Women, as a whole, struggle with weight-related issues. Our culture has made “perfection” size 000, and if you achieve said pants size, you are then dubbed anorexic or sick. It’s no wonder, then, that so many women fixate upon their weight.

I am one of those women. I don’t think there has been a time in my life where I didn’t think I needed to lose at least 5lbs. I have always obsessed over calories, fad diets, and 5Ks. And when I say obsess, I mean obsess. I download the fitness apps, get out and run everyday, skip the bread, etc. It becomes so much a part of my mind that I literally cannot concentrate on anything else. When I get dressed in the morning, I think about the way my clothes used to fit. When I eat, I think about how many points it is. When I run, I think about how discouraging it is that I can’t do all that I used to. It gets into my brain, and it won’t get out.

But it’s fitness! It’s bettering my body so I can serve the Lord longer, better even. There’s nothing wrong with that, right? Nothing wrong with 5Ks and healthy meals and strong muscles, right?

In my life, it was wrong. It was my sinful diet.

Weight has to be one of those constant battles in my mind as far as #noworrynovember is concerned. It is too easy for me to be anxious about the weight I’ve gained, the lack of loose fitting clothes, the way others may judge me. It’s too easy for me to let my mind obsess about my physical appearance. That’s why I find 1 Peter 5:7-8 to be so fascinating. I’m sure we’re all familiar with verse 8 – “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” What’s interesting to me is that it comes right on the heels of verse 7, where Peter says, “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”

For me, one such care that overtakes my mind is obsessing over my  appearance. And it is when I let myself obsess over it–get so caught up in it that I take on strenuous exercise and diet regimens that take my focus off of Jesus and His business–that the devil stalks me. He sees that I’m weak; unfocused upon the spiritual and too focused upon the carnal, and that’s when He attacks…because I’m vulnerable. However, if I would focus upon Jesus (Heb. 12:2) and His Word, I would know that Paul urged Timothy in 1 Tim. 4:7-9 by saying, “But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance.”

Diet and exercise are not sinful in and of themselves. Trying to maintain a healthy body isn’t sinful. Eating in moderation is a great thing, and something that people should definitely try to do. But, when we let good things like eating healthy and gluten free or exercising and running 5Ks become more important than seeking godliness, we’re doing it wrong. Yes, exercising is profitable, but only a little. Godliness, on the contrary, means everything. And if we aren’t seeking godliness with everything we have, we’re wrong. If we are seeking anything, especially something carnal and vain, with more zeal and passion and focus than we are spiritual things (Col. 3:1-2), we are being sinful. Which is why for me, it was a sinful diet.

And so, I may put on a little weight. I may not have as much muscle mass as I once did. I may have already hit my peak. But that’s ok. Because the extra weight reminds me of what my focus should be. And the extra time I would be devoting to calculating every calorie and running off every meal, is extra time I can devote to prayer and godliness.