Posted Apr 24, 2023 |
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“All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.” ~1 Corinthians 9:25-27 NLT.
Anything we do, in life, takes discipline.
Learning how to ride a bike does not work the first time. When you decide to ride a bike, it feels awkward, you fall off, and lose balance. Each dedication to trying gets you one step closer to mastering it. Disciplining yourself to practice several times a day pays off when you ride for the first time without the assistance of anyone.
Every new thing you try takes discipline. Whether you are learning to form a new habit or wanting to break an old one, it takes discipline.
Discipline equals Self-Control.
For a year now, I have been working on the fruit “self-control” in my eating habits. I used to love desserts–fresh warm chocolate chip cookies were my favorite. I drank a lot of lemonade, mountains of creamer with my coffee, and enough carbs to feed a small army. All of it tasted fantastic but made my body feel horrible.
Because my self-control was so low, I had to start small. I took out all desserts. Then added lemonade, coffee, creamer, and pancake syrup to the getting rid of pile. Once I felt those were managed, I moved onto carbs, my arch nemesis.
Carbs come in all shapes and sizes, some that do not seem like carbs to me are some of the worst carbs.
Potatoes, not just a starch!
I have decreased the amount of carb intake, as I was having at least one carb per meal. Some meals used to be all carbs. Now I may have a carb or two a day, but they are the less damaging carbs such as 21 grain bread, if I have toast. I eat whole grain wheat English muffins with breakfast, when I decide to make a breakfast sandwich. A new favorite is multi-grain sandwich thins instead of buns, if we have burgers for dinner.
Potatoes, though, have been an equal match as when I gave up smoking over 20 years ago. I love hash browns in my breakfast burritos or French Fries with green chili cheese sauce on top of them.
I have faith, at some point, those cravings will go away. I no longer crave desserts, lemonade, coffee, creamer. And if I have whole grain waffles, I only use pure maple syrup instead of the sugar loaded syrup people typically use.
Even small improvements are still improvements.
Looking back over the last year, I can see that weight has come off because of my decision to work on my self-control. It hasn’t come off as fast as I would have hoped but some of that is because I am not as in control of my carb discipline as I would like to be…potatoes!
It is still progress. It is still worth continuing to work for. Forward motion is something. In making the effort to gain more self-control, it means giving up things that I think I need in my life but really are not the best for me.
When I was eating all of those things my stomach was constantly upset and backed up. I had headaches and was very tried, depleted of energy. The more water I drank, the less headaches I had and my energy increased. Taking out a significant amount of carbs caused my stomach to not feel so bad. I was placed on medication for acid reflux, prior to the change, and have been free of the medication for over nine months.
Self-discipline takes work that no one else will do for you.
I had to do the work and will continue to do the work. My next step is taking out hash browns and only having fries on special occasions when I eat out at a sit-down restaurant. I will be doing work outs at least three times a week and going for trail walks once a week.
My weight goal is below 170, in a picture perfect world it will be below 150 but one step at a time.
There is a reason self-control is the hardest of all of the fruit to master.
What are some areas you are working on self-control?
