This past week I felt like I turned a corner in the journey. I don’t know what the scale says, but I know some really cool things happened. First of all, I was able to wear a pair of shorts that have been hiding out in my closet. Before this week I didn’t even want to attempt trying them on because they already symbolize “being overweight” to me. If I couldn’t get into them, I think I would have cried my eyes out. I was standing in my room complaining to God on Tuesday about not having decent looking shorts to wear (I can get on my junky/work in the yard/workout shorts still). I felt him say, “what about the khakis?” Of course I immediately said, “no, those won’t fit. I bet I can’t even get them over my rump.” He told me to trust Him, so I reluctantly went to the closet to get them.

Gasp. I wore them a few times this week and while they are snug, I could still breathe, which is always a plus when choosing clothes to wear. So, thankfully I have another pair of shorts I can wear now. I am on the cusp of my wardrobe really opening back up to me since gaining weight when I initially stopped dieting last Oct/Nov. Praise the Lord!

Another cool thing is that walking is getting much easier. I’m loving the sun on my face and the wind in my hair. With all the rain we’ve had, there are beautiful grasses and wildflowers growing all along the trail. My feet hurt less each day, and while my knee still acts a bit temperamental, even it seems to be getting stronger. I am seriously considering adding some jogging in week 3. The husband started running this past week, and I think I’m a tad jealous. So, I planned to ask God His thoughts on the matter for me. I felt like I was supposed to work up very slowly so that these exercises put as little strain on my body as possible. I do not want to stress out my adrenals again. No, I don’t know this for a “scientific fact” and I haven’t been told this by a doctor, it’s just what I think my body is communicating to me personally. Well, last night when Peter Furler sang, “I am free to run”, I was fairly confident that God was giving me the green light to add running. (More on Peter Furler in another post)

Up to this point, I have set some Fitbit daily step and mileage goals. My official setting has been 10K steps, 5 miles, and 30 active minutes; unofficially I’ve started shooting for 12K steps and 60 active minutes per day. I plan to bump up the “official” step count goal to 12K starting today. By God’s grace, I have met my Fitbit goals every day these past two weeks.

Although the shorts, and the increased stamina are great, I am loving that waiting for hunger is definitely easier. It is also becoming easier to avoid beating myself up if I eat past full, or if I take a bite of something when I’m not hungry. I’m getting better at “moving on” and turning it over to God.

How is this happening? I have only one explanation. This week I began the practice of daily renewing my mind. I’m sure I am far from perfect at it, but after listening to the Thin Within 4-part series on renewing your mind, I decided I couldn’t ignore this practice for another minute. I’m going to do an entire post on this topic alone, probably sometime this week, so keep an eye out for that. I know this practice has been the biggest breakthrough I’ve had since turning from the diet lie. God promises that His Word will not return void and I am confident that promise is at the root of the progress I’m seeing. I love the peace in my heart too.

Alrighty, so what did this week look like by the numbers? Here ya go:

Food Boundary: 4/7
Activity Minutes: 694

As you can see, I’m not doing this thing perfectly, but that is not my goal. Perfection is impossible and only frustrates me anyway, so I’m putting in the work with renewing my mind (post to come, I promise), and leaving the results to God. I truly believe that as my thoughts conform to God rather than to the pattern of this world, amazing things will happen.

I am still in the lead on the quarter acquisition by 15 quarters now. The wildcard here is what the scale will tell us at the end of week 4. In the past, the Husband has had the advantage there. Again, although I mention the scale, this is not my focus. I don’t know what I weigh and I don’t want to know until God tells me it’s ok (if He ever does).

So, that was week 2, let’s move on to week 3 shall we?