Gospel Highlights

I read a story online about a church in Muncie, Indiana that is participating in a Christian weight loss challenge called "The Biggest Winner: The Church Challenge." It's a timely one: According to a study done by Perdue University sociologist Dr. Kenneth Ferraro, Christians suffer from obesity at a higher rate than even non-believers. But there are two often overlooked keys that Christians can use to succeed in their weight loss efforts: Strengthening their personal relationship with God and using the power of God's word to renew their minds.

I discovered this in my own journey towards losing 85 pounds. I had extensive knowledge about living a healthy lifestyle. I was an R.N. at that time. But I didn't have the heart change necessary to get permanent results. However, when I followed the most important Christian weight loss principles of anchoring myself in God and renewing my mind, then everything changed. These two concepts gave me the strength, faith, and power I needed to practice my healthy habits long enough to get results.

The first concept, Anchoring yourself in God means starting your day with quiet time alone to pray, study the bible, praise, and/or worship. This time helps you ground your identity in God and experience His love personally. It also gives you the opportunity to ask God for wisdom in handling the challenges of the day. With this anchor, life's annoyances don't faze you as much. Stress is a major factor that causes you to make unwise health choices, so this practice eliminates this cause at the source.


The second way to success is to renew your mind. This is one of the most important Christian weight loss principles. The reason typical diets fail is attempting to pile new behaviors on top of an old mindset. Eventually, the process starts to feel so uncomfortable that your old mindset convinces you to quit. You eventually end up in the same shape you were before or even worse.


But when you renew your mind, you change your mindset and attitude towards caring for your body. You study scriptures like 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 and learn that your body is God's temple. You recognize that God's desire is for you to prosper and be in health as stated in 3 John 1:2. Finally, you imitate God in calling those things that do not yet exist as though they did (per Romans 4:17) and start seeing your weight loss goal as already achieved, which gives you confidence to do the right thing concerning your health.


If those church members in Muncie and the other churches participating in the challenge grasp these principles and practice them, then they will become big winners in terms of health and set a positive example for others in their communities.

Kimberly Floyd is an author, certified wellness coach, and the CEO of Take Back Your Temple, which offers books, multimedia, seminars and wellness coaching to help others reach their perfect weight using Christian weight loss principles. Once 240 pounds and a size 22, Kim lost 85 pounds and went from a size 22 to an 8 so she knows about weight issues from the inside out. Her story has been featured in Prevention Magazine, Essence Magazine, and on CBN's The 700 Club. She is the author of the eBook 'Take Back Your Temple: How to Achieve Healthy Weight Loss God's Way' and 'MoneyWise Weight Loss: The Faith-based Plan for Building a Better Body on a Budget'.