Fighting Fat With Fearless Faith

All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2017 Christy Taylor

Print ISBN: 978-1-48359-063-9

eBook ISBN: 978-1-48359-064-6

Cover Design: Trisha Robertson

Author Photo: Brittni Taylor

Editors: C. Sandberg & M. Anderson

Fighting Fat with Fearless Faith’s program is not a substitute for seeking medical advice from a physician or licensed counselor. If you are battling a serious eating disorder or weight issue that is detrimental to your health, you are advised to seek professional help immediately. This is a tool to use in conjunction with professional medical counsel.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB),

Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,

1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation

Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

Scripture taken from The Voice™. Copyright © 2008 by Ecclesia Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my beautiful children, Chelsea, Brady, Blaine, and Brittni; to my wonderful and loving husband of 20 years, Jed; to Mom and Dad for being the most loving and supportive parents ever; to my mother-in-law, Sue, whom I am so blessed to have in my life; and to my grandparents on both sides for showing me what being Christ-like truly means! Your love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, goodness, and self-control shine through all of you!

Thank you to my best and sweet friend, Marla, for always lending a listening ear and being such a role model of a Valiant Woman to me! Also, thank you to my favorite workout pals and great friends, Trisha and Kim, for all of our times together. I cherish our hiking adventures! Jill, Rhonda, and Amanda, I am so grateful to have you in my life. To my other friends and loved ones, you are appreciated and loved! To Pastor Art and the Living Hope Community, thank you for your biblical wisdom, guidance, and love to our family!

I want to thank my editor, Christy, for her patience with me during this entire writing process and for all of her hard work and dedication. I am truly blessed that God brought her into my life to help with this project and future ones!

Lastly, I give gratitude to my sister, Dawn, and my daughter, Brittni, for your assistance in calming my nerves and reviewing the final manuscript in a crash-course weekend!

Mostly, I thank God for His graciousness to me and always being my Rock and seeing me through to overcoming battles with victory!

Contents

Combat Maneuver #1: UNDERSTAND

The Weight Battle: Where It All Began

Spiritual Warfare: Understanding the Enemy & the Battle You Are Up Against

Combat Maneuver #2: ACKNOWLEDGE

Taking Personal Responsibility for Your Body, God’s Temple

Combat Maneuver #3: ASSESS

Assessing Your Current Physical Health Reality

Performing a Spiritual Self-Examination

Combat Maneuver #4:COMMIT & SURRENDER

Suffering Leads to Surrendering

Battle-Ready Military Enlistment Covenant

Battle-Ready: Having the Right Mindset to Fight

Renewing of Your Mind Affirmation

Combat Maneuver #5:ENVISION & PLAN

Capturing the Vision: Your Mission to Victory

Fighting Fat with Fearless Faith Battle Plan

Combat Maneuver #6:PROCLAIM

Fearless Faith—Standing Firm on a Foundation of Faith

The Mission of Love

Combat Maneuver #7:EMBRACE

The Holy Spirit: Your Weight-Loss Battle Companion

Battle Buddy – CARE Cohort: Obtaining Accountability & Support

Combat Maneuver #8:PREP

Survival Gear: Getting Armored Up for Battle

Spiritual Nutrition and Faith Fitness: Boosting Mission Readiness

LEAP-REAP: Faith in Action

Fighting Fat with Fearless Faith Strategic Battle-Ready Daily Action Plan

Combat Maneuver #9: EXECUTE

Battle Strategy: Winning the Weight War with Love

Battle Strategy: Finding Joy in the Midst of Suffering

Battle Strategy: Maintaining Peace During Combat

Battle Strategy: Practicing Patience in an Uphill Battle

Battle Strategy: Carrying Out Kindness When Engaging in War

Battle Strategy: Remaining Confident of Goodness in the Lord

Battle Strategy: Fiercely Fighting with Faithfulness

Battle Strategy: Gaining Ground in the Battle with Gentleness

Battle Strategy: Succeeding Struggles with Self-Control

Combat Maneuver #10:Persevere

Resilience – Maintaining Momentum with Perseverance

Valiant Woman,

Every battle plan needs a well-thought-out strategy. In Fighting Fat with Fearless Faith, you’ll find a battle plan to help you defeat the enemy permanently; however, it is up to you to execute it so you are victorious in your weight-loss mission. It takes ten weeks to transform a civilian into a soldier. When you are done with this ten weeks, you will be well-prepared and ready to defend yourself against your struggles with food and weight.

We are called to be Valiant Woman in Christ! Even more, we are called to be Valiant Woman Warriors in Christ! Did you know in the Bible valiant means confident and bold and that confident means having faith in our Creator to get through all of the storms in our lives? The Hebrew phrase eshet (woman) chayil (bravery) is used to describe the essence of true, God-designed womanhood. The phrase is found in Proverbs 31 and can translated Woman of Valor, Woman of Strength, and Woman of Courage!

I have been where you are, feeling doomed when it comes to conquering the weight battle. Satan thinks he has a hold on your life so you feel defeated from ever living a happy, healthy life. He is wrong! You can break free from weight bondage and not only be healthier than you’ve ever been but also have a deeper bond with God! I understand you may not be crying outwardly, but on the inside, your soul weeps. I did for years. I spent my twenties feeling numb. I didn’t realize my heart was not physically distressed; it was spiritually distressed. I also didn’t understand that I turned to food for comfort instead of God. By growing in faith, God enabled me to conquer my weight battle.

Faith is confidence and is the fuel needed to move forward. Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see (Heb. 11:1). Just as machines can’t run without fuel to fight in a battle, we can’t fight without being filled with the fuel of faith so we can endure and win the battle of being overweight! In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence (Eph. 3:12). Through FEARLESS FAITH, we have all the fuel we need! This is why I have titled this program, Valiant Woman: Fighting Fat with Fearless Faith! When we put our faith in Christ, we will be amazed at how our lives are transformed inside and out. Here is my story of finding faith and conquering the battle:

I had weight issues since I was 12 when I overheard one boy tell another that I had a massive behind. Because of this, I had a terribly distorted image of myself. Due to that one statement, I never wore shirts that showed my behind. Every shirt had to be long. I became obsessed with my weight. I tried everything to lose weight, from only eating a few saltines a day to perfecting a way of purging by turning on the bath water and pretending I was taking a bath; Mom and Dad never heard me.

A friend knew what was going on and told my mother who, in turn, told my track coach. Coach confronted me and said I would have to quit track (which I loved) if I didn’t stop my obsession with my weight. I quit until high school where I was introduced to nasty chocolate laxatives. Another girl was using them and said she’d lost 30 pounds in a month. I jumped on that bandwagon. Then, I watched an episode on Oprah about a girl dying from bulimia/anorexia, and that opened my eyes.

God convicted me. I felt guilty about treating my body the way I did, but I was obsessed with being skinny. I stopped after I got my first serious boyfriend, and life went on. After I got married, I gave up on how I looked and gained weight through each of four pregnancies.

By January 2010, I weighed 276 pounds. My jean size was 26. I hated myself, what I had become, and the example I was setting for my children. I feared I may end up disabled or die. I felt like a prisoner. Throughout 2010, I kept thinking how miserable I was and how I had to make some lifestyle changes. At the hotel at my daughter’s pageant that year, I decided to face reality and really look myself in the mirror. I took photos. These were going to be my before photos. You see, in the past, I wouldn’t look at myself in the mirror if it was below my shoulders. I was in complete denial. This was a pivotal moment for me. I was acknowledging that I needed to get help and lose the weight.

Below are the photos I took:

A few occurrences motivated me to finally get serious about my weight issue. First, I was almost crippled. If I stood for more than five minutes, I experienced severe pain. I couldn’t envision living the rest of my life with that pain. I was 34 and mother to four beautiful children. I wanted to be around for them a lot longer.

Second, my seven-year-old son came home from school crying one day because his friends were calling his mom an elephant. I felt horrible for being the cause of his embarrassment. He heard it on multiple occasions and would try to stick up for me. Poor boy!

Third, a number of things happened around the same time. At the movie theatre, I wouldn’t let anyone sit next to me because I felt claustrophobic. Another time, I wanted to get on a kiddie rollercoaster with my 3-year-old daughter, and I couldn’t fit. She wouldn’t go on it without me. She cried, and it broke my heart that the only reason she didn’t was because of my weight! Yet another time, I was at a garage sale, and a woman pointed me in the direction of the maternity clothes, yet I wasn’t pregnant! It seemed so many sorrows in my life were the result of my obesity.

The final occurrence was when I was at a Boy Scout Camp retreat with my son. We went on a walking tour of the grounds. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I cried in front of my oldest son and other parents and wanted to go home. My husband made me stick it out for the entire weekend. It was a workout, but, most importantly, it was the defining moment when I decided to transform my life, both internally and externally. (The before picture on the back of the book was taken during that weekend.)

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit (Ps. 34:18 NASB). My spirit was crushed; I was brokenhearted, and the Lord saved me. I remember crying out to the Lord to give me a miracle for losing weight, and I was desperate for an answer. I tried to get surgery, but insurance wouldn’t cover it. I cried for hours. That night, the Lord said I had to take His route and have faith in Him. By doing so, I would lose the weight and use my own experience to encourage life change for others.

I decided to act. There was more pain in not changing than in making the leap. This is probably why you purchased this program, right? I am sure you are tired of the pain as well and are ready to make your leap! I had a vision for doing it: to be there for my children, to rid myself of agonizing pain, and to show my children that anything is possible with God in control. This time, I focused on having balance in my spiritual as well as nutritional nourishment. I surrendered the control I felt I had over my weight and submitted to God. I didn’t rely on the numbers on the scale.

As long as I obeyed, I knew the weight would come off. I allowed my body to heal at its own pace. I focused more on getting better internally. I knew I had to do something different than what I’d done in the past. I had tried various diets, all for the wrong reasons. Once, using Weight Watchers, I lost 80 pounds—and regained it within the same year. I only lost the weight because my husband’s brother was visiting, and I didn’t want my husband to be embarrassed by my looks. I set myself up for failure because I only focused on the scale; I had no vision for why I needed to lose and cheated my way through by barely eating. It wasn’t a lifestyle or spiritual change for me, just a temporary fix.

When I changed my focus to God, He used several things to restore me to a healthy weight and relationship with Him. He taught me how and when to eat. For the first few years of my weight-loss journey, I used Weight Watchers for the physical side, like learning portion control. Eventually, I wanted to test if I could maintain without using diet methods. For the last few years, I have concentrated on how my body feels when I eat certain foods and how much I consume. I focus on identifying when I am head hungry versus stomach hungry. When I am sick, tired, angry, lonely, or bored and find myself eating even though my stomach isn’t growling, then I am only feeding head hunger. When my stomach has that empty, hollow feeling and is growling, then I am stomach hungry, and it is time to eat.

God taught me to focus on Him instead of food by changing my heart and mind. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law (Gal. 5:22-23 NASB). I produced more fruit. I learned to love myself at whatever weight because God created me to be me! I learned to love my body, which is the Holy Spirit’s temple. I learned to be more patient with losing weight and not let the devil tempt me into giving in to my negative thinking. Instead of thinking negatively about obstacles during my weight-loss journey, I thought positively about them. I am now fully aware of and living with God’s Spirit inside me! The seeds of the Fruit of the Spirit were planted in me at 8 when I asked Jesus into my heart, but I never truly understood how to harvest them. Now, I am producing the Fruit of the Spirit, and it’s an amazing experience.

God taught me three factors to successful weight loss: physical, psychological, and spiritual. I needed to learn to move the body God gave me and be mindful of the types of foods I was eating and how much, address the psychological reasons of why I ate, and get my spiritual relationship with Jesus on track. God helped me conquer all three by teaching me to trust Him.

My life is completely different now from five years ago when my journey began. I see life through God’s eyes instead of my own. I can do things with my kids that I never would have done before. I am confident in what I do. I love talking to people now and don’t hide behind a shell of shame. I am no longer held in bondage by food! Without eating disorders, emotional eating, and shameful feelings, I am free from weight slavery! I am more in tune with God, who is amazing and working through me to help others.

Throughout this program, you will be encouraged to use God’s Word, showing you a different perspective on your eating habits and weight problems. I believe that God’s way is the only way we should follow when we decide to tackle our weight issues for good.

The first step is to give your life and control to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You will find help in this program to do just that. Following this plan requires effort, dedication, and an open mind as you learn and apply God’s standards for your life daily.

In Fighting Fat with Fearless Faith’s program, you will employ 10 Combat Maneuvers that will prepare you to be Combat-Ready to defeat the enemy in your battle with weight.

Ideally, the program takes approximately 10 weeks, but you should work at your own pace. Reread the principles and review them throughout your journey. Let God set the pace, as He knows how much you are capable of.

Over the course of the next ten weeks, you will learn to:

Understand how the weight battle started, what spiritual warfare is, and who your enemy is

Acknowledge your personal responsibility for your body, God’s Temple

Assess your current status in relation to your spiritual and physical health

Commit and surrender absolutely to defeat the enemy

Envision and plan your path to victory with a personalized mission statement and battle plan

Proclaim fearless faith by standing firm on the foundation of faith and the mission of love

Embrace accountability and support from your weight-loss battle companion, the Holy Spirit, and your Battle Buddies

Prep for battle by getting armored up, spiritually nourished, and faithfully fit

Execute various battle strategies to be Battle-Ready

Persevere by marching forward to victory!

Be patient! You didn’t gain the weight overnight, and you won’t lose it overnight. Focus on one day at a time, one pound at a time. If you focus on how much you have to lose, you will get frustrated and give up. Patience and the Fruit of the Spirit are key. Maintaining your weight is a lifelong journey. Since it is something to deal with for the rest of your life, choose to enjoy the journey.

Behaviors, such as binge-eating, laxative taking, constant dieting, starvation, etc., can be changed. God wants to heal you. You are a work in progress. When you realize this, you won’t be disappointed when you don’t see the progress you expected. Don’t worry about it. God is in charge now, and He knows what He is doing. Scripture says, "…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 1:6). Set your mind on God above and not on the scales below! This will encourage you. Persevere! And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (Heb. 6:11-12 NASB). You will receive God’s promises if you wait and persevere patiently.

Fighting Fat with Fearless Faith is not a quick-fix diet program. If you are looking for a permanent solution to your weight issue, then I’m happy to tell you you’ve found the right program! Quick-fix diet fads mean quick, rebound weight gain, leading to frustration, depression, and burnout. Many weight-loss programs focus on counting calories and getting fit; this program works in conjunction with those. Sure, it’s possible to lose weight by tracking calories eaten and burned by exercising, but how long is that sustainable without a right attitude to go