Choices

When I started my weight loss journey a year and a half ago I had some pretty basic goals:

Eat better, move more, pray about it.

I figured if I could make better choices with my food and the amount of it, that would be beneficial, rather than too difficult to stick with.

I figured if I could just choose to move more rather than be forced to adhere to a particular strict workout schedule then I'd be more likely to achieve success.  

Turns out for the first time in my life I was right about something when it came to my weight issue!  Of course the prayer part is what brought that into reality.

For a while now I've been at a plateau.  People keep seeing me and saying how amazed they are at the way I look and how much weight I've lost.  But I'm just not feelin' it. For a variety of reasons, I've lost the motivation I had, though I think I found it today in my girl Erin's blog. 

It's another simple way of looking at what I'm doing and how to stay on track.  When it comes to the choices I am making either with what I'm eating or my amount of movement I need to look ahead and wonder how I will feel after.  

My goal now is to ask, "Will I be proud of myself or disappointed in myself?"  

• Disappointed in myself for sitting on the couch reading on Facebook about all the stuff people are doing, or proud of myself for getting up and doing something I would want to post?  
• Disappointed in myself for eating a second serving of Stacy's awesome enchiladas or proud of myself for being satisfied with the first plate and eating some fruit if I'm still hungry? 
• Proud of myself for taking the dogs on a walk even though it was only 10 minutes or disappointed in myself for just watching them run around the yard?  

This simple outlook could be so helpful in other areas of life, too. As the Apostle Paul so wisely pointed out, we seem to do what we say we don't want to do, yet don't do what we say we ought to do.   It's a paradox in dieting, addiction, apathy and just about every area of sin in life.  My new goal is to ask myself that question and try to be wise enough to choose correctly at least most of the time.  After all, I'd much rather experience freedom by being proud of myself than disappointed in myself because of a simple choice.