Last September, some people at the plant where I work were talking about having a contest to see who could lose the most weight in a month. We'd all put in $10, and whoever lost the largest percentage of weight would collect the money. Well I decided to join in, and ended up winning. We continued this each month until December, me winning 2 out of the 3 months, it was pretty cool. Deciding to take the month of December off so we could celebrate the holidays and eat with no reservations, and come back and start over after the new year with a 3 month competition.
Well we are well on our way to completing the first month of our three month stint, and it's going pretty well. As of yesterday I was down a little over 12 pounds for the month, almost 5.5% weight loss. I think I may be in either 2nd or 3rd place right now, but that's okay because I have staying power and have realized something about myself during this process, and that is I'm capable of anything I set my mind to.
I made a decision to participate in this contest, and in order to do it, I was going to have to change my eating habits. No longer would I be eating dessert after every meal, nor would I be eating many carbohydrates, which just turn into sugar in your system. I won't tell you it has been easy, I really enjoy a good sugary snack after a meal, but even as my body craved the sugar I was denying it, I kept telling myself, there's money involved here and you don't want to lose it.
What I have realized about myself is this, I can do anything I put my mind to, as long as I have a goal or reason to do it. I didn't actually start dieting because of how I looked, I already knew I was a good looking guy regardless of how much I weighed, I did it to be a part of something with my friends, and to lower my blood sugar, which had gotten a little higher than it needed to be.
I think we are all capable of much more than we give ourselves credit for. We look at things around us and think, I could never do that, when in reality we can doing anything we choose. We've been sold this bill of goods by the enemy of mankind into believing if something is hard, then we can't do it. I've listened to my body scream at me to eat something, but I've just told it to wait a little longer. I've pushed myself just to see how long I can make my body wait and in doing so have learned something about myself, that I'm capable of so much more than I thought.
What about you? What are you capable of? Do you want to do something in your life, and have been afraid to take a risk, or to try for fear of failure? Why not get a plan, and just see what you can do? I know changing eating habits may not be a huge thing for you, but it has brought me to a new and different place in my life. I think now at 50 I'm just realizing what exactly I am capable of. Never to old to learn.
Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!
