My husband and I are currently trying to get back on track with our diet and exercise habits. Several years ago after having my first son, I really put on the weight. I used breastfeeding as an excuse to keep eating for two. Years later, I finally got determined to work hard to shed those extra pounds. We wanted to try for another baby so I wanted to get at a healthy weight. After a lot of hard work, I lost about 60 pounds and we were ready to start planning for another baby.

Things didn’t go as we had hoped. In 2012 we lost two babies seven months apart. I took it really hard and during my grief, I gave up my diet and exercise routine. Wouldn’t you just know it, after I started gaining weight back, I got pregnant! Which we were totally excited about, I just had hoped it would have happened when I was at a better beginning weight. I tried not to stress about it. I knew God is in control and I had faith everything would be ok.

We want God’s will for us and we are striving hard to reflect God and all we say and do.

We were not only blessed with another healthy little baby boy, but a few months after his first birthday, we were excited to find out we were expecting again! God gave us another miracle! We were so excited!

Since having these newest babies and having them so close, we have been very busy just getting by each day. We call it trying to survive! While we know we are very blessed they are here, we still have some days where we feel overwhelmed and very, very tired! So tired we hardly have any time for ourselves, much less any type of exercise routine or a healthy diet plan worked out. Sometimes we are just eating to stay awake after a sleepless night with a teething baby. So here we are again. We fell off the diet wagon, it ran over us and then I think I ate it. Breastfeeding two babies keeps me hungry! All the time!

Back on track

So what are we doing to try to get back on track? We have gone to God. Nothing we have done on our own seems to work for us. We have gone to Him together in prayer and fasting. We are asking Him to help us stay focused on eating and treating food in a way that glorifies Him. In 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 we read how we are a temple, and it also says that “if any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him.” Our bad eating habits are destroying this temple that He has designed. Later in that same book we read, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). We have realized the way we are treating our bodies has not been for the glory of God. We want His will for us in our lives and I think His will for us would to be for us to do what we can to be healthy. We are not our own—we were bought with a price. We were bought with human sacrifice by our Savior, Jesus Christ. My husband and I are striving to honor Him and His sacrifice not only in our spiritual walk but this physical walk as well.

Staying focused

We are working as a team to get healthy so we can be around for our children and be an example to them. For us, it’s not about being a perfect size, but we are making it about respecting this gift of life that God has given us. So while we are working hard to lose, we hope in losing we are gaining a closer relationship with God the Father and with Jesus Christ our Brother. We hope we are gaining a better understanding of what they would want for us in our lives. We want to gain an appreciation for this gift of life and an appreciation for our bodies that are made in their image. We want God’s will for us and we are striving hard to reflect God and all we say and do. While we know this body is temporary, it’s still a gift that deserves respect. My husband and I are hoping that, if we focus on that, we gain more from all that we hope to lose.