CoachE'Nation

You can embrace a healthy lifestyle while still giving yourself grace in moments where you need to eat something outside your nutrition plan. Rules are great but when the occasion really calls for you to break it, please do. This blogpost was first published in 2020.

I had been tracking my hubby with phone calls and he kept saying he was coming. He sha returned late with a SURPRISE.


Grilled catfish.


Let me tell you, I LOVE catfish…


In catfish peppersoup, I am PRESENT


In well spiced and then air-fried catfish delicacy, I am chief CHEF.


Then grilled? That is the only one I can’t do at home so it is a WHOLE delicacy hubby KNOWS I love.

So that hubby came home with catfish was a REAL winner.

Buuuuuut, I could NOT eat it.

Hubby missed the memo. I had just ended a prolonged fast so he thought I would then start eating animal protein, BUT like I said in this post, I was strongly considering going vegetarian but until my mind was made up on which direction I wanna go based on deep convictions, I was still staying away from animal meat.

Phew.

Hubby had made this WHOLE effort and on that Val’s night, the queue was CRAZY yet he did all he could to buy it.

Would I now let go of it all?

I frankly couldn’t bring myself to eat fish because my body is on a project, but I made a compromise.

I decided I would eat the chips… fried, ketchup and all

Now, let me tell you why this was a MAJOR compromise

My body don’t do great with fried food, especially in portions more than 2 pieces.

As a student of my body, I know exactly where the weakness starts to hit me from…

MY KNEES

Gosh, it is the MOST annoying thing.

My God-assignments are a LOT, both in volume and intensity. I don’t intentionally play with being weak (and in JESUS name, you too don’t)

I know firsthand how the wrong foods can weaken us.

So as I was eating it, I was ready for weakness the next morning. Good thing it was a FRIDAY night and I have set up my life in such a way that I don’t work weekends on MOST weekends (hallelujah), so I planned to embrace the laziness the next day.

Booyah!!!

I wake the next day AND my knees were SURPRISINGLY OK

My whole body felt like I had a green power smoothie before I slept.

I didn’t believe it!!!

I didn’t think so much about it, I just enjoyed my Saturday in STRENGTH


The next day, I had a visit to a friend who lost her hubby last year. We were going as a group and we had cake for her daughter, and drinks and stuff.

Typically, people make a little more fuss than I would like over my diet and what I can or cannot eat.

That was the case at my friend’s house, and the attention was now too much.

What do I give you ooo?
‘Can you eat cake?
‘She can’t eat cake ooo’
I was wondering what drink Eziaha would be able to drink.’

And so on.

I needed to QUICKLY take all that attention away from me so I had cake.

My having cake did the trick BUT I also knew I would struggle.

Too much sugar and the next day was Monday.

Phew.

Woke up after a long sleep that evening and expected the sugar low to kick in

NADA!!!

I was STRONG!!!

Same thing the next day. My body didn’t even do like it was the same one I had given fried potatoes, ketchup and cake all in sizeable portions over the weekend.

It was going like a machine.

Then I paused to audit all that. I was like

God what happened please?’
Tell me what you are doing abeg?

That Monday night as I caught up on my Bible in a year plan, Brother Mark came with my answer

Two back to back stories in Mark Chapter 2 v 23 to Chapter 3 v 6

First, the disciples breaking off heads of grain to eat and the hater Pharisees losing bladder control cos it was a Sabbath and the Disciples were BREAKING THE LAW

Second, Jesus healing a man with a deformed hand and the Pharisees mad enough to go plot how to kill him for breaking the rules and even being brazen about it.

In both cases, Jesus let them understand that while these rules are important, when it comes to empathy and other such basic human needs that guide our interactions, then we are ALLOWED TO BREAK THE RULES baby.

Jesus approves!!!

The Sabbath was made for the good of human beings, and not humans for the Sabbath… Mark 2 v 27

Now read that again, replacing RULES for SABBATH and see how that sounds.

I mean, we need RULES that guide us and even Jesus agrees that He didn’t come to abolish all the rules, so you don’t live life breaking the rules daily, BUT if occasion demands, it is OK to break the rules.

Like the Message puts it, we are NO LACKEY to rules!!!

I can’t obey the rules in a way that does no good to either Jesus or my neighbors

(A microphone for people in the back?)

I cannot hold on to the rules so much that mercy and grace are now absent in my life.


Let me quickly take this to weight loss

Jesus approves of your diet and lifestyle plan and mine.

He wants you to have a guide to your Nutrition AND workouts.

In fact, He wants to legislate those rules. Tell you what to eat and how to work out.

But He also wants you to be FLEXIBLE enough to accommodate and put other humans first in life generally, even when my rules are broken.

If you are on a weight loss diet and your hubby needs to take you out for wedding anniversary, my sister, it is once a year, ENJOY!!!


If you are always giving your kids healthy stuff to school but in a particular season, you find that it has to be cheeseballs and caprisonne, maybe because you need to invest that time in your mental health or your marriage (because healthy lifestyle takes time and intention), break the rules baby, Jesus approves!!!

If you are at an event and your diet is taking on more attention than it should, and especially away from the purpose of that event, or celebrant, then break the rules honey and just eat what is served.

When we break the rules approved by Jesus on our weight loss journey, and basically all of life on a broader scale, He then protects us from the consequences.

Ask the disciples.

I once heard Lisa Bevere my hero say ‘Obedience protects’

She meant Obedience to Jesus, and this applies even when we are breaking rules He approves of.

I could not agree more.

Obviously, this must be done with wisdom and I believe we reading this have the maturity to know when to say YES, when to BREAK the rules, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, when to STOP.

Otherwise, keep those rules baby. Till you are mature to BREAK THEM well.

Selah!!!

You don’t have to become a recluse just because of weight loss, neither do you have to carry heavy guilt cos you broke the rules.

A well balanced life as we navigate healthy living viz-a-viz love, friendships, social gatherings and all remains achievable and I pray we all find that line that kills the tension and allows wholeness even to our interactions.

So go ahead, and have those rules baby.

Then feel free to BREAK THE RULES for good reason as occasion demands.

Jesus approves!!!

And so does CoachE’

Love and Light,Eziaha (CoachE’)

#JesusGirlsFitness

3 Responses

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *