Category: Diets and Weight Loss

We must stop comparison to have hearts full of joy and gratitude. But comparison is a companion to vanity. From our childhoods, we’ve heard this line and it’s insidious.

“Mirror, mirror on the wall,

Who’s the fairest of them all.”

Comparison gets us nowhere. Comparison is one of the top joy thieves when we’re on a weight loss journey (and perhaps all the time). We look at our results and find that we are left wanting when whatever we’ve lost may not be as much as someone else’s loss. 

And the results that we’ve had lose their satisfaction. We cannot be grateful. We are left wanting. Rather than operating from a full heart of gratitude, we feel like a child who isn’t getting her way. 

Famously, Theodore Roosevelt said: “Comparison is the thief of joy.” 

More importantly, the Bible says “We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise” (2 Corinthians 10:12).

They are not wise! We are not wise to compare ourselves with others. We need to stop comparison. God has called us to our journey of integrity and self-control. (For me it’s Bright Line Eating). 

The results will come. They really will. But it does no good to look at others and pine for their results.

One day at a time. One meal at a time. One ounce at a time.

Stop Comparison and Do This

What’s the antidote to comparison? We come to a place of gratitude for what God is doing in our lives and in others’ lives. We “rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn” (Romans 12:15).

“The more beauty we find in someone else’s journey, the less we’ll want to compare it to our own.” Bob Goff

Prayer for Today: Dear God, thank You that your timing is perfect. Please help me rejoice with others instead of comparing myself to them. 

For years I’ve punished myself believing that my extra bites, licks, and tastes were gluttony. That I was a sinner (I am) in need of forgiveness for breaking my diet (I don’t). Sticking to a diet does not mean that I am more holy than when I am eating a doughnut. But I believed that.

If you were to read through my journals for years, you would find a tortured journey of a woman in pain seeking God in this area of diet and weight loss. I have longed to be happy, thin, and FREE.

But no diet…no program…no scheme ever seemed to deliver on all three of those points: happy, thin, and free.

UNTIL NOW!

Hi, I’m Christine and I’m a believer who struggles with food addiction.

There were days that there seemed to be no governor on my appetite. If I had one serving of bread, I wanted the entire loaf. The kitchen kept calling me back after a snack. What was wrong with me!?

By the grace of God, I’ve discovered the secret. Yes, the secret I’ve been longing for.

I am a food addict. I am addicted to sugar and flour. And whenever I have those addictive substances, it does a number on my brain so I.just.want.MORE!

Bright Line Eating

I discovered this through Susan Pierce Thompson (SPT) and her Bright Line Eating program (BLE). I learned about the program through a friend who has lost 60 pounds in a little over a year.

The Bright Line Eating book, videos, and 14-day challenge were eye-opening and helped me understand that for years my drug of choice had been sugar and flour.

SPT does a great job of explaining the neuroscience of sugar and flour addiction and she has helped thousands of people follow four bright lines to not only lose weight but keep it off.

1. No sugar.
2. No flour.
3. Measure your food.
4. Three meals a day.

There’s so much more to it than that. And while the weight loss is welcome, the most tremendous blessing of Bright Line Eating is FREEDOM. Cutting out sugar and flour completely has cleared up my brain. The cravings. The pull for MORE. The addiction has been silenced.

The weight loss for many is dramatic. Not for me because I’m a turtle in this race. I love what SPT says about “relapse is part of recovery.” When I have blurry lines, I can learn why and rezoom back to bright lines.

By the grace of God, this BLE program has not fed my diet addiction. And there are reasons for that SPT can explain better than me. I hope you’ll check it out.

My friend, I’ve lost 22 pounds, with an average loss of 1 pound per week. And did I mention I am free!? Jesus said we would know the truth and the truth would set.us.free!!!

I AM FREE!

(If you have any questions or comments about this post, please let me know. And if you’d like to join a supportive Facebook group for BLE, please leave a comment below.)