Goals

Excitement of my day was when my daughter shared her weight loss secret with me. We are now part of a community of losers! This website helps you count your calories, chart your exercise, and lets you know when you have reached your goals. She's been doing it for several weeks now with her cell phone and had good success.

It's quite a step up from the simple food diary I've used over the years, which was just a spiral notebook where I listed (manually with a pen, no less) everything I ate that day. That worked some, because I would be able to see what foods I should try to avoid the next day.

But this is so much more sophisticated and revealing that I'm anxious to give it a try and lose some of this middle section weight that is making it harder for me to breathe. So far, all my efforts to lose have been pretty worthless, except for preventing me from putting on further pounds.

I'm sure any weight loss program is more likely to succeed when you have firm and valid reasons for losing. Women used to talk about their dieting in terms of looking better in their summer swimsuits, but I'm hearing more and more people talk about doing it for their health. This is a great reason as well, but I think we must even go further than that. The first approach was vanity, but the second one is still focusing on self.

We do it to be able to take care of those we love and to be available for them for a longer time. But also to be available for God. Illness may still strike us down through no fault of our own and God still uses us, but sometimes God needs to work through a healthy person. Third John 2 says, "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers."

Evidently God has goals for us as well. We need to cooperate with His program.

www.myfitnesspal.com -- go there!