How to Get Ahead of What Could Hold You Back
Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. You don’t fail overnight.
Instead, failure is a few errors in judgment, repeated every day.
Jim Rohn
Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,
I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
Philippians 3:13–14
As you start down this path toward taking responsibility for your health, you are creating a new lifestyle—stepping fully into the new you. This isn’t a quick fix. As with every journey worth taking, there are going to be a few setbacks. Don’t let those discourage you. Progress, not perfection, is the goal.
If you blow your commitment at one meal, don’t think of the whole day as shot. Start again with your next meal. Discouragement will try to set in, but don’t let it. You may be tempted to quit, but be quick to shoot that temptation down. When the enemy tries to whisper defeat in your ear, refocus your attention on Jesus, the one who promises you can do all things through him (Phil. 4:13)—all things, including losing extra weight, ridding yourself of lifestyle diseases, and reclaiming your health for his glory.
Common Obstacles
That said, a few obstacles are common to almost everyone who commits to changing the way they eat for the better. Knowing what those obstacles are and preparing for them in advance can help you stand strong when they threaten to throw you off balance. These are the ones that top the list:
Let’s take a look at each one in more detail.
Resistance
The unrelenting pull of the average, culturally acceptable (unhealthy) lifestyle is real and powerful. The resistance you feel when you start taking action toward a healthy lifestyle is a live, active force. Stephen Pressfield, in Do the Work!, has written in detail about resistance.
Resistance cannot be seen, heard, touched, or smelled. But it can be felt. . . . The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it. Resistance’s goal is not to wound or disable. Resistance aims to kill. Its target is the epicenter of our being: our genius, our soul, the unique and priceless gift we were put on this earth to give.1
Pressfield’s words sound a lot like Jesus’s description of the devil himself. “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10).
The enemy of your soul is also the enemy of the purposes God has for you on this earth. He wants to kill you. Period. And he is hoping he can do that by your own hand. He wants to make you think you can’t change your life. He wants to deceive you into believing a couple of unhealthy meals won’t matter. He is trying to keep you traveling the path toward your own destruction. He is applying consistent, subtle pressure to get you to settle for your current state of being, to be okay with health that looks like everyone else’s, to live a life that is lacking the abundance Jesus came to give you. But as James wrote so plainly, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).
When the enemy tries to tempt you to go back to your old way of life, resist. When you feel tempted to grab an unhealthy meal out of convenience rather than take the time to eat something that will nourish your body, resist. As you get in the habit of opposing the enemy’s schemes, he will turn his attention toward someone else. Resist the resistance.
Emotional Eating
We are all guilty of using food to make ourselves feel better. The comfort foods we know and love do a great job of helping us calm down when we are anxious and picking us up when we have had a rough day—or do they?
When you look to food to give you an emotional boost, you may get a momentary surge of pleasure from what you eat, but ultimately, you end up feeling worse. Not only are your problems still there but you also feel guilty about gorging. This can lead to a downward spiral of resignation and even more emotional eating.
Emotional eating is a common problem. A large percentage of people who struggle with overeating and excess weight are emotional eaters. We all live busy, stressful lives. (If that statement is not true of you, you are in the minority these days. Let us know your secret.) If you are like most people, you just want to sit down and decompress at the end of the day—and a bag of chips, a pint of ice cream, or dinner’s leftovers often seem like the perfect couch companion. But when you allow yourself to eat out of emotional hunger rather than physical hunger, not only are you adding to your health problems but you are also failing to deal with the stress in your life productively.
To begin getting emotional eating under control, figure out what your most common triggers are. What situations or feelings make you want to reach for comfort food? Maybe you are triggered when you are under a great deal of stress, or maybe your trigger is nothing more than boredom or even just force of habit. Whatever your trigger, start taking intentional note of when your eating is driven by something other than hunger.
Then when you catch yourself reaching for food for the wrong reasons, pause. Tell yourself you are going to wait ten minutes before having that snack. Use those ten minutes to do something that may help you deal with your emotions in a healthier way. Go for a quick walk. Pick up a book. Connect with your spouse. Talk with God in prayer. When those ten minutes have passed, your urge to eat will likely have passed too—and you will have taken a step toward managing your emotions in a much healthier way.
Healthy lifestyle habits are much easier to adopt when everyone in your household is on the same page, but that is not always the way it works. You may find yourself a lone ranger in a house full of people who have no interest in changing. If that is the case, keep focused on why you are making the shift toward complete health and continue pressing toward your goal.
Your success may eventually have a major impact on the people you love. They may want to sit back and watch for a while, but when they begin seeing the changes in your body, your increase in energy, and your overall improved quality of life, they may want those things for themselves. They may start asking questions. For Christians, this process is a little like being a witness to an unbelieving world. Make the people around you so curious about the positive changes in your life that they will want to know what you know.
Practically speaking, if your family isn’t with you on this, you may need to take some inconvenient steps to stay on track. If your spouse does the grocery shopping, make sure healthy items get put on the list and in the cart. Designate a separate area of the refrigerator for your healthy foods so you can get right to them without having to rummage through old temptations.
While going it alone in your home won’t be easy, commit to carrying the torch. When you stay strong on your own, not only will you be better for it but your entire family will benefit as well. They may begin their own healthy journeys in their own time, and you will have been part of their catalyst rather than an enabler of ingrained mind-sets and habits.
Eating Out
Restaurant meals can be one of the worst enemies of a health-conscious lifestyle. But with a little preplanning and a handful of strategies for success, eating out can become part of your healthy routine rather than an excuse for slipping back into your old ways.
First of all, if you know you are going to be eating out, be intentional about choosing a restaurant that will have some healthy options. As much as it is up to you, avoid places where you will have a hard time finding something you will feel good about on the menu. Also try to avoid your old haunts, where familiar smells and ingrained habits may push you over the edge of temptation. You may be able to go back to those places one day and order with more wisdom, but don’t put yourself in that position too soon.
If you are eating out with family, friends, or coworkers who want to go somewhere that doesn’t offer good choices for you, don’t be shy about suggesting an alternative. If they know you are committed to getting healthy, they will likely be more than willing to go somewhere different.
Once you are in a restaurant, keep these tips for success in mind:
Progress, Not Perfection
Remember, setbacks are part of the process on this journey toward renewed health. Learning to navigate your world with an entirely new lifestyle will take some time and practice—that is okay. Take small steps every day. Be aware of the obstacles along your path. If you mess up, shake it off and start again. Get a little better week by week. And always keep reminding yourself “Progress, not perfection, is the goal.”