A Pill for Will Power?

 

 

“I am so frustrated,” the older lady sitting across from me said.  “I’m desperate to lose weight and I just can’t!”

“What have you tried?”  I asked her.

“Well, I got some online subscription to a weight loss program and they sent me some medicine – I don’t remember what it was.  Anyway, it made me feel so bad that I couldn’t eat!  I only took it for two days and then I stopped because of how bad I felt.”

“That’s unfortunate,” I said.  “I guess not eating helps with weight loss.”

“Sure – but I don’t really want something that makes sick – just something that gives me more will power.  Then, I was going to try a keto diet,” she said.  “The problem there is that there are so many carbs in this world that I like.  There’s cookies and pies and chocolate.  Chocolate!!  I can’t imagine giving up chocolate for even a week, much less longer than that.”

We talked for a while longer.  I have frequent conversations about weight loss throughout my weeks and what I have discovered is that people want a pill that will give them will power – without having side effects.

For some people, medicines like Zepbound and Wegovy are good solutions – assuming their insurance covers them, but for many, the cost and side effects are too much for them to be able to take the medicine.

For many, the concept of weight loss is something that is constantly longed for, but never achieved.  Carnivore, keto, and cabbage soup diets exist (along with a hundred others) because few are able to stick with them long term.  These diets are good for ten-pound weight loss in the first four weeks, followed by a gradual return to normal eating patterns and putting the weight right back on.

The problem is two-fold – we live in a society with lots of tasty, unhealthy food.  More than that, few people can easily stick with portion control or cut out foods that they know aren’t good for them.

Is it possible that Americans value chocolate more than an ideal body weight?  <gasp!> I’m afraid so.

Jesus told a story about a merchant who was seeking valuable pearls, “who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” (Matthew 13:45,46)

This is one of the parables of the kingdom and in it, Jesus made clear that the kingdom is more valuable than anything else.  The problem is that many people do not recognize its value.  They walk into a jeweler’s shop and see only another pearl, not something of immense value that is worth obtaining.

More than that is the simple question of whether the people who recognize its value are willing to surrender everything in order to obtain it.  It is not enough to simply give lip-service to this, it takes everything we are and have.

So many people say that they want something – weight loss, financial freedom, or a deep connection with God – but they are unwilling to give up what it would take to achieve that goal.  At the end of the day, the problem isn’t that we don’t know what it would take to achieve our goals, it is that we value the status quo more than those goals.

Whether it is side effects, chocolate, or potatoes, the path to weight loss has many detours and those who achieve it are those who value the goal more than the things they crave.  How much more those who desire the kingdom?