A new endeavor!

So last night I took one of the first major steps towards becoming a healthier me in 2009, I attended my very first meeting of my new weight loss group. I had done my research and weighed my options and I narrowed it down between "Weight Watchers" and "First Place". They each had their pro's and a few con's, but overall I felt "First Place" was a better fit for me for many reasons. First of all it is Christ centered. It helps us to understand that putting God first in our lives will help lots of things improve, not just our physical health. It allows me to follow a meal-plan, which was important to me, yet have flexibility to prepare my own meals. We work around food exchanges which is similiar to WW points. It focuses our eating around the food pyramid, so we aren't on some crazy carb restriction or extreme reduced calorie plan. To me that seems more doable in the long term spectrum. The meetings are going to be held each Sunday night at my church. That is super convenient for me since we go to church that evening anyway for Kyndall to go to AWANA and for us to attend service. So really choosing to be involved with First Place was easy. It kind of took all my excuses away. And I have to admit that spending an hour without my husband and kids, getting to talk to other adults was pretty nice! :)

I have come to a very big realization that I have to do this for myself. This time I want to succeed. Every time I cheat and give in to food temptation, I am only hurting myself. I want to learn to live a life that isn't about food deprivation, but better choices each time I put something into my mouth. I know personally that food for me is an emotional thing. I have eaten for a long time to supress feelings. If I just eat when a bad emotion or hurt from the past comes up, then I can drown it in the food. Problem Solved? Not really!! I am hoping through this process and being involved in F.P. that I will get to the bottom of why I really eat. It is a great chance to connect with other Christian women on a physical and emotional level and get to the bottom of things. I know this won't be easy. I don't expect every day to be perfect. I know I will mess up. But I want to live each day with a bigger awareness. A new appreciation for myself. And in the end I want to be proud that I was able to face this challenge head on!

Matthew 4:4 "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' "

So I plan for the next twelve weeks to spend a lot less time living on bread and a lot more time eating up the words of God, enjoying every bite of my devotional time, relishing in my bible study and learning to be a better, healthier, skinnier, more prayful me!

Hope everyone else had a good Monday! TTFN!