Several years ago a visitor to our home wanted to take a tour of our house. When we went into the master bedroom, she commented on the portrait hanging over the headboard of my husband’s and my bed. Over our bed was (and still is) a large portrait of me in a white gown holding our newborn daughter. The visitor asked,”Who is that woman in the picture?”

 ”What?!!!!!” I thought, “Lady, you have got to be kidding!” Stunned, I started to sarcastically say, “That is my husband Kent’s first wife.” But that would have not been very nice, would it?  Did she really think that I would sleep under a large portrait of another woman every night?  But instead I politely said, “That is me. I know that I  have really changed.”  What she asked has stuck with me for many years now. In fact, that is what I think about when I look up at that picture. That portrait has been a constant reminder of how much weight I have gained over the years…and a reminder of Kent’s young, thin wife.

Kent loved that wife. She was the young, thin, energetic wife he fell in love with. But you know what? Kent has also loved all the wives I have become…the very hormonal pregnant one, the full-figured mother one, the less-energetic middle-aged one, and the over-weight one.

And now, he has a new wife. This one is a little thinner than his last. But most of all, this wife is feeling healthier and wiser. And this wife is beginning to look more and more like the one (although older) framed over the master bed. I think he loves this one too.

I am grateful that although real people change over time, real love does not. Real love is enduring. If it is not, it was just imitation love to begin with.

And you know what?….I have loved all my husbands too. We are in this ever-changing life together…thick or thin!

Hey y’all! The end of the Get Fit Challenge is drawing nigh. This is a time of reflection for me. A time to compare and contrast my health and attitude at the beginning of the challenge to my health and attitude now. Was this challenge worth doing?

For many years, I have called my struggle with weight, my personal ”Goliath.” It seemed I had an enemy that I did not know how to fight or even want to fight. And besides, my ”Goliath” had been around for so long, I had gotten comfortable with this enemy…an enemy determined to take away my health, my energy, my stamina, and my passion.

Facing a personal “Goliath” is hard. But that is the crucial first step…facing “Goliath” as a threat that you must choose to fight.  Fighting  “Goliath” publicly is even harder.

When David fought the giant Goliath, he had an audience. I can picture the soldiers from both camps staring in disbelief at what was happening…a teenage shepherd boy stepping into the shadow of a giant to do what no man in Israel’s army  had dared to do. Where did David get his confidence? He made it very clear that his confidence was not in himself but in God Who would defeat the giant. Although he fully trusted God to grant victory over his enemy, David had to act. He had to meet the giant alone. He had to run toward the battle line. He had to throw the stone.

Personal “Goliaths” don’t just back down. If we do not engage in the battle, there can be no victory. God ensures us that He will give us the strength to fight our ”Goliaths” but we must act in faith.

Before this Get Fit Challenge, I felt as though I had been defeated. I wondered why God did not grant me victory over my “Goliath.”  Now I know that He had granted me victory all those years. He was just waiting for me to throw the stone.

Am I glad that I have battled my “Goliath?” Yes. Now that I am out of  “Goliath’s” shadow, my attitude is brighter.  I feel healthier, energized and optimistic. I feel… victorious!

I don’t care if I only weighed a hundred pounds, I would still wear a girdle. Let’s face it, clothes just look better with less lumps and bumps.

Several years ago, my mother and I made reservations to attend an upscale women’s conference. Excited about the formal dinner we would attend, I shopped for the perfect outfit. One night, a few weeks before the conference, I couldn’t sleep. Instead of tossing and turning, I got up and went to the den to watch television. An infomercial caught my attention! There on the screen was a girdle guaranteed to squeeze a gal down to a size four! Whoopee! It was just what I needed to wear under my new outfit for that fancy dinner! I ever-so- quietly called the 1-800 number so my husband could not hear me. Unbelievably, I had called at the exact time to order two girdles for the amazing low price of one! I ordered one in white and one in black! I even added express shipping! Oh, happy day! I could not wait until my order arrived!

After a few days, my order arrived at my doorsteps on a Monday afternoon shortly before I was to leave for my monthly Bunko get-together. I thought, “Perfect timing!” I would wear one to Bunko and test it out before the conference. I tore into the box and pulled out a girdle about the size of a tubesock. What?! I knew that I ordered the right size, an extra-large. I checked the tag…yes, an XL. (A small must have been about the size of a baby bootie!) I thought, “You’ve gotta be kidding! This thing will never fit me! “

What commenced after that is something I will never forget. I called my dear Kent to the bedroom where I was dressing for Bunko and confessed that I had bought a new girdle and needed his help getting it on. For several minutes, he tugged at the top and I yanked from the bottom. It was quite a workout for the both of us! But finally, I was successfully stuffed from the neck to the knees inside that thing! I must admit that I was a bit disappointed that I was not a size four, but my clothes did seem to fit nicer and look smoother. So, I packed it for my trip along with a pair of scissors in case I passed out and needed to be cut out of it.

Besides my clothes fitting better, I have also noticed that when I wear a girdle, I eat less. With less room for expansion, I just don’t want to add anything to my insides!

I think one reason so many Americans struggle with weight is because our contemporary garments are often loose-fitting. I believe that stretchy waistbands and fabrics have led to waists stretching out as well. A little pinch from a waistband is a good signal to quit eating. A little discomfort is not such a bad thing for us.

Perhaps it is vain to want to look nice in clothes. Maybe that should not be a reason for wanting to lose weight. Although it is true that “clothes don’t make the woman,” I do think that clothes make the woman think about her weight. I will tell you, since I have lost a few pounds, my clothes fit better with or without a girdle and I feel better wearing them. I have noticed that when I feel better in my clothes, I have a better attitude. I feel lighter and I stand taller. Losing weight has caused me to gain confidence.

I am so grateful for every pound that I have lost and I am working on losing more. But there is one thing I bet I will never lose…and that is my trusty old girdle!

Hey y’all! This afternoon I took a walk beside Stones River. I was craving exercise as well as fresh air. Ahead of me on the trail was the form of a man crouched down. Curious as to what he could be doing, I stepped up my pace. When I got to him, he was patiently holding up a puffy white dandelion for his little girl. She gently blew the downy dandelion parachutes and giggled as they floated away. As I walked through dandelion snow,  instantly my mind traveled back to the time when I was a little girl and did the same thing. Isn’t it funny how a weed to grownups is so enchanting to a child? Don’t you suppose that God had in mind that children would help spread the seeds of those little yellow flowers?

I was thinking that people are just like dandelions. We are here for a brief moment in time. We bloom, grow, mature, and die. But just like the dandelion seeds carried off in the wind, we leave ourselves scattered here and there. Our words, positive or negative, are planted in the hearts of others. And there in the heart of people is where our words grow deep roots. (Have you ever seen seen dandelion roots? Over time, these roots can grow up to fifteen feet deep!)

During this challenge, I have received seeds of encouragement. I am grateful for every positive word I have heard from family, friends, acquaintances, and even strangers. Their words are taking root in my heart and doing for me what food and exercise can’t do.

I hope that when this challenge is over I will have gained more than what I have lost. I hope that I will grow like a dandelion. And as my days pass, may I scatter words that build people up, words that encourage people to reach their goals, and words that convey “I care.”

“Thank you” to all the “dandelions” in my life. I couldn’t have come this far without you. Because of your encouragement, I believe I can go the distance!

When I started this Get-Fit Challenge, I had to form a strategy for accomplishing my goal. To do this the smart way, I determined to educate myself on the science of weight loss. I read numerous books and articles on the subject. I  learned why people gain weight and how people can lose weight. I have concluded that most people who want to lose weight and can’t simply don’t know the scientific rules for losing fat.

One of the best books that I have read  is Fat to Skinny by Doug Varrieur.  This is an easy funny book to read and understand. The book helped me to realize that I have an addiction to sugar. The book helps the reader to understand how carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and fiber work in the body. I learned what to eat to burn stored up fat. Now that I understand  the science, I can use my noodle to make good food choices.

Here is my top 10 list of  favorite new food choices or food substitutions. (David Letterman isn’t the only one who can have a top ten list!)

10. Healthy Life bread with only 35 calories and 5 net grams of carbs

9. Kroger peanut butter with 33% less sugar

8. Sugar free candy (Atkins makes a peanut butter cup that taste as good as a Reese’s peanut butter cup, no kidding!)

7. Subway salads  (Subway is the perfect place for a salad made just the way you want it.  Now they are serving some really great breakfast choices, full of sustaining proteins and complex carbs.)

6. Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches  ( This restaurant has the “unwich”  which is a wrap using large crisp lettuce leaves. Yum, yum…you ought to get you one!)

5. Splenda (This lets you have your cake and eat it too….metaphorically speaking. I use it to make my sweet tea. You know a southern girl cannot completely give up sweet iced tea!)

4. Melba toast  (When I crave crackers, these little crunchy round toasts do the trick.)

3. La Tortillia Factory Low Carb Multigrain wraps ( This is the thing! What a great yummy substitution for bread and tortilla shells! The list of the ways you can use these wraps is endless!)

2. Bryers Low-Carb Chocolate Ice-cream (This is saved only for a treat, but there are only 4 net carbs per serving and it is so delicious! You don’t even know that it is any different from regular ice-cream.)

1. Now, my number one very favorite new food is…shirataki noodles! (These are the perfect delicious substitute for spaghetti noodles. They are made of tofu but you would not know it. They are only 20 calories per serving and about 1 net carb per serving. Yum, talk about using your noodle!!)

In the book Fat to Skinny, Doug Varrieur says that a person can never exercise enough to overcome bad eating habits. He says that a person should eat for his/her weight and exercise for his/her health. I believe this to be true. Good eating and exercising complement each other.

I could never ever say that this new way of eating is easy for me. I have to be disciplined. But this I know, educating myself  about weight loss and how different foods affect the body has been very beneficial to me. I am using my noodle!

Don’t you think that is one reason Jesus demonstrated affection so openly to children when He walked on earth? I think He just loved their honesty, their pure hearts, their ability to see behind masks, their keen perceptions, their innocent audacity to tell it like it is. (Matthew 25:11  At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.” ) Why I just bet that He even got tickled by some of the things He heard children say.

About five or six years ago, one of my former third graders put her little arms around my tummy and gave a big squeeze. Holding on, she looked up at me and said, “I feel so comfortable hugging you!” Happy she felt so safe to have me as her teacher, I replied, “I am so thankful you feel safe enough to give me a hug.” That precious child looked right up at my face and said, “You just feel soooo soft!” Right then and there I knew that I was just as fluffy as a feather pillow.

My weight loss has been quite fascinating to my current students. One particular little girl is interested in my quest to get fit more so than all the rest. She comments on my success quite frequently.  Today, I overheard her chatting with one of the other little girls in the room. She exclaimed with great expression, “Mrs. Browning’s behind is hugely smaller!”  What?!!! What did that mean? Ok, it sounded like a compliment. But really she was saying  that before my current weight loss,  my behind was huge! And you know what? It was! She should know. Since she only comes up to about my ribcage, my behind has been right in her line of vision all year-long. So I know she knows what she is talking about, at least from her perspective.

No matter how I hear it, whether gently complimentary or brutally honest, I am glad that all my hard work is being noticed. I am thankful to be hugely smaller!

Well, I must say that I was prepared. You would never take the bar exam without preparing for it first. You would take the test knowing it was going to be hard. That’s what I did. I knew that my self-control would be challenged so I prepared myself mentally. Before going, I considered the choices I would make. I packed food from home. I planned my course for exercising while away from my routine. And you know what? Being prepared made all the difference. Was the testing tough? Of course. In fact, it was really tough!  But I am proud to say that I passed the test. I was able to be around all those temptations and still make choices that were good for my health. I even made time to exercise.

So now I know. I can pack my bags and hit the highway of life. And when the rubber meets the road, I will stay on course, keep my eyes on where I want to go, and then I will arrive safely at my destination- success!

Hey y’all! I cannot remember a time that I did not want to eat except for maybe three times. I did not want to eat when I first started dating my Kent…just too nervous and I just felt weird chewing  food in front of the most handsome fellow in the whole wide world (I was sixteen; I got over it pretty fast!). I did not want to eat when I felt nauseated from a virus. (Still don’t. Who does?) And I did not want to eat when I went through a horrible bout of clinical depression. Trust me, it was bad! There. Three times when I did not want to eat. And all three times were tough. Just plain hard to go through. (Even the dating stuff was hard at first.) Don’t want to go through times like that again. But after all three times, after the nerves settled, after the virus had run its course, and after the depression faded, my body naturally celebrated with the ability to eat food again and enjoy it. I knew that I was healing when my appetite increased and my mouth craved flavors. When eating was fun again, I knew I was well. Celebration! 

You know that God created food not only for our source of energy but also as a gift of enjoyment and celebration. From the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation, food is there. From the creation of seed-bearing plants to the forthcoming  Banquet Feast, God lavishly gifts us with food. In fact, God even commanded people to celebrate with food. Check out Deuteronomy 27. God instructed His people to celebrate His deliverance, His law, and His goodness with food. And not just with a little food either! But with feasting! A huge pot-luck! (Wow! This must have been the beginning of the Southern Baptist!) And best of all,  we have a the promise of a great celebration yet to come…”Come! Gather together for the great banquet God has prepared.” (Revelation 19:17) I can’t even begin to imagine what is to come! This promise is wonderfully greater than my mind can even comprehend! God, Himself, will prepare a great banquet for His children…for me.

Now, I have always come up with lots of good reasons to celebrate with food. Birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, engagements, weddings, babies, holidays, Friday nights, Saturday mornings, Sunday afternoons, and the list goes on and on. And you know what? There is nothing wrong with celebrating these events or any others with food. But the problem comes when we celebrate the food itself…when the food becomes more important than the reason for the celebration. Sometimes the very reason we celebrate becomes lost in the midst of the casseroles and desserts. Sometimes the food is elevated to a place it just does not deserve to be. Do you ever find that your “feast of celebration” becomes a “celebration of feast”? I’m guilty.

From now on, I am going to try my very hardest to give food its proper place. Never do I want to put it before what is worthy to be celebrated…and that is, God’s goodness…the true reason for any celebration in the first place!

Hey y’all! Ok, here is some seriously beautiful scripture.  Let me set the scene for you. It was after Jesus’ resurrection. The disciples had gone through some very stressful, upsetting, and confusing days to say the least. Peter decided that he had to go and do what he loved to do best, fish. He mentally needed to. There is something relaxing about doing something you are good at doing even if it is hard work. His best friends decided to go too. They just needed to be together doing something they were comfortable doing. This was a boys’ night out, literally. It was night. They fished all night with no luck. Not one fish landed in their net. Bummer! As the sun was beginning to rise, a bonfire on shore caught their attention.  They noticed a man beside the fire. The man hollered at them, “Any luck?” He knew the answer of course. He instructed them to cast their net again. Immediately, 153 keepers were netted! He hollered again, “Come and eat breakfast!” Realizing that the man was Jesus, Peter dived into the water and swam ashore to meet the LORD. The others came behind with the fish. And what had Jesus been doing? He had been cooking breakfast for his friends. That is right! Can’t you just picture it all?! The morning, new and fresh and crisp, best friends gathered around a fire in the morning light, the smell of breakfast cooking, laughter, excitement, the joy of  the promise of a new day.  And just what did Jesus cook up for his friends that morning? He cooked them bread and fish…a carbohydrate and a protein…quick energy and sustaining energy…the perfect combination for the beginning of a new day!

One of the biggest changes that I have made over the course of the past weeks of this challenge is making breakfast a priority. Before this challenge, I never ate breakfast unless it was a Saturday morning when I made my traditional foot tall stack of fluffy pancakes. I am convinced that my habit of skipping breakfast contributed to my weight gain. Why? It would seem that not eating breakfast would mean less calorie intake for the day. Not so. Our bodies need to “break fast”, break the fast between the time we go to sleep and the time we begin to really start our busy day. Our bodies need energy to work efficiently, to stoke the fire inside our bodies called metabolism so that the food we eat is properly burned for energy throughout the day. 

 For weeks now I have eaten breakfast. I know that it has made a difference. I have more energy during the morning hours (and trust me, teaching a room full of eight year olds takes a lot of energy!), I am not craving food midmorning, and I am sustained until lunch. Wow! What a difference breakfast makes. And if Jesus thought it was important for his friends to eat breakfast, I know that it is important for me too! So, tomorrow, join me for breakfast and let’s thank God for the promise of a new day and the energy to live it!

Hey y’all! Isn’t that the truth?! We are just living in an artificial world! There is just hardly anything real anymore. Why, take me for example. Just this week I had an artificial tan (I resembled an Oompa Loompa by the way) , wore a couple of girdles all at once to get an artificially firm stomach, artificially whitened my teeth,  used a cream guaranteed to remove wrinkles (yeah, right!), and bought a $45.00 tiny tube of concealer to hide my age spots. Mercy! Why, I didn’t even know I was such a fake!

I have realized that so much of what I had been eating is fake too. Most of what I had been eating is just as unnatural as that tan cream I smeared all over my lily white legs.  And let me tell you, fake food causes very real problems!  I could list a half a dozen problems fake food has caused me.

Since the beginning of this challenge, I have been committed to eating real food and drinking real liquids. I have almost completely eliminated the fake foods and liquids that I was addicted to (chips and soda). Let me tell you, this was very very hard at the beginning. It is easier now. I am eating much less processed, chemically enhanced and chemically preserved food. Most of the food I am eating is almost exactly as it was the day it was harvested.

One great thing about real food is that it is perfectly proportioned for people. We don’t have to worry about eating too much of it. Hold an apple. It is the perfect size for a person’s hand! That is what I call portion control!  Hold a banana. It has been measured out perfectly for us! Watermelon?…family sized! Next time you are in the produce section at the grocery store, marvel at just how “people- sized” all the real food is!  Real food is all perfectly designed just for us.  Isn’t that great?! We don’t have to count calories,  read a nutrition label, or look at a list of what is in real food. The very One who made our bodies also  made the perfect foods to feed our bodies. 

 I am sure not ready to give up my wrinkle cream, my concealer, or my girdles! But fake foods?… Come on,  get real!…I can do without them!