A Verdict? Well, Not Quite.

I've managed to eat dairy free for two and a half weeks now. Woohoo! I've stuck with it. Honestly, the first week was rough. Though I know it's not true, it seemed like everything in the world had dairy in it! And sometimes it was trace amounts, but dairy nonetheless. Live I've mentioned before, I'm not a big "meat eater" and now that I'm not eating dairy I'm noticing how my choices for protein are becoming rather limited. This girl can only eat so many nuts and chicken! (Did I mention that I don't really care for fish, either?)

Oh, and I realized that I never mentioned that I did weigh in on the morning after I returned from the Bright Lights conferences (it was a Wednesday morning). I was super excited! I only gained two pounds on the trip. Hurray! I met my goal and kept the damage low. :-) Because of that special Wednesday weigh in, I didn't weigh in again until this Friday.

This Friday, I weighed in at 181 pounds....only one pound lost in 9 days. Hmmm...maybe I don't have a dairy problem. (Which would be super! I miss my dairy products.) But I'm not going to throw the towel in just yet. I've decided to give it a month, and if I don't see an drastic changes in that time, then I'll slowly add dairy back into my diet. I guess that I was expecting something drastic to happen - like significant weight loss or feeling more energy and healthy, but I haven't had either of those. Any thoughts or suggestions from those of you who don't eat dairy? Am I missing something?

But through these past few weeks, I feel like the Lord has been reminding me again of the importance to delight in the little things. Like the fact that I only gained a few pounds while away from home, that I can stick to a drastic diet change (no dairy) for a few weeks, and also the one pound lost. Those are things that I've accomplished through the help of the Holy Spirit, and I should not focus on what I haven't done (need to lose more, need to do better) but on what I have done and what God is calling me to do today. Because if I'm so focused on that fact that I failed (which is what my mind is telling me) then I'm going to miss everything that the Lord is trying to tell me in the moment of my need, and I'll rely on my flesh to do what's right - and that never works!

So, I'm going to stay off of dairy for almost 2 more weeks and see what happens. Who knows? Maybe I need to practice a little patience while waiting to see any results. If nothing else, it's been a huge lesson in self-control!

Joyfully,
Bekah