Why Do You Want to Lose Weight?

Body image and weight issues are two of the most overwhelming personal topics in our world today. We are flooded with information and advertising about weight and weight loss.

If you have a weight problem or an addiction to food, this information just adds to your guilt and condemnation because you don’t seem to have any control over your weight problem, or should I say, food problem. Information shows us the need to change, but the power to change only comes from the one who created you.

We have been trained by the world to focus on food, instead of our approach to our appetite and our overwhelming need for food. Many of us are addicted to food and do not realize it.

An addiction is the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming. You cannot fix a spiritual problem by natural means.

So stop and think: Why do you want to lose weight? What is your motivation? As a child of God, we are told to present our body to God (Rom. 12:1), but how can we present our body to God when we have no control over it? How do we stop this roller coaster ride? When you can admit your need for help, you open the door for the truth that will set you free.

After struggling for years and trying many of the “magic cures” of the world, I made a decision that I would never try the world’s way again. I cried out to God for help. I humbled myself and admitted my need in this area of my life. One day the Lord spoke a word to my spirit that brought light to the problem in my life: “When you get a revelation of the purpose of your body, you will not abuse it.”

The Holy Spirit immediately brought to my remembrance 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: “What? Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God, and that you are not your own? You were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” I was immediately convicted and repented of my attitude and actions and failure to care for my body with food that would nurture it.

A diet is the sum total of what we eat every day. Your diet is the opportunity to supply your body each day with the needed nutrients to function properly. A lack of nutrients in your everyday diet from the “magic” weight loss programs leaves your body starving and constantly hungry.

As I began to study nutrition, I realized we can become addicted to food without knowing it. The additives placed in food are put there for that purpose—that we become addicted.

After I repented of my neglect, the Lord gave me a battle plan that worked from the inside out and took 88 pounds from my body. This happened over two years; it was not a quick fix. My heart was fixed on pleasing God and honoring Him with my body. That was my motivation and why I wanted to lose weight.

Your motivation to lose weight or change any controlling habit is either internally or externally driven; you are pushing or pulling. Push motivation is short term, usually with an escape clause. It has the mindset that you will lose so many pounds, then you can go back eating what you want.

Pull motivation is long term, internally driven by your choice based on the Word of God and empowered by the Holy Spirit. You are pulling on your spiritual resources. It is a decision that will lead you through all the hurdles of life with no looking back.

Before you try another plan that has false promises from the world, consider: “When you sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before you; and put a knife to your throat, if you are a man given to appetite. Be not desirous of his delicacies, for they are deceptive food” (Prov. 23:1-3).

The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). He has used food since the beginning; it worked so well, why should we be surprised he is still using food today?

In my book and workbook, Why Diets Don’t Work—Food Is Not the Problem, I share my testimony. If you have a desire to please God with your body, this book will help lead you to freedom. Join the walk to honor God with your body.

Joyce Tilney, Founder of Women of God Ministries, teaching women today from women of yesterday. For more information and to get her books, visit her websites: wogministries.com and whydiets.com.