Day 7

     Well, I have made it one week. It felt good to get up and exercise this morning. While it is still difficult to get up, once I am up and exercising I feel better. I always have more energy if I get up and work out. This morning I ate oatmeal with fruit for breakfast. For lunch, I met a fellow pastor and we decided to eat at Pizza Hut.
     The Pizza Hut in out town has a lunch buffet so I knew I would be tempted. However, I made up my mind before I left work that I was going to order something off the menu to avoid over eating. I ate the black forest ham and cheese sandwich, and instead of chips I asked to have a side salad. To wash it all down I had a Diet Pepsi. I have found that if I know what I am going to order before I get into the restaurant I tend to eat better. For example, today I knew that when I arrived at Pizza Hut I  was going to eat some form of sandwich. When we got there, the buffet was not as much of a temptation because I had already determined before I actually smelled it what I wanted to eat. Another thing that I noticed is that once I had made the decision to eat off the menu it was even easier to substitute the side salad for the chips.
     Because we had a revival meeting tonight dinner needed to be quick. For dinner, I had a ham and cheese sandwich, and a bowl of deer chili. with a cup of 2% milk. Overall I think that today was a good day, I was able to get my exercise and watch what I eat.
     After the revival meeting I went to the gym to weigh myself. The reason that I went to the gym to do this is 1)Their scale is big enough to tell my weight, and 2) I want to use the same scale each time so that I can keep an accurate record of my weight. I began working out and watching what I eat three weeks ago. One week ago I started this blog as a tool to help me stay motivated. So far it seems to be working.
     The first sign that I have lost some weight is because the seat belt on one of the machines at the gym now fits better. When I first used the machine I had to extend the seat belt all the way out to the end and still had to squeeze it on. However, at my last visit to the gym I had to tighten the belt so that there was 6 inches hanging off the end. The other reason I know that I have lost weight is because I stepped on the scale tonight. I have lost 9 pounds in three weeks. To date I am averaging three pounds a week.
     Since I have struggled with my weight for the last 20 years I have tried all types of things. I have dieted and starved myself and when ever I ended the diet I would gain the weight back. Which is why this time I feel God is wanting me to change my lifestyle, My weight is a result of a lack of self-control when it comes to food. Thank you God for your conviction and for helping this far.