Reeling

For the last three weeks, I've been excited about a new weight-loss program I found, and have been following. It's called THE WEIGH DOWN DIET by Gwen Shamblin.

At first glance, it sounds like a dream-come-true! You can eat "whatever you want", so long as you stay within the boundaries of "hunger & fullness" -- you don't eat until your stomach growls, and you stop eating when you're "politely" full.

As I said, I've been following these guidelines for the last 3 weeks, and in so doing, I've lost 7 POUNDS!!! Praise the Lord!

And, that's the other aspect of Gwen's program: changing your focus. Instead of loving food, you turn your focus to God! When you're tempted to overeat, or to eat outside the boundaries of hunger and fullness, you run to God for help!

So, because of Gwen's program, I have turned back to God, and have been doing my devotions and Bible study daily. God's been teaching me some incredible things over the last three weeks, and I felt truly blessed to have "been led to find" Gwen's program.

Then, after raving about WEIGH DOWN to an online friend, I received an Email from my friend with a link to an article that debunked WEIGH DOWN! (click HERE to read that article -- beware: it's long!) I was shocked after I read it! I felt like I'd been slapped! All day I've felt as if in a haze ... how could I have been so deceived?

Gwen backs up everything she teaches with (twisted) Scripture, so it was *easy* to be deceived! It was simple to agree with her, and to think that she was truly a messenger from God! :?

While reading the above-mentioned article, I wanted to argue with it, and say, "No! No! You're lying! Gwen's program HAS to be of God! It's working for me! I've lost 7lbs in 3 weeks from following it! I'm closer to God!" But, as I continued reading, I saw that it was true. Little nudges pushed me to let WEIGH DOWN go. I was about to be discouraged, thinking, "Now what?" I still wanted to follow Gwen's plan because the principles were working ... and if I'm growing closer to God, how can that be a bad thing, right? Then the article mentioned another Christian weight-loss program to try: "THIN WITHIN". I checked out their website, and it's got basically the exact same principles of WEIGH DOWN (eat between hunger & fullness, turn from food to God), except that it is *grace-based*, and seems to be more Biblically sound.

Now, you can be sure that I'll be a LOT more cautious before following another program! No more trusting blindly without questioning! The Bible even says to "test everything that is said"! Not just *some* things ... EVERYTHING! (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

I've ordered the "THIN WITHIN" book (authors: Judy & Arthur Halliday), and will post my review of it here on my blog when I've read it.