15-Month Pictures

 

 

See my Trim Healthy Mama Before & After Photos page to view all before and after photos of my THM journey.

 

STATS

	10/23/15	4/23/16	10/23/16	11/23/16	12/23/16	1/23/17
Weight	220	185.2	157.6	154.6	152.8	151
Bust	47.75″	43″	40.5″	40.25″	39.5″	39.25″
Waist	47″	40.5″	37.25″	36.75″	36.5″	36″
Hips	51.5″	44″	40″	39.75″	39.5″	39″

See my Trim Healthy Mama Stats page to see all monthly measurements of my THM journey.

 

What I’m Thinking

Just a warning:  this is going to get a little what some may call “preachy”.  Please know that this is a personal reflection, not an attempt to preach.

I’ve been convicted and have realized that I need to give up daily weighing.  When I began my THM journey, I never intended to be a daily weigher (or even a weekly or monthly weigher, for that matter).  However, after my initial 6 weeks or so on-plan, I became a daily weigher.  It started innocently enough (as many addictions and idolatry does).  My husband and I were weighing the same thing for weeks (like we’d both weigh 210.4 one week and we’d both weigh 209.6 the next week) and we suspected the scale might be broken.  We weighed the same thing every day for a week and decided a new scale was in order.  Of course, we had to continue to weigh everyday for a few days once we got the new scale to make sure things were all on the up-and-up, and it just became a habit to weigh everyday.  At some point though in the last year that daily weigh-in became an idol.  I felt I NEEDED to see that number everyday to monitor my progress and be “accountable”.  Despite knowing and being comfortable with the fact that weights will vary from one day to the next, up or down, I clung to knowing that weight like it was some sort of guarantee that I wouldn’t wake up the next day back at 225 pounds.  In the last few weeks, however, God has very clearly convicted me of trusting in the scale more than I’m trusting in Him.

So, I’m moving to doing weekly weights.  It is a challenge.  Every time I use the bathroom that scale is sitting there staring at me.  I could so easily step on just to see.  I have to consciously remind myself that I have made a promise to God that I will not.  Why don’t I hide it, you say?  Because merely hiding it won’t overthrow its place as an idol in my life.  If  I don’t see it, I won’t think about it.  And if I don’t think about it, I don’t have to think about placing God above it.  But, if I have to confront it several times a day, I have to make the conscious decision to turn from it and trust in He who is the only One worthy of my worship.

I don’t share this to shame anyone who weighs daily.  I share it as a way to be transparent with fellow mamas about my journey because it has been my experience that no one experiences things alone.  If I am experiencing this, it is quite likely someone else is having a similar experience.  My entire goal with the THM portion of my website is to encourage fellow mamas and let them know they are not alone, that they can do this, and that there is hope…not just hope for freedom from being overweight but that our weight and our size is not what defines our worth and is not worthy of being an idol.  Because let’s face it, THM, or any other diet or weight loss plan and the results we do or don’t get from it, can so easily become an idol.  Think about how much time you spend focused on your weight, either because you are losing and feeling good or because you have gained 100 pounds in 16 years and feel ashamed, or how much time you spend focused on following a diet (maybe even THM) to the letter at all costs so you’ll lose weight.  Has your weight become your idol?  It had become mine.  And I’m declaring that it will be no more.  Yes, I’ll continue to follow THM eating practices and monitoring my progress but in a sane way and always with prayer and thanksgiving to the Lord rather than clinging to the ways of the world that say my weight and weight loss success are the be-all-end-all.  If you are a fellow mama and also feeling conviction about this, not conviction from me because I assure you I’m not the one convicting you, I encourage you to lay your idols down too.