This Blogger’s Before and After

Hello, weekenders! Mavericks won 106 to 91, yeehaw! Now I’m back home, ready to get back to my own personal victory of which you all have been gracious spectators — though “readers” is the more precise term, I suppose ;-).

In the last few posts, I’ve shared with you the spiritual transition I made from viewing my body as just that to a redeemed temple, bought with a price for the purpose of serving and glorifying God. Allow me to interject at this point and state that I, by no means, consider cheeseburgers and chocolate ganache as satanic substances, nor do I condemn those who partake of them as gluttonous offenders of a heinous deadly sin. I know I’ve been quoting quite a lot of Scripture lately, but I simply cannot resist sharing this verse from Proverbs 25:16:

“Do you like honey? Don’t eat too much, or it will make you sick!”

You hear nutritionists and personal trainers on TV say it all the time: “Moderation is key,” and it’s the gospel truth when it comes to how we eat. Can you imagine birthdays without cake, Thanksgiving without dressing and pumpkin pie, or Christmas parties without all sorts of red and green sugar cookies and figgy pudding, like the song says? (What is figgy pudding, anyway?)

Sure, there are “healthy” versions of just about every dessert imaginable, and I guess we could all eat soy burgers. But there’s another mantra that I think deserves some recognition here:

“Go big or go home!” – (not in the Bible, 😉 ).

Splurging and eating what we all know is nothing but sugar and/or saturated fat can be done with zero guilt… as long as we don’t “eat too much”…

Not heeding the wisdom of Proverbs, I had been over-eating to the point of nausea. I would wake up feeling and looking like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man who terrorized the streets of New York City in Ghostbusters – I was pale, puffy, and oh so petulant.

My mindset did a 180, and I was confident I wasn’t going to be an emaciated loner, nor a carb-crazed cardio fiend the rest of my life. At the start of each day, I prayed, asking the Lord to help me make wise choices and have the strength to respect my body with every meal and minute of exercise.

Since I’ve written waaaaaay too much lately, I’ll end a few words early this evening and attach the obligatory before and after photos. I praise God for my health and happiness today, and pray you have the same. Have a spectacular Saturday night!

Keep Shining, (1)