My friend asked me why this time was different. Her and I had connected through the gym years ago and we discovered we had an even deeper shared connection when it came to food. For us, it was easy to make it to the gym, in fact we enjoyed moving our bodies, but the real struggle happened the moment we stepped foot outside the gym. The temptations seemed to overpower everything else in our lives and although we would kill it in our classes, we would quickly sabotage all our efforts with food binges.

So, when she asked me why things were different this time, and what I had done to make it actually stick, I knew exactly where she was coming from. Because I’ve been there. Because I know the feelings of defeat and feeling so small under the weight of a struggle that seems so big.

This is ultimately why I share. I hope that you hear a little bit of your own story in mine, and that it brings you hope if you’re in a place that feels hopeless. There is freedom to be found in this area of your life and I want you to find it. 

So, here are a few things that came to mind when I thought about her question:

Accountability – Accountability can be uncomfortable because it brings all of our struggles into the light. When we invite someone into this vulnerable place we are forced to recognize our patterns and where we are falling into temptation. 

I am reminded of the scripture in 1 Corinthians that says “Everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial.” I have often thought about this verse in the midst of my sin struggles. Not just with food but in all areas of my life. The boundaries keep us safe, and that has certainly been true in my life, no matter how much I want to think that they don’t. The very thinking that screams that I don’t want accountability or boundaries is the very thinking that will send me down a food binge spiral that I know is not beneficial but can also be quite damaging.

The person you choose to help hold you accountable in your life needs to be both empathetic but also firm. You need a safe place to land but you also need someone who will spur you on and get you back on track. You need a little bit of both!

Mindset – In the past, I would often repeat phrases to myself like, “I can’t” or “I’m not allowed” or some variation of the two. This thinking made it much more difficult to stay on track because I would want to rebel against it, and I often did. Telling myself that I “wasn’t allowed” to do something made that the only thing I wanted! I would cave into temptation and walk right into another food binge.

I started to change my thinking by adopting this phrase instead: “I can eat whatever I want, when I want, but I’m choosing to eat this instead”. This helped in those moments allowing me to recognize that nobody else was in control of what I put in my body, only me. Because I felt crushed by the weight of the struggle and food seemed to be so powerful in my life, this change in thinking allowed me to recognize that food wasn’t as powerful as I thought it was.

You get to choose what you feed your body every day. Food is not your boss.

Prayer – Find verses that can help you in those desperate moments. Meditate on them and pray them over you and whatever sin struggle you are walking though in your life. The Word does not return void. Amen to that! We have a loving Father who walks with us through all of our pains and struggles and no matter how silly it may seem at times, we can even pray about the food we put into our bodies, seeking to honor Him in all the things that we do.

I’m just like you. I’ve just learned a few pretty incredible things on the journey that I hope I can share with you to help you navigate yours. I have found freedom in this area of my life but it’s not completely void of struggle today. Temptation and the comfort of old habits still tend to creep their way in and some days it feels as though I’m simply limping along. But as I share with you, remember that it’s coming from a woman who can not remember a time in her life where food was not the main character, who’s been binge eating since she was a kid, and from a woman who begged and pleaded with God for years to take it all away. 

I am grateful that on the other side of this I can say that the glory is His and what a gift it will be to share more of my story with you. Where we are weak He is strong.