Angie's Aim

Results Are In…

I’m posting this a bit later than I had intended, but maybe the results will be worth the delay… So, on to the good stuff!  First of all, we have 2 winners for Mini Diet Makeovers!!! Since we had such a great response, there's a winner for the guys and a winner for the gals!

• Amanda from Arkansas !
• Eddie from Louisiana !

I know what you’re thinking… I can't believe Mike didn't win either!

Amanda and Eddie, look forward to receiving prize claim details via e-mail! Congrats to you both, my friends!

Extra! Extra!

Mandy has really gone the extra mile for the rest of us… She contacted Meri, the owner of Real Living Nutrition, about our contest, and Meri has decided to offer a special promotion just for the readers of Angie’s Aim! Yay for us! Meri is offering 10% off the Balance program to anyone interested. Read a message to us from Meri with all the scrumptious details here!

This offer is good through August 8^th, though you are free to begin the program at any time that’s convenient for you and take it at your own pace! For instance, I’ll be signing up now to take advantage of the discount, but I won’t begin until I am able to be on “real food” again because of my surgery.  Let the program work around your schedule!

And if $ is always the bottom line for you, I just want to reiterate what a great deal this is… Because this service is offered online, they are able to cut out a lot of the overhead costs. I have a friend in Austin who sees a dietician once a month at $100 bucks a pop. The Balance program, which is 9 e-coaching sessions with Mandy (plus a lot more!) would cost a minimum of $900 at that rate… But Real Living offers it for a one time fee of $185 (minus our special discount!). So if you’ve been wanting to be more intentional about your health, this may just be the one-on-one help you’ve been looking for.

I know I totally sound like an infomercial… but I assure you I am *not* a compensated endorser! :-) I just love to share a good thing when I find it!

To top everything off…

What was I thinking by having a giveaway without including a little something from our Stuart? Fortunately our favorite superhero, "Bookstore Man" chimed in anyway and volunteered to give away some recent Waterbrook Press titles to 5 lucky people! Here are the drawing results for the fab five:

• Kary from Texas
• Mary from Oklahoma/California!
• Timbra from Utah
• Sherrie from Alabama
• Jenny from Colorado 

As always, thanks to Stu for his generosity and for helping make this giveaway "devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit."  1 Corinthians 7:34  That's my aim!

Recently, I have been trying to decide whether or not to seek out a dietician for a little extra expertise when I'm able to be on real food again.  The lap-band might work to help control my portions, but it doesn't tell me what those portions should be of!  And yesterday, I received an answer to my dilemma via e-mail!  My friend Mandy has just started offering her services as a dietician online through Real Living Nutrition!  These e-counseling sessions are ideal for folks who are too busy to schedule one more weekly appointment (or for those of us who live way out in the sticks and would have to arrange a day trip to visit with someone like Mandy!).

So, to introduce all of you to this approach, I'm giving away a Free Mini Diet Makeover - one of the services Real Living Nutrition offers to men and women!  It's a customized assessment of your current diet (a $45 value), the equivalent of a one-on-one consultation with Mandy (and she knows her stuff!).  You'll get all kinds of groovy information, complete with recommended changes and a step-by-step plan on how to incorporate them.  You'll also receive a free Healthy Living e-cookbook and restaurant guide!  And, the hits just keep on comin'... Should you decide to continue with the more in-depth 8-week Balance program, you'll automatically receive a $45 discount for completing this first step!  How cool is that! 

Regardless of where you are in your pursuit of healthy living, the knowledge a dietician offers is a super supplement... whether you've just started a weight loss program, had weight loss surgery or are just plain SICK of dieting!  

Ultimately, making our bodies hospitable to the Holy Spirit is what adds the most beauty to our unseemly problem areas... but I believe God is pleased when we give attention toward making the most of life in this body... the frame He knew even before it was woven and spun in a womb.  May we all use what we got to glorify Him! 

The Fine Print:  All you have to do is leave a comment to this post and your name will be registered for the drawing, which will take place in one week on Wednesday, July 25, 2007.  You can knock yourself out with multiple comments, but your name will only be registered once. 

Recently I found out that a friend here at home would be traveling to Mumbai (Bombay), India for hip surgery. I have heard of people traveling to Mexico for surgeries, but I really hadn’t heard much of traveling to other countries, especially India. The man who is having the surgery isn’t able to be accompanied by his wife, which has brought an added amount of anxiety to the whole situation… traveling to a foreign country for major surgery… alone. So I thought I’d contact a missionary friend, Teresa (Cloer) Phillips, who lives in Mumbai to see if she or her husband could possibly stop by and visit. Here’s part of the e-mail I received in reply:

I am amazed that you included information about your friend! Thank you for the tip. Did you know that Craig and I are involved with that very business here in Mumbai (a reason for us to be here as well as a tool for His glory)? Please check out our website, which is amercasmedicalsolutions.com! Craig and I, along with two other Christian Americans are bringing Americans over to have surgeries done here in Mumbai because the hospitals are awesome and a fraction of the cost! That's what we do! One of our hospitals is where your friend will be! So, YES we will be happy to visit him!!! Could we also have his wife’s email, so we could encourage her as well? I will forward the info on to our partners and they will be ecstatic to encourage him! God amazes me… As I showed Craig the info, he kept saying "Praise God!" :)

So, apparently I’m behind on this current outsourcing trend. After all, India doesn’t immediately come to mind when I think of a healthcare mecca. But if you check out Teresa's site and look at the price comparisons, it’s easy to see why many are opting for this route. Plus Indian doctors (most who are trained in America ) are leaps and bounds ahead in the hip resurfacing technique (an incredible alternative to the hip replacement procedure), which remains in clinical trials in the U.S. Hip resurfacing has been performed in Europe for over 10 years now. This “medical tourism” option is great news for the uninsured who feel trapped in pain and limited by their options due to finances. Snaps to Craig and Teresa for seeing this need and helping bridge the gap for all those in need of medical help!

I know I'll be contacting them if I ever decide to get that boobjob.

For me, that’s not much right now… On the bright side, it makes me a real cheap date!

I’ll spare you the unpleasantries of surgery and healing that just aren’t blog-worthy... though there is an interesting enema incident that I may have to insert (forgive the pun) in the Chronicles of Martha! But I will say that they call the first few days post-op ‘hell week’ for a reason! And I reiterate that this was a last resort option for me that I am not comfortable recommending to others, only sharing my experience. It’s far too soon to know where this will lead me.

But I am very comfortable suggesting to all of my brothers and sisters who struggle with their weight to plead with God to open a new path for you. He gives hope in the areas we feel most hopeless. There’s no guarantee that our desired outcomes will come easily, quickly or at all… but He will sustain you and provide for you all the while, and that will be more than enough. He will never, ever leave you or forsake you…

Though I’m ending this blog series, my journey is really just beginning. This will be a difficult year for me. Learning how much food is sufficient for me isn’t easy, considering how much I’m used to consuming. I’ll be facing all the underlying issues that I’ve been avoiding in the past. I’ll be grieving the loss of my comfort and coping mechanism (though trading it in for the comfort of the Holy Spirit will be no comparison!). And all these things are relevant, whether or not you have a lap-band. It’s only a route to these things, in a similar way as fasting.

Fasting itself doesn’t solve anything or make things better… It’s merely abstaining from food for a time. It just creates a space for things to be brought to the surface, where you can be clear-minded enough to gain perspective… but without surrendering those things to God, the best benefit will be de-tox and human wisdom. That's why fasting is always accompanied by prayer. So, lap band isn't the answer... it's only one route of many God can use when accompanied by a willing heart.

Whatever route you choose to help get to that place of surrender, drench it in prayer and know that you aren’t alone in this. It’s about much more than losing weight and goes even deeper than pursuing good health… it’s about letting go of the thing you hold on to the tightest. And that’s a process rather than a one-time occurrence. And get this… successfully losing weight doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve allowed God to accomplish the deeper things in you that your heart needs.  How's that for re-defining success!

I’m sure I’ll share things in the future that God is showing me through this painstaking process. And even though I believe I will always deal with my desires and urges to some extent… I look forward to the day when food has a less prominent place in my daily life. And I’m ready to fight for that.

Lyrics to My Declaration by Tom Baxter

Gonna be someone, gonna give something

I'm taking it on, I'm taking it on

It's gonna be my life, so I'm gonna live each day and each night

Taking it on, I'm taking it on

'Cause I can't keep hiding, I can't keep hiding, I can't keep running away.

So I'm gonna be stronger, I'm gonna be better made

I'm gonna give everything, Just to bring me back again.

I'm gonna be a braver soul than this

I'm gonna jump at all those many chances that I've missed

I'm gonna live my life beyond these fears and forms of cowardice that keep leading me on.

I'm gonna shine out like a beacon in the night

I'm gonna wrap my fingers round the stars tonight

'Cause I'm taking it on, yes I'm taking it on...

I can't keep hiding, I can't keep hiding, I can't keep running away.

So I'm gonna be stronger, I'm gonna be better made

I'm gonna give everything, Just to bring me back again.

So I'm gonna be stronger, I'm gonna be understood and I'm gonna give everything

Just to bring me back again!

After getting the skinny on why I’m not… I hope everyone is at least on board with the notion that if you were to ask every overweight person you know, “Why are you fat?” (which I don’t recommend…) the answers would go a little deeper than, “Well, the calories I’ve taken in have exceeded the calories I’ve expended.” Too many things play a part in all of our weighty issues. In fact, anything that registers on the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale could be a trigger to abuse food in some way. And misusing food takes on more forms than overeating… Eating disorders like anorexia or bulimia are prime examples that a person’s interaction with food is only a symptom of what lies beneath.

I suppose the best news is – it’s no wonder one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to how to go about losing weight! Some approaches will fit a person better than others. And God is ever-present in each journey, helping us take advantage of countless opportunities to surrender, deny ourselves, trust Him, grow in self-control and flourish by becoming a better version of ourselves.

Drumroll please…

So, after taking another look in the mirror and asking God to help me find a way out of this painful pattern I’ve created, I’ve come to a decision that I previously opposed – tackling obesity by having weight loss surgery (gasp!). Thursday morning I’m having what is called a lap-band procedure.

This was a huge spiritual dilemma for me. Since I know that the core issues of my weight problem are much deeper than the physical, I have viewed options like gastric bypass and lap-band as copouts, ways to bypass the work of God that comes from the old-fashioned way of finding freedom. Unfortunately this is a sad-but-true scenario for some who think weight loss surgery is the easy way out. But what about those of us who aren’t trying to cheat God but haven’t had success with our long line of attempts to shed the pounds? I wondered if this could be a viable option to consider.

Oddly enough what has opened my mind to this has been the previous year of exploring the spiritual disciplines and realizing how very creative God is in the ways he leads us. Paths I have been formerly leery of have become more familiar and even inviting. I realized that my particular thread of reasoning - that a person just shouldn’t need anything but God - leads to some pretty scary places… like those folks who have shamed Christians who suffer from depression for taking medication or even those who reject life-saving medical help altogether. Can God use Prozac? Physicians? I’ve come to the conclusion that submitting to this particular tool of gastric banding is really no different than how I’ve submitted to other methods in the past (see grueling list in last post).

Even after conceding that this could be a legit part of God’s process, my pride was still standing in the way. It’s hard to admit that I can’t do this on my own & that I need help. No, really. I’m as bull-headed a Taurus as they come! Deciding to blog about this whole deal is actually part of sacrificing my stubborn pride to God.

So, what’s this band business?

Since some I’ve shared with had never heard of the lap-band procedure, here’s Angie’s abridged version. A surgeon will laparoscopically place a wee innertube on the upper portion of the stomach, creating a new and smaller pouch. The innertube thingy can be adjusted tighter or looser for each person. Nothing inside me will be cut, stapled or removed (as in gastric bypass) and the procedure is completely reversible, leaving the stomach the same as pre-surgery. By having a baby stomach, I will have to learn to eat all over again and most importantly… learn when to stop eating.

Personally, I still cannot wrap my mind around permanently altering the stomach. It’s just not a risk I’m willing to take. But I have no judgments about those who go that route. In fact, I sing their praises for being braver than me! But the fact is, there are risks associated with any surgical measure, so I’ve found the one that I’m willing to take in order to reverse my current trend of upward immobility.

Dissecting the premise of fasting, a self-imposed restriction intended to heighten awareness that man doesn’t live on bread alone, I believe this surgical restriction can actually create a path for the Spirit to stir me in a new way. The band on my stomach will address my current state of obesity, but the most difficult work is kept for my God – helping me continually deal with all the desires that got me to this point in the first place.

I consider this to be in the last resort category. And I’m there. It’s like I’ve had an intervention for myself, and now I’m checking into fat rehab! The only difference with the other unhealthy ways people choose to soothe their pain (like drugs or alcohol) is that no one can totally abstain from food since it’s necessary for survival. Although I’ve rarely made an attempt to lose weight without asking God to guide it, most of my attempts have amounted to white-knuckling, which never lasts long.

I invite you to ask questions or share any concerns or skepticism you might have about this surgery... It’s taken me 37 years to get to this decision, so I expect criticism from people and even welcome it... It will either help cement that this is a good move for me or perhaps bring to mind something I haven't considered...

My Before

At my present weight:

I am denied health insurance.

I am on the cusp of major obesity-related health problems.

I opt out of many opportunities to interact with people socially, like going out to eat or going to concerts or events - worrying about whether I will fit comfortably in the seats at restaurants, coliseums, etc. One embarrassing incident is all it takes to vow to avoid those scenarios at all cost.

I won’t embrace travel opportunities because of my size - again, for not comfortably fitting in airplane seats or not being able to handle much walking without causing my ankles to swell.

I’ve even allowed a few job opportunities to fall by the wayside, feeling inadequate because of my weight struggles.

I am consumed with dealing with my weight to the extent that I am neglecting the greater call I know God has placed on my life.

This is no way to live.

So, if you ever wondered what kind of person would resort to such a drastic measure to help lose weight…That would be me.

To be certain, this post isn’t a lap-band endorsement. It is NOT for all. But I pray that God can use it for me to be able to reclaim my health and quality of life. I’d sure love it if you’d include me in your prayers too - especially for a surgery free of complications and for my willingness to surrender to a new way of eating and living.