Be blessed in health, healing, and wholeness,
 
Kimberly Taylor
Author of the ‘Take Back Your Temple’ ebook
http://www.takebackyourtemple.com
 
P.S. If you don’t know God personally or need to re-dedicate yourself to walking with God daily in 2012, you can learn more here:
 
http://www.everystudent.com/features/gettingconnected.html
 
Also, please forward this message via email, share it on Facebook, tweet it, or give it away via every other social networks to which you belong. God’s people need to know how The-Lord-Will-Provide in 2012!
 
Happy New Year!

I often receive emails for prayer to help others lose weight. But the other day, I received a unique request:

“Could I ask how do I pray an extremely powerful prayer with 100% unwavering faith to ask the “I AM” to have me lose 40 kgs of weight healthy, supernaturally and miraculously?”

I wasn’t sure if I understood the request correctly, so I wrote back:

“It sounds like you are looking for a prayer that will help you lose weight without you having to do or change anything with your eating or exercise. Is that correct?”

“Yes!” He answered.

Here was my response in part and I hope it helps you too today:

I applaud you for wanting to achieve a healthy weight. I know how to pray to God for wisdom concerning weight loss, but I do not know a prayer that will enable you to lose weight without you having to do anything. According to scripture, faith without works is dead (see James 2:14-18).

Even with the great miracles in the bible, action was required. For example, when God parted the Red Sea for the Israelites to cross, he still instructed Moses to raise his staff. Moses had to do something – act upon his faith.

However, I can give you a prayer so that you can ask God for wisdom on the right daily actions to take to lose weight. Here is that prayer:

Gracious heavenly Father, you have said in your word that if anyone lacks wisdom, all they need to do is ask and you will give them wisdom liberally and without reproach (James 1:5). I come to you in the name of Jesus asking for wisdom to take care of myself so that I may glorify you in my body and my spirit (1 Corinthians 6:20). Give me the desire to choose foods that bring energy and vitality to my body and clarity to my mind. Give me enthusiasm to exercise so that I may strengthen my body and have the energy to do the things I need to do. Most of all, Lord, give me wisdom to put you first in my life because You have said that if I seek first your kingdom and all its righteousness, my needs will be taken care of. Thank you, Father, for giving me the gift of abundant wisdom today. Amen.

Now that you are asking God for wisdom, consider the wisdom that he has already given you. That is a source of great wealth that can enrich your life immediately. Refusing to use it is like leaving money on the table.

Here is a sobering scripture to ponder: James 4:17 – “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”

What good things do you already know to do that will help your body stay healthy? According to this scripture, you have a responsibility to do them. write down all the wisdom that you already have about health. Then ask God to help you put it into action – starting today.

Finally, I have outlined some daily actions in my free articles ‘Small Steps to Weight loss tips’.

My prayer for you today is that you put your faith into action every day. According to scripture, you will inherit the promises of God when you put faith and patience to work.

Be blessed in health, healing, and wholeness,

Kimberly Taylor
Author of the ‘Take Back Your Temple’ ebook

P.S. If you want to know more about God’s promises and get more prayers to help you regarding weight loss, then check out my Take Back Your Temple eBook at http://www.takebackyourtemple.com/book.

You’ll also get more wisdom about how you can lose weight and keep it off. It’s all here:  http://www.takebackyourtemple.com/book.

This last tip is a key ingredient for successful weight loss but unfortunately it is the one thing that many people are not willing to give – time.

It takes time to create good habits and practice them long enough for your body to show the results. Time is going to pass anyway. Why not pass the time taking steps toward your dream? And the only time you have to give the process is today.

Focus on one day at a time, one step at a time. As Jesus advised:

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble (Matthew 6:34)

This process is not about living a diet – it’s about living your life. Do the best you can with what you already know now and you will get results.

The complete daily weight loss routine is below. A motivational speaker once said that “The success of your dreams lies in your daily routine.”

You can download the Small Steps to Weight Loss Daily Checklist below to make this easier. Just right-click on the link below and save it to your computer. The checklist is in Adobe PDF form. I’d recommend you print out the checklist and post it on your refrigerator and/or at work.

You can simply check off each step as you take it. It will help to keep you accountable and you can see whether you are following through more easily.

Small Steps to Weight Loss Daily Checklist

I believe in you. Now give yourself time to get to the finish line. And keep stepping!

Morning Routine

• Drink 1 glass (16 oz) of water
• Take your multivitamin and Omega 3 supplement
• Do 10 minutes of stretching before shower
• Eat breakfast with protein
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating

Mid-Morning Routine

• Drink 1 cup of green tea with lemon
• Eat a high fiber fruit or protein snack
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating
• Do 10 minutes of desk, commuter, or other strength-building exercise

Midday Routine

• Drink 1 glass (16 oz) of water
• Eat a balanced lunch (1 serving of protein, starch, and vegetables each)
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating
• Do 10 minutes of HIIT exercise

Afternoon Routine

• Drink 1 cup of green tea with lemon
• Eat a high fiber fruit or protein snack
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating

Evening Routine

• Drink 1 glass (16 oz) of water
• Eat a veggie-rich dinner (1 serving of protein, 3 servings of vegetables)
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating
• Do 10 minutes of HIIT exercise

Bedtime Routine

• Place 1 glass (16 oz) of water and your vitamins bedside for morning
• Get 7-8 hours of sleep each night

When you are sleep deprived, your body makes less of the hormone Leptin, which is the hormone that tells you to stop eating. So if you are routinely overeating, it could be in response to decrease in Leptin levels as a result of lack of sleep.

If you are having problems getting adequate sleep, check out these healthy sleep tips from the National Sleep Foundation.

In addition to hurting your weight loss efforts, you will not be able to function and enjoy life to its fullest if you are not getting adequate sleep and rest. Each day is precious; make sure that you recharge those batteries every day so that you stay alert and ready to handle challenges with grace and creativity.

Now, we’ll complete our weight loss routine by adding the steps to your bedtime routine, which helps you start tomorrow off right:

Morning Routine

• Drink 1 glass (16 oz) of water
• Take your multivitamin and Omega 3 supplement
• Do 10 minutes of stretching before shower
• Eat breakfast with protein
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating

Mid-Morning Routine

• Drink 1 cup of green tea with lemon
• Eat a high fiber fruit or protein snack
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating
• Do 10 minutes of desk, commuter, or other strength-building exercise

Midday Routine

• Drink 1 glass (16 oz) of water
• Eat a balanced lunch (1 serving of protein, starch, and vegetables each)
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating
• Do 10 minutes of HIIT exercise

Afternoon Routine

• Drink 1 cup of green tea with lemon
• Eat a high fiber fruit or protein snack
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating

Evening Routine

• Drink 1 glass (16 oz) of water
• Eat a veggie-rich dinner (1 serving of protein, 3 servings of vegetables)
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating
• Do 10 minutes of HIIT exercise

Bedtime Routine

• Place 1 glass (16 oz) of water and your vitamins bedside for morning
• Get 7-8 hours of sleep each night

Today’s tip is designed to help you avoid what I call ‘Bottomless Food Pits’. Have you ever had the experience of sitting down to watch T.V. with a bag of buttered popcorn or potato chips in hand, and then found yourself reaching into an empty bag a short while later? If so, then you fell into a bottomless food pit.

Below are some examples and how to deal with them:

Jumbo sized tubs/bags of popcorn: Even though you say you are going to share these with everyone else at the movies, somehow it winds up parked in your lap. Instead, buy everyone their own box and make sure yours is the smallest size available. Also, order the regular buttered popcorn, not the extra buttered kind. You will find that the regular style is buttery enough by itself.

Super-sized fast food meals: If you must go to a fast food restaurant, pass up the super size meals. Get the regular or junior sizes. You will still get the flavor without the extra calories. Remember the saying, “Super size your meal, super size yourself.”

Whole takeout pizzas: Avoid parking the open box in front of you and eating directly from it. Instead, take out a piece and put it on a plate, close the box and put the box in the kitchen. Fix a salad or steamed vegetables to go with your piece of pizza. You will satisfy your hunger pangs equally as well with fewer calories.

Bags/boxes of snack foods (potato chips, crackers, nuts, etc): Avoid eating directly from a large open bag, can, tub, or box. Instead, check the serving size on the back and get that amount. Put your serving on a plate, and then put the bag (can, tub, or box) back in the cabinet.

Eat the designated amount and check yourself. Are you still hungry? If so, then you probably should make yourself a healthy mini-meal to better satisfy your hunger.

Leftovers: After dinner is served, put leftovers away immediately. Otherwise the sight of the food might prompt you to eat when you aren’t hungry.

Small bites add up: even one bite of a casserole can give you 50 calories. Multiply that by 6 bites and you can see how that amount can equal the calories in an entire meal.

So patrol those portions, especially when it comes to snack foods, and watch those pounds come off!

Let’s continue our established routines today:

Morning Routine

• Drink 1 glass (16 oz) of water
• Take your multivitamin and Omega 3 supplement
• Do 10 minutes of stretching before shower
• Eat breakfast with protein
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating

Mid-Morning Routine

• Drink 1 cup of green tea with lemon
• Eat a high fiber fruit or protein snack
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating
• Do 10 minutes of desk, commuter, or other strength-building exercise

Midday Routine

• Drink 1 glass (16 oz) of water
• Eat a balanced lunch (1 serving of protein, starch, and vegetables each)
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating
• Do 10 minutes of HIIT exercise

Afternoon Routine

• Drink 1 cup of green tea with lemon
• Eat a high fiber fruit or protein snack
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating

Evening Routine

• Drink 1 glass (16 oz) of water
• Eat a veggie-rich dinner (1 serving of protein, 3 servings of vegetables)
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating
• Do 10 minutes of HIIT exercise

If your regular meals are healthy, then you build health every day. If your regular meals are not healthy, then you can destroy health every day. Sobering, isn’t it?

Today’s assignment is to write down the meals that you and your family eat most often. You don’t have to change these meals, but start thinking about how you can modify them to make them healthier. For example, if you tend to eat fried meats then perhaps you can try oven-frying instead.

If you already have family recipes that you love, you could make some slight changes to make them healthier also. Try these substitutions:

Here are some great recipe links to make healthier meals also:

Healthy Weight Recipes

You will probably find a new favorite or see how you can modify an old one to make it better.

Let’s continue our established routines today:

Morning Routine

• Drink 1 glass (16 oz) of water
• Take your multivitamin and Omega 3 supplement
• Do 10 minutes of stretching before shower
• Eat breakfast with protein
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating

Mid-Morning Routine

• Drink 1 cup of green tea with lemon
• Eat a high fiber fruit or protein snack
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating
• Do 10 minutes of desk, commuter, or other strength-building exercise

Midday Routine

• Drink 1 glass (16 oz) of water
• Eat a balanced lunch (1 serving of protein, starch, and vegetables each)
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating
• Do 10 minutes of HIIT exercise

Afternoon Routine

• Drink 1 cup of green tea with lemon
• Eat a high fiber fruit or protein snack
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating

Evening Routine

• Drink 1 glass (16 oz) of water
• Eat a veggie-rich dinner (1 serving of protein, 3 servings of vegetables)
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating
• Do 10 minutes of HIIT exercise

And yet, according to research, our metabolism can decrease up to 20-30% in the twilight hours before bed! So you don’t want to eat a large number of calories late in the day because those calories are more apt to be stored versus those that are eaten earlier in the day.

One great way to feel satisfied with your dinner but without a large number of calories is to make it veggie-rich. I recommend that you have a serving of protein and 3 servings of vegetables for dinner. Now, that may sound like a lot of vegetables but a serving of cooked vegetables is only 1/2 cup. So 3 servings is just 1 1/2 cups.

A sneaky way to get in more vegetables is to think chunky at dinner. Try having chunky vegetable soup before your meal. You can fill up on less calories, plus the large vegetable pieces will make you feel fuller longer than if you had a pureed soup.

Another trick is to chop up your vegetables (like carrots, onions, peppers, zucchini, etc) into coarse pieces rather than slicing or shredding them. Since it takes more effort to chew the bigger pieces, you’ll ultimately eat less during the meal.

Here are some other tricks I practice regularly:

• Bulk up my sandwiches by added plenty of lettuce, tomato, and onion. This helps me to fill up with fewer calories.
• Add ½ cup cooked vegetables to tomato soup or broth-based soup
• Add extra vegetables like tomatoes, onions, and peppers to spaghetti sauce and chili
• Buy the chunky versions of spaghetti sauce (I love the chunky mushroom style)

Now, I am going to add your evening routine, which is almost a mirror of your midday routine except notice that your dinner is veggie-rich.

Morning Routine

• Drink 1 glass (16 oz) of water
• Take your multivitamin and Omega 3 supplement
• Do 10 minutes of stretching before shower
• Eat breakfast with protein
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating

Mid-Morning Routine

• Drink 1 cup of green tea with lemon
• Eat a high fiber fruit or protein snack
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating
• Do 10 minutes of desk, commuter, or other strength-building exercise

Midday Routine

• Drink 1 glass (16 oz) of water
• Eat a balanced lunch (1 serving of protein, starch, and vegetables each)
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating
• Do 10 minutes of HIIT exercise

Afternoon Routine

• Drink 1 cup of green tea with lemon
• Eat a high fiber fruit or protein snack
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating

Evening Routine

• Drink 1 glass (16 oz) of water
• Eat a veggie-rich dinner (1 serving of protein, 3 servings of vegetables)
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating
• Do 10 minutes of HIIT exercise

To help reinforce what a normal portion size is so you can patrol those portions, let’s play a game. I discovered this one on the Prevention.com website. Today’s recommendation is simply to play the game.

Click the picture below to begin:

Studies show that we tend to eat 92% of what is on the plate. The question we subconsciously ask ourselves to determine whether to stop eating is, “Have I finished my food?”

So forget about serving yourself a large portion and expecting yourself to exercise self-control not to finish it. The odds are stacked against you. So again – exercise wisdom, fix yourself a normal portion from the start, and your waistline will start to normalize accordingly.

Continue practicing your routines:

Morning Routine

• Drink 1 glass (16 oz) of water
• Take your multivitamin and Omega 3 supplement
• Do 10 minutes of stretching before shower
• Eat breakfast with protein
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating

Mid-Morning Routine

• Drink 1 cup of green tea with lemon
• Eat a high fiber fruit or protein snack
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating
• Do 10 minutes of desk, commuter, or other strength-building exercise

Midday Routine

• Drink 1 glass (16 oz) of water
• Eat a balanced lunch (1 serving of protein, starch, and vegetables each)
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating
• Do 10 minutes of HIIT exercise

Afternoon Routine

• Drink 1 cup of green tea with lemon
• Eat a high fiber fruit or protein snack
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating

This really works. According to Richard Wiseman in the book 59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot, a study at Iowa State University found that just placing a mirror in the location where you must make food choices results in a 32% reduction in food intake.

The researchers speculated that seeing your own reflection makes you more aware of your body and the choices you are making, so you make healthier choices.

How can you put this tip into practice? If you have a favorite place where you tend to overeat, then place a mirror so you can see yourself eating. As a former binge eater myself, I know that you tend to “zone out” during the activity. So you want to stay aware of what you are doing so that you can exercise self-control more easily.

If you eat at your desk, then place a mirror at that location as well.

Finally, place a mirror on the refrigerator to make yourself more conscious of the food choices you are making. I got a mirror for my refrigerator at Target for about $5:

Here’s a note of caution – don’t use the mirrors as an occasion to criticize your appearance. God created your body so please do not insult what God has created. It is just a trick of the enemy to try to drag you down to his level.

Remind yourself that you are loved and accepted by God and He is helping you learn to take care of His temple in a way that honors Him!

Here’s a scripture to recite when negative, critical thinking about your body tries to get you down:

Psalm 139:14
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.

Now, we are going to add your new Afternoon routine, which is almost a mirror of your mid-morning routine.

Morning Routine

• Drink 1 glass (16 oz) of water
• Take your multivitamin and Omega 3 supplement
• Do 10 minutes of stretching before shower
• Eat breakfast with protein
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating

Mid-Morning Routine

• Drink 1 cup of green tea with lemon
• Eat a high fiber fruit or protein snack
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating
• Do 10 minutes of desk, commuter, or other strength-building exercise

Midday Routine

• Drink 1 glass (16 oz) of water
• Eat a balanced lunch (1 serving of protein, starch, and vegetables each)
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating
• Do 10 minutes of HIIT exercise

Afternoon Routine

• Drink 1 cup of green tea with lemon
• Eat a high fiber fruit or protein snack
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating

I promised myself I would NEVER give up – no matter how long it took to achieve my goal.

If I messed up, I would simply learn from the experience and try again. My attitude would be like a baby learning to walk.

What if, when learning to walk, a baby decided not to try anymore after falling the first time?  Or even the 100th time? Instead, the baby knows within herself that she is destined to walk and so she keeps trying – secure in the knowledge that someday she is going to walk!

Do you have confidence that you are destined to achieve your ideal weight? Or do you have doubts?

The doubt needs to go because as long as you have doubt, you have an “out”. You will subconsciously sabotage your success and quit. When you quit, you are 100% guaranteed that you will never get what you want.

At least if you stay committed, you have a chance. Now all you have to give yourself is time to get there.

If you really believed that you were destined to get healthy and achieve your ideal weight, what does your ideal day look like? How would you live differently?

Take a pen and paper and write that down. It helps to continually reinforce your vision because that will inspire you to keep going during tough times.

NEVER QUIT

Continue practicing your routines so far:

Morning Routine

• Drink 1 glass (16 oz) of water
• Take your multivitamin and Omega 3 supplement
• Do 10 minutes of stretching before shower
• Eat breakfast with protein
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating

Mid-Morning Routine

• Drink 1 cup of green tea with lemon
• Eat a high fiber fruit or protein snack
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating
• Do 10 minutes of desk, commuter, or other strength-building exercise

Midday Routine

• Drink 1 glass (16 oz) of water
• Eat a balanced lunch (1 serving of protein, starch, and vegetables each)
• Practice portion patrol
• Practice mindful eating
• Do 10 minutes of HIIT exercise