I got back from a vacation last week- a time of eating too much great food - and saw this provocative title of a CNN article: "Incredible Shrinking Couple Loses 580 pounds."

The story of how Andy and Maggie Sorrell lost all that weight holds a key for the rest of us who struggle with weight loss and the comfortable, sedentary life that makes us overweight in the first place. And there's a spiritual tie-in - my intent is to encourage you, so bear with me!

The Sorrells struggled to hide how bad they felt. Maggie said, "I was so depressed and so miserable. I was always the funny fat girl, but on the inside I was miserable." Andy took anti-depressants.

Embarrassment motivated Maggie after she couldn't fit into a booth at a restaurant. She knew she had to do something, so she signed up for The Weigh Down Workshop, a faith-based program.

The CNN article says this about what happened after Maggie lost her first baby and started to diet: "Faith, she says, helped her overcome the loss and continue on the program. Three years later, she had not only lost 300 pounds but she also gave birth to another daughter, Lily. Last week, the couple welcomed their son, Jacob."

Maggie's details her secrets here and Andy gives his here. Both say that they had to make a spiritual change in order to lose the weight.

Why do I write about this issue on a blog with a spiritual theme? Because, according to the website www.3fatchicks.com, the average person in America is 25 pounds heavier than a generation ago and looking to find that skinny self inside. Too many people let this affect their self-image and, like Andy and Maggie, feel poorly about themselves. To me, that is the real issue. We weren't made to live in bondage - God wants us to enjoy ourselves.

God made us to live an abundant life. But too many people take that as a license for self-indulgence and, for example, eat so much sugar their risk of diabetes sky-rockets.

I like the way The Message puts it: "When you're given a box of candy, don't gulp it all down; eat too much chocolate and you'll make yourself sick."

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