Our Bodies....Our Gift....Uh Oh....Time to Diet :(

So, as many of you may or may not know, I have been struggling with my weight. After my children, I have been able to return to a comfortable, maybe even healthy-ish weight, but never really where I have wanted to be. But because I have never been, what I considered to be, too large, I was always just content and never tried TOO hard to push myself to where I wanted to be.

As some of you may know, I am an avid scripture reader. Last week, during my VERY early morning scripture study, I happened to read through the "Word of Wisdom." (I am reading D&C with you're accompanying books, thanks mom!) For those of you who are not LDS, this is the doctrine that tell us "crazy mormons" not to drink coffee or alcohol, or do drugs, etc. If you have any curiosity to read for yourself about why we abstain from these things, the exact wording of this doctrine can be found in: The Doctrine and Covenants Section 89. The first time I just read through it, but after a few minutes I decided to go back and read it again. The next day, as I read again (I was way past section 89 by now), I decided to go back and read it again. Third day...same thing. I took the weekend to REALLY ponder the Word of Wisdom, and it meant to ME! I love that about our religion, WE get to decide for OURSELVES what something means to us. Things are open for interpretation, and on a lot of things, we don't have somebody dictating to us what it means. We decide for ourselves what it means. So, I pondered and prayed. What does the Word of Wisdom mean to ME, Kelli VomBaur? Here is what I concluded (please note, this is for me only! Do not interpret what I feel as official church doctrine!!!)...

The body is GIFT! This is one of the reasons why we were given this Doctrine. It is all about keeping the body pure, clean, and healthy. If you don't put the right kind of oil in your car it will not perform to it's best ability. Sure it will run, but not up to it's potential. Imagine we gave something precious to somebody we loved, let's say a beautiful cup. Then the next time we went to their homes, we saw that they weren't using it at all. Or worse yet, they were filling it with something dirty that would stain it forever. I started to wonder...as I lift the 6th or 7th slice of pizza to mouth (really only the 1st, MAYBE the 2nd fulfill hunger, the rest are CLEARLY desire), does my Heavenly Father feel just as sad as if I was lifting an alcohol beverage to my mouth? There are millions of obesity related heart-attacks each year....not so many deaths by coffee drinking :) But we are specifically told NOT to drink the coffee. Which must mean, maybe I (Kelli - not everyone) surely should not be eating that 6th slice of pizza, no matter how good it tastes. If the W.O.W. is all about healthy bodies and minds...I am doing a poor job when I put 5 scoops of ice cream in my bowl instead of 1. Maybe I should have prefaced this post with explaining some of the "crap" I put in my body. That pizza thing was not an exaggeration. I can eat 6 slices without blinking. When eating ice cream (and I eat it often btw) I fill the bowl to the top. I also eat those huge chocolate bars pretty much every time they're on sale!

Okay, this is getting too lengthy...back to the point. I have decided to make a sincere effort to treat my gift from Heavenly Father with love...and stop putting so much crap in it! Why am I posting this on my blog???? In the past when dieting, it is very easy to lose focus, and quit...and nobody really knows but you. This way I feel I am accountable to someone or something. If I give up, you'll all know and I'll feel like a quitter! Hopefully this will help me NOT to give up. Also, when reading I realized I eat too much meat and "sweet treats." Am I going to give up meat and sugars all together? Of course not! But the W.O.W. says that grains (pastas, cereals, bread, etc.) should make up the majority of our diet. It also says that fruits and vegetables are good for the body, but that meat should be used sparingly. For me, a dinner wasn't a dinner without some form of meat! That is definitely NOT sparingly!

So here we go! I gave this a week of study and came to my conclusion last Sunday (it took me 5 days to post because I'm lazy :) Something that I'm clearly trying to correct). Every Monday I will post my weight - yes MY REAL weight - in hopes that having to put it on some public forum will help me to stick to it! You all know I'm not a believer in goal setting or destinations, but when dealing with weight loss, you have to put some number on it. So my goal weight...110...or size 4-6, whichever comes first. It's more about how you feel and look, as opposed to a number, but you have to have something to shoot for.

So.....beginning weight.....

Monday, February 7: 133.6 lbs.

Wish me luck....and I'll post next Monday

P.S. I just have to say, THIS IS NOT A NEW YEARS RESOLUTION!!! I hate new years resolutions, and hate how everyone's involves weight loss. This has coincided with my desire to be a better person spiritually, my decision to attend the temple regularly, and my decision to respect my body as the beautiful gift that it is :)