Hurtful Words

 We’ve all heard them, we have probably all said them at one time or another, some times maybe knowingly or unknowingly. Words can hurt beyond imagination. The second part of James 3:8 describes the tongue as “a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”  

We all know someone out there who doesn’t control their tongue and who is always firing poison at everyone around them. They can’t love themselves and they can’t stand for anyone around them to be happy either. 

During my weight loss journey over the last 13 months, I have come across many different opinions toward what I am doing to lose weight. 1) the person who is the cheerleader and “good for you” all the way. 2) The person who is blown away by what you are doing and wants to know how they can do it.  3) “well, I’m glad that you found something that is working for you”, maybe halfhearted pat on the back. 4) I’m glad it works for you, but I’m not interested in doing it myself. 5) “I don’t see how eating like that can be a healthy choice”  6) I have even heard “I’ll keep my fat, Thank you very much” and last but not least 7) the negative one who can’t say anything nice. All of these individuals are out there watching us as we walk this journey. A lot of these reactions are from the view point that is what we have been taught for all these years. “You have to eat six small meals a day to eat healthy”. This is a lie that we have learned and honestly, it is hard to reverse this thought process after having it drilled into our heads for so many years. The other lie that I heard over and over “Don’t eat the fat, it will make you fat.” I love having black olives, bacon bits, and cottage cheese on my salad.  I have been told that all of these would defeat the purpose of a salad, yet this is what I ate and lost 75 pounds in 4 1/2 months. I call that a good beginning. 

As I continue with this way of eating, I constantly remind myself that I have done the research. I also had to start off slow and in the beginning, if I was hungry, I ate either a Ridiculously Big Salad or Keto meals. This works. I know this works. After trying so many other things and maybe losing two pounds a month, this works. I have to make a conscious decision to ignore the negative comments and the comments from the people who haven’t done the research. If they are open to learning about it, I am willing to explain it, but I’m not going to waste my time on people who aren’t ready to listen. I actually feel sorry for the people who are in a lot of pain yet they don’t care or they are so negative that they won’t listen. 

The point that I am getting to is don’t let the negative comments derail you. The people who haven’t done the research, they don’t understand. Maybe after watching you for a while, they will come around. In the mean time, stay focused, pull up the boot straps and keep going. This way of eating is doable and NOT expensive. We all have a friend who pays a fee every month to weight watchers and that doesn’t include the food. Stay focused and ask questions if you need to. I will do my best to help if I can.