I ate myself fat!

There is simply no way around this solid kernel of truth I ate myself fat.  I didn’t “get fat” I personally shoveled in all that food into my mouth and ate myself fat.

Pastor George at an enormous 294 lbs

The fact of the matter is that I had once again fallen prey to the all too easy and all too American sin of gluttony.  I made excuses and let other people make them for me.  I convinced myself that if I ate kind of healthy I could indulge other times.  Because I went to the gym a few nights a week and lifted weights it was a lot of muscle mass.  Yes I was a big strong fat man.   It was my own fork that led me to balloon up to 294 lbs.

6′ 2″ – 294 lbs with a body fat that was about 44%   YIKES!  I was huge!  I think the real wakeup call came for me in two parts, first my wife, my sister and myself went to a water park in Branson MO.  I looked at one of the rides I wanted to go on with my sister and it said there was a 300 lb limit.  I knew I had to be close to or over that.  How sad to not be allowed to go on a ride because you ate yourself fat I thought.  Later that week I went to play miniature golf with my wife.  I could not get down on one knee pick up a golf ball and stand up again without help.  I was just too heavy.  I noticed I was having trouble climbing stairs and I knew – I was FAT!

Is it sin?

Lets take a look at the bible: Exo 20:13  Thou shalt not murder.  Well there you have it.  Pretty obvious that I was murdering me one bite at a time.  Every burger, every pizza and all that ice cream and fried chicken.  We were given just one body by our creator and I am pretty sure that killing it with food is not what He intended for us.

As well putting any idol in front of G-d is surely sin.  Food had become for me an idol and that simply cannot be.  G-d will not share his temple with anything else.  Heck I had gone right past temple and had built a full fledged cathedral and I am not sure there was room for Messiah in there what with all that fried okra that I had stored up in there.

The road back

How I look after loosing nearly 60 lbs

As I write this it has been about 5 months since I was at my absolute heaviest.  I have lost just about 60 lbs and weighed in today as I write this at 234.7 lbs.  My body fat percentage as measured is 23.6% which is about average for a man my age (did I mention that I am 58 years old?)  I want to say it has been easy but that would be a lie.  It has been a struggle.  It has tested my discipline and faith quite a bit.

I am back to being in the gym 5 nights a week and doing 90 minutes or more of cardio and strength training just about 7 days a week.  I can run again and yeah I can pick up a golf ball and get up again.

I have learned a few things along the way and I want to share them.  I want to be healthy and not feed the medical establishment one dollar more than I have to.  I want that for you too.  So before we begin let me remind you of one simple fact.  If you have faith even as small as a mustard seed you can speak to that mountain and tell it to be removed into the sea and it shall go.  Now it was Jesus who promised that in Luke 17:6 and if a mountain can be moved by faith whats a few lbs of fat?

LET’S GO!

The infamous Thigh Master!

OK for the first part of this let me tell you that gimmicks don’t work.  There is no pill – no machine – no electronic device that is going to get that fat off of you.  You ate it now you got to un-eat it.  Put away that Thigh master you won’t need it here

Here is what you need for the next two weeks – sneakers and a watch or anything that will tell time.  (Like your cell phone)  I guess this is where I give you the first advice before you start doing anything make sure you go see a doctor and tell him that you are fat and that you want to loose weight.  Have him or her make sure you are not going to die in the next few hours.

The Diet

OK got that done?  GREAT! First the diet.  You know all those diet books, recipes and diet foods you have been gathering around you for years?  Get rid of them.  They are complicated and they don’t work.  Here is your diet:

• Nothing White
• No Refined Sugar
• Reduce Fat Wherever Possible

First nothing white no white bread, no white rice, no white flour if it is white it is not food for you any more.  Here is the sound science behind this.  To make foods white they bleach out all of the nutrients.  White bread is all calories and no nutrition.  This makes you get hungry right away.  That is why when you eat at McDonalds an hour later you are hungry again, you simply ate but you did not feed your body.

Second no refined sugar.  This is tricky but basically no cookies, candy, ice cream, pie and for sure NO SODA.  Sugar is as addictive as heroin maybe even more so.  In fact refined sugar hits the same pleasure receptors in your brain as heroin does.  That is why when you are depressed you sit on your couch eating a tub of ice cream.  Stop it!  You are better than that and you can do it!

Last reduce fat wherever you can.  Now I know I am going to get e-mails telling me YOU HAVE TO HAVE FAT TO LIVE!  Yeah I get it and trust me no matter how much fat you cut out of your diet you will still be getting plenty.  Fat combined with sugar is the number one additive in most fast food.  It gives you a feeling of well being and guess what your body knows that the hard times might come so it packs away all that fat for later when it will need it.  Only later never comes.  Now it is later for your body – when you take away all that extra fat it will burn some off of your massive butt.

The exercise plan

Remember those sneakers I told you to bring – put them on.  Now go to your front door.  Look at your watch.  Now go for a walk I want you to walk for 7 1/2 minutes.  Don’t run or jog just walk.  You can walk fast if you like but keep walking.  Go in a straight line.  Walk for 7 1/2 minutes.  Did you do that?  Good now go home.  Do this twice a day.  No excuses, yes I know it is cold out and that it is raining or snowing or what have you – tough!

No the walking you do at work doesn’t count.  No if you go to the gym and lift weights it doesn’t count.  Only walking counts that is your new complicated exercise regimen.

If you do these two things in 2 weeks you are going to loose about 5 – 6 lbs.  Stay tuned right here for part 2 and beyond – You got this!  G-d loves you and you can do all things through him!

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