Weight loss can be frustrating. There are times I exercise more and eat less for weeks and the scale still won’t budge.
It’s tempting to give up, but I’ve got to believe all of that effort is having a positive effect somewhere in my body. Somewhere, deep down, I have cells that look like they just won Biggest Loser. But I have to keep trying until those effects grow beyond the microscopic and become visible to my naked eye.
Weight loss takes faith. When I started losing weight, I knew it would take work, and I knew it would take resilience, but I never expected to need faith.
I have to have faith that the vegetables I eat, the sleep I snooze, and the exercise I do is making a difference until time has passed and I see evidence of that difference: I feel stronger, my cholesterol drops, I look trimmer, and so forth. I would love faithless weight loss. Eat a carrot and BOOM: one pound lighter. Lift a weight and BOOM: a bicep appears out of nowhere. SIGH.
But God designed our bodies to adapt to our behavior over time. (And thank God that He did! If a goldfish overate like I did, it wouldn’t store fat, it’d just die.) As it is, our bodies expand to accommodate extra food and shrink back when food is decreased. When we eat sugar and sit on our rears, our bodies crave sugar and tire easily, but when we eat plants and move our limbs, our bodies miss those things if we stop. We adapt and actually begin to crave what’s good for us.
Just like people who read the Bible every day don’t expect an angel-choir mountain-top super-spiritual experience every time they read a verse, but notice changes over time in their relationship with God and others because of their Scripture reading, so too physical changes take time and perseverance to happen. Instead of faith in God, it’s faith in how God created our bodies to function.
Study after study has shown that the benefits of exercise and eating well start at the cellular level. There are many trillions of cells in the human body, so it takes a while for us to notice when a few million of them change.
Don’t give up. (Preaching to myself here.) Have faith that what you do for your health today will benefit you today and next week and next month, even if you don’t see results now.
Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. – James 1:4 (NIV)
Round One: They’re circling each other, calling out random numbers of calories. Exercise calls out 100 calories burned by walking a mile. Oh! Diet lands a solid hit with not consuming one half cup of spaghetti noodles to save that same 100 calories. The crowd roars! So much easier to eat fewer noodles than walk a mile. Ding ding!
Last week I brought up the question: Does God care how much I weigh? I believe the answer is a paradox: 
Like money and time, your health is an asset to be stewarded, not squandered. God doesn’t care about a number on the scale, but he does care about your health. Being overweight often leads to health problems that suck your time, energy, and money, leaving less of each for serving God. Unhealthy habits are like an ill-fitting bra: they are a hindrance that offers no support and should be thrown off like Paul says in Hebrews 12:1 so we can “run with perseverance the race marked out for us”.
Let’s learn the ABCs of eating for skin health. Ready?
A is for Vitamin A which helps the skin cells grow. Making new cells is how your skin repairs itself. Beta carotene converts into Vitamin A, so you should eat orange foods. Carrots are orange. What other foods are orange? Oranges, cantaloupe, sweet potatoes, and winter squash. Good job, you get an A…a Vitamin A+, to be exact! Your parents are so proud.
E is for Vitamin E.
A C E, 3 letters spell ace
Sex, Soup, and 2 Fisted Eating 