cells can't retain the water and you become dehydrated.
The reason I shared that testimony is to underscore how important it is to make sure God is calling you to a fast.. never fast to loose weight. Fasting is the most unhealthy way to loose weight and chances are very high that you will gain it all back and more besides, that you will lower your metabolism and that you will mess up your body's vitamin, mineral and electrolyte balance in the process.
Safe Weight Loss
Remember that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and God expects us to be good stewards of these temples. This means He expects us to eat properly and to behave in healthy ways. Part of that is getting proper sleep and exercise and part of it is keeping our weight at a medically safe level. In other words, if you are overweight to the point where your BMI is 30 or above, it is time to start loosing weight.
You want to loose weight by eating healthy. You want to consume the proper nutrients and the proper vitamins and minerals. You must keep your eating balances and cut down on the total calorie intake per day. Increasing exercise will also help you to loose weight.
The rules really are simple... 3500 calories equals one pound in our bodies. This means that if you want to loose a pound a week, you need to reduce your weekly calorie intake by 3500 calories or by 500 calories a day. Typically you eat 10 times your weight in pounds each day to maintain your current weight. If you weigh 180 pounds, your calorie intake (not counting any calories you burn off through exercise) is about 1800 calories per day. If you want to loose a pound a week, you would need to cut your daily calorie intake from 1800 to 1300. If you wanted to loose 2 pounds a week, you would need to cut your daily calorie intake from 1800 to 800, which is too low to be safe. You should never cut your daily calorie intake below 1000. So you would have to "make up the difference" of 200 calories a day in additional exercise.
Exercise burns calories, but not nearly as fast as you think it might. For instance, it does not matter if you walk slow, walk fast or jog, you burn the same number of calories for each mile you go. For instance, if you weigh 150 pounds, you will burn about 100 calories for every mile. (This is according to a chart put out by Lorraine Galanrite-Schwarz and Lawrence T. Stifler in 1996.) Of course you cover a mile much faster when you are running than when you are walking. You may cover 6 miles, or burn 600 calories, if you jog for an hour. You may cover 4 miles, or burn 400 calories, if you walk briskly for an hour. You may cover 2 miles, or burn 200 calories, if you walk slowly for an hour. But it works out to about 100 calories per mile (if you weight 150 lbs). If you weigh more, then you can calculate your calorie burning by multiplying the calorie values by your weight and then diving that number by 150. For instance, if you weigh 200 lbs you burn about 133 calories per mile. If you weigh 120 lbs, you only burn 80 calories per mile.
Here are some other calorie burning counts per hour for a 150 lb person doing the activity for one hour (from the chart by Lorraine Galanrite-Schwarz and Lawrence T. Stifler):
housework/shopping - 100 calories per hour
weight lifting - 100 calories per hour
golf (walking and continuous play) - 150 calories per hour
stationary bike (low intensity) - 200 calories per hour
water aerobics - 250 calories per hour
rowing machine (continuous motion, light resistance) - 250 calories
recreational tennis - 275 calories per hour
bicycling at 12 MPH - 300 calories per hour
mountain biking (beginner) - 300 calories per hour
stair machine (supporting body weight) - 300 calories per hour
aerobic Rider - 300 calories per hour
basketball - 400 calories per hour
Roller blading - 400 calories per hour
stationary bike (medium intensity) - 400 calories per hour
treadmill with 5% grade - 450 calories per hour
medium intensity aerobics - 500 calories per hour
step aerobics - 500 calories per hour
swimming - approximately 500 calories per mile
stair machine (not holding on to support body weight) - 500 calories
expert mountain biking - 600 calories per hour
stationary bike (high intensity) - 600 calories per hour
treadmill with 10% grade - 600 calories per hour
cross country ski machine (constant use of arms & legs) - 600 calories
Also, when walking up a staircase, you burn 1 calorie for each 5 steps you take.
Calories you burn in exercise can be subtracted from your daily calorie intake. For instance, if you ate 1500 calories today and you played tennis for an hour, you could subtract 275 calories, making it as though you had only eaten 1225 calories. That is why exercise plays an important role in weight loss.
Healthy Weight Reduction
Our last lesson began to look at dieting, at controlling our calorie intake to loose weight so that we are less likely to get diabetes or cardiovascular problems or gallbladder problems -- or any of many other medical problems that seriously overweight people become susceptible to. As believers, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and we need to take good care of them for God. One of the ways we do that is to eat nutritiously and balanced and healthily. Another way we do that is to begin to control our weight so that it is within medically "safe" boundaries.
There is no quick or easy weight loss formula, no magic pills to take. We need to change our eating style. But that change comes in two phases. The first phase is to change our eating style to reduce our weight and then we have to change it to maintain our weight once we have hit our target weight.
The primary difference between loosing and maintaining is the number of calories we intake each day. We want the calorie intake per week to be 3500 calories below maintenance intake for each pound we are trying to loose a week. Experts recommend loosing one to two pounds a week. That may sound slow when you are looking to loose 50 pounds. But if you reduce your calorie intake by a mere 500 calories per day and persist over a year, you will loose 52 pounds in a year. Look at dieting as a long term lifestyle change rather than a radical and quick fix.
Healthy Weight Reduction
The key to healthy weight reduction is to be balanced and to eat sensible portions. If you get out of balance, then your body will begin to crave certain things because of a physiological need. In addition, you can get weak, tired, and sick from unhealthy and unbalanced diets.
I would like to share some things I learned from a friend named Bill Hartman, who is a weight counselor at a medically supervised weight reduction clinic in San Francisco. He has many years of expertise in this field and has successfully helped a lot of people to loose weight and keep it off. So what I am going to share in this lesson is a few of the thing that Bill teaches his clients.
There are 5 basic food groups to consider: water, proteins, carbohydrates (including fiber), fats and vitamins. We will examine each one from a weight loss perspective.
WATER
Water is essential to your health. Experts teach that we should drink at least 64 ounces of water a day -- that is eight 8-ounce glasses -- whether we are trying to loose weight or not. Water is best for us in it's purest form, e.g., straight water. But those who can't tolerate drinking straight water can try sugar-free, caffeine-free sodas or any low-sodium, caffeine-free, sugar-free and alcohol-free fluids. The more water we drink, the less likely our body is to retain it. Our cells try to grab on to some water and hold it in case it needs it. But when water is in ample supply, the cells decide that they don't need to store up for a shortage and they release the water. Therefore the more water you drink, the less likely you will be to retain it (unless you have a medical condition that causes you to retain water).
The reason that many people loose more weight the first week of their diet is because their bodies are flushing retained water out of their system. That is called water-loss. Drinking water while trying to loose weight provides the added benefit of tricking your stomach into thinking it is fuller than it is, so that you feel less hungry.
PROTEINS
Proteins contain hormones and enzymes that our bodies need for healthy cells. They contain a full range of essential amino acids, and we need to assure we get the full range of these essential amino acids each day. Surprisingly, meat is not the only protein there is. We also get proteins from grains, vegetables, nuts and berries, eggs and dairy products like cheese. It is good to mix some beans and grains every day to get a better mix of the essential amino acids we need. 10%-15% of our daily calories should come from proteins. That means that we should have 3 to 6 ounces (cooked weight) of chicken, fish, or lean meat; or the equivalent from eggs, beans or tofu.
Meats are not equal in calories ... the lean meats contain about 100 calories (beef, pork, ham) per ounce. Cheese contains about the same number of calories per ounce (unless it is fat-free, then it contains less). Fatty meats such as prime rib contain about 125 calories per ounce and bacon contains about 170 calories per ounce. Skinless white chicken is about 50 calories per ounce and dark chicken is about 60. Skinless dark turkey is about 55 calories per ounce and skinless white turkey is about 45. Dark fish seafood is about 50 calories per ounce. Tuna in water is about 35 calories per ounce. White fish, most shellfish, and low-fat cottage cheese are about 25 calories per ounce. One large egg is about 80 calories, but 65 of those calories are from the yoke. So if you have yokeless eggs or egg-whites, it is only 15 calories per egg. Tofu is about 20 calories per ounce or 150 calories per cup. Beans, lentils and other legumes are about 250 calories per 8 ounce cup, or about 32 calories per ounce.
This means that you can take in anywhere from 150 to over 600 calories per day from 6 ounces of meat a day, depending on which type of meat you choose to eat. So expert recommend that you stick with shellfish, seafood, skinless chicken, turkey and other lower calorie proteins so that you reduce your calorie intake each day without reducing your protein intake below the recommended 3-6 ounces.
CARBOHYDRATES
Glucose (a low level form of sugar) is a fuel that the body needs to do its work. Glucose comes from sugars and carbohydrates. In general, the less processed a carbohydrate is, the better it is for your body. Natural sugars found in many fruits are much healthier than refined sugars. The complex carbohydrates are healthier than simple carbohydrates. We should try to prefer the starches and whole grains and stay away from sugar and white flour. 55% to 60% of our daily calorie intake should be from carbohydrates.
In the complex carbohydrates category, potatoes are about 20 calories per ounce (baked). However, if you have French Fries, the oil adds a lot of calories and they are about 80 calories per ounce. Rice and other grains contain about 25 calories per ounce or 200 calories per cup. Corn has 140 calories per 8 ounce cup or about 18 calories per ounce. Winter squash is 100 calories per 8 ounce cup or about 13 calories per ounce. Summer squash is about 25 calories per 8 ounce serving, or about 3 calories per ounce.
If you move to the processed or simple carbohydrates, croissants are high in fat and they are 115 calories per ounce. The typical croissant weighs 3-4 ounces, so that is about 345 to 460 calories per croissant. Waffles cooked in a non-stick skillet (instead being cooked in oil) are 65 calories per ounce. Tortilla chips are 150 calories per ounce. However, a flour tortilla is 90 calories per ounce and a corn tortilla is 65 calories per ounce. Pretzels are 110 calories per ounce. Most crackers are about 16-20 calories each. Breads range depending on their ingredients, but a safe rule of thumb for guessing the calorie content of breads and bagels are about 75 calories per ounce. Note that a typical bagel weighs 3 ounces and is 225 calories. But a typical slice of bread is between 1 and 1.5 ounces or between 75 and 110 calories.
Natural sugars come primarily from fruits. These are much lower in calories than our baked goods and desserts. One cup (8 ounces) of mixed fruit has about 60 calories. Melons are about 10 calories per ounce. Apples, pineapples and oranges are about 15 calories per ounce. Grapes are 20 and bananas are 25 calories per once. Most berries are about 10 calories per ounce or 80 calories per cup. Avocados are higher calorie than most fruits, they are 45 calories per ounce. That may sound like a lot by comparison to other fruits, but it is very low compared to sweets and baked goods.
Most chocolate-free candies are about 100 calories per ounce. Chocolate candy is about 150 calories per ounce. Most cookies are about 150 calories per ounce, but cakes and pastries and doughnuts are about 125 calories per ounce. Low fat cookies drop down to about 110 calories per ounce. Sugar- free non-fat frozen yogurt is about 125 calories per 8 ounce cup, or about 16 calories per ounce. Sugar-free pudding is about 150 calories per cup or about 19 calories per ounce. Regular frozen yogurt and ice milk are about 200 calories per cup, or 25 calories per ounce. Mousse is about 400 calories per cup, or 50 calories per ounce. And premium ice cream, which most people think tastes the best, is 600 calories per cup or 75 calories per ounce.
It does not take a rocket scientist to do the math (of calories per ounce) and see that you can have larger quantities of lower-calorie foods for the same calorie-cost. For instance, if you are hungry and want to snack on a handful of crackers, you can have about 7 Ritz crackers for 120 calories, which won't even begin to fill you up. But if you chose to have a baked potato, you can have a whole medium sized baked potato (6 ounces) for the same number of calories and it is much more filling than a few crackers or a slice of bread.
If you have a sweet tooth and want to allow yourself 1000 calories a week for sweets, that is 1 and 2/3 8-ounce scoops of premium ice cream per week. Or it is 5 8-ounce scoops of ice milk per week. Or it is 8 8-ounce servings of fat-free frozen yogurt per week. You have to decide where to make the trade-off ... the better it tastes to you, the higher the sugar and fat content and the higher the calories. So you can preserve taste by having very small quantities or you can sacrifice taste for much larger quantities by substituting "delicious" for "still pretty good" lower calorie dessert choices.
Fiber is a carbohydrate of sorts. Fiber is a complex carbohydrate that is the part of the plant we can't digest. It is also know as "roughage". Fiber is important to healthy body functioning and it is particularly important to prevent constipation and promote regularity. There are two types of fiber. The first is soluble fiber, which lowers cholesterol and helps our bodies maintain appropriate levels of glucose in our blood. The second is insoluble fiber, which helps regulate the digestive tract and may help prevent colon cancer. We should intake about 20 to 35 grams of fiber a day. We can find fiber in whole grain reads, brown rice, several whole fruits and legumes.
FATS
We need fats to absorb vitamins and certain essential fatty acids. We need just a tad a day of fats and we should try to get them from vegetable oil (avoiding partially hydrogenated vegetable oils if possible) and from fatty fish. During weight maintenance, fats are about 30% of our calorie intake, but for weight loss, you should try to keep fat calories at 25% of our calorie intake. Remember that fat has more than twice as many calories per gram as proteins and carbohydrates, so you will need to consume only small portions of fat to get to 25% of your daily calories.
Most of our fat calories are consumed in baked goods, desserts and in condiments. We have already discussed baked goods and desserts in the carbohydrates section, so we will discuss condiments and calorie counts here. Oil has about 120 calories per tablespoon. Butter, margarine and peanut butter have about 100 calories per tablespoon. Salad dressing has about 75 calories per tablespoon. Sugar, jelly and cream cheese all have about 50 calories per table spoon. Sour cream has about 25 calories per level table spoon ... however, the average serving of sour cream is about 8 table spoons, so the calories add up fast and sour cream should be used in moderation. Mustard and catsup have about 15 calories per level table spoon and salsa has 5. Most barbeque sauces have about 15 calories per level tablespoon, gravy ranges from 10 to 40 calories. Tomato sauce containing oil has 20 calories per table spoon and oil free tomato sauce has about 5.
On the sweet side, honey has 65 calories per tablespoon, hot fudge sauce and molasses maple syrup all have 50 calories per table spoon and apple butter has 35.
The general guideline is that you get the oil you need in your foods naturally, so it is better to use oil-free condiments whenever possible.
VITAMINS / MINERALS
Vitamins and minerals were discussed in great detail in previous lessons, so they are only mentioned here briefly. They are found naturally in seafood, lean meat, eggs and milk products and in fruits and vegetables and legumes. Vitamins and minerals are an important part of your eating and you must not exclude these as you diet.
Overview Of Diet Guidelines
For adequate nutrition, eat the following foods on a daily basis:
Protein: Eat 3-6 ounces (cooked weight) of chicken, fish or lean meat or the equivalent from eggs, beans or tofu.
Calcium: Eat 3-5 servings per day. Examples of servings are 1 cup of milk or yogurt, 3.5 ounces of sardines or 1 cup of leafy green vegetables.
Vitamins, Minerals and Fiber: Eat 2 cups of vegetables and 1 piece of fruit (or cup of mixed fruit) a day.
For Energy, Iron and Fiber: Eat 4 servings of breads or cereals, preferably whole grain. One serving is 1 ounce of bread, or 1/2 cup of cooked cereal, pasta, rice or other grains.
Successful Dieting Towards Weight Reduction
Our last two lessons look at dieting, at controlling our calorie intake to loose weight so that we are less likely to get diabetes or cardiovascular problems or gallbladder problems -- or any of many other medical problems that seriously overweight people become susceptible to. As believers, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and we need to take good care of them for God. God has a plan and a purpose and a call on each of our lives, and He has invested a lot of time/energy to gift us and anoint us and develop His character in us. So He wants to use us to minister with Him and do with Him what He is doing to advance His kingdom. We can't do that very effectively when we are sick.
So we are "obligated" to try and take reasonable care of our bodies so that we can be healthy and available to serve Him. And a part of that reasonable care is to keep our weight within medically safe limits. If we are seriously overweight to the point where our health is at risk, we need to try and bring our eating and our weight under His Lordship and get it under control. And a big part of that is accomplished by sensible diet, by controlling the type and quantities of food that we put into our bodies.
1 Corinthians 10:31 tells us, "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." This was in the context of deciding whether or not to eat meat that has been sacrificed to idols. But I believe it applies to diet in general.
God wants us to put our eating under His lordship, to glorify Him in it and to allow Him to be in control of what and how much we eat. I believe that one of God's highest priorities for our physical well being is that we eat nutritiously and balanced and healthy. It is not easy to do that when we have a long history of poor and improper eating habits. But if we invite the Lord to come into our eating and help us with it, I believe He will empower us to make the changes we need to make over a period of time. We probably can't go from poor eating habits to perfect eating habits instantly, but we can begin the process of moving in that direction, inviting God to help us do so.
Some Hints For Successful Dieting Towards Weight Reduction
HINT 1 - Set Realistic Goals
If you try to change everything in your eating all at once, you will probably only last for a few weeks before you "can't stand it" and fall back into your old eating patterns. Try to target healthy balanced eating and calorie reduction. Don't think in terms of going from a 2000 calorie a day diet to 1000 calories, that is often too much of a cut-back. Set your goal to increase exercise by 100 calories a day and to decrease intake by 400 calories a day and you will lose a pound a week. That is much more realistic than targeting a 1,000 calories a day (e.g., fairly strict) diet.
HINT 2 - Use Your Calories Wisely
The previous lesson gave some calorie counts for various food groups and food types. You can make some minor changes to your diet that have big calorie savings. For instance, eat fish and chicken dishes for your meat most of the days of the week. Six ounces of white fish is only 150 calories where only 4 ounces of lean beef (or lamb or pork) is 400 calories. Stop using whole eggs for your omelets and use the egg-white products such as egg-beaters. If you have a serving of omelet that is equivalent to three eggs, you will save 175 calories. While you are at it, substitute a fat free cheese (Kraft sells sliced fat-free cheeses in American, Swiss and Cheddar flavors, and there are many other brands out there as well). One ounce of cheese is 100 calories, but one ounce of fat-free cheese is only 30 calories. Low calorie margarine substitutes will also save you calories.
And if you can change your snacking habits, you can save a lot of calories per day. A friend of mine lost 20 pounds over about 6 months just by switching from potato chips (she used to eat 2 big bags a day) to air popped popcorn. There are a lot less calories in air popped pop-corn than in potato chips. I personally used to snack on Ritz crackers (they are yummy). But it would take about 2/3 of a package (about 36 crackers) to satisfy me for a in-between meal snack. That is 400 calories, a very hefty portion of my daily calorie allowance as my mid-afternoon snack. I found that if I switch to a large baked potato or a yam I get satisfied and feel full on only about 125 calories. That is a savings of about 275 calories per day by making that one eating change. And the potatoes/yams are much healthier for me as well.
HINT 3 - Don't Eliminate Favorite Foods, Just Reduce The Quantities
There are often emotional needs that drive some of our eating choices. If we eliminate our favorite foods, we begin to feel deprived and the emotions work against us. We may be able to tough it out for a week or two, then we "can't stand it any more," and we binge. The best way to avoid that is to stop depriving ourselves. A friend at church told me a testimony they read in a book (or maybe they saw it on a video). This man loved sweets and was horribly overweight because of his sweet tooth. He decided to cut back to only having them once a week instead of daily. His favorite was a double dip scoop of ice cream... so he treated himself to a double dip scoop of premium ice cream every Sunday after church. He "fasted sweets" the other days of the week. As a result, he lost a fair amount of weight over a year and then was able to keep the weight off. His secret was that he did not deny himself his favorites, he just reduced the quantities that he ate them in.
HINT 4 - Low Calorie Meal Substitutions
My friend Bill Hartman tells me that diet statistics show that people do better in both reduction and maintenance if they have some type of easy to use meal substitution that is balanced and has a fixed calorie count. There are many substitutions out there that are probably very good. The one I am familiar with is Slim-Fast. They have a weight reduction program where you use two of their meal substitutes (shakes, canned drinks or meal bars that are 220 calories each) a day and eat one balanced sensible meal a day plus a few between meal snacks. This type of program works well for many people because the meal substitutes tend to "taste good" (for a season) and they are somewhat filling and satisfying. These substitutions help you to stay nutritionally balanced and to count calories easily because you don't have to think about those issues, you just have to eat or drink a serving of the meal substitute.
Some people find that two meal substitutes a day does not work for them because they need to feel like they are eating. They may wish to have a single meal substitute a day (maybe heat and drink a can of coffee flavored Ultra Slim-fast for breakfast) and eat sensibly the rest of the day.
Also, it is often helpful to have an energy bar or nutritious snack bar in your glove compartment, briefcase or purse. If you are starting to feel really hungry and out of control, you can take the handy snack bar and a glass of water before you reach for the candy bar or bag of potato chips.
HINT 5 - Environmental Control
It is harder to eat unhealthy and high calorie foods if you don't have them readily available in your home or in your desk drawer at work. If you get a craving for cookies at 2 AM and they are in the house, you will probably break down and eat them. On the other hand, if you have to get dressed and go to the all-night grocery store to obtain them, you will probably decide that is too much effort and not end up eating them. You may elect to "do without" or you may elect to eat something that is in the house and is a bit healthier and lower calorie instead.
Along with that, keep snack substitutes for those cravings handy, easy to use and readily available. Instead of keeping a jar of nuts in the house, have a bunch of grapes in the refrigerator, pre-washed and ready to eat. Get yourself some sugar-free, fat-free pudding mix and make with non-fat milk, put into individual serving dishes in the refrigerator so that when the chocolate craving hits you, you have a chocolate-like low calorie substitute handy.
In short, make it easy on yourself to have healthy substitutes and hard on yourself to get the no-nos you crave.
HINT 6 - Give Yourself Grace When You Make An Eating Mistake
I can pretty much guarantee that you won't be able to perfectly keep your diet all of the time ... very few of us are able to do that. So if you "slip" or give into a craving or binge ... don't spend a lot of time beating yourself up. Don't criticize and condemn yourself, because the bible says "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus" (Ro 8:1).
On the other hand, don't wait to the next day to start your diet again -- that is like giving yourself permission to break it some more today because you already broke it. Instead, get right back on it. Don't wait for the next day or the next week to restart. If you "fall off of the horse" in your diet, then get right back in the saddle again. Don't live in defeat and bad eating habits, go right back to the diet and eat healthy and moderately for the rest of the day.
HINT 7 - Bring God Into The Process On A Daily Basis
You will find that it will be easier to diet if the Lord gives you a grace for dieting. So invite Him into the process each day. Ask Him to be Lord of your eating and to teach you how to successfully walk it out. Ask Him to empower you to eat the way He wants you to eat and ask Him to help you to be a good steward of the temple of the Holy Spirit, your body.
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