Fat War Diaries Part 5

It is 6 months now. Matt (whose formal retainer has come to an end) is still as thin as ever but I am getting there, slowly.

If I could sum things up this way it would be: little but much has changed.

Sometimes I think little has changed.

Despite the victories and kilos shed, deep down I am still a big eater with an appetite for all the wrong foods to be consumed in all the biggest sizes.

If I could be my ideal weight and live off Macca’s, Oporto’s, KFC and the occasional kebab then bring it on! This truth sobers me to realise that I must maintain vigilance in the battle ahead.

I do fear going back to what I was, which I don’t think is actually a bad thing. I don’t live with a sense of dread, but it does come back to me from time to time, especially when I drive past the above mentioned eateries!

As the Bible says, ‘let him that thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall’.

On the other hand much has changed.

I don’t tend to go to places like Macca’s much anymore, for a few reasons.

First of all, if I consume a large Big Mac meal with the obligatory chocolate sundae, I ingest about 1500 calories. My total daily intake should be no more than about 1800 calories (or 2000 calories with exercise).

Second, I could sit down instead to a large piece of grilled fish/or meat and vegetables and only take in 600-700 calories and that meal actually makes me feel full.

Third, I would need to jog for about 90 minutes flat out to try and burn the calories eaten at Macca’s. Frankly, it just isn’t worth the effort (and pain) of trying to undo all the damage done.

I don’t want to create the impression that I don’t eat junk food or dessert anymore, but they are less frequent.

Lo and behold, I am actually enjoying salads, fresh fruit, ryvita and even good old Weetbix for breakfast. I still drink tea and coffee with full cream milk, even though I have a few more cups than absolutely necessary (there are some vices that will never die).

The exercise which I used to dread, though still hard, brings more benefits than I can tell.

So to that extent many things have changed.

Fast and furious diets are ‘out’ but lifestyle adjustments and regular exercise are very much ‘in’.

This journey hasn’t changed me so much as revealed the issues that I needed (and need) to address. I am thankful to God for this experience, but I am conscious that, like all believers, I am a work in progress.

For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Romans 7:22-25

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