The Inheritance

Hey America,

I am BACK! Today I have a topic for you that has kind of been the theme of my weight loss journey. The theme of my blog today is about the concept of taking on weight-loss one meal at a time. So I am guessing you are wondering what exactly I mean. Let me elaborate a little bit on this concept. When most people go after weight loss they first set a goal of the amount of weight they want to lose. Then they usually set a time frame of when they would like the lose the weight. If you are someone with my kind of weight loss goal you usually end up planning for your weight-loss transformation to take about 2 years. After they set the sensible goal of two years they take off directly for the gold. The first few days they attack weight-loss like its a pint of cookie dough ice-cream covered in Nutella with sprinkles and served to you on a silver spoon by Leonardo DiCaprio. After a few weeks they get busy or bored and realize how far away 2 years is. They don't see the amount of progress they were hoping to see as soon as they would have liked and eventually just give up. Let's get real for a second, two years is a long freaking time. When you look at your weight-loss goal as a whole complete goal it can be extremely daunting and discouraging. So that is why I had to start looking at my weight-loss one meal at a time. I have looked at the goal in front of me many times and it seems impossible. It is completely inconceivable to see myself that small. I have no memories of myself as a "small" person. I have always had a little more meat on my thighs and it honestly doesn't really bother me. I know that probably sounds strange and honestly that is a whole other topic in it's self BUT for real I have a few photos from when I was like 4 that I was at "model" weight.
So back to the topic at hand. Here is how the whole weight-loss one meal at a time concept came into play in my life. Some of you may remember that I am a devout Christ follower and while trying to grow a closer bond with Jesus this summer I came across a verse that kind of wrecked my life.
The verse is from Hebrews Chapter 12 Verse 16.
See that no one is sexually immoral or godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. 
Before you go flying off the handle this verse did not apply to me in the sense of immorality but about how Esau gave up an entire inheritance for 1 single meal, a bowl of desert stew (verp). So if you know absolutely NOTHING about the bible or history in general let me quickly explain the significance of this monumentally HORRIBLE decision Esau made. Esau had a twin brother named Jacob. Esau was technically born first and stood to inherit everything from his father Isaac. In a nutshell, Esau went out hunting one day and came back super hungry. He let his hunger take hold of him and sold his birthright to his younger twin for some of the stew he was making. His younger twin ended up being the father of Israel (yea, THE ISRAEL in the news). So Esau blew it! All for a bowl of mediocre stew. That is why this verse resonated with me.
How many times have people blown an entire diet over one meal? I thought about how this applied to my own life. I looked at times where I may have been doing great with my diet plan and then decided to have a cheat meal to end all cheat meals and slowly let my diet get away from me. I then took the concept even further. I started looking at my life through different eyes. I no longer saw my weight-loss in pounds or a goal over time but saw it as meal to meal. I started looking at the meal directly in front of me and would think is this a meal that will make me give up my inheritance? Will this meal eventually take me away from a future with my girls, future grandkids, or my husband? Will this meal keep me from fulfilling my dreams and from the inheritance of a healthy future? Will this meal destroy me? I know it probably sounds dramatic but when you look at your food options through this lens it will change you.
After looking through this lens with my eating I started making smarter decisions. Now, don't start thinking that I became a vegan and started incorporating kale into everything BUT I did get smarter. If I am being completely honest I didn't keep up with my one meal at a time concept perfectly since July but recently came back to this as I realized how much this helped me conceptualize my weight-loss goal. Recently I was on the phone with someone from the doctor's office and we were talking about me scheduling my nutritionist visits etc.. The woman on the phone who I don't even know before getting off the phone said "You are gonna do great kiddo, just remember 1 day at a time." Again I pulled that verse back out and remembered to STOP looking at the mountains in front of me and started visualizing the next meal in front of me.  I still have days when I enjoy meals that are a little more heavy in fat and calories, just less frequently. There are also days where I deal with some serious food temptation and start bargaining in my head that it's not a big deal if I eat that. I will only go over my calories a little bit just this once. Those thoughts will torment me sometimes but I fight them back with remembering that this is just one small moment of temporary satisfaction that I am giving up. This 50 calories is not worth my weight-loss journey. This 50 calories is not worth me missing out on a healthy future with my family. This 50 calories is nothing to me. I just need to make it to morning. I made a choice earlier in my day to enjoy those calories and now I have to choose to eat less to reset the balance of my day. This 50 calories will not steal my inheritance from me. It's just food.
Now, don't read this and get all depressed and think "Wow, I might as well give up oxygen because there is no way I will ever be able to have that much discipline." I am just trying to help you expand your mind and think about weight-loss in simpler terms. Stop looking at a large goal and start setting a much smaller goal. Instead of trying to get through 2 years in a flash just get through the meal in front of you. After that meal make it to the next meal and so on. When you look at weight-loss in smaller terms you free yourself up from the burden of that hellacious two year goal. The other awesome thing about looking at weight-loss this way is that even when you have a bad meal, day, week, or month is that you can immediately get back on track with your next meal. We all have bad days or a bad meal, instead of giving up and feeling like a failure get back up and get at it with your next meal. You can do this, I know you can. Start taking control of your weight-loss and your life. You deserve a fruitful inheritance (unless you are a serial killer) filled with joy and good health. Take back your inheritance today starting with your very next meal. Stop worrying about two years from now and start planning two hours from now. Before you know it you will be in the body of your dreams and living out the inheritance God had originally designed for you. I hope you feel inspired today and know that you can do anything you put your mind to. Your whole life is just an empty plate waiting for you to fill it.

You got this.

Be true to you,

With Love,

-Drew

Currently Down: 53.6 pounds