Confessions of a Pastor

The past few years I’ve really struggled…

with my weight. 8 months ago, during my yearly physical, my doctor told me I HAD to lose weight. A healthy weight sets the stage for everything else…bones, muscles, brain, heart, and others to play their parts smoothly and efficiently…and I’m believing for many years.  My doctor told me that excess weight diminishes almost every aspect of health. Boy was he right!

I had excess weight around the middle (belly fat).

I had cravings for sugar and refined carbs.

I binged on sugar and junk food.

I Yo-yo-ed dieting.I felt tired and sluggish.

I had joint pain and muscle aches.

I had skin problems.

I had mood problems like anxiety, low grade depression and insomnia.

I had headaches.

I had memory problems.

Simply put, I felt like “poo-poo!”

Confession: I didn’t do what the doctor said immediately. As a matter of fact, I went to Panda Express after my doctors appointment. Nearly three months ago I finally said enough is enough. And today I hit my weight goal…and I’m not stopping yet!!! I’m asked almost every day what I’ve been doing. So let me share a few simple things:

1-After talking to my doctor I chose a weight goal that I truly desired…215! You can’t teach desire, you either have it or you don’t. You need a burning, passionate desire if you are serious about reaching your goal. Desire is your daily energy and fuel that will keep you moving no matter what. Desire will push you beyond fatigue and weariness when you’re in the middle of the process…when you want to go to Whataburger and call it quits!!!

2-I made my 36 pound goal a priority! You will never reach your goal if it’s not amongst your top list of priorities. I’m not saying it’s time for you to forget about everything else in your life that matters and only focus on your goal. However, I am saying you must have a specific amount of focused time and attention that you are willing to dedicate to reaching your goal. Thank God for my wife, Kim, who helped me big time with this!

3-I was finally willing to change. Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Nothing changes unless something changes. You can’t keep doing the same old things you’ve been doing. Every goal or goals you have should produce a certain amount of change in your life in order for you to achieve them. If it’s truly a goal that will challenge you and stretch you then reaching it should require you to make some changes in your life. The biggest problem with setting goals is that most people just simply state them and have no intention on actually making any changes to make it happen. Here are several changes I made: I asked a coach to help me. Thanks Lee! I changed my diet (I began to eat a lot healthier). I changed how much I ate by introducing portion control. I started drinking lots of water. I changed my daily routine and began to go to bed earlier.

4-I relied on people to help me navigate the highs & lows. One thing to remember is that once you start on your journey to reach your goal or goals, there will be a plethora of different emotions that you will face along the way. Thank God for a great team to help me along the way…my wife Kim and my coach Lee…and most of all Jesus! 

All of this reminds me of the importance of the local church! Maybe I’ll get into that in another post! But if you have a goal…KEEP GOING! That’s what I’m going to do!

We exist to declare + demonstrate the gospel to everyone, everyday, everywhere.