Have you seen these ads? You know the ones that promise three steps to quick and easy weight loss?  The weight loss industry has made a fortune promising us what they cannot deliver. Yet, we still purchase these plans and products because we hope, no we wish, they would work.

I spent a small fortune on diet programs, along with their supplements, to try to get myself to some concept of what I thought normal was. However great those plans are they will not work if I do not change my mindset towards weight loss. It can no longer be a diet. A diet is only a short-term fix for a long-term problem.

We have to realize weight loss begins on the inside and moves to affecting the outside of us. Paul tells us we must “Fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it.”¹ This is a radical paradigm shift, a mindset change that will start you on a total transformation—body, soul and spirit.

God’s Way

There may be some quick ways to shed pounds. Starvation is one which comes to mind. However, they are not sustainable and they are not God’s best plan.

“May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, He’ll do it!”²

Quick weight loss harms your body in many ways. Before you know it, you have gained back whatever waist sizes you lost plus some additional sizes.

Why Diets Don’t Work

Many times, the diet actually puts more weight on. How? Here’s how it always went for me. I’d severely limit myself for a time. Once I met my goal, I would celebrate with all the foods I’d been missing during my diet. I wouldn’t stop eating them and ended up gaining more than I lost.

It was why I finally gave up diets. The yo-yo dieting was confusing my already compromised body. Am I eating or not eating? Should I store fat because I’m not getting food? I was not nice to my already over-taxed body.

I know some folks who love to go on diets that offer “cheat” days where they can eat anything they want. The problem is, they begin living for the cheat days. Their minds have not been changed. They are still focusing on the unhealthy foods. They, of all people, should realize they are true food addicts!

Emotional Triggers

My weight cycling, losing and then gaining, was exacerbated by emotional triggers, which caused me to eat more and more of the comfort foods I had learned to run to. I thought the comfort foods, which for me was anything made with sugar and flour, helped me stay at even keel emotionally.

Eating to alleviate stress, anger, boredom, loneliness or because of feeling overwhelmed only caused me to need more food to feel anywhere near normal. Then, gaining weight only made my emotional well-being worse.

Dealing With Emotions

I learned in order to lose weight and keep it off, I had to deal with tons of emotional baggage. As I dealt with the junk, living a healthy lifestyle became sustainable.

Without dealing with the emotional issues, which stood like barriers on my weight loss journey, I would still be in the monster yo-yo dieting cycle.

My question to you is what do you want? Do you want to continue to try all the latest fads and diets or do you want to lose weight and keep it off? God wants fit soldiers for the Kingdom. We cannot fulfill the destiny He has given each of us³ unless we are here, alive, healthy and able to go to work in the Kingdom.

How God Changes Us

God is a healer. He can instantly heal of us any disease, any disease except those we perpetuate on our own. He will not take the donut out of our hands or our mouths. He will remind us of our commitment only if we have invited Him to do so.

There is character and discipline⁴ built into following God’s way of becoming healthy—body, soul and spirit. Sure, instantly being smaller sounds wonderful. In essence, we are scared of the work it will take for us to transform. Instead, we’d rather keep eating, getting larger and developing health morbidities.

Here’s God’s advice to those who are ready to follow His leading. “Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how He did it. Because He never lost sight of where He was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—He could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now He’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility He plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!”⁵

¹Romans 12:2 MSG

²1 Thessalonians 5:23 MSG

³Ephesians 2:10 TPT

⁴Hebrews 12:11 MSG

⁵Hebrews 12:2-3 MSG

Teresa Shields Parker

Teresa Shields Parker is a Christian weight loss author, coach, podcaster, and speaker, who has lost 250 pounds and kept it off since 2013. Her books include: “Reconnecting Jayne: Her Sister’s Support,” “Rebuilding Jayne: Her Father’s Protection,”  “Sweet Grace: How I Lost 250 Pounds and Stopped Trying to Earn God’s Favor,” “Sweet Grace Study Guide,”  “Sweet Victory: Winning the Battle,” “Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds,” “Sweet Journey to Transformation: Practical Steps to Lose Weight and Live Healthy”, “Sweet Freedom: Losing Weight and Keeping It Off With God’s Help,” “Sweet Freedom Study Guide,” “Sweet Change: True Stories of Transformation,” “Sweet Hunger: Developing an Appetite for God,” and “Sweet Excuses: Stop Lying to Yourself & Start Losing Weight.” She also offers Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy and VIP intensive coaching. Don’t miss her weekly podcast, Sweet Grace for Your Journey, where she shares tips from her personal journey of losing weight and discovering healthy living. Contact her at [email protected].