Weight | Wayfarer

Chapter-a-Day 1 Corinthians 6

Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NLT)

Wendy and I like to entertain. We don’t do it as often as we’d like and, while we don’t go to extremes, there are evenings when we choose to get out “the good stuff.” Paper napkins are replaced by cloth. Plates are put on gold chargers. Because we are going to bring out the good wine, the nice wine glasses are placed on the table along with a special wine decanter for pouring, aerating and serving the wine. We recognize that our guests are honored when we make the effort to break out “the good stuff” for our dinner together.

Let me be honest. The verses above have haunted me for most of my journey. I have never been uber athletic. Running marathons, competing in triathlons, or getting involved in recreational athletics have never held much appeal for me. Okay, they’ve never held any appeal for me whatsoever. Like most Americans, I like to eat. While I have given regular and serious thought to my diet and to exercise (e.g. I think about eating better, I think about exercising, I contemplate the benefits of doing so), an honest audit of my behavior over time would reveal that I have had little or no discipline in this area. This past year has been one of two periods of my life in which I’ve dropped some serious weight. And yet, the verses still haunt me.

God’s Message clearly teaches that following Jesus means inviting Him into our hearts and our lives. There is something simple and mystical yet powerfully in the act of sincerely saying to Jesus “Come into my heart. Come into my life. Save me.” Elsewhere in God’s Message, Jesus says:

“Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I’ll come right in and sit down to supper with you.” [emphasis added] Revelation 3:20 (MSG)

The night Jesus gave Himself up for us, He took wine and blessed it and said, “this is my blood.” When I read these verses from today’s chapter, what haunts me is this: when Jesus is invited into our hearts and our lives, our very own bodies become the decanter for creation’s most precious wine. Yet, the way I’ve treated my body most of my life is no different than welcoming my most honored guest and His gift of precious wine by grabbing a dirty, used styrofoam cup off the counter and telling Him to “fill ‘er up.”

Lord, have mercy on me.

Wendy and I have recently had friends asking questions about my weight so I thought I’d address them here and just get it out in the open. Yes, I have intentionally lost weight over the last seven or eight months. I’m perfectly healthy and within what is the normal weight range for a man my age and height. I’m feeling great.

For the record, while I’ve never considered myself tremendously overweight, this is the second time in my life that I’ve dropped a significant amount of weight. In both cases, it was seeing myself in photographs that motivated me to act. The first instance came somewhere around 1997. While going through a bunch of photographs it was a young Madison (never one for mincing words) who pointed to a picture of me and said, “Look, it’s FAT DADDY!” She was right. For the first time in my life the scale was reading above 200 pounds and heading upwards.

1999 Thin Daddy — 40 Pounds Lighter c.1999

It was just about this time that the Atkins low-carb diet was all the rage. I can’t say that I ever followed it or any other kind of strict diet plan. I just cut my carbs to the bone, ate smaller portions of high protein foods and started moving. Over the next couple of years I dropped from around 205 lbs down to just under 160. My weight moderated around 160 for several years as I transitioned into maintaining a moderate diet.

It’s amazing how easy it is for life changes to affect your habits. Over the past few years I slowly began eating bigger portions, snacking more and exercising less. I never felt tremendously unhealthy or fat, but at the beginning of 2012 I saw some pictures of myself. I didn’t like what I saw and I heard in my head a five-year-old Madison’s voice saying “Look, it’s FAT DADDY!” I realized that something once more had to change. Without saying much to Wendy, I began to quietly change my eating habits and dropped a few pounds.

As this past winter began giving way to spring, Wendy and I had a meeting with one of our co-workers whom we had not seen in some time. When he walked into the meeting we were both shocked to see how much weight he’d lost and how good he looked. He shared with us that he’d joined Weight Watchers On-line and it had worked for him. Wendy began investigating the program and encouraged me to join with her and work together on getting healthy.

My first reaction to Wendy’s suggestion was: “No way! I’ve lost weight before on my own and I don’t need to spend money on some program that’s going to tell me what I can and can’t eat.” It took me about a day to be thoroughly convicted that I was acting like a stubborn, hard-headed ass when I needed to partner with my wife in getting healthy together. In March we signed-up for Weight Watchers On-line and began working together on changing our eating habits.

What can I say? It worked. This post is not intended to be an advertisement or endorsement for Weight Watchers, but the thing we’ve liked about Weight Watchers On-line is that there are no special meals to buy. The process simply helped us realize what foods were good for us, which foods were actually bad for us, and how to modify our portions to appropriate sizes. As a result, Wendy and I are eating healthier and eating appropriate portions. Over six months I dropped just over 35 pounds. I’ve started exercising to build strength and muscle tone. I’m now wearing clothing sizes I’ve not worn since high school and college. For anyone who may have been worried, I’m done losing and feeling like I’m at the right place. Now it’s time to maintain and stay healthy!