Knowlege is Powerful but Contentment is Key

Part of my journey has not only been LEARNING the tools I needed to attain and maintain a healthy weight and a healthy lifestyle, but also LEARNING to be content within that context.

Through the Habits of Health and this program I was able to learn what the true limitations of my body were, HOW to attain a healthy weight in a healthy way, and HOW to STAY healthy for the long-term.  This was the knowledge I needed.  This was something that even with my Degree in Human Nutrition I still lacked, believe it or not! 

But LEARNING it was only the beginning.  Much of my journey into optimal health, which for me was attaining and is now maintaining a healthy BMI and a fit lifestyle involves daily practicing CONTENMENT with the lifelong process.

I KNOW, for example, that if I drink too much wine and eat too much cheese I WILL gain weight back.  My body will ALWAYS respond to the instructions that I give it.  And if those instructions equate to my consuming extra calories over and above my maintenance needs (which is individual for every person, by the way), I WILL do the scale creep.  My jeans WILL get tighter.  And tighter.  And tighter. 

I KNOW my limitations.  But knowing and doing are two different things, and even DOING can be different than DOING with CONTENTMENT as my underlying emotion.

I can DO all day long and resent it, if I allow myself to.  Then, eventually, I DO it less.  And less.  And less.  Because I resent the process, I feel deprived, and can slip into feeling sorry for myself because "I don't get to eat what other people 'get' to eat!"

When I slip into that mindset I know I need to press the "reset" button.

Why?  Because when I slip into that mindset I know I've lost a KEY strategy for lifelong health, which is CONTENTMENT with the limitations of my body.

So, when that happens I take some time and I LEARN it again.  Contentment.  As Paul says in Philippians 4:11-13

For I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

I find it fascinating that of all the specific examples Paul could have given, he speaks about "in need" and "to have plenty" in terms of his stomach.  Did you catch that?  He said "whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want".

Heck, we hardly know what it is in this country to be hungry.  But when I am in maintenance and "want" something that is beyond my physical limitation for caloric needs that day, I am experiencing psychological hunger anyway.  And I need to back up and say "Ok, Brain, today you are going to be content even though you feel like you are in 'need' of having that extra something something."

It isn't an easy thing, and it is something I continually need to remind myself of because THIS, right NOW, is who I want to remain. 

So I learn contentment.  Again.  Daily.  Hourly sometimes.

While I blog tonight, I just made myself a cup of herbal tea because as a friend of mine says "Stop, Think, Make a Hot Drink."

So I stopped.  I am thinking.  I made a cup of tea.  And I'm blogging.  Because, again, I have all the knowledge in the world to attain and maintain my health goals.  But without contentment it is a precarious situation.  So I retreat back to basics in the area of learning contentment.

My body will never "change" its limitations.  I will always have the propensity and the high efficiency of storing fat if I exceed my caloric needs in a day.  That is a given.  That will not change.  Ever.  But I CAN change my MIND and stop resenting that brick wall and work WITHIN the boundaries of it.

Reminds me of the serenity prayer:
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

I think "reasonable happiness" is a good goal to aim for in this life.  I know that it isn't possible for me to be even "reasonably happy" when I am Class IV Super-Obese.  So count me in. 

Contentment.

Rinse and Repeat!