Motivation to Be More Healthy

According to an article entitled "Hating on Fat People Makes Them Fatter," shaming overweight people is not the way to motivate them to loose weight.  

The article refers to another story that I missed that happened back in the fall. An anti-obesity campaign in Minnesota created controversy because of its shaming/blaming nature.  The creators of the ads defend them saying "Our intent in creating these ads was really just to show good parents having moments of realization that they needed to change their own behavior in order to send the right message to their kid." 

That "moment of realization" thing is what jumped out at me from the article.

How many times have you had one of those moments related to weight and health?

I call them "decision points."  The point at which we decide that we do have a choice.  That we can make conscious choices about how we live: what we eat and how much we exercise. Sometimes they are big things. For a pastor friend of mine, his decision point was when he had a heart attack.  He said, "it got my attention. It was a wake-up call." He changed his eating and exercise habits.

But, for some of us, there can be smaller moments. Not too terribly long ago, I was on the campus at Birmingham-Southern College. For those that don't know the campus, it is built on a hill. I was walking across campus with someone much younger and fitter than I am. We were late for a meeting and cutting across the hill. As I struggle with my bookbag and purse to climb a few steps, I thought of nightmares that I had had across the years.  Those ones where you are trying to run away from some terrible thing and your legs are not working. Your legs feel like they are filled with lead and you can hardly lift them. Right then, I thought to myself, "This is it. I'm not feeling this way again."

Motivation comes in many forms, but rarely does it come from shaming.

"I Choose to Be Fat"

That is the title of an article that I came across this morning.

I found it fascinating after reading Henry's sermon yesterday!  

In this article Laura Bogart discusses her choice to remain overweight.  

I think that Bogart is yet another illustration of how we do make conscious choices about our weight and health. 

Sometimes there are reasons below the surface that we might not really recognize unless we are willing to dive into our "stuff."

There are lots of reasons we all choose to be fat... 

A Passage to Live By

This is the title of Henry Prater's sermon that you can read here.

Henry is a minister in the North Alabama Conference and in this sermon, he shares his personal story of becoming healthier. I can't say enough about how I admire Henry for being painfully honest.  This is not the kind of thing that we all

The pictures here are from Henry's blog post. The one to the left  is from 2010 and the one below is from the end of Spring 2013. You can see his transformation. The sermon tells more about how this happened. What I wanted to share and highlight are a couple of things about Henry's story.

First, in a very honest fashion, Henry shares the pain of being told by others that he needed to become healthier. Part of his story is about the Board of Ministry coming along side and encouraging Henry to engage a healthier lifestyle. Although, it most certainly must have been painful, I appreciate that the Board was encouraging someone in the beginning of their ministry to "start out right."  Ministry is not easy work; and the stress of it can often encourage unhealthy habits. As we get older and more set in our ways, it is so much harder to change those habits.

But, the decision to do something was all Henry's.  Henry made a decision to change.  He decided that he wanted to do something different in his life with his health. For so many of us, we float along in life and wish that maybe things could be different.... maybe we could exercise a little more, or maybe if we would just eat a little less or more healthy, than our lives would be different. Wishing that things would be different, does not make it so. We all make choices each day about what we will eat or whether we will take a walk or go to the gym. The choices are ours to make. We can blame our churches for too many meetings at night or too many potlucks, but in the end, we are making a decision about participating in those things.
Henry made a choice to live healthier!

One last thing that I would highlight about Henry's story is that it was and is one of faith. Because of Henry's desire to serve God, he decided to take better care of himself.  Near the end of his sermon, Henry says, "We should honor God’s gift, His presence, His sacrifice by loving ourselves enough to take care of ourselves." 

Henry's example of faithfulness is inspiring. Henry's story inspired me as I struggle with my own choices and I hope that he inspires you as well!