I BELIEVE IN ME! DO YOU BELIEVE IN ME?

As I sit here enjoying my glass of diet Coke, I am remembering all of the diets that I have tried in the past. All of them had the same outcome and they all brought me to this same destination. The same 300 lb. body mass, the same health problems. Not the first one of all of those diet programs and diet fads brought me to a complete and final place where I was able to maintain the perfect weight for me! But I realize now that it is all a mind thing! I must believe in me and I need others to believe in me also! I need to believe that I can achieve that goal weight and maintain it! I need my husband to believe in me and support my efforts to achieve my goals.
I need my husband and family to have the same enthusiasm that I have about a better healthy lifestyle for our family! I need to wake up every morning and hear this young man below in the video say, “I believe in me! Do you believe in me?” Talk about inspiration!! Can I get an AMEN? I believe this young man could be the next President of the United States of America in 2016! I believe in you Dalton! Do you believe in me?

This young man has really got it right! Even the Lord said in the scriptures:
Mark 9:23 “Jesus said unto him, If thou canst BELIEVE, all things are possible to him that BELIEVETH.”

Mark 11:23 “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall BELIEVE that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.”

Mark 11:24 “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, BELIEVE that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”

When you start anything whether it’s a diet , an education , a new career, a new business or any other endeavor, you must BELIEVE that it is possible! I BELIEVE! And I BELIEVE in YOU!
Well, I hope you watch this video….and have a blessed Thanksgiving weekend!

Let's Get Started!

Well, it is time to get started and I hope you are planning to get started right! I certainly am! If you are like me, and you have existing medical conditions or you are not physically active; you should see your doctor before you begin to exercise. In fact, before you start any weight loss program you actually should see your physician first. Your doctor may want to run a few tests on you before you take on this long term commitment. He may want to check your blood pressure, your blood cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood sugar levels. If you have heart problems, like me, or are at high risk for heart problems, or you have had joint problems (as in knee injuries, arthritis or chronic pain) , your doctor may want you to have some additional testing before you begin a short or long-term diet and an exercise program. Personally, I am happy that my doctor, takes such great concern in my well being. I am waiting on my appointment date for the 16 th of December to see Dr. A. Soundappan. He has been our family physician for ten years. If you don’t have a regular physician, I recommend that you take the time to find one that you can trust and feel comfortable with.

The First Step: Change your way of thinking
Instead of getting bogged down in all of those weight loss fads, programs and advertisements you find in your daily email or “as seen on Oprah,” which are rarely successful over the long term (and Oprah is a pretty good example of a yo-yo dieter), change your focus to improving your health instead! Focus on other health aspects you can improve, such as raising your fitness level, reducing your blood pressure, reducing your blood sugar especially if you have diabetes. I have what they call type II diabetes. You may decide on putting your focus on reducing your cholesterol and triglyceride levels like my husband, Kirby is doing. Becoming more active and improving your eating habits are the two major ways to improve your health and your lifestyle.
It is sad to say, guys, but heredity plays a big role in your body type and your weight among other things. Most of which we have no control over. So don’t fall into that self defeating pit that we all have stumbled into at times, comparing yourself to others, like that jock on the football team or some celebrities who have their beautiful bodies plastered all over the tabloids. Real healthy bodies come in all shapes and sizes! We are all a vital part in God’s creation and as we all know, “God don’t make NO junk!”


Learn to celebrate your body for what it is and the fitness and health you can achieve. Use measures other than weight or clothing size to track your progress in reaching your health goals. Realize that our culture overemphasizes extreme thinness, which makes people feel bad when they cannot achieve such an unrealistic body size. That is why we hear so much about eating disorders today! An eating disorder is the inherent presence of a low self esteem. Eating Disorders are about seeking approval and acceptance from everyone through negative attention and friends, and that is NOT healthy! We are talking about getting healthy through a healthy diet and lifestyle, not through binge eating, bulimia, anorexia or compulsive eating habits!

So get started right! Get to your doctor!

Your sis-n-Christ Jesus, Colene.

Why Is Losing Weight So Hard?

OK, so this is not my first time of facing this problem! I have had to lose a few pounds a couple of times in my life. This has also been a lifetime problem for my wife, Colene! For her, it has been a greater struggle simply because she is a woman and our culture seems to place more pressure on women to have and maintain those curves than it puts on us guys! Colene and I both thought that after we became grandparents, we could just sort of relax and enjoy life! We are happy with our life and one another. We still have a strong attraction to one another no matter how much weight we have gained over the years! God has been good to us! He has kept us strong even in the face of several health problems and we have been able to continue in our God called service to His kingdom.

When we were in our twenty's we were excited to look down the road into our future. We could only think of retirement, with the mortgage being paid, getting our children a quality education and grand babies! We wanted to be settled at this point of our lives. We never considered the health problems that being over weight brings; especially the effects that it has on you as you enter mid-life. Hey, when we were young we thought we were unstoppable! We never even considered what we were doing to our bodies by not taking care of ourselves! But at the age of 40 we began to feel the effects of the abuse we gave our bodies over the years, especially my wife. Colene says that when she reached 40 she began to fall apart!

In 1998, she had her first heart attack. In 2000, she began to have Syn vex shots in her knees to replace damaged and worn cartilage in her joints. In 2001, she was diagnosed with cancer and went through therapy and surgery. The medication that Colene had to take caused her to become diabetic. Since then, Colene has broken her back and then became bedridden. Her pain was intolerable! Finally the doctors scheduled her for back surgery but the Lord healed her from that also! Miraculously, the Lord healed her and raised her up from a wheel chair to walk again with no surgery and (praise God) no pain!

God has given Colene an awesome testimony; and that testimony maybe a topic for Colene to add to this blog one day soon! But now she and I both have decided to walk a different path. We want to take care of the body, our temple of the Holy Spirit. Why we didn't have this revelation earlier in our lives I do not know. But it's a revelation that we see as being one of great importance not only to the both of us, but to our children, grand children and the rest of the world also!

Like I said, this is not the first time we have been on a diet or tried to put ourselves on a weight-loss program and an exercise regimen, but it will be the first time we have decide to make it a lifestyle for the rest of our lives. So we will be searching out what works and what doesn't work and we will be recording it here in this blog. We'd like to hear from you! Tell us what has worked for you! Send us your before and after pictures so that we may post them here to help others that have gone through the same diet experiences. We will learn how to commit to a daily walk toward good health. Together maybe we can learn why losing weight is so hard, and what we can do to help see each other through to the "Land of Health and Wellness."

Over the years Colene and I have learned that a weight-loss diet may help you lose a few pounds quickly, but following a restrictive diet long-term is unrealistic and requires extraordinary commitment. Once you stop dieting and exercising, the weight just comes back. Some people fall into an unhealthy cycle of losing and gaining weight, which is harder on the body than just being overweight. Colene has felt the effects of what many call Yo-yo dieting!

You can have all the right tools and the expensive toys to get the job done but without a change in behavior you will FAIL and there you are on that big YO-YO again! These approaches fail because they IGNORE that big decision maker between your ears, and that is your mind! Your mind determines whether you'll change your fat-building behaviors or fall right back into them! The reason why the diet books and weight loss programs don't work is because most of them do not adequately address the real reason that most people are overweight. Most of the weight loss plans attack what you put in your mouth and what you do with your muscles. They give you the tools to solve the problem but fail to address the underlying source of your problem. The truth is that it's not your mouth or your muscles that's preventing you from losing weight. It's your brain! It's your attitude! It's that "stinking thinking" that makes losing weight so hard!"
You can throw all the money you have at weight loss, but you will not have permanent weight loss unless you change your stinking thinking and renew your mind!

It may be difficult to overcome the roadblocks to weight loss: lack of time for exercise, family and work commitments, easy access to less-healthy foods, and illness or injury.
Research studies show that people who are most successful at improving their health have made the broader and more significant shift to a healthier lifestyle rather than targeting just weight loss alone. A lifestyle of healthy eating, less stress and regular physical activity will improve your health and quality of life, no matter what you weigh. That is what Colene and I are hoping to achieve. We've made up our minds...we chose life!

We believe that Jesus gave His life for us as an example to have a quality life here in the natural as well as a quality life in eternity! We have placed our faith in Him and the example He set before us as He lived in this earth. Amen! We hope and pray that there will be those of you that will enjoy this journey we are about to take to Health and Wellness and we hope you will join along with us on the trip. The journey is never so hard if you are traveling with good friends!



God Bless!

Rev. Kirby