Doing the Daniel Plan

It's gonna get real today, guys. Why? Because I'm talking honestly and candidly about weight.

Weight has never been a struggle for me. Around age 12, I was "chubby",  had my share of baby fat but shortly after I got braces, I lost a lot of weight. Since then, I've always been healthy-appearing. I've never had remarkable physical strength or cardiovascular strength when it comes to working out. I've always tired easily and been one to give up when it got too hard. Last year, my doctor started me on anxiety medication for my severe social anxiety. (I'm talking vomiting every morning before work.) As I took this medication, my weight rapidly increased. I noticed I felt hungry all the time. I started eating junk food multiple times a day. I gained around 40 pounds in just a few short months. It's been about 6 months since I quit taking the medication, yet the weight is hanging on. And I'm miserable.

I'm so distant from God. I never talk to Him, never take my concerns to Him. I don't go to church regularly, and rarely read my Bible.

I'm so distant from myself and others. I have a very negative self perception because I'm very unhappy with how I look and how I feel. This translates into me staying home almost every night, rarely going out, and rarely having a desire to go out.

I eat horribly and have no energy to exercise. These probably go hand in hand. But I rarely eat healthily and I have been walking this week, but before this week, I've been fairly sedentary.

All of these are points addressed in the Daniel Plan. 

So, starting today, I'm participating. If you wanna know more about it, check out the website by clicking here.

So what is the Daniel Plan? Well, I'm not a good paraphraser, so here's an excerpt from the official website for ya:

The Daniel Plan is a groundbreaking healthy lifestyle program founded on biblical principles and focused on The Essentials: Faith, Food, Fitness, Focus and Friends. The program offers an innovative approach to achieving a healthy lifestyle where people get better together by optimizing their health in each of these life areas. Each essential supports and influences the others, offering a practical step-by-step approach for anyone to follow. 

I bought the book about a year ago, read it, but put no action to it. Thought, Wow, those verses ARE in the Bible and they are totally relevant! Nobody ever teaches this in the church. Yet, nothing changed for me. 

I'd already been feeling pretty rotten about myself, but when I was in a friend's wedding and these pictures were posted on facebook, I knew I had to make a change. (thems some birthing hips right there. lolz, #foreveralone) 

Here are my (very depressing) scores in each essential as of Day 1:

Faith: 6

Food: 7

Fitness: 5

Focus: 5

Friends: 7

The survey is free and can by accessed here. The goal is to retake the survey on Day 40 and to see marginal improvements.

So, overall, my goal is to improve in all of the essentials. I'm not feeling Daniel Strong in any of them and I truly believe they are all equally important in the process, so I can't really focus on any one more than the other. 

My current weight is 177.

My goal is 145.

My BMI is 26 = overweight.

So. Today is officially day one in my Daniel Plan journey. I will post updates along the way. If you are interested in the plan, please check out the website and go along with me! Accountability is everything!

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.1 Corinthians 10:31