last six months. It takes too long to explain in a hallway or lobby
conversation so I've just tended to avoid discussing it with anyone. In the
early stages, it was easy-I just blamed a few lost pounds on summer heat and
sweating a lot. Now I've lost too much for me to blame it on that, at least
people aren't letting me do so anymore. So, let me just put it out there.
Yes I have lost weight. 60 lbs is how much I've lost. Since February. No,
I've not dieted. No, I don't know how much I'll lose. No, I've not changed
my thoughts about healthy eating-I still choose ribeyes and fried chicken
over celery sticks when given the choice. I still am ready and willing and
hopeful to die and go to heaven today, just like I will be tomorrow. I still
don't want to live here long...heaven is going to be FANTASTIC. Trying to be
healthy for the primary purpose of living longer for the Christian is like
trying to extend one's stay in the barn when the best room in the farmhouse
is already prepared for you. No thank you. Yes, I'm sure I'll still make fun
of the healthy eating craze in our country from the stage.
So what happened? For 2-3 years now, I've grown more and more tired of
excess in my life. Tendencies that have always been in my life have grown:
I've always been prone to throw things out that I don't use (most of the
time to regret it later.) I've always had a dislike of getting things I wont
use (Nicole sincerely claims that in our 12 years of marriage, she has only
given me three gifts I've not returned to the store. After a year in my
world, my latest apprentice told me he is never getting me any gifts other
than coffee and sports tickets. LOL.) My philosophy about the things I do
get is simple: I don't want a lot of things, but the things I do want/get, I
want them to be quality. (I'd rather have 2-3 really nice things than 5-6
mediocre things.) I'm not seeking to live like a pauper, I just don't really
like having a lot of things. As Nicole says, if our house burned down today
and we lost everything we own in the fire, as long as the family is safe, I
wouldn't be bothered one bit. She's right. Stuff is meaningless. Except for
my vehicle, tv, and recliner, if you tell me you like something I own, I'll
probably offer it to you. I've always been this way.
By the way, I don't expect anyone else to live this way. It's just the way
I'm wired.
Over the last 2-3 years, these things about me have just intensified. I got
rid of shoes and clothes I don't wear regularly. I got rid of toys I don't
use regularly. I had an office at the church I didn't need so now I have a
different office-a folding table, a filing cabinet, and 3 dry erase boards
for sermon planning and brainstorming. If you saw my office, you'd think it
was for the youth intern. I got my life down to just the things I use and
need. It was a matter of time before it spilled over into the eating arena.
This past February, I woke up one day and I was just tired of eating. That's
it. I was tired of having more food than I needed. About that time, I was
sitting in a desert on the Arabian Peninsula one evening eating dinner with
a Bedouin family and we were comparing our cultures. That's when we figured
out I eat several meals a day and they eat one. He was very surprised we eat
more than one meal a day and asked why it was necessary. That triggered what
was already happening in me to flow into the eating arena. So, since then,
except for a few occasions of festivity, like our annual staff play day on
which Greg Kingry and I had to have set a record for raw oysters eaten off
the half shell (he and I are willing to take on all challengers), I've not
eaten if I'm not hungry. I didn't change what I eat, I just changed how much
I eat. If I'm not hungry, I don't eat.
A bunch of weight fell off. So I decided to see what it would be like to run
as a non-fatty and while I hated it at first, I could tell how light I was
and I began to wonder if I could learn to like running if I just kept after
it. The first day I ran in June, I couldn't run a 1.3 mile course. Last
week, I ran a 10k course. I run about 25 miles/week now. And now I like
running. I can definitely tell a difference when I run based on what I've
eaten. So, along the way, I've changed some of the things I eat to be a
better runner--eating more running food, or at least less types of
non-running food. So, of course, the running has really caused more weight
loss.
So that's it. That's how it happened. Now you know why I haven't discussed
it in the hallways-how can I explain all of that? I should write a book: the
Arabian diet: eat whatever you want, but only eat if you are hungry.
Apparently, that is a method that works.
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