Lifting Weights

Lifting Weights

By Pastor Jim May

(Parts of this message were adapted from a message by Rev. David Wilkerson)

Extra weight – now there’s a subject that most Americans would love to avoid. A few people are able to go about their lives without the worry of too much weight, but for most of us, it is a constant nagging problem. Learning to control it before it controls you requires a lot of discipline and vigilance, and trying to get rid of it requires more discipline than many of us have. Of course there are all kinds of reasons why the weight stays on us. Sometimes it’s because of chemical imbalances in our body. Perhaps there is a medical reason such as thyroid problems. Sometimes the medications that are prescribed to help with one medical condition have the side effect of weight gain. And then there’s the fact that some of us just need to get more exercise and especially learn to do a few “push-aways” every day. Push away from the fridge. Push away from the table. And push away from the vending machines.

People try all types of programs to get rid of the extra weight. They go to various support and dieting groups like Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig or Nutri-system. These have helped a lot of people.

Weight Watchers is one of the most popular programs. If you join, you attend meetings once a week for less than an hour. There’s no contract, so you pay as you go. Each week you have a confidential weigh-in to help you track your progress. You learn how to make wise choices, eat healthy and enjoy food and exercise. Every week you get new tips and program materials to help you follow their plan that is referred to as “Turn Around”. You can enjoy support from the meetings leader who lost weight with Weight Watchers, and is a trained expert in the program who is committed to your success. You also benefit from the exchange of tips, recipes and the practical experiences others’. Getting started is easy. Simply attend a meeting near you and give it your best.

Of course if you are like me and you don’t want to confess to strangers that you have a problem with just a tiny bit of extra weight, then you will try to lose it on your own without having to attend those pesky meetings every week. We try to find our own diet plan. Have you ever found one that worked? For me it’s just a roller coaster ride because I don’t stay on any of them for long.

But don’t be discouraged. If the last one didn’t work there are always many more to choose from. In fact, I found one place on the Internet where there are over 85 diet plans listed. I checked them out and I am convinced that of those 85 plans, there are four that I believe will really work. Of course the key is to stick to the diet.

Paleolithic diet -The Paleolithic diet, also known as the caveman diet, paleo diet, prehistoric diet, Stone Age diet, or hunter-gatherer diet. You only get to eat dinosaur meat off the bone that has been cooked over an open fire that was started with two flint rocks. Oh, and you can eat a few wild berries if you find some. but none of that store-bought stuff. It has to come right out of the woods, fresh picked and unwashed.

Warrior Diet – In this diet you can only eat what you can catch or kill and you must eat it raw. Road kill is not acceptable unless you are the one driving.

100-Mile Diet – In this one you must walk a minimum of 100 miles from home to find a farm each time where you can pick your veggies fresh. But you must carry them back home to wash them before eating.

Breatharian diet – Now this diet may actually work in Louisiana. This diet is based upon the belief that food and possibly water are not really necessary. People can live by just breathing air and swallowing sunlight. So take a big breath, and grab a bite of light and stay thin.

Now some of this may be funny, and for some of us, it’s not all that funny because we do have a problem with controlling our weight. It is a constant daily struggle just to keep from gaining more, much less trying to lose some of what is already there. It’s as though we have been “attacked from all sides” because the pounds seem to just appear where they weren’t yesterday. We are constantly harrassed by the fact that everything we drink, or eat, regardless of how much we diet, still adds on the weight. We feel hemmed in and surrounded by that weight and it is stuck to us and won’t let go.