The Secret to Getting and Staying Out of Weight Loss Overwhelm

If you struggle with your weight, there’s a high probability that you’re often in a state of overwhelm.

Overwhelm comes from a feeling of ‘too much’, which, put another way, are also feelings of ‘not enough’ on your part—you don’t have enough time, talent, skills, etc. to do what you need to do.

When you can discover how to ‘get out of and stay out of overwhelm’, many other areas of your life will start to fall into place—especially your weight.

• When you’re overwhelmed, it’s almost impossible to focus because your mind is always over-run with too many thoughts that keep you from experiencing God’s peace and rest.
• When you’re overwhelmed, you feel like you need to control everyone and everything—this gives you a false sense of control because you’re actually out of control.
• When you’re overwhelmed, you don’t make good decisions because you’re unable to focus on what’s really important, it’s hard to ‘see the forest for the trees’.
• When you’re overwhelmed, you’re always jumping from thing to thing—looking for the quickest and easiest solution instead of taking the time to focus on what matters most.
• When you’re overwhelmed, you look for ways to stop the insanity that is your life so you use things like food, drugs, shopping, TV, or other things to distract you.
• When you’re overwhelmed, God’s voice gets drowned out among all the dozens of to-do’s, schedules, and plans.

Getting Out of Overwhelm 

How do you stop without feeling like your life will come crashing down?

1.  See Overwhelm as a Spirit.

Personify it as an enemy created (by self) to keep you from moving towards your purpose. When you can see it from this perspective, you’ll recognize that it’s not part of who you are and can be eliminated from your life.

2.  Recognize That It’s a Form of Procrastination

Being overwhelmed is the perfect scape-goat for rationalizing why you can't do the things you want to do. Click To Tweet How can you possibly exercise when you have so much to do? How can you spend time with God when people are relying on you and you ‘need to’ get this job done? The question to ask yourself is, ‘What are you really afraid of?’ If you were not doing all of the things that are keeping you busy, what would you really be doing? Yeah, that thing—that’s what you’re hiding from.

3.  Move From Doing to Being

Overwhelmed people are always looking for a way to fix things. “How do I?” is the constant question. “How do I solve this? How do I fix this? How do I help them? How do I change?” This constant search for the answer is what keeps you overwhelmed. Stop it! Instead of asking “How do I?” take a deep breath and ask God what He wants you to learn in this situation. Be someone led by the spirit of God instead of always trying to figure things out. God calls us to ‘BE holy’ (1 Peter 1:6). Being does not involve a 3-step plan or a checklist. It’s actually the opposite. Freedom from overwhelm comes when you stop running around like a chicken with your head cut off and stand still before God and let Him direct your path. Right where you are right now, stop for a second and take a deep breath and invite the Holy Spirit into your life. Stop from all your worry and work and just be in His presence. (Psalm 40:10).

Staying Out of Overwhelm 

Okay, … so that was one breath! Now, what’s next you might be wondering.

Staying out of overwhelm will require you to learn some new habits, but before you get ready to write down the secret and get busy doing it, recognize that it ain’t that kinda secret. Staying out of overwhelm requires the work of the Holy Spirit working in you. It’s not something you muster up in your own strength. That’s what got you in this situation in the first place!

• You manage your overwhelm one day at a time; one action at a time; one decision at a time with God as your strength.
• Wake up and give your day to God—ask Him to lead you and guide you throughout the day.
• As you move from activity to activity, are you in a rush or are you taking God with you?
• Are you inviting God into the details of your life?
• Pray before making decisions, before answering requests, and before taking on new projects.
• Lay your desire to be healthy at His feet and ask Him to show you how to do it.

As you begin to entrust everything over to Him, He will begin to show you the patterns that keep you overwhelmed (over-giving, over-thinking, over-working, over-pleasing). He will show you what you’re really afraid of at the right time, and this will happen with ease! Not that it will be easy, but it will not feel forced. It won’t feel like another thing on your list, and you won’t feel deprived or robbed of fun. You will be able to let go effortlessly and easily when God is in control.

And that, my sister, is how you ‘get out of and stay out of overwhelm’.

If you struggle with always feeling overwhelmed with life and with your health journey, please share below and share how this article can help you.