Can You Relate? Have You Been Waiting for Weight Loss? Ep. 1 WfW Series

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Speaker 1: Life Audio. You're listening to episode one of a special series on the Compared to You podcast called Waiting for Weight Loss. We encourage to join our community free at waitingfoweight loss dot com, where you can engage in the content, have conversations around what you're hearing and learning each week, and meet other Christian women who are on a similar journey. Go to Waiting Forweight Loss dot com now today's episode. I was in about the third grade and I remember looking in the full length mirror and having a thought for the first time, and that thought was my legs. They're kind of too big. I should probably do something to change that. Can you relate? I was in about the fourth or fifth grade when a new fitness lined for girls came out called Get in Shape Girl. I was so excited to get that gym matt and tried doing all the exercises it pictured. My mom bought me pink tights and a blue and pink striped leotard to work out, and so I look a little bit like one of those workout girls from TV. But I remember when she got those pictures developed thinking I didn't look like them at all. Can you relate? I was on my first diet before middle school. I had a whole family of dieters, so it was easy to figure out how to do that. I read my mom's little Weight Watchers pamphlets, and sometimes we just cut out certain foods or we do our own types of diets. I got really good at dieting by the time I got to high school. I was trying to see how long I could go without eating. Most days, I could only make it until about four or five PM, and then after a busy school day, I'd eat whatever I could when I got home. But I often felt like I failed because I ate. When I told myself I wouldn't eat that I didn't have more control over my body. I hated eating. It just meant gaining weight. Can you relate? I had a few boyfriends in high school, but never really felt like I was good enough for a boy to love. This fear was reinforced at my Christian college, where I never dated much at all. When I finally got out of college and started to have some romantic relationships, I went a little further than a good Christian church girl was supposed to go because it felt like these guys really loved me. Finally, I felt like maybe my body was good enough, but it never lasted. It felt like it had to be there was something wrong with me. If I looked better, then I would have gotten married earlier, or at least had a boyfriend. Can you relate? Finally, at each thirty one, I got married. Oh he was a catch too, a marine fighter pilot. I was marrying Tom Cruise, essentially, But I remember one time we were sitting out by the pool and he was distracted or upset by something. I didn't know what, but I decided it must be that he was unhappy with my body. I confronted him about it. He acted like I was crazy, but his dismissal didn't matter. I was sure that was it. That was the reason he was upset and distracted. I wasn't enough for him. He wanted me to look better. Obsessed over it, I got so mad at television commercials or billboards that featured beautiful women. How was I supposed to keep a husband when there are so many more beautiful women everywhere to look at? Can you relate? All my life, I'd longed to be a mom. I was pregnant at thirty two and not on a diet for the first time in my life. Of course, I paid the price for that freedom, gaining fifty pounds. I worried about whether or not it would come off after he was born. Every time I went to the doctor's office, it felt a little bit like I was at a weight watcher's meeting, weighing in on those scales. Oh why couldn't I be one of those thin pregnant women, or one of those pregnant women whom you couldn't even tell she was pregnant from the back. Instead, I was the one everyone stopped, touched my belly and asked how many babies you got in there? Just one? I'd reply, then feel ashamed that I was too big. Otherwise they wouldn't ask that, can you relate? I hit forty and really thought maybe I'd escaped. Aging. Forty didn't seem so bad. I felt like me. I looked like me. Forty nine that was a different story. Hormonal havocs started changing all the things. I changed BRA's ezes three times, and let's not talk about my gene size. Nothing fit like it used to. I was doing all the same things I used to do, but my body wasn't responding in the same ways. Can you relate? If I think about what I've spent the majority of my life looking for or waiting for, the answer would be two words weight loss, not love, not toy, not peace, not rest, not a closer connection with God or people. I mean, I wanted those things too, But if I'm honest, priority number one has always been driven by that little box on my bathroom floor, the scale. It pronounced my value each morning and dictated what kind of day I was going to have. Good if it was the right number, of course, and bad if it was the wrong. But there came a time in my life when God interrupted my waiting. He asked me to stop looking down at the scale and start looking up at Him. I don't mean that to sound overly poetic or simple. It certainly wasn't. It was a process, and it took years and years. But I'm not who I used to be. If you're brand new here, my name is Heather Creekmore, and I'm wondering do we have anything in common. I write and speak about body image issues to women all over the world. But if you're listening to the show for the first time, you're here just in time because we started a brand new series called waiting for weight loss. If any part of my story resonated with you, certainly in the right place. Over the next six weeks, the season of Blent, we're going to be talking about this desire we hold to lose weight. One of the most effective things we can do as we think about our desires is to discover just how long we've held them. Maybe it started early for you, like it did for me. Or maybe it didn't start until high school or college, or until you met that one coach or one boyfriend or one boss. Maybe it's only been since you've had babies, or since you've entered the menopausal change. Years. Today, my challenge for you is to take a second and just reflect, when did your weight loss journey begin? What has it looked like for you. I meet women every week who have been trying to lose weight for decades. Others have just been struggling a few years. But no matter where you're at, I want you to hear you are not alone in this battle. You're not the only one who hasn't figured out the magic formula to unlock the combination to effortless health and beauty. You're not the only one who has tried all the influencers suggestions, bought all the things, and still not seen their promised results. You're not the only one who has spent thousands and thousands of dollars over decades buying the plans, the potions, the pills, only to ditch them after three weeks and then eventually have to throw them away when the bottles expire. Can we all just nod and agree the struggle is hard. This struggle takes something from us. It starts to eat away at our confidence. It affects our relationships, and it can be down right depressing. So today I just want to encourage you. You're not alone. Even if the enemy has convinced you that you're the only one with your story, I promise you you're not. I've coached hundreds of women around body image issues, and I always hear their stories first. And you know what I've learned. Although there are some ways we are different, there are a lot of ways in which we're all the same. In other words, what's underneath our desires is more similar than you may think. And what's under there isn't just a desire for better health or a better body. There's some deep stuff down there. If you're willing to put on your scuba gear and dive now. We won't go too deep here. We'll start with snorkeling, not oxygen tanks. But if you're ready to dive in, I've got five hundred podcast episodes available you can explore any time. But for everyone else, just spend some time today again thinking about your journey, Pray about it, write it out if you want to. Then ask the Lord if there's anything he wants you to notice about your journey, and then come back on Friday for more encouragement. As we close today, in every episode, I just want to pray for you. Will you pray with me to Heavenly Father. I thank you for my new friend who's listening to this podcast, and I pray that as she heard my story today, perhaps you'll stir in her the stories you want her to remember, the memories that will be helpful for her to see where she's been on her own weight loss journey. God, I pray most of all that you'll encourage her heart, that she'll know that she is seen, loved and accepted by you, and that she's not alone, not in any sense. Thank you, Father for your grace to us and help us as we spend the next six weeks studying what it is we're really looking for when we're waiting for weight loss, and looking at ways we can wait well and keep you at the center of our hope. It's in Jesus name, I pray Amen. Well, thanks so much for listening today. I hope you'll come back Friday as we explore another topic on our Waiting for Weight Loss journey. And hey, have you joined the community. We did have some technical issues yesterday. You all tried to sign up at the same time and it crashed the system. But it should be working now. Go to Waiting for weight Loss dot com and join us there. But compared to your podcast is proud to be part of the Life Audio podcast Network. For more great Christian podcasts, go to Life audio dot com.