My weight has gone up and down through the years and I sometimes date things by “the first time” or “____ time I lost weight.” Every time, I swear I won’t gain it back “this time,” but I have – more often than I would like to admit.

An event often drives weight loss attempts. For many, these include weddings, class reunions, vacations, etc. I have used all of them to motivate me at one point or another. After I meet the goal and the event ends, I relax my plans and regain what I lost…until the next “save the date” card arrives.

Last year, I embarked on yet another weight loss journey because I had a beach wedding to attend. I did well for 6 months, then let things slide when responsibilities altered my schedule. Working out ended first and by the holidays, so had the diet. I had lost 20 pounds in the first five months and regained most of it by the end of the year.

Like most of those who want to lose weight and get healthy, I started anew in 2022…again. Over the years, I have counted calories, nutrients, eaten pre-packaged diet food, followed programs like Weight Watchers or Weighdown, and tried intermittent fasting. All of them worked until I stopped paying attention, and many will work again with some adjustments. Pre-packaged food is out because of the cost and my desire to prepare nutritious family meals we can all eat. Because I feed my grandchildren when I watch them, I need to have foods they want and enjoy which are not always diet-friendly.

A Jennifer Rothshield podcast introduced me to Barb Raveling and her Christian weight loss plan. I started by downloading her “I deserve a donut” app. This wonderful resource provides questions and scriptures to deal with emotional eating and stay within your boundaries. Look for it on your app store, it is very handy to have available. Because it is on my phone, I can easily access and answer when I am tempted to spiral into out-of-control eating. But, it only works if you use it. I especially love that they named the app after my most frequent excuse to blow my eating plan…because I “deserve” it.

What I deserve is to reap the results of my eating habits – and we all do. What I really WANT is a healthy body that will allow me to keep up with active grandchildren for years to come. That requires that I transform my thinking and habits.

I also purchased her books. In January, I started reading and journaling through Taste for Truth. This will be followed by Freedom from Emotional Eating. Already, I have better control and can provide family-friendly meals without the expense of special foods or diets for me…if I focus. Any healthy plan works, if you stick with it.

I am using this time to evaluate my “why” for losing weight beyond relying on events which, in my case, aren’t enough for sustainable change. My primary goal of overall physical health improvement includes weight loss. I need to develop a new relationship with food and boundaries that work. I’ll let you know how things go, but I’m feeling like this could work…beyond my next “event.”