Some reasons why I failed to lose weight: And how it relates to my walk with Christ


I am a no expert when it comes to proper nutrition or on having a ‘perfect’ body. For those who know me personally, they can attest that I am still chubby. 

For so many years now, I’ve been on a habit of losing weight. Though there are times that I’ve been successful, I still end up with an adipose-rich body. But years before, there are these unhealthy mindsets I had about losing weight. I tried crash diets, slimming products.

I realized that the goal to lose weight is no different from the goal to have a changed life. If I am very eager to remove those unnecessary fats inside my body, it should be the same on how I want to remove bad habits in my life.

I know this might sound ridiculous or you may find it hard to understand the metaphor but please bear with me. Here are some of them...

1.  Carbo-trim and my love for carbo-rich food. A perfect match?

       Are you familiar with a certain slimming product that claims to burn down the carbohydrates you will take in even you eat a lot of it? The first time I saw it on a commercial; I got tempted to buy and try it. Just imagine, the same volume of food I enjoy, yet I will never get fatter. What a dream come true. It would be very tempting to have this product because you can have two birds in one shot. But how this become an unhealthy mindset for me? It’s because I neglected the essence of why I would want to lose weight – to stay healthy.

     The same is with our bad habits and Christ. We cannot both keep our ugly old life together with Christ. It is true that Christ can remove those unnecessary weights in my life, but why would I keep on taking in lots of carbohydrates when I know that my body won’t need that? If I have been set free from my old life and I am now a new creation, why would I keep on sinning? I know there’s enough grace for any sin I would do; but that’s not the way God wants me to live, Jesus came to set me free from the extra carbohydrates that are surely just a waste for my body.

      He doesn’t want me to regularly do my bad habits and then do a ministry work, attend all the services of the week or read my Bible from cover to cover whenever I start to feel the guilt. I believe that Jesus is not a regular solution for my recurrent weight problem but He is, a once and for all, the only solution for it.

2. I decided to lose weight (again) for someone.

             If you have decided to lose weight to impress that certain guy in your Math 17 recit class, then you are doing it wrong. Why? Because you are doing it in vain.  I did that years ago wherein I tried so hard to lose weight for a guy but ended up frustrated and even resulted to eating more due to rejection.
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             As Christians, there are more pressures given to us. People expect us to be nothing less but perfect individuals. Hence, many times, we got conscious if what we are doing, how we do it is still able to meet other people’s standard for us. I know it is just right that we do good works. But once we focused more on pleasing these people around us and forgetting why we are supposed to be doing things right, we might end up burnout and frustrated of doing it. Worse is, when rejection comes, just like what I did before, we might find ourselves rebelling, and doing the opposite things of what we are supposed to be doing.





               We have to keep in mind why we are doing good works. It is not to impress the people around us. It is not to gain approval from other people, even from God. We do good works because you know that God give you an identity that is more than just being a couch potato during weekend. That there’s more to life than keeping my unhealthy lifestyle.

3. I skipped meal. I ended up eating more.

               One of the craziest diet tips I got from a friend: Skip your lunch. I thought that since I eat nothing during lunchtime, there are fewer tendencies for me to gain weight. I sacrificed my lunch dates with my friends so that I won’t be tempted to eat. However, during dinner it is when I eat most. Two cups of rice, TJ hotdogs, coke. At school my classmates think that I am already determined to lose weight but they didn’t know what I am eating when at home.

                Just like skipping meals, we tend to spontaneously remove bad habits that we have. Perhaps, it might be of help, but I assure you, it won’t be permanent. Why? Because the more we manually change our sinning in our own way, the more we become aware of how to unchange it. It’s just physical solutions; the problem is something from within. On Sundays, we sing praise and worship, on Tuesdays, we attend small groups, Wednesday or Thursday we attend Youth Service, but how about our Fridays and Saturdays? What do we do during those times we are not surrounded by other people?

                   It is so hard to overcome old life by simply not doing a bad habit without replacing it with the Truth that would make us healthy. In our nutrition life, it would not be easy to follow a diet plan without accepting the fact that the way we eat food is not right. It is hard to be consistent eating balanced food when everyday we are served with many junk foods of life. But what God’s word is saying that HE has the best “diet plan” for every one of us (Jeremiah 29:11), plans to prosper us and not to harm us and that in every temptation, he is faithful and will provide a way out (1 Corinthians 10:13).


Now to end this blog, let me ask you this question: Do you think there is/are area(s) in your life that you think is unhealthy or may not be according to God’s diet plan for you?

If your answer is no, then congratulations.

But if your answer is yes, are you willing to accept God’s diet plan for you and live with it?

I challenge you, accept God’s invitation to make your life lighter. J

29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
                                                                                                            -Matthew 11:29-30 (NIV)

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The Best Dad That Everyone of Us Can Have


Tonight, while all alone in my room, I can feel the coldness outside brought by the strong wind and heavy rain. Then I saw this ‘lone star’ in the stormy night sky still shining. You were right, even the darkness will not be dark to You. I feel secured because of that. I know You are near . In the morning, I can hear whispers of Your love. You make me feel Your warmth in the afternoon. Finally,  just before twilight, I see Your greatness as You perfectly mix violet and orange together, two irreconcilable colors, with no sense of distraught.

You are definitely everywhere.

Even before I chose  to come to You, You were already there, calling me to go back home.  Just like how a father will call his child before the sun goes down,  from her playground. You never fail to remind me to go home early so that the night will not catch me, so that I can be safe from any danger and spare me from any pain that it could bring. You set a curfew not for me to suffer in jealousy with my other playmates but to prepare me for another safe and happier playtime the next day. You call me home, not to isolate me from my friends. Instead, You would want me to listen to You as you tell me of the plans You have for me.

Yet, it wasn’t easy. Just like the other children, to me, to play wantosawa is the greatest thing that could ever happen (to me). And I saw You as a killjoy, old guy up there telling me that I had enough of playing when for me and my playmates, we have only just started.

I am sorry, because I did not see your 6:00PM curfew as a protection before. Instead, I saw it as a leash around my neck. Every time I would hear Your voice pleading me to come back home, I would get so irritated and say in my mind, “Yiii, konti na lang, 5 more minutes. Kunwari na lang di ko Siya narinig”.

But let me thank You anyway for not giving up on me, Father. That even one day, when I chose not to follow the curfew, when I went beyond 6:00PM playing outside with my ‘cool friends’ and ran so far away from our house to hide from You, You did not stay inside and wait for me to come back then spank me;  You went outside the house to look for me even in the very dark and rainy night. It was really funny because it was me who chose not to listen to your rule but it was still You who made the effort.



You found me on road lying with many wounds and bruises. You know, I fell on a cliff while we were playing. Yet instead of scolding me, You lifted and carried me home while pampering me because I was crying out in pain. I could have reasoned out at that moment that it was really Your fault because You were a bit too hard on me. But the wounds are just so painful I cannot think of any logical words to say, because I knew what I did was wrong.

And when we got home, You put me in Your favourite couch and told me, “Calm down now, my daughter, it’s okay. You are now home. I am not angry with you. Now come, let me clean your wounds.”
“...And oh, by the way,  wear this new dress I bought for you. I am sure you will like it. I bought this because I know it would look good, pleasing and perfect for you.”

Then I suddenly stopped crying.  could not help but smile. I did not realize a father’s love until I became broken with painful wounds all over my body. My temporary joy of having a longer time to play outside blinded me from seeing how much my DAD loves me and cares for me.  Even when I disobeyed You, You looked for me.  More than that, You gave me a beautiful dress.

I may never know how You did that, I just know I am loved by a great FATHER. It did not matter to you even when I violated the curfew. You could have scolded me, spanked me, and ignored me for days because of my waywardness, yet what You saw in me is how I will look like, wearing the new dress You bought for me.

Thank You, Dad for the new dress. I love it. I won’t exchange it for anything else. I will forever wear this dress. I love You. J



...Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will. - Romans 12:2b (NIV)

even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. -Psalm 139:12

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UP Life: Not just another chapter of your life


An incoming freshman ISKO/ ISKA? Congratulations for making it to one of the country’s prestigious university. I would like to welcome you in the new chapter of your life, your UP Life.
 Perhaps it was what you have dreamt about since you were in elementary. For you, getting your UP ID card equates good and high-paying job. Or at least you could also use it as a license to brag.
Perhaps, it was not your choice to be in here, but your parents’. The dream of entering UP was not your dream but theirs. You are not the one who is after the bragging rights (ehem, for amigos y amigas’ sake) but them.
Maybe, it was half-your-choice and half-you-have-no-choice. Your tatay and nanay can’t afford to send you to Ateneo or La Salle. As a matter of fact, tatay needed to sell a piece of the family’s farming land and Puti, a carabao, to sustain your college education. You are their only hope and you do not want to fail them.
                You are here. Not in another school, but in here. Why in here, I may not know. But I believe you are here, FOR A PURPOSE. I know this sounds so cliché, yet I believe that this is God’s opinion of why you are here. And God’s opinions are truth to us. 

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