How to Resist Temptation (Even When Dessert is Calling)

 1 Corinthians 10:13 “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand…”

Good Faith Declarations & Affirmations. Repeat these aloud:

• “I am led by the Spirit, not by cravings.”
• “I choose discipline over desire.”
• “My body is not the boss — my Spirit is.”
• I eat and move according to my goals.
• I am who Christ says I am and who He died for.
• I am worthy of change!

Journal Prompts: 

• When am I most likely to turn to food instead of God? Ask the Lord to reveal these things to you and He will.
• What emotion is usually behind my cravings?
  
  
• What truth can I speak over that moment?

Heavenly Father, I love you so much. Thank You for caring about this part of my journey. Please Lord, when temptation rises up, remind me that I am not alone. Give me strength to pause, wisdom to choose well, and the desire to honor You with my body and choices. Amen.

Are you sick of trying diet after diet and NOT losing weight?

Hey there friend, I'm Lindy Schlabach, Christian Fitness & Nutrition Coach. I gained 100 pounds in my late twenties and struggled for years to get it off. Seven years ago, I found a basic system that worked and has helped me lose 90 of those pounds. I’ve been working with women in online fitness and nutrition ever since to break chains of diet culture, embrace their bodies and fueling instead of dieting. 

 In this podcast, I'll teach you how to:

• • Lose Weight in a Way that honors God without obsessing about the scale
  • Meal Plan and Prep for Your Family
  • Follow a MACRO based plan that allows you to eat the foods you love.
  • Recognize and pray through triggers keeping you stuck.
  • I’ll help you Plan your week and schedule your self-care time.
  • Cultivate a spirit of self-discipline in your workouts you actually enjoy.
   
  It's time to give God your health journey and watch Him make you new, from the inside, OUT.

Join The Biblical Weight Loss Framework: https://www.herweightlossmindset.com/framework

Join my FREE Community: https://bit.ly/JoinTheChristianWeightLossCommunity

Join my Insiders List with weekly tips for weight loss for Christian women: http://herweightlossmindset.com/herweightlossmindsetinsiders

Transcript

Hello, sweet sister. Welcome back to the show. So today we are talking about something every woman on a health journey faces.

Temptation. Oh my goodness. Overcoming cravings with spiritual strength and not willpower alone is what we're talking about today.

How, when the dessert is calling your name, when it's that homemade sugar cookie with frosting or a cupcake with buttercream frosting, and it's like taunting you, like how can we overcome that craving with spiritual strength?

It might be late night snacking for you. Maybe it's emotional eating or just mindless grabbing. We've all felt the pull.

Don't tell me you haven't. But as daughters of God, we don't fight this temptation alone. We fight with the power of the Holy Spirit inside of us.

Today, I'm going to talk to you about how to resist temptation even when that dessert is calling. So stay tuned. Are you sick of trying diet after diet and not losing weight?

Are you tired of doubting your ability to actually lose weight in a healthy way? Do you wish you could find a laid out for you plan that will help you stay accountable to your goals?

Hey, friend, I'm Lindy Schlabach, Christian Fitness & Nutrition Coach. I gained 100 pounds in my late 20s and struggled for years to get it off. So grab your pre-workout and let's chat.

I want to invite you to the Biblical Weight Loss Framework. Listen, this is not just another diet. This is not a diet at all.

It's healing from the inside out. It's learning to take a Biblical approach to triggers and temptations and all the things we're going to talk about today.

It's learning to re-frame your mindset around food or on your body, around what God needs from you.

So join the Biblical Weight Loss Framework and let's work with you on your personal journey in a group coaching program that will give you tactical steps you can take every day with trainings and homework that is going to help you apply Biblical

principles to your personal journey wherever you may find yourself today. Listen, I've lost 90 pounds. I know the struggle. It is not easy, but when we can learn to tap into the Holy Spirit, we can achieve the goals that we want to achieve.

So find the link to join us in the show notes below or go to herweightlossmindset.com/framework. That's herweightlossmindset.com/framework. So today's scripture comes from 1 Corinthians 10 verse 13.

It says, The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand.

You will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. Listen, this is where in that moment we have to learn to lean on the Holy Spirit. So, I want to talk to you a little bit first about cravings versus calling.

And this one gets me. Listen, I've talked to you about this already. I'm up like 8 pounds, almost probably closer to 10 pounds since July.

Like purely by my own choices and excuses. And I felt so good when I came home from Florida a couple weeks ago. I've even packed on a couple more pounds since then.

Like why? What's going on? My excuses and cravings are getting the best of me.

And it's time to take back my choices. And I hope that you're ready to join me. So today we're going to talk about the difference between cravings, which scream right now.

I have to have it right now. And your calling that whispers, go further. Say a prayer, lean in to the Holy Spirit.

Temptation is not a test of your willpower. Temptation is not from God. God only brings peace and stillness in your life.

Temptations are a scheme of the enemy designed to knock us off track. People can also derail our choices if they're not on a similar journey. Be aware.

Be in prayer. And think about when you do feel that temptation or that pull, let it be an invitation to rely on God's power that lives inside of you. He never gives us more than we can bear.

Think about him in the Garden of Gethsemane, but knowing he's gonna go to face the cross, and the devil is there, and he's taunting him, and he's gonna give him this and give him that. And Jesus went 40 days in the desert without food or water.

Like, we don't even want to fast for a day, let alone 40. Like, can you imagine going 40 days without food? But Jesus did.

He doesn't give us more than we can bear. Side note, if you've never done a fast, I really encourage you to prayerfully go on a fast. And don't tell me that for health reasons you can't.

If you do a fast, try to focus on 72 hours, it will completely reset your system, and a lot of the health issues that you have will actually probably start to heal. And I should do an episode on fasting.

So if you want me to do an episode on fasting, shoot me an email at info at herweightlossmindset.com or connect with me on social media. I'm on Instagram and Facebook at herweightlossmindset.com.

And if you want to hear an episode about fasting, I've done this a few times, let me know. I would love to hear from you. That's something that we could talk about.

So temptation is not from God. God brings good. If it's good, it comes from God.

If it's not, it is either from the enemy or oftentimes it's our own poor choices and poor habits and past history of not standing firm in our Holy Spirit power.

And so we can we can blame the enemy all we want to, but most of the time it's just ourselves.

Like I know that I am my worst enemy when it comes to food and setting boundaries with the things or people around me that make me feel bad when I don't want to indulge in a treat.

And sometimes I like eat food just because I don't want people to think I'm like some weird fitness junkie who like never enjoys her life. And my husband will tell you I eat more sugar probably than most people, which is not a good thing.

Like I'm trying to get it into balance. But I'm telling you right now the struggle is real. I love fall.

Like I love to have a good dark beer. I love anything pumpkin. Like I'll eat pumpkin and apple.

I'm not a huge pumpkin spice latte kind of girl, but like give me a pumpkin cookie with some cream cheese frosting on it. Apple crisp, like all the things fall. I love it.

Bonfires. My husband grew up Amish. I'm sure I've talked to you about this before, but we love to make smockers.

Until I married into an Amish family, I had never had an Amish s'more. So an Amish s'more is a Ritz cracker with your marshmallow, but then you add a Reese's Cup, right?

So it's like the best combination of sweet and salty without marshmallow on there that you can ever imagine.

So when I think about fall, like big flannel comfy shirts, my sweatpants, my comfy jeans, like my tennies, like put a coffee in my hand 24-7, like I am ready to just do all of the fall things.

And so this is a really hard time of year for me to rain in my sweet tooth because, you know, I just want to try all of the things. But sometimes God calls us in a season to refrain from sugar.

Sometimes he calls us to just not obsess about what we're eating and to just like enjoy, like there's a time season for everything, right? But sometimes we have to prayerfully discern what season we're in.

So think about the difference between emotional and physical hunger. And sometimes like I have physically felt a pull towards my pantry. And there are times where like I've just eaten something and I think, is this like actually am I hungry?

Or is there like a craving happening that maybe it's just like a subconscious thing? Well, maybe it's just an emotion taking over. And so, there's a ton of really cool diagrams on Pinterest.

But I know like if you're craving like carbs or salty chocolate or sweet chocolate or something like that, I think you're supposed to eat a handful of nuts. So I keep Costco has like the huge bag of unsalted nuts, like the deluxe brand like bag.

And it's like cashews, pistachios, pecans, like it has all the good nuts in it. And so I'll take out at my quarter cup serving, and I'll just like snack on a quarter cup serving of nuts. And it literally will take my craving away.

So you've always heard the thing, like if you're if you feel like you're hungry and you don't want to eat an apple, then you're probably not actually hungry.

So think about grabbing an apple in that time where you're going to the pantry and you want to like, you know, binge eat on the Reese's peanut butter cups, which if you're like me, I just don't buy that stuff. I can't have it in the house.

I'll eat it. My husband could have a bag of Reese's, and he'll take like one bite out of a Reese's and sit it on the counter for three days, and he'll just totally forget about it. He's a psycho when it comes to eating things like that.

If you've ever watched him eat ice cream, it's the most annoying thing in the entire world. Like, he'll get a kid's cup of ice cream, and he takes like three bites out of it, and then I have to finish it after I've eaten like my mega cone.

So I just don't buy that kind of stuff. So if you have an issue, just don't buy it. But I know for a lot of clients and ladies I've worked with in the past, like their kids and husbands, they want to have that stuff in the pantry.

So sometimes you can feel that pull and you just have to set that boundary. Out of sight, out of mind is what one of our nutrition, Beachbody Nutrition ladies used to say.

And so if I have something in the pantry, like I'll hide it from myself so that I know that if I have this like treat, I'm going to eat it on Sunday or whatever. I'll like hide it so it's out of my sight.

And Darrell's like, but you know where it's at. I'm like, yeah, but I'm not looking at it so it's not like taunting me. So out of sight, out of mind, or just don't buy it.

Just think about what it is that you want most. Do you want to reach your goal or do you want to be stuck in the same cycle of defeat and frustration over the choices that you make? You, only you, can make the decision to make a different choice.

And you have to ask yourself, am I actually physically hungry? Or am I searching for comfort? Do I need relief for something or distraction?

Maybe, you need to drink water. A lot of times, Darryl gets irritated with me every time. He's like, man, I feel like I'm hungry.

And he just ate a huge dinner. I'm like, well, how much water have you drank today? Like literally, that's always my first question.

Because you should be drinking half your weight in ounces of water every day. I've probably already had 120 ounces of water today. Like if I actually get hungry, I'll drink eight to 10 ounces of water.

And a lot of times, my hunger will go away. So if you haven't drank your water, check in with yourself first. And then that same nutritionist, Alana Molstein, I think is her name.

She's on Instagram. You should follow her. She's adorable.

She has great recipes. They're super easy. But one of her things she says is water first, veggies most.

So fill up on your water. Drink 16 ounces of water before you eat something. And then focus on veggies.

Eat an apple. Grab a tablespoon of peanut butter with your apple or your carrots or whatever. Like have a snack if you're hungry, but try to avoid the sugary, starchy carbs that are pulling you away from your goals.

So maybe you need to fast for a bit. Maybe you need to say, okay, well, I ate a huge dinner last night and I went to the pantry and I ate a midnight snack. So you wake up in the morning and you're hungry, right?

Because your stomach is stretched out. You just ate. So now you're hungry.

Try to fast a little bit. Drink 16 to 20 ounces of water. And then just try to wait from whatever last point you ate.

Try to wait 8 to 10 hours before you eat something else. And make sure it's a good source of protein with a veggie.

Like eat a couple scrambled eggs with a couple cups of spinach and a piece of whole grain toast with a chunk of like real butter on it. When it's emotional, you have to learn to pause.

You have to learn in that moment to take a breath and ask the Lord to give you what it is that you need. Sometimes I'll eat something sweet and I'll think, oh my gosh, I need now I need something salty.

Or I'll eat something salty after like for dinner or after dinner and think like, oh my gosh, I need a sweet. And sometimes like eat, I love black grapes. Like in season black grapes are my favorite and I love frozen blueberries.

I don't really like raw fresh blueberries, but I love them frozen. So I'll grab some after dinner, just a half a cup sometimes. And I'm like, do I really even need those?

Yeah, sure, they're a better option, but am I just putting a bandaid on my craving to justify it with fruit? Because you can overeat healthy food too. Like it can also become an idol in a crutch just as much as sugar or anything else.

So how can we overcome the tempting moments? I want you to think about the three second pause of power. And in the moment before you reach for it, say, Holy Spirit, help me or Lord, give me what I need.

When you start to walk to the pantry or standing in the pantry, stop, and in that three second pause, ask the Lord to give you what you need. And those three words can shift everything. He will answer you.

But then it's up to you. You have to have the strength to walk away from the pantry, to close the refrigerator, or wherever it is that the temptation is in front of you.

Sometimes we have to sit the people down that we love and tell them with Holy Spirit conviction why it is important for us to have healthy things in our pantry and throw the junk away. You'll be surprised at the reaction.

Your family wants to support you, as long as they don't always have to follow suit, right? Listen, if you're on a healthy eating journey and your family is not, you really have to ask yourself, why is that? Have you set unhealthy rules in your house?

You're probably not the only one struggling with cravings.

Maybe it's a really good time to sit your family down and say, hey, listen, I haven't been a very good example and I'm sorry, but I want us to create generational habits that are going to pass down that are healthy, that are going to lead to our kids

and grandkids and their grandkids having healthy habits and not leaning in to the excuses of the people before us who didn't teach me how to have healthy habits. The buck stops here. It's time to make new choices.

You can bake healthy desserts that taste just as good as the unhealthy crap that you buy in a package in the middle of the grocery store that's loaded with chemicals and dies. Get out a cookbook, search Pinterest, join my email list.

I always send a weekly recipe. You have to be the one to make the choices and the changes, and your family will come along. They're probably going to scream and kick and cry.

If you have a very stubborn spouse, maybe they're just going to have to stay stuck in their ways. But you keep doing what the Lord is guiding you to do. Think about what you want for those generations that are going to come after you.

Then something else I want you to think about are positive affirmations.

Listen, I know affirmations can feel weird, and some people say that they're not biblical, but I want you to pray about it and ask the Lord to give you some good faith declarations and affirmations that you can use when you're learning to fight off

these temptations. Listen, once you get to the point where you're fighting off temptations and you're just saying no all the time, like you're going to feel so good about it.

You're going to feel better about saying no and how you feel after than you would if you would have given in and ate that sugary treat. So I want you to borrow a couple of these affirmations until you find your own. Write them down.

Repeat them out loud. Write them on your mirror. I am led by the spirit, not by cravings.

Got it? The next one. I choose discipline over desire.

My body is not the boss. My spirit is. I eat and move according to my goals.

I am who Christ says I am and who he died for. I am worthy of change. Did you get those?

I'll post them in the show notes. So if you didn't get all those written down, go make sure you go to show notes, and I'll have those posted there in the next week or so.

So here are a couple of practical strategies that you can take with you today to help you as you get started. Are you ready? Keep those scriptures visible in your kitchen, in your pantry, on your mirror.

Ask the Lord to speak them to you in times of temptation when you're away from home or to social gathering. Hear prayer with planning. Make sure you're prepping and having your healthy swaps ready.

Lord, lead me to choices this week that are going to honor you. Help me to eat and move. Help me remove these cravings, Lord.

I don't want my excuses anymore. I lay them down at the foot of the cross. Pray over this.

Get on your knees and pray and ask him to take it, and then be willing to give it up. Then know your trigger times and prepare for those in advance. This is a big one, and we work on this quite a bit in The Biblical Weight Loss Framework.

Knowing the places, the people, the times who trigger you are key to praying through them, and then seeing the winds with your triggers. This work sucks. I'm not going to lie.

It's really hard, but you're worth it. Don't think that you're going through this alone. I struggle right there with you.

I've talked to you a lot about my grandma and her house as a trigger for me. And today's her birthday, and we're going out to eat. And my aunt is bringing cupcakes with buttercream frosting.

And my plan is to not indulge in a cupcake. I have eaten way too much sugar lately, and my inflammation is at an all time high. And I'm worth those hard choices.

You are worth those hard choices. And to be honest, when I say no, when I pass on that, in that moment, I feel so good. I feel proud of myself because it's not always a choice that I make, not just physically, but like emotionally.

And you're going to feel that way too. Just take it to the Lord, okay? So have you got your journal yet?

Have I talked you into journaling? Are you journaling daily? Here are a few prompts that can help you get started if not.

Ask yourself, when am I most likely to turn to food instead of God? And then ask the Lord to reveal those moments to you, and he will. And then another prompt you can use is, what emotion is usually behind my cravings?

Is it boredom? Is it distraction? Is it frustration, sadness, happiness?

And then what truth can I speak over myself in that moment? Listen, friend, temptation is not a sign of weakness. It's proof that you're on the right path.

You know, the enemy doesn't attack what isn't moving. You are changing. You are adapting.

Just continue to trust the process and let God lead. Heavenly Father, I love you so much. Thank you for caring about this part of my journey.

Please, Lord, when temptation rises, remind me that I am not alone. Give me strength to pause, wisdom to choose well, and the desire to honor you with my body and my choices. Thank you so much.

Amen. So if you're ready to break free from emotional eating and walk in Holy Spirit-led discipline, join the Biblical Weight Loss Framework. This is not another diet.

It's renewal from the inside out, along with sisters who get it. See you next time. Hey sis, I hope you enjoyed today's episode.

If so, would you take 30 seconds and share it with a friend? Also, please leave a quick review for the show on Apple Podcasts. It lights me up to know this podcast is helping you.

Okay, it's time to go make a protein shake and get my sweat on. No more standing in the kitchen waiting for motivation to appear. I will meet you back here for another episode.

God bless.