Rules for Desert Diet Survival

When beginning my new nutrition and health plan, I knew I would need support. So, I held my husband hostage at the kitchen table while I made him listen to my weight loss goals. Poor guy, he tried to offer advise, but puhlease! I realized taking advise on nutrition and weight loss from a guy who can eat a baker's dozen of Krispie Kreme doughnuts in one sitting and actually lose weight the next day would be like taking medical advise from Dr. Kevorkian. My plan would be dead in its tracks. So, bless his willing heart, I released him from diet custody and he happily left with his potato chips and micro-brew in tow. At that point, I realized I needed to take full responsibility for how I would accomplish my goals. Here are my rules for Diet Desert survival.

Rule#1: Have a Plan

• Weigh yourself! You have to know where point "A" is if you want to get to point "B", and see measurable progress. I chose not to do body measurements, but this can be a great tool for measuring progress, especially when the scale doesn't seem to budge!


• Consume less calories. No brainer here folks. For me, the Weight Watchers points system was the easiest way to count calories. So I use it to keep track of my food intake. I use the Ultimate Diet Log for journaling my daily food points, exercise, and successes of the day notes. There are a lot of on-line calculators that will help you figure out your calories needs in order to lose weight.


• Exercise. Do whatever you can....Right Now! I get on my eliptical 5x per week while listening to music, reading my devotionals, and meditating on what God's word for me is. I make my exercise time an enjoyable time too. You may have a million excuses why you don't have time, or physical limitations, or time constraints, or or or......if a fit healthy body is your goal, you must be willing to do what it takes to reach it. When your willing to do whatever it takes, you're ready to receive whatever you want.


• Attitude. Never Give Up! I am a confessed professional quitter. Confronting myself with this character issue was not easy. I realized though, it was the source of most of my failures. I have started meditating on scripture that deals directly with those issues as well as reading Joyce Meyer's, Never Give Up & The Power of Determination. I also highly recommend the only "diet" book I own that deals mainly with the emotional side of dieting. It's called The Body Fat Solution (5 principles for burning fat, building lean muscle, ending emotional eating, and maintaining your perfect weight).

Rule #2: Bring Water!

• No one survives in the desert without water, unless of course you happen to be hangin with Moses who can tap some rocks and voile, water! I tend to rebel when it comes to drinking water, so my trick....I add a little juice, or powdered drink mix, just enough to give it some taste. Target has a great 32oz plastic bottle (BPA free if your worried about that sort of thing) . I call it my water keg. It's pretty huge, but in one bottle, I get in my daily water intake. They come in pink, purple, and blue

Rule #3: Don't Panic!

• If the scale doesn't budge or those doughnuts in the office kitchen are calling your name....don't sweat it! A good practice I use is called re-framing. Because I already know from past experience what makes me panic, I play those situations over in my mind and visualize myself choosing a better solution that will keep me on track. I also allow myself a "free-day" one day a week to enjoy a favorite food or dessert. Then, when I'm tempted with that doughnut, I tell myself, "Mary, you can have one of those on Saturday." Remember, it's not what you eat 10 percent of the time that gets you in trouble. It's what you ate with the other 90 percent!


• God may keep us in the desert until we understand that He is our provision for EVERYTHING. Believe me, God won't desert you, especially in the desert.

The Power of Determination

A week after the New Year, I was ready to jump on the band wagon with millions of other people. The number one resolution made each year is.......you guessed it, lose weight! There's something to be said about wiping the slate clean and starting fresh. Lord knows, I've refreshed my starts so many times my ignition switch is burned out! But this time, this time I was determined. So, I pulled out all of my diet books I have collected over the years; Atkins, South Beach, Weight Watchers, The Mediterranean Diet, Body for Life, Lose It for Life Diet, The "I" Diet (in my case stands for "I Ain't Doin It"), and The Body Fat Solution along with my many collections of the grocery store tabloids touting simple weight loss secrets. As I spread the books out on my dining room table and looked at each of them, a few things dawned on me; for one, I am still overweight. Two, I did not follow the plans laid out in the books. In other words, I was rebellious and disobedient. Three, when the plan wasn't working, I blamed it on the book. Four, I quit before I got to see my "promise body", you know, the 36-24-36 figure the diet books promised me if I would just stick to the plan. I got to thinking, this sounded an awful lot like some Israelites wondering around in the desert for 40 years. Now I know those people were not fat! Lord knows if I was wondering around some desert for 40 years, the least of my problems would be weight loss! I'd give Jillian Michaels a run for her money and then some. So much for the "30 Day Shred", it would be called the "30 Day Dead"! So there I sat asking myself these questions: "What's it going to take for me to take action?", "What's going to make me follow through with my weight loss goals?", "Where will my motivation come from?" and as I glanced back over the diet books I placed on the table, I noticed another book, out of place. The title "The Power of Determination" a devotional by Joyce Meyer. I didn't remember grabbing it with the others, but I opened it and read these words: "Things get hard when we try to do them independently without leaning on and relying on God's grace" and then this "Walking in obedience to God is not too difficult because He has given His Spirit to work in us powerfully and to help us in all He has asked of us (John 14:16). Wow, talk about food for the soul! The issue wasn't all about what foods I should eat, or what exercise plan I should use. The issue was about my attitude, my character and how I was going to allow God to change me, both physically and mentally. I had dwelt long enough on this mountain of failure and God was calling me to the hill country. I got the message and jumped on the eliptical and set that incline to 14! So that's how it started. Join me on my journey as I offer up practical tips on weight loss but more importantly inspiration that will keep you determined and out of that desert!