Friends, I don’t know why I stopped talking about weight loss. I've really done a disservice to people and myself by stopping talking about it. I've really felt the Lord speaking loud to me about this topic lately. So here we are.
I kind of feel like the fitness, health and wellness industry has made weight loss a no-no, something we don't talk about. I think, possibly, for the right reasons, but I think it's kind of backfired. We moved to talking strictly about health and wellness and if weight loss happens it’s a bonus. Please note: if you struggle with eating disorders, this may absolutely need to be the approach taken. Nothing is a one size fits all solution. But weight loss in and of itself is not a bad word or phrase. I just think it somehow got linked to "quick fix", therefore we avoid the topic and steer in another direction.
So let's talk more about why I think many professionals have separated weight loss from fitness and health and wellness. But, first, let's be clear you can have an abundance of wellness and no weight loss, nor a need to lose weight. I do not believe there is a magic number everyone should weigh. Personally, if I didn’t have health problems due to my weight, I would not be talking to you about weight loss. I would be focused on fueling and moving my body. I would not care what the scale said. So it's ok if that is where you are. The outward appearance of your body does not dictate your health. But that’s not the case for me right now. I have pain and inflammation that impact my daily life. I need to lose pounds.
Strength training has become huge lately. Which is fantastic! I love picking up weights. I love the challenge of trying to reach new goals and keep lifting heavier. Here's the deal though, weight loss and strength training kind of work against one another. Let me be clear, you can strength train and lose weight. It will happen at a much slower pace. But the reality is you can’t really eat in a deficit and build muscle. To gain muscle you need to fuel the muscle with more calories, specific calories. And to lose weight you need to be in a deficit. Make sense?
Now, fat loss and strength training coexist well together. That’s different from just weight loss. It’s much harder to see these results, and that is fine, 100% fine AND a healthy way to approach the journey. Seriously, it’s a great healthy option.
I apologize if I solely took this stance and stopped talking about weight loss at all. We can have mulitple healthy routes to our goals. I am committed to talking about more than one route from here on out.
Now, personally, for me, right now, 2025 me, I’ve shifted my priority. The beauty of this journey is it can have seasons. What I need right now might not be what I need next year. Weight loss is my current priority. Let me be clear. I still plan to pick up weights, I want to retain the muscle that I have, I do not want to lose that, but I do primarily want to lose pounds currently. So I won’t be lifting heavy trying to set new PR’s. I just want to do the best I can to maintain the muscle under there that I do have.
I feel my body, currently, needs me to lose pounds. The arthritis, in my knees especially, is desperate for me to lose weight. I have no goal to lose a ton of weight, my goal is 38 pounds this year. In January, I lost a little over 3 pounds. If I can keep that pace I'll reach my goal by the end of the year. Then I can reevaluate my goals. And I DO plan to get back to strength training more as my body definitely needs that too. Strong muscles help with arthritis too… as well as aging. It’s just that trying to do both, for me, was just not working.
Let's be honest, strength training is my absolute favorite, aside from walking. So this is an adjustment for me, a bit of a sacrifice for me. I'm trying not to push my body as hard to relieve the inflammation. I'm trying to be kind to my body, yet still move. I’m also reminding myself that this journey isn’t about me. It’s about caring for the body God gave me. It’s about glorifying Christ. A couple of scriptures I can focus on are:
Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Romans 6:12-13 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
The Contemporary English Version says: Don’t let sin rule your body. After all, your body is bound to die, so don’t obey its desires or let any part of it become a slave of evil. Give yourselves to God, as people who have been raised from death to life. Make every part of your body a slave that pleases God.
Don’t obey your fleshly passions. Hello, food, my passion, my desire, the sugar, the excess, it’s a real struggle.
We are alive through our body. The body God gifted us. Our body is part of us, we are part of our body. What we feed it, how we treat, mind, body and spirit really does matter.
It’s really not about me. It’s not about you. It’s about Christ. It’s about glorifying Him. It’s about being willing to sacrifice. We might have to sacrifice the types of food we want to eat to fuel our body, the amount of food we want to eat. We might have to sacrifice time, so that we make time to workout. OUR BODIES WERE NOT MADE TO BE STILL. There are studies that say sitting is the new smoking. It is really unhealthy for us. (As I sit here writing this.)
So, weight loss. I'm going to talk about it more. I think pushing it down, ignoring it makes it feel more shameful. Talking about it more makes it healthier. Demonstrating how to do it in a healthy way helps. I’m going to share about the ups and downs of the journey again. The boring mundane daily ins and outs of the journey. I’m going to take measurements too, because that can tell a story too. It's impmortant to note, the scale doesn’t have a hold on me, so I can weigh regularly. I can take it at face value, a measurement that tells me when to pivot if need be. That has not always been the case, it's taken work to get to this point. If that's not where you are right now, please DO NOT step on the scale.
I'd love to hear some scripture that encourages you to make healthy choices.
Go be a light! Matthew 5:14-16
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